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Okay, this one was supposed to go up yesterday, but internet problems delayed things. But here is your first sneak peek at "Forever Chosen". Enjoy...
Chapter 1 - Not Kosher
There’s something lovely about waking up with your arms around the curves of a beautiful woman, unless you went to bed alone and weren’t expecting anyone. As my mood slipped from sensing the first thing to realizing the second, I opened my eyes and found red-gold hair only inches from my face. “Yekaterina,” I said. I pulled back and got out of bed, wrapping up in my top blanket as I did. I had on boxers, but suddenly, that did not feel like enough.
She shifted
position to face me. She was not naked; instead, she wore an ivory satin night
dress that was clinging to her in a way that only drew more attention to her
form than exposed skin would do. “What are you doing here?” I asked.
“Silly boy. I’m
seducing you, what does it look like I’m doing?” Her eyebrows arched playfully
over her blue eyes.
“Not that. I’m
not being seduced.”
“Why not?” She
leaned forward a little, her nightdress gapping slightly in front, revealing
more of her pale skin. You might think all vampires have pale skin, but mine is
still tan, thanks to the Latin heritage from my mother.
I’m Rafael Jones,
and I might have more affection for Yekaterina if it weren’t for the following
fact. “I still remember you getting me captured in the first place, which led
directly to my untimely demise and undead condition.”
“Are you still
upset about that?” She rolled her eyes as if I was being entirely unreasonable.
“You’ve had almost a year to get used to it.”
“You’ve had
almost a year to push Rasputin overboard during your travels. Have you done
that?”
“No, but then it
didn’t work when you did it. Don’t tell me you’ve forgotten we can fly.”
“Out into the
sun, then?” I suggested.
“He’s much
stronger than I am.”
“But you could
get a couple of thralls to put him outside while he’s sleeping.”
She cocked her
head to one side, as if she were seriously considering the scenario, and
whether it would play out well. I couldn’t really hold it against her that she
hadn’t fully betrayed him yet. That was the thing that made our relationship
complicated. She worked with Rasputin, but she didn’t seem to fully want to.
She’d been made into a vampire by him, it was obvious, and she feared him but
was also attracted to him. I couldn’t really understand that last bit, as I
considered him a pretty gruesome specimen, but it was likely his mental powers
helped him keep her in his sway. “I need to keep up a little deniability. I
don’t really know what it would take to kill him. And besides, if I don’t have
you, if I got rid of him, I would be alone.”
“Would that be so
bad?”
“We have intense
appetites, Rafael. You do, too.” She was not wrong. It didn’t mean I had to do
anything about it, though.
“I don’t like our
appetites.”
“You’ve hardly
tried them, have you?” She tilted her head again, this time, backwards, slowly
baring her neck.
“Stop it.” I
couldn’t see the pulse fluttering in her vein, because our hearts beat very
slowly and our blood is thick. But I could see the faint change in color there,
like a black vein just below the surface on a marble statue. “I think you’ll
find I’m too stubborn. I stand firmly on many things. Among them is not getting
into bed with a woman I haven’t even had a conversation with.”
“That almost
sounds like…”
“An invitation to
put on a robe, come to my kitchen, and talk over coffee. Do you drink coffee?”
“Yes.” She
slipped on an old flannel robe I had left on a chair. “It warms me up. But not
as well as other things.” The look she gave me pretty much spelled out what
else could warm us up.
To be honest, I
didn’t dislike her as much as I claimed. I had a worried sense we had more in
common than I was comfortable with. At the same time, some things about her
grated on me: a sense of entitlement she seemed to have, particularly how, in
connection with her vampirism, it seem to make her comfortable with using
people, even killing them. That should make me dislike her a lot. But she
resisted her thirst at first, she had tried to help me, and most of all, she
had an unpredictable sense of compassion. It didn’t hurt that she was
beautiful, tall, slender, and elegant like an Art Deco ideal.
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