Prologue     … To have and to hold, from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, till death do us part, according to God’s holy ordinance; and thereto I pledge myself to you…   Marriage vows. What a fucking joke. Is that what he thought when he “pledged himself” to her? Did he ever imagine breaking those vows one day? Is infidelity inevitable? A...

June 29th, 2010 JAY I don’t know what the fuck I was doing back here. Virginia was the last place I ever wanted travel to, yet here I was, back in its clutches. I felt like a prisoner here as soon as I crossed the state border. Those trees were like jaws closing in on me. The closer I got to that house, the more claustrophobic I became. Mom always invited me to the house during the holidays, but I didn’t want to be anywhe...

On July 15, 2015 my life was turned upside down. I just didn’t know it at the time. Looking back, I was like so many others caught in the middle-class grind with a demanding job, family life, a house in the suburbs, and the hefty mortgage to go with it. It would appear by world standards that I was living the American dream, or so I thought at the time. When I made the decision to become self-employed, I had no idea how d...

It takes great courageTo walk awayFrom paindisguised as love. It takes great strengthTo destroyYour pedestalAboveMy soul’s resting place. Your throneI built Exists no more.Crumbled at my feet,Shattered to the core. Killing you softlyWith the endless push and shove.Killing you softlyWith my painDisguised as love.    

A dagger plunged so deep,Twisted inside a bleeding heartAlready injured. Pain shielded by ragePride broken to pieces,Breaking meThe same way I’ll break youWhen I leave.

As we continued our tour of the Castle, Kurt led me down a long spiral staircase deep under the main building. At the bottom of the stairs there was a dimly lit hallway with rooms on either side. Each of the roughly hewn doors had bars in small window openings. It was obvious these rooms were jail cells. Our footsteps echoed on the slate stone floor as we walked. It gave me an eerie feeling knowing this place was over eig...

  I stood in the glass enclosure as streams of hot water caressed my shoulders. I kept thinking about that phone conversation I'd had with my husband. Sometimes when I'm stressed, a bath or hot shower brings clarity to my thoughts. Everything that happened these past few days had brought me to this critical crossroads in my life. I knew whatever I decided from this point on would profoundly determine the future of my marr...

Fucked up, drugged up, freak of nature… Tristan scribbled on his notepad and gulped down the rest of his Scotch. It was New Year’s Eve, and the lone wolf had not gone out to celebrate. A year had passed since he last saw Cassius or anyone else who had been part of his pack. It was twelve months of isolation, excessive binges on Bane, and dangerous orgies with vampires. Tristan had abandoned his responsibilities as a stron...

My friends had no idea what it was like to live with someone who appeared to have dissociative identity disorder. Sure, they had seen Kai’s stone cold moments, but Sarah and Bonnie had never seen his manic episodes. They had no idea just how mentally unstable he could be at times. Yesterday was the first time I was actually scared of him. That argument we’d had in the morning… the way his face had twisted… his eyes… Whate...

When seventeen year old Layla Levy discovered that her brother was the biggest, baddest, psycho in the little town of Dark Grove, she could hardly believe that he was capable of hurting anyone. Kai had always been a difficult sibling to grow up with, but that was only because he had been rescued from an abusive foster home and adopted into the Levy family at age seven. Layla loved him to pieces and always looked up to him...

JANINE Janine poured the contents of her Louis Vuitton bag out on the bedspread, adding a layer of loose tobacco to the embroidered design. She always carried an extra vial of crystal meth to get her through the next job, but those damn vice squad guys busted her connection. She hadn’t replenished her supplies in at least a week. This was yet another hazard of working undercover.For the last three years, Janine Voltaire w...

“Hi, you’ve reached Davina Faire… Please leave your name and number after the tone…” “Well, fuck it!” Stephen cursed out loud as he hung up and chucked his phone in the laundry basket. His fiancé, Phoebe, stepped out of the bathroom, wrapped in a white bathrobe and regarded him with a cross expression. “What the hell is wrong this time?” She sounded annoyed. “I’ve been trying to reach Davina since yesterday,” he explained...

Love seems to rely on self-deception. Relationships are for idiotic breeders. It’s all bullshit, if you ask me. People constantly lie to each other and stab each other in the back; they break their promises and break one another. Their infidelities destroy their “picture perfect” family, and their selfishness eradicates all the noble virtues of love. That’s why I’ve been single for so long. I don’t live my life with my he...

The lights in Gabriel’s condo illuminated the hall as soon as he flicked on the light switch. He shut the door when Rachel stepped inside, and then helped her out of her coat first before he hung his own in the closet. “Make yourself at home.” The ceiling lights in the living room dimly glowed as Rachel entered Gabriel’s “lair” for the very first time. It felt like uncharted territory. I can’t believe I’m actually in his...

It had been another busy work day at Alistair & King. Rhonda Peters’ day had progressed like it usually did: she’d have Gabriel’s coffee ready and waiting, she’d lay out his day planner for him, take care of his phone calls, bookings, and type out necessary legal documents that needed to be filed. Around three o’clock that afternoon, something oddly changed in Rhonda’s usual routine. For some reason, at that particular ho...