LAST DAY TO VOTE!

Round three is quickly coming to an end. It's finished. Done. Over. Tonight at midnight.
I'm barely in the lead and the other author wants first as much as I do. I'm trying to gather all the votes I possibly can today, all day.

If you haven't voted yet, here's the info:
http://www.vampirekissed.com/voteforstories.html this will take you directly to the voting page. My entry is Vampire Kissed Dream. Select my entry, click on vote. All finished!
If you'd like to read the story it's in the forum section under round three.

Thank you to everyone who helped thus far, this is one contest I definitely couldn't win without you!

I'm so excited!

Not for me, but for my best friend!
She pitched the book series she's been working on this morning, to an editor at Kensington.
She just heard back - request for FULL MANUSCRIPT!
She's been working so hard, I'm so proud of her!
WTG K!

The Dreamweavers: This Writing Stuff is Hard

The Dreamweavers: This Writing Stuff is Hard: "As a new writer, I've got lots to learn. Like today. I'm entering edits for chapter 16 in my first novel. Something feels off, but I don't h..."

Wild Ride at the Vampire Kissed Flash Fiction Contest!

Another author and I keep flipping back and forth between first and second. I'm currently in second. Down by two points.

Anyone out there, who reads my blog, but hasn't voted, or encouraged their friends and family to vote - I could really use your help.

You can find my flash fiction piece, Vampire Kissed Dream at http://www.vampirekissed.com/.
You can vote on the main page. The story is in the forum, just look for round three stories, and my title.

Thanks for stopping by!

Eek! Need Your Votes

I hit first yesterday in the http://www.vampirekissed.com/ contest with my flash fiction: Vampire Kissed Dream. Over night, I dropped to second. I kind of liked sitting up there in first. So, I need to get out and get more votes. I know how quickly things can change!
So, if you've already voted for me - thank you!
Questions to ask youself: did you vote with every device available to you?
                                       do you have friends that would vote?
If you haven't voted, I assume you have your reasons, but I still like you.
Have a good one guys! Thanks for stopping by!

Entered Round Three of Vampire Kissed Contest

Here's my submission for round three. If you like it, please vote for me! Voting is on the main page, stories are in the forum. You DO NOT have to register to vote. http://www.vampirekissed.com/ is where you go to vote!
Enjoy!

Vampire Kissed Dream

Shira drove the back roads, windows down, air-conditioning on low pushing the remaining hot air from the vents of her pick-up truck. Old trucks took so long to cool down. Warm air pulsed through the windows, teasing loose tresses of hair across her neck. The combination of warmth, dancing hair, and slightest chill of cool air on her arms made her shiver. Goose bumps skated across her arms, she'd never felt like this before. Needy. Lonely.

Driving was an old human habit, but it calmed her.

Maybe it was the music, the sultry, scintillating sound that wrapped her in rhythm and haunting tones. The heavy beat mimicked a pounding heart. Blood. Life.

She could imagine a lover's breath as he lowered his head to whisper in her ear.

Shira's hair flitted across her neck again. She imagined a lover's fingers, his light caresses reminding her she was his, of promises and pleasures to come. She fought the urge to close her eyes, tip her head back in invitation. In submission. She couldn't stifle the purr of contentment that rumbled from her throat.

If only.

Vampires only responded to their mates this way. 200 years was a long time to live without touch. Without love. Was it so bad to imagine it?

Maybe she'd take the long way home tonight and play the song again…and again.

***

Something was wrong. Darius was invisible, unsubstantial, and against his will, drawn to the woman driving the pick-up truck he suddenly found himself in. He saw through himself, and still, his main focus was the woman. A small voice in the back of his mind balked. A bigger voice told it to shut up. He needed to concentrate on…her.

Darius reached down to undo his seatbelt and realized the futility of his actions. Panic should set in, cussing ensue, but the woman enthralled him. Drove out every need, every emotion, except desire – for her. Only her.

He slid across the seat, easy to do in…what was his current form? Spirit? Mist? Did it matter when she was so far away?

No.

Could he touch her? Would her skin be as soft as it looked? Would she taste like her scent? Like vanilla and fresh green apples? A bead of sweat trickled down her neck. He followed it with his finger.
He jerked his hand back. He felt her. Warm, soft, and…perfect.

"Who are you, honey? I feel like I should know you." In his heart, he recognized her, she was…his. What was going on?

He remembered his bed in the research facility in Antarctica. A warm bed, all things considered. The generator…The generator. There must be a carbon monoxide leak. His mind was living out one final fantasy before he died.

Scared, Darius looked around for a light, a tunnel. Nothing. He breathed easy again…breathing was good…right? He didn't take any more time to think about it. If he was dying, he'd enjoy this time left with the dream his mind had conjured all on its own.

Darius slid behind her. He placed his hands on her shoulders and lowered his head. "Do I know you?" He obviously didn't, he would remember if he'd ever met her.

Energy flowed between them, he felt the compassion well up from her soul, the honesty and integrity in the way she lived. He wrapped his arms around her waist. Darius felt the strangling hold of need, to be loved, cherished, protected, and the opposing need to build a wall around herself, to keep her heart safe. "Such sadness."

He stroked her arms in a gesture of comfort – she jumped! A small, inconsequential, unconscious reaction to his touch. Goose bumps rippled across her arms.

Darius moved his lips to her neck. Gently, tentatively, he kissed her. She shivered, then purred in contentment. He stared in amazement. Wow.

If only.

"If only you weren't a figment of my oxygen deprived mind. If only you were real." Darius enjoyed being close, holding her, sheltering her, protecting her.

A wrenching pain shot through his body. Panic engulfed him. Tugging. An unseen force pulled him. Fading. He was fading, running out of time.

"You're precious, wonderful, beautiful. My last regret is that you're not real." He ran his hand down her neck. Gasped on the wrenching pain. "If things were different I'd move heaven and Earth to find you." He rubbed her hair between his fingers. "I'll never forget you, as long as my spirit can remember. I could love you forever." Another hard jerk to his ethereal form. He caught his breath. "I will love you forever," he said, in grunted, stilted words.

Darius needed to leave something for her, something he treasured, even if she never knew. He removed the simple braided gold chain from his neck and placed it around hers. The chain had belonged to his grandmother, a gift her husband had given her when he left for war. He never came back. Tonight, Darius passed it on.

He tried to stay, clawed at the truck but disappeared just as easily and quickly as he'd appeared. No light, no tunnel. He felt cheated.

Light. Voices. A heavenly choir to welcome him? Friends and Family?

Yelling. Shaking. The sounds sliced through the haze in his mind. Not singing, if it was, he hadn't landed in heaven.

"Dude, Darius, wake up man, day light's burning. Come on, you're sleeping like a dead man...you okay?"
Darius blinked, trying to focus. Winston, his roommate, stared down at him, concern wrinkling his forehead. "Rise and shine, sleeping beauty."

Not dead. Cold, hungry, in need of a shower. Arms noticeably empty. Pulse racing, heart clamoring… for her. Intense desire.

But not dead.

He was awake. No carbon monoxide poisoning, just a very real, very strange dream sandblasted into the recesses of his mind. Out of habit, he reached for his gold chain.

It was gone.