Excerpt from Imperfection by Phaedra Seabolt

Excerpt From Imperfection by Phaedra Seabolt

The world around me was a dark blur and the smell of blood permeated the air. The smell stirred deep inside my spirit, intoxicated my very soul. It’s metallic and tangy to my nose…Or was that my tongue? My hands were slimy and somewhat sticky. The warm wetness seems to coat all my extremities. I definitely taste blood. As the sun began to creep over the horizon and light the world around me, I realized that I could hear dogs howling and barking nearby. It was the only
sound in the sky. No morning birds or even the normal sounds of cars driving by.

Where am I?

As the world lightened, I saw what looked like a giant mound of meat steaming in front of me.
Looking down, I could see that I was naked and red. I was covered in blood. The same blood I
smelled on the air.

The world seemed to be waking up and as I was waking from this nightmare, images of the night
before flashed across my mind in muted tones of grey until I could finally remember the cow.
Looking around the steamy mess, I could see the face from my mind lying cold and dead on the
ground. This will haunt my dreams for the rest of my life.

Then a thought slowly came to me. Where’s my baby?

Earlier that year

He looked up at me through his thick eyelashes. There was this little twinkle in his eyes and the
left side of his mouth quirked up a little into an evil looking smirk. “I think that you have no idea
who his daddy is. For all you know, I am this kid’s father. Actually I think I am and I think I
want my son…Now.”

Faster than I ever thought I could move, I grabbed Julian out of the stroller and took off running
down Oak Street. The Recreational center was down this street, so there HAD to be someone out
and about down here. Someone was always heading in to exercise no matter what time of day it
was.

I sprinted as fast as my legs could carry me. They were burning from the exertion and my feet
felt numb from pounding on the pavement. The cold air was no longer comforting as is burned
inside my lungs. My cheeks were getting colder by the second as I realized tears were freezing
on them from the frigid temperatures.

I no longer heard the sound of footfalls behind me. It almost seemed that maybe he had given up
the chase, so I slowed down slightly to look over my shoulder. As my eyes found the sidewalk
behind me, the biggest dog of my entire life leapt into the air. He was solid black with icy blue
eyes. His sheer size made me think that he must be part wooly mammoth or some equally large
creature. A growl ripped out of his throat as he crashed onto my back. His fully extended claws
pierced into my flesh and latched onto me. The instant pain caused me to scream involuntarily as
the smell of blood began to coat the air. I came crashing onto the pavement with only one
thought, I must protect Julian.

Julian began to scream as we landed. I tried to twist my body in order to keep him from hitting
the ground in any way, but also trying to cover him to keep the dog from getting to him. Once on
the ground, the claws tore away from me leaving a sickening sound of ripping flesh echoing all
around us. I could feel my warm blood running down my back thick and fast. I didn’t have time
to think about how much blood was beginning to pool around us when the dog growled again
and sunk his teeth into one of my thighs. My body was going numb from all the pain and
adrenaline, but I had enough feeling to bring my other leg up and wildly kick towards the
massive jaws trying to drag me down the street. One of my kicks connected causing him to
release my leg. I must have angered him even more though, because the next thing I felt was the
dog digging into my side and his jaws latching onto the side of my throat. I could taste the blood
as it squirted out my jugular and into the hole in my jaw. It’s warm, metallic, and thick. I tried to
swallow it back down, but it never quite made it to my throat.

The dog started shaking me like a chew toy, and Julian started squirming against my too-tight
grip. His cries distracted the dog from his fun and he tried to dig into my side to get to my baby.
Just as the world was starting to go black, I heard shouts from people nearby and a gunshot. The
dog was gone almost instantly and I was left in a puddle of my own cold blood. My rescuers
were able to get to me before I was completely gone saying that I would be ok now and that help
was on the way. If only I believed I would make it that long.

About Me, the author, and my book: I started writing book reviews in January of this year for my
blog Identity Discovery. I had originally planned on using my blog for product reviews, but fell
in love with reading and doing author interviews.

Since starting writing reviews, I have posted over 50 on Amazon and met an amazing group of bloggers/authors. With their encouragement, I literally dreamt up a storyline that I think is going to be very unique from everything else on the market and hopefully foster more love for paranormal romances. I love werewolves (the most) and vampires, and I want to share my love with all of you.

This book is still being written and has a ways to go with the editing and publishing process. Hopefully I am able to get something in the works by the end of the year where you can officially meet Meara, my main character, and her amazing friends.