Haunting Echoes Release Date and Excerpt

Haunting Echoes is releasing one week from today on June 5th! This has, by far, been the most difficult book to write, mainly because it spans a large chunk of time from 1623 to 1843. Haunting Echoes is my first m/f love story, and the support and encouragement I’ve gotten from my readers has been amazing. It’s always nerve-racking when I release a new book, but this one even more so because it’s the first book I’ve published without Jason and Kale. I hope you’ll be willing to give it a try even though it is quite a bit different from the Measure of Devotion trilogy.

If everything goes as planned, Haunting Echoes should be available at Amazon, Apple, All Romance, Barnes and Noble, and Kobo on launch day. The paperback will follow within the first few weeks.

Blurb

Amaia was one of the most sought after courtesans in King James’s London when she became a vampire. Together with her sire, Lawrence, she works to birth a new, more powerful race of vampires. She has everything she could want: wealth, prestige, and eternal life.

She fears nothing. That is, until Michael, the first man she killed, walks into a tavern twenty-three years after she killed him. He has more reason than most to hate her; he’s the man who gave her the engagement ring she still wears. She’s convinced he’s come back from the grave for one purpose: to destroy her.

Michael’s gray eyes haunt Amaia until she surrenders and goes to him. If her clan finds out about her obsession, they’ll kill her and him. But if she stays away, she’ll go mad. Both paths lead to destruction, and it’s up to Amaia to find a way to keep herself and Michael alive, whether Michael still loves her or not.

Sneak Peak

Chapter One

London, February 1623

The skin offered little resistance to her teeth. A bit of pressure and the blood started to flow. Tangy, sweet warmth filled her mouth and coursed down her throat all the way to her stomach, comforting, soothing the fire in her veins. This was heaven. She was dead, and this her reward.

Her racing mind calmed as she drank. Thoughts organized themselves. Killing should be harder. Less pleasurable. Every second she drank this man’s blood drained away his life. There was no question of stopping. She craved every drop. The boning of her stays pinched as she drank faster.

The flow of blood thinned. The vein was running dry. The breathing beneath her slowed. A few more swallows and the life she held in her hands would be no more. A few more gulps and maybe her lust would be sated.

His body hit the ground with a hollow thump.

“Did you get your fill, my girl?”

The blood made its way through her body, lulling her into contented drowsiness. Obscuring fog consumed her mind. She knew the man talking to her, but his name was just out of reach.

“Yes. Thank you.”

“Of course. Anything for you.” His blue eyes scanned her face as if he expected to find something. She didn’t know what.

The body at her feet laid askew before the crackling fire, limbs sprawled in unnatural positions. Gray eyes stared blankly ahead. The only life in them came from the reflected firelight dancing in their glassy depths. She felt a chill and looked away. “I think I want to sleep now. Just for a little while.”

The blue-eyed man nodded, beaming. “Yes, my child. You must sleep.” In one swift movement, he lifted her into his arms. As he carried her out of the room, she couldn’t help staring over his shoulder at those eyes. Those gray, lifeless eyes that, only minutes before, had gazed at her with the strangest expression.

•••

Images flashed before her dreaming eyes. At first, the visions came too quickly to decipher, but as the dream continued, pieces began to make sense. Lawrence, with his bald head, neatly trimmed gray goatee, and pockmarked cheeks, floated before her. He had been the one who had so gently tucked her into bed. She was safe with him.

“I will give you eternal life,” his gravelly voice had assured her. He’d been the one to change her. “I’m a vampire.” The words sounded foreign on Lawrence’s familiar lips. Fragments of their conversation floated back to her. He would give her everything.

But someone else had promised her everything.

She’d felt a prick on her wrist, and then peace had settled over her as Lawrence sucked away her life. It had been so easy to give in to sleep, lounging on her couch, only to be awakened by bitterness sliding down her throat. Lawrence had held his wrist to her lips, squeezing blood from it.

“I know it’s unpleasant, my dear. It’s the venom. It will give you life.” His low whisper urged her on. She continued to drink, feeling the venom ignite her veins with uncontrollable energy. Her mind raced as she scoured the room for something to eat. She didn’t feel particularly hungry, but all the energy coursing through her was directed toward one thing: feeding. Her eyes darted to the fireplace, the mantle, the silver candlesticks, the gold and amber music box, the worn carpet hiding a warped wooden floor. She couldn’t focus. She either needed to eat or run to a place where she could.

A knock on the door reverberated through her head, piercing her buzz of energy.

“Let me see who that is.” Lawrence left the room. When he returned, leading another man inside, there was a split-second echo of feeling in her chest. This person was familiar. He meant something to her. Soft brown locks framed gray eyes set in an angular face. At the moment though, all he meant was food. Every instinct in her body drove her to pierce through that sun-kissed skin for the blood beneath. She didn’t know how, only that she must.

His soft gray eyes lit up as soon as they rested on her. The tenderness in them echoed the feeling in her chest. “Joc—”

She didn’t hear him finish, or even know if he was able to. She was at his throat.

•••

How long she slept was a mystery. Both faces swam before her. One was old and comforting, the other young and exciting. There was something about the man she’d killed. While Lawrence was a steady presence in her life, this other man felt familiar in a different way, as if he’d been present for much less time. Something about him made her uneasy. He was dangerous. He would take her away, away from Lawrence, from her home.

“Marry me,” he had said to her once. He wanted to possess her, but she couldn’t be had. She was a whore. Lawrence’s whore. Girls like her didn’t marry. Girls like her only got thrown away.

Lawrence had taken her in, given her a profession, given her the means to take care of herself, and now this man wanted to take it all away.

“Don’t be foolish…he’ll leave you eventually…you’re not the marrying type, my dear…it’s not love you feel…I’m a vampire…let me turn you…you’ll have eternal life…he can join us…if he loves you, he won’t begrudge you this…”

Then there was the other man’s face. Michael. Her mind supplied his name, and she remembered it with fondness. He had been in her life for months. His face floated before her, eyes affectionate.

Affection. That was the strange look that had filled his eyes moments before she had killed him. Slowly, the eyes morphed into the dead glass she remembered from the floor of her parlor.

“Shh, everything will be fine.” Lawrence’s voice broke through her dream, as if he spoke directly to her mind. “You’re all right, Amaia. You can hear me now. That means it’s almost time to wake up. Sleep for just a little longer. Enjoy it. This is the last time you’ll ever sleep. I’ll explain everything when you wake.”

The voice gave her something to hold to. In the hazy sea of her dreams, she tossed, confused. When Lawrence’s voice commanded her, she was safe and secure. Her confusion subsided. He would explain everything when she woke. For now, she only needed to sleep.

 

I’ll be sending out an email on release day with all the links for where you can buy it. If you’re not already signed up for the newsletter, fill out the form below and click on the confirmation link in the email you’ll receive from CaethesFaron.com.

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