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

“Yeah,” Vanni said under his breath as he went to his car. “I think I really can.” 30


Marsh walked into his apartment, put his suitcase and laptop down, and heaved a sigh of relief. As much as he loved his parents, and there had been times this week when he had debated if he did, he was damned glad to be home again. The anniversary party had gone well, it was the before and after that had frayed his nerves. To his parents he was still, and probably would always be, their nerdy son with no real prospects.


The fact that he owned a successful business seemed to be of small consequence in their grand scheme of things. With his sister’s death the mantle of giving them grandchildren apparently had fallen on his shoulders. He didn’t have the heart, or to be more precise the guts to tell them that wouldn’t happen. He was thirty-two and still afraid to let them know that he was gay because that would just add another layer to their disappointment in him.


Chapter 47