Bites

LAST OF THE BLOOD When the sweet scent reaches me, I know I have found what I'm looking for. My hands reach out in the darkness to the unaware girl. She's warm and soft, and doesn't even get to scream before I'm drinking deeply from her, her struggles too feeble to bother me. Only the blood counts. I've never tasted anything like it. Gloriously sweet, thick and strong, and full of life. I drink until the hunger subsides, until the body that I hold so close to me hangs lifelessly in my arms. Only then I see. Only then I recognise it, and the agony ... oh, the agony is more than I can bear! DEMONICA Tonight is the Midwinter Solstice Ball, the most important night in the Daemonic Court's calendar. This is the night when new disciples are chosen, when demons come out to play, and all bets are off. As it happens, tonight is also the night I become Queen. Bites is a début anthology of two dark, YA paranormal fantasies from new author, Ninfa Hayes. (Suitable for older young adult readers.)