A cannibalistic serial killer targeting gay men is on the loose. Devin, who has become increasingly erratic in the last two months, just split up with Gary, his lover of three years. Vanni, a habitué of the gay clubs, makes extra spending money on his knees in the club johns. Is one of these men the killer? Or will one of them instead become the killer’s next target? Detective Hollis Robbins is in charge of the case. He intends to stop the killer, if he can. When the killer strikes again the four men’s lives intertwine as the search for the murderer intensifies. Will the attraction that two of them begin to feel for each other survive the hunt? Do they have the strength to continue on after tragedy strikes and teaches them that love can be bittersweet?

The Beast Within

Hollis took a deep breath as he watched how the others were doing it then began moving slowly with the music. Vanni resisted chuckling at his tentativeness as he took both of Hollis’s hands in his own. “You’ve got the idea,” he told him, “just faster and with more…passion.”


“I don’t do passion,” Hollis muttered.


“Oh I bet you do under the right circumstances.” Vanni pulled him closer and put his hands on Hollis’s hips. “Like with the right man.”


Hollis glared at him. “What the hell makes you think…”


“Don’t try to kid a kidder as they say. You may be in the closet, you may not even admit to yourself that there’s a closet you need to be in, but mister, you are far from immune to men.” He took a swift glance down at Hollis’s crotch. “Your mind may not accept it but your body is saying something very different.”


Chapter 15