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Wednesday, October 23, 2024

Vampire and Shapeshifter Romances with a Celtic Twist

Happy Halloween and Samhain. 


Let me share my Celtic Vampire and Werewolf books with you, since it's that time of the year. Let's start with Dancing Vampires.

There is a secret to my Dancing Vampire series. My vampires aren’t really vampires. They are baobhan sith, (bah vawn shee) vampiric fey who roam the Scottish highlands [Click to Tweet!]. All of them are women, no men. They are voluptuous and enticing beauties always garbed in green dresses. Also, they have talons, no fangs. Like other vampires, they drink human blood and they fry in the sunlight. Many call them dancing vampires as they look for young men coming from the pub at night. The baobhan sith dance with them until the men are exhausted, then they transform their nails to talons. The dancing grows rough as the baobhan sith rake their nails across their dance partner’s back. They claw at the men’s skin, draining their blood, so they can drink it.


My Dancing Vampire series is a modern take on the baobhan sith. These seven wicked sisters end up on a quest for love. Follow these dark fey as they discover the wild delights of romance with the men of their dreams. The books in the series are Dance Of The Vampires, Vampire Highland Fling, Ever So Bonnie A Vampire, and One Dance With A Vampire. Valkyrie Vampire Ball , and Some Vampires Shimmy.

Blurb:

Remember when you were having the best day ever and, in a flash, it turned into the worst one?

Coming from the pub with your brothers, having a laugh, you see seven stunning women standing in the road. One starts dancing with you. Her sexy red fingernails turn to talons, and she shreds your back.

No? Maybe stuff like that just happens to me and my brothers… and a few other guys in the Scottish Highlands.


Ian’s right. I’m Sorcha, the one he danced with. My sisters and I are vampiric-fey. We were hunting men. But we only went after the McDuff brothers, a god, a bagpiper, an IT guy, and a steampunk musician. That’s it.

We decided to forget about drinking their blood and try loving them instead. But even with all the sizzling passion Ian and I and my sisters and their lovers have for each other… they’re obstacles to forbidden love.

Two big ones are:

The war goddess Morrigan. You do not want to make her mad.

And the Valkyries. Those you-know-what’s are bananas covered in nuts.


Excerpt:

“What?” Mordak asked. Me? Love a human? Of course not. “By the goddess, you’ve lost your minds. I just want this one’s blood for myself. Run along, get your own. We’ll meet at the portal before dawn.”

“See you back at the cairn.” Fuamnach tilted her chin in the air and vanished.

Aithbhreac disappeared as well.

Mordak shifted her eyes back to the mortal. His mere presence commanded attention. What would be wrong with having a tryst with him? Goddess Morrigan has affairs with humans all the time.

I thought they’d never leave. She fixed her gaze on the tall, striking man, and swinging her hips in a saucy fashion, she sauntered toward him. As she “drew near him, she batted her eyelashes and flashed a smile to draw him in. Dancing with him would be even more fun than usual.

A noisy, whoosh-like, shaking sound caught her attention. What now? She gasped with shock. This cannot be.

Three women descended from the ebony sky with the wings on their bronze helmets flapping like a bird’s.

What is happening? She hadn’t drunk any heather ale today.

“The vanilla-blond women landed smoothly on their feet, the wings stopped flapping and laid back on their helmets, now totally still. All three women glared at her with glacier blue eyes.

Her palms were damp with sweat, she felt shaky. The earthly realm was such a crazy place. Why did she send her sisters away? She needed them now. Whoever or whatever these tall creatures in plate armor corselets, flimsy white skirts and fur-topped boots were, they weren’t smiling at her.

She noticed the human checking out the women from the rear and glancing at her as well. He had a huge grin on his face, as if his dreams had come true. Mordak, however, faced a nightmare.

The statuesque blonde in the center tilted her chin in the air. “The man is mine.”

“Yours?” Anger pulsated through Mordak’s body. “He’s not yours.”

People couldn’t just fly down from who knows where and claim the man she liked. Mordak schooled her face into composure and met the woman’s gaze. “Just who or what…are you?”

“Randgrid.” The tallest of the blondes didn’t break her stare, not even one blink. “I am a Valkyrie.”

With a thin, tight-lipped expression, she set her hand on her hip. “Be gone, baobhan sith.”

“Me. No, no…you’re the one in the wrong place.” Mordak shook her hand at the Valkyrie. “This is Scotland, not Denmark or Valhalla or wherever you think you are.”

“He’s a Gunn.” Randgrid jerked her head toward the man. “So, he is ours.”

“Of Clan Gunn?” She glared at the silly woman in the winged helmet. “The word clan is the whole point. He’s Scottish. He’s mine.”

Randgrid and her two sisters said together, “Gunn is the point. The descendant of a Viking hero is ours.”


Now, For the Werewolf Romance —The Wolf and the Druidess



Blurb:

A Celtic Tryst With A Shape Shifter Twist

In days of old, deep in the dark woods, Druidess Seren discovers a wolf shape shifting into the bare, muscular Celtic God, Gwydion. Seren's mind turns from the Samhain feast to wicked thoughts of Gwydion's gorgeous body.

Is the love Gwydion and Seren share strong enough to overcome barriers between an immortal god and a mortal woman? 

Or will a warning of danger from beyond the grave destroy the sensual magic brewing between the wolf and the druidess?


Excerpt: 

“No, he is in danger,” Seren snapped.

“It is our only chance. If we lose milk and beef, the entire tribe could starve during the winter.” Hywell shook his head.

“What harm could possibly befall me? The Silures cannot hurt me if I turn them to ice, first,” Gwydion said.

“My mother would not warn me unless the threat was real,” Seren said. “I myself sense danger, but it may not be from the Silures. You must be careful.”

“Seren, he is a god,” Hywell said.

“Yes, what could happen to me?” Gwydion said.

Rather than answer, she peered into Gwydion’s eyes. “Swear to me, you will take heed.”

“Yes, I will return to you unharmed.” Gwydion pulled his wand from the pouch tied to his side and brandished it high. “I am ready.” He swirled the ash stick, decorated with Celtic spirals, through the air in a sweeping motion. 
“Foes of the Ordovices,
Your raid is condemned.
I forbid your flight.
Winter’s embrace,
Shall halt your escape,
Frozen like ice.
For the tribe to find.”

A blue light with the power of a lightning-bolt shot from the wand. Gwydion knew everyone in the village could feel the surge, and he noticed Seren and Hywell had clung to each other during the mighty blast.

“It is done,” he said to them.

“Now you must shift into wolf form,” Seren said to Gwydion as she released her hold on Hywell.

After Gwydion eased off his horse, his body blurred from one form to the next as his limbs shortened and his flesh shifted into a pelt of white fur. The wolf stood before Seren once more.

Hywell gasped. “Gwydion, do not get too near the cattle, you will spook them.”

The wolf nodded, and as he darted off, Seren goaded her horse into a hard gallop. Hywell followed.



Druidry and the Beast


2 comments:

Tina Donahue said...

Your Dancing Vampires series is delightful, Cornelia. Love the snarky looking pumpkin at the top of the post. :)

cornelia amiri said...

Thank you for the kind words, Tina, I appreciate them. Happy Halloween.