I've got two teasers for you guys tonight! One from Darkness Breaks and one from The Lost Soul!
Darkness Breaks Teaser!
Then they charge. I switch the sword around, my movements lethargic and sloppy. And I keep faltering over the chains. The blade nicks a chunk off a vampire without a nose. I’m about to internally celebrate when another bites at my neck. My hand shoots to my neck and I stutter o...ver, grunting from the burn. It spits my blood back out like it’s potent. But vampires are not bright creatures and it sinks its fangs into my neck again and again. I’m taken down in a sea of fleshless beasts that reek of death. I grip my sword tightly, attempting to stab anything that moves as bite marks cover my skin. Their weight becomes too much and I feel my bones breaking.
Dizziness incapacitates me. So this is how I die? Smashed and bit to death by vampires? It’s not how I pictured it. Through a small gap, I see the sky and wish I’d gotten to see the stars just once. Perhaps, in one of my memories I do.
Suddenly, the vampires are jerked off me, one by one, and a hand snakes its way inside the mob. I grab on, not caring who it is, and they heave me out.
The vampires immediately encase us, the blood in their eyes drizzling like a rainstorm.
“What the hell are you doing!” I yell at Sylas, positioning the sword at the vamps.
We huddle back to back, moving in a circle.
“Saving your ass,” he jokes over his shoulder, but he’s tense and nervous.
“Why? You ran off the last time this happened.” I swipe the knife at a vampire, but miss by a long shot. “What? Did you get knocked over the head with a stupid stick sometime between then and now?”
“Witty banter during a fight,” he flips around and bares his fangs, “it’s like we’re made for each other.”
I sigh and attempt a Roundhouse kick, like I used to do at Bellator practice all the time. But my leg buckles at the knee and I drop to the ground hard. Sylas instantly pull me up, and then he steals the sword from me and brings it down hard on the back of a rotting vampire’s neck. It breaks into ash and the others shriek with murder.
Everything goes downhill from there. They mob us and trample us to the ground. I can’t spot Sylas through the dust and fleshless legs, but I catch sight of the hill. My heart drops. Vampires line the top of the cliff, eyeing Greyson, Cedrix, Aiden, and Maci, who are barreling down the hill, arms flying. One of the vampires flings from the ledge, landing behind Cedrix. He takes him to the ground and I let out a scream as I’m yanked back by my ankle.
The Lost Soul Teaser!
Aislin raises her hand cleverly and waggles her fingers.” I can take care of that. Movere eum deinceps.” Nicholas soars upward and levitates down the hall. She snaps her fingers and the door flies open, rocking the house. His body descends outside, landing in the center of the icy yard.
“Again, remind me never to piss you off,” I say, and walk outside. “You know he’s going to be a problem when he wakes up. We might have to do something about that.”
She beams and we hurry to Nicholas. I place a hand on Aislin and prod my foot up against him. I visualize the Keeper’s Castle, the grey stones, the peaking towers, the trees embellishing the clear lake. But I don’t feel the pull. I try again, but my head aches in response.
I open my eyes. “Something’s wrong.” My hand falls from Aislin’s arm. “I can’t feel my power.”
Our gazes zip around the crystal area.
“Is there any praesidium lying around?” she asks.
I’m alert of my senses and the absence of power pulsating my veins. “It’s not that.” I circle around Nicholas, biting at my thumbnail. “It’s something with him; something about him is blocking me.”
“Maybe he has praesidium on him?” She shrugs.
I raise my eyebrows warily. “You want to do the honors.” She shakes her head and I sigh. I squat down and pat his pockets. “Nothing. But there’s…” The current zaps me like a finger to an outlet. I’m joggled back and I bash my tailbone against the crystal ground. Snakes crawl over my skin or underneath my skin. I can’t tell.
“Get them off me!” I scream, clawing at my skin. “Aislin! Help!”
Aislin’s eyes snap wide and she stutters, “Gemma, get what off you? I can’t tell what you’re looking at.”
I throw up my arms, showing her the lines slithering under my skin. “I hate snakes! Please.” I thrust my legs. “Get them off.”
She gapes, baffled, her arms hanging to the side. “Gemma, there’s nothing on you.”
I scrape at my skin and droplets of red drip onto the crystal below.
Aislin seizes my hands and crouches down. “Stop scratching. There’s nothing there. Something’s just making you hallucinate. Now, relax and try again.”
Snakes are everywhere, sucking on my blood. But I shut my eyes, forcing past the crawling sensation. Again, I picture the castle, the lake, the trees, the cars. I breathe deep, pushing my mind through the block. A pop. We’re falling not to the castle, into darkness, a suffocating hole with no bottom in sight.
We’re falling into the unknown.
Darkness Breaks Teaser!
Then they charge. I switch the sword around, my movements lethargic and sloppy. And I keep faltering over the chains. The blade nicks a chunk off a vampire without a nose. I’m about to internally celebrate when another bites at my neck. My hand shoots to my neck and I stutter o...ver, grunting from the burn. It spits my blood back out like it’s potent. But vampires are not bright creatures and it sinks its fangs into my neck again and again. I’m taken down in a sea of fleshless beasts that reek of death. I grip my sword tightly, attempting to stab anything that moves as bite marks cover my skin. Their weight becomes too much and I feel my bones breaking.
Dizziness incapacitates me. So this is how I die? Smashed and bit to death by vampires? It’s not how I pictured it. Through a small gap, I see the sky and wish I’d gotten to see the stars just once. Perhaps, in one of my memories I do.
Suddenly, the vampires are jerked off me, one by one, and a hand snakes its way inside the mob. I grab on, not caring who it is, and they heave me out.
The vampires immediately encase us, the blood in their eyes drizzling like a rainstorm.
“What the hell are you doing!” I yell at Sylas, positioning the sword at the vamps.
We huddle back to back, moving in a circle.
“Saving your ass,” he jokes over his shoulder, but he’s tense and nervous.
“Why? You ran off the last time this happened.” I swipe the knife at a vampire, but miss by a long shot. “What? Did you get knocked over the head with a stupid stick sometime between then and now?”
“Witty banter during a fight,” he flips around and bares his fangs, “it’s like we’re made for each other.”
I sigh and attempt a Roundhouse kick, like I used to do at Bellator practice all the time. But my leg buckles at the knee and I drop to the ground hard. Sylas instantly pull me up, and then he steals the sword from me and brings it down hard on the back of a rotting vampire’s neck. It breaks into ash and the others shriek with murder.
Everything goes downhill from there. They mob us and trample us to the ground. I can’t spot Sylas through the dust and fleshless legs, but I catch sight of the hill. My heart drops. Vampires line the top of the cliff, eyeing Greyson, Cedrix, Aiden, and Maci, who are barreling down the hill, arms flying. One of the vampires flings from the ledge, landing behind Cedrix. He takes him to the ground and I let out a scream as I’m yanked back by my ankle.
The Lost Soul Teaser!
Aislin raises her hand cleverly and waggles her fingers.” I can take care of that. Movere eum deinceps.” Nicholas soars upward and levitates down the hall. She snaps her fingers and the door flies open, rocking the house. His body descends outside, landing in the center of the icy yard.
“Again, remind me never to piss you off,” I say, and walk outside. “You know he’s going to be a problem when he wakes up. We might have to do something about that.”
She beams and we hurry to Nicholas. I place a hand on Aislin and prod my foot up against him. I visualize the Keeper’s Castle, the grey stones, the peaking towers, the trees embellishing the clear lake. But I don’t feel the pull. I try again, but my head aches in response.
I open my eyes. “Something’s wrong.” My hand falls from Aislin’s arm. “I can’t feel my power.”
Our gazes zip around the crystal area.
“Is there any praesidium lying around?” she asks.
I’m alert of my senses and the absence of power pulsating my veins. “It’s not that.” I circle around Nicholas, biting at my thumbnail. “It’s something with him; something about him is blocking me.”
“Maybe he has praesidium on him?” She shrugs.
I raise my eyebrows warily. “You want to do the honors.” She shakes her head and I sigh. I squat down and pat his pockets. “Nothing. But there’s…” The current zaps me like a finger to an outlet. I’m joggled back and I bash my tailbone against the crystal ground. Snakes crawl over my skin or underneath my skin. I can’t tell.
“Get them off me!” I scream, clawing at my skin. “Aislin! Help!”
Aislin’s eyes snap wide and she stutters, “Gemma, get what off you? I can’t tell what you’re looking at.”
I throw up my arms, showing her the lines slithering under my skin. “I hate snakes! Please.” I thrust my legs. “Get them off.”
She gapes, baffled, her arms hanging to the side. “Gemma, there’s nothing on you.”
I scrape at my skin and droplets of red drip onto the crystal below.
Aislin seizes my hands and crouches down. “Stop scratching. There’s nothing there. Something’s just making you hallucinate. Now, relax and try again.”
Snakes are everywhere, sucking on my blood. But I shut my eyes, forcing past the crawling sensation. Again, I picture the castle, the lake, the trees, the cars. I breathe deep, pushing my mind through the block. A pop. We’re falling not to the castle, into darkness, a suffocating hole with no bottom in sight.
We’re falling into the unknown.