This Wicked Wednesday treat is a little tidbit from my March 2009 release in THE CALLING Vampire Novels — FURY CALLS.

It’s such a WOO HOO 🙂 for me to be able to say THE CALLING is back and with not only a fury, but with a vengeance (LOL! – VENGEANCE CALLS will be out in 2010). It’s a series of my heart and I’m blessed to be able to continue it.

So after HONOR CALLS in February (a Nocturne Bites novella), you’ll finally get to see the conclusion to Blake and Meghan’s story. Those of you who have been with THE CALLING for awhile may remember their first appearance in TEMPTATION CALLS back in 2005 as well as Blake’s appearance in the free read, DESIRE CALLS.

Now I finally get to give Blake and Meghan their full and complete story and it’s become one of my favorites. I hope it’ll become one of yours as well.

So without further ado, here’s today excerpt from FURY CALLS.

Blake Richards shuffled the empty glass from one hand to the other across the pitted surface of the bar.

The remnants of cheap beef blood clung to the sides of the glass, painting it with thick fingers of red-violet. A vintage libation fresh from one of The Blood Bank’s regular human contributors would have left far less proof of the nature of the grisly beverage.

But then again, maybe it was that no self-respecting vampire would leave behind a drop of something so fine as fresh human blood.

Something so fine which was relatively lacking tonight, Blake thought and glanced around the interior of the bar. In recent weeks there had been a decided decline in the number of vampires frequenting the bar and that had resulted in a slowly decreasing stream of humans seeking the more dangerous fun and games for which the Blood Bank was known in Manhattan’s undead underworld.

Rumor had it that a goodly number of his fellow vamps had begun pairing off with some of the more intrepid humans and taken their business to Otro Mundo, the new hangout that Ryder Latimer and Diego Rivera had opened adjacent to Diego’s art gallery in Soho.

Otro Mundo provided fine dining and the possibility for other adventures in the kinds of decadent surroundings that the two older vampires had experienced over the course of their long lives.

Apparently the two human wanna-bes had struck a chord with a growing contingent of the undead, providing them and their human consorts with such opulence that the Blood Bank no longer held any interest. Not that he would know much about such opulence, he thought, recalling the hungry days of his youth in Wales.

After his father had been killed in a coal mining accident, his family had been forced to live off whatever they could grow on their small plot of land. Not nearly enough for the brood of six. At times his hunger had been so great that he would make a thin soup from whatever greens he could gather in the woods so that he could leave what little food they had for his mother and younger siblings.

Until he had found a way to earn some money. He considered now that starving might have been better.

Shoving those painful recollections away, Blake scoped out the occupants of the bar, needing to satisfy the hunger that the inexpensive beef’s blood had failed to quench.

As his gaze swept over the dance floor, he noticed the attractive blonde moving to the hard beats of the music spewing from the Blood Bank’s stereo system. Foley, the owner of the Blood Bank, was too cheap to hire live musicians.

When she turned in his direction as she danced, her gaze briefly skimmed across his.

He thought he detected a glimmer of interest there and so he rose, added a bit of swagger to his walk as he approached the dance floor. He weaved through the crowd of people gyrating and grinding to the deep bass beat until he was just an arm’s length from the blonde.

No doubt remained about her interest as he came near since she shot a knowing grin his way. He joined her in the dance, her luscious young body plastered to his, sweet firm buttocks caressing his front, but even as he did so, he knew the attractive chit could only fulfill one need — his thirst for blood.

Satisfaction of an emotional kind had eluded him for too long and as for the physical . . .

His recent interlude with vampire elder Stacia had taught him a thing or two about physical satisfaction. Despite how good it had been with the beautiful and powerful elder, it had occurred to him too quickly in the relationship that there was something lacking.

Something he hadn’t experienced since . . .

He drove thoughts of her away as the young woman eased up onto her toes, slipped an arm around his neck and drew his head near. She whispered into his ear, “Would you like to go somewhere more private?”

She inclined her head in the direction of the Blood Bank’s back rooms and he knew just what she wanted — a quick tryst and maybe even some painful play with the toys Foley kept in the rooms for his more daring clientele.

He smiled, slipped his hand into hers and quickly strode toward the vampire guarding the hall to those private back rooms, intending to fulfill the young woman’s needs and his own.

But even as he did so, memories sprang up of the last young blonde he had taken into that area. Of the joy and pain that tryst had brought.

He cursed beneath his breath as all desire fled.