Fire Nectar 2 (15 page)
Authors: Faleena Hopkins
I
was
able to interview Elizabeth in the moments before dusk, when Dani was still in the Death Sleep. Because Elizabeth is two hundred and fifty years older than Dani, she wakes while the sun still highlights the sky.
Elizabeth has long straight blond hair that falls down the shoulders of her cropped leather jacket. She wears dark jeans and her trademark Harley Davidson boots. She is very striking, with eyes the color of sea foam green. Regal, elegant, dignified and intense, these words all characterize the vampire Elizabeth.
Right now all she can think about is Dani, and that William and Joshua are coming. I do my best to distract her, by focusing on other things…
F.M. Hopkins:
Elizabeth, you were turned in 1562.
ELIZABETH:
Yes. I was a member of Queen Elizabeth’s court, a dear friend to her. I was sick, on my death-bed, when I was given the gift.
F.M.
I looked up the year – that was when Queen Elizabeth passed a Witchcraft Act.
ELIZABETH:
(smiles)
That was because of me. I was not supposed to recover. I made the mistake of going to her when I healed… when I became immortal. I thought that if I pretended to be human I could live among them awhile longer. I was mistaken.
F.M.
She knew?
ELIZABETH:
She was highly intelligent, Queen Elizabeth, and a forward thinker. She didn’t know exactly what I was, only that my miraculous recovery could not be natural. She was right. But she broke my heart by shunning me. I had to escape immediately for their goal was to hang me.
F.M.
That would have never worked.
ELIZABETH:
No.
F.M.
This story you just told me isn’t in FIRE NECTAR…
ELIZABETH:
No, it’s my history. I’ll share more of it with you when we write my story together.
(Elizabeth will come out after Sun – unless she demands it come sooner. I am at their mercy.)
F.M.
Did you know that I haven’t been able to sleep since you all started whispering your tales to me?
ELIZABETH:
You should trying sleeping in the daytime. We’ll leave you alone then.
(smiles serenely)
F.M.
Have you been watching True Blood?
ELIZABETH:
I’ve been busy, F.
F.M.
I know. Sorry. It’s awful what’s happened.
ELIZABETH:
We’ll come together to make it right. And I trust Julian.
F.M.
So do I. I hope that doesn’t change.
ELIZABETH:
As do I.
F.M.
What happened with Saanjh?
(Saanjh was her servant/friend in 1812 who Daniella – Dani – eluded to in FIRE NECTAR.)
ELIZABETH:
Saanjh.
(she looks out a window, still as stone)
I haven’t thought of that man in a century.
F.M.
What happened?
ELIZABETH:
I’ll tell you when I tell you my tale.
F.M.
Oh. Okay. I would love to know – you’re very regal and elegant…
ELIZABETH:
Thank you.
F.M.
Were you always so?
ELIZABETH:
I was born of parents who were also in the royal court. My family descends from a long line of dignified, respectable, ancestors.
F.M.
Do you think they would be upset that you’re interested in women, and not men?
ELIZABETH:
(smiles)
Provocative question. I like it. They might. But they’re dead. So, who cares?
F.M.
Ha. Okay. That makes sense. What is it about women that you love?
ELIZABETH:
Everything.
F.M.
And Dani? She seems to be straight.
ELIZABETH:
She is, but many people fall on a scale and hers tilted toward me. Perhaps it was just a matter of salvation.
F.M.
It may have been. But she does love you.
ELIZABETH:
I am her maker.
F.M.
Right. Of course. But I think she would love you, anyway.
ELIZABETH:
Do you think so?
(This interests her. For the first time, she looks vulnerable. Elizabeth is the most reserved of the vampires I have met)
F.M.
I do. The way she described you in FIRE NECTAR – showed me that she loves who you are, not just what you did for her. She has the utmost admiration for you.
ELIZABETH:
(silent for a moment)
Thank you. I fear she is angry with me right now… and it is good to hear that. Gives me strength. I am grateful to you for it.
(I’m silent now, too. I’m not sure what to say after that.)
ELIZABETH:
Daniella is only going through a phase. She lets her emotions get the best of her. It does her nothing but harm.
F.M.
I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to make you angry.
ELIZABETH:
Her
feelings
on this subject…make me angry.
F.M.
I understand. It must be hard, since you made her.
(She nods and sighs and looks back out the window. Then, alarmed, she sits upright)
ELIZABETH:
Dani will be waking up now. It is time.
F.M.
Good luck, Elizabeth.
ELIZABETH:
William and Joshua are coming. I only have to wait until they get here, stall Daniella from taking action
. (she is talking more to herself now and I am surprised at how nervous she appears. Nervous and determined.)
F.M.
Thank you for trusting me.
(She turns to me then, and for a moment, appears to soften. But I’m not sure if I am imagining that.)
ELIZABETH:
You’ve earned it, my dear. Goodnight.
F.M.
Goodnight.
(I watch her leave with the speed of a gunshot and I am alone, wondering what will happen next.)
F
aleena Hopkins is an author
/actress/producer living in Los Angeles, California. She’s a huge fan of red wine, supernatural beasts, and entertaining people with storytelling.
While her first books published were the Fire Nectar series (turn page for description), she then went under the radar to write as her pen name,
Sabrina Lacey,
to work out her new-author nerves. From July, 2013–October, 2014 she published twenty-two erotic romance novella serials that are now bundled as box sets, for three different series that often have characters overlapping (turn pages for description). In Feb. 2014 her “I Love My Healed Heart” hit #1 in Amazon for Romance, Erotic Romance, and Romantic Comedy.
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