The Body Dweller

In a world divided by DNA, Indeara Adair survives by her wits andoccasionally kicking a little gnome ass. Life is good with a few exceptions, namely, an elite force of cops who have herin their sights. Plus the reappearance of, Quinn Daniels, a man whobetrayed her three years ago to dwell among the human race.A man she must now protect.For a plague, destined to destroy those with mutated DNA, is scheduled forrelease and Quinn might be the only person who can stop it.With the help of a ragtag group of fighters led by the mysterious Jake McClain,Indreara slips into the human world in order to save those she loves. Chapter 1 I started the day with ten fingers and an equal number of toes. But by six o'clock, I was down two knuckles and sported a hairline fracture of my left orbital bone.All and all, not a bad day."Want another beer?" Ivan, the owner and sole employee of Ivan's Lair, Liquor Emporium, and Tax Accountancy pointed to the empty bottle in front of me.Opening my good eye, I tried to focus, something I regretted immediately. Ivan wasn't wearing pants, or underwear, or skin for that matter. He stood in front of me in full muscle, veined, and skinless splendor. "Laundry day?" I gestured to his sagging pectorals."Wife shrunk my only skin." Ivan frowned. "Said she accidentally put it in the dryer."I nodded, trying hard not to picture Ivan's emaciated epidermis. "I warned you not to flirt with those Harpies. Your wife was bound to find out."Corporeus Caeles, or Body Dwellers like Ivan and his wife, had a nasty jealous streak. I figured it came from too much body hopping.Ivan passed me a beer and a bag of frozen peas. The sting of the peas against my fractured bone brought tears to my good eye, but I blinked them away. I might be a girl, but I'd be damned if I'd cry like one.For a long moment Ivan stared at me. I shifted under his bug-eyed gaze, and scrubbed at a piece of gnome slobber on the sleeve of my leather jacket. Fucking gnomes."You're a good lass, Indeara. Calvin would've been proud," Ivan said referring to my father. Calvin had spent his life warring against the government's attempt to imprison those of us they called mutants. And what did I do with my powers? I broke fey legs, and kneecapped Larry the Gnome over gambling debts. Yeah, Calvin would've been overjoyed.But Ivan wasn't finished. "One day, you're going to make some man very happy.Just like your momma." I snorted, but he ignored me. His eyes shifted, growing small and rat-like even with his lack of skin. "You know, my son Mikey's still single."No surprise there. Mikey took after Ivan, in that he almost looked better with his skin off than on. Quinn, Ivan's older black sheep of a son, was an entirely different matter however.Nevertheless, it'd been three years since I'd last seen Quinn. Three years since he'd turned traitor and slipped beyond the wall to live in the human world. Three years since he'd left me bloody and dying in a rundown motel room."No offense, Ivan," I said, pulling the peas from my eye. "But I'd rather lick a gnome."