Tempting the Darkness

 Today I'm sharing a look at Tempting the Darkness. When I finished writing the book I dedicated it to my mother. At the time, my dad had passed away a few months earlier. I had a tough time finishing this book because of the reference to cancer in one of the characters. My dad passed away from lung cancer. I set my grief aside and finished the story. 

My mother always relied on my dad to do everything. Banking, bills etc.. So when my dad died, my siblings thought she wouldn't be able to manage without him. To everyone's surprise, she flourished. 

Today, as I share this book, I am grieving once more. My mother passed away two weeks ago. She aided in raising her siblings when her mother passed away after her last child. She took care of seven of her own kids and two siblings. She was a farmer's wife who had to work hard every day to put food on the table and tend to all the cows, chickens and pigs while my father was on the road as a salesman. Her life was not easy. So taking this all in mind, I dedicated Tempting the Darkness to her. I hope you enjoy the blurb and excerpt of the 5th book in my Darkness series.

Blurb

For twenty long years, Cooper Hawthorne has kept the brightest light in his bleak existence a deeply hidden secret. All this time, his beloved Gabriella has slept safely in cryogenic stasis, awaiting the day he finds a cure for her terminal cancer.

As love blooms amidst the Darkness, and still no cure in sight, loneliness drives Cooper to drastic measures. He awakens Gabriella and breaks his last promise to her—by turning her into a vampire.

Gabriella’s sense of betrayal weighs heavily on her attempts to deal with what Cooper has done to her. Pushing him away, she turns to his friends for support—and finds she isn’t the only one hurt by his actions.

Cooper fights the temptation to use his powers to wipe her mind of the damning memories. But, when he comes face to face with the monster that created him, he knows what he must do.

Will Gabriella be able to save him before it’s too late? Or will the Darkness swallow him whole?

Excerpt

Jacob’s Cove, 2026 Six months of darkness

Cooper heard the commotion coming from the dungeon below the instant he stepped into the kitchen to start lunch. Though he didn’t know why he bothered when neither Basil or Trinity had much of an appetite lately. Still, the others in the group could pop in—and usually did—at any time.

Although the dungeon was reasonably soundproofed, Cooper’s keen hearing picked up the screams. Racing down to the dungeon, Cooper threw the door open to find Basil standing over a young man, both of them bloody.

“I have all sorts of ideas when it comes to torture. I can go on for hours. Can you?”

The screams split through the air, sending a chill down Cooper’s spine. The young man’s hand that had been fastened to a cinder block was coated in sickly, gray blood.

“Now, I ask you again. Where is Chaos?”

“I...don’t...know,” the young man wheezed, kneeling on the floor, his head down, brown hair matted over his face.

“Then you shall lose another.”

Cooper turned away just as Basil sliced off one of the boy’s fingers. The cries from the young man sunk right to Cooper’s gut, drawing a vile sickness up to his throat. “Basil.”

 “Not now, Cooper. I’m busy.”

Apparently, he was enjoying what he was doing. The look on Basil’s face reminded Cooper far too much of Basil’s father. “The lad will keep. I must speak with you, now.”

Basil angled a steely look Cooper’s way. Then he stepped away from the bloody vampire boy, wiping his brow with his forearm as he walked to the cell doors. “What is so important that you needed to interrupt me while I’m interrogating a suspect, Cooper?”

Cooper opened the cell door, saying nothing, held a hand out as an indication of wanting Basil to follow him. With a snarled response, Basil exited the cell. Cooper stepped up to the sink near the back of the room that was used—in its day of torture—to wash the blood from the assailant’s hands. Lifting the glass mirror from its place on the wall, he held it up in front of Basil. “Who do you see?”

Basil growled, baring sharp, white fangs. “This is what you pulled me away from my task for?”

 “Who do you see?”

Basil’s icy blue eyes narrowed. When he spoke, it was through gritted teeth. “Myself. May I return now?”

“Look closer.”

“Damn it, Cooper—”

“Look closer!” Cooper insisted sternly. This time, Basil’s eyes began to glow, but he looked back into the mirror.

 “I see myself.”

“Then your eyes are as clouded as your judgment. Do you know who I see, Basil?”

“I don’t give a rat’s ass—”

“Avadur,” Cooper cut him off, the name alone had Basil pausing. “There is pleasure in your eyes, the same pleasure I would see come into your father’s eyes when he was torturing you. I feel the coldness emanating from your heart that was so chilling in your father.”

Basil stepped back as if he finally saw what Cooper did. He turned away from the mirror, looking down at his hands, coated in sickly, gray vampire blood.

We both know that boy has no information for you. We both know he is not an appropriate means for you to vent your frustrations and pain on.” Cooper placed his hands on Basil’s shoulders, turning him. “Your anger is not with that boy.”

“I can’t take my anger out on the one who deserves it.”

Cooper ran his hand over Basil’s long, dark hair, much like he had when Basil had been a boy, in dire need of affection. “Taking it out on the innocent only turns you into a monster. I won’t stand by and allow that. Go, be with Trinity. Console each other.”

“I can’t make her come out of Felicity’s room.” The tears in Basil’s eyes made Cooper’s heart ache.

“Then go there to be with her. You need each other.” Grabbing the towel hanging by the sink, Cooper laid it over Basil’s bloody hands. “I’ll take care of the boy.”

 Basil nodded. Walking to the dungeon’s exit, he paused. “What would I ever do without you, Cooper?”

The instant Basil was gone, Cooper turned to the boy. He was curled up on the floor, clutching what remained of his hand. Cooper knelt down, taking the mangled hand in his. Basil had done a number on the boy. He’d severed all but two of the young man’s fingers. Though he wouldn’t die from blood loss, he would suffer the pain.

“Shh now, all will be well in no time.” Laying his hand on the boy’s head, Cooper soothed him with his touch, then sent his mind to sleep. While the boy slept, Cooper carried him to the underground exit. Once at the surface, Cooper laid the boy on the ground, knowing that either someone would find him and take him to safety, or he would wake and run for his life. Either way, he was better off than where he’d been.

Back inside, Cooper washed up in the main floor washroom, wiping the blood from his hands, then splashing some cold water on his face. He hated senseless violence. Grabbing the towel, Cooper glanced at the mirror and noticed one of his tinted lenses had shifted slightly. Drying off his hands, he readjusted it, covering up the blue that would identify him as having been sired by the king. He wore the yellow contacts for a reason.

Giving his suit jacket a stiff tug, Cooper left the horror behind him.

 https://www.amazon.com/Tempting-Darkness-Shiela-Stewart-ebook/dp/B01MXM82B2?ref_=ast_author_dp