Monday, July 30, 2012

The Vampire Encounters—Shane Chamberlain Part 1



Thank you so much for having me today.

I’d like to share the third installment of my series of short stories, entitled The Vampire Encounters. As I hop around the internet these next few weeks, I’ll be sharing a part of each story. The story has four parts, with each part broken into two—except the last, it’s broken up into three sections. So, come follow me, as I interview (Ann Rice style) the four vampires from A Hunter’s Angel...

Although all of them could be read separately, if you would like to read them all I will also be putting them on my website. Or, if you’d like to follow along, go to http://ceradubois.wordpress.com/a-hunters-angel-the-book-tour/ for the link to the other parts.

The Vampire Encounters

Part 1—Shane Chamberlain


“Crap.” I pounded the steering wheel and guided the car off to the side of the road. That tell-tale flob-flop of a flat tire grated on my nerves until I stopped.

I looked around the dark road and shivered—the chill having nothing to do with the frosty October night. I was heading home from the interview with Ian McHenry, and the deserted road gave me the heebie-jeebies. Of course talking to a real vampire didn’t give me any piece of mind. Sure, he may not kill his prey, but he still had to gnaw on someone’s neck to stay alive—or undead—or whatever vampires were.

A farmer’s field stretched for acres on the opposite side of the road. I parked on the grassy side next to a dense forest. My only light outside the car was a full moon and my headlights. God, this had all the makings for a horror movie.

“Well, that tire isn’t going to change itself.” I looked at my purse and considered calling the auto club. But I could change the tire in five minutes flat. It would take the club at least an hour to send someone all the way out here.

Taking a deep breath, I turned the car off and opened the door. The air was brisk. Autumn was in the air. I tugged my sweater tighter around me as I inspected the back driver’s side tire.

I opened the trunk and retrieved the ridiculously tiny spare, jack and tire iron. After I jacked the car up, I set about removing the lugs from the flat.

“Ouch!” I dropped the iron and peered at my murdered fingernail. “Damn.” So much for my manicure. I removed the broken nail and sucked on my sore finger.

 “You need a man to do such a tedious job.”

I let out a yelp and spun around, nearly falling on my ass when my high heels caught on the gravel. Pain shot through the ankle I’d twisted earlier that night, but I ignored it like a mosquito bite as I stared down a rattlesnake. My heart kicked up fast enough to race a rocket—and win. A man stood by the edge of the trees. I looked around, but no vehicle sat by the road. The closest house was at least a half mile away, either way down the road.

“Where—where’d you come from?”

He took a step toward me out of the shadows and into the glow of the moon. Dressed in black from his jeans to his leather jacket, he was a big man, broad-shouldered and muscular. His long hair was tied back at his neck and was either dark red or brown. Handsome and familiar in a way I couldn’t pinpoint, but I didn’t feel any safer because of it. For all I knew, I recognized him from America’s Most Wanted.

Then I looked into his eyes. I shivered and stepped away from him. I’d never seen eyes glow with an inner light. The green was too unnatural, too bright.

“Your nightmares,” he said belatedly in answer to my question. He flashed white teeth in a smile showing—

Fangs!

I screamed.

I had to be dreaming. Since meeting Grace Wallace, I’ve been having nightmares. This had to be just a dream.

But I wasn’t dreaming when I met her or Ian McHenry.

I screamed louder and turned to run. Then nothing. I couldn’t move a muscle. Couldn’t push the scream out.

He took another step closer. I couldn’t get a sound out of my throat. My body was frozen. Before panic totally took over my power to think, I remembered something Grace had told me. Bad vamps fed off fear. I forced myself to calm down and stared into those glowing green eyes. Then I realized why I thought he looked familiar.

He stopped in his tracks. “How do you know them?”

Ah, he read my mind. I wasn’t surprised to find my throat released from his power. “You’re Ian McHenry’s brother—Shane.”

He narrowed those scary-ass eyes. “Answer my question. How do you know them?”

“I’ve met them. They want me to tell the world their story. I’m a writer.”

He snickered and moved to the right. With the car at my back and him circling the front, I was trapped, even without his voodoo freezing my legs in place. He stopped in front of me and leaned close, I couldn’t even close my eyes. Fear made me lightheaded.

Dear God, he was going to bite me.

“Let me guess. I’m the villain in this little love story. The big, bad guy.”

“I didn’t need them to tell me that.” I had no idea where my bravado came from. Maybe facing death brought out the bitch in me. “I’m getting a firsthand experience.”

He straightened and laughed. “Well, now, you are a brave one.” Shane rubbed a thumb over his eyebrow. I sagged when he released me from his control. “I tell you what—I’ll let you live. But you will listen to my side of this tragedy. You will see I’m not the only evil monster in this story.”

***

To find out more about A Hunter’s Angel check out my website (http://ceradubois.wordpress.com/a-hunters-angel-the-book-tour/) for a schedule of my blog stops during the book tour. I will be presenting a series of short stories called The Vampire Encounters. Follow me as I interview Ian McHenry, Master Vampire Lucas Pomeroy, Vivian van Dyke Pomeroy, and have a scary run-in with Shane Chamberlain. Hope to see you along the way.

Giveaways

Please leave a comment and your email address to be eligible. (Sorry, only USA and Canada residents are eligible for any prize that needs to be mailed. Non-residents and residents of USA are eligible for free PDF copy.) 

*One Lucky Poster will win either a custom-made pair of angel wing earrings, charm bracelet, or necklace (check out my website for photos). 

*Two others will get a PDF copy of Bloodwine. (for info on this short story check out my website) 

*1st Stalker Prize: Every Poster will be entered into a drawing for a chance at a $5 gift certificate from The Wild Rose Press (four to be given away)—drawing to happen on September 1. 

*2nd Stalker Prize: Every Poster will also be entered into a drawing of a $25 gift card from either Amazon or Barnes and Noble (winner’s choice)—drawing to happen on September 1.

About the Author:

Cera duBois has a strong belief in never giving up on your dreams…

Although Cera was unable to read due to dyslexia and a learning disability until she was in the fourth grade, she always had a story to tell. She wrote her first novel in eleventh grade when she had to keep a journal for her academic English class. Since her life was far from exciting growing up as a farm girl in West Central Pennsylvania, she decided to rely on her imagination to give her something to write about. Over the course of the school year, she wrote a tangled romance set in the Deep South during the Civil War. Becoming an author was her ultimate dream. Despite holding a BS in secondary social studies education from Penn State University, she currently works full-time as a medical secretary. A mother of a teenage son and pre-teen daughter, she lives near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, with her husband of nearly 20 years. If she isn’t sitting in a quiet corner with her laptop, warm days will find her in the English garden surrounding her house. Cera loves to read and is interested in history, romance, science fiction and the paranormal. She also writes contemporary Westerns under her real name of Sara Walter Ellwood.

Website: http://www.ceradubois.com
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/sarawalterellwood.ceradubois/
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/sara_w_ellwood
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Buy Links: 
The Wild Rose Press: http://www.thewildrosepress.com/index.php?main_page=index&manufacturers_id=980
Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Ddigital-text&field-keywords=cera+dubois

10 comments:

  1. Ooohh, nice read! I can't wait to hear Shane's side of the story :)

    Congrats on A HUNTER'S ANGEL!!!

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  2. Thanks for stopping by, ladies... I loved writing Shane... To bad that I ended up deleting most of his scenes out of the book.

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  3. Fun read - thanks for sharing, Cera! And congrats on your book!!

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  4. What a great read! Congratulations on your book, may you have a wonderful writing career!!

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  5. Very nice post.

    bn100candg(at)hotmail(dot)com

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  6. I am reading Hunter's Angel now. I must say that I am enjoying it. A villian is the hero in his own story. I hate it when the bad guy wants to be the good guy. But hey, you're the writer....and you can make it happen.

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  7. Thank you everyone for coming by... I'm glad you all enjoyed Shane... I'll be posting part 2 on Wednesday.

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  8. Congrats... The winners are....

    For the copy of BLOODWINE:

    Mary Roya and Kristina Knight

    For the jewelry:

    Kristina Knight.

    Everyone is still in the drawing for the stalker prizes.

    ReplyDelete

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