Marva Dale is the pen name for author Debra McReynolds.  Retired from the public relations field, Debra now spends her free time indulging in her passion for writing.  "I used to fill my school notebooks with stories," Debra relates, "and then add artwork to go along with them.  My second grade teacher, Mrs. Daley, predicted that I would be a writer one day."
A fan of the mystery genre, she enjoys crafting tales with a twist of suspense, a touch of romance, and a bit of humor. 
Debra and her husband, Dale, make their home in El Paso, Texas, with their dog, cats and rabbits.

Dr. Suzan Dwyer specializes in blood disorder research and maintains her own laboratory in the Washington, D.C. area. But she’s not prepared to deal with a new patient named Charles Lambert who says he’s aging by the minute and needs Suzan to help him discover a way to reverse the process through her blood research. Suzan hesitates to believe the story Charles tells her. Yet when he suddenly disappears, Suzan tracks him down and meets his wife, Ellen Lambert, a beautiful, alluring, and enigmatic woman who harbors a deep, disturbing secret. Suzan is drawn into Ellen’s world of mysticism, fantasy, lust and desire, and believes Ellen when she says that Charles has suddenly died overseas. Succumbing to Ellen’s charms, Suzan decides to give up her old life, one that she has shared with her partner, Dr. Davis Breen, for five years. As she embarks on a tempestuous affair with Ellen and listens to her incredible history, Suzan is drawn deeper into the woman’s strange but exciting world, one that might possibly include murder. Soon Suzan must decide if she wants what Ellen wishes to give her—life everlasting… Even when such a life comes at a terrible cost. 


Blood of the Gods

Once they both dressed, Elena slipped her arm around Charles' waist and led him down to the lake.Humberto had laid Marianne on a grassy knoll.At first glance, she looked so peaceful, as if simply asleep, but her wet strands of hair and her chalk white flesh attested to her fate.Humberto had been standing watch over the body, his battered hat in his hands, his fingers working the brim around and around in his anxious state.Elena said something to him in Italian and he answered back in quick, clipped sentences.Then he bowed to the countess and left the couple alone with the dead girl. 


"Humberto says she simply drowned," Elena stated as she gripped Charles' hand."I assume that Marianne went into the water to bathe, to cleanse herself after her initiation.She swam out too far where there are large clots of reeds that can be dangerous if you tangle in them.No doubt, she became caught in the tendrils and they dragged her down before she could cry out for help."


Chapter 43