Six Sentence Sunday ~ Spooky little girl like you

From my latest release ~ KANDY APPLE AND HER HELLHOUNDS

This 'six' is from the scene where Kandace meets Zol and Zin
~~~

“I think I’d rather get to know a spooky little girl like you.”

Kandace jumped inside, startled by his bold come-on. “Spooky. Isn’t that a song lyric?” From the corner of her eye, she watched the other twin join them. Uh-oh, she’d just become the filling for a man sandwich. At least, they appeared to be men, given those high-rise bulges they both sported.
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NOW In Print for Halloween at the usual vendors. Ebook available at ~ bookstrand.com/kandy-apple-and-her-hellhounds
~~~

Have a Magickal Six Sentence Day!

Savanna

Savanna Kougar ~ Run on the Wild Side of Romance ~
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~~~ Find out more about Six Sentence Sunday at ~ sixsunday.com ~~~
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Kandy Apple and Her Hellhounds ~ In Print for Halloween ~

It is the season of the witch, the season for my shapeshifting hellhounds, Zin and Zol.

Halloween is already reaching out with foggy entrapping tendrils. Yes, I can feel it, which is one reason I wrote my witch erotic romance, Kandy Apple and Her Hellhounds, and currently have several Samhain-inspired WIPs.

My love affair with witches began with Samantha from the original TV series, Bewitched. Oh yes, I coveted her powers. After all, what fun-excitement that would be! A snap of your fingers and your room is clean, the chores done. A twitch of your nose and there’s the dress of your dreams.

You could right every wrong. Help others. Oh, the power was a heady fantasy.

However, more than her witchly magick, I simply adored who the character, Samantha, was as a woman -- the exception being whenever she cowtowed to her husband, typical for that time period.

And, yes, I even learned how to twitch my nose. Of course, not nearly as wonderfully as the actress, Elizabeth Montgomery, who played the beautiful real witch.

To be honest, despite all the Halloween ad hype I grew up with as a kid in the fifties -- where witches were portrayed as ugly evil creatures, often covered by warts because they handled frogs -- ya know what, I never bought into that view of witches.

I thought it was kinda ridiculous. Silly, even boring. No, some part of me never did believe or get onboard with that horror-spooky, broomstick ride. The only witch who ever spooked me as a kid was the Wicked Witch of the West in the “Wizard of Oz”.

Once the ‘beautiful witch’ arrived on the cultural scene... then when I learned about witches as women of the craft -- women who performed magickal rituals in accordance with nature to bring about a desired result -- well, I tingled. I resonated. And, I knew.

In that deep still part of me I knew, and that’s what rang true.

So, of course, it became irresistible -- the urge to write my own real witch heroine, my Kandy Apple. Yes, that’s her nickname, especially around Halloween. She adores wearing red, and has a riotous mane of red hair.
~~~

Here’s the scene where Kandace meets the Hellhounds, Zin and Zol.

Excerpt ~

Determined to ignore the heebie-jeebies, she gave her hair a toss. Kandace knew they weren’t fully human. What they were, she hadn’t discovered, so far. She stayed out of their social orbit and kept her distance.

Oh, she’d made discreet inquiries, all right. However, whoever she gabbed with would end up smirking, then give her that knowing look. Yeah, right, she wanted to jump the twins’ Remington Steele-elegant bones.

Okay, true, the old TV show, starring Pierce Brosnan, remained one of her guilty pleasures. Kandace dipped her tongue tip in her drink, scooping out a taste. Maybe if she knew what freakin’ dimension, planet, whatever, the Alien Tuxedo Twins hailed from she’d be interested in one of them. Maybe.

The only reason she inquired about the women in their lives was so she could politely interrogate them. However, Zol and Zin, as they were known, had been exceptionally discreet in their conquests. It’d been like pulling hen’s teeth with slick pliers—still, Kandace had gathered five names.

She’d made it a priority to speak with those women. Not one of them revealed anything of any consequence, and the dreamy smiles on their faces had quickly become too annoying. Even when she’d performed a gentle exploration of the women’s minds—nothing, except the sound of satisfied moans. Whoever the two peas in a pod were, they had the ability to keep an individual’s memory shielded, or some power she didn’t comprehend.

As Kandace admitted to whoever asked, she considered Zol and Zin to be living works of art. Whenever she caught sight of them at various artists’ events, a swoony thrill always raced her heart. Yep, fantastic to look at and admire, but that’s all.

Now, though, she had a whole new problem, other than keeping herself safe from the roaming security teams. The Alien Tuxedo Twins had been able to see her, despite her invisibility shield.

True, they didn’t seem overly eager to make her aware they knew about her witchy ability. Still, who the hell were they? What were they?

And did she need to be afraid of them?

To that end, Kandace sauntered ever closer.

“Might as well face the bad guys, if they are, and get it over with.” She whispered the words against the rim of her glass. Taking a sip, Kandace decided against an exploratory thought-form.

If they could see past her magic, they could probably stop her psi search of their minds, and would know she was onto their paranormal abilities.

Kandace strolled before some artist’s attempt to fuse Picasso’s style with the voluptuous fantasy art of Boris Vallejo. Blinking several times, she stared at the horror of high strangeness.

The twin wearing the evening suit sidled next to her as if he merely examined the painting.
“Definitely not my cup of artistic tea,” she commented. “What do you think?”

“I think I’d rather get to know a spooky little girl like you.”

Kandace jumped inside, startled by his bold come-on. “Spooky. Isn’t that a song lyric?”
From the corner of her eye, she watched the other twin join them. Uh-oh, she’d just become the filling for a man sandwich. At least, they appeared to be men, given those high-rise bulges they both sported.

For her?

Certainly, they smelled like real men. Despite the expensive cologne that clung subtly to both of them, their virility slammed into her nostrils and reminded her a bit of her uncle’s Rottweiler dogs.

Damn! No wonder some women fell in a drooling heap at their well-shod feet.

Kandace tipped up a large swallow of her drink. Her throat had suddenly become a desert, and her traitorous hormones began to beg.

Okay, she was a witch. She could handle this. Whatever this exactly was.

“Yes, it is a song lyric. Shall I sing the tune for you?”

Mr. Evening Suit asked in the smoothest yet sexiest voice she’d heard since Cary Grant. Kandace knew because her sister had watched all of the suave actor’s movies during her girlhood crush on him.

Intrigued by what he would actually do, Kandace flirtatiously angled her shoulders toward him. “Please.”

“In the cool of the evening,” he crooned, “when everything is getting kind of groovy, I call you up and ask you if you want to go and see a movie.”

Geez and tease her, Mr. Evening Suit’s sun-bronzed features were classically handsome, even more so, up this close and personal. Kandace avoided looking at his slightly wavy dark hair, perfectly groomed, of course. She had a thing when it came to a man’s hair. She wanted to wildly run her fingers through and not stop.

“First you say no,” the other twin sang, smooth as velvet, “you've got some plans for the night, and then you stop, and say, all right.”

Kandace did make a tactical error, though. She met his gaze, instantly losing herself in his coffee-colored eyes, illumined by flame. So it appeared.

“Love is kinda crazy with a spooky little girl like you,” they sang in stereo.

Feeling halfway seduced, Kandace saluted with her glass. “That’s good. But a girl can only take so much from a pair of womanizers like you.”

“Womanizer?” the Tuxedo Twin inquired. “Do you mean as in a libertine or wolf?”

“Exactly. Quaint reference, libertine. You two aren’t time travelers, are you?” Kandace hoped her voice sounded lighthearted, joking. It was hard to tell, given their mighty testosterone effect on her.

For a brief moment, they glanced at each other, easy to do since they towered above her. Tiny golden vibrations emanated from their foreheads and Kandace wondered exactly how telepathic they were.

“We’re not time travelers by common definition,” the evening suit twin answered.

“But, you do travel through time,” Kandace persisted. Why not? If they knew about her, why shouldn’t she know about them?

She took a nervous sip, but hardly tasted her drink.

Again, the twins trained their gazes on each other for a bare instant.

“We have. However, not by our own power, little witch.” Mr. Tuxedo’s sexy croon had her shifting toward him.

“Witch. You say that as if you believe I am an actual witch.”

Probably not smart, calling them out so soon, especially when I’m sandwiched between them. And just how did they time travel? Kandace frowned mentally.

“You are.” They spoke as one, freaking her out and tingling her spine. It felt like a tray of ice cubes slid down it.
~~~~~~

Blurb ~

Kandace doesn’t know why she’s a real witch. Despite her powers, she can’t find her bio parents. When the Tuxedo Twins tempt her with knowledge about her heritage at a charity event, Kandace agrees to dance with the mysterious Supernaturals. Unexpectedly, they are threatened by the omnipresent evil she’s been warned about in her dreams. To keep from being enslaved, Kandace brings forth her greater magick. But, to save her homeworld, she needs her hellhounds.

Zolivar and Zindale, two of Hades’ most mission-accomplished Hellhounds, see a witch sliding down the bannister after her heist of a painting. Spellbound, they know they’ve found just the right Kandy Apple to lick for Halloween. With every passion, Zin and Zol woo their chosen witch. Yet, will their Triad mate stay once she learns they can’t fall in love like humans? Or, will she return to her homeworld? Their very lives are at stake.
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Available at ~ bookstrand.com/kandy-apple-and-her-hellhounds ~ and the usual ebook and print vendors.
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Have a Magickal Witchy October!

Savanna

Savanna Kougar ~ Run on the Wild Side of Romance ~
~~~

I Love the Cover Art Goddess!

Shapeshifter lovers, here it is, a sneak peek at the cover art for the Just Another Paranormal Halloween anthology~ featuring my short story, THE TIGER’S MASQUERADE.

Thank you! Stephanie Kelsey, cover artist for Mojo Castle. Showering you with ‘good fairy’ kisses.

Yes...yes...yes! I love the Cover Art Goddess! She has been so very good to me. And, I live in hope, she will continue.

And, talk about getting in the Halloween-spooky-gothic mood.
~~~

I did it. I got my short story written, Weightless Inside His Wings, and will submit it to Jane of Dear Author, who is editing the Berkley anthology. Yeah, yeah... *no hope* here of being accepted. It was the challenge that hooked me in. However, Weightless will find a good home. And, of course, I am very fond of my heroine and hero, and their story.

Here’s a Blurb-Summary:

Striker of the Kalluv Windworld is a warrioress for her people. An adept at protecting herself from every known method of mind control, her missions take her across the galaxy to search out and stop those who enslave other races. Her last memory is hunkering down during a sandstorm. Now she finds herself floating inside an anti-grav sphere.

Dhray Zorr of the Vjemic Realm is a warrior on his planet-world. His kind, a hawk-panther shapeshifter, has been genetically designed to battle for freedom, then to hold it against would-be tyrants. However, there are few suitable mates on his world, and the population is declining rapidly. Now, he must face one more duty. He is called upon to take an alien woman as his mate.
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Next up, I *might* write another short story for the All Romance ebooks contest. That is, if I can figure out the heroine and hero’s names.

Then, I’ve been chomping at the writerly bit to get back to Kandy Apple and her Hellhounds. What a majickal Samhain time to finish their story since it takes place around and on Halloween.

Here’s an excerpt from Chapter Four ~

Now, though, she had a whole new problem, other than keeping herself safe from the roaming security teams. The Alien Tuxedo Twins had been able to see her, despite her invisibility shield.

True, they didn’t seem overly eager to make her aware they knew about her witchy ability. Still, who the hell were they? What were they?

And, did she need to be afraid of them? To that end, Kandace sauntered ever closer.

“Might as well face the bad guys, if they are, and get it over with.” She whispered the words against the rim of her glass. Taking a sip, Kandace decided against an exploratory thought-form.

If they could see past her magic, they could probably stop her psi search of their minds, and would know she was onto their paranormal abilities.

Kandace strolled before some artist’s attempt to fuse Picasso’s style with the voluptuous fantasy art of Boris Vallejo. Blinking several times, she stared at the horror of high strangeness.

The twin wearing the evening suit sidled next to her as if he examined the painting.

“Definitely not my cup of artistic tea,” she commented. “What do you think?”

“I think I’d rather get to know a spooky little girl like you.”

Kandace jumped inside, startled by his bold come on. “Spooky. Isn’t that a song lyric?”

From the corner of her eye, she watched the other twin join them. Uh oh, she’d just become the filling for a man sandwich. At least, they appeared to be men, given those high-rise bulges they both sported.

For her?

Certainly, they smelled like real men. Despite the expensive cologne that clung subtly to both of them, their virility slammed into her nostrils and reminded her a bit of her Uncle’s Rottweiler dogs.
~~~~~~

The Kougar’s news and mews ~

So, with the Halloween season breathing down my neck like a turned-on vampire, I am going to be ‘treating’ BLACK CAT BEAUTY to a promo fest, along with the ‘above’ anthology. Me, and a whole lot of romance readers enjoy all the spooktacular celebrations taking place at blogs and chat loops.

Sable Kiki, my heroine in Black Cat Beauty, is being interviewed at Got Romance Reviews ~ gotromancereviews.blogspot.com ~ I don’t have a date yet. But, my Sable had a r-e-a-l good time maow-chatting.
~~~
Okay, here’s a promo I saw for a shapeshifter book that struck my amusement bone. [This is in no way a put-down of the book or the author. The author, if she wishes, is more than welcome to guest blog with us, and share more about her book.]

PROMO: Returning home, will Maggie have more than her wounds licked

Can Quinn and Lucas convince Maggie she’s meant to be their mate?

Maggie’s Mates by Bronwyn Green

Blurb:

Having recently ended a bad relationship, Maggie Ryan returns to her hometown in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula to discover things aren’t quite the way she remembers. Her childhood friends, Quinn and Lucas Makwa, are all grown up and keeping secrets. The shape-shifters want Maggie for their mate, but she’s not sure she wants to trust another man—let alone two that can shift into black bears at will.

Available at Resplendence Publishing ~ resplendencepublishing.com ~
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So, what’s new and the news in your shapeshifter world?
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~ HAPPY AUTUMN SHAPESHIFTING ~

Savanna Kougar

~ Run on the Wild Side of Romance ~

Before You Can Say BOO

Shapeshifter lovers, greetings. Right now, my batteries are running low and I’m looking to spend what energy I have on the WIPs I’m writing and preparing for publication. Plus, with edits on my short story, THE TIGER’S MASQUERADE, arriving soon, I want to get as much penning done as possible.

One thing I’ve almost decided on ~ I’ll likely change the title of ~Kandy Apple for Halloween~ to ~Kandy Apple and Her Hellhounds~

Here’s the working blurb: What happens when two of Hades’ most mission-accomplished Hellhounds find just the right witch for Halloween?

This title change will take the story beyond being a Halloween-themed erotic romance. While the plot does revolve around the powerful energies of Samhain and the thinning of the veil, the story is not really just a spooky Halloween HEA tale. Not by a long shot. Or, not by a bewitched-twitch of my witch’s little nose – she’s a petite thing.

Here’s the last UNEDITED paragraphs of Chapter Twenty-Five ~

Diving outward, Zol flew soaring opposite Zin. Fast as wind-fanned flames, they curved their triad of power around the thirteen sorceresses. In the same instants, Kandace streaked upward arcing their combined force above the circle.

Believing victory was within their grasp, the sorceresses hissed with glee and rapid-fired their wands. Their strikes dissolved the purple smokescreen Kandace created as she whirled.

He and Zin absorbed the attack of dark-light pulses. Utilizing the energy as they did the combustible frequencies of Mother Earth, they moved into hyperspeed.
~~~

Yep, keep in step ~ Halloween is creeping up on us in that sneaky *crisper cooler Autumn way*. With the supersonic-jet speed of time these fleeting days, it will probably be here before you can say BOO!!!
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The Kougar’s mews and news ~

Stacey Kennedy, paranormal romance author, will be our Guest Author this Thursday, the 9th, and will be giving us a preview of her upcoming release ~ AN EVERLASTING BITE. She’s a Canadian, so let’s give her a warm American welcome and hug.
~~~
I am also blogging today, over at THE PINK BLOG or the blog’s official name, LINDSAY’S ROMANTICS ~
The past week’s theme has been Library Days. If you want to learn more about the wonders of libraries, walk down memory lane, or learn about the future of libraries, these blogs are worth their weight in gold. Yesterday, Romance author, LK Hunsaker, shared her trip to the Dublin library where The Book of the Kells is housed. And, yes, there are pictures.
My post is an ‘ancient library’ scene I just wrote, starring Trail and Seneca, my hero and heroine in STALLION OF ASH AND FLAME.
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~ HAPPY END OF SUMMER SHAPESHIFTING ~

Savanna Kougar

~ Run on the Wild Side of Romance ~

Author of ~

All Shades of Blue Paradise
Red Lioness Tamed
When a Good Angel Falls ~ In Print
Tangerine Carnal Dreams
Murder by Hair Spray in Gardenia, New Atlantis ~ In Print
Black Cat Beauty
Her Insatiable Dark Heroes ~ In Print
Stallion of Ash and Flame ~ In Print
Branded by the Texans ~ A Siren-BookStrand bestseller
The Tiger’s Masquerade ~ Halloween Anthology story coming from MojoCastle Press

Witchy Powers ~ Fire at will, stun don’t kill.

Oh, yes, shapeshifter lovers, this blog is still for you. It’s just that my heroine, Kandace or Kandy Apple, as she’s known, is a bonafide witch and on her own in this scene from the latest chapter of my WIP.

You see, her hellhound shifter heroes, Zol and Zin, have captured and tormented a bad guy. Well, it’s crucial they deliver him directly to Hades. Nothing else will do for the sake of justice and the right flow of fate. So, for the time being Zin and Zol are stuck in the Underworld until Hades sends them to the surface.

Oh, they tried to stop her, their one witch, with a telepathic appeal. But could you wait if your sister’s life was on the line?
~~~~~~

An *unedited* excerpt from my WIP ~ Kandy Apple for Halloween

All too aware of the Quevj’s trap, Kandace concentrated on summoning forth the power she’d been warned not to use, until this confrontation with her race’s enemy. The trick was to loose it at the right instant, and not let her force rise too swiftly.

“Knock, knock,” she called out, “I’m here. Do you want your painting?”

“You couldn’t have brought it here, bitch, as fast as you arrived,” Nigel nastily roared.

“No, but free my sister and I’ll tell you where it is.”

“No matter, alien witch, I’ll have my new friends do their brand of water boarding.”

“Gurgle, gurgle,” Kandace taunted. Kneeling, she touched her palm to the loft floor and suffused it with her force.

“Daughter of Affrony, your destiny awaits. Come forth. You belong to us.”

Not one centimeter of the warehouse had been left untouched by the ring of Over-Voice woman’s words.

Destiny, smestiny, all I want is my sister back.

Hearing the pound of boots at the far end of the loft where the elevator was located, Kandace rose upwards and opened her hand. “Fire at will, stun don’t kill.”

Spheres of blaze-yellow light the size of golf balls flew from her palm and swarmed like bees toward Nigel’s squad of goons.

“What the fuck!” was repeated several times, followed by the loud slumping thud of bodies.

Listening to Nigel shout orders, Kandace raised her arms in invitation to the Source of All. She clasped her hands shaping them into a wand’s point of contact, and whispered, “O fog of doom and gloom, your presence is sought, make this place a shrouded tomb, for those whose evil souls must be caught.”

Tendrils of mist swirled around her. Pale at first, it darkened and thickened in no time.

Clear as if she’d had her crystal ball, Kandace mind-watched the thirteen Quevj sorceresses attempt to counter her impromptu spell casting. To no avail.

The fog spread, sinuous as a clan of giant serpents. Covering everything, it rolled menacingly, a monstrous black specter from the bowels of hell.

Screams of horror ricocheted throughout the warehouse, as did the sound of racing, tromping feet. Those who could, escaped out the doors, deserting Nigel.

“Daughter of Affrony, if you wish the presence of your sister, you will come to us now, and surrender.”
~~~~~~

The Kougar’s news and mews ~

My short story, THE TIGER’S MASQUERADE, has been accepted into the Just Another Paranormal Monday’s Halloween anthology, and will be published by MojoCastle press ~ Cool Orange and Black Jelly Beanies, huh?

If you’d like sneak peak of my cover art for BRANDED BY THE TEXANS, come on by the Title Magic blog ~
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~ HAPPY SHAPESHIFTING FIRST DAY OF JUNE ~

Savanna Kougar ~ Run on the Wild Side of Romance ~ Author of ~

All Shades of Blue Paradise
Red Lioness Tamed
When a Good Angel Falls ~ In Print
Tangerine Carnal Dreams
Murder by Hair Spray in Gardenia, New Atlantis ~ In Print
Black Cat Beauty
Her Insatiable Dark Heroes ~ In Print
Stallion of Ash and Flame ~ In Print
Branded by the Texans ~ Coming in August 2010 from Siren-BookStrand
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