Guest Post

* by Cera Dubois, author of "A Hunter's Angel" - Bewitching Book Blog Torus

Thank you so much for having me today.

I’d like to share the fifth installment of my series of short stories, entitled The Vampire Encounters. As I hop around the internet these next few weeks, I’ll be sharing a part of each story. The story has four parts, with each part broken into two—except the last, it’s broken up into three sections. So, come follow me, as I interview (Ann Rice style) the four vampires from A Hunter’s Angel...

Although all of them could be read separately, if you would like to read them all I will also be putting them on my website. Or, if you’d like to follow along, go to http://ceradubois.wordpress.com/a-hunters-angel-the-book-tour/ for the link to the other parts.

The Vampire Encounters, Part 1—Lucas Pomeroy

After narrowly escaping Shane, I really wasn’t sure I ever wanted to interview another vampire, but I was in way too deep to stop now. I had more questions than answers, and the only way to get them was to pull out the card Ian had given me.

I stared at the delicate script. Who would have thought vampires used business cards?

Taking a lungful of the cool October air, I headed into the office building I agreed to meet the master vampire. I’d called him three days ago, and he happily agreed to meet with me.

Would it have been too much to wish I’d never stumbled into this world?

I rounded the corner like a woman stepping up to the electric chair and stopped dead in my tracks at the sight of the man—er—vampire in the doorway. Built like a warrior, he was dressed in all black and filled the space. His long hair was the color of mahogany and tied at his nape. His eyes were a black-brown and set in a face more rugged than handsome. He smiled, flashing white teeth against a pale, sharp-angled face and dark beard.

“Ms duBois, it’s a pleasure to meet you.”

I swallowed and took the hand he held out. But instead of shaking my hand, he bent over it in an old fashioned way. I shivered at the contact. Damn, I could feel the power in him. This was one dude I would never want to mess with. “Ah… I’m glad to meet you, too, Master Pomeroy.”

He grinned and gestured into the room. “Shall we get started then?”

I nodded but didn’t move.

“I will not harm you, child. You do know that, don’t you? I heard about your misfortune with Shane.”

“I’m sorry.” I forced a smile and demanded my feet to move into the room. If I could just stop thinking about him being a master vampire, I might be able to get through with this interview without losing my mind. “I know you aren’t like that. I know you don’t kill humans, but, well quite frankly, you all spook the hell out of me a little—actually a lot.”

He laughed and the rich, resonant sound somehow calmed my ragged nerves—if only a little.

Pomeroy motioned for me to sit at the desk. After I adjusted the ancient tape recorder and flipped to a clean page in my notebook, I cleared my throat and resigned to get this over with.

“Today, I’m meeting with master vampire, Lucas Pomeroy,” I said into the recorder and looked up at the vampire.

He sat on the chocolate-colored leather couch in front of the desk. Totally relaxed, he stretched his arm out over the top and watched me with ageless eyes. “What do you want to know?”

“Tell me about yourself. How old, where you were born, and when were you changed?”

“I was born Lucius Pomponius in the Year of Our Lord, 323 in Rome. Constantine the Great was Emperor, and it was a volatile time in Christian history. I was turned in 362.  Physically, I’m thirty-nine. I’ve been a vampire for one-thousand-six-hundred-fifty years.”

I stopped writing and looked up, sitting forward, leaning over my arms. I forgot my nervousness. I’d been a student of history, and finally realized exactly what I had before me. This man was all of the modern epoch personified. From the Roman Empire through the Dark Ages, the Renaissance, the Industrial Revolution to modern days. Lucas Pomeroy had seen it all…Had lived it all!

With a little shake, I got myself focused on what I wanted to know about his turn. “You were a monk, weren’t you? That had to be a tough time to be a Christian.”

He laughed and leaned forward over his legs. “Yes, the times were tough, but faith was easier, I think. Everything didn’t have to be explained by science. But not everything can be explained by human science. Or else I wouldn’t be here. I would have become food for the worms a long time ago if there weren’t a heaven—and a hell. Angels and demons.”

“They say you were destined to be a saint.”

He shrugged powerful shoulders under the leather trench coat he hadn’t removed. “Who knows such things but God? But I did try to serve the poor, I believed in God’s words, and strived to teach his will. But me, a saint? I highly doubt it. After all, I was turned into a vampire. Doesn’t sound like saint material to me.”

I considered what Grace, Ian and even what the scary Shane had told me. Lucas stood and moved slowly around the room. I was so caught up in watching his graceful movements, several moments passed by.

He looked over his shoulder at me and smiled. “You are wondering about what the others have said about me, aren’t you?”

I shivered with the creepy feeling he’d just read my mind.

He lifted an eyebrow and settled back onto the couch again. “You are wondering why I created the code.”

“Yes.”

“I think part of the reason comes from my vow, my calling, to serve man… And God.”

“You believe vampires’ souls can be saved. Is that not correct?”

He shrugged and stroked his beard. “I believe we can choose our destiny as mortals can.”

I realized he wasn’t going to say more on the matter. After I cleared my throat, I looked back at my notes. “What can you tell me how vampires came about?”

He seemed to consider his answer for a moment. “First, you must realize most of the popular myths are dead wrong. About the only thing they have gotten right is vampires first came out of Egypt and that we are undead—not alive, but not dead.”

***

To find out more about A Hunter’s Angel check out my website (http://ceradubois.wordpress.com/a-hunters-angel-the-book-tour/) for a schedule of my blog stops during the book tour. I will be presenting a series of short stories called The Vampire Encounters. Follow me as I interview Ian McHenry, Master Vampire Lucas Pomeroy, Vivian van Dyke Pomeroy, and have a scary run-in with Shane Chamberlain. Hope to see you along the way.

Contest:

Please leave a comment and your email address to be eligible. (Sorry, only USA and Canada residents are eligible for any prize that needs to be mailed. Non-residents and residents of USA are eligible for free PDF copy.)

*One Lucky Poster will win either a custom-made pair of angel wing earrings, charm bracelet, or necklace (check out my website for photos).

*Two others will get a PDF copy of Bloodwine. (for info on this short story check out my website)

*1^st Stalker Prize: Every Poster will be entered into a drawing for a chance at a $5 gift certificate from The Wild Rose Press (four to be given away)—drawing to happen on September 1.

*2^nd Stalker Prize: Every Poster will also be entered into a drawing of a $25 gift card from either Amazon or Barnes and Noble (winner’s choice)—drawing to happen on September 1.

Blurb for A Hunter’s Angel:

The serial killer stalking Clayton, Pennsylvania, isn’t all that has Chief of Police Grace Wallace worried. For a year, she’s tried to forget Special Agent Ian McHenry and now he’s the expert the FBI sent to catch the killer. She can’t stay away from him, but something primal is telling her to run to save much more than just her heart. Despite the strict code of ethics Ian vowed to follow as a vampire hunter, he craves Grace’s blood above all others. If he chooses to stay, Ian risks losing his chance at divine forgiveness. But if he leaves Grace unprotected from the evil he’s hunted for over a century, he loses more than just his soul…

Bio:

Cera duBois has a strong belief in never giving up on your dreams…

Although Cera was unable to read due to dyslexia and a learning disability until she was in the fourth grade, she always had a story to tell. She wrote her first novel in eleventh grade when she had to keep a journal for her academic English class. Since her life was far from exciting growing up as a farm girl in West Central Pennsylvania, she decided to rely on her imagination to give her something to write about. Over the course of the school year, she wrote a tangled romance set in the Deep South during the Civil War.  Becoming an author was her ultimate dream. Despite holding a BS in secondary social studies education from Penn State University, she currently works full-time as a medical secretary. A mother of a teenage son and pre-teen daughter, she lives near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, with her husband of nearly 20 years. If she isn’t sitting in a quiet corner with her laptop, warm days will find her in the English garden surrounding her house. Cera loves to read and is interested in history, romance, science fiction and the paranormal. She also writes contemporary Westerns under her real name of Sara Walter Ellwood.

Website Links:

Website: http://www.ceradubois.com

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/sarawalterellwood.ceradubois/

Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/sara_w_ellwood

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Buy Links:

The Wild Rose Press:

http://www.thewildrosepress.com/index.php?main_page=index&manufacturers_id=980

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Ddigital-text&field-keywords=cera+dubois

Excerpt:

“I’m in love with the man inside the vampire.” Grace moved her hand to thread through his silky hair. When she rested the other over his heart, a soft sigh escaped his lips. Underneath her palm, the slow beat was barely noticeable.

His thumb grazed her cheekbone and slowly trailed down to the hollow of her throat. Her breathing quickened at the zinging anticipation as he caressed the pulse point where he’d claimed to have taken blood from her. He glanced at the spot with eyes as haunted as he sounded. “I’m not a man.”

“But you were once.”

He met her gaze again. “Yes, once.”

His fingers lingered over her pulse. Her heart raced under his touch. She tilted her neck as if his touch awakened some base instinct to offer the sacrifice. “Do you still want my blood?”

Ian stepped away and locked his wide-eyed gaze onto hers. At last, he rasped, “No, I don’t want your blood. Oh, God, I still crave it. You have the sweetest I’ve ever had, but I will never hurt you again.”

She didn’t know what possessed her to do so, but she whispered, “You can take...some of it.”

He closed his eyes, and when he opened them, he acidly said, “No, Grace. I can never taste your blood again. It would kill you.”

Fear of what she’d wanted him to do tumbled through her. She stepped away, and for a moment, she considered telling him to leave. How did she know any of this was real? She couldn’t imagine she’d ever freely offer a vampire her blood. Did she really believe him? He was sucking her into his insanity. But if this was true and he could make people do things against their will, maybe he could control her feelings.

“Maybe I should go?” Ian backed away another step and headed toward the counter where he’d left his dagger. He turned back to her with the sheath in his hand. Her heart shattered with the knowledge that, if he walked out the front door, she’d never see him again. “Goodbye, my sweet angel.”

His jagged murmur ripped at her soul as his eyes took on a blazing intensity and snared hers. She felt a pressure in her mind, and she knew what he intended to do. He wanted to erase her memories of him.

No!