BLOOD AND
FIRE
Book Two
in the Talbot Trilogy
by Tori L.
Ridgewood
What chance does one
witch have against five vampires? Alone, not much. But Rayvin’s allies are
gathering…
The battle between good
and evil supernatural forces heats up in the long, cold November nights of the
former mining town. But how will Rayvin’s motley crew of spellcasters and
shapeshifters cope when they discover the threat they face is even greater than
they imagined?
* * * * *
Excerpt – rated for
18+
“What kind of maniac tortures his lover?” she
whispered. Her throat was still hoarse from screaming.
“Some people find they enjoy what you call
‘torture’,” he countered. Supporting her body with his, so her chin was secured
against his shoulder, de Sade slid his hands under her sweater to unfasten her
bra.
The confident movement of his hands against the taught,
sensitive skin of her back was making her temperature rise. He lowered her
brassiere away from her chest, gently reaching up the sleeves of her sweater to
thread the straps through so he could pull the black lace garment from under
her clothing. De Sade was moving with deliberate care, taking his time, and he
could probably tell from the rise in her pheromones that it was turning her on
in spite of herself.
How
could this be happening to me?
She couldn't stand it.
Her systems may have been weakened by electric
shock, and her magick worn down by pregnancy, but Rayvin refused to give in.
As the vampire continued lazily undressing her,
she gritted her teeth and focused on a drawer next to the stove.
The handle shook for a moment, before the drawer
slid open and released a large carving knife that hovered in the air. Rayvin
lifted her chin from de Sade’s shoulder, leaving room for the knife to ease
itself next to the vampire’s neck. The tip positioned itself under his earlobe.
De Sade paused for a moment. “You can threaten me
all you like, but the truth is that I am stronger than you. You cannot help but
be affected by me.” He ripped the front of her hoodie in one smooth gesture,
tearing the fabric away from her body.
Rayvin sat straighter in the remains of her
hoodie. The t-shirt she was wearing underneath did little to conceal the way
her breasts had swollen with her pregnancy. De Sade stepped away from the
hovering knife to remove his own shirt, and she directed her eyes at another
drawer.
The vampire smiled at the peeler she sent toward
his ribs. It pressed against his skin but did not penetrate.
“You don’t have the heart for it, love. You’re not
a killer.”
The cupboards flung themselves open, and all of
her mugs and glasses hurled themselves to the ceiling. The vampire didn't even
flinch at the noise of their shattering. Hundreds of shards and jagged
fragments aimed in his direction.
Rayvin’s voice was low, but clear.
“Leave now, before I cut you into a thousand pieces.”
De Sade unbuckled his trousers, let them fall, and
stepped out of them. He hadn’t bothered wearing any underwear. “You don’t
really mean that, now do you? I have something you want.”
His body never failed to shock her with its
magnificence. Perfectly sculpted muscles. Pale, but hairy where a man should
be. His arousal was clear. Rayvin felt herself growing wet, her whole being
fighting to draw closer to him. Her hands clenched around the edge of the table
in a last-ditch effort to hold on to herself.
“I don’t want you.”
She sent her fury toward a shard of porcelain. It
obeyed her command, darting past the vampire to slice a thin line on his cheek.
A single drop of dark blood trickled down his cheek.
He held her gaze. “Now you and I both know that
that is a lie.”
Rayvin took a deep breath and lowered her feet to
the floor. She wasn’t quite strong enough to hold herself upright, but the
table held firm against her weight. “I don't need you or want you in my life,
asshole. I’m done with you. Get the fuck out of my house.”
De Sade clucked his tongue. “Haven't we always
been honest with each other?” He kicked his pants aside, and then his shoes.
“Before me, you were boring. Unimportant. I made you special when I chose you.
I’ve given you a new purpose. And when I fuck you, I make your world explode.”
His words killed a little more of her confidence.
How did he know exactly what to say to mess with her mind?
Rayvin glowered as she stepped toward him. Her
weapons moved with her, closing in on his body so he was surrounded by a
glittering cage of blades. De Sade looked down at her as she approached, but he
didn’t move. Her throat ached and her body burned. “You’ve turned me into a
fucking addict! I don’t want to be like this anymore!” Her voice cracked. “Get
out! I’m taking back my invitation!”
De Sade laughed in her face. “It’s too late for
that. Our bond is stronger than a broken invitation, and it is stronger than
any of the magick you have attempted. You gave yourself to me of your own free
will. There is nothing to be done.”
She roared at him, battering his chest with her
fists as her tiny spears of glass and porcelain razed his skin. The vampire
continued to laugh. He grabbed her wrists and held them away from them both as
if she were a small child.
“Bastard!” Rayvin spat at him, her nails digging
into her palms. Her voice attempted to produce a scream, but instead it could
only rasp. “I hate you! I’ll kill myself if you touch me again!”
In a move so fast she couldn’t see it, de Sade had
pinned her arms to her sides, shoved the table to one side, and forced her
against the wall. His knee had spread her legs and he’d pressed the length of
his body to hers even before the table he had pushed away had a chance to hit
the floor, the elderly legs cracking and splintering on impact.
“You won’t do that, dearest Rayvin,” he whispered,
nuzzling her nose with his. She fought the melting sensation in her loins, but
her will was ebbing with every thrust of his hips against hers. “You love life
too much. You are not destined for death by suicide. And as I told you before,
you are allowed to hate me. This isn’t love. It’s fucking, and you want it with
every inch of your sweet little body.”
His lips descended on hers, and the last of
Rayvin’s self control fell away, along with the remains of her glassware. Her
will drowned in a sea of passion, overwhelmed once again by the touch of his
mouth and tongue. Somewhere in the back of her mind, reality screamed at her to
fight it, but it was as though a screen had lowered between knowledge and
sensation.
Sensation was all that mattered in the moment. ****
About the Author:
After
her first heartbreak, Tori found solace in two things: reading romance novels
and listening to an after-dark radio program called Lovers and Other Strangers.
Throughout the summer and fall of 1990, the new kid in town found reading
fiction and writing her own short stories gave her a much needed creative
outlet. Determined to become a published author, Tori amassed stacks of
notebooks and boxes of filed-away stories, most only half-finished before
another idea would overtake her and demand to be written down. Then, while on
parental leave with her second baby, one story formed and refused to be packed
away. Between teaching full-time, parenting, and life in general, it would take
almost seven years before the first novel in her first trilogy would be
completed. In the process, Tori finally found her stride as a writer.
At
present, on her off-time, Tori not only enjoys reading, but also listening to
an eclectic mix of music as she walks the family dog (Skittles), attempts to
turn her thumb green, or makes needlework gifts for her friends and family
members. She loves to travel, collect and make miniature furniture, and a good
cup of tea during a thunderstorm or a blizzard. Under it all, she is always
intrigued by history, the supernatural, vampire and shapeshifter mythology,
romance, and other dangers.
Tori
is currently working on Crystal and Wand: Book Three of The Talbot
Trilogy. She lives in Kirkland Lake, Ontario, Canada with her husband and two
children. She is a full-time teacher at a local high school.
If
you’d like to learn more about Tori and her books, please feel free to visit
her website, and follow her on Facebook, Twitter, and Goodreads.
The
Talbot Trilogy books
Mist and Midnight (prequel)
Crystal
and Wand (coming soon)
BLOOD
AND FIRE, a Talbot Trilogy Novel by Tori L. Ridgewood, available in ebook
formats at Amazon, Smashwords, and Lulu.
