I told you all, I’d hook you up with links to buy your won copy of Awakening 3, but Jeanine Grey gave us something better!
I’m stepping aside and letting Jeanie take over.
Guest post by Jeanie Grey: Exclusive content – Deleted scene from AWAKENING 3
Thank you so much for letting me do this guest post on your blog in celebration of the release of Awakening 3, Mari! 🙂 I’m thrilled to offer you a deleted scene that’s available nowhere else. But first, a little about my new book!
Short description: A suspenseful science fiction vampire romance, Awakening 3 is the final book in the Lilly Frank trilogy, intended for readers 18+.
Books synopsis
Nearly fifty years after the events of Awakening 2, Lilly decides to stop running away and returns to Italy only to find the threat of a vampire civil war growing. With the help of Beth, Carrie and Jamie, Lilly learns how to face her feelings about her tragic past and to accept that, whether Torren wants her or not, her heart wants him. But when she finds Torren in Rome, not only is he still with Vittoria, he doesn’t seem to remember Lilly at all.
Can Lilly convince Torren to leave Vittoria to be with her and help the Organization find a peaceful solution to the conflict, or will Vittoria and a vampire war come between Torren and Lilly and their happily ever after?
Format: e-book
Length: 44,700 words (approx. 150 pgs)
Language(s): English
Price: $0.99 USD
Buy links: Smashwords – Coming soon to Amazon, the iTunes store, B&N, Sony, Kobo, Diesel, Oyster & Scribd!
Deleted Scene
Lilly’s chest constricted and she began to tremble.
“Lilly! What’s wrong? What is it?” Beth reached across the table and took Lilly’s hands in hers.
“I— I’m so afraid, Beth. I think I’m a rogue vampire.” Lilly took a deep breath and found her courage even as the tears began to spill from her eyes.
“What do you mean?” Beth said, her eyes wide.
She’d been living with the guilt long enough, and if vampire law dictated that she had to die for her mistake, then at least justice would be done.
“I’ve killed someone.”
***
She’d been roaming the wilds of Canada for several months. It was harsh country and food was scarce, but it gave her an opportunity to test how long she could go without feeding. It had been several weeks at this point, and she was definitely feeling the effects. She was disoriented and shaky. She might have been hallucinating. There was a storm coming and she was making herself a shelter. The knife slipped and she cut herself. The blood took several seconds to ooze to the surface, and when it did, it was nearly clear. Lilly panicked. The experiment had gone far enough. She half-stumbled, half-ran. She didn’t know where she was going until she came upon the cabin and heard the heart beat. There was a horse in the stable, but as soon as she smelled the human she knew she had to have him.
The next thing she knew she was inside, the man cradled in her arms as he exhaled his last breath. His eyes were open and staring at the ceiling. They were blue and lifeless. His blood was still warm in her throat and belly, but his body was starting to cool. She’d left the door open and the freezing-cold air whipped around the room as the storm gathered speed.
It had been an accident. She hadn’t meant to kill him. She’d run from the cabin, run out into the storm that raged around her as her guilt and fear raged in her chest, had washed his blood from her hands and face in a stream so cold it burned. She’d left the wilds again and fled to civilization, ending her time of self-testing, but the guilt had followed her wherever she went.
***
By the time she finished telling them the story she was sobbing. She’d never been so ashamed of herself in all her life. Beth had come around the table and was holding her, rocking back and forth and making soothing noises. Carrie had tears in her eyes, too, and looked like she wished she could do something.
“Oh, Lilly. I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry that happened to you.”
“To me?” Lilly squeaked, incredulous. Hadn’t Beth been listening? She’d killed a man!
“You’re not the first to make the mistake of going too long without feeding, Lilly. Other vampires have tested their limits and lost control.”
Lily sniffled and sucked in a few shaky breaths. She waited until she thought she could speak again and said, “And then what?” Her voice broke again on the last word. As guilty as she felt for having killed the man, she didn’t want to die for it, and she felt even more ashamed to realize that she hoped she could somehow get out of it. Is this how all criminals felt?
“Lilly, it is written in The Pact that a vampire shall not kill a human because the founders of the Organization recognized that in order to stay hidden and avoid war with humans, we needed to respect human life and not leave bodies drained of blood lying around—“
A chill as cold as ice formed in Lilly’s solar plexus and she began to tremble more violently.
“—but an amendment clarifies that in order to be considered a betrayal of The Pact it has to be an act of willful murder, intentional and without a direct order from the Organization. The Pact was created to keep the vampire community safe, not to punish vampires who did not know their limits and lost control.”
“Really?” Lilly said. She sniffled again and began to calm. Then the image of the dead man’s eyes came back into her head and she began sobbing again. She realized she had never allowed herself to mourn him before. Who had he been? Had he had a family, perhaps a daughter who loved him the way Lilly had loved her mother? Who had found him? And what about the poor horse? What had happened to it, without a human to care for it?
She cried long and hard while Beth merely held her.
Eventually her breathing slowed and she could speak again. “But if I remain unpunished, what justice is there?”
“You must live with the knowledge of what you have done. Do you not think that is punishment enough?”
Author bio: Jeanie Grey is a feminist reader and writer of romance and erotica who lives in Oregon. Her short stories have been published on deadlyeverafter.com and thedarkerhalf.com. For more about her work and her views on writing romance and erotica, please visit her website at http://jeaniegrey.blogspot.com You can also connect with her via Twitter (@jeaniegrey), Facebook fan page (https://www.facebook.com/authorJeanieGrey) , or email (writejeaniegrey@gmail.com)
*** UPDATE *** Your link for A 3
Awakening 3 (Lilly Frank Series)
Mari Wells 