Title: Killing Nightmares
Series: Killing Games, Book Two
Author: Reis Asher
Publisher: NineStar Press
Release Date: 03/28/2023
Heat Level: 3 – Some Sex
Pairing: M/NB
Length: 51700
Genre: Science Fiction, horror, alternate universe, dystopia, action/adventure, bisexual, transmasculine, nonbinary, civil war
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Description
It’s been four years since the Killing Game turned Reis and Edgar’s lives upside-down. Believing the past to be behind them, they’ve tried to move on with their lives. Edgar has returned to freelance computer programming, while Reis is training to become a Bureau agent. Emily is about to marry, and Reis’s biggest concern is what to wear to the wedding as they navigate the rocky seas of their gender identity.
The peace they won is soon cast into doubt as Tony Anvas is released from prison. Shortly after, Edgar and Reis are thrust into a conspiracy more deadly and dangerous than the Killing Game when Anvas stages a coup d’etat, forcibly severing the Twin City-States in a bloody and brutal attack.
It’s once again up to Reis and Edgar to save the day, but Edgar is still suffering the after-effects of trauma and Reis is trying to determine whether to go ahead with medical transition. Can they outwit Anvas’s machinations once again and emerge whole—and if so, what will it cost them?
Killing Nightmares
Reis Asher © 2023
All Rights Reserved
Reis woke to find themself alone in bed, again. It seemed almost a certainty these days that they would wake alone and reach across for an empty space when all they really wanted was to embrace Edgar’s warm body and pull him close. Remind themself that Edgar was still alive, that everything they’d done was for a purpose.
Instead, they were living with a ghost. Edgar was still alive, yet he’d become distant. They passed like ships in the night: a hello here, a good night there. They slept next to one another, yet rarely made love. Reis knew that at least some of it was their fault. The schedule at the Bureau was demanding, and training was hard on their body no matter how much they worked out. It was as much as they could do to come through the front door, climb the stairs, and fall into bed at the end of a long day.
Dreams were hard work and involved sacrifice. But Reis had never considered that might be a higher price than they were willing to pay until now. They’d woken up alone so many times, knowing Edgar was downstairs, coding on the computer. Knowing exactly how their morning would go. Reis would get ready for work, donning their favorite Bureau suit from a dry-cleaning bag and throwing their leather jacket over top. They’d be running late, of course, so they’d kiss Edgar briefly on the way out and climb into the shiny black Bureau car with the Anver-Kasyova Official State Business license plates parked out front. They’d make the hour commute listening to an audiobook, since Edgar had stopped wanting to talk on the phone a while back, and they’d become so wrapped up in training that seven in the evening would roll around before Reis could blink.
“Reis!”
Edgar’s voice jolted them from their reverie. Something about it was jarring, discordant and wrong; alarmed. Reis ran out onto the landing in nothing but a white T-shirt and matching panties. They descended the stairs two at a time until Edgar and the television came into view. The news broadcast showed a crowd of people gathered outside Anver’s high security prison, The Trench, famous for being a rebel stronghold during the civil war. Tony Anvas stood amongst them, smiling and greeting onlookers as he was herded to a black car by security guards. The words “TONY ANVAS PARDONED” filled the headline bar at the bottom of the screen, and Reis’s heart sank like a stone.
“Emily said it was impossible… I knew he’d applied for a pardon, but the President wasn’t even considering it…” Reis blinked repeatedly, as if the broadcast was going to shimmer and fade like a bad dream. This couldn’t be happening. It wasn’t real. They would have known about it.
“That’s more than I knew,” Edgar snapped. Reis bit down on the accusation, knowing they deserved it. They could have told Edgar, but they’d chosen not to. Edgar was fighting his personal demons and didn’t need to know about unlikely scenarios, but Reis had been hoping the threat of Anvas’s pardon would quietly go away. Speaking it out loud would have made it seem more real, a tangible reality they had to consider.
Edgar’s lips moved soundlessly before he formed a cohesive question. “How could this happen?”
“I…I don’t know,” Reis admitted. They sat on the stairs, considering the implications of this new information. Tony Anvas was free. Free to walk the world once again. Free to return to his rebel activities and destabilize the Twin City-States. “It doesn’t make any sense. Why would the President let him go? Pardon him as if he’s done nothing wrong?”
“Obviously the President doesn’t consider Anvas a threat. This wouldn’t have happened if he hadn’t wriggled free of the terrorism charges by blaming everything on Ash. But who was Ash working for, if not Anvas and the other members of the Killing Committee?” Edgar tugged on a loose strand of cotton on the hem of his T-shirt. “He’s gonna come after us, Reis. We put him in jail. Our testimony sent him down.”
“We don’t know that for sure.” Reis bit their lip, trying to think with the flood of panic overwhelming their senses. Dread settled in, awakening old survival instincts they’d buried since Anvas’s plot had unraveled. “If he’s smart, he’ll lie low for a while. We’ll have some time to figure out a plan.”
One look into Edgar’s wide eyes told Reis his panic was cascading, his inner sense of peace toppling like a line of dominoes set up to fall. It had taken only moments to shatter what remained of his resolve and send him spiraling, the inner peace he’d been working on for four years destroyed.
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Reis Asher (he/him) is a transmasculine author living in rural Pennsylvania with his husband and four cats. He loves video games, reading, technology, and of course, writing.
He enjoys shining a spotlight on queer characters and their adventures in a diverse range of worlds, from the fantastical to the everyday.
Catch him on Twitter where he’s happy to interact. You can find Reis on Twitter.
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