When Souls Collide Chapter 6

A big chunk today.
Enjoy.

All rights are the intellectual property of the author. No part may be copied or reproduced without the permission of the author.


***Warning. The following story contains erotic elements, explicit language and violence. Read at your own risk.***

Chapter 6
“What’s the meaning of this?” Jarod held the red stone necklace clutched in his fist, an inch from her face. He’d just spent the last hour explaining to the widows of his murdered warriors how they died with honor to protect their people against the Kori. Then his wife strolled into camp dressed like one and smelling like one.

“You look like a Kori whore and stink of them. Yet you tell me you didn’t break Fourth night vows, you didn’t have sex with one? You went to the city for this?” He flung the necklace against the wall, scattering the rare stones like marbles.

The incense clung to the clothing, making her feel even cheaper. Tesza swallowed hard. She was a carrier. It was her duty if caught to follow through, even if it meant death. Even if it meant breaking her Fourth night vows. She shouldn’t have gone to the city. None of this would be happening now.

Rage moved over Jarod’s face and his hands curled into fists at his sides. He nodded to the guards by the door then addressed her father. “Leave us.” All left the room, shutting the door behind them.

Tesza shifted on her feet.

“You disobeyed me for that? You betrayed your people for that?”

“It was all I had of my past. I wanted…”

“It’s forbidden for you to go anywhere on Fourth day, you know this.” He glared shards of ice. “You met one of them? Who?”

Tesza nodded. “The Butcher.”

“Yet here you stand in front of me. He didn’t kill you. Why?”

“I don’t know. He believes there’s some kind of bond between us.” But it wasn’t a belief; there was a bond she couldn’t explain, one that kept her from hurting him as much as it kept Ursus from killing her.

“Why didn’t you infect him? You know who he is, how many of our people he’s responsible for killing.”

She could say it was because of tonight, but he’d know she lied. This time she shook her head. Her eyes darted to the door, desperately wanting to leave. How could she explain any of it? She’d not only betrayed her people, she’d betrayed him by feeling something for the enemy soldier.

“You knew you were forbidden the city, yet you recklessly disobeyed me. Then, when the opportunity presented itself, you betrayed your people.”

“Jarod. I…”

“You’re a traitor.”

Tesza gasped from the sting of his words. Pain knifed its way through her body, twisting her insides. How could she explain her actions?

Her entire life she’d been prepped to be his wife. She grew up with him. Played with him as a child, loved him as an adolescent. She loved him now. She’d been bred, raised and taught to please him in all her actions. Then on the eve of her marriage ceremony, she offered him disloyalty. She was a traitor.

“Please. I couldn’t. You have to understand.” Jarod once told her the last thing he ever wanted was to share her with another man. It was why he kept her close, kept her from her calling. He knew if she should get caught, her responsibility to her people overrode his wishes and desires.

“How could you do this to me? Your people? I loved you Tesza, I still love you.”

“Jarod, please…”

He reached out and touched her face, tracing the mark. “I forbid you the city because of this. I didn’t want you hurt, raped or killed. Do you have any idea what he could have done to you?”

Tesza swallowed. She had an idea. She’d seen the crying women and children. She was lucky to have escaped with her life.

“I can’t choose who nature picks as the carriers, but I can prevent you from throwing yourself into a dangerous situation. Gods, it was Fourth night. You left me on Fourth night and let another touch you. You were my wife. Did you feel something for him? Want him, Tesza?”

“Were?” Everything else he said faded away. One little word brought her life crashing down around her.

“You’ve forced my hand, broken our laws. This can’t go unpunished. Several died today. Their wives and children are out there. You can’t stay. How will I explain my own queen’s betrayal of her people? If you’d infected him, I could forgive you, they could forgive you. But this, this is nothing but disloyalty.”

“I...”

“Shut your mouth before I have you executed for treason.”

Tesza’s mouth snapped shut. His demeanor grew colder. Tesza shivered. This was a side she’d never thought to see directed at her.

Rage.

The king, her once future husband curled his lip into a snarl. “You no longer carry the honor to wear that mark.”

Tesza reached up and touched her face. It was a mark she’d carried from birth. The day she was sworn in as a carrier. A bringer of life to her people.

Jarod yanked her hand away from it. “You’re dead to us.” Pain flashed through his eyes. He spun and barked for her father, who stepped inside.

“You’re family is no longer among the nobles of the High Imperial House. You are to report to the lemans ranks, and wear the shame of your daughter there.” He stormed through the door. Soldiers filed in and snagged her arms, dragging her toward the exit. Tesza threw herself back and screamed. Nobody gave her a second glance or attempted to help. Even her father turned his shoulder to her and didn’t look again. Today, she became a ghost.

#####

Beaten, dressed in torn Kori garments, Tesza was driven from her home with brick, stone and animal dung. In her mind she deserved death. Her bare feet were mangled from running across the crumbling ruins and sliced from glass and stone. Tesza sank down on a boulder by a stream and dipped the bleeding flesh into the icy water.

Pain sliced through her. She cried out and rocked back and forth. It hurt, but nothing compared to the pain in her soul and her loss of the one man she’d loved since childhood.

Being cast from the clan was one matter, she could possibly find sanctuary with one of the outlying families, but being cast from Jarod’s marriage bed was entirely different. No Kalos clan would have her. They were forbidden to even look at her. To aid her was to suffer her fate.

Tesza tied the torn strips of fabric over her breasts to keep her blouse closed. He face throbbed where the tattoo had been cut away. Crude stitches held it together. Already it began to fester. A scar could not be avoided. One look and the Kalos would know she was the traitor.

If Jarod had only listened. But why should he believe her? She was guilty. Guilty of caring for the enemy. Even if she hadn’t intercourse with the soldier, she’d craved it, wanted it. She couldn’t deny that she’d lain in bed with the enemy and let him touch her, caress her.

Then she walked away. She let him touch her without reason. Infidelity in Jarod’s eyes, betrayal in her people.

Tesza pulled her knees to her chest. She was as good as dead. Outcasts didn’t live long outside the clan. If the elements didn’t get her, the hungry beasts of the jungle or the Kori would. Ursus had been a rare exception and he was too deep within the Kori outpost to seek out without being seen.

Ursus. He’d told her to leave before he couldn’t let her go. Perhaps... No, he would be in as grave a danger if she hid there. The compulsion to be with him was too strong. She’d murder millions, perhaps billions if the infection got off-world. What a mess she’d gotten into.

Though all the pain and disgrace, she still could close her eyes and feel the heat of his touch and taste his lips. And damn, her body became aroused. Tesza slid her hand inside her blouse to touch the nipple that became hard. Gods she still wanted him.

She cupped the water and splashed it into her face. The image reflected back at her, bloodied, bruised and swollen. Nothing like the face she remembered. Even if she snuck into the encampment in High city, would he recognize her, want her with the way she looked?

Tesza slapped the water and screamed. How, how could she think about going back to him? She tilted her head back and glanced at the darkening sky through the canopy above. The flooding season was upon them. Soon the Kori encampment would be moving on and Ursus lost.

She’d see him one last time. Gods. She had to.

#####

She’d back track and come through the underground. Tesza leapt over a fallen column. Bare feet left a bloody trail behind her. Bits of twigs and rocks stuck to her wounds, each step sent shooting pains up her legs.

“She’s this way. Follow the blood.”

Tesza paused and glanced over her shoulder, shadows danced along the side of a building. She dodged behind the corner of a partially collapsed wall, her chest rose and fell. They were getting too close. She couldn’t slip into the underground with them watching.

Bolts slammed into the ground off to the side, across the abandoned plaza.

“There’s another. Get her.”

Tesza narrowed her eyes. Another? Here? In daylight. Chances were good they’d kill her. No Kori had touched any of the carriers in years. Coming here didn’t make sense.

She sucked in a breath and backed away, stepping in a mud puddle, coating her feet in hopes of sealing them long enough to mask her retreat.

“No,” a young woman screamed. Tesza ducked low and watched as five Kori soldiers dragged her into the open. They looped cords over her wrists and fired their grappling clamps into a building and tree on either side of her. Tesza found herself entranced. They’d touched her?

The cords snapped tight, yanking her limbs straight. The sounds of cracking bone and shrieking filled the clearing. The force of the cables lifted the woman’s feet off the ground. Blood poured from cuts around her hands. She threw her head back and howled.

“Shut her up.”

One of the soldiers ripped her shirt down the front and tore it from her body. He balled it up, grabbed her hair and yanked her head back, stuffing the wad into her mouth.

Tesza froze. This was what she was supposed to have done. Let the animals touch her, give them the infection.

No matter the brutality of the situation before her, Tesza couldn’t bring herself to move from where she sat. Lure them away, stop them. The woman would probably hate her if she did.

She wondered why she pitied them the end that was coming. They may think they’d control with the Red-Clan woman strung up, at their mercy. But they didn’t. The woman knew this.

Skin stretched tight, showing the disconnected joints, enhancing the ball parts of the woman’s sockets. The pain had to be unbearable, but she didn’t fight. She didn’t kick or make any attempt to stop the direction in which the situation traveled.

“Do you suppose they can really drain our lives?” A soldier asked, sticking the tip of his lazr’ under her jaw.

The woman’s eyes watered, but she did her best to look brave, unaffected. She knew what she had to do. The mark on her cheek said it all. She was one of them, one like Tesza. Raised from childhood to be a carrier. Did she worry about the innocents as Tesza had? She made eye contact. No. She was ready to die to do what she must.

Tesza’s heart raced. She should stop this. They didn’t know what they were about to do. She steadied herself, took a deep breath and rose from her position. The soldiers were too occupied to notice.

The Red-Clan woman shook her head, warning her back, making it clear she didn’t want this stopped. The look on her face, branded Tesza a traitor.

“I say we have some fun. There’s nobody here to stop us and I think the stories of soul-sucking are just that. The Butcher touched one and lives. He touched six and nothing happened. What do you say? Is it a story to keep us from touching Kalos’s females,” the soldier asked the helpless woman.

She turned her head from him.

Tesza bit her lip. She could stop this, step into the clearing, lure them away. No one deserved to die like that. The woman made eye contact again.

The soldier unbuttoned her pants while she hung helpless before him. He yanked them down and used his knife to cut the fabric away, leaving her hanging naked except for her boots.

“Pretty for an evil bitch.” He shoved her and she swung back and forth on her dislocated arms. Tesza could hear the cries through the gag. Gods. They were going to do it.

“I still have my soul, whore. You can’t do it, can you?” The man reached for his belt and a blue bolt flew past him, hitting the woman. The soldier stumbled back and fell to the brick that paved the courtyard. The hanging woman lit and disintegrated, leaving only a pile of ash. The cables whipped loose through the air. One slammed into the building next to where Tesza watched, exploding part of the plaster wall. She dropped, covering her head, hoping they didn’t look in her direction.

“What’s going on here?”

Tesza’s head snapped up. A tall man in the uniform of an officer, walked into the clearing. He had a lazr’ pointed at the soldier on the ground.

Tesza caught the insignia on his collar and bit down on her lip harder, drawing blood. Colonel Pilot Calla. Walking evil. A horrific legend among the clans. His men slaughtered more of her people than any other Kori division.

“We were about to torture her for information.”

“That’s not what it looked like to me.” The officer squeezed the trigger and turned the soldier on the ground to dust. “Now, do one of you want to tell me what was really going on here?”

One of the soldiers opened his mouth and the officer spun on him before he got a word out. “Rape,” Col Calla said.

“We were…”

“Going to rape the wretched creature.”

“Yes, sir.”

More soldiers entered the clearing surrounding the group. “Do you know the penalty for this? For even touching one of them?”

“She was nothing but a Kalos bitch.”

“You didn’t address me as sir.” The officer raised his lazr’ and fired. The man dissolved. “I don’t tolerate disobedience within the ranks.” He turned his weapon on another and glanced over at the cable attached to the tree. “String them up like they did the Kalos whore. I want a visual reminder for those that think they can make their own laws. They’ll hang until they die.”

He spun on his heel to leave and stopped cold. His gaze riveted down to Tesza. “Well, what do we have here?”

It's Furday...

I've watched the news all week about how HOT it is, and boy are the masses on my coast complaining. Not too long ago there were complaints about the cold. I love the heat--makes me all wet! *grins* True, I'd prefer less humidity but I'll take hot anyway I can get it. No, I do not have an air conditioner--at least not installed. I do have one and that's a story in itself.

My big guy, Lord Greystoke, has some Maine Coon blood. If you want to know more about that particular breed, you can read it here: http://fanciers.com/breed-faqs/maine-coon-faq.html. I can only say his temperament fits exactly. His belly is full of thick, downy-white hair that is so soft and he'll recline by me on his back for hours to have it rubbed. I move, he moves!

Mr. Grey does NOT like the heat--not at all! But over the years we've managed because I have a cement basement that's cool and he takes it over when we have heat waves like this one.

Anyway, I was talking about airconditioning.

He has had a few bouts with urinary tract infections, as some male cats are prone to. His first stay in hospital was 4 days in August of 2006 and he had an air conditioned suite! *laughing my ass off*

When he came home I wanted him to be as comfortable as possible, so, I rushed out and bought a nice size unit for my tiny house so he wouldn't have to navigate steps. Got it all installed in the front bedroom window, and turned it on. Yeah, my baby was going to have every comfort possible to recuperate. There was one problem: it was upstairs and he wasn't!

The airconditioner was taken out a few weeks later, never to be used again. When it's hot--he lays under the table it's stored on in the basement. End of story.

That does bring me to furry creatures, and a few that aren't--you all know this is a subject near and dear to my heart. The next time you feel hot, look at your furfriend, think of the beautiful, wild, animals nearing extinction or struggling to eek out one more day--they aren't complaining. They'll show you how to be cool!! Sit or lie down, preferably by water, don't move too much, and once in a while--thank whomever you want--you're alive and free!


 

And knowing me, you'd knew there would be at least one because I thought it was just cute and irresistable! This picture is from PA wildlife.

Growl and roar-it's okay to let the beast out.-© J. Hali Steele

When It Falls Into Place

Rebecca Royce has been talking about places she gets ideas and even how she can write surrounded by 3 kids. It's amazing what kind of clarity a writer can have when they have an open manuscript in front of them and tons of noise going on around them. I have found occasions where the louder it is, the better I concentrated and worked.

One such occasion ties in with a post I did earlier in the week at my personal site. If you want to check it out, the first chapter of my upcoming release, Blood Fever, Book 2 in the Rebirth series, was posted in its entirety here.

How does it tie in?

This book went through a lot. Two years ago, it was the first novel length (82K, at the time) book I'd completed. The characters and world took on a life of their own and I actually wrote three books (this one and two that follow in this series) over the next six months. I started working on what I thought was the next book in that series and, as it turns out, was really the first - Flash of Dark, Book 1 in the Rebirth Series. That meant changes had to happen to the other books I had and I'm working through those bit by bit. The world continues to grown and expand.

When I first wrote Blood Fever and even through some subsequent revisions, I was never happy with chapter one. In my opinion, chapter one is important. If you have a new reader, this is the chapter you have to grab their attention. So, make it count. It sets the tone for the rest of the book.

I can't tell you every place I write, because I don't remember them all. However, sometimes, a place stands out. The place I wrote the first chapter of Blood Fever is one such case. The final draft of the chapter as it is in the book available on the 12th was written sitting here:


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It's the Seattle's Best Coffeehouse at the Waikiki Beach Marriott Resort & Spa in Hawaii. I vividly remember sitting just steps away from the Pacific Ocean typing away during the time I wasn't pulling hours for my desk job (yes, a few times a year, my DJ ships me off to Hawaii. If you're jealous, think about the fact I also have to go other places not so great. I got stuck up in Connecticut earlier this year because of a blizzard). I've actually written a lot in Hawaii (more so because my family doesn't go with me for the trips) but this was one time where it stood out. I remember the weather, the baristas supplying me with coffee with smiles on their faces, the constant stream of tourists on vacation in and out for the time I was there. I still, to this day, remember it all.

It was just one of those moments when I got to the end of the chapter and everything had fallen into place.

Hopefully, if you're a writer, you have either had your own experience like this or you eventually will because it's just...perfect.

Taking a Pause

Well, the blog's a little late this morning. I was up way past midnight out talking with an out of town friend so I'm a bit tired lol

It's one of those times again in my writing life that I'm finding it necessary to take a pause. For the last week I really haven't written anything. For the last month my numbers have been way down. It's not that I don't want to write. It's more like I open my Word docs and stare at the screen and nothing gets done.

Maybe my brain needs a break. Maybe I'm just taking my time on my books to make sure they're good instead of slapping words down and hoping it makes sense. The books are outlined so it's not like I don't know where they're going. I just don't feel the urgent need to write at the moment.

Books, blogs, promotions, it's all like whatever. LOL

Am I worried? Not overly much because I know there are months in the year that I hit the writing hard and churn out work. Other months, not so much.

I'm sure there are other writers out there that do the same thing.

Until the next time, make it great day!

Harry Potter and Twilight

Hey there all of you out there. How are you? I hope, that if you live in the United States, you had a good long weekend and if you live elsewhere that you had a good weekend in general.

I had the good fortune (Thank you DH for keep the kids so I could go) to go see Eclipse. I happen to be a fan of the Twilight series. I enjoyed them and I've been liking the movies. For the record, I think as far as movies go this was my favorite one so far, which is interesting because it was the least favorite of the books for me.

Now as I write this DH and I are watching Half-Blood Prince on television. If you don't know (because you've been living under a rock? LOL) that is the second to last Harry Potter book and the most recent movie to come out. My husband didn't like the first book and stopped reading them after the first one although he's enjoyed the movies so even though he doesn't know what's going to happen because he didn't read the books, he's getting the story through each subsequent film.

Seeing all these films in one week has gotten me thinking about the sheer level of dedication the fans have to these books. Some go so far as to insist they can't like one because they like the other. People are lining up based on the idea that they are Team Jacob v. Team Edward, although if you read the books you know that's never really an issue. And if it were I would be Team Jacob all the way. (What can I say? I like the wolves. LOL)

An entire theme park has been opened in Orlando based on the Harry Potter books.

Tell me this. Why do you think some books garner this much love from fans? Is it a YA thing or is something else?

Best to all of you!

Rebecca Royce

What a Dragon Should Know by G.A. Aiken

Happy Manic Monday! Pull up a comfy chair and grab a cup of virtual coffee. As some of you might know, I had a little surgery done to my right wrist last week and all is well except I can't write for any long periods of time.  Left handed typing sucks and all my first drafts HAVE to be written long-hand. So I have been making a dent in my TBR pile on my Nook.

I discovered a new to me author and want to review her newest release, What A Dragon Should Know by G.A. Aiken. Sorry, if I don't follow review protocol, I don't normally do reviews but this book impressed me enough to want to share my thoughts.  

Ms. Aiken creates a wild fantasy world filled with dragons in disguise. This book is the third installment of the Dragon Kin series. It starts with Dragon Actually, which I just finished last night. It follows the lives of the royal dragon family consisting of many brothers and sisiters. I love their interactions, petty arguements, and retailations. Coming from a large family, I can vouch for the craziness siblings can induce in each other and also the fearce loyalty. Ms Aiken characters are all wonderfully imperfect and I loved reading every moment.  

Blurb:

Only for those I love would I traipse into the merciless Northlands to risk life, limb, and my exquisite beauty. But do they appreciate it? Do they say, "Gwenvael the Handsome, you are the best among us-the most loved of all dragons?" No! For centuries my family has refused to acknowledge my magnificence as well as my innate humility.Yet for them, and because I am so chivalrous, I will brave the worst this land has to offer.

So here I stand, waiting to broker an alliance with the one the Northlanders call The Beast. A being so fearful, the greatest warriors will only whisper its name. Yet I, Gwenvael, will courageously face down this terrifying…woman? It turns out the Beast, a.k.a. Dagmar Reinholdt, is a woman-one with steel-gray eyes and a shocking disregard for my good looks. Beneath her plain robes and prim spectacles lies a sensual creature waiting to be unleashed. Who better than a dragon to thaw out that icy demeanor?

And who better than a beast to finally tame a mighty dragon's heart?


You can find G. A. Aiken at http://www.gaaiken.com/

Whatcha reading????

Happy Sunday Everyone!!!

Now that school’s done, my four ½ year old daughter is craving my attention and my 2 ½ year son has decided he doesn’t need to nap anymore. What does this mean? No time to write!! Thankfully, I just finished up my work in progress “Stolen Dreams”. So, for the next two months I plan to take a vacation―probably a much needed vacation.

What the heck do I do now? LOL. It’s been a year and half since I started writing and I’ve never really stopped. Sure, I’ve tried to take little breaks here and there, but it’s never lasted. Now, with the kids around so much I find myself too tired anyway. Is it September yet???

My only answer is to read. I have a bunch of novels to catch up on and a few I want to get into. Right now I’m reading Death in the Family by Charaline Harris. I wasn’t super excited about this one because of all the negative reviews of it. I’m about halfway through and still undecided.

After that, I’m going to read my first sci-fi. Midnight’s Ghost by Sara Brookes. I’m walking into this novel blind since I have no idea what sci-fi books are even like. So, I’m looking forward it. I like being surprised by new stuff!

Beyond those two, I plan on reading Dakota Cassidy’s Accidental series, some Katie MacAlister novels and the next release in the Night Huntress world by Jeanine Frost. But then what? So, let’s hear it. What you’re reading, what’s good and what I’m missing?

When Souls Collide Chapter 5

Happy 4th of July!
I was once asked why I served in the military. My independence was my biggest reason. There are many rights we have here in the United States that are often taken for granted. Not one of them should be. For me, defending our rights was a given. I love my country and I wanted to do my part to help keep it free.

Yeah, go ahead, laugh. It sounds sappy, but its true. I'm a patriot.

Okay, you Americans, this Fourth of July, take a moment and think about your liberty. Are you celebrating it, or are you merely having a cookout, beer and lighting off few fireworks because that's what you do on the 4th?

Think about your rights. What are they? Why were they important not only to our forefathers and revolutionaries, but to our grandparents, parents, children and grandchildren. Men and women have fought, bled and died for them. They must have had a reason to make such a sacrifice. Take a moment and think about them.

Now light that firecracker. You've got big things to celebrate.


All rights are the intellectual property of the author. No part may be copied or reproduced without the permission of the author.


***Warning. The following story contains erotic elements, explicit language and violence. Read at your own risk.***


“What do you mean the levees are on fire?” Ursus adjusted his headset and slammed his hand into a gel pad on the door, rushing from his quarters. “Where were the guards when they set it on fire?”


“Dead?” Ursus swung his leg over his hover jet, straddling it. He stepped down on the clutch and pulled out onto the stone street. “I want all squads from the western sector of the city at the levee camp in five. Get men down there and those fires out. I’ll be there in a moment.”

Ursus jolts of anger pounded through him. Gods, he was too occupied with the Kalos female to pay attention to his own post. That bastard, Jarod, the Kalos king had to be behind it. The execution of the attack had been flawless. He exploited every weakness he could find, including sending the enticing female in to distract him.

Ursus thought he’d sealed the camp, protected the levees. He’d thought the sector impossible to breach. Obviously he thought wrong. He hadn’t counted on the Kalos king turning the planet against him.

He’d not considered a weapon as primitive as an aêrscorpion. He slammed his hand down on the hover’s console. Now he had a road full of dead men and levees too damaged to hold back the floods that would be arriving within a week. They didn’t have the time to patch them up and the encampment had grown too large to breakdown, should the rains come. The cost to the Kori Army would be enormous.

Gods, he’d underestimated the enemy and paid for it. Ursus drove through the camp, the ground was littered with dead and dying troops, all laid out in rows. His troops, his responsibility. He’d taken his eyes off to entertain an enemy woman and paid for it. Thinking from his cock had gotten him in a world of trouble.

His gaze swept the area, medics had arrived to remove the injured, and a flurry of activity exploded everywhere. Soldiers tried to extinguish the levees, lit from within, it would be impossible without going inside the burning structures.

His eyes stopped on a group of soldiers holding a group of Kalos Warrior’s against a wall, weapons on them. A firing squad.

“Halt!” He yelled out and swung his leg over the hover. He strode to the firing squad. The Kalos soldiers stared back in defiance, their skin and hair dyed, fresh Kori uniforms. Clever disguises but not clever enough. “It’s about time we start torturing them for information.”

The squad leaders jaw fell open. “Sir? We can’t touch them, they’ll taint our souls.”

“They’re no different than you or I. They can’t suck your soul.”

“Sir?”

“They can’t.” Ursus frowned. He knew it. He’d spent several hours touching, kissing and holding one of the soul-sucking demons and he was still intact. “That’s a false assumption. We’ll interrogate.”

Ursus eyed the first in line and nodded towards him. “Grab that one and follow me.”

The soldier hesitated, looking from the enemy solider to Ursus and back.

“I said to seize him and come with me. That’s an order.”

The men jumped, rushing forward to grab the enemy soldier. The Kalos warrior stared Ursus in the eyes. “I have nothing to say to you.”

“We’ll see about that.” He strode over to his hover and looped a cable onto it. “Get me another hover.”

A soldier rushed for another, quickly driving it over. Ursus set his lazr’ to stun and dropped the man to the dirt. He tied his hands to one set of cables and his legs to another. The hovers were started and the man was lifted from the ground and stretched between the crafts.

He screamed.

“Put them in park. We’re going to have a discussion in a moment. Ursus eyed the man. “Get a scoop and bring me some of the coals from the levee.”

Kalos eyes popped wide.

Ursus grabbed the front of the man’s shirt and ripped it open. “Let’s see what you’re made of.”

The man tried to struggle, but the cables were drawn too tight.

“I want to know the location of the clans and that bastard king.”

The man turned his head, and spit in Ursus’s face. Ursus reached up and wiped it away with his gauntlet covered hand then reached into the scoop the soldier brought over, scorching the leather on his gloves. He held a cherry red coal in front of the man. “Last chance. Where are the locations to your clans?”

The man turned his head away.

“That’s okay. I have five more of your friends.” Ursus dropped the coal in the middle of the man’s chest. His flesh sizzled like frying fat, the smell wafted up in a cloud of greasy smoke. The man screeched and thrashed his head. Ursus let the coal sit a bit longer; melting a hole into the man’s skin then knocked it off.

“The location of the clans?”

The man kept his mouth shut.

“How about another question? Where’s your king?”

“You’ll have to kill me.”

“Eventually.” Ursus picked up another coal. “For every time you refuse to answer, I’m going to drop another of these on you. A little bit lower. Do you really want to know where it ends?” Ursus released the coal.

The man shrieked, but didn’t answer his question. Ursus yanked his pants open and exposed him.

“Next one’s really going to hurt. I want to know where that bastard is.”

The man laughed.

“Wrong answer.” Ursus picked up another coal.

It's Friday...

First, this is the list of all the Anniversary Friday winners. If you haven’t claimed your prize…HURRY!

joderjo
sstrode
valb0302
tWarner419

Next, I’d like to announce that I signed for 3 new stories with Changeling Press. SERVICED is up first. It’s Book 1 in my new series called SHEPHERD’S WATCH. The books are about The Alsatian brothers: Ren, Wade and Max. They're German Shepherd shifters who are partners in a protection/guard dog business. Their motto—We got your back! Stay tuned for more information on this project.

4th of July is HERE!! and it’s my favorite holiday. It’s summertime and it’s warm. I love fireworks and I’ll manage to see at least 2 displays.

For those who visit often you know I like to do comparisons of various versions of songs that I think are awesome. Here’s my picks of the month: Phantom of the Opera and Unchained Melody.

Enjoy listening and tell me about a few of your favorite songs and tell us all why they mean so much to you. Was it the song playing during your first kiss, or your first dance? Let us know!!

Phantom of the Opera: (sorry couldn't get them to embed but you can visit the links below!!)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8VgLKXD-BoY NIGHTWISH
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S88rkpPu8_g SARAH BRIGHTMAN, ANTONIO BANDERAS

And…

Unchained Melody by three greats:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B1j_vyQrWO4  U2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UskkwKmccGU THE PLATTERS
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zrK5u5W8afc THE RIGHTEOUS BROTHERS
Growl and roar-it's okay to let the beast out.-© J. Hali Steele

Writing an Odd Melody

I write in a lot of odd places. Mostly, I need to be somewhere I don't know anyone. Libraries and coffeehouses are the obvious choice, though I have written in some really, really odd places. Along with those places, I write to music. I can write without it, but find the words flow nicely when I have music to write by. In fact, it's just a concentration thing - I listen to loud techno music when I play video games. You should see when I play pinball. LOL

All this brings me to my point that because I listen to music when I write my books end up with playlists. Usually, my playlists start out with 30 to 40 songs. Then it get whittled down as the story get written and I get a better sense of characters and situations. This means I end up with around 12 to 13 songs that fit the book. I keep a page on my site with previous playlists, but I'd like to share my Blood Fever playlist here first.

No pointing and laughing at my musical taste now. ;^)