Strange Currency: Book One of the York House Trilogy

By Kaitee M. McDaniel

The first installment of The York House Trilogy, Strange Currency is the story of Veryn Calise and the York family, who have a rather unusual occupation. This novel explores ideas of morality, love, and family through adventure, suspense, and romance. Each character is led on a personal journey of self-discovery and finding their own meaning in a world where even life itself is for sale. Strange Currency tugs on the heartstrings, stimulates the mind, and leads readers on a fantastic journey where they themselves will make new discoveries about the decisions each person makes regarding life and lovethe strangest of currencies.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Mar 8, 2018
• ISBN: 9781546226000

Kaitee M. McDaniel

Kaitee M. McDaniel is a 19 year-old student at California State University, Bakersfield, majoring in English with a concentration in Creative Writing. She enjoys reading classic novels, writing, and cooking in her spare time. Some of her favorite authors are Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and Leo Tolstoy. From an early age, she showed a passion for writing through various short stories and plays, leading to the authoring of her debut novel, Strange Currency. She has high aspirations for the future of The York House Trilogy, and for herself as a novelist and professor of English.

Book preview

Capit One

Killing is not so easy as the innocent believe.

-J.K. Rowling

Alessandra Gerard lived for this moment: when she had finally cornered her target, and all she had left was to eliminate it. She loved the fear in its eyes. She relished in the knowledge that she had instilled that fear in another living being. She taunted him, feigning left, then bounding to the right, creeping closer and closer. Lightning quick, she slashed his arm, then retreated a few steps. The sight of her prey in pain was alluring. Despite his large frame, she seemed more formidable than the trembling man.

Please, he begged, his fear causing him to stumble over the words. I have a wife, a child. Alessandra snorted her annoyance. Creator, shut up already. She noticed a small bead bracelet on his wrist, like a child would make.

She was about to go in for another pass with her knife, when she felt a whiz of air, and registered the sound of a silenced gunshot. She watched in disappointment as the target crumpled to the ground in front of her.

Why would you do that, Nolan? She whined as her brother came out of the shadowy corners of the dingy alley. I love taunting them.

He’s not a cat, Aless, he’s a human being, Nolan scolded. Just because we have to kill him doesn’t mean we have to enjoy it. Let him die with dignity.

If he had lived with dignity, do you think we’d have been hired to kill him? Alessandra retorted sharply, cleaning her blade with a pink silk handkerchief. She hated when Nolan was self-righteous. He had killed more than she had. She reached down and ripped the bracelet off the man’s wrist. She didn’t want the police giving it back to the child, serving as a reminder of the night their father died.

I don’t want to fight. Nolan looked tired. They had had to chase the man for over a mile, and Nolan was still recovering from the broken ribs he had been dealt during the last job. Let’s just go home. Rose called; dinner’s ready.

Capit Two

After a good dinner one can forgive anybody, even one’s own relations.

-Oscar Wilde

When all eight were seated at the table, Barden bowed his head and recited the Song of Gratitude:

Thanks we give for the life we live,

The food we have, the ones we hold.

We join now, in solemn thanks,

To the One who brings us

Blessed Grace.

Nolan, how was the hunt? Barden asked as he buttered a roll. He knew Nolan hated the jobs, but Barden had decided many years ago that he wouldn’t let the stress of the jobs distance Nolan from the family.

Nolan kept his eyes down. It was fine, he replied shortly.

It was better than fine! Alessandra jumped in with her soprano voice, a stark contrast to Nolan’s deep bass. He ran for over a mile. When I finally cornered him, I made him pay for it. Pass the salad, please.

Nolan wanted to explode with anger. How could she be so flippant about taking lives? She was so protective of her own, so why did she act like a man running for his life was such an inconvenience? Nolan held his tongue, because he knew that Alessandra didn’t know any better. Instead, he turned his eyes to Barden, silently willing him to correct Aless.

Tell her that it’s not always so easy. Tell her that the people she kills matter.

But Barden was silent, listening to Alessandra recount how she taunted the man before she killed him. Nolan noticed that Alessandra never mentioned that he had killed the man to end Aless’ torture. While he was certain that it was a selfish omission, he was grateful.

Throughout Aless’ entire story, Finnian and Kane remained silent and stoic. Barden wondered what they thought of their little sister’s story, but chose not to ask. Aless could get grumpy when interrupted. Rose oohed and aahed at all the right moments, bolstering Alessandra’s confidence. Morrigan was lost in her own little world, reading of great sea battles and sword fights. And then there was Killian, the quiet, dutiful son, listening intently as was his habit. Killian was a soldier, carrying out orders without question, doing what needed to be done. Killian was by far the most patient of all of Rose and Barden’s children.

Finnian and Kane, the twins, were deadly. Tall, strong, and surprisingly graceful, the twins were almost like one person. They moved perfectly in sync, with unbreakable trust for one another. Barden and Rose had trained them well. They were even more alike in appearance: pecan-colored hair, freckles sprinkling their noses, emerald eyes, and the same crooked smiles. The only differentiating features were Fin’s scar: a thick, jagged line across the side of his neck, and their hands; Finnian’s hands were wide and stubby. Kane’s more delicate hands had long fingers and slim wrists.

Rose looked over at the twins, reminiscing about the day she and Barden had brought them home. Finnian and Kane, just two years old at the time, were Rose and Barden’s first children. Though Rose loved all of her kids, Finnian and Kane held a special place in her heart. She had shared this sentiment with Barden once, and he had seemed troubled by it. She understood why Barden didn’t feel the same way, but Finnian and Kane had made her a mother. Rose was certain that without the twins, she and Barden would not have gone on to train the others.

As the rest of the family washed the dishes and cleaned the kitchen, Morrigan slipped away. Under the guise of going to the restroom, she locked herself in the bathroom and settled into the big empty bathtub with her book. She knew that Rose would come and ask if she was alright in a short while, but she needed a few moments of quiet.

Alessandra alone was enough to drive Morrigan insane, but factored with Barden’s singing, Rose’s coddling, and Nolan’s brooding, she had to find a hideaway.

She closed her eyes and envisioned a bright, happy glade of trees. The soft breeze blowing the smell of spring into her nostrils, the feel of the grass on her bare feet, the sound of a-

Morrigan? Her eyes snapped open. Morrigan, we have a job. She groaned inwardly and stomped over to the door.

Who? She yanked the door open and found Finnian and Kane peering down at her.

Some politician, I think. Finnian turned and bounded up the stairs to his room, most likely for his trusty baseball bat.

Kane put his hand on her shoulder as she tried to pass him. Are you alright? He was sincere, and Morrigan wanted to pour her heart out to him, but she opted instead for a sassy remark.

Do you really want the fine details of my time in the restroom? Morrigan almost wished Kane would press the issue. She wanted to tell him how she was feeling, how she hated these jobs and how much she worried about being caught.

Admiring your gorgeousness?

Oh, yes. My favorite quality is my chipmunk cheeks. They go lovely with my stylish pixie cut and barely-there eyebrows, she joked.

Kane laughed and Finnian came back down the stairs. Together, they started down the stairs to the ground floor. Morrigan ran up to her own room to grab her pistol and her taser wand.

Come on, Little One! Finnian yelled up the stairs. It’s almost time!

Morrigan snapped the taser wand open and reassured herself with the hum of electricity. Though she had never had to use it, she carried it for protection when she observed her siblings’ work. How she wished she could just stay home tonight with her books, her tea, and her cat.

Capit Three

You don’t choose your family. They are God’s gift to you, as you are to them.

-Desmond Tutu

Finnian and Kane went everywhere together. They slept in adjoining rooms, ate all of their meals together, and worked jobs together. Never once had Killian seen one without the other. Killian was Rose and Barden’s third child. He had joined the family at four years old, three years after Finnian and Kane were adopted. For a while, it was just the three inseparable boys; and then Alessandra came along. Being the first girl, Alessandra could do no wrong. While Rose and Barden coddled and cooed over her in all of her perfect, pink infancy, the three boys were all but forgotten. Killian didn’t blame their parents, but Finnian and Kane had developed a bitter taste for their little sister because of it.

It was because of this utter abhorrence for Alessandra that Finnian and Kane often worked with Killian and Nolan. Morrigan served more as a quiet observer. This particular night was always difficult for Killian; it was the anniversary of the night his mother died. Killian was very young when it happened, but he remembered her voice and her sweet perfume. He missed her more than he cared to admit.

It was one of the messiest kills Killian had ever been a part of. It took the four assassins almost six hours to clean up the mess. A scorned husband had asked for his wife’s lover to be drowned, which meant a lot of water and a lot of struggling. The man had hit his face against the side of the tub, breaking his nose and spreading blood everywhere. We need to publish a book on how hard it actually is to kill someone. Despite popular belief, drowning is not so simple, Killian was soaked to the core and shivering in the chilly air.

Every bit of evidence had to be erased, and the body had to be moved to a nearby pool, making it look like an accident.

I hate specialty orders, Kane complained. What was wrong with poisoning? It’s going to be midnight before we get home.

And then up bright and early for training, Finnian reinforced the irritating atmosphere.

Are they trying to kill us? Morrigan pondered.

There are easier ways. Kane pointed out.

Capit Four

"There is something about losing your mother that is permanent

and inexpressible- a wound that will never quite heal."

-Susan Wiggs

Twenty Years Earlier

Will cradled his new daughter in his arms, but refused to look at her, opting instead to look at Walsh, standing across the room. The captain’s cabin was filled with all of the ship’s crew members, in what should’ve been a celebration, but was now a wake. Will’s wife, Norah, lay in her casket in the center of the room, her once joyous presence smothered by the suffocating omen of death that surrounded her. Will was suddenly overcome with grief,