Serenity Snow's Blog, page 40

Wip Wednesday

I’ve finished working on Cozy Bend 5 and I’m half way through Cozy Bend 6. I finally decided on a title for 5 and the title for six came to me after while I was researching an element of 6. 

So, I’m doing a read through of Cozy Bend 5 before I submit it. It’s a sequel to 4. Cozy Bend 5 isn’t related to that except in the fact that a few of the characters from 5 appear in 6.

Evernight accepted Assassins Core 3 and I’m excited about that. i know parts of that story might hit a little too hard, but the fact is the series is about assassins and women who live outside the law. I think going too soft would cheapen that dark side and profession. 

I don’t live that way and don’t want to, but I enjoy delving into that world as fantasy and adventure. I think conflict is necessary to a taut storyline and make that world believable. Having said that, there is romance in the story because it’s a romantic suspense story.

Here is a small snippet of Cozy Bend 6.

They reached her car, and she hit the
button to unlock the door and Brionna reached for her, stalling her steps.

“You’re supposed to open my door,” she
murmured. “Not just leave me to get in.”

Randi gave her a curious glance expecting
to see a laugh playing on those lips, but her stare was serious.

“I like a butch who opens doors for me,”
she said. “I guess I’m old fashion.”

“You’re too young to be old-fashion
sweetheart,” she drawled. “Your generation has no idea about chivalry.”

“Most of my generation didn’t grow up
watching Clark Gable and wanting a woman just like her.”

“Clark Gable? I’m surprised you didn’t say
James Dean.”

“He was cute, but he was a bad boy. Clark
Gable was a bad boy of a different kind like you. Now, open my door, mami.”

 “I
see you study Spanish too,” Randi said.

“I speak it fluently,” she replied. “I
spent a year in Spain and a semester in Mexico.”

Randi moved to open the door for her.
“Climb in my mamacita,” she
murmured. She spoke Spanish and French because she thought it would help in her
work as a lawyer.

Brionna
gave her slow look up and down. “That’s more like it.” She climbed in and
tugged the seatbelt over her chest as Randi rounded the car and climbed in.

“Why didn’t
you go home with her? In Clark Gable’s day a girl went home with the man who
brought her to the dance.”

“Shelia’s a
friend,” she said. “She used to be more, but that’s been over. She’s trying to
get me back only I’m not interested in a woman who wants to cat around like a
teen-aged boy.”

“I see,”
Randi said after clicking her seatbelt in place and started the car. Brionna
turned slightly towards her, keeping her knees together. “You’re wearing my
scarf.”

“I like the
way it smells.”

“Do you?”
She’d never had a woman tell her that or a man.

“It reminds
me of you pressed against me, tasting me,” Brionna said softly. “I get wet
every time I think about that.”

“It was one
kiss, and you’re too old to be having such silly fantasies.”

Brionna
laughed. “That’s a memory,” she said. “A fantasy is when I wonder what it would
be like to lay naked on your sheets or to have you fuck me against the wall in
your office.”

A shudder
ran through her. She liked age play to a degree especially when her playmate
pretended to be a just out of her teens. Add the right lingerie to that she
really got off.

“You’d like
that?” Randi asked. “Why?”

“The
element of risk combined with you making me hot for you,” she said.

“How would
you make that happen if you had the chance?”

Springtime Love

Today’s post is from A Butterfly’s Fire. This one contains an instance of the butterflies and ladybugs. I just saw a big monarch butterfly a few days ago. Spring is certainly coming to life around here.

She
squinted, but she couldn’t make out the intricate detail though she saw the eye
spots on the wings.

The
ladybug went on full alert, the bug in her tensing at the possible hint of
danger and the poison rose through her system while her nails turned to sharp
points.

Pushing
up the window, Peta screeched, sending the sound out in an arc of energy that
would carry directly to where the wings were.

If
she was wrong, she could abide being a fool, but she wouldn’t be happy if she
allowed a threat to get close to her mate. Her eyesight sharpened, her vision
as clear as night vision goggles. But why would anyone even be out there?

The
tree limb waved and wings fluttered as the butterfly fell from the tree. Her
nails became sharp little ovals, and she started to cut the screen when sound
behind her stopped her.

“What
is it?”

Lea Bronsen

Lea Bronsen:

Check out a teaser from Lea Bronsen’s latest release!

Springtime Love

Today’s Springtime Love continues with one more except from Firestorm. 

Today’s scene is again a storm scene. I selected it to show
the utter mingling of the human with the storm. Both these women are the
personification of the wind at the moment. Tylor is the very essence of storm
as she creates the rains over the city.

I did research the winds, updrafts and such during the writing
of this book.

Azar-Rai was out
of the hotel within seconds, tossing her purse into her car and locking it with
magic. Then, she was leaping into the air, shifting into a streak of lightning
before fading to a heavy wind as she raced across town. Lightning flared across
the sky, the heat licking across her airy ear, and she rolled onto her back.

She opened her
mouth and thunder broke the sound barrier. A face appeared in a dark cloud and
hard rain showered down on her.

Who
are you?

The telepathic
voice was a whisper through her mind.

I
am Azar-Rai FireStorme.

Where
are you going so fast? You’re fucking with my work. The night doesn’t call for
a tornado, but you’re creating dangerous updrafts that are impacting the
downdrafts and wind shear causing the winds to spiral. Descend.

The order was
given with such authority she knew it could only be Storme.

I
can’t. I must get to my destination before demons do.

I’ll
have Avery and Camille meet you there. Where are you going?

The
Grange Place. Even as she said the words she thought of her destination in
vivid color including the way it had looked when she’d last been there a few
months ago.

On
their way. Now descend,
slowly.

Azar-Rai didn’t
have time for a pissing contest, so she went to a lower altitude and decreased
her speed.

Springtime Love

This scene is one that
shows the power of fire as it consumes as well as the connection of the energy
of the air nymphs as they form a barrier. Water and fire are separate, one
defeating the other, but air is more of a middle ground between them creating
lightning, steam, and in this case, a barrier of protection.

Azar-Rai wasn’t
there long before she felt she wasn’t alone. The increase in the atmospheric
pressure. Aurai or venti.

She started to
circle around again when she spied an SUV pulling in a short distance from the
land. She hovered in the air and watched as three demons climbed out.

“Let’s split up,”
one of them shouted over the driving rain.

“We might need
back-up,” a second said and then shifted into a tall red-skinned demon.

“They’re on the
way,” the first demon said and struck out for the eastern section.

We’ve
got company. Three, one each heading for the east, the west and the southern
sections.

The wind blew
through the trees, and Azar-Rai heard two distinct voices in it before the air
settled and the rain increased.

Azar-Rai took the
south since she was hovering right on top of that point. She trailed him,
watching as he glanced around.

“I can feel you,
witch,” he murmured. “Show yourself.”

Azar-Rai lowered
herself to the ground behind him. “Behind you, demon.”

He whipped around
and fired off a round of energy balls that sparked and glimmered with glassy
points. She shifted into air as they approached, and he cursed.

“Coward!” he
shouted.

She breezed past
him. “Here.”

He jerked around,
and she shifted into flame and flew at him.

“Shit.” He leaned
to one side, and she became heated air and circled his head. He batted at her
and Azar-Rai went still. He drew in a breath, and she slithered up his nose to
burn her way down his throat with him screaming in agony.

Through his ears
she heard someone coming up behind her and turned. Looking through his eyes,
though not feeling the pain of the fire of her energy, she watched the attractive
man approach. She exhaled and fire flew from her mouth and licked over his
skin.

“What the hell are
you doing? I’m part of the back-up team.”

“Too bad you
didn’t come in an asbestos suit,” she said, and he let loose a spell.

The heat of her
body increased, raising the electromagnetic field around the demon she
inhabited, and his spell fizzled before reaching her.

Azar-Rai stretched
out her hand and fire flamed on the demon’s palm as she took control of his
dying body. Flames rolled off his fingertips in an orange-black ball and
slammed into the intruder shooting him up toward the sky several feet.

Thunder drowned
out his screams and lightning streaked across the sky and through his dying
body. He jerked taut and burned bright before falling back to earth as ash.

She smiled and the
body she was inhabiting crumpled around her. Azar-Rai felt the pair of eyes on
her and turned to face air.

The energy the
newcomer exuded was strong, and enticing, familiar. Azar-Rai flew toward it,
her senses keen.

She curled around
the warmth, rubbed against it and the breath of the creature hitched. The woman
couldn’t smell her—and she knew it was a woman by the feel of her body.

The air was rich
with burning flesh and rain as it pelted the earth. Trees danced in the breeze,
leaves scurried away as if sensing mortal danger. However, she felt the thud of
Madison’s pulse as she tightened around her throat.

The erratic beat
was a sensual song that drew a breeze from Azar-Rai and the woman shuddered
beneath her.  

Azar-Rai licked
along her nape and the woman growled as if in pleasure.

“Show yourself,”
the woman ordered breathlessly. “Now.”

Azar-Rai slithered
around her and rose up to peer down into chocolate eyes, and she was caught in
a storm of fiery passion.

“Azar-Rai, is that
you, girl? Show yourself.”

“So you can kill
me fully this time, demon?” she whispered in her ear. “I think not.” She
tightened around Madison’s throat with every intention of killing her, but
something inside her drew her back.

The sound of a car
had Azar-Rai moving away. “We’ll finish this later.”

Azar-Rai blew Madison
back several steps and Madison became fully visible as she started to charge
forward only to run into a wall of air.

“Don’t challenge
me now, Madison,” Azar-Rai told her coldly. “I don’t want to kill you like
this.”

Madison started to
move when Azar-Rai floated back but stopped even as Azar-Rai connected with the
energy of the land creating a barrier. She felt a second wave of power encircle
the property and snap into place.

Water.

Azar-Rai felt it
all around her, though the land was still dry. The power that guided this
watery energy melded with the natural elements and created something energetic
and vibrant. Azar-Rai got the feeling if she hadn’t already been inside of the
boundary, it would rip her to shreds.

Springtime Love

Today’s excerpt comes from the early part of the book. It depicts a storm though not one that’s life-altering. I chose this one just to show the power of the women in this series.

Over the longest of distances or even in
close confines, they were always with each other, the warrior women of the
woodlands. That’s how they knew about her, knew about Elaina’s death.

Michaela put a hand on her stomach as the
words ended.

“It’s time to work now,” Ivy told her.
“You can refuse, but now is your only chance.”

She thought about it, and part of her knew
she was on the edge of a new life, a chance to be part of something special—dangerous,
but meaningful.

“I don’t want to refuse.”

“I think Elaina might have chosen well,
make her proud Michaela,” another voice said in her mind. “We will join you
soon, sister. For now, begin the job Elaina entrusted you with.”

For a moment, Michaela wondered how she
was supposed to contact Storme—who was this Storme—and then the last of the
missing pieces clicked into place as knowledge rich and vibrant assailed her.

She sat up and pushed the sheets aside and
went to the window. She raised it and poured out of the screen in the form of
dirt only to reform as a human outside.

Michaela closed her eyes and moved away
from the window. She raised her arms just as lightning streaked across the sky.

“Storme, this is Woodland North, liaison,
Michaela, I have a message for you.”

The wind picked up and swirled around her.
Thunder clapped loud enough to break the sound barrier and rattle windows, but
instead of shrinking as she would have done ten minutes ago, Michaela
continued.

sapphicbookclub:In case you need more books, here’s a good one (we actually kicked our book...

sapphicbookclub:

In case you need more books, here’s a good one (we actually kicked our book club off with this one so highly recommend it!)

enchanters-books:

Please Reblog!

If you are stuck at home bored but trying to save money, for the next few weeks I’m giving my Enchanters books away for free. Just email me (contact@enchantersnovels.com) with your details or DM me and I’ll send you the ebooks. Stay safe and healthy everyone! ❤

WIP Wednesday

I’m
working on three projects at the moment. As I’ve said, two of those projects
are Assassins Core 4, Cozy Bend 5 and 6. I’m nearly finished with both Cozy
Bend 5 and 6. The Cozy Bend stories, 5 is a sequel to 4 and 6 is a story with
no connections to 4 and 5 except they’re set in the same town and some of the
characters know each other.

Six
is a May-December romance that I’m having fun writing. I admit I have fun writing
all my stories but this one is a little new in a way, with the younger woman doing
the chasing. I’m also exploring age-play. I might end up making this story
longer just to fully take it where I want to, but I’m not going to make it
unnecessarily long because it’s not meant to be that.

In
other news, I’ve signed a contract for The Nefarious Madam, Assassins Core 3.

Here
is an excerpt from Cozy Bend 5. I don’t actually have a name for it. I can’t
seem to come up anything, but I’ll check my list of possible titles I jotted down
when I started the series and see if anything pops.

Sarina answered the door and was surprised
to find Ella standing there. The other woman’s green gaze was cool on her. She knew
Ella didn’t really like her thinking she’d taken advantage of Remi.

“What are you doing here?” Sarina asked.

“Remi called,” she said. “She said she was
flying out tonight.”

“That’s not right,” Sarina said. “I’ll go
ask her. Come in.”

“Maybe she just didn’t think it was your
business,” Ella commented.

Sarina put a hand on her hip. “Do you like
your job, Ella?”

“Remi won’t fire me because you asked her
too,” Ella retorted. “She’s too smart for that so don’t threaten me.”

“Maybe not, but I can make sure she fires
you for some other reason,” Sarina told her acerbically.

“I’m not in the mood for that shit,” Remi
said from behind them. “Ella take this to the truck and wait for me there.”

Ella took the bag Remi held out to her and
gave Sarina a last look before exiting.

“She’s—”

“I’m not firing her because you two can’t
stand each other,” Remi told her. “Ella is good at her job, and I trust her.
You two need to come to terms while I’m gone.”

“Oh, really? That’s it?”

“I’m not letting you jerk my chain because
you feel like it,” Remi told her angrily. “I know how to run a business,
Granted I was wrong about that fucking manager, but I didn’t judge his
character just his resume.”

“Have a safe trip, Remi.”

Remi studied her. “So, that’s it?”

“What do you want me to say?” Sarina
asked.

“How about—never mind. I’ll see you when I
get back. Don’t worry about the casino. Let Ella handle it. She has a new
assistant to train anyway. I’ll check in with her for daily reports.”

“I—”

“Have a business of your own to get up and
running,” Remi cut in. “You made that pretty clear already today. I’ll see
you.” She picked up her back and marched out the door.

“Remi.”

Remi stopped on the porch, back ramrod
straight but she didn’t turn.

“Don’t do anything stupid because you’re
mad at me. I won’t understand if you cheat on me.”

Remi slipped down the stairs and headed
for her truck without a reply leaving Sarina to stare after her.

She braced a hand on her churning stomach
as nausea assailed her. Her head swam and she felt as if her legs would give
way at any moment.

Sarina had no idea how Remi dealt with
stress but all she could think was that she’d go out of town and hook up with
someone out of a need work off some of her anger.

She stepped inside and closed the door and
fought back tears of frustration, fists clenched at her sides and a rap on the
door made her jump. Sarina opened it to find Remi standing there.

Remi cupped her cheek. “I know what I have
waiting for me, Sari,” she whispered. “I’m not crazy enough to fuck that up.” She
kissed her forehead.

“Call me when you get there?” Sarina
hugged Remi.

“I had planned to,” she said, humor in her
tone. “I love you.”

“Love too. Have a safe trip, honey.”

Remi nodded and kissed her again before
leaving.

Sarina watched them drive away before going
back inside. She took a long soak in the garden tub by candlelight before going
to bed. She was tired emotionally.

She didn’t know love could be so hard.

Today’s excerpt comes from Heat In the Air.She watched the building, waiting forthe woman to exit....

Today’s excerpt comes from Heat In the Air.

She watched the building, waiting for
the woman to exit. Juno expected Camille to come prancing out in about an hour
after dinner with the woman from the bathroom. The scent of sex had been heavy
enough in the air that she’d be a fool not to guess what they’d been doing.

Camille didn’t seem like the type to
do it on the first date or with a stranger in a public bathroom, so they must
know each other.

Her phone vibrated, and she tugged it
from her pants pocket, hoping it wasn’t Necron calling her again. She knew he
was anxious to get the girl and the stone in his grasp, but he couldn’t do that
if he didn’t let her work.

“Yeah?” she asked without looking at the
caller ID.

“How are things going?”

Necron’s voice was dark and deep and
held an unspoken question as it came through the line.

“She was fucking some woman in the bathroom,
so I figured she’d blow me off.”

“You weren’t supposed to take off,”
he snapped, and she rolled her eyes.

“You didn’t ask me to hook up with
her,” she muttered. She wouldn’t have minded. Camille was a hot little piece of
ass. “I’m waiting for her to come out so I can grab her.”

“Don’t damage the stone and don’t
feed off the girl,” he ordered.

“Anything else?” she asked coolly.
She had no real plans to feed off her. This was work. “I need to go. You’re
distracting me.”

“I want the girl here tonight,” he
said. “No stops along the way.”

“I know,” she said through clenched
teeth.

“I’ll see you soon,” he said and
ended the call.

Juno sighed in exasperation and put
the phone away. As she did, she spied Camille strolling to her car.

Camille made her way through the
parking lot fairly quickly with the springiness great sex put in the step. She
expected her to start whistling or singing any second.

“Camille?”

The voice was soft, carried to her on
the wind and Camille turned.

“Shit,” she whispered and pushed away
from the car she was leaning against as she enjoyed the darkness of this unlit
side of the parking lot.

She had to make her move now and
quick or she’d have to kill the other woman calling more attention to this than
Necron would want. Then, the bastard would kick her ass.

****

Cool solidity slammed into the back
of her, flattening Camille against a nearby car and she let out a choked scream
even as she reached for her airy magick.

A cool thread of energy slithered
down the back of her neck and around her throat and tightened. Camille grasped
it and pulled. hoping it came free as easily as a loose thread, but it
tightened and burned her flesh.  

Her breath rushed out of her in a
gust, hitting the window causing it to crack before blowing back on them in a
hard breeze that momentarily stole her breath.
The person behind her grunted and fisted a hand in her hair and shoved
her face toward the window. (here, Camille is using the watery energy of air—both can
be crushing in the right circumstance or force. Tidal waves. Hurricanes.)

She exhaled roughly and her face
collided with the air that was like a cushion. The attacker growled in anger,
the breath hot against her neck. Then suddenly her energy rushed backward,
pulling away from her physical body and into her aura.

A dark breed?

They were dangerous half-demon
creatures who fed off the psychic and sexual energy of humans and witches. They
could take part of the witch’s power if they established a psychic link with
them during the feeding. Or they could twist their victim’s mind making them
easily bend to the dark breed’s will.

“That’s it,” she murmured. “Don’t fight
me and this will all be over in a second.”

Her energy felt sluggish and stilted
and her stomach roiled, causing her to gag, but Camille slammed her foot down
on the attacker and drove her elbow back into her stomach. Her power pooled low
in her belly and a light breeze whipped up, blowing over them.

Upon release, she quickly rounded on
the woman, prepared to use the limited kick-boxing skills learned in
self-defense.

She didn’t like to use magick in
public when she could help it since her power was a little erratic lately.

The woman held out a hand and black
energy snaked around Camille’s throat and latched into her skin. She fought
feeling light-headed.

Her attacker closed the distance
between them and put her hand on Camille’s chest. Dark energy went through her,
her skin crawling, and she jerked as if she’d been shocked.

“Back off.” She forced the words out,
but they were a whisper as she pushed weakly at the other woman. Air leaked
from her hands as the fear inside her grew into a frantic monster. Wet
moistened her fingers and the woman grunted and slapped her.

“Stop fighting it,” she snarled. “Let
it take you under.”

The shadow was knocked to the ground
by a black wind before the caster of the magick came into view.

The shadow faced Tylor and released a
dark vein of energy. The power was thin and ropy and snaked out toward Tylor
who jumped over it and came down, hand extended.

Tylor flicked her wrist and lightning
flashed before stabbing into the other woman. The woman jerked and a screech
tore from her throat so loudly, it triggered car alarms and drew a cry of pain
from Camille. (here I use lightning to show her power as a storm but as a blade that
cuts and kills.)

She covered her ears, face scrunched.

Tylor clenched her fingers and the screeching
stopped. The woman glowed as if lit from within and lightning flashed overhead.
A second later the dark figure was collapsing to her knees. (the clenching
of her hand signifies Tylor taking control of the woman’s breathing—air and
stopping it to stop the noise.)

It’s
a way of making the air go still like the calm before a storm.

Springtime Love

This week I’ll be sharing excerpts from Windswept in honor of Spring starting this week. Storms are a quintessential part of spring where I live so I think these stories are appropriate.

I selected this
scene to show how air could be shaped and used as a weapon. The dark breed
Carrel uses it as a whip—I originally planned to use this idea a little more
with Aria after she defeats Carrel, but alas, I forgot the later I got into the
story. I think halfway through this I stopped writing out the power bible, but
I’m reading through the series for flaws and things I’d like to avoid repeating
as I plan out the rest of the series.

There are some
things I want to keep using and some I want to leave in the past. I do have two
to three more books planned for the series, but I’ll have to decide as I plan
out the final battle with Voltaire and his crew as well as Dark Crystal. I’m
thinking I might do a trilogy to deal with a few issues unless I work those
into the final books.

There are some
things I’d like to explore a little more in-depth like the power centers. I
might just drag the series out a few books by doing stories that focus on the
things I’d like to explore instead. I’ll have to see as I put together my notes
and ideas for the last books.

But for this
excerpt, the psychic skills of air manipulation are used and it does in
intrigue me. I find being able to use the mind to fashion air—an un-seeable
thing into something visual amazing.

Aria caught the
tip of the air whip this time before it could bite into her arm again. She
jerked it forward while at the same time sending fiery wind rushing up it. The
whip was tipped with thorns which meant Carrel had likely killed a wood nymph
and tamed her powers—made them hers.

The dark one
screamed and released the whip. Aria took control of it. The energy thrumming
in her hand was a mix of light and dark, of earth energy.

The woman glared
at her. Her eyes were black with a red inner ring. “How dare you interrupt my
kill?”

“Easily enough.”

She growled
through clenched teeth. “Stay out of my territory, witch. And return my weapon,
now!”

Aria laughed,
truly amused as the dark power thrummed in her hand. It was lively, but nothing
she couldn’t tame and meld with her own power.

“I can go where I
like,” Aria told her coldly, crossing her arms over her chest. The weapon had
retracted into her hand easily enough which meant it was now hers. To regain
it, the woman had to take it. “This is my city.”

Carrel asked derisively.
“You are delusional, witch. Cross me again, and we’ll have issues.” Carrel
moved slowly toward Aria.

She shrugged. She
didn’t have a death wish, but she didn’t back down even in the face of
overwhelming odds.

“You’ll have to do
your worst then, Carrel.” She turned and headed to her truck, unconcerned with
whether the woman would attack. They’d fight to the death if she did. “By the
way,” Aria turned back. “That woman is under my protection. Go after her again,
and you’ll pay a heavy price.” Because Juliet was hers.

She was her sweet
Eliza whose husband she’d killed at Crecy, and her darling Amina, the bold
witch who’d saved her at the end of the Inquisition.

Nothing would part
them this time, no matter what.

Carrel snorted. “This is demon territory,
aurai and your bitch is ours.  Now give
me my weapon, or I’ll finish you, too.”

With airy
quickness Aria was in front of the other woman between the space of one breath
and the next. She grabbed her around the throat and heated her hand with the
air currents of the south winds.

“What are you
doing—” She tried to scream as her eyes bulged in their sockets from the heat
quickly.

The dark one’s
face, reddened and sweat dampened her skin.

Carrel managed to
gather her bearings and strike out with a vine of dark energy. She was able to
command the earth, Aria thought as she released the other woman.

Aria fisted her hand and clenched her fingers.
Blue airy energy projected through her skin, a hard gust of heat and fine
granules of sand. The energy smashed into the shadow even as she attempted to
cloak herself in more darkness. (here I did show how Aria tapped into the power of the whip she took
from Carrel. The earthy energy is imbued in the whip along with air.)

Carrel gasped and
clawed at her throat. Hard breaths escaping her as the sand burned into her
skin, severing her vocal cords. Aria closed the distance between them and drew
in the woman’s breath, stealing it from her lungs causing her to suffocate.

Along with the
oxygen in her blood came the power, dark and light. The woman’s power felt warm
and with the barest hint of northern winter cold.

The dark breed
sank to her knees, face drenched with sweat. She made a harsh sound and her
back bowed as the black energy left her body and settled over Aria in a shower
of navy.

No.
The woman’s voice was a telepathic plea for mercy and her black eyes glowed
indigo.

Carrel let out a
ragged cry, blood sprayed from her before she collapsed onto her stomach in a
lifeless mass at Aria’s feet.

Something ran up
her spine, and Aria exhaled roughly and arched her back as energy ran down it. (here Aria feels the vibration of
the human. Vibration I connect with earth in this instance which shows how
Aria’s taking in Carrel’s power has affected her abilities.)

“What’s going on
ou—oh fuck!” The motel manager came out of the shadows and stood there staring
at her as she levitated just inches off the ground. “Shit,” he whispered.

“Damn,” Aria said
out loud.

The man backed up
just as the energy soaked into her and she landed on her feet again. Aria threw
out her hand, air rushing toward him. She didn’t have the charisma of the dark
breed, but she did have the ability to affect a human’s thoughts. Air was
thought and mind.