Taming an Immortal (Chap 1 and 2) trailer

I am really happy I started writing on this new story. I'm in love with the characters and world building just allowed the ideas to flow!

I initially wrote another modern paranormal romance to replace WCTM but when this muse struck, I've been honestly writing continuously every single day for the past 2 weeks! Am now at Chapter 7 (36,000 words) and Chapters 1 and 2 have already been submitted and pending approval.

Similar to how To Love a Were started, this story was also inspired by the relationship between Sesshomaru and Rin from the anime Inuyasha. I would say this is a kind of post-canon story based on the circumstances of the two characters but placed in my own world with new characters and challenges. The anime doesn't proceed with Rin aging nor does it explore the relationship between them but I feel that a story should have been written about them! And thus Taming an Immortal was born.

I have changed the characters' names of course so if you know the anime, you'll be able to roughly guess who is who. But if you've never watch it, that's brilliant, because you can just follow the story from scratch. I am obsessed with our hero. I think the cold distant, unyielding kind of man always turns me on, that's why I love writing about them.

I'm really excited to finish writing the full story and I'm also looking forward to hearing from you! So as always, a short trailer from the two chapters coming up soon on Lit!

***

He didn’t recognise her at first.

Where her hair had been jagged and cropped short as a child, it now flowed straight and silky down her shoulders to the small of her waist. She was so much taller now!

But her brown eyes were just as wide and curious as she inspected him. Etienne had no need for her approval but he kept still, allowing her eyes to trail along his body before resting on his face.

No one dared hold his gaze for that long. But for Rose, it was an exception.

“Hello Rose.”

The human girl –no, woman, made no move to welcome him in. She had to be in shock.

“Rose, can I come in… please?” He moved closer, rubbing his knuckles lightly against her cheek. It was something he had always done to appease her as a child when she was in a feisty mood.

Pulling away, she took a step back and bowed slightly.

“Yes…. I will get Kirke for you.”

He watched as his Rose turned to run up the stairs to look for her guardian. Had it been that long? Gone were the chubby cheeks of the girl that he left, the awkward stumbling teenager swimming in her clothes.

This was a woman whose body was ripe for bearing children – just like that of the vendor’s wife. He had not scented a child in Rose and it had pleased him to know she was still pure. He would not have allowed that to happen without his permission.

“My Lord!” Kirke hobbled down the stairs; her hands busily twisting the greying bun on top of her head. “It is so good to see you. Would you like some tea?”

“Rose will do it,” he said, watching the young woman’s eyes light up with an emotion he was not used to seeing. Rose was always happy or scared and sometimes playful but the look that crossed her eyes were of another kind altogether.

“I am surprised she barely said a word,” said Kirke, watching as Rose dashed into the kitchen.

“Has she been troublesome to you?”

“No, never! She is an obedient child.” The old woman bit her lips slightly. “Although I must say that I am glad you are here to take her away.”

The finality in her voice made him raise an eyebrow inquiringly. “What makes you think I am here for that?”

Cool grey eyes met his. “Are you not then?”

Etienne tried not to take offence at the challenging tone of her voice. If not for the fact that she had cared for his Rose for seven years, he might have swiped her down for her insolence.

“The choice will be up to her,” he said matter-of-factly. “It is not my wish to impose on her, her right to have a family… or choose a human mate.”

Kirke looked like she was hiding a laugh as Rose walked in with a teapot and some cups. “Of course my Lord.”  

Etienne said nothing. He allowed Rose to pour tea for Kirke and himself before pushing an empty cup towards her.

She pushed it back.

“I must refuse my Lord. I am needed somewhere else.” Turning to Kirke, she pressed a kiss on the old woman’s cheeks. “I’ll be back with lunch!”

“Rose!” He knew she heard him but his little human ward flicked a warning look at him before running off.

“There was no need for her to procure provisions,” he said flatly. “I have ordered Keiko to see to that.”

The old Priestess smiled, the joke too much for her to handle. “I believe she is exercising her choice my Lord.” Kirke dared to laugh. “I believe it is what young lovers –”

He was out of the house faster than her next breath. He did not wish to hear the words coming out of Kirke’s mouth! Rose was out to meet a lover? How dare she!

Like a predator on a hunt, he tracked Rose’s scent towards the village centre with vengeance, annoyed that he lost her to the intermingling of human scents swirling in the air. The Rose he knew would have had jumped at him, burrowed her tiny head into his sash and armour in happiness. But this woman… this human had looked at him straight in the eyes and basically told him to fuck off.

Damn that girl! Where could she be? Scanning the chaos in front of him, Etienne tried to sieve through the scents to zero in on the subtle hints of Rose when a high pitched voice interrupted his concentration.

“Master? You are still here?” Keiko dropped a bag of provisions at the front of his feet.

“I seem to have lost Rose.” Looking down at the overflowing potatoes and onions, he frowned. “Keiko, leave those here and bring Rose to me,” he ordered, leaving the confused Noble flustering over his purchase.

Etienne continued along a path bearing traces of Rose’s scent, pausing a second in front of a shop.

She had stopped here.

The bell on top of the door clanged in announcement of his entrance. A quick scan revealed no Rose but a couple of terrorised human and a pâtissier that was about to faint at the sight of him.

“Did a human by the name of Rose pass by here?” Nods were his only answer with a meek finger pointing in the opposite direction.

It had taken him five more steps before her scent consumed him. It was one that he remembered – of flowers and laughter. That was when he spotted them.

A human male had his hand resting on her knee.

“You obviously do not cherish your limbs, young man.” His voice boomed over the giggling duo – one looking extremely livid while the other smiled and continued nibbling at the pastry in her hand.

“Lord Etienne!” The young man pulled his hands hastily, bringing his body to a bow.

“Who are you and what are you doing with my Rose?” Etienne kept her voice level, not wanting to scare Rose.

“Cha… Cha… Charlie my Lord! We… we are friends!” He was halfway into apologising when Rose stood up and simply walked away, licking the honey coating her fingers.

The sight of her plump lips making contact with the innocent syrup had him shuddering slightly on the inside. Ridiculous!

But Etienne allowed her to leave – making sure she had turned into the corner before elongating his fangs into a snarl; his face inches away from the human.

“You smell of her.” He grabbed a fistful of Charlie’s shirt.

The wolf's call to the moon - New Story and Updates!

Hi everyone,

My writer's block is slowly lifting so I've begun writing again. I wrote lots of drafts during the time I was missing in action but none satisfied me enough until early this year when I started continuing a draft of this story I had abandoned in 2011.

Chapter 1 is already submitted on Literotica so hopefully it will be up within 72 hours!

An extract of the first chapter is below. I've chosen not to use the traditional labels of Vampires and Werewolves but have called them Risen and LightWalkers respectively. Also in the storyline, there may be some reference to words from the game 'World of Darkness' which I've been playing these last few years and it's influenced my world-building quite a lot!

Hope you'll enjoy the story once it's out!

***

The moon was at its brightest and fullest tonight and Mallory knew that she had to hurry if she wanted to catch a glimpse of him –even for the briefest second. Her life, her work and her sanity depended on it and there was no way she was going to miss it.

Not that she had, for the past six months.

As she gathered her books, a knock came on her office door and in strolled Jamie, the archaeologist who hired her, his broad frame blocking her only way out of the room.

“Mallory, I wasn’t sure if you received my email…” he started, moving forward to box her behind her desk.

“Oh, umm email… yeah, I did.” Mallory started to straighten her skirt awkwardly before muttering apologetically, “I’m sorry Jamie, I have to go.”

“It’s just dinner.”

She hated the guilt-trip in his tone. Yeah, sure she had been avoiding his unabashed advances since the start of the project but there was no such thing as just dinner. Why hadn’t he asked her out for lunch instead? At least that would have been more neutral ground and she could give the excuse of needing to head back to the dig site to work.

Mallory knew that the only way out was to lie through her perfectly straight teeth.

“I’m having a girl’s night out with Odessa and the others… I’m sorry Jamie. Maybe next time.”

With that, she pushed her way through, aware that he made no effort to step aside but allowed their bodies to slide, albeit seductively against each others. Having held her breath the whole time, Mallory finally exhaled dramatically the moment she stepped out of her door.

It wasn’t that Jamie Record wasn’t handsome or charming or perfect –in fact, he was all that and more but still, Mallory didn’t find herself attracted to the man.

Shaking herself slightly, Mallory headed down the corridor towards Odessa’s office to seek refuge. Thankfully, the cheerful woman was still there.

“Oh! Mallory, what a surprise!”

“I’m here to hide,” admitted Mal unashamedly. At Odessa’s raised eyebrow, Mallory explained, “It’s Jamie… he asked me out again.”

“Wait, let me get this straight… Jamie, the most accomplished archaeologist of the century, asked you out even when you’re looking like that?” she laughed, pointing to Mallory’s haphazard getup. “Surely you didn’t think he was planning for a romantic dinner to sweep you off your feet!”

Mallory shrugged nervously.

“Goodness girl! Half the expedition team is in love with him and here you are hiding from him, under what pretence exactly?”

“Uh, I said we’re having a girl’s night out.”

“Fabulous! Because that’s where we’re going!” Odessa’s laugh brought out her cute dimples. Mallory pouted. Why hadn’t Jamie been attracted to her? Not only was she an amazing Project Manager but Odessa was also stunning with her honey-green eyes and midnight black hair.

As the stepped out of the office, Mallory checked out the corridor to make sure that Jamie was nowhere in sight.

“Not tonight Odessa. I’ve got something important to do.”

“Come on Mal, it’s TGIF. You’ve got to come with us! Stop working already girlfriend! You’re starting to resemble Ugly Betty!” whined her co-worker, Odessa, as she tugged purposefully at Mallory’s long and oversized t-shirt.

“I can’t. Not tonight. I’m sorry Dessa, I really have to go.” Mallory gave her the best pitiful look she could muster –even pouting her plump lips for effect.

Not that Odessa would fall for it.

“Tell me, is it a man? Ooo… it is, isn’t it? That’s why you brushed Jamie off! Is he tall? Sexy?” she clapped her hands gleefully before peering closer. “Yummy?”

At the sight of Mallory widening her eyes in embarrassment and shock, Odessa broke out in giggles and simply gave her colleague and friend a hug.

“Alright, I shan’t keep you any longer from your dream date. Just make sure you take off those awful glasses. You know you don’t need them.”

Before she could protest, Odessa had walked off to join their other colleagues who were heading off to the nearest club for drinks.  Mallory stood rooted in her spot as she watched the trim little brunette clicking away in her high heeled shoes.

Looking down at her own feet, Mallory nodded in approval of her sneakers. It wasn’t like she didn’t own a pair of heels, it was just… somewhere. As for her hair, it had none of the shine and volume as Odessa’s but Mallory’s soft auburn head had earned her quite a few glances over the years.

Well… maybe not in this getup at least.

Sighing, she tucked a stray strand behind her ear and started towards her SUV, keys jangling in her hand. Mallory tried not to acknowledge her sudden increase in heartbeat nor the feeling of exhilaration and anticipation of driving up to the Sleeping Giant.

Even the name itself brought great pleasure to her senses. Who would have thought that the sleepy little town she had landed herself in would house such a magnificent summit?

Smiling to herself, Mallory turned the key into the ignition and reversed out from her driveway. Technically, she didn’t need to drive when the Sleeping Giant was literally beside the excavation site but Mallory had her sketchbook, haversack, a camcorder and a regular DSLR as well as her tripods with her and she had less than an hour before midnight to prepare herself for her moon-watching.

Her colleagues thought her mad; trekking in the middle of the night with such bulky items, simply in the hopes of documenting what she called The Wolf’s Call to the Moon.

Mallory’s was an Assyrian Historian but her expertise was in the study of the region’s ancient languages, some of which were now extinct. As with many languages, oral traditions precede writing and in her research and documentation, she had collected thousands of folkloric songs and poetry recalling legends and myths – of which her favourite was that of wolves and the full moon.

***

She remembered the first time she had seen him –the silvery light of the moon cast upon his sleek pearl coat; angelic and breathtaking as he stood atop the cliff, simply looking at the moon in all its fullness and grandeur.

He had stood there, completely still; not a single sound –though one would have expected echoing howls –his head tilted upwards, eyelids closed and nostrils flaring now and then as he took in the fresh mountainous air around him.

Mallory had remembered watching him and thinking that he seemed to be talking to the moon or perhaps pining for something that was so distant and unreachable.

The thought always made her sad.

Almost as sad as when the lone wolf took his eyes away from the moon to gaze directly at her; his sharp sky blue eyes lingering just for a moment before he turned and disappeared into the darkness.

In fact, the only reason why she was trekking up the mountain with a fistful of filming and digital equipment was in the hopes of capturing that single moment –when he’d look right into her soul and steal her breath.

This was her last chance, for in a fortnight she’d be leaving Lycia, Anatolia to return to London to further complete her work. She wanted… a memory; a living proof that she had witnessed such a magical sight.

With a determined huff, Mallory slung her haversack behind her back and started trekking towards her secret spot just a few meters from the cliff’s edge. It was a quiet little enclave that seemed like it was naturally chiselled out by the wind currents and was partly shielded by a shrub, allowing her to burrow deep within the crevice.

Satisfied that she was comfortable, Mallory checked her watch before setting up her equipment. There was still fifteen minutes left and all she had to do was to set up the camcorder over the tripod; sit and wait.

It didn’t take long before the lustrous white coated wolf came into the frame; his proud snout tilted upwards as he moves forward, one muscular limb at a time as though he was royalty walking up to his pedestal.

He was oblivious to everything but the call of the moon; its luring sirens singing a song only meant for his ears. His expression was one of rapture, longing and desire…

Mallory was feeling no different. Her hand held the DSLR, intending to take as many shots of the wolf as possible but her fingers were uncooperative. She had no idea why she was enchanted beyond logical reasoning each time she looked at him basked in moonlight.

She knew it was a ‘him’ but it was not enough to explain the inexplicable reaction she had to an animal no less. Of course, she could argue he was a werewolf and she was actually attracted to the human within the beast. However, she, of all people, should know that myths and legends were simply oral traditions. They were meant to convey particular morals, historical retelling and a mode of passing on one’s culture and language to the next generation.

In short –they weren’t real.

“Werewolves don’t exist,” she whispered to herself, willing her forefinger to move, to resist the ridiculous lull and snap a picture.

Mallory regretted it almost instantly.

She had forgotten that the shutters created an unbelievable crack in the wind sound and the flash –oh god –she had turned in on instead of switching it off! Swivelling her head, Mallory quickly tried to salvage the situation, praying that the wolf hadn’t heard her interruptions.

Her heart sank.

He was no longer standing on the edge of the cliff. In fact, she couldn’t see him anywhere! The flash must have scared the wolf away.

Mallory wasn’t sure if she was disappointed or sad but she knew it was useless to sit around and wait any longer. She had caught a decent few minutes of him on the camcorder –that would have to suffice. It was her fault for screwing it up anyway.

Frustrated with herself, Mallory started dismantling the equipment and stuffing them back into her haversack. Consumed by annoyance for herself, she wasn’t aware that she was being watched; every jerk of her arm, every hitch in her breath and every mumble of her self-cursing.

“Damn it! Why don’t you get in already, you stubborn old cam…” Mallory let out a low growl as she finally shoved the bulky camera into her bag. “I knew this was a bad idea… I shouldn’t have…”

Whatever she intended to say was forgotten the moment she crawled out of her hiding spot. Sitting down on its hind legs was the wolf; his blue eyes staring straight at her, yielding her to come closer.

And yet, Mallory didn’t move for her feet felt glued to the pebbled ground. Her heart was racing; her mind deciding between fight or flight. She was aware of how vulnerable she looked in her oversized shirt, muddy jeans and sneakers –hardly presentable in front of such a magnificent creature.

Unsure of what to do, Mallory lowered her gaze. She didn’t think she could outrun a wolf so she remained in her place, simply waiting for the wolf to make its first move, lethal or otherwise.

***

Clayton had scented her down with the intention of scaring her off –oh, he had known about her monthly voyeurs; watching him as he paid respects to the full moon. He had gauged her as harmless and had allowed her to watch him because… it felt right.

But tonight was different. He might have made no show of it, but he noticed a slight change in her scent and it had intrigued and annoyed him.

For the past six months, he had tried his absolute best to ignore her, only giving her one look before leaving the clearing. It was enough, he told himself for there was no need to be attracted to a human. But Clayton wasn’t sure right then as he watched her trembling right before him. Her lush figure was hidden underneath an obnoxious and oversized piece of cloth. He wouldn’t have known if the breeze hadn’t caused the material to hug her curves like a snug blanket.

And her face… what the hell was she wearing over her eyes? They looked awfully like the eyelets from the early 20^th century but there were two and it made her look old and tired. He didn’t like that. Maybe he should tell her to take it off.

Clayton took a tentative step forward, aware that the woman had gasped in surprise at his bold move. She ought to be scared but why wasn’t she?

Strange little human.

When she made no move to step back, Clayton took a few more steps forward until his snout was in line with her hip.

He shouldn’t do this really, but he looked up into her piercing green eyes anyway.

Hi

The moment she widened her eyes in shock, he knew.

Oh boy…

Tentative Musings

I was watching White Collar a while ago and suddenly an idea came up to me so I'm furiously typing it down before the flame extinguishes.

So as usual, before authors write their stories, they have to find a name right? And boy am I always bias towards certain names starting with certain letters. Thus, I decided to use a random name generator. This is the one I'm using now: http://www.kleimo.com/random/name.cfm

And here's the first 10 random names it came up with:

1.   Mallory Vandegrift
2.   Odessa Garrard
3.   Esmeralda Varnadoe
4.   Earnestine Kaneshiro
5.   Malinda Retana
6.   Elinor Kazee
7.   Benita Suire
8.   Tabatha Robie
9.   Julianne Braaten
10.   Milagros Goslin


I must say the names are quite interesting. Let's see how the men fare:


1.   CLAYTON Sampsell
2.   GUY Ocheltree
3.   JAMIE Record
4.   HUGH Jennette
5.   DARRYL Wiechmann
6.   ERIK Cozad
7.   LONNIE Rainville
8.   ALLAN Buscher
9.   ERIK Minelli
10. TED Chapple


Mmmm, not as impressive but Clayton and Mallory it is. Ocheltree is a nice last name though. Not sure if it's a good name for a pack though. Okay I shall write a draft and put it up soon. 

Hi Everyone!

Chapter 7 should be up in a day or two and I've started on chapter 8 -roughly 4 pages so far. I'm hoping to wrap it up soon so you guys won't have to wait long for each new chapter.

Okay, that aside, I just came back from a 2.4km run and I clocked 20 minutes! OMG. Lol. That's actually amazing considering that I haven't ran for like uh, 2-3 years? Ah now, my legs are shaking! Ahahaha.

Oh yeah, I wanted to share this picture I found online [if this is yours, let me know i'll put the link]. But it reminded me of what Alex would look like with Keona if she was in wolf form. So sweet. =) I always find the wolf-mate thing a very interesting phenomenon because unlike other animals, wolves tend to form such long-lasting bonds. Although it's debatable whether the mate thing is only applicable to the Alpha pair or to all but for fictional sake, we'll take it for all. 

Dominant males in a room

Okay, as sexy as that sounds, writing it out isn't sexy at all! Lol. It is so heart wrenching as I brought back all these characters from the previous stories and then have them try and butt heads. As an author, I really miss them.

So in chapter 7 (which I'm still writing) the pack males (Eian, Draven, Dominic and Mike) come to US to help Alex and Alaron find their missing children. This is of course going to be a problem for Keona coz instead of 1 person she now has to chase down six! We'll see how that goes. So Alex is having a hard time with all the dominant men in the house and his only ally is Erika. Lol. However, I'm keeping the other women out of the story for now but I'm sure a reunion would make things interesting later on.

Okay, that aside, there's this story brewing in my head - just bits and pieces - but it's about a woman who is a possible mate for two Alphas from different packs. I was reading Lynsay Sand's latest book and this conversation came up between two of the Vampires and I thought -hey! that's a good idea! Nothing like a little tussle eh. But we'll see.

I'm sorta on the roll for PB today -not sure why- so I'm going to exploit it to the fullest. Hopefully I can get through at least till page 10 (that's about 1.5 pages on Lit) and continue again tomorrow. I know I promised to get it done over the weekend but I got hauled to see newborn babies and forgot.

The Next Generation

Okay, I was really really stressed out today and my fingers itched to write but since I just finished chapter 9 and 10, I decided to give Into The Vampire's Lair a break. Instead, I began thinking about the pups and lo and behold... I came up with this:


***

Alex was ten years old and he hated to play tea parties with his sisters and their silly girlfriends. Why oh why had Aunt Sydney and Aunt Fiona both had girls?

“Come on Alex, stop being such a baby,” said his eldest sister Clara. Alex pursed his lips as an answer. That was another thing he didn’t understand. Why was it being born ten minutes after Clara and three minutes after Mira meant he was the youngest? They were all ten years old and he was much much bigger than both his sisters!

“But you’re still a baby. You carry that stuffed panda everywhere.” Alex turned towards the voice and shot out a chilled look –one that he had learned from Uncle Alaron.

“You shouldn’t be reading people’s minds. It’s rude,” he stuck out his tongue and hugged his panda closer.

The blonde girl with sharp green eyes simply shrugged.

“Just ignore him Keona. It’s a girls party anyway,” said a strawberry blonde girl.

“Faith! You’re supposed to be my cousin. You can’t side with her!” said Alex in exasperation. Faith was Uncle Dominic’s and Aunt Sydney’s daughter and by blood relation alone should have been in his camp.

But before she could reply, the door opened and two more girls came shrieking in, jumping on the beds with glee. Alex wrinkled his nose in disapproval. Girls shouldn’t behave like that.

“Oh, I’m sure you know all about girls, Alex,” sniggered one of the new addition to the group. This one was called Naira and her giggling cousin was called Marine. The two of them often came to visit to play with Keona, their other cousin. Alex didn’t mind Marine; she was nice for a Vampire but he hated the other two to the guts. They were younger than him by three years but he got bullied by them all the time.

Almost on cue, Naira bobbed towards him and peered at his face with her big blue eyes -eyes she inherited from her mother. It winked at him as wolf eyes usually do but Alex didn’t like it one bit… even if her mother was the one who’d always patch him up when he was injured.  

“Papa won’t like hearing you say such things,” warned Keona unapologetically. Alex snarled at her for he knew she was reading his mind… again. Alpha pup or not, Alex stuck out his tongue at her.

 Alex was ten and he hated girls.

***

 Awww....  Isn't that just soooooo cute? It's just a thought playing around in my head coz ITVL's going to be wrapped up soon. =)

Of course the children are going to grow up first before anything happens. I do have some ideas on how to develop this and I can't believe my brain still had a sliver of imagination left after 12 hours of sitting at my desk doing my assignments and marking papers. Lol.

Should I work on it? 

Non-English movies/drama

Today for some RANDOM reason, I went to youtube to search for a long forgotten song by Sammi Cheng called 'Glass Slippers' or Bo Li Xie in Cantonese.Of course I do not understand a word of Cantonese since that's not my father's dialect but I love the song and I loved watching Hong Kong movies because of how delicious and tender the Cantonese words sounded to me.

One of absolute favourite movie starring Sammi Cheng is "Love on a Diet." It co-stars Andy Lau and is a hilarious take on how love and diet seems to go hand in hand. It touches on our obsession about being thin and looking our best to the ones we 'love' or have a crush on. But in the end, the two protagonists find that they actually love each other, at their worst and at their best. =)

So since we're on the topic of my non-english media picks, here's my other favourite.

The Latin American singer is Rosalinda in this telenovela and I remembered watching this when I was 14years old on TV. It was my first time ever hearing the Spanish language and I was immediately in love with it. I don't agree that French is the language of love. Spanish is!

Hehe. And so I listened to all of Thalia's songs and from there I taught myself how to speak Spanish. Yupp... that's right. I remembered spending hours in the library looking for those 'teach yourself' books and then borrowing them home to study. It was really fun and eventually I managed to pick up a few phrases and grammar.

However, the thing about languages is that... if you have no one to communicate with, then the language becomes redundant and you forget.


And here is my absolute favourite Korean drama- Pasta!

What I like about this drama is how the heroine is not your typical drop dead gorgeous girl. She's simple, innocent and clumsy and finds herself attracted to a man that shouts at her alot. Lol.

The hero isn't your over the hill handsome type and does initially treat her like dirt but eventually you see a softening of his harshness... that's something I like too.

Plus it's a romantic comedy- my favourite genre.... I mean apart from Vampires and Werewolves that is.

I've mentioned before that my Mom's a chef right? So it's kinda nice to know what actually goes on in the kitchen of a restaurant; the pressure, the details... it's all really amazing to me.

Now that I've mentioned food, there is another drama that I absolutely love and it's called Mae Ka Khanom Wan or the Thai Dessert Girl. Basically it's about this tomboyish girl who gets into trouble with a Mafia boss. Lol. But he later falls in love with her after he tastes her cooking. [She's a descendant from one of the Thai royal cooks] Apparently, Mr Mafia boss is a very picky eater and while he loves her cooking, she is always wary of him and so she disguises herself as a man to try and wreck havoc between him and his betrothed. Hahaha. I loved it! This poster sums it all:

The only thing I do not like about Thai drama at times is how nasty the antagonist characters can get. However, this story is quite a happy one where the bad guy isn't really so bad or backbiting sort. That is what I am hoping to achieve with TLAW and ITVL...

However, I am planning to write a completely different story soon and yes there will be major bad ass characters [if I can impart that wealth of character- I'm too nice...] As for now, I'm just looking for inspiration to write... kinda stuck with the Chapter 6 for ITVL... hopefully I'll get some creative juices by relaxing...

Into The Vampire's Lair Chapter 2- teaser

A reader suggested that I should post my stories here simultaneously or at least before it is posted on LitE but I don't know.... should I? Would people head over to read it on the website if they have a chance to read it here? Maybe... but for now, I'll stick with teasers unless it's a chapter I cannot wait to post or that I'm so proud of then I'll post it here.

I think I am scared that children/teenagers below 18 wander around in blog world and see so much erotica on display. But that aside, the blog is supposed to be an outlet for the creative process behind the writing; how I got my muse, inspiration and general feedback. BUT I will post longer teasers to satisfy [partially] the palate and leave the cravings still intake. Yum.

Okay enough rambling. Here is Chapter 2's teaser; still in it's raw form and unedited. I've only put segments here, omitting others but I think it will suffice for now =)

***

When Alaron entered the bookshop that morning, he wasn’t exactly sure what he was looking for. He knew that Fiona would not arrive until half an hour later so he had to come up with any reason to enter before he chickened out and walked away.

A while later, he let himself into the store, pacing the carpeted floors. Erika was nowhere to be found. He leaned lazily against her cashier counter and surveyed the place. It was really a dump. How in the world could Fiona put up with it?

He waited for a few more minutes and heard the slight thud of footsteps.

“Excuse me? We’re not opened yet.” Alaron looked up to the sound of the voice and found her staring at him from the stairway. So… she lived upstairs.

“I’m uh… I want to get Fiona a book before she comes,” he regurgitated the script from memory. It had taken him five whole minutes to come up with the suitable line.

Erika looked at him doubtfully but took the bait. “What book?”

“Uh… some baby book. She’s trying to conceive you know? I thought maybe I should get her something to uh… help her along.”

Erika’s face suddenly lit up with amusement and she pulled her head back in laughter.

“She doesn’t need help in that department. Did you get a load of the guy she married? Now, Fiona can be a little soft around the edges but her husband is not…. Definitely not,” she replied, as she moved towards the coffee maker.

Alaron didn’t know why her sentence irked him. It was bad enough that Fiona compared him to that mutt… but this stranger? What does she even know about them anyway? Fiona’s not going to have an easy pregnancy like any other human. Sure he said he wasn’t going to help her with the baby thing but since when did he ever mean anything he said?

“Just help me find the damn book,” he growled in an irritated voice.

“Find it yourself. I’m not on duty right now so we are two perfect strangers in a public space,” she said, ignoring him.

Alaron couldn’t believe this woman. Why couldn’t all women be as gentle and sweet as his mother or Fiona? Okay… maybe they were scary when they got angry but generally sweet-natured. But this human was just unyielding!

Alaron let out a snarl but didn’t reply her. Obviously she was playing hard to get… which makes hunting the prey all the more thrilling, he thought. Just as well. He turned his focus to the bookshelf in front of him and began perusing the baby book collection that they had.

“Baby names, Pregnancy Journal… Belly laughs…” he muttered, obviously amused at the titles. “No wait… this one sums it about right: What’s going on in there?”

Alaron was actually amazed that people actually write stuff about babies and what to do about them. That was just as weird as him standing in front of the baby section looking for the right book.

“Al? What are you doing here so early?”

Alaron quickly hid the book he was holding behind his back as Fiona approached him. Her eyes flicked to the titles on the shelf.

“Baby books?” She looked puzzled then frowned. “Did you make someone pregnant?”

“No I didn’t silly!” he replied, giving her a playful push. “It’s kinda like for you…”

Fiona was about to reply when Erika shouted across the room at them.

“Get your hands off her! Fiona! How can you just stand there when he just manhandled you like that?”

Fiona looked up at Alaron. She knew he had pushed her, albeit playfully, but she hadn’t moved an inch; a normal human being might have flown across the room. It wasn’t a big deal… but apparently Erika thought it was for she was fuming as she marched towards them.

She was jabbing a finger against his chest and delivering various threats and curses. For a moment, the two Vampires just stood rooted in shock.

When she managed to snap out of it, Fiona eased away from them before she laughed out loud and ruin the moment. She had caught Alaron’s eye and saw the plea in them but all she could do was cover her mouth to stop the giggles.

When he left a while later, Erika went over to Fiona.

“Sweetie, you really shouldn’t let him push you around like that. I know he’s your brother and all but he sure is rough. If you get pregnant, it’s going to be unsafe for him to behave that way around you,” she warned.

“Oh? Why is that?”

“Honey… don’t you know anything about pregnancies? Bugger… that bloke was right about you needing help now aye? Well, if you fall, it might increase the chances of a miscarriage… and we don’t want that now do we?” she said kindly.

“Oh…” Fiona wished she was already at that state of worrying about a miscarriage… but she hadn’t even conceived anything yet. With a sad sigh, she looked at Erika and tried to change the topic.

“You know Erika… Alaron can be quite… aggressive at times but I’ve thrown him against a wall myself so you can say shoving each other is our favourite pastime.”

“Surely not!” she exclaimed in exasperation.

“Well… okay maybe I exaggerated. But my point is that he’s a very misunderstood person… sometimes I think he behaves that way because it’s his self-conscious defense mechanism.”

“Against what?!”

“Women… He wants intimacy but he’s afraid of getting too close. Losing his mother was really a turning point for him.”

“Oh…I’m sorry,” said Erika. “You don’t share the same mother?”

Fiona smiled and shook her head. The Culzean family tree was a bit too complicated for her to explain to the human at the moment.

“Well, I guess I shouldn’t be too hard on him then…” said Erika, moving to the door to turn the ‘closed’ sign to ‘open’. “But he’s still an asshole.”

Laughter bubbled in Fiona’s throat. “Ah… yes he is…”

***

[To know what happened here, wait for the chapter. *evil laughs*]

***

Meanwhile, Amber was sitting in her office, printing out the data from Fiona’s first visit. The blood results will be back in a day or two. Plus she still had to wait for Draven to take a look at Fiona’s blood sample.

Amber frowned. Just where the hell is he? He had missed the whole consultation! If he had been around, maybe Fiona wouldn’t have been that devastated.

“He’s freaking Ancient for god sake… surely he’d know more than me?” she muttered to herself.

Somehow that seemed to be the magic phrase, for a knock later; he entered, looking solemn as always.

“You’re late,” she said accusingly.

“Yes, I was caught up with something. My apologies.”

Amber leaned back in her swivel chair and crossed her arm. He didn’t even look at her when he said sorry!

“Right, so where’s her blood sample? I’ll just take it and be on my way.”

“You were supposed to be here for the consultation!”

“I told you I was engaged,” he replied tonelessly.

Arrogant bastard!

Draven turned to look lazily at Amber before moving towards the storage box to help himself to the sample. He wasn’t really interested in interacting with this Werewolf, even though she smelled divine. He gave a small shudder to dispel the thought and picked up one of the two test tubes containing Fiona’s blood.

“How soon can you give me the results?” she asked, clearly annoyed.

“I’ll fax it to you when I’m done,” he replied, moving towards the door.

Amber gave an irked huff, finding herself staring at the man’s back. Initially she had pegged him as self-absorbed, haughty, and annoying but on hindsight decided there was only one word to describe him: frigid.

What was it about cold, emotionally-unavailable men that just attracts her? In other words, Draven exuded the same calm yet icy demeanor as Eian did before he met Fiona. The only difference was that the man beside her was of the Vampire variety. Still, she wouldn’t deny that she was attracted to him; superficially or not.

“Have dinner with me.” The words blurted out of her before she could stop herself.

Draven who was about to leave, stopped in his tracks even though his hand was already on the door handle.

“Pardon me?” he said, turning around slowly.

“Have dinner with me. You know… eating and drinking… being civilized.”

He gave her a considering look and leaned his back against the door.

“I do not have mortal needs of eating, unless you’re offering yourself as my meal. Now that would be uncivilized. I don’t do wild animals.”

Amber was taken aback. Part of her was insulted yet the other part was curious. He was looking at her without an ounce of emotion and yet his sentence seemed loaded with innuendos… or was she just imagining it?

“I can’t figure you out, Draven… seriously. We’re supposed to work on this together and you act as though you’re superior to me; walking in whenever you want, taking whatever you want. I am as equally qualified as you are, if not more.”

Draven tilted his head back and laughed.

“Wolf, you may have a MD but I have been around much longer than you have and so I am superior to you.”

 Her eyes widened slightly to express the shock she was feeling. It took her awhile to get over it but when she did, she looked up without an expression on her face.

“I see. Well then, I’ll wait for the fax,” she said, watching as he opened the door. “Oh, just for your information, Fiona was heartbroken when she left.”

He heard her but didn’t stop this time. Walking himself out of the medical centre, he felt slightly guilty. He knew she wasn’t lying when she said Fiona was heartbroken. He had read it in her mind. Maybe she was right… he should have been there for the consultation. Looking at his watch, he decided it was too late to call Fiona. He’ll probably do it tomorrow.  

Draven massaged his temples slightly to quell the headache he was getting. Clutching the test tube, he decided that the best thing to do right now was to get to work.

That should give him time to mull things over. 

***

[To be revealed... ]

***  

Draven was seriously annoyed. He had been staring at his computer screen for the past eighteen hours, analyzing the blood sample he had taken from the medical centre hours ago. He had no idea why he was so agitated or why he was pushing himself without rest for the past 36hours.

He told himself it was for Fiona’s sake; that he wanted to deliver the results to her as soon as possible but he knew that was just the icing on the cake. The truth was, he couldn’t quite wipe the image of that she-wolf’s disappointed face out of his mind. She had been really hurt when he told her that her MD was meaningless to him.

But he was just stating the obvious. He was at least a few hundred years older than her and his years of research had resulted in various advancement in the medical and biochemical field. Hell, she probably studied the science that he had pioneered along with other scientists over time. What did she know?

When the light of dawn began to illuminate the sky, Draven’s head shot up to look at the time. It was almost seven o’clock.

Resting his head on the desk, Draven gave a loud sigh. His father had raised him up to be too much of a gentleman that it was inexcusable for him to behave like that in front of a woman. Sure, he was a noble and she a commoner but that didn’t give him the license to treat her like dirt. Now that was Alaron’s territory or so he thought. Somehow his brother seemed to have mellowed down a lot since Fiona’s marriage.

Whatever it was, he had to apologize to her. Otherwise it would reflect badly on the Culzean family name and as the eldest son, it was his duty to preserve their reputation. With a resigned sigh, he calculated how much time he had, considering that the centre opened in an hour’s time. If he wanted to reach there on time, he mustn’t take more than ten minutes to get ready.

“The lengths I go to for this family,” he muttered to himself as he whizzed his way through a shower and got dressed, taking just a minute more to make sure his hair was combed back and that he had slapped on some aftershave.

Rushing over to the computer, he saved whatever data he had analyzed, gathered the rest of his reports and sprinted to his car.

His watch showed it was 7.20am. He had roughly forty minutes to cover 180miles...

“Okay, so I took two times longer than planned… I can get there on time…” he assured himself, hoping that he wouldn’t have to break the speed limit. He really wanted to catch her before she started work, and then at least they’ll have some time to talk before the whole rush hour starts.

By 7.52am, his car was parked neatly in a lot outside the medical centre. It had him speeding on the highway close to 200 mph, if not faster. For all the hassle and possible fines, he didn’t want to waste anymore time but headed straight to her consultation room, not even knowing if she would be there. Without knocking, he barged in.

“Oh!” she exclaimed, spilling coffee all over the front of her blouse. Annoyance, more than anything flashed across her face as her daily ritual of savouring her first cup of coffee was ruined.

Apparently that didn’t put him off for he was currently looking at her with sharp, intense eyes. Amber was sure that one could actually melt in the heat of that gaze. Not in the sexual sense… but in the volcanic destructive sense.

“Yes?” she asked irritably and watched him take a deep breath before slapping the files he was holding on her desk.

“Alright, here it goes… I’m sorry Dr. Amber MacFarlane at my lack of civility and human compassion with regards to yesterday’s incident. I acknowledge you as a highly trained medical professional and I take back whatever insults I said yesterday.” He paused, gauging her face for a response. When she remained silent, he shifted uncomfortably. “I don’t… usually apologize to women, regardless of species.”

“And I don’t usually ask obnoxious cold-blooded Vampires out for dinner either. That’s a mistake on my part and I apologize for my lack of foresight.” Taking her gaze away, she looked down at the files on her table and opened them. “Are these the results?”

He nodded, watching the arrogance disappear from her face, replaced by a look of pure concentration.

“I’m impressed… you did all this in less than 48 hours? Damn… my own lab hasn’t even started working on my sample yet.”

Again he nodded and watched the arrogance returned to her face.

“Thank you. You can go now. My shift’s starting at eight.”

Draven heard her order and yet he was still standing rooted to the ground. It was the lack of sleep, he reasoned, that was propelling his feet forward, grabbing her by the back of her head and yanking her out of her seat.

His actions were so fast that Amber almost didn’t register the sensations of his lips pressed against hers. However, when she did, her eyes widened in shock and she valiantly tried to push him away.

He didn’t budge an inch and she was slowly losing the strength to resist. His kiss was firm and strong, yet tantalizing enough to make her insides go mushy. Very soon, she found herself surrendering to the onslaught of his kiss, her tongue willingly wrestling with his.

I want you… but I can’t. This is a public place and the nurses might barge in at any time.

He must have heard her for he pulled away reluctantly and looked straight at her, seeing the disappointment and lust pooling in her eyes. Just for a second, he felt the need to respond to her lust as though it was calling out to him. A shiver ran down his spine at the thought of him being subject to this Were’s mating pull. That can’t be.

Draven gently let her go, distancing himself from her.

“I’ve got to go now.” He had to leave before something unavoidable happened. “If you need any clarifications, just email me.”

Then he was gone before she could protest.

***

Still in the process of editing... so it should be up by midweek or Thursday at least. I have been rather consistent with my posting, except for that long hiatus after TLAW chapter 8.

So Chapter 3 is in progress and I will be talking about the history of Vampires. It's complete fiction of course but I had to rely on various materials. I read some of Anne Rice and Lynsey Sands works but I'm avoiding Stephanie Meyer for now.

I also found some info here: http://www.answers.com/topic/origins-of-the-vampire but I'll mix and match as always. Readers must understand that no writer writes in a vacuum; we are all influenced by others.