Author: catstark

From Protector of the Grey House:

“Don’t encourage her.” He now talked through clenched teeth.

“Why not?” Natalia gave Vincent a steady look. “Diana’s here if she hurts me, and if she kills me, you get what you want.”

Lorraine waited for her child to realize the decision had already been made. When he shook his head and backed away, she smiled impishly. Natalia stood off center and Lorraine charged, since she had the advantage.

Natalia saw Lorraine move before Vincent was completely out of the way, but it didn’t matter. When the smaller woman hit her, Natalia simply fell back and threw the vampire off her with her feet. She was up before Lorraine was, barely. Lorraine charged again but this time, Natalia grabbed her arm and used the woman’s momentum to swing her into the crowd. Lorraine crashed into Rowland and Maxine, who stopped her fall and helped her up. She turned back to Natalia, who simply waited.

From Protector of the Grey House:

“He did. But I want to hear it in your words, with your voice.”

She shook her head and looked away as her entire body seemed to sag from exhaustion. Natalia leaned against the wall and crossed her arms. “I’ve lived through this enough. I don’t want to relive it again.”

She gasped as he was suddenly before her. His hand was on her chin, guiding her face to look into her eyes. “Tell me.”

“If you hadn’t stopped me in time…”

He inhaled sharply at the devastated look in her eyes. His eyes narrowed a touch as he caressed her cheek. He had never seen her this distraught. Vincent’s own expression grew soft as he drew her into his arms. He kissed his woman and held her tightly to him. She wrapped her arms around his neck and returned the kiss. After a moment he pulled away and whispered into her ear.

“Tell me you’re still mine.”

From Protector of the Grey House:

She stole out of bed unnoticed, found her dress and slipped it on. The key for the lock was still in the door. It was an old-fashioned skeleton key, which meant she could have easily picked it if Joseph had removed it. Natalia left the room and closed the door softly behind her. Unsure of what she would find, she sighed and went to her bedroom.

The door to the sitting room was ajar, which was unusual. Natalia crinkled her nose as she pushed the door open. The door to her bedroom was open wide. She stopped halfway through the sitting room, and wondered at her plans. Vincent and Mierka were in the bedroom, probably asleep. She didn’t need to go in there. A frown creased her brow. She wanted a shower and clean clothing. There were other showers in this house she could use, but her clothes were in that room. She needed to proceed.

Pretty sure I’ve shared this before, but I dig it.

From Protector of the Grey House:

Natalia swung the small extinguisher over her shoulder, and held it with her right hand while her hand left went to her side. She leaned into her left leg, her feet shoulder width apart, ten feet from Alexandra. She stared at the kneeling mass of charred vampire, a slight smirk on her face. The room was so quiet she could hear Alexandra’s skin as it crackled. She waited, and watched as more and more of the creature’s skin healed. She wondered if the woman might still be capable of hurting her. Seconds later, Alexandra moved toward her. Natalia swung the extinguisher and connected with Alexandra’s head when the woman was two feet from her reach. The solid “TANG!” of the extinguisher hitting her skull echoed in the high ceiling room and Alexandra went sprawling. The side of her head was sunken in, but she still healed herself.

Natalia stepped forward swiftly, swung her weapon around and brought the flat bottom down hard. The unyielding metal slammed into the vampire’s head to crush bone and brain. It was finally enough. Alexandra tried once more to heal the damage, failed, and turned to dust with one final wordless sound. Natalia looked up and caught Vincent’s eye, then glanced around the room. She stood tall and left the extinguisher on the ground.

“Anyone else?” Her voice was louder than it needed to be, to emphasize her agitation. Footsteps sounded as someone stepped forward from behind her. Natalia turned as Lorraine spoke.

“Me.”

From Protector of the Grey House:

Joseph and Mierka believed she had a right to fight and train as if she were her own army. She fought Slayers and had to watch her back for Edwin’s men, too. Edwin finally had his coronation, without the presence of Vincent and his men. He ignored them for the better part of a year, then had taken an interest in Vincent’s businesses again. It was all part of the plan. If Edwin was interested in the human aspect of Vincent’s world, he would not be interested in what Vincent’s vampires were doing.

“No word from your spies?” He aimed the question at Anthony’s reflection.

“No sir.” Anthony told him about having her followed when she did not return after the second day. Vincent was angry, but not surprised. He took the information in stride and asked for any information. Unfortunately, Wayne had not reported for four days.

“Still don’t understand why you had her followed.” Mierka was aggravated, which was rare for her. It showed the men in the room how angry and worried she really was about the situation.

Hello there! So, my book covers are done, I like them, but I want to pay my artist before I publish. Hoping to have all that taken care of soon.

From Protector of the Grey House:

Natalia took the seat next to Ashley and slung the backpack onto the counter. The waitress came over immediately. Natalia took note of this, as it seemed highly irregular for this café. The older woman had never been here before at this time of day. The waitress outfit was convincing, even had a badge with her name on it. The name badge was engraved, showing permanence, not a temporary name printed out on paper. Delores could be new, but Natalia would bet on Slayer with an eye for details. Natalia also knew the look in the woman’s eye. She sighed and nodded to the waitress.

“Coffee please.”

Delores nodded and turned to the coffee maker a few steps away. As the coffee was poured, Natalia took out the photocopies of the journals from her backpack.

“I told you I wanted to speak with you alone.” Natalia spoke in a normal conversational tone.

“I am alone.”

Natalia turned her back to the counter and counted the obvious Slayers in the café. “I see ten, eleven if Delores is one of yours.”

From Protector of the Grey House:

It was three hours later, and the training session was at an end. Joseph and Mierka spent the better part of that time battling Vincent to help him work out his frustrations. He fought Mierka last, which proved to be a mistake. She had riled him up plenty. With Natalia still missing, he considered taking the lady to his bed. He had approached Mierka to ask her when the double doors of the front entrance slammed open.

Angry steps announced her approach. Vincent waited in anticipation for Natalia to walk through the doors and into his arms. She stepped through the door, gave everyone a dirty look, then stood still, as vehemence rolled off her in waves. She was dressed in hospital scrubs and wore men’s shoes on her feet. She locked eyes with someone, Vincent couldn’t tell who, and snarled. With a bellow of rage, she ran at Anthony with all her speed.

From Protector of the Grey House:

She pushed away from him, aggravated. “It’s a room. It’s the room in my dream. He knows about the dream, yet he stayed silent. It made me wonder if I was with the right man. It’s one of the reasons I’ve refused to be turned. Why didn’t he tell me?”

“No human is allowed in that room.” Joseph shook his head. “You would need to ask him for an explanation. He is the master of this house; his word is my law.” “Only when it pleases you.”

From Protector of the Grey House:

He sounded like Lucas, but Lucas had had the voices in his head. Donald was a fanatic and possibly insane. During his soliloquy Natalia moved her arms back and forth, to test her range of motion. He’d done a poor job of tying her; she could maneuver her arms to the edge of the chair. She could gather the fabric in her hands. This allowed her to reach her jacket pockets, which still contained her stash of anti-vampire weapons. She needed the knife though, and that was in the pocket on her right side, which was the side closest to Donald.

“I couldn’t have you then. You were too young. That wouldn’t be right. Each night, after your mother fell asleep, there you were swimming in my dreams. All I could do was chase you. You never let me catch you, not even in my dreams. It felt wrong to be with your slut mother and want her beautiful young daughter. Then, on a late-night trip, God sent me the hitchhiker, who offered me such interesting secrets. So interesting that I could not pass them up. It seemed like I was being punished for my desires. Now that I have everything I want, I must think that being made into this being is a reward for my patience.”

From Protector of the Grey House:

“Her name was Laura Lynn McGarity. She was the last woman I loved before you. We met in San Francisco, the first time I lived in this area, in the 50’s. She was a reporter and had heard about the wealthy businessman no one ever saw during the day. There were rumors back then that I was involved with the mob. I’ve always let those rumors fly, as it makes a good cover story. As long as all my paperwork is in order and everything looks legal and reported on my current identity’s taxes, no one arrests me.”

Vincent paused as the memories came back. They seemed to flash through his mind like an old movie reel. “Laura Lynn decided I was her big break. She found ways of integrating herself into my life, getting herself invited to my closed parties and sneaking into my clubs. Finally, after finding out who she was, and falling for her tenacious behavior, I courted her. We were together for a few months before I started showing her the real me. I bit her when I desired, and she seemed to enjoy it, but she never understood what was really happening.”

“How could she not?” Natalia sounded perplexed. She enjoyed when Vincent took her blood, but the bites hurt.