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Now Available From Ellora’s Cave. Excerpt from Marriage in Moonlust from the Midnight Desires Anthology Skeletal fingers of bare treetops pointed at the full moon. The devil’s moon, as it was called in Leona’s village. From her awkward position, half-drugged and slung like a sack of wheat in the arms of a stinking brute, a devil's moon seemed the perfect description. She squinted through blurry eyes and felt bile rise in her throat. As the world spiraled around her, she lost consciousness. * * * * * Landing with a thud that bruised her back and ribs, Leona awoke in a dim, windowless stone room. The stench of animal droppings left to rot in slime-slicked puddles of water nearly gagged her. She raised herself to her knees, straining to see in the light of the single candle emerging from a puddle of melting wax beside an oak door. “The others will be here soon.” Leona jumped at the sound of the rumbling voice. Her heart pounded as she spun to face the misshapen fiend who’d carried her there. As monstrous in height as he was in size, with grotesque lumps of flesh and muscle bulging through his black robe, he glared at her with narrow, close-set eyes. His hairless, bloated face reminded her of moldy dough. Narrow lips slipped into a malicious smile, exposing the sharp incisor teeth her people so feared. It had been terror of the Family Debray that sent Leona to the monster's lair as a sacrifice offered by her village. To appease the gory hunger of the family who held legal rights over their land, her own parents had thrust Leona to her wretched fate. For years unexplained deaths, anemic symptoms of heretofore healthy people, and the detailed dreams of children had been brushed aside and ignored. The Debrays were known vampires, yet as long as the land yielded crops and people remained silent, they issued light taxes and ruled fairly compared to most nobles in the region. Until that summer. More villagers had died, livestock was found mangled and drained of blood, and taxes increased. Kornel Debray, acting ruler in his brother’s absence, had demanded human sacrifices to be made on the last eve of every month. At first the villagers rebelled, but homes were burned, and mothers, sisters, wives, daughters - even beautiful youths - were taken by force. The victims were carted off in a black, steel-wheeled coach, or worse, trapped in the monstrous arms of the Debray family servant, Augustus. The beast Augustus snarled at Leona as she crawled away from him, her brain still muddled from the herbal mixture her mother had used to poison her, rendering her helpless to fight for her freedom. “You are so lovely,” Augustus seethed, saliva slipping from the corner of his mouth and sticking to his blubbery chin. “I could lick you up.” “Not without the rest of us.” Kornel Debray’s tall silhouette filled the doorway. Eyes glowing with fiendish amusement, he stared at Leona. The younger of the Debray brothers was as handsome as Augustus was ugly, with wavy chestnut hair cut short about his chiseled face, full lips and large, thickly-lashed eyes that shone blue beneath a tinge of bloodlust red. In spite of his sensual appearance, Kornel Debray reeked of evil. He advanced on Leona, giving passage to the third Debray sibling, their sister, Sabine. Like Kornel, she was tall and slender with fine cheekbones, wide-set blue eyes, and delicate hands that floated gently over her gray silk dress. “Truly, Augustus, you must wait your turn." She giggled, sweeping past the brute and leaning toward Leona. “She’s lovely, Kornel, for a common wench.” “I suppose.” Kornel squatted beside Leona, took a handful of her thick, auburn hair, and jerked her neck back. “Would you like the first taste, sister?” “Let go of me!” Leona shrieked, swiping at Kornel with her nails. He laughed and trapped her wrists in his other hand. Leona fought him with a combination of fury and terror, but he laughed until he grew tired of her flailing and shoved her into Augustus’ arms. The brute’s slug-like tongue licked the back of her neck. She jammed her elbow against him, but the solid masses of fat and muscle were too strong an armor for mere mortal flesh and bone to penetrate. “Why don’t we all drink of her at once?” Augustus suggested. “Me? Drink with a lowly beast like you?” Kornel scoffed. “Perhaps when I’ve drained her nearly dry I’ll let you have what’s left.” “Kornel, that’s enough.” Sabine’s smile faded. “Enough? My dear, we’ve only just begun. I allowed you to join our games because you’ve pleaded with me for weeks. If you’re going to be a bore, then you can go back to visiting babes in cribs and leaving them with the sweet little dreams you’re so fond of.” Kornel advanced toward Leona who struggled in Augustus’ arms, but Sabine stepped between them. “Kornel, she’s afraid. This isn't right.” “Of course she’s afraid. If you were going to be ravaged by wolves, you’d be terrified as well. That’s the fun of it.” Kornel shoved Sabine aside and lowered his mouth to Leona’s throat while Augustus, drooling down the back of her neck, held her immobile. “Kornel, let her go!” Sabine yanked her brother’s arm, her own immortal strength not an even match for his, but enough to deter him momentarily. Leona used the opportunity to lash out at his groin with her foot, hoping that area would be as sensitive to him as it was on human males. To her satisfaction, he groaned and bent forward in pain. Sabine laughed. “Shut up, you spoiled wench!” Kornel grasped Sabine's silk-clad wrist and hurled her backwards toward the door where she smashed directly into the chest of Narcisse Debray. Narcisse caught Sabine, holding her against his rain-soaked cloak, while his eyes, gleaming beneath his hood, surveyed the gruesome scene in the dungeon room. “On the way home I heard stories.” Narcisse's voice sounded dangerously soft. “I didn’t believe them, but I can see I was wrong.” “We were just having a bit of fun.” Kornel shrugged. “It’s not like you’ve never done the same.” Narcisse glared at Augustus until the servant released Leona. She stumbled, but Narcisse caught her. His hood fell from his face, and she gazed up at the most striking man she’d ever seen. Perhaps it was the poison herbs in her blood, or maybe what the legends said about vampire's mind powers were true, but she felt bewitched by his glistening sapphire eyes and smooth, dusky skin. Full lips parted slightly, revealing the tips of his teeth. The chest beneath her palms felt hard, but living, breathing, not death-like, as she had expected. “Lord Debray, I just want to leave.” Leona tried to keep her voice steady. “Please.” He shook his head. “You’re in no condition to go anywhere. Sabine, have a servant prepare a room for her.” The vampiress left to obey her brother's request. “No! I don’t want to stay here!” He swept her into his arms, pressing her to his damp cloak and the warm, virile body beneath. As he strode out of the cell, he glanced over his shoulder to his brother. “We’ll talk soon, Kornel.” The younger man nodded, a muscle jerking in his smooth cheek, his hands clenched into fists so tight that blood dripped from his palms. Beside Kornel, Augustus glanced at his booted feet like a reprimanded child. Narcisse climbed the winding flights of stone steps to the Castle Debray, as if scarcely noticing the weight of the woman in his arms. Leona, realizing he wasn’t about to release her, clung to his neck to avoid being jounced with every step. The heavy tendrils of his damp black hair felt slick against her cheek. His aroma was of the forest and the earth, the fresh smell of the storm, and the comforting scent of leather and horse. Her forearms touched the warmth of his neck, and she felt completely enveloped by strength she had never known before. “I’m perfectly able to walk.” He raised a skeptical eyebrow. “Highly unlikely.” “You really needn’t go out of your way. I’d much rather go home.” “To a family who drugged you so you could be carted off to amuse my brother and his pet ogre?” “Better to be back in my own village than to spend another second in this demon pit!” “You won’t be hurt again. I promise," he said as they reached the top of the steps. “Once you’re well, we can talk about returning you to the village.” “But—” “But until then, you’re my guest. I want to make up for my brother’s rudeness.” “You’re being just as rude by not letting me go,” she ventured, unsure of how much flippancy he would accept from one of his villagers. “Am I?” He kicked open the door of a chamber at the end of the hallway and stepped into a room where a fire blazed. Several candles glowed on a long wooden table. He placed her amidst warm fur blankets and feather pillows on a canopy bed and added, “Then rudeness must run in my family." Leona wanted to argue further, but the herbs seemed to drag her into darkness. Her body felt colder than she ever remembered. * * * * * "Don't sleep!" Narcisse grasped the woman's arms. Even filthy and drugged, she was beautiful. Her rich auburn hair hung in thick waves about her delicate face. Except for the deadly pallor beneath, caused by the poison, her skin carried a hint of gold, as if touched by the sun."I'm tired," she murmured. "The poison you were given makes you want to sleep, but you might die if you give in to it!" Her eyes slipped shut, and she resisted when he tried shaking her to wakefulness. There was a way to save her, but after all she'd endured with Kornel and Augustus, it seemed almost too cruel. "Tell me your name," he said, crossing the room to bolt the door. He tossed aside his cloak and tugged his shirt over his head. "Leona." "I like that name." He kicked off his boots and trousers, dropping them in a heap beside the cloak. "Leona!" He spoke as if commanding an army as he sat on the edge of the bed and began unfastening the ties on the front of her dress. His teeth clenched. There were so damn many little knots that she could be dead before he removed the garment! Claws emerged from beneath his human fingernails, and he gently slashed the gown, tearing only cloth, not so much as scratching her tender flesh. Her eyes opened halfway, and she fought him with her remaining strength. "Leona," he held her arms at her sides and slid his body over hers while speaking against her lips, "please trust me. I won't hurt you." She shook her head, eyes terrified beneath their haze. "I don't want to become what you are. I'd rather be dead." Her words stung, not so much from the insult, but from past memories. If another woman had been so repulsed by his nature, she might have lived. Now this woman might die for the opposite reason. She needn't have worried, however. Narcisse would never again make the mistake he had before. He had no intention of changing Leona. He merely wanted to share some of his strength with her. "Look at me." He gently grasped her chin when she tried to turn away. Her green eyes held his, and he felt some of her fear melt away when their minds touched. After a moment, he released her from his spell. He'd never taken a woman by the use of magic and had no intention of starting now. He merely wanted to prove to her she was safe with him. "Leona, if you don't let me help you, the poison will kill you. I swear you will not become what I am." "Why should I trust you?" she slurred as death sank its fingertips into her soul. He covered her mouth with his, tenderly, chastely at first. Her lips felt so soft, her breath so human.

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