Pitch:

Raised within the Cape Town office of a secretive international organization dedicated to concealing the existence of mythological creatures, Agent-in-training Finn is eager to ace her high-profile assignment. After discovering the case involves the rare Lightning Bird—whose uncharacteristic killing spree threatens to expose all cryptids—Finn’s investigation forces her to choose between the family she loves and the cryptids she swore to protect. 

Men in Black meets Wakanda

Excerpt:

The grey clouds stretched across the sky like a dirty ribbon. Finn watched raindrops gather on the minibus window as bone-rattling kwaito music played.

“WAKE ME UP BEFORE YOU GO-GO…”

Finn scrambled to pick up her phone, ringtone blaring.

“Anza?”

“Almost here?”

Finn frowned. “I am, but why meet at a restaurant, not the crime scene?”

“Best Chinese food in Sea Point. See you there.”

She spotted Anza as she stepped off the bus, looking as he always did, like a perfume advert or a black James Bond. He was slender, appearing to be in his mid-twenties, with skin a deep, rich brown a few shades darker than her own and short dreadlocks. He was every inch the HELSING Agent in a black Carducci suit. Finn, on the other hand, was happy to be an Agent trainee if it meant she got to wear jeans and a T-shirt.

He hailed her with a cigarette in hand, his round John Lennon sunglasses slipping down his nose, revealing inhuman eyes that flashed silver like a mirror catching sunlight. Backlit by red and yellow light streaming from the Chinese restaurant, looking both effortlessly cool and slightly outrageous, Anza pushed his sunglasses into place.

“I’m on the Muzenda case, but no one’s told me much. What’s going on, Anz?”

“The mayor of Cape Town’s been murdered.” Exhaling a plume of smoke, he grinned at her. “You ready?”