-human Stories

Lucian bared his razor-sharp fangs, the piercing blue-green orbs of his eyes alight with the hunger of his kind. He had hoped to intimidate her, to keep her at a safe distance from his world. "I'm not scared of your fangs," Lily said, her voice unwavering. Lucian caught her lips in a searing kiss. His fangs grazed against her lips, but Lily didn't recoil. Instead, she welcomed the intensity of their connection, the feeling of being alive and desired. He broke the kiss all too suddenly. "What is it with you humans and your fascination with the forbidden?" The warmth in Lucian's blue-green eyes replaced with a chilling coldness. "Let's keep things professional from now on," he said in a frigid tone before turning on his heel and stalking away. *** If only Lily had known that being Lucian Stone's personal mortician entailed a front-row seat to a rollercoaster ride in his enigmatic supernatural life, she would have thought twice before accepting his offer. Her world was turned upside down when she discovered he was a powerful vampire and that she was a vital piece of his clan. Lily is all too aware of the risks of getting too close to Lucian, but she can't help the way she feels. Is defying his request worth the danger? Being his personal mortician already puts her life in peril, so what more could happen?

Ten years since both sides signed a binding treaty, vampires and humans have a mutual understanding - each side sticks to their own camps. Emphatic humans donate blood in blood drives, which is able to satiate the vampires, but that is the limit of the understanding. Some of the vampires stay in hiding, leaving secretive lives out of human sight or care; some rehabilitate themselves to become daywalkers and carefully live among humans. But the treaty states that no vampire can ever feed on or turn humans. A new vampire has not been made since the treaty, leaving some to fret about the future of their species. But Yoma, still growing into his new life as a daywalker, is more concerned with his life among humans. At the first day of his new government job, Yoma discovers that the human hatred of vampires still runs deep. He is at the end of his wits, and about to walk out on his first day, when a human woman shows kindness to him. He offers to walk her home as a thank-you. Taken aback, the kind woman reluctantly agrees. What they don't know is that their relationship will open new rifts and form new understandings between the two species. But what is to come first remains unclear, as new divisions open while others close. Can Yoma quell his vampire brethren's desire to break the treaty? Or will human-vampire hatred result in the end of his relationship, and the end of ten years of peace?