ALABASTER NIGHTS (The Josie Hawk Chronicles) the latest from Elle J Rossi is available on Amazon. Grab a copy now! Look at this gorgeous cover.
Let's take a peek at the Alabaster Nights excerpt:
He’s been following me for two nights now, hiding in the shadows, trailing me as I prowl the streets armed with more blades than a sous chef. Sage was right about one thing. Her brother is of the determined sort. What she didn’t mention is that he’s more than a little odd. He stares at me like he’s trying to steal my soul. Perhaps he simply worries for Sage and wants to know if her new partner is who she says she is. Instinct tells me it’s more than that.
I’m pretty sure he thinks I can’t see him. I’m guessing no one has ever told him that it’s kinda hard to hide when you’re six-plus feet of solid sexy vampire. Said vampire has chosen me as his object of fixation and I’d like to know why. What I do is dangerous, and I can’t afford the distraction. When I think of Keller, the word stable never enters my mind. It’s not easy keeping one eye on my crazy stalker and the other on the rest of Nashville.
Slowing, I take in my surroundings and ignore the cold air as it creeps down my spine. Each breath is a series of smoke signals, rolling toward the dark sky and evaporating into the night. I’ve never been a fan of winter and we’re having a particularly cold one this year. I’ll admit that the decorated trees and wreaths do add a bit of heart-warming ambience to the chilly season. Not enough to heat my toes, though. As soon as the sun starts shining, I’m heading straight to my apartment to sleep under the hot spray of water in my crappy-ass shower. The sun and I are about to become really good friends. Daylight seems to be my only escape from Mr. Crazy Vampire Dude.
In front of me is the rough section of town, the part of the city slathered in poverty and despair. While crime is rampant there, it’s of the human variety and not my specialty. I’m leaving that particular neck of the woods to the cops tonight. To my right are a handful of bars and restaurants, closed up tight until business hours roll back around and humans roll out of bed. Printer’s Alley is on my left and currently solely occupied by Keller O’Leary.
I see him, watching me intently, almost as if he’s ready to intervene if necessary. Like I need the help. I’ve been doing this for a while now. On my own. I feed off the adrenaline. I live for the hunt. Keller, on the other hand, is beginning to look like he’s a faded tumbleweed about to roll down the street of a ghost town.
Leaning against the wall, he shifts from one foot to the other, either restless or desperate, I can’t tell which. I haven’t seen him feed since the incident with the blonde, and I’ve been watching closely. Almost as closely as he watches me. His dark eyes are full of ghosts. If I cared, I’d ask him what demons haunt him, what has he seen—or done—in his life that makes his eyes so disturbing and calculating. He closes those dark eyes now and I make my move.
“Who hired you to be my babysitter?”
The sharp edge of my knife presses against his jugular. Keller keeps his eyes closed. Even though he’s feigning nonchalance, his muscles tighten in a way that has me on high alert. I can’t afford to be trapped. I’ve seen what he can do when hungry and I’ve probably just roused a sleeping bear. I apply more pressure. Slicing him open wouldn’t kill him, but it would make me feel better.
“I’m not daft, Josephine,” he says in that Irish lilt that makes the pit of my stomach hotter than the glowing end of a branding iron. I haven’t been attracted to anyone in quite awhile. Why now? Why Sage’s brother?
Elle J Rossi grew up in rural Indiana surrounded by great people, a huge family and more animals than she could count. But the sites and sounds of the world beckoned, so she left her small town to escape into a creative world full of music. As a full time singer she was able to lose herself in a thousand different songs in a hundred different places.
After meeting the love of her life and settling down, she yearned to find a new and fulfilling creative outlet. Overly fond of the happily ever after, she wondered what it would be like to have her own characters lead her down dark and twisted paths. The very first word on the very first page sealed her fate. She'd found a new love. She'd found her escape.
Now along with weaving haunting tales about the journey to love, she's creating cover art for authors around the world and loving every second of it. For fun, she cranks country music to take her back to her roots, and sings karaoke anytime she gets a chance. Her husband, two children, and two cats that rule the roost keep her company along the way and guarantee she doesn't get lost in the enchanted forest. She wouldn't have it any other way.
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