Perihelion

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As the Blades of Janus fight to forge peace between humanity and the alien hybrids hiding among them, Vaughn prefers to wage her battles behind a screen. A tech prodigy with access to a buried alien ship only she can unlock, she’s spent years reverse-engineering its secrets to aid the Blades’ mission. Now she knows that the people she’s been working for are dwellers, and she might not even be human herself.

Damien Vega has hunted dwellers ever since a pack of werewolves tore his life apart. He believed the Blades were humanity’s last line of defense—until he discovered their leaders are dwellers, too. Now he’s on a mission to uncover the truth… and protect the one person he still trusts.

Vaughn has been his voice of reason in a world of blood and shadows, even if they’ve never met face to face. When they finally do, the connection is instant—and the only thing keeping his sanity intact. But with a new breed of predator attacking their base, one that can bend space and vanish without a trace, there’s no time left for doubt.

Because if Vaughn is what the dwellers fear most, she may be our only hope… or the catalyst of our destruction.

Main Content: Approximately 84,400 words, 380 (5.5 x 8.5) pages. Intended for mature readers.

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Teaser/Excerpt (trigger warning — drowning)

Damien turned back to the room, looking for a weapon, a tool, anything that he could use to break through the glass. Everything around him was built into the walls or bolted down. Bile rose in his throat and his stomach heaved. This was not happening.

He ran back to the tank. Vaughn was standing on her tip-toes, her head tilted back as she gasped in air. She held two tools above her, trying to do something with them. A flash of light burned his eyes for a moment, then the tools fell from her hands.

“Shit!” He pressed himself against the glass, as if he could somehow reach through it and pick up the tools and hand them back to her. All she had to do was take a breath and dive under to get them and try again. Except she didn’t. His heart seized painfully as he looked back at her. The pain and sadness in her eyes, the despair, made his blood turn to ice.

She couldn’t be giving up. This was Vaughn. She was more full of hope than anyone he had ever met. She would never give up, unless… Unless it really was hopeless.

His eyes burned with tears. He didn’t give a shit if she saw him cry. He wanted her to, especially if that meant she would start fighting again. Start trying.

“Please,” he said, pressing his hands against the glass. “Please, baby, you have to pick up your tools. You have to try again. You can do this.” He let out a laugh that turned into a sob. “You’re the IT gal. Come on. Be the IT gal.”

Her feet weren’t touching the floor anymore. She was treading water, her head bumping up against the top of the tank as her movements caused ripples in the liquid. She was running out of room. Running out of air. Running out of time.

“No. Please, no,” he whispered. “You can’t do this to me. You can’t leave me. Lisa, please.”

She pinched her eyes shut and turned away.

“Lisa,” he yelled. “Lisa!”

He pounded on the glass separating them. The skin of his knuckles split on impact, but he didn’t care. He hit harder. Bones splintered. He could feel his nanites rushing to the areas, healing them. There was no way they could fix him if she… If she died. His mind shied away from the thought like it was fire. There had to be something he could do. She had changed him, saved him. He had to be able to save her.

Wait, she had changed him—given him nanites. He ran to the external control panel built into the wall next to the tank and pressed his bloody hand to it. That was good. The blood would help the nanites move, wouldn’t it? They were already there, already close, healing him.

‘Don’t help me,’ he thought desperately. ‘Help her. Leave me. Go into the control panel. Open the tank or drain it or call for help.’

His skin sealed and one of his fingers that was bent at an unnatural angle popped back into place.

‘Stop!’ he screamed in his mind. ‘Stop healing me and get into the panel. You have to help Vaughn. Please! Please, I can’t lose her.’

Nothing changed. Nothing.

He was just as helpless as he’d been as a child when the wolves had come for his family. Just as powerless. Vaughn had only been in the tank to try to bring back Carey. To try to help Damien get his best friend back. She was doing this for him, just like what Tammie had done. Vaughn was about to sacrifice herself for him, and there wasn’t a damn thing Damien could do about it.

Rage rose like a fire within him, building to an inferno. He screamed, then punched the control panel as hard as he could. Pain seared up along his arm, but the panel cracked. If the panel cracked, surely he could break the tank. He ran back to it and struck it with all his might, trying to ignore Vaughn’s legs kicking, keeping her up at the tiny layer of air at the top of the tank—the only thing that was keeping her alive. A loud cracking noise gave him a moment of hope before the pain registered, a thousandfold worse than before. His right hand was at an angle it shouldn’t be on his wrist. Damien didn’t care. He had another.

Everything he did, everything he worked for was to be strong enough to protect the people he loved. To be able to fight for them. To save them. He had to be strong enough now. He couldn’t lose Vaughn.

He pounded on the glass with his left hand, waiting for the nanites to heal his right. Blood smeared the glass, obscuring his view of Vaughn as she swam to him. Her eyes were narrowed with effort, a few bubbles escaping her lips as she grimaced. There was no more air in the tank. No more time.

Damien slammed his fists into the glass again, but Vaughn shook her head. She kicked her legs, getting as close to the glass as she could on her side. Damien pressed himself against it, too, trying to be as close to her as he could. She pressed her hand against the glass and looked at it pointedly, then at him.

His chest was so tight. His heart felt as though it was about to explode. He ran his hand over his face, wiping away some of the tears and sweat. His breath came out in a sob.

Vaughn was smiling. Lisa was smiling at him. His Lisa.

Damien pressed his hand to the tank above hers as if they could touch through the glass. He forced himself to smile back, even though his heart was breaking.

He couldn’t save her. But he could try to give her comfort through this, even though it was rending his soul into a thousand pieces.

She slid down the tank till she was kneeling on the floor and he dropped to his knees in front of her. More bubbles escaped her mouth. Her eyes pinched with strain as she tried to hold on. Her lungs must be burning. God, how was he supposed to watch this? How could he be strong enough?

She managed to smile at him through the water, then mouthed, “I love you.”

His chest seized. He couldn’t breathe. He curled forward, resting his head against the glass. It felt like his heart was turning into a black hole, sucking in all of his energy, all of his hope, all of his light. But he managed to whisper back, “I love you, too.”

She smiled and laughed, precious air leaking out from the edges of her lips. Then she closed her eyes and bowed her head. He saw her shudder, her body spasming as the last her air escaped, as the first water entered her lungs. He rose up on his knees, but kept his hand pressed to the glass above hers.

“Lisa. Lisa!”

Her hand floated away from the glass, then drifted down to settle into her lap.