I was always the good girl, and when I first read the title
of our topic, well, I was completely lost. I’ve never put the use of "substance" in any of my books either. So I’ve chosen a different excerpt where the
characters are under the influence of something else...fairy magic....
From Forever, Ethan's point of view:
(Hint-start the music at the bottom before you start reading. ;)
It
seemed there were no adverse side effects to consuming food tainted with fey
magic. It’s true that he felt slightly ... what was the word? He wouldn’t say
drunk exactly, because he didn’t feel out of control like that. He didn’t feel
muddled either, but ... perhaps the word he was looking for was charmed. And
healed, he thought, as his hand slid beneath the table and dropped to his knee.
That felt even better than it had before he’d been dropped by the pixies and
the juice had been the only thing where he could feel the magic work within his
body.
His
gaze swung to Danielle who was licking her fingers clean of something purple
and sticky-looking. Clearly she had completely forgotten her upset from
earlier. The look of pleasure that curled her mouth into a contented smile told
him that. He mentally thanked Alora and the other fairies for the small gift as
he vowed to offer his gratitude in person later. She still wore her shirt instead
of having it tied around her waist and he was grateful for that too. Ethan
didn’t know how much longer he could restrain the streak of violent jealously
within him when he’d caught Casanova noticing how snuggly her T-shirt hugged
her fully-bloomed body.
Making
a visual pass over the table, his eyes landed on the guards. It seemed they
were finished eating as well. The two who irritated him the most, Casanova and
Richard, were busy talking at the far end of the table. Night had fallen and
the vampires were on guard with their magic, avoiding his gaze and keeping a
physical distance.
Leaning
back in his chair, he again watched his wife. The persistent beat of the music
pounded through his veins and he decided he really wanted to dance. With her. “Shall
we?” he asked, although he frowned at how strange his voice sounded. He
couldn’t pinpoint what was wrong with it either, so he shrugged it off and
reached for her hand.
She
giggled and mingled her fingers with his. “I’d love to.”
As
they moved toward the dance area, fairies flitted about, as some danced alone
and others twirled like couples in love. The colorful glow coming off the
fairies looked quite a bit like laser lights as they streaked from one side of
the clearing to the other. And the way the darkened trees glittered with fairy
dust seemed just like a mirrored ball hung somewhere unseen within this wooded
place. For some odd reason, he had to concentrate really hard to find his voice
when he commented on the scene. “It’s like we’re at a dance club.”
Danielle
glanced around, and it seemed like she was having as much trouble finding words
as he was. “Hmm, I hadn’t thought of it like that before.” She laughed and then
murmured, “I just love dancing with the fairies.”
He
loved it too, but again, that was something he couldn’t bring himself to own to
verbally. Too girly. Instead he grinned, and lifting her right arm, he twirled her in a
circle. She staggered slightly but smiled when he led her into another spin
before capturing her about the waist.
Ethan
kept Danielle well outside the ring of mushrooms where many fairies pranced on
top of the red and white spotted fungi. First, he didn’t wish to step on any of
them, and second, he recalled their strict warning about never wandering into
the ring.
The
lilting measure slowed until it became a tender melody that moved the soul, and
Danielle’s arms came up around his neck. He drew her close and smiled down at
her as they began to sway to the music. Her pretty face tipped up and she
returned the smile. She’d undone her hair. The braided sections of it had
maintained a wave that caressed her left cheek and drew his fingers. As the
silky strands slipped through his fingertips, he decided she looked like a
beguiling wood-nymph with the naughty intention of stealing his heart. But she can’t steal something she already possesses,
he thought with a laugh.
The
sight of her made his heart squeeze and he was easily entranced by her clear
eyes that looked more like shards of steel-blue instead of brown in this
subdued lighting that leached color from everything. His deep love for her rose
up within him and he suddenly found it hard to breathe because he was reminded
of all the things threatening to take her away. With his lungs seizing, Ethan
wondered how much longer she could tolerate the danger his past had brought to
her life. While leaving her would never be an option for him because that would
not bring her safety, in the back of
his mind he feared she might actually leave him.
He was the one in danger of losing
everything.... Ethan attempted to swallow whatever it was lodged in his throat.
If she left him, the guards, who were much more loyal to her than him, would
follow ... and then they’d move in on her. They weren’t weak and mortal like
him. They didn’t need glasses like he did. He nudged them up the bridge of his
nose because they’d slipped. His nostrils flared. He held his breath and ground
his teeth.
“Are
you okay?” she asked, jerking him out of his internal panic with the
soft-spoken query.
Catching
his eye, Danielle gave him that look of hers that told his soul she loved no
one more than him, knew no one else like she knew him. It was that look that
brought back such a strong sense of recognition between them that he couldn’t
question how she felt about him. Somehow he knew they’d felt this way about one
another for much longer than either had been alive. So why was he questioning
her commitment now when he never had before? Ethan let himself breathe again.
He noticed the fine tremble that had started in his fingers when he trailed the
backs of them along the high bone of her cheek. But even with that knowledge in
his head, he couldn’t stop himself from saying, “Please don’t ever leave me.”
She
blinked at that. “Have you lost your mind? I could never leave you.”
Mentally
shaking his head, Ethan wondered what was wrong with his brain. His thoughts
were clearly not rational at all. One moment he was laughing like a fool and
the next he was on the edge of sheer anxiety. “Forgive me, it seems I—”
Danielle’s
mouth mashed against his so quickly he just stood there for a moment with his
eyes wide. They flickered shut as the taste of her touched his tongue and he
hugged her to his chest more tightly than he should. She squeaked and he
loosened his grip, but only a little. His amazing wife kissed him until she
brought comfort back into his mind. Bless her. Ethan was sure she had no idea how
much he needed that kiss at that moment, but he was eternally grateful to her
for it.
With
the change in rhythm of the music, his mood returned to his wish to dance. The
tune sounded suspiciously like a samba. In the quiet depths of his thoughts,
the roller coaster of emotions within him still seemed irrational, but he
didn’t take the time to try and figure it out. He was surprised the fairies
even knew such a tune, but he went with it anyway and led Danielle into the
bouncy dance.
Laughing
and looking at him like perhaps he had lost his mind, she asked, “What is
this?”
“It
sounds like a samba to me.”
“No
way!”
With
a wink, Ethan held her hand in his left and placed his right hand on her
shoulder blade. “Do you know the ballroom samba?”
“Kind
of.”
They
made a pass around the fairy ring and Ethan decided she knew how to shake it
better than “kind of,” the little minx. He was practically drooling with the
way she rolled her hips, the way her clothes stretched over her sexy curves,
the way she smirked at him with desire in her eyes. Deciding he needed to kiss
her again, Ethan drew her back against his chest. His thumb found the bottom
edge of her jawbone as he carefully nudged her face toward his. Stepping backward,
he administered the sort of snogging she deserved for moving like that.
As
the music lulled him into a magic-induced bliss, his focus became only that and
Danielle. Then in one moment he was kissing and holding her, and in the next he
was blinking up at a black span of space dotted with fuzzy but colorful lights.
What?
“Get
out of the ring, Ethan,” someone said.
Ethan
blinked, unable to even register what that meant. A groan drew his eyes to his left
where he found Danielle unconscious next to him. Worried, he rose up onto his
elbow and bent over her. With arms and legs sticking out at strange angles it
appeared as though she’d collapsed. Ethan wondered why he hadn’t caught her
before he realized he’d passed out too.
Only
then did he grasp the alarming fact that instead of being outside of the fairy
ring as they had been while they’d danced, they were now inside it, exactly where they’d been told repeatedly to never go.
He curled his hand around Danielle’s hip and shook her gently but urgently.
“Danielle, wake up.”
She
groaned again and rocked her head back and forth before mumbling something he
couldn’t understand.
When
he tried to get to his feet so he could carry her to safety, the world went black
again.
And, I just heard a song that really brings this scene
to life for me. Enjoy, Close to You by Black Lab:
Release update!!!!
In Sophia's Cookbook for Mortals, she gives you many fairy-influenced recipes. Hopefully they won't make you loopy if you make the recipes at home.
The cookbook will be released very soon! I'm not finished, but here is a preview of what the cover will sort of look like. And scroll down a couple of posts to get one of Sophia's recipes for free.
Until next time!
Check out my fellow carnis in the links below:
New!!! Liz Long, Just another writer on the loose.
Also new!!! Ella James author of Stained
Laura A. H. Elliott author of Winnemucca & 13 on Halloween
Bryna Butler, author Midnight Guardian series
K. C. Blake, author of Vampire Rules and Crushed
Heather Self
T. R. Graves, Author of The Warrior Series
Suzy Turner, author of The Raven Saga
Cheri Schmidt, author of the Fateful Trilogy
Rachel Coles, author of Into The Ruins, geek mom blog
Patti Larsen, The Hunted series and The Hayle Coven series
Amy Maurer Jones, Author of The Soul Quest Trilogy
Dani Snell's Refracted Light Reviews
Fisher Amelie, author of The Understorey
M. Leighton, Blood Like Poison Series, Madly, The Reaping
Cidney Swanson, author of Rippler
Gwenn Wright, author of Filter
Melissa Pearl, Author of The Time Spirit Trilogy
Heather M. White, author of The Destiny Saga
Courtney Cole Writes
