Wednesday, February 8, 2017

Valentine #8 - Nicholas. The Tortured Prince.

What is the name of today's Valentine?



How old is he when we meet him?

Eternal.

What stands out most about him?

His raw intensity. He sees everything. He knows everything. You can feel his touch even before he enters the room.

Nice guy or douche?

That is the question, isn't it?

Favorite moment with him?

One of the things I love/fear about Nicholas is his intensity. It's the kind of raw power that, if he were to touch your hand, you'd know all the mysteries of the universe, but you might lose yourself forever. It would be more than simple attraction. Getting close to him would feel like stars were colliding. Imagine all of that coming at *you*. He wants you. He knows you want him. It's not even a matter of if anymore, but when. You can see it in his eyes. You can hear it in his voice. Maybe, just maybe, it's an echo. Maybe, just maybe, it's some invisible string tethering you to some previous life where you had once consumed each other. The force is so strong that maybe you're a little scared at first. But deep down inside you're titillated. And you're powerless to stop it, and why on earth would you want to? It's like balancing on a high wire but all you can feel is the wind on your face and the stars at the tips of your fingers.

Yeah, I've never had that until there was Nicholas.

She barely heard the knock at the door around midnight. She thought for a moment it was Michael, but as she walked closer to the door her heart revealed who really stood on the other side. She didn’t even need to hear his voice. Even through two inches of wood his hold on her was undeniable.

“Adele? It’s Nicholas.”

She gasped, unsure of what to do. Her first impulse was to fling the door open and fly into his arms, but at the same moment she wanted to get as far away from him as possible. She needed to keep her head, and there was no doing it the moment that she looked into his eyes. She shook as she stammered, “You know, I’m really not feeling all that well, Nicholas. I think it may be a bug. I’m just going to get some sleep. I’ll call you tomorrow.”

There was a pause. She held her breath, hoping that he would not see through her feeble lie. “What’s wrong, Adele?”

Her heart broke at the question. “Nothing's wrong.”

“I’ll feel better if I could see you,” he said, and she could hear the longing in his voice. It was the same longing she felt and subsequently cursed. “I’d feel better if you didn’t,” she finally said. A long moment stretched on and she started to think he had gone.

“Don’t do this,” he said in a wavering voice. “Don’t push me away.”

She didn’t answer. She couldn’t answer. Everything within her wanted to hold him just one more time—one more time before she had to kill him. Fate was indeed a cruel bitch, much crueler than Adele had ever thought possible. How could love demand so much? She sobbed softly.

“Don’t you know how long I’ve waited for you?” he cried through the door. She shook her head, forcing away the memories, forcing away the feelings. “You’ve waited for me too. You know it.”

Just as she started to walk away he said, “You love me. Remember.”

In that moment she was swept away into a memory she never would have believed belonged to her. She was wrapped in Nicholas’s arms in an ornate four poster bed, her leg was draped over his barely clad hip and he kissed her along her neck and over her bare breasts. His kiss consumed her, his eyes dark with passion. Her voice was husky with desire as she begged him to make love to her. Her nails raked down his back, on her left hand a ruby ring that he had given her because she had promised herself to him, till death do they part.

She watched in her mind’s eye how his strong hands spread across her soft, ivory flesh, branding her with his touch, setting her soul on fire with each kiss she could feel on her cold, cracked lips hundreds of years later.

And now here they stood again, their love defying death itself. Time rearranged so they could be together once more. Adele pulled open the door and rushed out to feel him alive in her arms again, screaming, “I remember!” into the shrieking wind of the night.




What do you love about him?

He's mysterious and powerful.



What do you hate about him?

He's mysterious and powerful.



If you went on a date, where would you go?

A place that looked like a castle. A place where he'd reign and I'd be his queen.



Who inspired him?

I wrote this the year after my first husband died. You could say I was working some things through.



Who might play him in a movie?

I needed dark hair, dark eyes and raw sexual chemistry, which is my own personal kryptonite. My original prototype for this character in 2004...



Do you have a special song that reminds you of him?

I have an entire SOUNDTRACK. But this will always be their love theme to me. I cry every time I hear it.



Any "Easter Eggs" planted with this book boyfriend?

Aside from the obvious symbolism that pretty much captures all the people I love, there was a moment where Michael, Adele's best friend, trots out to meet her on the schoolyard where she was tasked with running a mile and she couldn't do it. He walked with her every step of the way back to the finish line. That was a real experience with one of my soul mates - my best friend, Jeff.

I also crafted the equally mysterious Thaddeus after one of my adolescent fascinations, which makes this book a loving homage to being a teen in the 80s.



Where can we find him?

MY IMMORTAL is a stand-alone story. (For Now.) It is also free today only.

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