In celebration of the Apocalypse Blog Hop, I am providing my readers with special "teaser/excerpt" for the second novel of "The Harvesting Series," titled The Shadow Aspect. My “zombie” novel, The Harvesting, was released in 2012. The second, forthcoming novel in the series is titled The Shadow Aspect. As many fans of The Harvesting found, my novel is not just about zombies. As a dark fantasy/horror hybrid, there are several forces at work in Layla’s world. The excerpt below gives you a taste of my zombie/faerie/other cocktail. Enjoy this excerpt from The Shadow Aspect. Keep an eye out for a cover reveal very soon! Now, bring on the apocalypse!
The Shadow Aspect
The Harvesting Series, Volume II
Excerpt I
The girl rushed past me into the woods. I reached out to grab her, knowing that the danger in the forest was as real as the danger upon us, but she slipped from my grasp. A blur of white robes and blonde hair, she thundered into the misty wild. Three of the undead rushed after her. I gave the shashka a spin and cut two of them down. The third, an undead young man, moved with startling agility into the mist behind her. He’d rushed past me without pausing. I caught sight of his weather-worn blue vest before he disappeared into the fog. I turned and rushed after him.
“Layla, wait!” Cricket yelled.
I hadn’t dashed even twenty feet into the forest
before everything was covered with thick mist. I could hear the grunt of the
undead man somewhere ahead of me. And
more than that, I could hear the buzz of what sounded almost like words, like someone’s
internal dialogue, in my mind. I’d had enough of this shit.
“Why not come play with me instead?” I called,
hoping to lure him back.
I heard the shuffle of leaves and snapping branches
as something moved toward me. I held my ground, my weapon poised. A moment
later, Puck cleared the undergrowth and trotted to my side.
“Good way to lose your head,” I told him.
He licked my hand then growled at the misty
woods.
With Puck at my side, I moved carefully
forward. I tried to stay sharp, listening for the living and the undead. I
heard movement to the left. I stayed low and moved quietly. A deep groan reverberated through the mists. I stepped carefully, half expecting to find the poor girl being eaten alive.
I was deep in the woods, standing in a clearing
amongst a growth of new ferns, when the mists began to dissipate. The trees,
their limbs still bare, looked like shadowy skeletons as they emerged from the
fog. The undead man was standing in front of me. I watched as he flexed his
hands, open and closed, open and closed. He was scanning all around him.
I pulled a poyasni from my boot and rose. Just
as I was about to lob a dagger at the undead man, he turned at looked at me.
His eyes were moon white.
“Run,” his voice sounded inside my head. “Run.
Now,” he said again. He turned and bolted deeper into the forest.
Before I had a moment to process what was
happening, I heard horse hooves and the jingle of metal behind me. I turned to
find the man I had seen in my dream standing there. His horse’s hot breath made
a halo of steam in the cool morning air. He smiled menacingly down at me.
. . . dum, dum, dum . . . stay tuned for more excerpts!
Now, giveaway time!
a Rafflecopter giveaway
Thanks, Heidi! This is a great moment in the novel . . . I'm so excited for my readers to get a look! Thanks for stopping by :)
ReplyDeleteThanks for being part of the hop!!! Loving getting acquainted with more authors. ;)
ReplyDeletevals_hemi at yahoo dot com
It's so much fun! Thanks for stopping by, Valerie!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the giveaway!
ReplyDeleteGood lick, Meryvamp. Thanks for stopping by!
ReplyDelete