For the Murder Read online

  FOR THE MURDER

  By

  Gabrielle Ash

  Copyright © 2022 Gabrielle Ash

  * * *

  Edited by Danielle DeVor.

  Cover Design by MiblArt.

  All stock photos licensed appropriately.

  * * *

  Published in the United States by City Owl Press.

  www.cityowlpress.com

  * * *

  For information on subsidiary rights, please contact the publisher at [email protected]

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental and not intended by the author.

  Except as permitted under the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior consent and permission of the publisher.

  To Stacy,

  for not giving up on me.

  PRAISE FOR GABRIELLE ASH

  “For the Murder is a wonderfully creative, unique, fast-paced story about a crow shifter searching for a murder to belong to and an angel in service to a demon searching for freedom he never expected to find. Throw in some of Hell’s generals, a magic blade, a boy possessed by a cat demon, and werewolves and you might get the idea of how deliciously fun this story is! The chemistry between Sasha and Diana sizzles. Sasha is the reluctant hero we all need and Diana is so beautifully portrayed as a woman abandoned over and over who finally finds a family. I think Natsu, the cat demon, is my favorite though! I’m so thankful that Gabrielle Ash provided me with an early copy of this book. Highly recommend!” – Jess K. Hardy, author of Love in the Time of Wormholes, Missing Charlie, and The Bench

  * * *

  “Delivering humor, intrigue, romance, and supernatural drama, The Family Cross is a wickedly original story that's impossible to put down.” – Kat Turner, author of Hex, Love, and Rock & Roll, and Blood Sugar

  * * *

  “With a gift for painting vivid descriptions, a unique cast of supernatural creatures in a crowded genre, and seamlessly blending the paranormal with the real world, Gabrielle Ash hits the ground running with this gritty new urban fantasy series in For the Murder.” – S.L. Choi, author of Bad Girls Drink Blood

  * * *

  “The Family Cross by Gabrielle Ash is a fun, fast-paced urban fantasy. Part detective story, part princess-meets-henchman, Ash harmoniously blends dark and light moments as the two main characters fight off monsters, maneuver corporate politics, and evade death. Fans of Supernatural will be delighted.” – Sarina Dahlan, author of Reset

  * * *

  “The Family Cross is a delight. Action packed and filled with engaging characters, this story hooked me and wouldn’t let go. Melding a world of diamonds and deceit with a darker underbelly of paranormal hit men and saviours, Gabrielle Ash offers us an enticing first book in what I hope will be a long series.” – Clementine Fraser, author of Dust Bound and Siren’s Call

  * * *

  “The Family Cross is an enthralling debut filled with unexpected twists and fast-paced action. A story of intrigue and vengeance and the dark side of Manhattan, it kept me hooked until the very end.” – Jessa Graythorne, author of Fireborn

  * * *

  “Ash’s debut is a gripping and imaginative tale into the paranormal. Readers will be taken on a thrilling ride filled with intrigue, tender moments, and unexpected twists and turns. The Family Cross will captivate your senses and have you screaming for more.” – J.E. McDonald, author of the Wickwood Chronicles

  CONTENTS

  Want More City Owl Press Books?

  Find Your Next Read

  1. Diana

  2. Sasha

  3. Diana

  4. Sasha

  5. Diana

  6. Sasha

  7. Diana

  8. Sasha

  9. Diana

  10. Sasha

  11. Diana

  12. Sasha

  13. Diana

  14. Sasha

  15. Diana

  16. Sasha

  17. Sasha

  18. Diana

  19. Diana

  20. Sasha

  21. Diana

  22. Sasha

  23. Diana

  24. Sasha

  25. Diana

  26. Diana

  27. Sasha

  28. Diana

  29. Sasha

  30. Diana

  31. Sasha

  32. Diana

  33. Sasha

  34. Sasha

  35. Diana

  36. Diana

  37. Sasha

  38. Diana

  39. Sasha

  40. Diana

  41. Sasha

  Epilogue

  Sneak Peek of The Family Cross

  Find Your Next Read

  Want More City Owl Press Books?

  Acknowledgments

  About the Author

  About the Publisher

  Additional Titles

  WANT MORE CITY OWL PRESS BOOKS?

  Click here to sign up for the City Owl Press newsletter and be the first to find out about special offers, including FREE book days, contents, giveaways, cover reveals, and more!

  * * *

  Sign up now and become a City Owl Reader today! And join our City Owl Reader-Author group here for even more deals and a whole lot of community and fun!

  Want even more from Gabrielle Ash? Read THE FAMILY CROSS and be sure to sign-up to receive all the news and updates at www.gabrielleashauthor.com

  Matilda Ashby has a pair of Ivy League degrees and a dream of unseating her brother as their billionaire father’s favorite. But just as she inches close to her goal, Matilda’s world is rocked by monsters roaming the Manhattan streets and the elusive enemy at her father’s corporation who hired them to kill her.

  With assassins on the heels of her Manalos, and the family business’s reputation in danger of being destroyed, Matilda hires the mysterious Samson, a telepath with a shady past, to help her find out who wants her dead.

  But when the would-be assassins can take the form of anyone in her life, Matilda doesn’t know who she should fear most—the monsters hiding inside her family business or the ones coming for her head.

  GET IT NOW!

  ONE

  DIANA

  All crow shifters had the same eyes—dark brown, practically black. Unless the crow was old, anyway. Her father, despite all his mistakes, somehow still lived. His irises, once so dark they looked like caves, were now slate gray.

  He leaned forward and propped his elbows on the old desk across from him. “But this knife can kill anything.”

  Diana Van Doren narrowed her eyes at her father lounging in a decrepit chair. Charles couldn’t ignore shiny objects, especially expensive ones. But his crippling addiction aside, she didn’t much care to be used in his schemes to acquire them either. “Most knives can.”

  “No.” Charles’s chest rose and fell in a steady, quiet wave. His salt-and-pepper hair had been swept back in an arc, which made the collar of his thick coat seem impossibly tall. Charles Van Doren was important, damn it, and everyone around ought to know. “It can kill…anything.”

  It took longer than she liked to admit, but when her father’s true meaning sank in, it rendered her immobile.

  “You’re joking.” The words left her mouth in a whisper so faint she almost doubted she spoke at all. Had her father actually located something with use beyond lining his pockets? “There’s no way. No such thing exists.”

  “It does, and I found it. Forged in the fires of Hel
l. Very old and very powerful.”

  The chill that raked over her arms had nothing to do with the breeze flitting past the broken glass in the window frame and into the room. A knife that could kill any sentient being? If they got a hold of something like that, then all their problems would be solved.

  “Where did you find it?” Diana dared ask. The shallow ceiling seemed to creep closer with every breath as the possibilities seeped into the wrinkles of her brain. She could be safe. Finally.

  “Dallas,” her mother, Amelia, spoke up from her place on the wall before taking a few strides toward her husband.

  Diana had often wondered why her mother tolerated her father all these years, but she supposed Amelia had no choice. Magic made murders. Once a crow shifter was bound to a murder, they were always bound to that murder. Being kicked out of the flock didn’t change that. Her mother had once described the separation from the rest of the crows as carving out half her heart and leaving it behind in a field. Diana figured staying with Charles was a way to assuage the pain.

  When she said nothing, Amelia cleared her throat. “The knife is being auctioned.”

  Dallas. A couple hours by car, but shorter by air. She’d be able to get there quickly, but once she had the knife, it would be impossible to fly all the way back. She’d have to drive, which would keep her in the open longer.

  A demonic knife that could kill anything. It would be going for thousands, if not millions, of dollars. Dollars they did not have.

  Diana pulled the rest of her inky hair over her shoulder and started to braid it, an action done more out of a desire to busy her hands than a real need. “Auctioned?”

  “Some anthropologist has it. He’s dying though, allegedly from cancer, and he wants the funds to pay for treatment.” Her father sighed and steepled his fingers as he leaned on the desk. Even though he no longer remained a leader in the murder’s assembly, his arrogant demeanor followed him. “He’s invited people in his immediate circle and work colleagues.”

  Diana froze midbraid, her fingers stiff with irritation.

  “We’ve…arranged for you to meet with someone on the list to gain admittance tomorrow night.” Amelia tucked a thick lock of hair behind her ear.

  “I’m sure you have.” Annoyed, Diana finished her braid with a snort.

  “All you’ve got to do is steal the knife and bring it back. Your mother and I wouldn’t survive the auction, or we’d go.” Charles’s voice, soft and pleading, rattled down her ear canals. Her father had always been a good liar. “We can fix this. All of it. We just need that knife.”

  She didn’t even try to fight rolling her eyes. Everything her father stole carried promises of a new future. Except when they didn’t. Which was always.

  “If we don’t do something soon, we will be found. Amir called and told me the demon is looking for us, and she’s close. Lead Crow and the assembly will follow.” Charles paused and looked down at his hands folded in his lap. She hadn’t seen true remorse on his face since he got kicked out of the murder, and their exile was entirely his fault. One didn’t swindle a demon and walk away unscathed. “This knife will get us back into the good graces of the murder. They’ll have no choice but to allow us back. Let us fly with them again. Hell, they might even let you in officially.”

  Her father’s voice showcased none of the seriousness such a claim deserved.

  Diana reluctantly met his gaze, and her father’s smirk grew. She wouldn’t have taken the bait if he hadn’t dangled the one thing she really wanted right before her eyes. “How do you figure? I’m sure Lead Crow and the assembly have a healthy arsenal already.”

  “They do.” Lead Crow, the head of her parent’s old flock, had always planned for the worst. “But if we don’t rejoin the murder on good terms soon, we’re dead…or worse. We have to try.”

  “Please, Diana.” The desperation in Amelia’s voice didn’t mesh with her stern face. “We’ve been hiding away for years. I wish to see your sister…to go home.”

  She frowned. The last time her father had planned something stupid, she’d been shot through the wing. It had taken weeks to heal, and the rug she’d stolen had decidedly not been worth it. “You think I don’t? I’d love to be home. To see Olivia again. But I’m not the one who landed us here, and I’m having a hard time getting excited for a heist that might end with me dead or left behind even if I succeed.”

  Amelia’s gaze flitted to the floor, and she tugged at the thick fibers on the hem of her sweater. As frustrating as she was, her mother had lost a child to her father’s mistakes. Two, if they counted the first years of Diana’s life.

  She bit the inside of her cheek. Olivia had been welcomed into the murder at a young age. Barely a toddler. Her magic connected with the flock in a way Diana had yet to experience. However, that bond was the only thing that kept Olivia safe. Lead Crow allowed her to stay with them since she was a child, instead of forcing her to run from a demon for five years like her.

  Diana swallowed her bitterness. Or tried to, anyway. Maybe if her parents hadn’t neglected her in infancy, she could’ve been like Olivia.

  “Diana.” Her father stood up again, face soft. “If you get this blade, I’m almost certain the murder would accept you…bond with you. They’d be fools not to.”

  A sickness swirled in the pit of her stomach. She did miss her sister. Terribly. But throwing herself into danger again when she potentially wouldn’t get what she wanted in the end was hard to do.

  However, she was twenty-eight, alone, and running out of options. If she hoped to finally be welcomed into the murder with open arms, she had to prove herself worthy of the murder’s magic. Maybe getting this knife to fight off the demon pursuing them would do it.

  Diana took a breath. A lone crow was a dead crow, and she had no intention of dying.

  TWO

  SASHA

  Sasha Sokolov was a patient man. He’d waited years on recruits for his employer to cross his path and months for magical artifacts to drop at his feet. When one could see bits of the future, patience was often easy to come by.

  But patience did not come easy tonight.

  He drummed his fingers along the steering wheel of his rental car. While no stranger to the United States, he loathed the South. Loathed Texas in particular. It was too damn hot. He preferred the cooler climate of Chelyabinsk. His childhood home near the Urals was a world away from the hellish nightmare that was a Texas summer. While it was winter, Texas winters were the equivalent of Russian summers, and he found himself walking the street without his suit jacket several times in the past hour despite everyone else wearing earmuffs and gloves.

  Where the hell is she? Sasha glanced at the clock on the dash. If his visions were more cooperative, he’d have a better idea of when his boss would show up.

  Too bad he couldn’t see everything that would happen to him. Only the dangerous parts.

  The parking lot he’d found in the center of downtown Dallas was empty save for his sedan. He glanced at the clock again before pulling a cigarette from the pack in his coat pocket. Last cigarette and he’d call it. If she couldn’t be bothered to show up on time—

  A familiar burn in the back of his mind stopped his fingers from curling around the gear shift. Sasha swallowed and closed his eyes, fighting the urge to grimace as a wrinkled face, gray hair, and red irises flitted behind his eyelids.

  Great. He’d have to tread carefully. At least she’d finally shown up.

  He opened the door and swung his legs out, dress shoes scraping the asphalt as a crisp breeze sliced across his cheeks. Having been cursed from the womb with a healthy dose of angel blood, it had taken Sasha until his late teens to figure out how his visions worked. Be it from a fist, a gun, or a nasty set of teeth, his mind always warned him of the coming dangers, and seeing his demon boss, Madame, skulking about in the depths of his mind certainly didn’t bode well for him. Despite his angelic lineage, he could still die if the circumstances were right, and Madame would make
sure that death was painful.

  He put the cigarette to his lips as he shut the car door. If Madame didn’t need him so much, he’d be more worried. Sasha inhaled a drag when a familiar figure approached from a nearby alley.

  “I’d hoped you were still here,” Madame called out to him as she adjusted her fur coat along her neck. She tried to play human and failed miserably. Too robotic. Too stiff. Not to mention demons were walking furnaces—she didn’t need the coat.

  “May I ask what kept you?” Sasha kept his annoyance from his face. If Madame was angry, and his vision indicated she might be, a clear face was necessary.

  “Caught wind of a pesky bird hiding close.” Madame narrowed her eyes and looked up at him. “Van Doren is nearby.”