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THE PATH BACK TO DAWN:
http://www.amazon.com/PATH-BACK-DAWN-ebook/dp/B005EA029U
{Blake Adamson had been left chained to a tree in the New Zealand wilderness by the last fae. He escapes death by being given an apple of immortality from Idun's Asgardian garden.
By whom? Odin's ravens, Huggin and Munnin (that's MIND and MEMORY for those of you not versed in Viking - and yes, there is a bit of an allegory going on there.)
He has been discovered by Hone Heke (an angel on a sort of community service punishment) and by Kirika Amaratsu. In happy relief at finding him alive, Kirika has bowled him over on his back with her atop him.
Blake has kept a slice of Idun's apple for her. She agrees to eat it ... on one condition.
“What kind of condition?,” I asked with a sinking heart.
An evil gleam started to grow in her deep, large brown eyes. “Oh, nothing obscene, nothing bizarre, nothing sexual.”
She winked. “I lied about the sexual.”
Hone groaned, “Uh, oh.”
Kirika smiled wicked. “I will eat your apple. But only if you share the last bite ... in a kiss with me.”
She wiggled, pressing her hips dangerously into mine as I managed to croak, “I - I can live with that.”
She laughed, “I thought you might.”
She brought the apple to her lips.
“Oh,” I started, but Kirika had already bitten into the slice.
Her eyes rolled up as she stiffened in spasms on top of me. With horror, I saw her begin to fade, becoming a ghost on top of me. I wrapped both arms around her tight.
“Stay with me, Kirika! Don’t fade on me. Stay with me, please. I don’t know what I’d do if I lost you.”
The weight of her body pressed back down on top of me again. She was soft and firm in my arms once more. She squirmed her hips into me, her lips melting into mine.
She murmured, “Then, fade from you I never will. Never.”
I smiled, “I - I can live with that.”
She asked, “Are all the bites like that one?”
“Just the first.”
She raised an eyebrow, and I insisted, “Honest.”
“In that case ---”
She slowly took another bite. Her eyebrows shot up. She wiggled delightfully on my body. She actually seemed to glow. She let out a long, ragged breath.
“B-Blake, never have I tasted such a wonder. It fills me with such a power and joy. Starving, you denied yourself this for me?”
“Denied? Seeing you enjoy it this much is better than I have the words to describe.”
Her whole face glowed, her deep eyes seeming to swallow me. I went willingly. She bit slower and slower, savoring each bite, squirming more and more into me.
Hone coughed uneasy.
She seemed not to hear. Only the last bite was left. She took it and moistened her full lips with the piece. Then, she bent her face right to mine.
“When I place it in my lips, Blake, place yours around it, and we will kiss as I swallow. All right?”
I nodded. She moistened my lips with it, then re-wet her lips again. She smiled, and promises dark and tempting filled my head. Hone coughed again, but I barely heard him.
In fact, the whole world grew dim around the edges. All that was clear were Kirika’s gleaming, deep, deep eyes. She slipped the bit of apple into her wet lips, leaning right into me. I shyly wrapped my lips around the apple.
Like I knew she would, she tried forcing it into my mouth with her tongue, I thrust it back. Then, she caught me by surprise and swallowed it, wrapping her tongue around mine, doing some thrusting and rubbing of her own. I could feel my eyes roll back into their sockets, and tingles dance all down my body.
From the magic of Idun’s apple or Kirika’s tongue I couldn’t say.
She arched in my arms, thrusting her hips into me again and again. I was about to lose it completely, when she went limp in my arms, slumping across my whole body.
This time it was me that let out a long, ragged breath. I shivered in spasms. That had been --- something. Kirika purred in my arms.
“Next time, get a hotel,” growled Hone.
“I didn’t do that,” I sputtered.
Kirika breathed, “Was it good for you, beloved?”
I couldn’t help myself and let out a sigh, “Oh, yeah.”
Hone grunted, “Tell me again what you didn’t do.”
***
Cassie Mae & Hope are doing the HOT KISS BLOGFEST :
http://readingwritingandlovinit.blogspot.com/2012/01/is-it-getting-hot-in-here-valentines.htmlMy entry, A KISS TO LIVE FOR, is from my THE PATH BACK TO DAWN :
{Blake Adamson had been left chained to a tree in the New Zealand wilderness by the last fae. He escapes death by being given an apple of immortality from Idun's Asgardian garden.
By whom? Odin's ravens, Huggin and Munnin (that's MIND and MEMORY for those of you not versed in Viking - and yes, there is a bit of an allegory going on there.)
He has been discovered by Hone Heke (an angel on a sort of community service punishment) and by Kirika Amaratsu. In happy relief at finding him alive, Kirika has bowled him over on his back with her atop him.
Blake has kept a slice of Idun's apple for her. She agrees to eat it ... on one condition.
“What kind of condition?,” I asked with a sinking heart.
An evil gleam started to grow in her deep, large brown eyes. “Oh, nothing obscene, nothing bizarre, nothing sexual.”
She winked. “I lied about the sexual.”
Hone groaned, “Uh, oh.”
Kirika smiled wicked. “I will eat your apple. But only if you share the last bite ... in a kiss with me.”
She wiggled, pressing her hips dangerously into mine as I managed to croak, “I - I can live with that.”
She laughed, “I thought you might.”
She brought the apple to her lips.
“Oh,” I started, but Kirika had already bitten into the slice.
Her eyes rolled up as she stiffened in spasms on top of me. With horror, I saw her begin to fade, becoming a ghost on top of me. I wrapped both arms around her tight.
“Stay with me, Kirika! Don’t fade on me. Stay with me, please. I don’t know what I’d do if I lost you.”
The weight of her body pressed back down on top of me again. She was soft and firm in my arms once more. She squirmed her hips into me, her lips melting into mine.
She murmured, “Then, fade from you I never will. Never.”
I smiled, “I - I can live with that.”
She asked, “Are all the bites like that one?”
“Just the first.”
She raised an eyebrow, and I insisted, “Honest.”
“In that case ---”
She slowly took another bite. Her eyebrows shot up. She wiggled delightfully on my body. She actually seemed to glow. She let out a long, ragged breath.
“B-Blake, never have I tasted such a wonder. It fills me with such a power and joy. Starving, you denied yourself this for me?”
“Denied? Seeing you enjoy it this much is better than I have the words to describe.”
Her whole face glowed, her deep eyes seeming to swallow me. I went willingly. She bit slower and slower, savoring each bite, squirming more and more into me.
Hone coughed uneasy.
She seemed not to hear. Only the last bite was left. She took it and moistened her full lips with the piece. Then, she bent her face right to mine.
“When I place it in my lips, Blake, place yours around it, and we will kiss as I swallow. All right?”
I nodded. She moistened my lips with it, then re-wet her lips again. She smiled, and promises dark and tempting filled my head. Hone coughed again, but I barely heard him.
In fact, the whole world grew dim around the edges. All that was clear were Kirika’s gleaming, deep, deep eyes. She slipped the bit of apple into her wet lips, leaning right into me. I shyly wrapped my lips around the apple.
Like I knew she would, she tried forcing it into my mouth with her tongue, I thrust it back. Then, she caught me by surprise and swallowed it, wrapping her tongue around mine, doing some thrusting and rubbing of her own. I could feel my eyes roll back into their sockets, and tingles dance all down my body.
From the magic of Idun’s apple or Kirika’s tongue I couldn’t say.
She arched in my arms, thrusting her hips into me again and again. I was about to lose it completely, when she went limp in my arms, slumping across my whole body.
This time it was me that let out a long, ragged breath. I shivered in spasms. That had been --- something. Kirika purred in my arms.
“Next time, get a hotel,” growled Hone.
“I didn’t do that,” I sputtered.
Kirika breathed, “Was it good for you, beloved?”
I couldn’t help myself and let out a sigh, “Oh, yeah.”
Hone grunted, “Tell me again what you didn’t do.”
***
WELCOME YEAR OF THE DRAGON 2012!
Your arrival is most welcome.
People and businesses around the world have had difficult times over the last few years, so the good luck you bring is timely and needed.
The Dragon is in fact the major symbol of good fortune in Chinese Astrology.
The Dragon constellation is accorded the honor of being the guardian of the Eastern sky. According to tradition the Dragon brings in the Four Blessings of the East:
wealth, virtue, harmony and longevity.
Indeed, of the 12 signs of the Chinese zodiac the Dragon is the most special,
as it is a mystical being rather than an earthly animal.
It is sometimes called a karmic sign. In this context that means we can expect grand things this year. Bigger than life is very much a Dragon thing.
Speaking of bigger than life and DRAGONS, here is an appropriate excerpt from THE PATH BACK TO DAWN,
http://www.amazon.com/PATH-BACK-DAWN-ebook/dp/B005EA029U/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1327382361&sr=1-1where Blake Adamson sails the cursed junk, THE BLADELESS SAMURAI, through the Sea of Fate with the mysterious Ningyo, Kirika Amaratsu :
I glanced at the strange water surging along the sides of our ship. But water wasn't quite what it was. The color of India ink, it held entire constellations of shimmering stars in its depths.
Swirling arms of slowly rotating galaxies spun lazily deep beneath the waves like cosmic jellyfish searching for prey. The waters smelled of lightning strikes and acid. And where I had expected to see a storm brewing, there wasn't a cloud in sight. Maybe the Sea of Fate just naturally had blustery winds.
Wisping mists flailed up from the waters. The color of honey, they dipped and danced, taking the forms of writhing men and women, some in togas, some in armor, some in Oriental robes.
One took the form of a wild, lean valkyrie on a black, winged stallion. It soared high, then banked right to me, telling me I was number one with the wrong finger. I smiled bitter. That happened to me a lot. If I weren't already sure most people wanted me dead, I might start to get a complex.
Kirika tugged on my shirt sleeve. "Beloved, look, the Moon of Zhang-O."
"Wow," I gasped.
Not exactly something worthy of Shakespeare, but it was all I could get out of a throat that seemed to have suddenly turned into marble. Taking up nearly a third of the neon purple sky, the skull white moon with its craters and mountains seemed to leer down on us.
Its details were blurred by the distance. Yet the dusky blue rings, three of them, were clear enough. I watched them in awe as they circled the moon slowly at different rates of speed, making for an eerie effect.
Kirika squeezed my arm hard. "Can you not hear her weep, my Blake?"
I listened and shivered. Jeez, it did seem as if I could hear the soft sobbing of a woman with her heart crushed. Kirika began to shiver, too.
I reached out and hugged her with my right arm. I flicked my eyes back to where I had landed and breathed a sigh of relief. The Spear of Destiny still lay where I had dropped it upon hitting the deck.
Kirika blinked back tears. "Zhang-O is crying for her Yi, her lost love. Lost to her forever, never to be held in her arms again."
I smiled sad. "Never is a long time. You can't always tell what the future holds."
"You can if your love is dead," she husked.
"Dead isn't what you think it is," I sighed.
Her face went hard. "As if you know."
I nodded. "I've died already, remember?"
Her eyes became slits. "And came back for your two loves."
I looked her straight in the eye. "The heart has two sides. Each one doing different things. But it still is one heart."
Her head moved back slightly at that. "S-Sometimes, you are wiser than your years."
She jumped. Alright, we both jumped as a loud, mournful bellow thundered to our left. Even Hone jerked. All of us turned.
There, high on the black, rocky cliffs above us arched a huge emerald dragon. It was breathing a long, billowing column of eye-aching red fire. It was mewing something terrible, as if its very heart were being torn out.
"What in the world?," I gasped.
Kirika touched my cheek with slightly trembling fingers. "This must be the cliffs of Love's End, where dragons come to mourn their lost mates."
The dragon more mewed than bellowed as he continued to cry out grief and flames. It hurt me to see such a majestic creature in so much pain. Kirika reached out and turned my head to look at her.
"All loves die, my Blake. Some quickly, some slowly, but they all die ugly deaths."
I shook my head firm and whispered to the neon skies, "Not this one. Father, please, give him back his love."
Kirika sighed, "You are such a chi --"
Hone squeezed my shoulder so hard I cried out. Or maybe I would have cried out anyway, for out of the column of flames a figure began to form.
The grieving dragon bleated in shock and stopped breathing fire. But the figure of flames still grew and grew, slowly taking the shape of a slender gold and scarlet dragon.
The male dragon reared on his hind legs, rasping a cry of question and disbelief. The dragon of fire flared out her long wings, spoke but one word.
And thanks to Solomon, I understood it : "Beloved."
Then, she slowly settled down beside her mate, wrapping her wings of flame around him. They entwined their long necks, sobbing great cries of greeting and weaving in a graceful dance of love .
The green dragon wrapped his huge wings around his fiery mate. I went sick. He shimmered, glowed, then erupted into jade fires, until he, too, was a creature of flames.
Though together they made an awesome inferno, still, they were distinct beings. They suddenly laughed and, together, they soared high into the strange skies, straight toward the moon of Zhang-O.
The three of us watched silently as they grew smaller and smaller and smaller until they disappeared in their flight towards the moon of lost love.
My chest gone all hollow, I whispered, "I didn't want --"
Hone sighed, "A hard lesson, little wanderer. Not all prayers are answered in the way you expect."
Kirika lightly kissed my cheek. "I was right, long ago, my Blake. You are legend."
She squeezed my right hand tight. "My legend."
"Some legend," I muttered. "I keep screwing up."
She patted my cheek. "You think you have failed. But you have done something wondrous. You do not understand now."
Her eyes grew haunted. "But ... one day you will. One cruel day, you will."***
It is time again for Friday’s ROMANTIC CHALLENGE.
This time Francine and Denise have given us : SHE LOVES ME/SHE LOVES ME NOT.
http://fridaynightwriters.blogspot.com/
My 400 word entry {early to hopefully spark more entries from others}
is from THE PATH BACK TO DAWN.
Hone Heke, the famous Maori warrior, Kirika, escaped Ningyo princess, and Blake Adamson are fleeing their enemies aboard the cursed Junk, THE BLADELESS SAMURAI.
They have just entered the stormy Sea of Fate. Hone grabs Blake to help him secure the rigging :
Hone grumbled something biologically impossible and tugged me after him and headed to the back of the Junk. The wind was picking up, smelling of lightning and rain.
We staggered against it. He motioned at some ropes. He made a tugging gesture towards his chest and nodded to me.
I got the idea and started cinching them up. He bent down close to my head and yelled above the storm.
“Are you crazy, Blake?”
“People keep asking me that. But why you?”
“Why me? Why the hell Kirika, of all pretty monsters?”
“M-Monster?”
“Yeah, that’s right, monster. Succubus.”
“Suck my what?”
He rolled his eyes and looked like he wanted to strangle me. “You do know what Ningyo’s are, don’t you, son?”
I nodded sadly. “Something like a soul vampire, aren’t they?”
This time he did grab my throat and gave me a shake. “Succubus, idiot. Succubus, as in ‘poke me while I leech you.’ I know she’s beautiful, but so is a coral snake. And you don’t go to bed with either one.”
He balled up his right fist, looking like he was deciding whether to break my jaw or my head. “Do you really have a death wish?”
“You said it yourself, sir. Idun’s Apple freed her from the need to feed.”
He squeezed my shoulder.
“From the need, yes. But not from the desire, son. I know she looks like a beautiful sixteen year old girl. But she’s not, Blake. She’s not even human. She’s a Ningyo, a being hundreds of years old.”
His eyes grew hollow. “Worse, she’s in love with you, son.”
“Worse? How can being in love with me be worse?”
"Because that means she's not thinking straight. She's gonna expect you to act like a centuries old Ningyo male. And when you don't, she's going to feel betrayed. And a betrayed Ningyo is a demon let loose from Hell."
His hand squeezed harder on my shoulder. "You're walking with your eyes wide shut into suicide."
His eyes flicked past my head. My heart sank. I turned around. Kirika.
She was standing stiff, her fingers coiling and uncoiling. Her once lovely face did seem a demon's. How could I unhurt her?
I couldn't. She had heard me being told she was a monster. There was only one thing I could think of that would balance the scales. Balance them and screw up my life.
***
Don't miss the great two sentence pitch contest at BEYOND WORDS :
http://chanellegray.blogspot.com/2011/07/pitch-contest-with-victoria-marini.html
***
***
When we last left Blake Adamson in LOVE LIKE DEATH, he was surrounded by the vicious living shadows, the Amal. Follow Blake as he is reunited with Kirika, sails the mysterious Sea of Fate, wanders lost down the Halls of Hells, and finally finds Fallen once again in Victorian London --
in the lethal brothel, The Princess Alice, whose only customers are those madmen who have killed as Jack the Ripper. Worse, the dreaded Sennacherib is coming to fulfil his threat to rape the last fae. Can Blake save himself, much less the fae of his dreams?
If we live long enough, there comes that night when the darkness is more within than without, when we realize things have gone terribly wrong, and when we realize the answers we thought we knew have no more substance than the cardboard fronts of a movie set.
What do we do then?
What if all myths are true? What if believing can make it so, if enough believe? What if, like unwanted children, once born the myths cannot be unborn? Would a critical mass of myths one day be reached?
Only in the eclipse of myth can a young man have both the Moon and Sun as his brides. The Last Fae and The Lost Sun have both fallen in love with Blake Adamson -- and he with them.
If their crossed loves do not them kill them, their enemies surely will. Unless Blake Adamson can become the legend he is believed to be.
***
The lovely twin muses of my novels, Wendy Tyler Ryan and Orietta Rossi {artist extraordinaire}, have made this novel possible.
***
I just love this trailer whose hero and heroine remind me of Sam and Meilori :
Don't forget to order your copy of STORIES FOR SENDAI. It will help the hurting in Japan and not get you on the bad side of Mesmer. Brrrr. :
http://www.amazon.com/Stories-Sendai-Anthology-Inspirational-Short/dp/1463574215/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1309406922&sr=1-1 My 400 word Friday entry for the Romantic Challenge given by Francine and Denise comes from the sequel to LOVE LIKE DEATH. Its title? THE PATH BACK TO DAWN.
Sixteen year old Blake Adamson has lost his heart both to a fallen angel and an alien succubus. Neither will share him. One or the other will kill him. Fallen, of THE LAST FAE, already has chained him to a tree in the wilderness to slowly starve rahter than chance him being corrupted by the infamous DayStar.
Kirika, the succubus, and Hone Heke, the fearsome Maori warrior, have been stunned to discover Blake still alive after six months of starvation.
He has survived by eating half of one of Idun's golden apples of imortality, gift of the Odin Raven, Muninn. He has saved the other half for the two girls he loves more than his own life.
In giving the saved quarter to Kirika, the succubus, who has found him, Blake finds love is never what he expects :
I frowned at my trembling. I was so weak. I fumbled at the button cinching my left shirt pocket.
I looked at Kirika. “W-Would you?”
She teasingly slapped my fingers. “The first of many buttons I will gladly undo, beloved.”
Beloved. I saw images of us wrapped in each other’s arms, doing things I knew we shouldn’t.
Not with Hone standing right there.
She quickly undid the button. Smiling wickedly, she dug into my pocket. She jerked her hand away.
Hone snapped, “What kind of trick did you pull?”
Kirika shook her head. “No tricks, Hone. Only a love that shames me.”
I pulled out the glowing slice of Idun’s apple. I looked at it. It wasn’t a jewel, but why was Kirika acting this way? Hone looked sick.
“I - I know it isn’t much --”
“Not much? Starving to death, you kept this. For me. Beyond the diamonds of suitors, I will treasure this gift.”
She slowly took it from my fingers. “Always.”
She brought it to my lips. “Now, eat, beloved.”
Muninn cawed, “Do not worry, Lady Kirika. He hast eaten a full half of ...”
Muninn looked like he could have bitten off his tongue
Kirika quickly reached into my right shirt pocket. Her eyes narrowed into slits.
“You saved a quarter for the Sidhe bitch? Fallen? She who left you chained to a tree to die slowly of starvation? You insult me!”
Muninn rasped,“I beg thee to pause an instant.”
Kirika spit in my face. I jerked. Time to leave.
“Hold, young fool. She dost not understand.”
Kirika husked, “Enlighten me, raven.”
“Hast thou truly tasted of this one’s spirit?”
“I was deceived by my loneliness.”
“Perhaps thou hast forgotten what meaning the boy places on his left side.”
“I do not understand.”
“Dost thou see no significance in his placing the apple he meant for thee in the pocket --- over his heart?”
Kirika’s lips quivered. She threw slender arms around me. “What a jealous fool I am! You did choose me over her. Over her.”
She kissed me. I couldn’t enjoy it. I would have placed her slice in my right pocket but for Muninn’s request. Muninn murmured in my ear.
“Sayest the truth, and I wilt peck out thine eye as I didst Odin’s.”
My silence was to spare Kirika’s heart not my eye. But it wasn’t any less a lie.
***
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