Why I’m Not Worried about the Evolution of Humans
A Character Guest Blog by Sasha Gray
Up until about six years ago, I just assumed that my own race, the vampire race, was the next step in human evolution. It would, after all, make perfect sense. Vampires used to be human, and I’d say cheating death was a clear indication that we were evolving. I believed this until I met my very first superhuman- Mason Lerner.
To tell you the truth, my first impression of Mason is still a little fuzzy. Now that I know that he is the world’s most powerful telepath, I have the sneaking suspicion that he did something to my mind at the time to make it so. After all, its not every day a 393 year old vampire is impressed with the likes of a human.
When I met his daughter, Jaycie Lerner, I have to say that I was blown away. It took every ounce of control I had, and I happen to have a lot, not to drain her blood where she stood. The power I felt seeping out of her pores still keeps me up some nights. The interesting thing is, I wouldn’t be able to kill Jaycie very easily, a fact that I am certainly most grateful for. I consider us to be friends, something I’d never thought I’d say of anyone in the human race.
I don’t want to sound like a snob, but most of the human race is still food to me. Contrary to popular culture legend, there is nothing in your species, apart from super humans, that holds anything appealing to my kind. I don’t know a single vampire that would consider mating with a human. There would simply be no point. It would do nothing to advance our race, and you would die quite easily should we try to turn you, or should you attempt to bear our children. In fact, it is impossible for a human to bear a vampire offspring.
But, I digress. I am almost as impressed by the superhuman Allison Young-she is just as tempting as Jaycie, and yet moves faster and hits harder than any vampire, and I mean psychic or evolved vampire, I’ve ever seen. You see, there are two classes of vampires still in existence: my kind, vampires that can feed off bio-energy are far less in number than classic blood drinkers, but we are far superior. Stronger, faster, and incredibly more conspicuous, but back to superhumans- which is why I’m here.
I am intrigued, but not worried by the presence of this new species. Take Haylee Mitchell for example, who has the incredible ability to burn evil on eye contact. But, there are more people like her father, whose blood I drained gladly after seeing the foul atrocities he was capable off, than there are like her. Most super humans are no match for my kind. I only know five, the Core, that can even give me cause to think before I strike. So, vampires may not be the next step in human evolution, but for the most part, the human race is still a sniveling and ignorant race that will grace the dinner table at the Gray estate for several centuries to come.
Here is an excerpt from Darwin’s Children that features the first conversation between Sasha Gray and Jaycie Lerner. Enjoy!
Jaycie was sprawled out across the most comfortable bed she’d ever been in. She had politely passed on dinner and, to her relief, her hostess was more than understanding. Now she was so far under the influence of oncoming sleep that she didn’t budge when she heard a light knock on the door. She couldn’t move or speak, but her eyes opened slowly. She could see that the door was slowly creeping open.
“Jaycie?”
She found it odd that someone was singing to her. “Hmm?” Jaycie murmured.
Slowly the room filled with a dim light, and Sasha Gray appeared in front of her. She carried a silver serving tray to the side of the bed and quietly arranged food on it. Jaycie tried to not gawk at her. She seemed even lovelier than when Jaycie first met her. And her eyes burned brighter, like a blue alien planet.
“You need to eat,” Sasha said in her hypnotic song. She waited patiently as Jaycie sat up slowly and scooted to the edge of the bed until the food was right under her nose. Everything smelled wonderful. Jaycie suddenly felt hunger overtake her, and she began to eat without bothering to look at what she was eating. She tried to pace herself so that she wouldn’t look like a savage in front of this spectacular creature. Sasha just watched her with a pleased smile.
“May I?” she asked, before sitting next to her.
It took Jaycie a moment to figure out Sasha was asking her permission to stay. “I’d be honored,” Jaycie told her. Sasha stared at the wall as Jaycie ate. She was so still that Jaycie began to wonder if she had turned into stone. “That was wonderful,” Jaycie said, when she finally finished.
If Jaycie weren’t so used to Allison, Sasha’s swift movements as she cleared the tray away would have startled her. Jaycie almost felt like she was at a ballet as she watched Sasha move.
“I find your family fascinating.” Sasha admitted when she was beside her again. “The blond is very strange to me. She is human, but stronger and more resistant than all of us.” Sasha fixed her unnatural blue eyes on her, and Jaycie felt herself locked in her hypnotic gaze. She was beginning to understand part of what made vampires so deadly. “It makes no sense to me,” Sasha confessed.
Jaycie had no idea what to say. How was she supposed to respond to a vampire telling her that her family was weird?
“I know there are those among your kind that have special abilities. I’ve just rarely been around any,” she said, sounding almost embarrassed. “In particular, you are very strange to me. You’re different now. Your smell, your eyes.”
Jaycie just nodded, unsure of how to explain her ability to this glorious, undead woman. “Yeah, when I got here, my power was kind of ... at its peak.” She paused, feeling stupid for the first time in her life. “I have a lot of psychic energy. Most of the time, I hold it back. When we first met, though, I wasn’t. But I am right now.”
Sasha looked at her blankly. “But if you have great power, why hold it back?” she asked in confusion.
Jaycie hesitated. “Well, for me to function, I have to. Otherwise I would hear voices in my head all the time.”
Sasha nodded at Jaycie and looked at her like a shiny new toy she really wanted to keep.
“May I ask you something?” Jaycie asked hesitantly.
Sasha nodded with a soft smile on her lips.
“What was it like?” she asked, looking down now. “Killing him?” She just couldn’t picture this woman that looked more angel than vicious predator, killing a man twice her size. She had felt his agony all the way upstairs.
“It pleased me. His blood boiled with sin. When I saw the look on your friend’s face when I killed him, I felt happy that I was able to offer her some justice.”
Jaycie could only nod at her.
“May I ask if it was your ability that caused you to request me?” Sasha asked.
“Actually, I think it was my dad sending me telepathic messages so that I could win your favor,” she admitted in an amazed voice.
Sasha laughed quietly, and Jaycie thought it was one of the most beautiful sounds she’d ever heard. “I hope that I see you again, Jaycie Lerner. When you’re as old as I am, it’s not every day you meet someone as intriguing as you are to me.”
Jaycie smiled at her. “I give you my word that we will see each other again.”
(Book 1 in Series)
by Natasha Larry
Fantasy / Young-Adult
Fantasy / Young-Adult
A black teen in a small Tennessee
Life can get pretty complicated for any seventeen-year-old girl, but for a home-schooled telepathic black girl trying to survive in a prestigious private school in small-town Jonesborough , Tennessee
Jaycie Lerner’s family isn’t the usual mom-dad-kid setup. Jaycie’s mom’s MIA, but Allison, her personal live-in ‘trainer,’ is more than a mom, with her own special abilities, like being able to lift cars and run incredibly fast. And Jaycie’s godfather John is more than persuasive – he can literally convince anyone to do anything.
As far as the rest of the world’s concerned, Jaycie’s on the outside looking in. The townsfolk love Jaycie’s pediatrician father, but she doesn’t fit in with ‘normal’ kids, and she doesn’t really want to. Most of her free time is spent training to keep her telekinetic and telepathic powers under control. But there’s one thing she can’t control – and that’s her feelings, especially when her best friend Matt is nearby. If only he knew what she was truly capable of...
Everything seems to be status quo for Jaycie until she receives a cryptic message from a stranger and meets a very unusual girl new to Jonesborough. Then all hell breaks loose!
Book Excerpt
PROLOGUE
From the other side of the glass, Mason Lerner watched Haylee Mitchell circle the monster like an aerial hunter while Sasha Gray stood like a statue, waiting. The revulsion Haylee felt was visible in the air around her. Mason had to stop himself from going in there and killing the man himself – his perverted and cowardly thoughts were sickening.
Mason watched Haylee’s mouth move. Her eyes were cold and unforgiving. She leaned over the man who’d stolen her very soul and whispered something that filled his face and thoughts with terror. Then silence filled the room. Mason could tell that Haylee had said everything she needed to say. He stuck his head in and met her eyes. There was something there he couldn’t place ... something that worried him. “Haylee,” he entreated, trying to keep the emotion out of his voice. “I don’t think...”
Haylee glared him to silence. He already knew she wanted to be there in the room when it happened. He hesitated until he saw the need in her mind. She had to do this her way. It was her battle to fight.
He nodded to Sasha Gray and retreated from the room, closing the door behind her. He watched her move with an unsettling grace, like an undead ballerina preparing for the hunt. Her alien blue eyes flashed with thirst.
Sasha gave Haylee one last questioning look. Haylee nodded, and Sasha went to her victim. It looked as if the vampire was simply giving him an intimate kiss, but Mason could hear her razor-sharp teeth ripping the flesh away from his neck. Mason had deliberately shut himself off from the man’s mind, but he could still see the utter agony in his eyes. Being burned alive by his own daughter would have been a serene death compared to this. Mason knew the pain accompanying a vampire’s bite was so incomprehensible that the living world held no equivalent to it. No one had even given voice to it. It was the physical equivalent to Haylee’s internal pain. Possibly even worse.
The man’s face twisted in agony and, despite his psychic defense, Mason still heard a whisper of the scream inside his head that never escaped his lips. His body offered no relief. The pain was trapped inside. He couldn’t go into shock or pass out. He felt every ounce of his blood being sucked out of him. His organs gave out, one by one, and he quickly went mad from the pain.
The dying man looked up at Haylee smiling down at him sadistically. As his body fell to the floor with a dull thud, he finally understood Haylee’s pain. His body was drained, and his life was over.
CHAPTER 1
Jaycie Lerner sat on a high stool at the marble counter that stood in the middle of the modern kitchen. Her elbows rested on the counter’s cool surface as she glumly shoved small spoonfuls of cereal into her mouth.
“Hey, kiddo.”
She looked up when her father’s rich, resonate voice filled the kitchen. Wearing his favorite Calvin Kline khakis paired with a plain white button-down shirt tucked in, he stood six-foot-two, with his dark, kinky hair shaved very close to his scalp. His deep dark brown eyes were the same shade as Jaycie’s.
“I thought you were gone already,” she answered in a moody monotone.
He poured himself a cup of black coffee. “Having a bad day already, bonehead?” he asked, trying unsuccessfully to keep the sarcastic grin off of his face.
“I don’t understand why you’re still insisting on this school thing,” she objected, suddenly angry.
“Well, then, it’s a good thing you’re not the one doing the parenting around here.” He filled up a silver thermos with black coffee for his short ride to work.
Jaycie narrowed her eyes and frowned petulantly. “I’ve been home schooled since I was eight. Why would you throw me into high school now? Last year was horrible!”
“Learning some social skills won’t kill you,” he told her, his expression serious.
Jaycie rolled her eyes and snorted. “It’s unnecessary.”
“Edenvale is the best school in the South. It’s one of the best schools in the country. You should feel honored to attend. All of their graduates go on to Ivy League schools.”
Jaycie rolled her eyes again. He’d told her this so many times, all she heard now when he gave her this speech was unintelligible mumbling that sounded just like all the adult characters in the Charlie Brown cartoons. She huffed. “You know I won’t have any problems getting into a good school, Dad.”
As soon as she told him this, she felt a familiar tingling at the back of her neck, followed by a warm pinch that radiated down her spine. She narrowed her eyes at him suspiciously. He met her glare with perfect composure as he warned her in a stern voice. “The phone will be next.”
“What?” Jaycie asked innocently.
“If you decide to skip school today. I would change that plan, if you want your truck back.”
“It’s not fair when you do that,” Jaycie whined, turning her head away from him dramatically. This was her way of telling her father how indignant she felt about his intrusive behavior. For a teenage girl, it could be a real pain having a telepath for a father.
“Oh, I’m sorry, baby.” His tone made it very clear he didn’t mean it. As he made his way to the back door, he said, “I have to get to work now. Remember, tonight we’re going out to dinner to celebrate Allison’s birthday.”
Jaycie’s mood improved slightly at the reminder.
“She’s been wanting to go to Five Corners Grill,” he said.
“Really? Did she tell you that, or did you rudely read it in her thoughts?” Jaycie scowled at her father in reprimand.
He winked at her with infuriating calm. “Gotta get going, kiddo – I’ve got some early patient appointments this morning. And keep in mind that I have no qualms about calling your teachers this afternoon, to make sure you were in class.”
With this last comment, he was out the door, leaving Jaycie alone with her annoyance and a soggy bowl of cereal.
Author Bio:
Natasha Larry resides in Huntsville , Alabama Tusculum College
Darwin’s Children is her first work of novel-length fiction.
To find out more about Natasha Larry and her books, please visit...
Twitter: @natashalarry
Awesome!!! So here is how to enter to get a chance at a copy of the goods!! Leave a comment with an email address. You must be a follower of the blog. Good luck to all!
12 comments:
Thank you so much for having me! This was a lot of fun to write, and I hope you enjoyed it =)
I LOVE this book!!! And I love Larry!!!
I did!...Well maybe not the choke hold:) Sasha was determined to say her piece and I was taking too long;) The book sounds fabulous! Thank you so much for dropping by! It was a pleasure having you!
Good work, Natasha :)
LoL Nikki, that sounds like her. The rest of the Gray family isn't as forceful... ;) You are a lot of fun. Thank you again.
Thanks Nova and Rainy! Heart you guys.
sounds like an awesome read!
How cool would it be to have telekinetic abilities? Please enter me in the draw!
darlenesbooknook at gmail dot com
Thanks for the giveaway!
nice giveaway
Congrats on the books and thanks for the giveaway!
MJB
msmjb65 AT gmail DOT com
Congratulations Natasha - Your vampires sound amazing (new & different) I like it!
Nice blog, Nikki. It's been a while since I've stopped in.
If I'm not too late, I'd love to be entered into your drawing.
kaydeeroyal at msn dot com
Would love to win this book, thank you so much for the chance! GFC Krystal Larson edysicecreamlover18@gmailDOTcom
Thank you so much everyone for entering!!! And the winner is...Kay Dee Royal!!!
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