Category Archives: Teaseday

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

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?

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

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

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