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Wednesday, February 27, 2013

Content from Blog Tour: Post #1 New Excerpt

I know I said I'd be posting the content from my recent blog tour and I've put it off for a while because I got really busy. Well, now I'm finally getting to it. Post number one is from the first day of the blog tour. I posted a never-before-posted-online excerpt. So . . .  here it is!

This excerpt is from chapter 10 of Obsidian:

“I suppose I should be glad your eyes looked at the ring on the night stand and not the dagger on the dresser,” he said. He practically spat the word dagger at her.

“I don’t want to kill you, Tom,” Ava said, backing away towards the bathroom.

“I don’t want to kill you either, Ava.”

“No, you just want to change me, which is pretty much the same thing.”

“I only wanted to protect you.”

“Well, I can protect myself. Your protection is not what I would consider convenient. Becoming a vampire is not in my five year plan.”

“And becoming a fugitive is?” Tom raised his voice a little. Ava backed up another step. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to startle you. Go ahead and put your ring on if it will make you feel better. I’m only here to talk; I wouldn’t try to change you on the boat. I didn’t bring any blood with me and I’m sure you wouldn’t want your friends as a snack. Oh, and you guys should tie your feather pennant a little tighter next time,” he said.

Ava went for her ring. She thought it would push him away from her, but it didn’t. He still stood only a few feet away. She looked at him. He looked very calm.

“Why isn’t this ring pushing you away?”

“I have to mean you harm or you have to be afraid of me. I mean you no harm and you are a little afraid of me. I can feel its force, but you must trust me a little because it’s not pushing me through the window or anything.”

“What did you come to talk about? I’m not coming with you. You can’t change my mind.”

“I came to tell you that Hiu has been branded a slayer and as his accomplice you are in danger. The other two are in danger as well. I can protect you if you just let me change you, Ava.”

“We’re fine, we have rings and daggers. We’ll be fine.”

“You don’t understand, they will send the drudges after you. Those rings only protect you from vampires, not humans,” Tom said, raising his voice again.

“We can handle humans. I can’t just leave them, Tom. They are my friends. They are my family,” Ava corrected herself, “And I’m staying with them. I will not abandon them and if you succeed in changing me someday I will not drink one drop of human blood. I refuse to cause my kind harm.”

“If I change you, and you do not drink blood you will die. You will have to drink human blood at first in order to stay alive.”

“Then I guess I’ll die if you change me. That’s all there is to it,” Ava said stubbornly.

“You will drink blood. After a while you will get so weak that you won’t be able to think straight, you will drink blood thinking its water. I’ve seen it happen.”

“No, I won’t do it. I’m very strong willed and I’ll make sure of it. I’ll drive an obsidian blade through my own heart before I would drink human blood.”

“I’m not going to argue with you right now, Ava. I just wanted to tell you that they have yours and Hiu’s picture and they’ve already sent it out to all Psytech employees. I don’t know if the loners are aware of you yet, but they will be soon enough. Even the rogues might want to kill you just to get on the Emperor’s good side.”

“I have no idea what you are talking about,” Ava said. “This is all gibberish to me.”

“All you need to know is that all vampires and their drudges are going to be after you. You must especially avoid all Psytech buildings,” Tom warned.

“Vampires can’t hurt us, not with these,” Ava said, gesturing to her ring.

“The human drudges can, and they will. This is just the sort of thing that could get them accepted into the guardianship.”

“What is that?”

“Drudges are humans that have had the guts to seek out vampires in determination to become one. The vampires see them as very brave and put them through a training period. If they pass the training period they become our guardians.”

“Oh, so, killing one of us would be like an initiation test.”

“Yes, I guess you could put it that way,” Tom replied, shrugging.

“Well, I’m still not worried. We can take care of ourselves.”

“Ava, I just want you to be safe. Please, come with me,” his eyes were pleading and he was leaning towards her. Her ring kept him from closing the short distance between them. Ava felt herself ache for his touch, but she pushed past the feeling. She broke her gaze on him and looked away.

“Why don’t you come with us? Leave the other vampires. Be with me.” Ava could feel her ring let up on Tom a little. He felt it too because he came even closer.

“I wish I could, but that would make things even more dangerous for you and I would be hunted as well. We can’t be together as long as you are human, Ava,” Tom’s voice was quiet. Ava’s heart sunk. Their forbidden love was too much for her emotions. She let down her guard completely and so did the ring. She now trusted him. She trusted him more than she probably should, but she didn’t care, she wanted to touch him. She wanted to be in his arms.

Tom opened his arms and she hugged him. She started to cry and he held her tighter. Then she looked up at him. She could tell that he was sad too. He was hurting. Ava wanted to take away his pain. She kissed his lips. First she kissed them tentatively, making sure that he wanted her kisses. Then, after she decided that he did, she kissed him more passionately. He kissed her back and his hands moved down her body. They went down to her lower back.

“This is our only night,” Ava said between kisses. Then, she looked at his eyes. They were staring right back. They wanted her. She wanted him. He pushed her down on the bed, gently but playfully aggressive at the same time. Ava’s ring put out a short burst of force field, but it ended and Tom kissed her again with a little chuckle. Ava pulled off Tom’s shirt with a little help from him. Then her robe opened with a little more help from him. She hadn’t put anything on underneath and Tom’s excitement grew. His kisses were more and more urgent and one of his hands ran down her ribcage.

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