Category Archives: Vampire Venators

Future Paranormal Romance Book Releases News

This is a new feature for my blog. I get emails, Facebook comments and Tweets asking me about whether or not certain series will get another book, when I’ll be releasing a certain  book, and other questions related to future releases, so I wanted to try to answer all those questions on my blog before they ever come up. My blog is always the place to go to if you want to know what I’m working on, as I blog regularly about my writing and my future releases here.

The questions I’m getting asked the most right now are variations on the theme of…

Is there going to be another book in the Her Angel series because Her Demonic Angel rocked my world!

The answer to this question is yes, I will be writing more books in the Her Angel romance series. I have been asked this question so much in the months after Her Demonic Angel‘s release that I actually asked a few of the readers if they felt the series had come to a natural conclusion. I hadn’t noticed that it felt that way, but several readers assured me that it felt as if this was the end of the series. No, it isn’t. There will be more books.

I’m committing to writing one for definite, possibly two, and maybe more. The definite is Asmodeus’s book, which will hopefully be out around the same time of year as Her Demonic Angel was, in September this year. I can’t commit to a firm date. It all depends on my ever-shifting schedule. I’m still in the planning stages for Asmodeus’s book. There’s no title for the book yet. The plot is bare bones in my head and in a word document, but I’ll be able to work on it soon, and it will blossom into one hell of a wild adventure for our angels.

I had a few people ask if Nevar would be the next hero. No, he won’t, because right now he’s going through some changes and they will lead to his book. You can read his journey in monthly episodes in my newsletter.

 

Is Snow ever going to get a book and will it be out tomorrow?!?

I know people are desperate for Snow to get his happily forever after in the Vampire Erotic Theatre romance series, and I can assure you that it is happening. You might have seen the posts here from when I was writing the first draft in January, or perhaps you’ve seen the quotes I post on my Facebook fan page from the book.

Snow’s book is Unleash. You can read about my work on it by clicking that link. It will take you to all the posts related to the book on my blog, with the newest first.

I have no set date for the release of Unleash. I hoped to have it out in late spring 2013 before I decided to write a complete first draft of the first Eternal Mates series book rather than just a third of it for a proposal for my agent. I still intend to have it out before summer. At the moment, I’m thinking it will come out some time in May. I am working my backside off on getting the book in your hands, I swear it. It’s the longest book in the series, close to 100,000 words. It took me a few weeks to write it, and I have to edit it, polish it, and get it proofed before it’s ready to hit virtual shelves. Considering I only finished writing it in January, a May release is a very quick turnaround for a book this length.

 

Will there be more books in the Vampires Realm series?

Yes, there will be. I had wanted to get another released this year. I’m not sure if it’s a possibility. My schedule became very messed up when I decided to write the first Guardians of Hades novel last year, intending to use it for the series proposal for my agent. I had a change of heart about that but it didn’t mean I got those weeks back. I really want to get the next two Vampires Realm books out as soon as I can, and I’ll try to make one happen this year. I think it’s possible.

The next book in the series will be Hunger, which is Tor and Eve’s book. Eve is Lilith’s sister (the heroine of Seventh Circle). Eve is mentioned in that book, and also in Masquerade. Tor is also mentioned in Masquerade, and was featured in a flash fiction here on my blog last year.

 

Other questions I get asked are about the Vampire Venators series and the Shadow & Light Trilogy.

Do I intend to write more for these two series, despite the fact that I currently don’t have any books listed against them? Yes, I do. I switched Forbidden Blood and Ascension away from being listed as the first books in the Vampire Venators and Shadow & Light Trilogy because they failed to generate a lot of interest, and because I had far too many commitments and had to decide which series to pursue at the time. I’m only one woman, and unfortunately that means I can’t keep up with all these different series. I had to focus on a selected few, and Vampires Realm, Her Angel, and Vampire Erotic Theatre won the toss because sales were far stronger for those series. It pained me to put aside these two series, but it was a business decision and it was necessary.

Do I know when I will be releasing more books in these two series? No, I don’t. I desperately want to write them though. There are two more books planned in the Vampire Venators series, possibly three to complete the series. I have two novels and a novella to write for the Shadow & Light Trilogy. I hope I can have better news about these two series when I write another future releases post.

 

If you have any questions that you would love me to answer, drop me an email at author@felicityheaton.com or leave a comment. I’ll be sure to answer any questions, and might post about them in my next future book news post too.

 

The releases I plan to happen this year are Unleash, the next Her Angel novel, and either the next Vampires Realm novel plus the first Guardians of Hades book, or just the next Vampires Realm novel.

I hope this post has been informative and that I’ve answered some of your questions.

Don’t forget to leave a question or email me if you have one!

 

Posted in About my Romance Books, About my Romance Series, angel romance, Frequently Asked Questions, Future Releases, Her Angel Series, Hunger, paranormal romance, Shadow and Light Trilogy, Unleash, urban fantasy, vampire romance, Vampire Venators, Vampires Realm, writing | 5 Comments

Teaseday – Forbidden Blood – Vampire Romance Novel

Today’s Teaseday is brought to you by Forbidden Blood. Forbidden Blood is the first book in the Vampire Venators romance series, and is a long novel full of passion, action, betrayal and revenge.

Here’s the tease…

Forbidden Blood
Felicity Heaton
In a dark world where vampires exist and where Source Blood, a rare human blood type, can bestow godlike powers upon them, the vampire Venators of the Sovereignty fight to protect the humans by banishing those who drink it to the endless dark.

Exiled from his family and with only his duty to sustain him, Kearn has been on the trail of an elusive Source Blood abuser for three years. When he saves a beautiful human female from the vampire’s grasp, it turns out she’s the lead he’s been waiting for. Amber is a Source Blood and the perfect bait, but for who?

As they race to catch the vampire and survive the cruel games he plays, Amber is pulled deeper into Kearn’s world and discovers the painful secrets he hides behind his handsome but emotionless exterior—hurt that she has the power to heal if she is brave enough.

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

ebook price: $3.99
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

EXCERPT

The smell of everyone in the club wasn’t even drowning out her scent. It was a good thing because he needed the vampires to smell her blood so it would lure them into speaking to her but it constantly pushed at his restraint. Since tasting her, he hadn’t stopped desiring her. His lust for her blood was strong, so much so that he had dreamed of her and nothing else. She had been in his embrace, bare breasts against his chest and her arms around him, holding him close as he kissed and licked her throat. He had drunk from her, sinking his fangs deep into her neck and marking her as eternally his. He knew that was what he had been doing. He hadn’t intended to kill her. He had wanted to make her a vampire like him. He had wanted to keep her.

Which was insane.

But her blood had tasted so good even in his dreams.

Kearn struggled for control as the memory of it assaulted him, sending an echo of the buzz he had felt through his body and fogging his mind. Something deep within him cried out for more, for another taste, another fix.

The club started to heat up as people moved and the smell of her blood grew stronger. It was a divine smell—sweet and fragrant. The voice at the back of his mind whispered that it could be his, just as it had been in his dreams.

He touched his neck again, pulled at the collar of his shirt when it felt as though it was strangling him, and frowned. He couldn’t remember a time when he had felt so hungry.

“Are you okay?” Amber’s voice startled him. “You don’t look so good.”

His eyes leapt to hers and then fell to her neck. His temperature increased the moment his gaze landed on the black choker wrapped around it. Her blood was delicious. She was delicious. His throat ached at the sight of hers, his hunger rising. He tightened his hold on his neck and tried to get a grip on himself. It wasn’t just her blood doing this to him. It couldn’t be. There was something deeper at work.

He forced his eyes up, until they met her wide ones. She stepped closer and her scent grew stronger, overwhelming him. He stood and took a step back, trying to distance himself and keep control.

“I am a little thirsty.” That was an understatement. He was parched, gasping for the smooth slide of her blood down his throat and the giddy rush of it in his veins.

Like an addict.

“Come on.” She grabbed his arm.

He looked at her hand on him, slender but strong. She walked away, luring him along the length of the bar to where she had been sitting, and he followed her blindly.

Kearn’s eyes stuck like glue to the back of her neck, catching teasing glimpses of the nape of it and the black velvet choker through her dark hair. He longed to part the brown waves and kiss there, to run his tongue over her skin and taste her, and feel her shiver in pleasure. He wanted to ease his fangs in deep and slow, claiming her and her blood as his and his alone. Nothing compared to biting someone, to the incredible rush from the connection and the intense intoxicating feel of their blood in your veins. It was what he had been born to do—to take life from the blood of humans like a thief.

Like a beast.

And right now, he wanted to take all of Amber. He wanted to strip away the mask and show her just what he was underneath—a creature lost in her, thirsting for her body and blood.

For her love.

He tore his eyes away from her neck, horrified by his last thought and the realisation that his hunger for her went beyond physical need to an emotional one.

She stopped by her stool and flagged down the bartender, giving him a wide smile.

Kearn stared at the man, remembering what he had said. Lonely. The hand around his throat dropped to his chest and he focused there. Did it really show? Had Amber seen it? He had been on his guard around her but there had been times when he had felt as though she had looked right down into his heart and seen the man beneath the armour.

Amber put a tall glass of icy dark liquid into Kearn’s hand, bringing his attention back to her. She held a similar glass. He sniffed his. Sweet and bubbly. Some sort of soft drink. It was cold against his hand but would do nothing to satisfy his thirst.

Amber only made it worse.

She tilted her head back, her profile to him, and drank her drink. He couldn’t stop himself from staring at her throat. It was unbearable to see it so exposed, so clean and soft and smooth, crying out for him to mark it. He wanted to tear off her choker and sink his teeth into her, to pull her close and feel her heart pound against his, beating as one.

Kearn clamped his mouth shut against the strong urge to bite her. His fangs extended enough to catch his lower lip. He licked the blood but it wasn’t enough. It had to be her blood. Only that would satisfy his craving. The voice at the back of his mind, deep in his heart, commanded him to bite her.

She lowered the glass from her lips and looked at him with beautiful round eyes, tempting him with her innocence.

His fangs receded with only a little resistance.

“You’re not drinking?” She frowned at his glass. “It’s my treat.”

She flicked the long dark waves of hair away from her neck and strands of it stuck to her damp skin. He narrowed his eyes on the pulse fluttering on her throat. If it was her treat, he would drink her down in one go.

It took all of his willpower to resist surrendering to the desire to give in to temptation. His blood pounded in his temples, driven to a frenzy by the unquenchable and undeniable hunger he felt for Amber. It wasn’t just her blood. It was everything about her—her smile, her beauty, her body, and how she looked at him sometimes with concern. He had never experienced such need, such intense attraction and desire, for anyone in all his years.

Not even the countess.

His need for Amber, his hunger for her, was raw and uncontrollable. It thundered in his veins and ran deep in his bones. It commanded him. Ruled him.

She smiled and then frowned at his face.

“You’ve cut your lip.” She touched it with her delicate fingertip, peering closely. The warm caress enticed him, making his lower lip tingle, and the smell of blood was too strong to fight. He couldn’t take it.

His fangs began to extend again and he almost gave in to the desire to nick her finger with them. He couldn’t do that. He couldn’t make her like him.

Kearn stepped back and covered his mouth as his fangs fully extended, his eyes as wide as hers were.

The flames of desire burnt away the last threads of his restraint and he turned away, sensing that his eyes were about to change against his will too. He didn’t want her to see him. He didn’t want to be himself around her.

“Is something wrong?” Amber touched his arm.

He shirked her grip and took another step away from her.

“I am unwell. Excuse me,” he said and rushed into the crowd, heading through the packed club towards the bathroom.

Humans blocked his path, bumping into him and making it hard to get through. The smell of their blood increased his hunger. He kept his hand over his mouth and pushed through, shoving them aside in his haste to reach the relative safety of the bathroom. The room began to brighten. His eyes were changing. He squinted and lowered his head, forcing his way through the hot bodies that stank of wretched blood.

And all the while, he could smell the sweet scent of hers.

His mind filled with visions of Amber. He saw himself taking her into his arms, her warm supple body moulded against the hot hard steel of his, and sinking his fangs deep into her throat. He would drink every drop of her blood without a moment’s regret and it still wouldn’t be enough. He would do it regardless of the fact that he would hate himself in the aftermath.

Kearn hit the bathroom door so hard it slammed into the tiled wall and wouldn’t close automatically. A man standing at one of the white basins lining the left hand wall of the bright room made a quick exit. Kearn grabbed the door and forced it shut. He stumbled to the row of white sinks and ran the water in one until it was freezing, and then splashed it over his face. It didn’t stop the images of Amber from dancing around his mind. He could see everything he had dreamed and swore he could feel her naked body against his.

Kearn doused himself in water again. It did nothing to cool him. He was on fire, sweat beading and running down his skin. Burning for her.

He gripped the edge of the white basin with trembling hands and stared at himself in the long bank of mirrors above the sinks. Red eyes watched him. His other side. The one he didn’t want her to see. Why did he fear it all of a sudden? Being a vampire had never bothered him before. His species were above humans. They were strong and beautiful. Not beasts.

So why did Amber make him feel like an animal?

How did she make him feel so hungry?

He had never felt such thirst. Never. He had tasted forbidden blood before but it hadn’t left him feeling this way—needing another fix. Needing her.
Water dripped from the ends of his silver hair. The sound of the running tap and his rough breathing filled his ears. He stared hard into his red eyes, struggling against his hunger. After a few long minutes, his irises slowly melted back to green from the pupil outwards.

He took a deep breath and sighed, regaining control.

The bathroom door opened and a human male walked in, nodding at him and then heading into the stalls behind him.

Kearn turned off the tap and left. The music in the club was loud when he opened the bathroom door and walked out into the darker main room, grating in his ears. Even more people were crammed into it now. He made his way back to where he had left Amber at the bar and stared wide-eyed at the empty stool.

She was gone.

He scanned the club for her, trying to keep his cool. Perhaps she had gone to the bathroom too.

Perhaps the vampire had found her while he had been acting like a ridiculous junkie.

No. That couldn’t have happened. He wouldn’t let the man have her.

Amber was his.

He headed down towards the dance floor, methodically searching and taking account of every face, marking each as either human or vampire. He was nearing the back of the club in a quieter spot favoured by Nobles when he saw her.

And he saw who she was with.

Kyran stood beside her, both of them facing away from him, with his hand against her lower back, far enough down it that his fingers were lazily resting on the bottom of her corset, close to her backside. Fire burned through Kearn’s veins. How dare his brother touch her so familiarly? Kyran laughed with his friends and Amber laughed along with them. The sound of it and the sight of her smiling into Kyran’s eyes fuelled the inferno inside him. He wouldn’t let it happen again. His eyes changed and Kyran looked over at him.

Kearn shut his emotions down in an instant, forcing his eyes to switch back.

Kyran’s dark eyebrows rose, his blue eyes cold and empty.

“There you are,” he said casually, as though he hadn’t felt the threat Kearn had directed at him.

Amber turned around, broke out of his brother’s grasp, and came over to him.

“Are you feeling better?” Concern shone brightly in her eyes.

She reached up with her right hand and touched his face, sweeping the wet strands of hair from his face. Her actions brought the bandage around her hand too close to his nose. The smell of her blood threatened to overpower him. He caught her hand and slowly brought it away from his face, trying not to startle her by reacting as he had wanted to and throwing it aside.

“You look terrible.” Kyran stopped beside Amber. His brother placed a hand on Amber’s bare shoulder and looked him over. “Amber mentioned that you were unwell. Rough day?”

Kyran’s gaze slid to Amber’s throat.

“You seem to be struggling.” Kyran smiled at him and released Amber’s arm. “I thought you of all people would be used to it.”

Amber’s eyes met his. He didn’t want to answer the question he could see coming. His brother wasn’t talking about his job. He was talking about forbidden blood.

He grabbed Kyran’s arm and dragged him away, leaving Amber with Kyran’s friends. They wouldn’t dare hurt her. A thousand things he wanted to say sprung to the tip of his tongue, all accusations and anger, but he let them go and released Kyran’s arm.

“Thank you for keeping her safe.” It was difficult to say those words when he knew that Kyran had probably only been friendly to Amber to irritate him.

Kyran smiled and, for once, it was genuine. “She looked lost. I approached her and she seemed so relieved to see me. She started babbling about you and how you were sick and thirsty and I knew where you had gone. Are you better now?”

Kearn nodded. He was back in control at least.

“I can get some blood sent over—”

“No.” Kearn cut him off. “I do not want you on my list. The hunger will pass.”

Kyran looked worried. Kearn’s senses said he wasn’t lying.

He forced himself to look at Kyran. A reflection of him, but not the one he had seen just now in the mirror. The dark shorter hair, the blue eyes, the wide charming smile and fine black suit. Kyran was everything he had once been, and everything he wanted to be again. His brother’s face and his own were torture to him, a constant reminder that no matter what he did, he would never be the man he had once been. He couldn’t change the past, and that meant he could never undo the damage to his relationship with Kyran either.

Kyran smiled. It warmed his eyes and reminded Kearn of better days when they had been young. It was unusual for vampires to be born so close together in age. Their mother had given birth to them only four human years apart, and due to a difficulty in her health, they had been her only children. To a human, they looked the same age, and would have appeared to be twins once.

But not now.

A Venator was different to a vampire, and his appearance now marked that. They were distinguished.

Hated.

None more so than him.

“You should take more care of yourself.” Kyran touched his shoulder. “Especially now that there is another of you in town.”

Kyran looked to his left and Kearn followed his gaze. A female Venator stood alone in the corner of the club opposite the one where Amber and Kyran’s friends waited. With her long silver hair flowing over her slender shoulders and her vivid green eyes, she was unmistakable. Her appearance was enough to make every vampire around her cautious, but she was even wearing her black uniform. The silver buttons down the breast and the sky blue detailing on the collar and cuffs of the thigh-length military-style jacket caught the flashing lights of the club. She was new to the job if she was foolish enough to wear her uniform in public.

“You should introduce yourself, shouldn’t you?”

Kearn nodded. The Venator was watching him, and so was Amber. He sensed her gaze on him, the remnants of her blood in his veins calling to him, and then the feeling was gone. He glanced at her to see her looking at the female Venator.

He was required to introduce himself and greet any Venator in his territory, but this wasn’t a good time. His thirst for Amber’s blood burned strong in his veins and Venators were trained to recognise the effects of forbidden blood on a vampire. The Venator would see what he had done. There was an allowed amount that they could take in the line of duty, but it was still taboo for a Venator to do such a thing.

It wasn’t the only reason he didn’t want to greet her.

Amber was glaring at the woman and he wanted to go to her instead.

“Go on,” Kyran said. “I will make sure that Amber is safe here. I have teased you enough and will not reveal anything to her.”

He still hesitated.

Kyran pushed him forwards.

Kearn felt Amber’s gaze on him again but walked over to the female Venator. She lowered her head when he reached her.

“Lord Savernake.” She pressed her right hand to her chest. The silver markings on it were different to his. She was shorter than he was, possibly even more so than Amber, and was much weaker. Females that became Venators were never as strong as their male counterparts were. The role passed from father to eldest son. Daughters were only involved when there was no son in the Venator line. He studied her. She wasn’t a Noble either.

“Venator. We are above such formalities, are we not?” A remnant of his old self, buried deep inside him, said that she was below him. A Lesser Noble. She deserved to scrape and bow at his feet. Weaker blooded, poorer connected, and lower bred. She was beneath him in all ways. The only things worse than her kind were Commoners and humans.

She kept her head bowed.

“Welcome to my territory. I hope our meeting is fortuitous and not a sign of something else.” He kept his tone warm, trying to tamp down his thoughts. The woman was a Venator. They were equals, and he had no right to judge her by her blood when he was an outcast of his own family.

She raised her eyes now, green irises and wide pupils betraying her shock at his words. Her expression only added to her appearance of youthful innocence. She looked as weak as he sensed her to be. Far too young to deal with their duty. He placed her at no older than two hundred. To the humans around her, she looked like a twenty year old.

“You have noticed, have you not?” he said and she glanced towards Amber.

“You are struggling against the effects of blood.” Her voice was soft but he could still hear her.

The corners behind the speakers were far quieter than the rest of the club, and Lesser Noble and all Noble vampires desiring to protect their hearing favoured them. It was a good place to discuss business, and afforded them a view of the entire room so they could pick out prey at their leisure without suffering from the ear-bleeding volume of the music.

She gave him a shy look, as though she felt guilty for confirming that she knew he had recently tasted blood from a Source, and then her expression gradually changed back to awe. Had she never met another Venator? How many vampires had she killed and how long ago had she been given her duty?

“You have seen the human with those vampires.” He didn’t look their way but he could feel Amber’s eyes on him and the female. “A vampire I have been seeking for several years attacked her and fed his blood to her. I tasted her blood to confirm her as a Source Blood and so I could maintain control of her and question her. The human is now bait in my plan to lure out the man and sentence him.”

“I see.” The woman peered past him. “It is forgivable then. Did your plan include her leaving?”

Kearn turned on the spot. Amber was gone.

“Excuse me,” he said and crossed the dance floor to his brother.

“She wanted to go.” Kyran shrugged. “We tried to make her stay and wait, but it seemed the little thing did not like seeing you with another woman.”

Kearn glared at him and then hurried through the club. Had Amber really left because he had been speaking to the Venator, or was Kyran lying? The thought that she might be jealous warmed his chest but he didn’t allow himself to believe it. He had given Amber no reason to feel that way and he had no reason to feel anything in response to it.

What was he getting himself into?

He pushed through the throng, growling under his breath about the way people were hindering his progress and the growing awareness of his feelings towards Amber.

She was bait. It was just her blood making him act this way. And that was just a lie.

It ran deeper than blood. She had entranced him even before he had tasted her. It had been difficult to keep his eyes off her in the street when he had fought to protect her from the man, and in his car as he drove her to his apartment. He had been under her spell since the moment he had met her.

Amber meant something to him.

But she was human. She was beneath him, fit only to serve his kind.

Kearn broke through the crowd and out into the night.

He wished he could bring himself to believe that but he couldn’t. She didn’t feel as though she was beneath him. She felt above him, beyond his grasp.

Human or not, he wanted her to be his.

He couldn’t see her in the street. He searched all of the side roads that branched off the main road outside the club and then got into his car and drove around. The remnant of her blood in his veins wasn’t enough for him to track her. Searching for her so randomly didn’t have a great chance of success, but he had to find her. The vampire might have been at the club tonight and might have seen her leave. Without him, she was in danger.

He couldn’t allow that.

He would keep his promise, no matter what.

He wouldn’t let anything happen to her.

Available in e-book from:
Author’s website: http://www.felicityheaton.com/ebooks.php?title=Forbidden%20Blood

Enjoyed this tease?

Posted in forbidden blood, paranormal romance, Teaseday, vampire romance, Vampire Venators, vampires | Comments Off on Teaseday – Forbidden Blood – Vampire Romance Novel

When writing becomes a business

Remember when you were young and you did whatever you wanted and that was okay? You didn’t have a care in the world and took life one day at a time, searching for fun and doing as you pleased. Then, one day, you grew a little older and realised that at the same time you were growing up, and if you wanted to make something of yourself, you had to cast aside your Devil may care attitude and don one of responsibility instead… you had to approach things differently because now everything mattered.

I’ve been writing since 2005, back when I was e-published, and became an indie romance author in 2006, and since then I haven’t ever thought about writing as a business. To me it was a bit of fun and I wrote whatever I wanted and did as I pleased, much like a kid, without any thought about what type of story sold and where my career was heading. I was the rebellious youth without a care in the world, content with writing whatever came to me and if it sold, then that was great, fantastic in fact considering the poor e-book market prior to 2010. Back then, I never believed writers when they said it was all about market research and what books were popular, and writing for that market. I wanted to write whatever I felt like writing, so I did. I paid no attention to the market, but I guess it helped that I love vampires and decided to write them, and also seemed to end up writing stories quite different to the rest out there, gaining myself a bit of a following.

Just like a reckless youth, I have finally found myself growing up. Late last year, after talking to my husband about it and seeing my sales increasing and my readership increasing with it, I decided to take the plunge and say goodbye to my full-time job. Originally I was going to spend a few months a year contracting because that brings in enough money to keep me afloat, but I’ve been able to go from March 2011 until now living comfortably on my book royalties. At the moment, I don’t have to contract, but I’m well aware that the tide is always turning and things rarely stay perfect, no matter how much we would like them to.

Anyway, the change in my life, the leap from the safety of having a full-time job to becoming a full-time writer instead, has been a catalyst for greater change. I think I’ve grown up and now I can understand all those authors who talk about keeping an eye on the market and what sells, and focusing on that. I’m not talking about writing for market, because I don’t think I can ever do that, but I’m talking about harnessing what I have that is selling well for me and focusing on that. It’s very strange for me to do this and it’s been a gradual process, a gentle evolution of my approach to writing, and it was only recently that I realised what had happened to me. Growing up is never easy though, but with my writing having become more than just a fun past time in a part time capacity and without the safety of my full-time job as a developer, I have to suck it up and deal with it. I can always contract, but I think I want to give this writing thing my all and really make something of it.

So I’ve been looking over my stories, and monitoring what books sell and what don’t do as well as those, and where my strengths lie right now. It’s been quite painful at times, because there’s still that rebellious part of me that wants to write whatever the heck she likes and get away with it. I guess I’m disappointed that books I thought would sell well aren’t doing that good. It’s great that other paranormal romances books of mine are doing fantastically though, and it just means that I have to be more fluid about the timings of new books in the series that aren’t doing as well. I guess that boils down to if it’s selling really well for me right now then the next book in that series is going to be shifted up the writing order, and if it’s not doing well, then it has to take a back seat.

At the moment, my strong series are Vampires Realm (which has always done well for me and deserves more attention) and the Her Angel series. I’m watching the sales figures for Vampire Venators to see if Forbidden Blood picks up speed. I have faith that it will as it’s vampire romance and quite unique. My real trouble maker is the Shadow & Light Trilogy. It’s not doing well and is selling far less than I expected for an urban fantasy type paranormal romance. I’m not sure whether it’s the decision to have a witch heroine coupled with a half-demon hero that has caused the low sales. It’s quite different from other books on the market because most of them include a vampire somewhere, or perhaps a shape-shifter.

I really want to continue with the Shadow & Light Trilogy, and have some fantastic ideas for the remaining two books and a little side-story with other characters, but I will have to drop it down the writing order along with Vampire Venators. It’s a shame really, but that’s the business of writing. I can’t put off writing the next Vampires Realm book or Her Angel book for the sake of writing a series that is floundering. It doesn’t make sense to do that, no matter how much I wanted to have the next book in the Shadow & Light trilogy out in early 2012. It doesn’t make financial sense, and it seems cruel to make readers wait for more in the two selling series so I can do as I please. If readers are eager for Vampires Realm and Her Angel, then I have to give them what they want. Of course, I don’t want to disappoint readers who are eager for more in the Shadow & Light Trilogy or Vampire Venators series either. It’s a double-edged sword really. I want to make everyone, including myself, happy… but some things have to give and my business head engages and tells me that you’ve got to write what’s hot while it’s hot.

This doesn’t mean you won’t get an instalment in the Shadow & Light Trilogy or Vampire Venators series next year, it just means that you’ll be waiting until I have Her Demonic Angel released and another Vampires Realm story out before you get them. Don’t worry, I can write fast enough to get them all out next year, I hope. It’s still a strange feeling for me to have and it tightens my stomach thinking about having to move books down the pecking order for the sake of playing the market. I guess I just have to go with readers and the votes they make with their wallets. If I have several hundred readers a month buying Vampires Realm and Her Angel books on Kindle and less than a hundred readers paying for Shadow & Light Trilogy, I have to go with the larger group. That sounds harsh even to me. lol. That’s business though, folks. Whether I like it or not, I have to grow up now and put on my serious face.

One thing I can promise though… you can expect at least five novels out of me next year!

Posted in Her Angel Series, Shadow and Light Trilogy, Vampire Venators, Vampires Realm, writing | Comments Off on When writing becomes a business

Long Samples of my Paranormal Romance Books

Hi all… I hope you’ve had a good week and are having a great weekend so far!

I’ve uploaded a great extended excerpt for Her Guardian Angel now. You can download a five chapter sample in PDF format from my website.

You can also download long excerpts for two more of my books, Ascension and Forbidden Blood.

Just go to the book page on my site and click the large “download extended excerpt” button in the column below the book cover!

Here’s the links to books with special extended excerpts. Just click on the covers or the read more button to go to the website and download them!

Her Guardian Angel - Paranormal Angel Romance Book

Her Guardian Angel

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…

paranormal angel romance book

110000 words

released: July 2011

Read more

Forbidden Blood - Vampire Romance Book

Forbidden Blood

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…

paranormal vampire romance book

126000 words

released: June 2011

Read more

Ascension - Urban Fantasy Romance Book

Ascension

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…

paranormal / urban fantasy romance book

91000 words

released: April 2011

Read more

Hunter's Moon - Vampire / Werewolf Romance Novel

Hunter’s Moon

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…

paranormal werewolf romance book

65000 words

released: February 2011

Read more

Love Immortal - Paranormal Romance Book (vampire)

Love Immortal

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…

paranormal vampire romance book

157000 words

released: January 2011

Read more

Winter's Kiss - Paranormal Vampire / Werewolf Romance Book

Winter’s Kiss

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…

paranormal werewolf romance book

78000 words

released: June 2009

Read more

Seventh Circle - Paranormal Vampire Romance Book

Seventh Circle

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…

paranormal vampire romance book

106112 words

released: November 2008

Read more

Prophecy: Child of Light [book 1] - Paranormal Vampire Romance Ebook

Prophecy: Child of Light [book 1]

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…

paranormal vampire romance book

135000 words

released: March 2007

Read more

My extended excerpts are generally between 4-10 chapters long!

Happy reading!

Posted in extended excerpts, Her Angel Series, paranormal romance, Shadow and Light Trilogy, vampire romance, Vampire Venators, Vampires Realm | Comments Off on Long Samples of my Paranormal Romance Books

Vampire Venators Romance Series on Tour

I’ve been busy since the release of Forbidden Blood, the first novel in my new Vampire Venators romance series, touring blogs and chatting about both the book and the series.

So far, I’ve talked about writing Forbidden Blood over at Demon Lover’s Books and More, have shared an exclusive excerpt (one of my favourite scenes) over at Bookin’ It Reviews, have interviewed the vampire hero Kearn for Fangtastic Books, and been interviewed myself over at Romancing the Darkside.

More recently, I’ve visited Fade Into Fantasy to talk about the Vampire Venators series, and have appeared on Book of Secrets chatting about the locations I chose for the series and Forbidden Blood. I’ve also been to The Enchanted Book to share a little information about the shape-shifter species involved in the Vampire Venators series – that includes the werewolves, therianthropes and the cat-shifters – and I’ve spoken about the cover of Forbidden Blood at We Write Romance. I have also been over to Night Owl Reviews and spoken about the Sovereignty and their role in the Vampire Venators series, with the added bonus of a giveaway.

I have another full week of appearances next week, so make sure you join me as I tour and talk about Forbidden Blood and the Vampire Venators series.

Forbidden Blood is now available at Sony Reader Store in e-book too, and is also available in paperback from Amazon.com!

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.

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 Germany: http://www.amazon.de/dp/B0055I1LNW/
Amazon Kindle UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0055I1LNW/
Barnes and Noble Nook: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/forbidden-blood-felicity-heaton/1103572024
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
Sony Reader Store: http://ebookstore.sony.com/ebook/felicity-heaton/forbidden-blood/_/R-400000000000000406450

Available in paperback from:
Amazon.com: http://www.amazon.com/dp/1461132193/

Posted in 2011 blog tour, ebooks, forbidden blood, paperbacks, paranormal romance, vampire romance, Vampire Venators, vampires | Comments Off on Vampire Venators Romance Series on Tour

Teaseday – Forbidden Blood – Vampire Romance Book

Today’s Teaseday is brought to you by Forbidden Blood. Forbidden Blood is the first book in the Vampire Venators romance series, and is a long novel full of passion, action, betrayal and revenge.

Here’s the tease…

Forbidden Blood
Felicity Heaton
In a dark world where vampires exist and where Source Blood, a rare human blood type, can bestow godlike powers upon them, the vampire Venators of the Sovereignty fight to protect the humans by banishing those who drink it to the endless dark.

Exiled from his family and with only his duty to sustain him, Kearn has been on the trail of an elusive Source Blood abuser for three years. When he saves a beautiful human female from the vampire’s grasp, it turns out she’s the lead he’s been waiting for. Amber is a Source Blood and the perfect bait, but for who?

As they race to catch the vampire and survive the cruel games he plays, Amber is pulled deeper into Kearn’s world and discovers the painful secrets he hides behind his handsome but emotionless exterior—hurt that she has the power to heal if she is brave enough.

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

ebook price: $3.99
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

EXCERPT

Kearn stopped putting on his shoe the moment the wave of anger washed through the apartment. Amber wasn’t happy about something. He couldn’t think what it would be. He had seen humans enjoying coffee and sweet things, and the woman at the boutique had assured him the clothes would suit her.

He looked at the door, shrugged it off, and finished putting on his leather shoe. He picked up his jacket, considered bringing it with him to the club, and then thought the better of it. He didn’t want to look too formal.

The door to his bedroom swung open with force and Amber came out.

Kearn only meant to glance at her but it became a stare when he saw her. A strange gut wrenching jolt rocked him, and it wasn’t just his desire for her blood this time.

She looked incredible.

He couldn’t help himself. His gaze started at her feet, roaming up the length of the black leather knee-high heeled boots, over the sheer tights that barely hid her slender thighs, to the short black layered skirt that wouldn’t have a chance at covering her backside if she bent over, and finally to the black leather corset. Her cleavage, pushed up and on display, was temptation in its most alluring form, but he forced his eyes to keep moving upwards. She stepped towards him and placed her hands on her hips.

Soft waves of brown hair caressed her shoulders.

A thick black velvet choker with a silver cross on it ringed her neck. The cross didn’t bother him, or any of his kind, but he couldn’t stop staring at it and the sublime curve of her throat. He resisted his desire to lick his lips and swallowed to wet his dry throat. It burned and he fought the terrible hunger that had been rising since he had awoken this afternoon. Her blood was weaker within him now, but his thirst wasn’t abating as he had expected. It gnawed at him, making his insides twist and spasm, and he placed his hand on his stomach. He couldn’t take it. His fangs extended behind his closed lips and his mouth watered. He kept his feet planted to the wooden floor, refusing to give in to the urge to cross the room, drag her soft body flush against his, and sink his fangs hard into her throat. The battle raged inside him and her blood spoke of her growing confusion over his silence and staring. It took every ounce of his will to force his fangs away but he managed it and clawed back control.

When his gaze finally found her face, another jolt hit him, this time in his chest and worrying.

She was beautiful.

The make-up the lady in the boutique had recommended when he had described her enhanced her natural beauty until he couldn’t tear his eyes away from her. The dark brown around her hazel eyes turned them pale and mysterious, and the red lipstick tempted him to take hold of her and kiss her until she was moaning for more. Begging him to bite her.

Kearn ripped his eyes away and fixed them on the window, shaking off his desire. She was bait. That was all. This was business. His gaze crept back to her.

Amber held her arms out and glared at him. It didn’t suit her.

Neither did the rage emanating from her.

“I look like a slut!”

Kearn couldn’t resist the excuse to peruse her again. She looked more attractive than he had imagined she would. A perfect lure for his hunt.

“I think you look good.” It wasn’t a lie or at all difficult for him to say, not even when she was human.

She blushed and cast her gaze at the floor. Her teeth teased her red lips, nibbling in a way that increased the dry burning feeling in his throat.

He instinctively took a step towards her and her eyes met his, her pupils wide and dark. She had looked at him like that when he had come out of the shower. Her scent said that she wasn’t here purely for protection. She was attracted to him. He looked at the windows. She shouldn’t be. There was a whisper in her blood sometimes that said she knew what he was. Why hadn’t she confronted him about it yet? Was she going to keep pretending that he was human?

Was it such a terrible thing that he was a vampire?

Was it such a terrible thing that she was human? She was stunning, a perfect rose in form and fragrance, and the hunger inside him wasn’t all about her blood. He could deny it all he wanted, could lie to convince himself that she was human and therefore beneath him, but every fibre of his body was burning for her touch.

He took another step towards her and then got the better of himself. This was business.

“I need you to fit in tonight and women at the club often wear such clothing. It is important that the man can find you and that you attract attention,” he said.

She huffed. “Do the women also wrap themselves around poles?”

His eyebrow rose. Compared to her conservative black suit, he supposed it was somewhat revealing, but he couldn’t allow her to go into the club looking out of place. She needed to look as though she wanted some action, and she needed flesh on show for the vampires to smell her.

He took a discreet breath of her scent. His fangs itched and hunger tightened his stomach again. Drinking her blood had been more than a mistake. He’d had two blood packs this evening and they had done nothing to quench his growing thirst for her.

“It is not that sort of club.” He pointed towards the door, eager to escape the confines of his apartment and breathe the fresh night air. “Shall we go?”

Amber was almost past him when she stopped and her gaze flicked warily to his chest.

“No gun?”

Her nerves rose, speaking to him and increasing his hunger. Nothing made a vampire thirsty like fear.

“I will not need it.”

“But if that man comes—”

“I can handle him without it.”

She still hesitated. Her fingers went to the bandage on her hand and she picked at it again.

“How? Doesn’t the gun have special bullets?”

Kearn laughed. It had been so long since he had laughed that it sounded strange and alien to his ears. Confusion replaced the fear in Amber’s eyes.

“No,” he said. “The bullets are normal.”

“But they kill vampires…” She trailed off when he raised his hand.

“The bullets only slow vampires down.” He held his right hand out to her. The silver marks on his arm began to shine pale blue as the power activated, starting at his fingertips and slowly creeping up his arm in a cold wave that whispered dark hungry things to him. The glow lit her face, reflecting in her eyes. This was more than she needed to know, but he needed her to see it so she could no longer deny his difference to her. Not human. A beast who thirsted for her blood and had dreamt of her all day. “This kills vampires.”

He closed his fist when the power urged him to feed it and the marks deactivated, leaving his vision dampened and his arm aching.

“Now, are you coming?” He walked to the door and opened it for her.

She nodded and walked past him, not waiting for him to lock the door. She walked down the hall, giving him an enticing rear view of her. Her hips swayed with each step. He raked his eyes over her, frowning when he reached her boots and their tall heels. His gut tightened again, warm hunger sparking into life and mingling with his need for blood. Lust. He was familiar enough with the feeling to recognise it when it was throwing his mind into disarray. It wouldn’t do. He couldn’t be distracted tonight.

Amber was bait.

Beautiful bait.
He followed her down the stairs, allowing his feelings some freedom. It was strange to feel anything positive. Had he grown so used to only negative emotions that positive ones like desire or need born of beauty rather than blood were a foreign thing?

Amber stopped by his white car in the large concrete garage.

In a ridiculous moment of unrestraint, Kearn opened the passenger door for her. His reward was a wide smile and a hint of colour on her pale cheeks. He closed the door when she was in and wished the soft click had signalled the shutting down of his emotions as he had planned, but they wouldn’t go back into place. He slowly rounded the car, aware of her eyes on him, fighting his feelings the whole time. Kyran was right but a human didn’t belong in his world.

Kearn got into the car and closed the door. This time his emotions did die with the click and he started the car.

He drove out of the garage and pulled onto the road. The sun was setting. By the time they had reached the club, it would be dark enough for Lesser Nobles to come out. Nobles were strong against the sun and would be out by now, but they wouldn’t make an appearance at the club until nearer midnight.

Kearn managed to keep his thoughts off Amber and on work until they were half-way to the club and she moved in the seat beside him. His gaze jumped to her thighs and her bandaged hand where it rested in her lap. His throat turned dry again and he rubbed it, trying to alleviate the burn of thirst.

The collar of his black shirt felt too tight so he undid it but it didn’t relieve him at all. The air in the Audi was suffocating and hot. Amber sent the temperature up another notch when she turned her hands over and he saw the blood on the bandage. The smell of it filled his senses.

Kearn opened the window and breathed in the night, using the scent to remind himself that what he was considering with Amber wasn’t an option. He was a vampire. A Venator. Even if he never wanted to be one, he had to carry out his duty. Amber was only a means to an end. He would kill the vampire, part ways with her and never see her again. It was safest that way.

He didn’t want her to fear him.

If she knew about him and the things he did, she would feel the same way as everyone else. She would hate him.

He pulled the car to a halt down the road from the club and got out. Amber followed, and he locked the car, crossed the quiet street with her, and walked straight towards the club. They were almost there when Amber stopped. He turned and looked back at her.

“Is something wrong?” he said.

She was staring at the building ahead of them, her eyes wide and red lips parted. “I’ve been here before.”

Every muscle tightened in response to that and a desire to step towards her, to remain close to her, bolted through him. The thought that she had been here before, where so many vampires hunted each night, disturbed him as much as it clearly disturbed her.

“How many times?” he said and her wide hazel eyes shifted to him.

“I don’t know… five or six… vampires come here?” Her blood relayed the feelings behind the tremor in her voice. Fear. Disbelief.

He nodded. He hadn’t come to the club in years but Kyran kept him posted on the things that happened there. Vampires were regular patrons. Had Amber flirted with the men here? How many times had she come close to leaving with one? He searched her eyes for the answer, a burning need to know setting his blood aflame. A darker urge followed in its wake, compelling him to take her back to his place and keep her away from all of his kind. He wouldn’t let another vampire touch what was his.

Kearn pushed that desire away. Amber didn’t belong to him. He had no claim on her. Yet he couldn’t contain his dark hunger to protect her.

“I will not allow any of them to harm you, Amber.” He meant every word. If any of them touched her, he would use his power to break them from the inside out before they could defend against him.

She nodded, the nervous edge back in her eyes, and looked towards the club.

Kearn led the way, remaining close to her now, aware of his surroundings and what awaited them in the building. It would be quiet at first, but Kyran had told him how it was normally full to capacity every night, and how many of the crowd were vampires. If he felt he was losing control of the situation, or Amber was in danger, he would get her out of the club and back to his apartment. He would find another way to lure the man out of hiding.

The two large men on the door stepped aside to let them pass. He pushed the door open and turned to Amber.

“Just as we planned. Go to the bar and order a drink with the money I gave you. Wait there until either I or the vampire comes for you.”

She nodded and walked past him. His gaze followed her through the low-lit black walled room. She sat on a stool further along the bar.

The music in the club was quiet but later it would be pounding so loud he would have a headache for a day. He never enjoyed coming out in company, not anymore, and he especially hated this place. The vampires who came here were usually younger Lesser Nobles and Nobles looking for a quick snack or some amusement. The humans didn’t realise the danger they walked amongst. To them it was just another nightclub. He glanced at Amber, still unable to believe that she had been to this wretched place, had come close to the less refined of his kind before, and then pushed his gaze onwards. He scanned the gathered people. The crowd was light, a few humans mingling with some Lesser Nobles or grouped together in the square booths around the large black dance floor.

The only Noble in the club right now was him.

The sandy-haired well-dressed man behind the bar gave him a nod. Kearn didn’t grace him with one in return. The man was a Commoner, the rank of vampire far below Lesser Noble. Nothing more than a peasant. He had worked here in all the times that Kearn had visited and was the only vampire on the staff. Kearn had often wondered if the man owned the club. The Commoner walked down the length of the black glass-topped bar towards Amber. Kearn kept a close eye on the man. There was a momentary spark of red in his eyes as he took her drink order, his gaze darted down to her bandaged hand as she gave him the money, and then he moved away. Wise decision. Kearn didn’t want to have to start the evening by killing someone. The Commoner stopped at the till near Kearn and looked right into his eyes. Kearn’s switched briefly to red and he glared at the man, letting him sense his intent and making it clear that Amber belonged to him. The Commoner acknowledged him with a bow of his head and then made Amber’s drink.

She smiled at the man as he gave it to her, distracting Kearn from his dark thoughts. She did look beautiful tonight. Perhaps he should have told her that just to see her reaction. He could imagine the deep crimson blush that would have stained her cheeks and it stirred his blood.

Perhaps he should concentrate on his work.

Kearn sat several stools away from Amber. They were the only two at the bar but that soon changed.

The minutes ticked by and each one brought more people into the club. Another Noble showed up, a tall dark-haired man with three human women draped all over him. Lord Montagu. The man’s dark eyes narrowed on Kearn in contempt and then he was walking down the steps at the end of the bar area to the dance floor. Kearn shook off the irritation of such a weak-blooded man looking down on him and watched the rest of his entourage enter. All unranked Montagu men and women. The most interesting was a doe-eyed woman who watched the lord like a hawk. She was human and going through the transition judging by the scent of her blood. She had probably thought that Lord Montagu would change his ways once she had let him bite her and her dark fairytale would be complete. Humans were so gullible.

Kearn looked along the length of the bar at Amber.

Would she ever consent to becoming a vampire?

It was a ridiculous thought that he immediately shoved aside but it crept back into his head and he found himself musing it. Pondering how sweet Amber’s throat would taste under his lips as he sunk his fangs into it reignited his ardour for her, fanning it back into life until it blazed through him, hotter than the surface of the sun and equally as fierce. The deep unrelenting thirst for her constantly flowed in his blood, pleading to be sated, even though he knew it was impossible.

If Amber were a vampire, she would sense his intent as he stared at her, and would know his dark pounding lust for her. If he turned her, she wouldn’t become a weak vampire as other humans did, fit only to serve his pureblood kind. She would become the most beautiful creature on this planet, surpassing even pureblood vampires. Her power would be devastating, everything he had at his command and more, amplified by the gene in her blood. She would be as vampires had been many millennia ago. She would be a goddess.

His goddess.

He had never changed a human and had never wanted to before now.

While others treated it as nothing more than a thrilling moment, uncaring of the consequences or how the human felt, Kearn treated it with the respect that such a beautiful thing deserved. That he could give a human, Amber, the gift of immortality and the powers of his species was incredible.

But it was something he couldn’t do, no matter how much he thought about it and how enticing it sounded in his mind. Had he been his old self, had he not become a Venator and not walked the path of solitude, despised by his kind, he would have thought differently. He would have been able to give Amber the life as a vampire that she deserved. If he bit her now and turned her, they would only have each other. She would find herself hated by not only humankind but by the vampires too. He couldn’t ask her to tread the same path as him and bear the loneliness. Only he deserved to live such a life.

Amber deserved so much more.

People lined the bar between them. She ordered another drink and fiddled with the cocktail stirrer when it arrived. A man approached her. Human. She smiled politely and waved him away. Kearn focused, wanting to hear what she was telling him, but he couldn’t make it out over the noise of the music. It was louder now and using his heightened senses hurt his head.

A few minutes later, another man approached her. Human again. She excused herself and then looked around the busy club.

Someone bumped against him and Kearn growled. He hated crowds almost as much as he hated this place. How many more people were they going to let in? He could barely see Amber now through the sea of black and red clad men and women, and he needed to keep an eye on her. He leaned forwards to catch a glimpse of her.

Her eyes settled on him and she blinked slowly, a hint of a smile touching the corners of her sensual red lips. He cast his gaze downwards at the bar and touched his throat again. It ached. He wrapped his hand around it and clasped it tightly. He needed a drink but blood wouldn’t satisfy his thirst. He needed Amber.

He glanced at her out of the corner of his eye. She was flicking the cocktail stirrer back and forth across her half empty glass.

If she didn’t stop looking so bored, she would never catch the vampire for him.

She smiled at him again, her painted lips luring him in until his field of focus zeroed in on her. She was supposed to be attracting the other vampires in the club, not him, but he couldn’t take his eyes off her, and the more he stared, the hungrier he became.

He rubbed his throat again, wishing he could get something here to quench his thirst as easily as the humans could. The Commoner that had been behind the bar earlier was gone, replaced by two human males and one female. There was no chance of getting blood now.

“You should go speak to her.”

Kearn frowned at the male bartender.

He nodded towards Amber. “Go speak to her. You’re clearly interested. I’ve not seen her here before but she looks a little lonely… like you.”

Kearn’s expression darkened. He looked lonely? The bartender was probably putting things together from the evidence in front of him, a man sitting alone in a bar staring at a beautiful woman, but the conclusion he had drawn was too close to the mark. He was always alone but he had grown used to it and it was better than being around company who didn’t want you there.

“I am too old for her.” Kearn waved the man away.

The man didn’t leave. He leaned across the bar and smiled consolingly.

“Listen.” He crooked a finger, signalling for Kearn to come closer. Kearn didn’t. The man smelt sweaty and he had no desire to interact so closely with a human. A voice at the back of his mind said he would interact this closely with Amber given the chance. He would sink his fangs deep into her neck and drink his fill of her to slake the thirst in his heart for a connection to someone. Kearn ignored it. “You don’t look a day over thirty five and she’s no younger than twenty five. There’s an unwritten rule with men. Halve your age and add seven. That’s the youngest you can go for.”

Kearn calculated it in his head. Half of his age plus seven? He smiled. Unless Amber was really one hundred and eighty seven, he was too old for her.

Another group of vampires entered. More Nobles. This time they were higher ranking. The Marquess Montagu and Marquess Pendragon sneered at him as they passed. Kearn looked over towards Amber and held his throat again when it itched. He swallowed but it didn’t relieve the ache.

The smell of everyone in the club wasn’t even drowning out her scent. It was a good thing because he needed the vampires to smell her blood so it would lure them into speaking to her but it constantly pushed at his restraint. Since tasting her, he hadn’t stopped desiring her. His lust for her blood was strong, so much so that he had dreamed of her and nothing else. She had been in his embrace, bare breasts against his chest and her arms around him, holding him close as he kissed and licked her throat. He had drunk from her, sinking his fangs deep into her neck and marking her as eternally his. He knew that was what he had been doing. He hadn’t intended to kill her. He had wanted to make her a vampire like him. He had wanted to keep her.

Which was insane.

But her blood had tasted so good even in his dreams.

Kearn struggled for control as the memory of it assaulted him, sending an echo of the buzz he had felt through his body and fogging his mind. Something deep within him cried out for more, for another taste, another fix.

The club started to heat up as people moved and the smell of her blood grew stronger. It was a divine smell—sweet and fragrant. The voice at the back of his mind whispered that it could be his, just as it had been in his dreams.

He touched his neck again, pulled at the collar of his shirt when it felt as though it was strangling him, and frowned. He couldn’t remember a time when he had felt so hungry.

“Are you okay?” Amber’s voice startled him. “You don’t look so good.”

His eyes leapt to hers and then fell to her neck. His temperature increased the moment his gaze landed on the black choker wrapped around it. Her blood was delicious. She was delicious. His throat ached at the sight of hers, his hunger rising. He tightened his hold on his neck and tried to get a grip on himself. It wasn’t just her blood doing this to him. It couldn’t be. There was something deeper at work.

He forced his eyes up, until they met her wide ones. She stepped closer and her scent grew stronger, overwhelming him. He stood and took a step back, trying to distance himself and keep control.

Available in e-book from:
Author’s website: http://www.felicityheaton.com/ebooks.php?title=Forbidden%20Blood

Enjoyed this tease?

Posted in forbidden blood, paranormal romance, Teaseday, vampire romance, Vampire Venators, vampires | Comments Off on Teaseday – Forbidden Blood – Vampire Romance Book

Forbidden Blood (Vampire Venators Romance Series #1) – Out Now!

It’s an exciting day for me today. I have a new release out. This time it’s a vampire romance book and the first inn my new vampire romance series, Vampire Venators. I loved writing this book and I’m really hopeful for the series as a whole. I know it’s my second vampire romance series, but it’s very different to Vampires Realm. I think you’ll all love it, so why not take advantage of the hot summer offer on this book (ends July 1st) and get it for a beautiful $0.99! That’s a saving of $3!

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.

ebook price: $3.99
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 Germany: http://www.amazon.de/dp/B0055I1LNW/
Amazon Kindle UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0055I1LNW/
Barnes and Noble Nook: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/forbidden-blood-felicity-heaton/1103572024
Smashwords: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/66030

Click here for details on how to get this book for only $0.99 as part of my hot summer offers!

Posted in forbidden blood, new release, paranormal romance, vampire romance, Vampire Venators, vampires | Comments Off on Forbidden Blood (Vampire Venators Romance Series #1) – Out Now!

Forbidden Blood – Vampire Venators Series #1 – Chapter Five

As part of my Paranormal Pandemonium 2011 Blog Tour, I have been posting chapters of my next release, Forbidden Blood.

Forbidden Blood is a dark vampire romance novel, and the first book in the Vampire Venators series, and will be released on June 18th 2011. I’ve already posted chapter one, chapter two, chapter three and chapter four. That means that today is the final chapter I’ll be posting, and with it I’m adding a little about the series.

Enter a dark world where humans live alongside nine species of demon without knowing it and a mysterious circle of ancient beings called the Sovereignty battles to protect mankind. For each of the nine species, Venators are chosen, hunters who are given the power of the Sovereignty and fight in their stead to defeat those in their species who seek to harm humans and demons alike. It is a world of vampires, werewolves, therianthropes, angels and other demons, each with their own distinct society and world they desire to protect–a world they desire to keep separate and hidden from ours.

Forbidden Blood
Felicity Heaton
In a dark world where vampires exist and where Source Blood, a rare human blood type, can bestow godlike powers upon them, the vampire Venators of the Sovereignty fight to protect the humans by banishing those who drink it to the endless dark.

Exiled from his family and with only his duty to sustain him, Kearn has been on the trail of an elusive Source Blood abuser for three years. When he saves a beautiful human female from the vampire’s grasp, it turns out she’s the lead he’s been waiting for. Amber is a Source Blood and the perfect bait, but for who?

As they race to catch the vampire and survive the cruel games he plays, Amber is pulled deeper into Kearn’s world and discovers the painful secrets he hides behind his handsome but emotionless exterior—hurt that she has the power to heal if she is brave enough.

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

genre: paranormal vampire romance
length: 126000 words
rating: sultry
released: June 18th 2011
Book 1 in the Vampire Venators series

CHAPTER FIVE

Amber woke slowly to an unfamiliar view. She lay on her back, staring at the ceiling, and could see the edges of the brown walls either side of her and the window behind her that formed another wall. She felt very calm, as though she had slept deeply. It surprised her. After what she had been through last night, she had expected not to sleep at all. She had drifted off waiting for the nightmares but felt as though her dreams had been pleasant, or non-existent.

Perhaps her dreams and reality had swapped places. She was living a nightmare and dreaming her old life now. The fear that had settled in her heart last night hadn’t gone anywhere. It was quieter now, lessened by the steps Kearn had taken to protect her, to make her feel safe, but it wasn’t going away. Deep inside her heart, a voice whispered that she should fear Kearn too, but for some reason she couldn’t bring herself to feel that way, not even when a part of her knew that there was something different about him.

It didn’t matter what he was. He was protecting her and she could help him. They needed each other. In order to swap her dreams and reality back around, she had to be strong and get through his, and she would, with Kearn at her side.

The quiet noise of the flat panel television built into the oak wardrobes opposite the foot of the bed filled the silence along with her breathing. She stretched. Kearn’s bedroom was soothing. She wanted to sleep here forever.

The bed was soft and warm, the room peaceful and quiet, and she felt safe.

Amber rolled onto her side and took a deep breath. The brown pillows smelt like Kearn. She hadn’t noticed it before. It was a warm smell. She smiled. Probably a very expensive warm smell.

There was no doubt in her mind that Kearn’s job paid well. The car, the apartment, and the terribly modern décor that gave it an air of something out of a perfect homes magazine, all pointed towards money.

Another smile touched her lips when she remembered him insisting on her taking his bed. Very chivalrous.

And then there was his brother.

They looked alike in some ways and the very opposite in others. She imagined Kearn with blue eyes and black hair cut short around the sides but longer on top. They would definitely look alike then.

His brother had a different personality though. He was open, playful, and seemed to take great amusement from saying things that Kearn thought weren’t suitable. If they hadn’t told her that Kyran was the older brother, she would have thought him the younger.

Kearn seemed so cold in comparison, and more distant than she had first placed him. His behaviour around his brother, the flashes of anger swiftly chased by sorrow that had crossed his face at times, and the way he had ended the night so abruptly, all of them increased her feeling that Kearn was hiding something. What did he want to conceal?

Kyran had said that he knew vampires and he knew what his brother did to them. What did Kearn do to them? She had been about to ask him when she had felt incredibly sleepy. The tension in the apartment had risen the moment Kearn had closed the bedroom door on her and then the front door had slammed. Had they argued? Because of her?

Amber sat up on the double bed and pulled the brown duvet to her chest, covering her bare breasts with it.

Why would they argue because of her?

Because Kyran had been too friendly or because he had said something he shouldn’t have?

Amber looked over at the bedside table.

And why were her clothes gone?

She scrambled across the double bed and peered down at the floor in case they had fallen off. They were gone. Her shoes were too. Only her black handbag remained.

Had Kearn taken them?

She blushed from head to toe at the thought of him coming into the room while she had been sleeping in his bed wearing only her knickers.

Her eyes widened.

He had even taken her bra.

Her cheeks burned now.

Amber wrapped herself in the brown duvet and shuffled carefully to the bedroom door. She opened it a crack and looked out into the main room. She couldn’t see Kearn. The television in the white dividing wall above the low rectangular open fireplace was off. The apartment was silent save the noise of the television behind her.

Kearn was gone.

She hitched her duvet toga up and went back into the bedroom, crossing it to the bathroom. There was a white bathrobe on the back of the door. She dropped the duvet and put on the robe. It was too big for her but it was better than walking around Kearn’s apartment in only her knickers.

She made the bed, turned off the television and then returned to the bedroom door and opened it.

There was no sign of her clothes in the living area, or in the kitchen in the right hand corner opposite it. The glasses and bowl were on the drainer, and Kearn’s bloodied shirt was gone. She picked up one of the glasses, filled it with water and drank it down in one go. Her stomach growled. Food. She hadn’t eaten in almost a day.

Amber checked the pale wooden cupboards. The first two being bare didn’t bother her, but after the fifth, she started to find it strange. When she had checked every cupboard and found only a few glasses and some other kitchenware, but not cutlery or plates, she was disconcerted. She approached the large white refrigerator with caution, fearing what she would find in it. Vampires drank blood. What if the fridge was full of bits of people or blood bags stolen from the local hospital?

She grabbed the refrigerator door and yanked it open.


A blank white space greeted her.

Her heart pounded against her ribs.

She was going crazy.

She had to stop being so suspicious.

Vampires killed people. Maybe he didn’t keep his food in the house. Maybe he ate street food of the vampire kind.

Amber shut the fridge door. She really was being stupid now.

Kearn hunted vampires.

Maybe he ate out all the time. There were people who did that. She had seen television programs where famous people had never used the expensive stove in their oversized kitchen. Kearn could be just like them.

Or he could eat blood.

She walked out of the kitchen, trying to distance herself from her thoughts as easily as she could distance herself from the refrigerator.

She stopped at the black front door of the apartment.

There was a note stuck to it, written in neat cursive script.

Do not even consider leaving. I shall return by the time you have showered and shall bring you breakfast. Kearn.

She tried the handle anyway. Locked. Some of the locks she could open from the inside, but one of them needed a key.

Well, that was considerate of him. He stole her clothes and locked her in his apartment, and then offered her a shower and said he would bring her breakfast. He was confusing her more every minute that she knew him.

Breakfast?

Amber glanced to her left, through the small study area to the bank of windows that formed the wall there. The sun was heading towards the horizon, casting a golden glow over the rooftops of London. He had a strange concept of meal times, but then he hunted vampires. It was probably a job he could only do at night.

She perused the books in the beech bookcase that lined the wall of the study opposite the open fireplace, her fingers tripping from spine to spine. There were many novels on the side nearest the front door, but closer to the wooden desk in front of the window, the books were all factual, and some of them were definitely not available in stores. Books on demons, vampires, werewolves and other creatures. All of them old and large, and leather-bound. None of them had authors or publishing houses on the spine. She took a thick, heavy tome on vampires, placed it down on the desk and opened it carefully to somewhere near the middle. Her gaze scanned the neatly hand written paragraphs on the yellowing page and stopped on a name she recognised.

She had to read it three times to make sure she wasn’t imagining it.

Earl Huntingdon.

She cast a quick glance around the apartment, her heart starting to race and tremble at the thought of being caught snooping in Kearn’s things, and then read the passage about the earl.

A vampire.

Kyran knew vampires. Was that why Kearn didn’t like Earl Huntingdon? Perhaps there were good vampires after all and that was why Kyran was friends with him.

Or perhaps not.

Amber read the page, enthralled by the things it said about the earl and his bloodthirsty ways. He sounded dangerous, the sort of vampire that people had written tales about centuries ago, like Vlad the Impaler. He sounded like the sort that Kearn should kill.

She went to turn the page and read on but stopped herself. Reading about the horrible things vampires did to people and to other vampires would only frighten her. She closed the book and placed it back on the shelf. She was better off not knowing. They said ignorance was bliss after all. When Kearn had caught the vampire, she would be going back to her life. Kearn wouldn’t be there to protect her from the scary vampires. She would be alone again and she didn’t want to spend the rest of her life afraid, fearing that someone like Earl Huntingdon would somehow find her. She wanted to live life.

Dragging herself away from the study, she walked around the wide white dividing wall of the modern double-sided fireplace and stopped dead when she saw a black jacket and Kearn’s gun on the end of the long black couch against the bedroom wall. The setting sun glinted off the silver gun, luring her to it.

She stopped at the window-end of the couch beside the gun and stared hard at it, memorising the weapon’s exact position on the jacket so she knew where to place it so Kearn wouldn’t know what she had done. With her heart in her throat, she reached a trembling hand out to the gun and closed the fingers of her left hand around the grip. Her whole arm shook as she lifted it. It was heavier than expected and felt cold against her fingers. She kept it pointed away from her, afraid it would go off, and studied it. It looked like a gun from a movie, sleek and modern, and dangerous.

What kind of bullets did it take? They had to be special to kill vampires.

Amber tried to figure out how to open it, turning it one way and then the other, and even looking closely at the bottom of the grip. In the movies, people changed the clip so quickly she never saw how they got it out. She lifted her other hand, tempted to pull the top part of the gun back and then stopped herself. She didn’t know what would happen if she did that. If she blew out a window or made a hole in the white wall, Kearn would know that she had been messing around with his gun. Afraid of the consequences if that happened, Amber placed the gun back down in the precise spot and position she had found it, and stepped back from it. She didn’t like it.

Turning away, she walked back to Kearn’s bedroom and through it to the bathroom. Take a shower. Kearn had said he would be back when she had showered. She looked at the large white cubicle to her left. Take a shower she would.

She stripped off the bathrobe and her knickers, and closed the bathroom door. The clear shower door squeaked when she slid it open. She turned the water on and stepped under the jet, showering quickly and holding her hair up so it didn’t get too wet. It would frizz if it did and she didn’t want to look like a prize poodle around Kearn.

Amber shut the water off and stepped out of the shower. Her head spun. She closed her eyes and waited for it to clear. It had done that from time to time last night too. Was it the vampire trying to control her?

She shuddered at the thought. She didn’t like the idea that someone could control her and make her do things against her will. She unravelled the bandage on her hand. The cut across her palm was still raw and it was bleeding in places again. She washed it in the sink and then looked for a new bandage, finding some in the cupboard in the black sink cabinet. She carefully wound it around her hand, tight enough that it would stop the bleeding, and pinned it.

The vampire had wanted her to taste her blood but she hadn’t been tempted this time. Was his hold over her fading?

The sound of a door closing made her look up at herself in the mirror. Kearn.

She clawed her hair back into a neat ponytail, slipped the robe on, and tied it.

Kearn was in the kitchen when she walked out of the bedroom. He glanced over at her, his green eyes as impassive as ever. Not even the sight of her in his bathrobe fresh from the shower provoked a reaction. He crossed the room and held two large black paper bags out to her. There was a store name she didn’t recognise written on the side in a white cursive font. She peered inside the first one at the clothes. The second had a cardboard shoebox in it.

“What is it?” She looked at Kearn.

“Your outfit for tonight.” He dropped another similar bag on the couch facing the window and she looked in it too. Her own clothes. He had taken them to a store and, judging by the bags, it had been somewhere expensive.

Kearn held a small brown bag out to her.

“What’s this?” She took it from him.

“Breakfast,” he said without any trace of emotion, his eyes not leaving hers. “Coffee and pastries. I asked the woman what you might like.”

Amber frowned. What she might like? As though a stranger would know such a thing. Couldn’t he have judged for himself? Maybe he didn’t know what food tasted like. Maybe vampires didn’t eat anything other than blood.

Maybe he just didn’t eat pastries. She had known men in her past that didn’t touch sweet things. He could be like them.

“What about you?” She placed the clothes bags down on the couch beside the other one and eyed him closely, studying his face.

“I ate when I was out.”

Amber stared at him. He stared back, colder than ever. He really wasn’t very talkative. The effort of trying to make conversation with him was exhausting.

Kearn walked around her and along the length of the couch beside the wall to the far end of it. He leaned over and paused with his hand just above his gun. He kept his back to her as he picked it up.

“Do not ever touch it again,” he said and went into his bedroom, closing the door.

A few minutes later the shower was running and Amber was still standing in the middle of his apartment feeling guilty for snooping and wondering how the hell he had known she had touched the gun. It had been in exactly the same place as he had left it.

He was an enigma.

He had no food, a lot of money, and treated her coldly even though she was helping him. She looked at the clothing and the food that he had bought. She couldn’t figure him out at all. She had never met anyone so distant either. Was it his work? Maybe he was just unused to company. He hadn’t been that at ease with his brother too.

Maybe he wasn’t human.

She couldn’t push that thought away. Whenever she gave it a chance, it came back.

Amber walked over to the kitchen island and placed the brown paper bag down on the granite top. She sat on one of the black and wood stools that followed the curve of the island, and opened the bag, removing the white paper cup of coffee. She took off the lid and scooped up some of the foam with her finger. Cappuccino. Just the fix she had needed.

There were a lot of different pastries in the bag. Covering his bets?

The bedroom door opened and Amber looked over her shoulder at Kearn. He rubbed a brown towel against his wet hair. Water dripped from the ends of the long silver strands and rolled down the bare strip of chest and stomach visible between the two sides of his black shirt. His body was delicious. Just what she wanted to eat for breakfast. His muscles shifted and bunched with each move he made as he dried his hair, a feast for her eyes only. She stared, unashamed of what she was doing. If he was going to put it out there, then she wasn’t going to shy away.

Kearn tossed the towel back into his bedroom, ran his fingers through his hair, and then walked over to the jacket on the couch. He picked it up and placed it over the back of the couch facing the window. Amber sipped her coffee and kept watching him, or at least his body. He ruined her fun by buttoning his shirt and tucking it into his black trousers.

He came over to her and looked at the paper bag. She took another sip of her coffee and drank her fill of his face, putting to memory the curve of his lips as they parted and the way a line formed between his dark silver eyebrows when he frowned. He was undeniably good looking and was starting to creep back into sexy territory.

“Want one?” Amber offered the bag, part of her doing so out of politeness and the other part wanting to test him.

His green eyes shifted from the contents of the bag to her hand that was holding it. Blood was seeping into the bandage again.

“Take it if you want it,” she said and his eyes met hers, incredulous and searching. It was the first sign of something other than cold calculation in them today. He almost looked shocked.

“No, thank you.” Kearn pushed the bag back at her. “You should dress. We need to arrive at the club before everyone else so we do not look as though we are together.”

She took a long leisurely sip of her cappuccino, unwilling to be rushed by him, and then slipped down off the stool.

When he had said they would go to a club, she had expected them to be together the whole time. The thought of being alone when the vampire could be stalking her was frightening but she had promised to play bait for him. She picked up the bags of clothes from the couch. What sort of bait did Kearn have in mind? The clothes would give her a hint.

She walked into his bedroom, kicked the door closed, put her coffee and pastries down on the side cupboard and dumped the bags on the bed.

Refusing to hurry, she ate a croissant and drank half of her coffee, and then devoured another pastry.

Amber pulled the large shoebox out of the first bag and opened it.

She tipped the contents of the other bag out on the bed beside it.

Her eyes widened.

“What the hell!”

That’s the final chapter of my sneak preview for Forbidden Blood, but you don’t have to wait long to get your hands on this book now. It’s released on June 18th, just next week! Have you all enjoyed the book so far?

Posted in 2011 blog tour, 2011 releases, forbidden blood, paranormal romance, vampire romance, Vampire Venators, vampires | Comments Off on Forbidden Blood – Vampire Venators Series #1 – Chapter Five

Angel romances, Assassin’s Creed and blog tours

This week has been long, but not exactly fruitful. Thanks to my obsession with Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood and my need to play it every day for at least a couple of hours, my focus is shot. I have managed to struggle with my short attention span and bring it under control enough that I have managed to get the final two chapters of Her Guardian Angel re-written and ready for editing, but other things in my schedule have suffered.

I can’t lay the blame solely at the feet of Ezio from Assassin’s Creed. I think in part my lack of concentration and focus this week is down to overworking. I’ve been working non-stop recently and it was only a matter of time before my mind shattered and I wanted to do something other than author related work.

I’m just thankful that once I get the final two chapters of Her Guardian Angel edited, I can put it to rest for a while, and that I managed to get it done before heading off on holiday for a few days. A much needed holiday, that’s for sure!

When I return, I’ll be thrown straight into the release weekend of Forbidden Blood, but I think I can deal with that if I get everything on my list done and dusted, and therefore only have to worry about release stuff when I get back. I am looking forward to the release of Forbidden Blood. I want to see what readers think about the take on vampires in this one and whether there’s interest in the series. I already have a vampire romance series on the go, so it will be interesting to see what sort of reception this one gets. The Vampire Venators series is quite different to my Vampires Realm series, so hopefully there’ll be room for both of them.

I’m having a dilemma at the moment about what to write next. My schedule is very tight right now, but I really want to get the next Shadow & Light Trilogy novel written, edited, and released this year. I’d love to get it done for September and move Masquerade to October or December. Hmm. It’s tricky though and it is providing me with a bit of a headache. I keep working my calendar, shifting things around and seeing if I could write it and get it edited in time. It’s possible, but it would mean some seriously long days. Going to crunch the numbers again later and see if I’m just asking too much of myself.

I have to take into account that I’m signed up to around one hundred appearances this year at various blogs too. I need to make sure that I have time to get the articles for them written as well as getting books written or edited. On top of this, I want to start offering a flash fiction in my newsletter every month, and I have a few short stories that I want to write as freebies too.

I think I might quietly go away now and have a breakdown. Lol. When I took the leap to become a full time author, I had figured it would be easy and that I’d be able to get stuff done in no time because I had all day to do it rather than just a few hours a day. Wrong! Stuff just came along to fill those hours!

Right, I had best go get on with said stuff.

Felicity

Posted in forbidden blood, Masquerade, Shadow and Light Trilogy, Vampire Venators, Vampires Realm, writing | Comments Off on Angel romances, Assassin’s Creed and blog tours

Forbidden Blood – Vampire Venators Series #1 – Chapter Four

As part of my Paranormal Pandemonium 2011 Blog Tour, I have been posting chapters of my next release, Forbidden Blood.

Forbidden Blood is a dark vampire romance novel, and the first book in the Vampire Venators series, and will be released on June 18th 2011. I’ve already posted chapter one, chapter two, and chapter three of this long novel, and now here’s chapter four. Just one more to go after this and I hope you’re all enjoying it so far.

Forbidden Blood
Felicity Heaton
In a dark world where vampires exist and where Source Blood, a rare human blood type, can bestow godlike powers upon them, the vampire Venators of the Sovereignty fight to protect the humans by banishing those who drink it to the endless dark.

Exiled from his family and with only his duty to sustain him, Kearn has been on the trail of an elusive Source Blood abuser for three years. When he saves a beautiful human female from the vampire’s grasp, it turns out she’s the lead he’s been waiting for. Amber is a Source Blood and the perfect bait, but for who?

As they race to catch the vampire and survive the cruel games he plays, Amber is pulled deeper into Kearn’s world and discovers the painful secrets he hides behind his handsome but emotionless exterior—hurt that she has the power to heal if she is brave enough.

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

genre: paranormal vampire romance
length: 126000 words
rating: sultry
released: June 18th 2011
Book 1 in the Vampire Venators series

CHAPTER FOUR

Kearn led the way up through his apartment building. With all of the stores closed until morning, he would have to wait to visit the club and see if he could attract attention with Amber and her blood. He had hoped to end this tonight and take her home, ridding himself of both the temptation she presented and his unending mission to capture the man, but fate had never been kind to him. For now, he would battle his lingering hunger for her and bide his time. Tomorrow, he would buy her some clothes to wear to the club, and together they would hunt down the vampire. He didn’t have much experience of dressing women, but was sure someone at the shops would be happy to assist him, especially since money wasn’t a factor.

Humans and vampires were very similar in that respect. Money could buy you anything and the more you had, the more people were willing the crawl on their bellies for you.

Amber’s fatigue flowed through the connection between their blood. It wasn’t the only feeling that he could sense in her. Her emotions were steadily turning towards fear again. Perhaps it was a good thing that they had been unable to go to the club tonight. She needed to rest. All he had done since meeting her was push her into doing things his way. The man he sought would be cautious tonight. Going to the club wouldn’t have produced any results. Tomorrow was a different matter. The vampire would want to find her. He would come out hunting and Kearn would be waiting for him.

There was another reason for him to take things more slowly. Pushing her now, when she was tired and afraid, would only lead to him losing her. She had locked him out of the car tonight and she hadn’t done it out of fear of the vampire. She had feared him. He needed her to remain with him. His instincts whispered that he could force her to stay, at least until her blood was completely absorbed into his. No. No good would come of it. His mission was to protect humans, not prey on them. Not anymore. If it came down to it, he would confess that her suspicions were correct.

He was a vampire.

“So did they hurt when you had them done?”

He stopped just short of the black door to his apartment and turned to face her.

She looked nervous. Her heart was racing, sending her blood to the surface. It filled the white hallway with the sweet enticing scent and caused his fangs to itch. Her blood had tasted so delicious. His stomach ached, hunger to taste her again causing it to cramp, and he struggled to hold his fangs at bay. It was just the remnants of her blood affecting him still. The effects were already wearing off. He just needed to hold it together for a few more hours and then he would be free of the haze induced by her blood and she wouldn’t be such a temptation. His gaze slid to her neck and his throat burned. He closed his eyes when the hallway brightened, signalling a change in his irises, and clamped his teeth together. It was just her blood in him. It would pass. He told himself it repeatedly but it didn’t ease the tight ache in his gut. He wanted her blood, and it went deeper than a craving for another high.

“Kearn?” she whispered and he drew a long, steadying breath, and then opened his eyes. The hallway was dim again. He looked up at her.

Her gaze fell to his hand.

His did too.

He raised his right hand and her eyes followed it, fixed intently on the silver marks that covered it to his fingertips.

She seemed fascinated by them. He had caught her looking at him countless times since meeting her, and several of those she had been staring at his arm, her gaze tracing the marks that flowed over it from his shoulder to his hand. He was surprised that she hadn’t asked him about it before now. Twice she had seen it activated. Now she was asking him whether the marks had hurt, as though they were just a tattoo, rather than asking what they did and what he was.

Didn’t she want to know?

Or was she trying to pretend that she hadn’t noticed, and that he was only human?

Perhaps she wasn’t as strong as he had thought and was having trouble believing everything and taking it all in after all. Kearn reminded himself that she was human. This was probably some strange dream or nightmare to her. There had been moments when her blood had conveyed that she trusted him, and wanted to remain with him. Was her denial of the truth standing before her all because she wanted to continue to trust that he would save her? If he told her that he was a vampire, would she want to leave? Would she fear him then and see him as she saw the man—a beast and a monster?

Part of him didn’t want her to feel that way towards him.

He would never harm her.

He only wanted to protect her.

He opened the door to his apartment while considering what to say about his arm and whether to tell her about himself. It wasn’t a good idea. The moment the door swung open, he drew his gun and aimed it at the person standing in the middle of his home.

His brother raised his hands in an act of surrender and smiled.

“What are you doing here, Kyran?” Kearn holstered his gun and walked into the apartment. Only one of the lights in the kitchen was on, leaving the rest of the large room in near-darkness.

Amber followed him. When she stepped out from behind him, Kyran’s dark blue eyes were on her.

“He cried like a baby when they put those marks on him.” Kyran smiled broadly, his gaze assessing Amber.

“I did not.” Kearn closed the door. It was unusual for Kyran to drop by unannounced to his apartment. His brother knew how much he hated it.

“It isn’t like you to bring a girl home, Kearn.” Kyran’s blue eyes remained locked on Amber and he inhaled deeply.

His gaze slid to Kearn. The look in his eyes and the connection they shared through a familial bond asked a question. Was she Source Blood? Kearn refused to answer. His brother didn’t need to know and wouldn’t be able to tell from Amber’s scent alone.

“Don’t tell me you are planning to go a little rogue? The old habits die hardest, don’t they?” Kyran said with a wicked smile.

Amber stared at Kearn.


Kearn glared at his brother. He wasn’t intending to take Amber’s blood. He knew the law and he wasn’t going to break it by using her blood purely to get high. He had only taken a small amount for testing purposes. That was as far as it went. This wasn’t the same as back then. He hadn’t known he was breaking the law. He hadn’t known she was tainted.

It was typical of his brother to bring up his past. Kyran had always found it amusing to make him uncomfortable but that trait had turned vicious since Kearn had become a Venator, to the point where Kyran took intense pleasure from saying things that would get him into trouble. He was convinced that his brother did it to see him suffer, to make him pay for the things that had happened between them centuries ago, so he bore it as punishment for his sins against his own blood.

He bore it in the hope that one day they would finally move past what had happened and would be able to forgive each other.

“Why are you here?” Kearn looked hard at his older brother and then moved back to the door of his apartment. It wasn’t like Kyran to hide in the dark and he could smell blood other than Amber’s. The flat dull smell of vampire blood. It all smelt the same, not unique like human blood. He turned on the ceiling spotlights. “And why are you bleeding?”

Kyran touched a gash on his face. It wasn’t the only cut. A myriad of thin red lines covered his face, neck and hands. He grinned.

“I was playing with Earl Huntingdon and Marchioness Montagu. You know what they can be like.” Kyran’s grin widened. His blue eyes shifted back to Amber. “Although if I had known you had such sweet company, I would have come here earlier.”

Kearn crossed the room, grabbed Kyran’s arm, and led him over to the small dining area in the far left corner of his apartment. He didn’t relinquish his grip on his brother.

“She does not know what we are.”

“Kinky,” Kyran whispered and raised a dark eyebrow in Amber’s direction. “Do you intend to reveal it during the act?”

Kearn tightened his grip on his brother’s arm, bringing his attention back to him. Kyran frowned down at his hand and then into his eyes.

“She is a lead on a case. Bait.” He kept his voice low so Amber didn’t hear him. He wanted to tell his brother that he wasn’t interested in drinking from Amber, or anything sexual, but couldn’t bring himself to lie. His eyes threatened to stray to her, to take in her beauty, but he kept them fixed on Kyran.

“A Source Blood?” Kyran went to look at Amber again but Kearn stepped into his path.

“If you reveal what we are—”

Kyran slapped a hand down hard on his shoulder and smiled. Kearn could see straight through it. Whatever his brother was going to say, it was a lie. The look in Kyran’s eyes screamed trouble.

“I will not say a word out of place.” Kyran removed Kearn’s hand from his arm and was past Kearn before he could stop him.

Amber still stood by the door, an air of hesitation about her, as though she had noticed the tension between him and his brother and didn’t want to be caught in the crossfire.

“I have been unforgivably rude.” Kyran stopped far too close to Amber for Kearn’s liking. “Permit me to introduce myself. My name is Kyran, and I am Kearn’s older brother.”

“Amber,” she said and then peered around Kyran to him. “Brother? You don’t really look alike.”

They had looked alike before he had become a Venator. His hair had once been black like Kyran’s and his eyes had been an equally deep clear blue. In terms of stature and build, they had remained much the same, and he could see himself in his brother’s face. His eternal torment.

“Kearn looks like our father.” Kyran’s tone was sharper than razor blades. Kearn could sense the hate and the hurt in him. It was never going away.

Kyran should have been Venator. It was the tradition in the Noble and Lesser Noble families. The eldest son carried on the duty of their father as Venator. He had wanted it to be that way, because Kyran had thought of nothing but becoming a Venator since they had been children. Kearn had fought the Sovereignty, had tried to convince them to give the duty to his brother, but they had given it to him regardless. Kyran had hated him ever since. A part of Kearn still hated his brother in return for his role in what had happened, but the pain of what he had gone through was nothing compared to the fact he had stolen his brother’s dream.

Time had healed some of the breach between them, but sometimes Kearn got the feeling that nothing had been forgiven or forgotten. No matter how much progress they made with each other or how they tried to get along, the past would always stand between them.

The countess would always stand between them.

There was something akin to concern in Amber’s eyes as she looked at him. Why? Because of his silence or because of the mix of sombre and fiery feelings that accompanied his thoughts? She would be able to sense them if she tried. The connection her blood in his veins caused between them was open and transmitting the emotions in his blood back to hers.

Kearn reached out to her through their connection and felt the concern in her. He closed off his emotions and monitored her in case the vampire tried anything.

She forced a polite smile at Kyran.

“You mentioned an earl and a marchioness. I’ve never met anyone who knew fancy people like that.”

Kyran looked over his shoulder at him, his black eyebrows raised again. Kearn shook his head a fraction, enough that only his brother would notice the answer to his silent question. No. He hadn’t told Amber about them and their family and he wasn’t going to let Kyran mention it either. It was best she knew as little as possible.

“Kearn doesn’t approve of Earl Huntingdon. He believes him a bad influence. Don’t you, brother?”

Kearn left the dining area and came to stand near Amber in the open space between the four areas of the main room of his apartment.

“Because he is.” Kearn held his hand out, indicating the living area beyond the wall of the open fireplace. “Perhaps we should sit down since Kyran seems to have no intention of leaving soon.”

“Sounds like a wonderful idea.” Kyran flashed a smile and held his arm out to Amber. “Shall we?”

She hesitated, looking unsure of what she was supposed to do, and then slipped her arm around his brother’s one. Kearn glared at his brother’s back as he led Amber to the couches, his eyes shifting to red for a moment and the world sharpening with it. Kyran would feel the threat. Hopefully, it would improve his behaviour.

Kearn turned away and went into the kitchen area, trying to clear his head. What was Kyran playing at? Of course he despised Earl Huntingdon but Amber didn’t need to know that, or about anything to do with the sordid man. Earl Huntingdon was an animal. His family had always relished power and embraced the myths surrounding vampires, and had always been the most blood-soaked and violent because of it. Sometimes Lesser Noble families had no sense of breeding.

He took a fresh glass from the cupboard and filled it with water.

Kyran wouldn’t talk to him about what had happened during his century of exile from their family, but he knew that Earl Huntingdon had invited him into his home and treated him like a brother. The earl was young, almost the same age as them, and had taken the role as head of his household when his parents had died around two centuries ago. He had been only one hundred and fifty at the time, the equivalent to a human fifteen year old, but he had been bloodthirsty and ruled in violence with his sister.

Kearn carried the glass with him across the room to the living area and rounded the black couch that faced the window. Kyran was sitting on the one against the wall, his legs crossed, revealing a rip in the knee of his black tailored trousers. Had Kyran been out killing tonight with the earl and marchioness? The three of them were prone to such acts of debauchery when together. He couldn’t smell human blood on him, but it was difficult with Amber in the room. The heavenly scent of her blood drowned out everything else, filling his mind with the need to take more.

His gaze roamed to her where she sat on the couch that faced the window, staring out of it. Forbidden. Why did that word only make her more tempting? He placed the water down on the coffee table in front of her and she looked up at him.

“Thank you.” She smiled and then it melted away into a frown. Her voice dropped to a whisper. “Does your brother know what you do?”

Kearn flinched internally at that question. He could feel Kyran’s eyes on his back, boring a hole through his chest as though he wanted to rip out his heart with thought alone.

“Yes,” Kearn said in a tight voice and sat beside her. She shuffled over to give him room and then sat with her hands in her lap, her body angled towards him and his brother.

He tried to think of something to talk about that wouldn’t give Kyran an opening to hate him, ridicule him, or reveal anything about them and their family.

“I think Kearn has some more bandages if you need some.” Amber smiled in Kyran’s direction. She toyed with the cream crepe bandage around her hand.

“Did something happen to you?” Kyran sat forwards, resting his elbows on his knees. He reached a hand out to Amber.

Something inside Kearn said to knock his hand away and not let his brother touch Amber again, but he kept still. He didn’t have any claim to her and his brother was behaving himself. If he stopped him, the next thing his brother said would probably be something about his penchant for blood drinking. The introduction had been bad enough. Permit me to introduce myself? He might as well have said—I’m a ridiculously portrayed vampire from a cliché low-budget movie.

Amber placed her hand into Kyran’s. His brother cooed over it in a way that made Kearn want to hit him.

“This is terrible. You poor thing. What happened?”

It would have been more convincing to Kearn had his brother not been drawing a deep breath the whole time, trying to catch the scent of her blood.

“A man attacked me. A vampire, actually.” She eyed Kyran closely.

“Damned vampires.” He rolled his eyes.

Kearn did take her hand away from Kyran now, and gave his brother a dark look for good measure.

“I take it you know about them?” Amber put her hand back in lap and started toying with the bandage again. Kearn kept a close eye on her, concerned that the vampire’s hold over her might not have faded completely. Since it was the vampire’s blood in her body, and not the other way around, he would still be able to find her using the lingering connection between them until tomorrow night, or even beyond that, but Kearn had expected his ability to control her to have left her system by now.

He picked up the water and offered it to her with a smile. A delightful blush stained her cheeks. She had reacted the same way when he had smiled at her earlier tonight. Did she like it? He smiled again and she took the glass, running her fingers around the rim of it with her eyes downcast. Shy?

He could feel Kyran’s eyes on him. Watching. It wasn’t illegal for him to study a human and Amber fascinated him.

“I know all about vampires,” Kyran said in a tone as black as an abyss. Kearn looked at him when Amber lifted the glass to her lips. Kyran blatantly ignored the silent command not to watch her by staring at her throat while she drank. Red briefly ringed his irises. “I know about them and the terrible things that Kearn does to them.”

Amber choked, coughing and spluttering, her hand over her mouth. Kearn quickly took the glass from her. She stared at his brother with wide eyes. He didn’t like the question he could see in them. She didn’t need to know what he did.

He touched her shoulder and used the connection between them to give her feelings a slight push. Not too much influence over her thoughts. More of a suggestion than a command. He wouldn’t control her as the other vampire had.

She rubbed her eyes and yawned. “I feel tired.”

“It is late.” Kearn placed the glass down on the square coffee table, feeling Kyran’s glare on him the whole time. “Perhaps you should rest. You have had quite a night. I will stay on the couch. Please, make yourself at home in my room.”

“Really? I couldn’t.” Her beautiful hazel eyes met his, full of warmth and honesty. They backed up the message her blood sent to his. She felt bad for taking his bed.

“I insist.” He took her elbow, bringing her with him when he stood. Kyran was still staring at him. He led Amber past him and to the bedroom, and turned the light on for her. “The bathroom is just through that door. The control for the blinds is on the bedside table, as is the remote control for the television, in case you feel uncomfortable sleeping without background noise tonight. I will be here if you need anything.”

She nodded and he closed the door. The moment it clicked shut, his eyes changed to red and he looked at Kyran. Scarlet eyes stared right back at him.

Without a word, Kearn walked to the door of the apartment and opened it. Kyran stood, stalked across the room, and stopped toe to toe with him.

“That was uncalled for. I was merely making conversation.”

“I did not like the direction your apparently innocent conversation was heading.” Kearn’s red eyes locked with his brother’s ones.

“Do you really believe the lie you are telling yourself when you say she only needs to know as little as possible?”

Kearn frowned.

“It is a lie, brother, and a shallow one. You do not keep her in the dark about your true self because you believe she doesn’t need to know it in order to play the role you have assigned her.” Kyran stepped past him but remained facing him, his back to the hall. “You do so because you are afraid of what she would think of you if she found out what you are… a vampire no different to the one who attacked her… a fiend lusting for her precious blood.”

Kearn curled his fingers into a tight fist at his side and gripped the door hard with his other hand.

Kyran stepped back into the hall.

“She will find out, little brother.”

He was gone.

Kearn growled under his breath at the truth in his brother’s words.

It was only a matter of time before Amber saw past the façade.

For some reason, he didn’t want her to see him for what he was.

He didn’t want her to fear him.

Hate him.

Not even when it felt inevitable.

Kearn cursed and slammed the door.

Not long to wait now until the book is released! Final sneak preview chapter next week! Is everyone excited?

Posted in 2011 blog tour, 2011 releases, forbidden blood, paranormal romance, vampire romance, Vampire Venators, vampires | Comments Off on Forbidden Blood – Vampire Venators Series #1 – Chapter Four