Blood Secrets
Blood Series: Book Two
Blurb:
When your life is messed up to begin with, how much
worse can it really get?
Heather Ryan's life has never
been simple. The latest in a long line of descendants who have made it their
mission to hunt down and slay the Ancient Vampire, Marko Pavel, she is also the
first born Infected. Up until recently, the biggest downside to living with the
Vampyrric Virus was simply that she craved blood, but after receiving a DVD
from her deceased Grandmother Sofia and being kidnapped with friend and so
called guardian Werewolf, Brendan Daniels, she quickly discovers that she is
also the inspiration behind the Vampires’ attempt to create a whole new breed
of super monsters—Hybrids.
The
truth comes at a cost, but how much does one have to sacrifice to gain success?
Following the breadcrumbs left
by her psychic Grandmother, Heather and Brendan find themselves in new
territory. Venice is where Heather hopes to find Marie, the second Bloodling of
Marko, along with Brendan's three taken Pack members. But an old Peace Pact
between the Italian Pack and the Colony means they are left hunting blind, and
due to the Italian Alpha's reluctance to believe their story of kidnap and
experimentation on Loup-Garous, time is running out. So when help comes from an
unlikely source, they have no choice but to accept.
All
families have secrets, but blood can't lie.
Caught up in an intricate and complicated scheme spun by the one she trusts the
most and the friend of her enemy, Heather soon discovers that she is the pawn
in a plan she would never have been able to conceive. But how many of her new
allies were in on the game, to begin with?
This
title contains explicit language, violence, and some scenes of a sexual nature.
Length:
127,000 words | Content: Urban
Fantasy| Publisher: Elizabeth Morgan
** Download your copy of Blood Secrets (Blood Series: Book Two) at the celebratory release price $3.49 until April 30th. Thereafter it will revert to the price of $4.49. **
Blood Secrets will also be
available in print from Amazon and Barnes&Noble in the next few weeks.
~
* ~
Excerpt:
The walkway appeared desolate... Darkness almost
shrouded the passage, but the streetlights of Venice, which stretched across
the seemingly black water of the Grand Canal, cast slithers of light through
the tall stone arches. A gust of wind ran past me and I shivered, the small
tremble causing drops of water to fly from my soaked clothing and stain the
grey slabs beneath me.
A howl pierced the night sky, then another and
another; a unison of agonizing cries echoing around the maze of buildings that
made Central Venice so unique.
To say that Ken doll was going to be pissed that I
had took off was an understatement, but I couldn’t lose this chance. I wasn’t
going to lose Marie.
Pulling my sword from its sheath, I made my way
towards the intricate iron gates which were open, held in place by chains that
locked into two hoops that protruded from the grey bricks.
Moving past the rough metal, I peered into the
square, outer foyer to find the main double doors to the nest stood wide open
in invitation, giving me the perfect view of the long, quiet hallway. I inhaled
deeply. The stench of ancient earth polluted the air.
With a steadying breath, I stepped through the
doorway and past the two round pillars. Three large iron lanterns hung from the
ceiling. A mosaic of stained glass caging the bulbs inside, casting
fragments of multi-coloured light across the cream walls. The glow from them
curled around the sculptures lining the walls, the shadows of their perfect
forms stretched across the blank canvas, disfiguring as I moved past them.
My heart thundered in my chest, so loud that I was
pretty damn sure it was drowning out the squelch of water in my boots as I
tread lightly and swiftly across the coral and ivory diamond tiles. Droplets of
water continued to travel down my skin and beneath my clothes, which already
clung to me like a second skin. My curls were a drenched mess. Stray strands
had escaped the bun I had shoved my hair in earlier, the wet chunks sticking to
my face and neck.
I walked past the two sets of closed double doors
which sat across from each other. My focus strayed to the enclosed, dimly lit
stairwell on my right.... It was now
blocked off by an iron gate similar to the one protecting the front entrance.
Another set of doors sat closed to my left, but it was the archway at the end
of the hallway that I was drawn to—the
only other doors that lay wide open in invitation, and despite the light in the
chamber being dim, I knew she was in
there, waiting for me.
Oxygen burned my lungs. A stitch had claimed my right
side, and the scent of blood from my weeping wounds had my senses peaking. Only this task
remains.
Tightening my grip on the hilt of my sword, I moved
into the large chamber. No furniture filled the space. All the curtains were
drawn. The dark, thick material ran the length of the wall, indicating that the
windows stood from ceiling to floor. The walls were painted in panels of
patterns so fine, but I couldn’t make out the details. Not that the particulars
of the interior of a nest ever really mattered. Although, this was by far the
fanciest I had been in. My feet faltered as my gaze landed on him.
He stood like a statue in the centre of the room,
his unseeing eyes, like white, misted glass, vacant and icy, focused on me. He
could see me. He could see right through me....
The air caught in my lungs as pain seared through my
lower back. I lurched, a scream lodged in my throat.
“You should have run while you had the chance.”
His voice sent a chill sweeping across my already
frozen flesh.
I spun, sword loose in my grip, swiping at air. A
delayed reaction, which only caused pain to ripple up my spine. Heat pulsed at
the base of my back, a seeping warmth drawing the material of my damp T-shirt.
The scent of my blood hit me once more. Shit.
“Brave of you to come back,” a female chortled.
Wiping the back of my hand across my eyes, I looked
round the room. There was nowhere for her to hide but the shadows which claimed
the corners. But why was she even hiding?
“What’s the matter, Marie? Are you afraid to face me
one-on-one?”I straightened, gritting my teeth at the splintering pain
stretching from my head to my toes. “I expected more from a first generation
Leech, more from Marko’s Bloodling than peak-a-boo-attack.”
“You flatter yourself,” he said calmly.
I did. There was no reason for her to hide from me.
Perhaps she wasn’t. Perhaps, this was just a game of cat and mouse to her, and
she wanted to draw it out for as long as possible. Despite the fact she should
be running for her wretched immortal life, despite the fact that she was no
longer safe in her own territory, she hadn’t run. She was either egotistical or
foolish, or maybe just clueless. One way or another, she was going to die
before the sun rose.
“Face me, Marie,” I growled, tightening the grip on
my sword. “Your son at least had the balls to—”
The air left my lungs as a weight barrelled into me.
In the back of my mind, I registered my sword
slipping from my hand. A fact that was confirmed as the sound of metal
clattering against marble echoed throughout the room. My head made impact with
the wall. Pain exploded at the back of my skull. Stars burst behind my eyelids
in a rush of glittering colours. I crumpled to the floor.
“Never speak of my son, puttana
disgustosa.”
The words were snarled, but seemed distant due to
the pounding in my ears. My eyes snapped open as blood coated my tongue. I
rolled onto my side, gagging, wanting so badly to throw up, and yet, I had the
urge to gulp, to swallow; to drink, and it was so damn strong.
“Pathetic.”
The word hammered at my temples, causing the pain
that already cradled my head to stab sharper.
Pathetic. Perhaps I was pathetic. Perhaps I had been
fooling myself all these years for clinging on to humanity when every primal
instinct inside me hungered for blood, even my own. I was sick. I was no better
than the monsters I killed, but I knew that already... Didn’t I?
“...you are not
human, Heather. You have been lying to yourself. Thinking you can survive this
way, lead a ‘normal life’ when you were born to be so much more...”
His words echoed in my mind, taunting me even though
he stood quietly at the centre of the room.
“It is almost laughable, the idea that you thought
you could stop us, destroy Marko after all those before you have failed.”
Breathing fast and hard, I twisted onto my knees. My
arms trembled as I tried to push myself up.
“Where is he?” I bit the words out.
Marie’s foot connected with my abdomen. A crunch met
my ears. Another scream lodged in my throat. Fists clenched, I curled myself
into a ball, sucking in sharp breaths through my teeth as I tried to fight past
the pain pulsing inside me.
“Where. Is. Marko?” The words were broken and
strained as I tried to lift my head to look at her.
Marie grabbed me by my hair. A strangled cry burst
from my lips as she dragged me up, sliding me against the wall. Nausea exploded
in my stomach. Numbness claimed my cheeks and neck. I kicked helplessly. My
legs were deadweight, but pins and needles shot through my calves each time my
boots scuffed against the brick. I couldn’t feel my fingertips as I wrapped my
hands round her wrist, feebly trying to break her iron grip.
She grabbed me by the throat with her free hand and
pinned me high above her head. My hands dropped to the arm now holding me
against the cold wall. My eyes widened as she stepped closer, into the soft
stream of light coming through the doorway. If I could have breathed, I would
have stopped at the sight of her angular, almost amphibian features.
Sweet Jesus, so
this is what a first generation Vampire in full form looks like?
Like all transformed Vampires, her head was void of
hair, but the bones beneath her face were moving. Her skin looked pasty and
brittle as it stretched across the sharp and unnatural angles of her jaw and
cheek bones. Her nose had caved into her skull, but her nostrils were large and wide, bat-like. And her eyes—deep crimson,
so fucking inhuman, so lifeless I might have shivered if I had the strength to.
The skin wriggled across her face... She was still shifting?
How much uglier
can she get?
I jolted as something razor-sharp punched into my
gut. Blood flooded my mouth, leaking from the corners as I fought to breathe.
Tears filled my eyes as I glanced down, noting her free hand had pushed against
my abdomen, her fingers embedded deep inside me.
“In the last place you, or any of your pathetic
family, would ever think to look for him.”
Reality slowed down, or perhaps it was my heartbeat.
Perhaps I was blacking out, but despite the pins and needles that tingled from
my fingers straight down to my toes, the numbness that claimed every part of my
body, despite the only feelings I had left being pain as she squeezed every
breath of air from me, despite that, at this very moment, the only thing I
should have been thinking about was that I was about to die, that I had failed
my family, my grandmother... Brendan... a bulb pinged in my mind, and I had
never seen the light so fucking clearly.
Her tongue slithered towards me, flicking across the
blood staining my lips. She shuddered. “You should not have murdered my son.”
A howl echoed throughout the building. Hope
fluttered in my struggling heart.
“It is time to leave.”
His voice jolted me, so innocent and calm,
completely un-fazed by the scene playing out before him.
I lurched as she pulled her hand from inside me.
Through my blurred gaze, I caught sight of the length of her now blood-stained
talons as she brought her fingers to my face.
“Die knowing that you have failed, like the rest of
your feeble family.”
Bones cracked and her jaw dislocated, her mouth
widened, as her fangs extended—
A mountain of black fur barrelled into her.
I landed on the floor. My body screamed in protest,
but no sound left me. I couldn’t feel my fingers or toes. Hell, I couldn’t feel
my body. Just the pain that resided in every point she had struck.
Dark shadows moved around the room, accompanied by
growls and ear-splintering wails.
Another thundering howl rang through the building. I
moved my focus to the doorway and found a copper-blond Werewolf standing in the
frame. His golden gaze landed on me, widening.
My eyes fluttered, and the next thing I knew, he was
beside me.
“I know where he is,” I rasped as Brendan’s flushed,
sweat-slicked face filled my vision.
“Shit.
Heather?” Brendan’s hands fell to my stomach.
Searing pain exploded outward, stretching to my head
and toes. An inhuman cry gurgled in my throat, the action causing more blood to
ooze from my mouth.
“Christ.” Tears threatened to emerge in his emerald
gaze. His hands moved to my face. “Why—What?” His jaw was tense. A growl
vibrated in his throat. “God damn it, Heather. Why couldn’t you have fucking
waited?”
A smile touched my lips. “Because, silly Wolf—” I
closed my eyes. My brain felt as though it were churning in my skull, “—I now
know where Marko is.”
Darkness took me.
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