Broken Heart Town 02 - Don't Talk Back To Your Vampire Part 24

"As were you," she whispered back.

And they lived happily ever after...

-From The Prince and the Maiden, by Lorcan O'Halloran Read more of Lorcan's work in Forever Night: A Collection of Short Stories Coming soon from Broken Heart Press

A LETTER FROM TAMARA

Dear Dad, Thanks for the iPod. I really needed a device that can hold ten million songs. I am so not turning down a new laptop, either. I guess I can wait for Christmas. Heh-heh.

I think it's great that Mom had a miracle recovery, too. It was cool of you to offer to take care of me. I don't want to make this a big deal, but my home is in Broken Heart with Mom and Lorcan. And, yeah, my new stepdad is nice.

We just got a Great Dane puppy that we named Bert Again (long story). He's a clumsy goofball, but he likes our cats and he plays with the squirrels. The squirrels don't like it that much, but Bert Again keeps trying to make friends.

Quit worrying about my boyfriend. You're worse than Mom! I guess you can meet him-but you totally have to chill out.

Anyway, Durriken is traveling with his parents and there's no ETA on his return. Happy? (That's a joke.) I hope you understand why I want to wait until next summer to visit you. I know you're sorry and all, and I'm glad you want a second chance. I figure we'll be okay, Dad. I just need some time to process everything and get used to how much my life is changed. Tell everyone I said hi. I'll talk to you soon.

Love and all that junk, Tamara

EVA'S REVISED GLOSSARY

Gaelic Irish Words and Phrases a ghra mo chroi: love of my heart a stoirin: my little darling a thaisce: my dear/darling/treasure bard: poet-Druid (see fill); storyteller and singer of Celtic tribes ceardsearc: first love/beloved one d.a.m.nu air: d.a.m.n it deamhan fola: blood devil droch fola: bad or evil blood druid: philosopher, teacher, and judge of Celtic tribes fili: (Old Irish) poet-Druid (see bard) Go dtachta an diabhal thu: May the devil choke you. (Irish curse) Is minic a bhris beat duine a shron: Many a time a man's mouth broke his nose.

leamhan sleibhe: wych elm (the only species of elm native to Ireland) mo chroi: my heart Na glac pioc comhairle gan comhairle ban: Never take advice without a woman's guidance.

Nil neart air: (lit. There is no power in it) There is no helping it.

ovate: healer-Druid; healer and seer of Celtic tribes solas: light sonuachar: soul mate sumaire fola: bloodsucker Tir na Marbh: Land of the Dead t.i.tim gan eiri ort: May you fall without rising. (Irish curse) Other Words, Terms, and Phrases centurion/centurio: professional officer in the Roman army in charge of a century, or centuria, of men century/centuria: group of sixty to one hundred sixty men in the Roman infantry, led by a centurion draba: spell/charm Durriken: Romany boy's name that means "he who forecasts"

gadjikane: Romany for "non-Gypsy"

Liebling: German for "darling"

mulo: Romany for "living dead"

Nein und abermals nein: A thousand times, no Roma: member of nomadic people originating in northern India; Gypsies considered as a group Romany/Romani: the language of the Roma strigoi mort: Romanian vampire Vampire Terms Ancient: Refers to one of the original seven vampires. The very first vampire was Ruadan, who is the biological father of Patrick and Lorcan. Several centuries ago, Ruadan and his sons took on the last name O'Halloran, which means "stranger from overseas."

Banning: (see World Between Worlds) Any vampire can be sent into limbo, but the spell must be cast by an Ancient or, in a few cases, their offspring. A vampire cannot be released from banning until he or she feels true remorse for evil acts. This happens rarely, which means that banning is not done lightly.

Binding: When vampires have consummation s.e.x, they're bound together for a hundred years. This was Ruadan the First's brilliant idea to keep vamps from s.e.xual intercourse while blood-taking. No one has ever broken a binding.

Consortium: About five hundred years ago, Patrick and Lorcan created the Consortium to figure out ways that paranormal folks could make the world a better place for all beings. Many sudden leaps in human medicine and technology have come from the Consortium's work.

donors: mortals who serve as sustenance for vampires. The Consortium screens and hires humans to be food sources. Donors are paid well and given living quarters. Not all vampires follow the guidelines created by the Consortium for feeding. A mortal may have been a donor without ever realizing it.drone: mortals who do the bidding of their vampire Masters. The most famous was Igor-drone to Dracula. The Consortium's code of ethics forbids the use of drones, but plenty of vampires still use them.

Family: Every vampire can be traced to one of the seven Ancients. The Ancients are divided into the Seven Sacred Sects, also known as the Families.

gone to ground: When vampires secure places where they can lie undisturbed for centuries, they "go to ground." Usually they let someone know where they are located, but we don't know the resting locations of many vampires.

lycanthropes: also called lycans. These shape-shifters can shift from a human into a wolf. Lycans have been around for a long time and originated in Germany. They worship the lunar G.o.ddess, but they can change anytime they want. Their numbers are small because they don't have many females and most children born have only a fifty percent chance of living to the age of one.

Master: The vampire who successfully Turns a human is the new vamp's protector. Basically, a Master is supposed to show the Turn-blood how to survive as a vampire, unless another Master agrees to take over the education. A Turn-blood has the protection of the Family (see Family, Seven Sacred Sects) to which the Master belongs.

Roma: The Roma are cousins to full-blooded lycanthropes. They can change only on the night of the full moon. Just as full- blooded lycanthropes are raised to protect vampires, the Roma are raised to hunt vampires.

Seven Sacred Sects: The vampire tree has seven branches. Each branch is called a Family and each Family is directly traced to one of the seven Ancients. The older you are, the more mojo you get. A vampire's powers are related to the Family.

taint: The black plague for vampires. Thanks to experiments using Lorcan's unusual blood, Consortium scientists have formulated a cure for the disease.

Turn-blood: A human who has been recently Turned into a vampire. If you're less than a century old, you're a Turn-blood.

Turning: Vampires can't have babies. They perpetuate the species by Turning humans. Unfortunately, only about one in ten humans Turned actually makes the transition.

World Between Worlds: The place between this plane and the next, where there is a void. Some people can slip back and forth between this "veil," but it's a sucky place to take a permanent vacation.

wraiths: Rogue vampires who believed they were the top of the food chain. It appears they have been disbanded and/or destroyed. Despite the best efforts of Consortium doctors, their leader, Ron aka Ragnvaldr, died from the taint.

Eva and Tamara's Word List bugaboo: something that causes fear or worry; a make-believe monster felicific: giving or getting intense pleasure jollier: someone who jollies (banters, jokes) minutiose: a person who concerns himself with minute details persifleur: one who banters, offers frivolous talk, and displays mild derisiveness risibles: one's sense of humor; sense of the ridiculous sarcast: one who uses sarcasmsplenetic: a sullen or bad-tempered person subrisive: not quite laughing; smiling broadly tramontane: barbarous ustulation: the act of scorching or burning wowser: a puritanical person If you are a minutiose person or you enjoy erudition, Eva recommends the following books: Ehrlich, Eugene. The Highly Selective Thesaurus and Dictionary for the Extraordinarily Literate. New York: HarperCollins, 1994,1997.

Hook, J. N. The Grand Panjandrum and 1,999 Other Rare, Useful, and Delightful Words and Expressions. New York: Macmillan, 1980.

NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR

Death sucks. I don't know this from a personal perspective, unless we discuss the possibilities of reincarnation. No, my perspective is losing someone to the Great Beyond. My grandmother, Virginia LaVerna Smith, pa.s.sed away during the writing of this book. She planned her funeral (she was very organized, a trait that has yet to manifest for me) and let me tell you, she knew a thing or three about dying (and not just because she took the journey herself). She lost her parents, two sisters and a brother, her three sons, and numerous friends. But she soldiered on, living life to the best of her ability, showering family and friends with love. She taught me to cook, she taught me to forgive, and she taught me the meaning of fort.i.tude. In short, my grandmother freaking rocked.

If you still have the honor of grandparents in your life, pick up the phone, write a real letter, or go for a visit. Listen to their stories, hold their hands, kiss their cheeks, and enjoy their crankiness, their wisdom, and their memories.

Yeah, I got crazy with the Gaelic again. What can I say? I love me some Irish. I know I used "fola" and "fhola." I don't why I kept adding that h in there-it was probably spelled that way on a Web site, or maybe I secretly adore the letter h. Sorry. Also, I wrote "Lorcan" without any accent doodads like they appeared in the first book. It's the correct spelling, with or without accents, and let me tell you, the people in production have enough to deal with without adding an accented letter forty-one million times.

You'll notice I went crazy with vocabulary, too. Use my weirdness as an opportunity to annoy, amaze, or freakify your friends. If you know someone who whines, tell 'em, "Don't grex, you witling!" Translation: "Don't complain, you person with limited verbal grace." Heh.

My research for this book went in several directions. I have a fondness for ancient cultures. You may notice how I crowbar in certain ideas (er... Faustus the Roman centurion) because that kind of stuff fascinates me. If it fascinates you, that's a sweet bonus.

Previous TopIn I'm the Vampire, That's Why, I created both a vampire and a Celtic mythos based on what I had read and researched. As I mentioned in my last author's note, a lot of ancient beliefs and folklore were oral traditions. As such, many weren't written down and we must rely on scholars and archaeologists to argue about which G.o.ds people worshiped four thousand years ago. Once again, we're dealing with cultures not known to have a written language. Slavic folklore and mythology are even more chaotic and disagreed-upon than ancient Celtic beliefs. Really. Go on and look up the Book of Veles for a large taste of what-the-h.e.l.l.

What I really appreciated about Slavic peoples was their dvoeverie (double faith). They embraced Christianity, but continued believing in their pagan G.o.ds-performing ancient rites right alongside attending Ma.s.s. Unfortunately the origins of many of these rituals and celebrations have been lost.

What it all boils down to is this: I used what I liked that was factual and whipped out my creative license to mess with the rest.

History, schmistory. Any errors are mine and may have been done on purpose... so there!

Here's an introduction from the heroine of the third book in the Broken Heart paranormal series by...

BECAUSE YOUR VAMPIRE SAID SO Hi, sweet stuff. My name's Patsy Donahue, and I'm an undead hairstylist. In Broken Heart, my clientele used to include housewives with bad roots, and strippers from the Barley & b.o.o.b Barn. Nowadays most of the females around these parts are vampires and really have no need for haircare. That leaves me with tending to those cutie-patootie lycanthropes and the occasional donor.

I have a son, Wilson, who is determined to drive me stark raving crazy, and doing a d.a.m.ned fine job. Then there are the ghosts.

Oh, don't get me started on those interfering ol' hags. Can I help it that my family's power is necromancy? Talking to the spirits of the dead-could life get any weirder?

The answer is yes. Y'see, I sort of rescued this guy (hey, he rescued me first), and it turns out he's one of the most wanted werewolves on the planet. I spent eighteen years in a c.r.a.ppy marriage-I'm not about to spend even eighteen minutes with this silver-tongued devil who claims he's innocent.

But too bad for me... He's so gorgeous. I've always had a h.e.l.luva time staying away from those handsome bad-for-me men...

My story comes out in June 2008, so look out for me... and hope for the best for my undead heart.

Born and raised in Oklahoma, MICHELE BARDSLEY lives in Tulsa, where she is held hostage by her two children, her husband, and her feline friends. E-mail her at or visit her Web site at www.MicheleBardsley.com .

author