Storywitch's "Book of Shadows"

Hey, everyone! A few weeks ago, a reader won a “walk on” part in Daegan and Gideon’s vignette. To do Shannon’s walk-on part justice, this excerpt is extra long, so I’m posting it in two parts. Here’s part one. I have to do some clean up on part two, so it may not be posted until later today or Friday, but this will get you started. Things are kind of crazy on this side of things, so if you see any glaring errors or problems, don’t hesitate to let me know!

* * * * *

Gideon paused at the security view window, but didn’t look into the private playroom. He wanted to take a second. He still couldn’t quite believe they were doing this and, to be honest, he needed to be sure this was what Anwyn wanted, no matter how much of a pussy Daegan thought he was for checking.

The vampire brushed behind him, a shadow among the shadows, but Gideon felt his hand slide along his nape. You think I would tease you about your oath to your Mistress, Gideon? If you ever fell one inch short of total devotion to her, I’d flay you alive.

Same goes. Even if I had to sell my soul to Satan for the superpowers to kick your ass.

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The good news is this is extra long. The somewhat bad news (depending on how you look at it) is this one is a bit of a transition segment. Turns out, I had to do some set up to get Shan’s walk-on part prepped the way I wanted it, so the “meat” of that scene will be in the next part (Shan, I promise I’m not purposefully tormenting you, no matter what anyone else says! lol). Hopefully, there are enough things to enjoy in this part that you all won’t pelt me with too much rotten fruit. And of course, it wasn’t entirely my fault. As you will note, neither Daegan nor Gideon were in a big hurry to get up off their asses at the beginning! Had the same problem with Marcus and Thomas in Rough Canvas. No sense of schedule or word count at all. Every time I was trying to achieve a plot point, they had to have an erotic side trip because they couldn’t keep their hands off one another. You know how guys are – sex sex sex, all the time! Glad we women aren’t like that. Ahem. Enjoy!

* * * * *

Gideon drank long and deep, emptying the water bottle in one go. He fumbled it toward the end, but Daegan kept holding his wrist and hand, anticipating his servant’s lack of coordination. When he was done, Gideon realized he was still thirsty. But not for water.

Setting the bottle aside, Daegan unlocked the manacle around Gideon’s wrist, freeing him, at least in one sense. Laying his palm on Gideon’s forehead, Daegan kept Gideon’s head resting on his shoulder and chest, even while Daegan played with the strands of hair there, a drifting caress. The languorous strokes, Daegan’s intriguingly bare-ass naked body behind him… It reminded Gideon of lying on a raft in quiet surf, being okay with the tug of the current, wherever it took him, because the sun was warm, the breeze was gentle, and the ocean was so much larger and more powerful than himself. There was a comfort to that.

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This month’s book-of-the-reader’s-choice contest was…Jeanne S.! Congratulations, Jeanne – I’ve sent you a direct email so you can let me know which book you’d like to receive.

Hope all is going well with everyone. Only a few more weeks until the release of Vampire Instinct! On the JWH forum, I just posted the third and final pre-lease excerpt, so be sure and log in to give it a read if you’re interested in this teaser of Mal and Elisa’s story. Romantic Times just gave the book a Top Pick review rating in their July magazine issue – yea!

Sometime this week, I’ll post the Round Five of Daegan and Gideon’s vignette, so hope that will also help with the wait to July 5!

Best wishes to everyone as always…

Here you go, Round Four. I’m delighted by how enthusiastically you all anticipate each installment. Hope this one lives up to expectations. Next round will feature the walk-on part won by Shan in the forum contest! Can’t wait to share that one. She gave me some wonderful info about herself that spurred a great idea for how she’ll meet Daegan and Gideon. Nope, no teasers – tune in two weeks from now (wink). In the meantime, let me know what you think of Round Four!

* * * * *

One of the vampires who’d captured Gideon during his vampire hunting days had talked incessantly, like the villain of a cheesy superhero flick. Gideon had suggested the asshole puncture his eardrums as the appetizer of his torture menu, hoping he’d comply so Gideon wouldn’t have to listen to him anymore. Instead, the vamp had chosen to stick electrodes on his testicles. Vampires didn’t handle constructive criticism well.

But ceaseless diatribe wasn’t nearly as bad as being put in solitary like this. No, this was worse than solitary. Not only was he alone, but with the mask, he had no eyes, and muted hearing. He could talk to himself, but that was kind of crazy and pointless. A few minutes ago, he’d considered reaching out to Anwyn, begging for a thought from her. A playing-mommy-against-daddy kind of thing, for sure, showing his level of desperation.

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Here’s Round Three! Since I’m up to my neck in trip preparations, please don’t hesitate to let me know if you see a glaring typo or logistics issue, and my apologies in advance if I did something like that! You’ll note there’s a visual aid reference in this segment – I mention hoping I could find it demonstrated by a male sub, but I only found female. Of course, sometimes that’s not bad either – we can imagine stepping into those ropes more easily (wink).

Have a great weekend, and hope you like this…

* * * * *

Daegan took him into Anwyn’s playroom. Since Gideon had been with her, she’d added some diabolical-looking things to it, including something she called The Spider Web, a series of crisscrossed manacles, ropes and other suspension equipment that would allow her to hang a submissive in a variety of poses for her viewing pleasure. She hadn’t really done much with it yet, but she’d been poring over a book of Japanese rope bondage and suspension techniques with the fervor most women saved up for interior decorating catalogs. Daegan had glanced at them with her, pointed out things here and there that Gideon tried his best to tune out, but he hadn’t seemed as enthusiastic as she was about it.

Now, as he moved toward that area with a purposeful air, Gideon wondered if what he had taken as lack of enthusiasm was actually confident familiarity. Stopping in the center of the platform, he gestured to a manacle hanging at eye level. “Put your left wrist in this, Gideon. Latch it.”

His dominant hand. “Not sure you can handle me if you do the right instead?”

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The April Newsletter contest to win the book-of-reader’s choice AND a charm/pendant of the Japanese symbol for Perseverance has been won by…Maria N! I’ve sent Maria a direct email to find out what book she’d like. Congratulations, Maria, and thanks as always for playing, everyone!

And if you’re curious, you’ll remember I asked you to answer the question, “Who’s your favorite Knight?” Here were the results -

30%  Jon

22%  Matt

22%  Ben

15%  Peter

11%  Lucas

Peter and Lucas say  they’re not concerned about coming in last – Dana and Cass love them, and that’s all that counts (wink).

Don’t forget that the Character Interview with Tyler Winterman of Ice Queen and Mirror of My Soul went live today on the JWH Fan Forum! In honor of that, the character graphics/background skins have been updated to reflect artwork inspired by specific Nature of Desire series characters!

To visit, just login and go to the Character Interview section. If you’ve never registered before, it’s easy – all it requires is a valid email address and password set (primarily to keep spammers off the site). Once you do the registration process, navigate away from the site, then come back, log in, and the Character Interview section will appear.

Find out all Tyler had to say about being a Dom and the responsibility of loving a Mistress like Marguerite. And while you’re at the forum, be sure and check the Running Contests section under Mina’s Coral Sanctuary – there are some great offerings there.

With the holiday weekend coming up, I decided to post this tonight instead of on Friday, in case preparations for family stuff get a bit crazy tomorrow. Hope you like Round Two! Next week I’ll be working with Tyler on his upcoming character interview on the JWH fan forum, which is tentatively scheduled to be posted at the forum on or around May 2nd. I also have to meet the April 30 Something About Witches deadline, so I may have to skip a week and post Round Three on May 13 instead of May 6, but it will be coming, never fear!

Happy Easter to everyone, however you choose to celebrate it.

* * * * *

Daegan’s fingers stilled. In fact, all of him stilled, in that eerie, dangerous way that vampires had, that Gideon suspected had been picked up by horror films somewhere along the way. Camera pans across what’s supposed to be an empty room, and two to three clicks later, you realize something’s not right with the living room décor. Bam, there’s the axe murderer, standing patiently right next to the potted palm.

Only Daegan’s stillness—at least in this instance—didn’t herald the attack of a psycho serial killer. It meant he was about to make a move, so fast and strong, so irresistible, that anything but surrender was pointless.

Except Gideon didn’t know the meaning of surrender. His body had automatically shifted gears. It was alert, battle ready, well-trained instinct kicking in.

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As you recall, given how Daegan and Gideon relate, I decided calling this vignette “Round One, Round Two” was more appropriate than Part One, Installment One, etc. (laughter). Hope you enjoy this opener, and also hope all is well in your worlds!

* * * * *

Gideon twisted off the top of his beer, braced a booted foot on the edge of the coffee table and took a swig, waiting for the DVD player to juice up. Eyeing the bag of pork rinds next to him, then the artsy decorative bowl on the coffee table, he leaned forward, snagged the bowl. It had a base shaped like a beer can, and the bowl top, though shallow, had as much capacity as he needed. He tucked the base between his thighs to hold it and dumped the bag ass-over-end into the bowl. Easier for him to grab a healthy handful at a time. Plus, no crackling plastic to disrupt his Sons of Anarchy marathon.

It was the first time since he’d stumbled into this unlikely arrangement that he’d had the living quarters at Club Atlantis to himself for a prolonged period. Daegan had left earlier in the week to fulfill a Council assignment. Gideon had stayed with Anwyn at the club of course, because Daegan felt better knowing he was watching over her. Bastard didn’t think about the two of them worrying about him.

Of course, he’d be fine. He was always fine. Except for that time he wasn’t, and he’d have been tortured to death, drained and killed if Gideon and Anwyn hadn’t gotten to him in time. Daegan liked to point out that was about as likely to happen again as a lightning strike on his way-too-confident ass.

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Hope everyone is having a great March. The monthly newsletter contest winner of the "book-of-your-choice” is…Earlene! Congratulations, Earlene – I’ll be emailing you directly to find out which book you’d like me to send to you.

Now, if you have an uneventful weekend, and would like something fun to do, don’t forget we’re having an Author Chat tomorrow night, Saturday, April 2nd, from 8-10pm EST on the Joey W. Hill fan forum. Now, this occurs under the Book Club Night thread, not the Chat box, because the thread gives you more elbow room to ask comprehensive questions and pose detailed comments – and me more space to give you thorough answers! So come on out to lurk, comment, ask questions about any topic you choose, and enjoy the festivities. I’ll of course be bringing some of my  heroes with me to help serve drinks, feed you bonbons, dance with the participants and generally provide some additional ambiance to the event (grin).

And as always with these chat events, be sure and check the Mina’s Coral Sanctuary Running Contest thread, because they have some great contests going right now in honor of the forum’s one year anniversary.

Note: If you need login instructions for the forum (just requires a valid email address), click this link here. Also, the thread stays up for awhile, so even if you can’t make the event, you’re welcome to come by later and see all the postings/questions/answers, etc.

Okay, now second thing. On Monday, April 4, from 12-1pm EST (listed as 9am Pacific time on her site), I’ll be at Laura Wright’s Facebook page. To celebrate the release of her newest book, Eternal Kiss, she’s having a day long party hosting a variety of authors. One author each hour until midnight, and many giveaways! While I’m there, you’ll have an hour to bandy  comments back and forth with me, and of course I’ll be giving away a book at 1pm, choosing from the comments.

Hope to visit with you at either of these events. And be sure and check in with Laura’s FB page at other times as well to catch some of your favorite authors!

This one took a surprising turn – hope you like it! Happy St. Patrick’s Day, and enjoy your weekend.

* * * * *

Sometimes he liked watching her when she wasn’t aware he was there. It wasn’t to eavesdrop or abuse her trust. He just enjoyed seeing what she did when she was all by herself, because there was no part of her he didn’t want to know or experience.

In the beginning, watching her without her knowledge hadn’t been easy. She’d lived her first twenty years in a constant state of vigilance, beset by a variety of enemies. As such, he pretty much had to employ all the stealth abilities he had, because her senses, both mundane and magical, were as fine-tuned as a bat’s radar. As time progressed, however, he’d been secretly pleased to notice a minute change. Her subconscious recognized his presence before the rest of her did. Even before she saw he was there, she’d start relaxing, the tension going out of her shoulders, her focus increasing on what she was doing, rather than startling at every noise, looking around like a watchful animal.

Then there’d been the day he realized she was starting to be comfortable in the places he left her when he had to be with the Legion. Her faith in the connection between their minds, the one that could put him at her side in a matter of seconds, had grown. At that turning point, it became far easier to observe her for a few precious moments unannounced, because she trusted he would be there if she needed him, to ward off any threat.

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