Blaze

Blaze RACHEL H. DRAKE Contents You Burn Me Up About The Series: Creature Cravings Content Guide 1. Cheat 2. Lesson 3. Action 4. Old Money 5. Morning After 6. The Me in Teamwork 7. I'd Notice if You Died 8. Resonance 9. A Pair 10. Tag Team 11. Begging 12. Corrupted 13. Ring Leader 14. Wine 15. Yellow Gold 16. A New Home 17. Score 18. Inside the Kingdom 19. Satisfaction 20. Plans 21. Torn 22. Sheets 23. Payback 24. August 25. Dismantled 26. Connections 27. Goodbye 28. A New Beginning Also by Rachel H. Drake Acknowledgments About The Author Copyright © 2023 by Rachel H. Drake The characters in this book are entirely fictional. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead is entirely coincidental. All Rights Reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law. ISBN-13: Paperback: 978-1-959427-06-3 Hardback: 978-1-959427-07-0 Ebook: 978-1-959427-02-5 Cover design by Mirela Barbu Edited by Freedom Editorial Interior Formatting by Rebecca K. Sampson To the version of me last year that didn’t think I could do this. I’m proud of us. You Burn Me Up BLAZE, THE PLAYLIST Breakfast - Dove Cameron Gorgeous Gorgeous Girls - Lilyisthatyou People I Don’t Like - UPSAHL Villain - Bella Poarch Bad Decisions - Redhook murder party - NOT THE MAIN CHARACTERS the other side - margo Ripe - FLAVIA About The Series: Creature Cravings The Creature Cravings series are interconnected standalone books. They can be read in any order, but are all set in the same world. Each book features a unique paranormal couple and different tropes so you can satisfy the cravings in you. Find tropes organized for all currently available books in the series on rachelhdrake.com. The author would love to hear from you! Record your reader reactions and share them with the author on Instagram by tagging @rachelhdrake. Content Guide Content in the Creature Cravings series may be triggering for some readers. Reader discretion is advised and potential trigger content is available to review per book on rachelhdrake.com/books. Blaze is intended for mature audiences and features explicit sexual content, a mean lead, fake engagement, hurt him and die, and praise. Potential Triggers in Blaze: Degrading content in sexual experiences by a consenting couple Physical violence and depictions of murder Discussions of a supporting character forced to wed and have children across multiple generations Depictions of a violent family setting and physical abuse Discussions of feeding on energy by an energy vampire that has parallels to drug use and eating food Families and couples shown in this work should not be seen as a depiction of healthy relationships. Chapter 1 Cheat I love to feed on the shame and embarrassment men feel when I turn them down. They are quite delicious. For a while, I didn’t realize I was doing it, but now it’s a habit I’m glad to keep. It’s not common knowledge, but energy vampires can feed on emotions other than pain. The problem is, to manifest as an energy vampire you have to have lived a life that encouraged pain in others as a human first, so most people think that’s the only way. If you are the child of an energy vampire instead—like I was—you have an easier time avoiding the dark. Not that this rule has ever helped me, because I’ve only ever hurt those around me. The dark has always been my home. I’ve lost count of the men I’ve preyed on. I’m the opposite of my half-sister in that way. She doesn’t let the loneliness of being an energy vampire turn her into a sour apple. The only energy she feeds on is that of her husband, an incubus sex demon. Apparently, they taste like candy. The only other person she has fed on was our father, the energy vampire that created us. He’s gone now. Good riddance. Both of our mothers are safer for it. My sister’s wedding was sickeningly sweet. Helping take care of their daughter while they were on honeymoon was also depressing because of how fucking cute it was. She got her happily ever after and that won’t be the case for me. How could it be when I love to inflict pain? I’m back home now and desperate to feed. A week away from my destruction is too much. I pull the pleather pants up my legs, satisfied they make me look like a hot piece of meat, and add my heels and the red tank top that makes my breasts look extra perky. It’s a generic come fuck me outfit, but the classics work for a reason. I keep my makeup simple most days but do take the extra moment to apply dark winged eyeliner and quickly pull a brush through my bleach blonde hair. My light-colored hair washes out my already white face further, but the eyeliner and contour help balance my complexion. I’m due for some toner but I’ll deal with that in a few days. Food comes first. I go out to feed on men about four times a week, rotating through bars to make sure I don’t hit the same ones too often, or my food may stop approaching. As a female energy vampire, my existence is like a Venus flytrap, so the prey comes to me. If I wasn’t an energy vampire, I’d likely hate the attention, but for my breed of demon it comes in handy. Music fills my ears and the essence of smoke and sweaty bodies hits my nose. I take a big whiff, feeling all those that have already shamed themselves in my bones. I use my five senses to feed, unlike regular vampires that have to ingest blood for life energy. It’s all the intention