Forever and a Doomsday (Dru Jasper #4) Urban Fantasy Novel Series

Chapter 1: The Night Before Doomsday

If the world was going to end in flames, there was one person Dru desperately wanted at her side. Whenever an apocalyptic menace threatened, he was always there for her, just when she needed him most. No matter how many sorcerers Dru had met, how many monsters she had fought, or how many curses she had broken, she had never dreamed that there could be anyone as courageous and loyal as Greyson.

Or anything as dark and dangerous as his demon-possessed car, Hellbringer.

The heat of the vanished summer sun still radiated up from the empty road long after dark, baking the parched blades of grass and shriveled weeds on either side. A glimmer of headlights spread across the black asphalt, bleaching it silver, illuminating the pitted double-yellow lines that stretched into the distance. The long black muscle car roared past, burning-hot exhaust pipes cackling as Hellbringer kicked up a haze of dust. Darkness instantly returned to the road, except for the lava-red slits of taillights dwindling into the darkness, like the eyes of a demon descending into the abyss.

In the passenger seat, Dru shifted beneath the weight of the warm white plastic bag in her lap. For a sorceress who spent a distressing amount of her time getting splashed by magical potions, blasted by fiery spells, and slobbered on by foul creatures, even a single quiet, romantic evening like this was a blessing.

So she had made the most of it. Gotten her hair done. Spent extra time on her makeup. Picked up a brand-new blue dress with short sleeves and a nice V-neck. Let Greyson take her out to dinner at her favorite neighborhood Chinese place. Laughed and talked about everything except doomsday until the sun sank below the mountains and the stars came out.

Now, the quiet calm of this deserted road made her feel like the two of them were the last people on Earth, and she couldn't be happier about that. She wished this rare moment alone with Greyson would never end.

As if sensing her thoughts, he lifted his palm from the gear shift and took her hand, holding it tight. Then they hit a bump in the road that nearly toppled the contents of the steamy plastic bag. She let go of his hand to catch the bundle and make sure it stayed upright.

Just like that, the moment was gone. She could almost see the gears shifting in Greyson's head as he looked at the bag. As desperately as she wanted to hold onto this dreamy evening, to make it last, she felt it slipping away. And it was all her fault.

His eyebrow quirked up. "Are you sure about the chicken soup?"

She sighed and pushed her glasses back up her nose, mentally cursing her own overextended sense of professional responsibility. It had kept twinging in the back of her mind all through dinner, and just before they had left, she had made a split-second decision that she now realized was in danger of ruining their date.

"I just want Salem to get better," Dru said, hoping that she wasn't making a mistake. "He may be one of the most powerful sorcerers around, but he's still human. And he's kind of a friend. Sort of."

Greyson's leather jacket creaked as he turned toward her. The dashboard lights illuminated the stubble on his chiseled jaw and cast his broad chest into shadow. "The fact that he's injured could make him dangerous."

"I think the word I would choose is crabby. He did almost get crushed to death beneath a rock slide. That would put anybody in a bad mood, right?"

Greyson grunted. "Not just anybody in a bad mood can flick his wrist and flip a car over."

"He's not going to flip the car over," Dru said with a confidence she didn't entirely feel. Quietly, she added, "I hope."

Greyson turned the steering wheel. Hellbringer's headlight beams swept across a desolate parking lot, briefly illuminating glimpses of tall dead grass, windblown candy bar wrappers, and the sparkling scattered glass of broken bottles.