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Since I was a young girl, I can remember sitting upon my bed, in the darkness of night (when I should’ve been well asleep already) and dreaming of what it would be like to walk through the night with no fears, to see into the abyss of blackness and to embrace all that it would have to offer. The life of a nightwalker…yeah, that’s what I dreamt of as a little girl, not cooking in Easy-Bake ovens, riding horses, or playing house with Ken and Barbie dolls.

My dream world was that of the darkest nocturnal creatures known to man. Hence the obsession was born. One of the earliest vampire movies I can recall watching, completely enthralled was Dracula in 1979, starring Frank Langella.

In the early twentieth century, when moving pictures were still in its infancy, the Nosferatu was the first born of many dark princes of the night. Hundreds, maybe thousands of reincarnations of the creature would be born over the decades, well into the twenty-first century.

From those first black and white stuttering film slides of grotesque creatures with pale, bluish skin, bald head and elongated teeth, dripping with red food coloring, avoiding sun light at all cost to the more recent invention of sparkling day walking vampires of the Pacific Northwest, I’ve devoured all of them. The sci-fi space alien vampires to the African American versions, and let us not forget the Bon Temps of New Orleans vampires of Tru Blood HBO fame, good ol’ Vampire Bill, all these have fed my obsession, my research, my passion in creating my own world of blood thirsty vampires.

Most early movies and even series portrayed my beloved vampires as evil doers, of predators who preyed on the weak, the small, and elderly. The public view was contoured to seeing them as pest, as devils, as the darkest of evil in a human’s soul. However, somehow, I was shielded against such perception, viewing these night creatures as always human, who sometime made bad decisions, wrong choices and even deserved to find and be loved. They tried their best to be who they were in their hearts but who just happened to need one little element to remain alive, their addiction needed feeding, blood. Well, my folks have always found ways to co-exists with their mortal cousins, who have for obvious reason a much shorter life span than their unique relatives. We’re all human, regardless of our life’s length. We all make bad choices. There’s always the preverbal rotten apple in the barrel to make the rest look bad, yet we all want to get along.

In the end…we’re all human at some point in our lives. Some of us just have a really cool mutation, we’re the special ones. And we’re in every aspect of life, living right next door, leading our lives, working our jobs and paying taxes just like Joe Smith across the street.

Yes, this is the world I see, where we all get along, mortal and immortal. This is the world I’ve created from my obsession, my passion, my love of the immortal beings that were first born well over centuries ago.

Megan O’Day seems to be navigating the unpredictable relationship with Geoffrey Drake, her centuries-old vampire guardian angel, rather well. But then his past suddenly rips him from her, forcing her to face the unknown future alone in the gripping sequel to The Stage.

Still bound to Geoffrey through the power of the Link despite his unexplained absence, Megan’s mind is flooded with his haunted memories. While she relives the darkest moments of his previous life, she discovers his attachment to a woman who bears a striking resemblance to her.

As she questions Geoffrey’s love for her, she strikes up a dangerous alliance with Geoffrey’s brother, Alexander, who is also a vampire. She hopes that he will help her find a way to rescue Geoffrey: instead, he seems to be awakening new emotions and desires within her.

As the past and present collide, Megan struggles to fend off Alexander’s dark seduction. Is Geoffrey truly beyond the reach of her love forever? If not, what must be sacrificed to bring them back together again?

Enjoy an Excerpt

An image of Dawn’s mangled, bloody body filled my thoughts, and I stopped sorting through my art supplies. It had happened just before Christmas. There was poor Dawn, distraught over her break-up with Ian, wearing my jack, and waiting in Geoffrey’s car in the alley behind The Stage.

They thought Dawn was me.

They- The Inner Circle, Geoffrey’s first coven-wanted him back.

Marco, his sire, was the head honcho there, and I its prime the coven had been quite large with a very strong presence in the community. As the years passed, it prominence had faded, but Marco still clung to his power. Geoffrey said that the older Marco got the more manipulative, abusive, and obsessive he became. It didn’t make sense. Marco had exiled him, and now he wanted his prized son back, even though Geoffrey’s twin, Alexander, was part of the Inner Circle. To top it off, they wanted me dead. Why? Because I came between Marco and Geoffrey? Was it because of the Link?

Shh, my love, said Geoffrey’s sweet, cool voice though the Link.

But I couldn’t keep my thoughts from whirling. Nerdy Chase Montgomery, my neighbor, was Geoffrey’s Guardian- a scholar of immortals, more or less. He was assigned to watch over Geoffrey, but he had trouble staying close to him. So he had followed me instead, filling my apartment with micro-cameras and audio pickups. When Geoffrey finally confronted Chase, I got a look inside his apartment-and at his computer screens. Nearly every inch of my apartment was under surveillance.

How fast everything had happened! Only four months ago, I started working at Ashleigh’s bar, The Stage, which was now the hottest club in Seattle. Geoffrey and his family which made up his band, The Darkness, were the house band there, and he and his family lived what they jokingly called an “alternative lifestyle”- even for vampires. Believing our human lives were too short as it is, they found other sources for their drug of choice, blood.

By the way, did I say reality bites? Yeah it does. I guess that comes with the territory when the one you love is a vampire.

About the Author: Catherine Russell was born in Tacoma, Washington and raised in a small town just south, South Hill, Puyallup. At the time South Hill was a heavily wooded area and far off the beaten path. Growing up she had the forests as her fantasy world along with the wild animals. She lived with her parents and an older sister. There are a few similarities from her own childhood that have carried over in to her first novel, “The Stage”. As a child, she did have a small dog named Toto, whom she would quite frequently roam the woods with. Her childhood home still stands, and is still nestled in the woods even though South Hill has undergone an extreme makeover since she lived there. She enjoyed hours of day dreaming and playing in the woods, which in turn fed her fantasy world of make believe.

Buy the book at Barking Grain Press.

Buy The Stage Chronicles Book 1 The Stage and The Stage Chronicles Book 2 Exit Stage Left at Amazon.

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