Author: catstark

From Protector of the Grey House:

Ben stood, moved the chair, and started toward the door. At Vincent’s side he paused, turned back to face Natalia. “Should something unforeseen happen to our leader, lady, do not hesitate to come find me and ask for my protection. It would be an honor to have you as my child.”

Ben bowed to her then turned and bowed to Vincent. He left under Vincent’s hard stare, smiling wide. Vincent watched him leave then came into the bedroom to lean against the bedpost. He stared at his human, wondering at her expression. It was unreadable. Or maybe he just didn’t want to guess at her thoughts. She lay in bed, her robe almost open, the comforter hiding her legs. Her hands were folded on her lap. Her posture suggested a child waiting for a teacher’s attention; her expression was all woman: defiant, deadly, beautiful and confident.

When I became a widow, a fellow widow introduced me to a term I’d never heard before: New Normal.

She said that after your spouse dies, you don’t go back to normal. You learn to live with the pain and go back to a new normal that includes the pain. I have expanded this understanding to include: if you had a bad relationship, you learn to live with happiness. I have learned to live with pain, but this is not about my relationship. This is about the United States of America and our President Elect.

Yesterday, Joe Biden was elected President with Kamala Harris as his Vice-President.

People are happy. People are breathing better. But we can’t allow this country to “go back to normal”. We must strive for a “new normal”.

Normal means police brutality.

Normal means a continuation of systemic racism.

Normal means health care is tied to work.

Normal means there are marginalized people.

Normal means women don’t have the same rights over their bodies as men.

Normal means some couples are not as free to marry as others.

Normal means some people are not as free to be themselves as others.

The list goes on.

We must fight to push past normal and find a new normal.

New normal means:

Abolish for profit prisons. Why the fuck are people making money off people in prisons?

Defund the police/change their role in our society. Get them more training. Get them to care about the people and protect them, not kill them.

Universal health care that covers ALL issues from dental, and eye care to mental health to plastic surgeries. Whether you want your tenth boob job or are getting reconstructive surgery, it should be covered. Why? Because if we start limiting some medical procedures, it opens the door for other procedures to be limited. I might expand on this another day, but there are other things to discuss.

Allow all people to be free to marry who they want. As long as it’s consenting adults, why does it matter?

Tax the rich. Don’t allow them to have offshore accounts and other ways of hiding money.

Abolish the electoral college. One person one vote.

Make voting an opt out, not an opt in.

Make mail in voting the norm. It allows people time to look up the policies on the ballot and allows them to look up the people on the ballot as well.

Make public education a PRIORITY.

Take big money out of politics. Stop gerrymandering. And for fucks sake, prosecute politicians that suppress voters.

This is not the end of the list. There are probably a lot more things that need to be said and changed, but this is where things start. We need a better country. We can make a better country. We need our politicians to understand that WE are in charge and WE want better. Hold them accountable. Always.

‘door’ shows up 95 times in my book. I picked the first instance and therefore this is connected to what I shared yesterday, though it may not seem like it. I can’t wait for you all to have access to the entire trilogy in print form. Working on it.

From Protector of the Grey House:

Vincent stepped back from Anthony and crossed his arms. This time he truly was done with the subject. Anthony, still doubting somewhat that his neck wasn’t on the chopping block, stood unmoving for a few seconds. When Vincent raised an eyebrow, Anthony shook his head and left. He went to the front door where his driver was waiting patiently, not wanting to take Vincent up on his offer of a drink.

Vincent watched him leave from the ballroom door, knowing he needed to discuss the situation with Natalia. She had to release the man and they had to tell him the truth. It was getting dangerous to keep Anthony is such a state. He caught movement to his left and turned to regard Joseph.

There are a few werewolves in this trilogy. Thinking of how a guard werewolf would have children was interesting and made me wonder more about the relationship between Vincent and his werewolves. Also made me wonder if Rebecca had more family somewhere.

From Protector of the Grey House:

Natalia watched her lover come into the room and wondered at the look on his face. She had been surprised to see all the people present. Natalia had gone straight to Rebecca, knowing she could ignore the rest of the room if she were speaking with her friend. As Vincent caught her eye, she felt the peace that had crept over her while she talked to Rebecca trying to slip away. She held onto it, knowing if the feeling left, her stress and headache would return. She took a deep breath and continued her conversation with Rebecca, who had been explaining how the dynamics of her family worked. It seemed that due to the pact they made with Vincent, it was easier for Rebecca’s parents to take care of her children, as it had been easier for Rebecca’s grandmother to take care of her. They continued the conversation as Natalia tried to ignore the look on her man’s face.

Yes, there is sex between two women in this trilogy. I am bi-sexual, polyamourous and that shows a lot in my novels.

From Protector of the Grey House:

“Joseph wants you willing as well but enjoys toying with Vincent’s women.”

Natalia settled against the seat. “Why is that?”

Her smirk was back. “I sleep with Vincent when he needs me, regardless of Joseph’s desires. He seeks revenge in the only way he can.”

Natalia shook her head. “You two are trouble.”

Mierka reached out and caressed Natalia’s thigh. Natalia closed her eyes as the chill touch set her mind racing. “Can I cause trouble with you?”

Natalia looked to Mierka then looked out the window. They were in the city; she didn’t know where. “How long before we get back to the estates?”

“I don’t know, nor do I care.” She slipped closer to Natalia and allowed her hand to slip further under the human’s skirt. Natalia’s breath caught as Mierka’s fingers brushed lightly against her underwear. “May I cause trouble with you, mistress?”

Natalia spread her legs, allowing Mierka better access. “Yes.”

Mierka grinned as permission was granted.

I like to think that at the core, vampires are creatures of destruction. That they choose to be civil is a great show of control. Currently writing another vampire book that will illustrate this better. For this trilogy, I was held within someone else’s rules, though I did break a few. ‘Cause it’s kind of what I do in my writing.

From Protector of the Grey House:

Vincent shrugged indicating it was her choice. She leaned into him, gave him a revealing kiss, and left the room, still stretching her muscles. Vincent took a deep breath and let it out slowly, trying to control his utter need for her body and blood. He bared his teeth and fangs in an imitation of a bite. His control had been slipping recently. Almost every time he touched his human, he had to fight to gain control of his more primal urges. He often felt like digging his teeth deep into her neck and sucking all the blood out of her prime, supple, willing body.

Last night’s encounter had left him wanting. She controlled him well, reminding him of Lorraine’s abilities, but when she relinquished control, he had to remind himself that he could not do to her what he could do to his sire. Natalia was human and much too fragile to take the brunt of the more animal aspects of his nature. He held back, containing his primeval appetites, reassuring himself with the knowledge that he could have her whenever he needed her. Last night, it had been enough. Tonight, it barely pacified his hunger, skimming just the barest need off a mountain of want. He would have to do something about this soon, or risk killing and changing Natalia against her will. An image of her bathed in her own blood flowed into his consciousness and overtook his mind.

When I first wrote this trilogy, it had a lot more sex scenes. A friend helped me to realize that sex scenes should further the story along. Are they necessary, or could the dialogue (if any) be placed in a non-sexual setting.
I thought about it and took out some of the scenes, not really realizing that I am absolutely a romance novelist and the sex scenes are fun.
Since then I have toned back on the sex scenes in my books as I do want them to have some meaning and further the story to some degree but they are still just fun to have.

From Protector of the Grey House:

Vincent walked with increasing speed to and up the stairs. He heard Joseph snickering but ignored his friend, wondering what stage of undress Natalia would be in. He crossed his sitting room in less than a second, noticed her absence in the bedroom and went into the bathroom, where she was standing by the mirror, drying her hair. She was in her silk robe, and it was untied and open. Every part of his body wanted to grab her and possess her quickly. Except there was something they needed to take care of. He went to her slowly and pressed himself against her, pulling the hair dryer out of her hand and turning it off as he placed it on the counter.

Natalia leaned into him, letting her thoughts drift from her mind. His hands were wandering up and down her torso, massaging her skin through the silk.

It’s Election Day in the United States. Put positive vibes into the universe and vote.

From Protector of the Grey House:

“Why? After seven years with her, why have one of your top men be suspicious of her?”

“Keeps me from having to.” Vincent strolled to his desk, leaving his glass on the windowsill.

“Emily was human for far less than that, and you had more reason to distrust her, yet no one followed her.”

Vincent smiled at the name, pulling his key ring out of his pocket as a vision of the lovely lady came to him. She was blond with green eyes, of average height and very shapely. Emily was as beautiful as Natalia, almost as smart, but had no desire to fight. “None of the women I’ve loved have been like Natalia. Natalia is smart, beautiful, and dangerous. Perhaps I want to make sure I know what I’m getting myself into.”

“Even after seven years?”

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 fighting 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 was considering taking the lady to his bed. He had time to wonder if Joseph would mind 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 and stood still, fury rolling 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 attacked, running at Anthony with all her speed.

A bit of history on someone Vincent used to know.

From Protector of the Grey House:

“Humans have a way of hiding the truth from themselves even when it stares them in the face.” He paused to press his fangs into her skin and suckle her blood. She stiffened with pain but allowed him his drink. He grew hard against her and growled as she stretched into him. He let her go. He now wanted to finish the story. Vincent grinned when she protested his pulling away. He reached behind him to the nightstand, where a small towel lay in wait. He pressed the soft fabric onto the bite wound and she settled against him when he continued the story.

“Laura Lynn refused to see the truth until the day I changed her. When she woke, she still didn’t understand. I explained my world to her, and she went temporarily insane. She left my house and was picked up by the authorities, who placed her in a mental hospital for the stories she told. I found out and had her released into my custody, as I knew she would be killed out of sheer ignorance. One of the hospital’s daily rituals was placing the patients in the sun to enjoy its warmth.