Birthday Bash Day 17 - Kallysten

Of growing up and milestones... 

Having been born and grown up in France, turning twenty-one was never something I particularly looked forward to or was excited about. It was just another number, and I couldn't say what I did that year to celebrate. A more important milestone in France is turning eighteen: that's when you can legally drive on your own, drink alcohol, or vote. Although... there are programs to drive as long as an adult driver is in the car, and I did that. And as far as drinking, the topic was a lot more relaxed when I was growing up, and I didn't wait until I was eighteen before I had a glass of wine or champagne with my parents for special occasions. So really, even eighteen wasn't such a big deal for me.

My story Beyond The Edge starts with a birthday: Brett, the owner of a dancing club and lover to two vampires, is turning forty, and if he has his say it'll be his last birthday. He wants his lovers to turn him before he turns 41 - now that I call a milestone! Neither of them has ever sired a vampire before, so for them, too, the prospect is momentous.

The two series that merge in Beyond The Edge - On The Edge and Out of the Box - are full of such milestones: a young man opening the business he's dreamed of for years, moving in with a woman then inviting a man to join them and offering both of them rings... a young woman's sexual awakening and her growing love for a man who is much older and would give anything to her... or almost... Growing up can take many different forms!

In this book, all five main characters find their lives transformed by an unexpected but not unwelcome pregnancy, and all of them have to grow up in some way. For some of them, it's a lot harder than for others... But isn't it true in real life, too, that some steps are much harder to take that others?

Blurb:

As Brett Andrews, owner of the famous club On The Edge, reaches the big ‘four-O,’ he has one request and one question for his two vampire lovers, Leo and Lisa: he doesn’t want them to organize any sort of celebration for him – but he does want to know why neither of them has ever mentioned the possibility of turning him into a vampire.

The question finds an answer, and the three of them share a promise for the year to come. His request, on the other hand, is doomed from the start as they already have plans for the big day: they have a gift for him to match presents he offered each of them, and the party they planned with help from a couple of friends promises to be something special.

Vampire Anando and his human lover Virginia met at On The Edge. They are friends and occasional lovers of Leo, Brett and Lisa. When asked, they gladly accept to host the big-bash birthday party – and the private after-party, too. A good time is had by all, but the last gift is only revealed a few weeks later, to be delivered after nine months.

With both humans in love with vampires, neither expected a child in their future. As for the vampires, they knew for a fact that they’d never become parents. For all five, once the first shock has passed, decisions have to be made. Will this new adventure strengthen bonds of love and friendship, or will it tear lives apart? 

Excerpt:

For the next few minutes, they continued to rock to their own beat in the middle of the dance floor, sometimes jostled by over-enthusiastic dancers. At last, the DJ switched to slower songs, and their dancing matched the rest of the crowd’s. 

Slipping a finger under Virginia’s chin, Anando tilted her face up. He looked into her eyes and gave her his softest smile, wishing he could take away her worries. She smiled back and leaned in closer, pressing her mouth to his.

As often as they kissed, he doubted he’d ever tire of how soft her lips were, how gentle her touch was at first, as tentative as when they had shared their very first kiss what seemed like an entire lifetime ago. He let her lead, knowing that this simple caress of lips on lips awakened the same fire in her as it did in him and that she wouldn’t be able to resist her own desire for long.

Indeed, after a beat or two, she pressed harder against his lips, her tongue sliding into his mouth as though she owned it—owned him. He threaded his fingers through her hair and angled her head to deepen the kiss a little more. She moaned into his mouth, a quiet vibration that spread through him as quickly as wildfire.

She wound her arms around his torso and pressed her breasts against his chest. Anando dropped both his hands to her ass and pulled it forward, trapping his cock between them. She moaned again when one of his hands sought the hem of her dress.

Her tongue stroked against his teeth until he extended his fangs the way she wanted. She pricked her tongue on the point of one, offering him the taste of her blood and stroking the flames of his desire even more.

Nothing mattered at that moment but her warmth against him, the intensity of their kiss, and how much Anando wanted her, needed her. The rest of the world did not exist as far as he was concerned.

Not until a hand tapped his shoulder while a woman’s voice said, very close and full of amusement, “You might want to cool it down before security decides you two are a fire hazard.”

Virginia pulled back as Anando opened his eyes. They both turned to Lisa, standing at their side, her eyes gleaming with mirth.

“Come on up,” she says. “Drinks are on me. There’s something I want to ask you.”

She winked before turning away and sashaying through the crowd, her hair bouncing on her shoulders. She didn’t look back to see if they were following.

Focusing on Virginia again, Anando caressed her cheek with the back of his fingers. Her skin seemed even paler than usual against his own coffee skin. She smiled a little absently.

“Do you want to talk to her?” he asked. “We don’t have to. We could just go home.”

He didn’t know what Lisa wanted to ask them, but his best guess was that it involved sex, and in the mood Virginia was in, it might not be the best time for a suggestion like that. They’d talked about joining Leo, Lisa, and Brett for another night of games, but it had been months, almost a year since the first time, and they had yet to do more than talk about it.

“A drink sounds good,” Virginia said nonetheless. “And it’d be rude if we didn’t go.” She took his hand and entwined their fingers together. “Lead the way?”

He leaned in to caress her mouth with his own, then opened a path through the dancers toward the staircase. Her fingers remained woven with his until they reached the first floor, and even then she only let go to allow him to draw a chair for her at Lisa’s table. He sat on Virginia’s right and took her hand again on the table. Across from him, Lisa offered a conspiratorial grin.

“I ordered for all of us, I hope you don’t mind. I want to be done before Brett sees us on those damn cameras and decides to come down.”

She was finishing when Leo approached the table, and Anando threw Virginia a look. She seemed as confused as he was. Why wouldn’t Lisa want Brett to join them?

Smiling, Leo said hello as he set a champagne flute in front of all three of them, then sat, a fourth one in hand.

“Champagne?” Virginia said. “What’s the occasion?”

Lisa peered over Anando’s shoulder—to the back of the room, he realized, where a private door led to the apartment upstairs. Was she really keeping an eye out for Brett?

“The occasion is Brett’s birthday,” she said. “In two weeks, on the sixth. We want to throw him a big party—”

“—but he’s already suspicious,” Leo continued her thought for her. “So we can’t organize it here.”

“And a restaurant or party hall feels a bit impersonal. So we were wondering if maybe you’d care to host the party for us. He’ll never suspect that.”

Lisa finished with a grin that made it all too clear how happy she was about that idea. She was looking at Anando, waiting for him to reply, but he tilted his head toward Virginia. “Ask the lady of the house. It’s up to her.”

Virginia’s fingers tightened over his. She looked thoughtful as her gaze drifted from the glass in front of her to Leo and finally Lisa.

“When you say ‘party,’” she said, “do you mean an actual party with guests or… the other kind of party?”

Even now, after all this time, all that had happened—after she’d been in the same bed as all three people sitting with her at that table—Virginia could still blush. It was rather adorable, and Anando couldn’t help leaning toward her and kissing her cheek. She flashed him an impish smile completely at odds with her blushing.

“We meant the regular kind of party,” Leo replied, flames lightening his eyes. “Twenty to thirty guests. We’d take care of the food and drinks, of course. But if you two are up for an after-party when the guests are gone…”

Virginia held Leo’s gaze until his voice trailed off, then she looked at Anando, her cheeks brighter still, but embarrassment wasn’t the only thing warming her.

“Like I told Lisa,” Anando said, trying to keep his tone neutral but unable to suppress a grin, “it’s up to you.”

She clucked her tongue. “That’s not how it works,” she reminded him. “You have a say in it, too.”

Anando shrugged. “You know I’m up for it.”

She snickered, as did Lisa.

“No pun intended,” he belatedly added.

It was nice to see a smile back on Virginia’s lips. It widened a little more when she asked Lisa, “Are we going for a specific theme or a plain old birthday party?”

The two of them figured out the details while Leo, emptying his glass in one long gulp, returned behind the bar. As Anando sipped his champagne, it occurred to him that Virginia hadn’t said whether she was agreeing to a simple party or an extended one. Somehow, he didn’t think any of them had the slightest doubt about it.

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Author Bio:

Kallysten is a writer of romance novels and short stories, most of them with paranormal elements.

Her most exciting accomplishment to date was to cross a few thousand miles and an ocean to pursue (and catch!) the love of her life. She has been writing for over fifteen years, and always enjoyed sharing her stories and listening to the readers' reactions. After playing with science fiction, short stories and poetry, she is now trying her hand, heart and words at paranormal romance novels.

Her first eBooks were published by Linden Bay Romance in 2005. The defunct Venus Press subsequently published a few of her short stories. Because so many of her stories are linked as series and part of the same universe, she decided it would make sense to have them all in the same place, which is why she self-published, first with the co-op Alinar Publishing and now on her own. When she sees calls for submissions that speak to her muse, she sometimes tries for them, and was published this way by Samhain and Torquere.

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