I’ve told you before about the night I lost Lily for the first time. Yes, it was before I met you, but I think I told that story vividly enough. It was a mugging. The man held me at knifepoint, and I killed him. I told you the truth in that I did have to kill him. I made a mess of it. What could have been a quick disable or kill turned into a bloody mess in more ways than one. I hurt him. And I kept on hurting him until he stopped moving.
What I didn’t tell you is that I liked hurting him. I liked making him suffer. I enjoyed making him bleed and die.
In short, Amanda, I am a bit of a monster. You need blood to live, and you have only killed when you needed to, but I’m the one who enjoys it. I enjoy the stab, the slice, the twist of the knife.
However, I’ve been made aware that I might not be quite so insidious and monstrous a human being as I thought. Apparently, my time in prayer and church and confession may not be 100% for naught.
My second secret is at the same time both much more innocent, yet much creepier at the same time, given secret #1.
I love you, Amanda. That is my big secret.
It sounds stupid to say it, but I love everything about you. I love your accent. Your hair. Your smile. I love how smart you are. I love how you think. I love your eyes, and the way they sparkle. I like just being around you. I even like who I am when I’m around you.
Do you remember what I told you in the graveyard as we “pretended” to make out and profess our love to each other, so we could bait Mikhail's vampires? I wasn’t pretending. Everything I said to you was true. Everything I did, I meant.
No matter what, Amanda, I will always love you.
Marco
Marco reached to click “send.”
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Declan Finn lives in a part of New York City unreachable by bus or subway. Who’s Who has no record of him, his family, or his education. He has been trained in hand to hand combat and weapons at the most elite schools in Long Island, and figured out nine ways to kill with a pen when he was only fifteen. He escaped a free man from Fordham University’s PhD program, and has been on the run ever since. There was a brief incident where he was branded a terrorist, but only a court order can unseal those records, and really, why would you want to know?
He can be contacted at DeclanFinnInc@aol.com
Follow him on Facebook and Twitter @APiusManNovel
Read his personal blog: declanfinn.com
Listen to his podcast, The Catholic Geek, on Blog Talk Radio, Sunday evenings at 7:00 pm EST
MORE FROM
DECLAN FINN
LOVE AT FIRST BITE
Honor at Stake
Demons are Forever
Live and Let Bite
Good to the last Drop
THE PIUS TRILOGY
A Pius Man
A Pius Legacy
Pius Tales
Pius History
THE CONVENTION KILLINGS
It Was Only On Stun
Set To Kill
URBAN FANTASY FROM SILVER EMPIRE
LOVE AT FIRST BITE
BY DECLAN FINN
Honor At Stake
Demons Are Forever
Live and Let Bite
Good to the Last Drop
THE PRODIGAL SON
BY RUSSELL NEWQUIST
War Demons
Spirit Cooking (forthcoming)
PAXTON LOCKE
BY DANIEL HUMPHREYS
Fade
Night’s Black Agents
Come, Seeling Night (forthcoming)
Contents
Prologue
Chapter 1 Physical Therapy
Chapter 2: I’ll get you my pretty, and your little human, too
Chapter 3: Sitting Targets
Chapter 5: Enter Darkness
Chapter 6: I am coming home
Chapter 7: Death In The Family
Chapter 8: Welcome to the Jungle
Chapter 9: Politics Bite
Chapter 10: War
Chapter 11: Bankrupt
Chapter 12: Bloodstained
Chapter 13: Hunting Party
Chapter 14: Remember, Remember…
Chapter 15: Reflections of The Way Life Used to Be
Chapter 16: Fun and Games
Chapter 17: Run For Your Life
Chapter 18: Start of a brand new Day
Chapter 19: Before the Storm
Chapter 20: A Day of Reckoning
Chapter 21: Asmodeus ex Machina
Chapter 22: Talk With An Angel
Chapter 23: Coming Home
Epilogue
Landmarks
Cover
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Prologue
Chapter 1 Physical Therapy
Chapter 3: Sitting Targets
Chapter 4: Welcome to San Francisco
Chapter 5: Enter Darkness
Chapter 6: I am coming home
Chapter 7: Death In The Family
Chapter 8: Welcome to the Jungle
Chapter 9: Politics Bite
Chapter 10: War
Chapter 11: Bankrupt
Chapter 12: Bloodstained
Chapter 13: Hunting Party
Chapter 14: Remember, Remember…
Chapter 15: Reflections of The Way Life Used to Be
Chapter 16: Fun and Games
Chapter 17: Run For Your Life
Chapter 18: Start of a brand new Day
Chapter 19: Before the Storm
Chapter 20: A Day of Reckoning
Chapter 21: Asmodeus ex Machina
Chapter 22: Talk With An Angel
Chapter 23: Coming Home
Epilogue