Tag Archives: Erotic Romance

Dar’kind Promises – Secret Eighteen

The Town.

The setting for this story is identified as a small town in rural North Florida. It has not been named in any published work yet. Where is this little oasis of paranormal wonder you ask? I guess I have hesitated to call the town by it’s real name and I haven’t settled on its fictitious name yet.

Here are the clues. It is about 45 minutes west of Jacksonville. It is about 45 minutes north of Gainesville. Two major highways run from the east to the west through the town. Half the county is federal forest. i.e. a small rural town in North Florida. LOL. There are shops on main street through town. The apartments and stores are made up.  None of the characters in my stories resemble any of the real people who live in that town. The characters are totally invented.

This small rural town is the location of Salynne’s Crystals and Thyme and Thompson, Thornton, and Castellano, Attorneys at Law featured in another story. Can you name that story?

 

Dar’kind Promises – Secret Seventeen

Salynne’s Crystals and Thyme is mentioned in the story. Zelia went by the shop tracking Isobeau. She sensed dragons presence and was able to pick out Isobeau’s trail.

Salynne’s is a curio shop with herbs, crystals, interesting objects, jewelry, oddities. It is a location where Wren does her part for local artists by featuring their work for sale. Magical supplies are for sale. It is owned by Cathwren Aldridge “Wren” for short. The shop is part of the downtown commerce section of a small rural town in North Florida. The shop is the corner of the building. The shops continue down the main street.  The second floor has apartments. Wren lives over her shop. Where did the name come from? My middle child’s first and middle names are Sabra Lynne. Salynne’s was created from that merge of names. I love the way Salynne’s Crystals and Thyme rolls off the tongue.

The shop has been featured in another one of my stories. Can you name the object and the story?

 

Dar’kind Promises – Secret Sixteen

At this juncture I’m more than half way through the reveal of Thirty Secrets about Dar’kind Promises. I have to admit at this point I am wondering what insanity possessed me when I thought up the Thirty Secrets plan. I hope you are finding the secrets interesting and revealing about my world. I have been reading your comments and appreciate the dialogue we’ve created.

So today, I venture into evil to whisper the secrets of the villian in Dar’kind Promises. He is vile, nasty and without moral compass. That’s what the Dragon Race would have you believe. However, that is only one side of the legend.

The villian is the hero of his own story. In his world he is “The Chosen.” His investigation and experiments are on the forefront of the Knights of Druiere’ and their battle against the monsters invading our world. The Knights of Druiere’ have fought against the beast for centuries.

Human kind is blind to the danger lurking on the fringe of their existence. An ancient evil is slowly infiltrating. Monsters have been discovered again. The Knights thought the wretched creatures exterminated. Yet, the ancient writings keep them ever watchful for the return of the Dragons. The Chosen took their existence on faith when the leader of the Knights of Druiere’ recruited him for the battle against evil. When he realized his place in prophecy.

One of the most significant things The Chosen has learned is how to bring the flying monsters down with sound waves. He gave the Knights lost knowledge, like the power of iron to bind the Dragon and weaken it. His research into the physiology of Dragons might provide the secrets that will save the human race.

Dar’kind Promises – Secret Fifteen

There isn’t a direct mention of the Dragon Races in this Dar’kind Promises story. There is a reference from Verucca’s POV. She was old when the royal twins were born.

“Drab robes swirled around the crone’s  legs while she stretched her arms over her head. In recent years movement without pain became harder and harder. She’d been old when the royal twins were born and they were men, grown now. She ignored her creaking joints and made grand sweeping motions in the air, accompanied by incantations in an ancient language.”

Who were the royal twins she’s talking about? One day I will reveal the secret of their birth.

Many generations ago, a class division erupted resulting in the Arach human clan becoming the ruling power and the Wyrm clan the response driven muscle behind the power. The joint distinction faded through the passage of time to become Wyrmarach a bastardization pronounced Were March of the classic WyrmArach world. The significance of the joined name is lost on the inhabitants.

Their world is separated from ours by a wide gulf of difference protected by the veil. In their world order reigns under the guidance of an autocratic matriarch with a very specific view of acceptable moral citizenry.  A Queen whose mind set is so oppressive her own sons were banished as an embarrassment to her rule.

Ethan and Caleb Monroe, the prince heirs, are in a word, unusual. They live among us in exile, charged with enforcing that the barrier between our worlds remains intact.

A messiah is needed to usher in a new era of Wyrmarach understanding and tolerance. Where can salvation be found? The curtain between dimensions is thinning tempting some to look to Earth Dimension for answers. Wouldn’t it be unusual if salvation rested in the hands of a somewhat ordinary human named Cathwren, who turns out to not be very ordinary at all.

 

Dar’kind Promises – Secret Fourteen

Titles are the other challenge that almost defeat me. I struggle to find the title of each piece. The working title for this story was “That Cat Story” for ever so long. It was completely written in draft form before I could find the title.

Of course the story has a happily ever after.  That is a promise I make to readers. Yet, the journey to get to that happily ever after changes the characters. It can be a difficult and harsh journey.

The Dar’kind Fae race are a people of honor. Their commitments are covenants. Maura and Zelia pledge their lives and souls together. “Dar’kind Promises are not broken”.

Dar’kind Promises – Secret Thirteen

Is something I’ve written every really finished? I edit each piece I write, extensively. My critique partner goes through the work and gives me feed back and her thoughts. I edit again. I would guess I have probably been through Dar’kind Promises at least a hundred and fifty times editing. I let it rest and edit some more with fresh eyes. I make probably twenty passes working on format and tweaking words. When I send it off to the editor I feel like I’ve done my best to make it finished. Then she goes through and makes her edits. I receive her comments and I go through the piece again addressing things she has noted. I often find things at that time that I edit some more. Is it finished yet?

At some point you just have to stop and send it. But No, it probably isn’t really finished. I have to let it go. Even now I’ve seen a couple things while I’m preparing these articles. A word here or there. A thought that I should have developed a concept a little more. Perhaps, I didn’t address something clear enough.

The secret is, I don’t think I am ever completely satisfied with the work. I just let go.

Dar’kind Promises – Secret Twelve

Dar’kind Fairy Wings are very different. They are shaped like a butterfly but translucent like a dragon fly.

dragonfly_wing_stock_2_by_mirandarose_stock-d4afd3u

They can be flexible and floaty or stretched tight and rigid. The individual controls the firmness of the wings in response to need and mood. The amount of blood in the channels of the wing membranes controls their texture.  When a fairy needs to fly the wings have to be very tight and rigid.  Yet when they are relaxed the wings can drape and float around their body.

When I was creating the book trailer for Dar’kind Promises I needed a model with fair wings.

color dark haired fairy)

My daughter is a photographer and has Lynn Marcello Photography. She helped me with some of the photographs.

Fairy back dark hair)

Take a look at the book trailer and see what you think of the final result.

Dar’kind Promises Book Trailer

Dar’kind Promises – Secret Eleven

There are two races of Fae people. The Dar’kind Fairy and the Daie’kind Fairy. While the Dar’kinds are dark almost gothic, the Daie’kind are fair and light like the Day.

Dar’kind Fairies were inspired by this piece of art by Anne Stokes. http://www.annestokes.com

dark-fairy

However, the wings are different. But that is a secret for another day. LOL

In the creation phase I gave some thought to making the Dar’kind Fae people very fair and light in odds to their name Dark. They would have white hair. I thought that would be a twist yes.

However, an even bigger twist would be in their natures. The Dar’kind are the good Fae. They are honorable and embrace the light of the soul. The Daie’kind Folk are generally selfish and choose what will benefit them more than the greater good.

Dar’kind Promises – Secret Ten

We are up to the tenth secret already. I hope you have enjoyed the secrets revealed. Have you been surprised by anything so far?

For today. All fairies have wings don’t they?

I would think so. Yet, we couldn’t have Maura walking around Earth Dimension with wings fluttering. Could we? So Verucca had to meddle there too.  She spelled Maura’s wings with Magic. Her wings retracted into her body to remain hidden. Unfortunately, the flaw to the plan was that when Maura got wet her wings would emerge. That’s fine if you are alone in the shower.  It’s a little cramped when you get caught in the rain.

Excerpt:

Maura slipped her key out of her pocket and quietly stalked closer, her senses on high alert guarded against a trap. The young female seemed harmless enough. She watched the woman a moment more before slipping up to her. A shiver shook the girl. As she shuddered, she looked up, noticing Maura in the shadows for the first time. Wretchedness shown from her eyes in a look pleading for the kindness of simple human compassion. At least, that was how Maura chose to interpret it.

She made a quick decision that might become her undoing. She would have to hide her cramped tangled wings until she could get dry and they would recede again. She opened the door and pushed it wide. The stale smell of cheap motel drifted from the room. “Come inside out of the weather. I can spare you shelter for the night, until this storm clears.”

The woman struggled to stand, stiff and cold from huddling on the doorstep. How long had she been there? Maura slipped in under her shoulder and supported her into the room. The décor mimicked early junk, walls painted a flat yellow. Maura couldn’t get past how similar the color of the walls and baby Batura excrement.

Chilled stone cold, nearing hypothermic, the woman allowed herself to be led into the warmth of the room. Maura kicked the door shut and pulled the blanket from the bed as they stumbled by. She wrapped the blanket around the woman, seating her on the toilet seat. Next, she flipped on the shower full force. One positive benefit the rundown roadside eyesore of a motel possessed a generosity of hot water.

Looking at her guest trussed up in the blanket, her skin still had an unhealthy shade of clammy blue.

“We both need to get warm. I don’t think this is a time to worry about the details of how.”

Goddess, she wanted to let her wings stretch out to dry. Maura wanted to shed her wet clothes but couldn’t risk the woman’s reaction to her otherworldliness. Translucent wings erupting from her shoulder blades could not be explained. They’d have to stay cramped a while longer. The urgency of the moment to get the young woman warm in the shower would have to be excuse enough for Maura to stay clothed.

Dar’kind Promises – Secret Nine

Maura has pointed fairy ears which she covers with a hat when she is out in human public. The bad guy recognizes her as one of the Fae folk. He’s seen her kind before. Could this be a real lead to Ardith?

He comments on her ears and she tries to deflect it by saying — industrial accident when she was a child.

This scene and comment are a nod to an episode of the original Star Trek. In an episode where Kirk and Spock time traveled back to old earth. The City On the Edge of Forever 1967 The conversation as recorded on the link was

[Having arrived in Earth’s distant past, Captain Kirk steals clothing so he and Spock can blend in but is halted by the sudden appearance of a policeman]
Policeman: [seeing Kirk with an armload of clothing] Well?
Capt. Kirk: You’re a police officer. I recognize the traditional accoutrements.
Spock: [in regards to his own appearance] You were saying you’ll have no trouble explaining it.
Capt. Kirk: [on the spot to explain Spock’s alien features] My friend… is obviously Chinese. I see you’ve noticed the ears. They’re… actually easy to explain…
Spock: Perhaps the unfortunate accident I had as a child…
Capt. Kirk: …the unfortunate accident he had as a child. He caught his head in a mechanical… rice picker… but, fortunately, there was an American missionary living close by who was actually a, uh, skilled, uh, plastic surgeon in civilian life…
Policeman: All right, all right. Drop those bundles and put your hands on that wall there. Come on!

It was incredibly funny. I wanted to give a nod to that scene and other trek fans. LOL