A few images from my recent trip to Orange Beach, AL. I’m like Amy. I sooo want to move here!
A piece of driftwood I discovered on the beach. To me it looks like a hand with a bracelet. I may have to use this one as cover art for something one day.
A nearby sandcastle:
A few of the condos available for rent:
And some local culture:
While digging around some old photos on my pc today, I came across a few that were of some very special online friends. I miss chatting with them dearly, and often wonder what has become of them.
Crimmy aka Gnash Oscurita was the one who brought me into the whole RP world. It is from this world that most of my stories have come. Crimmy use to call me his “imagination,” oftentimes asking me to create the biographies and back stories for his RP characters. It is actually our two characters of LeeLee and Crimson from which the 3rd novel of the BEFORE THE SUN RISES series was taken. We entered the game as a brother/sister team. I wrote the back story for the characters and always thought the tragic story of LeeLee and Crimson’s embracement was a tale that needed to be told. It was from this early idea that Blood’s Embrace was born.
Thinking of LeeLee reminds me of another very dear friend who played in one of the online RP games. LeeLee was bound to Akito, The Dark Flame, in one of the games. I miss Akito something fierce at times. He was such a wonderful young man, funny and bright.
One thing I loved about the RP world was that your real-world age had no bearing on the game play. I am more than a decade older than Akito, but we got along beautifully. I think I may have spoiled him a bit, feeling incredibly protective of him. I think maybe he liked the fact that I babied him so much. Either way, I miss him so much sometimes, like I’ve lost one of my own kids. Which reminds me that my own nest of children will be emptying sooner than I realize.
It is because of my friendship with Crimson and Akito that I have decided to dedicate the 3rd novel in the BEFORE THE SUN RISES series to these two friends. It is my hope that they may someday stumble across Blood’s Embrace and realize that Nicola aka Lorian Emerald “LeeLee” Leigh still thinks of them and has many fond memories of our days spent chatting and creating storylines untold to mere mortals. I hope my boys are doing well, and are happy, and will remember the days spent with LeeLee with a smile on their face.
XOXO
Nicola
a sneak peek of
The Red Fang
a BEFORE THE SUN RISES novel
Chapter 1: … “Im protecting my household.” …
“Hey! Hey! Damnit, I said stop!” Her voice struggled to be heard above the hoots and hollers of the patrons.
The five foot tall red-head struggled to weave her way through the crowd, pushing past those who had gathered in an attempt to get a better view of the commotion. She stopped once she got to the scene of the disturbance.
Standing in amongst the masses was her ex-boyfriend, his nose bleeding all over the lower portion of his face. His opponent, the owner of the nightclub, stood off to the side without a single hair out of place on his beautiful head.
Seeing Eric standing in the middle of the dance floor caused the young woman’s blood to boil. Their relationship had been strained at best when they were dating. These days about all she felt for him was contempt. He was the last person she had expected to be fighting in the club. He was also the last person she felt like dealing with right now.
“My office, now!” She hissed at him between clenched teeth. She turned sharply on her heel, making a super-human effort to keep her temper in check as she walked. Once she reached her office, she turned and grabbed hold of the door, slamming it with such ferocity that the covered windows rattled in their frames. Eric had to practically dive into the room, the corner of the door barely missing his ankle. She ignored the fact that Requiem had materialized in the chair behind her desk. Instead, she turned her attention to Eric.
“What the hell are you doing here?” Her words were very abrupt, biting off the end of every syllable as she spoke. “I thought I told you to never show your face in this club again! And,” she continued without even giving him a chance to answer, “you pick a fight with the owner of this establishment of all people! What were you thinking? And exactly what did you think you were gonna do to a vampire any way? Bore him to death?”
Requiem let out a little chuckle from where he sat behind the desk. The sound reminded the young woman that Eric was not the only one to blame for this whole fiasco.
“And you!” She turned to look at the black headed man sitting so composed in her chair. “Why on earth would you openly fight with a human in your own club? Now everyone in this place is gonna know that the owner is a freaking bloodsucker. By morning everyone in the whole damn town is gonna know it!”
Ethereal stood with her hands on her hips as she waited for Requiem to answer. “Oh, please, my love. You worry too much.” The vampire made a dismissive gesture with his hand. “I do not care if they know. I have plenty of security. It’s nothing to worry about.”
Ethereal grunted in her frustration. She flopped down into a nearby chair, wondering for perhaps the millionth time why the six foot tall vampire sitting behind her desk insisted that he was invincible. “For the love of my soul, Requiem, you are the oldest vampire in the entire southern U.S.! Your blood would be worth millions on the black market.”
She sighed, her right hand moving to rub at the pain that was gathering in her temples. “The wrong people find out who you are and you may very well discover yourself strapped to a cold metal table.”
Requiem’s luminous blue eyes shone out from a face that not even six hundred years had managed to make pale. A slow smile spread across his full lips as he asked, “Is that a proposition, Ethereal, my dear?”
She let out a small screech as she picked up a pen from her desk and hurled it at his head.
Requiem laughed quietly. He dodged the pen easily, his movements so quick that the object appeared to go right through his body. He tilted his head to the side and regarded her with eyes that were twinkling in the lamplight. His dreadlocks barely budged with the motion.
Ethereal hated it when he wore his hair like that. He had such beautiful, silky black hair. But more often than not he would twist the shiny strands up, powder them down and leave them that way for years at a time. In all actuality, she had only seen his hair down once. That had been eight years ago when she had first met him.
The vampire sitting at the desk folded his hands together and regarded the small half-fey with interest. “Relax, my love. Everyone knows that draining vampires is illegal now. And as I said, I have plenty of security.”
He rose up from his seat and slid around the desk past her. He allowed his arm to caress hers lightly as he leaned in to whisper, “Besides, no one gets close to me unless I let them.”
His glowing blue eyes bore into hers as he turned away, walking casually towards the door before he stopped to glance at Eric. “I do wonder, though, whatever was so important that you thought you just had to speak to Ethereal.”
The vampire’s words reminded her that she didn’t know what had actually caused the fight between the two men. She turned her sapphire blue eyes to Eric, looking at him curiously. “Speak to me? About what?” She tilted her head to the side to ask, “What was so important that you couldn’t wait two measly hours until my shift ended?”
Both Requiem and Ethereal watched Eric sigh and run his fingers through his hair. Ethereal recognized the gesture as his classic ‘I’m frustrated’ move. His face turned serious. “I have news, and it’s not good. What I am about to say concerns all your little freak-show buddies of this town.”
She couldn’t see his face, but Ethereal knew that Requiem had just rolled his eyes towards the ceiling. She thought his eye-rolling was probably less about the derogatory slang that Eric was so fond of using in Requiem’s presence and more about Eric thinking he had news that had not already reached the oldest vampire of Shadow Cove.
Requiem turned back around and leaned against the door. He folded his arms across his chest as he said, “Okay, I’ll bite, if you’ll pardon the pun. What did you hear that was so damned important that my immortal life depends upon it?”
Eric glanced at the vampire before turning his attention back to the fiery little red head sitting opposite him. “Something, or rather someone, has been targeting the local packs. It’s been on the news about pack members going missing and being killed and so forth. Do you remember hearing any of the reports?”
She nodded her head. She had heard all about it. The packs’ members had been picked off a few at a time over the past year or so, but no one really thought much of it. Everyone just assumed it was a few radical humans who did not like living in the same area as werewolves and other lycanthropes. But she didn’t see what any of that had to do with her, or Requiem, for that matter.
“What they’ve been announcing on the news is only part of the story. Two of the five local packs have been attacked. One of those packs lost every single last one of their members. The other three have seen many of their packmates killed off over the past few months. There’s talk that the smallest two are gathering up what few of their members are left and going to the werewolf Compound. They own all that land on the outside of town. Their compound is built to withstand attacks, so they have asked the Alpha for refuge.”
Ethereal listened in fascination. Even Requiem seemed interested in Eric’s little story. “Okay, so the packs are being picked off.” Ethereal shrugged one delicate shoulder. “They figured this would happen once the vampires came out. We all knew there would be those who did not exactly relish the thought that the beasts of their nightmares were actually real. So what makes you think this is nothing more than a few radical humans out to dish out their own form of justice? I mean, why would you think that Requiem would be in danger?”
Eric raked his hands through his hair in frustration. “It’s not just the packs. There has been talk that Stealth’s mansion came under attack too. So I took a ride to have a look for myself. His mansion has been leveled to the ground. There’s nothing left! And get this, at every single attack there have been these military guys in camouflage fatigues carrying enough fire power for a third world war. All of them had the word SHiELD written on their vests.”
Eric’s already tortured green eyes took on a new look of worry. “But that’s not the strange part. Some of the refugees are telling tales, strange tales, of humans who turn into these half-werewolf hybrid-looking things. And then there are those who have super strength and speed, like that of a vampire. Only they are not vampires or werewolves or human. No one really knows what they are.”
Requiem pushed himself from the door to cross over to the desk. “Are you sure of this?”
Eric nodded. “Yeah, I, um, use to date one of the pack members.” Eric ducked his head in embarrassment. The truth was that he had cheated on Ethereal with Starr. And this was the source of their breakup a few months ago.
“I came across her in town last Tuesday. She said their compound is seeing refugees nearly every day now. It’s gotten so bad that Joshua sent her and a few others out to the other packs for search and rescue.”
Ethereal noticed Eric’s discomfort and was happy to see that he was showing remorse for the first time since their very violent, very public breakup. But she decided to ignore it for the moment. “So the lycans of this city are being attacked, and apparently some of the vampires as well. I still don’t understand why you thought this concerned me. Why tell me about it? I would think that you should have taken this directly to Requiem. After all, he is the Master Vampire of Shadow Cove.”
To her surprise, Eric jumped up from his chair, taking the two steps that separated them in one long leap. He grabbed hold of her arms, snatching her up from the chair and giving her a little shake. “Don’t you get it, Ethereal? All the supernatural beings of this region are being attacked. All of them! This group, this SHiELD as it calls itself, it’s not just picking off members of packs. It’s out to destroy every last supernatural being that it can find. You are in just as much danger as they are.”
He let go of her and turned his attention back to Requiem. “I’ve heard that they are also killing any humans that they think have had any contact with the packs or vampires. Familiars, donors, companions, it doesn’t matter to them.”
He looked terrified. Ethereal wondered if he was scared for her life, for his, or for that slutty werewolf that he had been screwing behind her back. “With this club being what it is, it’s just a matter of time before it comes under attack as well.”
Requiem picked up the phone and began to dial, saying, “Yes, I understand the implications.” He held up his hand as the party on the other end of the line picked up.
“This is Requiem, Master Vampire of Shadow Cove, requesting an immediate council with the Alpha of your pack. Tell Joshua it is in regards to this SHiELD I have heard so much about.”
Wow, full out formality, Ethereal thought to herself. Things really must be serious for Requiem to start throwing around titles.
She still didn’t really understand how the hierarchy of the vampire social infrastructure worked. She knew Requiem was considered a Master Vampire because he was the oldest in the region. The next step down was a Prince, and from there it followed along the lines of the royalty titles in England. It had something to do with the age of the vampire in the region.
The funny thing was that the High Council was so old-school that only male vampires were recognized. The only way a female vampire got any ranking was to become ‘bound’ (the vampire equivalent to being married) to a male holding the title.
Requiem paused as the person on the other end spoke. “Yes, I will also be bringing in my advisors and immediate household members. That would be fine. Give my thanks to Joshua.”
The vampire hung up the phone and turned his attentions to the two humans sitting in front of the desk. “Eric, I want you to take Ethereal to her apartment and help her pack. Take Jaxon with you. I want the two of you back here in one hour, understand?”
Eric nodded his head as he took Ethereal’s arm and began to steer her towards the door. “Hey, wait just a damn minute!” She dug her heels into the carpet in an effort to stop Eric. “I am not going anywhere with Eric and I sure as hell am not moving out of my apartment.”
Eric ignored her attempts to twist out of his grip. He just kept dragging her along beside him as he opened the door. In desperation she grabbed hold of the door frame and held on for dear life, beseeching the vampire inside her office as best as she could. “Requiem! Do something!”
Requiem looked up at her with those blue eyes of his glowing brightly in his face. “I am doing something, Ethy. I’m protecting my household.”
© 2007 Nicola C. Matthews
All Rights Reserved
The Red Fang
a BEFORE THE SUN RISES novel
by Nicola C. Matthews
Copyright 2007 N. C. Matthews
All Rights Reserved
Prologue:
Ashton Jones was a serial killer. Until he was recruited by SHiELD, he had only had the pleasure of torturing humans. Now he had been given the very unique opportunity to not only torture but hopefully kill a vampire. He was finding the entire experience very much to his liking.
The young female vampire strapped to the table only looked young. Or at least, she used to look young. She had been starved of blood for nearly a month now. Had she not been feeding on a regular basis, Ashton’s systematic starvation of the vampire would not have worked. However, the vampire known as Jasmine might have been nearing eighty years a vampire, but she was still feeding off the blood of the living nearly every day.
The starvation made the vampire weaker both physically and mentally, but it also made them very dangerous. Since her body was used to receiving fresh blood on a regular basis, the blood lust had taken hold of her mind about two weeks into Ashton’s “session” with her.
Starvation was a great tool to use when interrogating a vampire, but one had to be careful. Ashton was forced to crank up his torture of the vampire a few notches in order to drag her mind back from the frenzy it was staying in due to the starvation tactic. Now the female’s bones had been broken so many times that they were no longer healing properly, thanks in part to the lack of fresh blood, and also simply because the bones had been broken so many times.
This information in itself was useful to the agency, especially since Ashton had been hired specifically to extract as much information out of the vampire as possible. The agency had already conducted numerous experiments on the vampire and werewolf anatomy. What they wanted now was the information that their experimentation could not tell them.
Jasmine’s sunken brown eyes followed Ashton as he moved towards the table that held the small bag of human blood. She tried to lick her cracked lips, but her mouth had stopped producing saliva a few days ago. The only thing that gave her any relief now was the few teaspoons of blood that Ashton gave her from time to time, either as a reward for giving him the information he wanted or as a way to keep the blood lust from taking over her mind so completely.
“Please, Ashton, I’m begging you. Just end it! I’ve told you everything that I know. Please …. Please …. kill me already. I simply cannot bear it any longer!”
Ashton smiled, although his back was turned to the vampire so she couldn’t see the cruelty stamped on his handsome face. “I have no intentions of killing you, Jasmine,” he said quietly.
The vampire let out a high pitched wail. “What more do you want from me?” she screamed, thrashing around on the table in another attempt to get loose of the restraints. “I don’t know anything more than what I have already said!”
She began crying again, the sobs almost painful to Ashton’s ears. The agency thought that the sound was some type of warning system that the vampires could use to alert each other of danger. It was also a weapon of sorts, as the high-pitched frequency could really hurt the human ear if it were used just right.
“The werewolves don’t carry viruses. The scientists have already told the world this. They don’t become werewolves or any animal by being bitten. That’s just in the movies.” She continued to pull at the metal restraints, her frightened eyes darting around the room as she talked.
“It’s just like the scientists say, it’s a gene that some of them carry that gets switched on at some point in their lives. I don’t know how it works. I just know that once the gene is activated the person is no longer susceptible to any type of disease.”
Jasmine looked up at Ashton, the terror growing in her eyes as she saw the bone saw he carried in his hand. “The human scientists already know everything that I know about werewolves, and you people know more than the scientists do!”
Ashton pushed the button on the bone saw a few times, the high-pitched buzz filling the room. Jasmine cringed at the sound and began whimpering.
“What about the vampires?” he asked.
She shook her head violently. “I already told you!” she screamed.
Ashton turned the saw on again. Jasmine began rattling off the same information she had already told him a few dozen times before. “You don’t become a vampire by being bitten, either! We don’t know it works.”
The small female vampire pulled her arms against the restraints, the metal digging into her flesh so deep that the bones were close to breaking. She was so desperate to escape that she was causing almost as much damage to her body as Ashton had. Almost.
“If it’s not a virus, then how do you go about making new vampires?” He asked, playing with the button on the saw.
“Whoever is being embraced has to be drained of blood. They have to be nearly dead for the transformation to work. Once the human is almost dead, you have to feed them the sire’s blood.” She kept pulling at the restraints, the bones beginning to fracture under the strain. The vampire did not seem to notice. “But they have to be almost dead! If they are not nearing death then it won’t work.”
“Tell me more about the blood, Jasmine,” he whispered softly, reaching down to grasp her right arm in his hand. He yanked the arm upwards suddenly, snapping the bone. “Be still, or you’ll break the other one.”
The vampire’s sunken eyes were huge in her pale face, the pupils dilated so much that there was barely any white visible in them at all. She only groaned when the bone of her arm broke, her fear so great that she could concentrate on little else.
Her breathing was heavy and erratic as she continued to tell Ashton the same things that had now been repeated a hundred times. “I don’t know why our blood makes a regular human stronger when they drink it!” She began shaking her head back and forth on the table as Ashton came closer with the saw, flicking the button on and off as the vampire began to shake uncontrollably on the table.
“I don’t know who discovered the properties of our blood. I don’t know who began selling it as a designer drug. I don’t know Ashton, I swear I don’t! If I knew I would tell you. My sire abandoned me right after I was embraced. He left me to fend for myself! If I knew of an older vampire who knew these things I would tell you! I swear it, Ashton! PLEASE DON’T!”
Jasmine’s screams echoed off the white tiled walls as Ashton turned the saw on and placed it against her naked abdomen.
“Last chance to tell me something useful,” he said happily.
“I don’t know anything else!” she shrieked.
Ashton only smiled, the sound of the vampire’s screams eventually being drowned out by the droning of the saw blade as the bits of flesh and blood spattered Ashton’s face and hands. God, how he loved his job.
Welcome to the Underground Lair of the Paranormal Princess 