Urban Fantasy novella, prequel to the Vampire Cherry series. "The significance of things is rarely apparent at the moment they occur. People don’t know it’s the last time they’re making love with a significant other or the last time they’re seeing a friend, until long after the moment has come and gone. Lovers grow distant, friends drift apart, and one day you look back at that time you dug your nails in his back, or that phone call you ended way too soon, and wish you’d known you’d never get another chance. Wish you’d savored it while it lasted, instead of taking it for granted. I often wish I’d realized the last time I felt the sun caressing my skin. Or the last time I heard my mother’s voice. Hell, I wish I’d known the last time I heard my heart beat." Follow Cherry's first steps into a world she was never prepared for, in this prequel to the Vampire Cherry series.

Turned at the cusp of a promising career in the adult movie industry, Cherry Stem has to rely on her mesmerizing vampire gaze for her meals and money. With the rent deadline approaching, settling for pocket change isn’t an option, so she reluctantly lets tall, dark, and handsome Detective Alex Marsden take her home for the night and fulfill her needs. Only she gets more than she bargained for. When Cherry meets Alex, she expects him to be nothing more than another “girl meets boy, girl feeds from boy, girl erases boy’s memories” hook-up. Once missing young women, the vampire council, and her irresistible ex are thrown into the mix though, she realizes nothing is as simple or random as she thought it was. And her unlife isn't the only thing at stake.

With her murderous maker still on the run, Cherry has enough on her mind even before her newly turned boyfriend, Alex, demands they meet each other's parents. Constantine, her ex and now member of the vampire council, is suspiciously quick to allow this breach of vampire law. It soon becomes clear there's a lot Cherry doesn't know about her family's past. And it's threatening her present and her future. Alex is changing, Ádísa is dead but not as gone as she should be, and feelings forced aside are reconsidered. Back in her hometown, and faced with an overabundance of new information, Cherry is determined to fight for herself, her family, and her man. That's when her world is turned upside down. Again.

If Constantine is to be believed—which Alex insists he isn't—Cherry can become human again. According to her ex, the prophecy that holds the cure calls for certain things she may not be ready for, though, and his suggestion for getting over a pesky clause complicates things further. But Cherry won't be dissuaded. She has lost her career, her life, and both the men she's loved, because others made her choices for her. It's time for that to stop.

A fun Christmas at Constantine’s mansion. Cherry gets to unwrap two gifts. At the same time!