Black Sun preview. Today’s post for the October Frights Blog Hop includes an excerpt from the novel “Black Sun”, and pages from the graphic novel which Anna and I hope to release next year.
Novel Excerpt from Chapter 2 of Black Sun.
Satori wraps his pale, thin arms around Star’s waist and she pushes against his angular body. He found her and she saved them both.
She sighs and snuggles closer. ‘I love you.’
‘We’re home,’ he tells her.
She laughs, but her laughter is gentle, not mocking. She is simply happy to be alive and with him, wherever they are.
The room is tiny. No more than two metres by three. An aluminium toilet squats in one corner. At the end of the bed, if it can be called that, stands a grey wall with a metal door.
‘Well, almost home.’ His laughter joins hers for a moment.
‘Where are we?’ she asks.
‘My prison cell,’ Satori answers.
‘Your prison cell?’
‘They arrested me for your murder.’
Star laughs louder this time. ‘I wonder how that will work out, now I’m not dead … Oh shit, Raven.’ Her laughter morphs into sobs.
‘Shush, it’s okay. You’re dead. They can’t try you for murder.’ He strokes her hair.
She turns around on the bed to face him. Her wide eyes beg him to understand her fear.
‘We won’t tell them you’re alive.’ He kisses her forehead and strokes her tears away with his thumb.
Star scowls. ‘Umm, I think they’ll notice I’m here.’
‘Not if we escape. Let’s get out of here. We’ll run far away.’
Satori’s eyes shine in excitement. In the half-light, one seems to glow red. Star shudders. She has seen this manic look before: the look that says anything is possible. Star swallows hard. She cannot argue the point. A few hours ago she was dead. Now she lies here in his arms. Her heart beats and her lungs draw oxygen from the air. Anything is possible. That is his law, not hers, and yet her reality confirms its validity in the same way the law of gravity is confirmed by her inability to float above this itchy and uncomfortable bed. For one second she hates him for being right.
Star sits up, her back rigidly straight and stares at the metal door. ‘Run? I feel that’s all I have ever done. Maybe it’s time I stopped?’
‘We’ll figure it out.’ He places his body between her and the door, smiling gently.
She strokes his beautifully pointed face and gazes into his eyes. One sparkles with deep grey brilliance. The other is damaged. She wonders when that happened then remembers his aborted rescue attempt in the mountains. A battle with Lilith for her soul, if she remembers correctly, lifetimes ago. She kisses his lips and snuggles into his chest. His steady heartbeat calms her.
A fluorescent strip light flickers above them like a strobe on a dance floor. Energy crackles around the room, making their hair stand on end. Star clings to Satori as freezing air whips around the cell, like a hurricane. Satori sits up and touches her shoulder, instructing her to stay down. Star feels cold and unnaturally exposed in her nakedness. The light flickers again then fails and the cell falls into darkness. The air feels thick, almost solid. It punches Star’s ears and throat and chills her skin.
‘Satori!’ she screams.
‘It’s okay.’ Satori grips her shoulders and pulls her up towards him. They sit on the narrow bed together, shaking.
Air crushes her and she struggles to catch her breath. A vortex of wind drags Star from Satori’s arms to the centre of the room. She cannot feel or see him. She stands up, alone. Air surrounds her, separating her from him. Her heart hammers and her legs shake. Wind swirls around her. She spins with it, not knowing which direction she faces when suddenly the spinning stops and she is pushed to the floor by a heavy blow. Crying out, she tries to push herself back up against the weight of air. The room stinks of blood and decay.
‘What’s happening?’
‘I don’t know,’ Satori answers. He sounds far away.
Resting on her knees and one hand, she reaches into the space in front of her, searching for him. She cannot find him. Her fingers flail through the bitter wind.
‘Where are you?’ she yells.
‘I’m here, Star. It’s going to be okay.’
‘How can you be sure?’
‘Because we survived, I found you and we survived. We’re not about to die here.’
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