Free Serial by Tim Marquitz

funerals and finalize the detective’s affairs, the department springing to cover the costs from his budget.
    It was a small price to pay.
    Internal Affairs would take care of Mendes. His department suspected someone in Garcia’s squad of committing the Ripper murders and had made arrangements months before to provide a detective. They’d sent Mendes in to investigate. A smile stretched Garcia’s cheeks at the serendipity of IA’s choice.
    Mendes had been an officer under Garcia about a year before Isaac had come to the force. The then street patrolman had a habit of bringing his work home with him, fraternizing with the local gangs more than he arrested them. Garcia and he had butted heads often, the brash officer secure in his defiance because of his uncle’s position on the city council. That relationship had nearly screwed Garcia out of his captainship Politics at their finest.  
    The officer had been a thorn in Garcia’s side, but there’d been nothing he could do procedurally to get him out without a prolonged and uncomfortable fight. Instead, Garcia convinced Mendes it would be a good idea to move on, offering to clear his record and set him up with promotion and a transfer to LA. It had worked.
    Garcia leaned forward and ran his hand across the folded leather case that lay on his desk. He pulled the case open and looked at the knives stored inside. He sighed at the memory of stumbling across Isaac as he picked up the young girl in Las Cruces. For all Garcia’s plans to draw the Ripper out, using Mendes as bait and dropping the first two bodies off after he’d arrived, Garcia never suspected Isaac, but the following morning laid it bare. He knew then what he had to do.
    He opened his desk drawer, closed the case and slid it inside, pushing it to the back. He sifted past the bottle of Pepto that blocked the way and pulled a toothpick from the drawer. He stuck it between his teeth and smiled.
    The people would never know the sacrifices made to free the city from the worst serial killer ever to stalk its streets. But that was okay. It was enough to know he’d been   the one who ended Isaac’s reign. That he was able to protect the department from Mendes’s snooping was another plus. IA’s investigation would wither and Bane and the Desert Ripper would disappear forever. Only their memories would haunt El Paso.
    Garcia ran his fingers over the cold steel of Isaac's knives, a knot unraveling in his guts as he slipped one loose of its sheath. He admired the blade, pressing the edge against the tip of his thumb. Blood welled, and Garcia smiled.
    The city was safe…for now.

About the Author
    Raised on a diet of Heavy Metal and bad intentions, Tim Marquitz writes a mix of the dark perverse, the horrific, and the tragic, tinged with sarcasm and biting humor.
     
    A former grave digger, bouncer, and dedicated metalhead, Tim is a huge fan of Mixed Martial Arts and fighting in general.
     
    He lives in Texas with his beautiful wife and daughter.
     
    You can find out more about Tim and his work by following him on Facebook ( www.facebook.com/tim.marquitz ) or by checking out his web page at www.tmarquitz.com .

Six-guns vs. werewolves in the Old West!
     
    The Guns of Santa Sangre
    © 2013 Eric Red
     
    They’re hired guns. The best at what they do. They’ve left bodies in their wake across the West. But this job is different. It’ll take all their skill and courage. And very special bullets. Because their targets this time won’t be shooting back. They’ll fight back with ripping claws, tearing fangs and animal cunning. They’re werewolves. A pack of bloodthirsty wolfmen has taken over a small Mexican village, and the gunmen are the villagers’ last hope. The light of the full moon will reveal the deadliest showdown the West has ever seen—three men with six-shooters facing off against snarling, inhuman monsters.  
     
    Enjoy the following excerpt for The Guns of Santa Sangre:
    John Whistler reckoned he