PROMO: Jude's Gift on Valentine's Day

Greetings,

So much excitement has happened for the triad that we forget to do things like promote ourselves on our blogs.

We love helping other author's though so we don't mind sharing the spotlight.

Today, I am giving you a snippet of my latest story, Jude's Gift on Valentine's Day from XOXO publishing. Along with me are stories featured by Brianna Martini, Denys'e Bridger, and Vivi Pruitt.

The collection was released at 9Clouds and will be at XOXO publishing site soon. In the meantime, go pick up a copy.

Blurb: Young novelist, William has fallen for a three hundred year old vampire named Jude. Jude in turn would like to give his human companion the “gift” that will make the writer his eternal lover but William is not ready to be turned just yet.


My Vampire Jude's model is my favorite unknown commodity, David Taylor. Those of you who have been following me the longest know how much I love him...





Against my better judgment, I continued to stay in Jude’s presence. There was something about him that would not let me leave his side. Other than being a vampire, the force that drew me to him was magnetic. It had been two weeks since I had met him.


Each day after working my day job, I came to visit him so we could chat. Seemingly, his whole idea was to prove to me he would not be a threat. In addition, I learned that he was an artist, a sketcher to be exact.


Over this period, he had drawn a picture of me every day, catching my expressions. One evening after a tiring workday, I went inside his dim, loft, exhausted. Once I went to the fridge getting a bottle of water, I sat on the couch. “Jude, I’m here…” I said, putting my feet up on his coffee table.


The décor in Jude place was modern; the hues consisted of grey’s and light browns, not the colors you would expect from a vampire. Jude never wanted to be type casted as the typical immortal; he desired to be as close to human as possible.


“Indeed you are my friend,” he said coming down the stairs in only a black robe. “I’ve been waiting for you, my day has been a bore without you here…”


Amused, I laughed while taking a gulp of my drink. “I see, well, I’m here but I am really tired. I swear Jude, you must have some kind of hold on me because despite the fact I wanted to go home and sleep, that magnetism of yours brought me here…”


Jude chuckled, waltzing over to me before taking my hand, kissing it. This was the first time I had seen him out of his garb; he always donned black clothing, the only skin I would see was the flesh on his face and hands. “William, I have something to show you…” he said kneeling in front of me.


Knowing what I knew about him I was a tad frightened.


‘What could he want to show me?’


Jude reached for a rather large book; it looked as if it had been through a lot since the cover was yellow, the corners were folded. “My dear William, these are the sketches of my companions. There have not been that many…go on, have a look…”



I put my bottle down on his side table before lifting it from his hands. Flipping through the pages, I noticed pictures of some very attractive men. Seemingly, Jude had drawn pictures of them in various expressions and poses, just as he had done with me. “Jude these are incredible drawings; you are a true artist. However, I really wish that you would add some color to them, bring a little more life to the art.”