Dark Canvas

By Jody Summers
Chapter Excerpt Fear stalked Kira like a ravenous wolf. It was a formless voiceless thing that coiled its tendrils around her heart. Walking carefully through the moon-shadowed forest, she held her hands up to catch the copious snowflakes falling all around her, felt the dread and wondered, while her heart raced. With the eerie silence that accompanies snowfalls and the moonlight dancing through the boughs and flakes, the entire scene was a unique combination for the senses. Slowly, she walked while the hair on the back of her neck continually tried to stand on end. Where was she, and why was she so afraid? Her hands felt cold and clammy, and her pulse continued to accelerate. Home, she thought. She needed to get home. Absently, she lifted her hand to catch the snowflakes and looked more closely to see the different shapes. Her eyes widened. They werent snowflakes. They were ashes! Her gaze flew to the woods surrounding her, at the feathery flakes pouring thickly from the sky. Mounds of ashes everywhere! Now the tendrils of terror coalesced into a cable as it wound its way around her heart, then ever so slowly began to squeeze. Her pace quickened, and as if in answer to her actions the ashes began to fall harder. She wanted to run, but the powdery residue clung to her feet. Pulling furiously, she tried to free her feet, but the harder she pulled, the more the now viscous amalgam clung. A thick, foul, rotting smell accosted her senses. Her stomach clenched. Lifting her gaze to look for the source of the disgusting smell, she watched in shock as something began to bubble up out of the mounds of ash. As the first shape squeezed itself free, the grey flakes slid like feathers from its surface. It looked like the top of a glass globe. More globes broke the surface, shedding their strange coating and rotating in her direction. Slowly, moving in unison, they all turned to face her and shock turned to horror as she recognized severed heads were encased in the glass, each face frozen in the terror of its demise, eyes wide and mouths rigid in a final mortal cry. The unnatural silence of the night shattered at the sound of a ghastly scream. And then she realized the sound was coming from her.

Born in New Orleans, JODY SUMMERS' life has been filled with unconventionalit ! "he ado#ted son of a #ro$inent "e%as restaurateur, Jod &rew u# in New Orleans, Me$#his and then 'ouston, learnin& the restaurant business while he built a career as a co$#etitive & $nast that #ro#elled hi$ to a scholarshi# at the Universit of (ansas! )fter colle&e, Jod followed in his father's footste#s ownin&, at one #oint, three *+,hour restaurant franchises alon& with four tannin& salons in "ulsa! -inall leavin& that business, he turned his entre#reneurial s.ills to ever thin& fro$ a #atent in the /et 0ndustr to a Sin&le's website!) restaurateur, a & $nast, a stunt $an, an entre#reneur, a #ilot, s. diver, scuba diver, and an acco$#lished $artial artist for twent ,five ears, Jod Su$$ers has tried it all! Now he brin&s all those e%#eriences to #a#er in his first novel, the ro$antic thriller, D)R( 1)N2)S! "o learn $ore #lease visit www!dar.canvas!net