Sneak Peek Sunday - December 15 - Mortal Illusions #SPeekSunday #Vampires #Romance

For a vampire, love means watching someone you care about die.

Sneak Peek Sunday is a weekly excerpt hop where each author shares six paragraphs from a published work or a WIP (work in progress).

My submission for this week is from my 1st book, Mortal Illusions. A vampire romance published by New Concepts Publishing, Mortal Illusions is currently the first in a series of 3 books.  Its sequel, Fatal Desire, is currently under production.

In this excerpt, which is the beginning of the first chapter, Germaine St. Justine has sensed his former lover's pain and visits her in the hospital in an effort to ease her suffering.  After some gentle teasing combined with a soothing back rub, he gently bites her neck and draws out a few seconds worth of blood, then uses a hypodermic needle to withdraw blood from his arm.  When she learns his concoction will only give her an additional eighteen to twenty-four hours, she asks if he didn't have anything that lasted a little longer, like twenty years.

            "If I did, you would have received it ten years ago, when you were first diagnosed," he assured her, turning his attention to the painless removal of the two small marks he'd left on her throat.  "I thought my visit then had cured you, but it seems even the immortal are fallible."

            She turned away, but he put his hand under her chin, turning her toward him.  "You insisted we be honest with each other, Marguerite," he reminded, gently squeezing her chin before he reached up to remove the oxygen line she no longer needed.  Adjusting the control until the soft hissing finally ceased, he asked.  "Why didn't you call me?  Why did you wait for me to come to you on my own?"

            A thoughtful smile curved her lips as she entwined her fingers with his.  "I remembered how much you detested hospitals," she admitted, gazing at him.  "I knew you'd come for me tonight.  Only I'd hoped it would be to take me with you."  Her smile faltering, she quietly drew her hand back.

            Marguerite's disappointment filled Germaine with an aching remorse.  He knew what his refusal cost her, but nothing could make him change his mind.  Not about this.

            Longing to ease her, he lifted a hand to her hair, but she jerked away from his touch.

            "Don't.  It's ugly, and I know it.  It's the poison they've been feeding me to kill the cancer.  Except it's killed my hair, and now it's killing me."

A vampire's blood has many healing properties, and though Germaine can't cure Marguerite, he is able to smooth the pathway she must take for her final journey.

M/F, Contemporary vampire romance in a society based on D/s.

Read the first three chapters at: Mortal Illusions

Buy the book at NCP, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or ARe

Thanks for visiting.  I hope you enjoyed this brief excerpt and want more. Please click the link below to continue your hop Sneak Peek Sunday Wishing you a wonderful journey.