by Sarah Piper
“Perhaps not,” a voice echoed from beyond the shadows of the mausoleum, and we all turned toward the sound. Weak and bloodied, burned and weary, but alive, Jael stepped through the doorway at the top of the stairs, his yellow eyes glittering in the darkness. “But I do.”
Forty-Eight
GRAY
We’d been blessed with a full moon, and now Jael stood in the center of the cemetery, snow falling on his shoulders, an opalescent orb glowing in his hands. “It is time, Gray.”
Asher. Emilio. Liam. Ronan. Darius. Each one stood before me, their eyes filled with secrets and emotions and all the things they hadn’t said. There hadn’t been time.
But we didn’t need words. The love and trust we shared transcended every last one.
What they’d given me tonight was a precious gift: their trust and support. Their unconditional love. I wouldn’t squander it.
I stood before Asher, claiming his mouth in a kiss that burned all the way to my toes, giving into the familiar call of his incubus hunger, offering him one more dose of my magic.
I moved on to Emilio, who blinked back tears, enveloping me in a bear hug that infused me with strength.
Liam was next, a shy smile that turned into a passionate kiss the moment our lips met.
When I got to Ronan, the demon held my gaze, unwavering, his eyes saying a million things. He didn’t want this for me. None of them did. But he would stand by my decision no matter what. He was my first love, my best friend. And no curse or transformation or war would ever change that.
Swallowing the tightness in my throat, I took a chance and pressed my lips to his, both of us ignoring the burn, just for a moment.
And then there was Darius. My vampire. We’d shared so much already, come through so much. And there was so much more to do, to see, to reclaim.
I smiled at him, and stood up on my toes, my lips brushing his ear.
“You’re still taking me to New York after all this,” I teased. And then I kissed him, deep and delicious, his whiskey-and-leather scent enveloping me once again.
We broke our kiss, and Darius pierced the skin on his wrist, pressing it to my mouth, gently holding my head against it. I closed my eyes and drank, letting the richness fill me, warm me.
Too soon, he pulled away.
And then he spun me around, my back against his chest, and swept the curls off my nape.
In front of us, Ronan gave a single nod.
The vampire’s mouth descended on my flesh.
I cried out as his fangs pierced my skin, deep and deadly, their purpose singular. The pain was fierce, delicious, intense, my head spinning as he began to suck.
I don’t know how much time passed, how long he drank from me, because for me, time stopped. There was no yesterday, no tomorrow. Nothing but the heat of his lips, the pure pleasure of the bite.
I tried to stay conscious, tried to hold on to everything about the moment, to follow the pleasure to its logical end. But a numbness spread throughout my body, and from my mouth, a cloud of gossamer smoke emerged, a deep and velvet gray, shot through with bright silver threads and indigo points of light.
My soul.
The iridescent pulse of the moonglass loomed large before my eyes, and I finally gave in to the numbness, letting it sweep me out of the snow-blanketed night, far and away to another world where pain no longer existed and everything was blissfully, unapologetically black.
Thank you so much for reading Death Untold! I hope you’re looking forward to the next and final book in The Witch’s Rebels series, Rebel Reborn.
If you loved reading this story as much as I loved writing it, please help a girl out and leave a review on Amazon! Even a quick sentence or two about your favorite part can help other readers discover the book, and that makes me super happy!
If you really, really loved it, or if you need a little group therapy after that brutal ending, come hang out at our Facebook group, Sarah Piper’s Sassy Witches. I’d love to see you there.
Finally, if you’d like to stay up to date on all the witchy book news, plus get insider access to exclusive content and advanced review opportunities, sign up for the VIP Readers Club.
XOXO
Sarah
Origins of The Witch’s Rebels
Thank you so much for checking out Death Untold!
I was primarily inspired to write this series by three things: my fascination with Tarot, my love of all things witchy, and my desire to see more kickass women telling stories for and about other kickass women.
I’ve always enjoyed books, movies, and TV shows about witches, monsters, and magic, but I never found exactly the right mix. I wanted a darker, grittier Charmed, an older Buffy, and most of all—as much as I love the brothers Winchester (who doesn’t?)—I really wanted a Supernatural with badass bitches at the helm, hunting monsters, battling their inner demons, and of course, sexytimes. Lots and lots of sexytimes.
(Side note: there’s not enough romance on Supernatural. Why is that? Give me five minutes in that writers’ studio…)
Anyway, back to The Witch’s Rebels. We were talking about badass bitches getting the sexytimes they deserve.
Right.
So I started plotting my own story and fleshing out the character who would eventually become our girl Gray, thinking I had it all figured out. But as I dove deeper into the writing, and I really got to know Gray, Darius, Ronan, Asher, Emilio, and Liam, I discovered a problem. A big one.
With so many strong, sexy guys in the mix, I couldn’t decide which one would be the hero to win Gray’s heart. I loved them all as much as she did!
I agonized over this.
It felt like the worst kind of love triangle. Er, love rhombus? Love—wait. What’s the word for five of them? Pentagon! Yes, a love pentagon.
Pure torture!
But then I had my lightbulb moment. In the face of so much tragedy and danger, Gray fights hard to open herself up to love, to trust people, to earn those hard-won friendships. Her capacity for giving and receiving love expands infinitely throughout the story, so why the hell shouldn’t she be able to share that with more than one man?
There was no reason to force her to choose.
So, she doesn’t. And her story will continue!
You, dear reader, don’t have to choose either—that’s part of the fun of reverse harem stories like this. But if you happen to have a soft spot for a particular guy, I’d love to hear about it!
Drop me a line anytime at [email protected] and tell me who’s winning your heart so far! I’ll tell you mine if you tell me yours! *wink wink*
About Sarah Piper
Hi! I'm the author of The Witch's Rebels series and other sexy, swoony urban fantasy and paranormal romance novels-in-progress. I live with my adorable husband in New York City, but I'm secretly (okay, not-so-secretly) longing for a little cottage in the woods. Or maybe by the sea. Or in the mountains? Pretty much anywhere we can escape from all this craziness!
In the meantime, I spend my days sleeping like a vampire and my nights making inappropriate jokes and innuendos, writing witchy stories, playing with my ever-expanding collection of Tarot cards, reading way too many books, binge-watching Supernatural (Team Dean, in case you're wondering), and obsessing over the best way to brew a cup of tea.
You can find me online at SarahPiperBooks.com and hanging out in my Facebook readers group, Sarah Piper's Sassy Witches! If you're sassy, or if you need a little more sass in your life, or if you need more Dean Winchester gifs in your life (who doesn't?), join us!
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