Rowena Cherry - Knight's Fork | Insufficient Mating Material | Forced Mate | Mating Net - Racy, Wildly Entertaining Futuristic Romance

This month, I feel privileged to share an excerpt from CRIMSON DREAMS by MARGARET L CARTER. I used this excerpt in my Alien Heroes workshop as an example of excellent characterization when the hero is not human. I particularly like the way that Margaret L. Carter handles the logistics of shape-shifting, and the dietary practicalities of how a vampire manages to appear normal in polite society.

CRIMSON DREAMS Copyright 2003 by Margaret L. Carter
(Amber Quill Press, www.amberquill.com)

Blushing, Heather picked up her spoon. "I thought you didn't eat food."

"I can consume liquids," he said, "though most of them don't do me any good. Things like gelatin and ice cream are liquids, in a sense--that helps when I get stuck with a dinner invitation I can't turn down. And I do get nourishment from milk." He had poured himself a glass, which he sipped while watching Heather eat.

"What we just did," she said, irritably sensing his amusement at the way she groped for words. "We did that when I was eighteen, when I thought I was dreaming?"

"Not like that, dear one. It's incredibly different when you're fully aware of me." He reached across the table to squeeze her hand. "So much better--I had no idea."

"But it couldn't all have been real. Some of it had to be just dreams, fantasies. Zorro and Lancelot and all that."

"I drew upon whatever scenes would please and excite you the most," he said. "Manipulative--that's what you're thinking, isn't it? Well, yes, but I also aimed to enhance your pleasure."

"You did that, all right." Good grief, why can't I quit blushing? "I remember flying. In fact, I dreamed that again recently.
Now, that can't have been real--unless you're holding out on me. You can't turn into a bat, can you?"

"Certainly not. Where do you think the extra mass would go?"

What little she knew of nuclear physics made Heather cringe at the thought.

"However," Devin went on, "we can fly, in a sense. Levitate, actually--even though our bones are a bit lighter than yours, true flight is impossible for a human-size creature. And we do transform into a winged entity. The wings are needed for gliding and steering."

"A giant bat?" Heather rubbed her eyes. "That's even weirder."

"Our scholars believe it's an ancestral form imprinted on the DNA, a shape we discarded as we evolved to mimic your species in every outward respect. One of our psychic gifts involves resuming that shape. The older we grow, the better we can do it, and the longer we can maintain it."

She swallowed a cold lump of ice cream, chasing it with a gulp of juice. "Show me. I'm tired of blundering around in a fog about what's real and what's not."

He finished his milk and gazed thoughtfully at her. "What the observer sees depends a great deal on what he or she expects to see. We can project illusions of whatever monstrous shape we want to assume. But yes, I can show you--without clouding your mind."

Her eyes challenged him. "No illusions."

"No. You'll see only what physically exists."

They cleared the dishes into the sink. "Shall we use the living room?" he said. "More open space there."

"You mean you aren't going to fly with me?"

That remark evoked a rueful laugh. "You flatter me, little one. I'm not Superman. Thanks to you, I've recovered most of my strength, but I'm not up to that." His amusement faded. "Anyway, considering what happened a few hours ago, I think I'd better keep my transformations behind locked doors tonight."

Following him into the living room, Heather wished he hadn't brought up Pam's attack. She had temporarily forgotten about it and had no desire to remember. The unease soon faded, however, in the pleasure of watching him move chairs to the edge of the room and strip off his shirt.

"I'm not old enough to include clothing in the change, as a rule. I can manage it briefly, with deep concentration, but it's so much trouble I don't bother. The elders have the ability to shapeshift garments as if they were part of the skin--I'm a long way from that."

Assuming a stance in the middle of the rug, he held both of her hands. "Watch closely," he said. "I'm not mesmerizing you. This is a physical transmutation."

Electricity tingled from his cool fingers up her arms, making her hair bristle, like static on a cold, dry day. Violet sparks danced over his chest and shoulders. His eyes glowed red. She saw a shadow spreading down his cheeks and torso, a black velvet growth. Fur! she thought. He had a sleek covering of ebony fur.

His ears elongated to points. At the same moment, a pair of pale green wings blossomed from his back. When he smiled at her astonishment, she saw pointed teeth.

"Your mouth--" She brushed his lips with hesitant fingers.

He nipped her without breaking the skin. "This is the only time after childhood that we actually have fangs." He drew her into a close embrace, his lean body hard against hers.

The floor melted from beneath her bare feet. A giddy floating sensation possessed her. She glanced down. Oh, God, I am floating! She clung to Devin in a spasm of panic.

His warm breath stirred her hair. "You're perfectly safe."

Together they drifted toward the ceiling. She risked another look down. At least three feet separated her from the rug. We really are levitating!

Devin spun in a slow circle, making her lightheaded. Gradually he floated down again, while she hugged him so tightly her arms ached. "When I was much younger, I wouldn't have had the power to lift you as well as myself. I'm glad I can do it now."

She burrowed her face into his shoulder, feeling as if she'd just stepped off a Ferris wheel. "You actually flew with me, back then, didn't you?"

The wings draped around him like a cloak. "A few times. More often, I let you share my sensations while I hunted from above the trees."

She looked up into his eyes. "Sounds like an awful risk. Somebody could have seen you."

"I stayed away from populated areas. The few people who might be roaming the woods at night never noticed me. We can make ourselves--well, not literally invisible, but unnoticeable."

She didn't want to pursue that comment. Too many impossible things in one night. Instead, she reached up to finger the curve of a wing. Veined like a dragonfly's wing, it felt as light as parachute silk. The delicate membrane quivered like a leaf in a breeze.

"Careful," he whispered. "In this state, with my cells in flux, I'm extremely sensitive."

"It doesn't hurt, does it?" She couldn't resist stroking the satiny surface.

"You could very easily hurt me there," he said, "but this doesn't. Quite the opposite." With a sigh, he kissed her ear, teasing the lobe with his lips and tongue. His skin felt hotter than usual.

Answering the unspoken question, he said, "The change generates energy. Ah, Heather, you'll have to stop that." But he made no move to retreat from her caresses. His mounting excitement tingled through her own body.

"Please, Devin--" She sank her teeth into his neck.

"Yes--" He lifted his right hand to his mouth and bit his wrist.

She saw and felt his shape melting back to fully human form, just as he pressed his wrist to her lips.

TOP