Sunday Snippets – Seventh Circle – paranormal vampire romance novel excerpt

It’s time for this week’s Sunday Snippet from one of my paranormal romance books. While I’m away, my snippets are going to vary between full length chapters and teasing snippets. Which will it be today?

Lilith couldn’t believe that this was happening. In her own compound was a vampire. A vampire!

The only thing worse than that was the fact he was her client.

What sick and twisted joke was this? It was the last thing she needed after Jackson’s death. This place, her home, was supposed to be her sanctuary from the demons. Here, she was meant to be able to find peace. Now it felt too small, too packed with people, and a vampire was shadowing her.

Her hand hovered over her pocket, over her stake.

She scowled at the vampire.

He stared back at her with intense brown eyes, calm, relaxed and utterly unfazed. His pose as he leaned against the wall outside Daniel’s office, his expression, everything about him said that he didn’t fear her. She was no threat to him.

Hunters turned the corner. All men. Seven of them. They stopped, stared, grouped together to regard the vampire with suspicious eyes. It was only a matter of time before they figured out he wasn’t human. She watched the exchange of looks between them and the vampire, curious to see what would happen.

It began as a quiet string of murmured comments among the men and grew into a restless moving as they jostled each other, provoking one another, trying to make one step forward.

Her gaze flicked to the vampire. He seemed wholly unbothered by this on the surface. Her acute senses said different. She could detect the faint threads of his underlying tension and anger, and the incredible restraint that controlled them.

One of the men stepped forwards and twirled his stake, his air cocky. Lilith expected the vampire to move. He didn’t. He stared straight at the man, facing him, neither retreating nor attacking. He was holding his ground. She wondered why. The boys would be dead in seconds if he chose to attack. It would be a blood bath and no one would be able to stop him, not even her.

Why didn’t he?

They were taunting him enough, provoking him unduly considering that he was a client. She realised that was why the vampire wasn’t attacking. They would drive him from the compound if he did. They would revoke her services. He was clever.

Whatever this case was, it was of great importance to him, enough that he would only tell her the details and that he would endure the impotent threats of the young hunters.

“Mr. Lincoln,” she said, stepping forwards. Her eyes met the men’s, every one of them, and she made sure they saw her anger at their actions.

They backed off, the one in front slipping his stake away as he gave her a look that was a mixture of disgust at her actions and shame at his own.

She watched them walk away, all too aware of the vampire’s eyes on her. They set her skin aflame as they trailed over her, called to her soul and begged her to look at him. She tightened the cords of her restraint, locking away the words of temptation her heart whispered. He was a vampire. He was a demon. She killed his kind. He murdered hers.

“Come with me.” Her tone was deadly, laced with all her anger over the death of her sister and Jackson, and all the others she’d seen in her lifetime.

The corridors were growing quiet now. Most of the hunters in the mansion would have turned in for the day, would be researching, or would be in the cafeteria for breakfast. Lilith led the vampire to a meeting room and opened the door. She didn’t hold it for him. She was too tired to play the chivalrous host, especially to a demon.

“So what’s the problem?” she said again, hoping he’d answer her this time.

He moved a good distance from her, his eyes still trailing fire over her body. She wished that he’d become ugly the second she’d recognised him for what he truly was. He was still handsome, barely thirty in appearance and tall, and powerful enough that she feared him to a degree.

Not that she was going to let him see that.

She took a seat at the long mahogany table. He continued to stare at her. Patience wasn’t her strong suit. If he didn’t talk soon, she was going to get physical. Right now, she didn’t need this. She wanted a hot shower and a long dream free sleep. Tonight’s patrol was one she didn’t want to replay in the vivid Technicolor of her dreams.

The vampire walked around the table and drew out the seat opposite her. He slid into it. His forearms rested along the length of the chair arms, his hands dangled limp over the ends.

“You do have a problem, right? That is why you’ve hired us? Although I can’t see why a vampire would hire a bunch of vampire hunters… unless you’re that desperate, or this has something to do with humans.”

“Neither. Sorry to disappoint those wild theories that are most likely running rampant through that pretty head of yours.”

She inwardly cringed at the reference to her looks. He clearly didn’t know he was only making the situation worse and increasing the likelihood of her attempting to stake him. Her fingers traced the shape of the stake in her pocket. It was a nice fantasy. Something told her she wouldn’t stand a chance against him though, at least not in her current state.

“It is a delicate matter.”

“Ah. Your girlfriend dumped you and you want us to stake her?” She whipped the stake in question out, hoping to get a reaction from him. His eyebrow rose. He didn’t even flinch.

“Again, nothing as simple as that.” He smiled, a real one this time, with no trace of malice.

He leaned further back into the chair and crossed his legs. Her gaze traversed his face, taking in his arched lips and straight nose, and stopped when her eyes met his.

She couldn’t look away, no matter how much she tried. She was a prisoner in her body, powerless to break the trance she was slipping into. Was this a vampire power? If it was, she’d never heard of it. She fell into the darkness of his eyes. It didn’t panic her as she felt it should. The blackness around her was soft, encompassing her in a cool featherlike embrace that made her want to close her eyes and breathe a sigh of relief. She found herself reaching out to it, wanting to touch it in return, and then pulled away. The room came back and she was staring at him. Her eyes narrowed into a glare. How did he make her feel so drawn to him, as though he was calling to her?

Clearing her throat in an attempt to look as though she was in control, she told herself that it was just the lingering effect of using her gift and nothing more.

“So, what is it?” she said.

Lincoln uncrossed his ankles and pushed back until he was balancing on two legs of the chair. What did he tell her? The truth? Deep inside, the voice that had kept him safe these past few months, his instinct, whispered to him to hold back and not tell her everything. She didn’t need to know every detail in order to help him. If he only told her a fraction of his problem, then he could test how resourceful these vampire hunters were.

Lincoln let the chair come forward with a snap and immediately stood. The woman jumped but recovered quickly. He studied her a moment, listening to the steady drumming of her heart, and then walked towards the windows. The curtains were drawn. He closed his eyes and reached out with his senses. It was already daylight outside.

Turning back towards the woman, he regarded her again. She seemed too young to be an adequate fighter, and definitely too young for the role fate had assigned her. He was beginning to get the terrible dark feeling that someone had been wrong. His life rested in the hands of this slip of a girl? What was the world coming to?

Clasping his hands behind his back, he returned to his chair. He pressed his palms into the bar across the backrest and frowned.

“I have a problem with a… prophecy of sorts,” Lincoln said, still deciding how much she really needed to know. The less he told her, the safer he was from her superiors, but the harder it would be to convince her to help him.

He reminded himself that she didn’t need convincing. She had to work with him. He’d paid handsomely to have her protect him.

“A prophecy of sorts?” she said, amusement ringing in her words.

He wasn’t in the mood to be made fun of. If she started pushing, he’d have to push back and put her in her place.

“A potential apocalypse.” He watched her closely, interested to see what her reaction would be to that.

She leaned back and smiled, twirling her honey blonde hair around her finger as though she were a child.

“And you’re involved?” she said and her smile became a smirk. “And you expect me to help.”

“I do.”

He could feel her words coming and knew what they would be.

“What’s to stop me from killing you and getting out of this crappy assignment?”

They were brave words from one in her position and he could see straight through them to the underlying fear. Her superior was right. It was asking a lot of her to make her work with him. He could do nothing about that. He had as much choice in the matter as she did. She had to help him. The alternative didn’t bear thinking about.

He managed a laugh.

“Kill me?” he whispered more to himself than to her. His eyes met hers again. They were darker brown now, near black as she glared, still toying with her stake as though it was going to protect her. “You can sense my strength, and I yours. You are too weak to fight me and your superiors would have your head.”

She huffed and stood, distancing herself by walking across the room to the windows. For a moment, she looked as though she was going to open the curtains, and then she carried on walking until she was heading directly for him. His guard went up, his senses sharpening as best they could without him changing. He didn’t need to frighten her by shifting guise to reveal his true self. That wouldn’t get him anywhere.

“Do you have any other information besides the fact that you’re some player in an apocalypse?” she said, moving close enough to him that he could smell the mixed scent of blood on her.

Hers was a sweeter, lighter scent that the heavier male blood trampled all over. He was tempted to move closer to her, to try to catch a sniff of her elusive smell. He remained rooted to the spot.

“Not just an apocalypse, Miss Lilith. The outcome will not merely affect vampires. Humans will die too. It is everything and everyone that will pay should you fail to protect me. I am speaking of an apocalypse of biblical proportions.”

Her face paled as he spoke those last words and all her strength seemed to leave her. She sat down hard in the nearest chair and stared at him as though she was having trouble believing what he’d said. Her heart was racing. It knew that he was speaking the truth.

“You’re really not kidding, are you?” she said and then suddenly changed, switching from a lost little girl to the hunter who had attacked him in her superior’s office. “What’s this got to do with me? Why get us involved?”

Lincoln sat down again, close enough to her that he could still easily monitor her heartbeat and read her feelings in it, but far away enough that she had no chance of successfully attacking him.

“It was hard to find you. It took many weeks, which means that time is growing short,” he said.

“Hard to find me?” she whispered before looking incredulous. “You mean you asked for me specifically?”

He nodded.

Her face crumpled in despair for a moment before a look of pure hatred twisted her features. He could sense the rising of her instinct and the anger inside that was fuelling them. His thoughts during his journey here were right. She wasn’t going to help him willingly. Would this work if she didn’t? The details he’d been given were sketchy at best. Maybe they had been wrong.

“This sucks,” she muttered under her breath.

She leaned forwards and cradled her head in her hands. His gaze drifted to her neck. They traced the gentle curve and caressed the milky satin skin. She was as pale as he was. Her position clearly had her sleeping all day. He smiled to himself. She slept all day and went out at night to hunt and kill. They weren’t so different really. She’d never admit that of course. Humans were so stubborn and ignorant.

“I’ll need more information to give to the research team.”

That jolted him out of his reverie. He blinked to clear his mind of thoughts of her neck and the call of her blood.

“Research team?”

“Yes.” Her expression asked if he was crazy. “I’m a hunter Mr. Lincoln, not a researcher. It’s necessary to have a full team investigating and looking into the books.”

He took a moment to consider what she’d said. She didn’t look like a researcher and, in London, they’d told him she was an elite hunter. He equated it to an elite guard of his kind. They were reserved for only the important missions. He doubted that she hunted each night with the lower ranks.

Still, the idea of more people knowing of his problem was disturbing. In reality, he’d only wanted to come here and wait, to avoid at all possible costs his fate, knowing she would save him. Unfortunately, he’d had to give her superiors in London a reason why he needed the assistance of a vampire hunter and her in particular. Mentioning there was potentially an apocalypse on the horizon and handing them a large sum of money seemed to have placated them.

“I do have something,” he said, not bothering to answer her request to allow a team of researchers to work with them. She’d make that decision regardless of his input. “In fact it’s the best lead that I have, only I have been a little busy to follow it up.”

At this stage she didn’t need to know that the ‘little busy’ he’d mentioned was the fact that he’d been relentlessly pursued across Europe.

“And what is that, Mr. Lincoln?”

“Lincoln. Vampires don’t have such titles. I shall call you Lilith so we are equal in this matter.” He ignored her raised eyebrow and how unimpressed she looked by his correction and suggestion. If he had to work with her, he couldn’t have her calling him mister all the time. It would drive him insane. Besides, there was something strangely appealing about having her call him by his name. It seemed intimate on a dangerous level, but her irritated look was too priceless to resist forcing her to adopt a similar level of informality. If she wanted to be troublesome, he would make things hard for her too. “It is something I overheard my lord speaking of many months ago when all this began. Afterwards I saw the parchment that dictated my future. It was a pact, a contract. I only saw the title.”

She gave him an expectant look.

He wouldn’t disappoint her.

“Spiritus Diabolus.”

Seventh Circle
F E Heaton
Born with powers similar to a vampire’s, Lilith has spent her life hunting demons for Section Seven. On the same night as she watches a vampire kill her best friend, she is faced with her worst nightmare—a client who is not only attractive but a vampire.

Lincoln is a powerful pureblood with a problem. He’s caught up in a prophecy and has little time left to unravel the mystery of the contract between his lord and the Devil before he dies. When witches foretell that a vampire hunter will save his life, he’s prepared to work with his most hated enemy, but he isn’t prepared for the forbidden desire he feels when he meets her.

Their mutual attraction becomes difficult to deny as they work together but when Lincoln reveals the truth about her powers, will Lilith find the strength to embrace a side of herself that she wished didn’t exist? And when they discover Lilith’s role in the prophecy, how far will Lincoln go to save her?

Dark, sensual and fast-paced, Seventh Circle is a story of forbidden love so strong that it will save the world.

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