John started the walk to his place. As predicted, the vampire soon appeared by his side.
“Are you a glutton for punishment?” he said through clenched teeth.
“Don’t try to spray me again,” Felix said. “It won’t work now that I’m expecting it. I’m very fast.”
“I suppose it would be useless to tell you to leave me alone.”
“Probably,” Felix agreed. “Why did you attack me? I saved you.”
“You didn’t save me. Vince is just a self-loathing closet case. He’s harmless.”
“Not true. He pushed you.”
“So what?”
“He wanted to hurt you more. I can tell that sort of thing, because I hurt a lot of people.”
“Yeah, I know. You nearly killed him. Am I supposed to be intimidated or impressed?” John snapped. “Because I’m neither.”
“I am sorry about that. I wasn’t going to eat him, but I haven’t fed in quite some time.” Felix, to his credit, did look contrite.
John stopped to fumble around in his bag for another cigarette. Quick as lightning, Felix pulled a lighter from his own pocket and flicked it open, holding it in front of the cigarette that now perched between John’s lips.
John stared at the lighter. “Is that my lighter?”
“Yes.” He moved the flame forward, encouraging him.
But John removed the cigarette from his lips. “Do you just carry it around with you?”
“I do. Would you like it back?”
John hesitated. “No.” He began to walk again, putting the cigarette back between his lips and lighting it himself with his own lighter.
Felix kept pace with him. “But it means something to you,” he insisted. “It says, ‘Love, Rob.’”
John wouldn’t look at him. “I know what it says.”
“Who’s Rob?”
“None of your damn business.”
“Did he know about your curse?”
John felt like he’d been hit in the chest with a sledgehammer. He stared at Felix, who was looking mighty pleased with himself.
“How the fuck do you know about that?”
“Oh,” Felix said airily. “I have my ways.”
Who had told him, and why? Only another witch could have sensed the curse—but what kind of vampire was in cahoots with a witch? John almost asked him, but he shook himself out of it. Whatever was going on, he was better off not encouraging Felix further.
“Never mind,” he mumbled as he began to march away again. “I don’t care.”
Felix zipped in front of him. “It was a witch,” he said, all the smugness gone and replaced with an air of a puppy in desperate need of validation. “I asked him to find you, and he told me he felt a curse on you.”
John blew a cloud of smoke into Felix’s face. While he coughed, John marched onward.
Felix zipped in front of him again. “So what’s your curse?”
“Ask your witch.”
“I did. He said he wasn’t sure.”
John didn’t reply, continuing his grim march onward.
“Is it something really bad?”
“No. It’s a nice curse.”
That seemed to puzzle Felix for a moment. “Ah. You’re being sarcastic.”
“No shit.”
“So what is it, then?”
John gritted his teeth. “I am forever plagued with annoying vampires.”
“You’re being sarcastic again.”
John finished his cigarette, threw the butt on the ground, and then started another one. He refused to look at Felix. He didn’t want to encourage him.
They walked in silence some more. “What are you thinking about?” Felix asked.
“I’m thinking about how I’m going to have to both quit my job and move.” He wondered if he could teach Lo magic over Skype.
“Why?”
“Why do you think?”
Felix thought about it for a moment. “To get away from me?”
“Bingo.”
“It won’t work. My witch will find you again.”
“I could move back to Cincinnati.”
Felix pouted, but that pout quickly twisted into a grin of triumph. “But you don’t want to go to Cincinnati, because you don’t want to see Rob, which is why you’re here in the first place!”
John flicked his cigarette butt out into the street. “Then I’ll move to Paris. Or Bangkok. Or the moon.”
“You can’t live on the moon. How would you get there?”
*****
Synopsis
Felix is a vampire—a fierce creature of the night who strikes terror into the hearts of everyone unlucky enough to become his prey. Or at least, that’s what he thought was true, until he met John. John is completely unimpressed with Felix, much to his dismay. Felix becomes fixated on proving his ferocity to John—and when that doesn’t work, he strives to make any impression on him at all.
John is a witch, and as all witches know, vampires are notoriously stupid creatures who only have the power to hurt those who fear them. Besides, he’s under a curse much more frightening than any vampire. Felix’s desperate attempts to impress him annoy John at first, but gradually, they become sort of endearing. Because of his curse, John has pushed everyone in his life away. But Felix can’t be hurt, so there’s no harm in letting him hang around.
Felix is technically dead. John has nothing left to live for. But together, they might have a shot at life.
This dark and witty vampire romance for adults is complete at 100,000 words, with no cliffhanger. Despite some dark twists and turns, it ends with a solid HEA.
Purchase Links
NineStar Press: https://ninestarpress.com/product/curses-foiled-again/
Amazon: http://hyperurl.co/ol6qx9
Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/757142
Barnes & Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/books/1127375508
Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/curses-foiled-again
*****
Meet the Author
Sera Trevor is terminally curious and views the thirty-five book limit at her local library as a dare. She’s a little bit interested in just about everything, which is probably why she can’t pin herself to one subgenre. Her books are populated with dragons, vampire movie stars, shadow people, and internet trolls. (Not in the same book, obviously, although that would be interesting!) Her works have been nominated for several Goodreads M/M Romance Reader’s Choice Awards, including Best Contemporary, Best Fantasy, and Best Debut, for which she won third prize in 2015 for her novella Consorting with Dragons.
She lives in California with her husband, two kids, and a cat the size of three cats. You can keep up with her new releases and gain access to bonus content by signing up for her newsletter.
Author Links
Website: http://www.seratrevor.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SeraTrevorauthor
Twitter: https://twitter.com/SeraTrevor
Email: seratrevor@gmail.com
Newsletter: http://www.seratrevor.com/newsletter.html
*****
Tour Schedule
11/27 The Blogger Girls thebloggergirls.com
11/27 Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words https://scatteredthoughtsandroguewords.com
11/27 Bayou Book Junkie http://bayoubookjunkie.blogspot.com
11/27 Love Bytes www.lovebytesreviews.com
11/28 The Novel Approach http://www.thenovelapproachreviews.com
11/28 Divine Magazine https://www.divinemagazine.biz/category/blog-tours/
11/28 Wicked Faerie’s Tales and Reviews http://wickedfaeriesreviews.blogspot.com
11/29 Stories That Make You Smile https://authoraddisonalbright.com
11/29 Shari Sakurai http://www.sharisakurai.com
11/30 Erotica For All http://eroticaforall.co.uk
11/30 Happily Ever Chapter https://www.facebook.com/happilyeverchapter
12/1 MM Good Book Reviews http://mmgoodbookreviews.com
*****
Giveaway
One lucky winner will receive an ebook of their choice from NineStar Press