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Cliff-hangers and Storylines

I finally had a chance to see The Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug yesterday. At the end of the movie, a voice asked in shock, “Is that the end?” It was quite a cliff-hanger! My brother asked me what I thought of the ending. “You better not complain,” he said, “Since that’s how all your readers feel!”

I had to laugh. Yes, I wished dearly that I could have simply pushed a button on a remote and started the third movie right then and there. But I appreciated the extra storyline and characters that went into making the Hobbit an epic trilogy in its own right, rather than just a short prequel. I loved bringing Legolas, Tauriel, and Killi into the story in a more meaningful way. The consequences of Bilbo using the Ring were made more clear, as was the budding danger of the Necromancer, and the folly of the squabbling dwarves, elves and men.

In short, it can be at least said in my defense that I am not a hypocrite. I write the same kind of stories I enjoy reading–and watching. I would rather spend more time in a richly developed world, and add wonderful characters and spectacle fight scenes, than rush along for the sake of fitting everything into two hours. (For those who want that version of the Hobbit, I direct you to the cartoon made some years ago.) Even if the price is a cliff-hanger.

See, I can be mature about these things…

Haahahahahah. Who am I fooling? I want the third movie now. Now! NOOOOOWWWWWWW!

Bella Notte (Bella Vampires Series, Book 1) by Jesse Kimmel-Freeman

Vampires? Check. Werewolves? Check. Death prophecy to hang over your head? Double check. Seventeen year old Emma Hutchinson struggles to find her place in the world she has been born to as she tries to decide whether she should be with Michael, the boy she has been dreaming about since she was three or if she belongs with Dominic, her betrothed.

Download Bella Notte from Amazon, Barnes and Noble or iTunes. Print editions are available on Amazon and CreateSpace. Bella Notte is available in the box set that has the first three books in the series with their accompanying short stories as an Amazon exclusive.

Excerpt: Prologue

The sky was growing dark crimson over the clearing in the forest behind our house as I drifted across the glen toward the edge of the trees. I walked as if I knew exactly what it was I was looking for, and where I was going to find it as well.

A small crackling noise caused me to stop halfway across the field. I turned to look in the direction the sound came from- that’s when I saw him.

Those dark green eyes and his dark auburn spikes were so familiar after seeing them for the past fourteen years, that it was always a relief to see him.

He walked towards me, and stopped at my side. The dry winter grass beneath our feet was barely audible as we took a step forward, lacing our fingers together.

The sky was no longer crimson, but had transformed into a deep indigo and a slight breeze had picked up. The hairs on my arms rose as the chill in the air assaulted my body. I moved closer to him out of instinct. His body temperature seemed to be so much higher than mine that just being near him kept me warm, strangely from the inside out. The moon had risen. The color was a frightening shade of blood red and the wind strewn clouds blew across the face of the cratered orb. He held suddenly, very still, as the breeze brought scents from across the clearing. With his eyes closed, he breathed in deeply. Those dark emeralds popped back into view and carried the fear that the grimace on his face displayed.

That’s when we heard it- the howl. The sound was terrifying, like a large wolf. Somehow, inside, I knew it wasn’t a wolf, at least not in the conventional sense, and that scared me more than anything. My body froze and my mind blanked with fear. I watched his grimace change to a visible snarl and those beautiful green eyes flash a dangerous shade of ruby. The next thing I knew he was pushing me out of the field and into the cover of the trees.

I wanted to plead to him, but no words would form with my dry tongue sticking to every ridge in my mouth. He grabbed hold of me and whispered “run” very softly into my ear- then he was gone. It took me a minute to get over the shock, but then my feet moved as quickly as possible.

I could not escape the sound of his scream as the forest closed its arms around me.

I knew it was a dream, not any dream but the dream. The dream I’ve had since I was a little girl. Every scene was memorized from beginning to end, and I again knew the sting of the silent tears that cascaded down my hot, flushed cheeks.

Find more from Jesse on her website, Twitter, Facebook, Goodreads and Pinterest.

New Year Resolutions for Writing

Each year, I set a writing goal.

Actually, the suggestion comes from my friend Rayne Hall, who also keeps me on target! Last year, my goal, which I achieved, was to write 300,000 words and edit 300,000 words. I did so, squeaking by in December. Since it was a challenging but achievable goal, I’ve made that my overarching goal again this year. I am adding one thing only, which is to count my research, world-building and outlining as a separate category, and add that I want to so 100,000 words of outlining as well. So:

1. 100,000 words outlining/world-building

2. 300,000 writing (draft or full)

3. 300,000 editing or revision

Are New Year’s Resolutions of any value? Do they help or hinder? There’s a TED talk that claims sometimes telling people your goals has the same impact as actually achieving them, so be wary of publicizing goals. If you do set resolutions, and make them public on a blog, make sure it’s to help keep yourself accountable, not to prematurely pat yourself on the back. So, please note, I’m not auto-back-patting here, I’m not trying to plume myself, but to prep myself, and to prod myself, with these goals.

There’s another problem as well. What happens when the goals aren’t met? One of my goals for the past 3 years has been to finish The Unfinished Song series — all 12 books. Since I had a rough draft of the entire story, it didn’t seem unreasonable to expect I could do one book a month. Not only did grad school and babies come along, but what I wanted for the series also changed. Instead of 12 very short novels, all less than 50,000 words, I wanted to make each installment in the series a full novel. (You’ll notice that after Initiate, which is short, all the other books are 80,000 to 120,000 words. QUITE a bit longer.) More importantly, the extra length wasn’t just padding but represented additional storylines and characters, which, in my opinion, deepened and strengthened the story. My primary goal was to write an excellent story, one that would stand the test of time, and if that meant taking the time to rework and rework the story until it was perfect… I was willing and am willing to do that.

That said, it’s still one of my goals this year to finish the series. Trying to be more realistic than I have been in the past (apologies, dear readers!), I am committing to publishing at least the next trilogy in the Unfinished Song: Mask, Mirror and Maze. If I can bring you more than that, be assured I will. Just keep in mind, I want the final trilogy to be a “stunning conclusion” to the whole series, not a let-down, and I won’t compromise on that. So I will work on it as long as it takes to make sure these books are as good as I can write them. I’ll write as fast as I can… but not faster.

One of the ways to keep the Unfinished Song fresh and strong in my mind is to step away from it from time to time and work on other things. That’s to avoid creative burn-out. So I don’t promise I will work ONLY on the Unfinished Song this year. In fact, I have a few projects I would like to get started or continue this year. You’ve not seen most of these yet, and they might not be published this year at all. Right now, most are still in the world-building, research and outlining stage.

Here are the series I anticipate actively working on (in various stages):

Series in Progress:

1. Unfinished Song
2. Roxy Hood (a new Urban Fantasy series about a descendent of Little Red Riding Hood)
3. Tarot Temptations (a Paranormal Romance series in the planning stages)
4. Avatars of the Archons (a High Fantasy series)
5. STRAT

The break-down of sub-goals — which, I should note, are  more fluid, and may change with circumstance, are:

• Detailed outline of the next Unfinished Song trilogy (Mask, Mirror, Maze)
• Trunk drafts of Mask, Mirror, Maze (the trunk draft of Mask is done but not the others)
• Revise, edit, polish, and publish – Mask, Mirror, Maze

• Detailed outline of the final Unfinished Song trilogy
• Trunk drafts of the final trilogy

• Detailed outline of at least three Roxy Hood novels
• Trunk draft of at least one Roxy Hood novel

• Coordinate with possible co-author about writing some Tarot Temptations novels

• Detailed outline of STRAT: COIN

• Rough outline of Avatars of the Archons 5-book series

As you can see, the main writing-in-full will still be on The Unfinished Song, but in between, I’ll be doing research and outlining for future works.

If you read  carefully (for whatever deranged reason anyone would be reading this post carefully… I realize it might be completely dull to anyone but me…) you’ll notice that if I do the Tarot Temptations, it might be with a co-author, specifically another writer friend who has more experience with romance and erotica than I do. This series would be Paranormal Romance, with hot and sexy scenes, but not full-on erotica.

I’ve never worked with a co-author before. Totally new territory! Working with a co-author could make the whole thing go faster, enabling us both to publish those books sooner (maybe even later this year), or it could be a complete train-wreck, full of drama, heart-ache, and mutual voodoo curses that raise the dead on a global scale. Fun!

If that project develops further, whether fantastically or demonically, I’ll be sure and keep you updated.

Lindsay Buroker on Lessons Learned from Three Years of Self-Publishing

Lindsay Burokoer, a long-time writer friend and great blogger–who recently featured a guest post of mine about the Faery Worlds Book Bundle–has posted her reflections and lessons learned from three years of self-publishing.

Lindsay and I started self-publishing about the same time. Perhaps it’s not too surprising, then, that we’ve learned some of the same lessons. I completely agree with what she has to say.

Read the whole thing, but here are some high-lights:

Lesson #2: A series with dedicated readers is what leads to reliable income.

Over time, the numbers tell you how many people go on to buy subsequent books after trying the first, so you’ve got a good idea how many buyers you’re going to have each month if you can get X number of new people to pick up the first book. You also get an idea of how many people will buy the next installment before you even start writing it. With unrelated works, things are more hit-and-miss. You might get lucky and attract an all-new audience, but you might also find that fewer of your dedicated readers will try the new characters/new world.

Lesson #3: You should give a book time on the market before giving up on it or making hasty decisions regarding series-potential.

Based off early reviews, I almost scrapped Torrent and the notion of doing a subsequent series. At one point, I was going to take it down from the store altogether. The only reason I didn’t was because it was clearly set up as a Book 1 and I felt compelled to write more in the series at some point, so people wouldn’t be left hanging.

So what eventually happened with Torrent? I left it up there while I went on to my other stuff, and it’s actually sold well, quite well when you consider that I haven’t mentioned it anywhere since launch weekend back in September. Even for launch, I didn’t do more than announce it to my newsletter, and throw up a post on Facebook and Twitter. I haven’t spent a penny on advertising (I always figured I would wait until I had more books out in the series). I’ve also had some nice emails and comments from readers who enjoyed it and want to see more. In addition, I got an email from someone at Amazon last month, and they may include it in some kind of featured sale in a couple of months (no guarantees, but, hey, they’ve never emailed me about any of my other books). So that brings me to…

Lesson #4: Glowing reviews don’t always make for a best-seller and the book that gets hammered hardest might just sell well.

I should note that I agree with some of the critiques for the book, and I’ll try to address certain points and improve on things as I go forward in the series. However, it’s also worth pointing out that…

Lesson #5: If you publish something in a different genre, you risk displeasing people who prefer the old.

As authors, we sometimes like to jump around and explore new genres and different styles of writing. (Why of course it’s time to try something in first person!) There’s nothing wrong with that, but we have to realize that those people who really liked our old genre and old style of writing may not be excited about the new. I think the next time I jump to a different genre (there’s going to be a space-age SF series eventually, so look out!), I’ll mention it to the mailing list but won’t do the big discount to try and encourage them to try it. If they do and they like it, great, but I’ll go to the book blogs and genre-specific advertisers and try to first put it in front of those who really dig that type of book.

There’s much more so be sure you read the rest on her blog.

Taste for Blood: Stir by Jenna Bernel

Daniella Madison’s existence teeters on a wobbly tightrope, and at any moment the wire could snap.  Each time she travels to The Basement, she knows she’s risking her life, but the reward is worth it, to be a slayer in the purest sense. With the help of her partner, Eli, she is on a mission to find her next target, but Daniella’s efforts come to a startling halt, when the darkness of underground finds its way into the sun.

When Alec, the only other day-walker she’s ever met, walks into her high school, Dani feels as though the rope was cut beneath her feet, and she’ll quickly plummet to her death. Alec claims he wants to protect her from the highest order of their kind, but Dani is not so sure and questions his intentions, trying to understand his sudden presence in her human life. Against all logic Dani finds herself inexplicably drawn into his alluring gaze, but she knows he can’t be trusted and struggles to keep her secrets safe. Dani leads a double life that was never meant to intertwine. The real question is, can she trust herself to stay strong as her two worlds collide, spinning her life out of control, and the lives of the people she cares for most, completely out of her hands.

Download Stir  on Amazon.

Excerpt

A few silent minutes later, we pulled into the school parking lot, and Alec hopped out, running around to open Kate’s door.  I was so surprised, I sat there stupidly for a minute, and he managed to get my door too, before I could object.  I stepped, out eyeing him suspiciously, and wondering what his game was today.

“Thank you, Alec.  It’s so nice to finally have a gentleman at our school.”  Kate praised him, swooning at his little gesture, and I clenched my jaw, not pleased by how easily he was accepted into our group.  At least, Evan was still on my side.  She waved goodbye and said she’d see me in AP History, as she ran off to her class on the other side of campus.

“What was that about?  If you even think about working your so-called charms on my best friend as some sort of twisted play to get into my head, I swear I will snap your neck when you least expect it,” I threatened, stepping into him, and pushing an accusatory finger into his chest.  He tilted his head down until his smoldering eyes locked onto mine, not at all intimidated by my words.  He grabbed my hand from his chest and wrapped it behind his neck, picking me up until we were eye-to-eye, in one startling swoop.

“Who says Kate is the one I’m trying to so-call charm?”  He asked with a hint of a smile as he spun us in a slow circle, with my feet dangling off the ground.  As we turned, his eyes became even more torrid with something.  I didn’t get it.  I’d swear he was trying to Trance me with a Gifted form of hypnosis that somehow affected vampires, but all I could see were the students who stopped walking into school in order to stare at us before pulling out their phones.  I shook my head in annoyance that this little show would soon be on record, and wiggled out of his embrace to land my feet on the ground.

“You work for the 7th Circle, so you should know the rules.  And I thought we already talked about this flirty crap yesterday.  Do you really think I’m that naïve?”  This was getting offensive, as if his phony, flirtatious games could sway my opinion toward wanting him here.  I began to walk away, but he caught my wrist, spinning me around to face him.

“Like you said, Dani.  This isn’t The Basement; this is high school.  So as far as I’m concerned, all the rules have changed.  And if I recall, you seemed very inviting toward me yesterday at the dugout,” he mused, and I nodded in sarcastic agreement.

“Yeah, remind me again, was that before or after I kicked your ass?”  I said with an inquisitive tilt of my head.

“That’s not exactly how I remember it.  I think you’re just lashing out because I wasn’t stupid enough to fall for your anti-vamp blood,” he countered, and I stumbled back a few steps with my mouth hanging open in shock, and Alec kept his hold my wrist matching my steps to keep me from falling.

“Who are you?”  I asked through a quiet breath.

“I told you, Dani, the sooner you trust me the better.”  He leaned into my ear and his hand holding my wrist glided down until our fingers wove together.

“You don’t have to hide with me,” he whispered and strangely, our hands seemed to reluctantly untangle when he stepped past me and started moving through the parking lot.  I stood there frozen, watching him walk into my school, right into my life, and my stomach clenched with uninvited butterflies.  How could he know all my secrets?

Download Stir  on Amazon.

Find more from Jenna on her blog, Facebook and Twitter.

A Measure of Rice

Rice in North Korea was distributed by the government. Despite the official Communist ideology of “equality,” everything, even the daily ration of rice, was regulated by a strict caste system.

During the 1990s, rampant corruption and government mismanagement of the country’s resources resulted in a terrible famine. Rice rations were cut across the nation, but especially for the less “desirable” castes.

Would you like to read this and other stories on your Kindle?  

A Deepening Knowledge (A Life of Magic Book 2) by Matthew D. Mitchell

The first thing to reach my brain was noise. A muffled sloshing, like blood in a bowl. Shallow breaths being taken by two other people. No other noise. I opened my eyes and there was no change. No light penetrated the depth of the darkness. I could now feel that I rested on a squishy surface that slid and heaved under my body.

Rejoin Ott on a journey full of humor, talking creatures, magic, romance, and an enemy who is laying plans.

Download A Deepening Knowledge on Amazon.

Excerpt

“So we probably have a long time till we reach the surface.” I stated. At least we knew something now. Suzie looked at me and grinned. “Well then. Since we are stuck here should we talk?” Something in her voice made me nervous. Raven’s grin did not help at all.

“Yes, why not talk?” Raven chimed in while scooting closer. The glow on the back of her hand had spread more.

“What would you ladies like to talk about?” I stupidly asked. I felt like I was missing something, yet I could not stop myself.

“Why the oldest riddle of all time.” Suzie slyly grinned. “Love.”

“What about love?” I again could not help myself. I was walking into a trap, I could see that now.

Raven’s smile grew wider and more sneakingly. “Why, Ott. What do you think of love?”

Suzie’s smile was resembling Raven’s, “Yes Ott, who do you love?”

“What? Who?” I stumbled over my words. “Who says I love anyone or anything?” Time to find another type of escape. Both girls looked at each other and giggled. Giggled! Both of them!

“Why Ott, I do believe you are blushing.” Suzie’s eye’s glowed with mirth.

“You do know, dear Suzie, what that means?” Raven’s eyes had grown darker. “There is in fact something or someone he loves.”

Oh man. “Well, of course I love. I love my friends, my family, even some of my prized possesions.” I was scrambling for safe ground.

“And that makes you blush?” Suzie just would not let go.

“I think there is more to it.” Raven stated. “I think there is someone he does not want us to know about.”

Both girls grinned. “But perhaps we should discuss this at a later time.” Suzie seemed a tad hesitant to continue.

Raven looked at Suzie and nodded. “Perhaps that is best for now.” She looked at me, her eyes deep and penetrating. “But we should discuss it more later.”

I just stood there stunned. I thought I was in real trouble, but now I felt confused. Who did I really love? Did I love either of these amazing girls?

I looked at Suzie who smiled. She was a fun loving, free spirited woman who enjoyed teasing me. I knew she was interested in me, that had already been discussed. Did I love her? I know I enjoyed her company and she was a very beautiful women. She blushed and turned away at my lingering gaze.

I turned to Raven and realized she had watched my appraisal of Suzie. Her eyes were dark and mysterious. This woman drove me insane, yet I found her alluring. A mysterous air always seemed to flow around her very being. At times she was abrupt with me and at others moments there seemed to be a gentleness that none other might suspect. She fought like a dervish yet showed a kind hand when needed. A true woman of opposites and more complex than most. Her appearance was equal to Suzie yet different. Suzie had a softness to her. Raven had a strength that showed through her femininity.

Raven continued to watch me. I turned away, confused yet coming to some conclusions. I could hear Raven sigh and she leaned against Suzie. Their whispers carried just enough that I knew they were talking, yet I could not discern what subject.

Download A Deepening Knowledge on Amazon.

Find more from Matthew on Facebook and Goodreads.

A Grimm Legacy by Janna Jennings

Enchanted castles and charming princes thought to exist only in stories come to life in this classically twisted fairy tale that combines the timeless quality of generations old folktales with the challenges of the modern world.

The woods of Elorium appear ordinary to Andi Grace, until birds start talking and elves answer doors. Along with three others, Andi has been whisked out of her world and finds herself the reluctant guest of the perplexing millionaire, Mr. Jackson—a stranger willing to help get them home, but who’s keeping secrets of his own.

Discovering unexpected family connections to this fairy tale land, the group must rely on each other as they dodge evil fairies and battle giants, intent on keeping them in Elorium.

Faced with characters short on whimsy and bent towards treachery, Andi, Quinn, Fredrick and Dylan are forced into fairy tale roles to find the way home. But in Elorium, happily ever after is never guaranteed.

Download A Grimm Legacy on Amazon, Barnes and Noble and iTunes.

 Excerpt

With the ground approaching quickly, Fredrick pulled on the toggles to stall his decent. Several yards from the ground, his parachute jerked sharply up, leaving him breathless and twisting in his harness. Glancing skyward to see what he’d snagged on, Fredrick stared into the angry eyes of the giant.

A distraught Quinn was clutched in his fist, crushed between his fingers so tight she looked limp and lifeless. Yanking on the cutaway handle, the shoot detached from his harness and Fredrick dropped to the ground hard, smashing on to the giant’s right foot.

Reflexively, the giant kicked, sending Fredrick sailing into the side of the tower where he bounced against the unforgiving stone and crumpled into a heap. The ground jumped and slid under Fredrick as the giant approached. He clawed at the grass, willing the ground to quit rolling. He’d done some serious injury to his chest that sent stabbing pains through his torso every time he tried to breathe.

The giant’s shadow fell over him from the rising sun and Fredrick rolled to his back in time to see the disgusting blackened bottom of his bare foot descending on him. Moving quickly and smoothly, his hands didn’t seem his own as they drew the machete from its sheath and thrust upwards, connecting with sole of the giant’s foot.

His skin was tougher than Fredrick anticipated, and he leaned into the blade, feeling it slide through the skin and into the muscle beneath. Blood welled around Fredrick’s hands and spilled over him as the weight of the giant continued downward, threatening to crushed him.

The giant howled in pain and kicked out in a panic, wrenching the knife from Fredrick’s blood slicked hands. The massive foot swung out of his line of vision just in time for Fredrick to watch him throw his hands in the air, releasing Quinn. She arced high and sailed over the side of the floating island.

Fredrick wondered why—later, when he had time to reflect—he started thinking he was some kind of superhero, and apparently one that flew. But at the time, he simply sprinted for the side of the island and launched himself into space, desperate to catch Quinn before the ground rushed up to meet them.

Download A Grimm Legacy on Amazon, Barnes and Noble and iTunes.

Find more from Janna on her website, Twitter or Facebook.

Unknown by Melissa Pearl

Darkness is covering the land. As the city of Mezrah grows with power and greed, the rest of the world can only stand by and wait for their inevitable destruction. The only hope against this growing power is an ancient prophecy that people have stopped believing in.

Then a star begins to fall.

Princess Kyla of Taramon stopped trusting in the power of light the day her father died. Trapped in a city she does not care for, under the watchful glare of her mother, the queen, she struggles to accept her fate.

Then a star begins to fall.

Jethro has loved Kyla for as long as he can remember. Learning that she was to marry his cousin drove a wedge between him and the feisty princess. Watching her from a distance is a torture he is unable to free himself from.

Then a star begins to fall, sparking an ember of hope and sending these two seekers on a treacherous journey into the unknown.

SNAP: Happily Ever After? by Michele Drier

Loving Jean-Louis for eternity doesn’t mean that Maxie Gwenoch will let him turn her. Jean-Louis is a vampire, is gorgeous, is the second-in-command of the Kandesky Family of Hungarian vampires, and is her boss at SNAP, the multinational, multimedia celeb gossip empire where she is the VP for International Planning. She moves to Kiev to build a home with Jean-Louis and finds her future under a cloud from Leonid, a rival from the Huszar family, now living in a bolthole in the ruins of Chernobyl. Will Maxie find safety by giving up her days and joining Jean-Louis in the vampire nights?

Download SNAP: Happily Ever After?  from Amazon and Barnes and Noble.

Excerpt

Had I forgotten Leonid? Oh no, I’d never forget him.

He’d captured me, held me hostage for Jean-Louis, beat and raped me, let his toady Jules rape me. Much of the immediate horror of that time was pushed so far back in my mind that it took an effort of will to bring it out, but the fact that it happened never left me.

And I hadn’t forgotten that Leonid got away after the murder verdict and execution of Matthias, the head of the Huszar family.

“You said he couldn’t be found. You said there were only some tales of people and animals going missing in Romania and Belarus.”

His glimmer dimmed then flared back again, a sure sign he was going to try to convince me of something. “It’s true, we believed he was disappearing back in to the countryside. He had no contacts, no money and only a few followers. We didn’t think he’d try and head for Ukraine, but he did. He still had a small nucleus of followers here in Kiev.”

There was no oxygen in the room. I couldn’t breathe. My heart pounded. I knew Jean-Louis saw that. He may not have hunted and killed humans for food for more than 500 years, but his instincts were still there. I tried to keep myself calm around the Kandeskys, hoping they’d forget I was a regular. Fat chance.

On occasions like this, with blind panic and fear running along my nerves and affecting my circulatory system, the vampire’s internal hunting responses started to kick in.

He looked at me. “This is not something I wanted to tell you and I certainly didn’t want to tell you until we had a chance to decipher the information coming in. I had a very different ‘Welcome to Kiev’ planned.”

OK, I knew he’d explain things. But, wow, I didn’t even think that Leonid would be part of the explanation. He watched my eyes fill with remembered terror and reached over to hold me, but I pushed him away.

“And when were you planning to tell me this?”

He sighed. “Nik and I planned an evening with you. We’d tell you about Leonid then go over all that we knew and all that we’re planning to neutralize him. I, we, never want him coming within miles of you ever again.”

I flashed back to my first glimpse of him, standing on the steps of Nik’s mansion so coldly angry that the air around him looked crystalline. “I hope your anger wasn’t part of the plan.”

He threw his head back and laughed. “You ninny! Even teasing me, you do entertain. No, of course not. Now you’ll have to wait. Nik’s already gone up to his room.”

Rooms! Ah ha, an opening. “Speaking of rooms…”

He looked at me, gazed around the room and looked back. “What’s the matter, you don’t like the accommodations?”

I threw my reader at him and followed it up with a pillow. He was fast, batting the pillow back hard enough to knock a gasp out of me. I found a breath. “No, I wasn’t expecting to be put up in an economy hotel. And where’s the help?”

“We were going to hash all of this over with you until you forced a change of plans. You’re going to have to wait for this, too. I will say that we had other ideas about accommodations, but we’re having to use a fall-back position. And until yesterday, we didn’t have one.”

He was up, pacing, a movement I knew well. His mind worked more creatively and clearly when he was on the move. Then his pacing stopped as he threw himself down on the bed next to me, turned my face to his and kissed me, so hard, so long and so deep I melted from the heat that rose to engulf me.

“My love, my love.” He was murmuring into my hair. “I’m desolate without you. If you’re not around when I expect you to be, I panic. I know I react badly, in what looks like anger, but it’s fear…fear of losing you.”

His hands were stroking my hair and moving down my back, then he started pulling my shirt up.

“What do you have on? Where’s all your lingerie? Didn’t you pack it?”

I all but giggled. There were times when I even slept in one of his old shirts, so that I had his scent with me, but tonight I’d been too upset to want anything of him around. And sexy lingerie to sleep alone! No way.

“No thanks to you, but yes, Elise and I packed some things. Of course I don’t have anyone here to help me…”

I stopped. He was helping me. Sort of. He managed to pull the tee over my head, which trapped my arms, and began kissing and slowly licking my breasts, working his way down my body. The bed shifted and I heard sounds of clothing coming off, the soft snick of buttons and the hiss of a zipper. As tangled as I was in the tee, I hadn’t managed to get an arm free before I felt the length of his naked body against mine.

Now I truly melted and lived for the sensations he brought to me.

As I came back to consciousness, I was aware of movement in the room. I opened my eyes to the faintest glimmer of dawn and saw him silhouetted against the window as he pulled the heavy drapes shut.

He turned to me. “It’s six, true dawn is still half an hour away. I’m leaving now. We’re planning dinner and a long conversation tonight. No matter what, remember that I love you for eternity.”

I slept, my body remembering his touch and my mind drifting in an ocean of caring.

Without Elise to wake me, I jerked upright from a deep sleep, disoriented. Where was I? What time was it? The room was dark. I groped around on the bedside table, found a lamp and flipped it on. Memory came washing back. Last night, the wretched fight, Nik’s guest room, Jean-Louis…ah, Jean-Louis. I lay back on the pillows remembering the last look of him closing the curtains…oh, crap! What time was it? I was supposed to meet Jean-Louis and Nik for dinner and a discussion.

I rolled back over and checked. Four in the afternoon. Enough time to shower and get ready, even without help.

The tap on the door came as I was putting the final pins in a wrapped updo. He came in and I stood. I’d chosen a short, layered dress the colors of autumn leaves and strappy two-inch Via Spigas and felt confident enough to hear what the two had to say.

Jean-Louis looked me over and smiled. “I knew when we offered you the job that we’d chosen well. A woman who can overcome adversity, a few little bumps along the road, and still come up looking good enough to eat!”

This time I picked up a pot of blush to throw but decided I didn’t want to waste perfectly good Lazlo on him. He knew I hated those stupid vampire cracks, made them only to push my buttons. I gave him the evil eye as I sailed out the door.

Something was wrong. Something was missing. I looked around as Jean-Louis joined me and took my arm. Bam, that was it. No demons!

Even after the execution, I had demon guards outside the door to my suite in the Baron’s castle. Though the Huszars may have been scattered or co-opted, their centuries-old headquarters was only a few miles away and Stefan Kandesky and Jean-Louis didn’t believe in taking chances.

Here in Kiev it was pleasant being able to come and go without a trailing demon, as fond of them as I’d become.

Under the freedom of not having a guard, though, there was a twinge of nervousness.

Leonid was alive.

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