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Author Profile As the only child of separated
parents, D.D. McCarthy grew up in two worlds; one the city child with her
mother, the other a farm girl with her father and stepmom. Needless to say, she
was a tomboy that rode horses and played hockey at school. She hated Home
Economics but excelled in Accountancy and hardly ever made it into Maths class.
Before the teacher sent her to the principal’s office for, not doing the
assigned lessons to disrupting her class, they had a mutual understanding – to
dislike each other. So, from roaming between city
and farm she finished public high school to find that she should have been in
art school, and she wasn’t ready for the grown-up working world. Lucky for her,
she managed to attend a college and studied Land Survey Drafting. A long career
began from drawing by hand with pen and ink to working with computers in AutoCAD
to 3D. As a child she sleepwalked, but grew out of that around the age of
nineteen. Then came the phase when she talked in her sleep, and held her arms in
the air, while she slept. That phase passed, and until this day, she has been
tormented with vivid and bloodthirsty nightmares! She decided to share these
traumatised dreams, resulting in the characters that
appear in this book.
One
Pacing in his bedroom wondering if he was wearing the right clothes was driving
him crazy. Since when did his appearance matter? His good looks had served him
well over the centuries, although he hadn’t seen Katja for 18 years. Her image
flashed in front of his face, her beautiful twinkling almond shaped brown eyes,
full luscious red lips, and porcelain skin, all framed with thick long black
hair.
“Merde!” he muttered
as a jolt rushed though his inner core. She had been driving him mad with lust
since the day he met her 291 years ago. Why was he a Coveted One? He hated not
being in control of his own destiny. He has been in training to become one of
the Deities since 1550. Igor Mirskii has been his mentor after Lucas, his Sire
and one of the Deities has turned him into a
Why did Levkov want
to see her? Hadn’t she made it clear enough that if she never saw him again it
would be too soon? Since Levkov’s call yesterday Katja had an uneasy feeling
about meeting up. It had been 18 years since she had last worked with him and
sworn never to go there again, yet here she was doing the complete opposite. He
had said it was a matter of life and death, so dramatic and he had pleaded with
her...
Whose life? She had
to quickly pack and fly from
He was nothing but
trouble! How she wished she was back in her palazzo in
Darkness had settled
over
“Shit,” she cursed.
How many times has she thought of her mate? Not once, but inexplicably at least
a million times over the last century. Dreaming of the best looking perfect man
she could.
“Stop it, you idiot!
You ran away,” she reminded herself for the umpteenth time.
“Stop what, idiot?”
Levkov said as he seated himself next to Katja.
“You’re late,” she
chided him and she stopped breathing when she saw his face.
She had forgotten how
good-looking he was!
“N-n-nothing,” she
stammered feeling like a complete fool.
Her whole body felt
awkward and she did not know what to do with her hands, so she clasped them
together on the table, feeling utterly unequipped for his charm now starting to
pool over her.
“What’s the
emergency?” Katja asked giving Levkov her best frown.
“Later, all in good
time,” he said avoiding her directness.
“What? You get me all
the way from
“I will discuss the
matter with you, but not in a coffee shop!” He waved his hand dramatically to
take in their surroundings.
“Oh, yeah, I get your
point,” she mumbled and felt guilty for attacking him verbally. His sexuality
was magnetic.
“Why are we meeting
in a coffee shop? You’ve been kicked out of everywhere else, have you?” She
tried to recover her form.
“Funny, Katja, but
no,” he growled back. “We’re going on a date,” he responded with his best smile.
She hissed at him,
nearly swallowing her tongue. “A date?” she repeated totally baffled. Levkov had
never asked her out in all the time she has known him, he seemed different
tonight. Maybe it was the long separation, or lack of male company in her life,
that was making him look so appealing tonight. She fluttered her eyelashes at
him and gave him a warm smile. “I do not want your harem coming after me with a
shotgun,” she mused.
“That is exactly why
I have never bothered to take you out on a date, ever!” he snarled.
Instantly, she
regretted her outburst and instead, studied his appearance. He was wearing a
very well cut-suit, Armani she guessed, and a pale lavender shirt. His brown
hair was cut in a messy-top style, a very sexy look, she thought! She placed her
hand over his on the table.
“Sorry,” she
whispered and her eyes burned as she felt tears wanting to form, but
“You’re beautiful,
Katja,” Levkov responded and took her hands in his. An electric current ran
through her system making her insides quiver.
Katja moaned as her
heart betrayed her, pounding like a sledge hammer in her chest, knowing Levkov
would hear every beat. Everything moved in slow motion as Levkov pulled her
close to him and kissed her, leaving her quivering in her chair. His mouth was
moulding around hers, begging for her to open and let him inside, and with a
sigh she surrendered and his tongue invaded her mouth. She felt like she was
floating on air when he suddenly stopped and pulled away. She wanted to protest
but he had left her gasping for air.
“Igor will be here
any minute to pick us up,” he mumbled in her ear.
“Hi, Igor,” Katja
greeted the chauffer, as she stepped into the black stretch limo.
“Nice to see you,
too,” Igor sneered at her.
Ignoring him she
seated herself in the plush leather seat and, as the car proceeded along
“I have to make a
quick stop in Knightsbridge,” Levkov said, stroking his hand over Katja’s and
sending an electric jolt up her arm.
Igor pulled up in
front of the Sheraton Park Tower Hotel.
“I’ll only be a
moment, Kat,” Levkov whispered into her ear, stroking her hair from her
forehead, making her breathless.
Katja composed
herself. What was wrong with her? She had never acted this way around Levkov
before. In the 291 years working together, theirs had been a strict
employer-employee relationship. Admittedly, he was breathtakingly handsome and
had that boyish charm that made girls weak at the knees. Maybe it was because
she hadn’t seen Levkov in a while, walking out on him when he had nearly got her
killed in
Levkov had found a
Tachi Samurai sword made for the Emperor of the
He had wanted to take
the sword abroad with some other priceless artefacts much to the disapproval of
Japanese officials who nearly beheaded him. This desire to acquire treasure had
forced him to purposely build a warehouse in
Levkov and Igor had
been treasure-hunting through the centuries and he had recruited Katja for her
skills in the research of various artefacts. Objects d’art he tired of always
got sold at auction, mostly at Sotheby’s. Levkov also had one of the most
impressive car collections Katja had ever seen and he loved statuary; especially
nudes.
“All done,” Levkov
said as he seated himself as close to Katja as possible, rubbing shoulders with
her, leaving her body trembling with pleasure. “We have arrived, my lady,”
Levkov bowed helping Katja out of the limo. Katja would have blushed if she
could at his old-fashioned gesture.
Upon entering Cirque
du Soir, Katja was immediately transported to another world, the music was
slightly too loud. Cirque du Soir was half eccentric circus tent and half
decadent boudoir. A fire-eater greeted them first as they walked down a wide
path resembling a street. There were snake charmers along the side and tattooed
ladies everywhere, the nostalgia of it all made Katja feel as if she was in a
part of Paris 120 years ago, giving a bohemian Parisian atmosphere to the place.
Rococo-style armchairs and sofas covered with spider webs and insect prints
adorned the place, and petite double lamp shades and art nouveau mirrors
completed the picture. There were two floors but all the action was on the
street level. Levkov led her to the VIP area at the back draped with velvet
curtains.
“How did you get
tickets?” she asked Levkov.
“Members only,” he
stated.
“You’re a member?”
A waiter appeared
with a bottle of Ace of Spades in a large sparkler set on fire. He bowed at
Katja and handed her a bright red rose. “From the gentleman,” he said and
gestured towards Levkov leaving the VIP lounge.
A lot of extravagance for an ex-employee, Katja noted,
keeping her eyes downcast. Feeling Levkov’s gaze on her she pushed her senses
out like a wave, trying to sense his mood or read his mind, all the time aware
that his breathing had become shallow and she could hear his heart pounding
faster. His mind however, was closed to her.
“Katja, you should
know better than to try and probe my mind,” he scolded.
Keeping her own mind
locked and telling herself to calm down she looked into Levkov’s eyes. His brown
eyes had changed to a sensual burgundy red.
“Katja, you are
gorgeous,” he whispered. Leaning forward he kissed her forehead so gently,
sending little tremors through her body.
Closing her eyes she
leaned towards him and pulled him softly against her, then, Levkov began to sway
with the beat of the music.
“Levkov!” Katja
sighed, sliding her arms around his neck breathing in his musky scent.
Kissing her temple,
Levkov expertly worked his way to Katja’s mouth, gently brushing his lips over
her mouth and feeling her quivering in his arms.
A lust from deep
inside her urged her on and she opened her mouth.
A burning desire to
make her his, as he answered with a passion he hasn’t felt in centuries. He
hated his Sire; he wanted all these feelings from her to be real. Man! She
tasted good. He could lose himself by just smelling her scent, so fresh and
inviting, reminding him of honeysuckle.
If he didn’t respond
to her she would know something was wrong and yet by responding he was betraying
her trust, and he now regretted that he had just taken a hair sample to his Sire
in Knightsbridge. Judging by her response to him the love spell was already
cast.
Groaning, he pulled
away from Katja and motioned her to sit on the sofa. “Would you like some
champagne?”
Levkov poured without
waiting for her to answer. He had to calm down or his lust for her was going to
make him take her right there on the sofa.
“Merde!” he muttered
to himself as he felt his erection growing and the room began to appear bright
red, that’s not calming down! He was a fully aroused vamp and his senses would
take over, because he needed to feed or he was going to lose his mind.
“Katja,” he
whispered, retreating to the velvet curtains.
Smiling, she got up
and zoomed to him pressing her soft body to his.
With a growl he
folded his arms around her and his fangs started to tingle, springing forth and
making his desire surge.
“Drink,” she
whispered. “I fed on my way to the station when I took the Underground.”
Shaking his head he
let go of her.
“Not on our first
date!” he hissed through his teeth.
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