Happy May Day to you all!

Hello, my pretties! You may not have noticed, but I have replaced my old picture with a new one. Sort of tired of the blood dripping down the chin thing. This one is much better. Don't you agree? Mostly because when the picture is small, you can't tell she has fangs, but if you look close, she definitely has fangs. Plus, well, she's somewhat lusty-looking. I like to turn heads in the virtual world, don't you know?

Since this is Tuesday and I usually do Teaser Tuesday, I was thinking of going on with the idea of putting up different characters of the book. Now that it's a new month (last month was devoted to the women in Vampire's Trill), I think I'll go with the male secondary characters who make up the background of the story and keep things very interesting.

So, today I thought I would introduce you to Rick, the leprechaun. As a writer, I knew if I made the leprechaun very different from what people expected, he would become well received. Rick is part human, but very little of that is evident, aside from his human disability--he has no arms. His hands are joined almost at the shoulders, but he has wrists. I didn't explain it fully in Vampire's Trill--but that will be addressed in a future book (the 4th one). He was born with this birth defect called phocomelia, caused by the mother's use of thalidomide while pregnant. I actually met a person with this defect. He would get on my bus now and then, and go to work at a bar nearby. He was friendly, seemed always happy, and I treated him with due respect I do anyone who gets on my bus.

I had wanted to use a character with some sort of disability, and when I thought of Rick, the leprechaun, I felt he needed to have a big challenge in life, and have a somewhat sad history. Thus, Rick was born in my second book. I leave you with a short excerpt. This is from Chapter 23

I landed on something solid, yet it wasn't flat. It had form.

I clearly had some sort of form myself, now — thank you! Meanwhile, landing knocked the breath out of me, and it took me a while to pull it back in. There’s nothing quite as scary as being unable to get air for a few seconds. Whatever I was laying upon also took one gigantic breath and let it out with a deep groan. My panic rose anew. I thought I was lying on a bear.

I looked up and saw Tremayne's face above mine. As his head rose from its reclined position, I realized I lay right on top of him, chest to chest, as though we had both landed exactly this way.

“Oh, sorry,” I said as I pushed up. My hands grasped each of his wide, muscular shoulders, my legs were sandwiched between his thick thighs putting my knees in a decidedly awkward position against him. Oh Momma! It was too late to remedy this situation, and my panic cord had broken.

“Not at all. You can be on top any time,” he smirked. Hands grasping my waist, he helped me sort of roll off him to land awkwardly on my butt. Oow.

Face burning, I threw him a well-deserved scowl. Then, someone's muffled voice caught our attention. It seemed to be coming from underneath Tremayne. He rolled to the side, and underneath was Rick, sputtering swears that nearly burned my ears.

“You stupid blood-sucking pantie wipe!” Rick fumed as he slowly rolled over and struggled to his knees, his body bent in half.

“Uh-oh, you crushed the leprechaun,” I said.

“Sorry, sorry,” Tremayne said, dipping down. He grabbed Rick by the back of his coat and hoisted him up with one swift motion. Righted and standing on his two feet, Rick looked as mad as a rumpled leprechaun could look. I wasn't sure why Tremayne was so accommodating, apologizing again and again, but it probably had a lot to do with the fact that leprechauns were magical. I guessed that if Rick were truly mad, he could do something to Tremayne. Something nasty.

In the next moment, I lost sight of Tremayne and felt, rather than saw him move with lightning speed somewhere in front of me. We were in a dark place. My eyes were trying to adjust. I saw red and purple lights flashing, mostly, above me, and they seemed to bombard the walls that surrounded us. I didn't look up to see where it came from. Instead, my focus was on Tremayne whose body blocked my view of something that was in front of him. Hunched over, he was in a fighting pose. Growling from both Tremayne and the other creature in there with us filled the chamber. In one swift move, Tremayne had slammed someone, or something, up against a stonewall.

“Holy crap! Come here, darling,” Rick said with a hoarse squeak. He didn't touch me, but I launched away from the fracas that was going on mere feet away, and slammed into the opposite wall.

“Sorry. You okay?” Rick asked in a soothing tone. I realized he'd used his magic to move me quickly out of the way of something long and undulating.

“Yeah, I'm fine. Stunned, but fine.” What's a little bump on the head if it saves me from real danger? I turned my attention to the affray. “What is that?”

“I'm not quite sure yet, but it is buuuutt ugly.”

©2011 Vampire's Trill – Lorelei Bell