by Scarlet Blackwell, J. L. Merrow, Josephine Myles, Erik Orrania, Nix Winter, Stevie Woods
“I wasn’t going to. And no, I won’t try to throw a stake.”
“Just come with me. You know that’s how we’ll end up, together between the sheets.”
Aaron sighed. “Why don’t you just kill me? Why keep up this… this game you’re playing?”
“Kill you? Oh no, my sweet. I’ll never kill you.”
“What do you really want, Damian?”
He seemed to be in an odd mood, one I couldn’t quite discern. “Oh, Aaron, you know. You. All I want is you.”
“I can’t allow you to turn me, I’ll kill myself first,” Aaron declared.
I struck quickly then, not risking that Aaron might carry out is threat immediately. Before he could react he was trapped in my arms.
“I never really had a chance, did I?” he asked.
“No.” I smiled. “I want you, Aaron, I need you. Don’t you understand?”
“Understand what? That you think of me as a thing, a… a treat when you feel like tormenting me. I have feelings, desires. I want what any man wants. It’s you who doesn’t understand.”
“What don’t I understand? Feelings? Desire? Love? You think it all went away when I was turned? Do you have any idea how long ago I was turned?”
Aaron shook his head. I met his gaze, made him hold it. “Twelve centuries,” I told him. His eyes widened. “And in all that time I’ve never stopped searching, wanting.”
“Wanting?”
“Someone special to share myself with.”
Aaron frowned. “And you… want me to be that someone?” He sounded incredulous.
“You are that someone. I’ve never.” I stopped. What was the point? I shook my head and let him go. “And I can’t force you. I hoped you would…” I laughed but there was no humor in me. I saw I had lost. “Perhaps you should use that stake on me after all. If you don’t want to be with me, then what’s it all been for?”
Aaron’s mouth dropped open and he stared at me. “You mean… you would? God! I didn’t understand. I thought… Oh God, I thought all you were doing was having fun with me. Wanting to show me how little I mattered. How you could kill me whenever you wanted. But when you touched me…” He stopped and dropped his chin to his chest.
“Aaron?”
He raised his eyes and looked at me intently. “You make me feel things I thought were beyond me. I thought I’d never…” He closed his eyes. I reached out and brushed his hair back from his forehead. He opened his eyes. After a moment he said, “Come home with me, Damian?”
“Will you come to my home instead? Make it your home?”
“Say it,” Aaron demanded.
“I love you,” I whispered.
“Take me home.”
About the Authors
Scarlet Blackwell likes cats and hats and firmly believes that the only thing better than one attractive man is two attractive men.
To learn more about Scarlet, visit ScarletBlackwell.com
Other works include:
And so is Love, eXtasy books
The Vampire's Prisoner, Torquere Press
Just Desserts, Samhain Publishing, Ltd
Beached Hearts, Dreamspinner Press
Life Class, Samhain Publishing, Ltd
Stand and Deliver, Total-e-Bound
The King's Man, Dreamspinner Press
Apathy, Dreamspinner Press
Captive, Dreamspinner Press
J.L. Merrow read Natural Sciences at Cambridge, where she learned many things, chief amongst which was that she never wanted to see the inside of a lab ever again. Her one regret is that she never mastered the ability of punting one-handed whilst holding a glass of champagne.
She has had over twenty short stories and novellas published, including her latest novella Pricks and Pragmatism, available from Samhain Publishing.
To learn more about J.L., visit JLMerrow.com
Other works include:
A Blast from the Past, Torquere Press
Pricks and Pragmatism, Samhain Publishing, Ltd
Snared, Dreamspinner Press
Angel, Dreamspinner Press
Pleasures with Rough Strife, Dreamspinner Press
Becoming the Spoils, Dreamspinner Press
Epiphany, Torquere Press
The Green Man, Torquere Press
Good Company, Torquere Press
Joshephine Myles is English through and through—addicted to tea and busy cultivating a reputation for eccentricity. She writes gay erotic romance because she has a particular fondness for British slang, and claims there aren’t enough m/m books out there catering to her tastes.
To learn more about Josephine, visit JosephineMyles.com
Erik Orrantia was born in San Francisco in 1970 and lived in the San Francisco Bay area until 1997. By that time, he had earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology and a Master’s Degree in Counseling at California State University in Hayward. His original intention was to build a practice in psychotherapy.
He then felt a calling to explore the world and entered an International Study Program in Mexico City where he earned a teaching credential. He currently works as a middle school teacher in San Ysidro, California, along the Mexican-American border. He was voted Teacher of the Year in 2008 for his school district.
He has traveled extensively throughout Mexico. He now spends most of his time in Tijuana with his partner and dedicates his free time to writing.
Other works include:
Normal Miguel, Cheyenne Publishing
Nix Winter writes. There's some drawing too, and sometimes the two mix into manga. There were two daughters who are both grown and doing very well. Then there's history. French and Japanese and history always bleeds into story. Louis XV was a magnificent King. Naruto is the best story ever told. There's going to be some non-fiction proving both those points.
Nix likes to have pink hair, loves ties, and loves cosplay. There's probably some anarchist tendencies. Love, kindness, community, all really great things…or as Robespierre might have said, if he were Nix, Liberty, Kinship, and Equality!
To learn more about Nix, visit NixWinter.com
Other works include:
The Pet, loveyoudivine
Zowie It's Yaoi: Kai Stubborn, Thunder Mouth Press
The House of Silver Oak, Second Lagrange Point Press
A Berth on Calista, Renaissance Ebooks
Stevie Woods is a Brit living in the Northwest of England and has recently been able to leave her day job behind though it’s a quandary that there still doesn’t seem to be much more free time in her day!
A long time avid reader of romance with a dash of adventure, Stevie only stumbled over slash pairings a few years ago and was an immediate convert. Having dabbled with writing on and off for years, it wasn’t long before Stevie was tapping away on the keyboard inventing stories around two hot guys, gaining her first publication in the summer of 2007.
Stevie likes reading stories with a good strong plot and believable characters and does her best to create them in her own work.
Stevie has a soft spot for historical settings but also thoroughly enjoys SF and Fantasy, Paranormal and Contemporary, finding the similarities as intriguing as the differences. Stevie already has a variety of novels, novellas and short stories released by Torquere Press, Phaze Books and MLR Press.
To learn more about Stevie, visit StevieWoods.com
Other works include:
The Kiva, MLR Press
West of El Pilar, MLR Press
The Lost Temple, MLR Press
The Hitch-hiker, MLR Press
Past Shadows, MLR Press
Binary Stars 5, Phaze Books
Beyond the Veil, Phaze Books
Drawing the Veil, Phaze Books
Cane, Phaze Books
Conflict, Phaze Books
One Small Step, Phaze Books
On Reflection, Torquere Books
Zimaya Heights, Torquere Books
Smoke Screen, Torquere Books
A Million Pi
npricks, Torquere Books
Roll of the Dice, Torquere Books
Fortune's Choice, Torquere Books
The Wrong Path, Torquere Books
Twists and Turns, Torquere Books
Conversations, Torquere Books
More Than Sex, Torquere Books
Tactics, Torquere Books
Tutelary, Torquere Books
Bridging Time, Torquere Books