Happy Halloween!
What would Halloween be without
a treat? I dug around the bottomless pit (my laptop) and found another deleted
scene from Vampire's Forbidden Territory. The deleted scene was Beth's POV at
the camp (before Katie and Jared arrived) when she first met Mitch.
NOTE: Some of the dialogue and
other details changed in the final version. The scene was not edited.
Enjoy!
---
A deep growl echoed through the trees, deep
within the Sídhí forest. The harsh sound promised a painful ending.
Beth ran toward the disappearing
sound, quickly reaching a campsite nestled on the edge of a small meadow amid
tall furble trees. Two mid-sized tents stood near each other, away from the
approaching confrontation.
At the far edge of camp, a
beautiful young woman extended semi-clear claws and methodically advanced
toward a grinning young man. With each stalking step, her long white blonde
hair swung around slender hips. Her ethereal features lacked all expression.
On the opposite side of camp, to
Beth's right, stood a gorgeous hunk in a pair of red shorts and a skintight
matching muscle shirt. Six and a half feet of pure muscle rippled with barely
contained power as he flexed his arms, anticipating the coming fight. Light
green eyes twinkled with excitement. The large mint green iris left little room
for the surrounding white of his eyes, his elfin eyes.
The large elf encouraged the
coming fight with a kissing smack of his lips, blowing the slowly approaching
young woman a sarcastic kiss. "Come on, Sarah, that's it. Show me your
true colors so I can prove to my naive twin you're nothing but a murderous
dhark warrior."
Blurred movement, racing between
the trees, caught Beth's attention.
An angry young man, with
dripping black hair and no shirt, rushed into the camp area struggling to
button a pair of tight jean shorts over obviously wet hips. "Dang it
Sarah, sheath those blasted claws. Whatever Mitch said, you can't kill
him."
His harsh order was not well
received, not by either party.
Sarah's immobile face changed in
an instant, reflecting her anger. She opened her mouth, revealing lengthened
fangs and hissed at the dark haired guy who dared interrupt her fight. Not a
smart move on the wet guy's side of things, not when you considered the
bear-like claws she boasted.
Sarah shouldn't have had claws,
none of the other vampires did. By order of the dragons, every camper wore a
silver bracelet. The silver should've restricted her ability to extend her
claws, but the thin piece of metal obviously didn't work the way it should.
Beth didn't doubt for a minute
that a fight would occur, especially since most dhark vampires had no honor.
They lived and breathed to serve their evil masters, the dhark overlords of the
Dhark Empire. And Beth knew for a fact Sarah was one of the vilest vampires
alive.
"Hey, who said I started
it?" Mitch asked. The laughter in his deep voice countered his innocent
words.
Mitch glanced toward Beth and
dismissed her as unimportant, returning his gaze to Sarah. He froze then
whipped his head around, staring at her in wide-eyed shock, unconsciously
taking a step toward her as if drawn toward her.
His reaction mirrored most young
men she was introduced too. They ignored everyone – and everything around him –
except her. It was side effect of being Haven Valley's Alpha Prime; most
unmated men were physically drawn toward her like a khatt in heat.
Thankfully, she didn't see drool
dripping from his lower lip, and drool did happen. Lord Morkan's son had been
her last drooler.
She shuddered, remembering the
long slimy streaks he left behind on her beautiful green ball gown after a
single dance. She absolutely did not want the drool experience repeated.
As Mitch stared at Beth, the
large black pupils of his elfin eyes expanded, indicating either surprise or
pleasure. From his pause and huge welcoming smile, she assumed the later. Like
males who couldn't resist the pull of her animal nature, the muscle-bound Mitch
thought better with the lower half of his body and not the upper half.
"Well, hello Short Stuff.”
He gave her a million dollar smile. “Jeez, for such a tiny thing, you are
stacked like Jessica Rabbit: big boobs, teeny tiny waist, and hips I can grab
hold of.”
Great, just her luck, she had to
share a cabin for four months with a wannabe comedian who thought he was
Casanova. The thickheaded moron was exactly the type of guy she avoided: a
gorgeous, brawny idiot with the brain of a skrivett. She choked back a snort of
disgust, hoping she could keep her mouth shut.
Several feet away, a young woman
who had been silently combing her hair, snorted. She expertly flipped the long
mane of black hair into a ponytail and jumped off the blue surface of a long
dead furble tree. "Mitch, you're so full of it.” Without pausing, the girl
turned toward the half-dressed vampire. “Nick, it wasn't Sarah's fault. Mitch
asked her if all female exiles... well, never mind, I'm not repeating it. He
was being a butt head, acting like a five year old, instead of seventeen."
With the speed of the
Hummingbird, the dark-haired girl turned and smiled at Beth. "I'm Emily,
unofficial peacemaker for the next four months."
Beth murmured a polite greeting,
while keeping Sarah and her deadly claws in view. From the moment Nick stepped
between her and the big elf, the young woman hadn't moved.
Like pulling nails from wood it
took Sarah several tries to pull her eyes from Nick's glistening shoulders. Her
cool features remained emotionally frozen, but her eyes reflected a sense of
betrayal. For a split-instant, moisture seemed to pool in the vampire's eyes
then just as quickly it disappeared.
The split second glimpse of
emotion floored Beth. She knew Sarah's violent history and it didn't match what
her eyes just saw.
Beams of bright sunshine broke
through the thin morning cloud-cover, turning Sarah's blue eyes bloody red. The
solid red gaze of an exile met Beth's and she wished Sarah had left her hungry
gaze on the half-naked vampire. If there was one thing in life Beth truly
detested, it was blood suckers who enjoyed hurting other people. From every report
Beth read, she knew Sarah fell in that evil category.
As Alpha Prime, Beth had access
to the portfolios of many Dhark Valley residents. Lady Sarah Trellick's folder
was very thick. She was a blood thirsty piece of filth that took extreme joy in
torturing her victims. The hideous white-haired monster needed to be
exterminated. If Beth could've attacked and killed Sarah without major
repercussions she would have.
Emily shifted from foot to foot,
drawing Beth's attention to her eager face. The girl's deep blue eyes grew
bright with barely suppressed excitement. “Oh! You smell human! That means
you're a shifter! Oh my gosh! I've been wanting to meet one so bad. I mean, I
know dragons are shifters, but that's different. What kind are you? Can you
turn into more than one shape? Does it hurt?”
Brianna shoved past Beth. She
barely had time to stifle her groan before her best friend snapped at the
inquisitive girl. “That's rude! You don't ask someone what kind of shifter they
are.”
“Oh,” Emily said, a red flush of
embarrassment crossed her face. Like taking candy away from a toddler, the
teenager's lower lip drooped and all the air seemed to rush from her body.
“No harm done,” Beth said,
looping her arm through Brianna's. She gently tugged, silently reminding her BFF
to behave herself. Sometimes Brianna took her duty as unofficial royal guard
way too seriously.
She briefly touched the girl
shoulder. “It would be impossible for anyone outside of Haven Valley to know
our customs and such.”
“Yeah,” Mitch said harshly. A
snarl lifted his firm upper lip, revealing the sharp fangs of a vampire.
Beth blinked in surprise. He
wasn't an elf, not with those wicked looking teeth. Elfin eyes and vampire
fangs made him a halfling. His next words made him a halfling with a mega-sized
attitude problem.
“I know all about shifter
customs. They include torturing and eating their prey, their human prey. Do not
ever touch Emily again.” Mitch demanded in a harsh guttural voice. “You got
me?”
Until next time,
Jodie B
