Snippet time and this week we are paying homage to other artists. I enjoy having my characters explore different careers but one of my favorites has been Abby Douglas in Awaken. She is an incredible singer, albeit confused about her life. When vampire Caleb hears her voice for the first time… Well, you can see for yourself below.

Talking about artists and Awaken wouldn’t be complete without a shout out to my childhood friend Brian Lewis who excitedly wrote the original lyrics for Awaken that Abby sings in the book. He has an incredible gift.

Excerpt from Awaken:

Hours later, Caleb still sat at the table waiting for her. She’d delivered them drinks all night without so much as another word. She seemed afraid of him as she ran around the room avoiding eye contact. He watched the band setting up on stage, and wondered if he should head home. He could try again tomorrow. Then he saw her walk on stage. She’d let her hair down, and the fall of straight black silk fell nearly to her waist. She still wore the same skintight jeans that molded long, lean legs, the jeans he imagined peeling from her body as she writhed and begged for him to hurry up.

His cock lengthened, pressing tight against his zipper as images of her naked body spread out before him entered his mind. His fangs descended at the thought of piercing into her creamy thigh and taking her essence into his body.

“Hey, Caleb buddy, you’re about to see what really brings us out to this dive night after night.” Caleb fought the urges rushing through him as he focused on his friends again. “Abby is one hell of a singer.”

Caleb looked back to the stage as Abby stepped up to the microphone. When the band started a slow melody, the crowd fell silent, waiting, every eye on the enchanting woman about to sing to them.

She swept her eyes around the room, briefly connecting with him before her eyes slid shut and the first line of lyrics slipped from her ruby lips. “I’m not sure about this. I’m not sure about anything anymore. I fight to look inside.”

The dark voice from the small, beautiful woman whipped through him, heating his blood and flooding his mind with lustful images. Images of their two bodies intertwined across blood red silk sheets. His fingers wrapped in her long hair, pulling her head back, exposing her pulse at the base of her pale throat. Her arms wrapped around his back, urging him forward. Those haunting amethyst eyes imploring him to take her as his hips surged forward, burying his cock to the hilt.

Shaking his head, he forced the all-too-real images from his mind.

“Who are you and who am I?” Her velvety voice reached for him as her eyes opened, releasing a small tear. Caleb watched the tiny drop track down her cheek. He fought the urge to run to the stage and drag her away. The compelling need to claim her came from deep within his soul.

Mine. All mine. The thought shocked him with a certainty he didn’t understand.

Caleb managed to force his gaze away from the stage to look around the room at all the people sitting enraptured as Abby crooned to them.

“If I awaken it’ll be to my sin.” Her voice called to every person in the room. Luring them to her. She had a rare gift indeed. As a vampire, he should be able to resist a mortal call. Why her? What made her different from all the many others? Why now? He tried to hold onto those questions like a lifeline but found it impossible to resist her. He turned back to face the woman of his desires, only to find her staring straight at him, focused and sure.

“Always safe in your eyes of blue. For an eternity I’d gladly face my death….”

With a start, he realized her song belonged to him. But how could that be? They’d just met. As the song faded into the final chorus, he wondered about the images he’d seen. He’d felt the smooth, satiny skin of her leg wrapped around his naked hip. Her spicewood scent filled his mind with reality. Fiction? The past? Or the future….

The crowd around him erupted into thunderous applause. He watched in amusement as a blush crept into her cheeks. She seemed quite the contradiction, one minute a shy country girl waiting on tables then changing to a sultry singer with a stunning talent. He couldn’t wait to unwrap her story. Slowly. One layer at a time. There was definitely more to Abby Douglas.

His interest stirred, he looked around the bar, taking in the rough-hewn furniture, some of which was in disrepair. Many in the crowd were also a little rough around the edges. A puzzle for certain. After the show, he would find out firsthand what a woman like her was doing in a place like this.

This novella is available in both ebook as well as print in the Vampire Oracle anthology.

Please don’t forget to follow the trail for more awesome snippety goodness!

Ashley Ladd
McKenna Jeffries
Taige Crenshaw
Jody Wallace
Vivian Arend
Mari Carr
Lauren Dane
Shelley Munro
Lissa Matthews