Hotel Atlantis

Perched high above ancient ruins on the magnificent Aegean cliffs of Santorini sits Hotel Atlantis, and its opening marks the culmination of a dream for founder Kikki Trieste. Until suddenly, a ritual murder turns the festive party into a crime scene, and a full moon eclipse blows open an energetic portal exposing a deadly plot by a secret patriarchal society dating back to the legendary island of Atlantis. Before the portal closes, Kikki must discover the truth about the "players" from the past among her party guests, and vanquish a superhuman foe driven mad by jealousy and passion for power. Allied with her are the beautiful and exotic belly dancer Cleo Manet and the sexy Spanish Interpol operative Pepe Torres, who came to the island to bust an antiquities theft ring but instead finds himself fighting for his life and his love. But most of all, what Kikki has to rely on are her own exceptional powers and her psychic hotline to the world of ancient priestesses and goddesses. In this visually lush metaphysical and romantic thriller, the forces battling over nature and Gaia play out again the deadly karmic dance that ended 3,500 years ago with the planet's most violent volcanic eruption. Infinite layers of the past are relived again through Hotel Atlantis as ancient power joins with modern love in a fateful struggle to change the tragic ending.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

From Chapter 1 Kikki Trieste fingered the black-and-gold-crested deck of tarot cards in her lap. She took a deep breath and let the cards roll expertly through her fingers. She did not look. Not yet. As she rocked back on the legs of a captain's chair, she kept her dark eyes on the sparkling azure sea of Santorini dashing against the ancient cliffs of her island. This view from the marble terrace of Hotel Atlantis--her hotel–was the realization of a dream that had endured lifetimes. Kikki let the deck rest in her palms. Her skin stung with energy. The Fates had picked their card. A chill traveled her spine. She took a deep breath as the card dropped. Orestes, the Seven of Swords. The ill-fated prince from the cursed House of Atreus, his was one of the most powerful of Greek myths. Working to steady her trembling hand, Kikki touched the image of Prince Orestes, the dark and dangerous son of King Agamemnon and Queen Clytemnestra. The card depicted Orestes as he slipped stealthily into the palace at Argos. Under the cover of a stormy night, his identity shrouded, Orestes was answering his fate: to commit matricide to avenge his father's murder. According to the myth, Orestes, stuck in a karmic chain of fate, had the right to kill his mother in cold blood. It was an amoral code that Kikki barely understood, much less believed–for it demanded a mind devoid of values and emotion. A mind without soul, far from the nurturing heart and the light of the great and Ancient Goddess that Kikki and the ancient peoples of her island had worshipped. As Kikki forced herself to hold the card, goose bumps ran from her fingers up the length of her arm, as if a chill breeze had suddenly whipped through the sultry air. It was nearly sunset and over a hundred degrees with humidity almost as high, typical weather for high summer. The cold came from within her and from the evil spell the Seven of Swords cast on Hotel Atlantis. She dropped the card abruptly. Suddenly, she couldn't bear to be alone. She stood and scanned the upper stories of the hotel, two small houses built into the cliff itself. Like a mirage, the freshly whitewashed buildings seemed to glow from the high cliffs. There was no sign of Cleo Manet, her best friend and spiritual sister. No belly dance music coming from Cleo's private cliff house. Kikki's keen psychic antennae couldn't pick up Cleo anywhere.

About the Author

Through years of living in and loving many of the world's most fascinating ports of call, author Juliette Lauber always felt the lure of the beautiful Greek island of Santorini. Now, she shares its magic with this tale of murder and mystery, gods and goddesses, ancient treasures and lusty lovers, all converging at the beautiful clifftop Hotel Atlantis.

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