Love Creativity and Magick by Kiki Howell

January 2012

A Steampunk Valentine’s Day Tale

All acts of magick take on shades of grey in the end, especially for Emma, one of four females witches, who by birthrights belong in the social circles of the privileged upper ten thousand in London. Yet, by rumor of the unknown and the misunderstood, she stands apart, cut by her peers along with her cousins, because they hold a secret—each is gifted with magick.

Their elders taught them respect for their powers even when mixed with a spanking amount of fanciful mischief. On the other hand, if a lesson were warranted, then white verses black magick could be hard to define. Nowhere was the color of steam more evident than in the matters of justice; a slippery term to define. Yet, the women had made breaking the laws of society their mission. Most of their nights at parties and balls were spent creating a magickal comedy of errors, helping the uptight aristocracy side step their fastidious standards.

Only this year, just days before Valentine’s Day – a damnable day for women without suitors – Emma is not quite sure what is happening to her. Something dark and seductive, something not of this world, is luring her, possessing her, and she has no comprehension of what or who the presence really is. But, when he does finally show his face, and she feels him to be a nightwalker, she must fear not only the threat he poses to her blood and to the energy or magick he can suck from her, but also the danger he poses to her heart. After all of these days feeling him, wanting him, she has to wonder if her feelings are just a matter of his compulsion, if she is under this vampire’s own type of magick.

To complicate matters further, the vampire’s propositions are as exciting as they are scandalous. He plans to teach her how to power her magick with the overabundance of sexual energy she bears. But, how he knows such things he remains elusive about. And there is the added attraction that this vampire was a failed inventor in life, one with a basement full of contraptions she finds she can power through the use of her sexual energy. Valentine’s Day seems like it could be all kinds of fun this year.

Yet, in these days of social unrest and out-of-control creativity, what is a witch to do with a vampire? When Valentine’s Day rolls around, and a secret is revealed, what will be left for her?

Kindle