Marina Simcoe's Blog, page 13
January 17, 2019
Blog Tour is Now Live!
Visit Silver Dagger Tours for the list of participating bloggers and to enter the giveaway.
https://www.silverdaggertours.com/sds...
https://www.silverdaggertours.com/sds...
December 27, 2018
December 17, 2018
BLOG TOURS SIGNUP
BLOGGERS! Anyone with a blog website or Facebook page can participate.
I'm having blog tours January 17 - February 17, 2019 for my Demons series, organized by the amazing people from Silver Dagger Tours. If interested, please use the form attached to sign up.
https://www.silverdaggertours.com/tou...
Non-bloggers, I will post the schedule in January, with all dates and blog names for you to visit their sites. You will be able to enter a giveaway, and learn more about the books in the series, including excerpts and guests posts about inspiration behind the characters, deleted scenes, and my writing process of the demon books.
Hope to see you all there!
I'm having blog tours January 17 - February 17, 2019 for my Demons series, organized by the amazing people from Silver Dagger Tours. If interested, please use the form attached to sign up.
https://www.silverdaggertours.com/tou...
Non-bloggers, I will post the schedule in January, with all dates and blog names for you to visit their sites. You will be able to enter a giveaway, and learn more about the books in the series, including excerpts and guests posts about inspiration behind the characters, deleted scenes, and my writing process of the demon books.
Hope to see you all there!
November 25, 2018
THE FORGOTTEN, Chapter 1
My rewrites are done! The Forgotten is now off to the fairy godmother, aka the editor, for the next round of cleaning up.
To share my joy with you, here is the first chapter of The Forgotten. It's a long one....
Warning: Unedited.
THE FORGOTTEN, Demons, book 2.
CHAPTER 1
They were coming for me. I felt the vibration of their footsteps through the floor of my cell.
Closing my eyes for a moment, I inhaled deeply and prepared myself for what was to come.
Way too familiar by now feeling of dread hollowed my stomach. What was done to me in this place was wrong. All of it.
I had been abducted—stolen out of my bed at night—and brought to this basement cell. Almost nightly, they took me to the large white room and locked me to the X-shaped cross. Then one of them—silent and impassive—touched my naked body, while thirteen others watched.
There was something dark and scorchingly dangerous in their stares that made my insides twist with terror at the same time as my body ached with desire building under the stranger’s touch.
It was all wrong. I couldn’t sort out my emotions in this place, but I could be fairly certain that the shame I felt after each session on the cross had less to do with my exposing my naked body to the hungry stares of strangers and everything to do with my knowing that I shouldn’t be enjoying this.
The guilt. It made me hate them even more—not only did they take my freedom away from me, they also made me crave the shameful things they did to me.
With the sound of their footsteps approaching, the anticipation filled me with tingling excitement against my will. Immediately, a sharp stab of guilt for feeling this way triggered the usual disgust with myself.
I couldn’t afford to dwell on that too much, tough—my mind was too precious to risk losing it to self-loathing or self-pity. By now, I believed, I had nothing but my brain to rely on if I ever wanted to get out of here.
My capturers never hurt me physically. I got fed regularly. If I could keep my sanity intact and my brains functioning, I reasoned, I could last here long enough to come up with a way to get out.
Because I diligently counted days, I knew that I’d been here for exactly five weeks and three days. With a rare exception, every one of those days was a mirror image of another—breakfast, lunch, sponge bath from a bucket of warm water, and a mind-blowing orgasm in front of them before dinner.
I hardly ever was able to come during sex with a man before. Yet, here I was, writhing on that cross, burning in lust, coming on the vibrator in the stranger’s hand every single time they brought me to that room.
And now, I was looking forward doing it all over again tonight.
Wrong.
I needed to get out of here before I’d completely succumbed to the depravity of this place.
As the monotonous days moved by, I observed everything, learning as much about my capturers and my surroundings as I could.
The guards that I came in any contact with wore grey uniforms, their faces covered behind masks with only a pair of narrow slits for their eyes. Unhumanly strong and impassive, they could easily be considered automations rather than people.
On the contrary, the group of thirteen in the white room never wore uniforms. Dressed in a bizarre mix of clothing, they sat in a casual semi-circle around the cross—all rather young and stunningly attractive, I had to admit.
The one in the middle normally wore something like a loose robe—the flowing material of it glaringly white against his dark skin. I’d caught him gesture to others, giving orders. By the way the rest of them obeyed, I determined that he held the authority around here.
Neither of them ever spoke. None ever showed any kind of emotion, even while watching me climax. Frozen motionously, they resembled beautiful reclining statues whenever I managed to glance their way while on that cross, making me only more confused about the actual purpose of it all.
Then one night, I managed another glance at them through the haze of arousal, right before an orgasm reaped through me. I saw the hungry stares of the thirteen light up bright red. The glow flared up and ebbed, terrifying me, a moment before they lowered their eyelids and threw their heads back as if in a silent prayer.
I screamed, as horror cut through the pleasure of my climax rippling through me at that very second.
Since that night, they had made me wear a velvet blindfold, but the memory of the blood-red eyes in their eerily beautiful faces still kept me up at night. Later, I also noticed the eyes of the uniformed guards flash white-blue on more than one occasion.
With no idea of who these people were, I had a strong suspicion that they were not really people at all.
The sound of their footsteps halted. The cell door slid open with a swishing noise, and two guards walked in.
Wiping my sweaty palms on the sides of the dreary cotton dress they made me wear, I jumped to my feet.
Instead of the third uniformed guard, however, a man stepped into my cell.
My heart skipped in shock.
Wearing a charcoal suit and a navy-blue tie, he was an average-looking man with neatly styled, receding blond hair.
“Miss Jones?” he asked in accented English and threw a nervous glance at the guards behind him.
Eerie and dreary, this place was a world on its own. A surreal universe of concrete walls, grey armour suits, and bizarrely handsome men with hungry stares. The wool suit of the man in my cell did not belong here. His sudden appearance was jarring.
My legs gave in from my astonishment of having him here, and I lowered myself back to the mattress.
Stunned, all I could say was, “Who are you?”
“I’m Steffen Keller. Nice to meet you, Miss Jones.”
“You’re not one of them,” I stated the obvious. “Are you going to get me out of here?”
I jumped up to my feet again, determined not to let him exit this cell without me. I knew nothing about this man, but the simple fact that he might be one of my kind made me want to trust him.
“You will go home, Miss Jones. Eventually.” He crossed his arms in front of him, and I noticed a grey file folder in his hands.
“When?”
“Technically, you’re free as of this moment. However—”
“I’m free? As of right now?” I pushed past him to the door to test his claim. The guards moved towards each other to block my way. Their shoulder armour clanked together.
Frustrated, I slammed my fists in their chest plates. Neither of them moved an inch.
I spun on my heel to face the liar in the suit and stretched up to my full height—all five feet and one half of an inch. The half of an inch was important if you had not that many to go around in the first place.
“They obviously haven’t been informed about that.” I flipped my thumb at the guards behind me.
“Miss Jones—” he started.
“Kitty,” I bit out. The detached, formal way he pronounced my last name irritated me.
“Pardon me?”
“Everyone calls me Kitty, you may as well, as long as you tell me what the hell is going on here? If I’m free, why can’t I leave?”
“Well. For once, it’s a long way from here to your home in . . .” He glanced inside his folder quickly. “Seattle, in The United States. We will need some time to arrange for appropriate transportation for you.”
“Where are we?”
“Canada. Yukon Territory.”
That was a long way from home. Why would they bring me all this way up here?
“Who are they?” I tipped my chin back at the armour suits behind me. “Why was I brought here in the first place? And who the hell are you?”
He’d given me nothing beside his name.
Steffen Keller inhaled deeply, rubbing his forehead.
“You have to excuse me, Miss . . . Um, Kitty. This is the first time I have to do something like this . . .”
“Like what? Setting a person free? Visiting a captive in her cell? Talking to a woman? You’ll need to explain more than that. Much more.” I sat back on the mattress and crossed my legs in front of me. “Go on. Explain. Why can’t I leave?”
He shifted from foot to foot uneasily and rubbed some perspiration from his forehead, mumbling, “I told them it was best to wait,” under his breath.
“Wait for what?”
“For the rest of the representatives to get here. With a bunch of professional counselors in tow. I’m not qualified to do this.” He waived his hand in my direction, a clear irritation in his expression. “Can I get a chair in here? Something to sit down?” he threw back to the guards by the door.
I noted, not without some surprise, that one of them immediately left the room, only to promptly return with a metal chair for Mister Keller.
“It looks like it may take a while.” He sat, stretching his legs in front of him.
I couldn’t care less about his grouchy tone or his obvious displeasure. If I managed to spend over five weeks locked up in here, he could very well take his time to explain everything to me now. Silent, I stared at him expectantly.
“You see, Miss . . . um, Kitty. Your situation is rather unique. Normally, women taken by this particular group don’t live to tell the tale, so to say. Now, since the things have changed and all of you are being released, we’ll need to ensure you’ll keep in utmost secrecy everything that happened to you during the time you spent here.”
“Are you with the police?” I forced myself to keep focused on the main topic of discussion—my freedom—and chased away the disturbing mentioning of the "normal" way of things apparently were happening around here before.
“No. The police are not involved.”
“Keeping silent about my kidnapping and forceful confinement will make me an accomplice to their crimes,” I retorted dryly.
“On the contrary. It will ensure your freedom and faster return to a normal life.”
“Why should I believe anything you’re saying to me? If you’ve never even told me who you are?”
“I hold an official position with The Priory of Grimien.”
“Never heard of it.”
“And you never would have, had you not been acquired by your captors—well—and had there not been some recent developments resulting in your release. My organization was created with a sole purpose—to gain and keep control of these . . . um, individuals at all cost.”
“Who are they?” My voice rose, as my patience thinned. “And how are they getting away with all of this?”
No matter what he’d told me, I wasn’t ruling out going to the police as soon as I was free. Someone had to be brought accountable for everything happening here.
“They are . . . not from this world, Kitty.”
“What?”
“Surely, you’ve noticed some unusual things about them during your time here.”
“You mean besides them being perverts who like to watch?”
“Believe me, they can do far more harmful things than watching.” His gaze shifted in the directions of the guards again. “They’ve been part of our world for over a millennium, and they had wreaked havoc during their early centuries on Earth, before we found a reliable way to control them.”
“Who are they?” I insisted.
“Demons.” He leaned to me from his chair, his voice low. “In flesh and blood.”
Was he out of his mind?
I shrunk back, all the way to the wall, worried for my own safety now, being one on one with a clearly insane man who believed in demons.
‘Surely, you’ve noticed some unusual things about them,' he'd said.
Their eyes.
The blood-red glow I’d witnessed once. The flashing blue lights I’d noticed on more than one occasion. Could there be a more sane, a normal explanation to that?
“You don’t have to believe me, Kitty.” Mister Keller leaned back in his chair. “However, it is the truth. I have nothing to gain by lying to you. In fact I’m telling all of this to you now in order to ensure your cooperation in keeping their existence a secret form the general population.”
“Why would I do that?”
I definitely needed to get to the closest police station as soon as I was able, to let the proper authorities sort this mess out.
“Because, really, you don’t have a choice. What good would it do for you to go public with your disclosure? No one would believe you. If you insist, you would be likely declared insane.”
“There is plenty of evidence of their existence. This place—”
“Is a private property with no complaints against it. I guarantee you will never be able to obtain so much as a search warrant for it. The Priory will make sure of it.”
“Why would any human organization cover up the crimes of these . . . demons? Besides, I couldn’t be the only one they took. I’ve heard screams—”
“All women currently held at this location will be freed. Every one of you will be provided with a cover story, credible enough to return back into the society and lead a normal life. Trust me, Kitty, you’re one of the lucky ones. Ever since we made an agreement with them over six hundred years ago, no one has been allowed to leave this place alive.”
Dread slithered up my spine at his last words.
“Women have been murdered here? This is insane,” I finally voiced the thought that had been bouncing in my head from the moment I heard him say ‘demons.’
“It most certainly is,” he agreed, shaking his head, as he rose from the chair. “And things seem to be getting even crazier, believe it or not. Lately, they have found . . . um, what my organization hopes to be a more agreeable alternative to our arrangement with them. The Priory chose to explore it further with a possibility to allow it—under a strict supervision, of course. By the way, you wouldn’t happen to have any particular affection for one of your guards?”
“What? God, no!”
“Good.” He turned to leave. “Well, I’ll let you rest tonight. You have a lot of new information to process. Needless to say that there won’t be any more of those . . . nightly sessions.”
“Wait!” I jumped to my feet, spurred by a bout of panic. “Don’t leave me here! I’m free—I want to come with you.”
“Um . . . There is no suitable accommodation anywhere else in the vicinity for you, Kitty. It’d better if you stayed here for the time being—”
“But why?” I caught up with him at the door and got hold of his sleeve. “How long?”
I was afraid that once the door closed behind him, it would be as if he’d never came here at all. Everything would go back to the way it was, all hope of freedom being just that—hope.
“They assured us that your mental state was sound enough to handle this news, that you’re stable.” His voice sounded accusingly, and he became visibly more uncomfortable the longer I held on to his sleeve. “The Priory insisted on my meeting with you tonight to inform you of the change in your status as soon as possible. There’s still at least a day or two until the team of professionals meant to handle this is supposed to arrive. You see, despite my organization’s power and reach, the membership with them is extremely limited. They simply don’t have full members in every part of the world. I happened to be the closest one to this, um, area—” he cut himself short with an exasperated sigh. “Kitty, listen . . . just one more night here—maybe two—before we can move you. You’ll need some counseling, a change of clothes . . .” He tugged at his arm in an effort to pry the fabric from my clenching fingers, but I was determined not to let him go without getting at least some answers. I also needed some firm assurances on his part.
“Do they know I’m free?”
“Absolutely. They will leave with me, and no one will bother you tonight. Or any night, for that matter.” He made another unsuccessful attempt to free his sleeve from my grip. “The door to your cell will remain unlocked if you wish. And you’re free to move around the facility.”
“I want to go outside.” The sudden opportunity to see the open sky made my head spin. “Yes, I want to go for a walk.”
“Now?”
“Right now.”
“Um, I’m sure a quick walk outside could be arranged.” Mister Keller threw a desperate look towards the silent guards as if asking them for assistance.
“I will inquire.” The deep, rough voice came from inside one of the helmets so unexpectedly that I gasped in shock and jumped away from the guards.
I never heard them speak. Ever. Hearing one of them now had a similar effect to suddenly discovering that the walls could talk.
“Here you go.” The obvious relief spread on Mister Keller’s tired face. “I assure you, Kitty, as of this moment, you’re simply a visitor here not a captive. You’re free to move around as you please. You can order whatever food you like, we . . . they will do their best to accommodate you. And, as I said, there will be no more of what they call feedings.”
“Feedings?”
“Er, I meant the nightly sessions.”
Why feedings? It made no sense. As far as I could tell, no one actually ate in the white room while I was there.
“Good night, Kitty.” Mister Keller finally freed himself from me and stepped out of the cell.
“But—”
“Whatever questions you may still have will be answered by your counselors.” I heard his voice as he hurried down the hallway.
The door remained open for a few moments. I could run after him, grab him again, demand more answers, more proof. Deep inside, however, I understood that Mister Keller would not give me more information than he was prepared to give at the moment anyway. The most likely result of my outburst would be me being subdued and locked up in my cell again.
Stable.
That’s what they thought of me. All my efforts to retain my ability to think and analyze hinged on one thing—hope to be free one day. I’d always known that once that hope was gone, my sanity would quickly follow, and I held on to that.
If what Mister Keller just told me was true, I might be closer to freedom now than I’d ever been. A meltdown now might result in my losing whatever privileges I’d just gained.
With a deep inhale, I closed my eyes, reining the panicky feeling under control.
Then I heard the guard exit and the door swish shut, ruining my attempts to remain calm.
“Hey!” I rushed to the door and slammed my fists into the metal surface. “How about my walk!”
“I’ll return shortly, with the appropriate clothing for you,” a voice boomed from behind the door then a pair of coffee-coloured eyes met mine through the barred window. “Wait here,” the guard said, rendering me speechless, as I still had a hard time getting used to them talking.
The sound of his retreating steps in the distance let my thoughts drift back to everything I had just learned.
Demons.
Chill prickled my skin despite the warmth inside the cell.
Could that actually be true?
Copyright@Marina Simcoe
A kind soul has added The Forgotten to Goodreads already. Feel free to add it to your TBR any time:
The Forgotten
To share my joy with you, here is the first chapter of The Forgotten. It's a long one....
Warning: Unedited.
THE FORGOTTEN, Demons, book 2.
CHAPTER 1
They were coming for me. I felt the vibration of their footsteps through the floor of my cell.
Closing my eyes for a moment, I inhaled deeply and prepared myself for what was to come.
Way too familiar by now feeling of dread hollowed my stomach. What was done to me in this place was wrong. All of it.
I had been abducted—stolen out of my bed at night—and brought to this basement cell. Almost nightly, they took me to the large white room and locked me to the X-shaped cross. Then one of them—silent and impassive—touched my naked body, while thirteen others watched.
There was something dark and scorchingly dangerous in their stares that made my insides twist with terror at the same time as my body ached with desire building under the stranger’s touch.
It was all wrong. I couldn’t sort out my emotions in this place, but I could be fairly certain that the shame I felt after each session on the cross had less to do with my exposing my naked body to the hungry stares of strangers and everything to do with my knowing that I shouldn’t be enjoying this.
The guilt. It made me hate them even more—not only did they take my freedom away from me, they also made me crave the shameful things they did to me.
With the sound of their footsteps approaching, the anticipation filled me with tingling excitement against my will. Immediately, a sharp stab of guilt for feeling this way triggered the usual disgust with myself.
I couldn’t afford to dwell on that too much, tough—my mind was too precious to risk losing it to self-loathing or self-pity. By now, I believed, I had nothing but my brain to rely on if I ever wanted to get out of here.
My capturers never hurt me physically. I got fed regularly. If I could keep my sanity intact and my brains functioning, I reasoned, I could last here long enough to come up with a way to get out.
Because I diligently counted days, I knew that I’d been here for exactly five weeks and three days. With a rare exception, every one of those days was a mirror image of another—breakfast, lunch, sponge bath from a bucket of warm water, and a mind-blowing orgasm in front of them before dinner.
I hardly ever was able to come during sex with a man before. Yet, here I was, writhing on that cross, burning in lust, coming on the vibrator in the stranger’s hand every single time they brought me to that room.
And now, I was looking forward doing it all over again tonight.
Wrong.
I needed to get out of here before I’d completely succumbed to the depravity of this place.
As the monotonous days moved by, I observed everything, learning as much about my capturers and my surroundings as I could.
The guards that I came in any contact with wore grey uniforms, their faces covered behind masks with only a pair of narrow slits for their eyes. Unhumanly strong and impassive, they could easily be considered automations rather than people.
On the contrary, the group of thirteen in the white room never wore uniforms. Dressed in a bizarre mix of clothing, they sat in a casual semi-circle around the cross—all rather young and stunningly attractive, I had to admit.
The one in the middle normally wore something like a loose robe—the flowing material of it glaringly white against his dark skin. I’d caught him gesture to others, giving orders. By the way the rest of them obeyed, I determined that he held the authority around here.
Neither of them ever spoke. None ever showed any kind of emotion, even while watching me climax. Frozen motionously, they resembled beautiful reclining statues whenever I managed to glance their way while on that cross, making me only more confused about the actual purpose of it all.
Then one night, I managed another glance at them through the haze of arousal, right before an orgasm reaped through me. I saw the hungry stares of the thirteen light up bright red. The glow flared up and ebbed, terrifying me, a moment before they lowered their eyelids and threw their heads back as if in a silent prayer.
I screamed, as horror cut through the pleasure of my climax rippling through me at that very second.
Since that night, they had made me wear a velvet blindfold, but the memory of the blood-red eyes in their eerily beautiful faces still kept me up at night. Later, I also noticed the eyes of the uniformed guards flash white-blue on more than one occasion.
With no idea of who these people were, I had a strong suspicion that they were not really people at all.
The sound of their footsteps halted. The cell door slid open with a swishing noise, and two guards walked in.
Wiping my sweaty palms on the sides of the dreary cotton dress they made me wear, I jumped to my feet.
Instead of the third uniformed guard, however, a man stepped into my cell.
My heart skipped in shock.
Wearing a charcoal suit and a navy-blue tie, he was an average-looking man with neatly styled, receding blond hair.
“Miss Jones?” he asked in accented English and threw a nervous glance at the guards behind him.
Eerie and dreary, this place was a world on its own. A surreal universe of concrete walls, grey armour suits, and bizarrely handsome men with hungry stares. The wool suit of the man in my cell did not belong here. His sudden appearance was jarring.
My legs gave in from my astonishment of having him here, and I lowered myself back to the mattress.
Stunned, all I could say was, “Who are you?”
“I’m Steffen Keller. Nice to meet you, Miss Jones.”
“You’re not one of them,” I stated the obvious. “Are you going to get me out of here?”
I jumped up to my feet again, determined not to let him exit this cell without me. I knew nothing about this man, but the simple fact that he might be one of my kind made me want to trust him.
“You will go home, Miss Jones. Eventually.” He crossed his arms in front of him, and I noticed a grey file folder in his hands.
“When?”
“Technically, you’re free as of this moment. However—”
“I’m free? As of right now?” I pushed past him to the door to test his claim. The guards moved towards each other to block my way. Their shoulder armour clanked together.
Frustrated, I slammed my fists in their chest plates. Neither of them moved an inch.
I spun on my heel to face the liar in the suit and stretched up to my full height—all five feet and one half of an inch. The half of an inch was important if you had not that many to go around in the first place.
“They obviously haven’t been informed about that.” I flipped my thumb at the guards behind me.
“Miss Jones—” he started.
“Kitty,” I bit out. The detached, formal way he pronounced my last name irritated me.
“Pardon me?”
“Everyone calls me Kitty, you may as well, as long as you tell me what the hell is going on here? If I’m free, why can’t I leave?”
“Well. For once, it’s a long way from here to your home in . . .” He glanced inside his folder quickly. “Seattle, in The United States. We will need some time to arrange for appropriate transportation for you.”
“Where are we?”
“Canada. Yukon Territory.”
That was a long way from home. Why would they bring me all this way up here?
“Who are they?” I tipped my chin back at the armour suits behind me. “Why was I brought here in the first place? And who the hell are you?”
He’d given me nothing beside his name.
Steffen Keller inhaled deeply, rubbing his forehead.
“You have to excuse me, Miss . . . Um, Kitty. This is the first time I have to do something like this . . .”
“Like what? Setting a person free? Visiting a captive in her cell? Talking to a woman? You’ll need to explain more than that. Much more.” I sat back on the mattress and crossed my legs in front of me. “Go on. Explain. Why can’t I leave?”
He shifted from foot to foot uneasily and rubbed some perspiration from his forehead, mumbling, “I told them it was best to wait,” under his breath.
“Wait for what?”
“For the rest of the representatives to get here. With a bunch of professional counselors in tow. I’m not qualified to do this.” He waived his hand in my direction, a clear irritation in his expression. “Can I get a chair in here? Something to sit down?” he threw back to the guards by the door.
I noted, not without some surprise, that one of them immediately left the room, only to promptly return with a metal chair for Mister Keller.
“It looks like it may take a while.” He sat, stretching his legs in front of him.
I couldn’t care less about his grouchy tone or his obvious displeasure. If I managed to spend over five weeks locked up in here, he could very well take his time to explain everything to me now. Silent, I stared at him expectantly.
“You see, Miss . . . um, Kitty. Your situation is rather unique. Normally, women taken by this particular group don’t live to tell the tale, so to say. Now, since the things have changed and all of you are being released, we’ll need to ensure you’ll keep in utmost secrecy everything that happened to you during the time you spent here.”
“Are you with the police?” I forced myself to keep focused on the main topic of discussion—my freedom—and chased away the disturbing mentioning of the "normal" way of things apparently were happening around here before.
“No. The police are not involved.”
“Keeping silent about my kidnapping and forceful confinement will make me an accomplice to their crimes,” I retorted dryly.
“On the contrary. It will ensure your freedom and faster return to a normal life.”
“Why should I believe anything you’re saying to me? If you’ve never even told me who you are?”
“I hold an official position with The Priory of Grimien.”
“Never heard of it.”
“And you never would have, had you not been acquired by your captors—well—and had there not been some recent developments resulting in your release. My organization was created with a sole purpose—to gain and keep control of these . . . um, individuals at all cost.”
“Who are they?” My voice rose, as my patience thinned. “And how are they getting away with all of this?”
No matter what he’d told me, I wasn’t ruling out going to the police as soon as I was free. Someone had to be brought accountable for everything happening here.
“They are . . . not from this world, Kitty.”
“What?”
“Surely, you’ve noticed some unusual things about them during your time here.”
“You mean besides them being perverts who like to watch?”
“Believe me, they can do far more harmful things than watching.” His gaze shifted in the directions of the guards again. “They’ve been part of our world for over a millennium, and they had wreaked havoc during their early centuries on Earth, before we found a reliable way to control them.”
“Who are they?” I insisted.
“Demons.” He leaned to me from his chair, his voice low. “In flesh and blood.”
Was he out of his mind?
I shrunk back, all the way to the wall, worried for my own safety now, being one on one with a clearly insane man who believed in demons.
‘Surely, you’ve noticed some unusual things about them,' he'd said.
Their eyes.
The blood-red glow I’d witnessed once. The flashing blue lights I’d noticed on more than one occasion. Could there be a more sane, a normal explanation to that?
“You don’t have to believe me, Kitty.” Mister Keller leaned back in his chair. “However, it is the truth. I have nothing to gain by lying to you. In fact I’m telling all of this to you now in order to ensure your cooperation in keeping their existence a secret form the general population.”
“Why would I do that?”
I definitely needed to get to the closest police station as soon as I was able, to let the proper authorities sort this mess out.
“Because, really, you don’t have a choice. What good would it do for you to go public with your disclosure? No one would believe you. If you insist, you would be likely declared insane.”
“There is plenty of evidence of their existence. This place—”
“Is a private property with no complaints against it. I guarantee you will never be able to obtain so much as a search warrant for it. The Priory will make sure of it.”
“Why would any human organization cover up the crimes of these . . . demons? Besides, I couldn’t be the only one they took. I’ve heard screams—”
“All women currently held at this location will be freed. Every one of you will be provided with a cover story, credible enough to return back into the society and lead a normal life. Trust me, Kitty, you’re one of the lucky ones. Ever since we made an agreement with them over six hundred years ago, no one has been allowed to leave this place alive.”
Dread slithered up my spine at his last words.
“Women have been murdered here? This is insane,” I finally voiced the thought that had been bouncing in my head from the moment I heard him say ‘demons.’
“It most certainly is,” he agreed, shaking his head, as he rose from the chair. “And things seem to be getting even crazier, believe it or not. Lately, they have found . . . um, what my organization hopes to be a more agreeable alternative to our arrangement with them. The Priory chose to explore it further with a possibility to allow it—under a strict supervision, of course. By the way, you wouldn’t happen to have any particular affection for one of your guards?”
“What? God, no!”
“Good.” He turned to leave. “Well, I’ll let you rest tonight. You have a lot of new information to process. Needless to say that there won’t be any more of those . . . nightly sessions.”
“Wait!” I jumped to my feet, spurred by a bout of panic. “Don’t leave me here! I’m free—I want to come with you.”
“Um . . . There is no suitable accommodation anywhere else in the vicinity for you, Kitty. It’d better if you stayed here for the time being—”
“But why?” I caught up with him at the door and got hold of his sleeve. “How long?”
I was afraid that once the door closed behind him, it would be as if he’d never came here at all. Everything would go back to the way it was, all hope of freedom being just that—hope.
“They assured us that your mental state was sound enough to handle this news, that you’re stable.” His voice sounded accusingly, and he became visibly more uncomfortable the longer I held on to his sleeve. “The Priory insisted on my meeting with you tonight to inform you of the change in your status as soon as possible. There’s still at least a day or two until the team of professionals meant to handle this is supposed to arrive. You see, despite my organization’s power and reach, the membership with them is extremely limited. They simply don’t have full members in every part of the world. I happened to be the closest one to this, um, area—” he cut himself short with an exasperated sigh. “Kitty, listen . . . just one more night here—maybe two—before we can move you. You’ll need some counseling, a change of clothes . . .” He tugged at his arm in an effort to pry the fabric from my clenching fingers, but I was determined not to let him go without getting at least some answers. I also needed some firm assurances on his part.
“Do they know I’m free?”
“Absolutely. They will leave with me, and no one will bother you tonight. Or any night, for that matter.” He made another unsuccessful attempt to free his sleeve from my grip. “The door to your cell will remain unlocked if you wish. And you’re free to move around the facility.”
“I want to go outside.” The sudden opportunity to see the open sky made my head spin. “Yes, I want to go for a walk.”
“Now?”
“Right now.”
“Um, I’m sure a quick walk outside could be arranged.” Mister Keller threw a desperate look towards the silent guards as if asking them for assistance.
“I will inquire.” The deep, rough voice came from inside one of the helmets so unexpectedly that I gasped in shock and jumped away from the guards.
I never heard them speak. Ever. Hearing one of them now had a similar effect to suddenly discovering that the walls could talk.
“Here you go.” The obvious relief spread on Mister Keller’s tired face. “I assure you, Kitty, as of this moment, you’re simply a visitor here not a captive. You’re free to move around as you please. You can order whatever food you like, we . . . they will do their best to accommodate you. And, as I said, there will be no more of what they call feedings.”
“Feedings?”
“Er, I meant the nightly sessions.”
Why feedings? It made no sense. As far as I could tell, no one actually ate in the white room while I was there.
“Good night, Kitty.” Mister Keller finally freed himself from me and stepped out of the cell.
“But—”
“Whatever questions you may still have will be answered by your counselors.” I heard his voice as he hurried down the hallway.
The door remained open for a few moments. I could run after him, grab him again, demand more answers, more proof. Deep inside, however, I understood that Mister Keller would not give me more information than he was prepared to give at the moment anyway. The most likely result of my outburst would be me being subdued and locked up in my cell again.
Stable.
That’s what they thought of me. All my efforts to retain my ability to think and analyze hinged on one thing—hope to be free one day. I’d always known that once that hope was gone, my sanity would quickly follow, and I held on to that.
If what Mister Keller just told me was true, I might be closer to freedom now than I’d ever been. A meltdown now might result in my losing whatever privileges I’d just gained.
With a deep inhale, I closed my eyes, reining the panicky feeling under control.
Then I heard the guard exit and the door swish shut, ruining my attempts to remain calm.
“Hey!” I rushed to the door and slammed my fists into the metal surface. “How about my walk!”
“I’ll return shortly, with the appropriate clothing for you,” a voice boomed from behind the door then a pair of coffee-coloured eyes met mine through the barred window. “Wait here,” the guard said, rendering me speechless, as I still had a hard time getting used to them talking.
The sound of his retreating steps in the distance let my thoughts drift back to everything I had just learned.
Demons.
Chill prickled my skin despite the warmth inside the cell.
Could that actually be true?
Copyright@Marina Simcoe
A kind soul has added The Forgotten to Goodreads already. Feel free to add it to your TBR any time:
The Forgotten
The Real Thing Update
Quite a few people have asked me about what happened to my PNR novel, The Real Thing. Readers who liked it wanted to re-read it and couldn't find it on Amazon anymore.
I've unpublished it. Temporarily. I'm really happy with the way Demon Mine turned out after the re-edit, and I decided to do the same for Marcus as well. I love his character, and I think I can tell his story better. I've learned so much in the past year, I want to make Marcus shine the way he should. :)
Also, I just got a new cover for it from Naomi and Cameron, and it's simply stunning! I can't wait to share it with all of you. But I decided to use it as a motivation for rewrites. The sooner the rewrites are done, the sooner I can show off my new cover! :)
P.S. Promise, this will be the last re-edit. I'm happy with the books I've published since The Real Thing and have no intentions to keep re-editing my backlist forever.
After this one, I'll focus solely on the new stuff.
I've unpublished it. Temporarily. I'm really happy with the way Demon Mine turned out after the re-edit, and I decided to do the same for Marcus as well. I love his character, and I think I can tell his story better. I've learned so much in the past year, I want to make Marcus shine the way he should. :)
Also, I just got a new cover for it from Naomi and Cameron, and it's simply stunning! I can't wait to share it with all of you. But I decided to use it as a motivation for rewrites. The sooner the rewrites are done, the sooner I can show off my new cover! :)
P.S. Promise, this will be the last re-edit. I'm happy with the books I've published since The Real Thing and have no intentions to keep re-editing my backlist forever.
After this one, I'll focus solely on the new stuff.
October 10, 2018
October 6, 2018
HUGE GIVEAWAY! *NOW CLOSED*
As promised, October is going to be a month of fun stuff and great giveaways! I'm intending to spend the whole month celebrating Monster's release. :)
For a chance to win a whole lot of book money (honestly, this is the biggest total $$$-prize I believe I've seen in book world), please join me and 60+ Bookbub authors in this giveaway.
http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/disp...
Good Luck!
For a chance to win a whole lot of book money (honestly, this is the biggest total $$$-prize I believe I've seen in book world), please join me and 60+ Bookbub authors in this giveaway.
http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/disp...
Good Luck!
October 1, 2018
*CLOSED* GIVEAWAY-To Love a Monster
★★★ Twinsie Talk Book Reviews 6th Blogiversary GIVEAWAY!!!!! ★★★
My September Giveaway is now closed, but I have a brand new one for you that starts today! Twinsie Talk Book Reviews is having Blogiversary, and about 3 dozen authors joined in to celebrate, with a tone of cool prizes for you.
★Enter to WIN: copy of TO LOVE A MONSTER plus a loaded Kindle, signed books and swag from multiple genres and authors.
Here is the link to all the goodies you could win - http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/disp...?
The giveaway runs from October 1 – October 14th. Good Luck!
My September Giveaway is now closed, but I have a brand new one for you that starts today! Twinsie Talk Book Reviews is having Blogiversary, and about 3 dozen authors joined in to celebrate, with a tone of cool prizes for you.
★Enter to WIN: copy of TO LOVE A MONSTER plus a loaded Kindle, signed books and swag from multiple genres and authors.
Here is the link to all the goodies you could win - http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/disp...?
The giveaway runs from October 1 – October 14th. Good Luck!
September 11, 2018
GIVEAWAY-CLOSED
*NOW CLOSED* I'll have more giveaways for you in October!
A KINDLE, EBOOK PRIZE PACKS & GIFT CARDS!
Fall Into Love All-Romance Giveaway September 10-30th.
https://bookwrapt.com/fall-into-love-...
Here is a link to an additional giveaway and to the book fair of freebies and books under $3, too:
https://bookwrapt.com/fall-into-love-...
Happy Reading!
A KINDLE, EBOOK PRIZE PACKS & GIFT CARDS!
Fall Into Love All-Romance Giveaway September 10-30th.
https://bookwrapt.com/fall-into-love-...
Here is a link to an additional giveaway and to the book fair of freebies and books under $3, too:
https://bookwrapt.com/fall-into-love-...
Happy Reading!
September 10, 2018
ATTENTION BLOGGERS.
ARC's BLOGGERS SIGNUP.
For the release of To Love A Monster I've partnered up with the wonderful people from Social Butterfly PR.
If you'd like to take part in the book's release, please fill in the form attached.
https://goo.gl/forms/2KBcVpvvGPu3l4qq2
Please note: If you don't have a blog, I'll have a limited number of ARC's available for my newsletter subscribers. The email with the signup form will be going out around September 20th.
For the release of To Love A Monster I've partnered up with the wonderful people from Social Butterfly PR.
If you'd like to take part in the book's release, please fill in the form attached.
https://goo.gl/forms/2KBcVpvvGPu3l4qq2
Please note: If you don't have a blog, I'll have a limited number of ARC's available for my newsletter subscribers. The email with the signup form will be going out around September 20th.
