Vampires. Christmas. New York City. Three of my favorite things all wrapped up into the first Holiday with a Vampire story that I did. Yes, I did a second one a year or so later – A Vampire for Christmas – but you’ll have to wait for that story which is set on the Jersey Shore and involves a Christmas angel and a vampire. Fate Calls Holiday with a Vampire features a Christmas do-gooder who is driving my cranky vampire crazy with her bell-ringing. I hope you enjoy this little teaser! In this scene, vampire Hadrian has used his powers to take Connie captive and what follows is…interesting.

Teaser

When Connie Morales volunteers to help raise money by manning a collection kettle, the last thing she expects is to be whisked away by devastatingly handsome vampire Hadrian who is upset with her bell-ringing and Christmas cheer.

Vampire Hadrian has known nothing but pain during the holidays and cannot imagine that any good can come out of them or the annoying Santa who has interrupted his rest. But as Christmas approaches, Hadrian finds it impossible to ignore the hope and joy that Connie has brought into his lifeless existence.

Connie is shocked to find out that her captor is less than human, but little by little the cracks appear in his hard exterior to reveal a man capable of great love and honor.

Can Connie’s holiday with a vampire become something more or will Fate bring yet more pain and loss to Hadrian’s undead life?

Order

Amazon: https://amzn.to/3mJ7IOn
Apple: https://apple.co/37AOiol
B&N: http://bit.ly/BNFateCalls
Kobo: http://bit.ly/KoboFateCalls
Scribd: http://bit.ly/ScribdFateCalls
Vivlio: http://bit.ly/VivlioFateCalls

Excerpt:

Warning for Mature Audiences Only

Once inside, he shut the door behind them with a sweep of his hand and faced her.
With the brisk winter wind gone, a slightly sour aroma permeated the air around her. He wrinkled his nose and motioned to the Santa suit.

“Take it off.”

Her hands clenched into tight fists at her sides and once again, he felt the pull and push of power between them as she defied him.

Interesting.

He took a step closer and raised his hand to the neck of the Santa suit, where he found the pull for the zipper. As the back of his hand skimmed the slick black shirt beneath, her body trembled.

“Don’t tell me you’re a virgin,” he said while slowly drawing down the zipper on the suit, revealing the ample curves of her breasts beneath the shimmer of the tight-fitting fabric.

He suddenly itched to touch those breasts but contained himself.

Before pleasure came punishment for her defiance.

To his continued surprise, she tilted back her head and with only a slight hitch in her voice to give away her discomfort said, “Just because I’m not a virgin doesn’t mean I’m not virtuous. I dislike being pawed by the likes of you.”

Hadrian chuckled as he completely unzipped the top of the Santa suit. “The likes of me?”

“You won’t get away with this.”

He laughed again, amused by her spirit. “Who will stop me?”

He picked up his hand and once again had to fight the urge to cup her breast. His human desire confused him. It had been quite some time since he had felt it. Instead of giving in to it, he cradled the side of her face and leaned close until his nose barely brushed hers.

“Who will stop me? You?”

“Yes, me.” Her voice exploded against his lips, the spill of her breath warm and all too tempting.

A harsh laugh escaped him this time as he met her gaze. “How will you—”

“There are laws—”

“And I suppose you know all those laws,” he said and inched his hand downward, but not to her breast. Instead, he slipped his hand beneath the fabric at her shoulder. With a forceful nudge he sent the offensive Santa suit to the parquet floor.

“I’m a lawyer,” she said, reaching for his hands as he moved to the drawstring at her waist.

His laugh this time was sharp and unrestrained. “A lawyer. There are some who might say there is not much difference between the two of us.”

Her eyebrows narrowed once again before she thoughtfully asked, “And why is that?”

He unleashed the demon, transforming into a vampire. When he spoke, his voice was tinged with the low rumble of the beast he had let loose.

“Because we are both bloodsuckers, aren’t we?”

***

The blood drained from Connie’s body, creating the chill of fear as she examined the demon who now stood before her.

The dark chocolate-brown of his pupils had bled out, replaced by an eerie neon blue-green glow. Long and lethal-looking fangs had erupted from beneath the edge of his full top lip, past his pouty lower lip, down to the middle of his chin.

She had placed her hands over his as they rested at the tie to the suit’s drawstring. Now she knew that the cold of his skin wasn’t from the weather outside.

And then she told herself she had to be dreaming or hallucinating. There were no such things as vampires. Closing her eyes, she willed herself to wake, but when she opened her eyes again, things were as they had been before. This was all too real.

Containing her fear and summoning every last bit of her courage, she said, “Then I guess you owe me some professional courtesy.”

The hands resting beneath hers jumped. He shifted back to peruse her face. Arching a lush, dark brow, he asked, “Professional courtesy?”

“From one bloodsucker to another.”

The laughter that erupted from him was full and rich as he threw his head back. His body shook with it.

Human mirth, she thought, since it lacked the earlier animal rumble she had heard. When he faced her once again, her perception was confirmed. All traces of the vampire were gone and what remained were the handsome features that had snared her attention earlier.

“You are…intriguing.”

“Let me go,” she said again even as she felt the shove of power that had compelled her to put down the bell and follow him, no matter how hard she tried to fight it.

“I think not.”

Beneath her hands, his nimble fingers worked the drawstring and loosened the waistband until the pants puddled at her feet, leaving her standing before him in the tight and rather revealing underwear.

Interest flared in his gaze as he perused her body. To her surprise, she felt herself responding.

He might be a demon, but he was a damned attractive one and he was gazing at her as if he wanted to eat her.

But then again that is what he might truly want to do, Connie reminded herself.

But not before some pleasure, her brain surmised, rocking her with the reality that the man standing before her could control her every thought and action.

Fear came again as it had before. Her body trembled as he moved his hand to her neck, but all he did was pluck the lanyard with the key to the library from around her neck.

He held it out to the side and said, “George.”

A man scurried from the shadows behind him. Connie hadn’t noticed him standing there before.

“Yes, Hadrian,” he said with an obsequious bob of his head.

Hadrian. At least the demon now had a name. An interesting one at that.

Hadrian jiggled the lanyard up and down. “Please take this key and put Miss…” He paused, waiting for her to answer.

“Connie Morales. And it’s Ms. Morales.”

A glimmer of a smile flashed across his lips before he said, “Please put Ms. Morales’s things away, would you? And do something about that Santa suit.”

“It is rather rank, isn’t it?” George quickly took the key but had to wait for her to step from the puddle of the pants before he scurried away to do Hadrian’s bidding.

“Do you always get what you want?” she asked, intrigued despite the danger of the situation.

In a millisecond the human disappeared, and the vampire emerged, his movements so swift they were a blur. And then she felt the sharp edges of his fangs at her neck.

“Always,” he said and then pain swept her away as he sank his teeth deep into her flesh.

I am so excited about SOUTH BEACH LOVE, my May 2021 release from Hallmark Publishing. I loved playing around with all the recipes that the chefs are using in their battle to give their niece’s the best Sweet Fifteen parties ever and to snag the feature spot in a local magazine’s article on quinceañeras!

I wasn’t lucky enough to have a quinceañera when I turned fifteen, but it was important for me and my daughter to restore that tradition. I also loved sharing it with you in SOUTH BEACH LOVE. I hope you’ll enjoy taking part in that tradition through the book and also enjoy the romance between Tony and Sara, the two chefs in the story!

So here’s a little teaser for you from SOUTH BEACH LOVE and a picture of my daughter, hubby, and me at her quinceañera. You can find out more about SOUTH BEACH LOVE at http://bit.ly/SouthBeachLove.

Excerpt

“Chef, there’s someone out there who says he’s an old friend.”

Sara peered over the half wall that separated her restaurant’s open kitchen from the dining area. As her hostess jerked her head in the direction of the front door, Sara craned her neck to see an older, but unquestionably memorable face, at the hostess podium. A face she had dreamed about more than once as a teen.

“OMG,” she heard from beside her. “Is that Tony Sanchez? The Tony Sanchez?” said Jeri, her business partner, fellow chef, and long-time best friend.  Inches shorter than Sara, Jeri had to rise on tiptoes to peer over the half-wall.

“None other,” Sara said as she grabbed a towel to dry her hands and shot a quick look at a starstruck Jeri. Her aqua blue eyes were wide with surprise in a face of flawless café con leche skin.  “Can you handle things for a few minutes?”

At Jeri’s nod, Sara rushed out to greet Tony. She told herself not to make too much of how his smile widened when he spotted her, or how his eyes, those melty chocolate-colored eyes, warmed as he settled his gaze on her.  But it was impossible to stop how her heartbeat picked up speed that he was here and seemingly happy to see her.

Hugs had always been freely given by the Sanchez family, but she held her hands out to him to avoid a hug, uncertain of how she’d react to the embrace.  “It’s been way too long, Tony.” Nine years and eight months, give or take. Not that she was counting.

Liar, the little voice in her head chastised.  Even though Tony had left Miami behind, she’d eagerly followed all his accomplishments.  Even dared to wonder if he’d ever make Miami his home again.

Tony took both her hands in his and playfully wagged them. “You’ve grown up, chiquitica.”

She laughed and tried to ignore the tingle building where her hands rested in his. Slowly she eased her hands free. “I couldn’t stay ten forever. You look good,” she said and prayed it didn’t sound too much like flirting. To cover for it, she blurted out, “What brings you to Miami?”

“Family,” he said and glanced around the restaurant. “I ran into Rick the other day and he mentioned you had a place, so I decided to come by and say ‘Hello.’”

“Well, hello,” she said, feeling more and more like a tongue-tied fool with every passing second. “Monica will get you a table.” She waved at the hostess and when the young woman came by, she said, “Please seat Tony as soon as you can.”

He raised his hand in a ‘stop’ motion. “Por favor, no special treatment.”

Sara peered around the dining room. Every table was full inside and a quick look through the windows confirmed the outdoor seats were all taken. Plus there were quite a number of people milling around outside waiting to be seated.

“It may be a while,” she said with an apologetic grimace.

Tony mimicked her action, scrutinizing the restaurant and outdoor area. “I can wait. I’ve got all night. And if I’m still here when the rush is over, maybe we can grab a coffee later?”

Coffee? With Tony? Butterflies erupted in her stomach, but she somehow got the word out. “S-s-s-ure,” she stammered and without waiting for his reply, she rushed back to the kitchen before she embarrassed herself even more.

“You’re blushing. I’ve never seen you blush before,” Jeri kidded as Sara resumed the final plating of the nearly complete orders.

“It’s the heat in the kitchen,” she said, although her partner probably knew it was a lie.

“Sure, Sara. The heat and not…” Her friend paused and looked over the wall to where Tony waited outside, just beyond the entrance to the restaurant. “That hot guy you obviously have a crush on.”

“Not a crush,” she said and jerked tickets off the board to place them and the finished plates on the counter. Like clockwork her servers came over to pick up the meals and take them to their respective tables.

“Sure thing, Sara. Whatever you say,” Jeri teased as she finished up an order of sliders by topping them with slices of perfectly grilled foie gras. When she was done, she passed the plates to Sara for the final touch of caramelized onion compote before a toasted brioche bun top completed the slider and the order went up on the counter.

“Please, Jeri, leave it alone,” she pleaded and with a reluctant nod, her partner returned her focus to the new orders while Sara prayed that she wouldn’t make a fool of herself with Tony when it came time to chat with him.  She’d tried to keep her crush a secret from him and if he’d ever noticed it, he’d been gentleman enough not to mention it.

She wanted to keep it that way.

He had his restaurant and life in New York and she was here in Miami and never the twain would meet.

But in the back of her mind, she wondered, “What if?”

Despite the drop in the temperature, I’m still trying to hold on to summer which is my favorite time of year, followed by spring and fall. Winter, OMG not my fav at all. So I’m trying to help you keep summer with you by having some special pricing on ONE SUMMER NIGHT and NEVER A BRIDE from the At the Shore series. You can check them out at https://amzn.to/2YZF2pE. Also check out this excerpt from NEVER A BRIDE!

Excerpt

“I can see you’re all having fun, but did you decide on any of the tuxes I picked out?” she said as she peered at Jonathan, Owen, and Andy, and wondered where Carlo was hiding.

Jonathan sauntered over, grabbed the last piece of sandwich, placed it on a plate, and handed it to her. “Eat. It’s way past lunch hour and you’re cranky.”

“I’m not cranky,” she said, but her stomach complained noisily, forcing her to add, “Just hungry.”

“More like hangry,” he teased. Grinning, Jonathan laid an arm over her shoulders and walked her to the leather wing chair beside a massive leather couch where Andy and Owen sat sipping beers. She joined them there and took a bite of the sandwich, nearly moaning as the flavors of the tender roast pork, bitter broccoli rabe, and sweet mozzarella cheese exploded in her mouth. Not to mention Carlo’s secret garlicky tomato sauce, the game-changer that had made him a champion on a network cooking show.

After swallowing, she glanced around the room at the men. “So what’s up? Where are the tuxes I left out for you?”

“We decided we’re not tux kind of guys. Well, Owen is, but the rest of us are just plain ol’ suit types,” Jonathan said as he sat on the arm of her chair.

She arched a brow. “And Carlo?”

Owen gestured with his beer bottle to the dressing room. “He’s in there.”

Wondering if Carlo needed help, she walked over and knocked.

“Come in,” he said.

She did only to find Carlo standing there in nothing but his tidy whities and a white shirt that was too small for his broad shoulders. The shirt hung open in front giving her a glimpse of what lay beneath the fabric.

Her heart did a little stutter at the sight of him, all lean sculpted muscle and smooth skin with the remnants of a summer tan. Heat suffused her and her face warmed in a blush.

If Carlo noticed, he did his best to hide it as he fought to pull the shirt closed and said, “I never knew that the buttons on your suit sleeve said so much about a man. If they’re real. Stitched. Horn. Who knew?”

She took a few hesitant steps until she was close to him and brushed his hands away as he struggled to button the shirt. “This shirt is absolutely the wrong size, but the style will suit you,” she said and smoothed the fabric across his broad shoulders and chest.

At his ragged sigh, she looked up and met his gaze. The desire there was impossible to miss and she should have stopped touching him. She should have moved away, but she couldn’t.

“You’re not playing fair, Emma,” he said, a rough grumble in his voice as he laid his hands at her waist.

“I’m sorry. It’s just so scary to think about changing what we are,” she said and finally stepped away from him and wrapped her arms around herself.

He raked his hands through his thick cocoa brown hair, tousling the ever-present waves. “I’m not your father, Emma. I would never hurt you. I respect you.”

“I know,” she said, but inside there was still too much fear and doubt. “I just need a little more time, Carlo. And you said you’re a patient man, remember,” she teased, trying to ease the tension in the room.

“I am, but I’m not a saint either. When you touch me . . . I want to touch too, Emma, but I can wait. Just promise me one thing.”

She was afraid to ask what she had to promise but fought back her fear. “I guess it depends on what the promise is.”

With another ragged sigh, he shrugged his shoulders, straining the fabric of the shirt. “I feel like a tool. Promise you’ll make sure I look okay because I’m not a suit kind of guy.”

She grinned and was about to reach out to smooth the linen over his shoulders again but jerked her hand away and locked it with her other hand behind her back to keep from touching him again. Meeting his gaze, she said, “I promise.”

You can purchase NEVER A BRIDE at the following retailers:

Amazon Kindle: https://amzn.to/2MLZRyK
Apple Books: https://books.apple.com/us/book/id1482927575
B&N: bit.ly/BN_Bride
Kobo: bit.ly/kobo_Bride

Today’s teaser and free read are from HONOR CALLS! HONOR CALLS is available for free on Kindle Unlimited.

Teaser

FBI Assistant Director Jesus Hernandez deals with crime on a regular basis in New York City. But nothing can explain what he sees in the alley behind a Goth bar called the Blood Bank: a young warrior woman slaying what appears to be a vampire. Jesus is skeptical at first, but vampire slayer Michaela Ramirez won’t give up until he believes in the demons and monsters that inhabit the city. As Michaela draws him deeper into her deadly world of darkness and danger, he finds her courage and honor to be more than he can resist…

But Michaela has secrets of her own and fears telling Jesus that she is part vampire herself. She’s falling hard for the tempting FBI agent, only everyone she’s ever loved has either run away…or died and Michaela is afraid to risk her heart and Jesus’s life for a chance at love.

Free Read

Ahead of him and about four small blocks down was a line of people at a nondescript building—the Blood Bank, he assumed. The line was relatively long, considering the hour, and it was filled with a decidedly rough-looking crowd clad in black leather and metal. That at least was not very different from what he had expected.

As he proceeded along the cobblestones, bright with the light from a full moon and uneven beneath his shoes, he kept a wary eye on the smaller, narrower side streets and tight gaps between the buildings. It was at the mouth of one of those alleys that the last body had been found.

Or at least, parts of the body.

A grunt, loud and painful sounding, snared his attention. Two turn-of-the-century brick buildings, built so closely together that the moonlight did little to illuminate the area between them, did a good job of hiding whatever activity was going on in the gap.

Another grunt was followed by the din of metal trash cans crashing together.

Definitely a fight and, judging from the sounds of it, someone was getting their ass kicked.

Jesus pulled out his Sig and advanced to the opening of the alley. He took a step within and let his eyes adjust to the lack of light, revealing the two people locked together in combat. One was tall and much bigger than the other, and as they grappled together, the light from a side-door lamp illuminated their features.

The smaller one was a woman, while the other…

Eerily bright blazing eyes shot a glance his way while long white fangs gleamed under the artificial light of the lamp. The creature growled at him, the sound like the rumble of a mountain lion, but then turned back toward the woman.

Jesus blinked, unable to believe what he was seeing, but another glimpse of the creature’s face confirmed what he was—a vampire. Or at least, someone posing as one.

The much smaller woman had her arms braced against the creature’s jacket, trying to keep those wickedly long fangs away from her face, but with the vampire’s greater height and bulk, Jesus feared she might be fighting a losing battle.

Ño, he cursed as she continued with the fight, totally ignoring his presence.

The creature spun the woman around and as the light swept over her face, he could tell she was young. Mid-twenties he guessed before she whirled out of sight again, struggling to break away from the demon’s grasp.

With a quick upward jab of her arm, the woman snapped the creature’s head back. It emitted a louder growl, but the woman’s blow did little to slow the demon. It reached behind to grab the woman by the scruff of her neck and whip her against a brick wall. She hit with a thick thud and fell to the ground dazed, prompting Jesus to action.

“FBI. Stop or I’ll shoot,” he called out, training his gun on the demon as it took a step toward her.

The thing actually halted and looked at him. What he guessed passed for a smile erupted on its face, but then a second later the demon reeled back, grabbing at its chest with long taloned fingers.

The woman had buried a wooden stake deep into its chest.

Shock filled the creature’s face, mirroring Jesus’ own surprise as he realized she had just killed someone… Ño, make that something, before his eyes.

Blood leaked from around the edges of the stake, staining the off-white shirt the man-beast wore. It stood, hands flailing, long nails clacking against the stake, disbelief on its face before the look became blank and the creature dropped to the ground.

“One down, too many more to go,” the woman said, her voice deeper than what he would have expected from someone so petite. She nudged the creature’s body with the toe of her black boot and then bent to examine it, as if to make sure she had finished the job.

One down, huh? He turned his gun on her and warned, “FBI. Put your hands up.”

She faced him and just for a moment he thought he saw a hint of fang at her mouth and a glow in her gaze, but then she stepped into the puny shaft of light from the side lamp on the building.

Her face was anything but demon-like.

Order

You can order HONOR CALLS at https://amzn.to/3etq2aL.

I’m so so excited about the re-release of HONOR CALLS, one of the novellas in The Calling is Reborn Vampire series.
In HONOR CALLS you get to meet Michaela Ramirez, a vampire slayer with a dark secret of her own. You also get to learn more about FBI Assistant Director in Charge Jesus Hernandez who has appeared in a number of novels in the series. I always loved Jesus and his strong calm in the face of so much craziness. He was the perfect foil for impetuous and headstrong Michaela. When Jesus and Michaela get together – WATCH OUT! This is one of the sexier stories in the series and you can read Michaela and Jesus’s full story in DIE FOR LOVE.

Teaser

A Vampire Romantic Suspense Novella

FBI Assistant Director Jesus Hernandez deals with crime on a regular basis in New York City. But nothing can explain what he sees in the alley behind a Goth bar called the Blood Bank: a young warrior woman slaying what appears to be a vampire. Jesus is skeptical at first, but vampire slayer Michaela Ramirez won’t give up until he believes in the demons and monsters that inhabit the city. As Michaela draws him deeper into her deadly world of darkness and danger, he finds her courage and honor to be more than he can resist….

But Michaela has secrets of her own and fears telling Jesus that she is part vampire herself. She’s falling hard for the tempting FBI agent, only everyone she’s ever loved has either run away…or died and Michaela is afraid to risk her heart and Jesus’s life for a chance at love.

Excerpt

Chapter 1

Michaela had been tracking the vampire since she’d sensed the elder during her scouting mission in Central Park.
He wasn’t the one she sought, but the heightened thrum of his power told her he had just killed. Reason enough to pursue him until she could find the right vampire and dispatch him.

Then and only then could she leave New York City for a kinder, gentler place.

She discovered the elder vamp’s victim just beyond one of the jogging paths. The kill was fresh, the scent of the elder strong on the female runner who had been tossed into the underbrush like garbage. As Michaela bent to examine the jogger’s body in its shredded clothes, she realized the vampire had not just been content to drain the woman of blood. The victim had been sexually assaulted as well and in the most brutal of ways—ripped apart by the vampire sating his lust.

Michaela opened her senses to pick up every last scintilla of the elder’s trail, from the metallic taste of the victim’s blood on his breath to the unique wake of energy the immortal left behind.

She reached the southern end of the park and something ahead of her spooked one of the horses attached to a hansom cab waiting along Central Park South. The animal reared up, hooves flailing.

She darted behind the cab and caught a glimpse of a blurry figure speeding through Grand Army Plaza. As she raced to the fountain in the center of the square, the pulse of undead power beat at her more strongly, signaling that she was getting closer to the ancient vampire.

Another indistinct flash weaving through the pedestrians on Fifth Avenue confirmed the immortal was within her reach.

She focused on that vague shape, keeping a watchful eye and a respectful distance as she chased after him. She could not engage the vampire elder out in the open where either humans or other vampires might see what was happening. To do so might expose her presence in the city and possibly bring down the wrath of the vampire council.

Despite her caution, the elder must have sensed that he was being followed.

He increased his speed, weaving in and out of the humans on the sidewalks, climbing to the rooftop of a building in lower Midtown Manhattan and leaping from one structure to the next before dropping to the ground. The vampire moved at an almost frantic pace, as if he knew the nature of her mission.

Michaela kept up her determined pursuit, patiently waiting for the moment when the time would be right. She dodged pedestrians and vehicles as the vampire attempted to elude her, well aware that she had to act before the immortal reached the safe haven of the Blood Bank.

If he made it there, she would have to pull back and wait for another night. There were too many undead in that place to risk a confrontation within its doors.

Too many, and she was just one against them.

She drove back the crush of loneliness that nearly choked her, reminding herself that there was no other way. Her life held too much death and destruction; it hindered any kind of personal commitments.

The few people she had allowed to get close had run away when they discovered the truth about her existence.

The truth about her.

Or they’d ended up dead.

In Union Square, the vampire geared down to human speed, using that pace to lose himself amongst the many mortals still present in the park. The beat of the humans’ life forces and their scents served to disguise his presence.

Michaela paused at the far edge of the square, examining the walkways, attempting to separate the humans from her undead prey, but she was unable to pin down the immortal. She waited, hopeful that once the elder moved beyond the boundaries of the crowded area, she would be able to pick up his presence once again.

Her wait was futile.

Long minutes passed with no activity that she could discern.

She finally acknowledged that she had been bested by his subterfuge, but that didn’t mean the chase was over.

She knew just where the vampire was likely to go.

If she could beat him there, she still might be able to take him out before he reached the safety of the nightclub.
Hustling at breakneck speed, she arrived at the mouth of the small cobblestoned street that led to the Blood Bank.

At the club’s door was the ever-present vampire bouncer and crowd of humans waiting to mingle with both wannabe and real vampires. Not to mention the occasional shape-shifter brave enough to cross into bloodsucker territory.

Michaela had never understood the human fascination with the undead, the near veneration for the amoral creatures who had taken so much from her and others.

Vampires weren’t meant to be idolized, she thought.

They were meant to be exterminated.

As she felt the presence at her back, she realized she had guessed right about the vampire elder.

She had barely half turned to face him when he lashed out at her, nails as sharp as eagle’s talons raking across her jacket. The leather did its job, keeping his nails from tearing into her flesh.

Bending backward, she avoided the deeper thrust of another vicious swipe toward her midsection and then dropped down to sweep the vampire’s feet out from under him.

He landed with a thick thud, while she was immediately back on her feet after a quick jerk and launch of her body, a nice sharp wooden stake in her hand.

“Not what you thought, fang boy?” she taunted as she stood, arms akimbo, above the prone body of the stunned elder.

With a swift move of his own, the vampire surged to his feet, fully transformed. His eyes glowed with a piercing teal-blue light. Long deadly fangs erupted from his mouth and ended at a point below his chin. Such a prodigious length of tooth testified to his longevity. The strength of his elder power jabbed at her senses, threatening just by its very existence.

This vamp would not go quickly, she thought as the elder issued a warning growl and lunged at her again, beginning a dance that could end in only one way….

With one of them dead.

I am so excited to have my dear friend Linda Parisi here with me today to talk about her new release BLOOD ROGUE! Linda is a long-time friend and this is a great book. Please welcome Linda and check out her book at https://books2read.com/u/47X6Rj. And now, here’s Linda!

All About Linda

I’d like to take a moment to thank my wonderful friend and author, Caridad Pineiro, for asking me to join her for a few moments. You see, not only do Caridad and I go back a way, we also share a love—writing about vampires. And guess what? HONOR CALLS, the second book in her vampire series, just re-released. That means my newest book, BLOOD ROGUE, has some damned good company on the bookshelves.

Why do I write about vampires? Simple question, not so simple answer. I guess the first answer is that I fell in love with these sexy, dark, angsty characters. There is pathos in the way vampires are portrayed, they’re evil, they drink blood, they kill people. And yet, they yearn to be loved, they yearn to be human again. And, of course, there’s always redemption. For an author, redemption is so much fun to write. No matter how bad they are, I can make my vampires better, even lovable. And so, so HOT!

For the BLOOD ROGUE series, I wanted to combine my day and night jobs. During the day, I’m a clinical research scientist. Fun fact, my first job was in a blood bank. Not kidding! Right out of college. Fun fact! The New York cell is a mansion and estate on the banks of the Hudson River and houses a blood donation center with banks of refrigerators housed right in the bedrock of the Palisades. Run by humans but overseen by vampires!

At night, I write. My books are character-driven first, then I build my world around them. In my vampire world, humans aren’t supposed to know vampires exist. Each time a vampire feeds, he/she enthralls the human with Lethe so they won’t remember what happened. So I asked, what if I create a human that doesn’t become enthralled, and whose very existence threatens vampire anonymity? What if I created a drug that made vampires sick and that sickness meant they could drain human after human, yet not be sated? Could my heroine, Stacy Morgan, a forensic chemist and blood banker, find out what it was before the High Council decided she was no longer of use? Could my hero, vampire Charles Tower, find out who was using it to create these rogue vampires? Could I create a vampire world, complete with vampire politics, that’s being threatened by human and rogue alike?

If you’d like to find out more, please stop by my website at www.lindajparisi.com or you can purchase BLOOD ROGUE on Amazon at https://books2read.com/u/47X6Rj.

Thank you for spending time with me. If you enjoy reading about BLOOD ROGUE, the second book in the ROGUE series, HONORABLE ROGUE, will be available from City Owl Press in July 2021.

Teaser

There is the blood and can only ever be the blood.

Vampire Charles Tower never knew anything sweeter than the taste of Stacy Morgan’s lips. He never imagined anything crueler than her being marked for death by the only father he’s ever known. Mikhail reared him. Taught him how to survive. Now he’s gone rogue and it’s up to Charles to put the man down.

But can Chaz convince himself and Stacy that love between them is impossible?
That’s hard to do with a woman like Stacy Morgan, especially when she offers herself up as bait. Now they must fight against the centuries-old customs that bar them from being together and the rogue vampire who wants every last drop of Stacy’s blood before they can discover why Mikhail isn’t the only BLOOD ROGUE they’ll have to face.

Excerpt

Something was wrong. Stacy couldn’t right herself. The world kept spinning out of control.
“I’m sorry, Stacy.”

Her body still pulsed with the aftershocks of an amazing orgasm, but she couldn’t get the room to balance, she felt drunk, higher than a kite. Damn him, he’d used the thrall.

“I won’t let you sacrifice yourself for something you should never have been involved in.”

“You won’t what?” Stacy tried to lift her head. The room tilted when she did. “You bastard,” she cried, realizing what he’d done. “You…you didn’t…”

Such sadness. After such pleasure. “Not exactly.”

Stacy tried to gather her thoughts. As she did, he covered her with a sheet and rose. She’d never seen such steely determination in his face before. “You’re going after him by yourself.”

“To keep you safe.”

“That’s not your choice.”

“It is now. I drank enough of your blood so you won’t get out of this bed and try to be a hero.”

“Did you really think that was my only motivation? That I was doing this to be a hero?”

He stared down at her, his gaze unchanged. “You’ll be all right after you sleep it off. Go to sleep.”

“No, I won’t.”

She struggled to sit up and fell back onto the bed, too weak to get up. She tried again, only to have the room spin out of control.

“Why?” she asked, her thoughts a mass of contradictions.

“Because I love you.”

She watched Chaz turn on his heel and leave the room. She had to close her eyes again to get the room to stop spinning. She could hear him throwing his clothes on in the other room. Then she heard him stop in the doorway.

“I’ll never forgive you,” she said, her tone flat and her stare hard as she opened them. He was leaning against the doorjamb. He looked anything but nonchalant.

“I’d never forgive myself if something happened to you. So we’re even.”