Hello! This post is to announce a brand new, soon-to-be-published short story in the Harborview Immortals series titled Family Matters: A Halloween Interlude. It takes places about three weeks after the final events of Family Matters on Halloween night. While it isn’t required reading for the series (it was basically an excuse to write something smutty), I hope that those of you who do decide to purchase it will enjoy reading it. And bonus points if you spot the references to other stories that were thrown in there.

Here’s an excerpt from the beginning (spoilers, obviously, for Family Matters):

They made their way through the foyer, with Xan barely managing to avoid being assaulted with a broom after commenting to Michael that Becky lacked the coolness to recognize the characters from one of his favorite manga. The trio walked through the living room and into the dining room, where the first thing Xan and Michael saw was a table loaded with food; Dominic had once again outdone himself for the Friday meal by preparing more than Xan and Luca could dream of eating in one sitting. He was at the table with Jacob and Luca, all of them drinking wine and waiting for their arrival.

“It’s about time,” Jacob said, though the sternness of his voice was lessened by the smile on his face. He was dressed as a pirate for the occasion, which explained why a hook sat in the middle of the table like some strange centerpiece.

“What took you so long?” asked Dominic. As the result of a promise that was made to a vampire child of irresistible cuteness, he was decked out in 80s rocker fashion with wildly teased hair adorned with a red bandana, a black fishnet shirt, a faded denim vest, and—Xan noticed with amused horror—a pair of skin-tight zebra print pants.

“We got cornered by kids as we were leaving the house,” Xan explained. “I had to run back inside and raid the cabinets for something to give them.”

“Microwave popcorn,” Michael said, shaking his head and taking a seat next to Frankenstein’s monster, aka Luca.

“Hey, at least it’s a vegetable. Sort of.” Xan sat down next to his uncle, who didn’t appear to be wearing a costume of any kind. “It’s Halloween, Uncle Demetrio. Why didn’t you dress up?”

“I did,” Demetrio insisted. He turned in his seat and pointed at his bright red T-shirt, which said…

“Slut.” All Xan could do was laugh. “All right, then.”

“Shameful,” Dominic muttered, regarding his twin distastefully.

“You mean shameless,” Jacob countered.

“I could go both ways,” Demetrio said with a wicked grin. “Actually, I do go both ways.”

Becky raised her wine glass high in the air. “I’ll drink to that.”

“Was there ever a time when Demetrio’s sex life wasn’t a topic of dinner conversation?” Luca inquired as he got the ball rolling by piling Italian sausages on his plate.

Jacob stood up and made his way around the table, topping off everyone’s wine and pouring blood for the vampires in attendance. “I don’t think so. At least it can never be said that our conversations are boring.”

“Inappropriate, but never boring,” Dominic conceded.

Demetrio beamed at his brother. “Thanks, Domenico. Maybe you’re not as much of a prude as I thought.”

“Whereas you are every bit the whore I’ve always suspected.”

While Dominic and Demetrio continued trading insults—another Friday family tradition—Xan dug into a dish of baked ziti and glanced across the table at his boyfriend. Boyfriend… the word still felt new to him, almost alien. As did the relationship itself, which was something that Xan would have never believed possible a month ago. But for someone who had never imagined being tied down to one person until recently, Xan was still as happy as he was the night he and Michael made their arrangement official. And to think that all it had taken for him to open his mind and heart to the possibility was being abducted and nearly murdered by Dominic’s maker.

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Once the cover is finished, the story will be published to Smashwords. Stay tuned!