Spotlight: Under the Desert Moon by Emma Meade (Excerpt)

Under the Desert Moon by Emma Meade

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Book Description:

   17 year old Erin Harris spends her time daydreaming, hoping to escape her small town life in Copperfield, Arizona. When a movie crew arrives unexpectedly to shoot a vampire film over the summer, Erin’s small town world changes forever. Erin is positive she has seen the star, James Linkin before in a thirty year old TV show. He hasn’t aged a day. How is this possible? Erin is determined to find out, but how will James handle the scrutiny of an all too intelligent teenage girl?

About the Author

Emma Meade lives in rainy Ireland. She loves vampires, slayers, witches, ghosts, aliens & shadow men (or at least the youngest of the Shadow Men), and regular people who live extraordinary lives (think Slayerettes and you’re on the right track).

Books, DVDS & TV show boxsets take up lots of space in her home, and she collects all thePoint Horror books she can get her hands on.

Writing supernatural short stories and watching marathon re-runs of Buffy are some of her  favourite ways of escaping reality.

Read the Excerpt Below

 Under the Desert Moon by Emma Meade

Erin stared out her bedroom window, wishing as always that she was elsewhere.  Anywhere but here, she thought wistfully.

           Nothing ever happened in this rundown town, not since the last mine had closed a decade ago.  Copperfield, Arizona, was dusty, quiet and old-fashioned.  It took months for the latest movie to make it to The Oracle theatre where Erin worked part-time, but it was the easiest job in the world.  It got Erin out of the house she shared with her brothers and angry, alcoholic father, put money in her savings account, and most importantly, Erin got to see movies free.

            It was escapism.  For a couple of hours she could lose herself in another world, imagining herself as the beautiful heroine.  Erin was waiting for the day she would learn she wasn’t her father’s daughter. That her mother had embarked on some secret affair with a handsome, rich man, and it was only a matter of time before he discovered her existence and introduced Erin to his world.

            Sighing, she rested her chin in her hand.  A cool summer breeze ruffled the curtains and lifted the strands of her bangs, tickling Erin’s forehead.  She hated this tomb-like town, but had to admit that at night, Copperfield was beautiful.  The desert gleamed beneath a full moon, and the scent of vegetation from the garden was spicy and fragrant.  Erin breathed it deeply.

            A cloud at that moment obscured the moon, and the hairs on her arms lifted.  The breeze died down suddenly and she straightened up.  She felt distinctly peculiar.  Was there a storm coming?

            The door to her bedroom sprang inwards.  Startled, Erin turned to shout at whichever brother had disturbed her peace.  It was Nick, her twin.

            “Do you mind?” Erin said.

          Nick’s sea-blue eyes gleamed.  They were just like Erin’s.  “You’re never going to believe this, Sis, sincerely.”

            Erin rolled her eyes.  “Try me.”

            “A crew from Hollywood is in town.  Copperfield’s the location for some scary movie.”

            “Are you kidding?” Erin said, jumping off her bed.

            “They’re all in Casey’s right now.  The whole town’s there.”  Nick was practically hopping with excitement.

            “Oh, my God,” Erin said.  “Why Copperfield?  What kind of scary movie?”  Slasher or ghost story? she wondered.  She preferred the latter.

            Nick shrugged.  “Let’s go find out.”

            Erin grabbed her jacket and followed him.  Finally, there might actually be some life in this town, she thought.

            “Hey, where you kids going?” her father's slurred voice demanded.

            Erin caught a whiff of his beer breath as she passed and grimaced.  Gross.           

            “Out,” she said, and slammed the door hard.

Casey’s diner was busier than Erin had ever seen it.  Several waitresses were scooting across the shiny tiles in red and white roller skates that matched their uniforms.  Every booth in the place was taken.  Customers were eating their hamburgers and fries standing at the counter.

            Erin’s eyes scanned the restaurant quickly as she crossed the threshold with Nick at her heels.  A gust of air at the entrance lifted her long, chocolate brown hair off her neck, and raised goosebumps on her tanned arms.  Strange.  It wasn’t even cold that evening.   

           She paused inside, inhaling sharply.  Her eyes were drawn immediately to the young man sitting at the biggest booth, furthest in the back.  His presence radiated charm, charisma and self-assurance.  Erin couldn’t help but notice the dusky brown of his eyes tinged with flecks of green, and the easy curve of his lips. He looked so familiar, but she couldn’t place him. 

            “Hey,” she poked Nick.  “You know his name?”  She watched him laugh heartily with his companions and lean back against the leather seat in complete ease.

            Nick shook his head.  “Don’t recognize him.”

            “I’ve seen him in some TV show before.  I think,” Erin added uncertainly.  This was going to bug her.

            “He’s the lead actor,” Nick said.  “I heard people talking about him when he got off the bus earlier.”

            Erin approached the counter.  “Hey, Mrs. Casey,” she called over the middle-aged owner.  Mrs. Casey was a kind woman.  Her husband had died from cancer three years previously, and she was running the joint single-handedly. She also seemed to know everything in town before everyone else. “You know anything about this movie?”

            “Sure.  The crew’s just been here for hours, sugar.  It’s one of those scary movies.  Copperfield’s a real cheap place to shoot, I guess.  That gorgeous boy over there,” she nodded in the direction of the young man Erin had been drawn to.  “Name is James Linkin.  He’s going to play the bad boy.”

            Erin chanced another glance his way, not wanting to be caught staring.  It didn’t matter. All eyes were on his table, particularly all female gazes.

            “He ordered a hot dog from me just before you got here,” Mrs. Casey said.  She chuckled.  “He’s a little charmer from what I’ve seen so far.”           

“What kind of bad boy?” Erin asked.  Her stomach was fluttering.  It hadn’t done that since she’d watched Brad Pitt in Legends of the Fall last summer in The Oracle.  She’d been forced to throw a Brad weekend there for one of the most popular girls at school, Lyndsey Mason, her older brother’s girlfriend.

            Now looking at James, she believed him to be even more handsome.  Erin marveled at her racing hormones.  She usually wasn’t as silly as the other girls in school, or so she liked to think. She risked another look at him.  Dark hair with sunny tints when the light caught it right, pale skin, strong jaw, slender build…

            “Vampire, I think,” Mrs. Casey’s voice broke Erin’s train of thought.  “It's going to be some kind of horror romance.”