FRESH BLOOD IN STOOL

Fresh Blood

A desperate call from her missing sister sends Erica Talbot on a dangerous rescue mission. Determined to prevent her twin from becoming a feeder, Erica steps out of her quiet, lonely existence and into a dark underworld where vampires make the rules.

Maxwell Hart is a vampire investigator. Part of his job is to protect humans. The moment he lays eyes on Erica, he knows she doesn’t belong in his world, but that doesn’t stop him from wanting her there.

With Max as her guide, Erica descends into a world where humans willingly give up control to their vampire masters. Posing as Max’s submissive feeder, Erica discovers a strange freedom in relinquishing her hard won self-control to Max.

After just one taste of Erica’s blood, Max finds he hungers for no one else. How can he possess her when drawing her deeper into his dark world will change her forever?

At 04:00, I awoke to the high-pitched sound of a mosquito flying near my ear. I swatted around my head and the squeal stopped. As I lay still, listening to my heartbeat and waiting for his return, the damage reports started rolling in and I realized I had already been victimized a half dozen times by the tiny vampires and I pulled the sheet over my head with an exasperated huff.

Moments later the silence was broken by the squeal of tiny Culicidae wings. That was it. I was up. I rolled out of bed and grabbed a weapon (known as the "t-shirt of death" (t-sod) by generations of past mosquitoes who had previously violated my airspace) from the drawer in one fluid motion. I pulled the comforter up over my sleeping wife’s face to shield her eyes and flicked on the lights. I half-crouched as my eyes adjusted to the now bright room. Anxiously, I looked about in the early morning silence.

A long moment passed and then I saw them… two of the little bastards. One at twelve and the other at two o’clock, both trying not to make eye-contact.

Circling around the bed, I moved slowly and methodically while taking aim. A quick upward thrust of the t-sod and a tiny mark on the ceiling signalled my success. One down.

I spun my sights around only to find empty sky… er… wall. Just then I noticed a spot of fresh blood on my pillow and the wreckage of a mossy I had obviously downed in my half-sleep-hand-swatting attack. I knocked it to the floor and wheeled about looking for more.

There was only one remaining. He had moved high above the wardrobe and clung to the wall. I fired. Missed. Now, my t-sod was lost behind a stack of hat boxes on the wardrobe. After a moment, a nearby step-stool facilitated its return to the ready. I took aim and fired again. A hit! I watched as the enemy careened in wide arcs, unable to regain control, eventually crashing to the bedroom floor.

The post-battle silence was deafening and I decided I was fully awake and should make the most of the time by venturing out to shoot a sunrise, which is not easy these days as sunrise happens at around 05:30. I dressed, caffeinated and grabbed my gear. It was a nice morning with a variety of cloud layers and calm seas. I ended up shooting almost 200 frames and got a number of nice additions for my Malta book.

Hope your weekend is going well. Watch your six.

Bonny presented to me for fresh blood covering her stools. Rectal examination revealed a lump. We did a colonoscopy and discovered a similar lump higher up. We have biopsied them and are waiting for her results.