Thursday, October 25, 2007

Halloween Choose Your Own Adventure® - Day 4

Guest Maven Elizabeth HoytFrom now until Halloween, the Manuscript Mavens are running a Choose Your Own Adventure® story, in which YOU vote on what happens next! Every morning brings a new author, from the Mavens to the just-sold, to the best-selling. And every night brings a new twist!


Get your Choose Your Own Adventure® votes in by 8:00pm EST (5:00pm PST) and you'll be eligible for random prize drawings. Vote every day, and you'll be eligible for the Grand Prize--autographed books from Maven pals and Guest Mavens!

(Already read the intro? Skip to today's story. No idea what's going on? Read the "rules.")

Continued...

Mary pushed snow-crusted hair from her eyes and gasped at the sight of Sarah, her sister, holding Viscount Nightshade up over her head, the muddy tails of his coat swirling around her gray body like tendrils of death.

“S-sarah,” Mary quavered. “You never used to be so strong.”

“No, dear sister,” Sarah moaned, her voice as cold as a really cold icicle. “But then I never used to be dead!”

And with a girlish twist Sarah threw Lord Nightshade at her sister’s feet.

“Damn me,” that epitome of pale British aristocracy grunted as he hit the ground. “I hate it when she does that.”

“Dear Sir, never say she has done this before?” Mary cried as she helped the viscount to his feet. “Sarah was ever a gentle soul.”

Her sweet sister was advancing toward them and Mary had not seen such a look on Sarah’s face since that unfortunate incident involving a borrowed white pelisse and a bowl of cherry preserves.

“Not so gentle anymore,” Lord Nightshade muttered as he elbowed Sarah smartly in the face. The girl staggered back, but recovered with inhuman speed, advancing once again. “Not since the night of the tragedy. The night when she became—“

“The undead!” Sarah shrieked. She flew at the gloomy viscount’s face, her fingers like claws. “Doomed to this half-life, this shadowed existence, forever doomed, doomed, DOOMED!”

With each doomed Sarah slashed at Lord Nightshade. He parried her blows, but it was evident that he was tiring under her otherworldly strength.

But Mary had no sympathy for the viscount. “O, vile despoiler of womanhood! You have cursed my sister, taken her natural life, and stolen her innocence—“

“Er, actually—“ the viscount started.

But Sarah kicked him in the stomach and screamed as he bent and oofed out air, “Not a despoiler, not a stealer of innocence—“

Mary looked from the viscount, now on the snowy ground with his legs curled around his most masculine bits, to her gray and grim sister, still kicking him in a rather un-cricket-like way. “You mean . . . ?”

“He couldn’t perform!” Sarah shrieked to the heavens, a woman truly scorned. “I’m doomed to an eternity of virginhood!”

Which certainly explained her ire.

“That never happened to me before. I think it was the wine,” the viscount began to explain, but at that moment . . .

A) The werewolves showed up.

B) Sarah turned to Mary and said, “And you will spend eternity with me!”

C) The door to Hemlock House burst open and an army of zombies staggered out, prompting Lord Nightshade to curse under his breath.

D) The Marquis of Moonlight galloped across Satan’s Fury, his long, golden hair flying behind him.

YOUR TURN: You decide what happens next! Leave your vote in the comments by 8pm (5pm Pacific) every day between now and Halloween---Tomorrow's story continued by Tessa Dare with the twist YOU choose!

Today's continuation brought to you by Elizabeth Hoyt.

38 comments:

Erica Ridley said...

Hi-lar-i-ous!!! Love it!

I can't even pick a choice--they all slayed me. I'll be back to vote when I stop giggling.

Great job, Elizabeth! =)

Anonymous said...

I vote D),let the Marquis of Moonlight save the day.

Courtney Milan said...

OMG. That is the best explanation ever.

I vote for--C! Zombies! (Is anyone surprised?) I particularly love that the armies of zombies cause Lord Nightshade to curse. And not, say, wet his pants and run.

Courtney Milan said...

And I meant, "the best explanation for a pissed-off undead ever."

Unknown said...

Snort. I'm going for the the zombies. C. Tessa deserves zombies.

B.E. Sanderson said...

ROFL. At this point, I'm going for the zombies, too. C it is!

Vicki said...

I fought the zombie urge for several days but will now succumb to the power of the undead.

I vote C

Carrie Ryan said...

everyone comes around to zombies at some point :)

OMG -- I totally LOVED that scene! Now I'm off to amazon.com to order some books :)

Anonymous said...

What's with the zombies? lol, Sorry, but I feel the need to vote D...it's the title, I swear.

Hellie Sinclair said...

D. I want to be rescued

Bill Clark said...

that unfortunate incident involving a borrowed white pelisse and a bowl of cherry preserves

Elizabeth, you're such a tease! Give us the back story!

I'm gonna vote for B - I want to see Nightshade save Mary from her undead sister and finish the job he started with Sarah by making sure that Mary doesn't suffer the same fate. ;-)

lacey kaye said...

I am voting D, too. Do I sense a zombie sister-on-Prince Charming subplot?

Darcy Burke said...

Yeah, it's time for zombies, bring 'em on!

Elizabeth, hysterical installment. Like Bill, I'd like to know the background on that unfortunate pelisse accident.

Tessa Dare said...

That was just about the funniest thing I ever read. I feel I should abstain from voting today, but egads, am I feeling the pressure!

Courtney Milan said...

I think that unfortunate incident with the borrowed pelisse and the cherries may have happened to me in real life.

feywriter said...

I'm voting A for the werewolves. :-)

Jackie Barbosa said...

I gotta go with the army of zombies this time. Although the Marquis of Moonlight is a close second!

And thanks to Elizabeth for a much-needed belly laugh.

Carey Baldwin said...

Oh, Zombies!Zombies I say! Hey anybody seen Ervin?

Etoiline said...

I vote A. Werewolves are fun. Though I wouldn't mind hearing about the Marquis, either.

Erica Ridley said...

I vote D, Marquis of Moonlight. Although zombies were a close second.

CrystalGB said...

I vote D. :)

Anonymous said...

D!!!! I wouldn't be hearbroken if zombies won, though :)

Tessa Dare said...

Ack - by my count, it's tied! Okay, so I'm voting after all...

C!!!!! ZOMBIESSSSSS!

I swear, trust me on this. I can make zombies romantic, promise.

Marnee Bailey said...

D, though I am tempted by the zombies.

I mean tempted by the zombie plot twist, not actually tempted by zombies as zombies tend to leave the toilet seat up, I've heard, and that's really a deal breaker for me...

Marnee Bailey said...

I voted before I saw Tessa's post and she says zombies ARE romantic. (Do they do housework, perchance?)

Someone else vote in zombies so I can find out about these marvelous beings since I tied the score.

lacey kaye said...

Marnee, you always make me laugh. But I don't judge. Anything goes these days.

Marnee Bailey said...

Awh, thanks Lacey!

And Elizabeth - you did an awesome job and though I just found your books recently (Marnee=living under a rock), I love love love them. I aspire to show, not tell the way you do.

Tessa Dare said...

Ack - we can't have a tie!!

Erica Ridley said...

A tie? Does that mean you have to incorporate them both?? ;-)

Lindsey said...

OMG hilarious!

It's gotta be zombies...and a pot of chocolate.

Tessa Dare said...

Gah - both it is. You guys are killing me.

Tessa Dare said...

Oh wait, I crossed posts with Lindsey! Does she count, even though she came in after the deadline?

There are so many rules... I think a zombie already ate my brain...

Jackie Barbosa said...

I was going to say that a tie ought to be the author's choice between the two options, but I say Lindsey's post made it.

Any Mavens want to disagree with me--speak now or forever hold your peace.

P.S. Tessa, I'm up your way tomorrow to go to Disneyland. Wanna join us? After you write your installment, of course ;)...

Darcy Burke said...

I say we accept Lindsey's tie-breaking vote and go with C. Bring on the zombies!

Tessa Dare said...

Jacqueline, I'd love to stop by and say hi! I live so close, and we have annual passes. Email me...

Jackie Barbosa said...

Tessa, that's AWESOME. However, I don't seem to have your email address (when I migrated computers, I lost access to my old email database and with it, tons of email addresses).

Can you email me instead: guavaln at yahoo dot com.

Elyssa Papa said...

I vote C! I know I'm a half-hour late... but I just got home from a long day!!!

Tessa Dare said...

Well, I used both after all, so you can all be happy. Well, except for those few of you who voted A or B.

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