New Blog....

Like I'd mentioned earlier last week, I'm moving this blog over to my new website. That way everything is all in one place. You can check out my blog and the upcoming books with blurbs (when I get them written...lol)

Don't worry. There will still be blog stories and eye candy. Just in a bright new shining place. :)

Here's the link: http://tachase.com/blog

Hope you stop by to look things over. :)

Frigid Friday

wow...winter and the cold has hit with vengeance today. First time I'm really happy about working from home, because I don't have to go out in this cold, if I don't want to.

Okay, on Monday, I'll post a link on this blog to my new blog, which will be part of my new site. The whole site isn't completely finished. Links and excerpts still need to be add, but the blog part is up and running. Yay! The rest will slowly be up and running bit by bit.

I'm working slowly and surely on Gypsies and The Deepest Cut. Each one gets at least 1k done on it every day. Gypsies gets more than that since it's the one that absolutely has to be finished by the end of January. :) I'm in the homestretch. Each one only needs about 15k on it to hit the 50k mark. Both stories will be in ebook and print as well.

Oh, and The Subtlety of Understanding, which is both my Understanding books from Aspen Mountain Press, will be out in March. MLR Press was kind enough to take those two orphaned books, combine them into one bigger book, and re-release it. There's nothing new added, just re-edited, new cover, and both stories in one. I do plan on writing more stories in that series, to wrap up some loose ends.

Also, there are some changes being made behind the scenes...lol. Don't worry. Nothing bad, I promise. Just doing some re-arranging and sort spring cleaning. I can't really say anything more than that yet, but as soon as I can, I'll let you all know what I'm talking about. :D

I hope you all have a great Friday, a marvelous weekend, and please be safe and warm wherever you are.

They Walk Among Us

They Walk Among Us copyright c. 2012 T.A. Chase

Part Twenty-Nine-

Zach-

The screams coming from the building where Gideon had taken Raven were like nothing I’d ever heard before, and as much as I wanted to go and make sure he was okay, I did what he asked of me.

I walked up and down the aisle way, talking to the prisoners. I explained who I was, and what I was doing there. I told them they’d be getting out soon, but I didn’t have any keys to open the cell doors yet. As I passed by one of the cells, the woman in it waved at me to stop.

“I’m sorry this happened to you,” I said as I stepped a little closer to her door, but not too close. I didn’t want to frighten her.

She shrugged, the weary motion of a person who’d gotten used to the terrible things life handed her. “Not your fault. What happened to the Opalite they dragged out of here?”

There was real concern in her voice, and it surprised me. I hadn’t thought she would have any thought for anyone beside herself.

“Do you hear that screaming?”

She nodded. “It doesn’t sound like it normally does. There’s a lot of fear in those screams.”

“Yes, there is, but I can tell you they aren’t coming from the Opalite who talked to you.” I tapped the side of my head. “We’re connected, and I think I’d know if he was hurt.”

Scrabbling sounds came from another cell, and a young man appeared out of the shadows. There didn’t seem to be one square inch on him that wasn’t bruised or cut. I clenched my hands as a wave of anger swept over me.

::Why do you think I killed Gideon instead of keeping him alive?::

Raven’s thoughts plunged into my head.

::I understand. Where are you?::

::I’m taking care of some things at the main building. I’m sending Tyler over with the key. He swears he’ll be good. He’s scared shitless, so that’s always good. Plus he knows what happened to Gideon could easily happen to him.::

Something in the tone of Raven’s voice told me I probably didn’t want to know what had happened to Gideon.

The young man cleared his throat, and the sound coming from his throat as he tried to talk caused me to cringe.

“Is he okay?”

“Yes, he is. Don’t worry. We’re going to get you out of here.”

“I want to go home,” the young man managed to whisper.

“Why don’t you talk to me using your thoughts? It would be easier on your throat.” I crouched outside his cell.

The young man shook his head. “I can’t. I’m not old enough yet to do that. As we evolve, we lose the ability to talk aloud. The Opalite who was in here is far more evolved than I am.”

I filed the tidbit away in my mind as one more thing I needed to talk to Raven about.

“Are you Anson? This might sound like a stupid question, but where do you hurt? Are there any places that hurt worse than others?”

All of my medical training and compassionate emotions wanted me in the cell, examining the young man closer.

Anson nodded. “Yes. I’m very sore and there might be some broken bones, but the Opalite healed me a little. I’m not bleeding inside anymore.”

I should have known Raven would help Anson as best he could until I could look him over.

The door shoved open, and banged off the stone wall as Tyler stumbled in. The people in the cells cried or hissed as he practically ran to me. He held out a piece of paper, which I took from his trembling hand.

“Don’t let that monster hurt me, Zach. He tore Gideon’s heart out of his chest. Literally reached in and tore it out without struggling or anything. It was like he liquefied Gideon’s body to be able to do it.” Tyler clung to me.

I tried to shake him off. “Let go of me, Tyler. As long as you do what he says, and don’t hurt any one else, you’ll be fine. Raven is reasonable.”

“Reasonable? You call what he did to Gideon reasonable?” Tyler shouted.

“Tyler, you have seen what Gideon did to all these people, right? I’m sure there are many he actually killed. I’m pretty sure Gideon got off light, considering how much Raven could have tortured him for what he’s done.” I yanked my arm from Tyler’s grip and went to the control panel next to the main door. “You might want to either leave or stay close to me. I’m not sure how these guys will react, being free and being able to get a hold of you.”

::I’m sending someone for Tyler. I need to talk to him some more.::

As Raven’s thought arrived, so did two large men. I studied them, and something in their eyes told me they weren’t human. More Opalites, and I was starting to realize there were far more of the aliens on our planet than we’d ever thought.

“We’re here to take this one back to the Szef.”

I frowned. “What does that mean?”

“Leader.”

“Oh okay. Yes, please take him to the Szef. Don’t hurt him or we’ll both be angry.”

The bigger of the two Opalites met my gaze with a calm expression. “We know our orders, sir, and we are only to escort this one back to the main building where the Szef is.”

Tyler squeaked as they stood on each side of him. He looked at me with a pleading glance. I shook my head.

“They aren’t going to hurt you, so just go with them. Raven isn’t going to hurt you either, as long as you cooperate.”

“Zach, what’s going on here?”

Tyler’s heartfelt plea caused me to pause in the middle of punching the code to open the cell doors. I thought about everything that had happened up to that point, and I chuckled.

“What’s going on here is humans have completely under-estimated Opalites from the very beginning.”

Happy Hump Day...

First of all, thank you for participating in the Cock & Bull Blog Tour. The winners were drawn last night and here they are:

Grand Prize: Maya, from her comment on Megan Slayer's blog
2nd: Diana A, from JP Barnaby's blog
3rd: Tiffany, from Kit Sands' blog

Marie will be contacting the winners and sending them their prizes. :)

Second of all, I've been doing a lot of writing lately, and I'm actually very happy where my stories are at the moment. I'm managing to work on two stories at the same time, and it's working for me. :) I'll definitely be finishing Gypsies by the end of the month, and The Deepest Cut will be closed to finished by then as well. Once Gypsies done, I'll be working on From Slavery to Freedom, which is the sequel to Out of Light into Darkness, and once The Deepest Cut is done, I'll be working on a short story to go in an anthology for Total e-Bound. I'm keeping that one a secret for now. Once it's done, and happening for sure, I'll let everyone know what it's all about. :)

Well, I have to get going. Have a very busy day. Hope you all are safe and warm wherever you are.

They Walk Among Us

They Walk Among Us copyright c. 2012 T.A. Chase

Part Twenty-Eight-

“Nothing to say for yourself, huh?” Gideon’s grin was filled of sadistic joy. “They all start out quiet, but the time I break them, they’re begging me to stop.”

Well, that wouldn’t be happening with me since I couldn’t talk anymore. None of the humans realized as Opalites got older, we lost our ability to talk. Our powers developed into telepathy, so we didn’t need to use our mouths for such primitive things as speech.

Gideon gestured for two of his goons to grab my arms and drag me from my cell. I let them touch me, through my skin crawled at the feel of their dirty hands on me. Once we were in the corridor, and walking down it, I hung my head, letting my hair cover my face. I wanted Gideon to think I was defeated, but really I was contacting every person in the cellblock.

Alerting the Opalites was easy, though breaking through the walls the humans had built around their minds was child’s play to an Opalite as powerful as I was. I knew the humans wouldn’t necessarily trust what I told them, so I pushed Zach’s image into their brain as a person they could trust.

When everything blew up in Gideon’s face, I wanted the humans to get out, and Zach would help them.

::Do you know how many prison buildings there are?:: I asked Zach while be forced to leave the one I was in.

::As far as I can tell, just the one you were in. Tyler’s been bragging to me about how many Opalites they’ve caught over the last couple of months.::

I grunted silently. ::Damn it. I’d hoped they would have managed to stay hidden longer, but they got careless. It would explain why I’ve lost touch with so many over the months.::

“Strip him, and put him in the room,” Gideon instructed the men who held me. “I need to get my instruments and I’ll be back for him.”

They tore my clothes off, and groped me while doing it. I fought the need to roll my eyes. Did they really think touching me inappropriately would break me quicker? While I didn’t like being touched by anyone but Zach, I allowed it to happen. I wasn’t interested in hurting the peons yet. My eyes were set on getting Gideon within my reach, because he was the one I needed first.

Zach’s anger surged through me, but I sent out a calm wave of energy.

::Don’t do anything. I need you to head to the prison building. There are humans and Opalites locked there. When I take Gideon down, they’ll need to trust someone, and I told them you would help them.::

::Take Gideon down? I thought you weren’t going to do anything more than take control of the rebels.::

::I changed my mind when I found out what he’d done to not only Anson and the other Opalites, but to the humans as well. Humans called us monsters, but I think you have more evil in your hearts than an Opalite could ever dream of having.::

::Not all of us.:: His soft admonishment hit me.

::I know.::

They threw me into the room, and my knees hit the cold stone floor before I could control the fall. I grimaced at the rough material tearing into my flesh, but spilling my blood would help bring my power to heel more easily.

“He is a pretty one. I bet Gideon fucks him to break him. Pretty ones like him are used to being treated nice. Gideon will teach him the only thing a hot mouth like his is good for,” one of the men taunted me as they stood by the door, waiting for Gideon to get back.

I glared at them while crawling to the far wall, sat cross-legged, and rested my hands on my thighs. I focused on the door between them, and meditated, slowly gathering my power into myself. When I had enough, I slowly let it leak out, and directed small tendrils of it out toward my jailors.

The little strings of power wrapped around their ankles, and anchored themselves into the concrete. When I attacked Gideon, they wouldn’t be able to move from where they stood.

::I don’t want you any where near here, Zach.:: I ordered my lover to stay away.

::Why not?::

::While you accepted my wings without hesitation, if you were to see what I truly looked like, you wouldn’t be so accepting of my differences.::

Zach’s thoughts were puzzled, and I remembered there weren’t any pictures of what my people had looked like when they landed. For some reason, all of those had either been destroyed or the government had taken them all. Yet it was our true appearance, which convinced the humans, we were there to attack, not to talk.

::All right, but at some point, you’re going to have to show me.::

I knew that, and just the thought of Zach turning away from me in fear and disgust hurt my heart. Yet I couldn’t keep my true self hidden any more. To complete my mission, I had to show what I really was.

The scrape of the door warned me my time was up. It was time to shot the opening salvo of the true rebellion, and Gideon would realize he’d subjugated Opalites at his peril.

“Well, I’m glad to see you’re not crying or pleading all ready. Makes it so much more fun for me.”

Gideon stepped into the room, and shut the door behind him. I ducked my head to hide the grin as I noticed he was dressed in black leather. Did he really think the whole evil ‘Dom’ thing would frighten me? Though I amended that thought. If I was young and powerless, I probably would be afraid of the man, but that moment all he did was make me want to laugh.

He stalked across the floor, reaching out for me as he got closer. I let him wrap his fist in my hair before I exploded off the floor. Horror filled Gideon’s face as I let my true form take over. I shoved my hand into Gideon’s chest, and tore his heart out, holding it up as his body crumbled to the floor.

::No mercy for any who harm my brethern.::

Hey

Everyone, I'm being interviewed at two places today. The first one is the last stop on the Cock & Bull Blog Tour at Sara York's blog. Click here to check it out. You'll get an excerpt from The Longest Stride....and a chance to win a copy of it when it comes out. :)

The second interview is at Total e-Bound for their author spotlight. Click here to check this one out.

Today seems to be my day all over the place. :)

The other thing I'd like to announce is that at the end of this week, I'll be moving this blog over to my website. You'll still get all the hot eye candy and blog stories, but instead of coming to Blogger to get it, you'll be heading straight to my site. :) It's all new and shiny as well. I'll make sure to leave a link to my site, so you can find it if you forget. :D

I hope you all have a great Martin Luther King Day...and enjoy.

They Walk Among Us

They Walk Among Us copyright c. 2012 T.A. Chase

Part Twenty-Seven-

Her eyes widened, and I could tell she was surprised I admitted it to her.

“Why would you tell me that? For all you know, I could be a spy and I’ll run to Gideon with this information.”

I shrugged. ::Go ahead and tell him. He won’t believe you. The power hungry and arrogant never believe those they perceive as weaker than them can hurt them.::

She tilted her head and studied me. “Why can I hear you? I thought Opalites could talk. At least most of the ones the bastards drag in here can.”

::They are young. I’m looking for one in particular. His name is Anson.::

The woman frowned as she thought. After a minute, she shook her head. “I’m sure he’s probably here, but I don’t know anyone’s name. He wants us friendly, but not that friendly.”

I snorted silently. Gideon was racking up the check marks against him in my mind. Maybe I’d take him out when it came time to leave here. He wasn’t really worth much, and while a man high on drugs could be manipulated, he was also unpredictable. I didn’t want to risk the rest of my mission by things going wrong with Gideon.

::Thank you. Don’t worry. I won’t leave you here.::

She nodded and moved back to her bed. I strolled to the opposite side of my cell. I peered into the dimly lit space in front of me. At that moment I wished I could speak, but instead I reached out with my mind, hoping to touch someone in there.

The low moan of pain I heard when my thoughts did encounter someone caused me to ease the force of them. I stroked along the ragged edges of the person’s mind, and I bit my lip when I realized it was the very Opalite I searched for.

::Anson, I know it hurts, but I need you to talk to me. If you can’t speak aloud, talk to me with your thoughts. I can hear you, and I’m here to get you out of here.::

Another whimper, but also the scrape of something moving across the floor. I crouched and reached between the bars. A hand emerged from the shadows, broken, bruised, and torn. I swallowed the bile threatening to escape my stomach, and I tamped down on the rage surging through my body.

::Are you all right?:: Zach’s inquiry brought me back to focus on Anson and not my own anger.

::I will be once I rip Gideon’s throat out.::

::I take it you found Anson.::

::Yes. I must talk to him, but be prepared to leave at any moment. I won’t remain here any longer than we must.::

Zach’s assent chimed through our link, and I smiled at how willing he was to accept my leadership without question. Oh, I knew the time would come when he forced me to sit down and tell him everything, but at the moment, it wasn’t important. The most important thing was to free all of these people from Gideon’s rule.

::Anson, show me in your mind where you’re hurt.::

Our fingers touched, and the images flooded my brain so fast, it almost overwhelmed me. Yet instead of telling him to slow down, I managed to corral and organize them. As I identified each spot, my healing power flowed from me. A soft blue glow surrounded Anson and me. His pain eased as I mended broken ribs, and a fractured leg. His internal injuries I healed the best I could. I needed more hands on to do anymore than take care of the immediate danger.

I separated our minds for a second to take a breath and center myself. ::I can’t do any more for you at this time, Anson. I need to be able to put my hands completely on your body to do more.::

::You’ve done more than I ever thought would be possible. I heard you tell the woman you were here to free us all. How can you do that?::

::Don’t worry about that. Just be ready to go. You’ll be able to move pretty fast now. I have to check with the others.::

::He tore out my wings.::

The anguish in Anson’s emotions brought tears to my eyes. An Opalite, even one as young as Anson, needed his wings to function normally. A wingless Opalite was half a person, and it was hard for them to continue on.

::Don’t give up, Anson. Gideon will pay for every wrong and hurt he caused you. Trust me, the time is coming when you won’t have to worry about your wings. I’ll tell you a secret. They will grow back.::

Excitement shot through Anson at my pronouncement. His wings would grow back once we’d left Earth and headed back to our home planet. The entire purpose of the mission I was on was to ensure we all went home. Yet I thought about Zach, and knew the time would come when I had to make a choice.

I shook myself. I couldn’t let my attention wander like that. The time hadn’t come for a decision yet, and I needed to get the jewel first before anything else could be decided.

I threw my thoughts out into the energy, hoping others would latch on to it. A riot of noise arose, filling my head with thoughts and pleas. I allowed it to go on for a few seconds before I asked for silence. It was quickly given to me, and I began to explain my plans for getting everyone out of there.

I’d just finished when I heard the door to whatever building I was in open. I settled back against the stone wall of my cell, not wanting them to see me talking to the human or Anson. I had checked for cameras before I even approached either of them. Not that I wouldn’t have been able to cause the equipment to malfunction. I didn’t want to bring Gideon to me any sooner than necessary.

“Well, it looks like the drugs have worn off.” Gideon propped his shoulder against the bars of my cell. “Too bad because it might have made what’s going to happen easier.”

I merely looked at him and blinked. ::He’s going to wish he had been drugged when I’m done tearing his heart from his chest.::