Category Archives: extended excerpts

I’m moving away from my Vampires Realm series now to talk about another vampire romance book. This time I’m offering a chance to download an extended excerpt from Forbidden Blood, a very fast-paced, twisting, emotionally charged vampire romance novel.

You’ve met Kearn, the hero of the book in a character interview during this event and I’ll be speaking to his heroine, Amber soon, but here’s your chance to meet her!

Forbidden Blood has a 4.1 / 5 star rating on Amazon.com and a 4.15 / 5 star rating on Goodreads from 27 ratings. It was also awarded a Top Pick at Night Owl Reviews.

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 book one in the Vampire Venators series and a dark, sensual tale of betrayal, revenge and a love that knows no bounds.

» DOWNLOAD EXTENDED EXCERPT PDF

ebook price: $3.99
paperback price: $10.99
genre: paranormal vampire romance
length: 126000 words
rating: sultry
released: June 2011
Book 1 in the Vampire Venators series

Available in e-book from:
Author’s website: http://www.felicityheaton.com/ebooks.php?title=Forbidden%20Blood
Amazon Kindle: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0055I1LNW/
Amazon Kindle UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0055I1LNW/
Barnes and Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/forbidden-blood-felicity-heaton/1103572024
All Romance eBooks: http://www.allromanceebooks.com/product-forbiddenblood-613573-139.html/
Sony Reader Store: http://ebookstore.sony.com/ebook/felicity-heaton/forbidden-blood/_/R-400000000000000406450
Kobo Books: http://www.kobobooks.com/ebook/Forbidden-Blood-Vampire-Venators-Romance/book-mWkS9umUmkmp2XI4cX_woA/page1.html
Smashwords: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/66030
Amazon Kindle Germany: http://www.amazon.de/dp/B0055I1LNW/
Amazon Kindle France: http://www.amazon.fr/dp/B0055I1LNW/

Available in paperback from:
Amazon.com: http://www.amazon.com/dp/1461132193/
Amazon.co.uk: http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1461132193/
Barnes and Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/forbidden-blood-felicity-heaton/1031509117

EXCERPT
She shouldn’t have looked.

Amber hurried through the dark side streets of central London, heading for the nearest Underground station. She glanced back over her shoulder. The man from the courtyard of the redbrick factory building stood on the other side of a busy road. The hood of his black coat obscured his face but Amber could feel his eyes on her—intent and cold.

She turned away, huddled up into her thin black suit jacket, and carried on walking. She could feel the man still staring at her.

The courtyard flashed across her mind. Two men with sacks and another sweeping disinfectant out into the street. She had never seen the wooden gates open before, but there was always a puddle of disinfectant outside in the mornings. What did they have in those bags? What were they trying to wash away?

Car headlights snapped her out of her thoughts. A white Audi sports car purred past her, rear lights flashing bright crimson in the darkness as it stopped at the junction ahead and then turned and roared away.

Amber undid the button on her jacket and one on her white shirt, hot from her leaving party and panic. She had to get a grip. She glanced back again, shifting her handbag on her shoulder. No one was there save a few Londoners making their way home from the pubs or going to nightclubs. She hated walking around the city so late at night. It always got her jittery and the few drinks she’d had with her work colleagues at the pub weren’t helping.

It wasn’t far to the Underground station. If she focused on thinking about good things, she would be there before she knew it and then she would feel foolish for being so nervous. She smiled when she thought about her leaving party. She had worked for the company for years, but it was time for a change and she couldn’t wait to start her new life. In only a few weeks, she would be working in Paris. She would be able to see her brother more often and would be able to soak up a different culture. It seemed like a dream and she was so caught up in it that she didn’t care about all the work she still had to do—the crash course in French, even though it was a British firm she was going to work for and there would be English speakers there, all the packing and things she had to arrange.

Amber turned down a narrow one-way street. A light on the wall of a building above her blinked on and off. Footsteps rang out behind her, echoing along the road. Pleasant daydreams about her future life in Paris disappeared. She walked faster, her heart beating quicker now as fearful thoughts crowded her mind.

She had almost reached the other end of the road when two men appeared, walking towards her. She went to cross the road to avoid them but they split up and motioned to each other. Her hazel eyes shot wide when she recognised them from the courtyard. She turned to go back the other way.

The hooded man stood at the other end of the street.

Amber searched for a way to get past him. Why had he followed her? Her heart beat harder. Long heavy black sacks. Pink disinfectant.

Bodies?

Blood?

A hand around her wrist sent a jolt through her and she tried to pull free. One man twisted her right arm behind her back and the other grabbed her left wrist. They pulled her backwards into the shadows.

Amber kicked her legs and opened her mouth to scream. A heavy gloved hand covered it. The smell of leather filled her nostrils and she breathed hard through her nose, staring wild-eyed at the man in front of her. The hood obscured his face but she could see his jaw, see the hint of a smile on his lips.

He nodded to the two men behind her and their grip increased. Amber flailed, desperate to escape. It was impossible. She stamped on their feet, kicked their legs, wriggled with all of her strength, but they wouldn’t let her go.

The man motioned to one of the others holding her. The moment he removed his hand from her mouth, another covered it, keeping her silent. She tried to call out anyway, her eyes darting between her attackers and the street. The hooded man smiled at her, as though amused by the muffled sound and her panic.

Amber stilled when he reached inside his long black coat and pulled out a knife. Her eyes went round and her heart raced, fear thundering in her veins.

He was going to kill her.

She shook her head and didn’t stop, not when the man took another step back and not even when he raised his left hand and drew the knife down the palm of his leather glove, cutting into his flesh beneath. Not a trace of pain showed on what she could see of his face. Was he trying to frighten her by showing how strong he was? She was already petrified. He stepped towards her and she redoubled her fight against the men, kicking with all of her might.

“Hurry,” the man to her right said in a low voice as her heel connected with his shin. “Get to it already.”

Tears rolled down her cheeks and a chill swept in constant waves over her skin, stealing her strength. She shook her head again and begged the man not to hurt her, but the other man’s hand over her mouth turned her words into nothing more than a frightened murmur. Futile.

The hooded man stepped up to her, balled his cut hand into a fist, and raised it towards her face. What was he going to do? She kept her eyes fixed on the knife in his other hand, afraid that he would stab her if she dared to look away from it.

She gasped when the man holding her mouth released it but didn’t have time to call out for help. He pressed his fingers into her cheeks, forced her mouth open and tilted her head back. Her gaze snapped to the hooded man’s hand. He held it above her and drops of blood trembled on the edge of his black glove.

He was going to make her drink his blood.

She tried to move but couldn’t. The men’s grip on her increased again, fingers pressing hard into her arms, bruising her. The drop fell, landing on her tongue, and another quickly followed it. The hooded man tightened his fist and more dripped into her mouth. She tried not to swallow, didn’t want to taste his blood. It slid down her throat, one drop after another, until she wanted to be sick.

And then she felt strange.

A hollow feeling opened inside her and her mind emptied.

His hand hovered above her, feeding her blood, and it no longer felt repulsive or frightening. It tasted good. Thick, heavy fog rolled into her mind, weighing her head down. She closed her eyes and then struggled to open them again.

The men behind her released her arms.

Amber stood there facing the hooded man, her shoulders relaxed and her head tilted to one side. He wavered in her vision as he raised the knife and licked the blade. It didn’t scare her. Her handbag slid down her right arm to the crook of her elbow as she raised her hand. She held it out to him, palm up, and blinked languidly.

He took it in his, so gently that she smiled, and ran the knife over her palm. The sting of pain was pleasurable, flooding her with hazy warmth from head to toe, awakening blissful awareness of his touch and his hungry intent.

The man lifted her hand towards his mouth and dipped his head. Was he going to kiss it better? She continued to smile, amused by his chivalry.

What a nice man.

His tongue came out. White lights flashed across him.

They blinded her and she flinched away, afraid of the bright light that drowned out the world. The man released her hand and was behind her in an instant. Her handbag dropped to the floor and she tried to blink away the white spots in her vision and they multiplied.

The sound of footsteps echoed in her mind and she cursed the other men for fleeing. They would pay for leaving her here to deal with this Venator.

Her hands tightened into fists.

She couldn’t risk fighting the Venator but she had to taste the blood. She raised her hand towards her mouth. This was an unexpected twist but she could work it in her favour. First, she had to be sure she was a Source, and then she would take care of the Venator.

What was a Source?

She stopped with her hand mid-way to her mouth. Blood pooled on her palm, black in the low light.

What was she doing?

The door of the white car opened and Amber looked at it. It was the Audi. A man stepped out and she moved back. Damn interfering Venator.

Amber frowned at her thoughts. What was a Venator? What was going on? She tried to remember but her thoughts became tangled with others, ones she didn’t understand. They didn’t feel as though they were her own.

She turned towards the hooded man. The car lights shone on the lower half of his face, highlighting his jaw and mouth. A tilt of a smile touched his lips. She needed to taste the blood.

“Get in the car,” a male voice said behind her, deep and intense.

She refused. She had to taste the blood and then leave. She raised her hand and poked her tongue out. A taste was all it would take. Then she would know.

“Now!”

Amber jumped, startled by the volume of that word. She looked at her palm, horrified by what she had been about to do, and then at the hooded man. He continued to smile at her and she felt compelled to do as he silently wished.

“Car, now!” the man behind her said. He was right. She had to get away from the man who had cut her but she couldn’t move.

Her thoughts became strange and distant again, and no matter how many times she told herself to run, her feet wouldn’t cooperate. She wanted to go with the hooded man, even though she knew he would kill her.

Her head spun.

She took a step towards him, her mind heavy and thick again.

Someone grabbed her arm from behind and then a bright blue flash burst out of the corner of her eye. She stared at the silver handgun beside her head and the strange blue marks on the man’s hand. They glowed. Shiny. Amber reached out to touch them.

The new man moved his arm away from her and pulled her back, so she was almost behind him. She tried to focus on his arm and the gun. The fog descended on her mind again, swamping everything, turning her numb and empty. Her gaze moved of its own accord, shifting to the man’s face. Silver hair. Green eyes. Damned Venator.

She struggled against his grip, clawing at his hand.

“Calm down.” He glanced at her and then back at the hooded man. “Lower the knife and come peacefully.”

“Peacefully?” She yanked on her arm in an attempt to free herself, twisting her wrist in his tight grip and not caring that it hurt. She had to get away from him. The silver-haired man turned her way, his vivid green eyes bright in the car headlights and boring into hers. She sneered. “I will never come peacefully, Venator.”

“Let her go,” he said and she shook her head.

Amber kept shaking it, trying to clear the weird dull feeling and get her mind into order. How did she know this man? The knowledge she sought shifted and evaded her grasp, as though it was a living thing and could anticipate her. The haze in her head lifted long enough that she saw the silver-haired man clearly at last. His eyes were cold as he stared into hers, pupils narrowed and an edge of darkness about his handsome face.

“I said, let her go.” He turned to the hooded man.

Amber looked there too. She couldn’t see them, but she could feel his eyes on her, and could feel him inside her head and her body. She scrubbed her throat with her hand, her mouth, trying to get him out of her. The silver-haired man held her tighter. What was he waiting for? Shoot him. He had tried to kill her. He had put something inside her and now she felt strange.

The silver-haired man started to pull the trigger.

“No!” she screamed and knocked his hand away. She stared at his raised gun and her outstretched hand. What the hell was she doing? She wanted the man dead, so why had she stopped him?

The man holding her shoved her backwards and then ducked away from her. A silver streak shot past her wide eyes. The knife clattered to the floor a short distance behind her and a thin dark line flowed down the man’s neck from his ear, soaking into his white shirt. He raised his gun again but she grabbed it and pulled it around to point at her.

He froze.

The hooded man laughed.

Amber’s gaze shot from the barrel of the gun to him. She stared at his mouth.

Fangs.

He grinned and it felt as though he was looking straight through her. Whispered voices filled her head, clashing with each other so she couldn’t make out what they were saying. She tried to focus on one of them but couldn’t. The clamour in her mind rose and a deep sense that she wasn’t alone washed through her. Someone else was in her head with her. The hooded man’s smile widened. Him. How? One of the voices rang out above the rest and her questions fell away, leaving her docile again. He knew something about her that she didn’t. Something important. She had to know too.

She took a step towards him and he was gone, leaving the street empty in front of her. Why? She went to walk after him and frowned when her arm lagged behind her, held fast by something. Her eyes drifted to her wrist and the hand tightly grasping it.

“Are you all right?” the silver-haired man said and her head suddenly felt lighter.

Her gaze ran up his left arm to his shoulder. A trail of blood stained his white shirt and she followed the drips and dashes downwards to the black holster around his shoulders. His gun was in it but not secured. If she made a lunge for it, would he reach it before her? Amber shook that thought away. This man had saved her. Why would she do such a thing to him? Because he was dangerous. She didn’t want to go with him. She wanted to find the man. The feeling ran deep in her blood, flowing through her veins, compelling her. She needed to find the man.

This Venator would be her downfall.

Amber shook her head again and the haze in her mind dissipated for long enough that she felt her normal self again. Her panic and fear returned full force, crashing over her. What was happening to her? She kept thinking about things she wasn’t familiar with, like Venators and Sources, and wanted to do things that went against her nature, like injuring someone.

The man held his bleeding ear with his right hand. There were pale tribal markings on it. They wove down over his wrist and under his white shirtsleeve. Those markings had glowed ethereally earlier. She couldn’t have imagined it.

“You need to come with me,” he said, and before she could take in what was happening, he dragged her to the white Audi R8 and pushed her into it on the passenger side.

He closed the door, picked up the knife and her handbag from the pavement, and rounded the car. Amber sat there, thoughtless and empty, her eyes fixed on the spot where the hooded man had been. She should have gone with him.

No. She shouldn’t have. She didn’t know what she was thinking anymore.

The car moved and she became gradually aware of the man next to her. Her gaze slid to him. He was handsome, his green eyes fixed on the road now, shadowed by a frown of concentration, and the messy finger-length strands of his silver hair brushed back out of his face. He didn’t look old enough to have such white hair. He seemed barely five years her senior.

Venator.

It echoed in her head, as though something inside her knew it applied to him even when she had never heard the word before tonight.

“What is your name?” His deep voice soothed her, easing away some of her tension even when she felt she should be on alert, or escaping.

Amber didn’t reply. Her eyes dropped to the gun tucked under his left arm when he clipped the leather strap over it, securing it in place. It unnerved her but not as much as the fact that she wanted to use it against him, or the fact that his arm had glowed blue and the other man had fangs. None of that made sense, even when she felt it did.

The man looked at her and she glanced up, meeting his gaze. The streetlights flashed on his face, stealing all colour and warmth from his eyes. They were so cold that she couldn’t tear hers away. She stared into them, chilled by the detached air that he emanated but fascinated by him at the same time. Was he as empty inside as his eyes? She had never met anyone who looked as hollow and emotionless as this man did. Something terrible must have happened to him to make him look this way.

She remembered the way his arm had glowed.

Inhuman.

Her head spun.

Venator.

She wanted to get away from him. Her priority was to escape, not fall under a spell.

They pulled to a halt at a set of traffic lights and her hand went straight for the door. She shoved it open and the man grabbed her, pulling her back against him. The door slammed shut without her touching it and the locks clunked into place. She elbowed the man in the ribs, struggled out of his grip and lunged for the door again, frantically tugging on the handle. It wouldn’t open. Her eyes darted over the moulded leather of the door. No way of unlocking it. The Venator would stop her before she could find the button on the dashboard that would unlock the doors. She spat out a curse. Never mind. If she couldn’t escape, she could at least taste her blood.

“You cannot leave. You are in too much danger out there.”

Amber stared down at the cut on her right palm. It had bled all over her trousers.

She had to lick the blood and taste it.

She raised her hand but the man caught her wrist.

“What happened?” He frowned at the cut.

Amber tried to get her hand back but his grip was vice tight. Interfering Venator. She gritted her teeth and twisted her arm. He didn’t let go. Her stomach turned when she saw the blood on her palm and her vision distorted. She stopped struggling and looked at the man. His expression was soft, silently reassuring, and the longer she stared at him, the calmer she felt, until the sense that she wasn’t in control of herself disappeared again.

Amber tried to remember what had happened to her hand but it slipped through her fingers every time she came close, as though she didn’t really want to recall it.

“He gave you his blood, didn’t he?”

That memory popped to the forefront of her mind and she nodded. The man had made her drink his blood. It had been disgusting and she could feel it inside her.

“Hold on.” He released her hand, put the car into gear and roared off the white line.

Amber did. She grabbed the edge of the seat with her left hand as they raced through the streets of London so fast they were a blur. She couldn’t take her eyes off the road and the cars as they swerved around them, barely missing each one. Her heart lodged in her throat, her right hand trembling where she held it out in front of her. What was happening? It felt as though she had slipped into some dreadful fantasy world and she wanted out.

He turned the car around a corner so sharply that the tyres screeched and she slammed against the door, and then they were going down a slope towards an underground garage. The car spun around in the brightly lit space, coming to a halt facing the exit, and the engine cut out. A grey shutter slowly rolled down, eclipsing the world outside.

Amber stared at it, still trying to catch up.

The man had given her blood, and then he had cut her. She needed to taste her blood before the Venator stopped her. She was about to lick her palm when the door beside her opened and he pulled her out of the car.

“Damned Venator!” She kneed him in the groin and ran for the garage door.

He reached it before her and stood in her path, his eyes darker and colder than ever. He glared at her and drew his gun.

“Let her go,” he whispered, voice strained.

She grinned, satisfied by the pain in his voice.

“No.” Amber tried to pass him.

“You do not want to leave, woman. You do not want to do as he bids.”

Amber stopped. “As who bids?”

The strange feeling inside her grew worse, something telling her to keep going and not listen to him. She had to get past the man and drink her blood. That was all that mattered now.

“Listen to my voice.” He put the gun away and stepped up to her.

The moment his hands touched her shoulders, Amber felt different. She stared into his eyes and her thoughts fell into better order, enough that she could recall things clearly again.

Her heart pounded.

“The man made me drink his blood… I saw him in that place with the gates and the disinfectant and then they were after me. He cut me.” She held her hand out and it trembled between them, fluttering in time with her heart. “I just want to go home. I want this nightmare to end. Please? I can’t take this. Please?”

The man stepped back, his eyes still fixed intently on her face, the frown not leaving his.

“The man will come for you.”

“Fangs,” she whispered and her eyes widened. Her heart missed a beat and then slammed painfully against her ribs. “He had fangs. He was going to drink my blood.”

“I will not hurt you. You must ignore your instincts and listen to me. I will not allow him to harm you. You will be safe here,” he said, so calmly and softly that the deep waves of fear surging through her eased to gentle ripples. “He will find you if you leave. I can protect you. I will not allow the man to harm you.”

Amber looked at the closed garage door and then back at him.

There was honesty in his green eyes and her options were limited. Either she stayed here with him, or she ventured outside where there were monsters. If she did that, and the man found her, she wouldn’t escape him a second time. He had fangs. He had been about to drink her blood.

Something inside her said that she would be fine outside, and that she wanted to find the hooded man again. She wanted him to taste her blood. Desired it more than anything. This man was lying to her.

No. Amber closed her eyes, battling the compulsion to leave, and then looked back into the silver-haired man’s eyes.

The other man had wanted to kill her and drink her blood. This man had saved her. He said he could protect her.

“I will bandage your hand and make you feel better if you come upstairs,” he said in a low voice, one that soothed her ears and quelled her fear. The desire to escape him drifted away, replaced by a need to remain.

“Will you tell me what’s happening to me? I feel strange.”

He held his hand out, pointing to his left. “If you come with me.”

Amber looked at the dark grey metal door far to her right across the empty garage and then back at the man. His gaze held hers, cold but honest, and she ignored the voice inside her that was screaming for her to leave and taste her blood.

She nodded and went with him.

» DOWNLOAD EXTENDED EXCERPT PDF

Available in e-book from:
Author’s website: http://www.felicityheaton.com/ebooks.php?title=Forbidden%20Blood
Amazon Kindle: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0055I1LNW/
Amazon Kindle UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0055I1LNW/
Barnes and Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/forbidden-blood-felicity-heaton/1103572024
All Romance eBooks: http://www.allromanceebooks.com/product-forbiddenblood-613573-139.html/
Sony Reader Store: http://ebookstore.sony.com/ebook/felicity-heaton/forbidden-blood/_/R-400000000000000406450
Kobo Books: http://www.kobobooks.com/ebook/Forbidden-Blood-Vampire-Venators-Romance/book-mWkS9umUmkmp2XI4cX_woA/page1.html
Smashwords: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/66030
Amazon Kindle Germany: http://www.amazon.de/dp/B0055I1LNW/
Amazon Kindle France: http://www.amazon.fr/dp/B0055I1LNW/

Available in paperback from:
Amazon.com: http://www.amazon.com/dp/1461132193/
Amazon.co.uk: http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1461132193/
Barnes and Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/forbidden-blood-felicity-heaton/1031509117

It’s time to shake things up again and step away from the vampires and werewolves for a moment to take a look at an equally mysteriously and sexy species, angels.

Anyone who has read any book in my Her Angel romance series knows that I write passionate angels who are quite likely to steal your heart in one way or another. The sexy heroes of my Her Angel romance series all came together in Her Guardian Angel (which is the first novel, but the fourth book in the best selling series and features Marcus as the hero) to kick some serious ass.

Her Guardian Angel can be read out of order with the others in the series. I’ve had lots of readers use this book as their introduction to the series and not have any problem…

Her Guardian Angel has a 4.9 / 5 star rating on Amazon.com from 7 reviews, and a 4.2 / 5 star rating on Goodreads from 35 ratings.

Here’s a little more about it, a teaser excerpt, and the link to the downloadable PDF

Felicity Heaton
A simple mission becomes a fight for survival in this fantastic instalment in the Her Angel series.

A guardian angel dedicated to his duty, Marcus will do whatever Heaven asks of him, but even his loyalty has its limits. When his superior orders him to gain Amelia’s trust through seduction, Marcus starts to question his mission and his feelings for the beautiful woman he has watched over since her birth.

Amelia has gone from one bad relationship to another, so when a gorgeous guy moves in next door looking like Mr Right, she hopes he doesn’t turn out to be another black knight in disguise. But there’s more to Marcus than meets the eye, and when he rescues her from three demonic men, Amelia is thrust into his nightmarish world—a world where God and the Devil exist, and only one angel can save her from death—Marcus, the angel she’s falling in love with.

On the run from demonic angels and the Devil himself, aided by Marcus’s angel friends and their amazing women, fighting for survival against the odds, Marcus and Amelia discover a love that will last forever.

A love so strong it will shake Heaven and Hell.

DOWNLOAD EXTENDED EXCERPT PDF

ebook price: $3.99
paperback price: $9.99
genre: paranormal angel romance
length: 110000 words
rating: sultry
released: July 2011
Book 4 in the Her Angel series

Available in e-book from:
Author’s website: http://www.felicityheaton.com/ebooks.php?title=Her%20Guardian%20Angel
Amazon Kindle: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B005EUJIG8/
Amazon Kindle UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B005EUJIG8/
Barnes and Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/her-guardian-angel-felicity-heaton/1104775871
All Romance eBooks: http://www.allromanceebooks.com/product-herguardianangel-607692-140.html
Kobo Books: http://www.kobobooks.com/ebook/Her-Guardian-Angel-Her-Angel/book-lVb0k7lC80OOiMBAOa-Ldg/page1.html
Smashwords: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/77776
Amazon Kindle Germany: http://www.amazon.de/dp/B005EUJIG8/
Amazon Kindle France: http://www.amazon.fr/dp/B005EUJIG8/

Available in paperback from:
Amazon.com: http://www.amazon.com/dp/1463788363/
Amazon.co.uk: http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1463788363/
Barnes and Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/her-guardian-angel-felicity-heaton/1032773836

Marcus stretched his left arm out above his head on the pillows of his double bed, buried the fingers of his right hand into his overlong black hair and stared into the inky dark of his bedroom. The open window to his left allowed pale light to filter in from the street far below but it barely cut through the gloom and it wasn’t the reason he had lifted the sash around midnight. The stifling summer’s day had given way to a humid night that showed no sign of cooling down before dawn broke and heralded the next unbearably hot day. A light breeze washed in through the open window, refreshing him as it caressed the left side of his bare body. The heat wasn’t the only thing robbing him of sleep.

The banging came again, more persistent this time, and Marcus clenched his teeth to contain his growing irritation, his focus wholly on the hall outside his apartment. The man had been attacking the door of his neighbour for almost twenty minutes now, rousing Marcus from sleep and throwing him straight into a bad mood that had gradually deteriorated into a desire to beat some sense into the mortal.

He drew in a long breath, held it a moment in a vain attempt to regain control of his temper, and then exhaled slowly. The man hurled another string of impotent threats at his neighbour’s door and Marcus’s anger spiked right back up. His silver-blue eyes slid towards the digital clock on his bedside table. The display mocked him with the ungodly hour this man had chosen to air his bitter disappointment to not only the female but the entire apartment block. Three in the morning.

Because of the humidity that showed no sign of abating and had made it impossible to get comfortable, Marcus had only been asleep for a scant few hours. He hated waking early, especially when he was stuck in the hell known as the mortal realm.

The man banged again, rattling the wall with a tremor that reached Marcus. He was no threat to the woman because she wasn’t foolish enough to answer her door, but it grated on Marcus’s nerves nonetheless.

His temper frayed when the man shouted foul accusations at her.

All of them false.

Marcus had known Amelia all of her life, although she had only known him this past month. He had watched over her and she was a pure soul with terrible luck when it came to men, and the man knocking down her door didn’t deserve her.

Unable to bear another second and sensing Amelia’s increasing fear through the wall that joined their apartments, Marcus rose from the bed and slung on a pair of dark grey jogging bottoms. He walked through his unlit apartment with ease, not bothering with the lights as he could easily map a safe path around the furniture without seeing it, and unlocked his front door. He yanked it open and stepped out into the dull cream hallway on the other side, his gaze immediately fixing on the mortal that was daring to break his sleep and threaten Amelia.

The dark haired man looked at him.

Marcus coolly stared back.

“What’s your problem, mate?” The man’s fingers curled into fists at his sides. Marcus noted everything about him in under a second.

He was drunk. He was itching for a fight. And he was a fool who thought this sort of abuse would win Amelia back. On the surface, the man wanted to upset her and hurt her, but Marcus could see beyond the façade to the pale hope in this man’s heart that Amelia would be his again.

That was something Marcus would never allow.

“You.” Marcus pinched the bridge of his nose, rubbed sleep from his eyes, and then leaned back against the doorjamb, folding his arms across his bare chest and crossing his legs at his ankles.

The man regarded him for a moment and then turned back to Amelia’s door.

“I think you should leave now.” Marcus stepped forwards, bringing the man’s attention back to him so he wouldn’t bang on the door again and cause Amelia’s fear to increase. “Before things get out of hand.”

The man smiled, amusement touching his dark brown eyes. “What you gonna do about it? She’s my girlfriend… not yours. Piss off back inside and get your nose out of my bloody business before I break it.”

Marcus sighed. He had warned the man. He had done everything by the book. His patience wearing thin, he looked the man over again, taking in his dark jeans and the loose t-shirt that covered a physique half his own and the way his fists shook as he shouted at Amelia’s door. Without resorting to violence, Marcus wasn’t sure how to convince the man to leave. He could compel him, but using his powers on such a base creature was beneath him and would do nothing to teach the man a lesson in manners towards women.

The man banged on the door again before Marcus could stop him, hard enough this time that the white painted wood creaked under the attack, and he heard Amelia gasp.

“That is it.” Marcus took another step forwards and the man swung at him. Marcus dodged his fist, clamped his left hand down on the man’s wrist, and twisted his arm behind his back. The man bent forwards to stop his shoulder from popping out of its socket, facing away from Marcus, and grunted in pain. Marcus glared at the back of his head. “I said to leave.”

The man struggled in his grip but stilled when Amelia’s apartment door eased open a few inches and she peered around it. Marcus stared at her, frowning at the tears that streaked her flushed cheeks and the fear in her grey eyes, and tightened his grip on the man’s arm until he let out another deeply satisfying grunt.

“What do you want?” she whispered, voice hoarse and trembling.

It wasn’t like Amelia to look afraid of anything. Marcus had seen her fight it out face-to-face with her exes without showing a trace of fear but this one had rattled her. Weariness shone in her grey eyes, lending them a cold edge he hadn’t seen before. Her gaze tracked up Marcus’s arm, lingering a moment on his bare torso, and then reached his face.

“I’m sorry if he woke you.” Her gentle tone dissolved some of his anger.

Marcus loosened his grip on the man’s wrist but held on to him. “It’s not a problem. I couldn’t stand by and do nothing.”

The man twisted enough to look back at Marcus over his shoulder and then turned his head towards Amelia.

“Oh, I see how it is. Dump me and then move on to the next bloke, right? You’ve probably been fucking him from the moment he moved in. Well, I’m sure Mr Muscle is a great catch…” The man wrenched free of Marcus’s grip and stumbled forwards a few steps before righting himself. “But I’m gonna have to fuck up that pretty face of his.”

Marcus reacted on instinct and launched his left fist at the man to counter his attack. The moment he did, he felt the strength drain from his arm and pushed harder. He had been holding back to avoid seriously injuring the mortal but now that Heaven had stripped him of his immortal strength he needed to do the opposite and give it everything he had.

He leaned back to avoid the man’s punch while still pushing forwards with his own and slammed his fist hard into the man’s jaw, cracking his head to one side and sending him crashing into the cream wall. The man bounced off it, hit the dark banister opposite and then collapsed into an ungainly heap on the wooden floor of the hallway.

“Shit.” Pain shot along every bone in Marcus’s hand and up his arm to his elbow. It had actually hurt.

The man groaned and dragged himself to his feet and Amelia hesitated in the doorway of her apartment, looking as though she couldn’t decide whether to assist him or keep back. Marcus shook his hand and waited for something to happen. Instead of the instant punishment he had expected, there was only silence as the man stared hard at both him and Amelia, and then stumbled down the stairs to the next floor.

Marcus still waited.

Part of him couldn’t believe that he had struck a mortal and the rest couldn’t believe that he wasn’t being punished.

Heaven had limited his power the moment he had subconsciously decided to hit the man, leaving him with only the strength of a mortal and therefore open to attack himself. The punch had hurt him. Perhaps that was punishment enough. Perhaps all of this was punishment for his misdeeds.

Marcus sagged against the wall and blew out a sigh, clutching his injured hand to his chest, convinced that Heaven would call him in to reprimand him soon enough. He had committed an act of violence against what could be considered an innocent human. Marcus couldn’t think of the man that way. He was vile and cruel, seeking to scare Amelia and hurt her. Marcus had only done his duty by protecting her.

He opened his eyes and looked across at her where she stood at the banister peering down into the stairwell, her hands clutching the wooden railing.

His gaze drifted down over her shoulder-length straight dark hair to the plum-coloured slip that only emphasised her sensual curves, to the lean lengths of her legs. She was so soft and pure. Delicate yet strong of heart. Her fear was gone now, leaving behind the confident woman he was used to seeing in her.

She looked across at him and his eyes dropped to her bare feet. He frowned at the tattoo on her left ankle. A cherub? The plump winged babe sat just above her ankle bone, staring back at him. He smiled. Is that what she thought his kind looked like? The image humans had of angels couldn’t have been more wrong. It amused him, stealing away his pain and pushing it to the back of his mind.

His strength returned and the pain dulled further, leaving only a gentle throbbing and bruised knuckles behind as a reminder of what he had done.

“I really am sorry about that.” Amelia’s soft voice stole into his thoughts and he glanced up at her. She crossed the hall to him and peered at his left hand. “You should put some ice on that.”

Marcus studied his red knuckles. Is that what humans did in this sort of situation? In his world, they had angels with the ability to heal others. Such an angel could easily fix this issue for him. Even if he couldn’t find one, the red marks would be gone in less than a day, his body’s superior healing ability quickly erasing them.

“Would you like to come in for some coffee or a drink? It’s the least I can do as payment for being my hero.”

Marcus stared at her. Coffee was payment for being a hero? He hadn’t indulged in such drugs in a long time and while he knew about the sexually stimulating effects that caffeine had on his kind, he had no interest in drinking coffee with Amelia. If he did that, he wasn’t sure what would happen between them, but it would certainly be embarrassing for him.

“No, thank you,” he said and when she looked as though she needed a reason for his refusal, he added, “It will keep me awake.”

She still didn’t seem satisfied. She shifted foot to foot, her gaze darting down to her hands in front of her, and then looked right into his eyes again.

“How about I ice those knuckles instead then?”

Marcus glanced into her low-lit apartment and then back at her, and caught the fear in her eyes as she looked down at the stairwell. She was afraid that the man would return and begin harassing her again. He would accept her offer but not because he needed her to assist him with his healing. He would go with her because he could see that the man had won and had shaken her up, and that she was asking him to stay with her a while because she was scared.

It was his duty to protect her. Tonight, that duty could extend to guarding her a little more closely than usual. Once she had settled and was comfortable with the idea of being alone again, he would take his leave.

He nodded when her attention returned to him.

Amelia led the way into the apartment, leaving him to muse what he had done tonight and his duty.

She deserved better.

A better life.

That was the reason he was here—to keep her safe and watch over her. To protect her from the creeps and from something else.

To give her that better life.

He was sure of it.

Marcus followed her towards the kitchen, noting that the layout of her apartment differed slightly to his as he passed through the pale square lounge. There were no windows in it, just like his one, because the bedroom and bathroom lined the exterior wall opposite him. Their positions in the apartment were reversed in his. He stared through the open door of the room to the right. Her bedroom was next to his and the head of her bed rested against his wall. She slept so close to him, yet he couldn’t feel her when he was in bed, couldn’t sense her on the other side. At such proximity, he should have been able to even when her signature was dulled by her sleeping. His gaze fell to rest on the long cream couch angled towards the television set to his right in the corner of the lounge. A pillow occupied one arm of the sofa and a scrunched up dark blue blanket sat at the other end.

Did she sleep on the couch?

He looked through into the bedroom again, frowning at the smooth covers on the double bed.

Was that why he couldn’t feel her when he was in his bedroom?

Back when he had been watching over her from Heaven, she had always slept in her bed. Had something happened recently to change that? If it had, it must have occurred in the past month when he had been in the mortal realm. When he was here, he couldn’t watch over her as he had in Heaven, able to view her through buildings using the power granted to the angels of his division. He had to physically see her.

Amelia came back out of the room to his left. He dragged his gaze away from the bedroom and the bathroom next to it, and finished crossing the room to the open double doors that led into the kitchen. Her small kitchen was brighter than his, the cupboards a pale type of wood, with stainless steel appliances.

Some former owner of his apartment had deemed it stylish to have a dark kitchen. Marcus deemed it impractical. It was a nightmare to keep clean so he had given up feeding himself shortly after moving in and had resorted to eating take away food, instant meals or eating out.

Marcus leaned against the kitchen counter, his hand throbbing. It had been a while since he had felt physical pain. He couldn’t remember the last time it had hurt to punch something.

He couldn’t remember the last time he had fought someone.

Amelia placed a red and white chequered tea-towel down on the side and emptied out several trays of ice cubes into it. She gathered the ends and twisted the bulk of the cloth around to keep the ice in, and then came over to him. He started when she took hold of his hand, gently slipping her fingers under it so they brushed his palm, and raised it. Heat travelled up his arm and it had nothing to do with pain this time.

She rested the ice pack on his knuckles and he didn’t feel the cold at all. He stared at their joined hands, urgently trying to decipher how she had warmed him with only a light touch and alarmed by the hard beat of his heart against his chest. She looked up into his eyes, her grey ones full of warmth again, softening her delicate features and holding his attention.

“Thank you.” She glanced away again, her gaze briefly dropping to their hands and the ice pack, and then met his eyes. His pain faded in an instant, driven away by the heat of her touch and her concerned expression, and he marvelled at the effect she had on him. It wasn’t real. It couldn’t be. She was his duty and that was all she could ever be. Once he had fulfilled his mission, he would finally request his transfer and would never see her again. Her thumb brushed his and fire shimmered over his skin. “I really am sorry that he woke you and that you had to hit him.”

“I said it was nothing.” Marcus hadn’t needed to hit the man. He could have compelled him to stop but he had reacted on instinct, and for some reason that instinct had been to punch him. He could think of a million situations with mortals when he had been in danger and had compelled them. Why not this time?

Had Amelia’s presence as a witness deterred him?

Or was she the reason he had struck the man?

He had been consumed by anger, enraged by what the man had said about himself and Amelia, driven to violence by a handful of words.

He was Amelia’s protector. Her guardian.

He was not her lover.

Her fingertips grazed his palm as she removed the ice pack and inspected his left hand. A shiver tripped up his arm and down his spine, and his shoulder blades itched. He took his hand away from her and rolled his shoulders, trying to relieve the tension building there.

His wings wanted out.

“How are they feeling?”

Marcus’s head snapped up, his eyes immediately locking on Amelia. His wings? She nodded towards his knuckles and relief swept through him.

“Fine,” he said absently and breathed slowly to steady his racing heart.

There was no way she could know about his wings but, for a moment, it had felt as though she had been reading his mind. It had been a while since his wings had wanted to come out. After five centuries of living with them sealed away, he had grown used to them not being there. It had been strange becoming accustomed to them again when the binding curse had started to lose effect over thirty years ago. Most of the time, he was content to physically put them away as he was now. It took concentration to maintain their disappearance but it used less energy than hiding them from human eyes with a glamour, and it was far easier to move around in the mortal realm without worrying about accidentally knocking things over with them.

“Are you alright?” Amelia ducked towards him, interrupting his view of his knuckles and replacing it with an altogether more pleasant one of her face and her cleavage.

Marcus stared at her plump full breasts, his pulse picking up again, and then averted his eyes. Women had no shame. It was little wonder his master had decided that they should not serve him. They were wily, manipulative, a distraction, and considered by most as the source of all sin.

“Fine,” Marcus repeated and took the ice pack from her, ramming it onto the back of his hand when all he wanted to do was stick it down his jogging bottoms to bring his libido under control.

His fellow warriors had warned him about women, especially ones as beautiful as Amelia, and he wholeheartedly believed every word that they said. Women were dangerous. He would not falter though. Amelia was his mission and his allegiance was to his master, his loyalty to his duty, and nothing would change that.

Once this irksome mission had ended, he would return to Heaven and request his transferral as originally planned, and would join the ranks of the soldiers who protected the realm of Heaven from intruders and wars. He would defend that which he believed in. Not this mortal world, but his world.

He had never physically guarded a human before but was certain that his assignment to act as her next door neighbour was a sign that his mission was progressing and soon he would be free of it.

He couldn’t wait to return home.

“How are you feeling?” Marcus took the ice pack away from his hand and set it down in the stainless steel sink beside him.

Amelia shrugged. “Better, I guess.”

She didn’t look better. The weary edge was back in her eyes, draining them of warmth, and he found himself desiring to comfort her.

“He won’t come back.” His words had the desired effect and she brightened for a brief moment and then it faded again.

“You don’t know that.” She closed her eyes and shook her head. “I do pick them.”

Marcus turned and ran his hand under the cold water, letting it wash away the trace of blood on his knuckles. When he reached for the tap to shut it off again, he felt Amelia’s eyes on his bare back, boring into his shoulders, and lingered a moment. Would she mention the marks he had revealed by carelessly turning his back on her?

“It won’t be long before I drive you away too.”

Those words, softly spoken, caused him to look over his shoulder at her, a frown drawing his dark eyebrows tightly together. She dropped her gaze and then met his with resolution that didn’t surprise him. This was the Amelia he had come to know these past three decades. Strong, able to face anything head on, unflinching.

“What makes you say that?” Marcus turned back to face her, aware now that he was bare from the waist up and was probably only encouraging any attraction she might feel towards him. He should have put on a t-shirt before leaving his apartment but he’d had one thing on his mind—getting the irritating bastard in the hallway to shut up so he could sleep.

Or was it purely so he could sleep?

He stared at Amelia, taking in the way her cheeks coloured as he did so and how she couldn’t hold his gaze.

He had thought only of protecting her.

Defending her.

“The last bloke who lived alone next door to me left only a couple of months after moving in.”

Marcus knew for a fact that the man had been forcibly evicted due to a minor error in payments caused by Heaven’s intervention but had later won money on the lottery that had allowed him to place a down payment on the house of his dreams. The young man had been the easiest target to remove in order to place Marcus close to Amelia. The old lady who lived in the apartment on the other side of Amelia was frail and had lived in the building for over twenty years and relied on those around her to assist her. She also slept heavily, meaning that Amelia’s ex-boyfriends didn’t wake her when they came to knock down her door. Marcus would have had a contender in the guardian stakes if the young man had remained living next to her and they had moved the old lady.

“You do live alone, don’t you?” There was a tremble to that question.

Marcus nodded without thinking and then considered the implications of his answer when Amelia’s grey eyes warmed again. A loaded question. She had cleverly used it to discern his availability.

He briefly considered making up a girlfriend in order to obliterate any attraction she might feel towards him so he could continue his mission in peace but couldn’t get the words out when he looked into her eyes again.

The space between them shrank until it felt as though she was barely inches from him. Her soft breathing filled his ears, drawing his attention down to the sensual bow of her dusky pink lips. The tip of her tongue swept across them, leaving moisture in its wake, luring him in.

How long had it been since he had kissed a woman?

Not in this lifetime, that was for sure.

Marcus dragged his eyes away from her, shutting down his emotions at the same time. Amelia was a mission. He couldn’t allow things to become complicated. Not when he wasn’t even sure why he had to protect her.

He couldn’t get involved with her.

He had to maintain his distance.

No matter how impossible that seemed now.

No matter how much he wanted her.

DOWNLOAD EXTENDED EXCERPT PDF

Available in e-book from:
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I’m sticking with my Vampires Realm series for my next extended excerpt. This time I’m offering a chance to read a long excerpt from my vampire werewolf romance book Winter’s Kiss.

You’ve met the hero of Winter’s Kiss in a character interview and also in the flash fic I posted on Sunday. You’ve also met his heroine in her character interview in my previous post. Here’s your chance to learn more about this vampire and werewolf and their forbidden love story!

As usual, here’s some information about the book plus a teaser chapter to get you all started and the link to the PDF download.

F E Heaton
Their lord drinks blood and they are dead men walking. The tales of the mansion don’t stop Nika from falling for one of the guards, but when wolves attack her and he rides to her rescue, she discovers that her knight is anything but saintly. He is a vampire and she is becoming a werewolf, and love between their species is forbidden—the penalty death.

Winter’s world is shaken beyond salvation and his allegiance to his bloodline tested as he watches the woman he’s fallen for turn into a werewolf. His heart demands vengeance and that he protects her, both from the werewolf now hunting for her and from himself, but she tempts him more than he can bear and it isn’t long into their journey before he’s torn between upholding the law and succumbing to desire.

Will Nika be able to convince Winter to leave his world and stay with her or will she spend eternity dreaming of Winter’s kiss?

» DOWNLOAD EXTENDED EXCERPT PDF

ebook price: $2.99
paperback price: $7.99
genre: paranormal werewolf romance
length: 78000 words
rating: sultry
released: June 2009
Book 8 in the Vampires Realm series

Available in e-book from:
Author’s website: http://www.felicityheaton.com/ebooks.php?title=Winter’s%20Kiss
Amazon Kindle: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0035LDN4Q/
Amazon Kindle UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0035LDN4Q/
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Available in paperback from:
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A scream rent the still night air.

Winter raised his head. The brush in his right hand paused against his horse’s sleek black flank. He frowned, calculating the distance from where he stood in the stable courtyard to the person who had shrieked. The human female voice could carry for miles on nights as calm as tonight. If she screamed again, he would be able to pinpoint her location to within one hundred metres.

A Watchman of the Validus bloodline, Winter had spent years honing his skills in tracking, hunting and killing to the highest echelon of perfection. They gave him the ability to ascertain that whoever the victim was, she was over three miles away.

He returned to his work, lovingly stroking the huge beast’s glossy coat and murmuring soothing words to him. It had been too long since he’d had the chance to ride. The rotation of duties within the household and Hyperion’s plan to spread their empire wider across Europe had left him with longer shifts at the gate. It was an honour to protect his lord, but long nights spent braced against the freezing winds that scathed the landscape in this part of Russia were tiring and left him little time before dawn to ride. His eyes closed. Honour wasn’t the only good thing to come of standing guard from sunset to sunrise.

He saw her more often.

An image of her flashed across Winter’s mind. Pale blonde hair hanging in waves down her back. Sparkling green eyes that glittered under the moonlight. A cherub’s rosy lips that promised sweet kisses and an imp’s smile that spoke of mischief. That image had branded itself on his mind the first night he had seen her as an adult. Every night that she passed and looked at him out of the corner of her eye, she burned her face a little deeper into his heart.

His horse kicked impatiently at the floor, scratching the scattered hay away from the dirt and leaving a long groove.

Winter patted Midnight tenderly on the neck and placed the brush down. Gathering the large black saddle, he positioned it on the horse’s high back and let his thoughts wander while he buckled the straps.

They instantly roamed back to her. Many years had passed since Winter had first seen her. She had been a little girl then. Now she had become a beautiful woman. Perhaps soon she would find the courage to speak to him for longer. She had stopped a few times, always singling him out even though his black armour covered him from head to toe, leaving only the section across his eyes exposed. She had spoken to him tonight, asking him why he wore armour and guarded the mansion. He hadn’t answered her. He had no place talking to humans when he was on duty.

There had been a beautiful lack of fear about her. Not even the sight of the naginata that he and the other Watchman held bothered her. Perhaps one day he could turn her. He cursed under his breath and tightened the last strap on the saddle. Those were not thoughts that he should be entertaining. His loyalty was to his lord and his bloodline first and foremost. He had a debt to repay. Once he felt as though he was worthy of asking his lord for permission to court the girl, he would, but until then he had a duty to do.

And that duty came first.

No matter what his feelings for her were.

A ride would clear his head.

A wolf howl sliced through the night.

Winter tensed and instinctively brushed his long heavy black cloak aside and reached for the sword hanging at his side. His fingers closed around the hilt as he calculated the distance to the howl.

Three miles.

Was the wolf after the woman?

Another scream shattered the returning silence. This time, it was a word.

“Niet!”

Winter’s eyes shot wide, an emotion rushing into his heart that he hadn’t felt in long years. Fear. The girl. He would know her voice anywhere.

With the preternatural speed and grace of his kind, Winter mounted the horse and bolted straight for the stable entrance. Midnight thundered forward, hooves pounding the dirt in a sure confident gallop. The gates barely had time to open as they approached. Winter tucked into the horse, bringing his feet up behind him along with the stirrups. The half-open wrought iron gates brushed his knees as they raced through, almost knocking the guards over.

Someone shouted something abusive in his direction.

He didn’t have time to slow down. The moment they had turned onto the road, he urged Midnight on, lowering his feet again but leaning forwards against its neck. It stretched forwards too, mimicking his move and galloping harder as though it had sensed his desperation.

The bottom of Winter’s chest armour dug into his hips as he rode. His long cloak streamed out behind him. The light flurry of snow became bitter darts of ice that cut into his eyes, forcing him to squint. He changed, his eyes turning purple to reveal his bloodline as his senses sharpened. The thundering hooves of his horse were the only sound in an otherwise still world. Winter snapped the reins. Midnight snorted and galloped faster, heading directly for the woods with no sign of slowing.

Winter willed the woman to make another noise, or the wolves to break their silence. He needed to get a fix on their location but it wasn’t only that driving him to beg the woman to shout or scream. He needed to know that she was still alive.

He hunkered down against his horse’s neck when they entered the thick forest of pines. Snow exploded from the branches as they crashed through them, heedless of the pain it caused them both. His armour would protect him from the whip-like branches of the trees, and his horse, Midnight, would go wherever he bid him to, regardless of whether it hurt.

A branch hit Winter directly across the black leather and metal mask covering his nose and mouth. It smacked the armour against his nose and forced a flinch from him as pain shot out in warm waves across his skull. He turned Midnight to his right and towards a more open area of forest. While the pain didn’t bother him, it would dampen his senses and he needed those as sharp as possible.

He pulled Midnight to a halt in a clearing and scanned the darkness, stretching out with his senses and searching for her. The wintry weather hadn’t managed to penetrate the dense trees and the ground was clear of snow, leaving him without a visible trail to follow. He breathed deep, catching a faint hint of her scent on the breeze. She had been here. He cursed. Where was she now?

Was she dead?

Had the wolves killed her already?

That thought made a dull ache settle in his chest. Winter refused to believe it. He wouldn’t believe it until he saw her body for himself. Another deep breath caught a stronger scent. A growl rumbled up through his chest.

Not wolves.

Werewolves.

His eyes narrowed into dark slits between his black helmet and facemask. He stared into the distance as one hand left the reins and closed around the hilt of his sword. Blood would spill tonight. Not only because werewolves had dared to enter Validus territory. If they had killed her, no, if they had even touched her, they would die by his hand.

A distant scream reached his ears.

He pulled on Midnight’s reins.

Midnight reared onto his hind legs, whinnied and then broke into a gallop. Winter sneered behind his facemask, his blood calling for violence.

* * * *

Nika walked the quiet winding path through the woods, wishing she had chosen to wear her thicker coat. Thick fake fur lined the long black coat she wore and it would have been warm enough under normal circumstances in late spring, but tonight was bitterly cold and the icy wind was searching, discovering cracks and places it could sneak into the coat and chill her to the bone. It was strange to have such wintry weather this side of spring. When she had left, the weather had been pleasant enough, and the snow had melted. Now it had come back with a vengeance. She had hoped the weather would be warm and sunny by the time she had returned from the city.

She folded her arms across her chest, trying to keep a little heat in. Her coat and dress reached the floor, both grazing the leaf litter and twigs that covered the path. The wind found its way into there too and blew upwards, snaking around her legs and sending her shivering. Her honey hair blew across her face as she turned and she clawed it away, thankful she’d had the good sense to take two long strands from beside her temples and plait them before tying them at the back of her head. It kept the bulk of her hair in place but left the long strands from that point downwards to dance in the breeze.

At least the snow couldn’t make it through the trees.

Nika hummed quietly to herself while she walked, thinking about how nice it would be to arrive home and sit down in front of the fire. The thought of that warm blaze made the cold feel distant. She wasn’t far from the village now. Soon she would be safe in her family’s home, out of the frigid night and bleak woods. It felt like months rather than weeks since she had gone away to St. Petersburg. A smile touched her lips when she recalled walking past the mansion. He had been on guard duty again, silent and sentinel outside the gate with another man. She knew it was him. Those beautiful dark eyes had spoken to her as they always did, telling her words that her heart loved to listen to. He never looked at her, but there was always a strange emotion in his eyes when she stopped in front of him. The cold emptiness that used to fill them disappeared, leaving what her heart interpreted as warmth behind.

She didn’t know who he was, or even what he looked like beneath his armour, but she knew one thing. She wanted no other man in this world.

Her heart lightened as memories of him came back, always protecting the gates of the large mansion. On the few occasions that she had plucked up the courage to speak to him, he had never uttered a word back at her. He hadn’t even spoken tonight when she had mentioned the tales about the man he guarded. Terrible tales they were. Stories of demons and death, of bloodshed and violence. Her whole village whispered of them. They were right in a way. There was something different about the men there. In all the years that she had passed those gates, that man had never changed. Not when she was a child and not now that she was an adult. It was the same man. He hadn’t aged one year in the twenty she had seen him. She was sure of it.

Through the trees, pinpricks of light flickered in the darkness. The village. She doubled her pace, thinking only of the warm fire and seeing her father again.

A howl sliced the night in two.

Nika froze to the spot, ears pricked and heart thundering.

Perhaps it had been the wind.

Low growls made her head snap around. Seven large dark shapes slinked out of the shadows. Their fur spiked in a line down their backs, wriggling like a snake when they shook themselves and growled at her. They stepped onto the path between her and the village. These were no ordinary wolves. She remembered them from her childhood. They had killed half of the village.

The one in front lowered its head and stared at her with bright amber eyes that promised a painful death. It snarled to reveal huge canines.

Nika screamed.

Before it could attack, she turned, dropped her bag and ran. She grabbed the front of her coat and skirt, lifting them so she could sprint unhindered, and headed through the woods in the direction of the mansion.

It wasn’t long before her legs were beginning to tire. Their muscles strained under the pressure of running over the uneven ground and seized up as the fear broke into her mind, sending panicked thoughts pounding through her skull.

She was going to die.

The voice at the back of her mind told her to give up, but she wouldn’t. She wasn’t ready to die. It was something that happened to someone else, not to her or the people she loved. If she could make it to the mansion, she would be safe. The men there would fend off the wolves. The man would protect her.

Nika shrieked again as she tripped on a branch hidden beneath the frozen leaf litter and hit the ground hard. She immediately scrabbled to her feet and ran blindly into the forest, desperate to escape the wolves. Behind her came their thundering feet and heavy panting. They were closing in.

In the blink of an eye, it was over. The full weight of one of the wolves hit her in the back, sending her tumbling to the floor. Another howled. She turned and wrestled the wolf off her, scrambling across the dirt away from it. One of them grabbed her ankle, the thick leather of her boot the only thing protecting the delicate joint. It growled. Nika screwed her eyes shut and brought her hands up in front of her face as the others leapt at her.

“Niet!”

Nika kicked the wolf off her ankle, eliciting a whimper from it, and pushed against the others. Breaking free, she got to her feet and ran again. Moonlight broke through a gap in the trees some distance ahead of her, illuminating a small shack.

Her heart willed her to make it there. It was her only chance.

She screamed again when one of the wolves snapped at her, trying to grab her arm. She punched it across the face and kept running, desperate to survive.

A thundering sound joined the cacophony of wolf growls and snarls and her rough breathing. Nika looked ahead of her to see the shack and then a large black horse with rider. She reached out to him, a silent plea for him to help her, and then fell when the wolves pounced on her. Pain erupted in her leg. Her heart missed beats as claws and teeth tore through her clothes.

Her last hope left her when she found herself face to face with the largest wolf. Hot breath washed her face, stealing her own. She sent a prayer to God and stared into the wolf’s yellow eyes, into the eyes of death.

The thundering hooves stopped. Above her the horse’s legs appeared, kicking out as the huge black beast whinnied and snorted. The wolves scattered, leaving her pressed into the dirt and frozen leaf litter, petrified and in too much pain to move.

The horse snorted again as it came down onto all four feet beside her and the rider appeared in her tear-blurred view.

“Hand,” he said in a muffled Russian voice and extended his towards her.

Nika feebly raised hers towards him. She wanted to take hold of that black gloved hand and escape this nightmare. He shook his impatiently. She struggled to move faster, weak from the white-hot pain burning inside every inch of her body. He bent forward on the saddle, caught her hand, and pulled her up into the air as though she weighed nothing. He settled her on the saddle in front of him. Pain shot up her leg and lanced her stomach. It stole her senses, filling them until she knew nothing but the warm pulsing throb. She was vaguely aware of his arm against her back and his hand on her waist, and the wolves closing in.

He turned the horse. Nika gritted her teeth and leaned into him. Each step of the horse’s gallop jostled her on the saddle. The pain was unbearable, wracking her to the depths of her bones with each movement, but the alternative made her cling to consciousness and life. The wolves growled, closer now. The horse suddenly stopped and the man lowered her to the ground. Her legs buckled beneath her. He caught her before she could collapse and held her close to his hard chest.

“Run!” he said and she hazily wondered if he was talking to her. She didn’t think that she could run. The pain in her leg was too intense, blinding. The horse whinnied. Was he talking to it?

Her heart beat faster, each pulse sending stabbing needles sweeping around her body. Darkness encroached at the edges of her mind, sending her thoughts fuzzy and her body numb. The man carried her into somewhere and set her down on something soft but lumpy. The sound of wood scraping and heavy objects slamming made her open her eyes. She frowned, vaguely aware that they were in the small shack she had seen and that he was barricading the door.

A wolf howl sounded just outside.

She flinched in pain when she curled up, the wounds on her body stinging. Her left leg burned as though it was on fire. She couldn’t move it. She left it lying limp in front of her. The man looked at her and then around the small hut.

“Do not be frightened,” he said, as though those four words could erase all her fear.

It crushed her chest and stole her breath. She struggled to suck in air, panic closing her throat and pain making the slightest thing too hard. Her leg was wet. She could feel the steady slide of blood down her arms. Oh God. She was going to die.

Her panic only increased when the dreadful sound of claws against wood filled the small shack. Snarls came in under the door and growls made her skin crawl. She tried to back away but the sound surrounded her, leaving her nowhere to go. The man stood at the door, his tall figure a black shadow in the low light. He didn’t move. He stood sentinel with his hand on the hilt of the sword at his side.

The blade of which gleamed when he began to draw it.

The wolves scrabbled faster at the door and walls, as though they were trying to dig their way through. Nika reached out to the man, numb and petrified. He stepped towards the door and her heart slammed against her chest.

The two small windows on either side of the door exploded, showering her and the man in glass. The wolves leapt high, paws scrambling for purchase on the windowsill. They disappeared again only to attempt another go at getting into the building.

The man fully drew his sword.

She extended her hand further towards him. “You can’t fight. There’s too many!”

A terrible scream made them both jump. She had never heard such a horrifying and inhuman sound. A chill swept over her back and down her arms. The scream came again amidst a discordant symphony of growls and snarls. She closed her eyes and used the last of her strength to cover her ears, not wanting to hear the horse as it died.

Dreadful silence fell.

» DOWNLOAD EXTENDED EXCERPT PDF

Available in e-book from:
Author’s website: http://www.felicityheaton.com/ebooks.php?title=Winter’s%20Kiss
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I’ve already posted extended excerpts from two books in my Vampires Realm series, so now it’s time to add a third. You’ve met the heroine of Seventh Circle, Lilith, in a character interview and have met her hero, Lincoln, in Friday’s flash fiction piece. Here’s your chance to meet them in a little more detail and catch a glimpse of their vampire romance book.

As usual, I’ll post some information about the vampire romance book and a teaser chapter to give you a taste, plus the link to the PDF download.

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.

» DOWNLOAD EXTENDED EXCERPT PDF

ebook price: $2.99
paperback price: $9.99
genre: paranormal vampire romance
length: 106112 words
rating: sultry
released: November 2008
Book 7 in the Vampires Realm series

Available in e-book from:
Author’s website: http://www.felicityheaton.com/ebooks.php?title=Seventh%20Circle
Amazon Kindle: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0035LDO68/
Amazon Kindle UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0035LDO68/
Barnes and Noble: http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Seventh-Circle/Felicity-Heaton/e/2940000800973/
All Romance eBooks: http://www.allromanceebooks.com/product-seventhcircle-620973-139.html
Sony Reader Store: http://ebookstore.sony.com/ebook/f-e-heaton/seventh-circle/_/R-400000000000000249275
Kobo Books: http://www.kobobooks.com/ebook/Seventh-Circle/mix-ZGYNJZH8-kmDBm5GV0YlJg/page1.html
Smashwords: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/7734
Amazon Kindle Germany: http://www.amazon.de/dp/B0035LDO68/
Amazon Kindle France: http://www.amazon.fr/dp/B0035LDO68/

Available in paperback from:
Amazon.com: http://www.amazon.com/dp/1460978579/
Amazon.co.uk: http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1460978579/
Barnes and Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/seventh-circle-f-e-heaton/1021362622

Blood.

No matter where she looked, she couldn’t escape it. It spotted his face and arched over his jaw from the wound on his throat. It seeped into his damp blond hair, darkening the whole side of his head. Turning away, she swallowed her desire to be sick and stared at the ground. Crimson coated the grass until it glistened under the harsh sodium streetlight on the cemetery path. The acrid smell thickened the air, filled her nostrils and choked her lungs. Cold stole through her, rising up from her knees where they pressed into the wet dirt close to his body, chilling her as it swept towards her soul.

“Jackson!” Lilith’s frantic patting of his cheek did nothing to rouse him. Her rough, erratic breathing and the thundering beat of her heart filled her ears as she stared down at him. Panic consumed her. “Jackson, don’t you die on me, Jackson.”

His eyes opened, igniting a spark of hope inside her. The darkness of despair extinguished it when they closed lazily again a second later.

She was losing him.

“Jackson.” She patted his cheek again, faster this time, a constant drumming that matched her pulse. Her other hand pressed the wad of material harder against the wound. Sticky, warm blood coated her fingers, sickening her. “Don’t give up. I won’t lose you!”

He convulsed and his face contorted into a look of sheer agony. A thin line of darkest red crept from the corner of his lips. She held him down, restraining him in the hope of stopping him from killing himself, and her eyes widened as the crimson trail eased down towards his ear.

Everything became still.

Her ears rang with it, with the numb and icy cold filling her, sending sweeps of shivers over her skin as what was happening finally sunk in.

This was no way to feel, so drained of life and welcoming death with open arms, watching for it. Not when the creature that had done this was still nearby.

Waiting.

She focused again, searching for it while applying more pressure to the wound on Jackson’s throat. Was it to stem the flow of blood, or the flow of hope as it left her?

There was no way she could save him.

He was pale now, barely breathing. Tears blurred her eyes, hot against her cold face. Not five minutes ago, he’d been so full of life, full of jokes that had always annoyed her for some reason. Funny how it could disappear so quickly. You thought you were strong, indestructible. In reality you were as fragile as a butterfly when faced with one of them–one of the pure bloodlines.

A low laugh sent a shudder through her.

She knew what it found so amusing.

Jackson was dead.

She closed her eyes, touched his cheek as a goodbye and prayed that he had found a better place on the other side.

Picking herself up, she shut down the side of her that wanted to throw itself over his body and cry her heart out for him, and for her own loss. She had a job to do. He’d understand. It had been his job too.

She stood and stared down at him. The world seemed strangely blue and quiet. Cold. He looked peaceful lying there on the grass, darkness shrouding his body while the streetlight crowned his head in golden light.

Almost angelic.

Her gaze fell to her hands as she brought them out in front of her, palms facing the heavens. She frowned at the dark liquid coating them and then at the torn sleeve of her shirt. So much blood but she felt nothing as she stared at it. This was no time for mourning. She could do that later. Right now, she had business to attend to.

She wiped her hands on her black combat trousers and then retrieved her wooden stake from the grass.

A breeze.

A sigh.

The world blurred as she turned on a pinpoint and blocked the vampire’s attack.

It grinned at her, teeth sharp and eyes bright, challenging her to make a move. She knew what it wanted. It wanted her to run, or scream, or at least give it a good fight before it finally killed her. It was playing with her.

Well, she wasn’t about to play with it.

This man, this thing, was going to die for what it had done to Jackson.

It turned and the streetlights caught its eyes, making them flash like mother of pearl. She gave no quarter, turning with it and keeping their arms locked. Its weight pressed against her and she pushed back, her eyes never leaving its. It could throw her if it wanted to. It was far stronger than she was.

That smile it wore wasn’t fading. It was beginning to unnerve her. It curved the vampire’s face, cutting across it in a sinful line that exposed the points of its bloodied teeth. Jackson hadn’t stood a chance.

She didn’t stand a chance.

Neither of them had ever fought one of the pure bloods. Those that did rarely survived to tell the tale. She’d never heard of anyone managing to kill one.

Before she could blink, it had disappeared and she stumbled forwards from the release of pressure against her. She turned sharply in all directions, panic guiding her movements, and then forced herself to slow down. Her senses reached outwards into the inky night, desperate to locate the vampire so it couldn’t attack without her noticing.

The early spring breeze tousled her honey hair, sending a shiver dancing down her spine as its cold fingers worked their way under the hem of her black shirt and into her collar. When she faced Jackson, she sniffed back her tears and tried not to look at him. This was no time to lose focus, or she’d be joining him in the afterlife.

Something shifted.

She tensed and then relaxed when it didn’t move again.

The graveyard was quiet. Too quiet.

It could only mean one thing. The vampire was stalking her. It had slipped into the shadows to watch her. She could feel its eyes on her, touching her, studying her. It was looking for a weak spot, a momentary drop in her defences when it could slip in and kill her with a single move. Her heart thumped hard against her breastbone at that thought and she steadied her breathing in an attempt to slow it down. Panic made her hands shake and her body threatened to join them.

Her fingers flexed around the stake several times. It did nothing to soothe her nerves as she’d hoped. If she didn’t calm down and regain her focus, she didn’t stand a chance. The vampire would be able to sense her fear. It would drive it on. It would make it hungrier for her blood. She had to do all she could to maintain control and a steady heartbeat. Only then would she have the slightest chance of killing before she was killed.

Doubts crept in at the corners of her mind, sending the edges of her thoughts black and sinister. She pushed them away, not wanting the distraction that the memory of seeing Jackson killed was bringing, and not wanting to lose her concentration by imagining herself suffering a similar fate.

No one, not a human and definitely not a vampire, was going to bite her neck.

Ever.

She frowned into the distance where the darkness swallowed the trees and nothing but the night reigned. She had nothing to fear. An elite hunter had no fear.

Her training had been the same as Jackson’s and the rest of her company, except she’d always excelled where they had merely passed. She’d taken the rank of elite hunter three years earlier than expected. She was one of only a handful to hold that title.

She could defeat this vampire.

She would win.

She had a gift.

Her eyes rolled closed and she released her breath, emptying herself. Her hands came up in front of her, close to her chest, her stake held steady in her right and her left joining it. Her heart rate slowed to a steady beat and her blood rushed through her veins. There was such strength in it if only she’d be brave enough to embrace it.

Her soul surrendered to the call of the night.

The world blackened.

She didn’t need to see the change to know it happened. Everything felt different. The air tasted metallic, like blood. The rising of her instincts made her senses razor-sharp and sent painful throbs down her spine from her aching head.

She could only hold this for seconds or she’d fall into the darkness she could feel encroaching at the corners of her soul.

A few seconds would be enough.

A flicker of movement and she could see the world through her closed eyes. Silvery threads outlined everything, scribbled onto the darkness like rough chalk drawings on a blackboard. She saw the trees sway in the breeze. She saw Jackson. She saw death.

Her eyes shot open and she gasped at air to save herself from drowning in the shadows. It filled her lungs, burned them and her blood. She ran regardless.

She ran straight at the vampire.

One hand on top of the stone sarcophagus was enough to vault her over it and she landed with precise grace on the other side, right beside her quarry.

Her hand came down in a blurred arc, so fast that the vampire couldn’t fully evade her attack. She missed the heart as the vampire dived to the side. Her stake caught its shoulder, scraped hard against bone. The vampire growled and then roared at her. She flipped backwards before it could attack and gave herself over to the fight, letting her instincts guide her as her senses locked onto the vampire. She could almost see its movements before it made them, a ghost of it shone in her eyes.

Except time was running out.

The lingering effect of her gift would soon disappear, leaving her to fight without these sharpened senses.

She would be vulnerable.

She would be weak from calling on her gift.

That was the price.

She cart-wheeled away, still gripping the stake. The moment the vampire closed in, she stopped and swept her leg around in a fast, hard kick, grunting with effort. The vampire laughed and slid to the side, away from danger. Before she could put her foot down and attack again, it had hit her in the chest with a kick of its own, sending her flying backwards into a tombstone.

Her breath left her on impact, a red hot bar across her back marking where she’d hit the heavy stone. She needed a moment to recover, only she didn’t have one. The vampire was on her before she could blink and she was barely able to block it. She crossed her arms against its chest, holding it off her.

It snarled and snapped its jaw.

With each gnash of its teeth and each millimetre closer it got to her, her heart accelerated, until it was racing so fast she had trouble breathing. Adrenaline mixed with the panic coiled deep inside her. For the first time in her life, she could taste death, could see it coming, and it had red eyes and sharp teeth, and a mane of black tousled hair. It bore down on her, its body pressed hard against hers, trapping her between it and the headstone.

She clutched the stake, hands trembling as she weakened.

The vampire growled.

There was no chance of escape, but blind panic and a will to live forced her to try.

She pushed with all her might, shoving her left hand against the flat end of the stake as she drove it forwards.

The vampire sprung backwards the moment the stake made contact with its shoulder. She didn’t give it a chance to escape. She threw herself at it in a last ditch attempt to be the victor in this deadly dance.

She tumbled to the floor with it, wrestling for control. The world blurred and sped by. The pain of the vampire’s blows barely registered in her tired body as she struggled to keep it away from her neck and get her stake against its chest. The noise was deafening–the rush of her breathing, the snarls of the vampire, and the harsh pounding of her heart.

Then silence.

She was on top.

Her stake plunged deep into its chest.

Her gaze locked with his.

It was a man now in her eyes.

He was breathing, fast gasping breaths. His eyes were wide, wild, as he clawed at his chest and the wooden shaft protruding from it.

She pulled the stake out and stood, looking down on him, watching him die. Her body shook from the adrenaline and the exertion. Her fingers loosened and the stake fell to the grass with a soft thud. Exhaustion surrendered to shock. She couldn’t believe it. She’d killed it. She’d killed a pure blood.

His eyes rolled closed and then he began to disintegrate as time raced to catch up with him. Before a minute had passed, he was nothing more than ashes scattering in the breeze.

She swept a hand over her sandy blonde hair and sighed.

It was over.

No, it had only just begun.

She’d never heard of a vampire of the pure bloodlines travelling into this area. There had been reports of hunters meeting them in London, but never out here, so far from the capital. She’d only ever fought vampires from the weaker bloodlines.

What had he been doing out here?

She remembered the flash of his red eyes. A Vehemens? The violent. The last she’d heard, they rarely ventured outside Scandinavia. All the stories she’d heard had been of hunters encountering vampires from the other bloodlines–the Caelestis, Aurorea, and even sometimes Venia or Validus. Never the Vehemens, Tenebrae or Nocens.

So what had brought him here?

She frowned at the patch of dust that represented him now. Maybe she should’ve asked him. Her superiors weren’t going to be pleased with her. A pure blood in her area and she killed it without any attempt to extract information.

A shiver bolted up her spine and she rubbed her bare arm.

The report was going to be hell to write.

What was worse, a voice at the back of her mind was screaming that what she’d done tonight was going to have repercussions. The pure bloods didn’t take lightly to hunters killing their kind.

Leaning over, she picked up her stake and pocketed it. Her dark eyes scanned the cemetery, searching the shadows for any sign of danger. The moon broke free of the clouds, illuminating even the darkest corner and chasing the shadows away into the trees. Nothing came to her. It was silent and empty. It filled her with cold and dread.

Her gaze fell to Jackson’s body. The pain she’d been stifling all this time broke to the surface.

She would have to file a full report on his death too. How could she write what she’d seen? Jackson hadn’t stood a chance. The vampire had torn his throat open before she’d even sensed its approach. She’d had no chance of saving him, not even with her gift.

Her heart ached to see him lying on the grass, motionless and cold. It could have easily been her in his place. Would he have managed to kill the vampire? It didn’t bear thinking about. She had survived. Jackson was dead.

She walked towards him and her knees buckled when she reached his side. Their impact with the dirt sent pain shooting up her spine and jolted the tears from her eyes. They dashed down her cheeks, turning into freezing streaks of ice as the wind blew against them.

She let them come, no longer able to hold back the surging tide of her emotions and needing to get them out of her before she returned to the compound. She couldn’t let the others see her like this. Reaching into her pocket, she pressed the alarm button on her phone. It would trigger the GPS back at base and send them to her. She had fifteen minutes to gain control of herself. She would need every second.

Her hand found Jackson’s and she held it, not caring how cold it felt in hers, or the way it made her feel as though she was touching death itself.

The sobs started out slow but built until she was gasping at air, her throat tight and chest aching as she stared down at Jackson’s peaceful face.

She couldn’t let them think she was weak.

She was the strongest they had.

Jackson would tell her that if he was still alive. He’d always told her that. He’d always been there for her, getting her out of scrapes and protecting her.

She’d failed to protect him.

Leaning forwards, she rested her head against his still chest and closed her eyes. Silence engulfed her as she lay with him, her mind empty. The night called her. She always felt this way after she’d used her gift–close to the darkness, at one with the shadows. She didn’t understand the words drifting around her head or the tugging sensation in the depths of her heart. She felt the meaning though. It wanted her.

She curled up.

It couldn’t have her.

She was a hunter.

The elite.

She killed those that heard the call of the night.

She killed any vampire she came across.

Nothing was going to change that.

* * * *

Lilith trudged into the mansion house, desperate for the solitude of her quarters. The team had arrived to find her standing beside Jackson’s body, all sign of her emotions wiped from her face. She had given them instruction to take him back to the compound and had then told them that she would walk back. The thought of travelling with Jackson’s body in the back of the van had been unbearable. The night had offered her so much comfort, the darkness hiding her feelings from the world, and she’d taken it all. The walk back had been long and had given her time to regain true control of herself.

Only now, she was walking the halls where they’d once walked. It was a painful reminder that only one of them had returned, while the other lay in the morgue below her feet.

No one ever spoke of the morgue.

It was as though by never mentioning it, they could make it go away, make all the deaths of their friends disappear.

“What happened?” A sharp voice snapped her out of her thoughts and she found she was standing in the entrance hall staring down at the floor, seeing straight through it to the cold grey morgue below.

She raised her head, looked Daniel in the eye, and then turned away. Her throat was too tight to speak. If she tried, she would lose what little control she’d regained and would start to cry again. She’d never lost a friend on routine patrol before. She hadn’t lost anyone since her sister.

He caught her arm before she could pass him, stopping her dead. She knew better than to break free of his grasp. As her superior, he commanded her respect. Her hands came up in front of her and she stared at her palms, at the dried and cracked blood that still coated them. Nausea swept through her, cramping her stomach, clenching her heart. Numbness followed it, stealing away the sickness until she felt nothing. It was so hard to breathe. Everything was so hard. She was too weak from the fight and the drain of controlling her emotions.

“Jackson. Son of a bitch got Jackson,” she said, voice steady and showing no trace of the turmoil inside of her. “We didn’t hear it coming. I didn’t feel it.”

She stared into Daniel’s green eyes. The amount of concern in them surprised her. He gave a sympathetic smile, causing crow’s feet to surround his eyes. When had he become so old? He seemed so grey now when before he’d always been the young man she’d first known when she had been a child. She looked around the hall, wanting to avoid his questioning gaze. Everything seemed so grey and different.

“It was one of them, a Vehemens,” she said. “What in God’s name is one of them doing around here?”

Daniel didn’t look at all shocked by her news. His expression remained unchanged and he removed his hand from her arm only to place it lightly on her shoulder. She frowned at the strange sensation that filled her–something was wrong.

“Did you kill it?” he said.

“Of course.” She went to move past him again. His hand tensed, gripping her shoulder and stopping her. She sighed. “Daniel, I really need a shower and bed. Can’t the debrief wait until morning?”

“It can, I wouldn’t want to make you talk about what happened until you’re ready… but… I need to speak to you about a contract that just came in.”

Her right eyebrow rose. It had been a while since Section Seven had been contracted by anyone. They were rare and required only the elite hunters.

It piqued her curiosity and almost made her agree. The ache inside her overruled it though. It had become a dull throbbing and she knew that warning well enough. She was close to collapse.

“Can’t that wait too?” she said, hopeful.

“I don’t think the client will wait any longer.”

Her eyes widened. “They’re here?”

“They’ve been waiting all night for your return,” he said. “I know this isn’t the best time, but it has to be now. It can’t wait.”

Staring into his eyes, she could see that he wasn’t going to budge on this. She had to meet the client tonight. He was right. It would be rude to keep them waiting until she’d had a chance to get some rest and she didn’t want to blow her first contract.

“I’ll clean up first if that’s okay?”

He nodded. “He’s waiting in my office.”

She watched Daniel walk away. He? She wondered what kind of problem they had as she walked. Someone was in the first bathroom she came to so she carried on along the hall until she was near the cafeteria. She avoided going in. By now, news of Jackson’s death would be spreading and she didn’t have the energy to meet her client let alone field all the questions people would have. A couple of men from her company walked out of the room. She dived into the nearest bathroom, desperate to hide from them. Locking the door, she pressed her back against it and stared at herself in the mirror.

She looked like hell.

Moving closer to the mirror, she gingerly prodded the cuts and bruises on her face and arms. The vampire had done a real number on her. At the time, she hadn’t noticed. The adrenaline and shock had taken all feeling away. Washing her cuts, she stared into her brown eyes and thought about what had happened tonight. Why hadn’t she sensed it? Normally she could sense vampires before they got within twenty metres of her. Normally she was fighting weaklings.

Were those of pure blood really so superior?

Her phone buzzed in her pocket and she didn’t need to check it to know it would be Daniel. She finished making herself look more presentable and then stared at her torn shirt. She couldn’t do anything about that.

Stepping out of the bathroom, she hurried down the hall. She turned the corner that led to the commanders’ offices and bumped into a woman from her company.

Her eyes fell to the woman’s black jacket. “Can I borrow that?”

The woman hesitated for a moment, looked her over with a raised eyebrow, and then peeled the jacket off. “Important meeting, huh?”

“You could say that. Do you know about the client?”

“I heard someone arrived… walked in through the door with the section chief from London… but I didn’t see him.”

Lilith slipped the jacket on and buttoned it up.

“Thanks for the loan.” She waved idly and walked away, her thoughts now firmly fixed on her client. A man that had arrived with the section chief. Whoever he was, he had to be important to garner that kind of escort.

Reaching Daniel’s door, she rapped her knuckles against the mahogany and waited.

“Come in.” Daniel’s muffled voice drifted through it.

She paused, needing a few seconds to gather herself and push her fatigue and feelings to the back of her mind, and then opened the door and walked into the large office.

Directly in front of her was a heavy mahogany desk. Daniel was leaning against it with his arms folded and a wary look on his face. The tall curtains of the office’s two windows framed him. They were drawn. She glanced at the clock on the mantelpiece. It was nearing six in the morning. The sun would be rising by now. It was unusual for Daniel to keep the curtains drawn against the sunrise.

She sensed her client’s presence. He was sharp, focused, watching her and studying her movement across the room. There was something familiar about that.

She stopped in front of Daniel. Worry had joined the concern she’d seen in his eyes earlier. He knew she wasn’t in the mood for this meeting. If he hadn’t been so insistent, she would have continued to refuse his orders until he backed down. His words, however, had made it clear that this client was important and he wasn’t one to wait any longer for an audience with her.

Her eyes roamed the room, seeking the man out. They scanned along the packed bookshelves and their leather-bound tomes. They found him masked in the shadowed recess to the side of the bright fire. Darkness shrouded his face and obscured his figure. Her senses spoke to her.

Here was a dangerous man.

Here was one who demanded respect and commanded power.

“Lilith, our client,” Daniel said behind her.

The man stepped forwards and the warm firelight instantly chased the shadows from his face. He was young, handsome in a way that had her staring. In fact, she couldn’t take her eyes off him. He ran slender fingers over his short black hair and then around the back of his neck, drawing her attention to it. She frowned at the scars there. Bite marks? Was he a victim of a vampire attack? Her eyes darted to his mouth, absorbing the gentle bow of his lips, and then rose to meet his.

His dark eyes met hers and a shiver of recognition bolted down her spine and sent alarm bells ringing in her head.

His mouth became a thin line and tilted into a cruel smile, one that fitted him perfectly.

She’d been wrong.

He wasn’t young.

His appearance betrayed his age.

Here was one older than she’d ever met.

She stepped forwards, defiant in the face of him, and reached for her stake.

Anger rose inside her and everything faded until there was only him.

He was no victim.

He was a murderer.

“Vampire.” She sneered, assuming a fighting stance.

He growled and she felt that command deep in her soul.

She refused follow it.

To drop her stake would be to leave herself open to attack.

“Lilith!” Daniel said, his hand on her wrist making her tense. He lowered it for her.

She looked at him, stunned. Her eyes slid warily to the vampire, her anger not abating. How had he fooled her? She’d thought him nothing more than a man. She’d found him attractive. Her stomach rolled with that thought. Only the darkness in his eyes had betrayed him and lifted the veil from hers.

“Mr. Lincoln is our client.”

She glared at the vampire. He had a name.

They’d never had names before.

They’d been nameless, faceless demons for her to eradicate. Now there was one whose name she knew, and for some terrible reason, it made him seem more human.

The vampire smirked, a challenge, the same as the one in the cemetery had issued her. She amused him. He meant to provoke her.

“I am not working with it!” She flung her arm around to point at the vampire at the same time as she turned to face Daniel. There was no need to look at the vampire to know he was glaring at her. The heat of it caressed her skin until she was burning wherever it touched. She shook the feeling away, and the attraction she’d felt towards him, and focused with all her effort on Daniel. “For all we know this could be bullshit. It could want to drain me dry.”

The vampire snorted contemptuously, as though that was one thought that would never cross his mind.

“I’m being serious.”

Daniel just shifted position, folding his arms across his chest and giving her the impression that her tirade had fallen on deaf ears. The only one paying the remotest of attention was the vampire. Her eyes roamed to him against her will. A brief glance was all it took to see he was still standing in the same spot in front of the fire, staring at her with intense dark eyes. She told herself that look wasn’t making her body burn. It was anger and the fire.

A sigh drew her attention back to Daniel.

When she looked at him this time, she could see that he wasn’t happy. She frowned at the floor. The section chief from London had brought Mr. Lincoln to this place to meet with her and Daniel. Daniel had as little choice in this matter as she did. The vampire had cleverly gone over their heads and left her superior powerless, unable to get her out of this mission.

Her eyes narrowed on the vampire. He smirked and nodded. If he’d had a hat, she swore he would’ve tipped it. Her fists clenched and she wished to God that she could wipe the smug look off his face. Taking a deep breath, she clawed back a little control. He wasn’t going to provoke her. He didn’t frighten her. She was going to find out what this contract was about and then do everything she could to either get rid of him as soon as possible or get out of it.

“So what do you want, vampire?” she said, striding up to him until she was close enough to see he wasn’t breathing.

He was very old then, and he was powerful. At this range, she could feel it radiating off him, sparking her senses and making her instincts kick into gear. They told her to run. She stood her ground.

“It is a pleasure to meet you too, Lilith,” he said in a mixed accent. There was a lot of English in there and an equal amount of European too. If she had to guess, she’d say he’d spent a lot of time in Scandinavia and wasn’t a weakling.

“What bloodline are you?” Her tone was nothing short of venomous. Her eyes searched his, trying to discern whether he was going to lie to her or ignore this question too.

He straightened to his full height and looked down on her.

“Vehemens.”

That one word made her stomach drop and broke the restraints that had been holding her anger at bay. Before she could stop herself, her hand was around his throat and she was forcing him backwards towards the fire. She growled when he planted his left foot against the cast-iron fireguard behind him, effectively stopping himself from moving, and yanked her hand away from his neck.

It went straight for the stake in her pocket. She grabbed it and lunged at him with it. He caught her wrist and twisted it until she had to kneel in order to stop him from breaking her arm. His eyes darkened. Her heart sped, fear saying he was going to attack.

He surprised her by releasing her the moment her knees touched the floor. She was back on her feet before he could move, the stake still held firmly in her hand.

“Lilith!” Daniel stepped between them, his hand on her shoulder forcing her backwards. She moved farther away and pocketed her stake to show him that she wasn’t going to attack again. He went back to his desk. She glared at the vampire.

“Bastard!” She spat it at him with as much hatred as she could muster. “It was your fault wasn’t it? You’re the reason they were here!”

He looked confused, a trait she’d not witnessed in one before. She hated him even more for it–for attempting to look human by reflecting such emotions. She had no doubt that he knew what she was talking about. It couldn’t be chance that two Vehemens had arrived in her city in the same night.

“I wish to discuss the contract in private with you.” His words were calm, measured.

Her attack hadn’t shaken him in the slightest. The idea of that made her feel weak and fatigue crept in again as she remembered watching Jackson die. She’d been powerless then, and she was powerless now.

“Discuss it in private all you want, but I’ll still have to write it all in my report anyway, and everyone will know. Hell, I might post on the bulletin board that you’re a vampire and sit back and watch the show.” She hoped that her words carried all the spite behind them. It was childish, but she wasn’t about to make anything easy for the vampire. If she couldn’t attack him physically, words would have to do.

“Lilith,” Daniel warned again. She sighed and ignored him.

“Why do you hate my kind so much?” the vampire said. It caught her off guard.

She stared at him, knowing that she looked like a rabbit in headlights and that she needed to recover herself before he realised that he’d rattled her.

“You seem very driven to hate us… to kill us.”

Her eyes never left his. She held his gaze even as the barrier around her heart came back up as swift as a dart, shutting out his attempt to peer into her innermost thoughts and feelings. She wished she could shut out the pain as easily. She turned away from him and walked to the door.

“Come with me,” she said and stepped outside the office.

Lincoln stared at the open door and the hall beyond. He frowned, dark thoughts stirring at the back of his mind and plaguing him. A glance at her superior told him that he wasn’t pleased with the way his subordinate was acting. She seemed headstrong and wilful. Perhaps a little too wilful.

“She openly detests my kind,” he said, getting the superior’s attention. In his world, a superior wouldn’t tolerate such behaviour from one below him. He had never tolerated it. “Are we going to have a problem?”

The man looked thoughtful. “No. Today has been hard on her. She’ll work with you as agreed in your contract with us.”

“I would like to know one thing.”

“And that is?” The man pushed away from his desk and walked around it to sit in the plush leather chair.

“Why does she hate vampires so much?” he said with another glance towards the door.

He could feel her waiting in the hall, knew that she would be able to hear him. She hadn’t answered his question, and he needed a reply. The idea that she would hate him contradicted everything he’d been told.

The man sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose.

“Her sister was murdered by a vampire,” he said and then looked at the open door, “and tonight Jackson was killed. He was Lilith’s closest friend and he died at the hands of a Vehemens.”

Lincoln frowned. That explained her outburst. She was probably right. Not many of his bloodline lived outside the safe houses scattered across Europe or the family mansion in Oslo. The Vehemens had been here because of him.

“I think it’s understandable that she should hate your kind… you.” There was so much anger in the man’s voice, so much loathing and disgust in his words. He’d never realised the extent of the humans hatred towards his species. “No one here is going to welcome you with open arms… no matter how much you pay our superiors.”

He gave the man a dark look, matching his glare and tipping the balance in his favour. The man looked away, turning towards the closed curtains. Lincoln turned towards the door and reached out with his senses, focusing them on the woman. Lilith.

Had they been wrong about her?

Could one so fixated on destroying his kind truly save him?

» DOWNLOAD EXTENDED EXCERPT PDF

Available in e-book from:
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Jumping back to my Vampires Realm series for this extended excerpt from my vampire werewolf romance book, Hunter’s Moon. You’ve already met Tatyana, the heroine of this book, in a character interview I did on Friday. Now’s your chance to find out more about her story and meet her hero too, the ever-so-sexy ex-alpha werewolf Nicolae.

As usual, I’ll post a link to the downloadable PDF long excerpt of this vampire werewolf romance book and also a teaser chapter to get you all started…

F E Heaton
The horror of the night he failed to save his werewolf pack from the cruelty of their vampire masters has haunted Nicolae for one hundred years, driving him deep into the Canadian wilderness in search of peace. That peace is threatened when unfamiliar hunters and the scent of blood lead him to a beautiful woman and a hard decision—face his past and help her or risk losing everyone he cares about again.

Bearing a heart filled with grief and with vengeance on her mind, Tatyana is intent on killing the hunters she’s tracking and returning to her vampire bloodline, but her plan didn’t include being shot with poisoned arrows or rescued by a glowering alpha werewolf who stirs forbidden hunger in her.

When the hunters make their move, will Nicolae be able to stop them before it’s too late? Will he be able to overcome the darkness in his heart and embrace his desire for a vampire? And can Tatyana face her fears and risk her life for the sake of forbidden love?

» DOWNLOAD EXTENDED EXCERPT PDF

ebook price: $2.99
paperback price: $6.99
genre: paranormal werewolf romance
length: 65000 words
rating: sultry
released: February 2011
Book 9 in the Vampires Realm series

Available in e-book from:
Author’s website: http://www.felicityheaton.com/ebooks.php?title=Hunter’s%20Moon
Amazon Kindle: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004P5NQ0W/
Amazon Kindle UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B004P5NQ0W/
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Available in paperback from:
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Crisp air rushed through Nicolae’s black fur in a constant stream, shifting with him as he wove through the dark forest, keeping pace with the bulk of the local timber wolf pack. The group ahead of him, led by the grey alpha, snarled and played, riding up on each other’s shoulders as they ran. Nicolae bounded after them, his paws pounding the uneven ground and his footing sure. He ducked under a low branch and then leapt over a fallen tree, landing softly in the fresh leaf litter on the other side. Mountains stretched into the distance before him through the woods, their craggy peaks highlighted by glowing white snow. The fat moon flickered between the bare branches above him and called to his blood.

Nicolae obeyed.

He raced with the pack down the slope towards the hidden glade in the forest. Leafless trees gave way to tall pines that towered above him, blocking the light, and his eyes adjusted, the dark world around him sharpening and his senses following suit. Cool fingers of wind caressed his ears as he headed in amongst the pack and joined in their play, enjoying the clear wintry air and the bright night with them. Several younger wolves in the pack snarled and nudged him, and he playfully responded, gently shouldering them as they ran and fighting for dominance. He let them win even though they were far smaller than he was.

Nicolae wasn’t interested in gaining rank within the pack. He was here to enjoy the moment and the company. Running with the timber wolves under a full moon excited him, took him away from the complications of the human world and set him free. There was nothing in the world as exhilarating as surrendering to his true nature.

Animal sounds filled his ears, undetectable to the humans who lived in the rugged mountainous region of Canada. The deer down in the valley ahead were moving, heading for a safe place to spend the night. He could picture them now as they waited nervously in the shadows of the trees around the glade, alert and aware of the wolves that ran in the dark forest. They would move and make it out onto the narrow strip of grazing land between the banks of woods at the valley bottom before the wolves reached them.

Tomorrow, there would be reports of a wolf attack on the deer, and how the Casey’s horses had panicked, and Nicolae would have to pretend that it startled him to hear such a thing.

That he hadn’t participated in the hunt and the kill of deer.

That he wasn’t a wolf.

A burst of wings broke the silence, owls fluttering from their roosts and heading high into the sky. Hungry wolf eyes instantly tracked them for a heartbeat of time and then the pack moved on, their focus returning to playing and hunting the deer. The day birds settled down in their nests, safe from predators for another night, unbothered by the wolves running below.

The pack began to streak ahead and Nicolae returned his attention to them. His blood rushed and his heart thundered. He felt wild. Alive. The leaders were dark blurs in the distance, almost blending in with the night, silent predators built for this terrain. Younger wolves jostled for position nearer to him. He raced to catch up, the cold air burning in his lungs and a sense of freedom flowing through him.

A howl cut the night and the wolves shifted as one, turning right towards the mountain, away from the glade and the grazing land beyond. Something had caught their attention. The howl came again and Nicolae listened this time, deciphering it. Wolf-speak was old and varied from pack to pack, but he had studied this one closely, and long enough that they had accepted his presence on the mountain. They no longer feared him. It had taken him a century of working with each generation, but he had gained their trust and their friendship, and had learned how to communicate with them.

He pounded up to the peak of a bare hillock, threw his head back, and howled at the moon through the barren trees.

The answering call told him why the wolves were now running with intent.

There were men on the mountain.

Men who didn’t belong there.

Nicolae ran down the other side of the hillock and rejoined the wolves, running close to them now, amongst the pack. The sense of calm and playfulness disappeared. The wolves were hunting, a sliver of fear flowing through the entire pack, alertness that called to his instincts. He focused on the woods ahead, mapping them and monitoring for a sign of the men. It was unusual for hunters to come onto the mountains at night, especially when winter’s grip was closing on the area.

A distant noise snapped the group to attention. The alpha snarled. Nicolae stretched his superior senses farther ahead of them. They whispered of danger. He sniffed and caught the scent of men on the wind. No one that he recognised. The grey alpha snarled again, this time in Nicolae’s direction. Nicolae answered with a growl. There was no reason to fear the humans.

He would protect them if it came to a fight.

He doubted that it would. Humans rarely hurt the wolves and never bothered him. They were probably looking for deer. He glanced at the moon. It was late to be hunting, and not just in the year. The sun had set hours ago and midnight was approaching. What prey were they after? The bears were already heading into hibernation, and deer didn’t come this far up the mountain in winter. The only animals up here were small game and the timber wolves.

A trickle of fear slithered down his spine. His hackles rose in response.

Were they after the wolves?

Nicolae snarled, sending a message to the pack.

They turned and moved in a silent dark stream down into the valley, away from the hunters. Nicolae lumbered onwards alone, towards the hunters he could sense in the distance. It was rocky ground where they were and the sparse trees would offer him little cover, but it was a risk he had to take. If the hunters saw him, he would head back down towards the valley, where the forest was thicker. He had to make sure that these men weren’t a threat. He needed to protect the wolves.

Nicolae slowed to a trot as he reached the stony ground and lowered himself until his softer stomach fur brushed the leaf litter and rocks. He crawled forwards, moving as quietly as possible, stalking the hunters. They stood in a clearing, the moon highlighting them with threads of silver. Nicolae stopped behind the broad trunk of the nearest tree, as close as he could get without them noticing him.

Their murmured conversation masked the sound of his soft huffs. His heart thumped against his ribs.

Four men. Dark haired. They were difficult to make out even in the moonlight. He could tell they were tall, and that the two who had their backs to him were broad built, possibly even bigger than he was in human form. Their black fatigues caused them to blend into each other and the woods beyond, and he couldn’t make out any of their faces or the builds of the other two men.

“I’m telling you she’s gone down towards that valley,” one of the men whispered, his accent local sounding enough. He was Canadian at least. Nicolae couldn’t see him clearly from his position behind the tree and bushes, but he couldn’t risk moving.

“Did you see how she moved? I’ve never seen something move that fast. Is that normal?” This voice had a tremor in it that spoke of inexperience and fear.

What were they hunting? Referring to animals as female was nothing new to him but it didn’t sound as though they were hunting bear or deer. Were his suspicions correct and they were after the wolves?

Nicolae looked down towards the valley. The local timber wolf pack were all there and most of them had been with him all night. The distant howl that had alerted them to the presence of the hunters had been a scout. It hadn’t given word of an altercation with the men. If there had been one, the wolf would have reported it to the pack.

He glanced the other way, towards the peak of the plateau and his cabin. Beyond it was the settlement. Were they hunting his sort of wolf? Impossible. No one in these parts knew of the werewolves. They lived quietly amongst the humans, blending in and keeping to themselves. None more so than him. He didn’t belong to that pack. He didn’t belong to anyone.

He cast his gaze over each hunter in turn, scrutinising them with his senses and putting their scents to memory. What were they doing on the mountain? One of the men looked in the direction of the valley and Nicolae stilled. They weren’t dark haired. They were all wearing black woollen hats, and the one he could see had night-vision goggles on.

Nicolae shuffled back a step and hunkered down when the man turned towards him. Even the bushes around the trees had lost their foliage this far up the mountain. If he moved so much as a millimetre, the man would spot him through the infrared goggles. His heartbeat doubled and it felt impossible to keep still. He wasn’t sure what sort of weaponry they had, but with the goggles, the men already had the advantage. They would be able to see him at a distance. There would be no quick escape into the darkness. Anticipation sent adrenaline to his muscles and they coiled in readiness. The wolf pack howled in the distance. The man turned away. Nicolae dared to peek through the twigs of the bushes at the men.

The one who had looked towards him was facing the others again, his hand hovering on the hilt of a vicious-looking hunting knife that hung from his utility belt. Nicolae glanced at the man next to him. A similar knife hung from his belt. Were they armed only with knives? He tried to see their hands but most of the men had them in front of them, or the bodies of the others hid them. They started talking again, calm and unfazed by the surrounding darkness and distant wolf howls.

Something about them didn’t feel right. Their poise, their calmness, set them apart from the casual hunters that often came to the area, and gave him the impression that they were experienced in night manoeuvres and possibly trained in combat. In fact, he would hazard a guess that either they were in the military or they used to be. The only one who didn’t feel like a threat was the one who was afraid. His heart pounded faster than the other three men’s did, pushing at Nicolae’s desire to attack. He clawed for control, his focus turning inward for a moment as he struggled against his animal instincts.

“I say we go down.” The one in the middle of the group this time. His agreement with the first voice caused a murmur to run through them. The three men who had spoken turned towards the fourth, tallest, man.

The man stepped forwards, into the clearing, and Nicolae got a good look at him. The cold calculating edge to his expression warned Nicolae that this man was more than a hunter of animals. He had seen such faces before, in his past, on merciless killers that were acquainted with death and cruelty, and revelled in it.

Nicolae slunk further into the shadows, battling dark splintered memories that branded his mind with horrific images of violence and bloodshed, and seared his body with fierce pain. Each scar on his skin turned to flame beneath his black fur and he fought the urge to snarl. It had been so long since he had relived the nightmare of his past that he had forgotten how to deal with the pain. It threatened to cripple him, to force him from his animal state and expose him to the hunters. He battled the memories, using every ounce of his strength and willpower to remain hidden and as a wolf, but his control began to slip.

Screams taunted him, pleas for mercy and desperate cries for protection. His muscles bunched tight, bordering on cramping, and his heart wrenched in his chest as he relived everything in such vivid detail that it felt as though he had been transported back to that time, to the hellhole in which they had tortured him and his blood kin. Images of them swam in his mind, shifting in and out of focus, bloodied and beaten, eyes full of despair that turned to hope as they fell on him. He felt himself reaching out to them even though he couldn’t move, trying to grasp the fragile visions as frantic need to comfort them flooded him. They slipped through his fingers, faces turning hollow and emaciated as they screamed, clutching themselves. His limbs shook, weak down to his bones, and he tried to shun the images, not wanting to witness their deaths again.

Not wanting to relive the horror of his failings.

He ground his teeth, biting down hard until his sharp canines cut into his gums and the taste of blood flooded his mouth. The metallic scent brought darker memories with it. They crowded his mind, driving him to the edge of despair, and threatening to break his hold on his wolf form. He couldn’t lose it here. The hunters would see him. They would kill him before he had a chance to fully transform and escape into the woods. He would expose everyone to danger. He fought to remain focused, clamping his jaw and sucking in deep gulps of night air through his nose. The crisp edge to the air and the scent of the woods grounded him enough that he could shift his focus to the present and his surroundings, pushing away the terrifying memories.

“We go down,” the hunter said at last, snapping Nicolae back to them and giving him a point of focus to hold on to, helping him clear his mind.

He breathed hard, gradually bringing himself back under control. The smell of the night soothed him and his pulse began to level again, his blood no longer blazing in his veins.

Nicolae looked up at the moon through the trees, needing to see it and see that he was free. His past laid thousands of miles away and a hundred years ago. Out here in the wild, he was free of the world that had once enslaved him. He was free of the vampires.

Two of the men moved past the one who Nicolae had decided was their leader. They brought their night-vision goggles down over their eyes and shouldered weapons that caused Nicolae to hesitate. The fourth man moved and did a sweep of the area.

Nicolae stared at the crossbow and the shiny tip of the dart aimed straight at him, his breathing faltering at the sight of it. The man moved on, scanning behind the group, and then followed them down into the woods.

Bows?

When was the last time he had seen a hunter use a bow? He couldn’t recall one in recent years. Everyone used high-powered rifles with accurate sights now. Even he did.

The timber wolves howled in the valley.

Nicolae tried to make out what they were saying but it was difficult with the men distracting him. He crawled through the undergrowth, tracking them from a distance. Whenever one of the men turned his way, sweeping the area with their crossbow, he flattened himself against the ground and waited. Their progress through the forest was slow but they were heading towards the wolves. If they came too close to the pack, he would break cover and head down to warn them.

The hunters maintained their silence as they wove through the woods, giving Nicolae difficulty. It was hard to move without making a sound when the leaf litter was so deep and crisp. He placed each paw carefully, moving with stealth and keeping far enough away that they wouldn’t hear him.

“I still say that she went up,” one of the men whispered after they had been walking for over twenty minutes and Nicolae caught sight of the leader through the dense tree trunks.

The man held his hand up in a fist and the group halted. Nicolae stopped too, one paw in the air. It trembled with the exertion of holding it there. He gradually lowered it to the ground, holding his breath as he did so, and then exhaled when none of the hunters looked his way. The leader turned towards the man who had spoken and something silent passed between them.

Nicolae knew a threat when he felt it. It seemed the man who had spoken did too because he bent his head and remained silent as the group continued down towards the glade. Nicolae reached out with his senses, searching for both the wolf pack and the prey of the hunters. Could it be a bear?

They had talked about her being quick. Bears were fast when they had to be. He’d been on the receiving end of a few charges in his lifetime. They weren’t as fast as wolves though.

He sensed the timber wolf pack on the grazing land far below. The alpha howled and Nicolae paid him no heed, only using the sound to confirm their position on his senses was correct. He couldn’t feel any other animals besides a few birds and small creatures. The high-tech crossbows these men were packing said that they weren’t after prey smaller than a wolf, not unless they enjoyed a challenge. Even then, they would probably go after big game. Hunting large animals with only a bow would be more exciting and dangerous. A challenge most hunters would relish. Which brought him back around to bears.

The men stopped a few hundred metres up the mountain from the glade. Their leader raised his goggles, looked towards the rugged horizon, and then turned towards the other three.

“She might have gone to ground.” It was the one who had almost seen him. The leader looked thoughtful, his face shadowed and difficult to make out.

Two of the men he hadn’t got a good look at earlier were in broken moonlight now, their night-vision goggles pushed up on their foreheads. They were young, one of them around his late twenties and the other into his thirties. Nicolae suspected it had been the youngest man who had sounded scared. The other one had a hard set to his jaw and coldness in his eyes. The sort of look a man got after seeing a lot of death.

Nicolae had that look sometimes.

“I shot her.” There was certainty in the man’s gravelly voice. None of the others looked as though they were about to doubt him.

Nicolae sniffed, trying to catch a scent on the chill air. If they had shot whatever animal they were after, then it would be bleeding. He would be able to track it.

“The poison will take care of her in that case.”

Nicolae froze. Poison? He looked at the bolts loaded in the crossbows. Just what was it they had shot and now wanted to find? Hunters didn’t normally poison their prey.

Not unless their prey was strong enough to survive arrows and bullets and come after them. He shook that thought away. There was no reason for him to get jittery. In the century he had lived in the area, not once had anyone attacked the werewolves.

“I don’t want to risk it. I want to find her.” The leader this time.

The alpha wolf howled again and Nicolae listened.

Blood.

They were hunting something.

Nicolae tensed, torn between breaking cover and heading down to see what the wolves had smelt, and remaining to listen to the men and ensure they left the mountain.

He raised his nose to the breeze and sniffed. He could smell it now, sharp and coppery, coming up from the valley.

A bolt zipped past him, thudding into a tree barely inches from his nose. Nicolae ran, keeping his rear down and weaving through the narrow gaps between the trees to cover himself. Another bolt narrowly missed him.

“Don’t waste ammo unless you’re sure it’s what we’re here after,” the leader said.

Nicolae pounded through the forest, away from the men and down towards the valley. He picked up the scent of blood and followed the trail. It grew stronger, fresh and sharp in the clear air, cutting through it. He sniffed the ground at intervals, trying to see if the animal had bled onto it so he could investigate the scent and determine what sort of creature it was.

The pine trees grew dense around him as he neared the glade. Their scent obscured the subtler one of the blood, making it impossible for him to tell what it belonged to. It didn’t smell animal.

It wasn’t werewolf.

He rounded a tree and spotted something in the clearing ahead.

Human.

The timber wolves broke out of the woods on the other side to Nicolae, heading for the body. His heart slammed against his ribs and he crashed through the undergrowth and out into the glade. He dashed across the open ground, passing the body, and leapt into the group, snarling and snapping at them, driving them back. His teeth clashed with those of the more persistent wolves but he was careful not to draw blood. His attack wasn’t about hurting them. It was purely to force them to leave the human alone. It was to protect them. If they ate the body, the locals would hunt them down and slaughter them all. He couldn’t allow that to happen.

The alpha growled.

The rest of the pack cowered, lowering their rears and bowing their heads. Some of the younger ones at the back whimpered and whined.

The grey alpha came forward, smaller than Nicolae but bigger than the other wolves, and stared at him.

Nicolae breathed hard and held the alpha’s yellow gaze.

The pack was hungry. With winter setting in, it was important that they fed well, but he couldn’t allow them to harm this human. The alpha didn’t move. Nicolae could understand his need to protect his pack and provide for them.

He huffed, turning the air misty for a second with his warm breath, and then came to a decision. He looked deep into the alpha’s eyes, communicating with him alone. He would hunt and leave them a deer at his cabin in exchange for the human. Was that acceptable?

The alpha wolf stared at him a moment longer and then turned and trotted silently into the forest. The pack followed.

Nicolae huffed again.

He would do as he had promised and give them a deer as soon as he could go out and hunt. During harsher winters, he often provided for them. Wolves were a proud race, just like their werewolf brethren, but this pack no longer took offence at his offerings.

Nicolae knew the pain of not being able to provide for the pack, of failing in his duty to protect them, and because of those experiences he knew that he had asked a lot of the alpha tonight. He was grateful the wolf had chosen to accept the deer and, to show it, he would find the largest one he could.

He turned and sniffed his way back to the human. She lay on the leaf litter, motionless and pale. Covered in blood. It had a strange smell. Some part of it was human but the scent was different, familiar. Was it the poison that made it smell so wrong?

The woman’s eyes were closed, her fair hair spread across the ground in a golden wave. Moonlight shone down into the glade, the bare branches of the trees splitting it into bright shafts that bathed her. He sniffed again and listened. No heartbeat but he couldn’t be sure. Twin darts punctured her black fatigues, one in the left of her chest, up from her heart, and the second in the right side of her stomach. Could she have survived that?

He caught the scent of the hunters on the darts.

Why had they killed her?

She was dressed like them.

Nicolae listened again for a pulse. None came.

There were some things that he couldn’t do as a wolf. He shuffled back a few paces to give himself more room and then focused. His bones popped and body twisted, the black fur on it slowly disappearing as he transformed back into his normal form. He grimaced and growled quietly, containing his pain for fear of alerting the hunters to his presence. He wasn’t sure if they had gone and he wasn’t sure if the woman was dead. He couldn’t let either of them know what he was. His ribs stretched and his limbs cracked back into human forms still covered in patches of fur. It swept backwards, towards his shoulders, revealing deformed fingers that pushed out into normal shapes. His muzzle compressed, his teeth receding, and he moved onto his hind legs, standing with a wobble. Pain ripped down his spine with the final shift of his bones beneath his now human skin, and he bit back his desire to throw his head back and scream out his agony.

Nicolae clenched his fists and breathed deep, waiting with closed eyes for the pain to pass and his heartbeat to level again.

Centuries of life as a werewolf and whenever he spent too long in his animal form, he still felt the pain as he had during the first change.

The moment it subsided, he crouched beside the woman, naked and unashamed. He touched her throat. She was cold and he couldn’t feel a pulse. Dead.

He ran his hand over his messy dark hair and frowned, thinking over what he should do.

His gaze assessed the two darts. Blood saturated the black material around them. He touched it, brought his fingers to his nose, and sniffed. He could smell the poison. Strong. Why had the hunters killed her? If he had found her before coming across the hunters, he would have said they had belonged to the same party. Only this woman wasn’t armed.

Nicolae looked around the clearing for a weapon.

When he looked back at the woman, she was staring at him with dark eyes.

Her left fist flew towards him.

Nicolae rolled backwards into a crouch, barely avoiding the punch. She lunged, trying to grab him, gasping and wheezing. Blood pumped from around the arrow in her abdomen. The dart must have punctured her lung.

His gaze met hers again and he froze. The words of warning to keep still fled his lips.

Fiery orange eyes pinned him with the deadliest of stares.

Nocens.

She bore her fangs and Nicolae backed away, his eyes still locked with hers, panic sending an icy wave through his blood.

What was a vampire of the Nocens bloodline doing in Canada?

She snarled and then slumped backwards, hitting the dirt hard. Nicolae didn’t move. He couldn’t tell if she was dead or not but he wasn’t about to risk his neck by checking her. His gaze darted between the arrows. There was a lot of blood on her, and around the glade. The arrows were poisoned. He dragged in a shaky breath.

The scent of her blood hit him and, now that he knew why he recognised it, he couldn’t bear the smell.

Nicolae shook his head at the first assault of memories, desperate to keep them at bay. He wasn’t there now. He was free. He had paid for it in blood and death, but he was free. The images came, relentless, horrifying visions of violence and pain, punishment in dark barred corridors, screams that echoed through the entire compound. He fell forwards, breathing hard, clawing the dirt into his fists and holding on. Cries. Blood. The sting of the whip against his back. He arched forwards and growled, his teeth elongating. The laughter of his cruel masters. His neck burned, aching under the pressing weight of an iron collar. The humiliation of his brethren.

Blood ran in a fetid river before his eyes, trickling over damp dark stones and along the gutter in front of the cells, mixing with faeces and urine. Shackles clanked in the dim light. Bars rattled under the duress of a fruitless attack by a prisoner.

He wasn’t there.

Nicolae yelled his rage at the starlit sky. It burst from him, desperate and feral in its sound, and echoed around the distant mountains. A disconsolate howl from the valley answered him. The alpha. The sound of it and the message it contained soothed him and granted him relief. He shut the pain down, clearing his mind of the past and focusing on the present, but there was no comfort in it now.

His gaze snapped to the vampire.

He pushed himself back onto his feet and stood over her, staring with hatred burning in his gut. The hunters were still searching for her, and it wouldn’t be long before they reached where he was. They would finish her off. If she managed to survive both the hunters and the poison until daybreak, then nature would take care of her. The sky was clear. When the sun rose, it would spill into the glade. She wouldn’t be strong enough to escape it. Her kind deserved to feel pain.

He would never involve himself with vampires.

He strode away from her.

No matter how beautiful they were.

That thought arrested his steps. He frowned over his shoulder at her. The cold air curled around him, chilling and stiffening his bare body. He stared at the vampire and then at the horizon through the trees, and realised with self-loathing that he wasn’t strong enough to do it. As much as he despised her kind, he wasn’t a monster like them. She wasn’t the same bloodline as the ones who had enslaved him. She had done nothing to deserve his bitterness. If he left her, it would plague him and he would regret it. If he needed a reason to help her, he would do it for the sake of information about the hunters. They had to be the reason that she was so far from home.

Nicolae went back to her. She looked small and fragile as she lay on the dirt. Her appearance belied her true nature but it couldn’t fool his senses. When she had come around, he had felt her strength. Was she strong enough to fight the poison? He placed his palm against her forehead. She wasn’t burning up yet. If the poison was the type most vampire hunters used, then there was still time to help her.

Part of him said to leave her. Her kind had given him nothing but pain. She should feel it in return.

He couldn’t bring himself to do such a thing. Watching a dying vampire succumb to the sun and poison would be a petty form of vengeance. His heart had let go of his desire for revenge almost fifty years ago now, cleansed by his quiet life in the wilderness. Only the nightmarish memories kept it alive in him.

Nicolae sighed and picked her up, shifting her into his arms and cradling her against his bare chest in a way that didn’t disturb the bolts. If she woke again, he would drop her in a flash and distance himself. He doubted that she would though. She had probably used the last of her strength fighting him.

Was he really going to do this? If he brought her into his home, if he helped her heal, then he would be helping the enemy.

In times of war, it was acceptable to help the enemy of your enemy. The hunters had tried to kill her. They were a threat to everything he had built here, and everyone that he knew.

He had to help her.

Even when he knew it would place him in danger.

The hunters were after her.

They would be after him too now.

» DOWNLOAD EXTENDED EXCERPT PDF

Available in e-book from:
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It’s time to step away from my vampire romance series books and shine a little light on one that is a stand alone. Love Immortal is an epic vampire romance book that is packed with action, drama, heart-wrenching moments, and love. It has been phenomenally well received by readers and reviewers alike, and has a 4.6 / 5 star rating on Amazon from 22 reviews, and a 4.2 / 5 star rating on Goodreads from 52 ratings. It has gained 5 star reviews from review sites and a top pick award from Night Owl Reviews.

Tonight I’m posting the 10 chapter PDF excerpt for you all to download, plus a teaser excerpt to get you started with this vampire romance book!

Felicity Heaton
Rescued from werewolves by the most breathtaking man she’s ever seen, Lauren is dragged into the fight of her life and a dark world she never knew existed. There, she discovers that she’s the latest reincarnation of a goddess and must drink the blood of her immortal protector, Julian, in order to reawaken and continue her three thousand year old mission to defeat Lycaon, the original werewolf.

With the help of Julian and an organisation of people with supernatural abilities, Lauren fights for her life, their future and the fate of mankind against Lycaon and his deadly army, but can she succeed when Lycaon has killed all of her predecessors?

Can she crack the armour around Julian’s heart and seize her happily forever after with him? And can Julian bring himself to trust Lauren with the fragments of his heart after everything he’s been through?

» DOWNLOAD EXTENDED EXCERPT PDF

ebook price: $3.99
paperback price: $12.99
genre: paranormal vampire romance
length: 157000 words
rating: sultry
released: January 2011

Available in e-book from:
Author’s website: http://www.felicityheaton.com/ebooks.php?title=Love%20Immortal
Amazon Kindle: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004HYHHME/
Amazon Kindle UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B004HYHHME/
Barnes and Noble: http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Love-Immortal/Felicity-Heaton/e/2940011179648/
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Sony Reader Store: http://ebookstore.sony.com/ebook/felicity-heaton/love-immortal/_/R-400000000000000340123
Kobo Books: http://www.kobobooks.com/ebook/Love-Immortal/book-OyQ9CMW5Jkaf0K_UwfVfGw/page1.html
Smashwords: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/36609
Amazon Kindle Germany: http://www.amazon.de/dp/B004HYHHME/
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Available in paperback from:
Amazon.com: http://www.amazon.com/dp/1456487884/
Amazon.co.uk: http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1456487884/
Barnes and Noble: http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Love-Immortal/Felicity-Heaton/e/9781456487881/

Monsters existed.

Lauren had always suspected it to be true, and now she had all the evidence she needed.

One was standing twenty feet in front of her.

It towered over her, yellow eyes glowing in the dim alley between the old redbrick houses of her neighbourhood. Tufted black wiry fur covered it from tail to pointed ears, from the long claws on its colossal paw-like hands to the thick trunks of its hind legs. Her fevered mind said that it was only an escaped wolf from London Zoo, but Lauren couldn’t bring herself to believe it. She’d seen the wolves once. This creature was nothing like them. This was something else.

Its mouth opened to reveal jagged teeth, each the size of her thumb.

Why Grandma, what big teeth you have.

All the better to eat you with.

Icy fingers clutched her heart and Lauren trembled, cold sweat trickling down her back beneath the skinny-fit brown t-shirt. The mad rush of her pulse made her dizzy and unexpended adrenaline stole her strength. Whoever had said that adrenaline made you invincible was a liar. Her legs were shaking so much that they were close to buckling, the gym bag on her shoulder was too heavy, and her thick black winter jacket felt impossibly tight, as though it was squeezing the air from her lungs.

Instinct told her to run.

If only her feet would cooperate.

Her shoulders slumped when the monster took a step towards her and her kit bag dropped to the ground. The shinai case slid down her other arm but she caught it at the last second. The feel of the bamboo sword through the black canvas bag was reassuring and instilled a strange sense of calm in her. Lauren tried to remember her kendo training and everything she had just practiced in class but nothing came to her. She stared at the monster, still trying to comprehend what was happening.

Instinct changed its mind.

Her other hand automatically reached across and undid the ties on the shinai bag. Lauren swallowed and kept her movements slow, not wanting to startle the beast into reacting. The end of the bag flapped open and she reached inside, locking her right hand tightly around the white leather hilt of the bamboo sword. She drew it and let the carry-case fall to the ground.

This was insane.

Her shinai would last five seconds against such a huge creature.

It didn’t matter. Her only chance of escape was to stun it with a direct hit and run for her life. Her knees wobbled. That was, if she could run.

Taking deep breaths, Lauren shuffled backwards as the beast advanced and moved into a fighting stance. She brought her shinai around in front of her, clutching it so tightly with both hands that her knuckles turned white.

One breath. Two. Three.

With a loud cry, she launched herself at the creature. It reacted slowly, glowing yellow eyes widening. Lauren struck it between its ears and it yelped. The sound brought a smile to her face.

It was a short-lived smile.

The monster lashed out, flinging a heavy paw into her stomach and sending her flying into the wall of the alley. Her breath left her on impact and pain blasted through every inch of her. She grunted and fell onto the hard tarmac. Another huge paw flew at her and she rolled forwards to avoid being pulverised. She turned at the last moment and grabbed her shinai, desperate to protect herself. She was too damn young to die.

A low snarl sent a shudder down her spine and fear stole her breath away. Lauren scrambled to her feet and backed off, her bamboo sword trembling in front of her. The moon peeked out from behind a cloud and lit the world. Her heart stopped.

Holy God, the monster was more frightening in the light than it had ever been in the darkness. Long strings of saliva rolled down its fangs and dark fur tufted down its spine, raised like hackles. It wasn’t a wolf, but it wasn’t a man either. It was somewhere in between. An abomination. Something straight out of her dreams.

She’d dreamt of wolves and monsters before, and each time she had ended up fighting for her life.

It lowered its head and snarled again, hunkering down. It was going to attack.

This wasn’t a dream. It was a living nightmare.

Lauren’s fight left her and she moved backwards, faster now. Her heart started at a pace, thumping erratically in her throat. She clutched her shinai and glanced around. It was only just gone ten at night. Someone would pass by. Her neighbourhood wasn’t normally this quiet. Any moment now, someone would come and help her. She’d only left her kendo class fifteen minutes ago and she’d been first out of the door. A couple of the men in her class lived near her. One of them would come. Someone would. Anyone? Thirty-four was definitely too young to die. She didn’t want to be killed in the night as her parents had been.

She opened her mouth to call out for help but no sound left her lips. Her voice had died the moment her eyes had locked with the monster’s ones. She saw her death reflected in them, saw how easily it would tear her to shreds and how she wasn’t going to make it out of this alive. Emptiness settled in her mind, ringing in her ears.

Cold stillness shrouded the world.

The beast leapt.

Her heart leapt too.

Shrieking, Lauren raised the bamboo sword to defend herself and flinched away, screwing her eyes shut. Only sound came to her.

The sing of metal cutting through air, an ear-splitting howl of pain, and then a wet slapping noise.

Silence followed.

Lauren breathed hard, hunched up with her bamboo sword still held in front of her face. Her rough gulps of air filled the night. When everything had been quiet for a minute, she realised that something had happened to the monster and that she wasn’t dead. She cracked an eye open.

The first thing she saw made her retch.

Spread across the alley were guts, blood and the two halves of a naked man. Her stomach rolled in response to the gruesome sight and she took a step backwards. It hadn’t been a man a moment ago. Her eyes hadn’t been lying to her even though her mind had. It had been a monster—a wolf that could stand on its hind legs, over six feet tall, and had tried to kill her. She looked at her bamboo sword. Splatters of blood covered the length of it, soaking into the white leather cap at the end. She couldn’t have killed him with it. It wasn’t possible.

The sound of steel sliding against something made her look up.

Her eyes widened and she dropped her weapon.

A tall man stood opposite her on the other side of the dead person. His long black coat fitted snugly to his slim frame and the stand up collar rose so high that it created a funnel that masked the lower half of his face, held closed by two thick bands of bright gleaming metal across the front. The wind tousled the finger-length spiked strands of his dark hair, shifting them across his pale forehead.

Shimmering silver eyes stared at her, pupils wide in the low light.

Her heart thudded in response to the jolt she felt when her eyes met his.

How many times had she looked at someone and not felt anything? Every day she met the eye of people on the Tube or at work, or even her opponent in kendo, but she’d never experienced a jolt that shook her to her core.

Never had she been so aware of making eye contact.

The longer she looked into his eyes, the calmer and warmer she felt, until she wanted to stare into them for forever. Something about those eyes, about this man, was so familiar. She was sure that she didn’t know him, but at the same time, she was certain she did.

He stood unmoving, a sense of resolve about him. Everything suddenly felt like nothing but a nightmare, a vivid dream that this man had roused her from. His eyes narrowed. Invisible arms wrapped around her, holding her as soothing whispered words filled her mind. She was safe now.

Instinctively, she took a step towards him.

He lowered his head, giving Lauren the impression that he was bowing to her, awaiting a command or perhaps something else.

The man raised his head a fraction, so his eyes met hers again.

She snapped out of her trance when, without any sign of emotion, and with precise and practiced grace, he slid the long curved katana he held into the sheath hanging at his waist. The blade was clean but blood splattered his hands.

Lauren swallowed her heart and the fear that rushed through her again. Lost in his eyes, she’d forgotten what had happened. Everything had seemed so normal and the monster hadn’t existed. Now she was back in reality, standing in an alley with a dead man at her feet and the man who had killed him opposite her.

His silver eyes flashed in the moonlight.

Another monster?

She made no move to run, or to look away, not when he approached her and not even when he stopped two feet away, towering over her. She couldn’t move. His eyes had mesmerised her again. They melted from brightest silver to ice blue and she didn’t even try to convince herself that she’d imagined it. They had changed. Ribbons of black hair caressed his forehead and her fingers itched to brush them away, to stroke his skin in their place and sweep them from his eyes so she could see them more clearly. A strange wave of calm washed over her again, only this time the feeling went deeper. She felt at peace with the world.

Because no matter what happened, this man would protect her.

He extended his hand to her. Before she could consider what she was doing, she was reaching for him.

“We must leave.” His voice was smooth and sensual, deep and accented in a way she couldn’t place but she knew that she liked it because the sound of it added to her boneless feeling.

Without hesitation or fear, Lauren placed her hand into his. His fingers closed over hers.

A sense of connection filled her.

“It is not safe here,” he said and, without thinking, she nodded.

His hand left hers and claimed her upper arm. He strode at a pace so quick that she was almost jogging. Lauren gazed at the back of his head, catching glimpses of his profile.

It seemed right to go with him. Something inside her said that she knew him and she knew he would never hurt her. He had saved her from the monster.

She didn’t care where they were going. She ran with him, empty and unable to think clearly. Her mind raced over everything that had happened, darting back and forth through her encounter with the monster. The man was right. It wasn’t safe. A monster had attacked her and she had a feeling that more were coming, some sense of imminent danger that she couldn’t ignore. She had to run and she had to stay with the swordsman. Only he could keep her safe.

“What was that thing?” she said between breaths and tried to look over her shoulder towards the dead man. The world wobbled so much she couldn’t focus.

“They are after us.”

Her stomach fluttered and she looked at the swordsman. It was worth asking, even if it would only confirm that she’d gone insane.

“Who are they?” Her voice trembled enough that she was certain he would know that she was frightened of asking that question.

He stopped and looked at her, his pale blue eyes narrowing with his frown. Lauren wished she could see the rest of his face, could open the collar that obscured the lower half of it. She hadn’t realised until now just how much of what a person was thinking showed in their expression. His eyes betrayed nothing.

“The monsters?” he said and her heart skipped a beat. “I almost lost you in the alley. I was foolish but I will not allow it to happen again. We must hurry.”

When he looked past her, she glanced over her shoulder. Two men were coming down the street. She stepped towards them, convinced that they were from her kendo class, but the man held on to her arm, stopping her. She looked at him and then back at the two men. The streetlights highlighted their faces and she realised that she didn’t know them. The sense of danger inside her worsened and the voice at the back of her mind told her to keep running. They were coming for her.

Before she could speak, the swordsman was running with her again. His grip on her arm was unrelenting, his pace so fast that she struggled not to trip.

Lauren looked over her shoulder. The men were following them. She rushed on, her thoughts running at a million miles per hour now. Was she really safe with the swordsman? She wasn’t so sure, but he did seem to be the lesser of two evils. If the two men that were following them were actually monsters then she’d probably chosen the right side.

A flash of silver eyes crossed her turbulent mind.

Perhaps she hadn’t. The swordsman was possibly as much a monster as the wolf-man had been. She glanced at the man’s hand and then at his face. He had his eyes fixed on the distance, his jetty eyebrows knitted tight. She had to get away before something happened. The man had said they were after them, but she couldn’t believe that. What reason would they have to be after her? She hadn’t done anything in her life to enrage monsters or make a single enemy. It had been quiet and safe. Now she felt as though she’d fallen into someone else’s life and she wanted her own boring one back. She had to get away.

It wasn’t far to her house now.

The man turned down a side road between two houses, heading towards her street. He knew where she lived? Sodium lights flickered on the walls high above. The heavy stomp of boots echoed in her stomach and she turned as the swordsman stopped. The men had caught up with them. They came to a halt a short distance away and the swordsman moved to stand in front of her. Lauren had the terrible feeling she was about to witness a showdown.

“Stay close,” the swordsman said.

He threw his arm out, sending his long coat swirling from the waist down and revealing his katana. In one swift, graceful move, he drew it and was in a fighting stance. Lauren backed into the wall, fascinated but frightened.

A low growl caught her attention. Her knees threatened to give out when the men tore their t-shirts off and dark fur erupted in waves across their skin. Their bodies twisted and distorted, limbs elongating as their noses and chins pushed outwards and became muzzles. Ears sprouted from the top of their heads and their eyes changed to yellow. They snarled in unison and she pressed hard into the wall.

It was real.

The swordsman changed position, raising his katana. He looked over his shoulder at her. His silver eyes gleamed as brightly as his blade in the streetlight.

Oh God, it was real.

The swordsman disappeared. A loud cry split the silence a moment later. No, he hadn’t disappeared. The monsters and the man were both moving so fast that it was hard for her to keep track of them. They were a blur in her eyes, shifting violent shapes as they passed her. Turning, she clung to the wall and watched the fight. She had never seen a man move with such agility or fight with such astounding grace. Each attack was beautiful and polished. Each counter by the monsters just as fluid. A deadly ballet.

A perfect chance.

He couldn’t stop her and the monsters at the same time. They wanted him, not her. She hadn’t done anything to upset them. If she just left quietly, perhaps they would leave her alone. She could go the long way round to her house, get some things and then leave before the swordsman could find her. She could go to her friends’ house and hide until everything was sane again.

Backing away into the shadows, Lauren breathed slow and shallow, afraid that even that sound could alert either the man or the monsters to the fact that she was leaving. Her hands trailed along the brick wall, rough under her fingertips, a feeling that grounded her and kept her going. The darkness engulfed her but she didn’t take her eyes away from the blur of the fight, not until the very last second when her hand finally ran out of wall.

With a sigh, she turned away and then froze.

Black tufted fur filled her vision. Her gaze rose to take in the massive bulk of the wolf-like monster and stopped when it reached its jaw. Sharp teeth greeted her as its jowls peeled back in a snarl.

She began to shake her head.

The monster backhanded her, sending her crashing into the wall. Pain erupted across her skull as her head hit the pavement and a trembling sickness passed over her. She pushed herself up on unsteady arms and looked towards the man where he fought the other monster, keeping it at the other end of the alley, and then behind her at the one that had hit her.

It was coming.

Vivid yellow eyes filled the darkness. She couldn’t look away. The sound of fighting swam in her ears and then drifted into the distance, replaced by the noise of heavy feet pounding the tarmac. She threw a glance back towards the man to see the other monster coming for her. Her stomach heaved. She had been wrong. The monsters weren’t after the man at all.

Lauren froze right down to the marrow of her bones.

They were after her.

Turning back to face the one nearest her, she screamed when she saw that it was almost on her. Its sharp jaws opened.

Blood exploded up the wall and the monster tumbled to the ground. Lauren shuffled backwards, away from it, not even thinking about the other monster that had been coming at her from behind.

Her hand hit a puddle.

Only it hadn’t been raining.

And puddles weren’t warm.

Sick to her stomach, she snatched her hand back and retched when she saw the blood covering it. She frantically wiped it on her jeans, her heart fluttering against her ribcage. Both men were dead, cleaved cleanly in two. Her stomach heaved but nothing came up. Bending over, she grasped the pavement with both hands and tried to be sick again. Nothing.

The swordsman grabbed her arm and hauled her to her feet. The motion jarred her vision and made her headache worsen.

“Are you hurt?” he said, voice soothing. Lauren looked up at him, instantly lost in his silver eyes.

He frowned when she didn’t respond and then touched her forehead above her right eyebrow. It stung and Lauren flinched away. His touch lightened, becoming so tender that it felt like a lover’s caress rather than a simple concerned touch. She stared into his eyes as he inspected what she presumed was a cut. The pain seemed so distant. Everything did. His eyes gradually changed from stunning silver to icy blue again and she found herself wondering why he worried so much about her safety.

And why she felt as though she knew him.

His hand caught her wrist and they were moving again. She almost tripped when they passed one of the bodies and it began to disintegrate before her eyes.

“Stay close,” the swordsman said.

Lauren glanced at him and then down at his hand on her wrist. She didn’t think that she had much choice. The strength in his grip was incredible.

Why was he protecting her? What did he want from her? Why were monsters after her?

She had to be insane to be running around London with a man she didn’t know and fighting monsters that were after her for some reason.

The man turned down another street. Lauren yanked her hand free and started back in the opposite direction. This had gone on long enough. She wasn’t sure where she intended to go but she had to get away before it all got crazier. She didn’t think it could, but something deep inside said that it was going to if she kept letting the madman drag her around.

He grabbed her wrist again.

Lauren tried to tug it free but his grip tightened. When she hit his hand, he let go and backed away a step. Was he trying to calm her down?

Finding her courage, she avoided looking him in the eye and put her hands on her hips.

“I’m leaving and you’d better not try to stop me,” she said and it sounded quite convincing to her own ears.

The man stepped back again. His coat fell open to reveal the hilt of his sword.

“There is no going back,” he said. “They will find you again.”

Her head was splitting now that she’d stopped moving and threatening a man with a sword suddenly didn’t seem so clever.

She edged backwards.

“There is no going back,” he repeated, his tone as calm as a millpond, instilling a sense of peace in her. He was right. She told herself that he wasn’t. He was wrong and he could do strange things to her with his voice and his eyes. She had to escape. “If you do, you will die.”

Lauren’s head snapped up, her eyes locking with his. She wasn’t sure whether he was threatening her or insinuating that the monsters would kill her.

“But my bag,” she whispered, desperate for a reason to get away.

“Is there anything in it that could link you to tonight?” he said and she thought for a moment. She touched her jeans pockets and then her jacket pockets. Her purse, keys and mobile phone were all with her. The only thing in her bag was her kendo armour.

She shook her head.

“Forget it then.” With a move so fast that she didn’t even see it happen, he snatched her wrist and began walking. She stumbled along behind him, trying to prise his fingers off her. As a last resort, she slapped his hand again but this time he didn’t let go. “My duty is to protect you. We must leave before others come.”

Great, now she had her own Terminator and she wasn’t even sure how she’d come to have him. Was she someone important?

Important enough to protect?

The swordsman had fought to defend her. He’d killed three monsters for her sake and she got the feeling that he would kill more if he had to. Her gaze roamed over the strong line of his shoulders and up the funnel neck of his coat to his face. His eyes remained fixed on the distance. She had an overwhelming urge to pull down the collar of his coat so she could see what he looked like. His eyes were incredible but something told her that collar hid a face that was more than that.

“Where are we going?” she said, her voice weak.

No answer.

Lauren was about to ask again when the redbrick Victorian houses of her street came into view. She’d never been so glad to see her home with its bay sash-windows and red door. Memories of her childhood and her parents came flooding back, filling her with a strange mixture of warmth and cold, and reminding her that no comforting arms waited for her in the house, not anymore. Her parents were gone and the pain of losing them hadn’t faded in the months since their deaths. At the door, Lauren fumbled with her keys and then breathed a sigh of relief when she finally managed to slot the key in and turn it.

The slam of her house door behind her was comforting and she leaned back against it. The house was quiet and cold, but it still made her feel safe. She glanced at the man where he stood to her right, looking around her messy living room. When his gaze came back to meet hers, her heart began to slow and her breathing came normally. He’d saved her and for some reason she didn’t feel threatened by him. She felt safe. A dry laugh pushed past her lips. She was definitely going crazy.

Or was she?

Everything that had happened seemed so incredible and impossible, yet she knew that it was real. She closed her eyes and tilted her head back into the door, sighing on an exhale.

The alley flashed across her closed eyes, the scene playing out again in the darkness of her mind. She’d never seen anything so horrible.

Her eyes shot open when she remembered all the blood. She raised her hands and stared at the crimson stains, her breathing laboured and throat dry. Her fingers shook, wavering so much that she couldn’t focus on them. If the blood was on her hands. She looked down at her chest. Black lines criss-crossed her brown t-shirt. Where else had it hit her? With trembling fingers, she touched her face and felt sick when she found wet patches.

Lauren raced up the stairs in front of her, following them around the corner, and ran into the small peach coloured bathroom at the top. She slammed into the sink and grasped it with both hands.

Her dark brown eyes widened when she saw her reflection in the cabinet mirror.

Red streaks marked her face, matching the colour of her hair.

The monsters flashed before her eyes, followed by the swordsman.

Her gaze fell to her hands and she raised them palm upwards. The blood had seeped into the cracks of her skin, leaving dark jagged lines. Her fingers trembled and her stomach twisted. She turned on the tap and tried scrub the marks away with a nailbrush, rubbing her skin raw. A tight swirling feeling mounted inside her. The blood wouldn’t go away. Each glance at her hands revealed it was still there, coating them as it had in the street. It wasn’t going away. She wanted it to go away.

She didn’t want monsters to be real. They weren’t real. She clawed at the blood. It wouldn’t come off. A noise from downstairs made her tense and she stared wide-eyed into the mirror. The man was coming. He was a murderer. Any feeling of safety he’d given her was just an illusion. It was her mind playing tricks, just as the monsters had been.

Monsters.

She saw them again, bisected and dead.

Why wouldn’t the blood come off?

Lauren locked the bathroom door, yanked the shower curtain aside, turned the shower on, and stepped under the warm jet. It soaked her clothes through but the blood on her hands still wouldn’t go away. She sank to the floor and hugged her knees to her chest, burying her face in them as she sobbed, weak and tired. The water bounced off her back and trickled over her scalp. It dripped from the ends of her near-shoulder length red hair and masked her tears as she rocked back and forth.

Was it real or was she going insane?

Why was the swordsman so familiar and why did she want him to come to her, need him close by?

Her eyes widened and she stared at the water running down the plughole.

She had a horrible feeling that he was right.

The monsters were after her.

And only he could protect her.

» DOWNLOAD EXTENDED EXCERPT PDF

Available in e-book from:
Author’s website: http://www.felicityheaton.com/ebooks.php?title=Love%20Immortal
Amazon Kindle: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004HYHHME/
Amazon Kindle UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B004HYHHME/
Barnes and Noble: http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Love-Immortal/Felicity-Heaton/e/2940011179648/
All Romance eBooks: http://www.allromanceebooks.com/product-loveimmortal-613574-139.html
Sony Reader Store: http://ebookstore.sony.com/ebook/felicity-heaton/love-immortal/_/R-400000000000000340123
Kobo Books: http://www.kobobooks.com/ebook/Love-Immortal/book-OyQ9CMW5Jkaf0K_UwfVfGw/page1.html
Smashwords: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/36609
Amazon Kindle Germany: http://www.amazon.de/dp/B004HYHHME/
Amazon Kindle France: http://www.amazon.fr/dp/B004HYHHME/

Available in paperback from:
Amazon.com: http://www.amazon.com/dp/1456487884/
Amazon.co.uk: http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1456487884/
Barnes and Noble: http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Love-Immortal/Felicity-Heaton/e/9781456487881/

My Halloween Spooktacular is very vampire and werewolf orientated but there’s always room for something a little different.

For those of you who enjoy urban fantasy romances involving demon bad boys and kick-ass heroines (especially witch heroines) or readers looking for something different from my normal offerings here is an extended downloadable PDF excerpt from my urban fantasy romance book Ascension. I’ve included a short excerpt in this post just to entice you a little…

Felicity Heaton
A witch on the verge of achieving phenomenal power, Lealandra must turn to her half-breed demon ex-lover Taig for protection from the dark force that is after her and also from her own magic.

With her Counter-Balance dead and her coven against her, Taig’s blood and power is the only thing that can help her control her magic and survive the ascension and gain the strength to defeat her enemy.

Old feelings come flooding back as Taig allows her into his world and Lealandra finds herself fighting not only for survival but to win his broken heart again and heal the pain in their past. Can he forgive her for walking out on him all those years ago and will he ever believe her when she tells him that he’s not a monster but the man that she loves?

» DOWNLOAD EXTENDED EXCERPT PDF

ebook price: $3.99
paperback price: $8.99
genre: paranormal / urban fantasy romance
length: 91000 words
rating: sultry
released: April 2011
Book 1 in the Shadow and Light Trilogy series

Available in e-book from:
Author’s website: http://www.felicityheaton.com/ebooks.php?title=Ascension
Amazon Kindle: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004X6TWLK/
Amazon Kindle UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B004X6TWLK/
Barnes and Noble: http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Ascension/Felicity-Heaton/e/2940011267451/
All Romance eBooks: http://www.allromanceebooks.com/product-ascension-613575-140.html
Kobo Books: http://www.kobobooks.com/ebook/Ascension-Shadow-and-Light-Trilogy/mix-eOMlgr3IoEeDmdBmXXi0CA/page1.html
Smashwords: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/54728
Amazon Kindle Germany: http://www.amazon.de/dp/B004X6TWLK/
Amazon Kindle France: http://www.amazon.fr/dp/B004X6TWLK/

Available in paperback from:
Amazon.com: http://www.amazon.com/dp/1461131839/
Amazon.co.uk: http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1461131839/
Barnes and Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/ascension-felicity-heaton/1031122152

Taig closed his eyes and released a long low groan of unexpected pleasure as Lealandra’s warm mouth fused with his. Her tongue slid between his lips, a delicious and familiar hot velvet caress that swept across his teeth and drew another hungry moan from him. Without considering the consequences and forgetting his anger, he twisted her long black hair around his fingers and tethered her to him so this breathtaking fantasy wouldn’t end before he wanted, and he wanted it to go on forever.

He tilted his head and pressed harder against her mouth, his tongue brushing hers, delving in deep to taste her. A shiver of desire and need shot through him, and his breathing turned rough as he reacquainted himself with her sweetness and warmth. He hadn’t imagined things turning out this way when she had walked into the bar tonight, but he wasn’t about to push her away now that she was kissing him again, rekindling passion whose embers had burned deep in his heart all the time they had been apart. She moved against him, her lips soft and grazing his, slowing the kiss until he wanted to groan and pull her against him, wanted to thrust his tongue back into her mouth and show her just how ravenous she made him. It coiled tight in his gut, pushing for control, urging him to act on his desire.

All too soon, her lips left his but she remained close. With a soft puff of air into his mouth, she spoke.

“Are they gone?” Her quiet voice trembled along with her body, telling him that the kiss hadn’t only affected him. His heart pounded for more and his blood rushed through his ears, dampening his awareness of their surroundings.

Taig glanced around the dim emptying bar. The two men were gone. He stared into her eyes, refreshing his memory of every fleck of silver against stormy grey. It had been too long since he had seen her, and felt even longer since he had kissed her. A tortuous length of time and an absence he couldn’t easily forgive, even when her kiss made him forget it.

“Not yet,” he whispered the lie against her lips, a split-second before his mouth claimed hers, dominant now that he was ready for the kiss. Desire became a raging inferno within him, burning away the anger that blazed back into life whenever he had a moment to think. This kiss was the only thing that mattered right now.

This time, Lealandra loosed a deep breathy moan. The sound sent his blood rushing ahead of his thoughts. He hardened instantly against his tight black jeans and wrapped his fingers around the nape of her neck, pressing them in and dragging her closer still. The heat of her kiss reawakened lost passion and a need for her that could never die. Six years of separation disappeared in an instant, erased by the fact that she had finally walked back into his life. He wasn’t going to let her go this time. Even if this kiss was only a decoy, it still meant something to them both. He knew it did.

Her fingertips grazed his neck and pushed into the shorter black hair at the back of his head. He groaned internally at the feel of her nails against his scalp, declaring her growing hunger, and furrowed his brow as he brought his hand forward to claim her jaw, holding her in place. He burned at the feel of her soft satin skin beneath his fingers. Her touch was still electric, sending waves of hot sparks dancing along every nerve in his body, bringing his cold flesh to life. Tilting her head back, he thrust his tongue into her mouth and slid his free hand around her waist at the same time, pulling her so close to him that her breasts pushed against his chest with each gasping breath she drew. He eased his hand lower and caressed the patch of bare warm skin between the bottom of her short black strapless corset top and the waist of her long black skirt. Lealandra tensed. Too fast.

Taig braced for impact.

The flat of her hand slammed against his chest, forcing him backwards in the curved padded seat of the booth and tearing her from his grasp. Her gelid gaze stopped him dead.

“They’re gone, aren’t they?” Lealandra’s tone was pure venom that matched the ice in her pale grey eyes.

Taig held his hands up, surrendering with a seductive smile that confessed every sin he had been considering. Lealandra wasn’t the kind of witch you lied to. With such strong power flowing in her veins, it was easy for her to read everyone. Everyone but him. His blood saw to that. Her ability to see through him didn’t come from magic. It came from the divine six months they had spent locked tight in each other’s embrace. Six heavenly months he would never forget followed by six hollow years he wished he couldn’t remember.

Lealandra looked around the bar, flicking her straight dark hair over her bare slender shoulders. His black gaze raked over her in the same hungry way it had done when she had first appeared in front of him tonight. She had grown a little thinner in their time apart. Her partner hadn’t been taking care of her. Taig curled his fingers into fists at the thought of another man touching what was his. Anger blazed in his chest, ignited by the idea that the man she had chosen over him hadn’t been looking after her needs. Had the idiot failed to see what she truly craved?

The magic that inhabited her body drained her and made her hungry. She needed to feed often and he wasn’t talking about food. Magic as old and potent as hers demanded the highest price and had the basest needs. If it didn’t get what it wanted, it was hard for Lealandra to retain control. It only proved the point he had tried to hammer home to her when she had been on the verge of leaving him all those years ago and disproved hers.

Taig didn’t give a fuck about the rules of her kind. A witch was no match for a witch, especially not one who needed blood to sustain her.

Demon blood.

The thought that Lealandra had been struggling with her power these six long years stoked his anger into blind fury. Every muscle itched with the desire to find her pathetic excuse for a man and teach him a lesson he would never forget for making her suffer. The kind of lesson that would satisfy Taig’s own deep dark cravings.

“I can’t believe you’d take a cheap shot like that,” Lealandra muttered in his direction, her eyes meeting his. “No. Wait. Actually… I can.”

With his best sexy smirk, Taig leaned back into the grotty dark brown leather seat and stretched his arms out along the top. He shrugged and held her gaze.

“You kissed me first. I just returned the favour.”

Her tongue swept over her lips, as though she wanted to kiss him again and was contenting herself with the lingering taste of him. If she wanted him to kiss her, he would. He would kiss her so hard that she would forget that idiot she had left him for and her own name in the process. She would forget everything but the feel of him inside her where he belonged. He would ruin her to everyone but him.

“That’s not the kind of favour I need from you.” Lealandra casually rested her elbow on the back of the leather seat and propped her chin up with her hand. Her head tilted to one side, her dusky kiss-swollen lips curving into a smile. His heart thundered, beating hard with the rush of desire that flooded him.

That smile had made him want her the moment he had laid eyes on her all those years ago. He still wanted her.

He tamped down his desire and got a grip. Her kissing him hadn’t changed a damn thing. Whatever they’d had, it didn’t exist anymore. She had trampled it on her way out of the door and it was going to take a lot more than a kiss to get her into his good book again.

“A favour? Tell me, why should I do you any favours? Last I checked, you were shacked up with another bloke. Why don’t you ask Loverboy to help you out? I’m sure he could do something… unspectacular.” Taig picked up his shot of whisky from the table and necked it. The liquid burned his throat as it slid down, heating him through. Sometimes it was nice to feel something other than cold. Alcohol and hunting were the only things that did that these days. His gaze ran over Lealandra. She used to make him burn hotter than Hell on a summer’s day. She still did, but he wasn’t about to let her see that. “I guess that’s why you’re here. Loverboy just doesn’t cut it when it comes to handling demons. That pair of weaklings would have him inside out and back to front before he could lift a finger to cast whatever impotent half-assed spell he could muster.”

Taig held her gaze, cool and steady, watching the hurt surfacing in her eyes and feeling like a bastard for it, but on some twisted level, it satisfied him.

He narrowed his eyes and casually placed the glass down. “Well, you’re shit out of luck, Lea. I’m not interested.”

Her only reaction was to look away from him. She flicked the small silver bells on the ties of her long skirt and her shoulders lifted in a sigh. That was unsatisfactory. He had expected a better response than that. He had wanted her to argue with him about it. Perhaps even fight him. A good fight with her might go some way towards releasing the anger that was burning like acid in his veins, eating away at him and filling his head and heart with acrid memories.

Memories that drove him to kill.

He quirked a dark eyebrow and waited for her to say something. It wasn’t like her. She looked up at him through her eyelashes.

A hint of fear surfaced in her beautiful eyes and rippled across her pale skin in a wave that only he could detect. He sat up, all sense of casual lost now that he had realised that she was frightened and it wasn’t of him. His anger faded. Something was very wrong. Lealandra didn’t do frightened. No witch as powerful as her did, at least not when they had their Counter-Balance, their other half, the one who could temper their magic and help them maintain control of it.

“I’ll pay you… whatever you want… just name your price.” She coughed to clear her throat, as though such a pathetic attempt to cover her turbulent feelings would fool him.

It was there in her body and her power, and he knew her well enough that he could easily read both. She was scared, and he was an idiot for not noticing it the second she had approached him, and the moment those thugs had walked into the joint. They had been out of place and suspicious, and he had sensed their demon blood, and then Lealandra had kissed him and he had lost track of them and her feelings. She had tasted purely of hunger and desire. All sweet with arousal. It had been enough to throw him off her underlying fear.

“You know my price.” Taig’s eyes narrowed on hers, intent and showing her that he was being serious for once. His voice dropped to a low whisper. “I want you, Lea.”

She swallowed and blinked. Once. Twice. “No deal.”

When she moved to stand, Taig grabbed her wrist, locking his fingers tightly around it. She looked down at his hand and then into his eyes. Her startled look added to her natural beauty, her eyes round and her rosy lips parted. A blush stained her pale cheeks, deep enough that he noticed it even in the low light of the bar. He wanted her more now than ever and he wasn’t about to let her walk out on him again.

“You knew what I’d ask for so why come to me with your problems if you were going to refuse?”

Lealandra pried his fingers off her and frowned. “You saw those men. I need a demon hunter. You’re the best I know.”

Demon hunter. The job title neglected to mention the fact that his father had been one of the most powerful demons to walk the Earth. He stared into Lealandra’s stormy eyes and saw the same calm acceptance that they always showed him. Had his mother looked at his father that way? She had dared to be with him after all. That union had spawned himself—half demon hidden behind the mask of man.

Taig tapped his fingers on the dark table, torn between rejecting her request unless she agreed to his terms and kissing her again. His eyebrows knitted tight together. This wasn’t easy. What they had shared six years ago wasn’t the kind of everyday passion that most people found at the start of a relationship. It had gone beyond that. The dark and hungry craving had consumed them both, had pushed them to the edge and had almost tipped them over it a few times. It had been unbridled passion—the sort that was rare in this world—and it still flooded him whenever he looked at her, whenever her beautiful eyes met his and dared him to make a move. He could deny it all he wanted, pretend that he no longer felt a thing for her, but she still tied him in knots and had him on his knees with only a smile. She licked her lips again, a nervous sweep of her tongue that reminded him that something was wrong.

What could be so bad that she wasn’t asking her precious coven for help and was instead looking him up after six long years?

Was it just the demons that had her scared or was there more to this than she was telling him? Witches and demons got on like a house on fire but usually they kept well clear of each other, sticking to their own world. It was unusual for a demon to go after a witch, but he couldn’t deny that the two kids earlier had been looking for Lealandra.

And now she was asking him for help.

What reason could demons have for going after her?

Taig looked deep into her eyes, focusing on them as he tried to get a hold on her feelings. There was anger in her now, aimed at him, but the fear was still there too. It echoed in the unsteady beat of her heart and danced in the depths of her eyes. She was in trouble, big enough that she had sought him out even when she knew that he would be pissed off at her and that he would demand a high price for services rendered. Either she was desperate or she truly believed that he was her best choice.

Or maybe she just wanted to see him again and this was the perfect excuse for her to waltz back into his life.

Still, his ineffable charm and attractiveness aside, parts of it didn’t make sense. Lealandra was powerful enough to take care of a couple of weak lower demons and her bastard Counter-Balance and dear coven should have been able to protect her if she couldn’t fight them for some reason. Taig had never met them, but the coven was probably strong enough to take on a demon of his strength. Two weaklings would be nothing to them. Like swatting flies.

And why was she here anyway? Alone too. Her Counter-Balance would have a tantrum of galactic proportions if he knew that Lealandra had come to her ex-lover for help.

In fact, none of it made sense.

Taig’s head ached from trying to figure it out. It was just like her to send his mind in ten directions at once. There was only one way to find out what the hell had Lealandra walking back into his life. He never had been backwards about being forwards, after all. It was one of the qualities that Lealandra had liked about him.

“Why do you need me?” Taig sensed the deep spike in her feelings, the rise in her desire that struck him hard and sent a jolt to his groin, reigniting his own hunger.

Her eyes widened and her cheeks coloured.

He hadn’t considered the possibility of a second meaning to his words but now he was. His suspicions had been right. He wasn’t the only one the kiss had affected. He wasn’t the only one who felt this need burning deep within.

His eyes narrowed on hers in both a challenge and a command. He was damned if he was going to let her get away without answering, and damned if he was going to let her walk out on him again.

“Tell me.”

» DOWNLOAD EXTENDED EXCERPT PDF

Available in e-book from:
Author’s website: http://www.felicityheaton.com/ebooks.php?title=Ascension
Amazon Kindle: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004X6TWLK/
Amazon Kindle UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B004X6TWLK/
Barnes and Noble: http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Ascension/Felicity-Heaton/e/2940011267451/
All Romance eBooks: http://www.allromanceebooks.com/product-ascension-613575-140.html
Kobo Books: http://www.kobobooks.com/ebook/Ascension-Shadow-and-Light-Trilogy/mix-eOMlgr3IoEeDmdBmXXi0CA/page1.html
Smashwords: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/54728
Amazon Kindle Germany: http://www.amazon.de/dp/B004X6TWLK/
Amazon Kindle France: http://www.amazon.fr/dp/B004X6TWLK/

Available in paperback from:
Amazon.com: http://www.amazon.com/dp/1461131839/
Amazon.co.uk: http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1461131839/
Barnes and Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/ascension-felicity-heaton/1031122152

While it’s all well and good interviewing my characters, there’s a chance that you might not be familiar with them. To make sure that isn’t a problem, I’ve put together some long excerpts of my paranormal romance books in PDF format for you to download and enjoy.

First up is a very long (around 70,000 words) excerpt from the first book in my Prophecy Trilogy, Prophecy: Child of Light. It’s also the first book in the Vampires Realm series so it’s the ideal introduction to that world even though the Vampires Realm series doesn’t have to be read in order. This should give you a taste for the world and the vampires and werewolves in it though.

Here’s some information about Prophecy: Child of Light and a short excerpt to get you started…

F E Heaton
A vampire unlike any other, Prophecy lives life in the dark until the night she encounters Valentine, a gorgeous vampire who is both her enemy and the man who will change her life forever.

Convinced that the prophecy about her is wrong and unable to ignore the vision of them that he saw in her blood, Valentine goes against his orders to execute Prophecy and kidnaps her instead. The attraction between them grows as they search for the truth behind the prophecy, battle a dark evil that threatens to destroy the world, and attempt to evade their families and the Law Keepers.

When the truth about her is revealed, will Prophecy be strong enough to face it? Will they discover a way to save the world from Hell? And will they finally see past the hatred bred into them by their families and surrender to their love?

The first novel in the Vampires Realm series, Prophecy: Child of Light, is part one in an epic tale of love and war that is sure to capture your heart and leave you craving more.

» DOWNLOAD THE EXTENDED EXCERPT IN PDF

ebook price: $0.99
genre: paranormal vampire romance
length: 135000 words
rating: sultry
released: March 2007
Book 1 in the Vampires Realm series

Available in e-book from:
Author’s website: http://www.felicityheaton.com/ebooks.php?title=Prophecy:%20Child%20of%20Light%20[book%201]
Amazon Kindle: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0035LDNV4/
Amazon Kindle UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0035LDNV4/
Barnes and Noble: http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Prophecy/Felicity-Heaton/e/2940000801048/
All Romance eBooks: http://www.allromanceebooks.com/product-prophecychildoflight-601470-139.html
Sony Reader Store: http://ebookstore.sony.com/ebook/f-e-heaton/prophecy/_/R-400000000000000248920
Kobo Books: http://www.kobobooks.com/ebook/Prophecy-Child-Of-Light/mix-rDOnD6cECkGermYtAHD9Dw/page1.html
Smashwords: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/7757
Amazon Kindle Germany: http://www.amazon.de/dp/B0035LDNV4/
Amazon Kindle France: http://www.amazon.fr/dp/B0035LDNV4/

Trapped.

That’s what she was, what she had been for as long as she could remember.

The walls around her had seemed to close in as the years rolled on, making the mansion increasingly unbearable, and drawing her ever more to the world outside her bedroom window.

Rain rattled against the windowpanes, creating an eerie melody when combined with the howl of the wind cutting through the power lines. Watching the streaks of water coursing down the windows, Prophecy ignored the ramblings of her blood-mother, Iona, and kept focus on the outside world.

She slowly ran the brush down her long auburn hair, smoothing away the knots and tangles while she stared out into the night.

Something stirred in the darkness and her gaze shifted there. The hunting group crossed the grounds towards the gates. There were eleven of them tonight, one less than last night because one had fallen. Talk of it had reached her even before her mother knew. The walls had ears in this house and Prophecy knew the owner of them.

A chance meeting with the other bloodline that lived in this city had led to a fight in which her family had lost a son.

Not that she cared.

What was it to her who died out on the hunt? She didn’t know them, didn’t know anyone outside a set sphere of people.

Her brown eyes followed the group as they reached the gates and she watched them slip into the darkness beyond. She knew where they were going. They were heading down into the city, down to a place she’d never been. Losing sight of them, she glanced at the high stone wall that surrounded the grounds.

It was the final barrier between her and the city. The outside wall of her prison.

A wall she longed to breach.

“Where do they go?” she said in a distant tone of voice, sounding as disinterested as possible.

She heard a swish of material and felt her mother close behind her.

“To hunt,” her mother replied in a matter of fact tone. She took the brush from her.

Prophecy mused her mother’s answer while she stared at the rain-soaked scenery and felt the brush in her hair, her mother’s delicate fingers working through the knots.

To hunt.

It sounded so enthralling, so dangerous and dark. She wished she knew what it was to hunt, but she’d never been allowed out into the night with the others, not even with her so-called brother, Arkalus.

“Can I go too?” she asked, knowing what the answer would be, but hoping that tonight it might be different from the thousands of times that she’d asked in the past.

“I am afraid not,” her mother replied and smoothed down her hair.

“Why not?” Prophecy challenged and turned to face her mother.

Iona didn’t look at all concerned by Prophecy’s outburst. Her face was a mask of calm, and Prophecy’s eyes roamed over it, taking in the luscious black of her mother’s curled hair and the wicked red that smeared her lips. Her eyes were surrounded by layers of black and brown, making them sinfully dark and alluring against her creamy pale skin. In all the years that Prophecy could remember her, Iona had always looked this way—like a true child of the night. Her mother was a fitting master of their bloodline, never straying from the tradition of dress or habit. Never straying from the laws.

All her life Prophecy had been taught to obey the rules of their society and of their house, but it was becoming increasingly difficult to obey her mother. She could feel the lure of the outside world keenly, as though it was in her blood, and she could no longer ignore it. She had tried. She had spent night after night resisting the call of the city and the promise of excitement it whispered in her ear. Now her blood was screaming at her to escape the confines of the mansion and taste the thrill of the hunt, to take hold of it and live the life she was born to.

“You’re too young.” A fond smile teased her mother’s lips and she raised a slim hand. She pushed Prophecy’s hair behind her ear, clearing it from her face. “Soon, maybe.”

Prophecy allowed herself a small smile. It was the first time her mother had said that she would be allowed to hunt soon and it ignited a spark of hope inside her. She glanced at the window, still smiling serenely as her eyes followed the spatter of the raindrops against the glass.

“But first, you must complete your training.”

A sigh escaped Prophecy’s lips while she thought about that. Each night she woke and went through the rigmarole of training, and each night she was held back while the others went out to hunt. All she wished for was one night of freedom.

One thrilling night out hunting, even if it were with Arkalus.

Then she would be happy.

Then she would gladly spend eternity cooped up in the mansion.

She watched her mother leave and turned her attention back to the rain-soaked world outside her window. In the distance, she could see the pinpricks of light that were the buildings in the centre of the city.

Prague.

She longed to go there.

During her studies in the library, she’d read every book about the city and its dark history, even when she was supposed to be reading about her family and their own black and bloodied past. She didn’t care much for them or the other family that presided over the city; she just wanted to be out there in amongst the people, and feeling the thrill of the chase.

She wanted her first taste of a kill.

Standing, she ran her fingers around the smooth white column of her throat while thinking about killing her first victim and her large dark eyes scanned the horizon. She caught sight of two guards patrolling the grounds.

How was it everyone else was allowed to hunt when she was forced to stay at home? She’d done her training, knew how to execute a clean kill, and could defend herself from the other family if she needed to.

She was ready.

Why didn’t anyone see that?

Why was she being held back?

Casting a glance around her dimly lit room, she stopped when her eyes came to rest on her wardrobe. A mischievous smile wove its way across her lips.

She would see this city. She would feel the excitement of the hunt and learn the taste of fresh human blood, and no one would even know about it.

Tomorrow, the night was hers.

* * * *

The city was dark and clouds hung heavy in the air, weighing down upon it as they threatened rain. Prophecy slipped through the black shadows. Quieter than a cat, she moved from street to street, invisible to the people walking them as the nightclubs turned out.

She froze when she entered the cemetery, hurriedly crouching low and turning her face to the sky as a rumble of thunder echoed overhead. Her eyes narrowed and ran over the clouds, assessing just how long she had before the downpour reached her.

Just enough time to hunt.

She listened to the chatter of people as they passed by on the other side of the wall, unaware of the creatures they shared their world with.

Creatures like her.

She couldn’t remember a time she had been like them. She’d never been able to remember it. Her kin barely spoke about their lives as humans, but she knew they could remember them. On the rare instances they’d mentioned them, she’d always been listening from the shadows. Their conversations had left her wondering about her life before she was a vampire and why she couldn’t remember it.

The voices drifted into the distance and she stood up. She moved swiftly into the inviting darkness of the graveyard, allowing it to envelope her and hide her from the world.

She slipped from tomb to tomb, sharpening her senses more and more with each passing second and waiting with baited breath for someone to stray from the human world and into hers.

Her tongue darted out to wet her lips. She pressed her back flush against the wall of a crypt when her sensitive ears picked up the sound of footsteps heading towards her. Her eyes closed as the person neared and she listened to their erratic movements. Inhaling deeply, she tried to catch their scent in the damp air.

Lightning forked in the distance, the thunder rolling above her just a few seconds later.

She only had a short time before the rain came, but it was all she was going to need.

She grinned when the man she was tracking stumbled and fell.

This man had been drinking.

Smoothing her clothes, she checked her appearance and then slipped out of the shadows and into the path of her quarry.

He stopped, his eyes raking over her as she stood awaiting him.

“What do we have here?” he breathed in a thick Czech accent.

She braced herself when he took a step towards her, his smile widening. Her stomach tightened with nerves and she struggled to keep her focus while she repeatedly went over what she needed to do in her head.

She managed a smile, dipped her head slightly and looked up at him through hooded eyes, luring him in. She fluttered her eyelashes when he stumbled forwards. The stench of alcohol came off him in waves and intoxicated her senses as it mixed with the scent of his blood.

He wasn’t a large man, barely the same height as her and nearly as thin. His sandy hair hung in loose, wet curls, like a shaggy mop on top of his head. She wondered if someone had dunked him in one of the city fountains. He couldn’t have been caught in the rain because it hadn’t reached them yet.

“All alone…pretty girl like you…city like this,” he slurred.

She kept her smile steady, holding her nerve and waiting for the right moment to strike.

When he came within arms reach, she lowered her head completely, turning it away from him so she was almost looking behind her.

So her face was hidden in shadow.

“I don’t come out often,” she said, hesitating while she built up the courage to take her first life.

“Shame…not enough girls like you in this city. You shouldn’t hide away.” He stepped up to her.

His fingers brushed against her cheek. She closed her eyes and inhaled sharply. Anticipation curled like a snake in the pit of her stomach and she was ready to strike.

“Not enough girls like you in the world,” he murmured and she smiled.

“You’d be right there.” She raised her head as her fangs descended and in one swift move, she was on him.

Grasping his arms, she bit deep into his neck, hoping her aim was true and she would catch a vein strong enough to drink from.

Her hands wrestled with his. He struggled against her in a desperate attempt to break free. She sank her teeth deeper into his neck and was rewarded with a mouthful of blood. It tasted sweeter than the rarest wine as it slipped down her throat and she couldn’t stop herself from drinking deeply. It was intoxicating. He started to cry out and she covered his mouth roughly with her hand, stopping him from drawing attention to them. She held him tighter and tried to contain him so she could feed properly. He was wriggling against her now and it only served to drive her on, heightening the thrill of her first kill. The taste of fresh, warm blood made her fingers curl and she didn’t even notice that her nails were digging into his flesh.

All she could think about, all she could feel, was the all-consuming pleasure of his blood.

His heart stopped and she released him, hearing him slump to the ground at her feet.

Her head fell backwards and she lost herself in the sensations running rampant through her, potent feelings she’d never experienced before. Her mind swam with desire while she savoured the divinity of what she’d tasted.

* * * *

From the shadows, Valentine watched her, his eyes following her every move. She wiped her fingers across her mouth, licking and sucking every last drop of blood off them as though it would be her last. He’d never seen one take so much pleasure from the hunt and the kill. He’d never witnessed one lose themselves so much in the feed.

Slipping out of the darkness, he walked towards her, moving silently for fear of alerting her to his presence before he was willing to make himself known.

She was enthralling. Still wrapt in delight, she ran her fingers down her body, clearly buzzing from the fresh blood in her veins. He arched a brow at her when he stopped at a distance, close enough to see who she was, but far away enough that she still didn’t notice him. She ran her tongue along her soft full lips, clearing them of any remaining blood.

“And what have we here?” he said.

Prophecy started as the velvet-edged, strong voice roused her from her haze. For a moment, she thought about answering him by mentioning that he’d just said exactly what her last victim had, but then she caught his scent and froze.

He wasn’t human.

He was a vampire.

Her eyes shot open and she stared at him, her senses becoming painfully sharp when he stared straight back.

His eyes were sharp, narrowing as he studied her. “Who are you?”

She remained mute. She could sense a power in him that was nearly as strong as her mother’s and she knew instinctively that he was from the other family. Her eyes remained fixed on him when thunder rumbled threateningly overhead and she blinked rapidly when fat raindrops began to fall. The sound of them filled the silence. She was saturated in a matter of seconds.

Those seconds seemed to stretch into minutes while she stared at him and he looked back at her. The dead body of the man she’d killed lay prostrate between them, marking a line that she chose as the boundary between her and the newcomer. If he stepped near it, she’d bolt in the opposite direction and head for the safety of home.

Until then, she would stay where she was and stand her ground as she’d been taught.

Lightning illuminated the turbulent blanket of grey above them. She noticed that his hair was black against his skin; a tangled spiky mess that made his slim face look even thinner. He stood straight, his head tilted back a fraction and his focus wholly on her. His eyes were as green as hers were when she was in her vampire guise and she was drawn to looking into them as he stared at her with a critical coldness.

He took a step towards her and she moved back one, keeping the distance between them steady.

“Why are you alone?” His words were an obvious attempt to get her to speak. She kept silent. “Not hunting with the pack?”

She felt like turning that question against him, but she was trapped in his gaze and answered without thinking.

“They won’t let me. I’m still learning.” It came out sounding sulky and she lifted her chin in defiance when he pulled an expression of mock sympathy.

“Learning what?” He took another step towards her. This time she remained standing in the same spot, not letting him back her up any more.

“To hunt,” she said.

Her senses stretched out and assessed all avenues of escape around her. Now that he was closing the gap, she could feel just how powerful he was and her instincts were telling her to run before he got too close. She knew she would be able to outrun him. He was taller than her, but had a slightly heavier build, which would slow him down, even with his heightened abilities.

He laughed mockingly and then gave her a serious look when he took another step towards her, cutting the distance between them down to only a few feet.

“To hunt is in your blood.” His voice lowered, his intimate tone sending a shiver down her spine. He looked deep into her eyes and held her gaze while he moved towards her. “To kill, your nature.”

She blinked.

“Who is your sire, little one?” He purred the words at her, his sensuous voice lulling her. Her eyes closed for a split-second before she got the better of herself and they shot open.

She raised her head in an attempt to show him that she wasn’t scared of him. She wasn’t going to answer his questions and she could see he wasn’t pleased about that when a shadow of annoyance crossed his face.

Her eyes widened when his teeth extended, his eyes shifting into their blue state as he revealed his true self. She gasped when he closed the gap between them and caught hold of her before she could move. She should have run when she’d had the chance. She shouldn’t have come out alone.

Pressing her hands against his chest, she felt as though the tables had been turned on her while she struggled against him, trying to escape his grasp like her victim had attempted to break free of hers. She flinched away from him when he held her firm and whispered words to her.

“Do not be frightened. You know what I am going to do,” he said and she closed her eyes, leaning away from him when he neared her neck.

She had to block him, had to stop him from seeing the visions of her past from her blood like he wanted to. She desperately tried to remember what she’d been taught, but forgot it the instant his lips brushed against her skin, sending shivers of desire racing through her, washing away all fear.

She swallowed hard and grimaced when his sharp incisors penetrated her, sinking deep into her. She stilled for a moment as pain swept through her, clearing the clouds of desire from her mind. He pulled on her blood and his fingers tightened around her upper arms. She struggled against him.

Escape.

She needed to escape.

* * * *

As the images that were swimming in his head came into order, Valentine stumbled backwards and stared at her. She was standing before him, clutching at her neck, her eyes wide and full of fear. He blinked once, twice, and then frowned when she bolted out of the cemetery gates, leaving him alone in the darkness.

He stared at the place where she’d been not two seconds before and then brought his fingers up to his mouth. He brushed the blood from his lips and thought about what had just happened. He thought about what he’d seen.

Could it be?

He glanced at the blood staining his fingers.

“Prophecy.”

» DOWNLOAD THE EXTENDED EXCERPT IN PDF

Available in e-book for $0.99 from:
Author’s website: http://www.felicityheaton.com/ebooks.php?title=Prophecy:%20Child%20of%20Light%20[book%201]
Amazon Kindle: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0035LDNV4/
Amazon Kindle UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0035LDNV4/
Barnes and Noble: http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Prophecy/Felicity-Heaton/e/2940000801048/
All Romance eBooks: http://www.allromanceebooks.com/product-prophecychildoflight-601470-139.html
Sony Reader Store: http://ebookstore.sony.com/ebook/f-e-heaton/prophecy/_/R-400000000000000248920
Kobo Books: http://www.kobobooks.com/ebook/Prophecy-Child-Of-Light/mix-rDOnD6cECkGermYtAHD9Dw/page1.html
Smashwords: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/7757
Amazon Kindle Germany: http://www.amazon.de/dp/B0035LDNV4/
Amazon Kindle France: http://www.amazon.fr/dp/B0035LDNV4/