Blood and Sin, Teaser #2
Happy early summer! Sorry, I had to start with that because the days have been so freaking beautiful lately! Late spring/early summer is one of my favorite times of year, and I thought I'd celebrate today with a little teaser!
This is an excerpt from my upcoming novel, Blood and Sin (The Infernari #1), a NA paranormal novel (the first of three books), that's about demons--or Infernari, as they call themselves--and the human hunter that wants to eradicate their kind. I'll post the description below, but you can also read about it here. It comes out July 15, and for those of you newsletter subscribers, you'll be getting the first three chapters of it in my upcoming newsletter! If you haven't subscribed and would like to receive a sneak peek of Blood and Sin, I have a signup form on the top right hand of my website.
I am co-authoring this series with my husband, author Dan Rix, and it's been so much fun! If you're interested in checking out his other books (I totally recommend his Timeloopers series), you can check him out here.
By the way, I always forget to mention this but the following excerpt is unedited and subject to change. :) Without further ado, here's the second teaser:
Blood and Sin, Teaser #2
But oh, they gave Lana second glances. Plenty of them.
Their catcalls grated my nerves. But unlike the guy I glared at earlier, they were too drunk to heed my stare telling them to back the fuck off.
“Let’s see some titties!” one of them hollered, dancing in front of her, a dozen necklaces of glittery beads clanking around his neck.
Lana had halted, momentarily mesmerized by the rainbow colors.
“I’ll give you my best beads…” he continued, “this one right here if you show us your tits…” He fumbled to get one off.
Nuh-uh. I was not in the mood for this crap.
All night, I’d kept it on lockdown. But seeing this little twerp, seeing his crap plastic beads jingling over his fraternity hoodie, seeing him yelling and shaking his beads in Lana’s face, I cracked.
I tried to keep my cool, but I couldn’t.
Rage flared under my skin, and my fingers clamped into fists.
I tossed the bottle aside, grabbed the guy by the collar, and shoved him up against a nearby arch.
“Mardi Gras is in February,” I growled. “So take your beads and get the fuck out of my way.”
He shoved me back. “It’s always Mardi Gras where I go.” His breath reeked of beer. “That your girl? ’Cause she was eyeing my beads like she wanted some.”
My eyes fell to his clinking jewelry. I lifted up the strands of his cheap plastic beads. “You think a girl like that—” I jerked my head towards Lana, “is going to show her tits to a little shit like you for crap beads like this?” I flung them in his face. “You know what, give them to me. All of them. You’re done.” I pried them over his head and stumbled away with a fistful of plastic necklaces.
Smirking, I turned around, and one of his frat brothers punched me in the face and laid me out on the curb. The blow rang in my ears.
The other douchebags danced away, shouting, “Dude, you beaned him!”
Yep, had to get drunk and pick a fight with six frat boys, huh, Asher?
Not my proudest moment.
Rubbing my jaw, I rose slowly, seeing red. “You shouldn’t have done that.”
I tackled the guy into a nearby oyster shack, bowling over a table and scattering the screaming patrons. Already cocked back, my fist slammed into his face. His nose sprayed blood. Nice.
I was going to go to jail for this.
For defending Lana.
Fuck.
I landed one more punch before his friend dragged me off, arm clamped around my neck.
Tonight was just not my night.
I got my feet under me and thrust us backward. Through sheer dumb luck, I managed to ram him into the same archway, earning a grunt. Bits of plaster flaked off above us. Grabbing his arm, I heaved him over my shoulder and slammed him onto his back, knocking the wind out of him. Wheezing, he raised his palms at my cocked fist, and I backed off.
Breathing heavily, I turned back to the other four and wiped my bloody lip. “Anyone else think it’s Mardi Gras?”
They looked drunk enough to attack me, too. Probably thought they could take me six versus one. I’d survived worse odds, and my opponents hadn’t been idiot college boys.
“Bro, bro, he’s got a gun!” Catching sight of my holster, the guys grabbed their buddies and stumbled backward, tripping on their heels.
I called after them, “Come at me, bros! I want some more beads!”
But they were gone.
Idiots. I wasn’t even carrying concealed, and it took them that long to notice.
I looked around at the rest of the onlookers—half the street had paused to watch—and they ducked their heads and continued on their way, like I was going to shoot them or something.
“Humans are weird.” Lana frowned, clearly still trying to figure out what had happened. “What was that even about?”
I picked up the beads, and led her away by the elbow. “Told you you’d get into trouble.”
“That was you who got into trouble,” she said. “He was just being nice and trying to give me some beads…and can I at least have one? Or do I have to beat you up and steal them from you now? Is that how the bead game works?”
Her naivety made me smile. “Stop. Look at me.”
We paused on a street corner out of the way, those strangely beautiful eyes of hers fixed on me. God, she was innocent. Something protective reared up in me.
I draped all the beads around her neck. “There. Now they’re yours.”
The way her eyes lit up, you’d think she’d just learned Santa Claus was real. She ran her fingers reverently over the molded plastic balls, her expression wondrous.
I stared at her, unable to look away, suddenly bewitched by her. Like a moth being pulled towards a flame. Her allure was toxic. And I needed to get away from her before I did something I would regret.
But I didn’t edge away. Neither did she.
“Wait,” she said, “you won them, you should get some too.” She lifted off half the necklaces and stepped in close as she reached up to put them over my own head, so close I could smell her ashy scent, a scent I’d come to hate. A scent I was now reconsidering.
Her fingers brushed my chest, and my pulse spiked before her hand flinched back.
She’d felt it too, whatever that was.
Whatever this was.
I felt a tickle on my lip, still bleeding, and her eyes darted to it. I licked it away.
She wanted that blood.
Her gaze lifted shyly to mine. “Was that fight about me, Jame Asher?”
She was calling me out, and I had no answer. I shook my head, my heart thumping at the base of my throat.
“About how he was talking to me?”
And looking at you.
“Nah,” I said, running a hand through my hair, “I just didn’t like his punk attitude. Wasn’t about you.”
She knew I was lying, she could read it on my face.
I knew I should break the moment, snap out of it, ignore her and keep walking like I didn’t want to be here, but I couldn’t budge. In that instant, everything else faded away—the drunks swimming around us like fish, the chaos of Bourbon Street, the rhythm and blues thumping from nearby clubs. Maybe it was the adrenaline still pumping through my veins, maybe it was the odor of sex and desire in the air, maybe it was the way her eyes seemed to glow like blue-violet flames, but all I saw right then was her.
And for the barest of moments, it didn’t matter that I’d sworn to kill her kind, or that they were hunting me. All that mattered was that for the first time in a very long time, I felt something beyond grief and anger. Something light and good. And even though a part of me knew it was reckless, knew that I was that idiot moth about to get burned, for once I didn’t fucking care.
I cupped the side of Lana’s neck and I kissed her.
***
If you enjoyed that, you can click here to add Blood and Sin to your "To Read" list on Goodreads. Read on for the book's description.
Blood and Sin
July 15, 2016
Hot-blooded, prideful, feral, Lana Malesuis is a demon. She has sworn an oath to heal her war-torn, dying species. Her method: drain human blood, use it to fuel her dark magic, reap human misfortune. She has come to the town of White Sulfur Springs to cull.
Cold-blooded, ruthless, conniving, Jame Asher is a human. He has sworn to avenge his wife and baby girl, killed by demon magic. His plan: destroy demons’ portals, deprive them of their human blood supply, exterminate them one by one. He has come to White Sulfur Springs to kill.
But when they meet, and he takes Lana as his prisoner, the last thing he expects to see in her wild violet eyes is the frightened innocence of a young girl. For her part, Lana never expects to feel anything but hate for the most feared demon hunter on Earth.
Neither of them expected it to become something more.
Happy reading,
Laura
I am co-authoring this series with my husband, author Dan Rix, and it's been so much fun! If you're interested in checking out his other books (I totally recommend his Timeloopers series), you can check him out here.
By the way, I always forget to mention this but the following excerpt is unedited and subject to change. :) Without further ado, here's the second teaser:
Blood and Sin, Teaser #2
No one even gave me a second glance.
But oh, they gave Lana second glances. Plenty of them.
Sashaying next to me in her skintight jumpsuit, her eyes a
luminous blue-violet and her long hair breezing unnaturally behind her, she had
the attention of every guy on Bourbon Street. A whole crowd of douchebags
parted around us, eyeing her up and down and whistling.
Their catcalls grated my nerves. But unlike the guy I glared at earlier, they were too drunk to heed my stare telling them to back the fuck off.
“Let’s see some titties!” one of them hollered, dancing in front of her, a dozen necklaces of glittery beads clanking around his neck.
Lana had halted, momentarily mesmerized by the rainbow colors.
“I’ll give you my best beads…” he continued, “this one right here if you show us your tits…” He fumbled to get one off.
Nuh-uh. I was not in the mood for this crap.
All night, I’d kept it on lockdown. But seeing this little twerp, seeing his crap plastic beads jingling over his fraternity hoodie, seeing him yelling and shaking his beads in Lana’s face, I cracked.
I tried to keep my cool, but I couldn’t.
Rage flared under my skin, and my fingers clamped into fists.
I tossed the bottle aside, grabbed the guy by the collar, and shoved him up against a nearby arch.
“Mardi Gras is in February,” I growled. “So take your beads and get the fuck out of my way.”
He shoved me back. “It’s always Mardi Gras where I go.” His breath reeked of beer. “That your girl? ’Cause she was eyeing my beads like she wanted some.”
My eyes fell to his clinking jewelry. I lifted up the strands of his cheap plastic beads. “You think a girl like that—” I jerked my head towards Lana, “is going to show her tits to a little shit like you for crap beads like this?” I flung them in his face. “You know what, give them to me. All of them. You’re done.” I pried them over his head and stumbled away with a fistful of plastic necklaces.
Smirking, I turned around, and one of his frat brothers punched me in the face and laid me out on the curb. The blow rang in my ears.
The other douchebags danced away, shouting, “Dude, you beaned him!”
Yep, had to get drunk and pick a fight with six frat boys, huh, Asher?
Not my proudest moment.
Rubbing my jaw, I rose slowly, seeing red. “You shouldn’t have done that.”
I tackled the guy into a nearby oyster shack, bowling over a table and scattering the screaming patrons. Already cocked back, my fist slammed into his face. His nose sprayed blood. Nice.
I was going to go to jail for this.
For defending Lana.
Fuck.
I landed one more punch before his friend dragged me off, arm clamped around my neck.
Tonight was just not my night.
I got my feet under me and thrust us backward. Through sheer dumb luck, I managed to ram him into the same archway, earning a grunt. Bits of plaster flaked off above us. Grabbing his arm, I heaved him over my shoulder and slammed him onto his back, knocking the wind out of him. Wheezing, he raised his palms at my cocked fist, and I backed off.
Breathing heavily, I turned back to the other four and wiped my bloody lip. “Anyone else think it’s Mardi Gras?”
They looked drunk enough to attack me, too. Probably thought they could take me six versus one. I’d survived worse odds, and my opponents hadn’t been idiot college boys.
“Bro, bro, he’s got a gun!” Catching sight of my holster, the guys grabbed their buddies and stumbled backward, tripping on their heels.
I called after them, “Come at me, bros! I want some more beads!”
But they were gone.
Idiots. I wasn’t even carrying concealed, and it took them that long to notice.
I looked around at the rest of the onlookers—half the street had paused to watch—and they ducked their heads and continued on their way, like I was going to shoot them or something.
“Humans are weird.” Lana frowned, clearly still trying to figure out what had happened. “What was that even about?”
I picked up the beads, and led her away by the elbow. “Told you you’d get into trouble.”
“That was you who got into trouble,” she said. “He was just being nice and trying to give me some beads…and can I at least have one? Or do I have to beat you up and steal them from you now? Is that how the bead game works?”
Her naivety made me smile. “Stop. Look at me.”
We paused on a street corner out of the way, those strangely beautiful eyes of hers fixed on me. God, she was innocent. Something protective reared up in me.
I draped all the beads around her neck. “There. Now they’re yours.”
The way her eyes lit up, you’d think she’d just learned Santa Claus was real. She ran her fingers reverently over the molded plastic balls, her expression wondrous.
I stared at her, unable to look away, suddenly bewitched by her. Like a moth being pulled towards a flame. Her allure was toxic. And I needed to get away from her before I did something I would regret.
But I didn’t edge away. Neither did she.
“Wait,” she said, “you won them, you should get some too.” She lifted off half the necklaces and stepped in close as she reached up to put them over my own head, so close I could smell her ashy scent, a scent I’d come to hate. A scent I was now reconsidering.
Her fingers brushed my chest, and my pulse spiked before her hand flinched back.
She’d felt it too, whatever that was.
Whatever this was.
I felt a tickle on my lip, still bleeding, and her eyes darted to it. I licked it away.
She wanted that blood.
Her gaze lifted shyly to mine. “Was that fight about me, Jame Asher?”
She was calling me out, and I had no answer. I shook my head, my heart thumping at the base of my throat.
“About how he was talking to me?”
And looking at you.
“Nah,” I said, running a hand through my hair, “I just didn’t like his punk attitude. Wasn’t about you.”
She knew I was lying, she could read it on my face.
I knew I should break the moment, snap out of it, ignore her and keep walking like I didn’t want to be here, but I couldn’t budge. In that instant, everything else faded away—the drunks swimming around us like fish, the chaos of Bourbon Street, the rhythm and blues thumping from nearby clubs. Maybe it was the adrenaline still pumping through my veins, maybe it was the odor of sex and desire in the air, maybe it was the way her eyes seemed to glow like blue-violet flames, but all I saw right then was her.
And for the barest of moments, it didn’t matter that I’d sworn to kill her kind, or that they were hunting me. All that mattered was that for the first time in a very long time, I felt something beyond grief and anger. Something light and good. And even though a part of me knew it was reckless, knew that I was that idiot moth about to get burned, for once I didn’t fucking care.
I cupped the side of Lana’s neck and I kissed her.
***
If you enjoyed that, you can click here to add Blood and Sin to your "To Read" list on Goodreads. Read on for the book's description.
Blood and Sin
July 15, 2016
Hot-blooded, prideful, feral, Lana Malesuis is a demon. She has sworn an oath to heal her war-torn, dying species. Her method: drain human blood, use it to fuel her dark magic, reap human misfortune. She has come to the town of White Sulfur Springs to cull.
Cold-blooded, ruthless, conniving, Jame Asher is a human. He has sworn to avenge his wife and baby girl, killed by demon magic. His plan: destroy demons’ portals, deprive them of their human blood supply, exterminate them one by one. He has come to White Sulfur Springs to kill.
But when they meet, and he takes Lana as his prisoner, the last thing he expects to see in her wild violet eyes is the frightened innocence of a young girl. For her part, Lana never expects to feel anything but hate for the most feared demon hunter on Earth.
Neither of them expected it to become something more.
Happy reading,
Laura
