The Ritzko Project So Far...
Sep. 2nd, 2011 10:01 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
xhesikaWhat I find that I like most is how deceptive it is. For the entire Bastian Freeman book the reader has no idea who the bad guy is, and now in the David Johnson part the reader watches the bad guys run circles around the good guys and you never really know who is behind it all. I don't intend to make it clear until the third, Gale DeWinter, about who exactly is responsible for what.
As I write more and more I'm finding that I can't wait to write Gale DeWinter's part. The whole third installment will be tragic flashbacks of Gale's relationship with Ritz (already a racy topic in both books prior), Mary, Marley, and Adam (who looks like he's going to be a major part in the second installment as well).
But Gale as a character is still forming, he doesn't show up much in the first book, just enough to scare the hell out of Bastian and make an impression on Jenna. I also don't plan on letting the reader in on too much of his personality when he's narrating. Gale will be professional and frank, every three chapters telling about a chapter in his past. I can't stress how much I'm looking forward to the racy flapper innuendo.
"Relax David." He chuckled, "No coffee? Thirty-six beans gone to waste."
I wasn't nearly as amused as he was. He had withheld information about the massacres from the police that was the reason why I had driven all the way out there that day, not for some mindless corpse to offer me a cup of coffee at the door.
"You know why I'm here." I said.
Gale nodded and made a gesture to the seat opposite the desk where he sat, "Have a seat."
I wasn't so quick to move, and Gale knew it. I wasn't about to sit down with him until he started explaining things, or at least do something to try to convince me that he wasn't out to give the police the run-around.
"You could have called us friends, Marley and I." Gale started; he didn't seem too fazed by my reluctance to sit. "He was quite fond of Renée and I, of course things changed once the war ended. His opinion of me that is, we weren't exactly on the same page as far as coexisting with humans. His opinion of Renée never changed though, and I know for a fact she was the last one he looked at before I eliminated him."
The familiar unsettling feeling in my stomach, was Gale the jealous type? And if so did he know about Bastian and Ritz?
Gale shook his head with a smile, undoubtedly remembering the better days of his past; he looked back to me and made yet another gesture to the chair, continuing his thought as I took it, "She never gave him an inch."
"Vampires are polyamorous, aren't they?" I said as I made an attempt to get comfortable in my chair.
"Some. Most." He gave me a simple smile before his attention was drawn to the vase on the corner of the desk full of dead amaryllis and he grimaced at it, "She's much more emotional than the rest of us."
"Ritz?"
Gale nodded, "We knew each other years ago, before she was one of us. She was a performer, and she sang in a night club, we met, and we became close. Then one night she came to a party and Mary pulled her away from the crowd and upstairs. I had marked Renée as my own, I didn't want her sired by anyone including myself, but Mary didn't care. When I found her that morning she wouldn't stop crying."
"I didn't know vampires could cry."
"The younger ones can, before they lose every bit of their humanity. Our stoicism isn't a result of being at the top of the food chain for so long, or the money we acquire in our long lives, it's because the older we get the harder it is for us to show emotions. Renée never lost her ability."
The way Gale was now staring at the dead flowers gave me chills, like they had done something to wound his pride.
"She was never meant to be changed?" My interest was piqued; the two of them seemed to get along splendidly.
Gale shook his head, "We had been trying for a dhampir. Renée wanted children and she can never have them now." He looked at me, "That is why Jenna is so important to Renée."
Dhampirs. I got a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach. I hadn't heard of those in ages, the child of a human and a vampire, a vampire without the limitations of a vampire.They weren't common by any means and I had heard more than once that it often took several tries, even then there was no guarantee that the dhampir would survive to birth.
He watched the flowers again, and I realized that he had probably not been to sleep yet.
"I almost expected you to bring Alice." He began again, moving himself from the topic of his history with Ritz. I welcomed the change, but I was still slightly curious about the two, there was probably a lot more to them than Gale would ever tell me.
Alice didn't know I was here today, I hadn't called her after speaking with Gale on the phone, she would have immediately tried to talk me out of going on my own, but I knew that she wouldn't be stepping foot in this house very soon.
"I'm afraid I see this visit as more police-business oriented than having to do with Jenna." I started before shifting in my seat uncomfortably, "You said you knew there was someone else responsible for the massacres as well."
Gale nodded, "His name is Adam Cornell, and he was Marley's second; it's a personal affair between the two of us. I will hunt him. I won't have any more humans get hurt over this. If the police get any more involved the other covens are going to be leery of opening up to them, and I can't have that. You must learn to trust me David."
That wasn't something that I could see happening any time soon, especially not with the history that I was certain I shared with him.
Belladonna lillies. Ah the implications. I love that Ritz not only kept them this whole time, but she left them on Gale's desk, what a slap in the face, the relationship between Ritz and Bastian is looking more and more like an affair. Just like it should.
Throwing myself into Ritzko right now seems almost fitting, the darker storyline is just what I needed.
As I write more and more I'm finding that I can't wait to write Gale DeWinter's part. The whole third installment will be tragic flashbacks of Gale's relationship with Ritz (already a racy topic in both books prior), Mary, Marley, and Adam (who looks like he's going to be a major part in the second installment as well).
But Gale as a character is still forming, he doesn't show up much in the first book, just enough to scare the hell out of Bastian and make an impression on Jenna. I also don't plan on letting the reader in on too much of his personality when he's narrating. Gale will be professional and frank, every three chapters telling about a chapter in his past. I can't stress how much I'm looking forward to the racy flapper innuendo.
"Relax David." He chuckled, "No coffee? Thirty-six beans gone to waste."
I wasn't nearly as amused as he was. He had withheld information about the massacres from the police that was the reason why I had driven all the way out there that day, not for some mindless corpse to offer me a cup of coffee at the door.
"You know why I'm here." I said.
Gale nodded and made a gesture to the seat opposite the desk where he sat, "Have a seat."
I wasn't so quick to move, and Gale knew it. I wasn't about to sit down with him until he started explaining things, or at least do something to try to convince me that he wasn't out to give the police the run-around.
"You could have called us friends, Marley and I." Gale started; he didn't seem too fazed by my reluctance to sit. "He was quite fond of Renée and I, of course things changed once the war ended. His opinion of me that is, we weren't exactly on the same page as far as coexisting with humans. His opinion of Renée never changed though, and I know for a fact she was the last one he looked at before I eliminated him."
The familiar unsettling feeling in my stomach, was Gale the jealous type? And if so did he know about Bastian and Ritz?
Gale shook his head with a smile, undoubtedly remembering the better days of his past; he looked back to me and made yet another gesture to the chair, continuing his thought as I took it, "She never gave him an inch."
"Vampires are polyamorous, aren't they?" I said as I made an attempt to get comfortable in my chair.
"Some. Most." He gave me a simple smile before his attention was drawn to the vase on the corner of the desk full of dead amaryllis and he grimaced at it, "She's much more emotional than the rest of us."
"Ritz?"
Gale nodded, "We knew each other years ago, before she was one of us. She was a performer, and she sang in a night club, we met, and we became close. Then one night she came to a party and Mary pulled her away from the crowd and upstairs. I had marked Renée as my own, I didn't want her sired by anyone including myself, but Mary didn't care. When I found her that morning she wouldn't stop crying."
"I didn't know vampires could cry."
"The younger ones can, before they lose every bit of their humanity. Our stoicism isn't a result of being at the top of the food chain for so long, or the money we acquire in our long lives, it's because the older we get the harder it is for us to show emotions. Renée never lost her ability."
The way Gale was now staring at the dead flowers gave me chills, like they had done something to wound his pride.
"She was never meant to be changed?" My interest was piqued; the two of them seemed to get along splendidly.
Gale shook his head, "We had been trying for a dhampir. Renée wanted children and she can never have them now." He looked at me, "That is why Jenna is so important to Renée."
Dhampirs. I got a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach. I hadn't heard of those in ages, the child of a human and a vampire, a vampire without the limitations of a vampire.They weren't common by any means and I had heard more than once that it often took several tries, even then there was no guarantee that the dhampir would survive to birth.
He watched the flowers again, and I realized that he had probably not been to sleep yet.
"I almost expected you to bring Alice." He began again, moving himself from the topic of his history with Ritz. I welcomed the change, but I was still slightly curious about the two, there was probably a lot more to them than Gale would ever tell me.
Alice didn't know I was here today, I hadn't called her after speaking with Gale on the phone, she would have immediately tried to talk me out of going on my own, but I knew that she wouldn't be stepping foot in this house very soon.
"I'm afraid I see this visit as more police-business oriented than having to do with Jenna." I started before shifting in my seat uncomfortably, "You said you knew there was someone else responsible for the massacres as well."
Gale nodded, "His name is Adam Cornell, and he was Marley's second; it's a personal affair between the two of us. I will hunt him. I won't have any more humans get hurt over this. If the police get any more involved the other covens are going to be leery of opening up to them, and I can't have that. You must learn to trust me David."
That wasn't something that I could see happening any time soon, especially not with the history that I was certain I shared with him.
Belladonna lillies. Ah the implications. I love that Ritz not only kept them this whole time, but she left them on Gale's desk, what a slap in the face, the relationship between Ritz and Bastian is looking more and more like an affair. Just like it should.
Throwing myself into Ritzko right now seems almost fitting, the darker storyline is just what I needed.
