Today, The Novel Approach welcomes Dreamspinner Press author Lissa Kasey, who also writes Young Adult fiction for Harmony Ink Press under the pen name Sam Kadence. By way of introducing Lissa’s work to you, I asked her if she’d share an excerpt from her paranormal/fantasy Dominion Series. She’s selected an excerpt from Book One, Inheritance, which is going to be renovated and republished in 2015.
I kind of fell madly for Seiran and Gabe when I first read the book back in 2011. Here’s a little taste of the reason why. Enjoy!
Blurb (original): As the only male studying magic in a female-dominant society, Seiran Rou’s life is already on a precarious perch. Then he finds a dead co-worker on his doorstep, and Sei realizes someone is trying to set him up for the fall. It could be anyone—including his own mother, a powerful witch and leader of the Dominion, the ruling body of elemental magic.
Sei’s only saving graces are his on-again, off-again vampire boyfriend, Gabe, and the mysterious Jamie, who wants to help him for reasons Sei doesn’t understand. They may be all that stand between Sei and the Dominion’s demands to control his magic. One man’s devotion could be the key to save Sei’s life and pull him back from the brink of losing his humanity to the magic he possesses.
Excerpt: Gabe’s apartment in the city was nice. He lived in one of those St. Paul high-rises that probably cost a fortune. It had an open loft sort of feel, with walls of windows, which was odd for a vampire, them not liking sunlight, and all.
He wasn’t home when I let myself in, and I knew from experience that wherever he rested during the day was nearby, but outside the apartment. He always came through the front door.
Thankfully, the sun would set early tonight. I could wait, bleed off some energy. The new moon pulled at me, but there were other ways to use that energy, and right now I needed some physical comfort.
Gabe kept everything so immaculately clean. I wondered where the neat freak in him had come from. The wood floors gleamed, bed made army style, and windows so clear they were nonexistent.
I rearranged the magazines on his coffee table in alphabetical order. It really wasn’t much more than a show room. Gabe didn’t really live here. He didn’t live anywhere. He said I had commitment issues, but he couldn’t even stay in one place for long.
The fall of the darkness quickened my heart. I chose my position, my attire—or lack thereof—and my gift wisely: A warmed bottle of QuickLife in hand, O positive, Gabe’s favorite. The leather armchair moved ten feet from the door. Lube resting on the table beside me. Hip length boots, one leg up on the arm of the chair and the other curled over the opposite arm. I was ready when the doorknob turned. Anticipation made me hard, and the white gold of the nipple rings flashed in my reflection from the windows as I stroked myself with my free hand.
He froze in the doorway dark eyes focused exactly where I wanted them to be. The door closed, and his hands ran up my legs before I’d even realized he’d crossed the room. Exuberant, probably because I’d denied him this morning. He nuzzled my balls before taking the bottle from my grasp.
I didn’t watch him drink, because it was like a good beer, he’d savor it for a moment or two. I picked up the bottle of lube and flipped the cap open.
“Ready when you are.”
“You’re pure evil,” he mumbled. The bottle of QuickLife clanged into the trash nearby. His dark eyes held a tinge of red. He hadn’t had enough to turn them human in appearance. He knelt between my legs, bringing his mouth to that aching hole I so wanted him to fill.
“Please, Gabe.”
He pulled me forward for a heated kiss. I thought for sure he’d unbutton his tight jeans and fill me, but then he was gone, up and moving away toward the bedroom, stripping off his gray tank top and pulling a fresh shirt out of the closet.
What the hell? I followed him, boots clapping on the wood. He loved these boots. And he’d never turned me down before when I wore them.
“Frank’s dead, and you just wanna fuck,” he said.
“I want you to fuck me, yes. What does Frank have to do with anything?”
Gabe looked pissed. “I’m going to work. I’ve got no one else to cover the bar.”
“Jo and Jamie can handle it.”
“Jo asked for an extended leave. I said yes.”
I blinked. She was the only witch I liked. And she’d worked for Gabe longer than me. “Say what?”
“She was sleeping with Frank.”
“So? I’d like to sleep with you.”
He turned his back to me. “No, you wouldn’t. I sleep in dirt. Face to a concrete block. You’re far too prissy for that.”
I crawled on the bed beside him and let bare skin and the black leather boots do a little peek-a-boo show. “Just a quickie? Please?”
“You’re heartless.”
“Says the vampire who won’t comfort the guy who found a dead coworker on his doorstep. I thought the cops were going to arrest me.”
“I’m also the vampire who’s gotta go run a bar by himself because his Manager on Duty was murdered, and that M.O.D.’s girl tried to quit to mourn her boy toy’s death. Get a grip, Sei. You’re on a power high. In two days you’ll be angry at me for letting all this go and doing you instead. Jamie needs a babysitter. I can’t imagine what he’d do to my bar on his own.”
I sank down on the corner of the bed, hard-on wilting from lack of attention. The second he turned my way, I gave him a heated kiss that begged for everything he’d been denying. “Fuck me. Please.”
He shook his head. “Next month, Seiran. When the new moon rises, I’ll give you the whole week off. We’ll find some new workers, and you and me, we’ll go somewhere. Just you and me and no moon to fuck up the energy between us.”
It sounded sweet, but unlikely. “Can’t we just have a quickie. Then you can go to work?”
He yanked a T-shirt out of the closet and threw it at me. “Get dressed.”
Reluctantly, I put the shirt on. “Can we meet later? After you close the bar?” I begged. I could run for a few hours. Get lost in the feeling. Hopefully, I could shake the cops that were probably following me.
He threw me my pair of sweats. I’d left them in his closet when getting ready for him to arrive. “I need you to work tonight. Come out of the clouds for me.”
“Wrong kinda witch.”
He threw his hands up in frustration.“Fine. Get your head out of the sand or out of your ass. Whatever way it has sunk. I’ve got a business to run and a funeral to plan.”
“Jo can do that.”
“He was my servant. I owe him.”
“He was a jerk who probably got caught by something bigger and badder than him. Why was he flirting with me last night? That was so out of character. Maybe he hit on some bar brawler and got the wrong end of a baseball bat.”
“He was just doing what you always do.”
Point. I pulled on the sweats, not really liking how they felt over the boots. But unlacing the boots took forever without help. The feel of his stare made me look up. “What?”
“I need you to be smart and not let this power high throw you for a loop. I know you act this way to piss off your mom, but I really need the adult Seiran tonight.”
Again with the work. I followed him to his car, which was parked in the outside lot. “I don’t have anything other than sweats and the boots with me.”
“Wear the sweats. You have enough people slobbering all over you anyway.”
I shrugged. “Better tips.”
“I pay you well. If you gave up your apartment, you’d have more money. The loft is paid for.”
And lonely when the sun came up. “Are you offering to be my sugar daddy?”
“Would you accept the offer if I did? If I said this thing with Frank may be trouble, and you’d be safer, would you come live with me?”
I shook my head. “You’d get bored having me around all the time, eventually.”
“Was it your mom who made you this cynical?”
“You have a fetish with my mom?”
He put the key in the ignition, turned, and kissed me softly. Since I was in the mood for hard and fast, it didn’t do much to quell the growing desire. “I’m crazy about you,” he said when I didn’t respond with my usual fervor. “Every fucked-up bit of you.”
About the Author: Lissa Kasey lives in St. Paul, MN, has a bachelor’s degree in creative writing, and collects Asian ball joint dolls that look like her characters. She has three cats who enjoy waking her up an hour before her alarm every morning and sitting on her lap to help her write. She can often be found at anime conventions masquerading as random characters when she’s not writing about boy romance.
Visit Lissa at her website, Twitter, Goodreads, as well as Facebook.
I had no idea Lissa Kasey and Sam Kadence were one and the same. I’ve got everything I could find by Lissa Kasey. Guess I need to go check out Sam. :-)
I’m always a little gobsmacked when I discover an author’s other pen name too, Barbra. :)