Charlain Harris' Dead Ever After... and Sabrina Strong Series

Hello, my pretties. I've just returned from an 8-day trip to the southwest. A nice trip but too damn short. Taos was super busy! We saw some amazing views when we took a circle drive out of there on our second day.

While I had to be passenger in the truck, while my husband did the driving, I brought along the very last book in the Sookie Stackhouse series, "Dead Ever After". I had been wanting to get this book, the moment I heard this was the last of the series. (Boo-hoo! )^; ) So, finally I bought it for something to do while we drove through boring states--states we have been through a couple dozen times in the past 28 years.

I'm more than half-way done with it, and I'm enjoying the story, as always. Never a boring read, something is always happening to Sookie. Arline, who once worked in the bar with Sookie and became a hater, is found dead in the dumpster at Merlots, and Sookie is charged with the murder--all be it a flimsy charge indeed. All her friends come out in support of her, and she is bailed out by her former boyfriend, Erik. Also, at least two people are trying to kill her. One nearly does, and she winds up with a bullet wound in the shoulder (or the arm, I can't remember now). I'm not finished with the book, so please don't ruin the ending by telling me about it. 

I now have all 13 books in the Sookie Stackhous series. I'll probably read them all again, from the beginning some day. That's what I like about a series, if you are into the characters, and the story, you get lost in a series, if the author has done a good job. Harris has done a very good job.

Enough of that, now onto my series... ehem.

I remember starting out with my Sabrina Strong series. I had only planned on three books, in the very beginning. But then, after the second one, I knew I had more in me than three. However, I wondered how many books I'd be able to write. Each time I finished one, I didn't think I had another one in me--well, another one began forming in my head before long. Scenes between characters played out like little motion pictures and I had to sit and write them out before the whole thing was gone.

I'm currently on #8 book (Six Shades of Hell), and I'm working on some of the edits for the 5th one (Vampire Crescendo). Meanwhile the fourth book, Vampire Caprice, is now available as an eBook on both Amazon and Smashwords.

While Sookie Stackhouse was a bartender with telepathic abilities, Sabrina Strong (heroine in my books) is a touch clairvoyant. Eventually, Sabrina's abilities become more magical. She receives a mystical ring that can not only thwart vampire thrall, but she can pick up a vampire and slam him into the wall--without touching him/her. Something she would need down the road because, let's face it, the vampire world is a very dangerous place. She comes to understand that she is the sibyl, an ancient vampire huntress. And she has been given the Dagger of Delphi, which basically does the work for her.

Eventually, Sabrina also learns to travel ley lines. [Ley lines are lines linking the holy places and sites of antiquity--but more than that, they may also exist beyond the Earth, in outer space, and it's thought by some scientists that humans could tap them and travel to other worlds]. Sabrina does learn to tap leys and she does go into another world in Vampire Nocturne. Here she finds that vampires rule and the original Drakulya (the Impaler), rules as king. This is what I like to refer to as my Steampunk novel.

In a way, my writing is similar to Charlaine Harris'. It's on the same level, but I've incorporated a little more horror into my novels. And, Sabrina works for a vampire magnate, Bjorn Tremayne. But eventually marries a master rogue, Vasyl, (who has been with her since she was a child, but she didn't know it). Introduces himself eventually in first and second books--he is her dream vampire. Nevertheless, Sabrina finds it hard to resist Tremayne when he corners her a couple of times in the above book, Vampire Caprice. And I hope I don't give too much away, but when I worked on edits for that book, I realized there is a lot of heavy breathing going on with Sabrina enjoying a lot of male attentions. Not that the other books lack this, but as a heads-up, these are not your teenager's romance books.

If you've been hunting for a good read, and would like to check out my series, I've reduced the price on both the first and second ebooks to $0.99. I've decided to do this in honor of my 60th birthday, this month. So, these two books will be on sale up through August 31st.

Here are the links, if you wish to check them out:
Vampire Ascending                                          Vampire's Trill

Sabrina Strong on Killing Demons

Hi. My name is Sabrina Strong, I'm a touch clairvoyant, and that's not all. I'm now a sibyl. My job? I'm supposed to take out demons, vampires and off-spring of Nephilim. But you know, it's a bit hard when your friends are vampires. Well, not all my friends are vampires, of course. And a few vampires have become my enemies. And one certain off-spring of of Nephilim is trying to hit  on me. But I'm here to talk about demons and vampires today.

No. You won't find me carrying a wooden stake and punching it into a vampire's heart, and then they turn to dust. Please. I think that's been over done, for one thing. For another, it's just so messy. And plus--how the hell do you find the right place to puncture the chest to get to the heart when the vampire might not want to sit still for that?

Nope. I got something better, anyway. I happen to have the only thing that kills on it's own and it's made of pure silver. It's called the Dagger of Delphi. It's ancient--at least 2,000 years old, wielded by one of the first sibyls. It will kill a demon right now. It will also kill any off-spring of Nephilim. And really when you get down to tacks, if anything is stabbed in the heart you've pretty much got a funeral to go to. Right?

But vampires are a bit tricky. They are the hardest buggers to kill. You see, the dagger won't kill them right away. It poisons them from the inside out--so I've been told--and it's a slow death for the vampire. So, if I stab a vampire with this dagger of mine--or if it does it for me (because it has a mind of its own), the vampire lives long enough to send his minions after me. Not fun.

But demons, yeah, that's another thing entirely. They die right away. In this latest book, however, I have no idea what these "Dreadfuls" are who stand in the corner of a room, making the person they're hovering over until they become very ill, bed-ridden and die. You see, I'm on a different planet in Vampire Nocturne. And the vampires here are at least half human. Well, I don't want to go into an explanation on how that happens here. You'll just have to believe me. So when I stab them, it's quite possible they don't stay down very long.

But the Dreadfuls do. In fact they sort of implode upon themselves and it takes me a little while to figure out they are not actually demons, but manifestations of someone who is sending these things out in order to kill off people they don't happen to like.

So, when the human population of Wallachia (where the king of vampires dwells--yes, it's Drakulya aka The Impaler who has somehow managed to get his head back on his shoulders and becomes a vampire after his battle with the Turks), learns I can kill these Dreadfuls, they want me to come to their homes and take them out. I'd become an exterminator, in that sense. But I've got a sneaky suspicion who is sending these things out and I've got to find a way to prove it, or I might not live to see tomorrow.

But I don't have time for this! I have to find my cousin, Lindee, who was sucked through a portal, into this other world. I have to find her before Drakulya, or some other vampire does, because a human's destiny on this world where vampires rule is either of two things: become a Blood Dame, or Brood Mare--women who allow vampires to mate with them in order to have more off-spring (that's what they call them there).

So, I've got my hands full. Not only that I've got the son of Drakulya, Jett, who is into me. As well as his cousin, Drachen--who is a dreamboat, but really too young for me. Jett is handsome, older and a sexual vampire. While Drachen would rather have my blood, I'd rather jump Jett's bones. Really. I can say that here, can't I?

Well, I had a great time visiting here on Bloody Good Vampires today. You guys rock and I mean that. While you're here, do check out the newest and third installment of my series.

Here it is, Vampire Nocturne:

Vampire Nocturne, third in my Series

AMAZON 


And if you haven't started the first one, you also might want to check them all out. At Amazon.

Vampire Ascending, first in the Series

Amazon

Vampire's Trill, second in the Series

Amazon 

Demons, Daemons

~from the dictionary:
1. A devil or evil being; especially, in the New Testament, an unclean spirit that possesses and afflicts a person.

I guess that is as good a description as we are all familiar with. It also is (2.) a persistently tormenting person, force, or passion.

Okay. But what do they look like? Do they look like us? Or are they different looking?

I've got books that have depictions of demons in them. Some resemble bats, rats, snakes, and a wild combination of just about every creature, including man.

So, as a writer who dreamed up new/different worlds, I had to come up with some ideas as to what demons might look like. Maybe some looked human enough. Others, not so much.

In the second book, Vampire's Trill, my main character, Sabrina Strong meets a few demons. One is a Nelapsi demon, and considered an ancient relation to vampires.
Excerpt:

I wasn't entirely over my anger when I heard Rick say quietly, "That's a Nelapsi.”

“Nelapsi? Really? What is a Nelapsi?”

“A really ugly demon. Well, actually it's part demon and part vampire. But then they're closely related.”

“Got cha.”

That was when I saw the attacker's face. His head was totally bald, and red eyes held me in their thrall, the pupils were cat-like. He was eerily handsome — in a demonic way. The ugly parts were more the two snake tails and giant bat wings.

“Your woman?” he asked Tremayne, his smile slanted sinisterly, filled with sharp teeth. Fangs in both the lower and upper jaw.

“Get your own, you slimy asshole!” Rick slung bravely.

The creature's smile broadened, but he narrowed his eyes at Rick.

“You bring a leprechaun and a lovely human female with you here? Bjorn, you must have lost some brain cells in the centuries you've been on earth.”
But in other places the demon isn't quite so hard on the eyes.
That would be Jacob in another section of this scene:

I entered the room, and the women followed me in. The walls were made of masoned stone, the floor looked like slate. Inside, my guides took me into another room where there was an old style lounge, red velvet covering it, one end slightly higher than the other. I recognized it as a fainting couch. Before I could throughly take in my surroundings, the women were touching my clothes, trying to undress me. I jumped back, and they looked confused. They said something to me, and I tried to explain that I didn't need their help, but they couldn't understand. Obviously, we had a language barrier.

Concern rippling their delicate brows, they spoke, slightly frantic, to one another, and then one of them scurried through another doorway — this one had green veils over it — and in a moment, a man stepped out. He wore a light gray robe with his hands tucked inside the deep sleeves. His face was so gorgeous I was stunned mute.

He spoke a single word to them that must have translated “leave,” and they darted through the green, curtained door and disappeared.

“Welcome. I am Jacob. You are a stranger here, yet I welcome you happily,” he said in a nice, mellow voice. “Your name is Sabrina?”

“Yes.” I was also stunned he knew my name, but, I reminded myself, I was in another realm.

He made a sudden intake of air, his head tilted slightly, and he blinked those brilliant blue eyes. A look of surprised delight lit across his face. “You are the sibyl?”

“Oh, uh, yeah,” I said, realizing this might be significant, but I was thinking of the demons who wanted to kill me earlier. I bit my lip watching what he would do, my hand on the laser's handle.

He made a low bow, his long, black hair falling into his face as he straightened and he had to shake it. “I welcome you, mistress. Please, understand that we only wish to give you a retreat, allow you to bathe and — forgive us if our ways are not your ways — but you must dress in something more... appropriate?” He was looking me over. I'd noticed that everyone here (except for Naamah, who was actually nude), was in either a dress or a robe.

“Oh, sure. No problem,” I said, relief flooding me.

“This way,” he said, hand outstretched toward the next curtained-off threshold.

I went ahead through the entry and found myself in a small, low-ceilinged room with a sunken bath that probably resembled the one Cleopatra herself plunged into. Decorative lanterns cast golden light all along the walls, and their gentle glow reflected in the water. I was happy to see this was a private bath.

“Disrobe, mistress, and bathe. I will return with your new attire.”

I watched him duck out. I stood with indecision. This situation sent red flags up all over the place, but the water was scented, and I could tell it would feel sooooo good. Worried I'd be in the middle of pulling off my underwear when Jacob returned, I quickly stripped, letting everything lay wherever it fell. I located the steps that descended into the pool. Poking my toes in, I found that it was a perfect bath temperature. In a moment, I was neck-deep and swishing around in my own private hot tub. Eventually I found that there were a couple of little ledges to sit and settle back on. Luxuriating, I leaned back with my eyes closed. Nice. All I needed was a glass of Moscato, and a hunk of chocolate and I could forget where I was.

My eyes snapped open at the sound of water parting with someone entering the pool. I saw Jacob, totally nude, striding into my personal hot tub. ©Lorelei Bell
Well, yummy! I felt that the contrast between the two demons would give you an idea of the types of demons I dream up. And just in case you aren't sure what Jacob is---hint, hint, he gives pleasure, and -bus is part of his name, and there is a female version of this. Can you guess what type of demon he is?