Heartbeats

At birth, it's assumed that nothing will go wrong with your life. You will soon exhaust the two and a half billion heartbeats humans average. But what happens when your life is no longer average, and you yourself are no longer human?

Jacie never meant to mean so much for so many people. She never wanted the fate of anyone or anything to rest on her, but when her life is seemingly invaded and enveloped by the mysterious world of Charles Rice she finds out that things come to you whether you want them or not. The duties you are given mean life or death; deal with them wisely.

"It was agonizingly painful. Her teeth ripped through my skin easily, like it was hot butter. My shoulder felt like it was on fire, melting, dying. Then the fire spread through my whole body. The venom coursed through my veins. It ate away away at my weakness, at anything in me that was human; it killed me. I could feel her still beside me, but I couldn't push her away. She kept forcing more venom into my body and pulling my blood into her own. She let me alone in the streets. I remember rolling over onto my back before these seizure-like tremors took over. Blood, human blood, trickled out of my mouth. Then everything went black."