"I knew Aisha’s heart. I knew her better than herself
…and she was beautiful and strong and felt deep.
It has always surprised me to
see the way she saw herself; how little she thought about her person. It
struck
me as surprising because every single time I’ve seen her, I’ve thought her
larger than life. And
that’s why the world feared her. Because they couldn’t
compare to her; she raised a new bar for others to be measured by. Because
looking at the sun hurts…and she was that to me. My own piece of sky."
"There comes a moment in life when one must acknowledge that you just can't keep looking back into your past for reasons to keep someone in your present and future. Regardless of how much looking that cruel reality in the eye hurts...memories can't be enough."
Be warned: This book is going to be a bit darker than the first. There will also be more action, new scenes from other kingdoms and laughter...oh and some drama-love related. But hey, what life (fictional or not) without its ups and downs, right? I must admit that it has been different and difficult at times for me work with such a grim tone. I trend more to comedy...but I think I've been doing okay. Still, I'll allow others be the judge of that.
Here is a sneak peek of what's to come
Prologue
Selene looked up; I caught a
startled cringe cross her youthful features before she could hide it from sight.
Self-consciously, I tugged on the cowl of the cloak until it covered my face
from view. My mind was coldly grazed by a most displeased presence; I could
tell it hadn’t liked my open display of weakness. It didn’t understand my
reasoning; not knowing how to express his disapproval through mortal ways, I
heard sorrowful mourns that should have scared me but that now didn’t for I had
become accustomed to. As a matter of point, I derived strength from its mere existence.
It was promise of sorts.
Unbidden anger rolled over me;
replacing my cockamamie, earthy self doubts. I gave free rein to my tempestuous
emotions; I wanted her to feel them...to fear me. For her fear fed my power. The
world became red as though I was taking it in through tainted lens…but I knew.
The world wasn’t red…it were just my profane eyes, the world through those
eyes. The girl’s frightened gaze widened when my dark force reached her
kneeling form. My sharp gaze zeroed in on her nervous fidgeting, I felt a
perverse flick of satisfaction run wild in my veins at the sight. I had to
caught myself before a moan left my lips; closing my lids so to hide my eyes
rolling into the back of my head in boundless bliss.
Then I remembered why she was here
and the flicks of satisfaction were obliterated by cold, murdering fury,
leaving a sour taste at its wake. Ugh. I should have her publically flogged for
her incompetence as an example to others; she had failed me. And failure wasn’t
acceptable. But punishing her in that fashion would beat the purpose of
secrecy. That was the only reason her back was not a bleeding, shredded mess.
“Tell me…one more time…what happened.” She bitted her lips, evidently pondering
the wisdom of answering my question; her slight hesitation, as small as it was,
was taken as a direct insult to my person.
My
powers throbbed inside me; in the blink of an eye, a visible force shook my
body and poured off of me in strong, pulsating waves. “Now. I want to hear you
now, Selene.”
Her soulful brown eyes blinked repeatedly
before fastening on the marble floor. Avoiding my rusty eyes at all cost. “We
underestimated her. We…we…we outnumbered her by many, as planned…but o-overpowering
her was not a matter of numbers.” She was stating the obvious. My jaw tightened
in irritation.
“Selene?”
The sound that left my lips close to a hiss. I wet my cracked, dry lips. My
throat felt raw, I tasted the entity’s starvation as though it was my own,
turning my voice undeniably rasp.
“Mistress?”
She said warily, not meeting my gaze.
“Skip
to the part I want to hear.” I commanded.
She
swallowed audibly, “Jade…did not say your name, Mistress. However…she did
say…that you were a member among our Council. I heard her clearly as day. Aisha
knows. Assuming she remembers, of course.”
And just like the coward she was, she had listened hidden in the
shadows, faraway from peril.She could
have killed Aisha Blackwell when that offending female was down. But she did
nothing of the sort. Foregoing, once again, a direct order. I had no use in my
ranks for someone who dared defy my ruling. This girl kneeling in front of me
was now a walking…talking liability. I had no tolerance for loose ends. Nor
patience. Right on the heel of that realization, I felt the frosty breath of
something outwardly whispering in the back of my head intelligible sweet
nothings…seducing me into rescinding control to him. Reminding me of its
presence. “Really, Selene…was it really that hard? And as for Jade…well, she has
to die. Dead people can’t talk, now can they?”
Just
then she looked up and understanding of her situation dawned on her. I could
tell she knew she would be sharing Jade’s fate. But it was too late.
The
shinny black floor on which she kneeled started to tremble and crumble apart, a
never-ending pit appeared from under her. Only a small piece of swaying marble
now held her. She tried to move away, escape her fate, but her feet were
securely frozen to the ground by glistening blue hands that arose from under
her and held her still. Her terror filled screams were an unwelcome annoyance
to my sensible ears. Silence her, I
commanded the bounded entity residing within me. With lethal glee it let out an
earsplitting yowl while separating from my tangible form; crystal vases
exploded, giving under the pressure. From my chest a light bright enough to
blind human eyes appeared and diffused, illuminating the dark cave to daylight
proportions.
With cracking contortions of
muscles, the diabolical, primordial apparition made its way to Selene. The
eerie sounds reverberated on the walls, multiplying. The incorporeal entity
condensed into an inglorious sight; it was grotesque, to be sure, but beautiful
at the same time in its raw, magnetic power. White-eyes shone brightly from an
inhuman contour, too many misshapenness together on that face to call it
human-like. Its almost seven feet of height were too much to take in at once.
The double row of incisors of the creature grew to feral lengths; the condensing
change never altering the slow pace of the creature. I was well aware the Triata
could have quickened his walk…but the creature was enjoying the torturous
tempo; how its victim suffered each second he delayed that final blow. I felt
the echo of its twisted pleasure flickering inside me, after all, we were
connected…the derived gratification seemed to start at the pit of my belly and
then extend toward my limbs like firecrackers.
The
male Triata extended its hand and grazed Selene’s face with his pointy talons, marking
his pray as caught; leaving three deep bloody indentations on the girl’s now
marred skin. Just playing with her. In the next instant, the girl’s jaw started
to open and continued to do so until it reached unnatural spans; I knew it not
to be of her own accord. The dislocating pop of a jaw had me flinching lightly,
involuntarily; the Triata started to enter her body in order to posses it. His
naked, shinny black foot was the first thing to be shoved into her body. I
watched all with cold detachment from my throne. She was no one to me…just a
mean to an end.
With
the deed done, Selene’s body stopped trembling; it still showed signs of
intense fatigue, her form was covered in perspiration and her breathing was
ragged, labored. A full hour passed before her eyes popped open. Her once brown
eyes were now an egg –white from corner to corner, the need to feed was most
evident in its milky gaze; the eyes of a Triata looked back at me from a girl’s
face. “Come here, my pet, it’s time for your feeding.” I showed the newly Triata
possessed girl my vein. Like a poisonous snake, Selene’s body hissed and
lunched for the exposed pad of white flesh I offered at my wrist. Her incisors
lengthened and sunk true into my skin. My head lulled back in unchecked
enjoyment; the Triata varied between pulling and swallowing down big gulps of the
liquid of life I freely gave. Her eyes snapped open and held mine; the brown
iris slowly returning to the girl’s eyes; at once concealing her true nature. I
snaked my right hand into her long, luscious hair, pressing her fangs
deeper.
All
would be well, I mused to myself. Aisha Blackwell was a walking corpse. It was
a matter of letting her body know it was past time to drop dead. I smiled
brightly. Tomorrow could not come fast enough.
All for now.
Well, here I leave you the trailer for book one. :p
