First of all, I want to thank all of you for your kind e-mails and comments about THE CALLING Vampire novels. Your support is so appreciated.
You’ve been asking when you can expect more books in the series and I’m hopeful that the answer is: Soon! I expect to find out about the publication dates in the near future.
There are at least two more books coming out in THE CALLING series: ARDOR CALLS featuring one of my favorite vampires – Stacia. You may remember Stacia from a number of books in THE CALLING as well as from the free read DESIRE CALLS (you can click here for that free story!) Hopefully you will also remember the hero – DEA Agent Alex Garcia – from DEATH CALLS.
After ARDOR CALLS, you can expect to see VENGEANCE CALLS which introduces two new characters to THE CALLING mythology! But let me not bore you with more so you can get to today’s Wicked Wednesday Free Read.
Lots of you have been asking about David Harris, Diana Reyes’s partner, and Maggie Gonzalez, Diana’s best friend and FBI Forensics specialist. You fell in love with them in DARKNESS CALLS and DEATH CALLS and have been wondering what’s up in their lives. Well, I’ve been meddling in their lives for quite some time and you’ll be happy to know I’ll be offering their story to you here as a free read!
So to get you started, here is the first chapter of THE CALLING: THE WOLF WITHIN. If you cannot see the excerpt below, you can click here or cut and paste this link into your browser:
I know that some of you prefer a book in your hands to reading an e-book. I can totally understand. It’s tough to worry about getting suntan lotion or sand in your e-reader or computer.
So the good news is – HONOR CALLS – my novella for Nocturne Bites will be part of THE AWAKENING THE BEAST collection that will be out in October 2009 from Silhouette Nocturne.
I love the characters in this novella – Michaela and Jesus. They are opposites in so many ways and yet drawn to each other by their strength and honor. Their honor, however, is what one day may pull them apart.
I am so hoping I will get to further explore their relationship in the future in a full length novel, but for now, I hope you enjoy their very sexy and very conflicted time together in HONOR CALLS.
Today’s Wicked Wednesday is an excerpt giving you a hint as to Michaela’s troubled past. I hope you enjoy it. *Warning* It does contain violence.
New Jersey Shore
Twenty Years Earlier
Her mother was bleeding.
Michaela could feel the warmth and wet of it drip down onto her as her mother held her hand and dragged her through the tall marsh grasses along the edges of the dunes. The stalks, dry from a lack of summer rain, crackled, the noise overly loud in the silence of the night.
Too loud, she thought, recalling the creature that had attacked them. The creature who would surely hear them, pounding and crashing through the grasses as they tried to escape him.
Suddenly her mother stopped short and shoved Michaela away toward a larger patch of foliage.
She fell to the ground, the sharp edges of the grasses biting into the palms of her hands as the tall stalks swallowed her up. The saw edges of the plants cut her hands and arms, but she bit down on her lower lip to stifle her cry of pain, aware it would reveal where she was.
Aware that her mother was ready to sacrifice her life in order to hide her.
Holding her breath, she tried not to move and peered through the ever-shifting mass of dune grass stalks that had covered her.
Her mother stood there, her chin at a defiant tilt. Blood dripped down the side of her face from a large gash above her brow. The blood looked black thanks to the palette of the night. Her face was washed to a pale almost green ghostly hue by the light of the full moon.
“You didn’t think you could run from me again, did you?”
The tone of the creature’s voice was low, almost soothing except for the odd rolling sound beneath, like the purr of a cat.
Her mother said nothing for a moment, then picked up her chin another rebellious inch. “You will not take me again. I will not allow it.”
The odd rumble in the creature’s voice intensified as he laughed and said incredulously, “You will not allow it?”
Something flashed before her mother. A bright white blur so close to her . . .
A gush of dark liquid erupted from her mother’s throat and spilled down the front of her bright yellow sundress.
Her mother picked up her hand, brought it to her throat, but the creature yanked her hand away, laughing cruelly as he said, “I will have you now, as you die. I will have you after, as your body cools. But first . . .”
The creature wrapped an arm around her mother’s waist, holding her up as her knees did a slow motion buckle. Burying his head against her ravaged throat.
The horrible sounds of his sucking and her mother’s moaning carried across the still night.
Michaela covered her ears, but it was too late to avoid hearing him say, “But first I will have your blood.”
Curling up into a tight ball, she tucked her head against her knees, brought her arms up over her head and closed her eyes. Tried to escape from what was going on just a few feet before her. Imagined other places and times. Prayed for her mother to be safe. Thought about the yellow sundress her mother wore and how they had bought it at the thrift store just earlier that week.
The rough shake of the ground beneath her body pulled her back from where she had gone.
Only then did she realize the night was now almost quiet. The only sounds those of the stalks as the wind moved them and the far away susurrus of the waves washing up against the shore.
She was alone. Or at least she thought she was.
Peering through the brittle green stalks, she saw what had made the resounding thud that had snared her attention.
Her mother’s body lay less than an arm’s length away, staring sightlessly at the moonlit sky. Her dress torn, exposing her breasts and the bite marks on them. The cheery yellow of her dress bloodied from the hideous hole where her throat had once been.
She wanted to keen and cry, run to her mother, but instead she grabbed hold of her knees and forced herself to remain still, fearing that the creature lingered nearby. Knowing that her mother had given her life to save her. That she could not dishonor that sacrifice with her fear.
A second later the ground shook again and suddenly there were shafts of light piercing the night, moving back and forth across the dark sky. Another tremor of the earth came beneath her and she realized the tremors were footfalls. Coming closer and faster as the intensity of the lights increased until suddenly there were blue pants legs standing before her hiding place.
“Shit. Holy shit,” the man said and passed his flashlight over her mother. Across her still beautiful face and sightless eyes.
She cried then, a puny wheezing sound, but it was enough to snare the man’s attention.
He parted the grasses before her and the silver and gold badge on his chest gleamed brightly against the royal blue of his uniform.
“Jesus, Mary and Joseph,” he said and reached for her.
Awakening the Beast
October 2009 – Silhouette Nocturne
A collection of sexy Nocturne Bites featuring:
Honor Calls, Return of the Beast, Mortal Enemy,
Immortal Lover, Claws of the Lynx and Wilderness
by Caridad Pineiro, Lisa Renee Jones,
Olivia Gates, Linda O. Johnston and Barbara J. Hancock
This morning I’m blogging over at the Harlequin Nocturne Author’s blog! Stop by and leave a comment at the Harlequin blog for a chance to win a CALLING T-shirt and an autographed copy of HOLIDAY WITH A VAMPIRE, one of my favorites. All comments must be left by midnight EST on Friday, May 22.
First of all, my apologies for not getting a Wicked Wednesday offering for you, but I ran out of time yesterday for a number of reasons.
In the morning I was busy finalizing the next vampire book – ARDOR CALLS – which will be out sometime in 2010. Then I had to pick up my daughter from school since she just finished her finals. It was a mad day of rushing around and watching time fly by.
Which brings up this Thoughtful Thursday topic – Time.
It’s been the subject of two of my favorite shows – FRINGE and LOST. Probably no wonder about that since J.J. Abrams has his hands in both shows.
But even before that I’ve been fascinated by all the theories of time – that it’s a mobius loop or that each decision we make creates a different branches of time, including one where we made a different decision. Then there’s the whole time seeming slow or fast on any given day.
For me, this year just seems to have gone whizzing by. My hubby feels the same way, so I asked my daughter on the car ride home yesterday, “Did this year seem to go slow for you?” to which she replied, “No, it just went way too fast.”
I was glad to hear she felt the same way, but that’s another theory of time. That it isn’t regular the way we think of it with minutes and hours being a set length. Some people think that a minute in time can actually take be longer or shorter which accounts for our perceptions of it being a fast or slow day.
What do you think? Next time you think the day is going fast, ask someone else? Do they feel the same way? If they do, does that mean that the 24 hours are going much faster than they really are?
My daughter was home last week from spring break and we spent a Friday night together watching funny videos on Youtube and laughing until we cried. This was one of them and although I don’t normally laugh at people being hurt, the reaction of the lady and her colleagues is just too funny.
This Wicked Wednesday I’m doing something different – the excerpt for the first chapter of Undead Uprising is taking part in the Full Moon of Werewolves being run by my friend and fellow author Lori Devoti!
Also one lucky commenter will win a a SINS OF THE FLESH t-shirt along with a copy of TEMPTATION CALLS. Just leave a comment on my blog post to be entered. Winner will be announced at end of the Full Moon promotion. Last day to enter Saturday, March 25th at midnight central U.S. time.
It’s Friday the 13th, so what better Fun Friday discussion than superstitions! Growing up in a Latin household we had a bunch of them and I’ll share just a few that seem to remain with me.
First – No hats on the bed! It’s a symbol of death since the doctor who visited your loved one when they were ill would place their hat on the bed.
Second – No shoes on the bed! Another symbol of death since shoes were placed on the bed when they were preparing your loved one for burial.
Third – Never measure yourself from head to toe with a measuring tape! You guessed it, death again. Why? That’s what the undertaker does to prepare your casket.
You may know some of the more popular vampire superstitions, such as that they can’t come in uninvited, can’t eat garlic, don’t like the cross, have no reflection in a mirror and can’t come out in the sunlight.
Here are some other fun ones you may not know!
Spread thorns or poppy seeds in the path leaving the graveyard. The vamp must pick them up and it will take so long, they will not be able to do so before the sun rises. (Courtesy http://www.angelfire.com/mi/bunaziua/vampires.html)
Iron shavings, nails or other iron objects could be placed around someone needing protection from a vampire. (Courtesy http://www.pantheon.org/articles/v/vampire.html)
Vampires cannot cross running water.
In Europe, sprinkling mustard seeds on the roof of a house was said to keep them away. (Courtesy http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vampire)
The Kiang-shi (or chiang-shi) vampired depicted in FURY CALLS, has its own rules and superstitions. The Kiang-shi are actually reanimated corpses who hop around draining people of their life energy. They were particularly vicious and had strong sexual drives. Kiang-shi were created after a particularly violent death, an improper burial or dishonor at birth. You’ll see that I’ve included some of these superstitions in the book.
Amazingly, Kiang-shi also have problems with crossing running water, but they traditionally did not drink blood. This is a trait that was added later with the influence of European vampires.
Hope you enjoyed today’s Fun Friday superstitions!
Finally for those who loyally follow the blog, – a copy of a SINS OF THE FLESH T-shirt and a copy of DESIRE CALLS. Just visit my pals at the Five Scribes blog and leave a comment today before midnight EST. Just click here to visit my guest blog there (after 8am EST) or paste this link into your browser: http://fivescribes.blogspot.com/
Also, don’t forget this week’s b’day bash as your chances of leaving a comment to win a prize end at midnight EST tonight! Just visit any of the blogs listed below this week and leave a comment and you’ll be eligible to win a prize from me! At Barbara Vey’s blog, there are tons of other prizes as well!
I’ll be visiting all of these blogs and if you’ve left a comment at any of them, you’ll also be eligible to win a $25 Godiva gift card! The more times I see your name at the different blogs, the more your chances improve to win the gift card. So take a moment and stop by one or all to improve your chances of winning a prize.
The contest ends on Friday, March 13th at midnight EST, so be sure to get your comments in there on time!
This week’s Wicked Wednesday brings you another installment of my urban fantasy involving a twist to the werewolf mythology, battles with vampires and a struggle for control in a werewolf pack. The tentative title is UNDEAD UPRISING and I hope you like this next free chapter that I’m offering you.
This chapter is after Helena and Catalina have met with their father, their half-sister Selena as well as one of their clients and tempers have flared during their meeting. Now Catalina and her father will discuss what needs to be done for both their company and the wolf pack.
For those of you who may have missed the first chapters, you can read them here:
Also, don’t forget this week’s b’day bash. Just visit any of the blogs listed below this week and leave a comment and you’ll be eligible to win a prize from me! At Barbara Vey’s blog, there are tons of other prizes as well!
I’ll be visiting all of these blogs and if you’ve left a comment at any of them, you’ll also be eligible to win a $25 Godiva gift card! The more times I see your name at the different blogs, the more your chances improve to win the gift card. So take a moment and stop by one or all to improve your chances of winning a prize.
The contest ends on Friday, March 13th at midnight EST, so be sure to get your comments in there on time!
Catalina’s father examined the recommendations they had made about reassigning Frank Black’s detail. He rubbed his forefinger back and forth across his lips as he considered them. He tossed the papers onto the desk before him. “You’re sure about this?”
“Do you have some doubt about all our decisions or just one in particular?” Catalina asked, arching an eyebrow to emphasize her point.
“You have Hemmerich assigned internally. To the research section?” Her father grabbed the papers, looked at them once more and shook his head. “Seems like a waste of prime wolf.”
“So you do feel us desk jockeys are lesser warriors?” Her reiteration of his earlier words had a teasing tone since she’d had enough fighting for the day.
He grinned then, a devilish grin that lit up his eyes with amusement. “Hemmerich will feel that way. I love it.”
She chuckled and shook her head. “Papi, you never cease to amaze me.”
“Nor do you. I wasn’t sure you’d do the right thing — ”
“And you think putting Hemmerich at a desk is the right thing?” she questioned, interested in hearing her father’s rationale.
“Keep your friends close — ”
“But your enemies closer. It’s exactly what I thought,” she admitted out loud and crossed her legs, adopting a casual stance, but her father saw right through it.
“You’re worried about him?”
She shrugged. “I had an interesting visitor this morning.”
When he didn’t ask who, she continued. “Helena came to warn me about Selena and Hemmerich.”
“Selena isn’t someone you need to worry about. But I don’t like that she’s being used.”
“You knew?” She leaned forward onto the edge of her seat, confused by her father’s inaction.
He brought two fingers to his mouth, rubbed his lips thoughtfully before replying. “Selena is a great deal like her mother. Needy of affection. Honorable, but gullible because of that need.”
“Helena — ”
“Helena,” he said forcefully and pointed at her. “Helena is one you need to watch. There’s something . . . off about her. I don’t know what it is, but you need to keep an eye on her.”
She suspected what was off — that Helena was in love with her half-sister. Her father could never understand and if Helena’s offer of allegiance was true, she would keep her Helena’s secrets for now.
A first — she had never intentionally kept something from her father.
It was odd to have so many people warning her about so many other people. But she had no doubt which people she could trust. Helena and Selena were possibly not on that list. “Is there anything else I should know, papi?”
“Hemmerich won’t take kindly to this move. His pride — ”
“Is a dangerous thing. I’ve known that for some time.” Standing, she grabbed the papers off his desk. “Will you support me on these decisions? Hemmerich is sure to come to you to complain.”
He laughed and his teeth were a bright white against the blackness of his beard. “Mi’ja. Hemmerich has done nothing but complain for years.” After a chuckle, he added, “I will support you in all things. Except one.”
She had no doubt about what he referred to, but she wouldn’t be his daughter if she gave up so easily. “On that, I guess we will just have to agree to disagree.”
He inclined his head, the gesture one of affection and admiration. “For the moment. I will leave it up to you and your sisters to communicate the assignments.”
“And I will leave it up to you to deal with Hemmerich.” She left his study to head to the public wings of the building where their corporation conducted its daily business.
The countdown is on for FURY CALLS, the next full length book in THE CALLING Vampire novels, but if you need a fix in the meantime, check out HONOR CALLS, my e-novella Nocturne Bite that’s available now at eharlequin.com.
In HONOR CALLS I’ve brought back a character who may be familiar to some readers – FBI Assistant Director in Charge Jesus Hernandez.
Since DARKNESS CALLS, Jesus has been in the periphery of the stories, advising Diana and her partner during their assignments. Always calm and reserved and functioning by the letter of the law. Honorably discharging his duties until the day he runs into Michaela, a vampire slayer who’s now challenging what Jesus knows to be the right thing to do. What will win out — honor or Michaela’s need for vengeance against the vampires who killed her mother and forever changed Michaela’s existence?
I loved writing about these two and hope to write a full length book in the future. In the meantime, here’s a snippet from HONOR CALLS. This scene happens shortly after Jesus has run into Michaela while she is slaying a vampire.
His physical presence was difficult to ignore. As he shot a glance at her, his dark brown eyes seeming fathomless in the dim light, she hoped he would not prove to be as fascinating as he appeared and tried to dampen her initial interest.
“So you expect me to believe the bouncer was a vampire and that there are other ones here as well?” he said, returning to their earlier conversation. He leaned toward her as he said it and examined the interior of the club.
There were definitely vampires present, she thought, sensing the push of their undead force, but before she got into proving it, she wanted him to buy her a drink. She was low on cash and most men disappeared once they discovered the truth around them.
The truth about her.
Raising her hand, she signaled to a waitress.
As the young woman arrived, Michaela said, “Cuervo shooter.”
Slipping a glance at her companion, she realized he was checking out the waitress, but not in that way. In a vamp way, not that she expected him to pick up on the signs so quickly. She shook her head and he understood, ordered a shooter as well.
The waitress hesitated and Michaela explained. ”You’re new. You’ve got to pay up front.”
He snorted in disbelief, but quickly dug into his pocket, peeled off a twenty from a moderate wad of cash, and tossed the bill on the scarred top of the table, which had obviously seen a great deal of abuse judging from the gouges and scratches in its cheap black formica surface. The waitress immediately scooped up the money and walked away to place their orders.
“Must get nice clientele in here,” he said as he tucked his money away into his pocket. The motion pulled his suit jacket back, exposing the butt of his gun. At an adjacent table, one of the patrons noticed the weapon also and quickly scurried away.
Jesus followed his flight and wondered why the man felt compelled to run. In his line of business, it was an obvious sign of guilt, but in here . . .
He once again peered through the dim interior of the club, checking out the various patrons within and found it amusing that for all their Goth rebelliousness, they were quite uniform in their manner of dress. Lots of black, from the leather and jeans to their hair. Pale faces which made him turn his attention back to his companion.
“You said you’d make me believe,” he reminded just as the waitress came to the table with their drinks.
He watched as the waitress placed the lime, salt shaker and shot of Cuervo on the table. His companion bit into the lime, skipped the salt and then downed the tequila in one gulp before ordering another.
“Thirsty?” he asked as he paid in advance once again.
“Once guys see how things are, most of my dates don’t last beyond the first drink,” she admitted, a self-deprecating tone in her voice as she fidgeted with the empty shot glass, twirling and spinning it on the table top.
“Didn’t realize that buying you a drink made this a date,” he said, perplexed by the self-assurance on the surface that seemed to hide a well of vulnerability beneath.
“Not your usual type, I suspect,” she said and fully faced him.
Not his type? He wondered about that as he sipped at his shot of tequila and studied her. Her dark, nearly black hair fell in choppy layers against her roundish face. Cerulean blue eyes bore an exotic slant and hinted at extreme intelligence while pale, creamy skin appeared to be as soft as satin sheets.
The black leather jacket she wore fit tight against her body, accentuating both her slimness and slightness of stature, but the tank top beneath the jacket exposed the lushness of her curves.
He imagined exploring those curves. Raising that lean strong body up against his and slipping within.
Maybe his type, he thought, fighting back his body’s response especially since now that they were up close, he guessed her to be over a decade younger than his thirty-eight years of age.
“Don’t have a type and I’m not the kind to drink and run,” he offered, taking another sip of the Cuervo to quell the desire awakening within him.
She laughed, the tone of her merriment rich and uninhibited. It occurred to him that it had been a long time since he had allowed himself that kind of freedom, but she clearly was not one to hold back.
It only intrigued him even more, especially as she challenged with, “You may be the kind to run after you see what goes on in here.”
Elegantly raising her hand, she gestured in the direction of the farthest edges of the club close to where they sat. He could make out the shadows of people engaged in various activities in those nearly dark areas.
Leaning close to him, she said in hushed tones, “Look carefully if you dare.”
Her warm breath against the skin at the base of his neck was sweet. He imagined the kiss of that breath elsewhere and decided that it warranted the risk just so she would continue talking to him.
So that he might experience that sweetness elsewhere.
I saw ads for the Sibling Rivalry – the Mannings against the Williams – on the way to work and had to find out what it was about! So, what was it? Visit dsrl.com, the home of the Double Stuffed Racing League. LOL! You can watch more DSRL videos and make a Yooble. Check out my Yooble by clicking on this link.
Here’s one of the commercials for the DSRL which might give you a chuckle on this Fun Friday!
Last but not least, doing the woo hoo dance here!
I wanted to share with you the first review for FURY CALLS which got 4.5 stars from Romantic Times! Wooo Hooo!
FURY CALLS (4.5) by Caridad Pineiro: When a vampire couple kills each other at the restaurant where she cooks, vampire chef Meghan Thomas teams up with Blake Richards — the man she hates for creating her undead life — to find out what made the pair kill each other in bloodlust. Determined to turn Meghan’s hatred of him into love, Blake gets a job at the restaurant and resolves to be a better person (vampire). But his resolve is tested when Meghan questions his loyalty. Piñeiro infuses her vampires with very human feelings, making her paranormal story seem realistic. It’s a great read! —Alexandra Kay
First of all, I want to thank all of you for your kind e-mails and comments about THE CALLING Vampire novels. Your support is so appreciated.
There are at least two more books coming out in THE CALLING series: ARDOR CALLS featuring one of my favorite vampires – Stacia. You may remember Stacia from a number of books in THE CALLING as well as from the free read DESIRE CALLS (you can click here for that free story!) Hopefully you will also remember the hero – DEA Agent Alex Garcia – from DEATH CALLS.
First of all, my apologies for not getting a Wicked Wednesday offering for you, but I ran out of time yesterday for a number of reasons.
This Wicked Wednesday I’m doing something different – the excerpt for the first chapter of Undead Uprising is taking part in the Full Moon of Werewolves being run by my friend and fellow author 
It’s Friday the 13th, so what better Fun Friday discussion than superstitions! Growing up in a Latin household we had a bunch of them and I’ll share just a few that seem to remain with me.
Last but not least, doing the woo hoo dance here!
