CHAPTER 26<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<AVENARI HOME>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>CHAPTER 28
Avenari - Chapter 27
We were like newlyweds. We
showered together, laughed, talked, teased...it all felt like some surreal
dream. Andris was simply fun to be with, cool and sly and occasionally almost
frightening. He remained arrogant and nihilistic, but rather than annoying me,
it intrigued me. His mere presence created a realm of infinite possibility in
my tiny world. He was willing to stand at my side, and was powerful enough to
do it without risking his own safety.
My lack of forethought would
easily have been Ivan’s undoing.
I filed through memories of my
relationship with Ivan from when we were still kids, but back then it had never
felt like this. Actually, I had been perfectly fine with leaving him behind
when Simone turned me. I hadn’t wanted him to give up his family. I had
understood the pain of losing loved ones, and I didn’t want him to go through
it.
I also had to admit, however,
that once I turned, and once I lost contact with all of my human needs, I just
didn’t feel the same way about him. He was a dear friend, but that became the
extent of it. Ivan had always looked at things from the perspective of someone
watching through a window. He kept a level of distance that I couldn’t reach
across—which was all well and good when I needed someone levelheaded to figure
out a problem, but often left me feeling like there was a wall between us that
I could never break down. Even as mortals, even when we shared a bed, he had
always held back. It was his nature, but that made all the difference.
Andris didn’t hold anything back,
though. He gave me everything—the good, the bad, and the horrifying. Despite
his past, he was honest with me. He had changed so much in so short a time that
I was willing to forgive everything he had ever done to deserve my hate…
“You know, after all that
life-altering, mind-blowing, utterly wonderful lovemaking, it worries me that
you now look as though I’ve killed your puppy.”
Startled out of my brooding, I
peeked up to meet the faceted jewels acting as portals into my demon’s world,
and had to pause for several seconds to lower my heart rate.
After showering, he’d dried his
hair out and brushed the chaos into order, leaving it glossy and iridescent like
the feathers on a raven’s back. It swept down to his shoulders, the random
flips and waves giving the impression that the choppy, elegant waters of a
black sea were his kith and kin, just barely touching his silk-clad shoulders
to create a zone of darkness from his neck down to comfy boots.
Even though I wore a bright green
T-shirt and cobalt blue cargo pants, and even though his ensemble consisted of
the same open-collared, black dress shirt and slim, black jeans that he always
wore, I felt so plain standing next to him. It was like a battle—Technicolor
vs. Monochrome: Death Match, available only on pay-per-view. For some
reason or another, Andris’ perfection was at its peak only when garbed in a
total absence of light. In a nutshell, black just worked for him. I had
no chance.
I looked best in red...but not to
that extent. To reach his level would have required a serious re-evaluation of
my priorities, and I’d be damned if I started wearing makeup just to
“You should wear purple,” I said
without thinking, once again reasserting the fact that, with human lust sharing
the same space as my blood, my brain was wasting entirely too much time
fantasizing. It was the shirt. It had to be the shirt. There weren’t enough
buttons, and the pearly white skin of his throat called to me like the Pied
Piper to an ignorant child.
Apparently, I had lost my train
of thought entirely, because it was a while before I realized that he was
waving his hand in front of my face and speaking in a baffled tone. “Princess,
I never thought a man could ever be in a situation where he would have to say
this, but I’m up here. What on Earth has gotten into you?”
I blinked. “You have,” I said,
totally and completely serious...or maybe just distracted.
“That’s not what I mean,” he
sighed, folding his arms and seating himself in the violet velvet chair beside
the bed. “Just a moment ago you looked ready to cry.” He held a hand out and
tilted his head to invite me over. “Come here and tell me what’s wrong—and
don’t say it’s nothing, because that would be childish.”
I wanted to argue the “childish”
remark, but in the end I decided not to waste the effort. Instead, I let him
draw me into his lap and wrap his arms around my waist in that sweet,
possessive way of his. “I was just thinking,” I muttered.
“That’s the same as saying it’s
nothing,” he said, turning me so that I sank back against his shoulder and
rested my head in the crook of his neck. I felt so safe, cradled against his
ethereal warmth. “Tell me what was making you so upset. Please?”
I relented at last, figuring
that, in the end, hiding it would do more harm than good. “I was just thinking
that Ivan will be upset when we go back.”
He grew as still as a plank of
wood, making my seat a little uncomfortable. “What, that we’ve blood-bonded and
made love? Why is that a problem?”
“He’s still in love with me, sort
of. Maybe it’s not the same as when we were mortal, but the emotional
attachment is still there. He always wanted to become my blood partner.” I
didn’t want to hurt Ivan. Sure, he would put on a smile and congratulate
us—sincerely, in fact—but deep down he would be hurting. That sweetheart was
too sweet for his own good.
“Ah.” My demon frowned,
understandably uncomfortable with the thought of someone else taking his place.
He cast a hesitant glance at me and said slowly, “I’m not sure how to take
that. Honestly, I can’t bear any ill will—Ivan seems like a good man—but I
would lose my mind if I saw anyone else touching you. There’s no point in lying
about that.”
“Few people are as reliable as he
is,” I murmured. “I love you, of course, but Ivan has been with me since the
beginning. He’s the best friend I could have had.”
“You’re not having second
thoughts, are you?” he asked. It seemed he wanted to add more, but left it at
that.
Smiling a little, I shook my head
and turned him to me. “I want you. That will never change. It can’t and
it won’t.”
Again, he stunned me with a peek
through to his soul, and kissed my forehead sweetly as he tightened his
embrace. “Dear gods, you make me so ridiculously happy. If I had known that
such joy were possible, I’d have raided your home much sooner.”
I laughed a little, feeling
better. “I’d have liked that. Now, let’s get going before Quelos decides to
invade my bedroom again.”
* o * o *
We were soon following Sakura
through yet another endless route of confusing concentric halls and corridors,
and once again I felt some gratitude for the half-breeds’ guidance. Ivanarke
seemed so simple from the outside, but traversing its halls was an entirely
different story. The only reference points this time were various increasingly
bizarre works of art: paintings and sculptures depicting more and more
fantastical scenes.
At first, the pieces were in
common styles with normal subjects, but as we continued on, snakes sprouted
feathers and wings, tree branches evolved into human arms, and still-life
paintings formed surprisingly clever pictures within pictures, like visual
nesting dolls.
“So Sakura,” I said at last,
breaking the absorbed silence to satisfy my nagging curiosity, “did Quelos
really have a meeting with the Shimari Council, or were you just worried about
us?”
She remained silent for some
time, before responding distantly, “The Lightning Master feels that your powers
are worth cultivating. As for the Nariuvne...Anase Quelos has not had this much
stimulation in a hundred years. He would have wanted me to tell him.”
Despite his general disapproval
of having half-breed slaves, the obvious capacity for reason in the tiny figure
made Andris smile, if only a little. “Who made you a half-breed, Sakura?” he
asked. “You seem rather attached to Quelos. Did he change you?”
She shook her head, not even
bothering to look back. “All half-breed servants become as such via the fourth
line’s veritas caput. We are then assigned to different areas. I handle
matters between the Emperor, Yoko, and the Elementals. Kaze is my adjutant,
though his usual duty is to assist envoys who visit from other manors. Tsuki
belongs to the Council Elders.”
Andris actually stopped walking.
“Wait, Tatsune gave you the Fourth Line’s blood in order to turn you? That’s
sacrilege, isn’t it? The Council has executed Shimaren for less.”
She paused in her guidance and
gave him an empty stare. “The Council no longer abides by Ivanarke’s laws.
Eternity seems to be having an adverse effect on their views. In addition, they
prefer the extra assistance, and Lord Tatsune has enough power to protect us.”
He nodded slowly. “Yes, eternity
is an unbearable wasteland of repetition and boredom. I can see how they would
want to spice things up a bit.”
I pushed him forward in
annoyance. “Let’s go, you embodiment of ‘dark and brooding!’ Quit your
whining and let’s go see this training thing. I’ve never trained to fight
before, and I will not have you ruining my good time.”
Shaking his head in exasperation,
he started walking again. Sakura, however, watched me in curiosity until we had
passed before easily matching our pace.
“I find it interesting how you
have managed to set him straight,” she said to me, glancing between the two of
us. “I read his file in preparation for your arrival, and he is nothing like
the monster in those pages.”
“He’s a fixer-upper,” I said with
a grin.
Her expression changed from a
virtual brick wall to something about as dynamic as a coffee maker—an
improvement, I thought. “I do not believe that to be the phrasing one would
normally use when referring to someone who has killed so many that his
existence is associated with myths and tall tales.”
“Yeah, well I call him a
fixer-upper—like an old house you have to renovate. It’s got the same
personality, but now you can see it better with the gunk cleared away.”
“I really don’t appreciate you
talking about me as though I’m an inanimate object,” muttered the demon.
“In that case, you lack
imagination.”
“And you lack reason, little
Princess.”
“I’m so going to kick your
ass once Quelos teaches me how to do it,” I threatened.
“I look forward to it.” He smiled
in a peculiar way, as though the thought excited him immensely—perhaps the
remnants of his human life? It was hard to believe that the painfully
sophisticated-looking Crimson had once run around in loincloths.
The image kind of weirded me out,
actually...him Tarzan, me Jane?
I shoved the picture out of my
horrified mind.
* o * o *
The Elementals, obviously, were
spoiled rotten. Maybe I didn’t understand their significance, or perhaps I was
merely jealous as hell, but the accommodations which Ivanarke provided them
made me want to hit Quelos upside the head with a golf club.
Like a blind child seeing color
for the first time, I froze before the doorway, standing between imposing,
thirty-foot-tall marble columns wrapped in carvings of winding dragons and
scattered, rolling clouds—the whole of which was such pure white that even
Andris looked like he had a nice tan standing next to it. I had to crane my
neck back to stare at a baas relief high above our heads. It depicted a
red-enameled dragon coiling into an infinity shape as it snaked through
thirteen glass orbs with various elemental symbols at their cores.
“I think I hate them,” I
commented unceremoniously, looking at Andris.
He frowned at me. “Your
expression is certainly unique. Please don’t explode—that would be awkward.”
I shook my head and glared at the
monstrous whitewashed doors, studying the thick, scored glass panes on either
side and blinking several times in surprise when the seemingly random frost
patterns came together to form smoky, intricate designs.
The designs were animals, wrought
in and out of each other like a Celtic knot of fur and flesh and feathers,
beaks and claws and fangs. Each creature was distinct and solitary, yet came
together with the others to form this chaotic, beautiful improvement on the
concept of stained glass. Color was unnecessary. Hatches and scratches and
frosted patches strewn in seeming disarray were all it needed to breathe with
life.
“I really hate them,” I
grumbled, stepping back so that Sakura could admit us into the chamber beyond.
“Place your hatred in something
more significant than the décor, cara mea,” my sensible demon said,
slipping his arms around me and shrouding me in his warmth. It was irritatingly
effective. “Or have you completely forgotten about Tivor and your self-imposed
mission?”
“I didn’t forget anything. It’s
just annoying. Quelos is weird, and the fact that he lives in this
palace within a palace only confirms it.”
“He seems normal enough...though
I guess I’m not one to talk of normalcy.”
Sakura pushed the doors open and
distracted both of us from the potential argument.
The Elementals’ chamber was a
sight to behold, indeed. There was no color at all, just brilliant, glowing
white—from the granite floor and bleached fur rug to the leather couches and
recliners, from the paper chandelier above to the marble fireplace and matching
Ionic scrolled columns all around the perimeter. Across the way, lining the
entire back wall, between windows shrouded in white drapes, were more than
dozen mirror panels which made the already spacious chamber feel immense and
majestic.
“Welcome to the Elementals’ gathering
chamber,” Sakura said.
There were several Shimaren
seated in the chairs, apparently oblivious to our entrance as they discussed
something about the Western Brood Manor’s latest atrocities. Quelos and Nick
were nowhere to be seen.
“My Lords, I have brought your
guests, as requested,” the little half-breed said in a clear, bell-like voice,
which pierced the conversation and cast an attentive silence over the group.
Normally, Shimaren looked like
normal people to other Shimaren—the way humans appeared to other humans—but as
with Andris, these people carried fascinating auras. Some were like liquid, a
gentle stream wrapped around their presence; some crackled and flickered like a
torch; still others were nebulous or brittle, giving off strong impressions of
their powers.
“You are late.”
I traced the voice to a Shimare
sitting in the armchair closest to the fireplace. He sat with his eyes closed,
his arms folded across a narrow chest.
Then I did a double-take. Wait.
Was that really a guy?
His hair was long and white, cut
in careful layers to keep it out of his sharp eyes, and when he opened those
eyes, they shared Quelos’ gold, though a shade lighter. Beneath a velvet
robe—much like the one Quelos wore, but white and silver rather than black and
red—he was slim and willowy. He stared at us, taking our measure with a
serious, analytical expression on his delicate, Oriental face.
If I had thought Andris pushed
the androgynous envelope, then this guy stood right on the edge and danced.
Andy was a macho biker gang leader compared to this guy.
“It took longer than expected to
retrieve them,” Sakura explained with a formal bow.
“Is that so?” He sighed and stood
to approach us, motioning to the other Shimaren. “Welcome. We are the Hikari
Elementals.”
“Elementals of Light,” added a
tiny vampiress with ankle-length hair the color of polished garnet. She
couldn’t have been more than sixteen, physically, and that striking hair stood
in stark contrast to the white uniform. Her eyes shimmered pale cyan as she
grinned, the blue of glacial ice, and her signature swirled around like a
brittle, frozen wind. “I’m Ashinar, an Ice Elemental, but you can call me
Shina. I helped show Nick around earlier when the lightning bug dropped him
off—Quelos, that is. That’s what we call lightning Elementals for fun.”
Ah, so this was probably the one
who had caught the kid’s interest.
“My name is Akuro. Yoroshiku,”
said the first, giving a gracious bow that let his elbow-length locks flow over
his shoulder like water. “Quelos-sama is my Maker, and we share the same
Elemental talents in lightning.”
“They’re both lightning bugs,”
Shina said.
Another Shimare stood, this time
sporting long, wavy black hair, a sharp face, and fiery-orange eyes. “You may
call me Nelo-Im. I possess the art of the Flames.”
Shina smirked at his formality
and leaned casually against the sofa. “He’s
a firefly.”
“Shina, please,” chided the
Shimare beside the firefly, who remained sitting. “Nelo-Im takes pride in what
he does...unlike some people we know.” That last was muttered under his breath
in mild disdain and a faint Australian accent. Somehow he had managed to
maintain a decent tan, which only accented his golden hair. “Pleased to meet
you. I’m Sirek, the only Earth Elemental in the Brood Manor. I usually take
care of keeping Ivanarke happy.”
The fair and ceremonious Japanese
Shima at his other side inclined her head. Her eyes were like amethysts, and
watched us with unusual intensity. “I am Miko, an air Elemental. I believe you
have already met Yoko, my half-fledgling?”
“She’s been helping me out with
some sorcery-related stuff,” I said, pleased to finally meet the vampiress who
had brought Yoko to Ivanarke.
She smiled. “Yoko is skilled with
various types of magic. You are in capable hands.”
“So is it true that Quelos is
taking you along to hunt down Tivor?” Shina asked. “No offense, but it’s not
often that we get newcomers—and even less often do they get sent right back out
on a mission.”
“Quelos-sama has assured me that these three are suited to the job,” Akuro
said. “Andris in particular, as you know by now, is powerful enough to hold a
seat in the Hanarisar.”
“Where is Quelos, anyway?” Andris
asked, deliberately changing the topic.
“I think we should hear a little
bit more about the two of you, first, if you would be so kind as to explain. It
is rare that we receive visitors of such unusual nature.” Gracefully, Akuro
resumed his seat and laced his fingers together in his lap, watching us in
expectation.
He must be second-in-command
here, my demon said
silently, taking the measure of everyone in the room and coming to that
reasonable conclusion. “You should already know about me. Quelos does.”
“We have only the bare
statistics,” Akuro said. “There are still many things about which we have been
left in the dark, so to speak.”
“I see.” Andris looked to me, and
I shrugged noncommittally.
“What do you want to know? We’re
here to help, after all,” I said.
Shina interrupted before he could
speak. “Is it true that you two are blood partners?”
I blinked in surprise. Was I
supposed to answer that? How did they—wait, Nick had been able to tell just by
sensing our signatures.
Damn.
“Er...yeah, we are. Is that a
problem?”
“Ooh, you’re so lucky,” she
pouted, getting up and skipping over to stalk a circle around my wary blood
partner. “Andris, right? You’re a lot sexier than I thought you’d be. With all
the talk of what a monster you are, I’d expected some hideous beast.”
I wasn’t sure how to take that,
and Andris seemed to share my uncertainty as he struggled with the innate
conditioning to hide his face and leave the vicinity. Shina was shorter than
even me, not to mention much less powerful than Andris, but her boldness was
uncanny.
“You don’t like being the center
of attention, do you?” she crooned, as if he were frightened puppy.
“Well, being the center of
attention means that everyone knows where I am. If everyone knows where I am
then, ninety percent of the time, they’ll try to attack me. Under those
circumstances, I have no choice but to fight back. Habits are difficult to
overcome at my age.”
“Ah. You’re a good guy, then?
Surprising, since you’re a cannibal.”
I winced. “Hey, lay off!”
“What? He drinks our blood—a
vampire’s vampire. Quelos brought you here to train, yes, but also to test his
loyalties.” She clasped her hands behind her back and looked up at him almost
innocently. “So, where do your loyalties lie? Earlier, you tried to kill a
Council member.”
“Atreus isn’t intelligent enough
to know when to let things alone,” Andris muttered, starting to get annoyed.
“I’m not loyal in the least to you, Tatsune, or the Council.”
“Then to whom are you
loyal?” Shina asked, somewhat perplexed. The look on her young face would have
been more appropriate on that of a wise, shrewd old lady. A quick sweep of my
spatial sense informed me that she was, in fact, over a thousand years old.
Well, hell. Nick had his work cut
out for him, it seemed.
Andris frowned at her, his
blacked-out eyes slowly shifting to brilliant crimson, and said tightly, “All
of my loyalties lie with Lydian. I’ll go along with whatever she wants.”
Akuro frowned in curiosity. “Then
you really are blood bonded.”
He glanced up, hooking an arm
around my neck and possessively pinning me to his side. “For eternity, if we
can manage it.”
“Arrogant bastard,” I sighed,
rolling my eyes.
He grimaced. “Cara mea,
spare my pride. I’ve only so much left.”
“Put it to better use, like
battling evil in the name of justice or something—not to irritate the Emperor’s
henchmen. I don’t want to get caught in the crossfire when heads start to
roll.”
“Their heads will roll,
not ours!” he argued.
“With that hot-headed
disposition, you’re going to have a hard time handling Lydian’s training, you
know,” sounded a voice from really, really close-by.
We looked over our shoulders to
find a familiar golden stare less than three inches away.
Startled, I jerked back, but
Andris held tight and put on an arrogant smirk. “Is that so? What exactly do
you have planned for my Princess?”
“Shut up!” I snapped. Calling me Princess
in front of all these people—unforgivable!
Quelos ignored my outburst.
“She’s new at this, so we should show her how to use weapons. Her strength may
not match up to the opponent, but that doesn’t matter if she’s good with a
blade. I truly doubt that Tivor’s people are that skilled. Most of them are
probably cannon fodder. Anyway, we’re going to the training grounds. Nick and
Mizumi have been there for a while, teaching him how to control his
power—though he’ll be lucky to survive at this rate.”
I forgot about my anger. “What’s
wrong with Nick?”
He gave a vague shrug. “He can
turn the power on, but he can’t turn it off. Instead of a faucet, the kid’s a
fire hose. Strong is good, but without control it’s pretty much useless.”
“He’ll figure it out,” Andris
replied with certainty. “So how are you going to teach Lynn how to use weapons?”
The lightning bug’s eyes narrowed
with unbridled mischief. “Chigeeyo. We are going to show her. I
assume you’re not completely ignorant?”
“Like hell. I can take anything
you’ve got.”
“Ii jisshin, da na? I like
your confidence.” Snapping into Leader Mode, he looked past us at the rest of
the Elementals, who seemed a bit off-put that they couldn’t interrogate us
further—Shina, most notably. “Akuro, come. Everyone else stays here. It’s not a
spectacle—it’s training.”
Murmurs of dissent rose all
around, but nobody argued with the order, and Akuro stood to accompany us as he
tied his hair back with a silver ribbon. He didn’t seem to care either way.
“Watch your backs.” Shina
appeared beside me, whispering with a sneaky grin. “Those two are madmen on the
battlefield, and worse on the training grounds.”
We both sensed the glare of a
certain angry Elemental, and she vanished, only to reappear on the sofa,
giggling.
Quelos glanced to me. “Is there a
problem?”
“Only if you have a problem,” I
shot back.
His auric gaze narrowed. “Let’s
go, you two. Your fledgling is being put through hell; it’s rude not to join
him for the greater good.”
I sneered as he and Akuro brushed
by. “You’re a tyrant, you know that?”
“Oh, I know that well,” he
chuckled darkly. “However, an iron fist is the only effective ruling technique
with Elementals. Otherwise they’d all end up killing everyone, regardless of
intent. It’s better this way.” Still chuckling, he headed out.
“Be careful with him,” Shina
cautioned from the sofa, dead serious. “He could kill all of us without
breaking a sweat.”
Andris frowned at her. “So could
I.” Disregarding the Elementals’ nervous glances, he tugged me forward, and we
followed the lightning bugs to Ivanarke’s private training grounds.
* o * o *
Behind the Brood Manor was an
enclosed area about the size of a football field, carpeted with hardy grass,
and surrounded by the lonely wildflowers to mark where we weren’t allowed to
go. Enormous trees towered all around, the largest being Ivanarke itself,
leaving a narrow patch of sky through which the waxing moon shone silver like a
growing coin.
Lanterns hung from branches high
above, casting just enough soft amber light into the shadowed clearing to
illuminate Ivanarke’s enormous side and spark highlights off of an entire wall
covered in shiny weapons. They came in all shapes and sizes, in archaic and
modern designs from all parts of the world: Arabian scimitars, Celtic
broadswords, Chinese spears, and Japanese katanas—hell, even ninja stars and
whips to be the envy of Indiana Jones. There were no guns, though. As Andris
had said before, holes weren’t nearly as effective as total dismemberment.
“You’ve got to be joking,” I said
incredulously. “I’ve never used a sword before.”
“Have you ever cut a potato?”
Quelos asked as his fledgling perused the wall for a weapon. Akuro eventually
settled for a long, narrow scimitar, arcing from a silver and white leather
hilt. He tested the balance, then nodded in satisfaction and sheathed it at his
hip.
I frowned, uncertain as to where
Quelos was going with the potato metaphor. “Of course. Potatoes were as
important as rice was in my family.”
“Well, then think of a sword as a
kitchen knife, only infinitely more fun and dangerous in the proper hands.”
Grinning, he approached a beautiful katana with a red eel skin grip, about a
meter long and so sharp that it sang as he snapped it through the air. “Andris,
pick something.”
“First, where’s Nick?” I said,
nervous at the thought of them suddenly having a sword fight—while in the
process abandoning Nick to some possibly heinous, unspeakable torture.
I realized that I was developing
a sort of complex towards the kid, but considering the circumstances under
which I had discovered him, I questioned his ability to handle Shimari training
without some moral support. Who knew what kind of person this Mizumi character
was?
The Elemental grimaced in
annoyance and raised his sword towards the opposite end of the clearing. “Out
there. There’s a path leading to a lake—if it’s really that important, I mean.”
“You and Andy can duke it out all
you want, wherever you want, but I won’t take part until I’m sure that Nick is
fine.”
He gave me a ruffled frown, then
looked to Andris and said impatiently. “Choose something. We’ll go check on the
kid then come back here to train her. Later, if Mizumi is done before we leave,
we’ll train Nick on the basics as well. If not, there’s always tomorrow.”
Andris sighed and halfheartedly
studied the display. “If I like the blade, can I take it with us when we go to
capture Tivor?”
“Do whatever the hell you want. I
don’t care.”
Somewhat irritated with the
Elemental’s attitude, my blood partner finally picked a Japanese-ish sword like
Quelos’. It had a black guard and eel skin grip, and an intricately enameled
geometric pattern shuffling up one edge. The shape was a little bit different,
however, with less of a curve and a thicker profile towards the tip, and both
sides honed to a razor edge.
“This isn’t a katana,” my demon
said, frowning hard at the blade as he tested it out.
“It’s a combination of a few
weapons,” Quelos replied. “Better for cutting.”
“I’ll take it.” He slipped the
blade into its sheath and turned back to us, the blackness in his eyes giving
away more than color ever could. “Let’s get this over with.”
CHAPTER 26<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<AVENARI HOME>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>CHAPTER 28
So I found this blog now after commenting on your other and this is where i'm up to in the book.
ReplyDeleteLoving the book so far, I feel the romance side isn't my sort of thing. It feels sort of abusive being that Andris' sent is enough to overwhelm Lynn and when she tries to make a decision he seems to be so close. I'm not the most experienced when it comes to romance both in and out of novels though so maybe it's only how I see it.
All over vampires and I love the backstory and how they're main palace is in Japan that's just awesome. Can't wait to continue on reading and I hope you get published sometime soon. I told one of my friends about the book and she's intrigued enough to want to read it so win there for you :P
As far as I can tell, romance and attraction are somewhat inadvertent outcomes of other forces. Chemistry and all that. In this case, much of Andris and Lynn's chemistry has a recognizable cause, and it does work both ways. The second book, from Andris' POV, makes it much more obvious how much of a lovesick puppy he really is, but in this first story I wanted Lynn to struggle with the loss of control for a bit. After all, love makes people do weird things. Even in humans, though, the sense of smell is actually pretty overpowering in terms of attraction. I have a friend who swears by smelling pretty, and I've lately begun to find that this seems to be the case. A drop of perfume gets everyone's attention.
DeleteRomance aside, glad to see you're enjoying the world itself. Though the romancy bits are a large part of the overall story, the characters and their development/interactions are the main focus. There are some pretty intense events ahead, so try not to hate me for them. ;)
Thanks for telling your friend! I'd absolutely love it if more people caught wind of my writing, and I have at least two more stories in the works that I'd like to publish here once Avenari is through. Real publishing is still on my to-do list, though, so we'll see how that works out in the future.
=_= ~*(cyh)*