A Hundred Black Sunrises: A Friday the 13th Story
Tamela Miles
Publication date: March 13th 2026
Genres: Adult, Horror, Paranormal, Romance, Suspense
A hundred different ways to break your heart, a hundred different ways to take your last breath. Sienna and Finn are exploring their strange attraction to each other until strange becomes something sinister. The clock is ticking as they fight to unravel the mystery of what draws them together on fateful Friday, the 13th.
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EXCERPT:
Prologue
Arcadia County, Maryland
Bellefleur Plantation, 1725
“The dinner this evening was appetizing, Poppy. Clear the dishes from the table.”
Poppy nodded, keeping her expression blank, though she seethed with frustrated anger deep down in her gut. She hated the speaker, her master by the laws of the land, Christianpaul Thibodeaux. As she efficiently removed the dishes from the expansive wood dining table, she fought to remain as buoyant as she had been when the evening began. Yes, he’d fed, sheltered, and clothed her from birth nineteen years ago on his property, but the egregious problem was that she was his property, as well. He held the key to her freedom. As she carefully loaded up the ornate dishes in the crook of one arm, she dared to peek at his dinner guest – the reason she could almost taste her freedom. Elijah Delaney. She caught him looking at her before she gracefully left the dining room, tastefully decorated in shades of green, heading for the kitchen.
Elijah discreetly slid his gaze from Poppy and nervously cleared his throat, unsure of how to get to the sole reason for his visit with Thibodeaux. He met the older man’s assessing gaze, and he recoiled inside. The eyes were cold, his lazy smile calculating, and Elijah steeled himself. He had to save Poppy. “Christianpaul, my family –“
The other man waved a hand. “Call me Kit, please.”
“Uh…Kit, the Delaney family sends our best regards on your recent acquisition and expansion of properties in this area.” At Kit’s nod, he continued. “My father and I are very much looking forward to doing business with you – mutually beneficial business, of course. On that note, have you considered my…proposal?”
Kit took a deep draw from his pipe, remaining silent and staring at him for long moments. “Yes, I’ve had time to consider your proposal, and I have a counteroffer. So, you want to take my Poppy and give her a better life than you believe she has here at my beautiful Bellefleur? With me and her family?”
Elijah nodded. “Yes. Absolutely. She would be among the freed blacks and enjoy all the benefits of life. Or, as many as possible.”
Kit guffawed loudly, startling him. “You mean she would be free to visit your bed more frequently and conveniently, of course.”
Elijah’s expression gave away nothing. “I’m not quite sure what you’re insinuating, Mr. Thibodeaux. I assure you-“
Kit waved a hand, wearing a sly smile. “Oh, you’ve been swiving her for some time now. Don’t be coy about it, Delaney. It happens to us all. We, as men, just want a taste from the honey pot.” He put his pipe on the table and leaned forward, eyes gleaming with some inner meanness that disturbed Elijah down to his bones. “You want my Poppy, who I watched birthed into this world, God bless her mama’s resting soul? Then, be prepared to pay the price, boy.”
Elijah clenched his jaw, his stomach tightening with dread. “What price?”
Kit smiled with dark glee. “The counteroffer stands for one day. After that, it’s off the table forever and there will be no further discussions nor negotiations.” He pointed at him. “You leave your father’s business and work for me, for the length of seven years, as a subordinate. Perform well and you can have my Poppy.”
Elijah sucked in a deep, despairing breath. “You must know I can’t do that.”
Kit chuckled, leaning back in the high back wood chair. He took in a deep draw from the pipe. “Then you don’t want her bad enough, son.”
Elijah closed his eyes and gasped when he opened them. Poppy moved swiftly across the expansive dining room, clutching a heavy silver candelabra. He quickly rose to stop her, as she swung it in a sweeping motion and bashed the back of his head. Christianpaul dropped to the floor, lying motionless. Elijah’s mouth opened wide in shock, and he shot from his chair to stand beside her.
Her lips curled back in a feral grin. “Liar! You promised me he could marry me, you cruel bastard!” She moved to strike the older man again and Elijah caught her arm in his firm grip.
He shook his head slowly. “Oh, Poppy. What have you done?”
She met his bright green eyes with her penetrating brown eyed gaze. “Not enough.”
“We’re going to hang for this,” he murmured, his tone dazed.
A weak chuckle filled the silence and they both turned to see Christianpaul struggling to move from his position on the floor, blood dripping from his lips. “Oh yes, you are.” He coughed, struggling to draw a breath, and the crimson droplets sprayed. “Both…of you…will regret this.”
Poppy gasped and backed away, bumping into the ornate wood table. The matching candelabra, lit with candles, tipped over and rolled directly onto the plush rug where the older man struggled to stand. Within seconds, the flames raced across the rug and leapt onto his fine, sky-blue dining coat. He screamed his pain and fury, unable to beat at the tendrils of fire.
“I curse you both! Une centaine de levers de soleil noirs!” He screamed again as the flames fully engulfed him. “You will…never be free of…Christianpaul Thibodeaux!”
A loud cracking sounded across the room and a huge, silver gilded mirror fractured in half, splitting apart their reflections. Elijah grabbed her hand and spoke softly. “Let me get you away from here, Poppy.”
As they moved toward the dining room entrance, one of the kitchen servants appeared. Her brown eyes widened and then narrowed at the scene laid out before her. She hastily wiped her hands on her white apron and latched onto Poppy’s other hand.
“Run far, far away from this cursed place. Take nothing with you. His evil was contained while he was alive, but his death means…” she trailed off and shrugged her shoulders.
“What…what did he mean by “a hundred black sunrises?” Poppy asked in a tremulous voice.
The servant smiled sadly. “Nothing good, you can believe that.” She gestured towards the hallway leading to the front door as a dozen other servants from the kitchen suddenly crowded around them. “Now, go! Take her and go!”
Elijah needed no further encouragement and pulled a dazed Poppy down the hallway, already filled with black smoke. As he opened the heavy door, she looked back one last time to say goodbye to everything she had ever known, and her gaze lit on Christianpaul’s smiling portrait of himself as a much younger man. She shivered as Elijah led her out the front door and she clutched his arm fearfully. Poppy knew every brushstroke of that painting and never in her life had the bastard worn a smile in it.
Author Bio:
Tamela Miles is a school psychologist with an Ed.S and PPS credential and a graduate of California State University San Bernardino and California State University Dominguez Hills. She is also a former flight attendant. She grew up in Altadena, California in that tumultuous time known as the 1980s. She now resides with her family in the Inland Empire, CA. She's a horror/paranormal romance writer mainly because it feels so good having her characters do bad things and, later, pondering what makes them so bad and why they can never seem to change their wicked ways.
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