20 November, 2019

The Aberrant Sword by Rebecca Ripley - Book Excerpt


Purchase link:
Amazon



Excerpt :


My head is pounding. My last few braincells are playing death metal drums in my skull. I try to open my eyes, but I feel like all energy has been drained from every fibre of my body.

It is the warmth that hits me first. Is that a blanket covering me? No, it isn’t. It is much shorter. I whimper as I try to open my eyes again. “Mom”? I whisper, trying to make sense of the situation, trying to get to grips with what happened.

My hands try to grab the blanket and touch warm leather. My eyes shoot open as a whiff of an unfamiliar cologne sets me on edge. I can now clearly see a little battery powered heater next to me and I do not recognise the black leather jacket covering my shoulders.

I try to sit up and recognise the ceiling of the ship’s ballroom. I let my eyes focus on the large mermaid lounging between the shells that is painted in a gold leaf frame. But we are high up. I am on one of the balconies overlooking the ballroom. “Gina?” I ask with a rasping voice, trying to find my cousin. She’s a blabbermouth. She would be all over me by now. Where is she?

That’s when my eyes were pulled to the shadow behind the heater. To the thing stirring in the shadows. My survival skills kick in. Fight or flight. I try to grab something to defend myself, my hands and fingers looking for a cold piece of metal or maybe a big shard of glass.

And then it steps out of the shadows. He is tall. I would even call him handsome. He is probably not much older than me but it’s his glowing red eyes that have me scuttle backwards, almost knocking over the heater. My heart is beating in my chest as I see some scrap metal in the corner of my eye.

I throw off the leather jacket and roll onto my side, lunging towards what was to become my only chance of defending myself. My fingers close around the cold and rusty surface when I feel the metal escape my touch.

For a second I stare at the boy pulling it from my grip, fast as lightning. My hands grab his trousers as I try to launch myself up and towards him, hands ready to take him by the throat. But that is when I feel the sharp pain in my ankle, forcing me down onto the makeshift bed again.

The boy looks at me and scoffs. “Another bleeding hunter. Oh joy.” He looks down at me and pulls a little old stool from where he was sitting in the shadows before I woke up. “If I wanted to kill you, I would have done so by now. Don’t you think?” He says, staring at me with his jaw clenched. “I have literally not a single shred of interest in fighting you. Especially not as I saved you from drowning not thirty minutes ago.” He rolls his eyes and sighs. “Although I am already pretty sorry I did that.”


Until next time,

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