TO BE REBORN...FIRST YOU MUST DIE_2ND RULE OF 3 entry

The iron tongue of midnight tolls. It is Renaissance time :

http://stuartnager.wordpress.com/2011/10/07/second-set-of-prompts-ren3-and-a-renaissance-story-too/

The murky waters of the bayou bordering my apartment know. The veil is unraveling. Soon THEY who once ruled this world will slip through. One portal is in the nexus called Renaissance.

Three heroes stand in the breach. Captain Samuel McCord, the Texas Ranger with the blood of Death in his veins. Victor Standish, the young Ulysses of the French Quarter. And his Victorian ghoul friend, Alice Wentworth.

Tonight, the shadows will listen to the 600 words of Victor Standish as the three face the mysterious Maija under the sneering eyes of Renaissance's mayor :


There were echoes of hurt to Captain Sam’s eyes as he studied Maija. I knew he wasn’t seeing her but her twin, his wife, who was seven years gone.

Was he looking for some trace of Meilori in the dead-soul eyes of her sister?

“You said you needed my help with a murder.”

Maija, despite her sneer, somehow looked like a jilted girl. “Yes. Yours.”

I forced a laugh to perk Sam up. “He and I knew that.”

Alice went stiff. “You knew and yet you came? Is your hubris truly that great?”

I shushed her. “Don’t talk about my anatomy in front of Maija.”

Alice slapped her sides. “Idiot, dolt, knave! Hubris means pride.”

I winked. “I just love it when you talk dirty.”

Maija fought a smile. She had a sense of humor? It must be the end of the world.

Sam said, “She is better than she believes.”

Maija’s face softened, creeping me out more than her usual razor eyes. “No, Samuel, I am far worse than you could possibly imagine.”

Aw, man, her eyes were wet as she murmured,

“I shall feel the emptier tonight after you are … gone. Yours is a face I shall miss, strong without the cruelty of toughness, kind without the bruise of weakness. When I have rid the world of that face, I shall have earned the hatred of Meilori -- and of myself.”

Suddenly, I saw Maija for what she was. A haunted woman, withered by countless wrong choices that had swept her far beyond her beginnings, beyond betrayed friends, long lost from the lands of her youth, the dreams of her childhood,

beyond being the kind of woman the man she loved could ever love back.

I didn’t think even she knew where she was coming from … or where she was really going.

There are no round-trips across the Rubicon.

I looked at the mayor, things rippling under his cummerbund like knotted ropes,

at the partiers turning as one towards Maija’s unsuspecting back,

at Captain Sam’s gloved hand, suddenly holding a Colt the size of the National debt.

I said, “To achieve, you need thought. You have to know what you are doing, and that’s real power.”

The old Maija returned, “You read Ayn Rand?”

“She’s a pain, but suffering builds character. You know me, a real character.”

The mayor rumbled in a voice, that had it been a face, I would have slapped, “Nonsense words.”

Alice eyed the partiers whose faces suddenly had fanged mouths literally from ear to ear. “It means, scion of an Old One, that you two should mind your surroundings.”

“I know my surroundings, ghoul. I know that the murderer of my cousin stands before me!”

Maija raised an eyebrow. “You killed a half-breed Elder?”

“He was trying to make Victor tartar out of me. I took it personal.”

The mayor turned his shadowed face to me. “And I will personally take your life.”

Sam’s eyes became windows into Hell. “You try. You die.”

“No weapon made by Man can hurt me.”

Sam smiled like a wolf. “Lucky thing that Hephaetus made this just for you.”

The mayor edged forward. “You lie!”

Sam cocked the Colt. “You’ll have to pay to find out.”

Alice grimly eyed the flowing bodies of the partiers getting ever closer, unseen by Maija or the mayor, then turned to Sam.

“This region of Renaissance is still a ghost town, is it not, Captain?”

Sam nodded his Stetson at Alice. “Afraid so, princess.”

Maija turned in a whirl. “No!”

“Yes!,” laughed the partiers as they rushed us.
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All 4 prompts were utilized :

1.Someone is killed or almost killed.
2.One of the characters is revealed to be not who he or she is.
3.A relationship becomes complicated.
4.A character lies to another on an important matter

FIRST WINNERS in the
FRIENDS OF VICTOR STANDISH CONTEST!

{Please email me your addresses to receive your prizes!}

1.) Wendy Morrell won :

Alexander Skarsgard's autograph!

2.) Francine Howarth won :

Megan Fox's autograph!

3.) Hart Johnson won :

Brad Pitt's photograph.

(These 3 got entries because they put up posts about me BEFORE they even knew the rules!)


Please, guys, write a review of THE LEGEND OF VICTOR STANDISH so you, too, can be eligible to win. WRITING A REVIEW is the FIRST STEP in entering his contest!

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