Short week and New Story

I'm going to be brief. It's late on Friday night as I write this. I took a class from a local published author on making the undead believable. Got some good tid bits. Reaffirmed things I already knew. Looking forward to taking another class with this person in two weeks. Here's the opening on a new story I'm scribbling on the side. Working title is Wings of The Heart.

Enjoy!
Solara
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“Look lizard breath! Stop being so stingy!” Tina Nichols folded her arms tight across her chest. “I need a scale to finish my flying incantation.”

Derek Stanson pushed his sunglasses up on top his head. “What makes you think I’m being stingy?”

Tina kicked at the loose pebbles covering one part of the cliff’s edge. “You gave Cindy two scales and Mary Jane another. What’s one more going to hurt?”

Derek sighed, leaning back against the huge oak tree standing half way back on the hill’s peak. Summer time and heat combined with dragon hormones was bad enough. A temper mental witch was something he’d rather not deal with. “Tina, those scales were two molts ago. You know several months old and not the least bit powerful in any form.”

Tina shot him a scoff and stomped past him, working her way down the trail running in between the tall pines and older elms and oaks. Her ass wiggled every step she took. Her anger emphasized her strut the more she stomped. Her shoulder length blonde hair flared out behind her with each step. Her five-foot-four height hid a temper that could curdle clotted milk. While he’d loved to watch her petite bums work their way back down the hill sans clothing---yeah, he’d been fantasizing about her again---he knew better than to ignore her out burst. Silent or verbal, when Tina got pissed, look out. Her magic could run amuck if he didn’t keep an eye on her.

“Tina, wait up.” He pulled his sunglasses down and jogged after her.

Tina didn’t want to slow down. Damn Derek and his generosity with the camp kids. He’d give his last molted scale to them and listen to their oohs and ahs like a hummingbird going after sugar nectar. Let her ask for one and---well she’d even said please and explained why she needed it. Hearing his heavy breathing and trot behind her, Tina sped up her gait. Blast him! She needed space to cool down. Her thinking wasn’t running in sequence, much less being logical. She needed to go over the spell again to see if anything else would work.

Two weeks prior, she’d stumbled upon her great aunt’s spell book going through a box of old books she’d found in the attic. Great aunt Elspeth, the one who believed in her despite her less than stellar heritage, saw nothing wrong with Tina’s mortal half. So she didn’t hex and spell cast as well as the rest of her of family. She hid her real power from them, moonlight prating. With the light of the stars and a full moon, she could create faux diamonds and gems that fooled even some world-class jewelers.

Tina shook her head, as tempting as that was she couldn’t show up at her university reunion and not be able to cast a simple flying spell. Faux dragon scales didn’t work. Her antique broom levitated two feet off the floor before it fell like a heavy rock back to her feet. If she practiced hard enough, she could call her forks to her along with other utensils. Who was she trying to fool? Her Wiccan U classmates would probably snub her and laugh just like they had ten years earlier.

Two thirds of the way down the hill, she stopped. Derek’s shuffle and heavy breathing weren’t following her. Had he given up? He kept saying everyone needed a keeper and they were each others.