Penetrating the Darkness
Book 6

Felicity Hawthorne is finally waking up—literally. Everything about her sheltered life in the Land of Mystics has been a lie, including the whopper that her natural mother is evil. Determined to find the truth, she breaks free…and touches down in the middle of stark, cold Jacob’s Cove, surrounded by a pack of bloodthirsty demons.

Dusty Ryder didn’t ask to be turned into a vampire. Even now, on the brink of his unwilling initiation, he is looking for a way out. A reprieve comes in the form of a dark-haired goddess whose beauty drives him to rescue her from his new “family”. Except she’s not quite as helpless as she looks.

As they embark on a journey of self-discovery, they uncover more secrets that bring Felicity face to face with her forgotten past—and make Dusty wonder if he’s gotten in over his head. But it’s too late. Now that he’s had her in his arms, he can’t bring himself to let her go.

Until Chaos rains down on them, threatening to end it all.

EXCERPT:

Dusty dove behind a turned over car, covering his head. He heard shouts from the men behind him, more crackling before everything went silent. He waited a bit before taking his hands off his ears. Carefully, he inched over to peek around the car. Seeing Slasher along with the other creatures get to their feet, Dusty kept behind the car, still not sure what was happening.
“What we got here?”
“She looks real pretty.”
“Maybe she’s an angel, dropping from the heavens like she did.”
“Looks ripe to me. Smells fresh too.”
Curiosity getting the best of him, Dusty shifted from behind the car, keeping low to the ground in hopes he wasn’t noticed. He ducked behind another vehicle, peering around the edge to see who they were talking about.
He heard whimpers that sounded distinctly female.
“Aw, look, she’s scared. We should hold her and make her feel better.”
Dusty watched as Slasher moved forward and lifted someone up. He caught a glimpse of something white with feet kicking out. He moved closer, wanting to get a better look.
“Ooh, she feels real soft.”
He saw her now, a frail-looking woman dressed in some sort of white dress with hair as dark as the night that came just past her waist.
And the beasts were having fun with her.
“Leave her alone,” he bellowed, bravely standing up from behind his hiding spot. Her eyes met his, a blue so beautiful he was lost in them. What happened next left him stunned.
She began to glow—there was no other explanation for it. A white light began to shimmer off her and as if it burnt him, Slasher dropped her quickly and backed away. When she began to glow brighter, burning his eyes, Dusty ducked down behind the car. He heard the screams, all male, ricocheting off of the vacant buildings around him, bouncing off of the pavement and filling the air.
Then it all went silent.
Dusty inched his way to the edge of the car. Slowly he lifted himself into a crouched position and looked out over the hood. All he saw was a bundle of white curled in a ball on the sidewalk. No signs of any of the animals that had surrounded her.
What the hell?
She moaned.
Looking around, he didn’t see anyone else. He moved out from behind the car, slowly making his way towards her. As he got closer, he smelled burnt flesh. It stung his nose, so he pulled his arm over his mouth and nose as he inched forward.
He sidestepped around a pile of ashes on the ground. A sparkle of silver caught his attention and he recognized it as the ring Slasher had worn.
The girl whimpered, drawing his attention. “Um…are you okay?” She jumped when he spoke, startling him. “It’s okay. I’m not going to hurt you.” He held his hands up as she spun around to face him. Her eyes were almost hypnotic.
“You called out to stop them,” she spoke softly.
He blinked away his daze. “Yeah. Um…are you okay?”
"They wanted to harm me.”
“Yeah. Do you know what happened to them?”
“They were going to hurt me. I didn’t mean to do it, but they frightened me and when I get frightened sometimes I have difficulty controlling myself. I didn’t mean to hurt them.”
Her voice was like a dove’s song. Soft and soothing. He felt drawn to it. He looked down at the piles of ash, then back up at her. “Did you…kill them?”
“I was frightened and then they started to scream and it frightened me even more. They all just crumbled.”
He looked down at the piles, his brow lifting “You turned them to dust.” He whipped his head up to her. “Please don’t do that to me.”
“I would never—I never meant to—they frightened me—” Her head jerked to the side at the sound of a crashing trashcan in the distance.
She ran to him, into his arms, and he was compelled to hold her as she stared with fright. “It’s okay. Probably just cats or a dog.”
“You’ll protect me? Please, don’t let me harm someone else.”
“Okay, just stay calm.” He had to get her someplace safe. Looking around, he saw one of the few buildings that wasn’t charred or broken down and decided it would do. “Come with me.” She clung to him so he started walking across the street to the building. “What’s your name?”
“Felicity.” She quivered in his arms.
“My name is Dusty. It’s a pleasure to meet you, Felicity.”