This post was originally featured on the Dark Side Downunder blog in March this year. Here, Ellie talks about Candy Cane Dancer, the first in her Downtown Wizards and Weres series. This is what she had to say to the questions asked at the time:
Can
you, in less than five words describe your book/story Candy Cane Dancer?
No, but I can do it in six: erotic,
explicit, captivity, dubious consent, disturbing
Who is your favourite character in
this book? Or Who would you get
to play your hero / heroine in a movie?
This is always a
hard question to answer. I like my werewolf captain and Rajanigandha, the
nagini. I also like the slightly deluded and hopeful Martinette, but I think my
favourite character has to be Selene, the margot fairy who was meant to be the
central character to this novel. She has the immortality of fairies, but has
grown to care for those around her in a way that many fairies don’t—and
certainly not the Scottish fey. Overcoming her fear of werewolves to
acknowledge her attraction to the werewolf captain heading the hunt for the
serial killer stalking the club, is just one example of her ability to adapt.
Preparing to face down the killer is an example of her courage. She deserved a
romance of her own, but ended up sharing a dark tale of erotica with the enemy
she had to hunt, and did so very graciously.
What
inspired you to write it?
I think the
inspiration came while I was while reading a book on different kinds of fairies
(which I cannot find and cannot remember the title of – frustrating, as I want
to buy it for my bookshelf). Anyway, there was a section about a German fairy
called a margot who loved to dance and adored sweets, and a section about an
evil male sea fairy who played beautiful music and then killed his victims,
trapping their souls in a bottle. I was, at the time, writing a piece about a
werewolf-run gentleman’s club (not based around pole dancing) and decided to
have another club in the locality where dancing was the feature, because what
else would a margot fairy be doing in modern times (and don’t say Swan Lake, although that is an idea).
The sea fairy became a threat to the dance club, and the story kind of grew
from there, but not with the margot as the main focus as I had originally planned.
This tale ended up a lot darker than I originally intended, metamorphosing into
a tale of erotica and suspense, as opposed to the erotic romantic suspense I originally
intended to write.
“Are you
a vampire?” Martinette asked, feeling her face rapidly lose its look of lazy
post-coital contentment. “You should have told me.”
“Then there’d have been no surprise,” Hubert replied, shifting to wrap
an arm around her shoulders, and crushing her to his chest. She wrapped her
arms around him and arched against him.
“Are you going to kill me now?” she asked.
“No, but you live because I want you to dance for me, again,” he
murmured, letting his lips brush her ear lobe. He shifted against her.
Martinette gasped, but it wasn’t one of protest.
“So, you’ll kill me later?”
“Not necessarily,” he said. “I am growing fond of you.” He slowly laid
her on the floor and she pillowed her head on one arm and gazed up at him. Her
expression showed confusion and pleasure, and just a little fear, the emotions
rushing across her face as he started again, letting her feel how her body
reacted to his, seeing the moment when she thrust the fear aside to accept the
pleasure he offered. That acceptance was flavored by apprehension when he spoke
again. “Don’t make me change my mind.”
He dipped his mouth to the small tear he’d made at the base of her
throat and licked it, raising his head, so she could see her blood on his lips.
“You taste good,” he said, watching her eyes widen half in horror, and
half in surprise, “and there’s a large part of me that wants to drain you dry,
but I like your body. I love the way you move it when you dance, and I love the
way you feel.”
He propped himself on his elbows so he could watch the battle of
emotions raging across her face. One part of her couldn’t resist the purely
physiological reaction her body was having to his, one part of her fascinated
that she could be enjoying something with a creature like him, and one part
terrified of what he might do next.
“I’m going to let you live just a little while longer,” he said. “How
much longer is up to you. I love the way you dance. Say you’ll dance for me,
Martinette. Say you want to live.”
He saw the moment she gave in to her desire to survive.
“I’ll dance for you,” she whispered, and as she relaxed beneath him, he
gently tilted her head sideways and drank.
She tasted divine, but Hubert knew he had to stop, that the rest of his
hunger would have to be sated by the salmon and reef fish he’d had his servants
prepare. It was a hard-fought thing. He desperately wanted more, to drain her
dry as he had the dancer he’d taken two nights ago, to feel her death throes as
he rode her over the edge and desecrated her still-warm corpse.
Martinette was lucky he loved the way she responded to his music. She
was lucky she could make him jealous of the pole on his private stage. She was
lucky she drew him in a way he could not explain. As much as he didn’t want to
acknowledge it, for the first time in a century Martinette, his flame-haired
dancer, made him feel something for his intended prey. And it felt good.
Slowly standing, Hubert gave a soft whistle, summoning his servants.
“Care for her,” he ordered. “Give her private quarters and see to her
comforts. Feed her like a queen, for she has my heart.”
Even as the words left his mouth, Hubert was surprised to find they were
true.
With a small smile of surprised satisfaction, he
returned to his chair and retrieved his flute. While he often travelled without
it, tonight he wanted it nearby, at least until he went hunting. There were
other dancers at the Candy Cane.
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