Guest Blog and Giveaway with Melisse Aires

Giveaway--1 ebook download of Christmas Magic for one lucky commenter on this blog post!

Two short sweet, sexy stories to put a little Christmas Magic in your day!

Brought together by the magic of Christmas…


Wishing Rights

In the normal course of life, they would never have met. An accident while foraging herbs throws Pascal, an elf from the North Pole and Mallow, a dwarf from the country, together. They share a passion for herbs—and for each other. But elves and dwarves are forbidden to marry.


Excerpt:

Pascal sighed as he pulled his hood back on and turned his back to the biting wind. Mid-November was a bad time to hike into the rocky heights of the mountains to search for coughwort. But it was also a bad time for an outbreak of the cough. Santa was nearly worn thin trying to fill in for so many absent elves.

Now the apothecaries were out of coughwort and he, being the youngest and strongest of the Guild, was the one elected to hike into the mountains to harvest more herbs.

Snow covered the heights and shadowed places but the meadows were dry. He found numerous plants and rejoiced that he would only need to spend one more night in the wilderness. The journey downhill to the North Pole could be accomplished in a day.

He went around a rocky protrusion and came upon a dry meadow full of coughwort.

He heard a gasp that made him jump a foot. It can’t be a bear, this time of year.

It was a dwarf woman, with a basket on her hip, digging coughwort with a tool similar to his.

They stared at each other, neither one moving or speaking. There was no contact between the elves at the North Pole and the dwarves who lived in the rock hills and forests to the south.

“I’m-I’m just harvesting coughwort. I mean you no harm,” he said.

The woman was small and very colorful. Her skin was a warm brown and her hair flamed like a fire. Even from the space of the few feet between them, Pascal could see that her eyes were not the ice blue of elven folk, but bright grass green.

And her lips—they were nearly round, and coral pink. Nothing like the thin pale lips so prized in elven women. Her ears were pointed, like his own, but they were a little larger and peeked out through her wild hair.

“Me, too.” Her voice sounded breathy, as if she was frightened. “Coughwort. The cough is in the villages down river.”

He nodded. “I see. We have it also, at the North Pole. I am almost done with my harvest, my bag is nearly full.”

“Yes, my basket is almost full. I will return home now.” She backed away, eyes never leaving him.

There was an ominous grinding sound.

She gave a breathy scream and he followed her line of vision to see a rock slide coming right at him. He lurched out of the way, but not far enough to miss the hits. He went down in pain.

* * * *

Christmas Wizardry

Merri didn’t know the magical world of wizards existed until Daniel, High Wizard of Earth, offers her refuge from gross demons. Alone together at Christmas, Merri finds his magical world fascinating, but she finds the man even more enchanting.

Excerpt:

Daniel, High Wizard of Earth, was not an insensitive employer. All his servants had mid-winter festivities on their home worlds or dimensions. As would happen every few centuries, this year all the different festivities occurred at the same time. This meant Daniel would be on his own for the first time since ascending to his lofty position.

Yardley, his First Assistant, tried to refuse to leave. “Really Daniel, someone should stay here with you. You can’t send us all away. What if there is an emergency?” Yardley’s jowls wobbled as he shook his head, but Daniel insisted.

“You don’t want to miss your nieces and nephews, Yardley. Think how disappointed they would be if you weren’t there. I’ll be fine. The dimensions will all be busy with holiday festivities; it will be a quiet time.”

“He can always get a hold of you if there is trouble and whisk you back.” Mrs. Garvey, his house keeper, was all for a holiday. “I’ve left many frozen meals, and there is a label with instructions on each one.”

She stuck something on the fridge with a magnet. “These are takeout restaurants. They will bring the food right to the door. Don’t forget to tip. Twenty percent. And don’t give them gold coins or jewels. Just the paper money.”

* * * *

Mrs. Garvey did leave many meals to be put in the microwaver, with small written instructions on each plastic container. It was lonely, though, eating partially frozen foods by himself. Daniel decided to go out to a restaurant.

There were piles of money in the treasury vault—he took plenty—and a few jewels, in case he needed them.

He found the car keys and was well aware the kitchen door led to the garage.

Years ago, as boy, he had learned to drive and he was pleased when the car engine purred to life.

The garage door was a problem, nothing seemed to open it. Finally he conjured it away. Once outside he had to conjure it back. Quite a time waster. He would learn how to open the door when Yardley returned.

The street was just as he remembered it, lovely older homes, with tall trees in every yard. His Dark Tower fit right into the neighborhood. No humans were able to see the magickal heights to which it rose, of course.

The houses were bright with colored lights and he paused to enjoy the displays. A memory of his father tacking lights up on their little house came to him and he felt warm.

Christmas, that was the holiday he celebrated as a child. He remembered the excitement of presents under the tree.

A tree. He could buy one and get decorations. It would be fun, and fill the lonely hours until his staff returned.

He thought briefly about inviting Maog, the Serpent Queen, to a Christmas dinner, but he suspected she wanted him to fertilize her eggs. He wanted no part in a serpent god infestation throughout his dimensions, so he dismissed the idea. She was quite lovely though, pity she always had an agenda

After much driving he found a tree lot, and the attendant roped a tall tree onto the top of his car. Daniel also got directions to a store that sold Christmas decorations.

The store was crowded and garishly decorated, but he was able to pick out a whole shopping cart of decorations. He also bought cookies and a book, written for adults, about cowboys. Christmas always reminded him of cowboys because of the toys he received as a boy—cap guns, a stick horse, felt cowboy hats and plastic chaps…

Feeling quite jolly, Daniel headed to the parking lot, only to find a horrock demon chasing a young woman. She wore a most revealing green dress, very short, with her pretty legs covered with green stockings and ending in odd shoes with the pointed tips curved up, ending in dangling bells. The horrock demon got closer and she smacked it with what looked like a book bag.

Well, that was only going to anger the demon.

Daniel stepped up. “If I may be of assistance?” He conjured some melt powder and blew it on the horrock, reducing it to a pile of goo in a moment.

The girl looked at him, squealed, and tore off.

Daniel was smitten. She had hair the color of cinnamon and eyes the color of milk chocolate. Her figure was trim but curvy and as she ran off he got a glimpse of a firm, round bottom when her short dress blew up in the December wind.

He wanted to taste her. How long since he’d had a lover…well, there was that swamp witch three years ago…clammy, though quite lovely…

While he was thinking, she moved several cars away.

“You’re not safe,” he called to her.

Her face went white and she squeaked. He moved toward her and her eyes got huge in her heart shaped face.

“Oh! You are safe from me. But the horrock demons...hive mind.” He tapped his head. “Now they all know what you smell like and will be after you. Though why they would be chasing you is a mystery.”

“What?”

Her voice had a husky quality that sent a little thrill down Daniel’s spine.

“You should come with me to my tower. I can find the breech they are squeezing through and close it off. They rarely make it to earth.”

“I’m not going anywhere with you! You’re a guy in a bath robe!”

Daniel looked down at his robe, a basic black velvet one he wore for normal work hours. “Hmm. I guess I should have changed into regular earth attire.”

The girl squeaked again. Three horrock demons surrounded her, swinging their long arms in agitation, their greasy hair bristling as they reached for her.

Daniel efficiently melted them, then hustled the girl into his car while she was in a convenient state of shock. “I hate the smell of those demons. Think I’m allergic,” he said as he roared out of the parking lot. “I’m Daniel, High Wizard of the Earth.”

“Alrighty then. If you’ll just turn left here, I’ll be able to get to my place in just a few minutes.”

He turned and looked at her in disbelief. “You can’t go home! Weren’t you listening? Hive mind. Until the breach is closed, they’ll keep pouring in, looking for you. Though, like I said, I can’t conceive of why they’d be after you. Those greasy, hairy things? Those are noses. They can track you through the whole city.”

“Well, what if I leave town? Take a bus or something?”

He waggled his head. “They’d still find you. You must come to my place”

“Oh. What about your place? Won’t they bust in there, too?”

“No. I live in the Dark Tower of Power.”

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