Yeah I realize this story’s a bit tonally different, but hopefully you were able to reach an ending that wasn’t a total bummer. There are even a couple where the MC is arguably better for the experience.
I can’t tell you how much that means to me. Thank you. 
We shall see. But first, I have a sweater to finish crocheting, a mobile game to finish coding, and another novel to finish writing. 
Thanks so much for reading!!!
What the mobile game?
Oh, it isn’t story-related, more of a dorky puzzle game. 
I could not stop playing this game for hours…
This was amazing. And when I finally finished I was like “ok… now I’m going to find another endings”. Which wasn’t the best idea considering I have to work next morning. Haha
During my first time playing the game I was so scared that I wasn’t even trying to escape… I thought “maybe if I’m not going to cause trouble and I manage to befriend vampires they would let me go”.
I’ve got “A rare vintage” ending so that went as well as expected. 
Thank you so much, @Tea! 
If you ever want to try for any of the other endings (such as BFFs or Certifiable Badass), you can always view hints/tips via the stats screen for clues. Or you can hit me up in this thread and I’d be happy to answer here. 
Hi @Elena_H! Can’t believe we are already at the final draft! Guess I better take the Saturday and Sunday off to reply the game and discover all the endings I have yet to see 
I miss the crazyness that are Paul and Richard.
What great hobbies Would you be willing to share any hints regarding the plot for the novel?
Gee whiz, I think this was the most stressed I’ve ever felt playing an Interactive Fiction/COG game. 
That mini-game balancing Richard’s hunger/irritation level (and then later Charles’ patience) was friggin’ genius.
Also genius is the way you were able to balance how charming Paul + Richard are with how they’re ABSOLUTELY TERRIBLE MONSTERS. For me, my relationship with them was constantly hovering around the 50% mark, making the balancing act of Lenore desperately trying to curry favour for her survival so fraught. I’LL KILL THEM/RUN AWAY EVERY SINGLE TIME, but jeez I’ll feel bad about it.
Nice to see you again, @kirakana! 
Oh man, maybe when I’m a little further along. I’ve abandoned this project before and I wouldn’t want to share unless I was 100% sure I was gonna finish it this time.
Never thought I’d be taking statements like that as a complement, but thank you!!!
Don’t feel too bad - they were secretly rooting for you the whole time
Whoa… i finished playing and i really felt for Lenore, put into a position she did not ask for but determined enough not to be vamp food. I liked that there was a coping vice. I’m someone who’s very introverted and I felt scared both as Lenore and for myself as (the player). If I was put in such a position I would probably chose the easy path via suicide or if I can’t escape alive than at least I’ll take these bastard with me to the other side mindset.
Thus why on my first play through I kept Tone Consistent to the real me, taking the maximum amount of Xanax available when presented with the options. Not trying to piss Paul of because my mc sees him as nothing more than her savior, the lesser of two greater evil/monster. I really hated Richard, I’ll admit no matter what I learned about him, Lenore and me will always hate him. I kept pissing him off to the point where my relationship with him was the lowest. If my hatred value for characters in this book were compared than it’d be Richard in first place, Charles second. Or both tied considering their both satan personified. I enjoyed manipulating Richard to kill Charles tho it was certainly easy considering our shared hatred for Charles.
I liked the few endings I got. Was very Satisfied with the gentle death that Paul provide. Sticking to his promise to not let us have a violent death was very noble of him, the only character in story that I cannot truly come to hate but als I dislike him to a certain extent as well. I feel that Paul regardless of all his flaws is a very kind and gentle man.
I felt a plethora of emotions while playing this story, a flashback to my first time riding a rollercoaster. Certainly a testament to your writing. I liked the bittersweet endings.
~
I only had a minor issue with only one of the ending, I wouldn’t say issue since that’s a negative usage of wording but a problem, the ending left me with a bad taste in my mouth since I welcomed the deaths.
A question: it’s the ending with Samantha, it kinda gives of the vibe of and than the cycles continues, the story resets but this time with a willing victim who doesn’t know she’s a victim. Seeing as the child sees Richard as a sort father figure and future spouse gave me chills, I know that she’s naive and a four year old child but I never hated a child before and it’s sickening, felt disgusting tbh. I couldn’t stop my rage for her spilling Lenore plans to escape with Richard in that end. Granted it’s Lenore own fault for dooming her escape, like don’t tell your four year old that you are going to escape from the clutches of the man she’ll one day marry when she grows. A dumb move on her part.
EDIT: The last paragraph is quite opinionated, biased to an extent but still I still had to get that out of my system. I’ll not lie that i enjoyed it and will certainly be waiting for the release.
@Nagisa18 Thank you so much for taking the time to leave such a thoughtful comment.
I think you may be my first reader to rank poor Charlie between Paul and Rich.
There are a bunch of ways you could interpret what’s going on in this ending, and that’s certainly one of them. I tend to have a soft spot for all of my characters, though, so I’d like to think that Paul and Richard one day let Samantha and her mother go.
Heh, definitely. Let’s chalk it up to stress. 
I loved hearing your opinions in the last paragraph! Thanks so much for reading!!!
Really tho? 
Doubtful considering how the little bastard almost starved us on one play through 
. .now that I think about he was a little tragic all those girlfriends thou. Don’t know I may just have a heart of stone , he did try to starve us. I feel bad for the girlfriends, another way I can hate Richard.
Yeah, I’d say most readers have had a pretty extreme reaction to Charles and typically rank him either higher or lower than both vamps, but never in between. 
Hi, I absolutely love this story. I played through the game countless times before finally deciding to read your first novel, which I expected to be barely different from the events of the game. I was pleasantly surprised by the extra tidbits here and there which added to both the content and the aesthetic of the story. I’m wondering if there’s a way to buy your second novel as an ebook. I would gladly pay to read it, but I would rather buy a digital copy than a physical book. I’m surprised by how well you’ve adjusted your novel to fit the format of a choose your own adventure type book and I hope more people get a chance to read this gem.
Thank you so much @Sir_Drael!
The answer is no, but you can download it for free right here… Please reach out if the link doesn’t work: bait_ebook - Google Drive
My only request is that you let me know if you have any suggestions on how to improve the MS – I was never quite happy with it and have been planning a major overhaul, so any advice (no matter how scathing) would be greatly appreciated. 
Okay, I just read Bait and I want to type something down…
First off, non-spoilery thoughts: I think Bait is more engaging than Donor (book ver). Mostly because adding Sam to the equation has up the stakes, and somehow Lenore feels more human when she’s trying to save a life that isn’t her own.
For spoilery thoughts: The ending surprised me a lot. I thought Bait will eventually lead to the ending in Donor (game) where Lenore and her daughter live with the vampires, so seeing her escaping is really nice. I also don’t see the twist with Sam turning coming.
I can’t see him surviving though, as we know that in addition to vampire blood, he’ll need to drink a lot of human blood to successfully transform. But leaving it empty is a good thing; it allows me to imagine them getting the happy ending they desperately need.
Overall, really love it!
Reading this has meant the world to me. There are still quite a few things that I’d like to clean up in the second novel (I think the pacing falls off toward the middle, I didn’t cut enough dialogue, etc), but I’m so glad that you found the overall arc engaging. 
Heh, yeah the “Rich’s Dungeon” ending takes place in a slightly different timeline, and a few years after Bait ends.
I could actually see Paul having a change of heart and helping the young couple out. Even Sam has a perfect universe floating around somewhere…
@Seri Thanks so much again for reading Bait and taking the time to share your feedback. Your post absolutely made my afternoon.
The problem is even if his turning is successful, I can only see him being miserable. He’ll see everyone as food and he’s not gonna like it. Technically a vampire can survive without killing by having multiple Donors at the same time, but I don’t know if he can really restrain himself like he wanted to… I want a happy ending but it feels like a stretch?
Also lol Paul. Unlike in the game he doesn’t seem pissed off for losing Rich, which is kinda weird, but I guess he’s the saviour our young couple needs.
When I think about it, I wonder wtf Charles is going to do in the vampire hunters ending too. He doesn’t seem like the kind who would object to killing humans but if he does the same thing other vampires do, then what is his moral high ground for hunting them? Also his partnership with Lenore won’t last long. I supposed they can find another way easier than Sam though.
Very true. I guess “happy” ending is probably a stretch , but at least Sam would have plenty of time to come to terms with his condition.
That’s 'cuz Rich isn’t actually dead, of course…
I very much doubt a Lenore/Charles partnership would last long, but sometimes all you can ask of a happy ending is just a moment in time. And even though poor Charlie has no moral ground to stand on, a vampire killing spree will certainly make him feel better. 
Ahh I should have seen this coming! I was even thinking “Wait, did he actually died in that fire?” when Paul said he’s dead. Bloody liar.
kek. True.
I binge-read the book today and was perturbed that I was perturbed that Richard was apparently dead-dead. Now I’m relieved he’s not actually dead, and perturbed that I’m relieved. What have you done to me, author??
Regardless, it’s pretty hilarious to see such a terrifying figure fail so bad at dealing with Lenore. She’s managed to disintegrate half his face and has now burnt down his entire building. When will this crazed criminal finally stop bullying this poor innocent vampire!? (/s ofc)