We’re back to it! This may be the fastest I have ever written, but De-Termination is rapidly coming to an end for me. I have three chapters left to write today and the novel is done. I’m already at 101,000 words, which I’ve written in less than three weeks.

But alas, today is WIPpet Wednesday, which means I’m sharing a chunk from De-Termination since that is my current WIP. I’m about to hit some serious editing hell with all these books I keep finishing and avoiding editing, so bear with me in a few months when I want to drown in the vodka. If you want to beta read something for me, send me a message! I need all the help I can get.

This chunk comes from chapter 36 of De-Termination. I’m not going to give a whole lot of context because…well…spoilers. I do, however, want to mention things between our love interests, Faye & Molly, have been less than romantic and far more on the bittersweet side. They both just keep missing the mark when it comes to the other.

So here we have it. 12 paragraphs for the 12th of August. Voila! Bear with me as this is completely unedited, but it’s 11:15pm and someone needs sleep.

She’d stopped by Joel’s office first, but the room lights were off and it was quiet inside. Sighing heavily, she went in search of Ben to see if he’d gleaned anything from his research. When she found the work room empty and void of light as well, she leaned against the wall.

It was late. They could have gone to bed. She needed answers right away, at least she’d convinced herself of that after leaving Amelia’s room. Walking precisely and decidedly back to the elevator, Molly headed for Ben’s room. She knocked on his door three times before turning the handle and opening it. Once again she was greeted with an empty room.

“Bloody hell.” Her heart jumped. She had one last resort before she would try to confirm her suspicions.

Joel’s room was also barren of her team. Letting out a huff, Molly headed from the residential floor straight for her office on the topmost floor. Flicking the lights on as she entered, she sat down at her desk. She had reports from Ben in her email, but she bypassed them since none of the subjects read urgent. If he’d found something, he would have made sure she’d known about it.

It took her thirty minutes to find video footage of Ben in his work room, packing up a bag. Biting her lip, she followed him on the camera to his room and then back to the garage where Joel interrupted him leaving. Joel disappeared and came back with a bag of his own. They set off.

“Fuck,” Molly muttered.

Reaching up, she brushed her fingers against her temple and the migraine settling into the center of her head. She rubbed at her tense muscles in her neck, checking their phones to see where they might have gone. When she finally got the tracking to work, she had to do a double take.

They were over the pacific ocean. Licking her lips, Molly pulled up the flight manifest for her private jet. They were set to arrive in Paraguay in four hours. Slamming her hand onto her desk, she shot out of her chair and leaned over the computer. “What the hell?”

Everyone was ignoring her orders. First Amelia refused to look for Faye, then these two up and went on their own mission without even discussing it with her? All because of one stubborn and impulsive vampire who insisted on leaving without permission and getting herself into a whole lot of damn trouble.

Her house was falling apart. Sinking back into her chair, Molly closed her eyes and shook her head. What was happening? Ever since Faye had arrived, nothing had been even-keeled or balanced. Her life was slowly falling into ruins at the hands of a vampire who didn’t even want to be a vampire. Cursing again, Molly stood up straight from her desk and headed for the parapet. The cold air shocked some sense into her and the anger from her chest. Leaning against the stone wall, she closed her eyes, focusing on Faye.

Faye had been a wrench in her life, something unexpected that had taken her on a beautiful turn. Faye was the first time since Marcellus that she felt she could truly be with someone, someone who understood what it felt like to be so alone in a world that moved constantly around her while she stood still in the center frozen in time. Biting her lip, Molly shook her head, tears freely falling.

What was she going to do without her?

If you want more from WIPpet Wednesday, join me live over on my Facebook page www.facebook.com/adrianjsmithbooks tonight somewhere around 8:30pm Mountain Time for a live reading of my WIPpet. It will most likely be a different excerpt just to keep it entertaining!