Karen Marie Moning wraps her hitFeverfantasy series with its ninth installment,Feversong, out January 17, 2017.
It shudders, flops, and goes limp.
Stiff from being on the table so long, I tell Jada, who watches me with narrowed eyes.
And the path I choose to supremacy.
I inhale long and slow, swelling first my abdomen then lungs with air.
Breathing brings an assault of unfathomable stenches, but I will acclimate.
My existence was a smattering of complex electrical charges, intricate patterns without substance.
That was the day I knew I would win.
Those clumsy, debilitating hours I rode a body for the first time.
I require time to perfect control.
I fill my blood, my bones, my skin.
I turn the full force of my regard upon Jada, blink once, and reveal myself.
Fear impacts the nerves that connect brain to heart, constricting circulation.
The blood vanishes from her face, leaving freckles upon snow.
Her eyes widen, her pupils dilate and freeze.
The scent of her body alters to one I find .
I experience all of this with my own senses.
My mere presence reprograms the anatomy of those around me.
I was made for it.
I would prefer to shred her flesh from bone, but several things prevent me.
I smile with my new face.
I would run if I were you, I tell her softly.
Excerpted fromFeversongby Karen Marie Moning Copyright 2016 by Karen Marie Moning.
No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
