Author: catstark

Since I didn’t post anything earlier, I thought it fitting to find this passage that is from the original The Grey House Book One. It’s been cut out and will be added to a prequel:

One of the things that Natalia liked about the San Francisco was its churches. Most of them looked like European cathedrals. The one she was standing in front of was a copy of the French cathedral, Notre Dame. Natalia smiled at the churchgoers and entered behind a family of five. The three kids were complaining a little. They wanted to go to the park across the street. Natalia silently agreed.

Today, when I woke up, my fiance let me know that there was a package at the front door from a very good friend of mine. It contained a postcard and two packages of coffee. Reading the postcard made me think of how wonderful and loving my friends are. (They are seriously fabulous.)

Therefore today, rather than share something from The Grey House, I want to share something from Hell’s Junction about love. What follows is something I believe about love said through the main character Cassie:

“Love is eternal, Cassiel. Doesn’t matter if it lasts one second or one lifetime or ten thousand lifetimes. If someone loves you, you’ll remember it for the rest of your life and so will they. One person can love another for many reasons: to get into their bed, to steal from them, to gain emotional control over them. Because they feel so strongly for the other person that they need to let the other person know, no matter what the reaction will be. In the end, the reason for the love doesn’t matter, one learns from love. If the love is real, the person learns trust and understanding. If the love is fake, they learn to guard themselves a little better. Love is a hard lesson, but love is worth it, especially if it’s real.”

From The Grey House:

They lay in each other’s arms, still giggling and teasing. They knew how to enjoy each other and depending on the phase of the moon, were either rough or giggly with each other. Charlie kissed his mate deeply, feeling elated, having completely forgotten how much trouble he was in.

From The Grey House:

He nodded and looked to the others. “All right. Any other business?”

The others mumbled and shook their heads. Zechariah nodded, waited for Judith and both left the room together. Dean looked to Natalia, who smiled and went back to looking at her tablet. He took the hint and left her alone. Natalia waited ten minutes, then left as well.

From The Grey House:

Carlos took the glass willingly, swirling the dark liquid, warming it. He looked up at the vampire who loomed above him and raised the glass in a toast. They clinked glasses and Carlos downed his drink, while Vincent sipped at his.

A shudder passed through Carlos as liquid fire rushed down to his stomach. The shudder stopped and he placed the glass on the desk. “You shouldn’t have wasted your good brandy on me tonight.”

Vincent swirled the liquid and took a sip. “Did you enjoy it?”

“Yes.” “Then it wasn’t wasted.”

From The Grey House:

“The vampires farm the humans; the humans farm the sheep and you chase fresh meat every once in a while.”

“Yep.” Charlie was parking the van in an underground garage. Natalia heard the large garage door close and watched the lights come on. Three men emerged from a door further down the garage. Charlie opened the driver door and yelled a hello to the approaching men. Natalia, stiff from sitting too long, opened her door and climbed out. The three newcomers were dressed similarly in jeans, t-shirts and work boots. They ignored her and went to the back doors to unload the cargo.

From The Grey House:

“What happens now, Vincent?”

“Meet me.” His voice, low and seductive, swept over her skin.

She closed her eyes. “When?”

“When do you work again?”

“Friday afternoon. It’s a double. I’ll be here until close.”

“I’ll have dinner here on Friday. We’ll talk of our future.” His phone rang. He let it.

“Yes.”

From The Grey House:

Zechariah placed the clothing on the floor of the truck and turned his back. Miguel and Dean also looked away, out of decency. She stripped, wincing as she accidentally pulled her arms back too far while trying to pull off the shirt. She was grateful the men were turned around; they couldn’t see the new bandages. She hurriedly put on the new shirt then stripped off her jeans and underwear.  Miguel had thought to include a fresh pair. There were even socks. She let the torn clothing fall to the ground. Something tickled her memory as the belt clinked against a rock, but nothing clear came, so she announced she was changed.

From The Grey House:

Natalia shoved her memories aside and turned her attention back to her tablet. The tablet was encrypted; only she knew how to open it. Even if someone did get it open, they wouldn’t be able to read any of it. She had a B.S. in Computer Science, and a minor in Romance Languages. She currently worked for a game company part time, writing code for games. Using her skills, she had hacked her tablet and programmed it in a mixture of Latin, Romanian and French. She could read everything easily, but no one else could.

From The Grey House:

Natalia turned and strolled to the opposite wall. The door was close enough that she could hear the two vampires speaking. Anthony was reporting on something involving Edwin, but she couldn’t hear what. Looking through the open door, she could now see Vincent’s ear. She stared at it for a few seconds, closed her eyes and breathed deep. She turned to face the window.

“Vincent? Don’t take too long.” And she ran.

Vincent didn’t think about her statement until a second later when Rebecca was yelling from the security room door. “She’s going for the window!”