Tara’s take on the paranormal genre — specifically vampires and were-humans — is entirely refreshing and very, VERY erotic. Enjoy the guest post below, and tell us what you think!
The Thin Red Line Part 4: Immortal Desire
Part of the vampire’s allure in fiction is immortality: that inability to age. Along with youth, the creature of darkness retains his zest for life and love. He is a creature of desire and wanton cravings. We want him to want us forever. And because he will live forever, we think that he can.
Normal love goes through several stages. According to http://www.ericrobersonmusic.com/2013/02/14/9-stages-of-love-all-couples-go-through/, there are 9: infatuation, understanding differences, disturbance over differences, opinion-making based on knowledge, molding one another into personal ideals, being content, doubt, sexual exploration, and complete trust. These are pretty self-explanatory, and I believe that any long-term relationship that is successful does go through these stages. Looking back in the ten years of my married life, I can remember each one.
There is an argument that most vampiric love in novels stops at stage 6, if it ever gets that far. To be fair, most romances and romantic novels end with a couple marrying or committing in some way, which makes this logical. And the whole point of reading something romantic is to enjoy the romance of it. Who wants to hear the terrible word “doubt” when that tall handsome stranger is whispering that he’ll love you forever? The real question here is the wrong assumption that a vampire’s ability to look the same extends to all facets of his personality, including emotion. He will not change in appearance, not if the legends are true. But inside, the vampire will change with the passage of time. He didn’t always love you, right? So if he can fall in love, he can fall out of love as well. So why wouldn’t a long successful relationship with a vampire lead to all 9 stages of love? My reasoning says it would.
Part of the allure is that we want the vampire to remain just as he is that first moment he loved us; to lock that mindset forever in place and have it remain as unchanging as he is. We want the intensity of infatuation, the adventure of new romance, the life-and-death feeling of living moment-to-moment waiting for the next encounter. We want immortal desire, literally. But the truth is that if we could manage to stay in that exciting, romantic stage by some magic, we will never get beyond to the stage of happiness, or better yet, the stage of complete trust. Is that what we really want…forever?
Author Bio: Tara Fox Hall’s writing credits include nonfiction, horror, suspense, action-adventure, erotica, and contemporary and historical paranormal romance. She is the author of the paranormal action-adventure Lash series and the vampire romantic suspense Promise Me series. Tara divides her free time unequally between writing novels and short stories, chainsawing firewood, caring for stray animals, sewing cat and dog beds for donation to animal shelters, and target practice.
Author Links:
Website: http://www.tarafoxhall.com
Email: tarafoxhallATgmailDOTcom
Tara’s Blog: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5286654.Tara_Fox_Hall/blog
Tara’s Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Tara-Fox-Hall/151813374904903
Twitter: https://twitter.com/#!/TerrorFoxHall
Taken For His Own is Book #4 of the Promise Me Series.
Blurb: After learning Theo is alive, Sar immediately embarks on a mission to find him. Reunited, the lovers return to New York; Danial, Terian and Theo uneasily combining forces to protect Sar from Al’s assassins still seeking her. But when Sar is taken prisoner in an all-out attack, only one man can save her: her old adversary, Devlin.
Buy Links:
Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Taken-For-His-Promise-ebook/dp/B00CZ4IGC8/
Amazon UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Taken-For-His-Promise-ebook/dp/B00CZ4IGC8/
Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/319416
Melange/lulu link for Print, PDF and HTML copies: http://www.melange-books.com/authors/tarafoxhall/takenforhisown.html
All Romance E-books: https://www.allromanceebooks.com/product-takenforhisown-1215939-140.html
Barnes and Noble.com: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/taken-for-his-own-tara-fox-hall/1115457885
Excerpt:
I cried a few tears, turned out the light and let my mind drift. Just as I was falling asleep, I remembered the potion. Terian had said the potion would recreate the dream with Theo, but that when it ended, the dream would fade from memory.
I needed to put my feelings for Theo to rest and let him get on with his life. It was time to be done with dreams and get back to reality.
I turned the light back on and got up, rummaging around in my duffel bag. I found it and spent a few minutes removing the vial from the bubble wrap I’d taped around it for safekeeping. I uncorked the top and drank. The taste was bitter. This was it, the end of him and me. I packed the empty potion vial for Terian for reuse, then lay down. I drifted in a sleep-sort of fog and finally begin to dream.
It was my home, my farm. Again, I stood there, calling out to Theo to wait, not to leave.
Again, he stood motionless at the door for a second and then he turned to me, riding me to the floor. Kissing me roughly, as we tore off our clothes as fast as we could.
Every memory came back in full force, sweeping me away in a storm of emotion. It washed away the years with Danial, even everything I felt for Elle and Theoron. There was only Theo and I. We were one.
Theo made love to me again and again. I relished his body next to mine, his muscles holding me, moving me, pleasuring me. Soreness set in as night fell, but I renewed my efforts, knowing that the end was near. As Theo finished and reached for me, I pushed him away.
“Sar?” he said questioningly, his eyes worried, his hand outstretched.
In a few seconds, Danial’s voice would sound. This was it, the end.
In desperation, I shouted, “Theo, I love you, I love you more than anything or anyone. I’ll love you the rest of my life!”
As my words tore out of me, Theo’s body flickered. Suddenly thin scars appeared on his shoulders from a whip, the edges raised and red, then similar scars on his chest. A mass of scar tissue bloomed whitely on his hip.
I lunged for his outstretched hand as he faded before me.
I fell out of the motel room bed, landing on the floor. The room reeked with the odor of lovemaking, the odor of sex.
“God damn it, no!” I screamed at the top of my lungs.
I’d fucked up badly. I’d forgotten Terian’s words to me the night he’d given me the potion, telling me about the dream it would create for me one last time.
“And he’s not here to renew it with you…”
Terian had said it, thinking as I did that Theo was dead. But Theo wasn’t dead, he was alive. I’d reached out and touched him again with another dream. Moreover, this time, he’d know immediately that what had happened was no regular dream. He’d come looking for me, remembering the scent he’d caught wind of a week ago.
God, I had to get gone as fast as I could!
I threw on some clothes and frantically gathered up my things. There was no time for a shower or food. We had to get moving!
I grabbed up my duffel and ran for the door, my keys in my hand. A footstep sounded outside my door and then the door was kicked open, flying back hard to slam the outer wall.
Theo stood there breathing hard, his eyes dark as a storm.
Tori L. Ridgewood 