Quotes and Snippets: Dracula's Desires

 John Jante’s life hung by a thread.

Valerie could smell his blood hanging in the air. If those idiot Fallen Angels let him die, she’d empty hell itself in vengeance.

She gunned her black 1966 Shelby Mustang to the limit, burying the tachometer in the red. The tires howled as the car fishtailed against the gravel-laden highway cutting through the Swiss Alps. Cursing, she spun the steering wheel against the skid and roared between two honking tourist buses.

“Lucifer’s wormy teeth, I spit at thee.” She damned the slow moving vehicles.

The heavily forested mountains and charming villages blurred until the view out her window seemed an unending wall of green and stone. Lake Geneva was nothing but a long deep blue line below her. The powerful engine propelled her through the hairpin turns faster than a vampire could run. Her smaller weapons duffel sat on the passenger seat, an innocent black bag filled with high-powered destruction.

The Blood Wings Trilogy:
Dracula's Secret, Book One. At Amazon. At Barnes and Noble.
Check out a chapter!

Dracula's Desires, Book Two. At Amazon. At Barnes and Noble.
Check out a chapter!

Dracula Unleashed, Book Three. At Amazon. At Barnes and Noble.
Check out a Chapter!

Quotes and Snippets: Dracula's Desires.

Here are a couple of my secondary characters from Dracula's Desires, Anthony and Glenath.

Anthony O’Neill, one of the four vampires left on earth, hero of the French Resistance, recent instrument in the downfall of a Presidential hopeful, and currently on his honeymoon, found his wife stoned out her mind in an Amsterdam coffee shop.

The establishment was nice enough, at least, instead of one of those tiny ones that used cracked red plastic banquet chairs for seating. Glenath Tempesta, the love of his life, and her flowing skirts were draped over a worn velvet sofa.

“Have some of the space cake. I haven’t had anything this good since the ‘60s,” she giggled.

Her long wild grey hair framed her sensual face and heavy grey smoke framed her luscious reclined body. Young skinny males buzzed around her, each vying for his darling’s attention. Even in her sixties, his Glenath turned men’s heads with her sensuality and earthy style.


Buying and testing links:
Dracula's Secret, Book One. At Amazon. At Barnes and Noble.
Check out a chapter!

Dracula's Desires, Book Two. At Amazon. At Barnes and Noble.
Check out a chapter!

Dracula Unleashed, Book Three. At Amazon. At Barnes and Noble.
Check out a Chapter!

Quotes and snippets: Dracula's Desires

A teaser from my second book, Dracula's Desires.

Chapter One
What in Hell was a Fallen Angel doing in Geneva, Switzerland?

That caustic brimstone stench could warn a city of half-dead humans with nose colds busily shoveling manure, let alone a solitary vampire minding her own business. Valerie Tate set aside her ancient manuscript about vampires and looked out her cheap hotel room’s filthy window to take stock of the newcomer.

Aching from yesterday’s long drive from Amsterdam to Geneva, she put her hands on the small of her back and stretched, counterbalancing the weight of her six months pregnant stomach.

She wasn’t interested in being a mother, but her curiosity demanded that she see what happened. Right now, an emissary from Lucifer was happening.

Dracula's Secret is on sale!

If you've been waiting to pick up Dracula's Secret, now is the time. It is only $1.99 over at Amazon. 

Buy it here!

As always, you can buy Dracula's Desires, Book Two of the Blood Wings series, here. 

Taste the Desire, Part Five

Chapter One, continued.

As he neared her door, he reached inside his suit jacket. Like a magician pulling a chainsaw from a top hat, the former angel drew a pistol the size of Valerie’s forearm.

Valerie raised an eyebrow. Or he could be the universe’s stupidest assassin.

She assessed her situation.

     Him: Older, meaner, with the advantage of calling high-powered backup.

     Her: Pregnant, tired, hungry, pissed-off, and trapped in a small enclosed space.

     The odds were bad.

     Just the way she liked it.

Taste the Desire, Part Four

Chapter One, continued.

His lack of originality told Valerie that this was not one of the Fallen who had chosen to ride the Wheel to redemption. He had remained loyal to Lucifer. In short, Lucifer’s cannon fodder. His slow ramble toward her dilapidated room did not reveal any danger. He might be insipid, but he also might be good for a laugh.

The dusty gravel cracked and rolled under his feet. His suit rubbed against itself, the expensive fabric shushing in a pleasing fashion. He was making sure she knew he was there. If he’d been coming to kill her, he would have materialized in her room and destroyed her as she lay resting.

As the Fallen neared her door, his innately chaotic nature tugged at her already-sensitive nipples. Paranormal beings had been created to keep the Fallen company. Perhaps this one came to provide solace for her heartbroken state, one lost creature to another. She wouldn’t love him, but at least they would understand each other.

Besides, she had heard the best way to get over someone was to get under someone else. She doubted it, though. Since the 1400s, Valerie had bared herself to only two lovers: her wife, Ilona, and then Lance. Each of them had destroyed her, freezing her emotions with devastating regret and fear.

Sadly, she set aside any thoughts of a distracting seduction.

Taste the Desire: Part three

Chapter One, Continued.

Her eyes stung with tears. Lance’s angelic blood and her subsequent pregnancy had weakened her. Not physically—she was still as strong as ever. In fact, Lance’s painful gifts had increased her powers. But it had humanized her as well. Now she wept. Wept! A six-hundred-year-old vampire crying at the slightest provocation? She had executed her own wife without a single moan. Now, she whined like a hungry puppy when she remembered how Lance left her behind. That was nothing compared to her past.

 She drew back her arm to punch the thin wall by the window, sick of her fragility. As her fist arrowed to shatter the cut-rate plaster, she regained her self-control. Her knuckles lightly tapped the faded gray of the wall.

Stop it. Six months of her pathetically weak will letting her think of what she no longer had. That was then. This was now.

Lance wasn’t worth any more of her time. There was a Fallen Angel to watch. She had to stay focused.

In addition to his dull aura, his overly neat, shiny Italian suit and highly fashionable skinny tie betrayed his vanity. The high-end narrow jacket emphasized his sensual build. Honesty forced her to admit that the Angelic Host didn’t exactly have what could be called fashion sense. All that gleaming white could get old for the flamboyant sort.

Dracula's Desire: Taste the Desire, part two

Chapter One

What in hell was a Fallen Angel doing in Geneva, Switzerland?

That caustic brimstone stench could warn a city of half-dead humans with nose colds busily shoveling manure, let alone a solitary vampire minding her own business. Valerie Tate set aside her ancient manuscript about vampires and looked out her cheap hotel room’s filthy window to take stock of the newcomer.

Aching from yesterday’s long drive from Amsterdam to Geneva, she put her hands on the small of her back and stretched, counterbalancing the weight of her six-months’-pregnant stomach.

She wasn’t interested in being a mother, but her curiosity demanded that she see what happened. Right now, an emissary from Lucifer was happening.

The Fallen appeared as a handsome young man. His sleek swimmer’s build combined with pale skin, and cornflower blue eyes gave him an innocent, wistful air. If he’d been human, she would have contemplated the taste of his blood. Unfortunately, his aura was a sickeningly depressing shade of beige. He had no passion, no flavor. He was a follower.

Valerie preferred fiery men. A man like Lance Soliel, whose aura crackled with ardor, whose hot mouth and hotter intellect had captured her dead and frozen heart.

Dracula's Desires: Taste the desire.

To celebrate the release of Dracula's Desires, I'm going to release little snippets of the first two chapters here at my blog.

Introduction

On a wild, evil night in 1431 AD, Vlad II Dracul’s second son was born. The parents named their child Vlad III, after his father. This child grew up to become one of the most famous torturers in the world: Vlad the Impaler, Vlad Tepes, best known as Dracula. The stories of his atrocities grew even greater when he refused death and became the legendary vampire.

     Throughout the centuries, the younger Vlad allied himself with leaders who promised an orderly, centralized government that would control an unruly, chaotic Europe. His goal came to the end when he died in Berlin, another dupe used by Hitler to achieve his crazed goals.

The problem with once-upon-a-time stories? They get the important things wrong.

Dracula's Desires comes out in two days!

Book Two of the Blood Wings series is on the cusp of being released!

Click here to pre-order.

Dracula's Desires is available for pre-sale!

The second book in the Blood Wings Series, Dracula's Desires, is now up on Amazon and other e-retailers for pre-order. It will be released September 20th!

Isn't it a gorgeous, sexy cover?

Woohoo!

Me on the Pont Neuf in 2010

I made it! I got the manuscript for Dracula's Desires in to my editor, Martin Biro at Kensington.

I am taking a few days off, then I get to dive into brainstorming for Book Three in addition to doing the revisions my editor will want me to do for Dracula's Desires.

Try, try again.

Yesterday was a low output day - only 5 pages out of my goal of 12. That said, I did some very good work on moving things around and making the flow better.

Today is day five of my ten day marathon. Let's see where it goes today.

Booyah!

Yesterday was a power day - I not only made up the four pages from Thursday, I managed to get ahead a page. That's *17* pages in ONE day!

Day Two

Missed my goal of 12 pages, but I got 8 on the computer and 2 1/2 handwritten. I'm calling that good, since one page of handwritten translates to 1 1/2 pages typed.

Had an attack of fear last night, but this morning I have my strategy all mapped out. Just gotta keep moving.

Go, go, go!

Work, work, work. Managed to edit ten chapters in less than a week. Go me!

Making progress!

I just sent my teaser chapter for Book Two (still untitled) off to my editor!

How about a pretty picture to celebrate?

Soon, I will celebrate by doing this myself, and not just by looking at a picture!

So yeah, that writing thing.

I'm at the first draft stage of Book Two, the sequel to Dracula's Secret. I thought I might give you all a peek into what I've been doing for research and prep work.

 Here is Daniel Craig, the model for my hero Lance Soliel. I have several pictures of him (yes, in various states of undress) to show me what Lance's moods and body language is like.

 Here are some pictures of Georgia May Jagger (daughter of Jerry Hall and Mick Jagger). She is the model for my antagonist for Book Two. I've got that character's backstory and Goal, Motivation, and Conflict finished. She's going to be very cool, and I think very different from anyone I've written before.

 I like to start off with hand-writing a lot of my first draft ideas and scenes. Keeps me from getting too self-critical about the quality of the work and lets me just roll with my brain.

I also have my plot turning points figured out for my main three characters and their relationships with each other and themselves. This gives me a road map of where I'm going, instead of flailing around blindly for ideas. I just have to look over my notes and something will trip my creative triggers.

And there we go!

I'm off to work now.

Well, so much for that.

Every time I sat down to write about archetypes, I managed to find something else that really really had to be done at that moment.

Like plucking my eyebrows. Or starting an IM with a friend. And quite frankly, it was amazing how often I really needed a nap Right Now.

I finally had to admit to myself that my brain was not ready for archetypes right now. Curses!

Instead, I'm getting ready for a Winter Writing Intensive put on by the Rose City Romance Writers. Michael Hauge and Bob Mayer are coming to the area and are planning on kicking our asses. I'm preparing by getting my new work-in-progress to the point where I can discuss it (sort of) intelligently.

So I'm back to that!

Back to work.

Today, I officially started on The Sequel (title still unknown, sorry). I've had several outlines, plots, and ideas for this book, but since I changed the ending for Dracula's Secret, I had to start completely from scratch.

I don't worry about all the previous work because I've found that writing is never wasted. I know it'll be useful, and most likely sooner rather than later. :)

And to top it off, I found my plot! I'm not going to announce it yet, because things can always change (and usually do), but for now, I have an road map for myself. I also started in on my GMC charts.

And that makes for a very very good day. :)