Monday, December 26, 2016

The Nosferatu Adventures s11 p20

The Nosferatu Adventures
page 294, chapter 294

Out of Time...

The hybrid screamed, clawing at the female's hands as she covered his mouth. "Ssshhh! I know it hurts. But you can't afford to scream. There are sleeping humans, and if you shatter the windows..." he nodded, straining against the pain as he buried his face in her elbow. "You've been fine half the night. What changed in the last five minutes?" she lifted the male to the edge of the bed, watching the tears of pain pool from his eyes. The hybrid was struggling to breathe. Biting her wrist, she force fed him once again. Edric could do nothing but cough up the blood as another spasm tore through his limbs, as they broke and realigned themselves. Arching his back, the hybrid suffered another round of torture. "The full moon ritual sets into motion the need to claim a mate. Any male werewolves in the same territory will tear each other apart in order to get the female first. You stopped transforming earlier because...because Dagan was across town out of your territory. Which means either he's woken up and is near by or...or Arthur has fully turned."  The bed stopped shaking, Edric laying silently still. Every hair on our heroine's body stood on edge as the air around her shifted. Opening his eyes, Edric sniffed. The low growl that escaped him hurt the female's ears.

The air crashed out of her body at the same moment she crash landed on the ground; broken glass all around her. Edric crouched in the now broken window, his taloned claws covered with a thin layer of sweat, his nose twisted into a muzzle, his eyes pure white. His duel natures unable to either take full control of his body, trapping him between the wolf and the banshee.

Launching himself from his perch, the male landed squarely on his feet, centimeters from our heroine's head. Crouching down, blocking her view, he snarled towards the edge of the parking lot. Nosferatu didn't have to look to know Edric was warding off a rival.  Only, none of it made sense. She was soulless, unclaimable. Both Edric and whomever he was threatening should have both made a run for the other side of town where Matilda was. She was the only other supernatural female in the whole reality they'd been dropped into by Loki. A reality where magick didn't work the same way it did where they were from.  Our heroine felt a rib crack as the male hybrid dropped his hand to her chest, pressing on it. He was holding her in place, keeping her from getting up from the ground. She watched as he tossed his head back, sniffing the air, grunting; as if satisfied with the result.  The female let out a short gasp of pain as Edric stood, his taloned hands tangled in her short spikes dragging her to her feet.  Picking up a piece of the broken glass, he crushed it in his hand dragging his palm across the wall of the hotel. Before smearing his blood down her face and the front of her clothes. Marking his territory.

Edric backed away from the female in the direction he had been growling only seconds before. A guttural noise echoed hollowly in the rapidly rising sunlight. The now grey sky hinting at a light tint of pale orange and copper. Our heroine still couldn't tell who her fledgling was marking his territory from, and there didn't seem to be any scents in the air to clue her in. In fact, she could smell nothing but the hot coppery salt of Edric's blood smeared on her. Nothing was getting past it to free her mind of the chaos it was in. Seconds ago, they were done with each other, freed from the sire bond ready to part ways. Now, she was standing in what seemed to be the middle of a war for territory between her chosen champion and some unknown assailant. Oddly, this time she was just a viewer and not the prize.   Or so she thought.

Both Edric and our heroine caught sight of the preconceived threat at the same time; turning towards each other in question.

"Really?" Nosferatu shook her head squinting up her eyes as she gestured towards the figure. "Yeah, I guess The Seer sends his love." she nodded towards the guy dressed in the mermaid costume. The Seer had cast a spell over him, basically possessing the guy. The joke being that he was one step above a zombie and of course, wearing a mermaid costume. "No one else would be twisted enough to send a mermaid to do...guess it's time to get my hands dirty. You can go, I got this."  Edric snarled wiping the back of his hand over his mouth, before moving very slowly to the right of our heroine. Grabbing the edge of a dumpster, he pulled himself up perching on the very edge of it in a crouch. "Or you know, grab a seat get comfortable...ow!" she grabbed at her neck, the long nails of the drag queen having left their mark. Edric tilted his head to the side his eyebrows knitted together at the sound of bones snapping and a yelp of pure pain. The guy stumbled back a few steps holding what was left of his arm, the shattered bones exposed just below the elbow before passing out.  "That was sadly too easy." our heroine commented as she turned taking a step towards her fledgling. She felt the sharp edge of the dumpster cut into her cheek as she was sent flying into it. Turning around, she spotted three more mermaid costumed men, the one closest to her holding a baseball bat. "Who brings a bat to a vampire fight? Wait, puns on me."  Grabbing it out of the guy's hand, she snapped it in two before ramming him face first into the brick wall. The scent of blood was now heavy as the limp dead body fell to the ground. "Where exactly did he find these guys?" she ducked as the next guy back flipped over her, landing almost perfectly in the tight fitting dress. "His wig didn't even fall off, that's impressive." she pointed towards him before moving around him in a blur. Our heroine found herself moving out of the way at rapid speed as the guy had managed to get a few punches in, one kick landing squarely in her chest. He barely blinked as the female just stood there smiling. Edric snorted from his perch on top of the dumpster, informing our heroine of the final mer-man to her left. "You know what..." she removed her hands from their chests at the same second, her arms covered with blood; their hearts in her hands. "I really hate mermaids."   Breathing heavy, she lifted her right hand, the bloody heart still in it so that it was just under Edric's muzzle. "This blood's for you."

Growling the hybrid grabbed her wrist, his fangs sinking deep into the offering, before draining it. He jumped down from his seat, taking what was left of the heart from her, chewing noisily on the muscle. Nosferatu leaned back against the dumpster with a thud, licking the blood off her fingers. She saw the way Edric's eyes shifted to her other hand, as the male licked his already blood covered lips. She handed him the other heart moving a few centimeters from him.  Another sound escaped his throat that was more animalistic then she'd yet heard from him. Dropping what was left of the prize, Edric nudged his face against her ear. Taking a few deep sniffs, the hybrid ran off into the darkness, just as the banshee scream began to rip from both their throats.


Tune in again for another installment of the Nosferatu Adventures starring your heroine...me(straight up story. I really do hate mermaids.)

Sunday, December 25, 2016

Night Bleeds December

The last combo of the all vampire movie book club for 2016, is Dracula  and the 1992 movie version Bram Stoker's Dracula. 

movie:  Starring Gary Oldman and Sir Anthony Hopkins.
plot:  1462, and there is a war between the lands of Vlad Tempes and the Ottoman Empire. Vlad manages to turn the Turks back away from his lands, but not before is wife is tricked into believing that he was killed. She then commits suicide, damning her soul in the eyes of the church. Vlad Dracula, then in a violent fit of depression vows to return from the dead to take revenge.  1897, London and we see Johnathan Harker, who has just been given an assignment by his new boss of traveling to Transylvania to meet with a Count Dracula, in order to deliver deeds to his new properties. Harker, leaves behind a new fiancee; Mina, to make the trip where he is kept prisoner by the Count. Mina, meanwhile, is staying with her childhood friend, Lucy for the summer. Lucy, agrees to marry Lord Arthur Holmwood (after turning down his two best friends Dr. Jack Seward and Quincey Morris) After a letter arrives from Harker, Mina wonders if he's in fact alright, but her attention soon is taken completely by a Prince Vlad who has arrived in London. Meanwhile, next door to Lucy's house, is Dr. Seward's insane asylum where R.N. Renfield; the lawyer who had Harker's job before him, is being kept. Seward has a close friendship with Renfield, which proves interesting as the story progresses. Lucy, while sleepwalking one night is attacked by a werewolf-like creature and begins to act out. Dr. Seward then requests help from Professor Van Helsing. He preforms three blood transfusions on Lucy, but she ends up the victim of the Prince after Mina leaves for Transylvania to be with Harker.  The men (Van Helsing, Seward, Morris and Holmwood) then proceed to track and destroy Lucy once they learn she has become a vampire herself. When Mina and Harker return to London, they learn that the Count is a vampire, and Mina his original choice of victim as she is the reincarnation of Vlad's dead wife. The group try to save Mina, by hiding her in the asylum, only to cause Renfield's violent death by Vlad, and then chase him from London back to Transylvania for a final showdown.

So some of my favourite scenes are the shaving scene when Dracula breaks the mirror, the seduction of Harker in the castle by the three brides, Lucy running down the garden stairs screaming "I love him, I love him",  Van Helsing asking Seward for the knives, the love scene between Mina and Dracula, and Lucy's werewolf rape scene.

Van Helsing  - "Jack, I need for you to get for me before nightfall, a set of post-mortem knives."

Seward - "An autopsy, Lucy?"

Van Helsing- "No, no no, not exactly, I just want to cut off her head and take out her heart...Jack Jack!"

The themes in the movie, are forbidden love, lost love, reincarnation, trust, faith, mental illness, domination, sexual repression, drug abuse.

I like the parallel going on in this. We have Lucy with her three "husbands" Arthur Holmwood, Quincey Morris and Jack Seward; while Harker has the three "brides" who are actually un-namned. Both are being "seduced" in their own way.  Then, tipping the scales, we have Mina with her three love interests as well in the form of Harker, Dracula and to a level Van Helsing.

Both the movie and the book bring up the idea that by exchanging blood, a form of marriage has occurred. Arthur Holmwood is the one who mentions it in regard to himself and Lucy, unaware (in the book anyways) that Van Helsing, Morris and Seward have also "fed her" their blood by medical means. You then see the sire bond beginning to take shape between Dracula and Lucy, and later Dracula and Mina. With the emphasis on the psychic/empathic connection. (a big trait in folklore on the proof of vampires)
The movie drops a lot of the folklore, such as the fact vampires can not cross running water (the book deals with this element - no pun intended- by having low tides and running boats aground)


The book:  Johnathan Harker sets off across Europe, to meet a Count Dracula, in order to hand over the deeds to a series of properties around England. The Count, at first is pleasant but after awhile, begins to become shifty. He even goes so far as to steal Harker's clothes locking him in a high tower room. After escaping his rooms, Harker wanders the castle and discovers what at first seems like three ghosts, but are in fact vampire women. They attempt to trap him by seduction, only to have the Count threaten them for it. Harker then witnesses their true nature when he sees them devour a child. Again, he tries to escape only to find the vaults where the Count has begun collecting dirt in large boxes, and the Count himself sleeping in one. Meanwhile, back in England, Mina and Lucy are on a trip to Whitby. Lucy's mother is gravely ill and the two girls are doing their best to keep calm but it's wearing Lucy down causing her to sleepwalk. One night, she sleepwalks out to their favourite spot, while a storm has happened just the night before, causing a ship to run aground. Lucy is then attacked unawares to herself and Mina. Lucy, then starts to become sick herself and they return to London. Here, we meet the three men who are in love with Lucy, Dr. Seward, Arthur Holmood (Lord Godalming) and Quincey Morris. She quickly becomes engaged to Holmwood.  Mina is then pulled way from England by a letter from a convent in Romania, letting her know that Harker was found wandering with a brain fever. Meanwhile, Dr. Seward who is self medicating over his depression, is giving special attention to one of his lunatics, R.N. Renfield. Renfield keeps escaping his cell and running to the empty house next door. Seward ends up having to ask his friend Van Helsing to come help out with Lucy. Within two weeks, Lucy's mother dies of a heart attack, as does Holmwood's father. Lucy then dies of extreme blood loss. This causing the men to follow stories of  'the white lady' and the fact a sudden rise in children disappearing only days after Lucy's death. They soon learn she is a vampire and destroy her. Mina and Harker then return to London, to learn of all this. From the many letters and diary entries that everyone has kept in the long five months, Van Helsing pieces together what has happened and that they are looking for a real vampire. Tracking the Count down to the building next to the asylum, they begin to purify the boxes of dirt. While this is going on, Renfield is murdered in his cell, and Mina is attacked in her bedroom. The group then travel to Transylvania chasing the Count for the final showdown.


There are a lot of differences between the 1992 movie version and the original 1897 story. Such as, the movie has added much more of the idea of Vlad Tempes, where the book just touches at it. The movie added the entire reincarnation idea, the vampires have less weaknesses in the movie than they do in the book.  In the book, Renfield as far as we know, was never a lawyer or in Transylvania; in fact he doesn't meet Dracula until near the end of the book when he's killed.
The movie has Mina still in London when Lucy becomes gravely ill and meets Van Helsing just before she goes off to rescue Harker, where as the book does not.  Dracula himself, has very little scenes in the original novel, as Seward and Van Helsing are the real main characters.

The book, though is a classic gothic novel, it's also a bit of a crime story which were becoming popular at that time. A lot of the story has the group making plans over breakfast or dinner, or having the characters tracking down information/leads; which drags the story out for nearly nine months. 

Something I have always wondered about the novel, is if it was meant to be a serious book or a bit more comical? There are paragraphs where Van Helsing is babbling in what seems like complete sarcasm. Not too mention Mina's constantly commenting on "brave men...men's work" etc. You almost wonder if Stoker wrote it tongue in cheek or if he was serious about his social concerns?
The men in the novel are appalled by the fact that the women are more aggressive, voluptuous, and calmly confident when death/near death after having been in contact with the Count. At certain points, all of them physically turn away disgusted by the sight of their beloved in the "trances", when they are more "live"; and calmer when both Mina and Lucy return to a more compliant frame. 

Some of the themes in the novel are fear of foreigners/foreign lands, mental illness, equality, sexual repression, religion/superstition, status, plagues.

Okay, I have to admit, given the hundreds upon hundreds of essays and literary studies done on this novel, I don't know if anything else I have to say right now, will measure up?  So this is my end for this topic. I must admit, because I've referenced Dracula all year in comparisons/examples of the other book club selections, I feel like I've covered all I can at this point.

Doing Night Bleeds this past year has been an exercise for me in my biggest obsession/hobby/studies. I'm grateful for anyone who joined in with me, who read what I had to say, who might have picked up the movies and book reading/watching along with me and Heather (I think she's got a take on this coming? I will post a round up if/when she does)   I am still tossing around ideas for doing Night Bleeds in 2017, so if anyone is interested...

Sunday, December 18, 2016

The Nosferatu Adventures s11 p19

The Nosferatu Adventures
page 293, chapter 293

Out of Time

Our heroine entered the hotel room silently, her pale skin practically glowing in the dimmed light spilling from the bathroom. Edric poked his face out from around the bathroom door, "I don't know about you, but this night has felt like it's dragged on for at lest three months."  his eyes sparkling as he gestured towards the skirt. "You found something then." he crossed the room grabbing a handful of tie-dyed material, raising an eyebrow. "Shameful. There is a naked hippy somewhere out there right now because you..." he stopped talking actually looking at the banshee. The male hybrid tilted his head to the side, his eyebrows first relaxing then beginning to knit together in question. Nosferatu stood there, her arms crossed, her face down hazel eyes searching the floor. "You were gone an awfully long time." he whispered squinting his eyes at her, tilting his neck again as if getting a better look. His stomach seemed to drop and began sending a sick panic through him, forcing Edric to swallow hard.

"The sun will be up soon now." our heroine said without looking at him. She knew he was seeing her right then in a different light. Edric grabbed a hold of her hand locking his fingers with hers. The confusion like a stamp on his face, as he brought his free hand up to first her throat, then her chest. The tentacle like beams that glowed; that connected them at every chakra point were all but gone. The male let his fingertips trace the line from the hollow of her throat to the edge of her cleavage.

"What did you do?" his voice began to shake, causing him to close his eyes shaking his head. "It's not as bright." he tapped two fingers on her chest, just over her heart. "What did..." he made a sound that was something between a grunt and a growl. "what did you do? I need to know..." snarling Edric pulled his hand away from her chest as if it had burned him. "Tell me what did you do? I need to hear you...say it!" his voice began to rise as he fought to control his emotions. His duel nature was threatening his human side as his fangs began to break through his gums, his eyes turning the amber-grey of the wolf.


Forty-five Minutes earlier...

Our heroine slammed the door of the laundromat, her mind racing with what Vlad had just told her. Dagan, had not in fact claimed Matilda for his mate. He hadn't had the chance, as he'd been knocked out cold. She looked at the sky, breathing in the night air. Her banshee senses were in overdrive, allowing her to see the slight ring of light pooling in the sky. Light that no human would see for at lest another two hours. Their plan had failed. Without Dagan having claimed a mate, this whole process would happen again at the next full moon. Like it had countless times already in the past decade. Nosferatu was stuck in this never ending loop. This fresh hell of having to outsmart the lycanthropes every month.  She couldn't take it any more. Even giving up her soul, she was still locked into this victim role; at the mercy of a pack alpha. Just as Vlad pointed out.

"Nice night for a stroll." the voice came from the shadows just behind the dumpster. Our heroine turned to see a man leaning against the wall, his arms crossed over his chest. She was about to make a dismissing comment when she noticed the smirk on his face. A beautiful face at that. The guy was around 5'foot 10, with short cropped sandy-blonde hair, blue eyes, a sculptured nose and thin lips. He had high cheek bones that drew your eyes to the softness that seemed to radiate off him. Sniffing, our heroine laughed to herself. Bacchus. The god had changed shape once again, and seemed to be for the moment, Australian. The only thing that was the same were the blue eyes and sandy hair. The female figured even the gods had some traits they couldn't change about themselves.

"What?" she shrugged taking a step towards him.

"You're miserable. Fortunately for you, I can make it all better. Well, part anyways." he said moving towards her.

"Why?" she sniffed again, catching the hint of seagulls and trash.

"Why not?" he reached one hand out towards her snapping his fingers. "End of all this, you're mine. You want to win this imaginary fight you've created for yourself with The Seer. Who, I must point out, hasn't been heard from in days. Hint, yes he's still in this reality just not here." he pointed to the ground. "You pointed out yourself, that you can't fight him till you find away to locate him and keep him in one place."

"So you're going to track him down for me?" she sighed letting her hands slap her thighs.

"Not on your life. No, I want you to do that part yourself. It's a skill you're going to need when you're with me, leading my bacchae. But I can take away some of the distractions for you."

"Let me guess, all it will cost me is having my soul shoved back into my body?" she growled at him.

"No. That would be playing to Loki's benefit not mine. I like you better without a soul. This way you are useless to him, which means I'll collect you that much sooner." Bacchus grinned in the shadows of the parking lot lights. "Say that you want my help and I'll remove it." he nodded towards her chest. "No more sire bond."

"That will leave me vulnerable..."

"To what?" the sandy-blonde haired god shrugged. "No soul, therefore they can't claim you. What does it matter if you've got Edric hanging off your every word following you like the overgrown puppy he is; or not?"


Two Minutes ago...

Edric's fist flew into the wall, just centimeters from our heroine's ear. Leaning over her the male hybrid began breathing heavy, his neck beginning to pulsate as he stared her down. Both sets of fangs had emerged as he growled wiping the back of his left hand across his mouth, thick ropes of saliva sticking to it. "No!" the sound was garbled as he shook from what at first seemed like pure anger. The female banshee stood there waiting, expecting her fledgling to continue his assault. To rip a chunk out of her neck like Dagan always had when he lost control of things. He punched another hole in the wall, this time closer to her rib cage. "No!" he repeated in a hiss, moving first a half step from her, then back towards her again. He bent his forehead to hers; his breath hot gasps of pain. "You do not get..." he grabbed her face in one hand, plaster dust flying around their mouths as he did. "Look at me! You do not get to take everything away from me without giving something back!"  Edric ran his hand over his mouth again, his mind no longer his own, no longer clear. "This is a sham. A sham, and a conspiracy!" the male gritted his teeth together tilting his head side to side, his eyes then turning to the pure white of the banshee. "First you didn't want me as the pack alpha, fine I get it. Then you decide I'm not good enough to be your mate, bruised the ego but could handle it. Now, now you don't even want me sired to you. You want me out of your life I'm gone!"  Our heroine stood there, waiting for the rest of it. Waiting for him to do his worst.  "I'm done!" the male continued to hover his breath hitting her hair in rasps.  Neither of them moved.  They were down to just about an hour now before the sun was scheduled to rise. Once it did, Edric knew he was on his own.  The male let out one more deep breath as he turned moving towards the hotel room door. "You owe me. You owe me a pack, and a mate. You are leaving me without an identity. Half shapeshifter, half vampiric. Totally alone." he stood there his hand on the doorknob. "You not even going to deny it? Not make an excuse or defend yourself?"

"What do you want me to say?"

Edric turned flexing and unflexing his hands, his left arm twitching in frustration. "Why? Why not me?"

Nosferatu screwed up her nose, her hands at the back of her neck, playing with the edges of her short spiked hairdo. "My god. You're like a broken record. Thank god this night is finally over." she replied as she flopped down on the bed.

"That's it isn't it?" he pointed towards her. "You're waiting for it to be safe enough then you're going to race over to the Van Helsing's so you can rescue your precious Arthur. Or have you already?" Edric brought his one hand up to his chin, before shaking his head in disbelief. "You love him and now that he's a werewolf you're going to let him claim you."

"Oh, shack I totally forgot about him." she sat back up on the bed.  "He was a cute distraction when he was human. Useful even."

The male laughed. "A cute distraction?" he growled clutching his side, doubling over suddenly. The female reached out across the edge of the bed towards him. "Get away from me. Everything you touch turns to crap. Get!" he slapped her hand before falling to his knees. Edric was starting to transform again. 

"That shouldn't be happening." she looked out the window, seeing that even though the moon had moved across the horizon, it was still visible in the sky.


Tune in again for another installment of the Nosferatu Adventures starring your heroine...me(straight up story. Edric's loss and pain might be someone else's gain.)

Monday, December 12, 2016

The Nosferatu Adventures s11 p18

The Nosferatu Adventures
page 292, chapter 292

Out of Time...

The back door to the building opened easily as our heroine ungracefully broke the lock. Moving through the office towards the main area of the laundromat, she took a deep breath. The smell of wet soap tickled her nose, causing her to sneeze. The lost and found box in the corner by the office door, held nothing but missing socks and a few children's items, forcing her to move farther into the main area. Someone had left a backpack, which held a bit more promise. She'd managed to find a pair of jeans, but they didn't quite fit. Stomping her foot she swore. "I miss magick misting." Sighing, the banshee started to slam all the washers and dryers open hunting for any loose items that she might be able to wear. "A-hah!" she scored a long skirt tucked in the bottom of one of the dryers. Shaking it out, she screwed up her nose at seeing that it was tie-dyed and had large pink bunnies on it. But at this point, she really didn't have a choice. "No wonder they left it in the dryer."

"I do miss watching you get undressed. Or in this case, dressed." the voice said from the shadows. Spinning around, our heroine tucked her chin towards her chest, letting her shoulders sag. Vlad was standing in the doorway towards the back office.

"Not something I hear every day. Or ever actually." scratching at her temple the banshee moved slowly, cautiously towards him. "I assume you've come to tell me what happened after you left." she stood less than two feet from him, captivated by the way the light poured in from the far window, casting shadows around his head and shoulders. She watched as Vlad leaned one leather clad shoulder against the door frame, crossing his hands in front of him. The long leather trenchcoat Quentin had bought for him, fit Vlad like it had been made for him. The colour a deep mahogany which he favoured so much.

"I find it interesting that even though you made such a fuss about wanting to be alone with your fledgling during the moon, yet here you are. Not with him. Nor have you been." he said without a hint of anything but cold fact.

"Yeah, well just because he's my choice doesn't mean that I was his." she found herself searching the darkness for a glimpse of his eyes. But Vlad had turned in such a way the shadows were completely hiding his face. All he was, was an outline and a voice. It still sent chills through her to hear him speak.

"Aren't you? You underestimate the power you have as a woman." he spoke, his accent thick as he moved a step, beginning to circle around her. "That was always your downfall. Had you embraced it more..." Vlad pointed at her, still circling forcing her to turn with each step. 

"Huhmm." she smirked into the darkness. "It was the 1400's. All I needed to do was bathe to be a complete catch. Easily a ten. Here, I'm barely a two. Two point five with make-up, okay a solid two point nine with the furball crowd but only on nights like tonight."  Vlad's eyebrows knitted together in slight confusion as our heroine crossed her arms sighing. "So the news?"

"There is no news." Vlad replied moving towards her as if in a single breath. "Can't a husband miss his wife." it was a statement not a question, as he seemed to breathe in the actual moment causing her to feel light headed. He reached his left hand up to touch her cheek, his fingertips trailing down the edge of her jaw.

"Don't!" she heard herself saying but barely recognizing her own voice. "Don't you dare pull any of your tricks on me."

"This is not a trick. No magick being used on you. I give you my word."   Nosferatu felt herself being drawn in to him. The same way she had been back in the 1400's, when he'd convinced her to marry him. To help him lead his army, to tame the lycanthropes for him. The allegiance the packs had given to Vlad and his men, was taken by trickery. He'd known that as long as the packs were united under their combined loyalty to Nosferatu, they were bound to be loyal to whomever she'd chosen for her mate. He wasn't completely ready to give that idea up. Nor the fact she was the only female of his kind he'd come across. Sadness crossed his features as he realized that she didn't feel the same way anymore towards him. In the time they had been apart, our heroine had stopped thinking of him as an idol. Had stopped looking at him with the admiration and awe she'd been filled with on the first moment they'd met. Now, she gazed at him with empty eyes. "You can't beat him." he said softly. "Not alone." he moved from her just enough turning sharply on his heels, his one hand in the air the other behind his back. "Your alliance is divided." walking slowly around the room, he listened to the empty echo of their breathing. Noting just how tight our heroine's was and timing his own to match. "The first time we met, you informed me that you couldn't love me. That your heart belonged to someone else. More than one actually. You were in love with Reuben, and Dagan, and Loki if I'm not mistaken. But you were bound to them, just like you were bound to Rolf and Finn, and ..." he rolled his wrist letting his sentence fall into silence. Turning back to face her, Vlad had let his eyes turn to the pure white of the banshee. "To your pack. To those mutts who took you in. Stole you from the glory you were meant to be part of." she was about to protest but he held his hand up silencing her with the mere gesture. "I'm not finished." his eyebrows knitted together once again as he raised his chin collecting his thoughts, and it seemed all the air in the room. "It's one thing to let your heart be divided to those you love. It's another for your mind to be too. You'll never be able to beat The Seer, if your mind is not your own. Giving up your werewolf nature was smart. Draws the line in the sand as far as your loyalty goes. But your inability to choose a mate...it's left you weak. You're still thinking like one of them. Acting like it. Still waiting around for a pack alpha to save the day. You said yourself, this isn't a wolf thing, it's a vampire thing. Wouldn't it make more sense to have an ally who knows you? Who's as smart and strong as you are!" he slammed his palm on one of the dryers. "Where is the woman; the leader of armies I married? Cause you, you're nothing but a weak child waiting to be rescued by a man!"

"She died in a well!" our heroine screamed at him. Taking a step closer to the vampire, she let her fangs cut through her top gums. "That woman was captured and imprisoned for four years!" 

"It should have made you stronger, not weaker." his voice never rose from a hushed whisper. "You can't continue to live one foot in their world and one in ours. You are no longer bound to them. You're bound to no one! You are a smart woman, use your brain. Not your emotions." his brown eyes shimmered in the dim light, emotionless. "Leave them. You left them once, you can leave them again." he sighed, his mouth becoming a thin line as he straightened, his shoulders back slightly, chest out. "You don't love this one. Tell me I'm wrong."  Vlad watched as our heroine stood there, her palms flat on the white machine, clumps of laundry soap near the lid's opening teasing her fingertips, as they both unconsciously counted the grains.

"I need to get back to him. I don't need him coming looking for me, putting everyone else in danger." she moved from the dark haired male. "With Dagan having claimed Matilda, it just makes more sense..."

"Dagan never claimed Matilda. Dagan was knocked out before we left here."

Our heroine's eyes went wide as she raced out of the building and back to the hotel room, leaving Vlad standing in the darkness.


Tune in again for another installment of the Nosferatu Adventures starring your heroine...me(straight up story. Vlad is planning something, the question is what?)

Tuesday, December 6, 2016

CoffeeTalk Dec 6th 2016

Spudguns! I hope you've got your largest coffee mug this morning, cause I've got some randomness to dish.

First, the blog anniversary was back on December 3rd. Which means, this is the official first post of Blog Year 6!  My little batwing is growing up so fast...which means that I failed the one a day movie challenge for year 5.  It also means I do not have a solid plan for year 6. I think it is going to be a "random" year. But randomness is always good, cause it clears the head, and allows some creativity to sprout.

Second, Night Bleeds...we're capping off the year with Dracula. The original book and the 1992 movie version Bram Stoker's Dracula starring Gary Oldman. Deadline for that is the last Sunday of the month, which is Dec 25th. You read the book, watch the movie and if you are inspired by either/both to cook/bake/craft anything, you blog about it. Link back to the Night Bleeds page or the day of -my post. This is the official announcement post. You must have a blog to join in.

Third, I have instagram now. (here ) I'm already following a couple of the Foodn'Flix members...

Fourth, my Nosferatu Adventures; the once a week format is something I'll stick to with it.  Can you believe I've been writing that serial now for almost four years! It started off as a filler post back in year two, and look where it's mutated to. Remember, you are what you eat.  

Fifth; the What that Movie Inspired Me to Do, round of posts. Everybody's favourites.

To recap, we've got one more Night Bleeds combo this month, the mini-challenges and the never ending soap opera will continue, I have failed my blog readers (she says in her best Arrow voice) and I pictures of trees.

and now...coffee.