✨ Guest Post ✨
Hello, everyone! Thank you, Addison, for allowing me back on the blog. I’ve been here a lot lately, I know. I’ll stay away for a few weeks after this 😅 I have a new book out I thought I’d tell you about. It’s called Vampire Food.
Did you know vampires eat zucchinis? It might not be their favourite food, but they do it if they have to, and in this story, Noah feels he has to.
The day we’re celebrating in August is National Sneak Some Zucchini Onto Your Neighbor’s Porch Day. I wanted to do a story for it last year, but time slipped away from me. I did it now, though!
Vampire Food is about Rue, who is a magic user with an affinity for plants. He’s a former blood slave who was freed a year ago and was brought to a community of supernatural beings. He’s the only magic user there, but it doesn’t matter. He doesn’t want to talk to anyone anyway, so he doesn’t care what they are.
What he likes doing is spending time in his garden. He’s struggling with finding his place in the world, but in the garden, he finds peace. At least until he finds a severed head that once belonged to a fellow blood slave.
What little peace he’s found is disrupted. Rue never believed he’d trust a vampire, but when the world falls apart around him, he leans on Noah, who is a vampire.
While I wrote this story, I had one tab open with seed bags for all kinds of plants, and a post-it note with a stick figure I’d drawn right next to the keyboard. I think I went through three stick figures during the editing and proofreading stage LOL
You see, there are some body parts, and it would be bad if I missed one or two.
The bad guys want to take over the leading position in the community, and to do that, they need to get rid of some people, and what better way than to frame them for murder?
It all turns into a race against time, or the police, depending on how you see it. They need to complete the body puzzle before the police can lock them up. Macabre, yes, but also fun 😆 Though, if you’re not into butchered corpses, maybe skip this one.
There are no details of how the body is butchered, but body parts are body parts, right? And they’re in a varying stage of decay, so…
If we ignore the blood, gore, and decay this is a lovely story with loads of plants and flowers and veggies 😁 It has a traumatised soul finding peace, a lonely vampire finding love, friendship, found family, a strong us vs. them theme since humans don’t treat supes fairly. And it’s slow, there is no tripping into bed with one another, those things take time. Why rush when you’re blessed with longevity?
And there are some sneaking around the neighbours’ porches with zucchinis, of course.
Vampire Food
by Holly Day
A former blood slave. A strapping vampire. More zucchinis than any man could eat.
Rue Yarrow was rescued from a blood bar and taken to a gated community of supernaturals. Haunted by nightmares and memories, he does his best to avoid people. His only solace is his garden, where he uses his magic to grow an abundance of vegetables. But one day, it isn’t the zucchinis greeting him, but a severed human head.
Noah Caramine wants as little drama as possible, and interfering with a vampire clan’s business is never a good idea. He’s never met a magic user and is curious about Rue, but he fears there will be consequences for stealing the blood slaves.
When body parts start popping up inside the walls, Noah doesn’t know if someone is trying to frame them for murder or distract them from keeping the blood slaves safe. Rue never believed he’d go near a vampire again, but when threats are drawing closer, he turns to Noah. Who better to keep him safe from vampires than a vampire?
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Gay Paranormal Romance: 50,353 words
Excerpt
Rue froze in the kitchen as Gertrude entered the house mid-conversation. As a male voice answered her, claws buried themselves in his muscles and prevented him from moving.
“Oh, Rue, I didn’t think you’d be up.”
He nodded since his voice had stopped working. Behind her in the doorway were Noah and another dark-haired man—smaller, more graceful, no less deadly.
“This is Noah and Asher. We were gonna have a drink and talk some business.” No one moved, and Rue wasn’t sure anyone breathed.
“You want a drink too?” Gertrude’s tone was soft, as if she was soothing an injured animal.
He nodded.
“You do?”
The surprised outburst made him jump, and he quickly shook his head. No, he didn’t want to have a drink with them, he didn’t drink and he didn’t spend time with people.
Gertrude ignored him, though. “I invited them over for a beer, but I had groceries delivered today, and I bought…” She walked into the kitchen, and the air froze in Rue’s lungs as she now no longer was between him and the vampires. “…lime, mint, and soda water since I figured we’d have mojito mocktails.” She yanked the refrigerator door open. “I should have the guys make it though, they’re bartenders.”
“Mocktails?” Asher stared at Gertrude, or since the refrigerator door was in the way, he stared at it instead of her.
“You don’t call them mocktails? Cocktails without alcohol.”
“Virgin.” Noah’s voice was low and a little raspy, and it had Rue shivering.
“I don’t like that word.” And yet she had a nightclub named The Virgin Drop. Rue winced.
Gertrude pulled out a bag of limes, a bottle of what Rue assumed was soda water, and grabbed a sad-looking mint plant standing on the counter. His hands itched to save it. There was no nutrition in the minimal amount of soil it was planted in, and its life was slipping away.
Without thinking, he reached for it and yanked the plastic around it open. He took a deep breath as he imagined the plant would. Poor thing was suffocating and starving at the same time. Tingles and warmth spread in his hands as he gripped the tiny plastic pot—he’d keep it for seedlings—with one hand and held the other over the plant, allowing a golden drizzle to rain down over it.
The plant stretched and tickled his palm in a wordless thank you, and he swore to save it. He’d place it in the garden. It needed more room, and more nutrition. He took a step toward the doorway only to freeze as he stared up at Noah and Asher, who were watching him with wide eyes.
“Sorry.” He took a quick step back.
“Nothing to be sorry about. I wouldn’t mind seeing you do it again.” Asher smiled at him—lips closed, not so much as a glimpse of fangs.
“Will you pick the leaves, sweetness?”
Rue turned to stare at her. Pick the leaves? “Not all of them.”
She grinned. “Okay, keep some.”
Nodding, he pinched off the stems above the first couple of leaf nodes. He placed them on the table, then took a step toward the doorway again while holding the pot to his chest. This time, Noah and Asher stepped away. He hurried past them and out the door.
Outside, the cool summer air greeted him, and he sucked in a deep breath.
About Holly Day
According to Holly Day, no day should go by uncelebrated and all of them deserve a story. If she’ll have the time to write them remains to be seen. She lives in rural Sweden with a husband, four children, more pets than most, and wouldn’t last a day without coffee.
Holly gets up at the crack of dawn most days of the week to write gay romance stories. She believes in equality in fiction and in real life. Diversity matters. Representation matters. Visibility matters. We can change the world one story at the time.
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