When Night Falls

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FlashFicPHOTO

11-2018

Welcome to the photo flash fiction for November. The pic above is a amazing and so many thoughts flew through my head when I saw it. I hope you like what I came up with. Enjoy!

 

Fog writhed across the ground as Caitlyn slowly turned onto a one lane road and pulled up to a set of iron gates. She checked the address Grigori had given her against the plate attached to the gate and found an exact match. Rolling down her window, she punched the code into the pad tucked discretely behind a large bush and the gates slowly swung open.

She drove through and watched in the rearview mirror as the gates shut behind her. Clutching the steering wheel, a bit tighter, she followed the drive around until she pulled to a stop in front of a huge stone house. The fog was so heavy she could barely make out the steps that lead up to a massive front door, never mind trying to see anything else.

Caitlyn shut off the car and grabbed her purse to step out of the car. Quiet. It was so quiet. Nothing moved. There was no wind, no birds. Nothing. Just the slowly undulating fog that crept across the ground. If she didn’t know any better, she’d think she was the last person alive in the world.

Rolling her eyes at the thought, she clutched her purse a bit tighter and marched up the front steps. She rapped smartly on the door, but paused as it silently swung open. A slight frisson of fear danced up her spine as goosebumps made an appearance on her arms.

I’m not scared, she told herself. There’s nothing to be afraid of. Nothing here can hurt me.

Keeping that thought in mind, she stepped into the large open hall and closed the door behind her. A flicker of light to the left caught her eye and she moved toward it to find a living room dominated by a large fireplace. A fire roared and crackled illuminating a small table draped in a crisp white tablecloth set for two. Caitlyn stepped in and dropped her purse on the couch on the way to the table.

Across one of the plates lay a perfect red rose under a card with her name scrawled in a heavy, masculine hand. The man did not miss a trick. Picking up the rose, she ran her fingers over the velvety petals as the soft sweet fragrance of the flower enveloped her.

“I see you found the place with no problem.”

She spun to find the man himself leaning against the door jam watching her. Damn he was handsome with a thick head of black hair, sharp cheekbones and lips she could kiss for days. Of course, the Russian accent only added to the appeal. She sometimes wondered how the hell she’d gotten so lucky.

“This is quite the house,” she said. “The drive was long and if it weren’t for the GPS I don’t know if I would have found it.”

“I wanted to make sure we wouldn’t be disturbed.”

He stepped up to cup her face in his large hands. They stared at one another as he slowly lowered his head and took her lips. The kiss was like coming home. She’d missed him, but it couldn’t be helped since his job, his life, often kept him away.

“I’ve missed you,” he said, as if he’d read her thoughts.

“I was just thinking that. I hate when I don’t see you.”

“Good, since I don’t like being parted from you. What would you say if I asked you to be with me? Forever?”

“Be with you? Like married?”

He nodded and smiled. Fangs. Long fangs slid from his upper teeth. “What do you say? Will you be mine?”

Caitlyn smiled and jumped into Grigori’s arms. “Yes, yes, I’ll be yours.”

“Forever?”

“Forever.”

Jessica   Bronwyn   Siobhan

If you could win a lifetime supply of anything what would you choose? Why?

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Can you guess what I’d choose?? Let me try again

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Or even better

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If you guessed money, you’d be so right!!! And why?? Well duh. Money. If I had a lifetime supply of money I could do all the things. Pay off all my bills, travel, help my besties out. Oh and not have to work an outside job. I could actually focus totally on writing. That would be so amazing.

So, what would you like to win a lifetime supply of? Tell me down in the comments. Oh and go check out what the other fabulous bloggers have to say on the topic.

Jessica    Bronwyn     Paige

 

October 2018 Dragon Flight

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FlashFicSONG

The song this month was another one I hadn’t heard before.  It’s called “Towers Fall into the Sea” by Clocks and Clouds.  I really like it and, as soon as I heard it, all I could think of was dragon flight. Here is Raisa (you met her in the song flash from March 2018) and her dragon. Hope you enjoy.

Raisa staggered back as Cynfael stood and stretched. He was enormous. He was also beautiful. Black scales shimmered with a million colors danced in the light as he spread his wings. Tears gathered in her eyes as she looked at him. No creature should be this beautiful. Ever. No creature should also never inspire equal parts awe and total absolute fear.

“Come, we will fly.”

Raisa glanced around, wondering who he was speaking to. When she didn’t see anyone, she looked up to find him watching her. If she didn’t know any better she would think he was laughing at her as he raised one brow.

“I can’t fly,” she finally managed.

He lowered his head until they were eye to eye. Or as eye to eye as anyone could be with an enormous freaking dragon.

“I will fly. You will ride. I need to think on your request and flying helps me clear my mind.”

Equal parts fear and excitement welled up as goose bumps spread over her body. This magnificent being wanted to take her flying? What if it was a trick and he was going to drop her? And, really, if he wanted to kill her he would have already done so. He didn’t need to drop her from the air, hell he could have just eaten her.

She nodded, not quite trusting her voice. She twisted her hands nervously as he lay next to her and motioned for her to climb up. Or, at least, that’s what she thought he wanted.

“I don’t want to hurt you,” she said, realizing it sounded stupid as soon as she said it.

“Grab ahold of the plate next to my arm and pull yourself up,” he directed. “Sit right behind my neck and lean against the first spine.”

She carefully followed his directions until she was sitting where he told her. Two horns grew out of the side of his head and curved back so that if she reached out she could just touch one. She gripped the plate in front of her as he slowly rose to his feet. Raisa closed her eyes and concentrated on breathing and not how far away the ground was.

“Are you well?”

She shuddered at the vibration of his voice going through his body since it hit her where she straddled his neck. Shit, this could not be happening. She couldn’t be turned on. Could she?

“Answer me,” he said.

Yep, she was turned on.

“I’m fine.” Her voice came out husky and she cleared her throat to try again. “I’m fine. Just getting used to the height.”

He made a noncommittal sound as he moved toward one of the huge walls of the cavern. The wall didn’t look any different than any of the others, but she held on since this was his home. He began to move quickly and spread his wings as they neared the impenetrable stone. Gasping, she closed her eyes. When she opened them, they were airborne.

The wind raced by and she leaned low to gain as much cover as she could from the scale she sat behind. Raisa kept her eyes trained on Cynfael’s head not wanting to take the chance of looking down. She’d never been bothered by heights before, but then again, she’d never been this high before.

He moved his wings easily and she found herself beginning to relax. This was amazing. The night sky was lit with stars and she took the opportunity to look up. The city didn’t afford her this view, due to all the ambient light, so she studied the billions and billions of stars spread out before her.

Crossing her arms over the top of Cynfael’s scale, she rested her chin on her folded hands and just enjoyed the ride. She knew she was one of the few humans that had ever been allowed on a dragon’s back. She was one of the few humans to actually have any kind of interaction at all with a dragon. Usually, when a human and dragon met, it didn’t end well for the human. Shit, it could still end badly, but she refused to think about that now. Not when she was flying.

She didn’t know how long they flew, but the sun was just touching the horizon when Cynfael headed right for the sheer face of a mountain. In the blink of an eye, they were through the rock and he had landed right back where they started.

Raisa slid off his back and walked stiffly to stand in front of him. Looking up at him, she smiled.

“That was amazing. Thank you so much.”

He inclined his head.

“I have decided to help you.”

“Wow. Thank you.”

“You’re quite welcome. Now disrobe.”

 

Bronwyn    Siobhan

October 2018 Promptly Penned

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PromptlyPenned

Welcome to the October edition of Promptly Penned! I’ve been waiting for this PP since the prompt is so awesome. As always, it’s in bold print in the flash. Enjoy!!

Shay slowly pulled her knees up under herself as she placed her hands on the ground and pushed. Okay, yeah, this standing up business was for the fucking birds. Wasn’t happening, not right now anyway. Didn’t matter since she was able to survey the area just fine from the ground, or, at least, that’s what she told herself. From what she could see, the . . . monster, thing, whatever was gone. Sure, technically, it had been blown to bits, but still no longer able to cause havoc. So, yay, win-win for their team. About damn time.

She rested her forehead on the ground and concentrated on breathing. Yep, breathing was really good. Breathing and not throwing up was even better.

“Shay. Shay?”

The deep baritone voice spoke softly from her side and she couldn’t stop a shiver. Damn the man . . . Fae, whatever. Even feeling like warmed over dog shit his voice made her want to drop her panties. She had to stop thinking about that. Some how she had called him, she still wasn’t sure how that happened. Shay refused to question it. He and his companion were here to help them and she certainly couldn’t indulge in any fantasies that involved him naked. Him naked as he murmured to her in that voice. Him naked, murmuring to her as he licked her—

“Shay, please say something.”

“Shay! For fuck’s sake woman, sit up.”

Ahhh, Josie. If anyone could ruin a fantasy it was her. Shay couldn’t tell her that she was a fantasy cock blocker. Could she? Maybe?

“Come, let me help you.”

Shay looked up in Kearney’s face as he helped her sit up. Wow, the man was fucking beautiful. All that onyx skin and cobalt hair just did something to her.

He smiled at her. “I think you’re lovely too.”

Josie stuck her face close to Shay’s and smiled. “Oh, yeah you’re so pretty, girl. All that blood looks so good on you. It really brings out your eyes.”

“Fuck you,” Shay muttered, mortified that she’d blathered on about how beautiful Kearney was. And, in front of everyone. Great.

Siraj, Kearney’s partner, pulled Josie back. “Let her have some room.”

“What happened?” Shay asked, finally able to get a good look at their surroundings.

“You pulled a vast amount of power,” Kearney said, scowling. “You annihilated the drogath”

“That’s a good thing,” Shay declared, trying to stand.

He put his arm around her and she forced herself not to lean into him. No leaning. Nope. He was a fellow warrior. Nothing more.

“Yes, but not if you kill yourself in the process.”

He practically growled the sentence so it took a moment to understand what he was saying.

“I have this power and I need to use it,” she argued.

“Yes,” he agreed, “but you need to understand it. You need to learn to use it. You’re flinging all of your energy at the enemy without any thought to your own safety.”

“What am I supposed to do? Sit back and let people die?”

“No, you need to learn to pull the energy from your surroundings. That is what you should be doing? Have you not had any training?”

Shay shook her head slowly as Josie asked, “So, she was supposed to go to school or something?”

Siraj said something in a guttural language as he kicked at the dirt. Shay had a feeling that things had just gone from shit to totally fucking shit.

Now go and check out what my fellow bloggers did with the prompt.

Jessica   Bronwyn   Siobhan

Best & Worst: Sex Scenes

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Best & Worst

Sex Scenes. The bane of my existence. I think actually sitting down to write one was what stopped me from finishing a book to begin with. I knew what I wanted to have happen, but finding the words to describe it  . . . yeah, that was the issue.

You have to understand, I started reading romance during the seventies where the prose were incredibly purple, the heroine was always stupid and a virgin and the “hero” was older (very much older) and the “love” scene very much resembled a rape. Ahhhhh, the good old days. NOT!!

So, to say that I have tons of examples of the worst of sex scenes is to put it mildly. Bless my mama, she had no clue to the content of what I was reading. I think I read my first “romance” novel at 11. In fact, I had just turned 11. The first book I read was called Savage Eden and then I followed it up with The Passionate Savage. Now I look back, they were not good, but from these books I decided that I could do better. So, something came from it. Now saying all that:

Worst Sex Scenes

There are a few things that make sex scenes bad, for me. First, if there’s no real context. For instance, they meet and ten pages later they’re going at it and declaring their love. Ummm, no, sex DOES NOT equal love. Next, if the sex scenes uses phrases such as “dell of love” or “sword of love” . . . NOPE! Also, if the couple is tossed up to pinnacles or sucked into vortexes  another NOPE! Another nope is no real connection between the couple. Like they’re having sex and it could be with anyone. Finally, the worst is when an author uses BDSM, but knows nothing about it or the lifestyle. For Goddess sake, do some damn research.

Best Sex Scenes

I love sex scenes that are fun and funny. For instance, Shelly Laurenston is awesome at making the scenes intense as well as hilarious. The best scenes add to the story. Sex Scenes, done well, make a reader understand why the couple is together or, why they should be together. They also allow the hero/heroine, and the reader,  to see vulnerability, usually in the male, when no one else does. The best scenes are also hot, hot, hot!

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I think Nalini Singh does it really well. I especially love her scenes between Dimitri and Honor in Archangel’s Blade. Woweee!! And then there’s one of my new favorite books Rewritten by the amazing Bronwyn Green. Wowzer!! Angus is so fucking hot. The sex scenes between him and Eliza are amazing. Beyond that though, you can feel how connected these two people are.

And, there you have it. My takes on what makes the best and the worst sex scenes. Now go and check out what Jessica and Bronwyn have to say on the subject.

 

 

Photo Flash Fiction – October 2018

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FlashFicPHOTO

man walking in abandoned city alley with flock of birds,illustration painting

Welcome to October!! Our flash fiction picture is pretty weird, and who handles weird? Well Shay and Josie do. Not well, but they’re all we have. Enjoy!

Shay ran through the pouring rain chasing . . . shit she wasn’t sure what she was chasing. She’s seen its handiwork or, at least, what it left behind. Body parts and blood, lots and lots of blood. Enough blood that Shay was fairly certain they were missing bodies. Josie had almost thrown up when Shay had told her that. Then had gritted her teeth, and got to work trying to track the thing. At least, Shay hoped it was only one. Yeah, best not to tell Josie there might be more. A whole bunch more.

A beeping went off in her ear and she touched the device. “Yeah, what do you have for me?”

“Depending on how you look at it,” Josie said, “you’re on the right track. In fact, you should be coming up to the . . . whatever, soon. Oh, and the agency sent in a clean up team. Not that there was much to clean up.”

“Thanks,” Shay said and signed off. Okay, so she was on the things trail. Great. Yeah, but what to do once she caught it? She didn’t have a plan for that yet. Her one big plan, the summoning spell had been a spectacular failure of epic proportions. She’d lit up the sky and exhausted herself for a big old zero. Unless what or who she was summoning didn’t exist anymore. That was a possibility. The spell was old. Really old.

Shay slid to a halt as she peered through the driving rain at the figure standing at the mouth of a well-lit alley. Without thought, Shay took a step back. She wasn’t sure why, but knew the person, thing, whatever was wrong. Like down in the pit, crawl up from the ooze wrong. It didn’t do anything. In fact, if she didn’t know better she’d assume it was a human being, but she knew it wasn’t. From its spindly legs to the weirdly proportioned body it wasn’t even close to human.

Slowly, it rotated its head until it was staring straight at Shay. The it smiled. And kept smiling until the face almost split in two displaying rows of razor fangs.

Shay spread her arms wide and willed magic into her hands. Blue flame licked from her finger tips and she hoped like hell she had enough juice to cause it some kind of harm. If not, she knew she was dead.

Spinning its body, the thing charged at her. Shay shoved blue flame toward the thing and it staggered, but didn’t stop. Fuck. She pushed more power at it and the thing stumbled back, growling and snapping like an angry dog. Shay’s body began to shake and her power reserves began to wane.

“Die, motherfucker,” Shay screamed at it as her power abruptly died. Now she was the one who stumbled back, exhausted down to her bones.

The thing rolled slowly to its knees and began to rise as Shay prepared to run. Not the best plan, but the only one she had the brain power to come up with.

As it forced itself to its feet, an arrow struck it in the face. Then another and another. They were flying in faster than Shay could keep track of, but by the time the monster had gone down it was covered in bolts.

A black form separated itself from the darkness and approached her. “Are you well, lady?”

The voice was deep, so deep, and vibrated through her body. He wasn’t speaking any language she knew, but Shay could understand him. Yep, didn’t have enough energy to figure that out.

“I’m . . . not, I’m not,” Shay said, shaking her head to clear her brain. “I’m flaming out.”

He placed an arm around her and she realized just how big he was. Damn he was big. Then she was flying. Flying? Really?

“I’m carrying you,” the deep voice rumbled against her ear. “We need to get you someplace safe.”

Shay wanted to tell him to call her team. Call Josie, but before she could do anything she was out.

Now go check out what my friend Bronwyn did with the pic.

Top 10: Things that make me cranky

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09-Top 10_ Things That Make Me Cranky

Thankfully, we held this to 10 because, believe me, with everything that goes on in the world it could take me days to list all the stuff that pisses me off. As always, this is in no particular order since a number of these vie for #1 at any time. And, hey, if you want tell me what pisses you off, it only seems right you get to share too.

1 Our government – especially the idiot that pretends to be president. The man lies like a flipping rug and really expects everyone to believe him. Now I know there are people who do, and if you’re one, I’m sorry, but quit being so damn gullible. He lies about shit that there’s proof that shows he’s lying. I’m truly afraid he’s going to get us blown up.

2 Privileged white men – yep they piss me off big time. The ones who commit horrible crimes and yet are treated like special princesses like the guy who killed the people in the African American church and the cops stopped to get him food on the way to jail. WTF??!! If he’d have been a person of color there would have been no food, hell I doubt he could have eaten it since I’m sure the cops would have beat him.

3 Men who commit sexual assault – there’s a special place in hell for these guys. Plus anyone who covers for them needs to go down too. Oh and let’s not forget the judges who give some of these asshats (white guys) a pass because “it only happened once and we don’t want to ruin his life”.

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As a survivor of sexual assault I can honestly say, I don’t give a good rat’s ass how “ruined” these fuckers are. They deserve to be ruined. They chose to sexually assault someone, no one forced them to, so yeah they deserve the harshest of harsh punishments

*deep breath* Oooookay, wow, that was a hot button topic for me. Anyway

4 People who can’t drive the speed limit. If the sign says 65 please do it. If you can’t, get out of the fast lane! Enough said

5 People who go to the self-check out  lane, but don’t know what the hell they’re doing. O_O Really? If you need that much help go to where they check you out. Do not stand at a station for over twenty minutes trying to ring stuff up so that the attendant has to come and help you constantly. I’m sure you know what I’m talking about and have felt this pain.

6 People who do not take care of their kids. You made the decision to have them. They didn’t beg you, you chose. It is now your responsibility. As my mom always said, “Once you have kids, they come first. End of story. You don’t get to go and do things even if you want to since you now have kids. Grow up.” My mama filled with wisdom.

7 This leads me to the ever present weeping whiny kids. I’m not talking about babies. Or even tiny toddlers. I’m talking about the kids more than old enough to know better. I saw a kid the other day, I bet he was 7 or so. Weeping and whining because he wanted his parents to get him something. Mom and dad ignored and tried to placate. Can I tell you what said mama from the line above would have done if that was me? Oh yeah, we would have left and I’d have gotten it when I got home. Of course, I don’t just blame the kids for this behavior. The parents had a hand in it. If you tell a child that they cannot have something when they go to the store then get them something when they cry you are creating the behavior. So everyone involved needs to go sit in time out.

8 People who steal from others. I’m not just talking about the ones who break into your house, which they deserve to burst into flames. I’m talking about the people who steal entire book plots, songs, movie ideas and try to pass them off as their own. WTF?! once again. If you cannot write without stealing someone else’s work then don’t write. Stop. You are taking someone’s hard work and acting as though you did it. How? How do you live with yourself?? And, if you claim you did it first, came up with it first, just stop that too. No you didn’t. I always know if a song hits big someone is going to pop out that swears he or she wrote the song first. Riiiiiight

9 Political commercials. I think that pretty much says it all.

10 . . . how can we be to 10 already? Damn, apparently there are tons of things that really piss me off. Go figure. Okay, so the 10th thing that pops into my head are the panhandlers that hang out at traffic lights begging for money. I know, very well, some of them, a very few, may be legitimate, but for the most part they’re scammers. I know one guy who shows up at the same freeway exit every day. Then one day he popped up with some girl and a dog. The dog was to get sympathy, but let me tell you the dog was clean and well fed. There was another guy who did this until one of the news channels caught him getting into a really nice car at the end of the day.  So, yeah, fake. The ones who really piss me off the most are the people who claim they are veterans. The news chased one of these guys too until he had to finally admit he wasn’t a veteran. Yuck!

Wow, so there you have it, the top 10 things that make me cranky, piss me off, and make me want to kick a trashcan over. Check out what makes the other bloggers cranky and let me know what ticks you off big time.

Jessica    Bronwyn

 

 

Packing to hit the road

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Our question today is really great. If you could pack up and go on vacation today where would you be off to?

The answer really depends on how I’m getting to my chosen vacation spot. If I’m driving then my answer would probably be Colonial Williamsburg. Yep, I’m a big old history nerd. I love CW!! It’s so much fun and there’s tons of stuff to see and do. Also, it’s maybe about 10 hours away so not a big deal to drive it.

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Those are just a few pics from our last trip. I’ll have new ones to post in the next few months since we’re off to CW again!! Can’t wait.

Now, if I’m flying and it’s in the continental US then I would go to the Pacific Northwest. I loved Washington State. It was so beautiful!! I’d get a little place on the beach and stay there for about a month. *sigh*

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Finally, if I could fly anywhere you already know where I’d go. Scotland!!!!! I’d stay there for about 2 or 3 months so I could go and see everything. Oh, and touch Hadrian’s Wall.

Okay, so really, how could anyone turn Scotland down?And those were just a few amazing pictures I found. I could post the pic of the Wall again . . . Oh hell why not

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*sigh* I love it! Oh and that’s where I’d go if I could pack up right now and head out. Now go and see where the other bloggers want to go.

Bronwyn   Jessica    Siobhan

Need the Sun to Break

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FlashFicSONG

This month our song is one of my very favorites. It’s James Bay’s Need the Sun to Break. If you haven’t heard it . . . well you are so missing out, let me tell you. So, click this link to listen to the song:

As soon as I thought at the song, one of my favorite couples popped into my head: Spencer and Cara. My bad boy biker and his PdD. So, here they are:

 

“Spencer, can you come out and talk to someone? She had an appointment with Chad and, of course, he didn’t bother to tell anyone he’d booked it.”

Spencer looked up from cleaning his station and stared at Deanne. Part of him, a huge part wanted to tell her where she could tell the customer to stick her appointment. In fact, why hadn’t Deanne done it herself? Fucking Chad. The guy was useless and now he wasn’t only useless, but still causing problems. He knew he couldn’t have her blow off the customer. It was his shop and, as owner, had to take responsibility.

“I’ll be out in a minute.” He knew he sounded pissed, but couldn’t help it. The day had been going so well too. He’d finished all his appointments and was actually thinking of taking off early.

“Be nice,” Deanne whisper hissed at him. “Chad might have been a total bag of dicks, but that’s not Cara’s problem.”

Right, he thought, so it was his problem. He stepped out into the customer waiting area to find his cousin Deacon and Deanne laughing and talking with someone. The woman looking at the art on the wall turned and smiled at him. Spencer’s heart did a weird flip and he couldn’t quite catch his breath. What the fuck? He really wanted to open his mouth and say something, but he couldn’t manage to do anything, but stand and stare.

She was stunning. Long blonde hair pulled off a small delicate face with huge blue eyes and lips, shit her lips were incredibly. He could imagine himself kissing those lips for days. Sucking on them and teasing them with his tongue.

“Spencer this is Cara.” Deanne’s voice clawed into his brain. “She’s a friend of Holly’s. Cara, this is Spencer. He owns the place.”

The woman stepped up and held out her hand. “Hello, I’ve heard so much about you.”

Spencer forced himself to breath and took her hand. It was small and soft in his large callused grip and he briefly wondered what her hand would feel like stroking his cock. Forcing his mind away from that thought, he cleared his throat.

“So, Deanne said you had an appointment.”

Yeah, great job asshole. You sound like you can’t string two words together. Get it together.

“Holly recommended your shop and somebody booked me with Chad. This was only going to be a consult, but now I find out he’s not here.”

“Chad doesn’t work here anymore,” Spencer said, not wanting to add that the fuckhole had tried to steal from him. Yeah, Spencer put a stop to that.

Deacon shook his head. “That asshole. Good riddance. You’re lucky you don’t have to deal with him.”

“Is there a way I can talk to someone else or maybe make another appointment? I’ve never done this before so I really don’t know it works.”

“I can try and clear my calendar,” Deacon said.

“No,” Spencer found himself saying. “why don’t you come back to my station and we can talk.” He glanced over his shoulder at Deanne. “Hold my calls.”

Yeah, okay, he really shouldn’t do this. His calendar was booked close to six months out, but he couldn’t let this woman leave. Wouldn’t let her leave. Even though she was so far out of his league it was like she lived on another planet. None of that stopped him. He wanted to sit and talk to her. Breath her in, since she smelled so fucking good. And, why did it seem that Deacon and Deanne knew her? He knew he would have remembered meeting her.

“So, do you have ideas about the kind of tattoo you want?” he asked, forcing his brain back into business mode.

“I wasn’t sure how this worked, so I brought some pictures with me.” She pulled a sheath of papers out of her purse and laid them on the table between them. “I don’t know if someone copied them. I wasn’t sure.”

He opened the papers and found a mixture of photo copies and scribbled drawings. Not very good scribbled drawings.

“Did you do these?”

She blushed and nodded. “It’s horrible, I know.”

“What’s it supposed to be?” He hated to ask her, but his four-year-old nephew’s art was better.

“It was my attempt at drawing snapdragons. Deanne suggested it might be better to bring pictures so I printed those out.”

“Snapdragons?”

“Yes, I love them and they mean new beginnings. I thought it would be appropriate since I just graduated and am getting ready to start a new job.”

Graduated? Spencer almost cursed out loud. There was no way she could be only twenty-two, right? Fuck, if she was then she was definitely not someone he could get involved with. He was thirty-four and couldn’t imagine being with someone twelve years his junior.

“So, what did you major in?” he asked.

“Major? Oh, no,” she said, smiling again. “I just finished my Ph.D. in mathematics.”

Ph.D. Yeah, she was way, way, way out of his league. Somehow though, he didn’t care. He wanted to get to know this woman so much better.

 

Now head over to read what Bronwyn, Jessica and Kris wrote to go with the song.

 

Familiar Face

/ gwencease / 8 Comments

PromptlyPenned

Welcome!! Our prompt this month is awesome. I’ve been waiting for it very impatiently. Instead of it being dialogue or a few lines, it’s actually a situation we’re writing to. The prompt says: You’re in an interrogation room. A man walks in and throws a bunch of photographs on the table in front of you. The photos are old and taken at different points in history. You’re in each one. He demands to know who you are.

So, here we go:

 

Detective Jason Davis walked into the interrogation room and stared hard at the man sitting at the table. He didn’t know his name, but he certainly knew his face. High cheek bones, up-tilted eyes, long patrician nose, and full lips. Shit, no, not full lips. Couldn’t think of him like that. He was a suspect . . . or something. Jason just didn’t know quite what yet.

The man looked up and raised one eye brow. Green. The man had pure green eyes. The pictures hadn’t shown that. It also hadn’t shown the bronze skin and white gold hair. Worn longer, Jason thought, unlike the pictures.

“So, are you going to tell me why I’m here or am I supposed the guess?”

The man’s rich baritone filled the room and it took everything in Jason to stop the shiver. Gritting his teeth, he tossed the small stack of images on the table so they spilled across the surface. The man didn’t look at them, but continued to watch Jason.

“Would you care to explain?” Jason asked.

Carefully, the man spread the images out so he could, presumably, study each one. He didn’t betray anything as he looked each picture over then calmly moved it aside. He did this until all eleven pictures were back in a small stack.

“They’re old photos.”

Jason wondered if the accent he had was fake. If almost sounded like the Wakandan accent from Black Panther, but he wouldn’t swear to it. Instead of asking, Jason sat across from the man who had captured his interest almost a year ago. Was it legal for him to bring the guy into interrogation? Probably not. Jason really didn’t have any proof he’d committed a crime. He just knew something was off. Way off.

“The first photo was taken about 1842,” Jason said. “The last about twenty years ago. So, Mr. Jackson, can you explain to me, how you’re in every single picture.”

“Kael,” he finally spoke. “My name is Kael.”

“I don’t see that in any records I have.:

Jason shuffled through the paperwork in front of him, knowing that name wasn’t in any of it. He knew because he had done extensive research on the man across from him. Extensive? Okay, obsessive. He’d done obsessive research. It was as if he couldn’t stop himself. There was something about the man that Jason found compelling. Every time he told himself to stop. To put it away. He couldn’t. He wouldn’t. No matter what, Jason had to know, to understand.

Kael folded his massive arms and leaned back in the chair. The piece of furniture groaned audibly, but the man sitting in it didn’t seem to notice or care.

“You have nothing to hold me,” he finally spoke. “I haven’t committed a crime.”

He rose to go, but Jason shot his hand out to grip the man’s wrist. The first thing he noticed was the jolt he received from touching Kael. Jason knew it wasn’t physical, per se, like a lightning strike, but emotional. He immediately got hard. And that never happened. He was an adult male and had control over his body. This man though . . .

Looking down he saw his dark skin next to Kael’s much lighter bronze hue and wondered if he was that color all over. Fuck, he had to stop.

Kael didn’t shake his arm off. Instead, he placed his hand over Jason’s and it was as if Kael had grabbed his cock. Shit, it took everything he had not to moan.

Kael smiled and retook his seat. Jason wasn’t sure what the man had seen . . . sensed, whatever, but Jason was glad he stayed. Because he was right. Jason didn’t have a damn thing to hold him. Hell, if anyone found out he’d asked this man to come in and used the interrogation room he’d probably be fired.

“The pictures,” Kael said. “How did you find them?”

“This one is from my mom’s side of the family.” Saying this, Jason pulled an image from 1885 out of the stack. He knew all about it. He’d studied it as for years. The picture had hung from his grandmother’s wall and Jason was captivated the first time he’d seen it. The image wasn’t anything special, just four white men standing in place dressed in suits. Jason’s grandfather was the second from the left. An unassuming man in a suit. He wasn’t who captured Jason’s attention. It was the man at the far right. The tall, built man with the cheekbones and mouth who had captured his attention. His imagination. His daydreams and, as a boy, wet dreams. Now, here he sat, bigger than life.

“I wanted to know who the men were,” Jason finally said. “So, I did research. And the more I dug, the more I wanted to know. It took me about ten years, but I found all the pictures and now here you are. In the flesh.”

Kael smiled. “Here I am. And you’re curious?”

“Yes.”

“No one will believe anything I tell you.”

“I don’t care. I don’t care about anyone else.”

Kael leaned forward and grasped Jason’s wrists in his hands. “There are things in this world that you’re safer not knowing. Though, since you made it this far, I can assume you won’t stop.”

Jason didn’t say anything, but just watched Kael and waited. He had to know.

Finally, Kael nodded. “For millennium, evil has tried to gain an advantage on this planet. It wants humans, needs humans. And, for millennium, those of us who oppose the dark fight. Not all the time. In fact, the last major battle was perhaps four or five thousand years ago. After that have been skirmishes, but nothing major. That’s changed. Evil is rising.”

“That still doesn’t explain the pictures. You.”

Kael nodded. “Yes, it does. I’m a vampire and I have lived for thousands of years fighting the dark.” Saying this, the man opened his mouth and his incisors grew into fangs. Jason blinked his eyes and tried to pull away, but Kael held him.

“Evil is coming Jason. My sire is rising and all I can think about is how delicious you smell. And how very much I want to drink from your vein and fuck you.”

 

Bronwyn     Jessica    Kris    Siobhan