Tuesday's Tales - Short

Welcome to Tuesday's Tales  

This week our prompt word is SHORT. My snippet continues from last week.

Without waiting for his reply she stood, headed for the car and returned with a plastic carrier bag.

“The choice is limited but I tired to get something in more than one size.” She thrust the bag at him and pointed to the derelict barn. He looked at the ring of nettles, down at his bare feet, and back at his companion.

“There are sandals and slippers in the bag. I thought they may be easier to get on if the size is completely wrong.”

“Thank you.” Not knowing what else to say, he headed for the barn.

Somehow she’d guessed pretty well. He chose the slippers. They would keep his feet dry but they’d be more effective than being stung through the sandals.

He ignored the dust motes dancing in the sunbeams that slotted between the twisted slats and riffled through the contents of the bag. He pulled on the boxer shorts sporting a pink frog. No wonder they were in a charity shop. She’d guessed his size surprisingly well. The vest, he didn’t normally wear one, but slipped it over his head and revelled in the warmth. The brushed cotton chequered shirt had seen better days, but again, either she’d put some thought into her choices or been exceptionally lucky. It fit snugly across his broad shoulders. Okay the sleeves were a tad short, but normally he had his shirts made to order. She’d chosen jeans and he swore he could hear his goose-bumps sigh in relief and the warmth of the denim wrapped round them. No socks, but the comb more than compensated for that small oversight.

He stilled when he heard a rustling outside.

“We have to get out of here.” The woman’s voice, though low, reached him clearly. “There’s a boat just coming round the corner of the river, and it won’t be long before they’re close enough to see the car.”

Relief warred with concern. Careful to leave not traces of his intrusion Ludo pushed the door open wide enough to slide outside, pushed it shut behind him and followed her back to the car, which she’d turned round while she waited.

Without a pause in her stride she indicated the passenger door, and slid into the driving seat and had the car moving before he’d managed to shut his door. Once more she surprised him by not making a dash for cover. Instead she eased the vehicle forward keeping it in a low gear until they reached the short line of trees that lined a deeply rutted track.

 

Thank you for reading this week's offering,
there are lots more amazing reads at Tuesday's Tales 

Tuesday's Tales ~ Picture Prompt

Tuesday's Tales - Curly

Welcome to Tuesday's Tales  

 

 

This week is our picture prompt  and my snippet moves on a bit from last week My heroine has found a deserted place where she can safely release her unwanted passenger from the boot/trunk of her car.

Quarter of an hour later she spotted a turnoff that appeared to head in the general direction of a wood.

“Turning off,” she sang out.  “Hopefully I’ll be able to let you out if there’s no one around. Just hang in there.”

Encouraged by the bumpy track Kate slowed right down and came to a stop beside row of overgrown bushes. Not a known public recreation area, more likely private property, she thought as she slid from the car and raced round to lift the boot lid. Light bounced off nearby water. A lake? A pond? Did that mean she had stopped near someone’s house? She hoped not.

Sweat shone slick and damp on the man’s skin. His eyes remained closed and he didn’t shift when she struggled to remove the case she’d wedged behind his back.

“Damn.” Her curse echoed on the humid air. She’d forgotten to get a knife to cut his ropes. Dashing to passenger door Kate delved into her bag and came up with her nail scissors. The nylon cords binding the victim may not be very thick, but she expected her small pair of scissor would struggle to cut through them. Not sure what she was looking for Kate searched her surroundings for something that might cut through the bonds more easily. A long dilapidated shed, its wooden doors all hanging off the hinges, and the corrugated tin sheeting on the roof looked as though it my dissolve into dust if something touched it. It looked too lonely and neglected to be part of someone’s home.

With a sigh she cast another assessing glance at the man and found herself under observation.

“I sincerely hope you were not the person who knocked me senseless this morning. At least I presume it was this morning.”

 

Thank you for reading this week's offering,
there are lots more amazing reads at Tuesday's Tales 

Six Sentence Sunday

#2
Thank you to everyone who made my first visit so enjoyable. This weeks 'six' follows on from last week's.
* * *

“No, I don’t need any reminders of my last visit regarding the Kinsale Estate,” Rafe confirmed.

“I never discovered how you managed to evade the executors of the will after Lord Kinsale‟s death,” Arthur lied.

“When they couldn’t trace you, they got in touch with Cadmore.

Apparently, he managed to convince them of the legitimacy of his claim, and he moved from London to live at the Hall for the next five years.”

“Why only five years?” Rafe asked, while trying to convince himself nothing more than idle curiosity prompted his question.

“He died in a turf-war shooting.”

* * *

Duty Calls is available ~ HERE  HERE & HERE

Please visit my website to learn more, and read the reviews.

Visit aother participants of Six Sunday Sentence HERE

Beth Trissel talks about her chosen genres.

Today Beth Trissel tells us why she's chosen to cross genres in her books.  Thank you for joining us at THoR today, Beth. :-)

Many authors wisely choose a genre and stick with it. Most master a specific time period, such as the Regency romance world, and set up camp there. Not me. Like a restless spirit, I wander about visiting various places, even time travel to land in some of them. Writing would be far easier if I’d stay put, but not, I expect, as much fun. So I write both historical, with varying time periods and settings, and light paranormal romance, generally with a time travel or ghost in the fantasy meld.

In Daughter of the Wind, I even ventured into the shape shifting realm with a bearwalking Shawnee warrior. Depending upon whom you consult among the Shawnee, they may not consider this to be ‘fantasy’ but an actual ability some of their people possess, or used to in ages past. Daughter of the Wind also has a magical moonstone necklace which I wish I could’ve kept, but the novel sucked that prize in and won’t let me have it back. Bummer.
I can understand why you wanted to keep it, I love moonstone. :-)

Light paranormal romance Somewhere My Lass was a departure for me in that I also wove kewl sci-fi stuff into this Scottish time travel. My paranormals require the same research I’d do for a historical because there are other time periods to explore, and then the added contemplation involved in otherworldly elements, so they are not easy, but enjoyable in a challenging way. I admit to gleaning inspiration from some of the movies I’ve seen, and a few stories I’ve read, but I do have an occasional original thought, more than I’m sometimes given credit for.

To further explore my latest light paranormal release, here’s the blurb and excerpt from Somewhere My Lass. For more on me, my blog is the happening place: https://bethtrissel.wordpress.com/

Blurb:
Neil MacKenzie's well ordered life turns to chaos when Mora Campbell shows up claiming he's her fiance from 1602 Scotland. Her avowal that she was chased to the future by clan chieftain, Red MacDonald, is utter nonsense, and Neil must convince her that she is just addled from a blow to her head--or so he believes until the MacDonald himself shows up wanting blood.

Mora knows the Neil of the future is truly her beloved Niall who disappeared from the past. Although her kinsmen believe he's dead, and she is now destined to marry Niall's brother, she's convinced that if she and Neil return to the past, all will be right. The only problem is how to get back to 1602 before it's too late.

The balance of the present and future are in peril if she marries another, and the Neil of the present will cease to exist. An ancient relic and a few good friends in the future help pave the way back to the past, but will Mora and Neil be too late to save a love that began centuries before?

Excerpt:
“You are a beauty.” His words were a hoarse whisper.
The rise and fall of her chest betrayed a deep inhalation of breath. A flicker of reproach lit her eyes. 
“I dinna think ye took heed of me at all.”
He winced at the well-deserved jab. “About before, I’m sorry I left you so suddenly. But there’s no earthly way I could fail to notice you. I’d have to be deaf, dumb, and blind and even then…”
The tension in her face eased and then the hurt returned. “Oh, aye? How could ye forget all ye knew?” 
He remained as he was, threading that wealth of hair through his fingers. Again, the rational part of him argued, “Is it possible you’re imagining you knew me before?”
She balked, a mutinous glint in her eyes. “Nae.”
He slid his hand to the finely crafted silver chain at her throat and coaxed the coverlets further down.
A slight gasp escaped her lips. He muted any outward response to the thrill running through him. 
The scooped neckline of her nightgown revealed the tops of white breasts sprinkled with freckles. Above this heart-hammering sight hung the crucifix. “I gave this to you?” he managed to ask without betraying the swell of emotion surging inside him.
“At our betrothal.”

Giveaway

Let's throw a giveaway into this. 

A winner chosen from among those who leave comments between the 8th and 11th of Jan

 gets a digital copy of Somewhere My Lass.

Beth will choose a winner on the evening (her time) of Tuesday 11th January

Facebook Fan Page: http://tinyurl.com/33udfb4
My Website: http://www.bethtrissel.com/index.html
MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/bctrissel
My Blog: http://bethtrissel.wordpress.com/
Twitter: http://twitter.com/BethTrissel
2008 Golden Heart® Finalist:
2008 Winner Preditor's & Editor's Readers Poll:
Publisher’s Weekly BHB Reader’s Choice Best Books of 2009:
Romance Charged With Danger From Ages Past!:

All photographs provided by Beth Trissel

Meet Roman ~ Pepper O'Neal's hero in Chasing Destiny

Today I’m interviewing Roman Fernwood, the half vampire-half Lycan hero from my upcoming novel, Blood Fest: Chasing Destiny, scheduled to be released on March 17, 2011 by Black Opal Books—www.blackopalbooks.com. 

Pepper: So Roman, you’re half Lycan and half vampire. How does that work? Were you bitten by both creatures? 

Roman: (chuckling): No, I wasn’t bitten at all. I was born this way. My mother was a vampire and my father was the Lycan alpha who fell in love with her. Becoming a vampire or a werewolf from an infection you get by being bitten is just a myth. An infection can’t really change your basic DNA. While vampires and shifters have been known to take humans for mates, they can’t change the humans into a vampire or a shifter. But if you read the book, you’ll see there are some really nice perks for the human mates.   

Pepper: What about your diet? Is that a myth as well? Can vampires eat real food or just blood?
Roman: Well, vampires aren’t able to process solid food, so they’re stuck with a liquid diet, which does consist of mostly blood. They can also drink alcohol, tea, and fruit and vegetable juice. However, because I’m half Lycan, I am able to eat solid food. And being a wolf, I mostly hunt for my dinner, although I still require human blood for my vampire half.

Pepper: Human blood? Eewww, do I even want to know how that works? 
Roman: Well, it’s not as bad as it sounds, but you’ll have to read the book if you want to know more. Your publisher won’t let me give away too many secrets. 

Pepper: So can you tell us what some of the other myths about vampires are and which ones are true?
Roman: Sure. Sunshine is very uncomfortable for us, but it’s not fatal. It hurts our eyes and is painful to our exposed skin. It feels rather like a severe allergy. But it just makes us miserable, it doesn’t kill us. Garlic has no effect on us at all. In fact, I love the taste of garlic. Crosses are another thing that has no effect. But silver will harm me because I’m half Lycan. It would take a lot of silver to kill me as I’m also half vampire, but silver is one of the few things that could do me serious damage. 

Pepper: If silver kills a werewolf, how do you kill a vampire? 
Roman: The only way is to kill them to decapitate them or destroy them by fire. For centuries decapitation has been the accepted method of killing vampires sentenced to death by The Council. Now, I know what you’re going to ask, and yes, we do police our own. We have only two laws, but the penalty for breaking either one is death. The two laws are 1) don’t reveal the presence of vampires, shifters, or other so-called paranormal creatures. And 2) don’t kill innocent humans. 

Pepper: And how do you determine what is an innocent human and what isn’t?  Roman: Well, that’s very complicated, and I’m afraid we don’t really have time for me to answer it here. I can tell you that auras play a part in it. But for more than that I guess you’ll just have to read the book. 

Pepper: Can you tell us how you deal with the two sides of your nature? How do you feel about being such a unique work of nature? 
Roman: (a wicked grin): “A unique work of nature, huh?” That’s an interesting way to phrase it. I like your style. But to be perfectly honest, I love being paranormal. I can’t imagine life without the enhanced senses and abilities I have as a result of my genetic makeup. My vision and hearing are far superior to that of humans, and my reflexes are much faster. Then there’s the freedom that comes from being able to turn into a wolf and run through the forests on four legs instead of two. It’s an absolutely incredible feeling. I’d have to say, I don’t see much of a downside, at least as far as my nature is concerned. And you’d think that with being half vampire and half Lycan, I’d be weaker than the full bloods of either species. But strangely, I’m not. My Lycan senses and abilities enhance my vampire traits, so my hearing, sight, and sense of smell is better than they would be if I was a full blood of either species. I also have the unique vampire abilities such as a heightened sixth sense, hypnotic eyes, and veiling, which most Lycans don’t have. And I have increased physical strength due to my Lycan genes, so I am stronger than normal vampires. I guess you could say I got the best of both worlds.

Pepper: We’re almost out of time here, but before we go, can you give us a brief rundown of a couple of your co-stars in Blood Fest: Chasing Destiny? 
Roman: Sure, I’d be glad to. First, there’s Chase Alcott. Chase is a handful. She’s smart, clever, and stubborn. Boy, is she stubborn! She’s also half human and half Tigris (tiger shifter). When I first meet Chase, she’s unaware of her paranormal nature, or the fact that she’s coming into her first heat. Which means I have to tell her. And you can just imagine how well that goes over. Then there’s Drake. Now, Drake’s a hell of a guy. He’s a full blood Siberian Tigris, and he looks it. He’s tall, muscular, handsome, and he’s the alpha leader of the local Tigris pride. He’s also my biggest competition for Chase’s affection. But believe me, I’m bloody well not giving her up without a fight.

Pepper: Thank you, Roman.

Blood Fest: Chasing Destiny sounds like a fascinating story. We’ll be watching for it on March 17, 2011 from Black Opal Books at

 www.blackopalbooks.com.

If you’d like to read the blurb, go to http://pepperoneal.com/blood-fest-series 

You can also read an excerpt at http://pepperoneal.com/blood-fest-series/excerpt-chasing-destiny 

And you can contact me at http://www.pepperoneal.com/contact

All photos provided by Pepper O'Neal