Well, I've been sooo busy working on another WIP, and I've been neglecting things here. *sorry* I don't want you to forget my fourth Sabrina Strong book is still being worked on. I'm slating it for a possible February release--but don't hold me to that. I'm doing my best working on it along with everything else that's been going on in my life.
Here is the book's cover:
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| My friend Lucy Pireel helped me with this cover! |
With that said, let me give you a sample from the book. You know, what I love to do is place one loose cannon (character) with another. You just never know what the outcome might be. It could be exciting, volatile, might be funny and at the same time crazy. The two in this scene are my big handsome, seven foot tall vampire mogul, Bjorn Tremayne, and the other is Rick, the leprechaun who has a birth defect and left him with almost no arms, but hands situated at his shoulders. Well, these two are such complete opposites in stature and in mannerisms, and I love to throw the two together and see what comes of it.
Let's go check in and see what Rick is up to right now...
While
holding the brush with the toes of his right foot, Rick brushed his
hair and aimed the hair dryer with his left foot. His toes were long,
and nimble. He could write with both hands, and both feet, sometimes
at the same time, but not when he was drunk. He tried that once on a
dare and had fallen off his stool—in Tom's Tavern. It had the whole
place guffawing. Besides, he thought his handwriting was much better
when he held a pen in his right foot, than the left foot, or either
of the hands. It was mainly because he could see what he was writing.
The kind sisters at the orphanage of Our Lady of Perpetual Grace had
helped him develop and work on his disability when he was old enough
to learn to read and write. Sister Fred was his favorite nun. She had
the disposition of a saint, and put up with his horseplay, as well as
the magic he could do. Plus she'd kept his abilities a secret. She
thought his magic was a “gift from God”. Well, maybe they were.
But he was merely a leprechaun, and not a rich one either. The pile
of money had dried up a long time ago from the settlement for the
birth defect he was born with because of the drug his mother had
taken while pregnant. But he would be fixing that real soon with the
deal Tremayne had offered him.
Seated
on the toilet, using his hands to keep himself steady holding on to
the corner of the sink and the corner of the toilet tank, his hair
was nearly dry. He'd slept the whole day, and when he woke up, he
felt refreshed—and no longer needed to worship the porcelain god
from altitude sickness. It was dark out, too, he noticed. Chris had
shown him his room, earlier, and since no one was using the shower,
he had ducked in here with his shower supplies. He loved the multiple
shower heads, as he could aim the lower ones right where he needed
them. He didn't think he'd been so clean in all his life—he felt
squeaky clean. He was pretty sure he hadn't sung that well in a long
while, either.
I
wonder what they might eat for dinner.
His
relaxed thoughts were jolted when someone suddenly materialized in
the bathroom with him. He cried out. The hair dryer flew out of his
toes and clattered to the floor. Rick wound up there with it; the
towel that had been wrapped around him, now flopped open leaving him
as exposed as a flasher. The headache he'd gotten rid of was now back
after hitting his head on the vanity.
“SHIT!”
He leaped to his feet, magicked the towel back around him and stared
at the huge vampire who had materialized out of nowhere. “What the
fuck are you doing? You scared the crap-olla outta me!”
“It
didn't work,” Tremayne said, seeming unconcerned about the
situation, and chaos he had caused. He gazed down at him, then
offered a hand to help him up. Rick took it, but wasn't happy.
“What?!”
Rick's face had gone hot and he imagined it redder than it had been a
moment ago from the hot shower.
Tremayne
sighed and rolled his eyes. “I said it didn't work. That thing you
did to keep me from wanting her blood.”
“What
do you mean? I did like you told me. You two looked really
cuddly-smoochy when I walked in there the other night.”
“I
couldn't be close to her without feeling the desire for her blood.”
“Well,
you're a vampire. What do you expect?”
“I
thought you said you could do something about that.”
“If
I take away your need for blood, totally, it would be total. I don't
know if I can bring it back. You don't want that, do you?”
Tremayne
paused in thought.
“You
don't want that. Right? You'd never want blood again.”
“No.
That wouldn't work either.” He let out a frustrated sigh, raked his
fingers through his golden locks.
“You
might as well face it, dude. You need to find a different way.”
“I
do have a few ideas, actually. I've just implemented one, and now I
need you to go and get me some virgin's blood.”
“You're
shitting me. Right?”
“No.
I'm not. And I'm giving you less than an hour to get it to me.”
Rick
sighed. “How much?”
“How
much? Ah...” Tremayne's eyes darted away from him in thought. “A
couple of ounces, if you can't do a whole pint.”
“That
might cost me.”
“My
credit's good. You know that.”
“Done.
What will that do—the virgin's blood?” Rick wondered.
“Take
my mind off her blood.”
“Really?”
Tremayne
gave him a side glance. “You're kidding me? Virgin anything for a
man is heaven.”
“Ah.
Right, right.” Rick nodded. Vampires, shit.
“Also,
I've got to have you get her to cover her ring up. I can't thrall her
if she has the ring uncovered.”
“Okay.
What if I make it so that she doesn't uncover it? She just
thinks she did.”
Tremayne
slid his eyes to the leprechaun. A smile bent his lips. “Now I know
why I hired you.”
“Yeah,
yeah. Now get the hell out of here so I can finish up.”
Tremayne
turned to go, but stopped. “I wondered how you managed to... you
know, without... you know?” He made hand gestures toward the hair
dryer.
“Get
the fuck out of here!” Rick snarled and pushed him toward the door.
Tremayne ducked out into the hall, and Rick slammed the door as soon
as Tremayne was out. He reached down to pick up the hair dryer. He
saw bits and pieces of it scattered on the floor. “Aw, fuck.” He
shook his head slowly. With a snap of his fingers the pieces flew
back together. The dryer came to life and he magically floated it
toward his head. “I knew I shouldn't have gotten mixed up with a
vampire. I just knew it.”
