The Vampire Haven

Newsletter Exclusives! 

Welcome, my beloved newsletter subscribers! Please enjoy these previews and bonus content only for you.

Read all about the Vampire Haven series here

August 2025: Meet…August!

August is from Book 1: A gorgeous, charming vampire looking for his happily-eternally-after falls ridiculously hard for a shy, nerdy human who’s never had a date in his life.

Finn Sullivan is among the most eligible bachelors in Chicago, with movie-star good looks and a reputation as a talented gentle dom. Secretly, he’s also a vampire looking for the love of his life in the shape of a human who wants a very long-term relationship. Finn realizes almost immediately upon meeting introverted, inexperienced August Amesbury that August could be The One. But Finn’s been disappointed in love before—will sweet, shy August only break his heart once more?

August Amesbury can get his head around the idea of actual vampires congregating in a diner to have lots of sex. And while he has no idea what these (very) friendly strangers mean when they say August is a sub in need of a gentle dom, he’s down for figuring that out. What August can’t believe is that Finn Sullivan, the most beautiful person in the world, could actually be interested in awkward, geeky August. But that could be a problem, because August is pretty sure he’s already falling in love.

Plus! A plot! What will August’s awful cousin Logan do when he finds out August has snagged the trophy lover Logan’s been chasing?

The man at the blood bank had not been kidding. 

August Amesbury was watching a trio of men in an intimate embrace. A handsome, dark-haired man licked a stream of blood off another man’s neck. The, ah, donor, as it were, shivered as the man’s tongue reached his jaw line, leaning back into the arms of a blond man with freckles, who took a slow lick of blood himself.

The donor was aroused, visibly hard in his blue jeans, eyes half-closed, making tiny panting noises.

So vampires were real and this was a place to get up close and personal with their teeth. And other body parts. Yeah, this was getting very personal.

August looked away, his cheeks hot.

The man from the blood bank—the freckled one now sucking on the donor’s neck—had invited August to what he called a “haven,” but it looked unexpectedly like a diner, except without windows. There was a well-lit counter, where August sat on a red stool, and a semi-open kitchen with two large refrigerators.

Behind August various people in darkened booths and couches were sucking blood and apparently other things as well. August didn’t turn around to look, but he could hear their sounds of pleasure.

The freckled blood-bank vampire, Sean, was instead having his meal under the bright lights, leaning a hip against the counter just a few feet down from August’s turkey sandwich and lemonade. 

August honestly had no idea why he’d merited an invitation to the Haven. He’d gone to the blood bank to donate out of goodwill, but mostly lack of funds, due to his recent move. He’d thought vampires were fictional, and gay vampires maybe even more so, but here he was watching two of them have dinner right next to him, and August had to wonder if perhaps Sean had invited August to eat dinner and then be dinner.

August had never been dinner. Well, even without the blood part. The very handsome but still entirely clothed donor was getting touched in places August had never been touched, with clothes or without them. Christ, August had never even been kissed the way the dark-haired vampire was kissing first the donor and then Sean, all tongue and hands cupping jaws and muffled moaning.

This didn’t seem to be a strictly gay vampire diner-slash-sex club—the other groups in the dimly lit sections were mixed, but to August, who had never really understood what was meant by feminine sex appeal, this was the most arousing thing he’d ever seen, let alone from three feet away.

Sitting at the counter with his sandwich, August couldn’t help but imagine himself in the arms of two handsome men—or even one!—leaning into someone’s embrace with their mouth pressed against his throat, sucking, licking, the heel of their hand rubbing against August’s dick, which was now so hard it was difficult to sit on a stool. August hadn’t ever thought he’d want to have an erotic experience in front of a whole diner, but honestly, if a man was squeezing his ass like that, August might not care where they were.

When the donor started making a high-pitched whining, Sean took his hand, grinning, and the three went through a door to an even more dimly lit section of the restaurant. August returned his head to its natural orientation and was surprised to remember he had half a sandwich waiting for him.

He barely recognized what food was.

“Doing all right?” said a low voice, and August looked up to see a very attractive person of indeterminate gender taking the stool next to him. Their hair was shaved from the nape to above their ears, but long and purple at the top, their eyelids rainbow, and their lips glittery gold. “I’m Charlie,” they said.

August tried to bring himself back to reality, though to be fair, that wasn’t really that useful, because reality right now was a vampire sex club. “August. I have no idea why I’m here.”

“Existential crisis, got it.” Charlie smiled. “Sean must’ve thought you’d fit in. Not squeamish about blood or sex, queer-friendly, good with secrets.”

“How on earth would he know that?”

“He’s psychic. Reads people if he touches them.” Charlie took a drink from a mug of pale coffee and somehow none of their lipstick came off on the rim.

August supposed if there were vampires, there might as well be psychics too. Sean had held the door for August as August left the blood bank, laying a hand on August’s shoulder briefly before following him into the parking lot and saying You know, there’s another place you can donate blood, and the pay is better. “Are all vampires psychic?” he asked.

“No, just Sean. Nobody knows why. Anyway, vampires need fresh blood, literally, so he recruits humans he thinks might enjoy it.”

“Oh, you’re not—?”

“Nah, human. Older than I look though.” August figured the makeup might be taking off about ten years, so Charlie could be around 30. Charlie leaned an arm on the counter, twisting on their stool to face him. “So what do you do when you’re not watching vampires fuck?”

August coughed, his hips twitching, jeans still far too tight. “I fix things. Um, I mean repairs. Like electronics. I just got a job in a shop, but I’d like to teach someday. Community college or something. I don’t know if students would be any better than customers, though.” August took a long drink of his lemonade to stop himself babbling.

“That sounds cool. So you’re new in town?”

“My cousin asked me to move here, but I don’t think he really wanted me to. So what do you do for a living?”

Charlie looked like they wanted to ask about the cousin thing, but August was already sorry he’d mentioned it.

“I work here,” Charlie said.

“Oh. Uh, cook?”

“Entree. Universal donor. House red?” Charlie tapped pink nails on the counter, grinning. “The Haven’s got the bagged stuff for free, but fresh is better, and not everybody can afford it. They don’t want anyone prowling for humans, so they pay me a salary to be on tap.”

“House red,” August said, appreciative. “As in blood.” He swallowed as he heard a satisfied groan from behind them.

Charlie looked sympathetic. “This place can be overwhelming at first.”

August hoped Charlie didn’t look into his lap. He tried to say something that sounded competent and came out with, “I don’t know very much about sex.” Which wasn’t strictly true, August knew how sex worked, he just had never—well, worked it. Charlie did not look terribly surprised by this revelation. “So I’m an odd person to invite to a sex haven,” August said.

“Well, strictly speaking, it’s not a sex haven. It’s just that this place—this is really the only place around here where vampires can be themselves, without the outside world getting a say. And it turns out most folks find blood sucking erotic.” To August’s blush, they added, “For what it’s worth, I think you’re doing great.”

“Oh.” August sighed with relief. “Really? I thought I was a duck out of water.” He was aware he sounded like he was ninety-five, but maybe that wasn’t so bad, since he was surrounded by vampires who might have last been hip in the 17th century.

Charlie’s gaze sharpened like they’d just figured something out, though August had no idea what that might be. “Well, I think you’ve found the water,” they said. “All you need now’s someone to teach you to swim.”

Graphics made on Canva. City image is “Earth Hour Cityscape” by Sketchify, Canva free license.