Release Date: July 18, 2013
Publisher: Merit Press; 303 pages
A "good boy" will do anything for vengeance when a gang rite kills his twin sister. Will Lucas win, or follow his sister Silver into the darkness?
After a hideous car wreck, Lucas wakes from a coma to find that his world is gutted. Not only is his beloved twin sister, Silver, gone forever, but Lucas is broken in body and spirit. He will never be a college athlete, and is robbed of what he now realizes was the most important bond of his life. Although they weren't identical twins, Lucas and Silver shared a bond so fierce it defied reason, and was nearly supernatural.
After her death, that bond seems to endure when Lucas sees Silver everywhere he turns. Either he's crazy, or Silver is trying to tell him something about the California gang initiation they stumbled into that cost Silver her life. Lucas is bent on revenge, turning on Raymond, Silver's former boyfriend; the one Lucas never wanted her to date. He forms a posse of vigilantes to take out the gangsters responsible for Silver's death, but he risks not only his own life, but the love of the new girl on his block, who knows more about Lucas and Silver than can be accounted for by mere chance.
About the Author
Erin Richards writes SF&F romance and young adult fiction. Her YA debut novel, VIGILANTE NIGHTS, releases from Merit Press (F+W Media) on July 18, 2013. Erin has also published two adult romance novels: CHASING SHADOWS, a romantic suspense (EPPIE award finalist), now available in print for the first time (July 2012); and WICKED PARADISE, a fantasy romance, was released by Crimson Romance (F+W Media) in August 2012, available in eBook and print format.
Erin Richards lives in Northern California. In her spare time, she enjoys reading, photography, and American muscle cars.
www.erinrichards.com | twitter.com/ErinRichards
I nearly pissed myself at Silver's soft voice. I turned on the bedside lamp. The dinner Alyssa brought me earlier congealed on my desk, the stench of festering tofurkey burger and wilted zucchini fries lingering in my room. Aunt Serena's vegan garbage.
"Do you think Mom wishes you had died instead of me?"
My gut pinched. "You're the ghost. Can't you see what's going on with her? Go be a fly on the wall." Trying to tune her out, I ratcheted up the TV volume.
"It doesn't work that way. Only you and Tara are sensitives."
"Dude, I don't want to talk about it. I'm moving on and she needs to do the same."
"But you have me in your life. She doesn't." The air whooshed, blowing loose papers from my desk to the floor.
"Leave it alone." I threw the remote at my desk. It clattered into the wall. "Mom has Dad. Now she has Serena and Alyssa. And I'm still here!" I swung my legs over the edge of the bed, stomped on the carpet
"You're not here." Silver hiccuped on a sob. "You're not enough." As the air stirred wildly, I imagined her arms and hands flailing about, her bangles clanking together. "You're only a piece of that whole you mentioned. No one knows you anymore because you won't let anyone in. You used to be an open book."
An unnamed emotion thrived within my chest, coiling like a parasite on meth. For the first time, I wished the accident had killed me. If only to murder the myriad voices telling me the real Lucas Alexander had taken a powder. "You wanted me to lie about the gang initiation," I whispered through gritted teeth. "You wanted revenge. You needed a new phone." Spit flew as I spoke the words I vowed never to voice. A calm silence rode the air despite the guilt and anger knotting my intestines. A warm breeze whispered across my face as the heater turned on. Silver's presence lingered as if she were touching my cheek.
"Thank you. I've wanted you to admit that all along. It's all my fault."
A knock sounded on my door. "Lucas, can you turn the TV down?" Aunt Serena raised her voice over the blaring war movie I was wasting time on.
I lunged for the remote and shut the TV off. "Sorry, got carried away."
"Is someone in there with you?"
The door suffered my wry smile. "Just yelling at the TV."
"Oh . . . well, go to bed. It's late. 'Night."
I waited until the guest room door down the hall shut. "What should I do? Tell Mom and Dad the truth about the accident? Run away so I'm not in their business every day, forced to remember?" The weight of the world dragged my shoulders southward.
"Don't be a dillweed." The old Silver had returned. To lessen the impact of her mocking, tingles tickled my face, cheering me somewhat. "Involve Mom in your life again. Have a Deadman's bonfire Saturday. She loves cooking her famous snacks. Tell her it's in honor of me and a welcome to town for Alyssa, Denny and Tara. She'll love that you asked for help. She wants to know you're going to be okay. That she won't lose you too." Silver's voice went shy, not a normal emotion for her. Scary stuff.
"When did you become Dr. Phil . . . Phyllis?"
"When I kicked it. See ya, Luc." A slight cooling in the air around me signified her departure.
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Awesome excerpt. Thanks for participating :)
ReplyDeleteThanks for hosting Vigilante Nights on your blog as part of my tour! I appreciate it.
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