Aria and Will (18 page)
Authors: Kallysten
Excerpt from
The vampire stood still in front of the last tomb for
a few more moments, then turned back toward Mierna, a hand pressed to his
bloody side. She hurried to her feet so he wouldn’t loom over her, but even so
he stood a full head taller than she was.
“Why are you here, child?” he asked, his voice
gravelly. “Who are you?”
“My…my name is Mierna. I am from Riverside.”
A short, impatient nod told her he knew of her
village.
“The last time, your people sent three armed men
during daytime,” he said, sounding more tired than angry. “Do they fear me so
little now that they will send one lone child to steal from me?”
“I’m not a child,” she replied, annoyed. She crossed
her arms and raised her chin a little higher, forgetting that she had wounded
the vampire in the light of his accusations. “And I did not come here to
steal.”
His expression remained blank. “Then why are you
here?”
“It’s a challenge,” she explained, trying to reach for
a patience she didn’t possess. “I had to come here tonight, alone, and return—”
She realized the implications of what she was saying as the words passed her
lips, but it was too late to stop now. “—with proof that I had come.”
“What proof?”
She could feel her cheeks flushing at his accusatory
tone and dropped her eyes. They fell on the bloody hand he was pressing to his
side, and her feelings of guilt only heightened.
“I have to bring back a weapon,” she said, talking
very fast. Then, gesturing at his wound, she added: “Shouldn’t you…lie down,
maybe? I could clean this for you. Bandage it.”
He ignored her suggestion, focusing instead on what
she would rather not have talked about now that she understood the entirety of
the challenge. The Fighters had indeed sent her to steal, even though they
hadn’t phrased it that way.
“Who do you think owns that weapon you had to bring
back?”
“I didn’t know anyone would be here,” she muttered.
“And yet you came armed.”
She wanted to roll her eyes at that, but she doubted
he would take it well. Her initial burst of fear at being in front of a vampire
had faded, but she couldn’t forget what he was, couldn’t forget old stories of
how, once, humans had shown so much respect to vampires.
“Of course I came armed. It’s Souls Night. I wasn’t
going to walk around defenseless. And I truly am sorry. I thought you were…”
She couldn’t finish, her fear suddenly too ridiculous
to voice.
“You thought I was what?”
Once more, her cheeks felt too hot, and Mierna was grateful
that it was so dark. “I thought you were a demon.”
He laughed. The sound took her by surprise, deep and
truly amused, but somehow awkward, as though he hadn’t laughed in a long time.
“And you thought a spear would help against a demon?”
“I don’t know. I’m not a Fighter yet. But I will be.
And a spear has to be better than nothing.”
His laughter died as abruptly as it had started.
Mierna could feel his eyes on her, heavy, piercing, measuring her from her
braided hair to the toe of her boots. When he shook his head, a wave of cold
ran over her; she was sure she had failed whatever test he had run her through,
and she had to fight her need to move back, away from the judgment about to
fall from his lips. He didn’t say anything however. All he did was grimace,
look down at his middle and at his blood stained hand, and then he turned away
toward the stone building fifty yards behind him. Mierna had been so focused on
him, she hadn’t noticed it until now.
“Go home, Mierna,” he said without looking back. “Children
have no business fighting demons.”
... continued in
Souls Night
Kallysten’s most exciting accomplishment to date was
to cross a few thousand miles and an ocean to pursue (and catch!) the love of
her life. She has been writing for fifteen years, and always enjoyed sharing
her stories and listening to the readers' reactions. After playing with science
fiction, short stories and poetry, she is now trying her hand, heart and words
at paranormal romance novels.
To see her other stories, including free short stories
and sample chapters, visit
Lilia is a vampire; Vincent hunts vampires. They’ve
each sworn to kill the other, and have battled many times without either of
them winning. But when a spell gone wrong links them through bonds of shared
blood and sex, the game stops abruptly and with no clear winner.
Trying to stay alive, they learn to guard each other's
back against old and new enemies alike. The game takes a new turn as the
memories of what they shared under the spell become too hard to ignore and they
succumb to lust - or could it be more than that?
Brett Andrews thought he had it all.
His new club, On The Edge, catering to vampires and
humans, is a smashing success, and the beautiful vampire Lisa is everything he
could have dreamed of.
When an old lover of hers, Leo, shows up at the club,
Brett's immediate fear is that he will lose Lisa. But if he just stops thinking
long enough to follow Lisa's lead, he might gain a lover instead of losing one.
Seven months ago, Lena’s fiancé disappeared without a
trace. She spent those months burying herself into textbooks and lecture notes,
but never quite lost the hope that, somewhere, Liam was all right, and that he
would come back to her.
When fate allows them to meet again, Lena is overjoyed
and ready to welcome him back into her life. Even the shocking discovery of how
much he has changed does not deter her because, he admits it with some
difficulty, he still loves her.
But what future can Lena and Liam have together, when
she wants nothing more than to save lives and he is a newly turned vampire?
Two centuries have passed since the Master Vampire
Gabrielle made the biggest mistake of her life. Two centuries since her plan
backfired, resulting not in the destruction of demons as she had hoped, but
instead in the slaughtering of countless humans and vampires that had been
fighting against them. Two centuries also, since she pushed away her favorite
Childe, without ever telling him why. Two centuries of fighting alone to
protect the humans she has sworn to defend from demons. Two centuries of
missing Erik.
When he finally reappears in her life, she thinks she
has been offered a second chance. But she soon realizes that she will need to
face her mistakes to reach him, and understand that silence can be more painful
than words.
A
note from the author
If you enjoyed this story, would
you consider taking a few moments to leave a review or rating on the site where
you bought it or on a site such as Goodreads? I would be ever so grateful!
Thank you,
Kallysten