A Day in the Life of ... Teagan by A.L. Kessler

A Day in the Life is a feature we started here at Bitten by Romance that takes a closer look into a day (or night) of a character and maybe gives us readers a glimpse into a side of the character we might not have seen otherwise.  If you're an auther that would like to participate in future A Day in the Life posts, check out the post HERE.

Today's post is special because it's a Christmas story!  It features Tegan from A.L. Kessler's Dark War Chronicles (DWC) series.  DWC is a very exciting and dark paranormal romance with all sorts of supernaturals.

Tegan walked through the streets covered in Christmas lights. The snow fell around her and she pulled her coat tighter. This year was different than all the others. Renee had insisted that the whole group celebrate Christmas. It wasn’t a holiday that Lucius’ people normally kept, but Renee brought a human element to everything. Part of celebrating was a gift exchange, but did one get for a vampire who’d lived for so long?

Tegan had managed to get something for everyone on the list, except for Lucius. If she could, she’ buy him a year without trouble in the territory, but that was impossible. Despite being unhappy with him in the current situation, he still held a special part in her heart. He’d saved her, rescued her from her past, and there was nothing that she could find that would suite him. If she had asked him, he’d insist that he didn’t need a gift for such a silly human holiday.

But what Tegan was learning was it wasn’t a silly holiday. Sure it hadn’t always existed in her or Lucius’ lifetime, they both came from a time that celebrated Winter Solstice. A time of gods and goddesses and though there was a religious undertone to Christmas, Tegan was learning it went beyond that.

It brought people together, family and friends, to celebrate life. Be it that new life that Solstice celebrated or the coming of Christ brought. She closed her eyes and savored the falling snow for a moment. Taking a deep breath, the crisp mountain air cleansed her of the nerves the change in the territory gave her. No matter what this time of year was magical for different reasons.

She opened her eyes and walked into one of the small blown-glass shops that this part of town held. She doubted that she’d find something for Lucius there, but she was always on the look out for a butterfly to add to her collection. She walked through the rows of glass figures and her eyes scanned over them. Pausing at one that had been tinted with black.

The details were perfect, down to the little figure in the window. It was almost a foot in size, but each shingle on the roof could be seen, each window was carefully formed and even the wooden door at the front of the castle had every detail. What did someone get the vampire who lived so long? The answer was clear…a glass replica of Dracula’s Castle. She knew Lucius would see the humor in it and even if it stayed tucked in his room, he’d cherish it, after all he had every edition of the damn book. She carefully picked it up and took it to the counter. Once she purchased it, she made her way back to the car, driving herself to the mansion. She’d have to sneak it in and wrap it without him knowing.

She parked her car and got out. Someone had hung Christmas lights on the mansion and she had to smile. It showed the personality of everyone who’d be inside. A figure of the Grinch stood in the front yard and someone had painted fangs on him. Tegan shook her head, she could only assume that Lucius had yet to lighten up about the whole Christmas thing. He was going to have to get use to it, because everyone would indulge the human. Even the Grinch.

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About A.L. Kessler

A.L. Kessler is the author of Dark War Chronicles. She dabbles in paranormal romance, steampunk and urban fantasy. Since she was a teenager she's loved weaving stories and spinning tales. When she's not at the beck-and-call of the Lord and Lady of the House, two black cats by the names of Jynx and Sophie, training a playful puppy named Zelda, playing with her daughter, or killing creepers and mining all the things with her husband of 4 years, she's either reading, participating in NaNoWriMo, or writing in her Blog Writing Rambles. For those who like things on the more spicy side, she leads a double life as Alexandra Webb.

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More About Dark War Chronicles and A.L. Kessler

Laurie's review of The Dark War Chronicles Series

Jasmyn's review of In the Light of the Moon (including audio book)

Author Spotlight

A.L. Talks About Indie Romance Convention

Erotica vs Erotic Romance by A.L. Kessler

A Day in the Life of ... Joss by Cate Masters

A Day in the Life is a feature we started here at Bitten by Romance that takes a closer look into a day (or night) of a character and maybe gives us readers a glimpse into a side of the character we might not have seen otherwise.  If you're an auther that would like to participate in future A Day in the Life posts, check out the post HERE.

Today's post features Joss from Cate Master's brand new book Goddess Awakened.  It's a great paranormal with some mythology mixed in that's very sweet and a lot of fun.

The newly tilled ground hummed with expectation. Taz bounded ahead as Joss pushed the wheelbarrow loaded with lavender seedlings over the stone bridge to the farthest corner of the field. The seeds had sprung up in half the time stated on the packet. Not surprising. So far, everything about the inn exceeded her wildest hopes.

Taz nudged her hand with his nose, mouth open in his usual doggy smile. With a laugh, she bent to scratch his furry cheeks. “We’ll play later. After I fill this field with flowers.” A glance across the expanse of the yard, and he whined.

Joss dipped her glove into the earth and a tingle rippled in her fingertips. Energy. A kind she’d never before encountered. A simultaneous excitement and apprehension hit her. The warm and positive buzz would help the lavender grow, yes, but maybe Aunt Lydia was right. This held another kind of power, attractive to darker forces than the fae that had begun to flock to it.

At the crunch of tires across the gravel driveway, Taz leapt to attention. The veterinarian, Eric Hendricks, climbed out of his SUV. The dog barked once in greeting.

The vet shielded his eyes with his hand and locked onto her with laser intensity. Immobile, he radiated a whirlwind of strong emotions. Lava and ice, in a tornado of grief, loneliness, agony, and anger.

The storm held Joss in its grips, trembling through her with earthquake magnitude. From the midst of its chaos, another mix of emotions rippled through. More calm, its heat like a tropical beach.

A different sort of electricity hit Joss. A sudden urge to run into ocean waves, let them crash over her, shook off the tension building inside her. Swept away her thoughts until only he remained, bare toes in the hot sand. Waiting for her.

No, that’s crazy. He lavished his caring attention on animals, not people.

That thought broke their connection, leaving a cold emptiness in its wake, one all too familiar to her. With half a wave, Eric headed for the stable.

Taz let out a woof and tilted his head at Joss, no doggy smile this time.

“What’s wrong?” She reached to pet the dog’s head, but he ran with giant strides after the vet, stopping once on the stone bridge to look back at her. When she stood, Taz barked, a joyful sound as he closed the distance to the vet, catching Eric before he entered the barn.

Eric turned with a surprised laugh. “Hey there.” He opened his arms and Taz stretched his front paws across his chest.

She couldn’t hear what he said to her dog, only his soft murmuring. She imagined herself leaning against his chest, his arms closing around her. Rubbing her arms, she told herself again, No, that’s crazy.

When Eric looked up at her with a rare smile more electrifying than the energy beneath the inn, she wondered if it might be the only sane thing in this crazy world.

Goddess Awakened is a contemporary paranormal romance that has some really great mythology mixed in.  It has a great combination of dark and light forces and has a lot of really fantastic characters.

With a little help from a goddess, battling evil is a piece of cake for Jocelyn Gibson.

A descendant of the goddess Iris, Jocelyn Gibson may have forgotten about the realm of magic, but it hasn’t forgotten her. When Eric Hendricks is targeted by a demon, Joss must step in to battle the evil and save the town’s awkward, but endearing, vet…who also happens to be the man she loves.

Joss’s new inn, a culinary career specializing in cooking with lavender and a new love all make for a fine recipe of disaster. She needs to embrace her inner goddess and harness the powers she never knew she had before it’s too late.

 Goddess Awakened - Review

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Author Bio

Cate Masters loves romance with a dash of magic and mayhem! Multipublished in contemporary to historical, sweet to erotic, fantasy/dark fantasy to speculative, she sometimes mashes genres. Reviewers have described her stories as “so compelling, I did not want to put it down,” and “such romantic tales that really touch your soul.”

When not spending time with her family, she can be found in her lair, concocting a magical brew of contemporary, historical, and fantasy/paranormal stories with her cat Chairman Maiow and dog Lily as company. Look for her at http://catemasters.blogspot.com, and in strange nooks and far-flung corners of the web.

Cate loves to hear from readers! If you’re too shy to post here, friend her on Facebook or Goodreads, or email her at: cate.masters AT gmail.com

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A Day in the Life of ... Winter by Bridget Blackwood

A Day in the Life is a feature we started here at Bitten by Romance that takes a closer look into a day (or night) of a character and maybe gives us readers a glimpse into a side of the character we might not have seen otherwise.  If you're an auther that would like to participate in future A Day in the Life posts, check out the post HERE.

Today's post features Winter from Bridget Blackwood's World in Shadow series between book 1 and book 1.5.  She's one of my favorite characters and I'm always excited to see more about her.

The Day I Died

Being born a Fae, I've witnessed events most people couldn't begin to imagine I’ve crossed the planes of existence between our world and the human world, watched empires rise and fall, and attended some of history's greatest moments. A couple weeks ago, I would've said not much surprised me, but that was before I saw my own obituary.

My cousin, Kiril, and I have been on the run from the Fae Queen. Quick family history lesson; She's my grandmother and his aunt. Tanith had her favorite daughter, the late Amalia, by his father.

Yeah, she slept with her own sister's husband. Nice, huh?

Fae family trees are gnarled and twisty, full of dead leaves and poisonous vines, enough to give any genealogist trying to follow it a stroke.

Perhaps all the weird inbreeding can account for some of the madness running rampant.

Kiril and I crossed Queen Tanith and jumped up on her list of people she wants wiped out of existence. What did we do? I stole back my magic and Kiril gave me a forbidden book. To add insult to injury, I announced my possession of the book and my willingness to spill the beans far and wide. Fast forward to today, we've been crisscrossing the world in an attempt to stay one step ahead. Exhausted, we're both ready to go home.

I reclined on the musty bedspread and flipped on the television in the two star hotel we rented for the day. The news has been all over the place with the revelation of The Shadow World. Vampires, Shifters, Fae; anything non-human falls under the realm of what the media dubbed 'The Shadow World.'

The blonde newswoman on the screen sported an 80's hairdo, must've taken a whole can of hairspray to shellac in place. “Vampire King, Manias Artorious, assures the president humans are safe from feedings as vampires have an alternate food source. No word yet on what the alternate source is.”

Vampire King? I snorted.

His title is Regis. Vampires did have an alternate food source, real food and the blood of other vampires. Human blood was bad for them, I've heard its effects were similar to opiate drugs.

The newswoman turned to look at her co-anchor, “What’s the news from the Fair Folk, Bob?”

Fair Folk? Gag me.

“It's a sad day, Louise. Summer Court Queen Tanith announced that the charred bodies of two Fae were identified as her nephew Kiril and granddaughter Winter.” Bob glanced at Louise for a scripted reaction, she delivered a puppy eyed frowny face.

Bob continued his report, “Winter was also the granddaughter of the Winter Court King and was unique in her dual citizenship. A state funeral is planned for tomorrow to allow their friends and family to say goodbye. The media was granted permission to attend, but both monarchs have asked that the affair remain closed to the public. Back to you Louise,” Bob said.

The camera panned to Louise again. “Our condolences to the families of Kiril and Winter.” Louise's phony sad face made me want to throw the remote through the window.

Shock transformed my face, my eyebrows were high on my forehead, merging with my hair line. “Uh, Kiril, you need to come in here for a second,” I hollered at the closed bathroom door.

Kiril opened the door and poked his head out, water dripped from the tips of his black tresses. “What's up?”

I pointed to the TV, the headline featuring our demise rolled across the bottom screen.

“We're dead, man.” A hysterical laugh bubbled up.

Kiril glared at me, “Not funny, winter.”

I felt sick, my stomach heaved and I ran for the bathroom. “Move, or I'm gonna puke on you!”

Kiril held onto the towel around his waist and jumped out of the way. I lost my breakfast down the toilet but didn't feel better. On lead feet, I staggered back to the bed and collapsed on my stomach.

Kiril sat in a rickety chair by the TV, he'd pulled on a pair of jeans. “I can't believe she 'killed' us. Who do you suppose took our place in death?”

I closed my eyes tightly and said, “A couple of unlucky Fae no one would miss. Does it matter? They're dead and we might as well be. She's cut us off from seeking out help from anyone.”

Kiril ran a hand through his soggy hair and cradled his head, “What do we do now?”

I buried my face in the mattress and groaned.

Why do I have to have the answers? I just wanted to let Tanith cool down and go home.

I pushed up from the bed and sat on the edge facing Kiril. “We either find a place to disappear that Tanith can't reach us...”

Kiril rested his chin on folded hands and scoffed, “Yeah, right. Or?”

“Or we look for a way back in. We need a bigger trump card than the book, something she won't risk us revealing. Then we could live in peace,” I rolled my eye. “Maybe.”

It was a long shot.

Kiril shook his head in defeat. “Planning to bust into the vault? Anything Tanith would be afraid of is dead or locked up tight.”

“Not necessarily. The book had pages missing, if she had those pages she would've kept them with the book. There's a chance they still exist somewhere out there,” I said.

Kiril leaned back against the chair's slatted back. “Huh. You might be right. Where do we start looking?”

I smiled, happy he was on board with my plan. “We start in the oldest ruins that still have power emanating from them. I'd wager we'll find them in one or something even better.”

Today I'd rest and let myself process my grandmother's treachery. Tomorrow I'd start a little treachery of my own.

World in Shadows is a Paranormal Romance series set in modern times with shifters, fae, vampires, and paranormals galore! 

Rachel Ryan wakes up with no knowledge of where she is or how she got there. Thrown
into a world she thought only existed in myths, she finds more questions than answers. Shape shifters, faeries, and vampires hide in plain sight among humans. There’s a war quietly brewing in the shadows. Rachel stands between mankind and those creatures that live in the darkness. Enhanced with power she doesn't understand, she’ll tip the scales, but who is the real enemy?

Book 1: Rising Shadows - Review

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Varian Caina believed his chance at love and happiness died with Winter, but what if Winter isn't dead? Why allow everyone to grieve? Winter has assassins after her, sent by the Seelie Queen Tanith and faces a new enemy in the Unseelie King Corrigan. Can Varian turn his back on Winter or will he embrace his second chance? A short story in the World in Shadows series between books one and two.

 Book 1.5: Winter's Kiss - Review

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Author Links:
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A Day in the Life of ... Dagger by S.E. Smith

A Day in the Life is a feature we just stared here at Bitten by Romance.  It takes a closer look into a day (or night) of a character and maybe gives us readers a glipse into a side of the character we might not have seen otherwise.  If you're an auther that would like to participate in future A Day in the Life posts, check out the post HERE.

S.E. Smith, author of Hunter's Claim - book one in The Alliance series, visits us today with a short story about Dagger, a friend to the main character, Hunter.

Dagger stared at the female lying weakly on a make-shift pallet on the hard, cold concrete floor of the underground garage. The firelight highlighted her delicate bone structure as she gazed at another female. In the dim light, he could see the bruises marring the pale skin of her right cheek. Fury churned inside him, making his eyes glow with a dark, dangerous light.

He watched as she turned to smother her cough. A sick feeling washed over him as he wondered if this was the female Hunter was searching for. He hoped not. The thought of his friend claiming her made him almost double over as another wave of emotion hit him… jealousy. The primitive need to protect and care for the female gripped him tightly in its grasp as she struggled to sit up.

Dagger glanced at Hunter to see his reaction. He almost fell to his knees in relief when his friend glanced at him with a dark frown and shook his head. He nodded in relief when Hunter raised his hand and held up two fingers before raising a third one.

There were three females. Three! Neither one of the two by the fire were the one Hunter was searching for. Dagger turned his attention back to the two by the fire. His eyes narrowed as he watched the younger girl help his female to sit up.

Mine, he thought in stunned disbelief. My female.

Dagger barely registered the softly spoken words as the two women talked. His eyes were glued to the pale face, trembling hands and fragile form as she moaned and closed her eyes in pain. It took every ounce of discipline he had to remain still. His body shook as he fought to remain in position. He couldn’t compromise the mission. He repeated that over and over as he clenched his fists.

Glazed hazel eyes blinked and a weak smile curved the female named Jordan’s lips as the younger girl held a steaming cup up to her mouth. He didn’t miss the way her hands trembled as she weakly took the nourishment. His body jerked forward in protest as her softly spoken words ripped through him.

“I don’t think I’ll ever be strong again,” Jordan whispered, dark despair making her words echo with sorrow.

She will be, he thought as he stepped into the light. I will make sure that she is.

© SE Smith LLC

Hunter's Claim is a new Science Fiction Romance series that released earlier this year.

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Author Links:

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Jesse Sampson and her two younger sisters have lived a hard life on the streets of Seattle,
Washington for the past several years.

Four years before, the Earth received its first visitors from space causing mass fear.

Alone in a world gone mad with just her sisters, she has learned to use the darkness and the remains of the city to survive and keep what was left of her family alive. She has seen the savage side of human nature and finds they are not much different from the aliens who conquered Earth.

The Trivators have taken control of Earth to prevent the humans from destroying it in their fear.

A world of warriors, they are sent out by the Alliance of Star Systems to seek out new worlds. Their mission is first contact. They are to establish communications with the leaders of the new worlds they find and bring them into the Alliance.

Any resistance is to be quickly subdued to prevent unnecessary death of the inhabitants of the new worlds they find. Their payment comes from the success of their mission.

Hunter is what he is called. A hunter, one of the elite clans of the Trivators who seek out those who resist. His abilities to track, capture and eliminate those who try to harm any warrior is renowned.

He finds the tables turned when he becomes the one captured by a group of ruthless humans. Hunter is shocked when a strange human female risks her life to help him escape only to disappear into the ruins of the city.

He now has a new mission, finding the female who saved his life. He is determined to find her before she is damaged by others of her kind.

What he finds is a reward beyond comprehension to a Trivator warrior, a family.

Can he convince Jesse that he can give her and her younger sisters a better life on his world? Or will fear keep her from accepting what he has to offer? 

Calling All Authors: New Feature - A Day in the Life

Bitten by Romance is looking for authors to participate in our newest feature: A Day in the Life.  If your characters have an interesting story or random event they would like to share with our readers, please tell us about it!  The day can be about anything (but if it’s holiday related we will post near the holiday).  Does you werewolf have a problem with the grocery store buying vegetable for his lady love?  How did her mother react when the alien came home for the holidays?  Is it nice to have a wizard help hang your Christmas lights?  How did it go when she introduced BOTH her boyfriends to the family?  These are just some ideas that were tossed around – we know you will have many more.  

If you would like to share a day in the life of your character just send your post to jasmyn.bitten@gmail.com and I will take a look and get it posted.  Please include "Day in the Life" in your email subject so I know to grab it.  Graphics (including book covers) and any links you would like added to the post should also be included/attached in the message.  We look forward to hearing more about your characters!

Past Day in the Life Posts