“We’re going to let you get some rest,” Eidolon said, and Wraith felt a slow burn of panic, followed immediately by shame that he was afraid to be alone.
Somehow, Eidolon knew. “We’ll be in the next room. One of us will always be here.” His gaze locked with Wraith’s. “No one will hurt you like that again, brother. You have my word.”
No, no one would. Because once he was on his feet again, he was going to spend every waking moment training. To kill. And then he was going to hunt vampires until their kind was extinct.
“Hey,” Shade said softly. “I recognize that look. Too well. Just concentrate on getting better, and know we have your back.”
Wraith’s brothers left the room, and as he watched them leave, a strange, churning sensation filled his chest. Hatred and bitterness took up the majority of the space, but woven in there was something else… something he’d never felt. Gratitude? Affection?
Maybe not the latter, but he appreciated what his brothers had done. And no matter what, he couldn’t deny that, for the first time in his life, he didn’t feel so alone.
THE DISH
Where authors give you the inside scoop!
From the desk of Michelle Rowen
Dear Reader,
When I began writing my Immortality Bites series, I thought it would be fun to play with vampire myths. As a longtime fan of vampire fiction, I wanted to see vamps more as heroes than villains. To do that, I had to humanize them a lot. Gone went death-by-sunlight—my vamps can go out during the day. Gone went the compulsion to sink their fangs into any unsuspecting neck—my vamps get their blood from sterilized sources and well-paid donors. Gone went the idea that vamps are undead—my vamps breathe and have regular heartbeats. I kept a few things, though: immortality, extra strength, no reflection, and the fact that my vampires were pursued by hunters who really wanted to slay them.
Now with the fourth book in the series, STAKES & STILETTOS, I asked myself, at this point, what’s the absolute worst thing that could happen to my heroine, Sarah Dearly? And it was very simple, really. Now that she’s somewhat accustomed to being a regular, everyday vampire who doesn’t have to worry about any of those nastier vampire myths, I should give all of them to her in full force.
So I cursed her—or rather, she’s cursed by a vengeful ex-classmate who’s gotten into dark magic big-time since high school—to become a “nightwalker.” These are the nasty vamps who give other vampires a bad reputation; the vamps who are the reason vampire hunters and their sharp wooden stakes exist.
Sarah now has a big problem. She can’t control her thirst for blood. She can’t go out during the day. She can’t enter a house without permission. Her heart has stopped beating and she’s officially room temperature. Her immortal life has gone from pretty good to absolutely horrific as she searches frantically, along with her master vampire boyfriend Thierry, to find a way to break the curse before it’s permanent.
Life for Sarah, forgive the pun, sucks.
In the most entertaining way possible, of course.
Happy reading!
www.michellerowen.com
From the desk of Larissa Ione
Dear Reader,
Ah, my boy Wraith. Of all the demon brothers, he’s the most, well… screwed up. Which, of course, is what makes him so fun.
As an avid reader and obsessed moviegoer, I’ve always found that my favorite characters are often not the heroes, but either the shadowy bad boy or the charismatic and/or messed-up buddy who hangs out with the hero.
In the TV series Angel I adored Angel, but there was always something darkly yummy about Spike. In the TV series Firefly, Malcolm was my favorite (after all, he is a bad boy), but the selfish, immoral, and wildly funny Jayne held a strange appeal for me, as well. And the movie Sahara? My favorite character wasn’t Matthew McConaughey’s Dirk Pitt; it was his goofy yet oddly competent sidekick, Al.
In my mind, Wraith was always a blend of those types of characters. Someone you either love or hate, maybe both at the same time. Because when these characters reveal their soft side, you still know that deep down, there’s a scary male in there, just waiting to emerge and kick someone’s butt. And when their dark side breaks the surface, watch out, because only a very special woman is going to be able to peel back those layers and find the tenderness inside.
In PASSION UNLEASHED, the third book in the Demonica series, Wraith finds that special woman, but having her means killing her, and suddenly, the wild, irreverent bad boy must make a choice that, no matter what he chooses, means someone will die.
I hope you enjoy Wraith’s story. And when you finish, please feel free to stop by my Web site at www.LarissaIone.com to learn more about my work and to say hello.
Hope to see you soon!
From the desk of Lori Wilde
Dear Reader,