Can a Ghostly Vampire Get a Happily Ever After? by Patti O’Shea

by Patti O’Shea, author of Shadow’s Caress (Harlequin Nocturne Bites, February 2011)

Ideas never seem to care about logistics. It’s the only explanation why I get things like: Wouldn’t it be cool if the hero was a shade—the ghostly kind? Only it didn’t come with information on how to make him sexy or how I manage a happy ending.

Fortunately, Malachi arrived and he helped me out. The first thing he made clear was that he was not a ghost, he was a shade and there’s a difference. He wasn’t dead, just in limbo. This is good. The story has a goal—get Malachi out of limbo. Once he’s back from never never land, he can have a happy ending.

But, um, how does someone end up in limbo? That’s when he informed me he was a vampire who’d been staked, but not beheaded. I didn’t need to ask who’d driven the stake into him. Who else except his heroine would do that?

That left the biggest logistical issue—making a shade sexy. He’s invisible and no one can see him or hear him. Nothing like a little challenge, right?

But what about the other senses? Like touch.

There Cass is at work, bored and waiting for her shift to end, and she feels him arrive. She doesn’t know who he is and she can’t see him, but his touch leaves her body wanting more. He’s never shown up when other people have been around before this, but it doesn’t matter. As he trails a finger along the bare skin of her shoulder, Cass responds. He knows how to caress her, and since no one can see him, why not enjoy it?

It’s also really sexy when a man is focused on his woman, when there’s a bond between them strong enough to overcome an incredible obstacle. Like being a shade.

Malachi has not only been invisible to everyone for two years, but he’s also gone unheard and hasn’t been able to touch or be touched by anyone else. And yet he can caress Cass and she can feel him. She can sense him. He wants more, and to get it, he concentrates on making himself visible to her. Just her. He only loses this focus when emotion—fear or arousal—overwhelms him.

Protectiveness. What’s sexier than a man watching out for those who matter to him?

Malachi is all about protecting Cass and keeping her safe. She used to be a vampire hunter and the group she worked is trying to kill her. Mal’s not going to allow this to happen. He wants to be returned to his life as the undead not only to escape limbo, but also so he can better defend Cass against attack. Sure, he can get her to his friends and they can watch over her, but they wouldn’t go as far as he would to ensure her safety. Malachi would risk everything for her.

That’s one awesome thing about writing—I get help from the hero and heroine with their story.  Even when I get ideas that seem as if they might be logistical nightmares, it all ends up working out. So yeah, a vampire who was staked by the heroine and saved from limbo can have a happy ending. Instead of the sun, he just has to ride off into the setting moon.