Since there are only five days until its release - *hyperventilates* - I thought I would share an excerpt from The Collector with you.
I hope you enjoy!
~~~~~~~~~~
Chapter One
Ten years later...
Kale stood unseen under the dim streetlight, waiting. Night had lain down upon London like a thick blanket. The street glittered as if it mirrored the night sky because it was completely soaked from the pouring rain.
As he watched every human that passed him shivering helplessly, he found himself wondering how the water would feel against his skin.
He held out his right hand and caught the falling rain. Nothing. He couldn’t feel a thing, even though he could see each drop that hit his skin. He couldn’t even feel the cold chill he knew was in the air, and as he tipped his hand and let the gathering water fall from his palm, his skin remained dry.
He looked at the night sky and sighed. It was pointless to wonder about such an unimportant thing, so he brushed the thought aside and concentrated on the humans around him.
He could sense every ounce of tension, aggression, and lust pulsing in the city’s nightlife. They were raw emotions, and they floated around him, attempting to influence him. But such simple human emotions slid off him like the raindrops on the windows of the buildings, and they were just as unimportant.
He opened his mind and listened to the random babbling of each individual, their desires pouring from their minds along with their worries and fears. An ongoing trail of meaningless words...
“I dress up for him and he doesn’t even notice…”
“Man, I’ve got to get laid tonight…”
“I am so wasted!”
“I bet I look fat. Why did I wear this?”
“She dumped me. I can’t believe she dumped me!”
Humans. Everything affected them. Every word, touch… Why? What was the point in it all?
Why did he care about such things?
He closed his mind and dropped his head back, allowing the white fog to swirl around his eyes. He pulled the vision the Fates had given him of his next collection.
He had already seen what was about to happen. He had watched it a million times. This girl’s death would be nothing compared to some of the others he had witnessed, but something didn’t feel right. He didn’t feel right.
He latched on to vision, holding it in his mind, letting it re-play before him one more time. He watched as the silver BMW swerved around the street corner, water exploding as the tires pass through the deep puddles. The driver has lost his grip on the wheel, which sent the car spinning. It hits a blue compact, smashing into the right corner of the hood. Apart from slight whiplash, the passengers aren’t hurt. The BMW spins onto the curve. The front of the car catches the coat of a young woman. Her legs break as soon as the metal meets her pale skin, but it is the instant blow of her head slamming into the brick wall that kills her. Her lifeless form rests on top of the hood of the BMW, her legs mashed into the wall of the bar behind her. Quick and brutal.
He dropped his head and allowed the fog to clear from his eyes. His chest suddenly felt tight.
She does not stand a chance. The thought echoed in his head. But why does it even matter?
It wasn’t the first time he had seen her. She had been only a child when they met, her young mind so open to all that lay around her. He had probably looked like a mortal to her.
She had watched as he took her father away.
She had no idea what had happened. She was too young to understand. He had reached out for her, but then the driver of the Ford that had stopped after the crash helped her. Knowing she was out of harm, Kale then delivered her father into the light.
But seeing her now, older, he found himself curious about her life. About her.
Always cars. Why must her life now end in such a way?
It shouldn’t matter. It wasn’t his place to know the details of those he collected. It wasn’t his place to be curious. It didn’t matter…
“It does not,” he told himself.
He lifted his head, eyes opening as he sensed the faint dark fog of death invading the air. It was time.
For some reason, his gut twisted as he watched Samantha emerge from the bar where she worked. Her long, auburn hair fell gracefully down her shoulders, framing her pale, heart-shaped face. She stopped abruptly, struggling to get her red umbrella working. He watched carefully as the heavy rain penetrated her thin, dark green coat, which fit snugly against her slender frame. She had grown into a beautiful woman.
Kale could already hear the tires of the BMW in the distance slipping along the drenched road, coming for her. The strange feeling in his chest seemed to swell and grow inside him.
Samantha finally got the umbrella up. Her right hand was shaking as she raised it above her head, her left reaching inside the black bag that rested against her hip. She glanced inside, searching for something.
Kale lifted his hand and slowly swiped the empty space in front of him, causing time to slow before his eyes. He watched the BMW swerve around the corner, then looked back at Samantha who had lifted her head as she pulled her cell phone out of her bag.
Kale could hear the crunch of metal as the BMW hit the car. Samantha reacted to the sound, her gaze gliding over the space where he stood, droplets of rain rolling down her cheek as her eyes suddenly locked with his.
His back straightened. She was looking at him. Straight at him. Could she actually see him? How could she see him? He wasn’t on the mortal plain.
Her brow furrowed, a strange expression spreading across her face. Her head swung toward the BMW as her cell slipped from her hand.
The strange feeling exploded in Kale’s chest. A ripple of light rolled over the surface of his skin, and before he realized what he was doing, he ran toward her. He sensed the hood of the car near his leg as he wrapped his arms tightly around her waist and spun, pulling her along with him.
Time caught up.
~~~~~~~~~~
The Collector (Paranormal Romance)
Book| One Series| The Overseers
Release Date: October 12th 2011
Length: Novella
Publisher: Cobblestone Press
Blurb:
After watching millions die, those human emotions are starting to take effect. Instead of collecting his next spirit from the car accident that is about to kill her, Kale saves her life. His punishment for ruining fate... is mortality.
Samantha hasn't been able to stop thinking about her beautiful hero. So when she stumbles across him, lying in a hospital bed with a small case of amnesia, she is more than happy to offer him her help. It's the least she can do to re-pay the man who saved her life.
Though Samantha soon learns that Kale isn't the guardian angel she thought he was, not to mention how far he has fallen to earn a place in her heart.
No comments:
Post a Comment