Life or Something Like (B)it

STOP!

2008-04-24T21:17:00.000-07:00

Don't touch that comment button! Instead, hie yourself to... www.sunlightsucks.com. Please update your feed readers.

Thank you. This shop is now closed!

Weiners!

2008-04-24T19:35:00.000-07:00

It's been a tough day. I had a number of decisions to make. I'm not going to go into all of them right now, but suffice to say that this blog will be a-changing! Soon. Changes for the better. The downside is that you'll all have to update your blogrolls because a new address is part of the package.

Part of the changes coming to my "Batty" blog are due in part to the fact that I have weiners, er winners for you! Yes, the tagline search has come to an end. An unexpected end. Here's the deal: I loved everything that was offered up. I couldn't make up my mind. David from BellaDaddyBlog sent me "Fangs For the Memories", but that's the name of a Kathy Love book. (A really good book too!) I liked the Absurdist's "Sunlight Is Overrated". I liked it a lot. But it reminded me of Britt's tagline. I'll come back to this tagline in a minute.

So, I was still pondering the taglines while Jester helped me out with the new Wordpress theme. I mentioned to him how I changed the verbiage on the Comment Luv to say that it's trying to sink its fangs into your last post, please wait while it finds a vein. Jester laughs and replies, "I vant to suck your blog!" BINGO. My kid and I both went, "THAT'S IT!" In one fell swoop, without even meaning to, Jester won.

Now, going back to the Absurdist's tagline, I kept mulling it over in my head because I really did like it a lot. However, to move the idea away from Britt's tagline, I kept thinking of it as "Sunlight Sucks". Last night, while letting WP kick my ass and make me cry, I got the idea of just moving the whole kit and kaboodle. I mean, wouldn't it make it a little harder for the hunter from my office to find me? Not that I'm hiding. I'd just like to make it harder for them on principle. So the Absurdist also wins. I registered sunlightsucks.com tonight.

And there we have it. Two weiners, er winners! Congratulations to Jester and the Absurdist. I am going to try to make a t-shirt with the bat logo on it now. If that doesn't work out, they can still have the Bar t-shirt. A t-shirt with fangs. Yummo. Thanks to everyone who participated. I appreciate the effort you all put into my need for a tagline.

One last thing, thanks to everyone for visiting Socially Dead. My kid has now pasted her underwear clad ass on her new blog for Half Naked Thursday. She even offered a crotch shot for next week. OY. How did I know she would fit in this well? Happy Friday to all! MUAH!

Nothing

2008-04-23T22:53:00.000-07:00

I have nothing for you today. You see, my daughter's new blog has left me envious. I like the way it looks. I like the way it works. It's not ME, but I like it. I've been wracking my brains for weeks on how to take my bats to Wordpress. Not that I've defeated the WP demons. I haven't. I've just garnered a little help from Fab and Jester. And I'm anal and tenacious.

If I had money, I would just hire someone to make me a new city skyline with bats and a full moon. Instead, I tried to find a Wordpress theme I could tweak. It's not 100% me/mine like a custom design would be, but I figure if I can get the bulk done, maybe I could afford to pay someone to make the small stuff work for me.

So I found a couple of possible themes. I found one in blue and white with yellow that does go okay with my header. I was leaning toward this one because so many bloggers hate the white text on the black background. Tweaking my graphic to make it work with this theme was a mother though. So I moved on to the black background theme. This one was much easier to work with. Looks like I'm stuck with the black background, white text though. (Sorry folks!) I guess the only thing I can say is that it's a damned vampire theme! Sunlight ain't their thing.

It all looks good. I've been testing it on my other domain rottnroll.com. I couldn't get the subdomain thing to work at all on rottnroll. Not sure what I did wrong and too tired to figure it out for a site that's not staying there. It's a 3 column theme. In the widgets, I can't figure out how to tweak the sidebars. Only one sidebar shows up on the widget page and in the drop down menu. *sigh* One more thing I don't know how to do.

I guess if I can make the theme work, and get all the pages set, I can turn off the forwarding on my subdomain and try to take this live on winterheart.com. Which got me thinking. Maybe I should just make this blog the domain name with a page that goes to the actual site stuff (Winter's Coffeehouse). It doesn't exactly sit well with me though. I've had Winter's Coffeehouse a very long time. A dozen years. Look at it. It's pretty. Nice and clean. Great template. I never finished converting over the poetry pages though. I'm a bum like that. I get tired and move on. I should really just do a page a week and eventually the whole thing will be done.

So, here's what's in my head: Finish tweaking the WP theme. Figure out the sidebar from hell. Decide whether to go with winterheart.com or winterblog.winterheart.com or whether to buy sunlightsucks.com. (I hate telling people to change their link for me in their blog rolls.) Or should I skip eating for a few weeks and just hire someone to do this for me, because I'm freaking exhausted and have no answers and forgot about my TT? Tell me what you think I should do, because I'm all out of answers.

It sucks to be an IT person. Everyone expects you to be able to do this shit. This is not my application server. This is CODE. CSS. PHP. I'm logical for the most part, so I can figure out some of it, but my personal cheering section is gone. He always tells me, "You can do it. You like logic puzzles." I keep expecting him to show up at my shoulder, but when I turn around, there's no one there and the room is silent. I guess this is why I have nothing for you today. WP kicked my ass. I'm such a wuss.

Whine over. Have a great Thursday. Hopefully, I'll have a TT or a Half Nekkid Thursday or something next week.

PS: Here is a screenshot. As you can see, I've done okay so far. My problem is the far right sidebar which does not show up in the drop down menu for widgets in WP. And the meta for that sidebar has no login. I'm clueless how to make that sidebar show up in widgets so I can add or remove things from it. I hate whining and crying like a girl. And stupid WP has brought me to that pass. I guess I'm gonna have to email or IM Jester for some professional assistance...

Socially Dead

2008-04-22T19:48:00.000-07:00

There is a reason I call my daughter the PITA. She can be a serious pest. (She can be the B word too, but I'm not going there today.) Once she decided that she wanted a blog, she pestered me. She kept saying she wanted to call it Sissies Go Home. She said it was a blog for the socially dead. I thought that was a pretty interesting phrase. I Whois'd it. Available. Then I came up with the tagline, Life is Tough, when you have no Life. The PITA got very excited. I told her the cost of a domain and hosting. That's when she said, "ME LIKEY. I WANT."

Spoiled brat.

So with the kind help of Jester, who set up Wordpress, email, and fixed my header dilemma, the PITA now has a blog. A blog that is far more stylish and cool than mine. A blog that will probably garner far more attention than her attention whore mother. Meh. I can live with that.

So please stop by Socially Dead and say hi to Motley. She already knows the likes of Jester, Fab, Dave's bad monkey, Karl's phallus, Matt's Sunday Disservice, Shiny (the girl), and MaryO. Next thing you know,she'll be doing a duet with Fab at the Big Honking Duet Show!

Before I sign off today I want to share some humpday hotness. I miss hotness. I need more hotness in my life. Today, I'm sharing Will Chalker with you. You straight men need to head to the bottom of this post. I'll share something else with you there. And now, here's Will, he of the luscious wheat colored hair and long lean... um muscles. I have a host of Will pics because my friend Jen used him to represent one of her characters at the Bar. At first, I wasn't all that taken with Will, but you know, those muscles grow on you. And once I saw him smiling in a pic (a Paco Rabanne Black ad) I was a goner.

For the men I have someone whom all the woman seem to think is hot. A little topless Eliza Dushku anyone? She certainly is hot. Personally, I liked Liz from last week better but Eliza's pretty damn hot too. Eliza too was chosen by Jen to represent one of her characters. Jen has an eye for what's hot. And, no. She doesn't have a blog. For those of you who write though, you will find her at JR Ward's Black Dagger Brotherhood message board, where she's a moderator. I'm always envious when she says she's talked to the author on the phone. I can't be too envious though. She's gotten me every one of the BDB books signed!

I hope you enjoyed the Humpday Hotness, and if you get the chance, stop by Socially Dead. Have a great Wednesday!

Ugh

2008-04-22T06:40:00.000-07:00

That about sums up how I feel this morning. I might be getting a bug. Or it could just be that my sleep cycle is all discombobulated. Not sure. I do want to shoot Dummy. He bugged the hell out of me last night. I don't care how beautiful he is, I'm pissed at him. So irked, in fact, that I was dreaming I was in an odd house where the next door neighbors kept breaking in, trying to steal him. When they couldn't get him, they enlisted all their friends, of whom there were many, to toss beer and soda cans into our yard. In the dream, I was really angry. To the point of calling the cops angry. I had my kid snapping pics of them for evidence. The dream made no sense. I was pissed at Dummy. Why would I be pissed at someone for trying to steal him? I would have given him away at any point last night!

Other than bitching about Dummy, I'm too tired to give you much of anything today. However, I do want to mention the fact that my daughter is in a frenzy of excitement. Concert? New boyfriend? Chili cheese fries? None of the above. She's saving to go to Warped Tour in Portland. (Don't ask. I'm still pissed at the kids for this idea.) She and Invincible Morrison, the boyfriend, are apparently back together after a very brief breakup due to his clingyness which is now gone. She does love chili cheese fries, but I haven't bought her any in awhile. No, she's excited because I got her a domain name yesterday.

She wants a blog. She's been working on different name and theme ideas for a short while. Finally, she comes up with something like Sissies Stay Home. Something about being socially dead. I, in all my brilliance, go to ShareArea.com, the registrar where my domains are. (ShareArea.com is owned by Mike Wallace, who is the creator of the horse racing sim where I'm message board moderator. I think after 5 years in the game, and now being made a mod, I can call Mike a friend.) I look up sociallydead.com and it's available. I IM my kid. She says Ooooooh! I tell her, Blog Name: Socially Dead. Tagline: Life is Tough, when you have no Life. She says, I WANT. ME LIKEY. So at lunch I register the domain and make this:

That's a banner sized version of the blog header. Now I just have to get the hosting sorted out, enter the nameservers, and wait for propagation time. My kid is so excited her boobs are jiggling. No, wait. Those jiggle anyway. Heh. Once the blog is up and launched, we'll have a little Grand Opening and I'll ask everyone to stop by and wish her well with her blogginess.

Okay, that's all I have for today, other than... UGH. I don't feel so good. Hope you all feel better than me. Have a great Tuesday.

Media Marcus Monday

2008-04-20T17:05:00.000-07:00

This is a media day as well as a Marcus Monday! First off, the awesome Hilly from Snackie Radio had me as her guest on her show yesterday afternoon. Below is the podcast for the show, if you missed it. We talked about all kinds of stuff from writing about vampires, where I'm from, whether I've seen dead people at my work, and how I almost got karled or fabbed. We also talked about Karl's junk, because um, everyone is talking about Karl's junk. Thanks for having me on Hilly!

(If you're looking for the podcast, email me. I'll send you a link.)

The next little bit of media I have to share with you is that I am guest posting at The Absurdist today. Chelle asked me to write about designer purses for her Girly Girl Series. Until I had to put all the purses on my bed and photograph them, I hadn't realized what a purse ho I really was. So in honor of all the purse sluts out there, and because I didn't do a tune last week, here is a purse song.

I have two pics of my favorite man this week. This is Marcus in a commercial for a laundry soap called REI. I think it's Swedish, but who cares really? All we really care about is that Marcus is NEKKID. This man is soooo beautiful. You're all really tired of me saying that, aren't you? I know it's true though. I have good taste. Since I almost got karled I haven't been putting my blog on my desktop, so now I can put Marcus out here in all his beautiful nude glory. I wish he would drop that box of soap though.

On the subject of commercials, Fab says he can totally find the Air France man. Cross your fingers and toes. I can hardly wait to find out the answer to this mystery. Fab will earn himself a fanged t-shirt if he finds this guy. You too can earn a fanged t-shirt by leaving a tagline for this blog in the comments of my post entitled Why Vampires?-A Contest. I am extending the deadline a few more days, because while I've received some really good ones, nothing has really, really leaped out at me as "the one". There are several I could totally live with, but I was hoping for one that just completely says ME.

Our Marcuses for this week go to: Mary, Shiny and Fab with 5 each, Matt, Marty, and the Absurdist with 4, Susan with 3, Jason X, Hilly, Avitable, Lady Rose, Xakara, and Karl with 2, and lots of folks with 1. It's three weeks to the next tally and all your tagline suggestions count. You've got the chance to win two contests here, unless you can beat Fab to the Air France guy, in which case you could win three!

OH! I forgot! I mentioned on Hilly's show that I used to have a hot boyfriend named Austin whom I went to a few swinger's parties with. We never participated, but we did go and check them out. So I promised everyone a pic so you could see that he was a very attractive man. Heh.

Thanks for coming by everyone. Don't get fabbed or karled this week. MUAH!

Why Vampires? - A Contest

2008-04-18T21:44:00.000-07:00

My last contest was a flop. No one can find the man from the Air France commercial. I'm a lot disappointed. He was soooo hot. Anyway, I've got a couple things up my sleeve. The first is about this blog and what I spend all my time on when I'm not blogging or working at the cemetery. Writing. I write about vampires. I write about other creatures too at the Bar, but the vamps are, well, my thing. Now, I'm going to reveal to you why it is that I must write vampires. (You'll need this for the contest.)

David from BellaDaddyBlog may remember this. He was with me that day. It was Halloween, my 17th birthday. I think David was 14 or 15. My mom sent me to my sister Jeannette's to pick up my present. David and I hopped into the Starsky and Hutch car and drove to my sister's. She gave me a pair of gold Gypsy earrings that belonged to her, but which I had admired for years. She also gave me her copy of Interview With the Vampire. She looked at me oddly and said that when she first read the book, she knew it was meant for me.

Now, my sister Jeannette is an unusual woman. From the time I was about 4 or so, she lived with the Gypsies. The REAL Gypsies. Jeannette does palmistry, Tarot, and astrology charts. She's very good at it. She's also a Buddhist. Oddly, she never gave up some of her Catholic icons though. I think she's a very religious person, but her beliefs are slices from many different religions.

Anyway, never having had much belief in the occult or religion, I didn't think much of her giving me that weird look. I just took the book and said thank you. My entire life Jeannette had had a habit of turning up out of the blue and giving me odd books to read, and different music to listen to. (All my sibs are much older than me. Jeannette's about 15 years older.) She gave me her prized copy of Abbey Road because I loved it so much, but only if I would take the White Album too. She took me to Catholic church and taught me to light candles. She taught me to meditate. She exposed me to things I would never have been exposed to at a young age had she not been my sister.

Interview With the Vampire had a profound affect on me. It was the only Anne Rice book I read for many years. I didn't want a sequel. I didn't want Louis spoiled for me. Louis sat in my head for a long time. He was seductive, more so than Lestat.

One day I spied a series of books by Chelsea Quinn Yarbro about the St. Germain vampires. I picked up the first book and by the end, I was officially obsessed with vampires. I had a HUGE collection of vampire books within a year or two. I tried writing the vamps, but they never came to me.

Years passed. I lost the huge collection of books and a handwritten copy of my novel Note By Note when I lost my storage unit in the high desert. I eventually read the other Anne Rice books. Shit happened to me. I lost the vampires. I felt them calling to me sometimes though. Then I found a cool little used romance bookstore. The woman there introduced me to paranormal romances and handed me... Katie MacAlister.

The vampires came back to me full force. The were inside me, clamoring to come out. But I hadn't found their vehicle yet. I went to Katie's website and found... The Bar. I read and read and read. For two solid weeks I read the Bar. By the time I caught up to where the writers were, I was ready to intro a character. Not a vampire, but a black dragon. The black dragon was related to two vampires. Eventually, I introduced them - Blake and Dominic Solent, thousand year old vampire brothers, who had once been Knights Templar.

And so, I found where I belonged. The rest is history. Of a sort. The Bar led to Andrei Andrei, who led me to blogging. The blogosphere community and it's people are awesome. I can't imagine my life without all of you now. The Bar, the bloggers, and the vampires.

Now, that you're all yawning at my longwindedness, here's the contest:
I need a real tagline. Something that is me, but something amusing too. Everyone has a cool tagline. I want one. So, hit me with a tagline. You have until midnight Pacific time on Sunday to leave your tagline in the comments. If you prefer a more private means of entering the contest, email your entries to winter at winterheart dot com. One caveat: you cannot say, "Bite Me" (cause all my little icons already say that), but you can use it as part of the tagline. C'mon. You know you wanna win a t-shirt with fangs.

Now, before I go... Tune in to Snackie Radio this Sunday because Hilly's guest is MOI! Yes, the two gals from SoCal will titillate you and make you horny, baby!

SUNDAY APRIL 20TH AT 3PM PACIFIC/6PM EASTERN

CLICK HERE TO GET A REMINDER FOR THE SHOW!

See you all Sunday at Blog Talk Radio! MUAH!

Freakshow

2008-04-17T21:39:00.000-07:00

I'm a little burned out this Friday. Way too much shit coming down in different areas of my life. I seriously need to use up some of those vacation hours that I keep stockpiling. So, in the freakshow that is my life, I first give you a story about my kid and a penis. Oh, wait. Heh. Here's the real intro:

I'm guest blogging at Bluepaintred! (I'm not w00ting out of deference to Karl, who says w00t is not a word. Of course, it's not, Karl. It's a sound. Like MEH.)

Next, I have for you the Slogan thing that Dave did. Mine, in keeping with the theme of my life, was... freaky.

Your Slogan Should Be

Winter; What You'd Eat if You Lived on Mars

The Slogan Generator

Next up is something I cannot even articulate. It pisses me off and raises my blood pressure. I'm sure you will find this amusing. I look at it and want to strangle my teenager.

Another thing in the freakshow of my life is that my damned back still hurts. In fact, I'm starting to feel like my left hip is out of whack. Then I remember falling out of the shower onto that hip about 4 years ago. I have a keloid on the hip now from that fall. But it really feels out of whack. Oh, and the doctor I loved so much... came back to work after having a baby and dismissed me. ME! I have no doctor now. My asthma and I feel like crying. I mean, her name was American. She spoke English without an accent. She had a surfboard on the wall of her office. I feel abandoned.

I'm depressed. I want to spend money I don't have. And everyone's blog made me smile tonight. Except Jason X's. I actually laughed at his. Okay, maybe I chuckled at Diesel's soda badger. But nothing has made me really really laugh since Fab posted the mummy with the caption I Can Has Moisturizer? And even freakier than that, this is my favorite LOL:

Last night, I gave Jester 3/4's of my hotties. What was I thinking? Now, we'll be posting the same guys! Okay, I saved some good ones for myself. After all, I love them more than he does. I think. Shit. I think I got the pics off some gay guy's site. So maybe Jester does love hotties more than me. All gay men seem to have the best hotties on their sites. But do they have... Ian Somerhalder? I think not! HA!

And speaking of hotties, Hilly's car just might get supplanted in my heart. Turnbaby's car is THUD. Oh, how I love the smell of octane in the morning... Injected engines full throttle on a long stretch of open highway. Just not the one where James Dean died. I've seen the weird ass monument to him out there in the middle of nothing. It's a piece of silver metal wrapped around a tree. It's insulting if you think about how he died.

Freaky might be my life at the moment, but if you haven't seen Matt's Pope hat, check it out. He was way hotter than Benny and I spent more time on his site this morning than I did watching Benny's mass. And if the Pope hat is too reverent for you, best go look at Hellohahanarf's first Half Nekkid Thursday. I have never seen a woman so happy to hold her feet in the air when the camera was rolling. I know it's not her most recent blog post, but shit. All of her posts are worth reading and this one is worth ogling. Heh.

I think there was something else I was gonna talk about in this freakshow that is my life, but I can't remember what it is. So you will just have to live with this fucked up post. How bad can it be anyway? It doesn't have a fake naked Hermione or Harry Potter's real foreskin. No one but Avitable could post that anyway. I don't eat or drink when I visit his site. I'd go broke replacing monitors if I did. Wait. I already am broke.

Now, that I've pimped and ass kissed my way through a freakshow of a Friday post, here's a song for you since I didn't have one this past Tuesday. I wonder if you will get the irony of it... Oh, and BTW, if I didn't pimp you out today, remind me that I owe you a toe licking or something if we ever meet.

Okay, I'm outta here. I'm going to bed with Anderson Cooper. Hopefully, I'll get to sleep before Lou Dobbs comes on. He's not nearly as good a bed partner as Anderson. Happy Freakshow Friday peoples!

Thursday Thirteen the Twelfth

2008-04-16T22:25:00.000-07:00

This hasn't been the best of weeks for me. Those of you who came by last week will notice that my last TT is missing from this blog. I removed it. On purpose. Just because someone might misconstrue it. If you really wanna know where it is now, email me. I'll let you in.

So I don't have a TT prepared. I'm winging it with some help from the Bar.

Thirteen Mysterious Characters from the Bar Story
1. Macaire - Macaire is a Fallen Angel. The FAs are very powerful. Marius the Archangel "creates" the angels from children who died. The FAs are supposed to be good, but Macaire is extraordinary. He's stalking Nyx McClaren and already threatened her and her mate Valerian Kronos. He hasn't done anything against them yet, but he keeps hinting that he will.

2. Damaris Fontaine, the Blood Mistress - Damaris is the keeper of the vampire annals (the history of all vampires) and the vampire bloodlines and lineage. She's the daughter of the vampire deity, which makes her a demi-goddess I suppose. So far she's shown herself to be good, but who knows what could happen? She's just mysterious and powerful enough that you just aren't sure whether she's good or evil.

3. Mr. Fabulous - The only thing we know about him is that the Blood Mistress is afraid of him. That means, he must be more powerful than her. No indication yet whether he is good or evil, but he may be a vampire and may have some sort of ties to the demon realm. He may also have ties to the vampire deity.

4. Darrien Ellsworth - Darrien is a vampire. Someone in the story is his father. So far his father hasn't been revealed. Dad doesn't know he has a son. Darrien's gonna tell him in a not so nice way. We don't know yet if Darrien is good or evil, but he and his brother Sebastian are hanging out stalking Darrien's dad.

5. Kendall Reed - The vampire musician shares a past with rock star Rune. Not a carnal past, but a past that has to do with their childhood, music, and secrets. She has Rune by the balls over a song he stole from her. It's not known yet whether she will twist them or forgive him.

6. Bram Steele - Bram is a former junkie. He lost almost everything to drugs, which seems odd for a vampire, but it's true in Bram's case. Now, he's rebuilt his life and his music career. He's just made up with old friend Dominic Solent. It seems pretty obvious that Bram is a good guy, but who knows what's in his past waiting to come out.

7. Garren Fairfax - Garren is a mage who inherited a strange magical house. In the house is a huge golden cage that encircles Garren's current captive. The cage moves when the captive moves. So basically, the captive has free run of the house. There's magic in the house that allows it to not be seen except by certain persons. Garren first looked like a bad guy who was holding someone hostage. Now that he's taken in Khatira the djinn's bottle (her brother put the golden cuffs on her making her a genie), he seems more of a good guy.

8. Seth Chrysaor - Seth is a legendary creature. The chrysaor is the son of a god and a Gorgon. He has strange powers, and a mouth full of sharp pointed teeth when he's in battle mode. He has already shown that he's a good guy when he helped kill the demon who was possessing Rune and helped kill the Black Widow, Rachel Sullivan.

9. Christian De Ambrose - Christian, yet another vampire, is the former lover of rock star Carlisle Ross. He broke up with her, and left to pursue a career as a writer. Now he's in Paris, stalking Carlisle, and digging up dirt on her fiance's family. He has not yet shown whether he's a good guy or a baddie.

10. Devlin Von Karman - Devlin is some kind of ancient shape shifter. He appears to be a good guy so far, because he's helped out Aneira Rudolph the white werewolf, for whom he has a little crush. However, there is something else lurking beneath the surface. His friendship with vampire Veronica Pierce, for one.

11. Eden Wellesley - Eden is human and is the bloodmate of a vampire. So far, Eden has resisted his attempts to bond with her. For some odd reason, she does not want to live forever. An ex-CIA agent, Eden has already shown herself to be one of the good guys, but why are there strange "relatives" from her past, who have connections to mages, showing up on her doorstep?

12. Elysia Grenville - The head of the Fallen Angels is strict and upright. She shows no emotion to either the people who work for her or her younger sisters. She's a good guy, but she's not very likable yet. Maybe there are secrets in her past... Certainly, she's bound to show more of her hand when her youngest sister asks to be released from the FAs to go to the Afterlife.

13. Drey Wulf - Drey is a werewolf. He's shown both good and bad sides to the readers by attacking Aneira, by having sex with her mom Jensen, who is in love with his brother, by teasing a wildling and a host of other things. Drey is a bad boy whom everyone loves because he just tells it like it is. He's rough around the edges and manipulative, but he's really just young and hotheaded rather than evil.

How I Almost Got Karled

2008-04-14T19:55:00.000-07:00

Visitors to my blog are usually most welcome. However, as those of you who read my Monday rant know, I don't always deal well with PAQs. Well, while I was ranting about PAQs from a website that shall remain nameless, someone from my own workplace was going through these very archives. Not to find out more about me, but to find things that could be shown to the management of the company I work for. This wasn't something someone found by accident. So no longer can I come here and vent or rant to get things off my chest. Some things have become off limits for fear that my child and I will not be able to afford the roof over our heads.

My six word memoir meant nothing to his person. This person doesn't care if I have a heart. Or feelings. Or a child to support. This person ignored every GOOD thing I had to say about my work. And I've mentioned a number of GOOD things because I really do like where I work.

I would feel violated if it wasn't so predictable in this world we live in. People don't think about the fact that Britney Spears can sing really well. All they want to focus on is the fact that she's having a mental breakdown. How the hell is that any of our business anyway? But this media rich diet we live on dictates that the meat is always sweeter the closer to the bone... so cut deeper to get the dirt and fuck it if it hurts anyone!

Shiny told me a story not long ago about going to a restaurant to have dinner with her DH. She was unwinding from a rough day, telling him about how her supervisor had been treating her in an unprofessional manner. Lo and behold, who walks in? That very supervisor. The world being what it is, had that supervisor overheard her personal conversation with her husband, Shiny could have been fired. The supervisor was already treating her in an unprofessional manner and creating a climate of fear in the office. I don't know if Shiny was afraid for her job, but many people in her shoes would have been. So even words to your husband can be used against you in this world we live in. Cause guess what? There really is no such thing as freedom of speech. We pay for every freaking thing we say or do.

I didn't get Karled. It wasn't even brought up. It was left to the HR Manager to speak to me. She had some sage words for me, which I'm not going to repeat. There are going to be a number of things I won't repeat anymore. At least not out here. I've been toying with the idea of creating a private blog so I can vent as much as I want without fear of repercussion. If you noticed this morning, there were 71 posts on this blog. Not any more. I saved the deleted ones, including my last TT. If I do create a private blog, I'll drop my deleted posts there... as a shrine to Karl.

If any of you missed Karl's story, here is the link: I'm Not Going to Say I Got Dooced, But I Did

I guess I'm not as cynical as I thought I was. I was shocked that Karl was karled. I was shocked that Dave got hate mail over a cartoon. I felt a twinge of hurt when the guys in the sim took one girl's "joke" about my name on a bathroom wall and turned it into a big funny haha thing...when it sure seemed to me that she was calling me a slut without calling me one... Maybe I'm too tenderhearted to be a cynic. But you know what hurts the worst of any of the shit that's come down recently? That someone who really does care about people, is never seen in that light. Maybe THAT is the real reason that this is my memoir.
Next time, read ALL of the words. Not just the ones you think are disgusting. Because when you read one post without reading all 70... and you insist on judging me by that post... you've just told the world exactly what you are, without me having to say - or write - a word.

Melancholy Marcus Monday

2008-04-13T18:31:00.000-07:00

I'm a little melancholy. Missing Rott I guess for one. For another, people in general sometimes get me down. (See the rant below.) I spent part of Sunday photoshopping Marcus. I stuck him into a pic with a girl in a designer dress. Then I photoshopped Kelly Monaco's face on the girl. It's not a very good job. I was distracted. The upshot is that if I had really worked on the details it would look much better. It's for the Bar, so it doesn't have to be some fantastic thing.

The picture is because Lex and Alaric are going to a wedding. Lex, who is starting to show her pregnancy a little, doesn't fit in the dress she was going to wear, which would allow her to wear the very expensive Manolo Blahnik's she wore at her own wedding. So Lex has to choose a different dress. The post is about how Lex comes to realize that her body is about to undergo some major changes, and at the end of it all, her life will be decidedly different.

When I first wrote Lex, she was a background character, meant to fuck one of the main characters, get dumped by him, and eventually end up dead. But Lex is tenacious. She wanted to live. She wanted a chance at her own story. She refused to do what I had originally planned for her. Now, Lex is probably the most 3 dimensional character that I have. I invest a lot of myself in her too. So when I did the 6 word memoir and realized that Lex is the best vehicle I have as a writer, I created The Lexography. The Lexography is Lex's biography. Told in diary format from her voice, and the voices of those who love her. If you're interested in Lex, you will find the link to the Lexography on the sidebar to the right. The girl with fangs won't be posted here on Tuesdays any longer.

I have a little rant that I wanna get off my chest now. Have you ever been in IM or chat or on a MB with someone who disliked you, but was being passive aggressive about it? They make these little remarks that are digs, but they cover them, attribute them to someone else, or backtrack so you don't call them on it? Usually, I call them on it anyway because it annoys the hell out of me. I would much rather people say right up front what they think so I, and everyone else, knows that they don't like me. Then I don't have to make nicey nice and talk to them anymore. And everyone else will not expect me to.

The problem I have these days is that there are places where I am the admin and/or moderator. I'm not supposed to be confrontational. There are five places on the net where I have this job. Five places where I have to take the high road and let people speak to me in snide asides. It goes against the grain with me, but I agreed to take these jobs so I'm not about to let others down by not doing the right thing. What kills is that sometimes these queens of passive aggressive behavior use that against me. They know they can throw as much below the radar crap at me as they like, and I cannot retaliate or respond. They revel in the fact that they can do this. It's pathetic.

I bet you want to know why they don't like me, these passive aggressive queens. As near as I can figure it, it's because I'm me. I come into a chatroom or a board and I talk to people. I joke and tease and flirt. Sometimes other women do not like this about me. They think I do this to draw all the attention to myself. They are resentful and it shows in their little remarks to me, and in the way they draw the man's (men's) attention back to them by talking about something I am not privvy to.

Now, I've been on this planet for awhile. There's stuff I know. First off, it's freaking typing, people. Second, what's wrong with a little fun? It's not like I'm inviting your husband to cheat on you. Third, it's not about me, it's about others, making them smile and have fun. I don't even post a lot on some of these boards, so when I do, I wanna have fun! Fourth, you don't OWN those men that I talk to on the boards and chatrooms. Some of them are married or have girlfriends. You do not have dibs on them! And yes, I talk to women too! Not just the guys. Although, the way these P-A-Qs act, you'd think all I do is go around to MBs and chats and steal "their" men. Sheesh.

I tell myself that this is nothing. They prolly have pathetic lives in dead end jobs, no boyfriend or husbands or kids... or they have those things and are unhappy with them. Hell, I could BE them. The difference is, I choose not to be. I choose to fill the empty places with things I enjoy. Creative things like that stupid little photoshop pic, or writing Lex, or calling in to Turnbaby's show and singing a really bad rendition of the Yogi Bear song because I've forgotten the words because my dinner is burning. (Smoke sucks.) I just have to content myself that the high road is the better way to go and ignoring barbs is good for the soul.

Okay, rant over and it's time to add up the Marcus' for this week. Fab picked up 7 this week followed by Mary with 6, Matt and Shiny with 5, Susan with 3, and Livvy with 2. There's a whole host of people who got 1 each. Most of them on my TT about the cemetery. Why is it that people are so very curious about the cemetery?

Anyway, since it's been 4 weeks since our last update here's how the numbers shake out in terms of the top 5: Mary-68, Matt-53, Shiny-52, Susan-47, and Fab-37. Maybe it should be whoever gets to 100 first wins or whoever has the most come June 1. Next time around, I'll do the contest different. I'm liking how Matt does the COW.

By the way, I'm still battling with Wordpress on my writing blog. If anyone knows someone who can answer q's for me and maybe mentor me a little, I would much appreciate it. I need to make the errors go away and do a couple of little tweaky things, but I'm having a helluva time finding answers in all the miles of Wordpress docs, forums, and codex. I don't need someone to do it for me, I just need someone to point me in the right direction so I can fix it myself.

That's it for this Monday. Have a great start to the week everyone! MUAH!

Loves Fab's Fisting and Matt's Meat

2008-04-10T19:47:00.001-07:00

The wondrous Olivia, the English Courtesan, tagged me with the Six Word Memoir. That title up there was my first attempt. Well, not really. But it sounded hawt! Livvy's six word memoir was quite striking, I must say. (If you want to know what it is, you must visit her blog!) She said she had a little difficulty with it at first, wondering, how could she describe her life in six words? She did very well though. Much better than I did with my attempt to be amusing in six words.

When she tagged me, she said she deliberately chose bloggers who can write. I think I preened a little. I call myself a writer, but other than a few poems and the stuff I post at the Bar, I've never been published. I know that being published does not make one a writer. However, I'd like to think that one day I will finish something and have it published. It's not a dream of mine, the way some people have a dream that is really a goal. Instead, it's one of those things that is highly attainable, but always gets pushed back because other things in life are more important. I guess some day it will happen. I know I have the talent. Too many diverse people have told me that I do, for me not to believe it. Now, I just need find to the right vehicle and the time to create it.

Maybe Lex is the vehicle, because Lex is me. Not in looks, but in her soul. She was gang raped by the Nazis. I've been gang raped by Life. Yet Lex continues to hope. When she thinks she has nothing left inside her, Johann shows her that it isn't true. He shows her how her actions give away the hope that continues to well within her. I don't know where it comes from, but it wells within me too most days. Like Lex, the dark sometimes rules, but the light always returns. So perhaps my vehicle is Lex, taken from the context of the Bar and given to the world... It's certainly an idea I'd not thought of until this moment.

So, my six word memoir is easy. And it's so me.

Thanks for tagging me, Livvy. I think I needed to get those words off my chest. I'm not going to tag anyone else, but those of you who read me, who are writers too, if you haven't done this... then you should. There is a freedom in the release of those words, that I can't exactly describe. Sort of a feeling of coming home. Maybe I'm waxing poetic or being melodramatic or diva-ish. Don't know. Don't really care. I just know those words felt good.

Happy Friday, luscious ones. I'll be reading all your blogs this weekend, after I post more sex at the Bar.

Humpday Hotness

2008-04-08T22:34:00.000-07:00

I grossed out my teen. I told her I got Snitter for my Twitter. She thought I was talking dirty. "Ewww! Mom! TMI!" I'm not sure how it happened, but I'm more techie than my kid. In this day and age, that is saying something. Sure, she can out-text me, but I can spend $200 and get on the internet without having to buy a computer that some guy named DELL made. HA! Take that, teenager! Let me see you BYOMM! (Build Your Own Monster Machine.)

Since it is humpday, and I'm still entering my freaking horses for Derby Fever, I give you humpday hotness. First up is Liz Hurley. I heard Dave likes her. I like her too. She is pretty damned gorgeous. If I was a man she would give me a woody. I'm not a man and she almost does it for me. Dave has good taste. Oh, and the hotness that is Dave will be on The Jester Show tonight, talking while under the influence of drugs.

You know, all women should be allowed to grow old the Liz Hurley way. Think of how happy and peaceful the world would be if we all grew old in a beautiful way. We would all be too busy boinking each other to fight... Well, we should all be too busy boinking each other anyway. Nothing like sex for making you too tired to fight. Oh, Liz. You should be the head of NATO. Really.

Next up is the very yummy Brazilian Alexandre Verga. What is it with Brazilians? In this pic, Alex totally looks like he's telling me he's gonna get nekkid for me. ALL the Brazilian models look out of their pics like that. They have a market on the come hither and let me boink you look.

Alex and his brother Rafael cause much drooling among the female population of the world. Who would have thought two brothers could cause so many heart attacks. I mean, seriously, they are more likely to give you a coronary than a steady diet of Big Macs. I think Alex is the big brother. And if Rafe is the "little" brother, I really wanna find those pics where Alex bares all. Cause, ya know, I've seen Rafe naked. It almost melted my monitor. No telling what kind of damage naked Alex pics would cause. It might be worth it too. Naked Alex... the cost of a new monitor. Hmmmn. I wonder if I could work that in as a tax deduction somehow. I prolly could. As an IT person, all my computer stuff should be a deduction. Heh.

One last thing before I take off to try to finish entering some horses. I keep seeing this 100 things stuff everywhere. I keep wondering if I should try it. Then I think... no way. I already tell you peeps way too much about who I am. However, I think I shall start opening myself up more. Starting next Wednesday, if anyone sends me a personal question or two, I shall answer them when I post Humpday Hotties. My email addy is winter at winterheart dot com. Enjoy the gorgeous flesh and I hope your Wednesday is full of humping!

Tuesday Tunes and Wheezing

2008-04-07T22:16:00.000-07:00

My brain has been furiously running through songs since I offered up my fractured vocal cords on the altar of Fab's next Duet show. This is an especially tough thing for me because once upon a time, I had a very beautiful singing voice. Ask David from BellaDaddyBlog. He'll tell you I could wring tears from your eyes. And not because I sang like fingernails on a chalkboard either. Pffft.

When I turned 30, I was diagnosed with asthma. Don't laugh. Some people don't get it as a kid. There have been several females in my family who got asthma after the age of 30. I thought it wasn't a big deal. Then I got a very nasty case of pneumonia. And another. And another. In the space of 5 years, I'd had it 6 or 7 times. Now, years later, I have the horrid asthmatic wheeze and cough. Meds keep me breathing and attack free, but there has been a price to pay to continue breathing... my vocal cords and breath control. Both are now nicely shot. It's the toughest pill I've had to swallow of all the meds I've had over the past 17 years since I was diagnosed.

For me to offer to sing is like asking a painter who is now blind to create a watercolor. Tough stuff. I can half assed carry a tune, but it's a pathetic shadow of my former glorious voice. I goof mostly now, because to do anything serious puts me in tears. Only David knows how truly hard this is for me. But David being the kind of man he is, he would tell me to do it anyway, and fuck it if I don't sound like an angel any more. He would tell me to just have fun. (You're gonna send me an email now, aren't you, David? Telling me everything I just attributed to you, right? Don't make me out a liar, dude.)

So anyway, here are the songs I've decided I might be able to pull off with Fab. I have something else up my sleeve too, but it's super secret and seriously amusing. My sense is that if it tickles Fab's funny bone the way it tickles mine... I might just have to do it. However, it means lots and lots and lots of practice for my asthmatic self. I wonder if I can manage a take without a wheeze or a cough? Maybe I should leave them in. After all, if I can't be the Diva anymore I might as well be Red Skelton, right? Enjoy the tunes!

Marcus Monday - After the Duets Are Done

2008-04-06T20:07:00.000-07:00

Before I get started on the fun stuff, everyone please send Kyra Sutra some positive energy. Things are not going so well for her, and she could use all the good wishes, comfort, and support we can give her. I wish she lived nearby so I could coax her to eat and take care of herself, and just give her a hug and let her know people care about her.

Since it's Marcus Monday and I'm bumming, I need a serious dose of my favorite hot guy today. Umm umm. He does look delicious there. Now, do you see why writing Alaric Kohl curls my toes? If you didn't read my guest blogger post by Lex and Car, you should. When they talk about Alaric, it's all about Marcus to me since Marcus is the physical representation of Alaric. He really does make my achy back feel better, just to look at him. Makes me wonder how he'd make me feel in person. I bet my back would get better right away. Heh.

Speaking of yummy men, three blogs with hotness come to mind. Jester, whom I only just checked out this weekend, has some hotness on his blog from Friday. The middle dude was yummo. He had the hottest eyes. The second hottie is David over at BellaDaddyBlog, who posted 2 pics. One was recent and the other was from when we were in high school. If you hop over to his blog you'll see that I sure can pick em. I always did have a good eye for a hot man. It helps that David is the sweetest, funniest guy ever too. The third hot dude is Karl from Secondhand Tryptophan. Karl has been writing about sex lately. He does this very well too. And his blog is looking smoking hot these days, all new and gorgeous. Stop by and check out these yummy dudes.

Did you check out the LOL cat pic I made on Sunday? It's Neko and Swirly. Neko whose name is now PREGO. Anyone want what is sure to be a beautiful *cough* maniacal *cough* kitten? Yes, my kid let me down once again. I know that this is what teens do to you, promise and lag at following through, but I am upset nonetheless. It does not help that the PITA tells me, "Things could be worse, Mom. I could be pregnant." I did not need to hear that.

So now, I am at the Marcus awards for this Monday. It was a slow week for reacharounds, er comments. Some bloggers were taking some time off. Others were just busy. And I'm sure some just didn't wanna read my shit. It's all good. Life ebbs and flows. Rather like a septic tank. Our top earner this week is Shiny with 5. Then we have Mary and Susan with 4 each. Followed by Matt, Kaige, Kyra, and Karl with 2 each. Our onesies are Nicholas, Tempest, Jennifer, Darla, Harris, Ann, Pussreboots, Adelle, The Absurdist, Turnbaby, Anthony North, Missy, Blufeenix, Euroyank, and Metalmom. Next week is our recap to date. We are getting very close to end of this Marcus contest. I'm thinking I should change up the criteria for the next round, but I'm still pondering that.

Before I sign off, I first want to say that Mr. Fabulous had the BEST show ever on Sunday night. It was the Big Honkin' Duet Show and the songs were fantastic! Some people were excellent singers, others were poor singers but such AWESOME sports, and others were just going for the laughs. All in all, a simply superb time was had by all. I may even lend my well trained but disease abused vocal cords to the next show. If my vocal cords are damaged beyond what sounds pleasant to the ear, I'll go for the laughs somehow. I know Fab will assist me ably there.

My last comment before bed is that if you ever wanted to know how to be a girly girl, please visit the Absurdist. She is taking us step by step through the whole process. This week... eyelashes. How to make sure that you have some to bat at men. Heh. An excellent video tutorial. Have a great Monday everyone!

Sunday Silence

2008-04-05T21:13:00.001-07:00

Swirly and Neko

Duet Show at Blog Talk Radio.
Be there.

Yes! I am Crazy! Guest Bloggers

2008-04-04T13:08:00.000-07:00

I don't feel good today. Not mentally. Not physically. So I have guest bloggers for you. Sorta. Please be kind and gentle to them. They have been through a lot in their lives, but they are both good people who now have happiness in their lives. You'll like them a lot. The men will like how hot they are. The women will like their fun, but caring personalities. Today, I give you Alexandria Valentine Morosci McBain Kohl, Duchess of Saxe-Altenburg aka Lex, Lexie, Angel, or the Megabitch AND her partner in crime, best friend, and boss, Carlisle Ross aka Lady Rosslyn deVere, Duchess of Carlisle. (BTW... Lex really doesn't like it if you mention her Playboy spread and Car really does love Chivas.)

Lex stared at the empty coffee pot. Her sharp eyes went to Carlisle who shrugged. "Don't look at me, Lexie. I can't make coffee. I'm a Chivas girl, remember?"

"She needs coffee, Rosslyn. She can't stand at the counter long enough to make it. She's been coffee-less all week. I feel sorry for her," Lex said, crossing her arms over her ample breasts, those same breasts that had been displayed so lusciously in Playboy.

Carlisle sighed. "Yeah, I feel sorry for her too, but I can't make coffee, Lex. I just can't. For one, it goes against my reputation as a dark hearted rock star and duchess. For another, if I make it, it will taste like bad tuna. Trust me on this."

"Her back hurts. There must be something nice we can do for her to make her feel better," Lex said in a frustrated voice.

Carlisle began to laugh. "Give her your husband for a night or two."

Lex stuck her tongue out at her best friend and boss. "Fuck you. Give her your man!"

"Stein doesn't do it for her like Al does. We all know how much she loves Al. Every word she writes about the man proclaims how he curls her toes," Carlisle replied with a wicked gleam in her midnight blue eyes.

"Well, shit. There must be something we can do to make her feel better, other than me giving up Alaric for a few nights. Not that he'd go. These days, he can't sleep unless his hands are on my belly," Lex snorted, rolling her eyes a little. "The man is obsessed with his son."

"She understands you know. Better than most." Carlisle speared Lex with those keen dark blue eyes. "She wouldn't take him anyway. She loves you too much."

Lex's face softened. "I know. I love her too. So do you. Which is why we need to figure out how we can make her feel better when she's been coffee-less and in pain for a week."

Carlisle sighed. "Maybe Spyder will do it. He'll patch things up with Bianca and make her cry with the HEA. Or Rune! Maybe Rune can do it. After all, he figured out who his Cherished One is and cut off his hair. He's turned over a new leaf."

Lex shook her head. "This is something you and I need to do. She loves us more than them."

Silence reigned for a few minutes. Finally, Lex snapped her fingers. "I'll call Ronnie. He'll know what to do for her. He always knows that shit."

Carlisle cocked up an eyebrow in amusement. "Better hurry. The managers will be out of their meeting soon. She has to get back to payroll."

"Gimme my Blackberry! I'll call right now!" Lex reached across the counter, grabbed her cell phone, and began to dial.

"You know, Lex... maybe all we need to do is tell her we love her," Carlisle said thoughtfully.

Lex put down her cell phone. "You're right you know." She turned to face the computer monitor. "We love you, Mom. If we could, we'd make you coffee and have Alaric rub your back. Rosslyn and I appreciate everything you've done for us. You've written us happy. We appreciate that."

"You bet your fucking Dooneys we do," Carlisle chimed in. "Feel better soon, Mom! We have some ass kicking to do and no one can write us but you."

"And all you bloggers out there?" Lex added, her dark eyes glowing with emotion. "She shares us with you because she loves you too, and she thinks you'll like us. Hey, if you do, that's great, but even if you don't, the fact that she shares us makes us love her more."

"Shhh!" Carlisle warned, elbowing Lex. "You'll make them think she's nuts, talking to herself and shit."

Lex frowned, perplexed. "But they all talk to themselves. It's what bloggers do."

Carlisle made a face. "And now we're her guest bloggers? Do NOT let the press get hold of this, Lex. I have a reputation remember?"

Lex snorted. "A reputation for boy toys."

"Not anymore. She wrote me happy. Brought Stein back into my life." Carlisle's face took on a proud expression. "SHE makes me happy."

Lex's lips curled up in a warm smile. "Me too. Maybe she'll feel better this weekend. If she does, she'll visit all their blogs."

"And write us some more," Carlisle nodded. "I'm down with that."

"Good. Let's just hope everything works out and she's better by tomorrow. Then we can have a big weekend," Lex sighed happily.

"You can have a BIG weekend... with BIG AL," Carlisle joked. "C'mon, tell me how big his dick is. The man's 6'6"... it has to be big."

Lex shook her head. "Like I told you before, I refuse to talk about Alaric's penis. Besides, the bloggers are listening."

"They're horn dogs. They wanna know," Carlisle replied, her eyes amused.

"Not telling. Now, say g'bye, Rosslyn. It's time for us to go." Lex cocked an eyebrow at her friend.

Carlisle sighed in resignation. "Bye bloggers! Read the Bar Story and maybe I'll worm out of the old Megabitch here how big her husband's penis is."

"Car!" Lex gasped. "That's no way to sign off of Mom's blog!"

Carlisle snickered, her expression wicked. "Sure it is. People will come back for more if you talk penis."

"You have the craziest ideas sometimes," Lex complained in exasperation.

Carlisle wiggled her eyebrows. "I'm crazy like a fox. Mom knows. She created me."

Lex waves at the computer monitor. "Just ignore her, she's being difficult. It's what rock stars do, ya know. Thanks for reading us and we hope to see you again some time!"

Thursday Thirteen the Tenth

2008-04-02T19:22:00.000-07:00

Kiss me. People don't say those words any longer. They just do it. Sometimes I wonder where the romance in a simple kiss has gone. Everyone thinks it's so much more romantic to shove your hand down someone's pants. Okay, maybe I do like the latter, but I like the former as well. Therefore, I give you, 13 kisses from the Bar Story.

Thirteen Kisses from the Bar Story

1. Alaric and Alexandria's first kiss:

I found myself staring at Alaric while Carlisle’s beautiful voice sang to Stein. Suddenly, I wished with all my heart that Alaric would love me. That he would feel, say, and do everything that had happened in my dreams. I knew instinctively that if he loved me he would treat me as Stein treated Carlisle, as Alaric himself treated me in the dreams, the way my heart yearned for. He was a Kohl, but he wasn’t Johann… and he was a stranger to me except for what I knew of him from my dreams… what my heart knew.

Carlisle stopped singing, and I blinked back a rush of tears, as Alaric turned away from my gaze. He stepped toward the door, and I sidestepped to the left to let him out. He stepped to his right, leaving us blocking each other again. He moved again, but this time I didn’t, and he knocked into me, almost knocking me to the floor. Anger, at my helplessness to have any control over my life, flooded me. “Bloody hell, Kohl! You’re freaking everywhere! I can't get away from you. You even invade my fucking dreams!" My voice was hoarse and overflowing with emotion. I jerked away from the doorway.

His arms snapped out, dropping the suitcase on the floor as he grabbed me by the shoulders, growling, "What did you say? Did you say dreams? Cause I'm so tired of waking up hard, after spending my dreams being with you."

I stared at him stunned, my lips parted in shock. “What the hell?” I whispered. He had the dreams too! What the hell was happening to us?

“Ah, fuck me,” Alaric muttered. He jerked me toward him, his head coming down as his mouth found mine. Electricity crackled between us as our lips met. The most exquisite pleasure I had ever felt seared its way through my body. Alaric must have been feeling something profound too, because he moaned against my lips and ran his hands down my back to grab my ass, lifting me off the ground as his tongue swept into my mouth.

The touch of his wet tongue to mine was like a match to dry brush. I went up in flames as my dreams came to life. I wrapped my arms around his neck and thrust my fingers into his dark silky hair. He kissed me so deeply that if I’d had a soul he would have touched it. I was drowning in sensation and then…I was on my own two feet staring wide eyed at Alaric whose chest was rising and falling rapidly with his jackhammer breathing.

“We need to talk,” he said breathlessly, his electric blue eyes boring into mine. “Not right now, but later. I want to know if your dreams are exactly like mine.”

“What does it mean?” I whispered, suddenly frightened.

He must have known what I was feeling, because he reached out a hand and tucked my hair behind my ear. “Don’t be afraid, Alexandria. We’ll figure it out,” he said softly in that honey over gravel voice. Then he turned and picked up his case, leaving the room with the soft click of the door closing behind him.

2. Rune and Gracie's first kiss:

She didn’t speak to me or look at me during the elevator ride and once we got to the suite, she bolted for the bedrooms, looking for Spyder’s I figured. I went to the bar and poured myself a Jack and Coke. A weak one. I needed a shot to help steady my fractured emotions, but I wasn’t about to drown myself in case something went down. Two swallows into my drink, Gracie came storming into the room.

“Where the fuck is my brother? All his stuff is here, but he isn’t. You said he was meeting us here,” she demanded, her foot tapping angrily on the carpet.

I took another swallow of my drink. “He went to see Bianca. He said he would meet us here. He didn’t exactly say when,” I said coolly, waiting for the explosion. It wasn’t long in coming.

“You bastard! You lied to me!” she fumed. “If my brother went to see his bloodmate, he won’t be back here until sunset. Which means, I’m outta here!”

She swung her backpack over her shoulder and headed for the door. I caught up with her in two long strides. “No, you’re not, Grace,” I growled, grabbing her arm and swinging her around. “Your brother gave me strict orders not to leave you alone today. I love Spyder like a brother, so I’m not about to go against his wishes. Added to that, it goes against everything I am to let you walk out of that door and into danger.”

She pulled against me, trying to free her arm from my grip, but couldn’t. That infuriated her. “Let go of me, you fuck! Everything you are is a big fat nothing! You’re just a poor fucking slob from Wales who got lucky with a guitar!” she yelled, struggling to free herself.

Her words cut my heart to ribbons, but I didn’t let go of her. “You can curse me all you want, Gracie, but you are not leaving this suite! If I have to handcuff you to the bed, I will!” I yelled back at her, fear and pain twisting inside me.

Her lips curled in derision. “You would. It’s probably the only way you really get girls,” she spat cruelly. “I’ve seen the tabloids. They all say you’re a closet fag! You probably are, which is why no one ever sees you with women. It’s not because you were deathlessly in love with Lex Valentine, it’s because you fuck men!”

The venom in her words cut me so deep that my masculine ego couldn’t take anymore. I jerked her against me, and held her immobile with one arm. The iron band of my arm around her made her eyes widen in shock and alarm. “You don’t really think that, Gracie,” I said in a low, menacing tone. “Half the reason you’re such a bitch to me is because you’re attracted to me. If you don’t believe my words, maybe you’ll believe this!”

She tried to turn her head away, knowing what was coming, but she couldn’t get away. My mouth found hers and for a split second her lips were clamped tightly together. When she discovered that my kiss wasn’t hard and angry, they suddenly gave way. Startled, my tongue stroked her bottom lip and the kiss turned hot and hungry. I could have sworn she was as caught off guard by the passion as I was, but then decided that I could have been wrong. Gracie effectively ended my internal debate when she kneed me.

As pain exploded in my groin, she shoved me onto the sofa and stalked off to Spyder’s bedroom saying over her shoulder, “I hope your dreams are sexual just to make it hurt worse! I’ll be in Spyder’s room. Don’t even fucking think of coming in!”

3. Spyder and Bianca's first kiss after being separated by misunderstandings:

Pushing myself out of the chair, I stalked past Spyder and down the steps of the VIP area, heading across the dance floor toward the bathrooms. Several men whistled at me and tried to catch my attention, but I was angry and not in any mood to acknowledge them. However, behind me I did hear a few remarks like “Hey, what gives?” and “What the fuck?”. I ignored the surprised exclamations until, as I stepped into the dimly lit hallway where the bathrooms were, a hand grabbed my elbow, spun me around, and shoved me bodily up against the wall.

A hard male body pressed into mine and warm breath teased my ear as Spyder hissed, “What the fuck are you wearing and where did you get it?”

I glared up at him, anger and pain ripping through me like giant claws. “I’m wearing clothes. Clothes I purchased with my own money,” I gritted out, trying to free my wrists from his iron hold.

Spyder’s jean clad hips ground into mine, holding me pinned as his hands pushed my wrists up until they pressing into the wall on either side of my head. “You don’t dress like this, Bianca. Whose clothes are they?” he asked angrily.

“Mine!” I spat, furious that he wouldn’t believe me. “I do dress this way! This is who I am now! Who you’ve made me into! I’m a woman who sleeps with any handsome man who comes along and lies to her!”

“Damn you,” he said hoarsely, his eyes filled with anguish and rage.

Spyder let go of my wrists and sank his long fingers into my hair, cupping my skull. My breath caught as I realized what he was going to do, but I had no time to escape before his mouth came down on mine. His lips were hard and firm, but the kiss itself wasn’t painful or angry. It was as if he couldn’t bring himself to touch me in such a manner. I opened my mouth on a silent sigh and his tongue slid against mine.

Every fiber of my being came alive. I didn’t know how I’d never recognized the signs. My body cleaved to his, my skin rippling with awareness, my breathing taking on a completely different tenor. He was my mate. I had given him everything there was of me to give. By the laws of my kind, I had mated him. And I was dying without him.

My heart swelled with an ache that sent gooseflesh over every inch of my body. I slid my arms beneath his duster and beneath his sweater, my fingers stretching out to touch his skin. An electric shock rolled though me as I touched him. I could feel how my body soaked up energy from being close to him, my power was so close I could taste it, but I knew there was only one thing that would give it back to me, and that was to bond with Spyder. If I didn’t mate him by the laws of his kind, I would remain powerless. If I remained apart from him as I was now, I would die. It was that simple. The die was cast and I could do nothing to change it. My very life was poised at a crossroads. The divergent paths were literally life and death.

Spyder tore his mouth from mine as I stroked my hands up his hard spine. “Are you staying here in Paris, Bianca?” he rasped, his breathing rough and rapid. “Because if you are, you might as well stake me now. Seeing you and not being with you, is killing me slowly. So tell me now, are you staying? Cause if so, you can have the city to yourself. I… I can’t be here with you and not have you. And since you don’t want me, I’ll leave.”

I stared at him, shock and pain widening my eyes. His face was ravaged, and he looked like someone had run over his puppy. I licked my lips and his eyes darkened. “I never said I didn’t want you, Samuel,” I croaked, my voice a bare thread of sound. My heart was thundering in my throat and I didn’t know what to say to him, what to do to unravel what was wrong between us.

4. Tarren and Helios' first kiss:

I got up and unlocked the door. Ten I sat down on the chaise, setting Doro beside me and pulling my legs up to my chest so I could wrap my arms around them. I turned my head when I heard the door open. Helios slipped in dressed in jeans and a white tank top. That’s when I realized I was in my underwear and I grabbed the small lap blanket, wrapping it around my lower body. Doro scampered to the end of the chaise, staring at us with wide blue eyes. Helios looked at me and his eyes darkened, then he deliberately locked the door. I turned away from him staring at Doro who was now washing his face. Helios sat down beside me and reached out to take my hand in his. His thumb stroked my palm in a caress that sent shivers down my spine.

“Can’t you look at me?” he whispered.

I turned my head back toward him, noticing how close he was. He sat on the other chaise and his knees were right up against the one I sat on. He was leaning forward so that he was actually only inches from me. Our eyes met and my heart began to race. I swallowed hard. His free hand came up and slid into my hair testing the texture. Then his fingers cupped the back of my head and he pulled me toward him. His mouth touched mine briefly, hesitantly. Electricity crackled through my body lighting every nerve ending. When I didn’t pull away, he kissed me again, this time more urgently, his tongue parting my lips, then sliding against my tongue.

I sat there not really kissing him back, but not putting up any resistance either. Everything I’d begun to feel for him since the moment he’d walked into Blackthorne Castle rushed to the surface as he kissed me. I felt as if I was coming alive. I tingled as if with an electric shock, and my skin burned with heat. I could feel Helios’ emotions flooding his thoughts and by extension, my own thoughts. He pulled away, his thumb coming up to stroke my bottom lip as we looked at each other, trying to figure this thing out.

“I can’t believe I didn’t know,” he murmured, his eyes never leaving me, never wavering. “The moment I touched you just now…I could feel it. I can feel the pull, the knowing, the feeling that this is what is right, what’s meant to be. You can hear my thoughts, you know the truth of what I’m feeling. Tarren, I…” He shook his head almost dazedly. “I want you. That kiss just told me that. And you want me too.”

5. Rhiannon's first kiss ever, with Tobias, who turns out to be her mate:

“Hey!” the silver dragon said as the refrigerator door closed. “What about me? I could use a drink.”

I turned back to the refrigerator and yanked out a carton of milk. I slapped it down on the counter beside him and reached for a clean glass from the cupboard beside his head. My bare midriff lightly touched his hand where it was now gripping the edge of the counter. I barely kept myself from sucking in a breath. His skin was very, very warm, and he smelled deliciously of exotic spices.

“Oh, yeah. Toby meet Rhiannon Blackthorne, daughter of the real black wyvern, Tristan. Rhi, this is Tobias Kronos, brother to Dare and Helios.” Vanora waved her fork in the air as she made the introductions. “Toby’s gonna be your bodyguard.”

I kept myself from showing any reaction to the small skin on skin touch and poured Tobias a glass of milk, turning away to put the carton back in the refrigerator. The microwave dinged, and I yanked Vinicio’s plate out without bothering to grab a pot holder. I felt the hot ceramic searing into my hand, but ignored it. I set the plate in front of Vinicio, who thanked me, and then bit back a swear word when he touched the hot plate. He stared at me in astonishment. “How did you touch that? It’s very hot!”

I shrugged and placed the bowl of cranberries on the table. I could feel my fingers blistering and muttered a short healing spell. The blisters began to recede. Just then Tobias grabbed my hand and looked at the fading red mark and blisters. “How the hell did you do that?” he asked. “And why the hell did you give me a glass of milk instead of a glass of wine like Vanora and Vinicio?” He looked down at me with a frown between his dark blonde eyebrows.

I jerked my hand away from him. “I have some ability with magic. I’m Welsh after all. As for the milk,” I spun away and pulled some rolls out of the breadbox, setting them in front of Vanora. “You’re working. No alcohol. I don’t want to have to save the sorry ass of my own bodyguard because his reaction time was slowed down by booze.”

“My reaction time is a lot quicker than yours, little girl,” Tobias snorted, but he drank down the milk anyway.

My eyes met Vanora's, and the two of us exchanged a very female look. “I’m not so little, Tobias,” I told him in a matter of fact voice, ignoring the little shiver I got speaking his name for the first time and equally ignoring the fact that his name on my lips caused his hand to jerk as he set down the empty glass. “I’m almost as tall as you and my reactions should be far better than yours because I’m not corrupting my body with booze or staying out to all hours of the night draining my powers with sex.”

Tobias made a rude face. “Oh. A virgin. I should have known. Geez, Vanora, why couldn’t you have asked me to help out with someone a little closer to me in age? Someone who likes to have fun.”

Vanora pinned Tobias with her blue eyes. “She is close to you in age, Toby. Just because she’s a virgin doesn’t mean she’s not of age. And I know for a fact she likes to have fun. I seem to recall her doing a very sexy little dance while singing Miss Murder with Dominic Solent at the S&M.”

I hissed in a breath. Trust Vanora to defend me and let slip something that would have been better not said. Tobias gave me a thoughtful look and his silver eyes gleamed. “Wyvern’s daughter, huh?” he murmured. I thrust my chin in the air and stared him down with a look I copied from my father.

“I know the value of my place in this universe and I know how bad things are in the dragon community at the moment. I’m not about to put myself in jeopardy just because I don’t like your tone of voice,” I said, imitating my dad's tone. “But I don’t have to like you one lick to appreciate or accept necessary extra protection.”

“How about a few licks, baby?” Tobias purred.

I drew myself up to my full height and my breasts strained at the old t-shirt. I shot him a look from my golden eyes that should have seared the scales from his hide. “You’re an arrogant ass,” I ground out.

“And you’ve got the nicest tits I’ve seen in a long time,” he grinned and reached out with a lightning fast hand to grab my wrist. “Let’s go outside and have a little chat. Maybe we can work out our differences so that we can manage to keep you safe without you blistering me with those golden flames you call eyes.”

Tobias pulled me out the kitchen door and over to the driveway where a beautiful Italian motorcycle sat. He leaned on the leather seat and eyed me thoughtfully in the moonlight. “I’ve never known a wyvern’s daughter,” he murmured. “You’re not really what I expected.”

“What did you expect?” I asked, thrusting my hands into the tight pockets of my jeans. “A prissy little princess?”

“Yeah, I guess so,” he smiled wickedly. “Certainly not a girl like you.”

“I suppose you want me to ask you what kind of girl you think I am?” I raised one eyebrow at him.

To my surprise Tobias shook his dark blonde head. “Nah. I’ll just tell you. You’re definitely proud. And you’ve got a touch of that arrogance you accused me of. You’re obviously very intelligent although I could question that since you didn’t fall right into my hands like a ripe peach.” Tobias grinned at me. “You’re certainly not little. You’re almost as tall as me. And there isn’t a thing about you that’s prissy from that ear full of holes to the hole in your nose and the streaks in your hair.”

“I have a tattoo on my ass too,” I murmured with a reluctant grin. “But my parents don’t know about it.”

Tobias’ eyes flashed at me and suddenly the air was charged with awareness. “Careful princess, I’m not a schoolboy,” he said softly.

I stared at him solemnly. “I know that. But I’m not your average dragon girl and by that I don’t mean the whole princess bullshit,” I told him plainly. “My family has been in hiding my entire life. Our lives are in danger every day. My father is half Moravian and my mother is a Siren. I have the blood of Welsh witches in my veins. I see things and dream things and know things that go far beyond what you can imagine. I have a responsibility to my family and my sept, once we return to it. I’m not a frivolous person going from one fun thing to another like you. My life isn’t about a good time.”

I stopped and drew a deep breath not thinking about how it would stretch that little t-shirt over my breasts. Tobias noticed, but didn’t react. Instead, he did something I never expected. He told me the truth. “My brothers have always been the responsible ones. There was never anything for me to do but have fun. They’re older, wiser, smarter, and better than me at everything,” he said with a grimace that wrenched at me. “The only thing I’ve ever been able to best them at is partying.”

He looked at me with such sincere eyes. I wanted to say something to make him feel better, and then realized I had the answer. “Tobias, obviously they aren’t better than you at everything,” I said in a low tone. “If they were, they would be here protecting me. Vanora isn’t a stupid woman. She wouldn’t have asked you to protect me if there was someone better.”

He laughed softly. “You sure Van wasn’t just trying to hook us up?”

I shook my head. “No. I doubt she thought a guy like you would even look twice at a girl like me. I’m not beautiful, and I’m way too tall to attract men. And you yourself said it…I’m a virgin.” I shrugged in a careless manner, hiding the fact that the conversation was suddenly severely depressing me. “Guys don’t like girls who don’t ‘do it’ and certainly no guy wants to be the one to risk the wrath of the black wyvern by kissing his daughter.”

I looked over my shoulder at the house with its golden light spilling from every window. When I turned my head back, Tobias had moved closer to me, his tall lean body only a few inches from mine. “Who the hell ever told you that you weren’t beautiful?” he said in a low tone. “You’re like a wild rose, all thorny and different, but with a beauty unlike any other rose. So beautiful, in fact, that I think I’ll risk the wrath of the black wyvern just to be the first one to taste those lips…”

His dark gold head leaned down and his hands settled on my shoulders. Then I felt the briefest of pressure on my closed lips. I stared up into Tobias’ eyes which were as open as my own. His breath was warm on my face then as his lips parted mine and clung damply. He kissed me softly several times. Then I felt the tiniest touch of the tip of his tongue in the center of my bottom lip, and I gasped.

Suddenly, Tobias jerked his head up and a growl emerged from deep in his chest. He was looking up at the sky. I tilted my head back to see what he was looking at. Coming toward us swiftly, were six black dragons flying in formation. Tobias hooked one hand around my arm and pushed me ahead of him, as he ran for the house. “Go!” he yelled at me.

“No!” I cried out. “I won’t leave you alone to face them! You’re outnumbered, Tobias!”

“Damn you,” he growled. “Get the hell inside, princess, and let me do my job.”

6. Mace and Sterling's first kiss, in the cemetery in the middle of a vampire war:

Thinking of Desperians brought Mace to my thoughts. I’d seen him drive up in the Mustang and pull the Hellbound out of the trunk. Something about him sparked my interest. I hid a smile. It wasn’t an innocuous something either. He lit my panties on fire. One look at that bad boy expression and I’d been as wet as if he’d been touching me. All I needed was fifteen minutes alone with him, and I could end this night, and my life, in a way that would make me happy.

I peered down the narrow cemetery road looking for vehicles or anyone headed this way. There was nothing. From inside the mausoleum, I heard the Hellbound yelling and laughing in his crazed manner. Then I heard Mace lose it. This was my chance I realized. I stepped silently into the mausoleum. Mace was thumping the Hellbound’s head against the granite side of the building and no one was stopping him. “Where are they, you crazy fuck?” he snarled.

“Turn him loose,” I said, gesturing to the Hellbound with the Glock in my hand. “He’ll lead us to his mistress. He knows nothing except to return to her side. Besides, I’m pretty sure they are below the Larouche mausoleum.”

Mace’s eyes met mine, and I saw instant sexual tension in them. He looked me up and down, and I could swear I saw his groin swell. I stepped away from the mausoleum door and Mace let go of the Hellbound. “Yes ma’am,” he murmured, his eyes telling something other than his words.

The Hellbound streaked out of the mausoleum and I turned to follow. Even without looking I knew that Mace was on my heels. We followed the Hellbound directly to the Larouche mausoleum. He wasn’t smart enough, or sane enough, to hide where he was going. I stepped up to the door and saw him disappear into a panel in the floor. I turned and found Mace looking over my shoulder at the disappearing Hellbound. My body brushed against his as I stepped down onto the dark narrow pathway. I slipped between two tombs and walked a short distance down the path to a shadowed curve where a tree stood next to the dark corner of yet another mausoleum.

I stopped and looked over my shoulder to find that Mace had followed me, as I’d known he would. I slipped between the mausoleum, the tree, and a tall wrought iron fence, my back against the cold marble. Mace stepped close to me, his body brushing mine.

“You’re giving me signals, Blondie,” he said in a low rough whisper as his fingers snaked through my silvery waves.

“You’re giving signals as well, Bad Boy,” I murmured and set my Glock on the ledge next to me. With a flick of my wrist, I popped the buttons on my leather jeans. I heard Mace draw in a hissing breath. Then his mouth was on mine, hard and grinding.

His fangs cut my lower lip, and I tasted blood. He ground his hips against mine, pressing me back against the cold marble wall, as his hands first gripped my shoulders then moved down to slide under the edge of my leather corset top to squeeze my breasts roughly. I thrust my tongue into his mouth fiercely, my hands clutching at his thick neck and muscular shoulders. His hands moved from my aching nipples to slide over my naked buttocks beneath my loosened jeans. The jeans slid to my knees and Mace’s knee wedged between mine, spreading my thighs for the rough caress of his fingers.

He groaned when he discovered my wetness, and I reached between us to unzip his jeans and release his hard cock. The velvety tip was already leaking fluid. I stroked it and his head fell back, a shaft of moonlight showing me the pleasure on his face. He groaned again. Then his head moved and his eyes met mine. “I don’t have a condom,” he gritted.

I shook my head, strands of my hair catching in the dark stubble on his jaw. “You don’t need one. I’m going to die tonight,” I told him, as I nipped at his strong neck.

7. Carlisle and Stein's first kiss after a separation spanning several centuries:

The water felt soothing and warm. It caressed my skin like a lover. My sleep had been fitful. My emotions were a mess. I knew I was going to have to face Stein tonight. Strangely enough, my first thought was what the hell to wear. I grimaced as I washed my hair. How freakishly female of me to worry about what to have on when he saw me again after centuries.

I rinsed my hair and began to sing Stevie Nicks’ Sorcerer. The song always reminded me of Stein. He’d been like a sorcerer to me, mastering my emotions, controlling my heart. I stood with the water cascading over me, when I heard the door open. I frowned. Dom wouldn’t come in while I was showering. I saw a dark shadow on the other side of the frosted glass. A tall, dark, man sized shadow. “Dom? What the hell are you doing in here?”

I heard a growl and my eyes widened. That was not Dominic. I took a step back, away from the glass as the door of the shower opened with enough force to wrench it from its hinges. A very big, very angry, Stein stood there. I gasped, partially because his beautiful hair was gone and partially because he was there in front of me, an angry alpha male, his brown eyes sweeping over my nakedness. A startled scream emerged from my mouth, but was cut off as Stein’s hand wrapped around the back of my neck dragging me to him as his mouth covered mine.

Shock held me still. I’d expected an angry kiss, but it wasn’t. It was hot and filled with longing. I melted like ice in a microwave. His tongue swept over my bottom lip and I moaned. Water spilled over his head as his tongue took possession of my mouth and his hands came up to cup my naked breasts. Suddenly, he pulled away from me and I stood there in the shower with the water spilling over me, gasping.

“Get dressed,” he growled and stalked from the room, leaving me trembling with shock, lust, and pain.

8. Dante and Roman's first kiss:

She went at him for a good ten minutes, until he knew he couldn’t take anymore. He wondered if her jaw hurt and stroked his fingers over it as he pulled away from her. Her lips were red, swollen, and wet. Just looking at her sexy mouth made him want to come. He pulled her to her feet and ripped the little pink thong from her body. Then he realized he’d never even kissed her! Dear God, she taken possession of his body and he’d lost all his brains with one good suck of her luscious mouth.

He speared his hands into her silky hair and tilted her head back. Her ice blue eyes were even paler if that was possible. He bent his head and nibbled at her bottom lip. She moaned, and her hands slid up his rib cage making him shudder. Her touch set him on fire. He’d never been so hot for a woman before. His mouth took hers and a bolt of sheer lust rocked him. Then her tongue touched his and fireworks exploded in his head. She was his. She had to be. No woman had ever made him feel like this. He didn’t want it to end. He wanted to cage her and keep her forever.

He groaned her name and her fingernails raked his back. The pleasure pain rippled through him, so intense he wished she’d clawed his flesh from the bone. His hands were all over her, the feel of her skin against his palms making him break out in a sweat. He was covered in gooseflesh, his nerves completely alive. One hand slipped between her thighs, and he found that she was hairless and soaking wet. Warm sticky fluid coated his fingers as he searched for that one special place... His forefinger grazed her clit. She bit his bottom lip, stifling a scream as her body went rigid. He couldn’t believe she was already orgasming.

Dante’s hips jerked as pleasure washed over her. She felt caught in a rip tide unable to catch her breath or make it to the surface. She was drowning in sensation. Being with Roman was like nothing she’d ever experienced before. Never in her life had she found so much pleasure in sucking a man’s cock. Never had she come so quickly or so hard just from the touch of his fingertip. Panting, still feeling the effects of her orgasm, she climbed his body, forcing him to grab her ass and hold her up. She threw her arms around his neck and clung to him, her mouth grinding against his.

Off balance Roman stumbled, slamming Dante’s back against the wall. He pressed against her, his thick cock sliding easily along her wet swollen flesh. She ripped her mouth from his and clutched his shoulders. “Fuck me,” she panted, her chest pressed tightly to his. “Fuck me hard.”

9. Nyx and Valerian's kiss after he discovers she didn't die when she was knocked off the roof of Blackthorne Castle into the North Sea:

Power flowed through me. It was rich and wonderful. I stretched my arms and tumbled effortlessly in its embrace. Cold and wet and salty. My wings floated out from me, and I felt myself at one with the water. I didn’t understand how anyone could mistake me for who I really was. Nessie, my ass. I glowed with joy at being free and felt my essence reaching to the surface of the water, glowing with happiness and power.

Then I felt something disturbing the natural balance of the sea’s elements. I swirled in the water testing it, tasting it until I realized that someone’s tears were dripping into the sea. Alarmed, it dawned on me why tears were falling into the ocean. Valerian. He was mourning my death. My death? I wasn’t dead. Part of my body hurt like hell from hitting the bottom of the ocean floor at velocity, but I certainly was not dead. The ocean was my element. I breathed in the salty tang of the water and exhaled the water from my nostrils.

I opened my mind cautiously, not wanting Valerian to freak out. That’s when I knew that he had given up on finding me. I had been in the water too long to survive had I been a mortal or earth bound faerie. As much as I reveled in being in my own world again, where I could draw upon the source of my power and truly be myself, I had to go back. I began to swim for the shore feeling my body become less ethereal and more corporeal as I drew closer to the water’s surface. As I drew myself from the water up onto the rocky shoreline, my wings melted away. I shivered in the cold night air, wrapping my arms around myself. I sat down on a rock, half in and half out of the water, my legs and arms pulled close to my naked body to help keep the heat in.

Since I was still partially in the water I could feel that Valerian’s tears of pain and despair continued to drip into the sea. I took a deep breath and coughed as the last of the sea water was pushed out of my lungs by the air. Then I reached out to my love…

Val? I’m cold.

At first there was silence. A very stunned silence. Then I heard Helios tell his brother, Holy Aminan! Val, she’s alive!

Suddenly, a blast of pure joy enveloped me as Valerian shifted into dragon form and took to the sky looking for me. I tipped my head up and moments later saw him coming toward me, flying swiftly. All you needed was faith, Val. I would never leave you my love. My soul is useless without you, I told him trying to reassure him.

He landed awkwardly on the rocky shore, in a hurry to reach me, his huge body ungainly on the ground. His eyes met mine, as he shifted into human form once more. My eyes traced his beautiful body, every hard contour of his chest and thighs. Mine, I thought possessively as he came toward me.

Yes, Nyx. Yours. Forever yours.

The ground was uneven and rocky, and he was barefoot, but it was only a couple of minutes before Valerian reached the rock I sat on. He scooped me up into his arms and sat down on the rock, beginning to shake violently with reaction, as his mouth slashed down on mine. I wound my arms around him and kissed him back.

Nyx. Oh, Nyx. You scared me so badly. I couldn’t hear you. I couldn’t find you. I was so lost without you…

He continued to kiss me as his hands stroked me and pulled me into the hard warm curve of his body. He was frantic to touch me. I held him close and felt his fear begin to ebb away. As much as I’d loved being in the water again, taking my real form once more, and feeling my fae powers come to life, I could never leave my love behind. I looked into his eyes, those silvery eyes that glowed with love and looked like moonlight…moonlight? I pulled away from Valerian, breaking the kiss.

“The wash of the moon!” I exclaimed, clutching his naked shoulders in my hands. “It’s silver!”

He shook his head dazedly. “What are you talking about? Nyx, I thought you were dead! You disappeared into the water. I didn’t see you anywhere. What the hell happened to you? Caden hit you with his magic, you hit the water, and poof, you were gone!”

“Magic,” I murmured, my mind racing as I thought of how I’d felt when I returned to the water and my powers became fully vested. “The magic of the sea.”

I stared at Valerian’s puzzled and pain ravaged face, and suddenly I knew what was meant to be.

10. Tait and Mace's first kiss:

A strange expression crossed his handsome face. I saw deep in his eyes that something in his hard won control cracked. With a swiftness of movement that I barely saw, he leaned across the table and took my mouth in a hard kiss. I gasped as his lips touched mine and, as my lips parted, his tongue darted between them, flicking at my tongue. Fire licked through me, and I felt myself launch into full blown arousal. My hands came up to cup his face and his kiss deepened. My eyelids fluttered down, and I gave myself over to the sensations his kiss was rousing in me. His tongue tangled with mine, and I moaned softly into his mouth. I opened my eyes then and saw him looking at me as he kissed me. His nostrils flared as he caught the scent of my instant arousal.

I pulled back and dropped my hands from his face. Heat flooded my cheeks with wild pink color. I knew my eyes were deep dark purple, stormy with my emotions and my need to be with him. I knew that he knew how much I wanted us to take that kiss to the next level. His hands reached out and clasped mine on the worn formica table. “Where do you want to take this, Mace?” I asked in a shaky voice as my fingers caressed his.

He shook his head as if to clear it. “I just don’t know, Tait.” He drew a deep breath that expanded his already considerably broad chest. “I’m confused obviously. I’ve been through a lot lately. First I find my bloodmate and she’s killed the same night saving my life. I thought part of me died with her, I hurt that bad.”

“Silver Queen,” I murmured, my voice full of understanding.

He nodded. “Hard on the heels of that loss I discover I’ve already got a new bloodmate,” he sighed heavily and squeezed my hands tightly. “She’s everything I ever wanted, but my past came back to haunt me. Insecurities and torment that were all fed to me by my uncle who hated me. Then he tried to kill me,” Mace growled and I looked at him startled and filled with pain for what he had suffered. “I thought this record deal and having money and a future would make things easier for me and Vanora, but it hasn’t so far. She’s not ready to settle down and have children and that’s what I want right now. So when King Oberon took her, I was angry, but some of that anger is because I’m beginning to feel that maybe she’s not meant for me. There are too many obstacles. How could it be right?”

“I don’t know, Mace. I know Obie and he’s not easy to deal with. I wish I had answers for you, but I don’t. All I can tell you, is that I know how you feel.” I held his hands tightly and stared deeply into his eyes. “The things I want in life have been denied me too. I wonder sometimes why I bother to keep trying.”

A fierce expression settled on Mace’s handsome face. “The moment I heard you sing my song I felt something inside me,” he growled. “It scared me. I felt like I knew you, like I was meant to know you. When you licked that chocolate off my arm, you lit my body on fire for you.”

I gazed at him amazed. “How can you feel that way if you have a bloodmate?”

“I don’t know,” he replied. “All I can tell you is what I do know, and that’s pretty fucking simple.” He leaned across the table until his mouth was only a breath away from mine. “I want you.”

I gasped and he swooped in for another short hard kiss. Then he was rising from the booth and throwing some money on the table. He grabbed my hand and pulled me from the booth.

11. Lorenzo and Althea's first kiss, while Lorenzo is sleeping:

I stared at the beautiful sleeping Lorenzo and decided that I’d kiss him and then figure out if the spark was there. He was certainly handsome enough and charming enough for me to be attracted to. Without the test I would never know though...

Sliding over the counterpane, I crept closer to Lorenzo’s warm naked body. Once I was beside him, I reached out and touched the rough silk of his skin where it stretched over the muscle and bone of his shoulder. He sighed in his sleep and smiled lazily. I knew my touch was pleasurable to him. There was no way the touch of a fallen angel wasn’t pleasurable. I stroked my hands over him, and he pushed against me, obviously wanting more. I bent down and kissed him, my lips teasing him. He pulled me into his arms and leaned over me, one thigh coming between mine.

I moaned as he deepened the kiss, his tongue stroking against mine. His body was hot and I realized the spark was more than there. The erection he was pressing against me was huge and hard and told me how much he wanted me. I let my hands stroke over his back as he kissed me. Then, with a sigh, I turned my head away and his face fell into the curve of my neck, his voice murmuring to me. I knew he was still asleep. Since I was in full angel mode, he would think what happened was a dream.

12. Dominic, the rock star, and Avalon, the demi-goddess:

She stood up and her clothes dissolved. I’d seen her naked a couple of times before during some crisis or other, but this time was different. There was no crisis, nothing but the urgency that filled the air between us. As soon as she made her clothes disappear, she slid into the bed beside me, taking the warm spot that I’d just vacated. I reached out and tipped up her chin, leaning in to kiss her lips.

“You taste different,” I murmured against her mouth.

“You talk too much, Dom,” she smiled and sank her fingers into my shoulder length hair.

Kissing Avalon was like kissing the first woman you’d ever been with. The excitement was overwhelming, the anticipation rushing through you until it felt like your veins were on fire. Her tongue touched mine, a delicate sinuous movement than made me instantly hard. I pressed against her, letting her feel what she did to me. She wound her arms around my neck and a whimper escaped her mouth.

My hands swept over her body, and I felt how she responded instantly. Foreplay took on a whole new meaning with a woman who fired at your least touch. Her slender thighs shifted restlessly, and she hooked one over my hip, pulling me into the curve of her body. My hips flexed, and I let my thick cock stroke the soft inside of her thigh. Her hands drifted down to my shoulders, her fingertips igniting the nerve endings in my skin. I couldn’t remember ever wanting a woman this much. I was ready to go, aching to be inside her already. Her fingers settled on my hips, pulling me against her.

“You don’t have to wait,” she whispered, her eyes glowing with desire. “I’m ready. I want you. When have we ever danced around each other, Dominic?”

I pressed her thighs apart and my fingers found her slick wetness. Her body arched against me as if she’d been hit by lightning. I teased her swollen flesh, and she cried out. “I like to dance,” I chuckled as my fingers circled her rigid clit.

She twined around me. “Then we’ll cha cha later. For now... I want something more primal,” she insisted, her voice rough with passion. She took hold of my cock in her small hands. I felt it twitch in her grasp, already wanting to be inside her.

She pulled me toward her and I leaned over her, wondering why this was going so fast. Then I kissed her again and all rational thought left my head.

13. Alaric and Alexandria's kiss when she tells him some very important news:

“Alaric, it’s admirable that you wanted to help and that you wanted to save someone you will always care about,” I told him, my hands coming up to rest on his chest. “I guess I should be more understanding.”

“No, Angel. You’ve been more than understanding. I’m the one who needs a lesson in understanding. I need to know how to always put you first no matter what other crisis is going on around us. I’m sorry for this whole fucking mess today.” He bent and kissed me. I melted against him. I loved him so much. “I’ve never felt so helpless as I did today, feeling your tears and knowing that I caused them. Every tear, every sob, tore me apart because it knew it was my fault.” He paused for a moment then said in a voice filled with guilty anguish, “I promised never to break your heart ... and then I did it.”

I leaned against his broad chest, feeling so warm and loved. I wrapped my arms around him, loving the feel of his hard body. “It was partly my own fault,” I admitted. “I’d been blocking you out of my head. That’s how you didn’t even know I was there.” I tipped my head back to look into his worried face. “I should never have shut you out. I love you Alaric.”

“Ah, Angel. I love you too. So very much,” he murmured and covered my lips with his.

I felt Alaric’s tongue teasing the inside of my bottom lip and I shivered. He picked me up and carried me to the bed laying me down on the comforter and brushing my hair from my face, his thumbs tracing the tear tracks. “So, are you gonna tell me what you’ve been keeping from me?” he murmured as he stared down into my eyes. Then his eyes widened. “Oh, fuck! You were with St. James! I completely forgot!”

He stared at me, fear flickering in his eyes but I smiled at him and wriggled, feeling a big lump underneath me. I reached under my back to pull out the toy giraffe. Alaric stared at it, puzzled. “You got me another giraffe?”

“No,” I shook my head and set the giraffe on Alaric’s pillow beside me. “It’s not for you.”

Confusion filled his eyes. I smiled at him and reached into my jeans pocket pulling out the pregnancy test stick I’d taken from James before I left his suite. I handed it to my husband. “Look, Alaric,” I said softly, my voice filled with satisfaction. “It changed color.”

All the color drained from Alaric’s face. He took the stick from me and stared at it as if he had no clue what it was. “Mother of All Vampires,” he breathed, his eyes meeting mine. “Does this mean… are you… are we…?” He stopped and swallowed hard as tears of hope and joy filled his blue eyes. “Oh, Angel. Tell me it’s true! You’re pregnant?”

I nodded and saw the most incredible happiness suffuse his face. One of his tears spilled over as he closed his eyes on brief prayer of thankfulness that I wasn’t ill and that the Mother had gifted us with a child. Then he tossed the stick aside and lay down beside me, taking me in his arms and holding me as if I was made of glass. “Alexandria, you have no idea how happy you’ve made me,” he whispered, his voice rough with emotion as he covered my face with feather light kisses.

“Hey! I didn’t do that much,” I teased, stroking my hands over his hard arms. “I had help.”

Alaric’s eyes glowed electric blue just like in all our dreams and my emotions spilled over until my chest ached with them. He held me close and kissed me deeply, his lips and tongue telling me how much he loved me. When he broke the kiss I was breathless and smiling. He pushed me onto my back and jerked up my t-shirt. Then he unbuttoned my 501’s and pushed them down knocking them and my Cons to the floor. He stared at my flat stomach, the hip bones protruding a little where the straps of my bikini panties curved over my hip. He bent and kissed me next to my belly button, his fingers delicately stroking the skin of my stomach. “My son is in there. I’m going to be a father,” he said, his voice shocked and filled with love at the same time.

My Cherished One looked up at me and I saw that his eyes were filled with tears again. Oh, Angel. This is so amazing. It was such a short time ago that I was bitter and unhappy. Now every dream I ever had is coming true. I have the most beautiful, most generous, and loving bloodmate in the world. She’s my wife, and my partner, and now she’s the mother of my son. All our dreams are coming true, Angel. This is the destiny my heart chose when it chose you. My heart is so full it feels like its going to burst.

Ditto. I looked at Alaric and grinned, speaking the word I’d said that first morning in New York City after Alaric had carried me to the bottom of the plane’s steps, the moment when we’d looked at each other and realized our lives had changed the moment we met, whether we wanted to acknowledge it or not.

Humpday Happiness

2008-04-01T22:41:00.001-07:00

I think my back feels better. It could be the drugs. Not sure. At any rate, I'm nodding off in my office chair here. Hours before I usually do. Therefore, I give you humpday happiness. The happy ending is strictly up to you.

Not sure what the TT will be this week. Don't be surprised if it's something freaky since I'm on drugs. BTW, if you hadn't figured it out, that's Ali Larter. Not sure who the guy is, but he's hot.

A Fanged Tuesday

2008-03-31T22:11:00.001-07:00

Today's Tuesday Tune is a fanged song. I have been working on vamps a lot recently, and I love this song, so it all kinda works. The song is all instrumental with that little spoken piece rippling through it. It's a Lost Boys kinda song. Oh, and I love Godsmack too. Sully Erna looks like a vampire. Oh, baby.

The bloodsuckers I've been writing lately are my rock star Rune, his best friend Spyder, who is an extreme athlete, and Spyder's sister Gracie. Rune is just discovering that Gracie is his mate. Gracie is a hard nosed thing, prickly as a porcupine. She acts like she doesn't like Rune. She's pretty mean to him. She even told him she thinks he fucks men. Spyder kinda pushes the two together when Gracie's ex shows up trying to stake her. Then Spyder bails to deal with his own bloodmate, a wildling named Bianca. You will find all these recent posts at Winter Writes.

I can't post my Girl With Fangs today. I'm sorry. My back is out and I am a little buzzed on some vicodin codeine cocktail kinda pill. My back still hurts, I just don't give a shit cause I am floooooaaaaaating. Heh. I can't keep my eyelids propped open enough to edit the pages. I will post some Lex as soon as my back feels better. We are almost to the good part where Alaric walks naked into the bathroom and finds her in the jacuzzi tub.

There was something else I was going to say, but my foot's asleep and it's annoying me. So I gotta go. Thanks to all of you who stuck up for me choosing a hot fuck over some power and mega bucks. I must be lonely and need love. Wait. Isn't that a repetitive blogger theme? Shouldn't we be capitalizing on all the lonely bloggers out there by starting a blog just for them? BlogMatch.com. BlogDate.com. Lonelybloggerswhowillbegratefultogetsome.com. BlogFuckers.com. I like that last one. It has a nice ring to it. Quick! Someone check Whois!

I started my new job as moderator at DerbyFever.com tonight. It's cool having power over the sim. I can't wait to see if I have power in the chatroom too. Heh. I feel evil. Now, I gotta go check on them before I hit the air mattress that leaks. Have a rockin fanged Tuesday peeps!

Yes! I'm A Dork this Marcus Monday

2008-03-30T23:51:00.000-07:00

Playing Quid Pro Quo with Turnbaby can be dangerous to your reputation. Well, I don't really have much of a reputation in the blogosphere yet. And really, I didn't say anything that all of you who come by here on Monday, didn't already know... I'm a dork. So when Turnbaby asks me if I could have anyone I want to do my bidding for 48 hours, who would it be? You know what my answer was. I popped off, "Marcus Schenkenberg."

Now, in and of itself, that's not a bad answer for a completely off the cuff, from the gut answer. Those of you who know how much I drool over this man are not expecting any other answer from me. But when that same question is posed to Turnbaby herself, her answer involves power. She chooses Dick Cheney. Then, on top of that, Turnbaby asks Kyra the same question. Kyra's answer is someone who is incredibly rich so she could have them transfer money into her bank account.

Do you see what's wrong with my answer now? Turnbaby goes for power. Kyra for riches. What do I go for? Forty eight hours of sex with a hot beautiful man. And I don't even know if he's any good in the sack! I coulda just made a totally bum choice there! And to make my choice look even more lame, the man was once engaged to Pam Anderson. I'm positive no one in the Blogosphere who was listening has any respect for me now. I would have gotten buttloads of respect if I had said Dave from Blogography or Karl from Secondhand Tryptophan. But, no. I gotta pick Marcus.

Since I can't do any worse on the reputation front after that sorry ass display on Sunday, here is an old video of Marcus. He looks pretty young here. Sounds it too. He totally is making me look like I made a poor choice with my Quid Pro Quo question.

That picture up there at the top of the post is a pretty recent photo of Marcus. It was taken in January of this year in Barcelona. Can you believe the man is 39? I can't. He's still younger than me which makes him totally stalkable. I really can't work up any interest for a man my age or older. It's just part of who I am.

And speaking of younger men, I have to give a shout out to one of my new readers. He's not new to me because I've been reading his blog for a couple of months now, but he came by here this weekend and tried to make me feel better about my battle with Wordpress. I'm talking about Jason X from The User Pool. This man's blog is some seriously funny shit. And the best part of it is... I don't think he's making any of it up. If you want to know what really goes on in the corporate world... read this blog. But don't drink while you read. You will spit your drink all over your monitor.

And now it's time for the weekly Marcus Awards. With 5 Marcuses each, Mary and Shiny (the female one) take top honors. They are followed by Matt and Susan with 3 each. Next is Fab and Vixen with 2 each. Our onesies of the week are, Nicholas, Livvy, Malcolm, Fullbodytransplant, Karl, Lara Angelina, Pussreboots, Open Grove Claudia, Nap Warden, and Jason X. The race to the first Marcus Award prize is very tight! I've made it more difficult for you all by whining this past week too. I commend you all for putting up with me and hope that you will continue to come by and roll your eyes at my inane babbling. Happy Marcus Monday!

Yes! I Suck Too!

2008-03-30T09:14:00.000-07:00

I am depressed. Really depressed. You know how I said I hate it when I can't figure things out? That it gnaws at me until I do figure it out? Well, I spoke too soon re taming the beast that is Wordpress. I'm stuck. Fucking really stuck.

Here's the deal, everything looks good. It looks right. But there are things behind the scenes that stink... meaning they don't freaking work right. And it's killing me. Not because they don't work right, but because I SUCK and can't figure out how to fix it.

I've gotten to the point where I'm about to post everywhere for someone to come mentor me. I don't want someone to just fix all this shit for me. I just need someone who knows HOW to fix it to show me, help me fix it. It's all about ME, of course. I want to do this myself. But I'm stuck. And I suck. And I have bad luck. So I'm saying FUCK.

Excuse me while I go shed some angry angsty tears. I HATE it when I can't figure shit out.

Oh, and BTW, my new coffeepot peed all over the counter. $9 in Wally World (Walmart for the uninitiated, which BTW is a freaking 3rd world country all on it's own. No one speaks English in Wally World!) for some generic brand drip coffeepot. I only wanted it because it will keep the coffee hot. I really prefer a french press pot, but they don't keep the coffee hot for hours.

So I pour water in the water tank and turn away to fill the basket with Sumatra. When I come back, I stick the basket in and discover a puddle under the new coffeepot. I pick it up. It's leaking like a sieve. All the water in the water tank is draining out the bottom of the unit. It literally peed all over my counter and took a half a roll of paper towels to mop up.

Okay. I'm done ranting. I'm gonna go make maple bacon and ingest massive quantities of cholesterol to make myself feel better. I don't wanna look at the new blog today. I will cry for sure if I do. I wonder if I can dig the the cracked press pot out of the trash and clean it up good enough to make a cup of coffee...

Yes! I Am A Lagger!

2008-03-27T23:48:00.001-07:00

I know, I know. I've been neglecting everyone from the ever luscious Matt to the always edible Fabulous. But I had a reason. My brain was stewing. That whole Wordpress thing just got to me. I hate coming up against something I can't do or figure out. So, I figured it out. Wordpress is a very devious thing. No matter. I'm on my way to taming the beast.

This all has to do with how I got started blogging in the first place, cause you all know that I only just started doing this shit in January, right? Fourteen years on the internet, multiple domain names, websites, forums, and message boards later... I become a blogger. Number 267 or something on the humor-blogs.com list of almost 700. It's Friday, I can pimp myself, can't I?

So, I was commenting on a hot model's blog one day and got an idea for a story. The story made me realize how little I knew about this phenomena called blogging. So I figured I better start a blog and see how it felt. Well, it feels almost better than eating creme brulee! I almost said sex, but it's been awhile, so I can't really speak to the S word at the moment.

I made this pretty blog. Love the bats. I've been having fun with all of you. I luvs yas! MUAH! But, I keep hearing Kaige at the back of my head reminding me that all the fun and talking about porn stars on Kyra's Blog Talk Radio show, is not gonna get the blogosphere love story written. So, I decided to write my rough drafts on a blog. Not this one, where biters (vamps) reign supreme, but the love story's own blog. Which brings me back to my determination to figure out the Wordpress thingy.

Tonight, I got a toehold. I had a breakthrough. Therefore, without further ado (or bullshit from me) I give you my new blog: Winter Writes - http://winterwrites.winterheart.com

There's nothing there yet, but a quick babble and the pretty graphic. Soon, however, you'll be able to find out what the hot model really thought of the comment the writer left on his blog.

Now, for a quick pimp for my pal Nicholas over at A Gentleman's Domain. Nicholas is a very cool dude. He has one of those British accents that drives all the women and Anglophiles nuts. He also has great taste in books and movies. Nosferatu scared the beejeebus out of him as a teen. Awesome! That is the freakiest movie ever! I like Nicholas because I can totally see myself hanging out with him, getting blitzed on margys, while making snarky comments about the people walking by. Oh, and the fluffy people. Make the time to stop by Nicholas' blog and say Hi!

I'll stop by all your blogs this weekend and give you all some tongue! Happy weekend!

Thursday Thirteen #9, Not to be Confused with Client #9

2008-03-26T17:52:00.000-07:00

This week it's all about the music. Not 13 songs from my iPod. Don't own one. Not my 13 favorite songs. Can't choose. No, these are 13 songs that made a key post even better! They are all posts from the Bar, of course, but the music really has helped shape the stories of certain characters. These are different genres of songs, for different characters, and chosen by different writers. Also, it's not just a list, it's 13 linked tunes, just for you! Enjoy! (I had embedded tunes, but the players were locking up browsers when Imeem turned to shit late Wed night.)

Thirteen Songs That Made the Bar Story Better!

1. Never Saw Blue Like That by Shawn Colvin – The post is titled "The Bonding Continues". It was the third part of the bonding story, after Alaric and Lex are bonded. They’re lying in bed in a penthouse suite in New York City shocked at how different their world is now that they have their souls. This listen to this song and marvel at how the words mirror what they feel. Jen, who writes Alaric, chose this song.

2. Real Life Fairytale by Plumb – Matt and Emmy’s engagement at Matt's home, DuMordain Palace, behind the veil. The Pixie Prince leaves his love a fairytale dress to wear and tiny lights that are the pixies lead her out to a beautiful garden, where she plucks at the petals of a rose. Her golden man appears, telling her, "He loves you, he loves you, he loves you." The song was chosen by Jen, who writes Emmy.

3. Until the End by Breaking Benjamin – The post is titled "Sterling and Mace in the Killing Zone". It's about Sterling, the CIA agent, and her mate Mace, who's a vampire. They just had sex in the cemetery and now they're killing evil Hellbounds vampires beneath a mausoleum. Both of them know that Sterling will die by the time the firefight is over. I chose this song since I write Sterling.

4.Anything by The Calling - The title of the post is "Whatever it takes... I'll do anything". Helios has just discovered that Tarren is his mate, but she's hurt and doesn't want anything to do with him. He's begging her to give him chance, that he'll do anything to win her love. I chose this song because I write Tarren.

5. Afterlife by Avenged Sevenfold - Tait, the Queen of the Fairies, uses all her power to help kill the demon possessed Black Widow, Rachel Sullivan. Then she steps in the middle of a fight between her friend Mace and the man she's loved her whole life, Robin Goodfellow. She takes a blow from Mace's fist and a blast of fae power from Rob. Already drained, her life force fades. The purple butterflies begin to weep behind the veil, as they congregate all over the cottage where she lies dying. I chose this song because I write Tait.

6. Fire Woman by The Cult – Rockstar Rune meets a woman dressed in a schoolgirl outfit, her hair whipping around her head, and her high heels leaving scorched footprints in the carpet. Emmy, the fire elemental, and her sister Opal meet up with Rune at a Rob Zombie concert. Rune is hoping to get to know Emmy better, although that doesn't work out. They end up friends instead. As Rune's creator, I chose this song.

7. Breathe by Faith Hill - Not long after their first sexual encounter, Alaric and Lex dream about Lex being pregnant. When they awaken, they are faced with problems that seem insurmountable. However, both of them are so enthralled by the dream, what it felt like, and how it made them feel, that it becomes part of a key point in their relationship. Alaric had never thought about having children, but the dream has suddenly made him see what life could offer him if he chose to be with Lex. Since Lex is my alter ego, I chose this song.

8. 3 AM (Piano Acoustic) by Matchbox Twenty - The title of the post is "Full Moon Depression". Vampire Bram is a musician who's suffered from heroin addiction and lost all his friends. Now recovered, he's playing and writing music again and trying to rebuild his life. He's always had an affinity for the moon, and his friend Weylyn the werewolf teases him that maybe Bram is part were. In this post, Bram is thinking about how depressed and alone he is. He writes this song for a woman he has yet to meet. Since Bram is my character, I chose this song.

9. Drive You Home by Garbage - Thousand year old vampire Dominic Solent has a tryst with his friend Avalon, the Lady of the Isle of Mists. Avalon is a demi-goddess, who is half in love with the tattooed Dominic. She knows he has a mate coming, knows his destiny, but when pain drives Dominic into her arms, she can't say no to him. Since Dom is my character I chose this song for the post where Dom is on the Isle with Avalon, knowing he has to go back to his world, and his destiny, soon.

10. Alone I Break by Korn - Johann is talking to his best friend Collin about his feelings for Lacey. She's just left and he's already missing her. He's a little torn over caring for her because the last time he had a mate he totally screwed up with her. When she died, he was eaten up with guilt. Shiny chose this because she writes Johann, Collin, and Lacey.

11. Drive To You by Jewel - The post is titled "Your Heart Beats Inside of Me." Nyx takes Valerian to her castle in Scotland on the eve of some evil doings in the dragon world. The two of them have a discussion about mates and what they mean to each other. Nyx reluctantly admits that maybe she is Valerian's mate, even though the McClaren isn't supposed to have a mate. I chose this song because Nyx is my character.

12. Girlfight by Brooke Valentine - Mary chose this song to accompany a fight scene she wrote between my character Tarren, a trained black dragon assassin, and her character Mary, a legendary red dragon warrior and mercenary. The two women are on the same side, but they don't know that. All Tarren sees is a red dragon. She knows most of them are killers so she doesn't trust Mary. Mary sees a tall "totem pole" of a black dragon who won't let her into a dressing room to see her friend Rhiannon. They end up using a very lethal form of combat called Krav Maga against each other. It's a take no prisoners, win or die form of fighting. Since the men who gather are all too afraid of stepping between the women, the fight is broken up by blue bolts of Rhiannon's power.

13.Unsuspecting Sunday Afternoon by the Backstreet Boys - This song hasn't actually been used yet. I found it and it made me think of Johann and his troubles getting together with Lacey. I gave the song to Shiny and, for all she's a total rock/metal head, she loved it! She totally wants to use it when Johann finally realizes that Lacey is the one he wants forever, whether she's his mate or not. He's just not willing to give her up. The song will totally make the post.

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I was going to end this TT with a song called Believing, but then I realized it was another song by The Calling. However, the post it goes with, captured my attention. I'd forgotten exactly how key this post really was. It's a short post, but I fretted over it, wanting it to be just right. I think it was. Here, as a bonus for you, is the post where Tristan Blackthorne, the rightful black sept wyvern, goes home to Wales to fight his half-brother for the sept.

The beat of the helicopter blades rang in my ears even with the headphones on. I saw the green hills of Wales rolling by beneath us as we approached the coast. The most crucial moment of my life approached too. Everything I was, and everything I was meant to be, was on the line. The fate of my family and my people.

I looked over at Talon sitting with his arm around his mate. He was stoic, as usual, but there was a tension in him that I knew well had to do with the fight we were facing. Even calm, sweet Fayne had a tenseness about her that told of her concerns about coming home. Dai had his battle face on. He sat polishing his sword calmly, something that Gregory used to do before battle. Our return to the place of our births was bittersweet and filled with apprehension. We all felt the weight of this day, but I knew I carried the bulk of it. So much of this mission relied upon me.

The silvers were all business. Valerian looked like an avenging god dressed all in black. Helios was calmer than usual, his face serious. Kyara was like a live wire waiting for the action. Her body was filled with coiled energy, and her eyes were bright and sharp.

Derek looked like he was going to a bar. Dressed in black leather, something noxious smelling coming from one of the many pockets in the jacket, an unlit cigar stump between his teeth, he kept checking all his pockets as if he’d forgotten something. He looked like a Hell’s Angel who couldn’t find the key to his bike. I smiled a little to myself. Derek was never what he seemed, and that air of distraction was sure to throw someone off.

My eyes lit on the one person on the team who was frightening even to me. Nyx McClaren was cold as ice. Her face, her body language, every hair on her beautiful head screamed lethal weapon. No one looked more like a hitman than she did. I had no qualms about her taking out everyone who stood between her and Caden DeCameron. No matter how much Valerian touched her heart, she was like a stone statue, her mind somewhere far from her mate.

Jake began the descent to the field just outside the village where we would be staging from. It was roughly five miles from the castle and was the closest civilization to the fortress. Jake had already briefed me on what information he’d gleaned from his quick trip in and out of Blackthorne Castle. Most notable was the fact that Onyx had both Caden and Ashley there. Jake said Onyx had seemed calm, but he felt the tension in the room. It rippled through every black dragon he passed. They all knew their true wyvern was coming home.

Home. I could see in the distance the black outline of the castle where I’d been born, where Rhiannon should have been born, where, Aminan willing, Galen would be born. I thought of my mother and how her death had put all of these events into motion. It was time for me to avenge that death. Time for me to settle all the scores. The real black wyvern was back, and he was about to bring the fate of the sept full circle. I drew a deep breath and held out my hand palm up. Talon slapped his in it, palm down.

“We’re home, Talon.”

He looked at me with enigmatic black eyes. “That we are, my lord. Long may you reign.”

Long may you all reign... Happy TT!

Humpday Hotness

2008-03-25T21:30:00.000-07:00

Now that the cleavage contest at Fab's is over with, I am going to prove that I do indeed have Frederick's enhanced cleavage. If only I had been able to find the high res images so that I could cut my face out and have the pic be bigger than my fingernail. I could have taken the winner. Well, maybe not. I'll let you folks decide.

My boobage isn't really as big as the corset makes them seem. I'm pretty much a handful for the average man. C cup average. Not big enough to give me a backache nor small enough to have be advertising for a sugar daddy to buy me bigger ones. I wouldn't want fakes anyway. Not my thing at all.

Well, the sim was down so I got not one horse in 22 stables entered. I wasn't in the mood anyway. I made a graphic for a hot Scots who pretty much batted his eyelashes at me and told me I was a star. I'm a sucker for sincere flattery from a hot man. Fab knows how to turn me into a puddle. See yesterday's comments. In Matt's case, a Holy Jeebus, a flash of his organ, and a promise of hot wings, and I'm buying a ticket to Bagwine. I tell you, someone better be getting some, cause Jeebus knows I ain't. Actually, I think Neko the Mean Kitty got some. She sure looks prego to me. And my kid promised me Swirly was failing his attempts! I heard her yelling at him, "Swirly! You fail!" So I figured he was too stupid to pork the girl. I guess silent old Fat Dummy got busy while we were all asleep. You always gotta watch out for those quiet, fat guys.

I have my TT for tomorrow all figured out, so it should be a piece of cake. However, I'm having Bar issues and getting depressed over it. I suppose I'm not getting enough feedback or accolades or something. Everyone is too busy to be bothered to read, so I look at my characters and tell them, "No one cares, so I'm not writing you today. I'm off to read Kyra's blog!" They look really sad. And then, when I go to write them, they won't cooperate because they think no one loves them any more. I don't know what to tell them. We have a lot of members. I just don't think people are coming around and reading. And half the characters are Jen's and she's not posting so the other characters think it's vacation or something. Maybe, I'll put all my characters on a plane and do a Lost version of the Bar.

I'm tired, so I'm posting hotties. I don't feel like blogging really. I'm just babbling anyway. You weren't really reading this shit, were you? At any rate, there's cleavage and hotties. Something for everyone. I'm going to bed to stare at Anderson Cooper and pretend to sleep.

I would be so comfy right there on that bed...

Or maybe in this bed...

Ummmn. Andre Coelho...

Ummmn. Travis Fimmell...

Ummmn. Raffaelo Balzo...

Ummmn. Rafael Lazzini...

I better quit while I still have eye candy to share over the next few months! See you tomorrow for a musical Thursday Thirteen.