Blog tour: Into the Night by Suzanne Rigdon (Spotlight)
Summary:
When things go from flirty to majorly flawed on her first date with James Lawton, he is forced to save her the only way he can--by killing her. Selina suddenly finds herself in the mix with the creatures she thought were made up solely for late-night TV. Into the Night follows Selina’s transformation from a wallflower into an impulsive and dangerous new vampire. With no choice in the matter, Selina becomes trapped between a new man, his wary brothers, and his cruel and controlling Queen, who wants nothing more than to watch her suffer. Selina must walk the fine line between adjusting to her new powers, life after death, and following the rules--all while avoiding disaster.
Excerpt:
Underneath a tiered chandelier stood a small, satincovered
table set with filled crystal stemware. The warm
glow from the light sifted through the wine, leaving hazy
crimson shadows across the bases. My fingertip trailed around
the rim of my glass, filling the room with a soft hum.
A slight stirring in the air signaled the entrance of my guest.
I watched as Simon moved through the doorway, his sandy hair
falling down just over his eyes. He took the seat opposite me,
picked up the fragile glass in his hands, and brought it to his nose
to breathe in its scent. His eyes crinkled in pleasure—whether
from the heady aroma of the Merlot, or from the thoughts
running through his head, I wasn’t sure.
Without tasting the wine, Simon placed the glass back on the
satin and stood to move beside me. His hand reached for mine
and I obliged. Before my heart even had time to flutter, Simon
had lifted me on to my feet and into his arms. He stared down
at me, his eyes dark with a passion I had only dreamed of seeing.
With one finger he pulled my chin up gently. Finally, after all
these years, he was going to—
A loud ring jolted me from my mid-afternoon fantasy.
Growling in frustration at the interrupted mental date, I picked
up the phone.
“Language & Literacy Now, this is Selina speaking,” I said, my
voice edged in irritation. For the second time this week I had
been unable to snatch that desired kiss with my dream man.
“Hey lady, you ready to get your groove on tonight?” It was
the voice of my best friend and party liaison, Jess. “Mel just told
me about this new place opening up on Maple called Club Oasis.
Her boy toy, Kyle, is the bouncer and she offered to get us in free
with a little VIP treatment. What do you say?”
“Sounds wonderful. A night of drinking until I drop, dancing
on tables, and getting thrown out of the back door? Where do I
sign up?”
“Hey now, Ms. Grumpy. It won’t be that bad. The place has live
music,” she pleaded. The idea was tempting, but I couldn’t escape
the nagging feeling that I would end up as the female version of
her wingman. Where Jess was a blonde knockout, D-cups and all,
I was shy, frizzy-haired, and could probably still pull off a training
bra.
“Hmm, do you think they’ll have a shiny new tuba I can barf
in? I hear it does wonders for the sound.” I laughed at the image.
“Please, Selina? Mel’s going to be hanging off her macho man
and I’ll be stuck without a dance buddy. Please?” Although it was
doubtful that Jess would miss a single note, I sighed and agreed.
Besides, it had been way too long since we’d had a girls’ night out.
She was the only person who wouldn’t laugh at my fruity drink
choice. In fact, she would sometimes join me. Mel, on the other
hand, was vodka, straight up. There was no messing around with
that girl.
“Awesome. Okay, I’ll have the car pick you up around nine.”
“Car? What are you talking about?” If the car she was referring
to was her clunker of a Toyota, I’d rather walk. No sense killing
any shot I had with a guy before I even got in the door.
“Mel splurged on a limo, with champagne and everything!”
This evening was sounding better by the minute. “I’m excited!
See you at nine, Foxy Mama!”
“Come join me in the new millennium, Jess. We’ve missed you.
Yeah, I’ll see you at nine.” Hanging up, I couldn’t help but smile.
A lot of people underestimated Jess because of her Barbie-like
figure and matching voice. To others she might seem like a lifesize
version of her anorexic plastic counterpart, but Jess had a
good heart.
Laughing to myself, I turned back to the list of things I had
been working on before my mid-afternoon fantasy. I didn’t
mind the limited pay working as a research assistant at a small
non-profit, because there were some distinct benefits. And,
speak of the devil, one benefit was knocking at my door.
“Come in,” I called, tapping the space bar a few times to
illuminate my screen. Simon, the picture-perfect sexy guru of the
non-profit world, strode into my office. With my practiced onceover,
I had become adept at telling exactly what state of mind
he was in. Slightly wrinkled pants indicated that he had been
sitting in the same position for an extended period of time—not
out of the ordinary. White button-down was tucked neatly into
his pants, showing that, whatever else was going on, he wasn’t
completely crazy. But as my eyes traveled up his very firm chest,
I did a mental double take. The top button was undone and his
god-awful tie was loosened. (Whatever Simon had going for him,
his taste in ties was aesthetically offensive.) On this particular day,
he had on a checkered tie with colors resembling moldy mustard
and old cabbage. Okay, so maybe he was a little stressed, but it
still didn’t look too bad for me. Then it was up to his eyes. A
slight wrinkle had formed between them in frustration and, oh
Lord…his hair was sticking out in all directions in the front. I
knew immediately that if my boss had run his fingers through
his hair often enough to cause that kind of chaos, the ease of my
afternoon was over.
“Baker, I need you to get the grant proposal on my desk as
soon as you can. I’ve been on the phone with Gina down in D.C.
trying to finish outlining the Read-a-Thon, and I can’t go much
further until I’ve got your stuff.” We were collaborating with
other branches of L&L in New York, Philadelphia, and D.C. for
an East Coast drive to get kids back into books. With reading
levels plummeting, and far too many middle and even high
school students unable to pass elementary-level reading tests,
the situation was getting desperate.
“I’m getting close,” I said, double-clicking on the folder for
the February event. A list of files a mile long appeared.
“Oh, and when you’ve got a chance, I need you to start collating
the list of attendees into the Excel file I sent you. Gina forwarded
me some of the backers who have already verbally committed
to come, and I’ve already put their names in.” Among the four
cities, we hoped a few thousand people would attend with their
wallets open. But thousands of guests meant hours of work. I had
counterparts in each city, but it was still a mammoth job.
“No problem, although I’m thinking we should start doing a
little more outreach or it’ll be tough reaching our goal.”
“I know. I’ve been trying to get Philly a little more invested,
but they haven’t been getting back to me. I’ll give them a call
again tomorrow.” Simon paused, his eyes looking tired.
“There’s still enough time, Simon. Don’t worry.” Even though
I worked for him, I sometimes felt the need to help flatten out those worry lines in his forehead if I could. It didn’t seem to work
this time; his eyes were already unfocusing as he considered his
options.
“Good work, Baker,” Simon said after a moment, then turned
and shut the door behind him. Although he refused to speak
to me on a first-name basis unless I was in trouble, Simon’s
compliment made me smile as I clicked into a well-used Word
document to dig back into the proposal.
About this author
Suzanne is currently pursuing her MFA in Fiction and has previously had her short fiction published in The Albion Review and Word of Mouth literary magazine. Into the Night is her debut novel and will be out December 2nd with Spence City Books, the urban fantasy imprint of Spencer Hill Press.
She loves to travel and has most recently been to Ghana and New Zealand, both which were incredibly beautiful. She even did the Nevis Bungee jump in Queenstown, NZ. (Check out any video of it on YouTube and you’ll know what insanity this is!) Although it’s much closer to home, she also has a great love for the Maine coastline and spends every summer there catching up on all her reading and getting a hunk of writing done.
She currently lives in the D.C. Metro area, where her cross-eyed cat, Otto keeps her company amid the hype and low-flying planes.
Spence City: www.spencecity.com
Suzanne's website: http://suzanne-rigdon.webnode.com
Suzanne's Twitter: www.twitter.com/suzyrigdon
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