Shawna Jalbert

“The Jabberwocky Precept Do not murder the time lest you devour everything in your wake.”
― Nikki St. Crowe, Dark & Darker Still: A Vane and Roc Origin Story

“The second she called Alana ‘mom’, I could see the resemblance. I always knew I had a type, but damn. What’s worse is that, now that she is completely off-limits, I can't stop thinking about her.”
― Katie A. Perez, Call Him Daddy

“Alice Vane Maddred, unofficial prince of the Umbrage, is fucking me like he wants to bruise me. I’m sure he does. I clutch at him like he’s an oak plank in a churning sea. We never fuck like we like each other. Our movements are frenzied, a little punishing. I think we find ourselves like this most nights because we remind each other of things we hate about ourselves. He hates that he desires anything, and I hate that I desire one thing I can’t have. The fact that that one thing is his uncle is something neither of us will ever speak about.”
― Nikki St. Crowe, Dark & Darker Still: A Vane and Roc Origin Story

“Vane is possessive of his toys, and I am his favorite one, even if he likes to break me again and again. He licks his way up the sensitive line of my throat, and I shiver beneath him. Maybe I don’t hate him. Maybe he’s just enough like his uncle that it quiets that incessant gnawing in my gut. All of the Maddred men are dark and dangerous and monstrous. And dark, monstrous things like to be in the company of other dark, monstrous things. I think that’s why we’re terrified of losing each other, why we cling to one another, not with love, but the opposite: obsession. Friction builds between us. I’m hot and warm and cold all over and when Vane’s teeth tickle my neck, I jolt away from him. “Hold still,” he says, yanks my head back, and sinks his teeth into me. The first hot gush of blood surges out of the puncture wounds. My veins fill with honey. Getting bitten by a jabberwocky feels like your bones melt into stars.”
― Nikki St. Crowe, Dark & Darker Still: A Vane and Roc Origin Story