Category Archives: Seduce

The Vampirerotique Summer Book Tour comes to my blog today for an exclusive excerpt from one of the erotic vampire romance books in the series.

Since I already posted one double excerpt of Seduce (Vampire Erotic Theatre Romance Series Book 3)on the tour, and we still hadn’t leapt into Antoine’s sexy mind, I thought I would post another exclusive excerpt of that book today.

First, I’ll set the picture with the blurb so you all know a little more about the story and characters.

Seduce
Felicity Heaton
Bloodlust runs in his veins, a dark master waiting for the day it will reign over him. Now a woman with a pure soul and wicked intentions has him in her sights and is determined to crack the ice around his heart, and she might save or damn him.

Antoine stands apart from the world around him, a dangerous and broken soul who must maintain rigid control at all times or risk his dark addiction finally seizing hold of him. The shadows of his past haunt him and he sees his bleak future each night when his brother wakes screaming, his blood addiction turning him savage. He cannot allow himself to feel, but when Sera walks into Vampirerotique, the erotic theatre he runs with three other vampires, to audition, she awakens dangerous desires in him—hungers that could spell the end of both of them.

Sera has wanted Antoine since the night she first saw the gorgeous aristocrat vampire. She can’t ignore the deep carnal hunger he stirs in her or the ache to know the heat of his touch. With the help of her sire, an ex-performer at Vampirerotique, she sets in motion a game of seduction, one designed to thaw the ice in Antoine’s veins and make him burn for her.

When Sera discovers the shocking truth about his past and the darkness that lurks within him, will she be strong enough to seize his heart with both hands and win him forever or will she lose him to the ghosts that still haunt him?

Available in e-book from:
Author’s website
Amazon Kindle Stores:
USA/International | UK | Germany | France | Spain | Italy
Other Retailers: Kobo Books | Smashwords | All Romance eBooks

Available in paperback from:
Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk

Antoine couldn’t believe that Callum had roped him into this and he had allowed it to happen. When the black-haired elite vampire had walked into his office earlier this evening and announced that he would have to interview Elizabeth’s child because Kristina had managed to get an appointment for her first ultrasound, Antoine had done his best to convince the elite vampire to get another appointment for her. He had even offered to arrange it himself. He knew some of the best vampire doctors that money could buy and all of them were discreet. Callum had refused to hear a word about it. The elite vampire was irritatingly stubborn when it came to matters surrounding his offspring or the werewolf bearing it.

Not that Callum being here tonight would have made much difference. He had been distracted from the moment he had met Kristina close to three months ago and that had only grown worse when he had discovered that she was pregnant. On top of that, Callum still hadn’t apologised for the whole fiasco that had severely damage the theatre’s reputation. Talk of what had occurred that night, and that Callum’s lover was a werewolf, had spread like wildfire through vampire society. Attendance was down but Antoine could smooth things over with the elite and the aristocrats given time.

He sighed and relaxed into the theatre seat, trying to get his mind off business and onto the woman on stage. It was impossible when his anger was riding him so mercilessly.

What Callum had done wasn’t the reason he was so annoyed. It was what he had done. It haunted him. He should never have allowed the performance that night to start, let alone degenerate to the level that it had. If Kristina had died, Callum would never have forgiven him. Antoine knew what it was like to lose someone you loved with every drop of blood in your body and it wasn’t something he wanted Callum or anyone to go through.

Dark memories stirred at the back of his mind and he forced his focus back to the woman as she stripped.

Sera.
She deserved his attention since she had made the effort to pull strings to get on his stage. It was a shame that she had none of the talent of her sire. She was too young, and too new as a vampire. Her looks were appealing though and that was the only reason he was allowing her to continue. Youthful with clear flawless skin, a rosy hue to her cheeks, and dark eyes. He couldn’t make out the colour. She skimmed her hands up her curves, past her bra and up the sides of her head, pulling her long hair up and tangling her hands in it, her eyes closing in apparent ecstasy. Blonde hair was always good on the stage. The lights played well on it. Her figure was better than average, with sumptuous curves and her navy lacy bra cupping what looked to be good firm handful-sized breasts. She ran her fingers over the bra cups, as though she had sensed his sudden desire to know what her nipples were like. He imagined them small and dark, sweet plums made for sucking.

Antoine cleared his throat and brought his focus back to appraising her as a performer.

She had nice hips. Her waist flared out into them just right, an hourglass figure made for tempting men’s imaginations and rousing a hunger to sweep hands over those dangerous curves. She unzipped her blue jeans and turned away from him, granting him a tantalising flash of matching lace panties that stirred his interest. His control slipped again but he reined it back and ran a glance over her bottom. Small, pert. She swayed her hips and teased him by lowering her jeans and then raising them again.

Was she wearing a thong or normal panties?

French knickers.

The vision of her in them flashed across his mind and he found himself leaning forwards as she edged her jeans down, eager to see if luck would be with him and she was wearing his favourite lacy little shorts.

Antoine leaned back, shocked to find that she had lured him in completely without him realising.

What was he doing?

It had been centuries since that had happened. He had watched the performances each night, unaffected by the act, uninterested. They were actors. Every one of them beneath him. His name and that of his older brother were on the licence for the theatre because it brought in the aristocrats with their money, not because he was debauched enough to want to watch people engaging in sexual intercourse on a stage, although the final act always got his blood pounding, just as it did any vampire.

That wasn’t a good thing.

That was dangerous.

And so was this female.

She shimmied out of her jeans, revealing his worst nightmare. Lacy navy French knickers. They clung to her bottom but rode up it as she bent forwards to free her feet from her jeans, flashing smooth peachy globes that caused an unsettling need to step up on stage and run his hands over them to feel their softness. She kicked her jeans away and then turned towards him, her smile sultry and her dark eyes meeting his. An errant wavy strand of her blonde hair caressed her neck and drew his gaze there. His urge to leap up on stage increased. He wanted to clear the hair away from the slender column of her throat, revealing it to his eyes. He would step around her then, keeping his hand on her shoulder as he brushed his front across her back. His hard cock would nestle against her bottom as she arched into him, eager for harder contact between them, and he would lower his mouth to kiss the soft flawless skin and breathe her in. He hungered to taste her and know her scent, to let it envelop him and send his desire soaring.

Antoine tamped down the need and pulled back on the reins again. He was in control here. This was all just an act designed to thrill. The desire in her eyes, the way she moved as though it was his eyes on her that made her want to do such a naughty little wriggle and put on a show were all fake.

Sera swayed her shoulders and then licked her lips and unhooked her bra. She let the lacy cups fall away from her breasts, revealing deep pink buds that made his blood cry out for him to give up his ridiculous need for control and get on stage with her.

That was not going to happen.

He glanced at his watch. More than ten minutes had passed. Part of him said to end it now, thank her for her time, and leave. It was safer that way.

Antoine looked back up to tell her just that but she stole his voice by running her hands over her bare breasts. Her hips rocked side to side, luring his gaze downwards, but he couldn’t take his eyes off her hands. She teased her nipples between her fingers and thumbs, and Antoine realised that she was no longer nervous.

She stared straight at him, her eyes dark with desire that he could smell on her, bold in the way she held his gaze, as though daring him to come and see if he could make her feel better than she was already making herself.

Antoine forgot what he was supposed to be doing. He forgot the rules he had laid down, forgot everything that his family had hammered into his head about not interacting with elite beyond what was necessary, raising him to be a true aristocrat. He forgot it all.

What he didn’t forget was how it had ended the last time he had let himself slip and fall, and how much he had despaired on discovering that she was gone, and how he had spent close to three centuries nursing the pain in his heart.

Antoine slammed the lid on his desire, stamping out the flickering spark of it in his chest.

Sera frowned as though she had seen the change in him, and then continued, and it seemed to Antoine that she had doubled her effort.

He felt dangerously close to slipping again.

She cupped her breasts and pinched her nipples, her gaze locked with his. He tried not to stare at her, fought it with every ounce of his will. When he managed to drag his eyes away, they betrayed him and fell to her hands, following them as she ran them over the flat plane of her stomach to her hips. He stopped breathing when she slipped her fingers into her blue knickers and shifted her hips backwards, moaning as she touched herself.

Devil. He bit back the growl that rolled up his throat and battled the hot rush of desire that came with it. He wouldn’t give in to her. He wouldn’t slip. He was in control.

She moaned again, the sound filling the theatre and curling around him, taunting him. Her face was a picture of bliss, her eyes closed and rosy lips parted with satisfaction. He gripped the arms of the seat until his knuckles bleached and ached, refusing to fall for her act. It wasn’t going to happen. Not now. Not ever.

She was elite, a turned human no less. She was beneath him.

Devil, he wanted her beneath him.

Not going to happen. His cock throbbed, telling him that it could easily happen. All he had to do was surrender the rigid control he insisted on having in his life, the ridiculous need for order and distance, and give in to his hunger.

He couldn’t give in to his hunger.

The Devil only knew where that would lead him.

He knew exactly where, and the thought sobered him up so quickly it was as though someone had dumped a bucket of ice on his crotch.

Sera frowned again and Antoine knew she had seen the change this time. No doubt about it. She turned up the heat, trailing a finger up over her breasts, luring his gaze up with it, and then sucking it into her mouth. He swallowed the dry lump in his throat and stared at her mouth, watching as she worked her tongue over the pale digit, twirling it around the tip. He throbbed in his black trousers again, aching at the beautifully erotic sight of her as she sucked one finger and touched herself with another.

His heart began to pound.

Nothing good would come of this.

He had to put an end to it now before it was too late.

He had to save himself.

“Shall I bring Victor back in?” His voice cut through the silence, loud in his ears. She stumbled, a blush heating her cheeks, and looked uncertain. “You are no use if you will not perform with a man… or a woman. I could have a woman brought in if that is your preference?”

The thought of her touching another man had his blood burning with rage. Touching a woman, however. That had a certain appeal.

Sera shook her head, grabbed her clothes, and headed for the steps down from the stage.

She was giving up?

That should have satisfied him.

So why did he want to block her exit and make her stay?

I hope you enjoyed this rather wicked and sexy excerpt!

Available in e-book from:
Author’s website
Amazon Kindle Stores:
USA/International | UK | Germany | France | Spain | Italy
Other Retailers: Kobo Books | Smashwords | All Romance eBooks

Available in paperback from:
Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk

Be sure to follow this fantastic tour between June 28th and August 25th to learn more about the passionate heroes, wicked heroines, and life at London’s premier vampire erotic theatre! You can also find yourself in with a chance to win a $50 or $25 Amazon Gift Certificate if you follow the tour. More details, including how to enter and a full list of stops, are available at the Vampirerotique Summer Book Tour page.

Leave a comment on this post and enter the giveaway on the tour page in order to gain points. Just let me know you commented on this specific post by pasting in the URL into the extra information box.

All of the books so far in the series are available in paperback, and in ebook from Amazon Kindle and Kobo. Covet and Crave are available from Barnes and Noble Nook, Apple iBooks and Sony Reader too. Seduce will be available at those retailers soon. Excerpts are available for all of the current releases in the series, so you can get a taste of these wicked erotic romances.

Books in the Vampire Erotic Theatre romance series
Covet (Vampire Erotic Theatre Romance Series Book 1)
Crave (Vampire Erotic Theatre Romance Series Book 2)
Seduce (Vampire Erotic Theatre Romance Series Book 3)
Enslave (Vampire Erotic Theatre Romance Series Book 4) – Coming August 4th!
Bewitch (Vampire Erotic Theatre Romance Series Book 5) – Coming soon!
Unleash (Vampire Erotic Theatre Romance Series Book 6) – Coming in 2013!

The Vampirerotique Summer Book Tour comes to my blog today for an exclusive excerpt from one of the erotic vampire romance books in the series.

Since Seduce (Vampire Erotic Theatre Romance Series Book 3) has just come out, I thought I would post an exclusive excerpt of that book today. I’m including the first chapter as well as the second never-before-seen chapter of his hot vampire romance book.

First, I’ll set the picture with the blurb so you all know a little more about the story and characters.

Seduce
Felicity Heaton
Bloodlust runs in his veins, a dark master waiting for the day it will reign over him. Now a woman with a pure soul and wicked intentions has him in her sights and is determined to crack the ice around his heart, and she might save or damn him.

Antoine stands apart from the world around him, a dangerous and broken soul who must maintain rigid control at all times or risk his dark addiction finally seizing hold of him. The shadows of his past haunt him and he sees his bleak future each night when his brother wakes screaming, his blood addiction turning him savage. He cannot allow himself to feel, but when Sera walks into Vampirerotique, the erotic theatre he runs with three other vampires, to audition, she awakens dangerous desires in him—hungers that could spell the end of both of them.

Sera has wanted Antoine since the night she first saw the gorgeous aristocrat vampire. She can’t ignore the deep carnal hunger he stirs in her or the ache to know the heat of his touch. With the help of her sire, an ex-performer at Vampirerotique, she sets in motion a game of seduction, one designed to thaw the ice in Antoine’s veins and make him burn for her.

When Sera discovers the shocking truth about his past and the darkness that lurks within him, will she be strong enough to seize his heart with both hands and win him forever or will she lose him to the ghosts that still haunt him?

Available in e-book from:
Author’s website
Amazon Kindle Stores:
USA/International | UK | Germany | France | Spain | Italy
Other Retailers: Kobo Books | Smashwords | All Romance eBooks

Available in paperback from:
Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk

Sera’s attention wasn’t on the show. While her sire sat beside her in the sumptuous red velvet seats of the dark stalls, her focus fixed on the erotic acts playing out on the stage of Vampirerotique, Sera’s gaze was elsewhere, drawn to a man who had been on her mind since the first time she had set eyes on him over a year ago. He stood to her right at the edge of the theatre near the front row, shadows clinging to him as though they too were drawn to his lethal beauty, his own gaze on the stage. Not once did it stray from the performance—not even when she prayed under her breath every second that it would come to rest on her—and never did the intensity of it lessen. His pale icy eyes scrutinised everything, watching closely, as though he was studying it so he could give a blow-by-blow description of it to someone after it had ended. Perhaps he did. He often disappeared as soon as the show reached its climax with the bloodletting, heading through the double doors that led backstage to an area she could only imagine.

Her sire, Elizabeth, had described it for her a few times but she had always been more interested in learning more about the enigma that was the vampire who ran the theatre.

Antoine.

His name was as exotic as his looks. The deadly combination of lush chocolate brown hair, those intense pale blue eyes and his lithe figure that just screamed he would look like a god naked, was too much for her. The more she saw him, the more she wanted him.
Regardless of the warnings that her sire often whispered in her ear.

“Perhaps I should arrange for a seat closer to him next time?” Elizabeth hissed across at her, amusement ringing in her tone.

Sera tore her eyes away from Antoine, ashamed that she wasn’t watching the show that had cost her sire a pretty penny. Elizabeth had been getting her better seats with each performance and Sera knew that the closer they were to the stage and the action, the more expensive the tickets became. Not only that, but she had paid for Sera’s new outfit of a lacy deep green camisole top that matched her eyes and tight black jeans that showed off her legs to perfection, and the new highlights in her long blonde hair as well as the makeover they had both enjoyed this evening before attending the theatre.

She tried to watch the show, concentrated hard on maintaining her focus on the act playing out on the black stage but she couldn’t take in any of it. Her head swam, unable to keep track of what was happening, focus diverted by the drop-dead-gorgeous man who stood barely twenty feet away from her. She gritted her teeth and frowned, forcing her eyes to follow the performers. It didn’t help.

Seats closer to the stage just meant closer to Antoine, presenting her with a much better view of him. A view she didn’t want to squander.

Her gaze drifted back to him as though he had his own gravity and she was powerless against its pull. He stood side on to her, his tailored black trousers and crisp charcoal shirt accentuating his figure, igniting her imagination. It raced to picture him naked. Long legs and powerful thighs. Firm buttocks with sexy dimples above them. A lean muscled back that followed the sensual curve of his spine and flowed into strong shoulders that would be a pleasure to study as he moved. And finally, a chiselled torso blessed with rope after rope of honed muscles down his stomach and a chest that would feel solid beneath her cheek and palm as he held her protectively in his embrace.

Elizabeth giggled, the sound so out of place during the intense erotic performance that the dark-haired man in front of them looked over his shoulder and frowned.

“You don’t want to get involved with him. It wouldn’t end well,” Elizabeth said.

Sera wished that her sire had waited for the man to turn away before saying that. Now he was frowning at them both, dark eyebrows drawn tight above red eyes.

Elizabeth dismissively waved her hand, long scarlet nails catching the bright colourful lights that illuminated the stage. “I’m not talking about you. You’ll miss one of the best bits.”

The man’s frown hardened but he turned back to the show. Elizabeth swept her wavy dark red hair over her shoulder and returned her attention to the performance too. Sera fidgeted on her seat when she caught a glimpse of the man on stage. Victor. Elizabeth had worked with him during her time at the London theatre. He had been with Vampirerotique since a few years after it had opened a century ago and was their star performer. The large brunet male was currently pumping a woman in centre stage, his fangs enormous as he growled and fucked her side on to the audience so they could witness the whole act. The petite brunette bent over in front of him was moaning with each deep plunge of his cock, her hands grasping her knees and breasts swinging in time with his powerful thrusts. Two other men were pleasuring human females a short distance from him. The men sat on the red velvet gold-framed couches, one on each, flanking Victor where he stood close to the front of the black stage. The human females under the thrall of the other two vampires were facing the audience, kneeling astride the one who controlled them, bouncing on his cock and groaning as they palmed their breasts. Sera looked away, cheeks burning.

Elizabeth leaned towards her. “Besides, he’s as frigid as a nun and as cold as ice. In the fifty years that I worked for him, I never once saw him with a woman. The only person he loves is his messed up brother, and that’s one relationship you don’t want to interfere with.”

Sera had heard the warnings so many times now that they were losing their effect. Every time Elizabeth brought her to the theatre to watch a performance, she reiterated the long list of reasons why Sera shouldn’t want Antoine. Unfortunately, those warnings only made her want him even more. According to Elizabeth, the gorgeous male vampire had been alone for God only knew how long. Sera wanted to be the woman to smash his armour and tear down his defences, and end his loneliness.

If he was lonely.

Her gaze slid back to Antoine. He stood rod straight, posture perfect, shoulders tipped back as he continued to study the performance. The first few times she had seen him, she hadn’t thought to ask her sire about him. She had thought he was just one of the crowd stretching his legs. When Elizabeth had noticed her staring, she had told her that he was one of the owners of the theatre, and an aristocrat vampire. That had explained the tilt of his chin and the air of pride he wore, and perhaps even the coldness that settled on his face at times when he was greeting the more important guests before the show started.

He was so distant, even looked miles away as he studied the show, lost in thoughts that she wanted to know.

Elizabeth nudged her and she looked back at the stage, trying to keep her eyes off Antoine. If she couldn’t recount at least half of what had happened, Elizabeth would give her an earful on their way back to the city centre apartment they shared.

Things were heating up on stage. Victor had finished with his vampire female and was now toying with one of the humans, a young redhead with full breasts. The blond male vampire that had been with the female on the couch was with them, kissing her as Victor stood behind her, palming her breasts and rubbing himself against her backside. The blond male looked into her eyes and she turned obediently in his arms, coming to face Victor. She stared at him. Or beyond him. Her glassy expression said that the male now behind her wasn’t lessening any of his control just yet. It felt so wrong to watch a woman under the power of a vampire, unable to do anything to disobey her temporary master, but she couldn’t deny that it turned her on a little. The woman wouldn’t know any discomfort or panic. She was so deep under that she was probably experiencing the purest hit of pleasure she had ever had. Exactly what she had signed on for.

Elizabeth had let Sera in on a secret. Apparently, all of the humans who participated in the shows had agreed to the erotic acts in exchange for a rather handsome amount of money. Elizabeth said it hadn’t always been that way, but modern times called for a modern approach, and it was far easier not to kill them. The humans knew they would be participating in an on-stage orgy for an audience, and most of them had done such acts before, they just didn’t know what they shared that stage with. Vampires. That meant they also didn’t know they would be doing things under hypnosis.

Not that many of the humans required hypnosis to make them fully participate. The blond male vampire had lessened his control over the redheaded female human bent over in front of him, letting her desire rule her instead, and she was moaning and writhing against him, rubbing herself against his long hard cock.

Sera stared, cheeks heating, as he slowly inched his erection into her body and Victor stepped up in front of the woman. She reached for his rigid cock and closed her eyes as she wrapped her lips around his full length, swallowing him each time he thrust into her mouth. The man behind her pumped her at the same pace, drawn out and deep, slow enough that the audience was twitching for more.

Sera stared at the blond male, imagining Antoine behind her like that, his face a picture of pleasure as he slid in and out with long deep strokes.

Her gaze shot back to the man of her fantasy and she found he was still staring at the stage with the usual detached look on his face, as though the sight of two men on one woman didn’t arouse him in the slightest. She supposed that he had probably seen enough shows that he was immune to their effect now.

A few impatient growls erupted through the theatre and he flicked a glance over the audience and then went back to watching the show.

Sera had tried to talk to him once, when he had passed her by after the show had ended with the feeding and the crowd were leaving. He had blanked her. He hadn’t even glanced her way. He had walked straight past her as though she didn’t exist. She had spoken loudly enough that he must have heard her. It was after that moment that Elizabeth had started with the warnings, revealing only a tantalising amount of information about the powerful handsome aristocrat, just enough to make Sera want him even more.

Now, she craved his eyes on her, wanted to hear him speak and know his voice at last, and above all, she wanted to look up into his eyes and try to see past the barriers around his heart so she could understand him. Was his distance from everyone just because he was an aristocrat, or was there more to it than that?

A shriek from the stage melted into a moan of pleasure and the smell of human blood spilled through the air, encompassing her. Antoine visibly tensed, his arms flexing beneath his charcoal tailored shirt, as though he had clenched his fists. His pale eyes darkened, changed just as hers did to reveal her true nature. He turned away and she feared he would leave earlier than usual and her chance would slip by once again.

She tugged on Elizabeth’s arm and her sire sighed, rose to her feet, briefly applauded and then started along the row with her trailing behind. Her legs bumped several vampires who were still trying to watch the final act, absorbing the scent and the thrill of bloodshed. She didn’t care for it herself. More important matters needed her attention.

The men and women she passed snarled at her, baring their fangs in her direction and leaning to one side in an attempt to see past her. She muttered her apologies, trying to move quickly so they didn’t attack her. Elizabeth made that impossible. She moved slowly and with grace in her long scarlet dress, her head held high and no apologies leaving her lips. Her sire was old enough to stand against these vampires should they choose to attack but Sera wasn’t. It would be years before she had the strength of her sire. They reached the last person and broke out onto the wide strip of red carpet that lined the edge of the theatre.

“Antoine,” Elizabeth called and he paused and swung back to face her.

Sera’s heart almost stopped when his deep crimson gaze briefly flickered to her before returning to her sire.

Her nerves rose as he strolled up the incline to meet Elizabeth and Sera slowed, the gap between her and Elizabeth growing larger by the second. What was she doing? It had taken months for her to convince her sire to do this for her and now that she had finally agreed, her nerve was going to fail? She wanted this man’s eyes on her, wanted to be alone with him, and the only way to get what she wanted was to get a job at the theatre.

If she made it past the interview, then Antoine would have to meet with her. Elizabeth had said that he spoke with each new performer to ensure they were suitable for the theatre. Sera just had to get the interview out of the way and then she would have the chance she wanted. Once they were alone in his office, she would take a shot at convincing Antoine that she was the woman for him. Whatever the outcome of that meeting was, she would quit her role as a performer. She didn’t intend to perform at the theatre. Hell, no. She didn’t have the right sort of personality for that. She wanted to blush whenever she chanced a glance at the black and red stage set and saw what the couples on it were doing. If it weren’t for Antoine’s presence in the theatre and her sire’s insistence that they have a little fun, she would never come to such a place.

“Callum,” a deep male voice called out, sharp with authority, and Sera stopped dead. Sweet mercy, Antoine had a voice that could tame even the wildest of angels. That voice was a drug. It went straight into her heart and raced through her veins, the effect sweeter than any amount of blood.

Sera turned towards her sire and Antoine, only to see that he was walking away, leaving her sire with another dark-haired man. He was handsome, full of smiles as he spoke to Elizabeth, far warmer and more amiable than Antoine was but nowhere near as alluring. Elizabeth signalled her to join them and she did, moving past the vampires now spilling out of the stalls and watching Antoine leave at the same time. She’d had a chance to meet him and she had blown it. If she had only kept up with her sire, she would have been close to him, maybe would have caught his attention this time and had his eyes on her at last.

“Is this her?” the vampire called Callum said and ran a glance over her. Sera kept still, feeling as though she was for sale as he moved around her, his eyes on her body, inspecting and scrutinising every inch. He came back to stand before her and looked at Elizabeth. “The summer season will end soon so we’ll have time to train her before the winter one begins but we need someone with natural talent. Does she have what it takes?”

Sera opened her mouth to speak but Elizabeth beat her to it.

“Absolutely. She’s my child, Cal. It’s all in the blood.” Elizabeth smiled broadly at him, red lips curving perfectly. Her deep brown eyes shone with warmth and she swept her dark red hair over her shoulders, exposing their bare curves. “You know I am one of your best ever performers.”

Callum nodded and the longer lengths of his cropped black hair fell down over one emerald green eye. He frowned and raked it back, and then ran a hand around the nape of his neck, drawing Sera’s eyes to a set of dark marks on it. A bite mark. It looked deep and fresh too, no more than a night or two old. Did he have a lover?

He looked at her again and Sera’s gaze leapt to his. She swallowed the desire to confess that her sire was lying and she had no natural talent for the sort of thing that he was talking about. She smiled instead, trying to look every bit as seductive as her sire. Elizabeth had been Vampirerotique’s star female performer until she had decided to quit her job and return to her family instead. They had met shortly after that, and Elizabeth had turned her into a vampire. That was thirty years ago now. It had taken Sera most of those years to become accustomed to life as a vampire.

“Come by tomorrow night when we’re closed,” Callum said. “Now, if you’ll excuse me.”

“Thank you,” Sera said and he smiled at her, nodded, and then disappeared into the crowd.

Their excited chatter filled the theatre, the people passing her by discussing the show and the finale. Other elite vampires were still in their seats, enjoying the lingering scent of blood and sharing an intimate moment of their own with their partners. Sometimes the kissing that happened post-performance in the stalls was more erotic than what occurred on stage. Sera dragged her gaze away from one couple near the front who were going at it with wild abandon. They looked as though they wouldn’t make it out of the theatre before they succumbed to their desire and took things a step further.

She glanced out of the corner of her eye at Elizabeth. “Does Callum have a lover?”

“I thought you had set your sights on Antoine?” Elizabeth laughed when she blushed and then her expression darkened. “A wife… and I’ve heard rumours that she’s a werewolf.”

A werewolf? Sera had expected the owners of an erotic theatre to be quite liberal and wild, but marrying a werewolf? She definitely hadn’t expected that one.

“You’re serious?” She never could tell with her sire. The woman enjoyed a joke more than was natural. Sera supposed that you needed to have an easygoing attitude when you chose to spend fifty years participating in an on-stage orgy with people you hardly knew.

Her stomach turned.

Thank the Devil she wouldn’t have to do such a thing to get her chance to speak with Antoine. Just an interview that she would ace thanks to her sire’s tuition and then she would be in his office, alone with him. Just the thought stirred heat in her veins. Since her sire had agreed to help her, she had spent every night trying to figure out how to win Antoine. It wasn’t going to be easy. She knew that much. She’d had lovers in her human life and even in her vampire one, but she had never pursued a man before, not as she intended to with Antoine.

Elizabeth had laughed when she had confessed that and had told her that she should probably start with easier prey and work her way up to someone like Antoine. That gave her the feeling that she was going to fail. What sort of woman would he desire? He ran an erotic theatre and watched the beautiful women performing on his stage without the barest hint of desire in his expression. If they couldn’t arouse him, what hope did she have?

Maybe he wasn’t interested in women who worked at his theatre. If that was the case, was she only shooting down what slim chance she had with him by interviewing for a position as a performer?

“I need a drink, and you look as though you could use one too.” Elizabeth grasped her wrist and tugged her towards the exit at the back of the theatre. “Come along, my pupil. You have a lot to learn before tomorrow night if you’re going to have a snowball’s chance in Hell of impressing that man.”

Sera trudged along behind her sire, weaving through the lingering crowd. Elizabeth’s warnings rang in her ears, one louder than the rest. She glanced up at the three storeys of elegant boxes that lined the theatre. The gold on the carvings decorating the curved cream low walls that edged the private boxes reflected the warm lights that illuminated the heavy red velvet curtain now closed across the stage. Matching curtains hung at the back of the boxes, some of them open now that the performance had ended. Many of the boxes were empty but beautifully dressed ladies and gentlemen still occupied the others.

She spotted Antoine amongst a group in one of the boxes on the first tier. He was smiling. She had never seen him smile. It looked forced to her. Hollow. Even among his own kind, he was still distant, his eyes devoid of emotion as he put on a grand performance of his own.

Sera wasn’t going to overcome the challenge of winning Antoine’s heart just by meeting the man.

First, she had to break through a barrier that was beginning to look impenetrable.

He was an aristocrat, and an old one at that. Although he looked barely a day over thirty-five, he was in fact over a thousand years old. His brother, Snow, was almost twice his age.

Sera was an elite.

To an aristocrat, she was some sort of filth they scraped off their shoes and nothing made that clearer than the theatres. The aristocrats sat in their boxes, looking down on the elite gathered in the stalls, separated and distant from those they saw as commoners and mongrels.

That disdain for her kind was the reason why Antoine looked so glacial whenever he had to greet the more important members of the elite, and why he had failed to hear her when she had tried to speak with him. He wanted nothing to do with the elite vampires outside the small circle that were part of the theatre. He would certainly want nothing to do with her. Not only was she an elite, but she was a turned human. She was the bottom rung of the social ladder and he was the top. The elite that he deemed worthy of a moment of his time, that he greeted with gritted teeth in order to maintain good relations with her kind, were all born as vampires into families that had turned humans within their ranks. None of them were turned humans themselves.

Even Elizabeth was born of a vampire father and turned mother.

If Sera wanted to shatter Antoine’s armour, she would have to convince him to see beyond the fact that she was a turned human.

Elizabeth had taught her a few things, weapons that she hadn’t held in her arsenal before, but she wasn’t sure if she was brave enough to risk using them on Antoine.

Could she do what Elizabeth had said it would take to shatter his defences?

Could she really seduce such a powerful man?

Sera curled her fingers into tight fists and stared at him. He paused in the middle of saying something to the aristocrat vampires in the box with him, slowly turned towards her and then lowered his eyes. They locked on her. He had felt her watching him. Her heart beat harder, thumping against her chest as her blood heated, but she held his gaze across the theatre stalls, refusing to back down.

The next time she saw him, she would be alone with him.

And she would seduce him.

Sera paced in front of the black stage in the empty theatre. She had arrived a full thirty minutes early for her appointment. An appointment she hadn’t realised she’d had. Callum hadn’t specified a time for her interview. He had just said to come by whenever as the theatre was closed. So she had.

The woman who had shown her into the theatre had been very kind. One of the staff based on her short black dress that revealed far too much leg and bosom. Sera reminded herself that she couldn’t really judge the woman by the clothes she wore. After all, it was her uniform and Sera herself was trying out for a position as some sort of on-stage whore. What on Earth must the woman have thought of her? Perhaps Sera should have asked to interview for a position as one of the staff. Cleaning seemed infinitely more appealing, and possible for her, than being a performer in the shows. Antoine still would have met with her so they could sign her employment contracts. Was it too late to change her mind?

She continued her pacing, her eyes roaming over the deep red velvet curtain that closed off most of the stage, leaving only a strip of painted black boards around three metres deep exposed, and twirled her long blonde hair around her fingers. It was so quiet in the theatre that even her breathing sounded loud in her ears. How much longer did she have to wait?

And why were they interviewing her in the theatre itself?

Elizabeth had said they would take her to one of the meeting rooms or the offices to interview her. That was what she had gone through to get her position at the theatre decades ago. Sera shook her hands at her sides and blew out a sigh, trying to expel her nerves. Maybe the offices weren’t vacant tonight or they wanted to give her a tour before the interview began. That seemed plausible.

One of the sets of double doors at the back opened and a bright beam of light cut down the length of the dimly lit theatre to her. She shielded her sensitive eyes with her hand and squinted so she could make out if someone was there.

Her heart stopped.

The doors closed.

Antoine strode down the aisle, long legs carrying him easily at a brisk pace, as handsome as ever in his silver-grey tailored shirt that emphasised his build and clung just right to his muscles, hinting at how delicious his body would look if he were naked and stirring her imagination into a frenzy. His black tie, crisp black trousers and polished leather shoes perfected his image of a businessman but made him look decadent and alluring at the same time.

Behind him walked the immense male vampire that she knew from the performances. Victor. His normally thick dark hair was gone, shaved to his scalp to reveal thin scar lines in places, giving him a menacing air as he followed Antoine, dressed in a tight black t-shirt and jeans.

Were they just passing through?

Her heart started again at a pace.

Please, God, say they were just passing through.

Antoine shoved his fingers through his deep brown hair, the action screaming of irritation as much as his scent on her senses. He was annoyed about something. Was he angry with Victor for some reason?

Sera moved aside, keeping her back to the stage so they could easily pass her and go about their business. She tried to keep her eyes downcast but they refused to do as she ordered and snuck to Antoine, meeting his icy gaze. The warm lights from the stage lit his face, chasing the shadows away, and she had her first real glimpse of him. He was so handsome regardless of the darkness he emanated and the coldness in his eyes. He looked like an aristocrat, princely with his straight nose, defined jaw and perfect bone structure. Did he resemble his brother, Snow? She couldn’t imagine the devastating effect the two together would have on the female aristocrats at social gatherings.

Her heart did a flip in her chest.

Antoine alone had a devastating effect on her. She could be strong, had taken to life as a vampire with surprising ease according to her sire, and had a flair for luring male prey that she still couldn’t quite believe. She wanted to be that confident, sexy, attractive woman around this man, but whenever she set eyes on him, her heart trembled like a timid thing in her throat, her palms turned clammy, and she wanted to bolt. It was only the deep pounding need he stirred in her, the intense inferno of arousal that flooded her veins like liquid fire whenever she was near him, that kept her feet in place. She wanted this man.

It went beyond natural desire, or at least what she had experienced in the past. No man had ever had such a startling effect on her. It was soul-deep, more than just a carnal longing. It was as though her very happiness depended on her being in this man’s strong arms.

He stopped right in front of her.

“Sera, I presume?” he said and her bones melted at the sound of his deep voice pronouncing her name.

She nodded and held out her hand. He raised a dark eyebrow in her direction and didn’t take it. She lowered it again, feeling like a fool for thinking he would touch her, a turned human, and for the first time since she could remember, her gaze didn’t want anything to do with him. She stared at the red carpet beneath her feet. What in God’s name was she doing here? This was all going to go horribly wrong. She was going to end up getting her heart smashed by this man.

Confidence.

Elizabeth had pounded that one word into her head more than any other. Sera was beautiful, alluring, sexy, smart and funny, and more than that, she was warm and caring. She was a confident woman. She was. Sera clung to her sire’s words about her, trying to believe in them. They ran around her mind and she felt their effect, felt the confidence begin to flow through her.

Sera managed to convince her eyes to shift up. They didn’t make it to his face. They stuck on his tie. Shiny black paisley contrasted against the matt black of the rest of the tie. It was fascinating. Truly. That was the only reason she was looking at it and not resolutely into his eyes as she had planned.

He huffed.

“Well, let’s get on with this. I have other matters that require my attention and the night is not growing any younger.” He sat down in one of the front row seats.

Sera glanced at Victor, and then at Antoine. This change required a whole rethink of her plan. She had expected Callum to be the one interviewing her, not Antoine, and she still wasn’t sure why Victor was present. Was he here because, in the absence of Callum, the elite vampire she had met last night and who Elizabeth had told her dealt with sourcing performers, Antoine needed someone more intimate with performers to help him?

Victor peeled off his tight black t-shirt to reveal the ropes of hard muscle that lined his stomach and the twin slabs of granite that formed his chest.

Sera’s cheeks flushed.

Oh. Lord have mercy. Victor wasn’t here to help with the interview.

This wasn’t an interview at all.

It was an audition.

Her heart thundered. Her limbs shook.

Panic prickled down her spine.

“Is there a problem?” Antoine frowned, his annoyance turning his scent bitter. She knew he could sense all of her feelings and smell her fear, and she tried to get a grip on her emotions, but they bombarded her.

Was there a problem? Was there ever. She hadn’t expected she would have to perform with someone and she definitely hadn’t anticipated that such a performance would take place in front of the man who was her reason for doing this whole crazy thing in the first place.

“I thought it was going to be an interview. My sire said she had an interview with Callum.” Her voice trembled. Good God, could she sound any more weak and feeble? Suck it up or this whole ridiculous affair was going to be over before it even started. Such a powerful man would want nothing to do with a weak female. She pulled in a deep breath and held it but it did nothing to calm her growing panic.

Antoine huffed again. “We might have done things that way eighty years ago, but we do things this way now. So, begin.”

He waved towards the stage. Victor obediently leapt up onto it. Sera remained firmly rooted to the spot on the red carpet between the stage and Antoine where he sat in the middle of the front row, her gaze fixed on his. The coldness in his pale blue eyes was fathomless but mixed in with it and his scent was increasing irritation. If she didn’t do something soon, he was going to toss her out on her backside for wasting his time.

She could do this. She would take it slow and pretend that Victor was Antoine, and come up with a new plan while she was at it. If luck was with her, she could conceive something before things went too far. Just how far was he expecting things to go?

Before she could ask, Victor’s hands were under her arms and she was on the stage. Her knees almost gave out when he released her and she wobbled.

Antoine sighed again and raised the stakes with a pinch of the bridge of his elegant straight nose.

“Not wise to keep the boss waiting,” Victor whispered into her ear, his cool breath tickling her neck, and she shivered.

He pressed the full length of his body against her back and her eyes widened as the hard bulge in the front of his black jeans pushed against her bottom. Heavens. She swallowed. Trembled. This was not happening. Antoine couldn’t possibly expect her to perform with this man. She had seen him on stage, witnessed the sort of debauchery he did with women, and the size of his thing. He would break her.

What alternative was there? Either she performed or she ran like a chicken and lost her chance. Antoine would never look at her again. Hell, she would never be able to look at him again. She had said that she would do whatever it took to make him belong to her and she couldn’t back down now that another challenge had presented itself.

She had come here to seduce Antoine.

Seduce him she would.

Fear crawled through her, obliterating her momentary resolve and confidence.

She wasn’t ready for this. He was going to laugh at her.

Antoine cast a critical eye over her and then waved towards Victor. She yelped when he settled his hands on her waist and nuzzled her neck.

“Come on, sweetness, play with daddy.”

Gross. It was hard to resist the urge to elbow him in the stomach and kick him in the shin.

“Your fifteen minutes just became ten, Sera. Am I wasting my time here?” Antoine said and she shook her head. She could do this.

She broke away from Victor and turned to face him. He was handsome but she wasn’t attracted to him. How was she supposed to do anything with a man she didn’t desire?

“I am very busy, Sera. Start.”

She jumped at the word and wished Antoine would stop using her name. Whenever he rolled it off his tongue in his exotic mixed accent, fire flashed through her body, heating her blood, and she wanted to close her eyes and do wicked things.

Maybe she needed him to say it more. Maybe if he kept saying it, she would find the courage to do what was necessary.

Ten minutes.

Even that sounded like a lifetime.

Her gaze flicked over Victor. He was already topless and the large bulge in his tight jeans confirmed that he was already hard. Where was she supposed to start?

Removing his jeans seemed like a good place.

She stalked over to him, doing her best to look sultry and alluring despite the fact that her jeans and t-shirt combo wasn’t the sexiest outfit in the world. Victor didn’t seem to care about her casual attire. His eyes were on the prize already, locked on her breasts. She raised her hand, drifting it upwards over her chest, luring his eyes to her face. Much better. She didn’t like his eyes on her body.

Her gaze locked with his. Victor smirked at her, so obviously assured in his charms and looks. She wanted to roll her eyes and tell him that he wasn’t her type, that when she looked at him, she was really imagining Antoine. She ran her fingers over the ridges of his torso, his skin cool beneath them, and tilted her head back and held his dark gaze as she undid his belt.

Sera stepped back and tugged it hard, pulling it through the loops of his black jeans in one fast motion. Too fast. The flamboyant rise of her arm as the end came free caused the belt to whip across Victor’s chest, leaving a red streak on his skin.

He growled at her.

She curled up on instinct and leapt backwards, dropping the belt.

Antoine looked thoroughly unimpressed when she risked a glance in his direction.

She tried to claw things back by doing a sexy little shuffle across the stage, her mind racing to remember the moves that Elizabeth had shown her and all the things she had witnessed in this theatre.

On this very stage.

A stage she was now performing on even though she had promised herself it would never come to this.

Sera tackled Victor’s jeans, popping the buttons while clumsily kissing the whip mark across his chest. She gasped when the final button gave and his rigid cock sprang free, already eager for her. Her heart bolted into action again, galloping so quickly that she felt dizzy.

She looked at anything but his erection, battling her nerves and panic again. It was just sex. Sex on a stage. Sex on a stage in front of a man whom she really desired and whose opinion of her was probably rapidly sinking into seeing her as just another whore for his theatre.

What the hell was she thinking?

Sera squeaked when Victor pulled her blue baby-doll t-shirt over her head, catching her blonde hair and yanking it at the same time, and exposed her torso to the chilly air of the theatre.

Antoine sighed and stood.

It was over.

He was going to tell her thanks but no thanks and kick her out for wasting his time.

“Leave,” he said and she grabbed her t-shirt off Victor and went to put it on. “Not you.”

Sera froze, clutching the top to her chest. Victor casually buttoned his jeans, shot her a smile, and then dropped down off the black stage. He sauntered towards the doors at the edge of the theatre, opened them and disappeared from view. Sera remained paused on the stage, waiting for Antoine to throw her out.

“I am not looking for solo acts, but clearly this is your first time on stage. Do you feel you can perform now?”

Sera didn’t know what to say. He wasn’t kicking her out? She swallowed and faced him. He was serious. He had made Victor leave so she would feel more comfortable, and she did. Being on stage in front of him still felt wrong, but the thought of performing for him alone had a strange appeal. If she had ever wanted a chance to seduce him, they didn’t come more perfect than this. She could do this. She could tease him with a slow reveal of her body to his eyes only, and from there it would only be a small step to other more wicked things. She was sure that once she was nude and bared for him that the feel of his gaze on her would give her the confidence to take things further and really perform.

And she was sure that performance would give her the chance to crack the armour around his heart.

What had looked like it was going to end in disaster was now looking as though it was a chance at victory.

A chance that she wouldn’t squander.

Sera nodded and dropped her t-shirt onto the scuffed black wooden boards.

Antoine’s gaze flickered down to her bra-clad breasts and then he sat back in his red velvet chair in the middle of the front row and stretched his long legs out.

His eyes held hers, cool blue and beautiful, fixed on her with such intensity that her cheeks heated with a blush.

He waved his hand.

“Perform for me then.”

I hope you enjoyed this double excerpt!

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Be sure to follow this fantastic tour between June 28th and August 25th to learn more about the passionate heroes, wicked heroines, and life at London’s premier vampire erotic theatre! You can also find yourself in with a chance to win a $50 or $25 Amazon Gift Certificate if you follow the tour. More details, including how to enter and a full list of stops, are available at the Vampirerotique Summer Book Tour page.

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All of the books so far in the series are available in paperback, and in ebook from Amazon Kindle and Kobo. Covet and Crave are available from Barnes and Noble Nook, Apple iBooks and Sony Reader too. Seduce will be available at those retailers soon. Excerpts are available for all of the current releases in the series, so you can get a taste of these wicked erotic romances.

Books in the Vampire Erotic Theatre romance series
Covet (Vampire Erotic Theatre Romance Series Book 1)
Crave (Vampire Erotic Theatre Romance Series Book 2)
Seduce (Vampire Erotic Theatre Romance Series Book 3)
Enslave (Vampire Erotic Theatre Romance Series Book 4) – Coming August 4th!
Bewitch (Vampire Erotic Theatre Romance Series Book 5) – Coming soon!
Unleash (Vampire Erotic Theatre Romance Series Book 6) – Coming in 2013!