Saturday, September 29, 2012

The Vampire Valkyrie, Chapter 1


Chapter 1

“If you like what you do, do it. There is absolutely no reason to change your life, Mary,” Joseph Gottsched was saying to Mary Hoffman in the great dining hall of his castle in the Adirondacks where he sat with his wife Elizabeth next to him on a leather sofa. Mary was sitting opposite of them on the raised hearth stone of the massive fireplace. The stone was almost cold to sit on, not having been warmed much by the sun that was now setting and casting the last of its rays into the castle.
Mary smiled and thought, “No reason to change my life?” But that thought was quickly replaced by thinking of how beautiful Joseph and Elizabeth Gottsched were, especially Elizabeth whom Mary had come to think of as Beth, her Beth.
Beth was sultry in a Mediterranean way with some Gypsy and Spanish blood in her. She was svelte in figure, had long black hair, yet exuded an aura of strength beyond the smallness of her frame. Joseph had about him a curious blend of European handsomeness and world weariness. Were it not for Mary’s experiences of the past few days, her eyes might have focused upon Joseph. She thought he was cute. But things had happened and those things tended to cause Mary to view Joseph as a rival.
Yes, there was about him a little boy’s innocence and youthfulness that floated on a nonchalant attitude most strikingly seen in the way his eyes twinkled and his lips seemed almost always ready to break his usual seriousness with a smile. He was neither short nor tall, neither fat nor thin, had black hair like his wife, though not as long, and in the proper lighting, he could almost be mistaken for being a brother rather than a husband to his wife. Beth and Joseph appeared to be in their late twenties or early thirties at most. But in their cases, in more ways than one, appearances could be very deceiving.
With glass of red wine in one hand and cigarette in the other, Beth said, “Show Joseph how well you dance, Mary. You know I won’t mind. You know how I love to watch you dance.”
Mary laughed, “Here?”
“Obviously,” Elizabeth said. “Oh! I suppose you would like some music, even though I know you don’t need it. I’ll put something on.”
Mary shrugged her shoulders and stood. Why not? Her world had gone totally crazy over the last few days and dancing might restore some degree of normalcy. She watched Elizabeth look through a pile of CDs next to the CD player on a nearby table and suggested, “Something moody but with a good beat. And not slow. Afro-pop or something like that. Rock is good too.”
“Yes,” Joseph agreed.
“And I give a rat’s ass?” Mary thought and started to dance, not waiting for the music to begin. She really didn’t need music to dance. It was in her head, even more so since meeting Beth on the trail. But it was difficult to understand the idea of since, the idea that she was no longer who she had thought she was and had become who she really was. Then again, maybe she was only dreaming the events of the past few days. Yes, no, maybe. “Screw it. I like this,” she told herself as she slipped into the mind set of an erotic dancer.
The black dress she was wearing -silky, clingy, showing all her curves -was a delightful dress for the type of dancing she did for a living. It was not her dress. Beth had given it to her to wear because all she had to wear were the hiking clothes she had packed for her hike in the northern wilds of New York on the Northville/Lake Placid trail. She had not planned on dancing. She had not planned on meeting Beth on the trail and then being invited to stay at a castle on a private lake deep within the forest. She had not planned for anything that had happened since meeting Beth.
Mary was already moving languidly, sensuously, when the New Age African beat reached her ears and where she quickly translated it into her flesh and blood. She closed her eyes and took herself to the erotic dance club where she worked in Schenectady. Sway and regain my balance, she thought. Be who I really am.
When she opened her eyes, she saw Beth and Joseph were sitting side by side again while watching her dance. She noticed but did not care that Joseph had one hand resting casually on one knee of Beth’s and had an arm draped over her shoulders. They did make a beautiful couple. So what? Fuck him!
But it was Beth’s eyes Mary’s eyes focused upon. It was Beth’s eyes that had first trapped her on the trail and were now trapping her again to dance her sexy best. Joseph did not really matter, she told herself, other than for the fact that he was proof Beth had good taste when it came to picking a man to marry. And how could she possibly blame Beth for picking a man who had given Beth so much more than the wealth this castle exemplified. Just look at them, she thought. Neither looked to be past their early thirties. How could she or anyone believe both were hundreds of years old? But Mary did believe and was now almost willing to believe she too could live a very long life without aging, maybe even live long enough to see the end of the United States if not the end of the world.
Mary smiled, undid the spaghetti straps holding up her dress, let the dress fall, let it slide down past her breasts, slip past her hips, let it fall to the floor and step out of it, kicking it out of the way and sending it sailing to land on Joseph’s lap. Yes! It was very definitely enjoyable to be feeling so very much alive!

To buy novel in either print or ebook got to http://www.amazon.com/dp/1440432198/

Friday, September 28, 2012

And God Created Vampires, Chapter 1


And God Created Vampires

Chapter 1

      “Have you cleared your head?”
            Mary opened her eyes to look across the kitchen table to Joseph. He had removed his suit coat and loosened his tie since they had returned from midnight Christmas Mass. He had almost finished his coffee while Mary had yet to take a sip of the coffee Beth had just poured for her since coming back inside after her swim in the lake. She took a sip of the hot coffee before answering, “It’s clear. I was just thinking how beautiful it was to be swimming under the ice. You should try it sometime. Ice-cold water puts everything into perspective. It makes one realize one is one.”
            Joseph smiled and replied, “I think I’ll pass on your suggestion. What I was referring to was what happened at Mass.”
      “Oh, that. That was cool. I felt it was what God wanted me to do.”
            Beth spoke from the kitchen counter where she was pouring coffee for herself, “It was masterful what you did. I’m beginning to believe Joseph calling you a Valkyrie was on target, almost a prophesy, though I don’t think he realized at the time how right he was.”
            Mary turned her attention to Beth to say, “I have mixed feelings about that term. Vampire, I can live with. Valkyrie, I don’t know.”
      “Still,” Joseph said, “You do have to admit that killing the priest after he gave you Communion was not something an average vampire would think of doing.”
            Mary remembered how she had opened her coat to expose her naked self just before biting down on the hand that offered her the Host. She had not given any thought to what she was doing. If she had thought about it, she would have questioned her ability to draw enough blood from the priest’s hand to kill him. Now thinking about it, it must have been the taking of blood from his hand that had allowed him to live long enough for her to return to her pew before he had the heart attack which had killed him and had become the official cause of his death.
            Beth came over to sit between Mary and Joseph at the round table and said, “Not that I have a problem with what you did but may I ask why?”
      “Because I thought I owed it to a young man I killed before he would have committed suicide. Because he wasn’t really gay but thought he was from the time he was an altar boy and was repeatedly molested by that priest. You know we know things about people when we take their blood. And I just couldn’t write off as coincidence that the priest who would be celebrating the Mass was the same priest who had fucked up that young man’s mind. You do know, I hope you understand, that I believe there are reasons why I kill who I kill. Maybe I am a Valkyrie. Maybe God presents me with those I am to kill.”
            Beth laughed, “Better you than me. As long as you get the blood you need, I don’t care how you choose where it comes from.”
            Mary smiled and said, “You’re right. But I don’t really choose. I just take what comes along.”
            Joseph said, “Well as long as you=re feeling okay, that’s all that matters. I, ah, suppose you would like some time with Beth?”
            Beth! Mary suddenly realized why she had been so anxious to come up to the Adirondacks and spend Christmas with Joseph and Beth. It was Beth she longed for but she felt obligated to say to Joseph, “You don’t mind?”
            Joseph said, “Do you mind that I’ve been with her since you went back to Schenectady last summer?”
      “No. Of course not. She’s your wife?”
      “And she’s the one who created you. So I don’t mind.”
            Mary looked at Beth. Beth smiled, shrugged her shoulders and said, “We came back from Europe because I wanted to see you.”
            Mary’s eyes were locked on Beth’s eyes the way they had often been locked on them this past summer after meeting on the trail deep in the woods. Beth’s eyes were the eyes Mary had seen in dreams even before she had met her in person. Beth’s eyes had a way of swallowing Mary and causing Mary to want to be swallowed. The months of being away from Beth melted away. Her body, mind, heart and soul became so focused on Beth that she failed to notice Joseph leave after he kissed her head through her hair still damp from her swim.
            After Joseph left the kitchen, Beth said, “I thought I would get over you, but I can’t.”
            Mary said nothing, preferring to take Beth’s hand into hers to lift to her lips and kiss. This hand that had held her, had intimately touched her and guided her into becoming the vampire she had become was precious. Her love for Beth filled her with emotion and made her cry, thinking of their first night together. That night, that starry, starry night when she laid naked on the ground and let Beth do whatever Beth wanted to do to her. The sex was great but the sex could not compare to the overwhelming pleasure she felt when Beth pierced her most tender flesh and drew blood from her. She had known what was happing, even though she tried to convince herself it was only a wicked dream. Somehow she had known even then that she was meant for this woman and this woman was making her the vampire she was meant to be.
            Mary licked her tears from Beth=s hands before lifting her eyes to Beth’s eyes and saying, “I worried that you wouldn’t come back or if you did, you wouldn’t want me. I worried I would have to kill Joseph to get you back. Then I worried that if I did that, you would never want me again.”
            Beth smiled just short of a laugh and said, “I think he knew that I would have killed him if he had tried preventing me from seeing you. But don’t worry. Joseph is not like that. We’re not like that. Come. Let’s go up to my room, our room. It’s late. I know you haven’t slept for days.”
            Mary was about to protest she wasn’t tired. Sleep could wait. Her desire could not wait. And yet, while climbing the many flights of stairs to Beth’s apartment high up in the western turret of the castle, she grew increasingly tired. When they reached the apartment and then climbed one more step of stars to the bedroom, she fought against the tiredness while she undressed. She lost the fight to stay awake when she laid down on the bed.
            “Sleep, my lovely,” Beth said after crawling into bed with Mary and pulling the covers up over them. Then ever so gently, ever so lovingly, Beth pressed her fangs down onto Mary’s shoulder to take just a drop of her blood.
            Mary purred but remained sound asleep.

The novel is available at Amazon in both print and ebook formats.

Sunday, September 23, 2012

The Vampire Valkyrie, Chapter 1



The Vampire Valkyrie


By Pete Klein


Chapter 1




It was either a dream come true or a nightmare made real for Tom Walsh. What does a guy think when a nightmare turns into a dream, the dream turns into a nightmare, then the nightmare becomes an impossible fantasy?
The nightmare had started when Tom found himself lost deep in the Adirondacks of northern New York on a hunting trip. Of course, as is usually the case, Tom did not know he was lost until he was hopelessly lost. He had been hunting with some buddies but had gone off on his own when buck-fever struck after he spotted deer tracks in the snow that had fallen early in the day. The tracks had taken him to a stream. Then the sun had come out and the tracks had vanished with the snow.
He had not been paying attention to his direction of travel but had not worried at first because he had remembered to bring along a compass, map and GPS. The trouble was, after having lunch at the stream where the tracks had vanished with the melting snow, he discovered the batteries in his GPS were dead and he had forgotten to bring extra batteries. The map and compass might have served him well if he had ever stopped while following the trail and had determined what direction the deer trail was taking him. But he had no idea, guessed wrong which stream of the many streams shown on the map he had stopped for lunch, and had thus gone further and further from where he started. His mistake was not fully realized until late in the day when he found himself at the shore of a lake not shown on the map he had. If the map he did have had covered a slightly larger area, he would have been able to guess just how far off his wanderings had taken him. But as it was, he had no idea where he was except to know what his eyes were telling him. He was at the shore of a large lake and could see across to what, if his eyes were not deceiving him, was a castle that seemed to have been misplaced from Europe into the Adirondacks.
The air was getting colder and it would not be long before the sun would set. Tom was considering his options. Should he make camp where he was or should he try to hike around the lake to the castle where he might find some help? He believed someone was at the castle because he could see two cars were parked at the front entrance of the castle. He hesitated in making a decision because he was not sure he could hike around the lake to the castle before it got too dark to hike, and he was worried an owner of such a huge estate might not take kindly to someone trespassing on their lands.
It was while he was trying to decide what to do that the nightmare of being lost morphed into a dream of a beautiful young woman striding naked from the lake and walking up to him with a smile on her face while she was wringing out the water from her long, blond hair. Tom was speechless. Her eyes stared into his and he was unable to do anything other than to look into her eyes between stealing glances at her naked beauty. Then she was in front of him, taking him into her arms, kissing him first on his lips, then on his neck and causing an intense pleasure, unlike anything he had ever experienced. He melted in her arms, felt limp, then found himself being towed across the lake by the woman. This was when the dream became a nightmare because, except for being conscious, being able to look up at the darkening sky and being able to hear water lapping at his ears, he feared he might be dead and having an out-of-body experience before leaving this world for the next.
Things did not improve for Tom when his body was dragged from the lake and thrown over the shoulder of the woman who had kissed him. He was looking down at her backside and thinking she had a very nice ass, as near as he could tell, but was unable to speak to her, ask her what was going on, and couldn't even feel the ass his one hand would sometimes touch when his hanging arm would swing in the right direction.
Then she was carrying him into the castle, up flight after flight of stairs and down hallway after hallway until carrying him into a room with white carpeting. Tom was unable to see the face of the woman again until she carried him up another flight of stairs and into a room that had green carpeting. He saw her, still naked, when she shucked him off her shoulder and dropped him on his back on what he presumed was a bed because of its soft firmness.
Tom could hear the woman say, "Girls, after all you went through today, I thought you might like a treat."
Then Tom was looking up at three, very beautiful, naked women looking down at him. One was the blond who had towed him across the lake and had carried him up into the castle room where he now lay on a bed. The second woman was black and very exotic looking. The third was also a blond with very large breasts.
The woman with the big breasts asked, "Is he dead? He's not moving."
The black woman said, "Sashia, don't be such an ass. Erica would not have brought a dead man up here for us just to look at."
"Of course not. I brought him up so you could have some fun before I do what you girls wanted to see me do," said the blond who had captured him and had done whatever it was she had done to him. Paul guessed her name must be Erica.
Sashia, the other blond said, "So if he's not dead but not moving, what exactly are we going to do with him?"
Erica said, "I say we start by taking off his clothes. I'm sure you and Tanya will then think of something to do."
Some feelings returned to Tom's limbs while the women were removing his clothing. He thought he should help them but then wondered why he should help. He wished someone would explain what had happened to him.
What had happened to him was answered when he heard Erica say while she was pulling down his pants, "I was wondering what I could do for you two when I was swimming out in the lake and spotted this guy on the far shore. I thought if I just temporarily paralyzed him so I could get him up here, he could serve as a gift for what you went through earlier. If I pull just a little blood really fast, it causes something like a stroke. It lasts for only a little while, so you'll be able to make love with him if that's what you want."
Tanya said, "Cool!"
Sashia asked, "Will he try to run away?"
"Maybe from you," Tanya said. "But not from me."
No. Tom had no plans to run. Not now that his pants were off, as was most of the balance of his clothing, and he was able to look down his chest and see his cock was coming alive in the hand of the black woman, Tanya. More importantly, he could feel it was coming alive.
Sashia was saying, "If you're going to be first to fuck him, he can eat me while you're doing it."
"No problem," said Tanya who was lowering herself onto Tom while guiding his erection into her. "And if you want, I'll suck your breast while he's eating you. Unless Erica wants to get in on this."
Tom heard Erica say while he was watching Sashia's behind seat itself on his face, "You two go ahead and have your fun. I'll just watch and then you can watch me do what I do."
Exactly how he had gotten to where he was now was no longer of interest to Tom, though he did recall hearing the woman called Erica say something about paralyzing him by drawing a little blood very fast. But that did not seem very important now, considering how the black woman was gently riding him and the big breasted woman had placed her wet vulva firmly upon his lips. He placed his now alive hands on her hips and raised her just enough so he could breathe, then sucked her clitoris into his mouth where he could play with it with his lips and tongue.
Tom had pretty much forgotten who Tom Walsh was, other than a man who was surrounded by three beautiful naked girls. Perhaps somewhere in his mind he was being told he shouldn't be allowing what was happening to happen. He should fight these women off of him. He had been married for just over ten years, had two children ages five and seven, lived out on Long Island and worked in the city at an investment firm. Now, those realities that had defined Tom to himself were lost in the sensual delights being served to him.
Now, engrossed in sucking on Sashia's clitoris, Tom's mind was telling him that the clitoris he was sucking was in some way part of the same vagina making his cock hard and ache with pleasure. His tongue became a surrogate penis he used to try to make the woman come. When it became impossible for him to suffer any more pleasure and he was forced to come, what his mind wanted was achieved by his tongue and lips forcing the clitoris to open the vaults of Sashia's vagina to gush, filling his mouth and stinging his eyes with its pungent sweetness.
Tom was given no time to rest or to fondly recall the wildest pleasures he had ever experienced, before Tanya and Sashia had switched places and he found Tanya sitting on his face while Sashia was guiding his sore cock into her.
Perhaps if he had time to rest, he might have objected to having Tanya open and press the lips of her vagina against his lips. Not because he would have objected to eating a black woman, but because he guessed - guessed correctly - she had saved his ejaculation and was now letting it pour from her into his mouth. But Tom was so caught up in the erotic and forbidden passion of the moment, he soon found himself eagerly sucking in his own cum and being pleasantly surprised to find he liked the taste of it. Only for a moment did his thinking mind intrude upon the passion. But the intrusion only heightened his passion when his mind asked, "Why do some women hate giving head when come tastes so good?"
Tom was truly exhausted after coming in Sashia and drinking all Tanya could give. He was thinking how he would like to take a few minutes to rest and maybe sleep for a while before resuming the lovemaking, possibly with the blond who had found him. For a little while, his wish was granted and he was allowed to just lay there and look at the three beautiful women, the black woman lying next to him on his right, the blond with the big boobs resting next to him on the left, and the one they called Erica standing at the foot of the bed near his feet.
He heard Tanya say, "That was good, really great, Erica. Now what? Can we stay close like this and watch?"
"Sure. I'm thinking maybe the best thing I can do for you guys and him is to give him a blow job. If I take him the normal way, you probably won't be able to see much. Besides, he's a little soft now and that's probably the best way to get him hard again so I can give him as much pleasure as possible before I blow his mind."
Sashia laughed, "I can blow him if you want, Erica. You don't have to. I'll get him hard for you so you can fuck him."
Erica said, "I appreciate the offer and wouldn't mind watching you suck cock. I never have seen it done except in those gay porno videos Calvin is always watching. Thanks but no thanks. I'll do it and that way you'll be better able to see when I sink my fangs. I don't think the normal way would give you as good a view."
Tom did hear what Erica said but thought the girls were only trying to tease him. Fangs? What fangs? He was certain there were no such things as vampires or werewolves. He had seen all three women's reflection in mirrors. When he first had seen the woman named Erica coming out of the water, the sun had not yet set and had cast its rays on her face. She hadn't burst into flames. There had been nothing he had seen that would hint at her or any of the other two being vampires. Besides, vampires did not exist except in novels and people's imaginations. No, they were just playing with him, trying to heighten his erotic excitement. But then there was the strangeness of how he had ended up here with three gorgeous women. Erica had said she had taken a little of his blood to paralyze him before pulling him across the lake. She had probably just been joking then as she now was. These women were not vampires. He was having a dream, a very beautiful dream, a dream that most every guy would love to have, especially like the one he was now experiencing, the one where he was looking down his chest and watching Erica suck his flaccid cock into her mouth and slowly bringing it back to life.
Her eyes were fixed on his eyes. Her eyes seemed to be smiling. The other two girls had moved themselves down to be very close to watch Erica. They seemed to be as intent on watching Erica suck on him as was he. "Three times," Tom thought, "I've never come three times in one night, never been with three girls in one week, let alone one night!"
Erica was not the real name of the woman causing Tom to rejoice in his good luck. Erica was the stage name of an erotic dancer from a topless club called the Limina in Schenectady. The other two girls were also dancers at the same club and were spending a few days at the castle owned by friends of Erica. Erica's birth name was Mary Hoffman. Mary Hoffman was not quite as human as she appeared to be. Mary Hoffman was a vampire and she was doing what she was doing because she had promised her girlfriends, who were human, that she would let them watch her take blood.
Tom let his head fall back onto the bed and closed his eyes to better feel the pleasure radiating up from his cock. It was hard again. He imagined himself as a god of some sort being adored and pleased by beautiful women. They were venerating him and his manhood, he thought.
In one sense, Tom was right. Mary was loving Tom for the life-giving blood he would soon be giving to her. She wanted him to experience more pleasure than he had ever felt. She wanted his pleasure to rise and rise to the point where he would beg to give her everything she wanted. She desperately needed his blood to cleanse her mind of the vampire she had killed earlier in the day to save herself and protect her girls. Her girls had seen her cut off the vampire's head to kill him. They had been terrorized by the experience and she believed they deserved this treat she had promised to them.
Mary hardened Tom's penis by deftly sucking, licking, up, down and around the shaft and its head, sometimes taking it in until the head nearly touched her throat and almost made her gag, sometimes allowing all but the head to slide out of her mouth where she parted its opening with her tongue. She was in no hurry. She had never performed fellatio for a man and wanted the experience to last as long as she could make it last before her fangs would take control and find the blood her brain needed.
Tom began to breathe deeply through his mouth. His eyes would open and close to look at the ceiling above, if for no other reason then to temporarily assure himself the pleasure had not killed him and sent him to heaven. What he was feeling was certainly not hell. His body had never felt so fully alive. If these sensations could only last forever, it would not matter whether or not he was alive or dead. But then nothing lasts forever and Tom was begging in his mind for Mary to make him come. The pleasure had become too intense. Tom was saying, "Please! Oh god, please take me!"
Mary's fangs pierced the thin skin on the shaft and found the vein they wanted. Tom's blood shot up through the fangs to spray Mary's brain. Mary's brain sucked the blood in, absorbing it as though it were a pulsating sponge, and causing more pleasure for Tom than any human could possibly endure without dying from a heart attack.
Having his blood sucked into Mary caused Tom to imagine every vein in his body had suddenly become part of one tube squirting his semen into Mary. The pleasure was excruciating! His heart pumped wildly to meet the demand, failed and stopped.
Mary jerked her head back just before the last beat of Tom's heart. For but a moment her entire body tensed, almost to a spasm, by the pleasure that had filled her brain and had turned it into a sexual organ. When the pleasure subsided just enough for her to open her eyes to look at her girls, Mary relaxed some and said, "I hope you enjoyed watching. I hope I didn't frighten you."
The looks of wonder on the faces of Tanya and Sashia told Mary she had not made a mistake in letting them watch.
Tanya said, "He's still bleeding some. Can I lick it?"
"Me too?" Sashia chimed in.
Mary smiled and nodded. She enjoyed watching her girls lick and suck what blood they could from the man, not that any amount of blood they could get would ever turn them into the vampires she knew they wished they could become. But getting some blood from another human, even if the human were already dead, would bring them closer to her. It would help cement them into her world. They had watched her kill the vampire Van Helsing and helped her take his body and severed head down to the crematorium where they had helped push it in and burn it. Now they would help dispose of this man's body. They would never question her. They would never tell anyone - even if tortured - the truth about her. If it became necessary to die for her, they would do that too. And she would do anything for them, maybe even die for them.

Saturday, September 22, 2012

Free to insult

Just a few thoughts concerning the video onYouTube that caused such a stir in the Muslim world and resulted in deaths.
I watched the video and thought it was goofy and mildly amusing. Clearly, it was an attempt to insult Muslims. I put it in the same class as the Crucifix in a jar of piss.
After watching it, I can understand why some people, especially Muslims, would be offended but not to the extent of wanting to kill anyone over it.
There is much talk about bullying and clearly this was an act of word and visually bullying. And while I am not a fan of anyone bullying anyone, often the response to bullying is to bully in retaliation.
Muslims frequently say they regard Jesus as a prophet too, not their number one prophet but still a prophet. Presuming this is true, then maybe they should do as Jesus taught and turn the other cheek.
If bullying is meet with bullying, it just escalates into more and more bullying. The result is an escalation from scattered violence to all out war.
If Muslims ever want to be free from dictators, and I include so called religious leaders (theirs and ours) as dictators, they need to learn to retaliate by not taking the bait offered by a bully.
We and they need to grow up. 

Tuesday, September 11, 2012

The Dancing Valkyrie Free First Chapter









The Dancing Valkyrie


by
PETE KLEIN





“Hell is in heaven and heaven is in hell. But devils see only darkness, while angels see only the light.”
Jacob Boehme. (1575-1624)





















The Dancing Valkyrie






This is a work of fiction. All the characters and events portrayed in this book are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictiously.


Copyright © 2010 by Peter Klein

ISBN is 1440432198 and EAN-13 is 9781440432194.

All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronically or mechanically including photocopy or recording or information storage and retrieval system now known or to be invented without permission from both the author and the publisher, except by a reviewer who wishes to quote brief passages for review in any media.


For further information contact Ravenwolf Publishing c/o
Peter Klein
43 East Main St.,
Indian Lake, NY, 12842
ravenwolfpublishing@gmail.com






Chapter 1

“If you like what you do, do it. There is absolutely no reason to change your life, Mary,” Joseph Gottsched was saying to Mary Hoffman in the great dining hall of his castle in the Adirondacks where he sat with his wife Elizabeth next to him on a leather sofa. Mary was sitting opposite of them on the raised hearth stone of the massive fireplace. The stone was almost cold to sit on, not having been warmed much by the sun that was now setting and casting the last of its rays into the castle.
Mary smiled and thought, “No reason to change my life?” But that thought was quickly replaced by thinking of how beautiful Joseph and Elizabeth Gottsched were, especially Elizabeth whom Mary had come to think of as Beth, her Beth.
Beth was sultry in a Mediterranean way with some Gypsy and Spanish blood in her. She was svelte in figure, had long black hair, yet exuded an aura of strength beyond the smallness of her frame. Joseph had about him a curious blend of European handsomeness and world weariness. Were it not for Mary’s experiences of the past few days, her eyes might have focused upon Joseph. She thought he was cute. But things had happened and those things tended to cause Mary to view Joseph as a rival.
Yes, there was about him a little boy’s innocence and youthfulness that floated on a nonchalant attitude most strikingly seen in the way his eyes twinkled and his lips seemed almost always ready to break his usual seriousness with a smile. He was neither short nor tall, neither fat nor thin, had black hair like his wife, though not as long, and in the proper lighting, he could almost be mistaken for being a brother rather than a husband to his wife. Beth and Joseph appeared to be in their late twenties or early thirties at most. But in their cases, in more ways than one, appearances could be very deceiving.
With glass of red wine in one hand and cigarette in the other, Beth said, “Show Joseph how well you dance, Mary. You know I won’t mind. You know how I love to watch you dance.”
Mary laughed, “Here?”
“Obviously,” Elizabeth said. “Oh! I suppose you would like some music, even though I know you don’t need it. I’ll put something on.”
Mary shrugged her shoulders and stood. Why not? Her world had gone totally crazy over the last few days and dancing might restore some degree of normalcy. She watched Elizabeth look through a pile of CDs next to the CD player on a nearby table and suggested, “Something moody but with a good beat. And not slow. Afro-pop or something like that. Rock is good too.”
“Yes,” Joseph agreed.
“And I give a rat’s ass?” Mary thought and started to dance, not waiting for the music to begin. She really didn’t need music to dance. It was in her head, even more so since meeting Beth on the trail. But it was difficult to understand the idea of since, the idea that she was no longer who she had thought she was and had become who she really was. Then again, maybe she was only dreaming the events of the past few days. Yes, no, maybe. “Screw it. I like this,” she told herself as she slipped into the mind set of an erotic dancer.
The black dress she was wearing -silky, clingy, showing all her curves -was a delightful dress for the type of dancing she did for a living. It was not her dress. Beth had given it to her to wear because all she had to wear were the hiking clothes she had packed for her hike in the northern wilds of New York on the Northville/Lake Placid trail. She had not planned on dancing. She had not planned on meeting Beth on the trail and then being invited to stay at a castle on a private lake deep within the forest. She had not planned for anything that had happened since meeting Beth.
Mary was already moving languidly, sensuously, when the New Age African beat reached her ears and where she quickly translated it into her flesh and blood. She closed her eyes and took herself to the erotic dance club where she worked in Schenectady. Sway and regain my balance, she thought. Be who I really am.
When she opened her eyes, she saw Beth and Joseph were sitting side by side again while watching her dance. She noticed but did not care that Joseph had one hand resting casually on one knee of Beth’s and had an arm draped over her shoulders. They did make a beautiful couple. So what? Fuck him!
But it was Beth’s eyes Mary’s eyes focused upon. It was Beth’s eyes that had first trapped her on the trail and were now trapping her again to dance her sexy best. Joseph did not really matter, she told herself, other than for the fact that he was proof Beth had good taste when it came to picking a man to marry. And how could she possibly blame Beth for picking a man who had given Beth so much more than the wealth this castle exemplified. Just look at them, she thought. Neither looked to be past their early thirties. How could she or anyone believe both were hundreds of years old? But Mary did believe and was now almost willing to believe she too could live a very long life without aging, maybe even live long enough to see the end of the United States if not the end of the world.
Mary smiled, undid the spaghetti straps holding up her dress, let the dress fall, let it slide down past her breasts, slip past her hips, let it fall to the floor and step out of it, kicking it out of the way and sending it sailing to land on Joseph’s lap. Yes! It was very definitely enjoyable to be feeling so very much alive!

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