PRAISE FOR KERI ARTHUR
Nominated for Romantic Times 2007
Reviewers’ Choice Awards for Career Achievement in Urban Fantasy
Winner of the Romantic Times 2008
Reviewers’ Choice Awards for Career Achievement in Urban Fantasy
“Keri Arthur’s imagination and energy infuse everything she writes with zest.”
—CHARLAINE HARRIS
Praise for Full Moon Rising
“Keri Arthur skillfully mixes her suspenseful plot with heady romance in her thoroughly enjoyable alternate reality Melbourne. Sexy vampires, randy werewolves, and unabashed, unapologetic, joyful sex—you’ve gotta love it. Smart, sexy, and well-conceived.”
—KIM HARRISON
“Full Moon Rising is unabashedly and joyfully sexual in its portrayal of werewolves in heat … Arthur never fails to deliver, keeping the fires stoked, the cliffs high, and the emotions dancing on a razor’s edge in this edgy, hormone-filled mystery … A shocking and sensual read, so keep the ice handy.”
—TheCelebrityCafe.com
“Keri Arthur is one of the best supernatural romance writers in the world.”
—HARRIET KLAUSNER
“Strong, smart and capable, Riley will remind many of Anita Blake, Laurell K. Hamilton’s kick-ass vampire hunter … Fans of Anita Blake and Charlaine Harris’ Sookie Stackhouse vampire series will be rewarded.”
—Publishers Weekly
“Unbridled lust and kick-ass action are the hallmarks of this first novel in a brand-new paranormal series … ‘Sizzling’ is the only word to describe this heated, action-filled, suspenseful romantic drama.”
—Curled Up with a Good Book
“Desert island keeper … Grade: A … I wanted to read this book in one sitting, and was terribly offended that the real world intruded on my reading time!… Inevitable comparisons can be made to Anita Blake, Kim Harrison, and Kelley Armstrong’s books, but I think Ms. Arthur has a clear voice of her own and her characters speak for themselves.… I am hooked!”
—All About Romance
Praise for Kissing Sin
“The second book in this paranormal guardian series is just as phenomenal as the first … I am addicted!!”
—Fresh Fiction
“Arthur’s world building skills are absolutely superb and I recommend this story to any reader who enjoys tales of the paranormal.”
—Coffee Time Romance and More
“Fast paced and filled with deliciously sexy characters, readers will find Kissing Sin a fantastic urban fantasy with a hot serving of romance that continues to sizzle long after the last page is read.”
—Darque Reviews
“Keri Arthur’s unique characters and the imaginative world she’s created will make this series one that readers won’t want to miss.”
—A Romance Review
Praise for Tempting Evil
“Riley Jenson is kick-ass … genuinely tough and strong, but still vulnerable enough to make her interesting.… Arthur is not derivative of early [Laurell K.] Hamilton—far from it—but the intensity of her writing and the complexity of her heroine and her stories is reminiscent.”
—All About Romance
“This paranormal romance series gets better and better with each new book.… An exciting adventure that delivers all you need for a fabulous read—sexy shapeshifters, hot vampires, wild uncontrollable sex and the slightest hint of a love that’s meant to be forever.”
—Fresh Fiction
“Pure sexy action adventure … I found the world vividly realized and fascinating.… So, if you like your erotic scenes hot, fast, and frequent, your heroine sassy, sexy, and tough, and your stories packed with hard-hitting action in a vividly realized fantasy world, then Tempting Evil and its companion novels could be just what you’re looking for.”
—SFRevu
“Keri Arthur’s Riley Jenson series just keeps getting better and better and is sure to call to fans of other authors with kick-ass heroines such as Christine Feehan and Laurell K. Hamilton. I have become a steadfast fan of this marvelous series and I am greatly looking forward to finding out what is next in store for this fascinating and strong character.”
—A Romance Review
Praise for Dangerous Games
“One of the best books I have ever read.… The storyline is so exciting I did not realize I was literally sitting on the edge of my chair.… Arthur has a real winner on her hands. Five cups.”
—Coffee Time Romance and More
“The depths of emotion, the tense plot, and the conflict of powerful driving forces inside the heroine made for [an] absorbing read.”
—SFRevu
“This series is phenomenal! Dangerous Games is an incredibly original and devastatingly sexy story. It keeps you spellbound and mesmerized on every page.
Absolutely perfect!!”
—Fresh Fiction
Praise for Embraced by Darkness
“Arthur is positively one of the best urban fantasy authors in print today. The characters have been well-drawn from the start and the mysteries just keep getting better. A creative, sexy and adventure filled world that readers will just love escaping to.”
—Darque Reviews
“Arthur’s storytelling is getting better and better with each book. Embraced by Darkness has suspense, interesting concepts, terrific main and secondary characters, well developed story arcs, and the world-building is highly entertaining.… I think this series is worth the time and emotional investment to read.”
—Reuters.com
“Once again, Keri Arthur has created a perfect, exciting and thrilling read with intensity that kept me vigilantly turning each page, hoping it would never end.”
—Fresh Fiction
“Reminiscent of Laurell K. Hamilton back when her books had mysteries to solve, Arthur’s characters inhabit a dark sexy world of the paranormal.”
—The Parkersburg News and Sentinel
“I love this series.”
—All About Romance
Praise for The Darkest Kiss
“The paranormal Australia that Arthur concocts works perfectly, and the plot speeds along at a breakneck pace. Riley fans won’t be disappointed.”
—Publishers Weekly
Praise for Bound to Shadows
“The Riley Jenson Guardian series ROCKS! Riley is one bad-ass heroine with a heart of gold. Keri Arthur never disappoints and always leaves me eagerly anticipating the next book. A classic, fabulous read!”
—Fresh Fiction
Praise for Moon Sworn
“Huge kudos to Arthur for giving readers an impressive series they won’t soon forget! 4½ stars, top pick!”
—RT Book Reviews
“The superb final Guardian urban fantasy saga ends with quite a bang that will please the fans of the series.
Riley is terrific as she goes through a myriad of emotions with no time to mourn her losses.… Readers will enjoy Riley’s rousing last stand.”
—Midwest Book Review
Praise for Darkness Unbound
“A thrilling ride.”
—Publishers Weekly
Praise for Darkness Rising
“Arthur ratchets up the intrigue … in this powerful sequel.”
—Publishers Weekly
Memory Zero is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
2014 Dell eBook Edition
Copyright © 2004, 2014 by Keri Arthur
Excerpt from Generation 18 by Keri Arthur copyright © 2004, 2014 by Keri Arthur
All rights reserved.
Published in
the United States by Dell, an imprint of Random House, a division of Random House LLC, a Penguin Random House Company, New York.
DELL and the HOUSE colophon are registered trademarks of Random House LLC.
Originally published in different form in paperback in the United States by ImaJinn Books, Hickory Corners, MI, in 2004.
This book contains an excerpt from the forthcoming novel Generation 18 by Keri Arthur. This excerpt has been set for this edition only and may not reflect the final content of the forthcoming edition.
ISBN 978-0-440-24658-9
eBook ISBN 978-0-345-53909-0
Cover design: Lynn Andreozzi
Cover illustration: Juliana Kolesova
www.bantamdell.com
v3.1
Contents
Cover
Title Page
Copyright
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Epilogue
Other Books by This Author
Excerpt from Generation 18
IT WAS THE TYPE OF night only the dead could enjoy—as dark as hell, and as warm as the Antarctic. Add to that the bonus of rain bucketing down, and it was no wonder the streets were deserted.
Well, almost deserted, Sam amended, glancing at the alleyway across the street. An old man in a threadbare coat rummaged through the garbage bins that were lined up behind the Chinese restaurant, filling a plastic bag with God knows what. And not five minutes ago, two prostitutes had come knocking on her car’s window, their faces almost blue with cold as they’d tried to convince her to take them for a ride. Their expressions, when she’d flashed her badge, were almost relieved. But then, a warm cell block was certainly more enticing than trying to ply their trade on a night like this. Had she not been waiting for her partner to turn up, she might have taken them downtown and charged them with soliciting, just to get them off the street and warm again. Prostitution might be legal these days, but it was restricted to certain areas, and this particular street wasn’t one of them.
But she’d had no choice except to let them go with a warning. To say they weren’t happy with this stroke of fortune was an understatement. Obviously, they’d been looking forward to being locked up in a warm cell. And right now, she knew exactly how they felt. Even a cup of the shocking coffee they served at the station house would be heaven right now.
She glanced down at the onboard computer and noted it was already after three. If her goddamn partner didn’t turn up soon, she was heading home. Why the hell he’d insisted on meeting in this ratty section of the city in the first place was beyond her. It wasn’t even close to their patrol zone.
Sighing, she crossed her arms and glanced out the driver’s-side window again. A plastic bag tumbled down the road, ghostlike in the darkness. Unease pricked across her skin, though she wasn’t sure why. Maybe it was just nerves. After all, it wasn’t every night she got an urgent call from a man who’d been missing for weeks. And it certainly wasn’t every night that she went against department policy and agreed to a secret meeting.
She glanced back to the alley. The old man had disappeared. While she knew he’d probably just moved beyond her line of sight, that vague sense of unease increased. She stared through the rain-washed darkness, watching for some form of movement that would indicate the old man was still there.
Nothing.
And instinct was insisting something was very wrong in that alley.
She rubbed a hand across her eyes and silently cursed her partner’s tardiness. She didn’t need this, not after a fifteen-hour shift—and especially not in a patrol zone that wasn’t hers. Just thinking about the extra paperwork made her head ache.
Still …
She leaned forward and pressed the locater switch. The onboard computer hummed to life, producing a map of the immediate vicinity. The only way out of the alley, besides the entrance she could see, was via a fire escape on the building that housed the Chinese restaurant. She stabbed a finger at the screen, and the computer immediately listed other occupants. The top two floors were empty, but the second floor was rented to an R. C. Clarke. A quick background check revealed nothing more than the fact that he was an accountant with a clean record. For several seconds, she blindly watched the rain race down the glass. It was very wet out there. But the sooner she got out and investigated, the sooner she could get back to the relative warmth of this icebox they had the cheek to call a squad car.
With a slight grimace, she opened the glove compartment and retrieved her wristcom. In reality, it wasn’t just a communications unit, but more a two-inch-wide minicomputer capable of doing just about everything but make coffee. She wasn’t supposed to be using it after hours, but there was no way she was going into that alley without it. Not when unease sat like a lead weight in her belly. If things went wrong, she wanted an electronic record of everything that happened.
After fastening the unit onto her wrist, she flicked the record button, checked that it was working, then collected her gun and climbed out of the car. As the door automatically locked behind her, she zipped up her jacket and eyed the dark alley. It was quite possible that this was some sort of setup. In the last few weeks, five detectives had disappeared, one of them Jack, her partner. And while he’d finally contacted her earlier this evening, it was extremely odd that he’d called neither headquarters nor Suzy, his wife. She knew, because she’d checked.
It worried her.
And it was what held her still, even as the drenching rain sluiced off her coat and soaked through her boots. Jack loved Suzy more than life itself, and there was no way he’d contact Sam before he contacted his wife.
Though the fact that he had would only add fuel to Suzy’s almost obsessive jealousy. Suzy had always resented Jack’s closeness to his partner, and while Sam respected Jack’s relationship with his wife, she’d never warmed to the woman.
The wind lifted her hair and wrapped icy fingers around her neck. She shivered, but it had nothing to do with the cold. Suddenly, the night felt very wrong.
Which was crazy. It was probably just the cold, the rain, and her severe need for sleep. If Jack hadn’t made an appearance by the time she checked the alley, she was going home. She didn’t need to be involved in another of his stupid games, in the dead of night, after a very long shift. If he wanted to talk to her, he could do so during the day. He knew where she lived—and knew he was welcome there anytime. She clipped the gun to her belt. Its familiar weight offered a sense of comfort from the uneasiness that still stirred through her as she walked across the road.
The rain eased a little as she entered the alley, but the wind danced through the darkness with a forlorn moan that made the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end. She hesitated, her gaze skating across the shadows. The old man’s possessions were strewn across the ground near the garbage bins. They amounted to little more than a few old books, a couple of credit cards, and the scraps of food he’d ferreted out of the bin.
She bent and picked up the cards. The names on them were all different—Joseph Ramsey, Tom King, Jake George. Obviously, the old guy had not been above a little credit fraud. She dropped the cards, then stepped across the books and cautiously walked deeper into the alley. The darkness was blanket heavy, but her eyes slowly adjusted. Shapes loomed through the ink of night. On the right side of the alley, a dozen or so large boxes were stacked haphazardly against a graffiti-covered wall, and to her left was the fire escape that zigzagged up the restaurant wall.
She walked past the rusted metal ladder, then stopped. With the full fo
rce of the wind blocked by the buildings on either side, the smells that permeated the alley came into their own. Rotting rubbish, puddles of stale water, and the faintest hint of human excrement all combined into a stomach-churning stench. She shuddered and tried breathing through her mouth rather than her nose, but it didn’t help much.
Twenty feet away the alley came to a dead end, blocked by a wall at least fifteen feet high. Unless the old guy had springs for legs, or wings hidden under his threadbare coat—both of which were certainly possible in this day and age—there was no way he could have gotten over it. She glanced across to the boxes. It didn’t make any sense for him to be hiding there, either—especially when he’d have to have abandoned his belongings to do so. Most street people clung to their few possessions with a ferocity only death could shatter. Besides, the rain had turned the boxes into a sodden mass that would have collapsed with the slightest touch.
Which left only the fire escape.
She glanced up. Moisture dripped from above, splattering across her face. She wiped it away with her palm, then frowned and glanced down. Why did the rain suddenly feel warm?
In her heart, she knew the answer to that question even as it crossed her mind. Grimly, she pressed a small switch on her wristcom. Light flared from the unit—a pale yellow that glowed uneasily against the darkness. She raised her arm and shined the light on the metal walkway above her.
Just as she’d thought, it wasn’t rain dripping down from the fire escape, but blood. But there wasn’t a body—or, at least, not one that she could see from where she stood.
For a moment, she considered contacting headquarters about a possible homicide. But Jack had asked her to come here alone, had specifically asked her not to contact them. She didn’t understand why and, in the end, she didn’t really care. He’d been her partner for close to five years, and she trusted him more than she trusted the boneheads and politicians back at headquarters.
Wiping her palm down her thigh, she reached back for her gun. Then slowly, cautiously, she began to climb.
Three flights up she found the old man. He’d been thrown against the far edge of the landing, his body a broken and bloody mass that barely resembled anything human. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Death was never easy. In her ten years on the force, she’d come across many of its faces, yet it still had the power to shock her.