Once a year for the past decade, Nicholas Adams returns to Falledge and leaves a black hellebore on his girlfriend's grave. While departing Falledge, he chases after a man sneaking into the laboratory and dies for his trouble. A witch brings him back to life, but Nicholas soon realizes he's not the same man. Turns out, magic combined with a black hellebore in his pocket changed him into a kind of a super man.
His girlfriend's twin, Julianna Paige, is Falledge's deputy, struggling to solve several murders. Nicholas, and his alter ego the Black Hellebore, helps her, even as she helps him move on and even start to love again.
Unfortunately, Nicholas wasn't the only one changed in the laboratory explosion, and now there's a supervillain bent on destroying Falledge, and killing the Black Hellebore. But falling in love might prove more dangerous than any supervillain.
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Opening Scene...
Nicholas Adams slowed his motorcycle and stopped at the red light. Not much had changed since the last time he had been here -- a year ago.
He hated the small town of Falledge. Hated the sights, hated the sounds. Held too many memories -- the bad far outweighing the good.
Yet every year, those same memories forced him to return.
He glowered at the red light, willing it to change. It mocked him, making him even more restless than he already was, and he tapped his fingers against the handlebar.
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a feeble old woman entering the crossway. She took her time, and soon she was in front of him. He avoided eye contact with her, wishing she would hurry up and cross, that the light would change.
Instead, she stopped in front of him and shouted, "Please, sir, do you have some spare change?"
Nicholas dropped his jaw. Was she kidding him? Asking for money while crossing the street?
He stared at the crosswalk. Several pebbles and small rocks dotted it.
"Please, sir? I don't need much... Say, $5.41?"
The precise number brought him up short, and he lifted his visor and cut his eyes to her. Reaching into his pockets, he pulled out a crumpled up bill and some change. He handed her the five, a quarter, a dime, a nickel, and a penny -- all he had on him, other than a twenty in his wallet.
She thanked him and walked across the rest of the crossway with a lighter step, as if he had given her the world.
The car behind him honked. The light had finally changed color. He jumped forward, and it wasn't until he stopped at another red light that he realized he had given her the exact amount she had requested.
A coincidence.
Still, he found his thoughts returning to the old woman more than the memories nagging him. Just what did she plan to use the money for?
A mile or so down the road, Nicholas pulled into a gas station. He had enough to get to his destination, but nowhere beyond it. After yanking his worn wallet from his back pocket, he opened it up and rifled through it. The twenty he could have sworn would be inside wasn't. He had given the old woman his last cents.
Nicholas groaned. He removed his helmet and dropped it onto the ground. After a moment, he kicked it so gently it hardly moved.
A chuckle brought his attention away from his dilemma. He looked up to see a gorgeous blond. His heartbeat raced, and he found it difficult to swallow. The lovely before him was the one he dreamt of every night.
Yet it wasn't her.
She opened her mouth to say something, but he couldn't hear her. He didn't care to know what she was saying. With a low growl, he jammed the helmet back onto his head. Not bothering to snap it beneath his chin, he jumped onto his bike and peeled away. He knew better than to stop for gas here in town, yet he had stopped anyhow. How could he be so stupid? The whole town was a damned reminder of what he had lost. It was hard enough returning each year; it nearly killed him.
He cut off a car and zoomed down the street. It was time to do what he had come for, and then time to get the hell out of here.
Welcome to Falledge.
Nicholas Adams' personal hell.
***
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Lexie Dunne is a woman of many masks, all of them stored neatly in a box under her bed. By day a mild-mannered technical writer and by night an adventuress and novelist, she keeps life interesting by ignoring it and writing instead. She hails from St. Louis, home of the world’s largest croquet game piece, and SUPERVILLAINS ANONYMOUS is the follow-up to her professional debut into the world of caped crusaders, a journey that started when her father took her and her brother to see The Rocketeer.
