A Tidbit for Sampling from Moondancer Drake

Since this is my first post at Beyond the Veil, it seems appropriate to introduce myself. I’m an Eastern band Cherokee, a two-spirit woman (Native LGBTQ), a mother, a practitioner of earth-based spirituality, an environmentalist, an activist, in fact there are many sides to Moondancer.

The reason I say all this is that as a writer all these ingredients that make up who I am, are part of everything I write. Being a Native American woman growing up loving speculative fiction yet never finding anyone like me in the stories I read, all the fiction I write now is multicultural. My real live experiences and passions effect my writing as well. In the city where I live so many people are separated, segregated, in fact from very young our Western culture is taught to be selfish, to “look out for #1”. Culturally and personally I believe strong and supportive communities are crucial to a society’s well being, even to a personal physical and mental health. I love reading about women living in strong, supportive of communities where belief systems like mine (and other non-mainstream spirituality’s) are fully accepted and even embraced. As a writer of paranormal fiction I can create these communities I wish I lived in. I can fight the fights against the evil of this world that we also often feel helpless against by bringing that evil into my world and having my heroines fight it there. It’s an empowering feeling for me as the author of the stories, and I hope for my readers as well.

Currently I have two published novels; Ancestral Magic and Natural Order, a new ebook novella called Seeking Light in the Shadows, as well as numerous short stories published in anthologies. Today I thought I would leave you with a taste from my new urban fantasy coming out next week or so, Worlds Collide.

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Once she was in place on the garage roof, Rune pushed the ladder away from the edge and watched it fall back to the grass with a low thud. She wouldn’t need it to get down and didn’t want to draw attention to her presence. Rune hung her torso over the gable of the garage and peered into the window below.

Beyond the glass, one man walked across the room with his armed wrapped around a busty blonde. Past him, Rune could pick out five more women and another ten men moving about the flat. They all looked normal enough, but that was the trouble with vampires — as long as they fed well, the leeches looked just like everyone else. It was their scent — a rancid mixture of sweat and old blood — that made them stand out to a hunter like herself. Vampires didn’t sweat, because they had no need to; neither heat nor cold affected them in any but the rarest of cases. The sweat she smelled was from the humans on whom they feasted.

Laughter from the back of the room caught her attention. A group of four vampires was gathered in a corner of the room. Above the din of the music, Rune could just pick out the sound of a woman’s voice behind them. A vampire roared with amusement, taking a step forward, and Rune realized it was his laughter that had first drawn her attention. That was when she heard the woman scream.

Rune grabbed the edge of the gable and lowered herself, dangling by her arms. There was barely enough time to shift before she swung back and crashed through the window. She landed on the carpeted floor, legs bent and spread in a combat stance. She had not taken the form of a wolf this time. The eyes of many of the vampires widened with fear to suddenly find a werewolf in their midst.

Pandemonium raged as the smarter of the vampires hurtled for the door. The bouncer took a step back and the crowd scrambled past him, stampeding down the stairs. He glanced at Rune, the group in the corner, and back again. She braced herself for the charge that never came as he swore under his breath and dashed out the door.

Smart man. She grinned and turned back to those remaining.

The vampires fanned out from the corner and Rune glimpsed the three people on the floor. The man’s body was stretched out on a wide strip of wood flooring just beyond the carpet, while his two female companions hugged each other and shivered, eyes closed.

“You know, Farrell, I’ve always wondered what shifter tastes like.” The vampire ran a hand over his shaven head and licked his lips hungrily. “You boys help me bag this one, and we can all have a treat.” Pete and Jumala glanced nervously at each other, but didn’t move forward.

Her eyes narrowing malevolently, Rune snarled at the bald man, “You’ll never live to find out, parasite.