Forever is a long time for a
vampire… but is all that about to change for Lailah?
Lailah’s neighbour, Loulou, is
well known for hosting wild, extravagant events, so as Lailah heads over there
for the much-anticipated annual Halloween bash, she thinks she’s prepared for
pretty much anything. Soon after arriving, though, she discovers Loulou has outdone
herself—and presented Lailah, who, as well as being an actual vampire, has come
in fancy dress as one, with the opportunity to have a little joke at her own
expense.
What Lailah’s not prepared for,
however, is the appearance of three gorgeous men in uniform. Their out-of-place
getup piques Lailah’s curiosity, and as polite conversation turns to
flirtation, Lailah gets the weirdest feeling nothing is ever going to be the
same again.
But how will Luke, Leo and Jack
react when they discover Lailah’s vampirism isn’t just for Halloween?
Note: This novella has been previously published as part of the Duty
Bound with Bite anthology.
Available from: http://books2read.com/thelongnight
Read an Excerpt:
I’m prepared for pretty much anything
on my way to my next-door neighbour’s house for her Halloween party. Loulou is
well known across north London for her wild, extravagant events, a few of which
I’ve had the good fortune to be a part of—they’re always good fun. So I’m
expecting something spectacular—she wouldn’t let me help, or even have a sneak
peek at the decorations, so whatever she’s gone for will be a complete surprise
to me.
The nearest streetlamp to our
houses is providing just enough light to show off her outdoor decorations. I
smile as I push open her fake-cobweb-covered front gate, duck as a plastic bat
swoops toward my head, then make my way up the garden path, which is lined with
creatively carved pumpkins, the tealights nestled inside each helping to
illuminate the way to the door.
For all intents and purposes, I’m
walking through a graveyard. Headstones in varying states of decay litter the
grass. Noises ring out periodically—the hoot of an owl, the howl of a wolf, the
yowl of a cat. There’s even a dry ice machine secreted somewhere, as a
sinister, low-lying fog hovers over the ground.
I jump and gasp as I pass a large
tree to find a decrepit, bloodstained zombie grinning at me from behind its
trunk. Tutting, then chuckling at my own silliness, I mount the three steps up
to the porch, where more of the same greets me, as well as some macabre smiling
skulls, blood dripping from their mouths and spiders crawling from their eye
sockets. It’s great, it really is, but there’s nothing unusual about any of it.
This is Loulou we’re talking about—I’m waiting for the ‘wow’ factor, that extra
something she’s thrown in to make her party an event that’ll be talked about
for weeks, maybe even months, to come.
A sign with Gothic blood-red
print is fixed to the door.
PARTY THIS WAY. ENTER IF YOU
DARE.
Obviously, I dare. With a roll of
my eyes, I depress the door handle—which has a large plastic spider hanging off
it—and step inside. It’s only a few minutes past the official start time for
the party, so it’s still pretty quiet. I’m fine with that—it gives me the
opportunity to have a good look around at what Loulou has done with the décor
before it gets too busy, too heaving with bodies. Live ones, that is. The dead
ones dotted around the place don’t seem to care one way or the other.
I don’t bother announcing my
presence to my neighbour—we’ll find each other before long. Instead, I
immediately start exploring, exchanging the occasional polite nod with other
early partygoers as we pass. The scent of pumpkin spice hangs in the air. So
far, so typical—more cobwebs, spiders, pumpkins, skulls, bats, black cats,
ghosts, witches, zombies, black floaty material draped everywhere, creepy
music…
Then something catches my eye.
Toward the back of what is usually Loulou’s enormous living room—the properties
in this area, including mine, are huge—is a sectioned-off area. A partition,
designed to look like an old stone wall. It’s dark, gloomy, spooky. I love it.
And that’s before I notice the sign affixed to the arched doorway
embedded in the wall.
THE VAMPIRE’S LAIR
A snort escapes me, and I quickly
look around to make sure nobody noticed. I’m alone, thankfully—probably the
others are diving into the drinks and snacks which are most likely laid out in
the dining room, getting their hands on all the best stuff before other people
arrive.
I open the door carefully, since
I don’t know how sturdy this whole shebang is, and I don’t want to wreck
it—Loulou’ll kill me—and enter, eager to find out exactly what Loulou thinks a
vampire lair looks like.
You’d think she’d have an idea,
really, given she lives next door to one. Not that she knows, of course—I don’t
make a habit of announcing my true nature to people. It just results in
disbelief, asking for proof, which then often leads to screaming and freaking
out. I just can’t be doing with that kind of drama. Therefore I keep my
supernatural status to myself, and move around just often enough to
ensure people don’t start to notice I haven’t aged a day since they first met
me.
Author Bio:
Lucy
Felthouse is the award-winning author of erotic romance novels Stately Pleasures (named in the top 5 of
Cliterati.co.uk’s 100 Modern Erotic Classics That You’ve Never Heard Of), Eyes Wide Open (winner of the Love
Romances Café’s Best Ménage Book 2015 award), The Persecution of the Wolves, Hiding in Plain Sight, and The Heiress’s Harem and The Dreadnoughts series. Including
novels, short stories and novellas, she has over 170 publications to her name.
Find out more about her writing at http://lucyfelthouse.co.uk, or on Twitter or Facebook. Join her Facebook
group for exclusive cover reveals, sneak peeks and more! Sign up for
automatic updates on Amazon or BookBub. Subscribe to her
newsletter here: http://www.subscribepage.com/lfnewsletter
Release blitz organised by Writer Marketing Services.
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