***Updates are now on Monday, Wednesday and Friday.*** Everything you thought you knew was a lie. The vampire king, Vladimir Sedof, was on top of the world once upon a time. He had his beloved by his side and the vampires following his every dictate. Then one sunny morning, it all goes to hell. He wakes up twenty odd years later to find most of his magic stolen and his beloved murdered. Hell bent on getting revenge on those who left him for dead, he acquires a pawn in the form of Josie Braille. She turns out to be too powerful and not all that useful. Josie Braille just wanted to set her father free. What she gets instead is a world filled with magic, lies and schemes older than she had been alive. In this world where foes and friends wear the same face, she must choose a side and fight for her love. But to do that, she must decide who she loves. Grayson Callahan is a hunter stuck between the rock and a hard place. He has to choose between doing his duty and saving the world from a vampire on the warpath, or saying fuck it and choosing his love. Three lives on a collision course, whose resolution will reign supreme? What they do find in the end is that this was someone else's game entirely and they were all pawns from the very beginning. But when the chips are down and the fate of their existence and everyone they held dear on their shoulders, will Josie's love win, or will the vampire king sacrifice them all to get his justice?
Silvery hues glittered across my princess Diana bedspread, giving her green dress an otherworldly colour. Her crown shined in much the same way. Tomorrow was the start of my dream job.
I might simply be a lowly intern at St Patrick's art gallery, but working in an art gallery has been my dream since I was a child. I may not be the next Picasso but I felt at peace only when I was lost in the world of my next creation.
In the last year, getting a job-any job- has been my sole purpose in life. Because that job was my ticket out of this hell hole I was trapped in. Case in point, the aggrieved yelling that just disturbed the quiet of the night. With a heavy sigh, I approached my window and closed the heavy curtains before getting back in bed. Someday soon, I was going to leave this house. I just had to hold on to my sanity before that day came.
The sound of glass smashing was hard to sleep through, especially when it was accompanied by lots of screaming and more items being destroyed. I groaned and debated ignoring them, but that wasn't an option. My first day on the job was tomorrow and I needed to get some decent shut eye if I was to be at my best tomorrow and knowing my parents, this could go on for hours.
Shoving off the duvet irritably, I stomped out of the door and down the short hallway to the living room before making a right that would give me a front view of the kitchen.
Angry words slithered over my body as I stared at the two people who had just been smiling for the camera a few short hours ago. They were still wearing their tux and evening gown, but they were anything but civil and loving towards one another now that the paparazzi was gone.
"You're the biggest mistake of my life." Mrs Braille snarled from her position on the floor. I was unable to see mum except for the tips of her disheveled hair but I could hear the anger and tears in her voice.
My dad replied in a voice damaged by years of smoking almost immediately "Ditto. Why do you think I drink so much eh?" He was a large man, but he didn't come by his girth naturally, the years of drinking and partying having added a lot of flap to his medium weight.
Now he used all that formidable size as a weapon as he towered over his wife. "You drink your life away because you ain't got no brains...."
Whatever my mother wanted to say was lost beneath her loud wails.
They came from nowhere. One second I was deciding how best to interrupt my parents' fight and in the next second, the front door was busted down and six men clad head to toe in black stormed into our house.
As stoic as I was, at that moment, I was betrayed into giving a shout of alarm.
They wasted no time in converging on the three of us and before I could say jack Robinson, both my parents and I had been detained by the men in black.
Two others went deeper into the house and soon a female voice could be heard screaming before the sound was muffled. Anna!
What were they doing to her? There were sounds of scuffling before my younger sister was dragged into the living room and pushed to the floor.
I struggled in the arms of the man holding me captive but he only clamped down harder on my shoulders. I yelped in pain.
"Who are you?!" I yelled frantically, my words tinged with anger and a hint of fear.
Why were these dangerous looking men barging into our house in the middle of the night? Not that it would have made a difference if it was during the day, but this night time attack gave it a more malevolent air.
None of the men in black deigned to answer me. It was as if they never even heard me speak, but the man holding me clasped his gloves hand over my mouth as they concentrated their full attention on one person in the house, my father.
"Vladimir wants you." A thick heavily accented voice rumbled.
While I had never heard the name before and only felt confusion at the man's rasped words, mother went sheet white as dad trembled on the spot.
Really, he was just shaking as a leaf as he stared at the man in black with a face devoid of colour.
"N..no..no. I will pay him. I promise I will. I just need a little more time." Arthur Braille babbled even before any questions or accusations were made. No longer was he the powerful CEO of Braille enterprises, now he was just a scared man about to wet his pants.
"Oh really?" The huge man drawled sardonically. "Why you not tell him?"
"I'll tell him that, as soon as I can. I promise..."
"I do you one better." The man announced omniously, cutting Arthur's words short. "I take you to him. Now." He declared roughly before knocking dad square on his jaw.
Dad crumpled on the floor without so much as a whimper.
Anna and mum screamed their distress at the top of their lungs while my own screams were muffled beneath the steel cage that was paraded as my captor's hand.
Try as I might, I couldn't pry his hands off and he didn't let up even as his hands constricted my airways, making it hard for me to breathe. Soon enough, my vision began to spot because of the lack of oxygen.
Just when I was about to collapse, I saw the men carting father away. I bit down savagely on his hand just as the world turned dark.
***UPDATES ARE NOW ON TUESDAYS, THURSDAYS AND SATURDAYS** After her abusive father nearly kills them in a fit of rage, Kiera and her mother make a run for it. They run to a town in the middle of nowhere to start afresh. On her first day in high school, Kiera has a run in with the most popular boy in school -Mason King. He is a spoilt, handsome jerk who delights in tormenting Kiera. What Kiera fails to realize is that the more she pushes back and stands up for herself, the more Mason's beast is roused to make her submit to him. A dangerous, dark game of prey and predator ensues. Tired of overbearing alpha males who always get their way, Kiera vows to never let Mason win this game of theirs. But how much is Kiera willing to lose to come out as the victor? Her dignity? Her mother?......... Her heart?
Their marriage has been written in the stars. Three generations have waited for the union of the two families. But now it is time. Everyone is giddy with excitement, well, all except one. The groom. Feeling abandoned by his reluctant attitude towards their proposed wedding his future bride seeks comfort in the arms of his nephew. A tug of war ensues for Chloe's heart. To do her duty or chase a brand new love? All Chloe Black wants is a lover to call her own, what she steps foot in is a world that can claim her life instead.
To the public, she was the CEO's executive secretary. Behind closed doors, she was the wife he never officially acknowledged. Jenessa was elated when she learned that she was pregnant. But that joy was replaced with dread as her husband, Ryan, showered his affections on his first love. With a heavy heart, she chose to set him free and leave. When they met again, Ryan's attention was caught by Jenessa's protruding belly. "Whose child are you carrying?!" he demanded. But she only scoffed. "It's none of your business, my dear ex-husband!"
On her wedding day, Khloe’s sister connived with her groom, framing her for a crime she didn’t commit. She was sentenced to three years in prison, where she endured much suffering. When Khloe was finally released, her evil sister used their mother to coerce Khloe into an indecent liaison with an elderly man. As fate would have it, Khloe crossed paths with Henrik, the dashing yet ruthless mobster who sought to alter the course of her life. Despite Henrik’s cold exterior, he cherished Khloe like no other. He helped her take retribution from her tormentors and kept her from being bullied again.
Linsey was stood up by her groom to run off with another woman. Furious, she grabbed a random stranger and declared, "Let's get married!" She had acted on impulse, realizing too late that her new husband was the notorious rascal, Collin. The public laughed at her, and even her runaway ex offered to reconcile. But Linsey scoffed at him. "My husband and I are very much in love!" Everyone thought she was delusional. Then Collin was revealed to be the richest man in the world. In front of everyone, he got down on one knee and held up a stunning diamond ring. "I look forward to our forever, honey."
Elin spent twenty years deeply loving her husband, finally marrying him just as she'd always dreamed. But reality shattered her illusions—he wasn't the man she believed. Instead, he callously destroyed her family, crushing her heart beyond repair. At her lowest point, Ruben, equally betrayed that night, approached her steadily. "Marry me, Elin. I'll help you take revenge." Yet, after their wedding, she quickly discovered he was dangerously unpredictable. "I made a mistake. Let's divorce..." Ruben slid his arm possessively around her waist, whispering a chilling promise, "Only in death."
After two years of marriage, Sadie was finally pregnant. Filled with hope and joy, she was blindsided when Noah asked for a divorce. During a failed attempt on her life, Sadie found herself lying in a pool of blood, desperately calling Noah to ask him to save her and the baby. But her calls went unanswered. Shattered by his betrayal, she left the country. Time passed, and Sadie was about to be wed for a second time. Noah appeared in a frenzy and fell to his knees. "How dare you marry someone else after bearing my child?"
"You're a creepy bastard." His eyes smolder me and his answering grin is nothing short of beautiful. Deadly. "Yet you hunger for me. Tell me, this appetite of yours, does it always tend toward 'creepy bastards'?" **** Widower and ex-boss to the Mafia, Zefiro Della Rocca, has an unhealthy fixation on the woman nextdoor. It began as a coincidence, growing into mere curiosity, and soon, it was an itch he couldn't ignore, like a quick fix of crack for an addict. He didn't know her name, but he knew every inch of her skin, how it flushed when she climaxed, her favourite novel and that every night she contemplated suicide. He didn't want to care, despising his rapt fascination of the woman. She was in love with her abusive husband. She was married, bound by a contract to the Bratva's hitman. She was off-limits. But when Zefiro wanted something, it was with an intensity that bordered on madness. He obsessed, possessed, owned. There'd be bloodshed if he touched her, but the sight of blood always did fascinate him. * When Susanna flees from her husband, she stumbles right into the arms of her devilishly handsome neighbour with a brooding glare. He couldn't stand her, but she needed him, if she was ever going to escape her husband who now wanted her dead. Better the devil you know than the angel you don't. She should have recalled that before hopping into Zefiro's car and letting him whisk her away to Italy. Maybe then, she wouldn't have started an affair with him. He was the only man who touched her right, and the crazy man took no small pains in ensuring he would be the last.