Savvy Saturday: Behind the Scenes of Consuming the Darkness

He needs your heart to live.

Sounds gruesome doesn’t it? It is, and Detective Sienna Storm is in charge of finding the demon responsible. She’s new to Jacobs Cove, but not Supernatural creatures. She happens to be one. The sun is back and slowly Jacobs Cove is picking up from the disaster caused by the ritual that blocked the sun, allowing the vampires to take over the city. Sienna’s got her work cut out for her, enforcing the new laws preventing the vampires from taking whoever they want and find a killer who has no preference for his victims.

While writing the Darkness series, I had planned to end it with Penetrating the Darkness. But something kept pushing me to continue the series. The line, “He needs your heart to live” popped into my head. Often I get random sentences that stick in my brain and nag me to find a story for it. This was the case with Consuming the Darkness. One line. Now what? Aside from paranormal romance, I love writing a good romantic murder mystery and romantic suspense thriller. So I sat down, popped open my laptop and got to work. Once the idea came to me, I was off and running. I become completely emerged into my writing. I’ll forget the time and forget to eat. My fingers can hardly catch up to my brain.

It took me three days to finish the story. But that’s not the end. Now I had to go through the entire book, page by page, jot down names, create new creatures, and make sure everything was cohesive. Not as easy as it seems. All in all, writing and editing the story took me three months.

But just as I had finished it and sent off to the publisher, the next story popped into my head. Surviving the Darkness. Sometimes it's hard for me to let go of my characters, of the story. This time, however, it seemed right. Jacobs Cove is thriving, rebuilding and I feel I’ve done a good job telling the story of a small city, encased in darkness, run by vampires and the heroes and heroines determined to take back their home.

Consuming the Darkness: Bk 7 in the Darkness series is available with Champagne publishing and all other book outlets.

Here’s a glimpse:

In Jacob’s Cove, where death is as common as apple pie, a serial murderer is a first. Lieutenant Sienna Storm, the town’s newly minted homicide detective, is eager to prove she’s up to the job of tracking down the demon who rips out his victims’ still-beating hearts. Even if it means using her abilities.

Detective Nathan Powers lost his partner to the aptly named Heartless Killer, and the trail of bodies leads him to Jacob’s Cove, a strange world populated with bloodthirsty demons and run by a vampire. Still, the leggy blonde, Sienna, is a pleasant distraction. Until he discovers she’s after the same killer—and she’s not sharing.

On the hunt, the more they cross paths, the harder it is to stay apart. Together they discover not only clues, but a searing desire, one that may be their downfall when the killer targets Nathan, and Sienna risks everything to get him back.

***

Jacob’s Cove, 2026

After the Darkness

Lieutenant Sienna Storm’s first day in Jacob’s Cove proved to be a bitch. At one in the morning, five hours since she arrived without any of her furniture or belongings.

Goddamn movers had decided to take a break for the night instead of following through with their promise to deliver her stuff immediately. Instead, they informed her she would have her things late the next day. She really should have packed an overnight bag, but she believed the company when they said, Speedy same day delivery even out of town.

Yeah, right.

When she got the call to arrive at a murder scene, she’d been gung ho to get started. Except, her damn car decided to break down halfway to the scene. If that weren’t bad enough, the damn cab driver she flagged got lost. And he tried to charge her twice the fare. Well, she’d shown him, hadn’t she, shoving her badge in his face and threatening to haul his lumpy ass into a cell for trying to con her. He’d apologized profusely and even gave her the ride for free.

Damn straight.

Hurrying down the dark alley, she hoped her first case would be a smooth one. She spotted an officer standing with his hands in his pockets at the scene up ahead, took a deep breath, and fell into cop mode.

“Lieutenant Storm.” Sienna held up her badge, giving the officer a quick glance. “What have we got?” She approached the body. The instant she caught sight of the victim, she knew it wasn’t going to be a typical case.

The body of a young woman, approximately mid-twenties, lay face up on the ground, with a fist-sized hole in her chest, no heart. Long, brown hair. Blonde highlights. Slim build. Her jeans looked designer, as did the purse tossed a few inches from her, still intact. She didn’t look like the type to be alone in a dark alley. Everything about her read rich girl.

What the hell had she been doing by herself in an alley this late at night?

“Officer Barlow,” the tall, sturdy-looking man with a very ordinary face introduced himself. “This is Sally Grand, according to her ID, twenty-three, five-seven, one twenty-five. A woman taking out her trash found her,” the officer explained. “At least she had the sense to puke away from the body. No witnesses so far, but we’re still early. Same MO as two other murders. Heart missing, hole through the chest and back. This is some sick shit, if you ask me.”

She hadn’t, but everyone was entitled to their opinions. Sienna had to agree, though. She’d never seen anything like it, and she’d seen some disgusting stuff in her career. “Crime scene been here yet?”

The cop chuckled, which didn’t amuse Sienna much. “Lieutenant, we only just got started working the town three months ago. Our CSU consists of one guy who also happens to be the ME and two green wannabes.”

Perfect. Well, she had been warned, hadn’t she? “Where is he?”

“On another call.”

Great. “Who’s collecting the evidence?”

“Well, looks like that’ll be you, me, and Officer Dickie over there taking the witness’s statement.” He pointed at the officer behind him.

Why had she come to Jacob’s Cove again? Oh yeah, to help rebuild the city after the darkness lifted. Right. Still… “Okay, Officer Barlow. What I need is for everyone to stay back from the body. I also need someone to drive me to my car, which is…fuck, probably in the shop by now. Damn it.” Yeah, her day really wasn’t starting out well. “I need a crime scene kit. I don’t suppose you boys would have one in your car?”

“Of course. Dickie already took fingernail scrapings and footprint impressions. A full-body exam will be done when she gets to the morgue. We do know what we’re doing, Lieutenant, even though we’re shorthanded at the moment.”

She took his attitude in stride. “I hope so, because this isn’t going to be an easy one. From the looks of it, it might be Jacob’s Cove’s first serial murder case since the sun returned.”

***

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