Author: catstark

From Protector of the Grey House:

“Don’t. Until you can sustain the damage I am capable of, do not bite my jugular.” His words growled past her face, a chill wind threatening her cheeks.

“I thought to deter your passion until we arrived home.” Her voice was too innocent as was her look.

“Tell me another, weaver of tales.” He growled into her neck, to chill her jugular. She shivered in anticipation, and desired his bite. She cried out in frustration when he pulled away and sat back down on the seat. She glowered at him as she propped herself up on her arms.

“Which is it, Vincent? You act as if you’re going to ravish me despite my predilections against it at this time. Then warn me against enticing you.”

He gave her a hyena smile from his seat. She shivered: prey caught in a predator’s lair. “I plan on worshipping you, love, but I still would prefer waiting until we were in our bedroom, as there is more space.”

From Protector of the Grey House:

“I feel as if you’re trying to distract me.”

She shook her head. “No, this is part of the last few days.” She turned to regard him as she leaned against the wall by the window. She crossed her arms. “I found my way into the private area. I wanted information on Vincent and knew he spent his time there while in the club. I spoke to many people, including you.”

As she spoke as he shook his head. “You weren’t that memorable.”

She gave a short, almost inaudible laugh. “I hypnotized you.”

He stared at her as the news sank into his mind. He shook his head once, and tried to continue the conversation. “What does that have to do with anything?”

“Do you believe me?”

“I’m not sure I do.”

Natalia nodded and stood taller as she continued her tale. “I’ve done it a few times after coming here. Vincent knew about it each time. It wouldn’t surprise me to find out he sent you to me that night to see if I could hypnotize you.”

Anthony revealed nothing as he stared at her.

She stared at him intently. “You’re taking this well.”

“I’m leaving that alone for later consideration. There’s more here than this story.”

I really love this scene as Natalia is completely disrespectful to the Slayer, as he has no power over her and she knows it. She may come off like a smug bitch, or overly confident, but given the situation, I think she deserves to feel that way.

From Protector of the Grey House:

“There are no innocents here.”

She turned, and gestured at the windows, which ran the length of the café on both sides. The shops were open, and it was a lovely day. The streets were crowded.

Father Sulta followed her gaze, outraged at the truth. He slowly stretched then cracked his neck. “Fine. Leave. Take your demons. But know this. The next time-”

“Yeahyeahyeah.” She waved his threat away, bored. “The next time you see me, I kill you. Not a problem.” She turned to the room at large. “File out.”

Her people followed her order quickly. Charlie moved to her, faced the room, and walked backwards out of the café. He held open the door for her. Natalia stopped with one hand on the doorframe and one on the strap of her backpack. Charlie cleared his throat nervously, but something remained unfinished. She turned back to lock eyes with Ashley.

Father Sulta still had his hand on her shoulder, as if to keep her in her place. It reminded Natalia of how Zechariah had treated her.

From Protector of the Grey House:

Vincent watched as his lady handed off the sword then walked to Orlando’s body. She knelt beside the corpse and carefully tried to remove him from the demon’s remnants. He watched also, as Rebecca came and helped to pick the headless body up and lay it carefully on the floor. Doug went for the head and laid it at the top of Orlando’s severed neck. Vincent thought it strange that though the body was human, the head was still Blitzkrieg. The wolves didn’t seem bothered by this and Natalia appeared not to notice as she picked the glass bits out of Orlando’s human body. Vincent also saw how the others reacted to her and wondered why. He handed the short sword to Joseph and hurried to Natalia.

Vincent placed his hand on her shoulder and waited until she turned the full force of that look upon him. He understood what the others had seen. She stood and faced him as his equal. He wondered if she realized how she looked. Vincent wiped her tears away and knew that later, much later, she would lie in his arms and cry for the loss of life. But now, as she removed the traces of the demon from Orlando’s skin, she would show nothing but her warrior’s face. It was something a leader would do. The others had seen that and responded to it.

From Protector of the Grey House:

Then she felt it. A cold whiff of wind swept past her ear, brushed some hair back. Or rather, pulled it back. Her eyes flew open wide; she stood, and to spin around to face her attacker. There was nothing there. Natalia felt the tug in her hair again and turned again. Still nothing. This happened another time and Natalia felt panic rise. She clamped a mental door on her panic, and stopped her thoughts. If she were thinking too much, then her warrior side would not come forward. Calmed, Natalia turned in the opposite direction from the tug and saw something in the shadows.

To say the creature was gaunt was an understatement. Its skin clung to it, grey and yellow with age, dirt, and dust. There was a smear of something dark across its face. It hissed at Natalia, and showed off sharp, long teeth. It was as if the creature’s teeth were all fangs instead of just two. Its arms were bent at the elbow; its hands were bent at the wrist, long claws hanging down. Natalia started to get into position, but the ghul moved. The human found herself facing a wall with the thing behind her. Natalia tried to fight and couldn’t as the creature sank its teeth into her neck. Pain took over and Natalia nearly passed out.

Did you know I used “continue” and “continued” 103 times in my book? Now you do.

From Protector of the Grey House:

“Did you need something?” She looked at him sidelong, barley turning toward him.

“I have to speak with you.”

“About what?” She took the hair dryer and plugged it in. She turned it on low to continue talking undisturbed. She felt sleepy, and calm, and wanted nothing more than to lie on her bed and drift in her thoughts.

“I just finished a conversation with Lorraine.” His eyes traced Natalia’s body, as he wished he had time.

“Your sire?” She sighed and turned off the dryer. She finally faced him, her calm still fully intact. “What’s going on?”

“I have to go. She needs my help.”

Not sure if this will stay in the book, as I don’t like it. I think his actions would be vastly different.

From Protector of the Grey House:

Mierka brought the stake to her mouth and licked the blood that coated it. Vincent growled at her actions. She gave him a smirk. “You usually like when I lick the stake.”

He growled. “Twice.”

She handed the stake off to Joseph and looked to Vincent. “The first time was to stop you from killing Natalia. The second was to stop you from killing me. I will take my usual punishment.”

“You do not dictate my actions.” He spoke through clenched teeth.

“No, I don’t. But you have set the precedence on this.” She still spoke mildly and didn’t look at all worried about her actions or his.

He bared his fangs and turned his anger on Joseph. “She skates on thin ice.”

“She speaks the truth.” Joseph’s voice was also calm. Both had been around Vincent enough to understand if they stayed calm, he would as well. Or relatively so.

From Protector of the Grey House:

Lorraine stepped close to her, as she knew it would drive her child mad. She positioned herself to stare into Vincent’s eyes as she sank her teeth into his human’s flesh. The vampire drank four slow swallows of the human’s blood. Natalia inhaled with the pain but did nothing to stop the vampire. When Lorraine pulled away Natalia used the over long shirt to stop the blood flow and watched as Lorraine walked quickly to Vincent and kissed him.

Vincent almost fell to his knees as the taste of his woman’s blood on his sire’s tongue nearly released the beast within him. He crushed Lorraine to him and lifted her off the ground. He kissed her deeply, as he tried to suck the taste of Natalia out of Lorraine. Not satisfied, he nearly dropped her and turned to Natalia.

From Protector of the Grey House:

Her nails dug into his flesh as she considered his proposition. Vincent had refrained from drinking her blood for the past month, to allow her to be at full strength for the experiments. She grudgingly accepted his explanation, as she knew it was probably for the best. But now, as Joseph scraped his fangs against her tender skin, she wondered if it had been a mistake. Her nails dug in deeper as he bit her ever so gently on her neck. He retracted his fangs as he bit, as he knew better than to draw blood without permission. Instead, he pulled his wrist to her mouth and beckoned her to drink the salty liquid that poured from his wound. She drank more than she meant to as he whispered dark ideas into her ear.

Vincent watched the spectacle, hands forming into fists. Mierka sat at his desk, fascinated by the look on Natalia’s face. Her expression kept changing from a pained expression to one of desire. Mierka guessed the human did not want to enjoy being in Joseph’s arms. When Joseph let the human go, Natalia staggered, and tried to catch her balance. She looked around nervously, as if unsure of those around her. Vincent reached forward and lifted her chin to look in her eyes. The glazed look she had faked with Anthony threatened to come into her eyes.

From Protector of the Grey House:

All this information ran through the large vampire’s head as the man came closer. Satisfied with the situation, Vincent used his full speed and ran at the human. The man didn’t even notice. When Vincent slammed into him hard, the man screamed, but it was cut short. Vincent banged the human against a nearby tree which knocked the air out his lungs. As the man gulped for breath, Vincent laid his hand over the man’s mouth. The man tried to scream again, but Vincent grinned, elongated his fangs, and hissed.

The man screamed through Vincent’s hand, but the sounded didn’t carry. In seconds, Vincent had his mouth wrapped around the man’s neck, his teeth buried deep in the human’s flesh. He ripped open the jugular and drank the coppery liquid that bled free. The man didn’t have time to struggle before all his blood was gone. Vincent pulled back from the corpse and dropped it to the ground.

“Did that satisfy you?” Lorraine’s voice called softly from the shadows.