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  Every muscle in her body started to quiver. A hot boiling ball of pleasure erupted inside her belly and radiated downward. She cried out as her orgasm slammed into her. Small bursts like explosions erupted all over her body. She never felt anything remotely like it, as her head spun and white blinding light flashed behind her eyes.

  Only seconds later, Hades joined her. With one powerful thrust, plunging his cock as deep as he could, he emptied himself inside her. Her muscles tightened around him, milking him dry with each contraction.

  Gasping for air, Kat collapsed onto the mattress. Hades went down with her, his cock still imbedded deep within her sex. As they lay there, their breathing labored, sweat still trickling down their bodies, Kat could barely think past her trembling form. Her mind was blank. And she thanked Hades for that. She couldn’t feel the virus.

  “Did it work?” Hades asked, his voice muffled from the side of her neck.

  “Yes.”

  “Good,” he chuckled. “Now, that won’t be too bad to do every time you feel it rising, will it?”

  She laughed with him. “No, that won’t be too bad.”

  The virus lay dormant inside her. She could still feel it, sense it stirring deep inside. Although sex with Hades had controlled it this time, she knew one day that their love wouldn’t be strong enough to contain it. And she sensed that that day was coming soon.

  But for now, she would enjoy the afterglow of their lovemaking. And maybe a little more.

  “Untie me,” she growled. “I’m not nearly done with you.”

  Hades raised himself from her back and glanced down at her face. “Is it safe?”

  “For now.”

  * * *

  Kat rolled over and peeked at Hades. He was sleeping with his arms and legs spread across the bed. She carefully pulled her arm out from under him and sat up on the edge of the bed. She gathered her clothes and dressed in silence.

  Their lovemaking had been perfect. He had made it that way, especially for her. It was honest, beautiful, and true. That was why she hurt so badly inside. Because she was no longer any of those things. Or ever could be.

  She glanced once more at Hades and reached over to touch his face. As a last reminder of his touch.

  He opened his eyes and grabbed her hand. “Where’re you going?”

  She could feel the tears welling in her eyes again. She sucked them back and tried to keep from shaking.

  “Out.”

  He stared into her eyes searching for something. He finally released her hand and let his arm fall in defeat.

  “Be safe.”

  “I will.”

  Kat couldn’t handle the way he studied her, as if privy to her most secret thoughts. She hoped he understood, but couldn’t blame him if he didn’t. She leaned on the bed and covered his mouth with hers, kissing him softly, tenderly.

  “You are everything I ever wanted in a man, in a partner.” She moved her mouth over his face and pressed her lips to his forehead. She wanted to stay there, pressed against him, breathing in his scent. “But you smell too damn good,” she murmured into his skin.

  She closed her eyes against the tears and walked out of the room.

  “I’ll be up North if you need me.”

  “While you’re there, look for a Madeline. She’d be no older than thirteen.”

  “Kat?”

  She could hear the question and the realization in his voice, but she didn’t turn back to explain. She knew if Hades could find her daughter he would.

  Without looking back, she sucked in a breath and walked out the apartment door.

  Outside, she jumped on her bike and kicked it over. She wiped at her eyes for the last time and slipped on her skullcap. She glanced up at the apartment window. But Hades wasn’t there.

  She’d see him again, she hoped. There was just something she needed to do first. She needed to control the beast inside. Until then, she couldn’t let herself love anyone. And not kill them in the end.

  A thundering flap of air hit her in the face. She glanced up into the sky and saw a dark shape swooping in the sky above her. She smiled. At least, she’d have company on her journey, even if it was a big ugly mutated beast.

  She booted the stand up and revved the bike. She turned right down the back alley and onto the main road out of town. Pulling on the handle to kick up the speed, Hell Kat rode out of town and into the blossoming sunrise.

  ***

  Turn the page for an exciting excerpt from INFERNO, a Hell Kat novel, coming Dec/2012

  INFERNO

  Chapter One

  Not again. Oh, please, God, not again.

  That was all Hades could think of when he stepped into the dank, dark chamber of his dreams and smelled the familiar metallic tang of blood.

  She was there, hanging by her wrists, shackled to the ceiling of the cold, empty cemented-room. Blood pooled beneath her feet. Hades knew there would be long raised welts across her slender but muscular back. He’d seen them before in his dreams.

  With slow hesitant steps, he neared her swinging body. Praying under his breath that she still had a pulse, he reached toward her and stroked her leg. Her waxy skin was cold to the touch.

  Swallowing down the bile rising in his throat, Hades swung her around and glanced up into her face. With a heavy sigh, he closed his eyes.

  It wasn’t her. It wasn’t Kat.

  He didn’t recognize the dead woman. Her anonymous face would, hopefully, not haunt him in the future. But if he was here again, in this nightmare, Kat was here somewhere, too.

  He never came alone.

  Cautiously, he strode through the lofty chain room to an open metal door. Stepping over the threshold into a dimly lit hall, Hades had the distinct sensation of being led. As if some phantom chain had been attached to his neck and he was being tugged forward into the unknown.

  With each step, the overhead fluorescent lights flickered. When Hades reached a T-intersection in the hall, each thin bulb blacked out one by one, and he was once again thrust into darkness.

  There were only two ways for him to go. And he suspected that horror lay in wait in either direction.

  Turning to his right, Hades reached out blindly for the door. He grasped the metal handle and pushed down. The door unlocked with an audible click and creaked open of its own accord.

  At first, the room seemed just as dark as in the hallway. But then, Hades could see a glow emanate from the middle of the room. Compelled, he stepped into the room and walked toward the faint yellow light. It grew brighter as he advanced.

  Eventually, he came to a four-poster bed. A red candle burned brightly in a glass holder on a small table next to the bed.

  The bed was empty. But Hades could hear movement near him, a soft swishing sound, like flesh rubbing against fabric. Undeniable aromas of sweat, musk and arousal floated to his nostrils. The overpowering aroma of sex.

  Scrutinizing the mattress, he could see the bed covers ripple and bunch as if one or two people were moving over top of them. Clear indentations of a hand, a knee, and other body parts pressed into the mattress.

  A low whimper reverberated from the bed. He recognized that low husky sound. He’d heard it before in his ears.

  Kat.

  She was there. Somehow, she was on the bed in front of him although he couldn’t see her.

  A light breeze of air blew over his arms as if someone was moving in front of him, moving toward him. Within seconds, he felt a hand on his forearm. Her hand. Unable to pull away, he allowed the phantom fingers to stroke him, trailing up and down his skin. He sucked in a raspy breath when that hand brushed his crotch with a knuckle or two. It didn’t take much for his cock to respond to her touch.

  Iron hard and aching with desire, Hades allowed the apparition to pull him onto the bed. Reaching out, he found her body, all hard planes and slopes but soft and pliant where a woman should be. He molded his hands over her breasts, teasing her rigid nipples with his thumbs.

  Again, she moaned. T
his time it was in his ear. He could feel her lips so close to him, so warm and inviting. Turning his head, he captured her mouth with his. She tasted as he remembered, like rain, cool and refreshing. She swept her tongue over his, and then nipped at his bottom lip.

  Before he could respond, he could feel her pulling away. Blindly he reached out, but couldn’t find her again. He knew she was still there, could feel her heat, and smell her scent. Why couldn’t he touch her?

  He motioned as if to sit up, but was forced back down onto the mattress. A heavy weight settled on his legs, as if someone had straddled him. Hades reached forward and touched warm inviting flesh. He moved his hands up over the smooth skin of Kat’s muscular thighs. When he could reach no further while lying down, he felt her take his hands in hers and raise them up.

  Sighing, he closed his eyes when a pair of soft full lips touched his skin. A tongue traced a wet path over his wrist, suckling every now and then. His eyes sprang open when he felt the scrape of pointed fangs on his flesh.

  Pain, immediate and sharp sang up his arm. He scrambled away pulling his arm back. Hades jumped off the bed and cradled his hand to his chest.

  Shocked, his stomach roiling over in revulsion, Hades watched as two forms materialized on the bed.

  With smiles, blood dripping down their chins, Kat and Baruch reached out to him, and spoke in unison. “You can’t escape, Hades. You’re ours.”

  Heart hammering in his chest, Hades bolted up in his bed. Cold sweat dripped down his forehead and into his face. The salty liquid stung his eyes. Lifting a shaky hand, he wiped at them.

  It had been over seven months since he’d had a nightmare like this. One his mom would have called a premonition. When he was a child, she had called him a Dream Seer because of the constant images in his head that had come true. Like so many times before, he hoped that this was just a dream and nothing else.

  Swinging his legs off the bed, he set his feet on the cold wood floor and peered around his small bedroom. It was still dark and the air felt crisp. He had heard that there might be a frost in the night. Frost. Cold. These things were still so new and surprising to him that he welcomed the ice on the ground and the bitter chill in the air.

  He’d spent his whole life on the outer rims where the scorched earth tried to resurrect itself from the devastation caused by nuclear war. Snow, cold, and ice were foreign occurrences. Ones that he had read about only in books, and heard through rumors of the Promised Land in the North. A land he had finally found.

  With practiced ease, he found his fur-trimmed leather slippers with his toes, without the aid of light. Sliding his feet into them, he stood, wrapped his deerskin robe around his bulky form and shuffled to the small window. Cracking open one wooden shutter, he peeked outside. The sky was still dark, but the promise of the sun started to trim the edges with a dull pink. Dawn was close by.

  A little earlier than he wanted to be rising, Hades resigned himself to starting his day. He still had wood to cut and a fence to mend before winter settled in for the year. Rubbing a hand over his bald head, he sighed and shuffled into the kitchen to make tea and start his breakfast. Maybe a shot of whiskey would help erase the bloody images of his dreams.

  Even in the dark, Hades made his way around his cabin with proficient effortlessness. When he neared the stove, he opened the little iron door, tossed in a few logs, and grabbed the box of matches sitting on the counter. Before he could strike the flint, the hairs on his arm stirred to attention.

  Someone was in his cabin.

  Dropping the match, Hades reached for his knife lying on the counter near the sink. Even now, his weapons were not far from him. When he spun around, knife poised to strike, a soft light emanated from the kitchen table. The lantern sitting on the wooden surface sparked to life and the person, sitting in one of the chairs behind it, took form.

  A pale luminance played over Kat’s sharp angular face. “You’ve lost your edge, Hades. Country living and clean air have made you slow.”

  BIO

  From an early age, Vivi loved to make stuff up. Just ask her mother. Now she gets paid to do just that. Author of more than 12 books, including the award winning Valorian Chronicles from Harlequin, Vivi has plenty of stories to tell. An avid reader, talker, walker, and movie watcher, Vivi’s always on the look out for the next big thing. A lover of teen horror films, Vivi also writes screenplays and hopes to one day be the next Wes Craven. And just to confuse issues, she also writes YA under the name Tawny Stokes. Speaking of books, she reads mostly YA, urban fantasy, horror, and some thrillers. You can find her often procrastinating on twitter. If you find her there, she will help you procrastinate as well. Did she mention that procrastinating is also one of her hobbies?

  @authorViviAnna

  http://www.vivianna.net

  MORE VIVI ANNA TITLES AVAILABLE

  Nina Decker series:

  GLIMMER

  DAWNING

  PORTAL

  Blackthorn Wolves series:

  BAD TO THE BONE

  HUNGRY LIKE THE WOLF

  BAD MOON RISING

  Valorian Chronicles:

  BLOOD SECRETS

  DARK LIES

  VEILED TRUTH

  MAHINA’S STORM

  BEWITCHING HOUR

  THE VAMPIRE’S QUEST

  THE VAMPIRE’S KISS

  HER DARK HEART

  A WOLF’S HEART

  The Fallen series:

  HEART OF THE HUNTER

  RELEASING THE HUNTER – coming soon

  SEDUCING THE HUNTER – coming soon

  PROTECTING THE HUNTER – coming soon

  Young Adult books as Tawny Stokes:

  STATIC

  DEMON WHISPERER

  ETERNAL SPRING

  BOUND BY NATURE – coming soon

  Table of Contents

  Table of Contents

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-one

  Chapter Twenty-two

  Excerpt from INFERNO - A Hell Kat Novel

  Copyright

  Title Page

  Author Bio