EXCERPT: Burning Addiction by BL Maxwell
There was something about his scent that rendered me frozen, while at the same time made me want to claim him as my own. I stepped back away from him, afraid that the control I had over my primal instincts might snap at the very sight and smell of him.
Mine.
A growl started to build in my throat without conscious thought. He still continued to stare, as though he couldn’t stop himself, and not even my reaction to him seemed to shock him. “I’ll check on you again before the end of my shift. Try to get some rest,” I forced myself to say as I hurried out of his room. Rushing down the hall, I walked through a door that led to a storage room and headed to the back where no one would see me if they came looking for me.
What the fuck? He’s just a human, one more human. Why should I react to him any different than to any of the thousands of humans I’ve met or treated through all my years as a doctor? I slid down the wall and dragged my hands through my hair. In my existence as a vampire, I’d never experienced anything like what had just happened.
The humans had evolved throughout the years. They were no longer so superstitious of creatures such as myself. But on some level they still knew to be afraid of us. It had taken me nearly a century to perfect being around them and putting them at ease, rather than inciting fear. This human showed neither fear nor ease around me. What I felt from him was his need to claim me as his own. It was as though on some level our beings were intertwined in a way I didn’t understand—and didn’t want to explore.
My control over the need for blood was second to the pull this man had on me. I couldn’t allow anything to expose me for what I truly was, but could I force myself to avoid him? I wasn’t sure, but there were others who would not take kindly to me exposing our kind to the humans. And I couldn’t risk my eternal life on whatever these feelings were. If they found out, he’d be at risk too.
That thought caused me to growl again, and my fangs pressed into my lip—ready to strike, ready to kill and maim anyone or anything that dared stand between us. I shook my head and let it drop into my hands as realization sunk in—I was so fucked.
Blurb
Brennan Clayton lived a life of privilege and comfort, until experimenting with drugs in college led to him quitting school to live the life of an addict. His days are spent doing odd jobs for cash to pay for his habit. One night, he overdoses and nearly dies.
Doctor Lucas Martel works nightshift in the emergency room at Eureka Hospital. He’s reclusive and brilliant at his job, and he’s all too aware that not everything in Eureka is as it seems. He’s also a vampire, one who chooses to blend in with humans rather than feed on them.
Something strange is happening to the homeless and addicts on the streets of Eureka; many have gone missing or ended up dead, and others have overdosed on drugs so strong, no human cure can counteract them. Not normally concerned with human tragedies, the vampires can’t stand back and let this play out, or they risk exposing their world to the humans.
Brennan must face his demons, and Lucas will discover many things about himself, and what he believes to be true: a seedy underground of rogue vampires and drugs that must be stopped, at any cost.
*Warning: contains references to drug use and abuse.
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About the Author
BL Maxwell grew up in a small town listening to her grandfather spin tales about his childhood. Later she became an avid reader and after a certain vampire series she became obsessed with fanfiction. She soon discovered Slash fanfiction and later discovered the MM genre and was hooked.
Many years later, she decided to take the plunge and write down some of the stories that seem to run through her head late at night when she’s trying to sleep.