The wait is over! My Demon Episode 1 is now available at Amazon! I really hope you like it. This is a pretty big leap for me. I sort of wish I were releasing the episodes faster, but I know that I wouldn't be able to keep up that pace. I hope the wait isn't too long for anyone. If you check it out, please let me know what you think! I'd love to hear from you!
Here's the blurb again:
Sarah Smith doesn’t want to go to Noble Academy. She has grown up in its shadows and knows she doesn’t belong. Noble is the school for the children of the richest and the most influential in the Western hemisphere. Her father is a handyman, and her mother a cook. They work at Noble. Because they cannot afford to send her anywhere else, Sarah is admitted to this rarefied institution. She doesn’t expect to fit in or to have an especially good time, but then again, she doesn’t expect Damien West either.
From their very first meeting, Sarah knows Damien will be the bane of her existence. He’s rude, loud, and possibly homicidal. She fears he will make her life a living Hell and be her personal demon.
This first installment is 17k words. Each episode will be between 10k-20k words and priced ninety-nine cents or the regional equivalent. A new episode will be released at the start of every month.
This work is considered young adult, but there are instances of strong language and some mild violence.
And here are the first few pages of the story:
My Demon Episode 1
Monday, Day 1
Today was my first day at Noble Academy, the most elite academy in the world. Only the richest and most powerful teens were ever admitted. Well, until today. I was neither rich or powerful. I was enrolled because my family couldn't afford to send me anywhere else. If that wasn’t irony, then I’d get that question wrong on the SATs. I was admitted as special compensation. I was not here on any academic or athletic scholarship. I was here because my father fixed the toilets, and my mother cooked the meals. They were servants. No, excuse me that wasn’t PC anymore, they were staff. Too bad everyone still treated them like servants. I would have rather enrolled somewhere else. Anywhere else. But there just wasn't anywhere else to send me. So here I was starting my first day at Noble Academy.
I knew the campus by heart. I'd been wandering through it my whole life, but only ever as a shadow. The Academy was the only home I'd ever known, but I'd never felt like I belonged. Now I was wearing one of the navy blue jackets with the gold N embroidered on front, and I felt like a stranger in my own skin. The collar of my white blouse was too tight, and I thought they’d given me the wrong-sized shoes, but I tried to ignore these small discomforts as I slipped into my very first class. Most of the other students were already there, though they hadn't taken their seats yet. The seat in the far corner looked unclaimed. I slipped into it and stowed my books. No one greeted me or made eye contact. They all knew each other. Had probably known each other since birth. I was a stranger. Someone to close ranks against. That was fine. I just wanted to be left alone.
Prof. Edwards arrived a minute after me, arms overflowing with papers as he balanced a coffee cup precariously on top. His dress shirt already sported a coffee stain on the front. He was bald with a halo of wispy gray and black hair. His eyebrow were monstrous. I suspected he purposely combed them up in the morning. It gave his black rimmed glasses the appearance of fringe on top. He had taught at Noble for twenty years now. He liked red wine. Lots of red wine. I'd helped collect the empty bottles from his doorstep. He started making noises for everyone to settle down without actually asking anyone to take their seats. I saw him see me in the back, but he didn’t appear to recognize me. I wondered if he would recognize my parents. A shadow fell across me. I looked up at a guy, who was frowning down at me.
"You're in my seat."
He hadn't been in the room when I came in. From the looks of him, he appeared to have just arrived. Like literally. He wasn't wearing a school uniform. He had no book bag or satchel. He was dressed all in black with silver studs in his ears and a silver Rolex watch on his wrist. He had a great poof of curly brown hair and narrow blue eyes. He was handsome, but there was a malevolence about him that put me on edge.
"There’s no assigned seating," I said. I didn't want to give up my seat just because he told me to.
The smile that curled his lips put me on edge. It was condescending and self-assured.
"I think you're mistaken. You see whatever seat I want is mine. So this seat is mine. If you want, you can sit on my lap."
Was this guy for real? I scanned the rest of the room. All of the other seats have been taken. Where was I supposed to sit? His lap was not an option.
"No," I said.
"What?"
People were beginning to notice us while Prof. Edwards took attendance.
"I said no. I'm sitting here, so ipso facto the seat is mine.”
“Is that so?” He grabbed the desk and flung it across the room.
It landed with a crash and all of my books spilled out of it.
“What’s going on?” Prof. Edwards shouted.
I turned to the guy, my mouth hanging open in disbelief.
“Get up.”
He didn’t give me a chance to move. He leaned down and grabbed me by my jacket lapels and dragged me up.
“I will have no fighting in my classroom!” Prof. Edwards shouted.
The guy turned and flashed a smile at the professor. From my vantage point of hanging from his fists, I got a good look at his canines. They were pearly white and very sharp. “Sorry, professor. There appears to be a shortage of seating, and I was discussing with my friend here the best way to rectify that.”
“I don’t believe I called your name, young man.”
“Oh, maybe that’s the problem. My parents only registered me this morning. I’m Damien West.”
