Teaser Tuesday: Blood, Chains and Starlight by Seraphine Vale
🌒 Teaser Tuesday: Blood, Chains and Starlight by Seraphine Vale
Genre: Contemporary Urban Fiction / Gritty Adventure / Black Girl Coming-of-Age
Happy Teaser Tuesday, my fiction lovers! Today we’re spotlighting Blood, Chains and Starlight, a story that simmers with tension, unresolved grief, and raw teenage survival. If you’ve ever lived with someone who made your skin crawl, or held your breath in your own home like a ghost—Tessa's story might feel all too real. But don't worry—this isn't just a tale of trauma. It's about what happens when a girl dares to look at the stars anyway.
Tessa's sneakers squeaked on the polished tiles of the
entryway, the faint echo bouncing off the walls as she stepped inside. She had
just come from an exhausting tutoring session for the city-wide university
entrance exams, her mind buzzing with formulas and test strategies. It was dark
outside now, the only light coming from the dim hallway lamp. The house was
quiet, too quiet, as if it was holding its breath.
Her gaze fell on the shoes lined up near the door: her
own sneakers, freshly kicked off and dropped carelessly to the side; her
mother’s sky-blue house slippers, worn and soft from years of use; and a third
pair—too big, too... masculine. Sports sneakers, new, not her mother’s.
Tessa wrinkled her nose. Her stepfather. She knew
instantly to whom they belonged. His name was Gage, and though Tessa wasn’t
sure what he did for a living—if anything—he sure had plenty of time to spend
at home with her mother. He was always there, like a stain on the family fabric
she couldn’t get rid of.
She pushed open the door to the living room,
half-expecting the usual scene. The television was on, muted, the faint glow of
the screen illuminating the figure sprawled out on the couch. Her mother, Susan,
lay under a blanket, snoring lightly, while Gage snored beside her, his head
tilted back in an uncomfortable angle. His stench of beer lingered in the air,
a constant reminder of his laziness and disregard for anything other than his
own pleasures.
Tessa’s heart sank, but she tried not to show it.
"I'm home," she muttered quietly.
Susan stirred, blinking awake. “Tessa, you’re late,” she
said, her voice thick with sleep and a touch of irritation. “What time do you
think it is?”
“I’ve been at tutoring,” Tessa explained, trying to keep
her voice calm. “You know, the exams are coming up. I have to stay late
sometimes.”
Susan’s expression soured. “Tutoring? You can’t even
remember to come home on time. Look at you, always out so late—what’s going to
become of you if you can’t even prioritize your time?”
Tessa felt the familiar sting of her mother’s criticism.
Every day, it seemed, Susan found a new way to remind her that no matter how
hard she tried, it was never enough.
Gage grunted in his sleep, muttering something about
food. His presence drained the air from the room. Tessa’s stomach twisted in a
way that had become all too familiar.
She swallowed hard and turned to leave, but her mother’s
voice called out again. “Dinner’s on the counter. Don’t forget to clean up
after yourself.”
Tessa grabbed one of the bento boxes from the counter,
the neat label reading "For Dinner" staring back at her in stark
simplicity. The food inside smelled good—the only thing in this house that did.
But she couldn’t shake the feeling that it was an afterthought. Something her
mother had put together half-heartedly before collapsing onto the couch with Gage.
Without saying another word, Tessa hurried upstairs,
leaving her mother and stepfather behind in the darkened living room.
Tessa sat on the edge of her bed, the soft glow of her
laptop screen casting shadows across her face as she scrolled through her
social media feed. The steady hum of the city outside her window was like white
noise, soothing in its monotony. Her mind was still reeling from the argument
downstairs, the sting of her mother's words still fresh.
She clicked through a few more articles, but then
something caught her eye.
"Morning Star Gang Turns Over a New
Leaf: From Thugs to Heroes?"
Her heart skipped a beat. The Morning Star gang—the name
alone sent a thrill through her chest. They were the stuff of local legend,
dangerous, unpredictable, and powerful. Once known for their criminal
activities, they had reinvented themselves under the leadership of Malik Tarek,
the son of the gang’s late founder.
She had followed their story for months, each article,
each post, fueling her admiration for them. But it was Malik who captivated her
most.
A photograph of him popped up alongside the article,
showing a young man with a fierce, confident gaze. His hair was long and styled
into dreadlocks, and his arms were covered in intricate tattoos—an entire
sleeve of artwork that looked like it had its own story to tell. He was
standing next to a black motorcycle, his expression one of cool detachment,
like he didn’t need to prove anything to anyone.
🩸 Why You’ll Be Obsessed:
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✊ Black girl in a toxic household just trying to breathe
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🏙️ Real-world issues: poverty, violence, neglect—but never without hope
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💫 The Morning Star Gang: Not just a name. A legend. A lifeline.
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🖤 Slow-burning fascination with a boy who’s more than just his ink
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🌌 Tessa’s coming-of-age is messy, real, and beautiful
If you’ve ever searched for escape in your Wi-Fi signal or found a strange kind of comfort in scrolling through someone else’s myth, Blood, Chains and Starlight is going to wreck you beautifully.
Thanks for checking out the blog! If Tessa’s story hits you in the chest the way it hit me, don’t keep that to yourself:
✨ Leave a review
✨ Share this post with a fellow fiction junkie
✨ Talk about it online—word of mouth keeps indie stories alive!
Until next time, keep chasing starlight even when the world tries to keep you in chains. 💥
—Seraphine Vale
Check out Blood, Chains, and Starlight at the following links:
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