Gargoyle Addiction
Otherworlds Summons Book One
Livia Olteano
Genre: New Adult (Spicy!) Paranormal Romance
Expected Publication: July 15 2013
Book Description:
Summonari don’t trust. Under their command, they summon any number of creatures from the Otherwolds—but never trust them outside of the summoning.
Gargoyles don’t love. Fierce descendants of dragons, they function on power and fear—never love.
Karla isn’t the happily-ever-after type of girl. No territory-hungry guy is going to stick flags all over her unclaimed grounds.
Kann’s world is death and betrayal. As Dar Primus of Haus Varis, he’s expected to follow tradition but he’s not your regular gargoyle. In fact, he’s anything but.
One fateful Friday night, Otherworlds collide. Stuck together in one world or another, Karla and Kann face everything from Awakenings and turbulent love to Festnavals and bloodthirsty scorned suitors.
If there’s one thing they can’t escape, it’s the addiction to each other. And they’ve got it bad.
Excerpt:
A soul-shuddering sensation of cold woke me up. My nose dug into the book but the reading lamp was off. I frowned staring at the clock on the dresser. Clearly reading in bed hadn’t been a good plan under the circumstances. Odd, it was just 3:03 a.m. I must’ve had just dosed off. Odder still, I couldn’t remember shutting off my lamp. I sighed and got up from the book, hoping really hard I hadn’t drooled on it or anything. Apparently, a paper cut was part of the sleeping-on-books routine. A bit of blood was smudged right on top of Kann’s name. Sort of ironic since he was a bloody being. My face had a bad case of book-sleep, itchy lines imprinted in many funny places and a paper cut somewhere in there. I got up rubbing a cheek and froze. My eyes darted toward the reading chair now bathed in long shadows.
Moonlight didn’t quite reach it but even in the darkness it was clear something was there. My heart twitched. I rubbed at my eyes hoping it was just sleep playing tricks. Another stare toward the chair confirmed a thing was there all right. It leaned forward catching some stray beams of light in its eyes and they shone glassy, chilling silver that made my skin crawl. I fell back on my butt and scrambled away from the foot of the bed, pressing my back into the headboard. Going through the wall seemed like a good plan too, but it resisted my attempts.
The thing leaned forward a bit more, its head poking out into the cascading beams of moonlight. Those eyes seemed to shine even brighter as light hit its…his…face. I wanted to scream but I was so beyond panicked my voice didn’t work anymore. The plan was to get my cell phone and call 911, but before I could even end the thought, he did a blurry motion and suddenly my phone wasn’t there anymore. Eyebrows raced toward the top of my head and I opened eyes so wide they stung.
“So, what do you want, witch?”
I almost screamed. His voice had the jarring quality of a whisper though I heard it too well for it to have been simply whispered. My skin burst in prickly points and my legs clattered. He sounded off and in a very bad mood.
“Well? What do you want?” he snarled.
Want? To place a call to 911 is what I wanted. Hell, a SWAT team, the thing…creature looked dangerous!
He drew in a gulp of air, releasing it with a whoosh. “I don’t have a lot of patience, I warn you.”
He seated his tall—very tall—and ferocious-looking body on the edge of the bed with uncanny grace. I tried to scoot away, frantically looking for my phone again. He placed one hand on the other side of me effectively restricting any escape route. Okay. Okay. It had to be a dream. A dream, simple as that. I took deep, hopefully calming breaths, but my heart twitched like it was possessed.
He wrinkled his nose. “You smell.”
“Excuse me?” I screeched.
“You stink, in fact. Like…bodies, writhing bodies, sweaty, horny. And plenty of them.” He snorted, and it was perhaps the complete stillness he exuded that put something of a damper on my panic. I was seething instead.
“What. The. Hell. Are you doing in my room? Who are you?”
He cocked his head to the side. His eyes caught light and shined that ominous silver again. A shudder emerged from someplace deep inside me, a primal place. I wanted to bolt so bad my feet itched.
“You’ve summoned me and I suggest you be quick about your request. Your smell is appalling. Enjoy an orgy tonight?”
“WHAT? Listen, you maniac, I don’t know where you get off…”
Before I could blink, I was lifted from the bed, my back pressed against the wall. Mean hands fitted snuggly around my arms. Those silver eyes scared the living days out of me from barely a breath away. He certainly put the F in feral.
“You won’t speak like that to me again. Or those will be your last words, are we clear?”
His eyes came even closer to mine, chilly flashes, and tears clouded my vision.
He retreated to the other corner of the room as fast as he’d jumped me. Facing away, he sighed like you’d sigh when a kid is driving you insane. I plopped down on the bed panting air in, regardless of how infuriating it was to give him the satisfaction. I had to make an effort to gather my wits.
“Look, I’m not rich, but whatever money I have I’ll give it to you. Just leave, just…just…”
Well yeah, stuttering was really going to convince him. Gah! He turned around slowly, stared me down from his impressive height. I couldn’t be sure, but it seemed he was…sneering?
“You’re wasting my time. If you have no use for me, undo the summoning.”
I stared up and up at him, too puzzled to remember my fear for a few seconds. Summoning?
“Are you on drugs or something?”
I regretted asking as soon as the words were out. It probably showed on my face because he seemed to contemplate choking me for a few seconds and then let it go. Clearly, he was a maniac. Maybe a serial killer. Most likely both. I shuddered.
“I only had a light meal before you so rudely interrupted me. I’ll get cranky in a short while, so stalling won’t do you good.”
Oh, so this was him not being cranky yet? Jesus Christ! His unnerving level sort-of-whispered voice shocked me more than the words. It had that monotone you hear in movies, the psycho type. What really drove it home was his lopsided toothy grin. Those teeth were a bit too long, a bit too sharp and ominous looking to be human. Had he gotten implants? So he was a psycho with some weird king-of-the-jungle-meets-piranha fetish thing, fabulous. I only ever met the wonky specimens; obviously my karma sucks toads.
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About the Author:
Livia lives in Europe where she listens to obscene amounts of music and devours every reading material in sight. When she’s not doing either of the two, she fiddles with anything remotely customizable within reach.
She spamificates the world online via:
Hi Livia,
ReplyDeleteYour story looks wonderful. Is your hero the gargoyle of the title?
Thank you for being my guest today. :)
Melissa
Thank you very much for hosting me, Miss Snark!
DeleteI'm happy you feel that way. Kann Varis is the gargoyle of the story, though more are introduced. :) I'm not sure if I'd call him a hero, considering his nature, hehe.
Thank you again!
Regards,
Livia Olteano