No
Shelter From Darkness
The
Cruentus Saga
Book
One
Mark
D. Evans
Genre: Paranormal, Horror
Publisher: Booktrope
Cover Artist: Greg Simanson
Book Description:
“Her hands began to shake as she
looked down wide-eyed at the blood-soaked cotton that covered her.”
London emerges from the Blitz,
and every corner of the city bears the scars. In the East End—a corner fairing
worse than most—thirteen year-old Beth Wade endures this new way of life with
her adoptive family. She also suffers the prejudice against her appearance, an
abiding loneliness and now the trials of adolescence. But with this new burden
comes a persisting fatigue and an unquenchable thirst that ultimately steals
her into unconsciousness . . .
What happens next is the start of
something Beth will fear more than the war itself. She begins to change in ways
that can’t be explained by her coming-of-age, none more frightening than her
need to consume blood. The family who took her in and the former best friend
who’s taken refuge in their house can never know. Aware of the danger she poses
to everyone around her, Beth has never felt more alone. But someone else knows
Beth’s secret . . . someone who understands just how different she really is.
He alone can decrypt her past and explain her future. But he’s been sworn to
destroy her kind, and as Beth grows ever more dangerous, he’s forced to take
sides.
Can Beth keep all of the secrets?
Can she trust a man sworn to kill her? And can she stop the vampire within from
taking her humanity?
Excerpt:
Beth breathed
furiously. She was exhausted, but the air she breathed had a new scent to it.
It stopped her short. Her insides jumped in excitement at the rusty metallic
scent. Her jaw twitched and her body flinched. She spun her head around, toward
the aroma. Oliver had felt his way back to the uneven wall and leant against it
cradling his arm. He sobbed and whimpered, while looking aimlessly at it. Beth
could see what he couldn’t: a jagged edge of bone poking out from his forearm.
He was slightly sheltered under the broken floorboards above him, and the rain
wasn’t washing away the blood that now oozed freely. Beth didn’t need to see
everything. She could smell it.
Beautiful,
delicious, unparalleled and unbeatable human blood.
Her head tipped
forward. Her nose flared involuntarily and her lips snarled into a sadistic smile.
She felt the four pointed canines being pushed out; unsheathed. The tip of her
tongue curled under one of the two fangs that slid down. Her heart deafened the
rain and the approaching bombers. Almost subconsciously, she lowered herself
into a half-crouch, ready to pounce, and though her nails were trimmed short,
her fingers curled into claws. She couldn’t even feel the hole in her palm any
more. She felt nothing at all except raging bloodlust. Her brother leant there
sobbing, oblivious to the bloodthirsty creature no more than a yard away that
wanted nothing more than to cover everything with his precious life force. To
swim in his blood.
Beth could
almost taste it.
MARK D. EVANS was born near
London, England. He graduated university with a degree in something not even
remotely connected with writing and went on to become a successful consultant.
Then he threw it all away to chase his dream of being an author, via a
considerable amount of travelling. Today, his life largely resembles that of a
nomad, and he can currently be found typing away in a tiny flat in north
London, sustained by coffee.
He is the author of two short
stories, one of which made it into a Kindle Top Ten.
His latest work is his debut
novel, No Shelter from Darkness, which is the first book in his series, The
Cruentus Saga.
Visit Mark online:
Twitter: @TheMarkDEvan
Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/markdevans
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