Are you ready to meet Estelle? She’s the girl who didn’t believe vampires, witches or monsters were real. But that’s about to change…
As announced in my newsletter, I’m super thrilled to confirm that the YA Paranormal Romance I’ve been writing for the past year now has a title (squee). As you already know, titles can change at any stage of the writing, but for now, this title is perfect for the story. And here’s a sneak peek of the first couple of pages…
Chapter 1. Blood
“So, you’re saying there’s no cure?” I flicked a glance between my mum and the world-renowned expert on blood disorders who now sat on my living room couch. I stared at his wizened face, feeling the shreds of hope I’d been clinging to slip between my fingers.
“Your blood is unique, Estelle, but it’s not an ailment.” Dr Townsend perused my file. He was a tall, black man, clean-shaven, with thick eyebrows and a jutting chin. Having the Director of Haematology in our home was a dream. But his words and attitude frustrated me. He saw me as a curiosity—a puzzle to solve. But my life was no game.
I had been born with an extremely rare blood type known as RH-Null, which meant I had zero antigens in my blood. To top it, I suffered from a sporadic blood disorder, extreme anaemia, that knocked me out for days at a time. I had learnt to live with it. For now.
But I needed a cure.
I looked at mum, and she squeezed my hand gently. A warm smile shone across her face highlighting some of her strongest attributes, endurance, independence and strength. Yet there was a delicacy about her that resonated from within. My dad had left when my mum was pregnant with me and she had never remarried. Apart from my bad blood and our age difference, Mum and I pretty much mirrored each other. We were the same height at five-foot-four, light brown skin, big brown eyes and even wore the same dress and shoe size.
Only she truly knew what finding a cure meant to me. Mum was a nurse, and I was an aspiring haematologist, for obvious reasons. Together we’d vowed to find a cure. Gaining access to Dr Phillipe Townsend was at the apex of that plan.
And now he was saying I wasn’t sick.
“You don’t think I’m sick?” I finally choked out, anger blazing. “When my blood gets bad, I drift into a dreamless sleep. I basically fall into a coma. Sometimes, an iron transfusion will get me back on my feet in two or three days. Mum has to take time off work that entire time to tend my lifeless body. But on really bad days, iron doesn’t work, and I need a complete blood transfusion. Except there are less than one hundred people on Earth that have my blood type. So, it’s basically a gamble every time I fall asleep from bad blood. Will I wake up again? Who knows? And I’m extremely sensitive to smells, I’m plagued by allergies—cats, dogs, fur, dust, everything. Soon it would be the world! You don’t think that’s an ailment that needs a cure? What kind of doctor are you?”
“I understand your frustration,” Dr Townsend said calmly.
No, he didn’t.
“Allergies are one thing, your sight is quite another but there is certainly something distinct in your blood pattern that we’ve never seen before.”
No kidding.
“I’m just not sure your life is in danger from it.”
He wasn’t sure? Had he not heard what I’d just described to him?
“But what about the dreams?” My mum asked, grasping at straws.
I turned and glared at her. We had agreed not to mention my nightmares the very first meeting. The last thing I needed was another doctor telling me it was all in my head. But I could see the desperation in her eyes. We’d both really hoped Dr Townsend would have a cure—or even an inkling of an idea of a cure.
“I’m sorry.” Dr Townsend scanned my file again. “What dreams?” He wouldn’t find anything about dreams there, because I hadn’t disclosed them.
“I have nightmares,” I murmured reluctantly, “and I think they’re linked to my blood disorder.” They had to be. “I’ve had them since I was five.”
Dr Townsend’s brow creased, and he gave me a dubious glance. But we’d already crossed the bridge. Might as well burn it while we were at it.
“Whenever I have a blood transfusion, that’s when I’m at my strongest, I have trouble sleeping,” I explained. “When I finally do, I have dreams of creatures chasing me. Monsters who want my blood.”
“Monsters?” He wiped his brow.
“Strange people, vampires, and witches,” I said. “The dreams just keep getting worse.” We had chosen Dr Townsend because he was not only a haematologist, he was also a psychiatrist. So, he might conclude I was crazy, but at least he’d be obligated to do something about it. That had been our hope.
“Mythical beings.” Dr Townsend was silent for a long time. “Can you share with me one of these dreams, please.”
“Now?” I asked, surprised that he hadn’t fallen off his chair in disbelief. I had mentioned my nightmares to my best friend, Lina Lee, in year six. That had been the end of our friendship.
“If you don’t mind,” he said. “I’m a licensed psychologist as well as—”
“I know,” I interrupted, staring at him pointedly. “It’s one of the reasons we chose you.”
***
* I hope you enjoyed this little snippet*
Please do let me know what you think of it.
Blurb and more details coming soon.
Much love,
Lorraine