Will the Real Vampire Please Stand Up?

. . . In 1821, the good men of Balleywalegh drove a monster from their midst…or so they thought.

. . .Now, it's 1926 and a light again shines in the deserted manor house window. The vampire has returned…or so they think.

. . .Karel Novotny has the same name as the fiend, but he can't be a vampire…can he?

. . .The girls of Balleywalegh adore Karel, especially Seamus Flannery's daughter Brigid, but when the lasses come down with a mysterious ailment, and their fathers start sharpening their stakes, Seamus has to discover the truth fast, or Karel may not survive to become his son-in-law.

. . .Will the real vampire please stand up?

For the next few days, Wild Women Authors focus on: Forever My Vampire by Tony-Paul de Vissage.

Excerpt:

Novotny trod on the brake pedal and brought the Stutz to a rolling stop, setting the handbrake. It was a large, unwieldy affair, a long bar protruding from the floorboard.

As he looked across at Brigid, sitting demurely in the passenger’s seat with her hands in her lap, he wished whoever designed the vehicle had thought to put that specific piece of equipment somewhere else.

“Do you have a suitor, Brigid?” It was something he should’ve asked earlier but decided to do so now, better later than not at all. “Some local boy who’s hanging around waiting for you to come back from the cinema with that cheeky foreigner? Someone waiting to take a swing at me, perhaps?”

“Isn’t that a bit impertinent?” She looked away as if he’d insulted her.

“Well…”

What was the right thing to say?

“I’m mean, have I asked you about your past loves and…” She looked stricken. “Oh, Karel, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to mention that.”

“No, that’s no more than I deserve.” At last she wasn’t angry and he definitely wasn’t going to be. “After all, I did tell you my sin…or at least one of them, anyway.”

“You mean, there are more?” She was smiling now.

“More than you know and…I should shut up before you say you never want to see me again.” He inhaled quickly, going on in a rush, “Brigid, do you like me?”

“Of course, I do.” She turned a coy gaze on him, actually fluttering her lashes.

“Good, because I like you.” He found he was breathless.

“I’m glad of that.” She looked amused.

“No, I mean I like you… More than like, actually.” He’d always considered himself so masterful when it came to speaking, but suddenly, he couldn’t say what he wanted to. “I… I’d like to kiss you.”

He placed a hand on her neck, thumb gently stroking the softness of her throat.

“Do you know what I like?” Her eyes met his without blinking.

“What?” He was startled by that direct stare.

“A man who does somethin’ instead o’ just talkin’ about it.” She shut her eyes, pursing her lips…those luscious, pink lips…

He pulled her to him, leaned forward and kissed her. The damned brake lever was in the way and he had to clamber onto the seat and somehow lean over it to reach her. As he pressed his lips to Brigid’s, Karel silently cursed the Stutz’s designer, wishing he had put the bloody lever anywhere else. He lost his balance, falling forward so he was partially reclining on the seat as well as on Brigid, his free hand braced against the inside of the passenger door.

Well, the brake lever was keeping any action below his waist from happening, anyway, which, considering the way he felt about the girl, might be a good thing.

In the midst of the lustful feelings struggling to escape, he stifled a desire to laugh.

That’s a hell of a condom…all iron and steel and hydraulic tubing.

Forever My Vampire is available in eBook, Kindle, and paperback at: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08DC5VSBY?pf_rd_r=KZ2SEJ67M6ZQYNEV81E3&pf_rd_p=edaba0ee-c2fe-4124-9f5d-b31d6b1bfbee

Coming soon in AudioBook.

About our Focus Author Tony-Paul de Vissage:

A Southerner of French Huguenot extraction, one of Tony-Paul de Vissage's first movie memories is of being six years old, viewing the old Universal horror flick, Dracula's Daughter on television, and being scared sleepless—and he is now paying back his too-permissive parents by writing about vampires.

This was further inspired when the author was kidnapped by a band of transplanted Romanian vampires who were sightseeing in the South. Having never seen a human who wasn’t frightened of them, they offered to pay his way through college if he would become an author and write about vampires in a positive manner. He agreed…and the rest is history.

Several of T-P’s novels have won awards and he hopes his current story, Forever, My Vampire, will be a winner with readers, also.