###
For more information, check out Claire Farrell's blog or email the author. Sign up to the newsletter to be notified of new releases and receive occasional coupon codes for free copies, or like the Facebook page for more regular updates.
Keep reading for two preview chapters of Taunt - Ava Delaney #2, currently on sale at 99c.
Complete Original Ava Delaney Series:
Thirst
Taunt
Tempt
Taken
Taste
Traitor
Preview Chapter One
I knew my grandmother was speaking to me, but all I could focus on was my old bedroom, the carpet still stained with the blood and tears of a child. Bad memories had rushed to the surface as soon as I stepped into the room; so overwhelming, my breath caught in my throat.
"Ava?"
I snapped back to the present. "Sorry, what?"
My grandmother frowned, familiar impatience fleeting across her face. "I was saying we could get a new bed, but the old one would do for now. You could move in straight away. What do you think?"
She stared at me with expectant eyes, apparently waiting for me to jump at the chance to move back in with her. Every cell in my body screamed, "No way, not ever." We had come a long way in a short space of time, mostly out of necessity, but that didn't mean I wanted to live with her again.
"I don't know. I'm not sure that's the best idea right now." Holding my breath, I waited for her protests.
"Of course it's a good idea! No point in renting all by yourself when I've an empty room here. You don't even have a real job, Ava." She shook her head, feigning disappointment, as if that was our biggest worry.
"Besides," her voice softened a little as she took a step toward me. "You were almost tortured to death, Ava. You need to be taken care of." She smiled, and I could see she wasn't worried, certain I'd cave. She carefully avoided the fact that I did have a job, just not a paying one. Being in the employ of the most powerful vampire in Ireland against my will didn't have that kind of perk.
"Look, Nancy," I began, trying to remind her of the serious distance between us.
"Stop calling me Nancy!"
"Being back in touch has been nice and all, but I'm not ready to live here again. Not after? everything. It's way too soon for me. I mean, we were meeting up for tea, then suddenly you're moving on to me living here again?"
Her eyes narrowed, sending me back to my childhood for the briefest instant. She'd never been a patient woman; a lot of her actions had been questionable to say the least. My grandmother did her best at the time, but even now, it took a lot to look the woman in the eye. After seven years of freedom, I wasn't ready for her methods of curing me.
"Oh, here we go." Her mouth tightened into a thin line that made her look as cruel as I remembered. "Pity me. Poor Ava wasn't loved. How about you think of someone else for a change, and stop bringing up the past? I had to live with a monster! What was I supposed to do?"
She might as well have slapped my face. Her apologies meant nothing, after all. Feeling my chin tremble, I shook my head. "I'm not bringing up the past, being in this room is. The fact that you think of me as a monster is a pretty good reason for me not to stay."
"Wait a second, let's just talk about it." The anger in her eyes turned to worry. "I thought we were over all of this. I protected you; I kept quiet when those vampires took me. I thought that would change things, prove to you that everything's different now. I'm your only family, so why can't you let us have a fresh start? I took care of you when you needed me, why can't you give me this?"
"I'm sorry I made you think we could skip past it like nothing happened. But look at you, even now, after everything, you still think I'm bad. You still think I'm wrong. I don't understand you. Why would you even want me to live with you?"
"Can't you see what it was like for me?" She clung to my arm. "How scared I was?"
"How scared you were?" All of the emotions I'd pushed down flooded upward as I shrugged her off. I half-turned and lifted my shirt as a reminder. "Try and remember how scared I was, for a change." She turned her head, unwilling to look at the scars she'd allowed a faux-religious conman to inflict before I reached my tenth birthday.
"There's obviously nothing to talk about then. You've made it pretty clear nothing's changed." Ignoring the lump in my throat, I left the room. I'd given her another chance because deep down I was desperate for family, desperate to belong. I should have known it wouldn't work out, it never did.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean-"
"It's fine," I said without looking back. "I get it, I do." I didn't enjoy being reminded of the past either. Our secrets weighed heavily on both of us. My mother giving birth to a child that was more vampire than human hadn't been easy for anyone, but I was almost certain it didn't automatically make me a monster. Almost.
As I left her house, I realised I had expected too much from my grandmother. After a seven year separation, the couple of weeks we'd spent together had me thinking she'd mellowed with age, that she could be there for me and provide unconditional love. Some things would never be true, no matter how much I wished for them. She still relished the martyr role; I would always be her burden.
Determined to get the woman out of my head, I trudged through an unexpected rainstorm and arrived home dripping wet and shivering. My slutty next-door neighbour stared from her doorway as I opened the door to my flat. I ignored her and her freakishly strong perfume, and raised the volume on my television when I heard her male companion arrive. She went through men like I went through cartons of milk, and she wasn't quiet about it.
I couldn't afford to heat the flat, so I curled up under my duvet and eventually dozed off. Nightmares plagued my sleep. Over and over again, I saw Maximus rise up and strike against me. I woke up shaking, my cheeks wet with tears. He was dead. I killed him, but I couldn't let the whole thing go. The idea that he would somehow come back for me remained a constant torment.
Agitated, I counted and multiplied until my heart stopped racing. Once the blood Eddie Brogan fed me while I had been injured wore off, my anxiety returned. Although I'd feared feeding an addiction to blood, my thirst hadn't overwhelmed me in a while. My nervous habits had been the problem instead.
The sky darkened, and I sensed the vampires awakening. I went to my window and sighed; already they were hanging around outside my home. I had first noticed them three days before standing in front of my building in pairs. Every night, they came and stood where I could see them, watching, waiting, keeping me on edge.
I reached out with my extra sense and observed the world on another level. A world full of red pulsing, dotted with something . . . other. Even in my own apartment building, I saw a shimmering presence I couldn't explain.
Right outside my building were some conspicuously empty pockets. They had no spark of life, no flash of energy, no light of soul; they were nothing. That's how I knew they were vampires.
Frowning, I leaned on my windowsill and watched. The pair stood outside, silent and idle for hours, conspicuous enough to convince me I was supposed to see them. But why? If they belonged to Daimh?n, this could be her way of reminding me I worked for her. I still hadn't come up with a way of getting out of that one. I shivered, unable to dispel a sudden chill. Next time I saw her, I had to ask, just in case they didn't belong to her.
I made a cup of coffee and, returning to the window, I noticed the vampires had been replaced with a different pair. I sipped my drink and stared freely at them, knowing they couldn't see me - and knowing that if they couldn't see me, they meant me harm. The magical safeguards around my building guaranteed that kind of protection from the uninvited who harboured ill intent.
I thought one looked familiar, but I couldn't be sure. Like all vampires, they had mottled, wrinkled skin that looked as though the blood had been completely drained. To me, most of them looked alike.
The vamp
ires shifted uncomfortably, as if they could sense me watching. I knew I was safe from them for now; there were even more magical forms of protection on my building than before. Eddie had reassured my grandmother that he had tightened my defences, but a niggling doubt made me wonder what else he did. As far as I was concerned, he sold me out to the vampires in the end so I could never trust him. I still didn't know what kind of supernatural being he was, or even what he was capable of. In some ways, I feared him more than Daimh?n.
Shortly before dawn, the vampires sprinted away. I blinked, and they were gone. I couldn't begin to figure out what was going on, and I was too exhausted to try. Sleep claimed me as soon as I lay down.
Yet again, my dreams brought to the surface everything I had felt while being tortured. Lack of control was the one thing that overwhelmed me the most over the last seven years. Being left helpless by a vampire's torture methods went a step beyond my coping limits.
Alone and afraid, I trembled in the dark. Clutching the cross that had once magically numbed my thirst, I whispered pointless prayers to whatever entity was out there messing with me.
A gentle breeze caressed my cheek, each puff a cold, soothing hand against my skin. The presence had followed me around for a while and comforted me every night. I trusted it only because I had to trust something or I'd go completely insane. What I really needed was for life to go back to normal, back to me avoiding humans and vampires as much as possible. Back to me staying out of trouble.
That was too much to ask for.
When a call on my mobile showed the name Daimh?n, I was tempted to ignore it. I didn't dare, even though it was daylight so couldn't possibly be the vampire equivalent of a queen.
"Miss Delaney?" said an unfamiliar female voice.
"Yep."
"This is? the day assistant of Daimh?n. I've been asked to inform you that your presence is required on Friday evening. I'll text you the location."
"Day assistant. Right. And if I'm busy?"
Her hesitation vanished, and her voice turned ice-cold. "Then someone will come and get you. It wouldn't be pleasant, so I advise you to turn up, Miss Delaney. Of your own accord."
"Fine. I'll be there. Hey, wait. Know anything about the vampires hanging around outside my place?"
She paused; I held my breath, half-hoping she would say yes. At least then I would know.
"I haven't heard anything about it." She hung up and sent me the text straight away. The assistant bothered me as much as Daimh?n. I couldn't tell if she was lying about the vampires. I was pretty sure the woman was in a relationship of some kind with Peter, and he was the one who had told Daimh?n I had agreed to work for her. More betrayal I didn't want to think about.
One of the non-life threatening downsides to working for Daimh?n was that it meant less time spent on my own business. Rule one of earning a reasonable income by buying and selling esoteric relics online involved maintaining a solid, reliable presence. The supernatural world had been a major factor in the deterioration of my business relationships. Feeling weary, I turned on my old laptop with a plan to make up time for whatever errands Daimh?n had planned for Friday.
A loud knock at the door soon interrupted a grovelling email. I regretted opening the door the instant I saw the look on my landlord's face.
"Hello, Mr. McGreavy. How are you?" I gave him my cheeriest smile despite my expectance of a bad attitude in return.
He glared and lifted his shoulders, trying to tower over me. When I first came to view my home, he'd interviewed me in his flat where I'd seen plenty of old photos of him. He had once been a handsome man but had apparently eaten his weight in fast food until grease began to seep out of his pores.
"Where's the rent, Delaney?" His squinty eyes almost disappeared under the enormous frowning brow.
"I told you already, you'll get it in a few weeks. I'm still waiting to get paid." Total lie. My business had pretty much gone to hell while I'd dealt with accidentally enthralling a human and trying to avoid being picked up by two warring vampire clans. Recovering from Maximus's torture, I'd not only lost days, but also money, sales, and a couple of regulars to boot. Catching up proved a struggle. I had no chance of making the rent anytime soon.
"I'm still waiting, too. You have until tomorrow." McGreavy sounded really happy about that, the greasy sod. My slutty next-door neighbour could always charm her way into an extra couple of week's leeway. Wait. Maybe I could too.
I'd been thinking about what I did to Carl, spent some time concentrating on where the power came from to stop me from doing it again accidentally. Instead of shutting off any supernatural ability I might have, I had begun to explore the possibilities. It was time to find out if I could use my persuasive side on purpose.
McGreavy turned to leave, satisfied with his intimidation of me. I grabbed his coat sleeve, forcing him to stop. He tried to pull away and frowned at my hand, perhaps wondering why I was so much stronger than him. I stared right into his eyes and let that other part of me show, not the fangs or the aggression, but the seductive willpower that had worked so well on Carl, whether I wanted it to or not.
"I need more time," I said, my voice soft and slow. Different. Something pulsed on the surface of my skin, but I ignored the sensation and concentrated, kept thinking about how he should feel and tried to force the feeling toward him.
McGreavy's face contorted with anger then, all of a sudden, let it go. I could hear his heartbeat slowing down; the rhythm calmed me. His loose jowls slack, he stared back at me and nodded.
"Can you give me an extra month to pay?" I thought about pleasing me and pushed the notion toward him, willing him to accept it.
"Yes," he said with a fervent nod. "Of course." He leaned toward me as if to steal a kiss; I backed off, alarmed.
"Um, cool, thanks!" I closed the door on his surprised face. Risking a look through the peephole, I watched his features screwing up with confusion. Pleased with the results, I stifled a giggle as he stumbled away.
Cold air blasted the back of my neck. Apparently, the spirit wanted to show its displeasure.
"I had no choice, I can't pay him," I protested, but the words sounded dead, as if even I didn't believe them. The presence blew directly in my face, making me blink.
"I'm sorry," I amended, hoping it sounded sincere. I hated myself for forcing Carl to do my bidding by accident. What made my landlord any different?
I sat, humbled, and the guilt kicked in, sucking the exhilaration away. I decided to give Carl a call and check up on him. My reasons were selfish; I wanted to know he was doing okay, that I had done right by him after all.
"Ava? Is that you?" Carl's familiar voice was completely absent of the dull, brainless tone he'd taken on while entranced.
I opened my mouth to answer when a hysterical-sounding woman screamed at him in the background.
"Shut up, Maria. I'm on the phone!"
"Um, sounds like a bad time, I'll call you back sometime." I hurriedly hung up just as his fianc?e, Maria, screamed at him again.
I hoped they weren't still fighting because he had gone missing for a couple of days. The relief she felt when he returned home had quickly turned to anger, particularly when he continued to visit me. His visits had dropped off, and I assumed he had gone back to his own life and taken my advice to forget about my world.
Not for the first time, I wished I had the luxury of returning to a normal life.
Preview Chapter Two
I spent Friday afternoon working, but my appointment with Daimh?n never left my mind, pushing everything else out of my head. By the time I got ready to leave, I was running on nervous energy.
Getting ready mostly consisted of putting on silver bracelets and the cross-shaped talisman Eddie had given me. I still had possession of the special dagger he had pressed on me before a fight. I had no intention of returning it. I had adjusted my favourite coat so I could carry the dagger in a number of
different ways; I wasn't letting it out of my sight if I could help it.
Daimh?n's home was much more discreet than Maximus's had been. Her guards were scattered around the building and well-hidden except for the obvious emptiness in my other sight. Her tastes were muted, designed to be forgettable, just like her. I wished I could forget all about Daimh?n, but she wasn't about to let me.
One of her followers led me into a cosy living room where Daimh?n sat surrounded by vampires, and even a human or two. Daimh?n signalled for the others to leave. As they all trooped out, I couldn't help noting her vampires weren't exactly starving. Most of Maximus's vampires had been gaunt and hungry looking, not to mention less than loyal.
"Sit down, Ms. Delaney." Daimh?n's low voice was still commanding enough to make the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end.
I sat on the chair furthest from her and waited. She smoothed her linen trousers, her outfit as understated as her slow yet precise movements. The leader of Irish vampires, Daimh?n was pretty ordinary looking, apart from her burgundy eyes; even her skin wasn't as sickeningly parched as the other vampires.
Feeling a little queasy as I wondered what she had in store, I fidgeted under her stare. I crossed my fingers and hoped it wouldn't require a murder. She wasn't likely to be pleased when I refused.
"I have work for you," she said at last, each measured word a perfect enunciation. "Nothing problematic. I'd like you to accompany one of my children. He's been undergoing a punishment set by the Council for some time now. Tonight will be his first feed. You are to accompany him. Ensure he doesn't lose control."
I stared, my mind blank. "What?"
"Is this a problem?" Her pleased expression sent my whole body on alert. I sensed her testing my limits, first with Maximus's death and now with a potential vampire feeding frenzy.
"No problem," I said, surprising her.
"Good." She glanced at the door and raised her voice. "Rose, come back in here." Rose turned out to be a short, chubby human in her late thirties. She greeted me with a pleasant smile; I wondered why someone better suited to a school-run was hanging around with a vampire coven.
"Rose." The sudden sweetness in Daimh?n's tone was a dramatic change from the norm. "Tell Zion to release Jules from the cage and bring him here."
Cage?
Rose beamed back at Daimh?n then obediently trotted away. I couldn't think of anything to say to Daimh?n, who proceeded to stare at me expressionlessly. The more time I spent with the vampire, the more freaked out I became-it was impossible to read her intentions. I could have thanked Rose when she returned, followed by two vampires.
A vampire with the largest afro I had ever seen led the smaller one into the room by the hair and shoved him toward. He landed in a ball at her feet.
"Good evening, Jules." Daimh?n's lips twitched as though she were covering amusement.
Jules looked up at her; his long, blond hair covered his eyes so I couldn't see his expression. I stared at his hollow cheeks-so like Arthur's. Although I had said yes to accompanying this vampire to his first meal in who knows how long, I had really intended to do him harm. Now he reminded me of Arthur, the vampire I had taken Carl from, and a little of the kindred feeling I experienced with that vampire reappeared.
Crap.
"This . . . lady will be joining you for dinner tonight. See that you mind your manners."
Jules turned toward me and flicked his hair from his eyes with a jerk of his head. His eyes were free from the scarlet tinge that signalled a vampire. My own eyes had gained a tint of red once or twice after ingesting blood. I wondered how long he had gone hungry to have such pure green eyes.
"Of course, you may join his meal, Ms. Delaney. The Council haven't set a quota on you," Daimh?n continued. I'd heard a few things about the Council, and I fully intended to steer clear of them. The less they knew about my existence, the better.
"Um, yeah, that won't be necessary," I said, unable to tear my eyes from Jules. Curiosity spread across his face as he sniffed the air.
"Do what you like," Daimh?n said. "Jules? Jules! Look at me. Go upstairs, and get cleaned up. We don't need you running the streets looking like a castaway. Hurry up. Ms. Delaney, you may wait outside until he's ready."
Dismissed, I wandered outside the gates. I was unimpressed with my latest assignment. I couldn't watch a vampire harm a human and not step in. On the other hand, a major part of my core didn't want to see a vampire go hungry either. It didn't feel fair, but I knew how seriously screwed up of me it was to think like that.
I needed to stay on Daimh?n's good side, particularly when things were on such an uneven kilter. I didn't know what to do and, this time, I had no one to ask.
Jules leapt in front of me, surprising me. He smelled slightly less repulsive, and his eyes sparkled with excited energy as he bounced on the balls of his feet. I felt jittery just looking at him. If his skin hadn't been so grey and dried up looking, I might have seen a teenager standing there.
"Let's go," he said, and moved on without looking back. I wandered after him but soon found I had to run to keep up. He jogged for at least twenty minutes in what seemed like a totally random direction. My dread built with every step; I didn't have a clue what to do next. Jules came to an abrupt stop in the middle of the street and looked all around, reminding me of a dog following a scent.
This was it-decision time.
Jules rotated, one slow step at a time, his fangs already showing. He tensed, then raced past, knocking me to the ground in his urgency.
"Shit." I jumped to my feet and sprinted after him, trying to catch up. He got out of my line of sight within seconds. I had messed up already. Closing my eyes, I concentrated hard, using my other sense to seek out Jules, to find that pocket of emptiness screaming, "Vampire."
A scattering of voids dotted the nearby area. I decided to go after the closest one, the one moving away. Fast. If I hurried, I might catch him, but not before he approached a pulsing red source of fresh blood.
Snapping back to reality, I sped up until I caught a strong whiff of his odour. I couldn't see him anywhere. Puzzled, I paused, then realised he must be inside a building already.
I spied the open door just as a woman screamed. I had never heard such terror come from a human's mouth. I stormed into the building faster than I could have imagined and found myself in an ordinary-looking living room, ordinary apart from the cowering woman in the corner.
Jules crouched over her, and I could see why she looked so scared. His fangs glinted in the light; his eyes were giddy with need. He grabbed a handful of her hair and smacked her head against the arm of a chair to knock her out.
Arms outstretched, I jumped toward him without thinking, catching his fangs with my hand before he could bite down on her skin. I could only yelp in pain because he swung his arm around and whacked me hard in the face even as we both tumbled through the air. Rabid with hunger and utilising a scary amount of strength, he rolled me over and dived on top of me. I grabbed his hair to stop him from biting me again, but he pulled himself out of my grasp with ease. The blood from my hand distracted his attention from my arteries, just in time.
His eyes intensely focused, Jules grabbed my hand tightly and lapped at the wound even as I punched him in the head. He shifted his body, seeming to barely notice the blows. He sucked harder, a harsh moan coming from his throat.
I frantically tried to worm my hand away from him. Suddenly, two vampires approached and separated us by kicking Jules in the face until he let go of my hand.
Even as one vampire held him steady, Jules looked around for me with a creepy sort of eagerness. I didn't think he even noticed the other vampires, he was so intent on getting back to me. Judging by his expression, my blood didn't taste half bad. Great, something new to worry about.
The two vampires belonged to Daimh?n; I remembered seeing them both at her home. I wasn't scared, but I was worried. They stare
d me down, giving me a few seconds to get off the floor. I couldn't bring myself to lick my wound, not in front of them, and especially not after Jules had slobbered all over it. It stung badly, just like the bite I'd gotten on my chest. I still had the scar from that one.
"You're to see Daimh?n tomorrow evening," the vampire holding Jules said, never taking his eyes off my hand. "Don't be late."
They escorted Jules outside, leaving me alone with the unconscious woman. I didn't wait around for her to wake up but, after listening to her heartbeat for a minute, I called an ambulance, just in case. Who knew what her story would be, but people would likely assume she'd been attacked, robbed, and probably hallucinated the bit about the fangs.
I hurried home alone, sick to my stomach at the thought of facing Daimh?n again. Things hadn't gone according to plan-not at all. First, I had let Jules run off without me. Then when I saw he was about to feed, I got in the way. I had a feeling letting him taste me wasn't the best plan I'd ever had; it was lucky two of Daimh?n's boys had turned up in time.
Wait. Why had they turned up? I realised with a groan that they must have been following us the whole time. Not good.
Making it home unharmed, I ignored the vampires outside and ran into my building to clean my hand. Fourteen times. Overkill, maybe, but I was under a lot of stress, and fourteen was a safe number.
My only source of income was crumbling around me, my grandmother was putting pressure on me to act like the past never happened, and all of the people I thought might be my friends had either disappeared or else weren't all that trustworthy after all.
Counting, safe numbers, and my normal routine were the only things keeping me together. I was a bag of nerves all over again, worse, probably, now that I knew what was out there in the world.
Convinced it was finally clean of vampire saliva, I tentatively raised my hand to my mouth and licked the bite marks. The blood didn't stop flowing. The wound didn't heal.
The cold presence, or spirit, as I'd taken to calling it, drifted across my face, either trying to tell me something or to reassure me. I could never tell for sure.
The wound bothered me, it should have healed. I'd managed to heal wounds a number of times.
"Maybe it's stress," I said out loud. I couldn't deal with any more surprises.