#SatSpanks - 6/28/14 - Mortal Illusions - For immortals, the stakes are different #Vampires #ParanormalRomance

This is SCI SPANKS Week

For my SCI SPANKS post, please click HERE

Note: Sci and Saturday Spankers, this longer excerpt for Sat Spanks is from my first vampire novel, Mortal Illusions

My Sci Spank excerpt is from its sequel

Show me an angry vampire, and I'll show you an unhappy mortal.

NOTE: Reading this material at Work could get you spanked.

Welcome to the Saturday Spankings blog hop.  My stories are all M/f with the dominant male determined to protect the woman he cares for and loves, or grows to love, by doing whatever it takes to ensure her safety and continued health.  This includes administering a spanking when she needs one.  

My submission for this week is from my 1st book, Mortal Illusions. A vampire romance published by New Concepts Publishing, Mortal Illusions is currently the first in a series of 3 books.  Its sequel, Fatal Desire, is currently under production.

When Claire Daniels discovers Germaine St. Justine is a vampire, she sets a plan in motion to convince him to cure her brother of AIDS.  Though an innocent in sexual relations, Claire is savvy enough to realize the best way to secure Germaine's support is to enter into an intimate relationship with him.  However, having a vampire take you to bed isn't quite the same as sleeping with the boy next door.  There are complications. And Germaine is dominant enough to add a few more Claire hadn't expected.

In this segment, Claire has sought Germaine out at his private night club for the first time, only to discover his club offers much more than drinks for those with and without fangs.  The day room at Illusions is equipped to administer punishments as well.  While Claire is trying to reconcile with Germaine, one of his vampires enters the club with his mate in tow and demands permission to publicly chastise her.  What no one expects, however, is for Germaine not only to agree, but call for a supporting vote from his council. When the group unanimously agrees to the punishment, Claire doesn't think, she reacts by picking up a stool and striking the punishing vampire.  Phillip, who is unfazed by Claire's attack, demands she be punished for interfering with his council-sanctioned punishment.

When Germaine agrees Phillip's grievance is valid, he informs the room that he will carry out Claire's punishment himself.  Amazingly, the council protests, forcing Germaine into an open challenge with Phillip.  A sword duel to first blood.  Phillipa and Claire are seated on the sidelines to watch when Phillipa admits that she suspected Germaine had caught on to her and Phillip's plan.  Informed that Germaine's threat to have Phillipa whipped was little more than a ruse, and his demand for full supremacy over her is considered an honor, Claire is a bit dumbfounded and skeptical.  But most of all, she's starting to get pissed.

            Claire was beginning to think she'd be old and gray before she ever spoke to the tawny-eyed vampire again. “Are you saying that St. Justine is fighting for the right to beat me if he wishes?”

            “I hadn't thought of it quite that way, but yes, I guess he is.”

            “Any chance he could be seriously injured tonight?”

            “Not Germaine. He's an expert swordsman. Much better than Phillip.”

            Claire rose. “Too bad. I'd like to see him bleeding from a major artery right now.” She took a step away from her seat when Marcus grabbed her arm to stop her.

            “I cannot let you leave, Ms. Daniels. Please sit down.”

            “Just how will you stop me, Gladiator? Tie me down with the chains you keep stored next to that whip?”

            A faint smile crossed his lips. “I could, but I won't.”

            “I wish to leave, now.  So unless you mean to physically restrain me, I suggest you get out of my way.”

            He lowered his arm and stepped to one side.  “Far be it from me to hinder you, Ms. Daniels.  But then, I'm not the one who wishes you kept here.”

            “Let him do his worst,” Claire remarked tightly, but when she started across the room, Marcus let out a shrill whistle of warning.  Germaine turned, and Phillip, unable to check his thrust in time, struck him.

            Germaine reacted instantly and instinctively, lifting the tip of his blade to Phillip's throat.  Phillip raised his hands and dropped his sword, his surrender pronouncing Germaine the winner.

            “Sorry, old friend,” Germaine murmured in a near whisper.  “But this was one battle I couldn't afford to lose.”

            Then moving with preternatural speed, Germaine stood before Claire, blocking her exit.  “Just where do you think you're going?” he challenged with a slight rise to one brow.

            Although his ability to seemingly vanish and re-materialize across a large-sized room in the space of a second still caused Claire to jump, her anger held fast.  “Home.  Away.  To any place that doesn't cater to men who cross swords over the privilege of beating women.”

            “Would you prefer I concede that privilege to someone else?”

            Furious, she tried to push past him, but found herself trapped in his arms.  Knowing that fighting was useless, she accepted his restraint with ill-disguised rancor.  “In case it has escaped your notice, St. Justine, this is the twentieth century.  In it men and women are equal, and they don't go about striking one another with indemnity from assault charges.”

            “I see.  Then, I suppose I could bring such a charge against you for throwing your entire library at me, book by book.”

            Claire closed her eyes, feeling herself weaken despite her ire.  “It wasn't my entire library, and there is such a thing as justifiable homicide, which I am confident any sane jury would allow in my case, even though I didn't succeed.  But yes, you could bring charges against me--although you'd most likely be laughed out of court.”

            “My point exactly.  Courts tend to disregard things that fall outside their judicial realm, which is precisely why we don't have courts in our society, Claire.  Our society is unlike yours in that each order is its own principality with its own set of rules despite the fact we all face the same challenge--how to survive without being exposed for what we really are.  Because of the diversity in our backgrounds and culture, we meet those challenges with differing philosophies.  Some rule their groups like dictatorships, others offer no real leadership at all.  I rule by council vote.

            “My challenge was not only over the right to govern our relationship as I see fit, but the right to decide your fate should such a decision prove necessary.  In other words, I do not require council approval over anything that concerns you, not even your life.”

            “It wasn't my life that was in jeopardy a few minutes ago, it was my pride,” she reminded him bitterly

            “And that wasn't in real jeopardy, either.  You should know me well-enough by now to realize I would never pursue any action with or against you without your prior approval.”

            “So I've discovered,” she muttered, her resentment deepening.

            “Speaking of discovering things,” he segued neatly, leading her back to the bar, “how was your breakfast with Harry?”

            She whirled and glared at him.  “Then you admit that you played back my personal phone messages without my consent?”

            “I admit to nothing of the kind,” he insisted, handing her another glass of white wine before taking a sip from his own drink.  “That answering machine of yours is in dire need of a major overhaul.  When I awoke to find your note instead of you, I wasn't pleased.  Actually, I was a little perturbed, but I was also hungry.  While trudging into your kitchen I heard your machine making the most horrendous whining sound.  It had reached the end of its tape and wouldn't turn off.  I pressed the stop button and it immediately rewound and started to play on its own.  I am not the sort to read people's mail or eavesdrop on conversations, but I'm not a saint either.

            “When I heard Harry demand to know who your lover was, I have to admit my curiosity was piqued as to your response.  I wouldn't have been nearly as upset had you awakened me to tell me what had happened, but you even lied in your note.”

            “Would you have let me go by myself to meet Harry if I'd told you the truth?”

            “Probably not,” he admitted unabashedly.

            “Then the only thing the truth would have gained me was a quarrel.  I had to meet Harry alone, Germaine.  I owed him that much, if nothing else.”

            He bent his head forward slightly. “Will you at least tell me what he said?” he inquired, flexing his injured arm.

            The movement drew Claire's attention to the gaping slash edged with crimson, like a large wine-smeared kiss, staining his upper shirtsleeve. “You've lost blood. Isn't that dangerous?”

            “It could be, but my present distress isn't physical in nature. What did Harry say, Claire?”

            She turned away as worry, frustration and anger battled inside her. He'd endangered himself, and for what? The privilege to punish her privately? “You're right. I don't agree with your rules and restrictions, Germaine. And I don't like them. They are pointless, cruel and demeaning games.”

“They aren't games, Claire,” he insisted with growing impatience. “They're law enforcement. How do you think your world would be without laws and people to enforce them?”

            “That's different!”

            “Is it? When you deal with immortality, the stakes may be different, but individual needs remain essentially the same. Food, shelter, clothing--even love. The issues that separated us when we were mortal do not magically disappear during transformation, and no society can prosper without enforceable guidelines. At last count, I believe there are over two hundred and fifty brotherhoods across the globe and seventy-five sisterhoods. Each with their own form of leadership and rules. Compared to some orders, our code is considered quite lenient. I do not endorse capital punishment, dismemberment, or premature burial, for infractions--yet others do.”

            “No, instead you endorse flogging those who disobey your laws.”

            His eyes narrowed slightly as if her accusation had chafed his pride. “I don't, actually. But I do believe in upholding order.”

            “Even for yourself?”

            “I'm no exception. The rules apply to me as well.”

            “Have you ever sentenced yourself bound to that platform while others whipped you?”

            “No, nor have I ever ordered anyone else placed there, either. It wasn't I who requested Phillipa be punished. I merely honored the request.”

            “I don't care whose idea it was, I would never forgive you if you placed me in that position.”

            “By fighting for you, I have assured that will never happen. Our private disputes will remain private even if they turn public. No one will ever interfere in what you and I choose to do with, for, or to each other. You are mine alone, Claire, and I am yours.”

            “But neither of us is excluded from your laws?”

            “No more than we are from yours,” he reminded her quietly. “I never suggested our joining would be free of conflict, did I?”

            Although Claire had to admit he'd warned her, she wasn't sure she could abide by his rules. However, until she knew more about the specific laws that governed his group, she had to accept the fact she simply wasn't going to win this argument.

Claire is discovering these vampires live by different rules than those governing the mortal world, and she's afraid she's fallen in love with a man who will only break her heart.

M/F, Contemporary vampire romance in a society based on D/s.

Read the first three chapters at: Mortal Illusions

Buy the book at NCP, Amazon, Barnes & Noble or ARe.

Thanks for visiting.  I hope you enjoyed this brief excerpt and want more. Please click on one of the author's names below, or visit The Saturday Spankings Blog to continue your journey.