A Sneak Peek into "Serving Time" by Nadine Ducca
Fellow author Nadine Ducca will soon be releasing her book, "Serving Time"!
As part of her blog hop, yesterday John Kang interviewed one of her characters, Eneld, here.
Today I'll be giving you a sneak peek into "Serving Time". So without any further ado, here it is!
___________________
Two large red eyes glared at him from the foot of the bed. Eneld gasped and fumbled for the light.
“We wouldn’t do that if we were you.” The eyes narrowed. Their glow lit up an uneven row of fangs jutting out from beneath a long, dog-like snout.
A shudder slowly crept down Eneld's back. Throx wasn’t supposed to cause hallucinations.
The creature snarled. It thrust its claws forward, dug deep into the covers, and pulled itself onto the bed. With a yelp, Eneld scrambled out from under the covers and toppled backward onto the floor.
The monster crouched in the center of the bed. The gleam from its eyes dowsed the bedroom in a hellish shade of red. “You might not remember us.” Its voice rumbled like a rockslide. “We are your Keeper.” It licked a claw with a black, serpent tongue. A sticky string of saliva dribbled from its fangs onto the comforter.
Eneld flicked his eyes back and forth around the room. “A—are there more of you?”
“Present? Only one. But we are an army of millions.” The creature dropped onto its belly and used its claws to drag itself closer. “Listen. We had a deal.” Its eyes stared through Eneld.
“I—I think you got the wrong guy. I don’t do business with…demons.”
The creature sputtered and rumbled with laughter that clung to Eneld’s skin and made him itch. “So you know what we are. However, you seem to have forgotten what you are.”
“I don’t—” The stench of sulfur made Eneld retch. He hunched forward, his lungs pushing against his ribcage. Like a giant balloon trying to come out his mouth, his throat swelled and his jaw jerked open. “Nybbasss…” he hissed in two voices at once. The pressure abruptly vanished, and he dropped to his hands and knees, gasping for breath.
“Ah, we needed that.” The monster hung his head over the edge of the bed and chuckled. Little black drops of spit splattered Eneld’s face. “Our names hold our power, but you probably knew that already.”
Eneld frantically wiped his face with his hands. Black ooze stinking of rotten eggs clung to his fingers.
Nybbas jumped off the bed. His four sturdy legs made the ground tremble. “True Self 561, we are aware we ask much of your lifetime. But you accepted the challenge. We had a deal. You are breaking it.”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
Nybbas’s claws tapped against the floor as he approached. Their click-clack sounded too real, too sharp to be a dream or a hallucination. Eneld cringed.
“We spoke in the afterlife. We came to an agreement. You are disappointing us.”
“How can I disappoint you if I don’t even know what I’m supposed to do?”
“Redeem a crooked soul.”
“What?”
“You are very close to a soul in need of redemption.” Nybbas hunkered down and growled.
Eneld raised his hands. “Who? I…”
“Your brother.”
“My…brother? No. Haven’t seen him in years.”
“Then that must change.”
_______________
For more on "Serving Time", check out Nadine's original post here.
Be on the lookout tomorrow for the next post in the blog hop at Common Sense is Underrated, where Shane Jeffery will interview Eneld's brother, Tristan.
0 comments:
Post a Comment