Abigail Gibbs - The Dark Heroine - Dinner with a Vampire

For wattpad.com.

To the team for providing a place to share.

To each and every member who read, voted, nagged and criticized. You shaped this story.

To Joanne and Terran, and lastly, to Soraya. You reached out to a child across the world and gave her the encouragement she needed. You started this journey.

O Rose, thou art sick!

The invisible worm

That flies in the night,

In the howling storm,

Has found out thy bed

Of crimson joy:

And his dark secret love

Does thy life destroy.

– The Sick Rose, William Blake

Table of Contents

Title Page

Dedication For wattpad.com. To the team for providing a place to share. To each and every member who read, voted, nagged and criticized. You shaped this story. To Joanne and Terran, and lastly, to Soraya. You reached out to a child across the world and gave her the encouragement she needed. You started this journey.

Epigraph O Rose, thou art sick! The invisible worm That flies in the night, In the howling storm, Has found out thy bed Of crimson joy: And his dark secret love Does thy life destroy. – The Sick Rose, William Blake

Introduction to the Author’s Extended Edition

Chapter One: Violet

Chapter Two: Violet

Chapter Three: Violet

Chapter Four: Kaspar

Chapter Five: Violet

Chapter Six: Violet

Chapter Seven: Kaspar

Chapter Eight: Violet

Chapter Nine: Violet

Chapter Ten: Violet

Chapter Eleven: Violet

Chapter Twelve: Kaspar

Chapter Thirteen: Violet

Chapter Fourteen: Violet

Chapter Fifteen: Violet

Chapter Sixteen: Violet

Chapter Seventeen: Kaspar

Chapter Eighteen: Violet

Chapter Nineteen: Violet

Chapter Twenty: Violet

Chapter Twenty-One: Violet

Chapter Twenty-Two: Violet

Chapter Twenty-Three: Kaspar

Chapter Twenty-Four: Violet

Chapter Twenty-Five: Kaspar

Chapter Twenty-Six: Violet

Chapter Twenty-Seven: Kaspar

Chapter Twenty-Eight: Violet

Chapter Twenty-Nine: Kaspar

Chapter Thirty: Violet

Chapter Thirty-One: Violet

Chapter Thirty-Two: Violet

Chapter Thirty-Three: Violet

Chapter Thirty-Four: Kaspar

Chapter Thirty-Five: Violet

Chapter Thirty-Six: Kaspar

Chapter Thirty-Seven: Violet

Chapter Thirty-Eight: Violet

Chapter Thirty-Nine: Kaspar

Chapter Forty: Violet

Chapter Forty-One: Kaspar

Chapter Forty-Two: Violet

Chapter Forty-Three: Kaspar

Chapter Forty-Four: Violet

Chapter Forty-Five: Violet

Chapter Forty-Six: Violet

Chapter Forty-Seven: Kaspar

Chapter Forty-Eight: Violet

Chapter Forty-Nine: Violet

Chapter Fifty: Violet

Chapter Fifty-One: Violet

Chapter Fifty-Two: Violet

Chapter Fifty-Three: Kaspar

Chapter Fifty-Four: Violet

Chapter Fifty-Five: Kaspar

Chapter Fifty-Six: Violet

Chapter Fifty-Seven: Violet

Chapter Fifty-Eight: Kaspar

Chapter Fifty-Nine: Violet

Chapter Sixty: Violet

Chapter Sixty-One: Kaspar

Chapter Sixty-Two: Violet

Chapter Sixty-Three: Violet

Chapter Sixty-Four: Violet

Chapter Sixty-Five: Violet

Chapter Sixty-Six: Violet

Acknowledgements

About the Author

Copyright

About the Publisher

Welcome new readers and fellow Fangsters, to the extended edition of The Dark Heroine: Dinner with a Vampire . I have to admit, I was very excited when my editor told me that we would be doing a “director’s cut” for The Dark Heroine , returning some of my favourite scenes to the story that didn’t made the cut of the final book during the edit.

For my long-term fans on Wattpad, I hope this is a chance to reread some of the chapters that had previously been cut for length and pace. For new readers, this edition will give you even more insight into life in the Varn mansion, and into the relationship between Kaspar and Violet. But why were these scenes removed in the first place? Let me tell you an editing story…

Frantic studying, taking your last exams, going to prom, gaining a boyfriend – pretty familiar summer territory for many teenagers. How about sitting in your local library in the blistering heat with an editor, about to edit your manuscript because you had been offered a publishing contract a month after you left school? Sound a bit like something out of a book?

Oh no. This actually happened to me.

I had been writing The Dark Heroine: Dinner with a Vampire on Wattpad for roughly three years under the alias Canse12, gaining 17 million reads and what I believe is the best fan base a girl could have – the Wattpad kind, of course. I was writing serially – posting a chapter every month or so (when I managed to find the time!) and learning so much from readers and fans as I went along. That brought me to the attention of my awesome agent, Scott, and I knew that at some point I was going to have to face the editing process.

So what is the edit? Simply put, the edit is comprised of three steps: a structural edit (usually a list of revisions to do with plot, characterisation, etc. sent to the author), a line edit (word changes), and a copy edit (spelling, grammar and punctuation). The first two are the stuff of nightmares for writers. Being told you have to cut, add to and alter your precious, precious story (think Gollum from Lord of the Rings here) is something none of us want to do, but inevitably have to. And for me, it was going to be really, really hard , because:

1 The turnaround for my book, from acceptance to eBook publication, was two months. (To put this in context, contract to print, it usually takes years).

2 My manuscript was 200,000 words long. Yes, you read that correctly.

Therefore, things were going to be done a little differently: instead of an edit letter containing revisions, I got my actual editor, Amy McCulloch from HarperVoyager UK. Together, in my beautiful home country of Devon, we spent two days looking over her suggestions for the structural and line edit, drinking coffee and emailing revisions to each other at midnight. A week and an all-nighter on my part later, 50,000 words had been cut from The Dark Heroine. It made my history exam look like a piece of cake.

Now, I’m so pleased to be able to share The Dark Heroine extended edition with you all. It’s still been copy edited and proofread, but now contains even more Violet, Kaspar and Fabian…

Happy reading!

– Abigail Gibbs

Trafalgar Square is probably not the best place to stand at one o’clock in the morning. In fact, it is probably not the best place to be if you are alone at any time of the night.

The shadow of Nelson’s Column in Trafalgar Square loomed above as I shivered, the cool air of the July night rushing between the buildings. I shuddered again, pulling my coat tightly around myself, seriously beginning to regret wearing a skimpy black dress – my choice of wardrobe for the evening. The sacrifices I make for a good night out.

Jumping as a pigeon fluttered down beside my feet, I scanned the empty streets for any sign of my friends. So much for getting a ‘late night snack’. The sushi bar was only a two-minute walk away; twenty minutes had passed. I rolled my eyes, in no doubt that some guys were in their knickers by now. Good for them. Why would they have to worry about little old Violet Lee?