It’s time for Snippet Saturday! Each week has a theme or is author’s choice. This week the theme is author’s choice.
I delved into Forbidden Blood today for my Snippet Saturday teaser, which is a vampire romance novel. This scene takes place after the vampire hero, Kearn, has taken his human heroine, Amber, to a ball in order to lure out the man who is after her, only for that vampire to get his hands on her and end up tasting her blood. Kearn has saved her and taken her back to his apartment, and needs to deal with her injuries…
Kearn waved his hand over his apartment door and it opened. He closed it with the same gesture once inside and carried Amber across the large white room to his bedroom. He carefully laid her down on his bed. She didn’t stir, not even when he turned on the light.
“Amber,†he whispered and touched her cheek.
He lost his hold on her blood, the connection between them severing and leaving him cold and alone. She lay on his bed, white against the brown covers, looking like death.
Kearn tried to talk to her blood again. Nothing happened. She had passed out. It would keep her safe from the vampire but it worried him. He wasn’t used to dealing with humans so didn’t know how bad this was. A vampire could lose consciousness from lack of blood and come around only a moment later. He didn’t know how long a human would take.
He removed his black uniform jacket and placed it over her to keep her warm, and then ran around the foot of the bed and into the bathroom. He wet one of the brown hand towels and came back to her, and drew the jacket away from her chest. Blood caked it in a thick line down from the left side of her neck. He gently cleaned it off her and then took the black napkins away from her throat.
Bits of the tissue stuck to the blood on her throat. He picked them off, careful not to disturb the cut, and then concentrated on cleaning around the wound.
The dried blood slowly cleared to reveal the cut. It was shallow and only half as long as his little finger, stopping just before her artery. Tonight would have gone differently if it had reached there. He would have had to seal the wound in the ballroom and suffer the consequences.
The precision of the cut backed up his earlier thoughts about the vampire. He hadn’t intended to place her in any serious danger. He had only wanted to confirm her as a Source Blood and control her.
Kearn wrapped the damp towel around his fingers and dabbed at the cut. Tiny beads of blood lined it in spots where the skin hadn’t begun to heal.
He reached over and turned on the bedside table light. It shone brightly on the cut and relief bloomed sweet and strong inside him.The knife.
The vampire had cut her with the knife. The line of the wound was too clean for fangs.
She wouldn’t become like them.
With his fear eased, his anger returned. What the vampire had done wasn’t the only reason he was angry. It was the way the man had held her and the look of ecstasy she had worn. It was the fact that the vampire had made her hold him too and made her enjoy the feel of his lips against her throat.
Kearn’s blood burned. His jaw tensed and he ground his teeth together, frowning down at Amber’s throat. His heart demanded the life of the vampire in return for trying to take her from him.
The vampire wasn’t the only one to blame for her suffering.
Kearn had failed her too. He should have assured her safety and then greeted the Venator. From now on, he had to place her before his duty. He wouldn’t fail her again.
He put the towel down on the side cupboard and gently tilted Amber’s head to her right, so he could see the wound. He needed to help it heal. The thought of running his tongue over her throat was potent and arousing, stirring him to hardness against his trousers even when he knew that nothing would happen between them. He had never touched a human’s throat in this way before and wasn’t sure if he would be able to control himself, but he needed to seal the cut.
With a deep breath, he kneeled on the bed and leaned over her, placing his hands on either side of her arms. His gazed fixed on her throat. He wasn’t strong enough to do this. It would tip him over the edge, past the point of no return, and the effect on him wouldn’t be because she was a Source Blood. It would be because it was her.
Tear tracks lined her pallid face, black make-up ringed her closed eyes, and her red lipstick had worn away, but she was still beautiful to him. She still captivated him.
Closing his eyes, he dipped his head to her neck and took another deep breath to regain some control.
The moment his tongue touched her throat, he was lost. The taste of her blood was sweet on his senses, rousing them and strengthening the connection to her. She surfaced from the black abyss of unconsciousness and wrapped him in invisible arms that held him to her throat. Her mind swam with his in the darkness of their joined blood. He licked her throat again, savouring her blood and opening further to her, allowing her in so more than their blood became one. Her feelings ran in his veins, all warmth and happiness, fear and trepidation, arousal and desire. His matched them but for different reasons. He feared what she would think of him.
She wouldn’t think anything bad.
He desired to protect her.
She wanted to free him, to give him reason to fight, so he would never be lonely.
He was scared of the future.
She was unafraid of it, because he would be with her, and she would savour every moment of it, no matter how it ended.
Kearn wrapped his lips around her throat, unable to resist the call in her blood for him to take it, to bring her into his body so they could be as one for longer and remain together. It went beyond merely healing her, but he couldn’t help himself. He needed her.
She moved against him when he sucked on her blood, taking a small amount and reopening the wound. His head felt heavy and light at the same time, his senses swirling and emotions spiralling out of control. He pulled harder, needing more, and a buzz ran through his veins when he swallowed the mouthful of blood. Not only his feelings but Amber’s too. She wanted this. She wanted him. He licked the cut and kissed her throat, desperate to take things further, and then buried his face in her neck, sucking on her blood again. Images from his dreams ran through his mind. His arousal soared and warmth coiled in his abdomen. He groaned and longed to feel her naked body against his, her legs wrapped around his hips and their bodies truly as one. His heart beat harder, a dizzying rush in his veins that relaxed him and released his inhibitions. He wanted her too.
So take her.
Make her his.
His fangs extended at the command and he pulled away, afraid of catching her with them or giving in to his desire to sink them into her throat and seal her fate. He breathed hard, staring down at her, and struggled for control, grasping the bedcovers and drawing them into his fists.
He couldn’t do as her blood bid. She had no place in his world.
Duke Montagu’s words hit him with full force as his body still tingled from the taste of her blood and still ached to be inside her.
She would make a beautiful vampire.
While normal humans became weak vampires, Amber would become one strong enough to rival even the power of the oldest of his kind. Her blood would see to that, and it wouldn’t become like a normal vampire’s, strong and dull in taste. It would retain most of its fragrance, but would lose almost all of the effect it had on other vampires. That power would be hers then, locked deep in her blood, held out of reach of others. She would be a goddess with both beauty and power.
Kearn remained leaning over her, his gaze on her peaceful face. Feelings surfaced within her that threatened to shatter his control. Affection. Tenderness. Understanding. She wanted to be with him. He believed that deep in his heart. She was falling for him.
He lowered himself and pressed his lips to hers. She surprised him by responding, kissing him so lightly that he warmed inside and longed for more. His lips played against hers, parting and meeting, moving slowly over each other in a gentle caress that tested his restraint. His fangs grazed his lower lip and he was careful to keep them away from hers. They wouldn’t go away as long as her blood was calling to him to taste it again. He took a deep breath, breathing in her scent and savouring it, memorising this moment in case it never happened again.
Amber tilted her head up towards his.
She whispered against his lips.
“Stay with me forever.â€
Kearn pulled back, eyes wide, the tips of his silver hair framing his vision of her.
He searched his blood but couldn’t tell where her feelings ended and his began. Had she meant those words or had they been his voiced through her? His arms trembled, as though they could no longer support his weight, and his breathing became shaky. He was a fool.
He was falling for her, a human, and it was too late to stop himself.
She didn’t need to become a vampire to win the heart of her Noble.
She had already captured it.
Did you enjoy the snippet?
More about the book:
Forbidden Blood
Felicity Heaton
In a dark world where vampires exist and where Source Blood, a rare human blood type, can bestow godlike powers upon them, the vampire Venators of the Sovereignty fight to protect the humans by banishing those who drink it to the endless dark.
Exiled from his family and with only his duty to sustain him, Kearn has been on the trail of an elusive Source Blood abuser for three years. When he saves a beautiful human female from the vampire’s grasp, it turns out she’s the lead he’s been waiting for. Amber is a Source Blood and the perfect bait, but for who?
As they race to catch the vampire and survive the cruel games he plays, Amber is pulled deeper into Kearn’s world and discovers the painful secrets he hides behind his handsome but emotionless exterior—hurt that she has the power to heal if she is brave enough.
Forbidden Blood is a dark, sensual tale of betrayal, revenge and a love that knows no bounds.
Available in e-book from:
Amazon Kindle | Amazon Kindle UK | Amazon Kindle Germany | Amazon Kindle France | Amazon Kindle Canada
Apple iBookstore USA | Apple iBookstore UK | Apple iBookstore Australia | Apple iBookstore Canada | Apple iBookstore New Zealand
Barnes and Noble | Kobo Books | Sony Reader Store | Smashwords
Available in paperback from:
Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk | Barnes and Noble
Don’t forget to visit the other authors who are participating to read their snippets…
Myla Jackson
Lauren Dane
Leah Braemel
Caris Roane
Eliza Gayle
Mandy M. Roth
McKenna Jeffries
Shiloh Walker
Taige Crenshaw
Delilah Devlin
HelenKay Dimon
Felicity Heaton
Jody Wallace
