New Book, Who This?…
Happy NaNoWriMo to you all out there who are writing or have writing goals this month of April in the year of our Lord 2018.
It’s been a great time to be alive and to create. I took a break from writing longer works, and have been doing shorter pieces instead. It’s been working for me and has given me plenty of inspiration to go on. It’s led me here to start on my second book in my Makaela Williams series, and I look forward to sharing some of it with you guys on here.
So, without further ado, I bring to you the first chapter of the book, Whispers of the Flesh:
Chapter One
“Save a little space for me in your heart, darling. Save a little space for me.
Leave a little thought for me in your mind, baby, leave a little thought of me.
I just want you to lean on me a while, tender touch and sweetest smile.
Save a little space for me in your heart, darling. Save a little space for me.”
I rolled my eyes and turned to look at Sandy. “Why the hell are we at this sad ass spoken word night? I can’t believe I let you pull me in here.”
Sandy’s eyes glittered with the laughter she couldn’t quite bust out in. Her smirk told me everything I needed to know. I just shook my head, crossed my arms across my chest and pulled my chin down. I really wanted to be home, but it wasn’t because of this event.
I hadn’t felt quite the same since everything that happened to me, much thanks to Andrei. I was still having a hard time digesting the news of my new “form” that I didn’t ask for. I didn’t do well with any of it, and when he did try to call, I ignored them. I sent him straight to voicemail because I wasn’t ready to talk. I was still reeling, and needed my space. I did need my time to take it in, but there was this nagging feeling that I couldn’t ignore him for long. Aside from the fact that he didn’t like being shut down, he had a bit of a hold on me—just a smidge. I still wanted to be near him, and that was worrying me because I was pretty sure I didn’t love him let alone like him, for that matter! And still, I had this senseless need to be near him. I assumed it was just that way because he was the one who pulled me into his world, made me what he is. I didn’t like that feeling, but I let it go every time it crept up on me. The last thing I wanted or needed was me feeling like I needed anyone. I didn’t want to feel that way ever again.
When Sandy finally took me home, I lamented on the thoughts and feelings I was having. I didn’t think it was unhealthy, but I certainly didn’t think it was right either. I grabbed a bottle of room temperature water, cracking the lid open. My cat sauntered out of the shadows of my room, finally gracing me with his presence. Lately, he hadn’t had much of a desire to be near me. He even hissed at me, which took me by complete surprise because he had never done that to me before. Not until I was made into something else did he start his hostile mannerisms around me. He avoided me the same way I was avoiding Andrei. He left voicemails and I chose to let them go unheard. I figured since I was home alone (save for Mr. Chow) I might as well give them a listen, hear what he had to say.
Most of it had been him proclaiming his need to speak to me right away. I deleted them. He didn’t have nothing important to say, at least not an apology. He wasn’t sounding the way I needed him to in light of our situation.
Then there was a rapping at my door. I rolled my eyes because I knew who it was before he even said anything. Very patiently, I walked to my door and stood there waiting for the next knock to sound. “I know you’re there, Makaela, I can feel you on the other side of the door. Stop your childish ways and let’s talk.” I heard Andrei’s muffled voice.
A smirk spread across my lips because I was deeply satisfied that he knew I was here but wasn’t going to let him get the better of me. Not again. “I’m not I going to do that. I’m still not entirely happy with you, good sir.”
I waited to hear more of what he had to say, to hear him plead with me, but he said nothing. It was just me staring at the middle of a door. I started to wonder if he had left until I saw the top lock knob on my door began to turn. Perplexed, I went to it and tried to stop it from opening. It was beyond my control as it completed its turn, then my knob began to turn.
“What the hell, Andrei?” I reached for the knob.
My door pushed open and there he was, but he wasn’t alone. His beautiful hazel golden eyes met mine and I let some of the anger and annoyance melt away, but I still held an edge of both. Then my eyes darted to the tall, statuesque woman standing beside him. She was both breathtaking and intriguing. Her presence made me feel at ease, and the rest of my anger faded away. I didn’t know her, but I felt like I had seen her before, and like we had known one another for many years. My brows furrowed as I admired her standing in the doorway. It was difficult, but I managed to escape her eyes and give them to Andrei.
“I apologize, I didn’t mean for Ursula to invade your space, but it is imperative that we speak,” Andrei broke our gaze to lend his eyes to Ursula. She looked absolutely pleased with herself as she smiled, her eyes held a certain amount of warmth that maternal figures had. Andrei just shook his head and returned his eyes to face me. “May we come in? I wish to not further intrude on your personal time anymore than we already have.”
I paused but then nodded because I felt foolish just standing there with them in the doorway. Andrei entered and then Ursula as she closed the door behind her. She didn’t lock it. I was beginning to think she didn’t need to.
They both took their time getting to my sofa to sit. Ursula gracefully slid onto the couch, her legs crossed, hands laid on her lap. She looked so regal and I could tell she held herself that way no matter where she was. Seeing her just killed all of the fascination I had for Andrei because she was everything that he was and more. I then could feel her energy lift from her body, almost like a cooling heat. I felt as if my pores had opened at that moment and welcomed her in like an old friend. All of her heat was feeding me, and I fed from her energy; swallowing it down like a fine wine all at once. I closed my eyes and let her take over me, breathing along my skin.
“She is…more. Definitely more than your last, I can assure you of that,” I heard Ursula’s velvety sweet voice fill the room. I was still in the thralls of all of the energy binding that was taking place. It moved all over and through me. The sensation pulled a gasp from me, licking my lips as if to taste it on my mouth to see if it was as delicious as it felt, and I didn’t know why. I didn’t understand anything that was happening to me, I just accepted it. I could always ask after the fact.
“Okay, Ursula, that’s enough. You overstep your bounds now. She is mine, don’t lose sight of that.” Andrei’s voice burned with anger but I felt none of that. I was too busy reveling in this moment that was being shared with me.
“You are right,” Ursula sighed. “But if you had fed her, she wouldn’t be so resentful of you. I fed you when I turned you, you should’ve extended that same courtesy to your youngling,” Ursula pulled back her energy so suddenly that I stumbled forward.
I was once again back in my skin, and annoyed. Once I finally opened my eyes, I glared at Andrei to read his face. What I saw made me smirk. “Jealous?”
When I met his eyes this time they were glowing. They showed like molted gold, fiery and bright. I wasn’t phased. He couldn’t scare me anymore as my anger was building up inside of me. I had my own rage to outmatch his. I could feel him running over my skin, goosebumps prickling up, but I didn’t back down.
Ursula watched in amusement, sitting back and enjoying the show. “As fun as this is to watch, this is quite childish of you both. And a word to the wise, Andrei, I’d back down if I were you. She is not at all like your former. She will indeed fight you inch for inch.”
There must have been something on my face or maybe Andrei was finally done being a sore brat, but his eyes slowly returned to their normal hazel hue as he settled back into the couch. I could feel the heat leave my body as I felt spent. I needed to have a seat, and my body was letting me know that as I stumbled over my feet like a newly born fawn. Joy filled laughter escaped from Ursula, clapping her hands as she did. I ignored her as I finally reached my love seat to sit down and gave Andrei my attention.
“Who is this and what do you guys want?” I asked Andrei, rubbing my temples. I could feel a headache coming on, no longer in the mood for small talk. I needed immediate answers.
“I’m Ursula, sweet one. Andrei here has told me nothing of you, but I can see that you’re a very impatient girl. Andrei was my youngling long ago. I’ve come to see about him and you,” Ursula gave me one of the sweetest, kindest smiles I’d ever seen on anyone—man or woman.
I still didn’t completely trust her, and her gentle tone of voice and friendly blue eyes did nothing to change that. I did like that she could speak for herself.
“She is here because there is someone from my past who also knows of you, but could possibly bring you harm,” Andrei finally appeared calm. I further laid back on my love seat to take in the news.
“She’s here, and she’s not like me, or Ursula for that matter. She’s here to cause us a great deal of pain. She may come after you to get to me, but we can’t let that happen.” Andrei scooted closer to the edge of the sofa, trying to be nearer to me. He clasped his hands together, nerves painfully visible, wiring through them. “I apologize for what I’ve done to you. I can’t change any of that now, but what I can do is protect you. My travel to Europe has to wait…unless you come with me.”
“With us.” Ursula spit out. She leaned forward to look at me, her cream colored blouse under her shiny forest green suit jacket catch my eye as it opened a bit, leaving a peek of pale skin. She looked expensive, worldly and sophisticated while I looked like road kill and tired in my gray sweatpants and white t-shirt. Both were oversized on my small frame. I didn’t start to feel self-conscious until I noticed that they both were pretty well-dressed.
Andrei nodded. “Yes, with us. Unfortunately, someone hitched a ride on my jet without warning, but I am glad all the same.”
“Of course you are! I brought you important news, I think that deserves a tiny bit of gratitude at the very least.” Ursula fixed her jacket, her silvery white curls spilled forward as she did.
I smiled at them both because I really couldn’t say anything else. I was starting to feel like I could sleep at any moment, but was trying hard not to. I smiled instead because I wanted to say something smug but decided against it. Instead, I tried for something nice. Andrei returned a smile back to me, reaching his hand out to touch my knee, rubbing against it back and forth in a comforting motion. “I’d like it very much if you can come with us back to Europe, back to Romania with me. It’s quiet, the land is plentiful, and no harm will come to you there.”
I shook my head. “I have a life. I have a job. I can’t just run off because of a mistake you made years, hell, centuries before me! I would need some fair warning to get my shit in order, don’t you think? This is all short notice for me.”
“It was short notice for us all, I’m afraid, but that’s the only sane choice I can give you at this time.”Andrei’s eyes pleaded with me.
“That is not the only option you have, Andrei. I swore you said you’d prepare her and then fight for her, am I not correct?” Ursula interjected.
Andrei turned his head and sounded unhappy with Ursula. “ We cannot fight her. We don’t have time for that, you know this. The only logical choice is to take her from her and away from the danger. I cannot have her fighting something she knows nothing about.”
“What is it? Who is it? You haven’t told me anything,” I yelled, feeling even more drained since I had to raise my voice.
They both turned their attention to me. Ursula then looked over at Andrei, leaving him to explain what was going on. “I told you about Cosmina, and who she is, what she is, cor—“
“Yep, you sure did.” I cut him off from explaining so he could get to the real meat of what I wanted to know. “She’s the crazy lady who had you kidnap some poor village girl and you two chopped off her head and made her into some sort of zombie slave thing to kill your dad, right?”
Andrei’s eyes glimmered as he nodded. “Yes, that’s the short of it. Well, she’s here, in San Diego, and knows about you as well. I hadn’t felt her presence before, but I feel it now. It’s weak but still there, meaning she isn’t very close—she’s just close enough. She might not be in her full power at the moment and may use a minion like Ananda to come after you instead of her directly coming to you. She may have already seen you. I’m sure she can feel you as I feel her and knows you’re now in my power. I fear she may get to you while your guard is down, of course, and when you least suspect anything to happen to you. I want to prepare you, but I don’t know how much time we have hence why leaving is what I now suggest we do.”
I stuck my ring finger in my mouth then pulled out, pointing it up in the air as if to check the temperature of the room. Andrei closed his eyes and shook his head. Ursula looked confused as she turned her body to Andrei. “What does that mean? Why is she checking for the wind?”
Andrei cut his eyes at Ursula. “She’s being a brat, she’s not listening to me.”
“I’m not being a brat, I’m just not leaving with you guys. I heard what you had to say, and I still can’t leave until I have my shit in order first,” I wiped the wetness off of my finger onto my sweatpants. “You have to give me a chance to say goodbye to the people I care about. If I just up and disappeared, they’ll have a heart attack.”
Ursula’s ruby red lips laid side ways, half smirking, half wanting to laugh. “Surely they wouldn’t actually die from your absence. You’re incorrigible.”
I tilted my head. “Okay, time for y’all to get out. I’m tired. I’ll think about it and will let you know my decision tomorrow or whatever. I promise.”
Ursula threw up her hands and stood up from the sofa. “This is an outrage. You don’t take anything seriously. Come, Andrei, let’s leave your little pet to her thoughts.”
Andrei slowly rose from the sofa, his black slacks smoothing down his legs to touch the tops of his black leathered shoes. I scanned his body over, finally going up the length of him to catch his gaze. His dress shirt was neatly tucked into his slacks, black belt securing them. As usual the top two buttons were undone, his gorgeously tanned skin showed. I noticed the buttons of his cuff were undone as well. This was the first time I’d ever seen him look relaxed, slightly. His hair was still slicked back from his beautifully structured face so he wasn’t so outside of his normal look, but just enough to let me know he was kind of unhinged. Just a touch. He took the few steps to lean over me, his lips barely touching my cheek. “Please do not keep me waiting. If I do not hear from you then I’ll be the one who has a heart attack.” At last he laid a kiss on my cheek. I felt his the tips of his fingers under my chin as he slowly turned my head to face him. A lump developed in my throat, my heart nearly skipped a beat when I looked into his eyes. He laid a kiss on my lips, our eyes still locked, then he pulled away.
“Don’t leave me to worry.”
I cleared my throat and nodded. I was afraid my voice would probably squeak if I spoke. Once I felt confident that it was cleared, I tried. “I won’t. You don’t have to worry about me. Thank you for coming, Andrei.”
“Oh come along now, Andrei. Leave her be, you love sick puppy!” Ursula commanded. She knelt on the door, hand on the knob.
Andrei met her at the door, giving me one last parting look. If I didn’t know anything else in this world, I would say the look he gave me said he was in love, or faking it. Either way, it hit me in deep in my feels as I had the swelling need to rush to him and cover him with my body, kissing him all over his face. When they went out and closed the door, I released a breath I didn’t know I was holding. For all of my talk, I wasn’t angry with him or even exasperated. I felt a slight chill move up my spine with the knowledge that I was now a target with no understanding of how to defend myself. Shook was not the word for it. Pissing in my pants was more like it.
