Who’s afraid of their own shadow? Me, that’s who. Ever since my dad took me to see the Exorcist when I was 11 (talk about bad parenting), I have been afraid of the devil, the boogieman, monsters under my bed, ghosts…you name it, I’m terrified of it.
I’ve never seen any of the slasher franchises: Freddy, Jason, Pinhead etc…I can’t even tolerate someone being threatened with torture, much less actually being tortured. Don’t get me started on the Saw movies. Here’s what I can stomach—True Blood (vampires), The Walking Dead (zombies) and Falling Skies (aliens). My favorite show is The Walking Dead. I love post- apocalyptic survival themes. I’m not sure what that says about me; probably that I’m a downer.
Despite my fraidy cat ways, I wrote a vampire story—short on the gore—heavy on the angst, romance and sex. Yay for sex! I normally write comedy, but left most of the laughs at the door. There is biting of flesh and sucking of blood. Happy ending not guaranteed. But hopefully the story leaves the reader satisfied.
How do you like your vampires? Sparkly? Dark? Naughty?
*****
Excerpt:
A chill ran the length of his spine in spite of the warm air swirling around him. The dark, grainy picture looked overexposed where other areas seemed underexposed. But the resemblance to Meri appeared unmistakable. Her translucent skin against the dark background leapt off the screen. Her eerie red eyes, caused by a flash photo at night, haunted him, preying on what little hope remained after year upon year of heartache and disappointment. Touching the screen, he traced her features with his index finger.
Gooseflesh rose on his arms seconds before the doorbell sounded. The buzz jolted him to his senses. Anyone who knew him—really knew him—would leave him alone tonight.
Crossing the room, he opened the door, preparing to give someone a piece of his mind. Freezing instead, his extremities tingled but everything else numbed. Including his brain. Especially his mouth.
“Invite me in before you faint.”
“Meri?” Her whispered name on his lips barely registered due to his pounding heart.
“Luke.” Her tone mocked him. She peeked around the door and held out a bouquet of blood red roses like the ones he’d given her for Valentine’s Day way back in the day. “I guess we know who we both are.” Her eyebrows arched up. “Invite. Me. In.”
“I….” Teetering on wobbly legs, he staggered backward a few steps. Spots danced in his peripheral vision and a flash of heat swept through his trembling body.
“Don’t you dare pass out, Luke.” Her blurry finger waved as blackness closed in. “Invite me in, damn it! Can I come in, please?”
“Yes.”
“That’ll have to do.”
*****
Years after Luke’s sweetheart was ripped from his arms on prom night, Meri’s loss still haunts him. Searching for her everywhere, he finds her only in his dreams and on the pages of a dark comic book he created in her image. But on the anniversary of her disappearance, she shows up on his doorstep without having aged a day. What can he do but invite her in?
Meri’s nights are all about surviving alone on the dark, seedy side of life. Once a year she treats herself to a night of tasty passion with her one true love. Is this the year to seal the deal and make their love eternal, or will she walk away to become just another fantasy?
Available from:
Amazon UK
Amazon US
All Romance eBooks
Decadent Publishing
*****
Left for dead in an enchanted forest, Kelli was raised by wolves, which explains her thick coat of fur and keen night vision. As an adolescent, she was exiled from the pack due to her love of well-done steak smothered in ketchup (her penchant for blackened beef has also caused her ejection from several fine eateries). On her own, she roamed the streets, eating from dumpsters and sleeping in abandoned dog houses. Cold, starving and destitute, Kelli turned to the oldest profession—writing. Since her fall from grace, she has penned several smutty stories for which she has received many accolades. And despite her limited vocabulary, inability to punctuate properly and her well-documented spelling disability, Kelli has collected some awards (some of them for her writing). But what she wants most in the world is to return to the enchanted forest and her pack. As soon as she figures out north from south and east from west, she will do just that.