Title: Possessed (A Spiritus Series
Novel)
Author: Dana Michelle Burnett
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Blurb:
Every
story has two sides...
Alastor truly believed that his life was over the night
his wife Becca shot and killed him over a century ago, but now he has returned
as a spirit to haunt the reincarnation of his traitorous, murdering wife. Why
now? Why Becca after all this time?
When Becca moves into her ancestral home in Corydon,
Indiana, her life takes a puzzling and thrilling turn when she meets the ghost
haunting the halls. As the seductive spirit lures her closer and closer, she
learns about her own past and starts to understand that some mistakes are meant
to last.
To Becca, Alastor is a seductive spirit that seems to see
straight into her soul. To Alastor, Becca is what he has waited a century
for--A second chance. But a second chance at what? Love...Or revenge?
How far will each of them go to rectify the wrongs of the
past?
Dana Michelle Burnett spent most of her life writing
short stories and sharing them with family and friends. Over the years, her
work was published in numerous commercial and literary magazines including Just
Labs, Mindprints: A Literary Journal, Foliate Oak, and many more. Her short story John Lennon and the Chicken
Holocaust was include in The Best of Foliate Oak 2006.
Dana Michelle's Spiritus Series introduced the idea of a
ghostly romance and became a Kindle bestselling series. She's an avid reader of anything dark and
romantic. Dana Michelle lives in
Southern Indiana with her dancing diva daughter and an assortment of pets.
It was easy enough for me to go to the school and find the dance
simply by following the sound of the music. I floated invisible through the
students in their formal attire, searching for Becca.
I found her and the boy standing along the edges of the dance floor.
She was taking the paper cup of punch that the boy was offering her. I moved
closer when she coughed after taking a sip.
“I’m sorry,” the boy said as he stroked her back. “I should have
warned you that a couple of guys from the football team always puts a little
something extra in the punch.”
“It’s okay,” Becca said between gasps of air. “I think I’ll just step
out in the hall and get some water.”
I followed her, listening to the litany of thoughts going through her
mind. She questioned if this was what she was supposed to want. She couldn’t
understand why this was so hard for her.
“He’s not me…” I whispered inside her head.
She jumped and looked around.
“Go away,” she said aloud. “Don’t ruin this for me. Let me have this night.”
I did go away. I left her and went out to where the boy stood waiting
for her to return. I looked at his boyish profile, unlined and unworn with
adolescent stubble on his jaw. This was my rival. This was the “man” that was
trying to take my Becca away.
The boy was speaking with that hateful Ashley girl, but I didn’t hear
what he was saying. My mind was already turning to darker things.
So Becca wanted this one night...Well, so did I.
I pulled in my strength, gathering myself small and hard. I rose up
above him, glaring down, before blasting myself into his body. There was a
dizzy feeling, a sickening lurch to the left, and then I was back on the
outside looking at him standing there with Becca at his arm.
I was weak, feeling the darkness trying to reach up and pull me down
into the nothingness, but this time I wouldn’t go. I concentrated on the two of
them, watching him try to recover just as I was.
The boy swayed a little from side to side as he smiled down at her, “I
was just about ready to send a search party out for you.”
“Sorry,” Becca said as she
reached up to stop the boy from falling right into her. “Are you okay?”
The boy staggered a little to the right and blinked as if trying to
focus, “Yeah that Ashley just gets under my skin. She doesn’t know when to shut
up and go away.”
“That’s not what I’m talking about,” she said as she took the paper
cup from him and threw it in the trash barrel. “How many of those have you
drank?”
The boy blushed and raised his hand to his forehead as he staggered to
the right again, “I am so sorry.”
She reached up and grabbed his arm again to steady him, “Are you going
to be alright?”
The boy shook his head, this time leaning dangerously to the left.
“I’ll be fine.”
“Are you sure?”
“Not really,” the boy said, looking quite sick. “Why don’t I go splash
some water on my face? Will you wait for
me?”
“Sure.”
I followed the boy as he lurched off, staying close as he walked out
into the hall. I was determined this time. I gathered again, pulling all of my
energy before I dove directly into the center of his chest. There was the
sickening spin as his consciousness fought mine, but at last there I stood
living and breathing again, an interloper in the body of the boy.
There was no turning back now. I walked back out to where Becca was
waiting. Seeing her there, looking so beautiful, it seemed impossible that in
mere moments I would be able to feel her in my arms again.
“May I have this dance?” I asked, reaching my hand out to her.
It seemed to take an eternity for her to turn and put her hand in
mine. My heart leapt the instant our hands touched and I felt her fingers in
mine. I pulled her close, holding her against my body and lowering my nose to
her hair. I inhaled deeply, there it was, the scent of honeysuckle and vanilla.
Becca...
“My beautiful Becca,” I closed my eyes and whispered against her
forehead.
I felt her watching me, but I just stood there holding her close. She
tried to shift away, but I held there against me.
“Don’t,” I begged and lowered my lips to hers. I tasted the delicious
softness of mouth, so gentle at first, afraid at any moment that I would fade
and this moment would vanish.
For a moment, neither of us moved. We stood there with our lips barely
touching. I was shaking, near crying myself. This was real...This was
happening...
I pulled her closer, this time allowing my mouth to linger over hers,
my tongue licking the seam of her lower lip. I felt her tremble, her body
pushing against me.
Suddenly she pushed me away and gasped, “Alastor!”
She looked up at me, searching another man’s face, but still somehow
seeing me inside.
“How?” She whispered.
“Please don’t scream,” I said as I pulled her to me again and lowered
my face into her hair.
“How did you do it?” She asked, a note of hysteria creeping into her
voice.
“Does it matter?” I asked as we waltzed about the floor, “You asked
for a kiss and I gave it to you.”
Becca began to tremble, shaking so badly that her teeth began to
chatter, “Alastor…I can’t…”
“Please,” I begged. “Please, you asked me to give you this one
night. I’m asking you to give me this
one moment.”
Tears filled her eyes, “What do you want me to do?”
“Close your eyes,” I whispered against her eyelids.
“Now what?”
“Just be,” I said as I lowered my face to hers so that our cheeks
touched. “Just be.”
“Kiss me again,” she said without opening her eyes.
I gladly took her face in my hands and brought my lips to hers. She
brought her own hands up to cover mine as her own kisses became more urgent.
“I’m sorry,” she whimpered, holding my closer. “I’m so sorry for
everything.”
I kissed her again, tasting her mouth like a man starved. The answer
was clear...My soul would always belong to Becca...Always...
DREAM CAST
Thanks so much for having me on the blog today! I’m super excited about having the chance to
introduce everyone to my characters and the story of a love that refused to
die.
When I write, I always have a picture in my head of what my
characters should look like and I hope that it stacks up to what my readers
have pictured...
Alastor: My poor
misunderstood Alastor. After fighting in the American Civil War and returning
home, his life is cut short when his “loving” wife kills him in cold
blood.
A century later he hears her, now
reincarnated, calling him back from death, but can he forgive her?
For my Alastor, I always pictured Nick Strong. Now you may not know who that is unless you
follow the Hillywood Show on YouTube, he played Damien in their Vampire Diaries Parody and I just loved
how he looked with Hilly Hindi.
Becca: For Becca, I always pictured a timeless beauty with a touch
of frailness to her. After all, Becca is first a Civil War bride, bravely
facing an attack on her town and welcoming her shell shocked husband home. When
his drinking and adultery becomes too much, she kills him. A century later she
is reincarnated and haunted by his spirit. Did he return for love or revenge?
To me, the perfect Becca (if only she had blue eyes) would
be Hilly Hindi of The Hillywood Show fame. She’s got that same mix of fragility
and strength. That, and she looks damn
good with Nick Strong.
Jonah:
Jonah is always
described as classically handsome. I always pictured him as sort of the typical
Mr. Popular. I also pictured him as being this person filled with light, a
perfect contrast to Alastor’s dark brooding. Jonah loves Becca deeply, but how
can he ever compare to a love that crosses the boundaries of life and death?
I always pictured Alex Pettyfer as the perfect Jonah. I
first saw him in Beastly and he had the sort of charm and arrogance that Jonah
would have possessed in the beginning.
Dr. Langdon:
The good doctor
tried so hard to be the voice of reason in Becca’s madness, but he couldn’t
help her. He knew she was disturbed, but it wasn’t until the end of Becca’s
stay in the mental hospital that Dr. Langdon understood exactly how she was
haunted.
I always pictured Dr. Langdon as David Tennant without the
beautiful accent. It wouldn’t be so bad being committed to a mental hospital if
that was your doctor.
Madame Marie DesMarais: This was always a little harder because I
always looked at actual paintings and pictures of voodoo madams.
It wasn’t until I was working on this that I
had to search for a face that fit.
Madame DesMarais had to have beauty and a creepy stare that looks right
through you.
She has to be something
really amazing to be brave enough to try to bring back the dead, but has she
met her match with Alastor?
Toni Braxton has that beautiful face and you can just tell
that no mere spirit is going to shake her up.
So, that’s the cast of characters for Possessed and my
Spiritus Series. Are they what you
expected?
