The lush woods swirled with mist that took on a green tinge. The mist thickened and the hair around my neck tingled. Out of the mist ahead, three blurred, smoky images of a single woman moved in unison. The images simultaneously cast out their arms, as if inciting a spell. I turned to Nova, who appeared frozen in time. I moved like a sleepwalker in a dream to her side, touching her face with my nose. She felt like stone! I turned and snarled at the images, but the heavy weight of the mist held me back. 

The three forms moved slowly toward me. Once in front of me, they solidified into one woman. She wore a black sleeveless gown that seemed to ripple as if the cloth was ink spilling off her and black robes with ornate silver designs.

The designs were just like the runes or alchemy symbols Kane had once showed me in one of his books. Her black hair was pulled into an Ancient Greek-style, high-set ponytail. She carried two old-fashioned reed torches, and a polecat. She put down the black-footed, ferret-like creature, and it weaved in and out of her flowing robes and hissed continuously at us.

A deathly pale marred the woman’s beauty. Her presence engulfed the woods around us with a strong condensation of the mist. A green aura shimmered, surrounding her. I could feel magic swirling around me.
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I glanced at Nova and whined in fear. The object of my desire had been turned to stone. I bared my fangs, saliva dripping from them, and lunged at this mythical sorceress. But nothing happened. My body couldn’t move. I felt blocked, almost paralyzed when I tried to step forward.

“Do not fear, Snow Blood. I only wanted to meet you.” Her voice was deep and raspy. The green mist swirled up and down her body, and her dark black eyes shone like coal in her pale face.

I looked back to Nova and whined.

“Your companion will be fine when I leave. I am invisible to all but you at this moment.”

I turned to the woman, not knowing her motive, and sniffed the air around her. She smelled like cold, death and moist earth.

“My friend Persephone described your strength and beauty, but her words didn’t do you justice.”

Her sweet words disarmed me. I shook my head, trying to clear it of her voice seeping in and out of my mind, like the mist surrounding her. I knew that she had to be like the gods—charming, deceitful, greedy and evil. So, you are Hecate?

Yes. She reached out to touch me, and I shrank back. “Do not retreat from me… I…”

SNOW BLOOD! WHERE ARE YOU? Brogio’s voice pushed Hecate’s thoughts from my mind.
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The witch again held out her right hand. “I know you are being summoned. So, meet me here tomorrow night when the moon rises over the trees. I have the gift of prophecy, and I will tell you your future, and that of those you love.”

Backing away, I again shook my head, trying to knock her voice from it. As I retreated, finally able to move, Hecate glowed even brighter and dissolved slowly in the mist. “Remember… tomorrow night… your future awaits you.” Her voice and the smell of sulfur faded away gradually with her image. It left an uncomfortable ringing in my ears.

I stared at the empty space she had left and shook off the remnants of her spell from my coat.
 
If you’d like to read more of this third book in the Snow Blood Vampire Mystery Thriller Series, go here. Haven’t started the series, then click here.

Til Next Time,
Carol
 
 
 

I turned, and he stared down into my eyes. I felt drawn into his dark brown orbs that smoldered and shifted to blood red.

I hadn’t heard his footfalls or the crunch of snow behind me. His presence both startled and overwhelmed me. I moved back two steps to take in the sheer beauty and strength of Kane da Medici, the first blood son of Brogio, the original vampire.

His six-foot-five frame towered over my small stature. Dark brown hair fell around his broad shoulders. He wore black slacks, a white silk shirt open at the collar, and a black brocade jacket. A black belt and boots finished off his stylish appearance. His love of beautiful clothes was obvious on this night he had agreed to meet me in the woods outside his Tuscany wine estate.
You think I’m crazy to meet a timeless vampire in the woods at night? Nothing could be farther from the truth. First, he would never purposely hurt a human being. I know. I wrote him that way. Second, he wanted to meet his creator face to face.

He smirked. “You are smaller and older than I thought you’d be.”

I brushed a snowflake from my silver white hair and flashed him a smile. “And, you are more handsome than any image of you could convey.”

He laughed and shrugged. He bowed and pointed to a fallen tree where we might sit together. He tried to hide the boyish charm that I had built into him. I had no idea just how charming he had become over the years and the nine books I’d written about him.

“So, Carol, what do you want to know?” He hunched over, placed an elbow on a knee, and placed his knuckle under his chin. He gave me a sidelong glance and smirked. “What could I possibly tell you that you don’t already know?”

I leaned toward him. “I want to know if your love for Zandra and Moon has surpassed your lust for never-ending knowledge.”

He sat up in surprise and peered into my own brown eyes. “Isn’t it obvious? I willingly offered my true death to Lucifer in exchange for all those I love. Zandra and Moon being at the top of that list.”

I sighed. “Then you truly have evolved as a character, haven’t you?”

“Call it what you will.”

I placed my hand on his arm, and he turned to me.

 “You have been through so much. You, Moon, Zandra, and her brothers have had to fight off evil humans, shifters, the undead, the original succubus, demons, and even Satan himself. If I could grant you one wish, what would it be?”

He placed his hand over mine and stared into the darkness of the woods. “I’d wish you grant us all peace. Peace to just be together… and yes, for me to explore my unquenchable thirst for knowledge.”

I shrugged. “But you know the worst storm you’ve faced is coming in Moon Blood Book 5, don’t you?”

He snatched his hand away from mine. “Why do you have to put us through such difficult situations? You’re worst than the gods and the monsters that pursue us.”

I sighed again. “Because all of you are so very creative. You find ways to escape the worst situations, and I love watching all of you evolve into something so noble. Yes, you are supposed to be monsters, but I have never known creatures like you who have so much unconditional love for each other. Not one of you would hesitate to die for the others. It makes you all inspirational.”

He stood and began to pace, a habit he now mimicked from Brogio, his sire. “But that comes from Moon. It has all along. First from Snow Blood, and now from his daughter and my progeny, my beloved hybrid wolf. Both the kindred dog and his daughter have shown all of us the way.”

I smiled and turned to him. “And, it is my hope that those who read your stories will learn how to love unconditionally as you have.” I turned to go.

Kane placed his hand on my arm to stay me. “Won’t you tell me what evil awaits us next?”

I reached up and wrapped my arms around his neck and whispered, “Moon Blood and I will reveal all in the next and last book. I know patience isn’t in your wheelhouse but try… and trust that you truly are the heroes of this series.”
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He hugged me back, sighed, turned, and disappeared through the trees.
 
Read the adventures of the first blood son series. Catch up with Moon Blood Books 1-4 and look for Book 5 sometime in 2019. Want to start at the beginning with the Snow Blood Series? Why not.

Til Next Time,
​Carol
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