Sneak Peek Sunday - Vampires and the Circle 2

After a couple of weeks of disappearing into the woodwork to play in Las Vegas and write a novel about gargoyles, I'm back with six more paragraphs from the Circle 2

When we left off, Oliver, the vampire Circle Master, had ordered Claire and her master, Andre into his office to "discuss" the fact she could share memories. Oliver wanted to see her Circle mark..

***

My head hurt. Both temples throbbed with bursts of sharp pain.

My gown was strapless, black and blue sequined tiers to my ankles. A simple tug at the zipper in back and it fell to the floor in a whisper of lace. I wore nothing underneath. I swiveled to present my back and Oliver moved toward me. I braced myself for a blow, but merely felt the trace of his fingertip as he touched the red circle around the black X. Gebo, the X, was a Nordic rune. Oliver’s Circle mark. We all had one in the same spot on left-hand side of our lower backs. Mine was now enhanced with a red circle. Andre had a matching circle, only his was black.

“Red.” The word was an accusation. “Yours, Andre?”

“Black, sir,” said my master. He moved his fingers to the buttons on his shirt. “Shall I show you?”

“No need.” Oliver moved toward the breathtaking view of London’s wharves from the floor to ceiling warehouse windows by his desk. “Her powers are growing. You, as her trigger, need to get a handle on them or she will destroy my Circle.”  He contemplated the view, his handsome profile thrown into sharp relief by the lights.

I desperately wanted to put my dress back on, but he had not given me leave. The office was chilly and I shivered as I looked out at the black water of the icy Thames. February in London was such an unforgiving, dirty month.