by Sasha Satori
Sneak peak
Dark Hybrid
Valentina Velvet Book 2
Chapter 1
Axel
I'm cradling Valentina's limp body when I hear her last stuttering delicate hummingbird heartbeat fade. Panic, fear, loss, devastation, misery, longing, clamp down savagely in my chest. A soul consuming toxic sludge boiling at a fever pitch in my chest. I fight through the paralyzing shock and pain, as I rip a fresh tear in my other wrist and let my blood pool in her mouth. I massage her throat to help it go down then gently lay her on the hard floor, as I begin chest compressions with alternating breaths. Silence. Just the sound of her rib cage bending inwards with each compression. "Valentina, don’t you dare fucking leave me!" I howl in pain, I use my compulsion magic to will her alive, to no avail. Even if she raised as a dark automaton creation, like the ‘Bride of Frankenstein’ I would love her all the same. The unrelenting pain is an insidious crater which Valentina has left in the wake of her stilled heart. Ghostly shrapnel shards shred the remnants of my broken heart and soul. "Valentina, with you, you take the last tiny thread of my humanity and heart." I lift her neck up to me and give her a searing kiss. "Wake up love," I helplessly whisper to her. Her face in a peaceful slumber, one that my kiss isn't waking her from. Red blood tears, drip on her face. I'm…crying…never in my immortal life has this phenomenon happened to me. This devastation, more than my almost two millennia hardened black heart can bear. Before living was a bore I tolerated, because I was too stubborn to go unto my true death. Now, I crave a permanent rest in its dark abyss, to be lost in the darkness until I find my sweetling in the ether. I gently carry her in my arms and trace to my chambers. I reverently, lay her on the bed. She will transform. She must. I tell myself she will wake, even though it’s been many centuries since a successful female vampire transformation. Her magic and royal fae lineage mayhap bring a miracle. Phantom pain lances my heart deeper than any silver dagger could with every breath I take while Valentina is lying still with a dead heart. Till death never do us part. If she doesn’t rise vampire, I will follow her into the ether until our souls find each other. Wherever you will go, I will go. This is a vow I will see through. Her lifeless body is cradled in my arms, my salvation incarnate, I grip her to me like a buoy in a world made only of raging sea. Without her I will drown. Like a fairy tale of old, may the vampire kiss wake her from her slumber. If not, I will join her in eternal slumber. My blood tear-stained lips pepper reverent kisses on her forehead, a soul-deep tsunami of sadness and despair has my heart hemorrhaging blood tears from my swollen eyes, until the sun’d call cannot be ignored a second longer. Blackness.
Axel
The second night of lying next to Valentina’s dead heart, is more than I can bear. I feel myself chipping away with every second that passes. The night morphs into dawn. Then dawn to late morning hours. Every moment of life without her has melded into a grotesque mirage of hell on earth. All the while I lay gazing at her angelic face, memories of our every interaction, every word and touch shared, lance my heart into a black husk of shredded meat. Valentina. Her levity and humor while faced with danger. Her bravery and loyalty to her friends, strangers and even me. Her heart made of precious rubies, bleeding for those in need. My polar opposite, yet the missing rainbow prism piece of my black soul. The world has a sick sense of humor leaving evil beings like me to linger for millennia’s and picking the most ethereally beautiful untamed starburst rose before her time. Someone murdered my mate. My fangs ache and spear out of their own accord, they hunger to tear the flesh from the culprit. I will find whom did this even if it means I'll be the last person remaining on this forsaken earth by process of elimination. All the kitchen staff are held in the dungeons. The compound is on lockdown, no vampire or human will leave here alive, until my raging vengeance is reaped. I trace to the dungeons…
Axel
My eyes pop open into wakefulness. Hunger pangs have my teeth elongating. A lingering nightmare of Valentina dying has a asteroid size crater forming like a sink hole. I look down, in my arms lays my unmoving mate. Valentina. Dead. She hasn’t woken. For three nights. Her skin is a sickly white pallor, her ethereally golden hair is dull and faded. She's fading. She should have woken by now. The…the transformation failed… Valentina has faded to the ether. No. No. No. "No! Valentina, wake up!" I roar in her face, as I roughly shake her by her shoulders. Silence. The silence, every second of it, butchers me to pieces. I rock myself back and forth. The last threads of sanity slipping from my grasp. After almost two millennia, my mind has come completely unwoven. The last grain of sanity, in my sand hourglass, has jumped into the abyss with Valentina, my Altra Metra. This ugly shell of my butchered soul will be following her. Just as soon as I get my revenge, on the fuckers that killed her! In my frenzied rage last night, I killed half those in the dungeon, no coward confessed their crimes against my mate, her killer remains in the dungeons below, awaiting my savage brand of justice as they will all undeniable crumble under my torturous
ministrations. Dead, they will be. I trace to the cobalt egyptian silk covered concrete walls, undiluted pain and rage unleash like a one-man category five hurricane, flying debris crumbles to the floor. I smash priceless art into thousands of blithering pieces. I am a wrecking ball which is stuck swinging in a staccato of rage and unimaginable pain. Destroy. Kill. Maim. War. Need Valentina. Gone. Die. Primal thought is all that remains. I trace to the dungeon, cell by cell, I let my anger, pain and revenge out on every remaining prisoner. The only sound is of blood dripping onto the cold stone floors. I was known for being ruthless killer before. The shell of Axel Steel Is worst.
Valentina
Silence. Peace. Darkness. Hunger. Oh, so much hunger. Like a deeply buried ancient pharaoh's wooden coffin leaving millennia's of quiet solitude as it breaks through the surface and the last grain of sand slips off its shiny prison home. It feels like inception, entering the earths stratosphere from space, the thick gravity cushions the descent into reality. My eyes blink into consciousness, my body tingling with frenetic energy. I'm surrounded by utter destruction. I recognize this as Axel's room. Memories of Axel, dinner, dancing, strawberry mojitos and… dying, all hit me faster than a runaway train. Shit, I must not have died, maybe I just got alcohol poisoning. From one mojito? Nah, some douche poisoned me, I remember Axel howling that through the foggy blur of events. I wonder how long I've been out for. I'm so hungry, starved actually. My mind conjures the thought of my favorite pineapple and mushroom pizza. The thought makes me cringe. What in the holy fuck tarts is going on? I'm a total foodie, I could graze and veg out longer than a herd of ravenous cows. Yet, food holds no appeal. A sharp hunger pang causes my stomach to cramp violently. Sharp points pierce my lips. My hands slowly lift to feel a matching pair of sharp fangs just like Axel's. What. The. Fuck. Tarts. I'm a fucking vampire! Axel is going to get the ass whooping of his immortal life! I scurry of the bed to run- wait I just traced. To the bathroom. And I didn’t even get dizzy. My ethereal reflection stares back at me from the large grandiose mirror. My skin is flawless porcelain. My lips rosy pink and full. My pupils swirl like molten dark green lava, the whites of my eyes glow a bright phosphorescent green. My hair is literally sparkling and shining a deep gold, it cascades in full gentle curls that reach past my waist. My hand roams my toned body, my breasts are pert and much fuller, my heart shaped ass slightly shapelier. Luscious curves. Oh vey… I'm a hot vampire. I'm still wearing my dark crimson silk dinner gown. Dark brackish coagulated blood has dried on to the entire front of it. I quickly strip the dress off, memories seem to haunt me through its silk threads. Walking into the shower I let the warm rivets of water wash away the nightmare from which I woke, only to be thrust into a reality I don’t understand. What does a girl do who rather despises vampires, then gets turned into an immortal vampira? Oh, I know, freak the fuck out. Before I have the chance to do my best impersonation of a golden year's girl named Honey Boo Boo when Mama June doesn’t buy her a dolly, anot
her sharp pain has me hunching over in excruciating pain. Hunger. Starving. Feed. A manifesto stuck on repeat, it overwhelms my thoughts. I stumble out of the shower, pools of water forming a trail behind me. I'm hunched over like a blimy Z-lander rummaging through Axel's dresser drawer for clothes. I grab one of his black silk long sleeved dress shirts which falls past my knees. As I finish rolling up the sleeves to my elbows, the pain intensifies as a sensation of a raging fire burns a hollow crater in my stomach, causing me to drop to my knees in agony.
I need to find Axel, maybe he has bagged blood or something. Where the hell is he anyways? I mentally picture his throne room to trace there. Waiting. Nothing. Looks like I'll be needing to venture out on a one-woman Indiana Jones style tracking mission. I spot Axels gold gun on the large nightstand; I continue to embrace my stomach in a useless modality to stem the bone deep pain that churns my insides to liquid mush. I shakily stumble towards the stand and palm his gun with my other hand. I make my way out of his room into the bright hallway. Wait a fairy fuck tart minute, the hallways are always dim. Until you became a vampire. Another wave of pain blasts any coherent thought from my mind. My vision flashes red.
Follow Sasha Satori on amazon for release date on Valentina Velvets second book installment.
Also stay tuned for Creusa’s story with the night realm king. Immerse yourself into this fantastical magical realm.
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Sasha Satori