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Sick Puppies, actually. I love this band. I couldn’t remember if I’d played this song for you before, but if I did I apologize. I just love it, so I can listen to it endlessly. I used it in the Bar for Ainsley, who has an attraction to a man she knows is about to meet his mate. Because she’s filled with despair and loneliness, she offers to spend one night with him before he leaves on a mission where he could die… or find his true mate. There’s a desperation within her when she says goodbye to Helios and the song is the perfect counterpoint. Here’s the song and the post.

It was cold. Or rather, I was cold. I rubbed my hands up and down my arms as I held myself, staring out the window at the leaden sky. I was numb. I didn’t know what to think or feel. I’d done something completely out of character last night, but I didn’t regret it. Instead, I was just numb. The water turned off in the bathroom and I sensed Helios coming up behind me. He was showered, shaved, and dressed, and his serious face was back on.

“It’s almost time for me to leave,” he said quietly, his hands coming to rest on my silk covered shoulders.

“I know,” I replied in a flat unemotional voice.

Helios’ eyes searched mine in the window’s reflection. “Do you want me to come back here when it’s over?” he asked. His voice wasn’t tentative, but there was a question in his stormy grey eyes. He was asking me if I wanted him to come back to me. I wished I could tell him yes, but it wouldn’t be the truth. I turned around so I could look at him.

“Helios.” I reached up and touched his handsome face. “I’m not the girl for you. I know you keep picking women who don’t keep you, but I’m not a keeper. I will never have a mate,” I told him solemnly. “If you come back to me you are condemning yourself to a relationship with a woman who can’t have a relationship, a woman who can’t be your mate or give you the children you want.”

I shook my head and reached up on my tiptoes to press a quick kiss to his beautiful mouth. “I’m not what you want or need, Helios. I’ll pray for you to come through this safely and find who you’re looking for to complete your life. But don’t come back here for me.”

“How am I supposed to reply to that?” he asked me in a voice ragged with the beginnings of anger.

I shook my head. “Don’t. Really, it’s better this way. I’m not your mate and you need to find her. Why would you want to come back here and waste your time?”

He frowned fiercely. “Stop it. Being with you isn’t a waste of time, Ainsley. You’re a beautiful woman and you have a lot to offer.”

“No, I don’t. Please don’t make me pick a fight with you and send you from here angry, Helios,” I pleaded quietly. “Just say goodbye.”

Silence fell between us and I stared up at Helios. “I wish I could be what you want,” I told him softly. “But I’m not. Just keep an open mind. Your mate is out there. You may even find her in an unusual place. Don’t close off your options.”

Helios bent and pressed a warm kiss to my lips. “Thank you, Ainsley,” he murmured, his hand cupping my chin and his thumb teasing my lower lip. “You made this soldier’s time of waiting pass in a much more comfortable manner, and you took away my pre-battle bad humor. I’m sure Valerian will thank you for that.” He grinned, and I found myself smiling back at him. He was so damned beautiful.

“Be safe, Helios,” I told him and reached out to grasp his hands and squeeze them. “I’ll see you soon.”

“If you change your mind, Ainsley, you have my number,” he said indicating a note on the table by my cell phone.

I nodded and he walked to the door, turning to look back at me. There was tiny light in his eyes that pleaded with me, but I didn’t budge. I didn’t say anything. Resignation filled his eyes and he turned, opened the door, and was gone in a few seconds. I turned back to look out the window. Half an hour later, I heard the Land Rover leave the grounds. Another fifteen minutes after that, I heard the blades of the big helicopter. By the time an hour had passed, Castle McClaren was again empty and silent, but still I stood at the window staring into nothing.

This is what the rest of my life will be, I thought. This emptiness. I hoped my father died tonight. He had condemned me to this life, now I condemned him to death. Maybe then I would find a measure of peace. I turned and knelt before the fireplace laying and lighting a fire in the grate. I needed the flames and the heat. I needed something that would help me pull myself back up to the level of calm I’d had before Caden DeCameron had reappeared. I lay down on my bed and hugged the pillows to me, knowing that they would smell of Helios. Just a little daydream, I thought. A tiny, little one where I was free of my father’s legacy, and I could have a family and a future…

I closed my eyes and began my prayers. I prayed for the success of the rescue mission. I prayed for Helios’ safety and that of Nyx and Valerian. I prayed for Tristan to win the challenge and rescue his mate. I prayed for Derek’s magic to overcome my father and I prayed for my father’s death. It would be a relief for so many…especially me.

Have a great Tuesday everyone!

This Thursday Thirteen is about the Bar vampires. Thirteen facts about them. Don’t make the mistake of thinking you know these bits of info. These bloodsuckers are nothing like Dracula or Nosferatu!

1. The Bar vampires are not the undead. In the Otherworld, they’re basically another species. They eat and drink and can be injured. They procreate. They have sex… a lot. That doesn’t sound too dead to me.

2. The vampire deity is the Mother of All Vampires. She has a cauldron full of golden orbs that represent her children. She works very hard to match them all up with the right bloodmate. Her daughter is Damaris Fontaine, the Blood Mistress. Damaris runs Les Lignées aka the Library. The Library contains the annals of the vampires. Everything that happens to every vampire of every race including made vampires, is cataloged in the Library. The Blood Mistress has a sister Maerne, who is the Queen of the Atersilex Vampires. Because their mother is the Mother of All Vampires, the sisters have some unusual powers, including powers over other vampires.

3. Aeturnan is the ancient language of the vampires. Letalis is the vampire term for humans.

4. The Bonding process is what vampires go through to become joined to their bloodmate. A bloodmate or bonded bloodmate is the term for a vampire’s eternal mate. Cherished One is an endearment, which is also used as the proper name for a bloodmate. For Otherworld vampires, their Cherished One’s blood is sacred. Once they are bonded to their bloodmate they can only drink that person’s blood or they will die.

5. Our vampires go through several steps in order to bond with their bloodmate. These steps are called the Bonding Path. The path consists of several points which must be completed by the couple. The path does not have to be done in order however, all points along the path should be complete by the time the exchange of blood occurs. Once the path has been completed, the male vampire receives his soul and his thoughts and emotions become one with his bloodmate’s. They have to work very hard to hide things from each other once they’ve been bonded. The bonding path points are: The Finding, which is an initial recognition of the bloodmate, often in some psychic manner such as sharing thoughts, recognizing their particular scent, or sharing a dreams. The First Bite, which is one of them biting the other, but is not necessarily a reciprocal bite. It is an act that signifies the trust between the bloodmates, an exposure of vulnerability. The Second Bite is a bite that occurs during the sex act and doesn’t have to be reciprocal. If the first bite took place during a sex act, then the other partner (if also a vamp) must be the biter this time. The Sacrifice is a selfless act for the benefit of the Cherished One. The Blood Exchange is the final part of bonding. It must be a mutual exchange of blood during the sex act, whether both are vampires or not.

6. Female vampires are called Mortiferians. They do not need to feed as often as males do. They do have souls, but on occasion something happens to make them soulless. For example, Alexandria’s bonded bloodmate is killed by the Nazis. Normally, if a vampire is bonded and their bloodmate dies, they die as well, but in Lex’s case, the vampire deity saved her life by taking back her soul until she mates again.

7. Male vampires are called Acerbians. Male vampires who were born without a soul are Desperians. If their parents were bonded at the time of conception they are born with a soul. Otherwise… no soul.

8. Otherworld vampires can go out in the sun with protection especially if they are very old. By protection I mean a hat, a coat… covering their skin. If they get in the sun they get burnt and can get sun poisoning, a condition that can kill if not attended to. They don’t go up in flames or turn to a pile of ash. They also do not need to sleep the entire day away. The older they are, the earlier they can rise.

9. Vampires who are “made” are called Infuscans. A made/turned vampire will have all the attributes of a born vampire. However, they cannot make/turn vampires themselves, they may or may not have a bloodmate, and they would be unaware of what they can and cannot do. A born vampire must explain it all to them.

10. Pravus are rogue vampires, more commonly called Hellbounds. They are evil and without conscience. They become Hellbounds by virtue of a blood disease something like AIDS, which is hereditary. It is passed from father to son. Hellbounds are never female unless they have drunk the blood of a Hellbound male.  The Hellbound blood disease causes madness and a desire to kill and hurt others. They stick together, sort of in a pack, and hide from other vampires otherwise they would be hunted and destroyed. The disease manifests itself within the first 100 years of life unless the male’s mother was some creature other than a vampire, in that case the disease can stay within the vampire male until something triggers it. Then the degeneration begins, a downward spiral into insanity and a lust for blood, violence, and evil.

11. Vampires in the Otherworld are immortal, but can be injured or killed. You can stake vampires or grievously wound them so that they bleed out and die. If you blow their head off they will die. Otherwise, something more minor will just cause them to have to spend a few days healing.

12. Otherworld vampires have more physical strength than humans and other Otherworld creatures except for those with special powers. They have exceedingly strong minds and can use glamour to wipe a human’s mind or control them. Glamours do not work well on other vamps unless the one putting the glamour on is very old and powerful. It can work on some Otherworld creatures depending upon how strong that creature is and what powers they have. For instance, a glamour might work on a werewolf or a pixie, but not on pixie royalty.

13. Our vampires cannot dematerialize as they do in some stories, they are not affected by religious icons or holy water (except for the Hellbounds who burn if hit with holy water), their fangs only elongate and appear during times of stress or great emotion, in sexual situations, or in a situation of fear or violence. They do not go around biting humans indiscriminately, and they don’t go around killing humans to feed. They can easily drain a human and kill them, but they don’t unless it is some kind of fight for survival. When they bite, they lick the wounds to seal them and they usually begin to heal immediately, fading before your eyes. An exception to this occurs when the bitten one is a pregnant female vamp. Pregnant vampires heal more slowly from everything. Our vamps do drink bagged blood from the blood bank if they don’t have someone to feed from.

Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!

The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!
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Hope you enjoyed this look at our bloodsuckers! May all your bites be yummy ones today!

Who’s evil, baby? There is definitely some evil lurking in the Bar Story. If you don’t believe me, just keep reading!

1. Caden DeCameron - Evil mage/alchemist who has it in for: Winter and Tristan Blackthorne, Winter and Tristan’s kids Rhiannon and Galen, Nyx McClaren, the Kronos family, and his own daughter Ainsley. Caden is on a centuries long search for the Beginning of War Sapphire and the Sword of Conflict that the stone belongs in. He’s already lost the End of War Sapphire and the Sword of Unity to Derek Draconarius-Wyrme, thanks to the Blackthornes, The McClaren, the Kronos brothers, and Ainsley. He’s not about to let a little thing like blood ties stop his quest to wreak havoc on the dragon world.

2. Mordred Wellesley - Evil wizard who has it in for : His cousin Eden, fellow wizard Garren Fairfax, and keeper of the Dragonfire amulet Dravened Draco. Thus far in the story, we know that Mordred hates all vampires which means he’s got no qualms about offing his cousin if he has to. After all, her mate is a bloodsucker. Mordred killed Garren’s brother, the great wizard Rohan, in order to get his wand. He also wants to find the magical house that Garren inherited from Rohan. Garren is hiding Dravened (also known as Oz) in a magical golden cage in the house. While in the cage, neither Mordred nor even the dragon god Aminan can find Oz. Why Mordred wants Oz and why he killed Rohan for the wand, have yet to be revealed…

3. Macaire - Fallen Angel who is supposed to be good, but apparently has gone bad because he has it in for: Nyx McClaren. Macaire has been hunting Nyx for about a year, but he kicked it up a notch when Nyx turned up with a mate, Valerian Kronos. For reasons Macaire has yet to reveal, Nyx with a mate infuriates him. He’s already made veiled threats against Val’s life. Now, he’s made a veiled threat against Alfred, Nyx’s am feare-fair (an immortal guardian). Whenever Nyx is around Macaire, the magical Ogham rings that she and Val wear as wedding rings, begin to glow. Since the rings were given to her by the fae god Oberon, she believes they are meant to protect her and Val. The glow means there is a threat to them. Thus far, Macaire has shown very little of his hand. The question is, when he does make good on his threats, will Nyx and Val be able to thwart him? And why hasn’t the Archangel Marius stopped his evil deeds?

4. Rachel Sullivan aka The Black Widow - Rachel is now dead, but when she was alive she had it in for: her son Ryland, her bloodmate Merrick, and any man she married. Rachel was evil from the word go. She started on her path as a Black Widow when her son was very small. Once he was old enough to know what she was doing, he left. When Rachel met her bloodmate, she devised a way to use him to get power from a demon. She bonded with him in order to receive her soul. Then she drained her bloodmate and left him to die while she traded her soul to a demon for the use of a succubus and the ability to walk freely in the daylight without burning. In the end Rachel is killed by her bloodmate, who didn’t die, a fae witch, the son of a god and a Gorgon, and Titania Queen of the Fairies.

5. The Hellbounds - Hellbounds vampires are male vampires who suffer from a disease that drives them mad and turns them evil. The HB virus is hereditary, handed down from father to son through the male line only. The Parisian HBs had it in for: The Kohl family. Vincent and Thaddeus Larouche, brothers and the leaders of the HBs in France had a sister who was bloodmate to Frederick Kohl. Helene and Frederick had a child, unbeknownst to the rest of the Kohl family. Their son Griffin is the reason the Larouche brothers have a vendetta against the Kohls. The brothers killed their sister and had Frederick and his wife killed. However, servants hid baby Griffin from his uncles’ rage. The Larouche brothers kidnapped and tortured Griffin’s half sister Sascha for fifty years. They forced his half brother Johann to steal for them. They kidnapped and converted Griffin’s cousin Alaric’s bloodmate Penelope, turning her against the Kohls too. The list of evils perpetrated against the Kohl family by the HBs is long… and about to get longer at a Kohl wedding.

6. Penelope Vanders - Penelope was Alaric Kohl’s bloodmate, but she was kidnapped by Thaddeus Larouche and infected by the HB virus, becoming the HB Queen. She went after Alaric Kohl because she thought he hadn’t tried to rescue her. Alaric spent years in a drunken haze alternating between thinking that he couldn’t protect his bloodmate, or that she would rather be with a monster than with him. While on a mission to find Penelope once and for all, Alaric met Lex Valentine and fell in love. Meanwhile, Penelope was stalking both Alaric and Lex. Eventually, Lex went after Penelope on her own, in an attempt to free Alaric from his former bloodmate. When Alaric goes looking for Lex he finds her chained, and he trades his life for Lex’s, but in the end, Lex battles Penelope for Alaric and the Mother of all Vampires takes Penelope away.

7. Daggon - Daggon was an evil pixie who was obsessed with a pixie princess named Lacey. He’s another character who is dead now. In order to have Lacey, Daggon killed her father and frightened her mother. He got her mother to sign betrothal papers. When Lacey and her sister Rosalie discover this, they come up with a plan to fake Lacey’s death. Once this is accomplished, they figure they will be free of Daggon. However, Rosalie’s betrothed has a little run in with Oberon the Fae King and takes off for the Otherworld. With Lacey presumed dead, and Rosalie’s betrothed missing, Daggon sets his sights on Rosalie and slaps an armband on her that hurts her every time she touches another man. Eventually, the riddle that kept the band on is solved, thwarting Daggon. Lacey and Rosalie’s former betrothed are both discovered alive and well. After a few more evil deeds including kidnapping Lacey, Daggon is killed by his own sister.

8. Onyx Blackthorne - Evil half brother to Tristan Blackthorne who has it in for: Tristan and his family and anyone else he feels like messing with. Actually, Onyx is dead now. After centuries of torturing his own people and ruling as the black wyvern when he wasn’t, Onyx discovers that his half brother is still alive. Set on a campaign to eliminate his brother’s family, Onyx kidnaps the blue wyvern’s pregnant mate, which draws out 4 of the best black dragon warriors to rescue her. One does not survive the rescue. He sets assassination squads after Rhiannon, Tristan’s heir. In league with Caden DeCameron, he kidnaps Winter and Mary Draconarius-Wyrme. However, Onyx reckons without Tristan’s determination to free his people from Onyx’s oppression. When Onyx challenges Tristan for Winter, he’s killed by Tristan who takes off his head with a sword named Redemption.

9. William the Slayer - William is a vampire slayer who is out to get: Gracie Burke. He got close to her at a vulnerable time in her life. He slept with her and acted as if he was her boyfriend. Then he tried to stake her. Gracie still carries the scar on her chest from the attempted staking. Now, William is back and he’s stalking her. He’s terrorized her, leaving things for her to find when she wakes up. He boldly tried to kill her with a crossbow. He trashed her apartment, spray painting DIE BLOODSUCKER on the walls and destroying everything inside. He’s still out there waiting to get her, but now she’s being protected by Rune, the rock star she’s had a secret crush on for years. Rune is sure that Gracie is his bloodmate and he will do anything to save her from the madman who is after her. Gracie just wants to get away from the man who unknowingly broke her heart years before. It’s a game of cat and mouse and rock star that is only just now beginning to heat up the Bar.

10. Madspawn - Madspawn was a Hellbound vampire, a hired killer who assassinated anything he was paid to kill including humans. He was hunted by Eden Wellesley and Sterling MacCarran, two CIA agents specializing in Otherworld crimes. He was killed during a battle in Pere Lachaise Cemetery with all the Hellbounds.

11. Goddess of Mischief - The GoM comes around every so often and fucks with people’s lives. The last time she made an appearance, she put a poisonous berry in baby Antonio’s bottle. The poison caused him to grow up overnight. Whenever something unexpected and evil needs to happen, the GoM is there for us to use. She has a couple of evil henchmen that include Bloodbane and this abomination whose name I forget. I do remember that the abomination ate another villian, the Romanov brothers’ mother. Yuck.

12. Mama Romanov - She who was eaten, liver first, by the abomination whose name I forget… She was out to kill her son Nikolai’s mate Gayla. She tried to cut a deal with the GoM who turned the tables on her. She was pretty evil, constantly trying to undermine Gayla and finally just out and out plotting to kill her.

13. Assorted rapists (Zane and some blue dragon and Jolek), assorted henchmen (mostly black dragons), assorted people who do stupid shit against others but who aren’t really evil, and a few people who started out kinda bad but ended up good.

Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!

The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!
View More Thursday Thirteen Participants

Have a luscious Thursday yummy people!

Today’s tune is a song I really like. I’m a fan of Dave Navarro’s music and there’s just something really evocative about this song. I’ve been busy working on some writing pieces so I haven’t been around to blogs quite as much as usual. I’ll catch up in a couple of days, I promise. I’m still working on why I can’t access Fab’s site too. Must be some kind of voodoo hex or something because I can’t find a tech reason why it times out when I visit or ping his site.

For those of you who like little excerpts of my writing, here’s a recent post from the Bar. It starts out with sex and ends with fear… panic really, which fits the song. Nice little touch, I thought. Oh, and one last note before you read, an Am fear-faire is a sort of mystical, immortal guardian.

“Oh, fuck. Oh, baby,” Valerian moaned as he thrust into me.

I looked at him and said, “I don’t know Val. I just don’t know.”

Have a great Tuesday!

I found out last week that Mr. Fabulous lurrrrrrves Liz Phair. So tomorrow for Humpday Hotness, I will show you Liz’s nipples. Someone make sure Fab has smelling salts. Since this coming Sunday I will be Fab’s guest on Pointless Drivel Live, where he will surely kick my ass at Dead or Alive, my Tuesday Tune features Liz too. I just cannot pander to the man enough. I’ve been trying to get him over to my guilty pleasure The User Pool too. I can just imagine the conversations we will have once he too is reading this little gem of satire. Heh.

My Tuesday Tune by Liz Phair was used in the Bar Story because Liz is the physical representation of Carlisle Ross. To go with this song is a snippet from the Bar where I used the song. Although Alaric and Lex have shared dreams where they were much more intimate, this is their first real kiss.

I turned around and opened my mouth to ask Stein a question and found that he’d gone upstairs after Carlisle. That left me alone with Alaric. Shit. He was walking toward me, his electric blue eyes on me. I swallowed hard and felt my stomach drop as my breathing grew more rapid. My senses were on overload. When I looked at him, I felt my heart stop. When I smelled him. I felt my breath stop. When he touched me, I felt like I was going to come out of my skin. I had no idea what was going on. The dreams and visions…they were so real. I stared up at Alaric, wondering how I could have dreamed him. Even now, I could feel his lips on the curve of my spine. It was all I could do not to throw myself in his arms and beg him to love me. I didn’t know what the hell had gotten into me.

I turned on my heel and went up the stairs to the second floor of the penthouse. I heard and felt Alaric following me. I turned left at the top of the stairs and opened the last door. “This is your room,” I told him as I stepped into the room, pointing out the other doors. “That door is to the bathroom, which you share with me. The other door is to the sitting room, which you also share with me. The glass door is to the terrace.”

“Do I share that with you too?” he asked in that honey over gravel voice, one eyebrow raised inquiringly.

I nodded absently, wondering briefly if he was being facetious. “Dial 9 for an outside line, 0 for the front desk, and 1 for the butler,” I said and left him there, high tailing it to my own room.

Once there, I let out a long breath. This was incredibly hard. I should have been crying my eyes out over Johann, but suddenly I could barely think of him. Alaric overwhelmed my senses and brought every dream I’d had of him right to the front of my consciousness. He wasn’t like his cousin. He was … more. Taller, broader, darker, more handsome, more chiseled, more brooding, more … enticing … more sexy … more… hot.

I ran my tongue over my dry lips. What did I say to this man? Oh, by the way, I have the most incredible dreams about loving you. Or maybe, hey Alaric, I love how you look naked in my dreams. I ran a hand over my face. I was losing it.

Just then, there was a knock on my bedroom door. I opened it to find the subject of my thoughts standing there. He’d taken off his jacket and shoes and was standing there barefoot in his blue shirt and black slacks looking suave and so gorgeous. I was acutely aware of my disheveled hair, rumpled t-shirt and faded jeans. And worst of all, I had to look far too high up to meet his eyes.

“My suitcase,” he said in a low tone. “Is it in here?”

I looked at the pile of luggage and spied a large case that wasn’t mine. I reached for it at the same time as Alaric and my head bumped his. We both said, “Ow!” and stepped back. I stayed put in front of the doorway while Alaric untangled his bag from the others. Then he stopped and I heard it…Carlisle was singing.

Lucky I’ve been through hell
Backroads and shortcuts I know them well
Baby just stick with me
We’ll make it together, just wait and see

Do you really know me at all?
Would you take the time to catch me if I fall?
Are you ever gonna be that real to me?
Everything to me

The walls they close in
The air it goes out
We’re left with nothing but a shadow of doubt
Nobody talks, no one is here
It’s just you and me

Do you really know me at all?
Would you take the time to catch me if I fall?
Are you ever gonna be that real to me?
Everything to me

I found myself staring at Alaric while Carlisle’s beautiful voice rang out through the penthouse. I suddenly wished with all my heart that Alaric would love me. That he would feel, say, and do everything that had happened in my dreams. I knew instinctively that if he loved me, he would be just as he was in the dreams. He would love me the way my heart yearned for. He was a stranger to me except for what I knew of him from my dreams… what my heart knew.

Carlisle stopped singing, and I blinked back a rush of tears as Alaric turned away from my gaze. He stepped toward the door and I sidestepped to the left to let him out. But then, he stepped to his right, leaving us blocking each other again. He moved again, but this time I didn’t and he banged into me, almost knocking me to the floor. Anger at my helplessness to have any control over my life flooded me.

“Bloody hell, Kohl! You’re freaking everywhere! I can’t get away from you. You even invade my fucking dreams!” My voice was hoarse and overflowing with emotion. I jerked away from the doorway.

His arms snapped out, dropping the suitcase as he grabbed me by the shoulders growling, “What did you say? Did you say dreams? Cause I’m so tired of waking up hard, after spending my dreams with you.”

I stared at him stunned, my lips parted in shock. “What the hell?” I whispered. He had them too! What the hell was happening to us?

“Ah, fuck me,” Alaric muttered. He jerked me toward him, his head coming down as his mouth found mine. Electricity crackled between us as our lips met. The most exquisite pleasure I had ever felt seared its way through my body. Alaric must have been feeling something profound too because he moaned against my lips and ran his hands down my back to grab my ass, lifting me off the ground as his tongue swept into my mouth.

The touch of his wet tongue to mine was like a match to dry brush. I went up in flames as my dreams came to life. I wrapped my arms around his neck and thrust my fingers into his dark silky hair. He kissed me so deeply that if I’d had a soul, he would have touched it. I was drowning in sensation and then…I was on my feet staring wide eyed at Alaric whose chest was rising and falling rapidly with his jackhammer breathing.

“We need to talk,” he said breathlessly, his electric blue eyes boring into mine. “Not right now, but later. I want to know about your dreams.”

“What does it mean?” I whispered, suddenly frightened.

He must have known what I was feeling because he reached out a hand and tucked my hair behind my ear. “Don’t be afraid, Alexandria. We’ll figure it out,” he said softly in that honey over gravel voice. Then he turned and picked up his case, leaving the room. There was a soft click as the door closed behind him.

I reached into my jeans pocket and pulled out the handkerchief he’d given me, pressing it to my flushed cheek. I could smell his lemon bergamot scent on the cloth. I closed my eyes. Why would Alaric Kohl and I share the same dreams? What could it possibly mean?

Wishing everyone a pretty princess Tuesday!

Happy belated birthday to Jason X from the User Pool. Remind me to give you a link to my private naked Kelly Monaco slideshow! If you readers don’t know Jason, you need to check him out. His blog is very funny. The satire is incomparable! I shoulda known he was a Taurus…

Speaking of birthdays, Friday is Motley’s birthday. She has a fistful of Knotts Berry Farm tickets and no ride. Apparently, Motley’s bestie went to the doctor today. He told her she has anxiety and gave her drugs. Now she can’t go to Knotts for fear of getting too excited. Hmmph. There’s one kid who won’t be having sex anytime soon. Everyone stop by Socially Dead on Friday and help make Motley feel better about being 19 and not having a ride to Knotts. Hmmmn. Maybe Jason needs a day off from the User Pool and could go…

Alright, here’s something you can all sink your fangs into this Wednesday. Bite it, taste it, hump it until it’s wet and limp! THAT is Keeley Hazell. I wonder if I coulda gotten away with showing her boobage. Aw fuckit. Go here to see her tits.

If boobage ain’t your thang, I give you Nacho Figueras. Polo star extraordinaire. The face of Polo Black cologne. And now, the face of Mr. Fabulous, a darkly mysterious character in the Bar Story.

Mr. Fabulous has already had his entrance in the story, but it was fleeting. He comes to the Library, where the Blood Mistress reigns over the annals of the vampire world, and basically has her bowing and scraping and kicking out the other people in the Library. They get a glimpse of him and that’s it. The Blood Mistress’s first post features this mysterious Fabulous. He’s devious. He’s powerful. He’s handsome. He probably has a big dick too. Why else would he be so arrogant? Hee hee. His storyline is still in the works so there could be some major twists and turns ahead.

Before I sign off today, I want to talk hardcore with you. Yes. My 100th post is very close. And yes. I have noticed something about the comments on the 90+ posts thus far. One, you people like sex. If I post sex stuff from the Bar, you are all here slathering over it and drooling in the comments. Two, you people like freaky. If I post about cemetery stuff you are all fascinated in that rubber necking at a gruesome accident where a motorcyclist was decapitated on the freeway way. Lots of comments on the sex and the cemetery. Oooh. Now, that’s a catchy title!

I don’t know that you like hotness. You don’t comment on Wednesday hotness. So what’s wrong with this picture? You like sex. You like the cemetery. You don’t like the half naked celebs? I bet Dave didn’t even notice when I had Liz Hurley naked on here. I don’t think anyone did. Not that her tatas were hanging out anyway. It woulda been a MUCH better Humpday with naked Liz tits. Although, come to think of it, I do have naked Liz tits… Liz Phair. Maybe I will post those next week.

So what is it that you like? Sex? Freaky stuff? Freaky sex maybe? I’ll have to work on that last one. Not sure how to work it into this blog theme. If you like freaky sex you shoulda read my Pink Chair Diaries post. It was a little freaky and a lot hot. I’m not asking for comments. I’m just trying to get a handle on what you all like so I can accommodate you in the next 100 posts. After all, we can’t all be fucking Fabulous… although you know you want to.

See yas manana for a Half Nekkid Thursday and maybe even a Thursday Thirteen too!

I gotta talk about the Bar today. The reason for this is that I’m looking for inspiration. Or motivation. Not sure which. It’s funny how those two things can become interchangeable. And actually, I think my problem is distraction, not inspiration or motivation. Too many “shun” words for a Saturday morning, I think. My head’s already buzzing and I haven’t even had a glass of water yet.

Distraction is in the form of the lovely pre-paid card that I use on the internet. It’s not attached to my bank accounts so I feel a lot better about using it online. I went to albertsons.com last night and did my grocery shopping for the next two weeks. $97 later, I’m ready to check out. Card declined. WHAT? You fuckers, it’s freaking PAYDAY. No way is my card declined. Then I think, shit… new girl doing payroll. She coulda effed up anything. I call the automated system. “Account balance $513.76. There are no pending deposits or transactions at this time.”

Now, I’m really going WTF? I try to get a live person. Instead, I get the “If you need to speak to a live customer service representative, please call back between our normal business hours of 9 am to 5 pm Pacific time, Monday thru Friday.” I’m really stewing now. All the stuff I planned to do this weekend has now been fucked up. For some reason, even though there is plenty of money on the card, whatever I try to do gives back a “declined”. Grrrrr.

I had to call the cable company and tell them I will WALK a payment in. The girl at Time Warner was very helpful and sympathetic. She said if I didn’t really feel like walking the payment in, she would just give me an extension so I could call in the payment once the card issue was resolved. Why couldn’t the card company be this easy and assessable? All the bills were pretty accommodating. Apparently, this is a common card problem so all the companies I was going to pay were willing to wait a few days for payment until the situation was cleared up. That was great! Except for my groceries.

I’m sitting here with my stomach growling and my brain set on Grrrr because I can’t get my groceries delivered. I have food. I bought $176 bucks worth 2 weeks ago and then ate out most of last week. My cupboards are pretty full. It’s the principle though. I give you my freaking money and pay 50 cents a transaction PLUS $5 a month to use this card online. The least they could do is let me use it when there’s clearly a bunch of money on it!

Okay, enough about my distract-SHUN. On to my motiva-SHUN. I wanna write. I’m trying to put myself into writing mode because I do have stuff I need - want - to crank out. However, I think the distraction has affected my motivation. My annoyance level is high and my mind isn’t on Griffin the way it should be when I’m about to start a post about him getting ready to attend his newfound sister’s wedding. So maybe my motivation isn’t quite where it should be yet. If I write Griffin now, will he be all pissy and angry? Will that be a waste of my writing time if I have to edit the whole freaking thing to change how he sounds?

This brings me to inspira-SHUN. Griffin is a complex character. He has a lot of twisted things happening in his life. He’s supposed to be on edge and nervous, faced with a situation where he clearly wants to be accepted, but he’s feeling apprehensive and cautious because his newfound brother thinks he’s a monster. He’s going to need some hand holding to make it through this event, so he’s looking to his best friend since childhood to attend with him. He’s also going to wonder what his new family will think if he brings a man to the wedding. Of course, he knows that there is a simple explanation for why he’s bringing Roman. Roman is not only his best friend, he’s his business partner. When Griffin went to Paris to meet his long lost family, Roman accompanied him. Griffin does know other people in Paris - females - but his new family doesn’t know that. They do know he arrived with his business partner so maybe they won’t question the fact that he’s shown up with a man at an event where everyone has a date.

Hmmn. I’m starting to feel the pull. The annoyance is receding and my characters are calling me. if I make myself some food will I lose the little bit of headway I’ve made toward recapturing my groove? Or will the growling and pain in my empty gut be yet another distract-SHUN?

BANG! CRASH! THUMP! I think the decision was just made for me. I’m now looking at two very guilty orange faces. Something has gone down in the living room. The Feral Brothers are looking at me like they are in trouble. If I haul my ass up to check it out, I might as well make breakfast. So, I’m off to clear away the disaster - or call Motley to - and make some chow. Hopefully, when I return to this computer the twats won’t keep me from getting into Griffin’s head and turning out his post about his sister’s wedding.

Wish me luck.