QSFer J. Hali Steele has a new MM paranormal book out in her “Serpentine Vampires” series: Bloodied Venom.
When two lives entwine, death becomes abhorrent.
Hail Patrascu, an ancestor of Transylvania’s Draculesti family line, wields unique powers as the world’s oldest living vampire. Searching for death, he becomes something phenomenal after drinking venom infused blood. Not only does he possess vampiric powers, he’s been imbued with those of an even older creature—a serpentine. A snake, heretofore unable to change form, is animated with Hail’s vampire blood and now the monster seeks life of its own!
McCall Stephens had one drink; not nearly enough to imagine what he witnesses after being accosted in an alley. A beast so fiendish, it took the life of a man right before Call’s eyes. Now it stalks him. He haunts Call with eroticism, each encounter tugging him closer to a dark abyss with impossible promises. Giving in, he may lose everything—including his life! Or will Call’s wildest dreams come true?
The last in a short story series of standalone paranormal MM romances. Coarse language, masturbation, explicit sex, abuse flashback, and a little bloody horror. But there’s an HEA and no cliffhanger!
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Kobo
Giveaway
J. Hali Steele is giving away an eBook copy of “Tender Distraction” – comment on this post for a chance to win.
Two hot men, a grim reaper, and an archangel who is—nasty! A near collision sidetracks two lives.
Excerpt
Earth beneath him felt warm, fragrant grass, silky against his belly, teemed with insects. He accomplished progressing across the expanse of earth to a nearby building rapidly. Stone buildings loomed floors above while he stuck to corners where walls joined pavement. Tongue flicked slowly before he felt vibrations through every inch of his body. Grunts of pain followed angry words he marveled at deciphering. Nearing the spot in a dark alley they emanated from, heat blasted him.
Watching dispassionately as two men wrestled to the cement, it wasn’t until a fragrance filled tiny nostrils causing the appendage in his strange mouth to whip out incessantly. That smell! Eyes immediately pegged the slender man he knew emitted the scent he could only describe as pure bliss. It worked itself into his lungs, stabbed into his psyche filling him with hunger never before experienced. The bigger man subdued the other by knocking his head against a large metal receptacle. He turned the victim to his belly and attempted to drag trousers down as he undid his own belt, but his opponent continued bucking beneath the vile attacker. Loud pleas blasted hearing that became painfully sensitive.
“Don’t do this. God in Heaven, stop!”
Noise from the assailant’s zipper sent anxious shivers through coils along his body as he approached the hideous scene.
“Be still you bastard.”
“No!”
“Keep fighting, I’ll cut your prick off and shove it in your mouth.”
Having witnessed enough, surprise filled him when he didn’t have to struggle with his own monster to aid the slight victim, the one whose aroma continued to wreath his head. Conquering his inner demon had been impossible for weeks. He recognized hands first, legs quickly slipped from an underbelly touching cold stone. After his head broke through leathery skin, he pulled himself to his full height of six-foot two inches. Not bothering to clothe himself, unsure even if he could perform that feat, dark hair hung damply over his shoulder. Sweeping it back, he noticed his muscular body glistened with his creature’s secretions as he closed distance between himself and the would-be rapist. Grabbing him by the back of his shirt collar, he lifted the man a foot from the ground and smashed him face first against the wall. Releasing him, he waited for the culprit to twist toward him before rasping, “Use me.”
The first words Hail Patrascu spoke in weeks.
Beefy fist swung and missed. “You fucker. I’ll kill you.”
“You cannot kill what doesn’t truly live.” Feet scuffled across pavement as Hail watched the smaller man scramble behind a dumpster. He ignored him for the moment. Eyes he quickly surmised would be filled with hellfire leaping from perfectly round black pupils riveted the human in front of him to the wall. Loosing talons, he pierced a vein below the ear of the sorry excuse for a man.
“Jesus! What the hell are you doing?”
“I’m killing you.” A rivulet of blood coursed down his neck soaking his shirt while Hail lapped at blood on his finger. Repulsive. “Despicable taste of someone already dead inside.” Yet his lifeforce revitalized Hail, yanked memories of a different life to the forefront of his mind.
“Please…I… God!”
Fangs clicked into place and he marveled at hooked points his tongue met on ends of incisors. Teeth he’d used to capture small forest mammals. They dripped with a substance he touched and contemplated. Thick yellow fluid tinged red. Clamping onto the man’s jugular, he gathered, as had happened with animals he recently ingested, venom replaced blood he gulped. It raced through veins to the perpetrator’s heart and in mere seconds, he went limp. “Paralyzed but you’ll hear and feel for a minute or two.” Letting him hit the ground hard, Hail gasped air as if a drowning man as pictures flashed in his head of each male the scum raped and mutilated. “Unbelievable I championed humans if there are more like you.” A whimper snatched attention to the other guy. Extraordinary vision revealed green eyes stretched wide in a distorted face peeping from behind the trash bin.
Fuck me! His first foray a major distance from the nest he usurped from a rattler whose mind he never could interpret ends in death. Now what? Dispose of the filth or leave him?
His mind became clearer with each second he imagined ticked by.
Hail stood naked over a body local police would conclude expired due to a lethal snake bite rendered by a reptile that exists thousands of miles away yet somehow found itself in the middle of a small city crowded with people. They’d assume it escaped from God knows where, put out a warning, and forget about it as soon as a better story surfaced. Leave him.
Another dilemma existed.
The man cringing in trash and putrid waste could only be convinced he saw nothing if bitten by Hail allowing him to gain mind control. Bite him, he dies also. Oddly, the human’s unique odor spelled out a more bothersome issue as far as Hail was concerned. He had no regret over killing the vermin at his feet; his action saved many men from an act that, if it didn’t end with their death, would leave them scarred for life. Hail’s regret came from recognizing the cowering man belonged to… Shit! Who did he belong to? Reptile, or vampire, who, until fifteen minutes ago, shared the serpent’s long, cold coils. Every memory buried in the devious reptile’s tiny, twisted brain rushed forth. Including the fact Hail had paid a creature with great powers to terminate his exceptionally long life. Movement alerted him to the man standing and bolting from the alley leaving Hail uncertain how to proceed. Follow him. Discover where he resides.
Then locate Paladin Bodine—the serpentine bastard who owed him death.
“Goddamn it, I’m alive.”
Author Bio
J. Hali Steele wishes she could grow fur, wings, or fangs, so she can stay warm, fly, or just plain bite the crap out of… Well, she can’t do those things but she wishes she could!
Multi-published author of Romance in Paranormal, Fantasy, and Contemporary worlds which include ReligErotica and LGBTQ stories where humans, vampyres, shapeshifters and angels collide—they collide a lot! When J. Hali’s not writing or reading, she can be found snuggled in front of the TV with a cat in her lap, and a cup of coffee.
Quotes:
Growl and roar—it’s okay to let the beast out. – J. Hali Steele
Death is overrated as punishment. – J. Hali Steele (from The Descendants)
Life is complicated, it’s loud, death arrives silently. – J. Hali Steele (from Twice the Burn)
When two lives entwine, death becomes abhorrent. –J. Hali Steele (from Bloodied Venom)
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