Gunning Down Romance

By C L Raven

Three chilling stories themed around the dark side of love - one woman embarks on a grisly quest to create the perfect lover; a man uses his life's work to ensure his lovers stay with him forever and a reincarnated saint has a unique, macabre way of punishing unfaithful lovers which keeps her alive. All their unfortunate lovers will experience a Valentine's Day they will never forget.

• Language: English
• Publisher: C L Raven
• Release date: Feb 15, 2012
• ISBN: 9781466050136

C L Raven

C L Raven are identical twins and mistresses of the macabre from Cardiff. They’re horror writers, as ‘bringers of nightmares’ isn’t a recognised job title. They spend their time looking after their animal army and drinking more Red Bull than the recommended government guidelines. They write short stories, novels, and articles for Haunted Magazine and have been published in various anthologies and horror magazines. They’ve been longlisted in the Exeter Novel Prize twice, the Flash 500 Novel competition twice, and the Bath Novel Award. Soul Asylum was shortlisted in the 2012 National Self-Publishing Awards and Deadly Reflections was highly recommended in the 2014 awards. Several short stories have also been long and shortlisted in various competitions. They recently won third prize in the British Fantasy Society Award. In 2015, they were published in the Mammoth Book of Jack the Ripper, which makes their fascination with him seem less creepy. Along with their friend Neen, they prowl the country hunting for ghosts for their YouTube show, Calamityville Horror and can also be found urb exing in places they shouldn’t be. They also unleash their dark sides playing D&D/RPGs and gracefully fall off poles as they learn PoleFit.

Book preview

Gunning Down Romance

C L Raven

Published by C L Raven

Smashwords Edition

Copyright 2012 C L Raven

Cover Design by Ryan Ashcroft and C L Raven

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold

or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person,

please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to

Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

All characters in this book are completely fictitious. Any resemblance to any person living or dead is purely coincidental.

Table of Contents

Kiss of Death

'Til Death us do Part

The Black Kiss

About the author

Acknowledgements

We'd like to thank our mum, Lynette for reading our work, being our editor, telling us where we're going wrong and for not forcing us to get a proper job. Thank you for putting up with the crazy. We couldn't have done it without you. Also our sister, Sarah, her partner, Craig and our niece, Brooke, for being there and for not taking it personally when we ignore you because we're working. We are listening, but our brains are too engaged to speak as well.

We'd also like to thank Neil, for believing in us and for making us believe in ourselves that we could do this. And for helping us to live with the demons who make our imaginations what they are.

Thank you to Red Bull. Our genius certainly suffers without it.

Last but not least, we'd like to thank our Facebook & Twitter friends (too many to list) who have supported us, made us smile, got us through the darkshines, encouraged us when we lost all faith in our work and for joining in the crazy. And also for helping us to find images and fonts for our book trailer. A special thanks goes to Lisa Dee (and the eternal monkey Antoine) for taking the plunge with us, for keeping us motivated to do this, not letting us give up and for being our promotional goddess, forcing us to embrace technology instead of running back to our cave.

Love and cwtches to our animal army. For keeping us sane, driving us insane and reminding us to take regular breaks from the computer. Even when we're at a crucial point.

Kiss of Death

If I’d known when I’d got into bed with Dante it would be our last time, I might’ve worn the French maid basque he loves. But the brutal end to our relationship was a surprise to us both. See, the best part about Dante, was his Midas touch. If I could put his hands on a guy who treated me like his girlfriend and not an unpaid hooker, I’d have the perfect boyfriend.

That was my lightbulb moment.

***

His long, artistic fingers glided down my back, skimming my sides. He smiled as they danced over my stomach. He kissed me, his tongue stroking mine. His kisses made dragonflies hum inside me, but it was his hands that made me come alive. He nibbled my neck and I shivered, my hands exploring his torso. It was slender but his muscles weren’t defined. Apathy made him allergic to pumping iron.

He drew circles on the inside of my thigh, making me squirm. His fingers edged higher, the anticipation thrilling me until it became unbearable. His fingers traced down my throat then my body, every tiny nerve ending on fire. We moaned as we climaxed, then held each other until our hearts slowed. I put my purple satin and black lace lingerie on while he lay back, breathing hard.

That was amazing, he said. I'll go now.

Thought we were going to the crime museum today.

Sorry babe, I haven’t got time. My exhibition’s next month, I need to finish the sculpture.

It wasn’t just me he