It's Wednesday again! I hope you'll consider dropping 99 cents for 13 spooky tales set in Salem. Salem's never been hotter! Here's an excerpt from my contribution, Ethereal Protector.
Smashwords - Naughty Nights Press - Goodreads
As an aside to my fellow teasers, I'm looking for some help promoting the new Blue Moon House issue releasing September 4. If you'd have room for me on your blog that week, could you mention it in the comments? I'll find you by email. :)
Summer left the church in a huff. Did she really believe she could be part of this community? She was wrong. They pretended to accept her for now, but any day they would turn on her, accuse her, string her up to hang.
She looked over her shoulder several times as she took the path away from her home and into the woods. There was a circle a mile away that would be perfect for grounding herself. No one followed her, and when she arrived she stripped down to her shift and unbound her hair. She danced in the moonlight, praying and chanting, seeking the hand of the Mother, the source of her magic, the spark that made life more than a tedious chore.
The town folk would see it as dancing with the devil, courting evil, but it was nothing of the sort. She was reaching into the earth, into life itself, and embracing it. There was no evil here, no devil, no God either. Just life and the beautiful circles it made.
Finishing such a circle, she stopped with her arms in the air, reaching toward the full moon. It seemed she had caught it between her hands.
A swish of grass made her jump. She ran to her clothes and held them to herself, trying to cover her nakedness.
“I didn’t mean to scare you.” Geoffrey entered the moonlit meadow, hands spread wide. “That was beautiful.”
Yanking her dress on and using her apron to hold it without buttons, she rounded on him. “You fool boy. Do you know what might happen if they caught you here? Bad enough they come for me, but I’m just a widow. You have parents, sisters. They need you.”
“I need you.” He came close enough to touch her hair. “You looked like an angel, and I could feel something building and growing.”
She closed her eyes and waited for her first reactions to die down. Yelling at him would accomplish nothing. “That would be magic. Now, go tell them I’m a witch and let’s have this done.”
His eyes widened and he took hold of her shoulders, pulling her into a tight hug. “Never! You’re a witch, but I love you, Mary. I am going to protect you.”
As an aside to my fellow teasers, I'm looking for some help promoting the new Blue Moon House issue releasing September 4. If you'd have room for me on your blog that week, could you mention it in the comments? I'll find you by email. :)
