The Choice 

The feeling of the crisp morning air and the sound of the wind beating beneath her beautiful black wings were all Nila noticed. She was blissfully ignorant of everything else around her. Ever since the battle with Lorelei had happened and Nila had become immortal, the high school girl’s life had been completely different. Nila was in love, and she loved Blake more than anything. Their time together was priceless. But she also loved her time alone in the mornings flying over her quaint, sleepy town of Legacy.

              A Night At The Bishop House

It was warm and sticky that June night. The wind blew wildly. The thunder boomed with great explosions while lightning lit the night sky with brilliant blue and white flashes. The tattered shutters beat against the old white washed frame house with loud crashes. Those wood chipped shutters half-hanging held on dearly as the wind ripped at them. The old wooden siding was dancing in the wind in spots where it had long ago released its grasp on the house. The wind blew violently around the weeds and the underbrush that the house sprawled out against.  

With the pouring rain beating hard down upon my head so harshly that I had no other choice but to enter into that old house on the outskirts of town that had long ago been abandoned. As I approached the front porch there was an eerie sensation of being watched from the windows of this large frame house. There was an especially menacing feeling that came from the attic and the cellar. The house had not been occupied since its original owners, the Bishops in early 1800’s. This grand old home was built to house a large family, a family with many laughing children, however; this was not its destiny.

            Birthright (A Nobleman Novel)

 Nila’s skin was moist with a glistening sweet mixture of dew drops and sweat. Her body was hot and aching under the touch of his fingertips as they caressed her cheek and then lightly glided down the side of her neck and finally gently stroked her skin just atop her bodice. Nila loved how the early morning light caught the beautiful, blue hues in her nobleman’s eyes. His marvelous eyes were heavy with lust. The onyx waves of his hair tickled her cleavage as he leaned over her for another kiss—long and deep. Nila felt as though she could drink his essence into her and as if he could do the same at any moment. His hard lean body pressed against her fragile petite flesh. Just when Nila thought that she could no longer breathe, euphoric from the touch of her nobleman’s lips, he pulled back, leaving her longing for so much more.

            In the distance through the forest they heard the familiar sounds of men, horses, and dogs. Aware that they were forbidden to be together, Nila would risk her life for just one touch of his gentle hands. Risk her life may just be what she was doing, she thought to herself as she heard the galloping horses and barking dogs drawing nearer. They grabbed the few clothes that they had shed. The dogs were closing in fast. There would be no time to escape. Nila was frantic with fear. What would become of them if they were found together? Out of the thicket a soldier lunged at her nobleman with sword drawn.

        Then it happened again. She was being pulled away from him back to another reality. She desperately reached out to him but could not hold her ground. Nila cried out in despair as she helplessly watched her beautiful, nobleman battle for his life. Their eyes met and held one last gaze before Nila found herself back in her own bed lying in a pool of sweat and desire. She felt the longing for her nobleman tugging at her heart. But it was just another dream—another strange dream in a huge collection of strange dreams that she had been having since the night of her 17^th birthday.  

From Birthright By Ronda L. Caudill, Ph.D. Copyright 2012.