Excerpt One: 
Onto the landing we danced, Alexander’s blonde hair bouncing as he brought me closer to the railing, edging dangerously near a fatal fall. All it would take was a wrong step or playful push to seal our fates.

“Jack. I have to tell you something,” he began softly. “I have not been entirely truthful, you see. There is something more I need to show you.” His voice was barely a whisper, his eyes falling to the stone beneath us.

I couldn’t imagine what he was about to divulge. My thoughts wheeled over possibilities like the mafia, or perhaps he was something of a Russian spy. My pulse thumped violently in my chest, the anticipation making my sternum ache. 

“Alexander?” I matched his thoughtful tone, placing my hand over his on the railing. “Whatever it is… I’m here. I’m not leaving. You’ve shown me so much magic in a single night. How much more unbelievable could this possibly get?” 

He smirked darkly, as if some great secret lived there beyond his violet stare. “Don’t be afraid. Close your eyes.” He instructed and so I did.

I heard the slight shuffle of heeled shoes and the metallic tapping that followed. The railing vibrated under my hands and fear was the very thing that forced my eyes open. 

“Alexander!” 

There he stood upon the metal bar, the wind whipping about his ethereal hair and the dark mesh of his shirt.

I reached for him in my panic. “Are you insane? Get down from there!” 

My stomach lurched, my fingertips splayed as I tried to grasp the hem of his pants and then… I failed. 

My gut shot up to the roof of my mouth as I watched Alexander La Mont spiral off of the edge and down… down… down. His screaming voice vanished as so, too, did his body. 

“Holy shit!” I shrieked. “He killed himself. He fucking killed himself! What the fuck!” 

But before I could spiral any further and get sick all over the balcony floor, the most peculiar thing happened. A voice. A tiny whisper of a thing beckoned to me.

“Jack. Jack, look down.” 

His voice called to me from the side of the building. It was impossible. He was surely dead. This had to have been some sort of trick. Was I losing my mind from the trauma of watching this man splatter on the pavement far below? Wait. Did I actually see him hit the pavement? I leaned over the railing, my raven curls interrupting my view of the streets below as wind swirled them about my face.

There he was.

Standing on the wall, staring up at me, feet pressed against the brick and completely disregarding gravity, was my mentor. He stood there as effortlessly as some arachnid-themed superhero, the lights of the city shining behind his head creating an almost angelic halo about his blond curls. 

The world spun rapidly as I white-knuckled the banister. What was happening? Perhaps it was still the absinthe playing tricks on me. Yes. Perhaps all of my drinks had been spiked that evening. There was no other way to explain it. This had to be the product of some intense hallucinogenic. 

“No. You weren’t drugged,” he stated simply. “What you are seeing is very real, and I imagine very confusing. I had to show you. I needed you to believe me. There was no other way.”

“Alexander!” I screamed, my eyes welling up with tears, watching them rain down over where he stood. “Please, please come back up! This is unnatural!” 

He shook his head in protest. “No, no. How about you come down here.” He laughed, twirling in his spot with his arms outstretched to demonstrate he was truly not affected by the earth’s gravitational pull. 

I hugged the railing, my hand gripping the metal bar tightly as fear turned my blood to ice. “N-no! I can’t!” 

He cried up at me, “You’ve been telling yourself ‘no’ for so long! You’ve restricted yourself to a mediocre life, when so much more awaits you! Stop living in fear! Release yourself! Be free! Come to me! Now!” His hand outstretched towards me. Lightning cracked overhead. 

I exhaled sharply, my fingers twitching in fear as I brought one leg over the ledge. I squeezed my eyes shut, focused on remembering how to breathe. Then came the other leg until I stood on the dangerous side of the railing, gripping to the metal and what might have been the last moments of my life. 

“Jump, dear Jack,” he laughed. 

“I can’t! I’ll fall!” 

Terror gripped me to my core and reduced me to a little boy again. My heart lodged itself in my throat. The world beneath me spun in vicious circles as all the lights started to blur like watercolor. If I didn’t step down, I would surely fall forward with the vertigo. Few options were left now.

“I will catch you! I will keep you safe, if you only trust me!” Alexander promised over the rush of the wind, his smile flashing across his beautiful face. 

His velvet words coaxed me enough at last, and down the lip I went. For a moment, time froze, the city fixed in place as my life flashed before my eyes. My mother, Bradley, Dad, Chloe—all happy and awash in sunlight. What if this was all truly a hallucination? What if I just hurled myself into my doom? Time resumed as I tumbled, arms flailing, the world about me smeared in violent color. Everything I had ever known was both literally and figuratively flipped upside down.

At last, arms wrapped about my body, holding me in place. Alexander hardly moved as he caught me against his chest with inhuman strength, his tight body acting like a bed for mine. He grinned up at me, our forms finally closing the distance that had plagued me all evening. I could feel my heartbeat slamming against him, yet his didn’t respond. There was nothing there. 

“What… are you?”

He grinned, his lavender eyes sparkling as they beamed through the darkness into mine. “I am what rules the night. A master of the starlight, a fiend of flesh, both angel and demon as one. I am walking history—legend and myth, and you’ve known it in your heart all along.” 

 

Excerpt Two: 
I pressed forward, the rain drenching my skin and turning my makeshift makeup into a grotesque display. Passersby had stopped to stare, avoiding eye contact with me as if I appeared unhinged. But I didn’t care about their judgment; I was so close that I could practically taste her. Soon, I would once again know the flavors of the past.

Just one bite

I refused to argue any longer. The voice was right… just one bite.

I turned the corner and, to my surprise, found the woman who had foolishly helped me. However, she wasn’t alone. A masked man in dark clothing held a knife aimed at her, and she was slumped against the wall, her body weakened. The assailant fumbled with her wallet, and her fearful eyes met mine, silently begging for help in her moment of distress. That’s when I realized why her scent had drawn me; she had been stabbed in the side, blood trickling down into the dirty alley. I was the only witness to this gruesome scene.

Kill them!

The voice inside me came back, and I found myself doubled over in pain, my steps faltering as I fell into the dim light of the alley. My palms scraped against the rain-slicked pavement, but the pain in my gut was overwhelming.

“This is my lucky day, holy shit…” the masked man turned in my direction, his blood-coated knife aimed at me. “Wallet, keys, cards, everything, or I’ll slit your throat before I slit hers,” he threatened with a sinister smile, inching closer.

I took a deep, false breath, my mind racing. His scent, like old Slim Jims and stale beer, assaulted my senses, and I knew he would do. I mustered a wicked smile, ready to reveal my true nature.

“Oh… is that right…” I pushed myself to my feet, the darkness seemingly wrapping around me as the alley grew even darker. The dim light above us flickered, creating an eerie atmosphere. “You can’t kill what is already dead,” I proclaimed, my words a blend of my own voice and the demon’s inside me. In that moment, I decided to remove my glamour, revealing my true form to the thief.

The man jumped back in shock, his eyes widening as he stared into my blazing red pits. The knife in his trembling hand betrayed his fear as he began to back away.

“What the fuck are you… hey! HEY!” The thief screamed in terror as he realized I couldn’t possibly be human. But instead of running away, he shouted to his comrades at the other end of the alley. Two more men dressed similarly to him rushed forward, looking at the woman against the wall and then back at me.

“Holy shit…” one of them muttered in disbelief, while the other one laughed nervously. “Is it Halloween yet? Nice makeup, bro.” The first man pointed at my eyes, which were now an inferno of crimson, revealing the monster within me.

“Shoot this motherfucker!” The man to the side raised a handgun and attempted to fire. But in an instant, I moved faster than their eyes could follow. My hand closed around the barrel of the pistol, crushing it before it could discharge a bullet. The thief shrieked in terror as I loomed over him, my monstrous presence dominating the alley.

I couldn’t resist the urge any longer. The demon within me demanded its fill. My hands shot forward, gripping the thief’s throat and lifting him into the air, right before his stunned friends. Bone-like claws extended from my fingers, digging into his soft flesh, crushing his windpipe, and silencing his screams. His mouth opened wide in a silent plea for mercy as he choked for air.

The other two thieves watched in horror, their fear and confusion paralyzing them as they witnessed the gruesome scene unfolding before them.

“Was it worth it, being such pathetic cowards, harming innocents to get another fix?” I felt the hunger take me then, my jaw dislocating as my fangs slid to their full lengths for all to see, my head surging forward violently as I pulled the man’s neck to my mouth. 

The pulsating blood flowed into my maw like a river of sweet, crimson nectar, and I drank deeply, the warm life force of the thief coursing through me, filling me with power and satisfaction. His screams faded into the background as I feasted, the euphoria of the kill taking hold.

The other thief, still in shock, raised his hand with a trembling grip on the pistol. He fired round after round into me, but the bullets had no effect. With a swift and effortless motion, I tossed the drained thief’s lifeless body against the alley wall. His head collided with the stone, his skull erupting on impact, leaving him to slide down its face, his lifeless eyes gazing into the gutter.

One down. My crimson eyes locked onto the other thief, my fangs still extended,  dripping with gore. I stalked toward him, the hunger still ablaze within me.

“You fucking FREAK!” The man continued to waste all of his ammunition, firing into me over and over as my favorite hoodie became riddled with holes. 

Click, click, click. The weapon emptied beyond capacity the man continued to pull the trigger, praying to some god that the monster at his front would go away if he just believed that the weapon would do the work.

“Pitiful, little thing. You’re nothing but a meal, your life utterly wasted… I’ll make sure you’re put to good use.” 

The thief’s screams were muffled by the vice-like grip of my claws on his cheeks as I slammed him to the ground, his desperate struggles futile against my supernatural strength. His arms flailed wildly as I forcefully dragged him into the inky darkness of the alley, leaving a gruesome smear of blood in our wake. With a swift motion, I slammed the back of his cranium onto the unforgiving ground with a crack, pinning him in place.

The hunger that had consumed me drove me to sink my fangs into his chest, right above his heart. The taste of his blood was intoxicating, and I drank deeply, feeling his life force drain away with each swallow. He convulsed briefly before going limp, his heartbeat fading to nothing.