It’s almost time for another installment in THE CALLING vampire novels! FATE CALLS is a novella in HOLIDAY WITH A VAMPIRE, a December release for Silhouette Nocturne. I thought I’d leave you with a glimpse of this novella before I take a little break — until October 20th!
Why so long? Well, there’s a conference coming up and a special anniversary trip I’m taking with hubby and so I’ll be a road warrior again. I’m not sure if I’ll be able to post, but will try. However, I will definitely be back on October 20 and to keep you all busy until then:
A BLOG CONTEST! Leave a short comment on today’s FATE CALLS blog about one of your favorite holiday memories/traditions. Comments may be posted until midnight EST October 19th. You could win an autographed copy of BLOOD CALLS, a CALLING T-shirt as well as a SOUTH BEACH CHICAS CATCH THEIR MAN T-shirt.
Death and destruction were the only Christmas gifts that Fate had ever brought.
Now Fate had delivered to Hadrian yet one more Christmas calamity — a group of bell-ringing do-gooders who had set up camp across the way from his brownstone, disturbing his daytime slumber and a good chunk of his nights.
The clang-clang-clang of the bell would begin mid-morning, slipping into his brain as he rested after a long night of prowling the Manhattan streets. Low and sporadic, he could drive the noise out of his head for most of the day, until dusk came and with it, the ringing rose, insistent. Demanding. Followed too often by a cheery greeting laced with enough sweetness to curdle the meal his keeper brought him at rising.
For weeks Hadrian had told himself that he could outlast them. After all, he was a vampire elder and had survived nearly two thousand years of even greater challenges.
But there was just something about that damned bell.
Hadrian jerked off the bedcovers and strode to the window, glanced at the Santa-suit wearing tormentor standing in front of the public library on the street below. Little to discover about the Santa as he stood next to a collection kettle. Arm merrily shifting up and down, calling to the passersby to leave a small donation for the homeless.
The soft rasp of knuckles came at his bedroom door. His keeper, George, bringing a snack to help drive away the lethargy of his daytime respite.
“Come in,” he called out, but as George wheeled in the cart bearing the gold chalice filled with a bit of warmed blood, Hadrian waved him off.
“Thank you, George, but you may take it away.”
He smiled as he peered down at the Santa again and said, “I think I may be dining out tonight.”
One of my favorite Christmas time traditions is eating lefse, a traditional Norwegian flatbread made from potato flour. You spread butter on it, and some people sprinkle it with sugar, then you roll it up and eat it! My father used to make it, but now my sister does it—she even has a lefse grill in her home. My family is in California, and I live in Minnesota now, which means I could actually buy lefse in the store, and year round if I want to. But homemade always tastes best!
My favorite memory is going to my aunt’s house on Christmas Eve. She raised my father and all her brothers and sisters. All of them and their families would celebrate with a big meal, church services, then opening presents. It was the best when I was growing up.
You’re teasing me talking about another vamp story! Especially now that our local Borders decided not to bring Nocturnes anymore (or any other Silhouette book). *sighs*
My favorite holiday memory is when i was a young girl dresing up for Halooween. I was about 8 or 9 and my older sister got me a cat outfit. it was a bodysuit, ears, whiskers, and a tail. This is the weird part, the tail had to be stuffed, so my sister took wet cloth and stuffed, so at first it would shrink to get into the tail, and when it dried it would fluff out. She put WET cloths in the tail, my booty was cold and wet. “I don’t want it. I don’t want it, take it out,” I begged. Louisiana is usually hot, but it cools in Octomber, so that Halloween is freezing….. shivers* Can you beleive i had a wet butt, LOL
My most memorable and saddest holiday was the year my mother died. She had passed away in July, and I wasn’t looking forward to our first christmas without her. My husband knew my wanting to make a memorable Christmas for our three sons, and yet knew my heart was not into it. So he suggested we go out to eat on Christmas Day and to a hockey game afterwards. The boys were thrilled that they would go get to open their presents, go out to eat and to a hockey game. Well to our surprise, the only restaurant we found open was “Hooters”… ohhh boy, my sons were really excited then! We were the only family there, besides a few men who were dinning alone. My sons got all the attention of all the waitresses and they got their pictures taken with them. Our saddest Christmas turned into our most memorable. The game afterwards was lots of fun also!
Have fun on your trip. One of my favorite memories takes me back to the time when I lived in St. Louis. My parents and brothers came up spend my first Christmas in the midwest. I was perfect. It snowed and my brothers and I made snow angels like little kids. A few years later, my Dad died but I’ll always remember the St Louis Christmas.
My favorite memories are making Christmas cookies with my Mom. Lord, she made enough to feed several armies!!! We would spend days making dough, then baking them all out. We had the process down to a science. She’s gone now, so I haven’t had the heart to do it alone. Maybe this year I will restart an old tradition.
I don’t have one favorite holiday memory in particular, since we had our son, Christmas is my favorite holiday for memories! The excitement on his face, in his voice! Although, now that I’m thinking about it, one of my favorites of him on Christmas was 2 years ago! I had made up a gift bag full of Yu Gi Oh stuff, none of it was wrapped, just a fun bag. He woke up early, like he always does, and I tell him not to open anything till I wake up! So, when I did get up and go downstairs I realized that he was wearing his new Yu Gi Oh pj’s!! He went through he bag while I was still sleeping and changed his pj’s! In his little mind what he did was OK because he didn’t actually open anything!! It was just in a bag, not wrapped!!
I so look forward to Halloween every year, my girlfriend comes over with her family. The kids go trick or treating and we sit on the front porch together and hand out candy. Love to see all the different costumes each year. When its over we usually order pizza and sit around and watch a scary movie and check out the kids candy.
Every year for Christmas my mom would make divinity. Only at Christmas. One August when I was fourteen I asked for some divinity.
“We have to wait for it to snow,” was her response. We lived in Colorado, and I waited and waited until it snowed.
“It’s not cold enough,” again I waited. Finally, at the beginning of December it snowed. I begged my mom to make divinity. Finally she agreed. We opened the kitchen window and let the snow come in as we waited over the hot stove and until it was ready for the mixer. Then, then the divinity was ready. Years later I asked why I had to wait so long.
“We had to wait for it to be snowing so the humidity would be right and it had to be cold outside so we could open the window because otherwise the mixer would overheat,” she said.
my favorite holiday is “New Year Eve”
i spend the night with my family watching old movies
One of my favorite holiday memories is being a secret elf and taking gifts for the 12 Days of Christmas. We’ve done this for over 20 years now.
One of my holiday memories would probably be Halloween. When my brother and sister were younger, we would run to people’s houses and say trick or trick to get some candy.
Caridad,
It’s always been a toss-up between
Halloween and Christmas at our house.
Some of the children favored one, some
the other. My favorite holiday events
have been my children’s Christmas band
and choir concerts. Now I include my
grandchildren’s concerts, especially my
oldest granddaughter’s orchestra concerts.
Pat Cochran
When my son was small he was too frightened to either trick or trick or stay home to greet trick or treaters, so he & I started a tradition of going to the Pizza Inn on Halloween night…the employees dressed up & handed out candy bars. He was able to dress up & still enjoy Halloween without being scared!
One of my favorite holiday memories is the last easter I spent with my dad before he died. My oldest was only 2 and she is a slow warmer to people. Well, this year she finally warmed up to him. He took her to the store and promised to take her on his motorcycle. He passed 2 months later. She still remember s that day.
When I was a child, I remember I loved to go trick or treating with my two brothers. Since there are some kinds of candies I didn’t really like, me and my brothers traded candies together so we could get what we like the most. Afterward, we went to our grandma’s with our cousins so we could all have fun. We also traded candies with our cousins… Such odd memories I guess…
My favorite Halloween is taking my now 4 year old trick or treating. Hubby and I dressed him up as a dragon. He was so excited about going door to door and getting candy. He had the biggest grin on his face all evening. He told me “Mommy, I love Halloween! Halloween is fun!” I thought he was so adorable.
Halloween in a small town in upstate NY in the early 1960’s saw most of the kids in town visiting almost every house with a light on. My mom was very consciencious about being home to hand out candy so she would only take me around to the local neighbors when I was really small. My favorite place to stop was at Miss Yate’s because she would always hand out homemade popcorn balls and then play us a song on her violin, and she was always dressed up. It wasn’t until I was older that I realized that she was a concert violinist and that I’d been treated to a very rare performance.
Oooo nice cover & the book sounds great.
My favorite holiday is christmas. Early in the morning on the 25th my mom would have my little wake me up & my 4 other sisters. Saying wake up it’s christmas. Time to open presents. I thought it was so cute my little sister jumping on our bed as my mom standing there laughing. Also on christmas eve we wait till 12 a.m. and we all open one present each and the rest in the morning. All I can say now is my little sister isn’t little no more *G* But I still remember these times like it was yesterday.
Hugssss
LindaH
I always loved Halloween as a kid. My brother and I would go out with our little orange pumpkin pails and go trick or treating. When we got home we would dump our pails onto the carpet and sort out the candy into piles. Whoever had the most Crunch Bars was always the happiest as those were our favorites. I liked giving away candy to trick or treaters too. I’d always give HUGE handfuls. 🙂
I think my favorite holiday memory is a bit of a bittersweet one. It was Thanksgiving a couple of years ago and we had all (and by all I mean me, my parents, my 2 siblings, their spouses, and their kids) gone to visit my grandparents for the holiday. My grandparents had moved about 4 hours away and we didn’t really get to see them that often. As a kid we always spent every holiday, birthday, and free weekend at get-togethers at my grandparents’ house so this was a big deal to all of us. When we got there both of my dad’s sisters and thier kids (except for one) were there too. It was the first time we had all gotten together in a long time…it was just like when I was a kid…except with a new generation added.
My grandfather was thrilled and kept smiling the whole time we were there and showing us around the place. It was a great time. But what makes this holiday so special is that a few weeks later on New Years Eve my grandfather died unexpectedly in an auto accident. That Thanksgiving trip was the last time I ever got to see him alive.
At the funeral, his sister kept telling us how he had called after Thanksgiving and was so happy we had all came…she said he mentioned it every time they talked after that. It meant so much to him…and to me…that was a very special holiday.
I don’t remember whether it was Thanksgiving or Christmas but one year we had a real mystery happen and to this day it’s remained unsolved.
My mother has always made bread. White, Wheat, Onion, rolls, buns and sometimes even sourdough. For the holidays she usually baked something unique or special. Hot crossed buns for Easter, and the year this happened she made Challah which the way she made it was a huge braided round loaf. It was probably sixteen inches across and maybe 10 inches tall. Massive loaf of bread. She cut it in half then sliced the half into manageble pieces. The other half she left on the cutting board in the kitchen by the fridge.
Family dinners in those days usually had 12 – 20 people and this year I think everyone showed up. We had the normal raucous dinner and when it was done we cleaned up the dishes, put away the leftovers and packed away our care packages to take home. About this time Mom noticed that the other half of the Challah was missing. Gone. Vanished. This was a five pound loaf of bread. No one could have smuggled it out under their coat and it would have been sticking out of the trash can if it had been tossed. I suppose someone might have come in the back door while we were eating and taken it, but really, this is suburbia. People don’t break in in the middle of a holiday dinner to steal half a loaf of bread. We never did figure out where the Challah went but in the years since then anytime something goes missing in my mothers house we just assume that it’s gone to be with the Challah. Somewhere in an alternate universe that Challah is holding court with my mother’s watch, dozens of single socks, my car keys etc.
We’re getting ready to move my parents into a condo and out of their big old house in the suburbs. I halfway expect the Challah to mysteriously appear to see them off.
Gretchen
When I was a kid I used to go and get the Christmas tree from our forest with dad or with one of my sisters.
I’m game! Always love trying my hand at contests.
When my brother and I were 7 and 4 respectively, my mother called us into a spare room late at night on Halloweeen. She asked us if we saw something in the backyard. Brother and I looked, saw something glowing…then it began to move!
Backing away from the window, we grew scared and asked our mother what it was. She, wanted us to find out because she was “scared” too.
The glowing object moved closer and closer to the house. It was getting bigger, clearer to see. A fierce looking floating pumpkin was coming after us.
The pumpkin started moving faster, closing in on the window we were staring out of when it vanished right before our eyes.
Leaning closer to the window, my brother and I wondered where it went. Before Mother could respond, the pumpkin shot up, into the frame of the window.
My brother and I screamed and ran into the kitchen. Mother followed, trying to calm us down. Then, tap-tap-tap. Someone…or something was knocking on the side kitchen door.
I, being the elder sibling decided to take charge and find out what was after us. Though my little heart was pounding, I tip-toed to the door and pulled it back.
My father and his best friend shoved the pumpkin into the house for one final fright and didn’t stop laughing until my brother and I went to bed.
Nice parents, huh? 🙂
Oh that’s such a tease! How am I going to be able to contain myself long enough to read Holiday With a Vampire?! Sigh. 🙂
My favorite holiday memory/tradition actually involves a novel. I remember being a young kid reading lots of different books, some a little advanced for someone at the age of eight. I loved Shogun, Ulysses, War and Peace, Gone with the Wind.
I remember my step father telling me about Charles Dickens and I had tried a few of his books but nothing held my interest. That Christmas, however, he presented me with a copy of A Christmas Carol.
I remember the feel of the cloth bound hard cover, the gold gilded edges of the pages. I remember the smell of that book, the creek of the spine as I opened it.
I read it all through in two sittings. The snow was falling outside and I was full with Christmas food, but for me the real wonder was in the story. I was entranced by Scrooge and The Three Ghosts of Christmas.
I then went on to read everything Dickens had ever written. But A Christmas Carol remains my favorite.
Now, when the snow starts to fall, I bring out that old and battered copy of A Christmas Carol and remember the first time I read it. I am always transported back to that day when I read those first words:
“Marley was dead: to begin with. There is no doubt whatever about that. The register of his burial was signed by the clergyman, the clerk, the undertaker, and the chief mourner. Scrooge signed it: and Scrooge’s name was good upon ‘Change, for anything he chose to put his hand to. Old Marley was as dead as a door-nail.”
Each year I look forward to reading A Christmas Carol and each year it is as if I am discovering the words anew.
That sounds like a great bonding experience and very tasty as well. Those are two of my favorite Halloween treats.
When I was a child, I didn’t want to trick or treat so my Mom and I would make popcorn balls and caramel apples and watch movies on Halloween. I really enjoyed those times.
Sounds like you had a nice time with your Uncle Charlie. My grandpa or grandma would walk us around when we were younger. They just hung back by the curb and watched. My grandpa especially loved Halloween since they didn’t have this holiday in Spain (where he was born and grew up) and because he had an immense sweet tooth.
I’ve never roasted the seeds. Will have to try that. I understand they are really healthy for you!
I live in a very isolated area so I never get any trick or treaters. This year my son will be living close and he has a 1 year old daughter. I will get to “treat ” her. Nothing too scary though. My best memories are when my sister and our cousins would get dressed up and go into town to trick or treat. My uncle Charlie would take us and then hide while we rang doorbells. We always felt safe knowing he was there. It was a very special time for us. Have a great day everyone and hugs to all. BTW, the book sounds fantastic. Can’t wait to have it in my hands.
My nephew and I started a get together to carve pumpkins when my 2 girls were smaller. Now both my girls are grown and not usually available so us adults have continued the practice. My sister had never done it with her kids so I think she really looks forward to it now – and you just have to roast those yummy seeds.
That is so awesome Jaycee! We had lots of trick or treaters when I lived on Long Island, but then when we moved into an apartment, we didn’t get any. I was so bummed.
Now we get lots in the neighborhood, including parents who dress up to go with their kids. I wear my vampire cape when I answer the door, but nothing else. The one year I got all done up as a vampire, I scared away some younger kids!
Ohhh cant wait to read! Ok my fave Holiday memory. Well I am hoping it will be this year LOL My mom was diagnosed on Halloween 2003 so I usually am relly anit it BUT this year we are in our first home in a neighborhood. So I got ot decorate the house an my kids will actually be able to trick or treat the old fashioned way not just at a mall like they had to before since we lived on a main road. They are so excited about it! I am so happy we will have trick or treaters this year. According to my neighbor about 100! I have NEVER had a Trick or treater either LOL So i am hoping this will be a favorite memory year (:
Halloween is the greatest. As kids, we’d carry pillowcases to put the nickel candy bars in. Sometimes they’d get so heavy, we’d drag them home, empty them out and go out again. (for those of you too young to remember nickel bars, they were the size the dollar bars are now)
The next day is my birthday. When people asked for a trick, the kids would sing to me and I’d get more candy. What a racket for a little kid!