Excerpt: Forsaken

Was it any surprise that when evening fell on her second night on the island that Volondra slipped out of the window as opposed to facing the desk clerks? When the boat had arrived, the sun was pushing against the horizon. Without question she had checked into the nearest hotel. Now that she was rested and safe from the radiance of the day, it was time to explore. The pack that contained her half a dozen changes of clothes, as well as a few other items to keep her safe and help her integrate better into the societies of mortals, was the first thing to hit the broken concrete of the dingy alley way. It was only a three story jump, but sometimes the sound of breaking alerted her to the possibility of injuring herself.

There was no such problem here. Volondra balanced on the small window sill for a moment before hurling herself over the side. The length of her crimson tunic-like top billowed out around her for a moment before the toes of her black leather boots landed with a soft thud on the ground, followed by the nearly silent planting of their wide heels. She shouldered her bag, glancing down the light end of the alley to make sure the coast was clear for her to make her debut into this fantastical new world.

"That's one way to get out of paying." Loni nearly jumped out of her skin. In her attempt to be sure no one had seen her from the street, she hadn't bothered to check behind her. Of course she was rarely worried about anyone catching her in the mortal world. There was very little that any of them could do to her. However, this place was different, as Volondra noted as she turned around, slowly and deliberately in an attempt to convey strength she was sure she was going to need around here.

Her nose caught a whiff of something dark and musky before her eyes were shocked with the sight of something she had never faced before; a demon, or what she could only assume was a demon. The first thing she noted were two black horns amidst a mess of long dark hair. That wasn't the impressing part, though. Loni did her best to keep back her shock, but behind him there were two large and rather impressive looking wings. Black, like his horns, with a rather large bone curled from his shoulder blades up and around the top. The skin was thin enough that the little light from behind him nearly shone through, and there were veins and presumably smaller bones spaced through-out. Considering Volondra had only ever met other vampires and were creatures, she took a moment to register that this island really was a fantastic meeting place of the weird and unusual mishaps of nature.

For a moment Volondra stood watching him. Aside from the obvious supernatural qualities, he was rather attractive. His dark eyes and lips were smeared in black, he was wearing little more than a mesh shirt and leather pants with combat boots. And his arms were, well, very impressive. Loni had always been rather attracted to a man with strong arms, although they were usually mortal and never stronger than her vampiric abilities. He didn't seem to mind that she was staring at him. In fact, the demon actually smirked a little. And Volondra smirked back.

And then she turned around and walked off. She wasn't stupid. Xen might argue with that statement, considering she tended to respond with her heart more often than not. The truth was that Volondra didn't think it was wise to get involved with a demon. And if he really wanted to talk to her, he'd follow wherever she went. Every other man would. She just wasn't entirely sure that demons were those kinds of men.