I cradled my newborn son in my arms as I listened to Gwendoline and Geo conversing in low tones on the front porch.  True to my promise to Gwendoline and my grandparents, I’d spent the remaining months of my pregnancy focusing on doing what was needed to assure a healthy baby, adjusting to being a vampire, and learning all I could about the responsibilities of being a Verso Witch, while Gwendoline determined ways to get around the magical block the vampirism created.  It was this block that made me realize and understand why Geo wasn’t as adept to magic as someone born of two magical parents should be.Although they kept close contact with Gwendoline as to my health, wellbeing, and progress with both my adjustment from humanity to vampirism and lessons in witchcraft, Geo and Luthias respectfully kept their distance from me. They stayed close by for the delivery, but didn’t attend. This was something I was grateful for.  I’d tasted what i

“I want to kiss you,” Geo said as he moved closer, “but I won’t.I sucked in air and my heart skipped a beat in excited anticipation while almost falling out of my body from deflated disappointment all at one time.  He was standing so close, I could feel what little heat his body emitted on my flesh.  Vampires are like humans in so many ways.  I attribute it to the fact that they started as humans and then were transmuted into vampires. Even the ones who are born vampires carry a semblance of human genetics within them. Whatever the reason, the rumor that they are cold as death is untrue.  Most vampires run a body temperature of about sixty-five degrees.  Since this is significantly lower than the human’s average body temperature of ninety-eight point six, they feel cold to the human’s touch.  Because my body temperature was now similar to his, I could easily feel the heat from his breath as it caressed my face

The first thing I noticed when we stepped into the rickety old barn that camouflaged the tunnel leading to the portal for Versa was how different it felt to me as opposed to the last time I passed through it.  I was human then and my senses weren’t as acute.  I found it unsettling when the atmospheric pressure assaulted my flesh as we stepped out of the passageway and onto the normal surface density of earth.  It took me a moment to fight off the feelings of confinement and potential suffocation.  Even though Luthias prepped me on the possibility of that happening before we started up the ladder that led from the tunnel to the surface, its intensity surprised me.“Is Verso underground?” I asked.“No,” Luthias replied.“I didn’t think so,” I mused aloud, “but the air is so different there than here.  It seems odd, since all that separates us is a tunnel...”“We just

It seemed I’d only just snuggled into Luthias’s masculine frame when he was gently nudging me awake.  I wiped the sleep from my eyes as I forced them to focus on the darkened surroundings.  It was night.  I could see a myriad of stars twinkling outside the pitch-black interior of the tiny cave.  I was grateful for my vampire ability to see in the dark as I sought out Luthias’s handsome face.“That was the deepest sleep I’ve had in ages,” I said as I stretched the kinks out of my limbs.“You snore,” he teased as he stood up and wiped at a bit of sediment from his slacks.“Do I?” I asked with surprise. “No one ever mentioned that to me before.”He took my hands and pulled me to my feet.“Time to work your magic, my sweeting,” he said with a distinct tone that let me know he was serious about calling me his ‘sweeting’.“That

I found Pierre and Luthias huddled in deep conversation in the center of the small hall.  The sparsely furnished, tapestry lined room was reserved for more intimate gatherings.  I was told it was a mirror of the great hall, just on a lesser scale. Taking measure of its grand size, I couldn’t help wondering how much space the great hall consumed. They didn’t notice me at first, which gave me the opportunity to listen in to their conversation enough to get the gist of their topic.  They were discussing me.“How well do you know her,” my French rival asked with an undertone that suggested he suspected Luthias knew me on the intimate basis that he actually did.I held my breath while I awaited Luthias’s response.“Not well at all, your grace,” Luthias lied in a hushed tone that hinted of distain. My hand flew to my mouth to stifle the gasp that came of its own accord.  “I spent only the