A Duel With Death

By Louisa Bacio

After a tumultuous, fatherless childhood, Johnny Castillo tends to date women his mama doesn’t approve of, and for good reason. Tired of relationships that end badly, he turns to Madame Eve’s 1Night Stand dating service for help. He’s seen what her incredible matchmaking skills have done for his cousins and friends, and he’s open to her helping him find a woman he can have a future with. If that’s even possible.

Carmen Sanchez has put up a strong fight against the cancer attacking her body and she’s ready to start living life once more. With the results of her latest medical tests unopened and tucked in her purse, she enlists Madame Eve in her search for the right guy to share a weekend of lusty pursuits, before unsealing the envelope and discovering her fate.

But Johnny and Carmen’s date includes a battle where the stakes are high—life or death. Love may conquer all, but Death has something else in mind. Is their newfound love strong enough to win the battle?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Decadent Publishing
• Release date: Jun 23, 2014
• ISBN: 9781613337110

Louisa Bacio

A Southern California native, Louisa Bacio can’t imagine living far away from the ocean. The multi-published author of erotic romance enjoys writing within all realms – from short stories to full-length novels. Bacio shares her household with a supportive husband, two daughters growing “too fast,” and a multitude pet craziness: Two dogs, five fish tanks, an aviary, hamsters, rabbits and hermit crabs. In her other life, she teaches college classes in English, journalism and popular culture. Check out the latest happenings via her blog http://louisabacio.blogspot.com

Book preview

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This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the products of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

A Duel with Death

Smashwords Edition

Copyright © 2014 by Louisa Bacio

ISBN: 978-1-61333-711-0

Cover art by Tibbs Designs

All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work, in whole or in part, in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means now known or hereafter invented, is forbidden without the written permission of the publisher.

Published by Decadent Publishing Company, LLC

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www.decadentpublishing.com

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Also by Louisa Bacio

A Date with Death

A Dance with Death

A Duel with Death

A 1Night Stand Story

By

Louisa Bacio

~DEDICATION~

Special thanks to Sabrina Sol and Christina Alexandra for helping to get the language right, and to my editor Valerie Mann for making this story as good as possible.

Prologue

Opaque red smoke clogged the air, like when he stared into a light for too long and then shut his eyes. A dull green glowed from the bedside clock. Johnny drew in air, choking on the stagnant taste that resembled the thin remnants drifting when one blows out a candle, except amplified a thousand times.

A laugh resounded and he turned in a circle, seeking the source. He squinted, making out a dark shape in one corner. The shadow shifted, moving closer, and cold fear seeped into his heart.

What do you want? he called out.

The darkness shifted, moving above him, clinging to the ceiling. Everything you hold dear. Tight hands enveloped his throat and he strained to break free. Heat brushed against his cheek, his ear. I shall take the one you love.

Johnny broke free and struggled back from the threatening figure. The red. The heat. Am I in Hell? Who are you? The devil?

More laughter. Personify me any way you want. I am what you fear. I am Death, and I shall have her.

It paralyzed him. Johnny fought against unseen forces. He needed to move. To stop Death from coming. Invisible ties bound his arms, his legs, wrapped around his body.

No! he screamed, coming awake. Sweat-dampened sheets twisted around his limbs and he tossed them off, terror pounding through his veins. He fumbled with the bedside light until its glow cast the shadows from the room.

What a fucked-up dream. A nightmare like he hadn’t had in a long time. And an echo of the threat lingered.

I shall take the one you love.

Good thing he wasn’t in love, let alone dating anybody, or else he’d really be freaked out. How the hell did one fight against Death?

Chapter One

"Yes, I’m just a