Category Archives: Heart of Darkness

It’s time for Snippet Saturday! Each week has a theme or is author’s choice. This week the theme is Smooth Operator – Hero with moves.

This week my snippet comes from one of my stand alone vampire romance novels, Heart of Darkness. It’s a bit of a big one today but that’s because I wanted to capture enough of the story to set the scene too, and Aleksandr deserves a nice long excerpt to show just how determined he is to make Elise see beyond his rank of prince and the rumours about him, to the vampire he is beneath.

Elise cursed the name of Aleksandr Nemov for the hundredth time that night, and it was barely two hours after sundown. It transpired that he had only danced with her at the ball. Now everywhere she went the ladies of the house whispered and glared at her. Even the guards were merciless in their teasing. She had gone to see Andrej to find some comfort but he had been so caustic that she had immediately left.

She hurried across the landscaped garden to the grey two storey square building at the back of the estate that acted as the garrison. It was past time to report in for duty. Hopefully, Commander Piotr would forgive her this small fault in exchange for the fact that she had followed his orders and ruined her life by dancing with Aleksandr Nemov.

Elise strode through the building, her focus so fixed on thinking of a way to gain a solo mission so she could patrol the city in glorious solitude and keeping her head down to avoid the snide taunts of her comrades that she didn’t notice the danger until it was too late.

The moment she saw Aleksandr, she turned and tried to escape her commander’s office.

“Elise,” Commander Piotr said and she froze, cursing Aleksandr again.

“Reporting for duty, Sir.” Elise saluted her commander and then Ladislav where he sat perched on the end of her commander’s oak desk dressed in a long black winter coat and pinstripe suit. She ignored Aleksandr.

“You are to show me the city tonight.”

Her gaze shot to Aleksandr. He smiled at her, all charm and sweetness.
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It’s time for Snippet Saturday! Each week has a theme or is author’s choice. This week the theme is Author’s Choice.

For my snippet this week, I decided to choose a scene from my vampire romance book, Heart of Darkness, which features one of my favourite heroes, Aleksandr, a vampire prince on a mission of vengeance against hunters.

Aleksandr ran his thumb along her jaw and looked deep into her eyes.

“Seeing you in danger… I have never felt such fear… and then hearing you say that you desired to hunt, that you would place your mouth on another man and take his blood into you, drove me insane with a need to kill.”

Elise was silent. She wasn’t sure what she could say.

Her eyes slowly widened when he undid the buttons of his coat and removed it, dropping it down on the dry ground at their feet, and then unbuttoned his white shirt.

He bore his throat to her, tilting his chin up, and the sight of it sent hunger crashing through her.

It was unmarked. She had never noticed it before but now she couldn’t fail to. His pulse beat slowly but strongly, each minute marked by a tick just below the curve of his jaw that enticed her into biting him. She counted five before she found the strength to tear her eyes away and look into his again.

“I have fed well recently,” he whispered, keeping his chin up. “Take my blood.”

Elise wasn’t sure how to respond. He was still healing and needed the strength his blood gave him. She couldn’t take it and weaken him. Even though sense told her to refuse him, the larger part of her begged her to taste him, to sink her fangs into his throat and feel the thrill of his blood in her veins.
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It’s time for Snippet Saturday! Each week has a theme or is author’s choice. This week the theme is I Need A Hero.

This week my snippet comes from Heart of Darkness, which a stand alone vampire romance novel, and one of my favourite stories.

I don’t seem to be able to get my snippets to short scenes this month. It’s another long one and a scene I really like in the book. Aleksandr, a vampire prince and a skilled hunter on a mission of vengeance, has tracked his prey to Prague, where he meets a beautiful female vampire guard, Elise, and begins a different sort of hunt, one for her. Elise isn’t interested in becoming another of Aleksandr’s legendary conquests but whenever they’re alone together, she finds it hard to deny her attraction to him…

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