Gerard has been told what his destiny is his entire life.
He’s different from humans, he is “of the Blood,” destined to become a vampire.
However, he defies his heritage, becoming a werewolf to avoid being forced to
become a vampire, even though the werewolf clan he joins believes he has come
to them to prophetically end the war between werewolves and vampires. He soon
finds himself playing a strange and twisted game with Morgaine, the queen of
the vampires. One moment she’s offering protection from the vampires, the next
she seems determined to have Gerard, body and soul. Every encounter with her
pulls him deeper into her demented world, but with his lover and his new allies
in danger, he has few choices. She could destroy them all with a thought, but
if the prophecy is true, he may find the ultimate way to end her dark reign.
Excerpt:
Gerard knocked on
the door, but before he could even take a breath and collect his thoughts, the
door swung open. Aria stood there, her long black hair flowing down her back,
her blue eyes sparkling. She pulled him inside, a smile exploding across her
face. And then she kissed him full on the mouth, taking away what breath he’d
had left.
She sighed as she
pulled away. “I’m so glad you’re safe. Let’s get out of here.”
She grabbed some
bags and pointed to two others. “I’ve got everything. I’m never coming back
here.”
Gerard still stood
stunned. “Morgaine explained everything?”
“Yes. Come on.”
“Okay.” He shut
the door and carried her bags out to Erika’s car. He opened Aria’s door for
her, then put the bags in the trunk.
Just calm down.
You’ve talked to the queen of all vampires, you can talk to the girl you
like. He took a long, deep breath. The beautiful girl you hardly know
who just kissed you.
He got in the car
and started back to Simon’s. “So you’re okay with this?”
“Yeah, I am. I
nearly freaked out when Morgaine showed up in my living room, but I’m handling
it just fine.” She paused for a moment, but then asked, “So you didn’t know I
thought you were hot?”
“No,” he managed
to say. “I’m psychic, actually, but I never probe people. It’s not polite.”
“Opening doors and
everything. God, you’re so nice. Such a gentleman.”
He laughed. “I
hope that’s a good thing.”
“Of course it is,
but you always looked so…I don’t know, forbidding. That’s why I never tried to
talk to you. I’m not shy, in case you haven’t noticed, but you never smile. You
always wear dark clothes, and you hide behind your hair a lot, and never talk
to anyone. You look like you’d rip someone’s throat out if they said the wrong
thing.”
Gerard couldn’t
help feeling taken aback. “Are you serious? Hell, no wonder even my sister
thinks I’m a brooder. Do I really look like that? Do I really give off that
vibe?”
“You definitely
have that dark, brooding, romantic look down. And I’m certainly not objecting
to that. Can you see something if I think about it?”
“What? Oh, yeah,
in your mind I can. Hang on, let me pull over.”
She laughed.
“Safety first. Morgaine was right. You’re adorable.”
Gerard
concentrated on what he was doing, trying to keep his face from flaming red. Geez,
how am I suddenly every girl’s sweet gothic dream?
“Okay. Think about
whatever you want to show me.”
She looked into
his eyes, and he found it hard to get a fix on her. That had never
happened before. He didn’t want to read her thoughts. He just wanted to kiss
her.
He saw himself in
Crimson, a club where goth kids and vamps alike hung out. He sat at the bar,
alone, drinking a beer. He stared at the bar in front of him, occasionally
looking around. His body looked tense as he slumped over the bar in black jeans
and one of his old leather jackets. His eyes were narrowed, giving him a
defensive look, and his hair was falling over his face and shadowing it. He had
to admit, he did look brooding and a little mean.
Yikes. No
wonder everyone avoided me.
“I just heard
that.”
Gerard blinked and
looked at Aria. “I was still in your mind. I can tell you things if I
concentrate hard enough. It’s hard because you’re not psychic, but the blood
helps form a link.”
She nodded. “See
what I mean, though?”
He shrugged. She
liked me? Even when I looked like that? “Yeah. It’s probably because I was
around vamps. I get defensive. I used to be that way around my sister too
because she always defended them.”
He started the car
and got back on the road.
“Are you going to
ask me out, or are we going to go straight to me being your girl?”
Gerard smiled. “I
think you’ve always been my girl,” he said softly.
“What?” She leaned
close to him.
He laughed. “Yes,
you’re my girl.”
“No. You said, ‘I
think you’ve always been my girl’. I just wanted to hear you say it again. It’s
a great line.”
“But it’s not a
line.”
She put her head
on his shoulder and then whispered in his ear, “That’s what makes it so great.”
She kissed his cheek and settled her head back on his shoulder.
He tried to
concentrate on the road, hoping his cock wouldn’t get any harder, because there
was no way she’d miss seeing it from her present angle.
Apparently she did
notice it. She ran her hand over his hard length and asked, “How far away are
we?”
“It’s about five
more miles,” he said tightly.
“You wanna pull
over?”
He took a deep
breath. “We hardly know each other.”
“Since when do
guys care about that?”
He slowed down,
trying to keep his body and his emotions under control. “Not all guys are
alike, and we aren’t all like that anyway.”
She laughed. “I
know. I’m just teasing you.” She stopped caressing him, but her hand stayed on
his cock.
“I mean,” he said,
struggling to get the words right, “really and truly, I would love to pull
over, but I’d rather wait.”
She moved her hand
to his waist and hugged herself to him. She felt good and natural there. They
didn’t know each other at all, yet it just felt right. Was this how Erika felt
when she met Lucas? Was this really what it felt like to have an instant
connection with someone?
He put his hand on
her leg and squeezed her knee, needing to touch her more. Maybe this is why
I see her in my dreams. Maybe I knew from the moment I saw her we were meant to
be together.
He took his hand
off her knee and put both hands on the wheel, pushing the accelerator down.
“You were saying?”
she asked, a hint of laughter in her voice.
“Huh? Oh, right. I
was saying that I’d rather wait until we get back to the house. My room has the
hugest bed you’ve ever seen.” He smiled down at her.
“That’s
beautiful.”
“What?”
“Your smile.”
He looked back to
the road. “Glad you like it. It’s gonna be there all night.”
