We all know the old saying that everyone comes into a relationship with all the baggage from their past. Every disappointment, every broken relationship, every childhood trauma or even perceived slights mix into our personalities to color the way we see the world. And we’ve all had the experience of having our “baggage” not play nice with a friend or partners’, right? Talk about conflict!!
So shouldn’t the same be true for characters in our favorite books?
Characters with fully fleshed pasts feel more real, more three dimensional…more like someone we could meet in real life if we met them outside the pages of a book.
So how do authors go about creating a full cast of people with a lifetime of experiences? I’m sure there are as many ways as there are authors, so I can only speak to my personal methods. My favorite way to flesh out my characters is to talk to them about their “baggage”…i.e. their past. When characters pop into my head and are persistent enough for me to include them in an upcoming story – that’s the time I sit down and get inside their head. I do my best to “become” that character and write a character sketch in first person from their birth (or creation in the case of some of my paranormal characters) to present. It may sound silly, but you’d be surprised what flows out onto the page when the characters start talking. Within those few pages an author can learn what childhood/teenage or even adult happenings still affect that character’s behavior today…and in author speak that equals MOTIVATION! 
And if you’ve written at all, you know motivation is the fuel that moves your characters through the timeline of the book. No motivation, no movement from the characters – or at least not believable movement or actions. We’ve all seen movies or read books where we yell “they wouldn’t really do that!” That means the magical “M” (motivation) just wasn’t there in that instance. And everyone loves the “M” from editors and agents to readers – and especially us authors because it makes the book that much easier to write!
In my newest book, Seducing the Succubus, I brought together two main characters with plenty of past to spare!
Jezebeth is one of four succubi sisters in Hell’s version of the Witness Protection Program because the sisters helped Lilith, the Queen of the Succubi and Incubi trap a powerful demon who was actually behind all the deaths during the Black Plague during the 1340’s. The four sisters have been scattered across the world for the past seven hundred years, but now the demon is back and someone is selling out their locations to the demon who has had centuries to plan his revenge.
Noah Halston, a horror writer, owes Lilith, the Succubus Queen, big. Several years earlier while researching demons and possession for a book, he’d unwittingly summoned Lilith. The incantation he’d stumbled on traded one night of ecstasy with Lilith for an eternity of damnation and torture. But hey–Noah never actually thought it would work! Even though Lilith is the ultimate temptation, Noah reluctantly turns down her advances, which intrigues Lilith. She offers him a different deal instead–she’d forget the summoning if he would owe her a single favor at the time of her choosing. Relieved and still not sure he wasn’t hallucinating, Noah agreed and they seal the pact in blood. Noah had almost allowed himself to forget the pact, until an imp had shown up on his doorstep two days earlier telling him it was time to pay up.
As you can imagine each character brings their unique baggage and perception to the dangers and even the temptations that they have to brave along the way…
I hope you enjoy this sneak peek at Seducing the Succubus, the first book in the Sisters of Darkness Series from Berkley Sensations!
“Dinner time, gentlemen,” Jezebeth said to herself as she raked her gaze over the many men crowding into the darkened club.
The heavy beat of hip-hop music thumped through the soles of her knee-high lace-up boots and made her heart beat faster as anticipation curled deep inside her belly.
A long mahogany bar ran the length of the back wall, and dozens of men crowded around jostling for their turn to order a drink. In the middle of the room scantily clad women gyrated on four raised platforms while colored laser lights panned over the audience in regular intervals, briefly illuminating the smoky atmosphere. Not that Jez needed the light. One of the perks of being a succubus was being able to see in the dark–not to mention sense and smell the sustenance-giving potential of those beings around her.
Her searching gaze fell on a large human male sitting at a back table with broad shoulders and just the right amount of muscle. A glowing aura of nearly white energy surrounded him like a pulsing mist, and Jez’s skin ached with longing–the succubus equivalent of a stomach growl. The size and general health of the man’s aura told her not only that he’d feed her well but that taking his energy and tempting him toward good or evil would also give her great brownie points with her boss, Lilith, the succubus queen. Especially since Jez was behind quota this month–again.
Jez concentrated on the man and a slow warm tingling flowed through her as her body shifted to become whatever form the man most desired.
She glanced down to see her now-overgenerous breasts nearly spilling out over a tight-laced bloodred corset, her skin milk-pale and her body fully curved. She wore a tight black miniskirt and short black ankle boots that displayed a winding rose tattoo snaking up her right leg to disappear under her skirt.
This body was shorter than she was used to, and she had to crane her neck and stand on her tiptoes to keep the man in her line of sight over the tightly packed crowd.
Jez reached up and tried to fluff out her hair, surprised to find it short and spiky instead of long and flowing. She shrugged as amusement spilled through her. The preferences of men were wide and varied, and as long as they provided her with what she needed, she didn’t care what form she had to take to get it.
Well–that was almost true.
There had been forms she’d outright refused to remain in.
She shuddered in memory of some of the more bizarre bodies men had desired her to take and wrangled her thoughts back to the situation at hand–dinner.
Jez started forward, weaving her way through the crowd, her gaze fixed on her target where he sipped his drink and watched the dancer on the nearest platform as she spun expertly around the golden pole using only her muscular thighs.
As Jez neared, the man turned his head, and she could tell the exact moment he became aware of her. His movements stilled and his gaze did a slow and very thorough exploration of her from head to toe and then back again. When he was finished, his lips parted in surprise and the bulge just behind the fly of his jeans grew larger in response.
Jez smiled at him from under her lashes and wet her bottom lip with her tongue, suppressing a small giggle as she tasted strawberry-flavored lip gloss.
His blue gaze burned into hers for a long moment before Jez stepped close and straddled him, making her already short skirt ride up high around her thighs. She sat on his lap and pressed close against his erection. The sensation of rough denim against the sensitive skin of her bare pussy was exquisite. She rubbed herself against him and laid her hand over his chest, noting how his heartbeat thumped a strong pulse under her palm and the energy surrounding him surged higher, tingling against her skin in tiny static electric shocks.
To her surprise, he didn’t push her away or show any signs of protest. For someone with such a clean aura, she’d expected a bit of a challenge, but she definitely wasn’t going to complain.
She leaned in close to his ear and whispered, “Buy me a drink?”
His strong hand settled against her lower back, the heat from his skin burning through the corset and making her pussy throb in anticipation of what was to come. She pulled back slowly, allowing her breath to feather against the side of his neck until she could look into his eyes.
“Only a drink?” he asked with mischief and lust dancing in the blue depths of his eyes.
Jez smiled and leaned forward again so her breasts pressed against his chest as she brushed her lips over his.
His lips were warm, and he growled deep in his throat and then deepened the kiss, exploring her mouth long and slow.
The tangy taste of Jack Daniel’s made her smile. That explained his lack of restraint. A few more drinks would probably make her job all that much easier.
His kisses were a bit sloppy and clumsy, but he made up for that with enthusiasm and the promise of a great energy payoff in the end. With one large hand he cupped her breast roughly, the hot possession making her gasp against his mouth.
She kissed him again, hard, and the familiar tingling and liquid warmth sensation of his life-energy siphoning into her hummed through her veins, ripping a long moan from her throat. Jez sighed against his lips as her clit hardened and slick moisture formed between her labia.
This was only an appetizer, but already her gnawing hunger receded and her skin tingled with vigor. She threaded her fingers into the man’s soft hair, capturing him close as she continued to kiss him.
Two sharp taps on her shoulder surprised her and she turned, ready to deal with a bouncer or an angry girlfriend.
Instead, she found a four-foot imp.
It was shamrock green with two tiny yellow horns poking out the top of his knotty head. His glowing red eyes reminded her of twin laser pointers, and he smiled revealing jagged yellow teeth. “Mind if I cut in for official business, Jezebeth?”
“What the hell is that?” The man stood abruptly, dumping her off his lap so she landed hard on her bare ass against the cold concrete floor.
A high-pitched squeak escaped her just before sharp pain radiated up her back from the hard landing. She turned to glare at the imp, who only smirked and shrugged.
Jez pushed to her feet, pulling the short skirt down around the tops of her thighs as she straightened and smiled up at her now-spooked dinner. “It’s okay.” She gestured toward the imp. “It’s leaving.” She took a step toward the man, but he held up a hand stop-sign fashion between them.
He shook his head and backed away from her, rubbing his eyes as if he thought he might be hallucinating. “I think I’ve had a little too much to drink if I’m seeing things already.” He took one last longing look at Jez before turning and melting into the crowd.
Jez sighed as the hip-hop song ended and a slow bluesy number started up in its place.
Since no one else in the bar was running away in horror, the imp was probably shielding his true form from all the human eyes–except the man she’d targeted. “Couldn’t this have waited another hour or so?” she said loud enough to be heard over the music.
“Lilith sent me to tell you Semiazas has escaped his prison and seeks revenge on you and your sisters.”
An icy chill of fear danced down Jez’s spine and bile threatened to inch its way up the back of her throat. She swallowed hard before she risked speaking. “How long do I have?”
The imp cocked its head to one side as if considering. “It took me several days to find you. Unknown.”
She swallowed back the fear that tried to smother her. “And my sisters?”
“Other messengers have been sent to warn each of them in turn.”
The sound of wrenching metal accompanied by an animalistic growl that prickled every hair on Jezebeth’s body grated through the air, sending patrons screaming and running in all directions. Sharp, hot anger churned inside her stomach, and she trained her narrowed gaze on the imp.
“You bastard, you led him right to me!” She reached out and grabbed the imp around the neck with both hands, lifting him off his stubby feet.
The imp kicked Jez in the stomach. Pain curled through her as the air was knocked out of her, causing her to loosen her grip on the imp as she doubled over. She rested her hands on her knees as she tried to suck in a new breath.
The imp’s smug laughter sounded from nearby. “I fulfilled my promise to Lilith, I delivered the message. And now I’ve paid a debt I owed to one of the bounty demons as well. It’s a good day all the way around.”
When Jez could finally draw a breath, the stench of fresh sewage crossed with rotting flesh filled her lungs and stung her eyes. She stumbled backward, trying to put distance between her and the demon, but by the intensity of the stink she knew it was already too late.
The sweeping laser lights showed the crowd of humans still streamed toward the exits. The bluesy music continued to play like a macabre accompaniment to the human screams, sounds of breaking wood and screeching metal.
Jez dodged around overturned tables and chairs, trying to lose herself in the crowd of stampeding humans.
As she neared the exit door, her survival instincts screamed and her gut clenched, surging adrenaline through her body as she whirled to look behind her.
A flicker of movement was all the warning she had before red-hot pain sliced through her shoulder and left arm and she found herself flying backward. Her back smacked against something hard, and her breath whooshed out for the second time in a few minutes.
She gasped against the pain, even as her brain belatedly told her she’d been slammed against the wall. A few long seconds later, she glanced up into the glowing red eyes of the bounty demon.
If you want to read more, you can purchase the book at Barnes & Noble.com, Borders.com, BooksaMillion.com, Amazon.com or your favorite retailer!
Happy reading!
Cassie
And, in case you’re interested, this is Bumper: 