QSFer Holly Day has a new MM paranormal romance book out: A Vampire Chew Toy.
Devin Jace lives in a huge mansion together with six other people, five of them turn furry, and one needs to drink blood to survive. Sometimes, he suspects it’s all a dream. Four years ago, he had no idea supernatural beings existed. It wasn’t until he was snatched off the street and forced to live as a blood slave he realized vampires are real and don’t sparkle.
Three years ago, Mars O’Ceallaigh was part of the team who saved a badly scarred and severely traumatized Devin. As the only vampire on the team, he got to work undercover. To keep up the facade, he tasted Devin’s blood. Not a day has gone by since without him thinking about it, both the taste of the blood and Devin. But he wants Devin to be happy, and since he knows vampires are his worst nightmare, he does his best to keep out of his way.
When the team learns Devin’s captor has escaped prison, Mars is convinced he will come for Devin. Devin might fear Mars, but there is someone he fears more, so when Mars swears to keep him safe, Devin trusts him. Mars more than enjoys being by Devin’s side at all times, but will spending every minute of every day with him be enough to keep him safe?
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Excerpt
The next morning, Devin woke from his own scream. Panting, he stared at the dark ceiling, sweat making the T-shirt he slept in cling to his skin. He rolled out of bed and walked into the bathroom. A quick shower later, he glanced at the clock—a quarter to five.
Groaning, he flung himself on the bed. Two hours until he had to have breakfast ready. Maybe he could bake bread. It would keep him busy. He grabbed his phone and squinted at the calendar notifications. Murrie had added two new things to his calendar for today, thirty minutes apart. He hadn’t logged an end time but considering the first looked to be a video conference and the second a meeting in town, Devin was pretty sure they would overlap even without the expected travel time. He huffed and shook his head. People.
He opened his door as quietly as he could, though considering he’d woken himself with a scream and had showered, he doubted opening his door would wake the others. They were most likely already awake. If he walked downstairs, they might have a chance of catching a couple of hours of sleep.
Guilt swamped his mind. They should have dumped him in a soundproofed room.
Walking into the kitchen, he came to a halt. Murrie was sitting by the kitchen island with his shirt mostly unbuttoned and a bowl of M&Ms in front of him.
“Good night?” There was lipstick on his collar, which made him want to laugh. He’d believed the days of lipstick on collars were long gone. Weren’t lipsticks of this century smudge-free?
Murrie grinned at him. The sated look in his eyes answer enough.
“I’ll take that as a yes. Who’s the lucky lady?”
Murrie shook his head. “I don’t have time for a relationship.”
“Aww, don’t be like that.” Devin surprised himself by reaching out and patting Murrie’s hand. Judging by the widening of Murrie’s eyes, he surprised him too. “If she makes you happy, you should be with her.” Before they could get any deeper into this mushy conversation, Devin switched the topic. “Do we have yeast?”
“Eh… maybe. Check the pantry. There’s a large tin box where I’ve thrown things I don’t know what to do with. I think there might be a bag of dry yeast.”
There was. A big one. “You bought a pound of dry yeast without knowing what to do with it?”
“It was on sale.”
Devin nodded. “Of course, makes perfect sense. Buy every item on sale.”
“I was hoping someone would know how to bake, but…” He shrugged. “Kitchen disasters the lot of them.”
Devin held in a laugh, but the disappointment on Murrie’s face made it hard. “Shouldn’t you get to bed?”
“I’ve slept for a few hours.”
“Oh? Early night?”
The grin told him differently. “We left early.”
Devin hurried to speak before Murrie shared any details. “Good for you. Now, do we need to have the talk?”
“The talk?” Murrie’s eyes were so wide it was hard to keep a straight face.
“Yes, the talk.” Devin’s voice was stern.
“I think it’s a bit late for the talk, little one.”
“Obviously not.” He patted the marble top of the kitchen island and glared at Murrie. “There are two appointments thirty minutes apart on your calendar and judging by the vague and incomplete notes concerning what those appointments are about, it’s not doable.”
Murrie gaped at him. “That’s the talk?”
“The most important talk you’ll ever have. We don’t double book in this household.”
The grin was instant, and Devin had a hard time holding on to his glare.
“We don’t?”
“No, we don’t.”
Murrie leaned back in the chair and crossed his arms. “It’s not my fault. Mars booked the Zoom meeting with Judge Alden. I had nothing to do with it. You have to take it up with him.”
Devin looked away. He wouldn’t talk to Mars.
Murrie sighed. “You can play with him too, you know? I know he comes across as… prickly at times, but he’s a good guy.”
Ignoring Murrie’s words, Devin scrolled on his phone until he found a recipe for breakfast rolls that looked good.
“The meeting with the judge is about Ezekiel.”
Forcing air into his lungs, Devin looked at him. “What about Ezekiel?”
“Mars wants to make sure he’s safely contained.”
Icy fear crept up his spine, making the hairs on his arms stand on end. “He’s… alive?”
Murrie shrugged. “We were hoping he’d be staked, but we haven’t received any information one way or the other.”
How could they not know? “Weren’t you the ones who prosecuted him?”
“We gather evidence, but we’re not the ones showing up in court.”
“And you don’t know what happens to the ones you bring in?”
Murrie shrugged. “He was taken to Terrena since it was where almost all blood slaves were taken. It’s on the other side of the country.”
Devin was aware it was on the other side of the country. “But… You don’t know?”
“You’re safe here, Devin. Mars only wants to make sure, but the judge is a bit… and doesn’t like Mars.”
What? “Why doesn’t he like Mars?”
Murrie sighed. “The judge tends to be a bit lenient with vampires, which makes Mars snarly and unable to suppress the need to inform the judge of his crappy rulings—his words, not mine. I don’t mind, but the judge would never agree to a meeting with Mars, so he booked one for me instead.” For several seconds, Murrie watched him. “I’ll reschedule the meeting in town.”
“Yeah, you better.” Devin measured the yeast he needed.
“Or you could do it while I sleep.”
Devin glared. “Is there a phone number?”
Murrie grinned. “You don’t have to. I survived for years without you.” Then he hesitated. “I’ll add it in the notes.”
Devin shook his head, but he didn’t mind sorting out Murrie’s schedule.
Author Bio
According to Holly Day, no day should go by uncelebrated and all of them deserve a story. If she’ll have the time to write them remains to be seen. She lives in rural Sweden with a husband, four children, more pets than most, and wouldn’t last a day without coffee.
Holly gets up at the crack of dawn most days of the week to write gay romance stories. She believes in equality in fiction and in real life. Diversity matters. Representation matters. Visibility matters. We can change the world one story at the time.
| Author Website | https://hollydaywrites.wordpress.com/ |
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