Straying from Her Human Lifetime: Uncollected Anthology: Were-Creatures & Conundrums

By Kari Kilgore

An Ordinary House with a Deadly Secret
Sesha brings unusual skills to her job as a home inspector.

An ability to see and sense what others miss.

But one house keeps secrets even after she shifts into her true self.

Can she discover the truth before it's too late?

Part of Were-Creatures & Conundrums, an Uncollected Anthology

 

An excerpt from Straying from Her Human Lifetime

 

A Supernatural Level of Job Security

A shiver of anticipation let Sesha know her flesh and senses were more than ready to jump into the mystery, but that would have to wait until Natasha departed.

Mappers might be plenty familiar with their own skills, and willing to call in help from other unusual talents when they needed to.

That didn't mean they wanted to hang around to witness what those talents did when it came right down to it. And Sesha for one wasn't especially into show-and-tell.

At least not at work.

"I'll be glad to take a look," she said. "Did you get a feeling about any particular area on this plane of reality that I should focus on?"

Rather than looking guilty or trying to make up for feeling like she'd failed, Natasha grinned.

"I wish I could say I did. But the block or knot or whatever it is kept me from seeing that clearly. I do know how much you love a challenge."

Sesha grinned back, and in her excitement, she had to remind herself to keep her face on the human side of the equation.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Spiral Publishing, Ltd
• Release date: Apr 1, 2024
• ISBN: 9798224465316

Kari Kilgore

Kari Kilgore started her first published novel Until Death in Transylvania, Romania, and finished it in Room 217 at the Stanley Hotel in Estes Park, Colorado, where Stephen King got the idea for The Shining. That’s just one example of how real world inspiration drives her fiction. Kari’s first published novel Until Death was included on the Preliminary Ballot for the Bram Stoker Award for Outstanding Achievement in a First Novel in 2016. It was also a finalist for the Golden Stake Award at the Vampire Arts Festival in 2018. Recent professional short story sales include three to Fiction River anthology magazine, with the first due out in the September issue. Kari also has two stories in a holiday-themed anthology project with Kristine Kathryn Rusch due out over the holidays in 2019. Kari writes fantasy, science fiction, horror, and contemporary fiction, and she’s happiest when she surprises herself. She lives at the end of a long dirt road in the middle of the woods with her husband Jason Adams, various house critters, and wildlife they’re better off not knowing more about. Kari’s novels, novellas, and short stories are available at www.spiralpublishing.net, which also publishes books by Frank Kilgore and Jason Adams. For more information about Kari, upcoming publications, her travels and adventures, and random cool things that catch her attention, visit www.karikilgore.com.

Book preview

Straying from Her Human Lifetime

An Ordinary House with a Deadly Secret

Sesha brings unusual skills to her job as a home inspector.

An ability to see and sense what other miss.

But one house keeps secrets even after she shifts into her true self.

Can she discover the truth before it’s too late?

Part of Were-Creatures & Conundrums, an Uncollected Anthology

For everyone who works hard to keep our homes safe

On every plane of reality

STRAYING FROM HER HUMAN LIFETIME

KARI KILGORE

SPIRAL PUBLISHING, LTD.

STRAYING FROM HER HUMAN LIFETIME

As she always did before starting on a new inspection job, Sesha paused to consider how her perspective might fit against the potential homebuyer’s.

Sure, most folks would see a perfectly harmless brick ranch, set back from a quiet, tree-lined street. Nice level front yard, with mature oak trees to help keep the power bill down in summer, provide gorgeous autumn color, and hopefully keep their branches to themselves over the rainy winter and spring months.

Not that winter was particularly challenging in Atlanta, mind you.

Nothing like the fierce cold and current and constant struggle Sesha grew up with a long way from the gentle Southeast.

This neighborhood showed every sign of turning into a colorful wonderland as spring got rolling on a March morning, with a line of sunshine-yellow daffodils cheering up the neat and orderly flowerbeds in front of the house. Plenty more to come, with healthy azalea bushes getting ready to put on a show, and the unmistakable green scent