Good morning, All. Happy 2014!
2013 was a crazy, amazing, life-changing year for me. I published my first novel, for one, but even bigger than that...my husband and I welcomed our daughter into the world! These last 10 months or so have been an absolute whirlwind...but the best, most exciting whirlwind ever. Getting ready for and then actually becoming a mother (to the most beautiful little girl on the planet - not that I'm biased or anything) obviously took priority in my life during this time, but I want to take a moment to assure you, my readers, that I have no intention of abandoning or even grossly postponing progress on the Nightfire trilogy. I know that many of you are anxiously (yet very patiently) awaiting the next installment of the series, and I want you to know - so am I! I can't wait to share the rest of the Nightfire story with you.
I have an announcement for you AND a little treat to boot (surprise!). While I'm still working on the second novel in the trilogy, I will be releasing a companion novella next month! The novella, titled
Forsaken, is written from Sam's point of view, and starts immediately after
Nightfire left off.
Forsaken will be available on Kindle and paperback in a few short weeks. Keep your eyes peeled for the official announcement and publication date!
In the meantime, to thank you for your patience and give you a taste of what to expect in Sam's story, I'm including an excerpt of the novella below. Give it a read, and let me know what you think...and check back in on the blog next week for another surprise! And remember...if you haven't read Nightfire yet, go grab your copy now by clicking
HERE. It's available on Kindle for just $2.99!
In the distance,
the sun slides across the very tips of the city, the skyscrapers gleaming in
the light of the day. The warmth
spreads, spilling over roads and trees, waking up the world and bringing it
back to life.
The magic in my veins recedes, the curse that flows within me not so insistent
now. The venom inside of me is always there,
but during the day I almost feel like me again. I almost feel human.
Almost.
Each morning is a
little harder than the last, but I am always glad to see the sun.
It’s been three
months and six days – exactly 96 sunrises - since I walked out of the Nyiathan
mansion and into this life. I wasn’t always this person. I was kind, caring…good.
Those days are gone. And some way, somehow, I’m doing my best to piece together
what’s left of myself and move on.
For me, becoming
Siek was heartbreaking at best. I lost someone I truly loved in the process,
someone who had come to mean the world to me. And when I say lose, I don’t mean
it in the way you might think – she didn’t die. In fact, I think it might be
even worse than that. She lives, breathes, walks the same earth as I do. But I
cannot have her, not now, not ever.
Sometimes it seems like just yesterday that I held her in my arms, measuring
what I thought were her last breaths, speaking of feelings that were
unthinkable, even then. The pain is that fresh, that encumbering. I don’t know
how it hasn’t swallowed me whole.
There are other times when I feel like an eternity has passed. Even still, the
pain doesn’t wane. It just sits in the back of my mind like a virus that
relentlessly plagues me, killing me slowly.
I remember the
first time I saw Kaida without her human mask, her true form fantastic and
terrifying at the same time. It was unlike anything I’d ever seen before in my
life: a lithe, pixie-like creature with wings easily spanning thirty feet from
tip to tip, glowing with fire. Her skin was like stone, unbelievably pale in
color, and her eyes shimmered in the darkness. I knew I should have been frightened,
but I was stunned by her. She was beautiful.
It was more than
just her physical appearance, though; somehow, she turned off all of the
negativity in my life, made it fade away as if it was never there in the first
place. With her, I was my best.
I couldn’t help
falling in love with her. I can’t help but love her still.
Even though I
shouldn’t.
It takes all of
my strength to keep myself away from my former life, to stay as far away as
possible, to spare the people I love from the monster I’ve become.
The truth is, Siek blood always ran through me, even when I thought I was fully
human. Even before I knew what a Siek was. It lived in hibernation, growing and
strengthening with each moment, biding its time….until everything exploded.
I lived close to nineteen years of a life just like that of any other human
being, with parents I thought were mine and friends and, hell, even a girl I
thought I loved. Everything was simple, easy. The way it should have been.
And then it all changed, swept up as if in a tornado, swirling completely out
of control. I felt like Dorothy, dropped right smack dab in the middle of Oz
with no direction or idea of how to get home. Even in the land of color, all
she wanted was to find her way back. I get it. Now, more than ever. There’s a
part of me that wants nothing more but to go back to the black-and-white life
that I once called my own. But where Dorothy had a yellow brick road and ruby
red slippers to lead her home, I have nothing. My black-and-white life wasn’t
real. Not one day of it. I was always meant to be Siek. And now, I am.
The magic is
alive and well within me. I am filled with a power greater than I ever
imagined, a darkness I’ll never be able to outrun. I know that it’s only a
matter of time before it takes over completely, before the last shreds of my
humanity are extinguished. I’m not sure how much time I have left, but I will
fight against the darkness for as long as possible. I will hold on as tightly
as I can.
Until the old Sam
is lost for good.
Copyright © 2014 Laura E. Taylor
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