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Sunday, February 13, 2011

JUST KISS ALREADY BLOGFEST_THE COLOR OF LOVE IS ... BLOOD


Go here for more kissing madness :

http://www.write-brained.com/2011/01/just-kiss-already-blogfest.html

This Valentine's Day scene is an excerpt from THE LEGEND OF VICTOR STANDISH. It is just after midnight at the crypt of Marie Laveau. Victor has met the ghoul, Alice Wentworth, for the first time. He has so far avoided becoming a late night snack. She asks him how he got the slashes on his face.



I hitched myself up on a marble slab and patted the place next to me. “Pull up a

seat. It’s a long story.”

She flowed like mist up beside me. I reached out and softly took her left hand. Saying a silent prayer, I rolled my eyes into the back of my head and pressed her hand against my heart.

Maybe I could do a type of encore of what had happened in front of Marie Laveau’s crypt.

Sometimes in life you get more than you ask for.

I stiffened as a swirling sea of her emptiness, her loneliness, her joy at being in touch with another hurt spirit swept me up. And I drew her into me, into my memories of burnt out ends of smoky days laced with pain and strife, of the withered leaves of others’s masquerades, of the tiny thousand misunderstandings and clumsy gropings of my heart to the life-hardened hearts of others.

The autumn world of my days on the streets came rising up over the dark horizon of my regrets. Lost friends, mocking enemies, the haunted, loving eyes of Mother. The glittering, insane eyes of Baboon Face and his goon friends. The snap of the neck that cost me Suze and brought the mysterious undead Captain Sam into my life.

The yellowed papers of recollection curled up around us from Detroit, to Cleveland, to Boston, to that strange bus ride to New Orleans.

The light of relief and hope shot through the black shutters of fear and loneliness as images of me wandering lost through the madness that was Meilori’s. Dim figures of Billie Holliday and Daniel Webster wavered before us like shimmering mirages of fear. My sort of betrayal by Elu, my being an unwilling teaching aid for Strasser, Toya’s hot jealousy, my losing everything as I decided that for Captain Sam to live I had to die.

The cry of her anguished heart calling out to me as she struggled to escape her own private hell. Her spooky entrance into my life. My confusion. My own loneliness reaching out to hers.

The circle completing its circuit. Resurfacing from the waters of shared spirits as I gently pulled her hand from my chest. Our fingers parting. The shiver of separation as her pale face looked at me haunted.

I shivered as our union shattered left me soul-cold. Alice was shivering as well. My head was spinning. Something was wrong with my heart.

It wasn’t empty anymore.

What had I done to me?

Maybe you couldn’t see, really see, into someone without it changing you. And you couldn’t show them the you that you really were without the two of you never being the same anymore.

I looked into her strange neon blue eyes. My changed heart skipped a beat. She was looking … looking at me as if she was feeling the same. Her eyelids lowered slightly. Her hand softened around mine. She squeezed it soft. So soft. Yet so cold. But not as cold as loneliness.

A wild thought came to me.

I grabbed all the courage and desperation I had stored in my bruised heart and decided to go for it.

I brought her cold, cold hand up to my own cold lips and kissed it. Her fingers were quivering. Or was that my lips?

Alice’s lower lip trembled. “How could you?”

“C-Could I what?”

She took her hand from mine and softly traced the line of one of Strasser’s cuts on my left cheek, kissing me on the lips even softer. “Turn out so special.”

***

32 comments:

  1. How could you? Love that line!
    I enjoyed reading that! What a build up.
    I have mine posted for tomorrow. It was fun, wasn't it!

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  2. Yes, Steena, I really enjoyed this blogfest. I look forward to reading yours tomorrow. My life of late prompted me to post mine while I had the free moment! Thanks for visiting, Roland

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  3. Love it! And I agree with Steena - the "How could you?" line is priceless!!!!

    I've posted an entry already, too, though I have yet to manage signing up (the linky list vanished).

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  4. Loved the setting, mood, dialog, everything. Pulled me right in. ;)

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  5. Brilliant stuff, classic Roland style. I love the way you write, heavy and full somehow, sensuous in a way.

    Nice!!!

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  6. Roland, that was beautiful. I loved it. What great writing. =D Thanks for the read.

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  7. Sensual, honey-dripped writing, Roland - wonderful. I like the T S Eliot reference in there too, perfect for Victor.

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  8. wow, I loved this and your use of language which totally set the scene. Beautiful.

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  9. The classic Roland touch....

    A reader never gets disappointed reading your excerpt!

    I would expect nothing less. AWESOME...


    MIchael

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  10. Beautiful! I really enjoyed reading your blogfest entry.

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  11. OOOhhhh, how sweeeeeet!!!!!! Loved it :) *still grinning*

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  12. ...atta boy, Roland.
    Your work promises one of two outcomes...teeth like razors, biting down, unrelenting, or with the soft touch of a baby's breath, a whisper kissed upon a mother's cheek.

    And regardless of the outcome...we return for more.

    EL

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  13. Sounds like a fascinating story -- Marie Laveau, ghouls, Billie Holliday, a crypt, a merging of souls. Well done!

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  14. You take your reader through a sensual labyrinth! Beautiful!!
    Ann Best, Author

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  15. Wow Roland. Just wow.

    Awesome writing as usual.

    You know what a fan of Victor I have become, and your excerpts never disappoint.

    :Dom

    Mine will be up in about 12 hours

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  16. Thank you, Sash. I've been at work all day and night or I would have visited your site. I'm on call even now, with one ear attuned for the phone. Yes, poor Victor almost swallowed his tongue when Alice asked that.

    Jayne : I'm glad I could draw you into Victor's world and love.

    Tessa : Like Mel said in SERENITY : I have a style? Thanks so much for the high praise delivered Tessa style.

    RaShelle : Your words make my evening. We all try to touch our reader's heart. I'm glad I succeeded in some small way here.

    Margo : Victor brings out the best in me. As a street urchin, he lived in the libraries for their warmth, comfy chairs, and safety from the street punks.

    But he had to read to stay there. So he read any and everything. And with no one to make fun of him, Victor read poetry, making it a part of how he saw the world around him. T.S. Eliot was one of his favorites.

    Mshatch : A kiss is muted unless you set the scene just right. Thanks for appreciating the work I put into Victor's first kiss.

    Michael : Thanks. That's high praise, and I appreciate it. You have your own distinctive style in prose, too.

    Golden Eagle : Thanks. I look forward to reading your entry.

    Words Crafter : Yeah, Victor can be sweet -- but keep the secret. It would ruin his reputation! LOL.

    Elliot : Your comments are works of art in themselves. Thanks for the kind words. Let me know when SOUTH OF CHARM comes out.

    Diane : I tried to make THE LEGEND OF VICTOR STANDISH magical and magnetic. Three agents are looking at it. Keep your fingers crossed.

    Ann : Wow. Your praise is lyrical in itself. Thank you.

    Dom : Your praise makes me happy after a wearying day! I hope one day you can read the whole book on Victor. I look forward to reading your entry, Roland

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  17. Loved your writing style. You drew me in from the get go. Thanks for stopping by my blog :)) So nice to meet a fellow writer. I think I will be a regular here!
    ~Michelle

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  18. Another glimpse into Victor! Love it! great post and it works beautifully with the blogfest. Thanks for sharing that with us!

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  19. Awesome job. Your choice of adjectives matched the tone and set the scene perfectly.

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  20. Love the part between "What had I done to me?" and "My changed heart skipped a beat..." Great stuff.

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  21. Poetic Justice : Glad you dropped by. Sad that the weekend was tough for you. Thanks for liking my entry, Roland

    Summer : Victor just sent you a cyber-rose for liking his entry. Alice is fuming. Have a great Valentine's Day.

    Steve : Your own entry was magnificent. Great job you did. Roland

    Jennifer : Yes, I've always thought if two saw each other as they truly were, nothing would ever be the same between them -- for good or ill.

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  22. Oh, the scene is so rich and fascinating and a wonderful last line! Thanks, so much, for sharing and happy v-day to you! :)

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  23. Donea : Thanks for liking the portrayal of poor Victor's first kiss. And may your V Day be all you wish it to be, Roland

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  24. "The autumn world of my days on the streets came rising up over the dark horizon of my regrets."

    Lovely.

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  25. Hiya Roland -- Feel free to swipe any graphic you want off my blog -- Gawd knows I swiped 'em all from somewhere else!

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  26. "...not as cold as loneliness."

    Roland, you have a way with words.
    :)

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  27. Donna W. : Thanks. Victor is a poetic soul -- like his creator. I tried to make a mosaic of his past without boring the reader. Come back again, Roland

    Debra : Isn't the blogging community a great-hearted place?

    Lydia : Your own words made my afternoon. Thanks, Roland

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  28. There was a lifetime in that kiss...Wow! The clumsy gropings of his heart, the whispers and echoes...great and chilling.
    Edge of Your Seat Romance

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  29. Raquel : You wrote it as well as I did -- in less sentences. Thanks for enjoying Victor's first kiss. Ah, that didn't come out right, did it? LOL.

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  30. Wow, just wow. That left me totally breathless! And not just the kiss, the writing was spot on. Well done my friend.

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  31. Thank you, Heather. I tried to reach out and pull the reader into Victor's heart and loneliness. It's great that you liked it so, friend.

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  32. So vividly written, I almost felt like I was standing right there watching the characters, and feeling what they felt at the moment.

    btw... thanks for your previous reply to my comment... missed you too.

    I'm going through something personal at the moment, and will drop by some time... but if I don't for awhile, it's not your posts, just me.

    Take Care... will be keep in touch.

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