Category: Uncategorized

Natalia uses all her assets to win fight and get people to do what she needs them to do.

From Inside the Grey House:

Natalia shook her head. “I don’t think so. I think he’s a vampire hunter. If he was a Slayer, I wouldn’t have been able to sneak up on him as easily.”

Charlie covered his face with his hands. Part of him really wanted to stay and watch and witness whatever it was Natalia was plotting. The other, larger part wanted to pull her out of this apartment, get to the car and drive like the devil was chasing them all the way back to Vincent’s. When he pulled his hands away from his face, he gasped in surprise. She was standing right in front of him, reaching out to him. Her hand felt warm and soft on his cheek. He was astonished to find out he had to look up to look into her eyes, and when he did, the very familiar look in her eyes made him shudder in need.

She smiled at him, whispered to him. “Trust me, Charlie.”

I said earlier this week that writing sex/seduction scenes aren’t always easy for me any more (MS reason I don’t want to get into fully here), but they are still so much fun to read.

From Inside the Grey House:

Vincent placed his hands on her shoulders and pushed her back onto the bed. Natalia laughed as he followed her; closed her eyes as the full weight of the vampire pressed her down into the soft bed. She wrapped her legs and arms around him, sighing when the coolness of his skin made her own feel on fire. He pulled back slightly, putting his weight on his arms. Vincent peered into her eyes and watched the flames that burned there.

Still wanting to pace himself, Vincent leaned down to her neck and bit her soft skin. As his teeth closed tighter, she arched into him. He stopped before breaking her skin, then bit his way up to her earlobe.

“What did you proclaim earlier, Natalia? ‘Come claim me, Vincent.’ Is that what you said? Do you still want me to, Natalia?” Mierka had told him her words.

Natalia gasped. She pushed him back to look in his eyes. “How did you know?”

His grin was pure evil. “I have my ways.”

From Inside the Grey House:

“Natalia.” Vincent whispered her name softly, knowing she would hear. When she did not move from the desk full of papers, he frowned and tried again. “Natalia?” When she didn’t answer that time, frustration clouded his judgment and his voice was louder than he wanted it to be. “Natalia!”

She didn’t look up from the desk, but reached out and picked up a notebook, taking a better look at the words on the page. “What do you want, Vincent?”

“The sun has been up for nearly three hours. You stated you would be joining me.”

She frowned at the notebook then finally looked to the vampire. He was standing in the doorway to his bedroom, glaring at her. His arms were crossed, causing his black silk robe to stay mostly closed. Natalia turned back to the notebook, her previous thoughts still tearing through her mind. “I’m close to this, Vincent, I know I am. I need more time to think.”

I wrote this trilogy from 2005 to 2006. I was diagnosed with MS in October of 2006. As time has passed, I find seduction and sex scenes harder and harder to write, due to my own issues with MS, being touched and sex. Doesn’t mean I don’t like writing and reading the scenes though.

From Inside the Grey House:

She narrowed her eyes, giving him a seductive look. She grabbed his waistband and pulled him closer. Her words were a husky whisper. “Why not? I had fun.”

Vincent pulled her away from the wall, grabbed her wrists and trapped her hands. He pulled her arms over her head, pulling her slightly off the ground to bring her face level with his. “I came down here to chain you to a wall. I think I’ll follow through with that threat.”

She laughed as he dropped her back to the ground, spun her around and pinned her arms behind her. He herded her to the far wall, wanting the Slayers to witness what he did to her. At the wall, he spun her around, lifting her hands to the shackles. He left her feet free, having always enjoyed the feel of her legs wrapped around his waist. Once ensnared in the chains, he pressed her into the wall with his body, giving her a hard kiss.

“Does this excite you, Natalia?” Her thudding heart gave away her answer, but he enjoyed hearing it. “Very much.”

From Inside the Grey House:

“I swept you off your feet fairly easily, vampire. Do you really think I can’t do that again?”

“It might be an interesting fight, but in the end, I’ll win.” He was reviewing tactics in his mind, plotting different ways of taking Natalia down.

“If you’re so sure you’ll win, what’s the harm in listening?” She started twirling the staff, going slowly at first and speeding up as Vincent made his decision.

“Speak your mind.”

“If I win two out of three matches, you allow me to train here.”

“And if I win?”

“I’ll stop fighting, if that’s what you want.”

I use a random word generator to get the word of the day/daily prompt. Today, after more than 10 words, I decided to chose the start of a chapter, as I didn’t like the word choices. Therefore, here is the first few paragraphs of a random chapter.

From Inside the Grey House:

Natalia’s dark hair, which was tied up in a French twist, sparkled in the light. The hairdo revealed her long neck in all its beauty. Her dress was black velvet with a silver vines and flowers climbing around it. The dress tied around her neck, confidently revealing her bite mark riddled shoulders and muscular arms. Her silver necklace was just under the string tie, almost hidden by the velvet. The dress was so short: it barely hid her ass. She was holding a black and silver rose, twirling it slightly in her hand. Her shoes, stiletto heels, matched the silver of the dress. He caught her eye and she smiled. She was almost to him. He started breathing, trying to stay in control of himself. As his eyes raked her body his only thought was to wonder where she had gotten the dress.

Natalia stood before her lover, still slowly twirling the rose. She reached out with it and drew the feather rose slowly down his jaw line. He closed his eyes at the softness letting his lover draw him to her with the rose. He was rewarded with a kiss as soft as the feathers of the rose. His blood boiled as she reached out to grab his belt and pulled him closer. She pulled away from the kiss, smiling an evil smile. She acknowledged Joseph without looking at him.

“Hello, Joseph. You summoned me, Vincent?” The defiant, warrior look was in her eye. Vincent grabbed her to him, gave her a crushing kiss. Joseph caught the rose as it fell from her hand.

Though I no longer lived in San Francisco when I wrote this trilogy, I enjoyed having it take place in the Bay Area and used places I knew as backdrops.

From Inside the Grey House:

He brightened somewhat. “What are you looking for?”

Natalia shook her head. “That’s the problem, I’m not too sure. Since Edwin’s Red Tie Affair last year, I’ve been finding pieces of information on a possible confrontation between the Slayers and Vincent’s people, but nothing concrete. There’s a Slayer in the city that may have something more, but I’m not sure. I’ve been tracking him for the past three months and I think I have his routine down. The past three weeks, he’s been prowling Golden Gate Park for vampires. I’m going to break into his apartment while he’s out and rummage around.”

Charlie could only give her a wide-eyed look.

She rolled her eyes. “Don’t lecture me, Charlie. I know what I’m doing.”

He held his hands up in defeat. “I didn’t say anything.”

They stared at each other across the desk, Charlie nearly grinning, Natalia daring him to say something. Finally, he did.

“Look, I need some time away from here. Even if all I do is sit in your car in wolf form, at least I’m out of Vincent’s way, and we can pretend I’m doing my job.”

The word ‘tree’ appears 5 times in this book. Three times in the second paragraph I’m sharing today. Twice in one sentence… I feel an edit coming on.

From Inside the Grey House:

As she walked, Natalia let her pace slow; let her expression melt from one of hurried worry to that of pleasantly calm. She let a smile shape her lips and let her steps take her two blocks to the new bar. In the dark, the neon sign on the front showed the odd name of Liquid Green. Natalia walked past the bar, listened to the loud sounds as they seeped out the door and continued down the street. She couldn’t go in. Kim would know her immediately and wouldn’t pick a victim. Natalia looked at her watch. It was too early for anyone to be drunk enough to be a target. She walked back to the park and slipped into the bushes unnoticed. She was wearing dark jeans and a black shirt. Her clothing would be good enough to hide her in the darkness.

Once she was well enough in the bushes that no casual observer would notice her, she climbed a tree and settled into its branches to watch the bar. She was almost right across the street and could see the people coming and going. She could also look around well enough to spot any hiding spaces. There were none except for the trees and no one else was in the trees. Finding a comfortable spot, Natalia took one last look at her watch. It was close to midnight. She would probably have to wait an hour before Kim made an appearance.

I hope one day to finish the prequel to The Grey House, as it shows Charlie and Natalia’s relationship and how they met. It was in the trilogy originally, but I was advised to cut out a ton of the story prior to Natalia meeting Vincent. I listened, but I want to share the story with you all at some point.

From Inside the Grey House:

He gave her an odd look through the rearview mirror. “Nat, I’m here to help you as you need, but it’s just a little weird for me. I still picture you as the girl that saved me from the gilded cage. Seeing you like this…”

Charlie shook his head and shrugged, not sure of what to say. Instead of trying, he unbuckled and unzipped his pants, pulled off the ripped pair and started putting on the new pair. Natalia didn’t comment, deciding to pay attention to the road instead. She was able to reach Jeffery’s apartment quickly and without incident. Once there, she pulled out a new chloroform cloth from her backpack and placed it against his nose and mouth. She left it there for a few minutes, then put the cloth away.

“All right, get out and help me, but stumble around a bit like you’ve been drinking.”

A lot happens in this scene and because of it. A vampire dies, Vincent understands something about Natalia even she refuses to see and Natalia confronts her past.

From Inside the Grey House:

Natalia’s blood grew cold as she read the symbols on the blade. She hadn’t thought the sword was real. But here it was, threatening the life she led. The warrior took over, calculating and cold. She understood his last statement: he probably believed her a vampire. It was to her advantage. As long as he didn’t run the blade through her neck or heart, she would be fine. She heard Charlie behind her growling. Other growls joined his. She could let the wolves take him, but she wanted to do this herself: for Vincent and their men. And she wasn’t sure the sword wouldn’t kill the wolves, too. She glanced back at the wolves and silenced them with a look, repeating her order.

“Keep our men back, lover. Let me take care of things.” There was no emotion in her voice.