Tuesdays with Tian

*Tapping microphone clipped to his shirt collar nervously, a very pregnant Tian waddles onto the set of his new semi-regular interview show. *


Tian: Hi. *blushing* Sorry I'm late. I was... a bit tied up. 


Growling noises are heard from off stage. Tian's blush deepens, and he quickly brushes his hair forward in a vain attempt to cover the lurid love bites covering both sides of his neck. The movement shows off the faint ligature marks at his wrists. Clearly, Tian was being quite literal when he said he was tied up, lol.


Tian: I'm afraid I missed the taping of the show, but I hear it was something spectacular, so let's roll the footage, and you can all enjoy seeing... *sighing* Cedric MacKinnion. 


more growling, and then the unmistakeable sounds of sexual congress happening echo through the little studio. Tian turns scandalized and intrigued eyes to the cameras. 


Tian: Oh, for the love of little quiches, turn the footage on now! I have got to see what Kay and Lewell'yn are up to. That sounds fun...


*Tian attempts to lift himself from the chair, fails, scoots to the edge and tries again, this time with success. The stunned cameraman pans after him, catching his cute rear switching off the edge of the stage toward an archway leading back into the manor proper. The camera pans around, and the slightly bemused face of a young, handsome blond man appears.*


Rian: Uh, hi. I'm Rian Collins, and I, uh, work the camera. Tian appears to be *loud moaning noises echo from off camera, and Tian's voice is clearly heard yelling out a litany of 'Yes, yes, yes, right there, that's the spot.' Rian blushes.* Ah. Right, then, here's the spot.


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Hi, this is Cherie Noel. I'm standing in for Tian tonight... he couldn't get away from Kay and Lewell'yn to come talk with you himself right now, Cedric and Denise, but he did send along a list of questions. He was quite taken with Cedric, and he wanted to be sure I told Cedric that... um, without letting on to Lewell'yn or Kay until he confesses to them that he may have just a teensy crush on Cedric. He promises to tell them tonight though, so everything will be all cleared up by this evening. :)

(A tall, young Immortyl with a dancer’s body slinks into the room.  His attire suggests either an inter-stellar pirate or rock-and-roll front man.  His deep green shirt is open at the throat, revealing a bit of sculpted chest as pale and smooth as white marble, ornamented with swirls of henna tattoos.  On this tantalizing hint of flesh reposes a jade pendant of a Chinese dragon.  He throws back long auburn hair and takes his seat.  Up-tilted green eyes narrow as a wicked grin inches up his left cheek. His attitude is at once insolent and inviting.)

Good evening, love.  It’s fabulous to see you again.  I’m distraught not to see Tian.  I was so looking forward to…renewing our acquaintance.

*Cherie glances up at the camera with a startled look, and then, shaking out the papers in her hands, begins to read off the pre-written questions after clearing her throat.*

1)Um, do you like any real food anymore? Because I cook. I love to cook, and if you let me know what your favorite dish is, I bet I could learn to make it for you.

I do eat real food.  Some vampires experience food aversions early on, but I never did.  In fact, I was wolfing down curry my first night.  I love Indian food, but I must confess, while living in India, I longed for a cheeseburger.  However, I do like my meat very rare.  I would be honored if you’d cook for me.  A thick, bloody steak would be nice—that’s s-t-e-a-k, not s-t-a-k-e.  A misspelling could prove fatal.

2)You're so beautiful, Cedric. Are you in love? I can't imagine someone as lovely as you being alone... you mentioned something about having more than one partner when you hosted me on your blog, but honestly, dear, this pregnancy is making me lose my mind. *sigh* Would you refresh my memory?

My darling, how kind of you to say so!  You’re quite the beauty yourself—wherever you’re hiding, my shy sweet.

No, I’m never alone.  Am I in love?  Well…yes, but not with just one person.  I’m a bit like you in that respect.  I do like girls and boys, so it’s difficult to settle.  There are some needs that just one lover or gender can’t fulfill--if you get my drift.  My appetites are omnivorous and rather experimental.  I’m not really the monogamous type, but there are two lovers who compete to hold my heart captive.

There is my delicious Mia.  Mmm…she’s all voluptuous and juicy.  I like a woman with curves. You should see her in a leather cat suit.  Of course, she has a mate already, so our relationship is special.  Mia is the avatar of my patron Goddess Kali, in the form of Durga.  She’s a woman to contend with…quite the little dominatrix, although, she’d deny it in public.  I’m so happy to serve her in every way.  Kurt, her partner, isn’t thrilled about it, but he’s done his share of sleeping around with other boys and girls.  He’s my boss, and sometimes it’s a bit awkward.  If he’d lighten up and join in the fun, it might relieve tension, but after his and Mia’s little ménage with Arturo it’s a sore subject. 

Where was I?  Oh—my other grande passione, Lord Liu—Liu Li Cheng to his friends.  He’s wise, mysterious, deep and devastatingly sexy—long white hair and deep dark eyes. Hot body.  He was a warrior in the former Han Dynasty and related to the reigning emperor of his human lifetime, taught imperial princes swordsmanship—with a real sword-- one made of metal.  Okay, he had a long-running affair with one of the emperor’s sons.  It ended tragically.  Li Cheng has been looking for this lost love for two thousand years.  He says that I’m his prince reincarnated.  If he’s right, the Gods certainly have odd ways, reincarnating an imperial Chinese prince as a ginger-haired, Scottish Immortyl.  The Deva do seem to have strange plans for me. 

Oh, by the way, vampire is kind of a dirty word among our kind.  We’re the Immortyls, the semi-divine children of Kali Maa. 

3) How did you meet your lovers, and what sort of adventures are you getting caught up in lately?

*All I seem to do lately is sleep, eat, and hunt for my feet. I swear I haven't seen them in days*

 Well, I met Raj, my progenitor and former master, in the underground in London.  Beautiful bastard!  I’d been a rent boy for three years, since I was fifteen, and I’d become a statistic.  I was sick to death with something one of my former clients had passed to me.  I couldn’t work at my former profession, so I’d taken up busking--playing my guitar for change.   Raj took me back to his house and put me to an ordeal to prove my worthiness to serve Kali Maa as an adept of the ancient arts.  Well, to make a long story short, I trained to be a temple dancer and practitioner of tantric sex rituals.  The idea behind this is to confer blessings upon the recipient.  So I was still a whore, but this time I was a whore with a fancy name, a scared courtesan.  My “lovers” were chosen for me by the chief elder, Kalidasa.  I was a pawn in dangerous games of court intrigue.  Most of these blokes were a total drag—except Liu LI Cheng.  He knows how to treat a lad right—and gives the loveliest presents. 

There was someone else in India—my guru Sandhya. She was the Goddess in the form of Parvati, the consort of Lord Shiva.  She was lovely—but I don’t like to dwell on her fate.

When I got to New York, the first person of consequence I met was Mia.  It was divine intervention again.  I needed guidance to fulfill my mission, and there she was--my Goddess in warrior form.  Of course, I had to bide my time with her.  A woman of Mia’s stature is no pushover--but believe me, I pushed and pushed, until she succumbed.  And succumb she did—again and again.

Of course, there is the den.  There is a group of lovelies, nicknamed the denizens, who frequent the basement commons of our building, The Vampire State, looking for nightly trade.  Not that I ever pay for the privilege.  I just beckon to whatever boy or girl catches my fancy, or a combination thereof.  I hate sleeping alone. 

I must say, I never have to go far to meet someone who wants to shag me. I’m like the proverbial flame to all those eager moths.

4)Cedric, if there was one thing you could change in your life, what would that be?

I hope you don't say becoming a vampire. If you hadn't I might have never met you, and, well, you are just fascinating. I'd have missed something spectacular if I hadn't met you.

I don’t recommend this state of being to just anyone.  For some it’s a divine calling, but too many use the power as an excuse for anti-social behavior.  Our gift attracts far too many sociopaths.  I like the immortality part, staying young, beautiful and powerful and all that—but the bloodlust is worse than heroin addiction—believe me, I know of what I speak.  Your veins cry out to be fed, and it’s not fun.  I really have no choice in my path.  The Devi has plans for me.  It’s karma.  Shakti, the Great Mother, will decide my fate, no matter what schemes I devise. 

I do need to overcome some personal demons before I’m released from the cycle of death and re-birth.  That much I will say. 

5)Oh. *whispering* What does it feel like when a vampire bites you? I mean, not that I'm offering, because Lewell'yn would simply freak out, and Kay would give me that wounded look... but I've been wondering ever since I met you. Could you describe it to me? *fanning self*

(Cedric leans slightly forward and drops his voice to a low note that feels like teasing fingers running along one’s spine.  His grin creeps up his check some more, and his eyes become jade slits.) Well, it’s all shivery and orgasmic—if you’re a vampire getting bitten by a vampire.  If you’re human, it’s terrifying and usually fatal.  An Immortyl experiences his  partner’s ecstasy as well as his own.  You see inside the soul—if he has one that is.  Most of them are a void.  Mia sees full-blown visions—but then again, she is the avatar of the Goddess. 

I haven’t shared essence much with Lord Liu yet.  One as old and powerful as Li Cheng can enslave you far too easily.  I was Raj’s slave and I don’t care to go there again, even with someone I respect as much as Li Cheng.  I must be master over myself before I take the plunge with him.  We stick to shagging—amazing, world-moving, supernova shagging. 

Of course, you aren’t human, Tian, my love—I can control my hunger if I’ve fed recently.  I’m game if you are. I can make your dreams come true.  You have really beautiful eyes…  You were simply glowing when we last met.  Your skin, your hair just shimmer—and the scent of you is divine.  Your blood has a delicate bouquet, like honey made from lavender blossoms.  Or we could simply shag.  I never had alien before.  Mia believes our origins may be alien.  She’s a skeptical sort when it comes to religion. 

So, how does this hermaphroditic thing work exactly?  Who does what and what goes where?  I’m a versatile sort, so I’m open—or other—to possibility.  No one need know.  I’m the soul of discretion.  Believe me, a former courtesan knows things that could bring down governments.  So, how about it, love?

6)Cedric, would you tell us a little about the latest story of your adventures your friend Denise has put out? And how did you meet her? Cherie just stumbled into the holding area on the Pirate ship, kind of hiding behind Lewell'yn... and she's been around ever since. She's crazy as a bed-bug, but we've grown to love her. Your author seems far more level headed. It that true, or is she just as happily insane as our girl?

You obviously don’t know the old girl.  She’s eccentric, keeps six parrots and talk to herself.  Bursts into song at the drop of a hat--show tunes! Well, there is the occasional Bowie or Queen, I can forgive her that.  She puts me through hell!  I think she’s a bit of a sadist.  She claims I just burst out of her head like Athena one night.  As if.  Originally, I was conceived as a love interest for a character who is introduced in our current adventure, but that part of the saga is yet to be written.  I am a bit demanding.  I wanted center stage and the spotlight, so I simply took it. 

So, Servant of the Goddess--I’m the titular character in this book, but Mia is the POV.  They call our stories urban fantasy.  I suppose the fantasy part is the sexy stuff with me.  In this latest tale, I’m newly arrived in New York when she encounters me.  Well, an adept of the ancient arts is worth his or her weight in gold—or three times that in my case.  She and Kurt are faced with a gigantic headache in the form of yours truly.  I bring tidings up upheaval at court and the recently-crowned Rani Guilietta’s intrigues.  There are factions and more intrigues going on among Mia and Kurt’s followers and even government agents muscling in on the rights to the secrets of immortality.  Yes, there is a wee bit of science to all this.  Of course, Lord Liu makes an appearance.  There are explosions and gun fights and even a big chase scene!  Oh, and there is some steamy stuff--mostly with Mia this time around.  If you want the boy-on-boy variety, read my previous tale, My Fearful Symmetry.  

My darling Tian, I know you’re hiding behind some exquisite screen or other.  I can smell you, you know.  Don’t be shy.  Remember, I only bite if asked.  Let me show you, in the flesh, so to speak, how happy I am to be here tonight.  You’re missing out on the shag of a lifetime.  Immortyl princes have vied for my favor.  Liu Li Cheng was prepared to pay three times my weight in gold for my companionship.  It’s a religious experience with an adept of the ancient arts.  I’m a conduit of divinity—or so they say.  In view of your condition, I can be gentle.  Let me practice all of my tantric arts…  You can invite the other blokes.  The more the merrier, I say.  Well, in any case, the offer stands, if you get my drift.  Lovely to be here.  I just linger a bit until you show yourself. 

They always do.
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A short note from DeniseVerrico:

Here you go, Cherie. You might want to keep a close eye on your boys, as Cedric is bound and determined to hook up with Tian.

To the Readers: My loves, each and every one of you will get a free ebook of our short tales, Annals of the Immortyls, simply by leaving a comment and contact email where the authoress may send the link and free coupon code.  Here is a question for you to comment upon:  Should vampires sparkle, or is that best left to the Guru of Glitter, David Bowie?

  


Denise Verrico can be found all over the web, but if you want a sure thing for finding her and Cedric both, thy over at the Immortyl Revolutions page: http://www.deniseverricowriter.webs.com/