Well, this is the final chapter I’ll be posting of Heart of Darkness, my new vampire romance book. Things are coming along between Aleksandr and Elise but there is still a great divide between them. Perhaps it’s time that started to change, but what cost will they pay to set that in motion?

If you’ve missed my previous chapters of this vampire romance book, you can find them all under my Heart of Darkness label. Heart of Darkness is currently available in ebook from Amazon Kindle stores, my website, Barnes and Noble Nook, Apple iBookstores, Smashwords, Sony Reader Store and All Romance eBooks and in paperback from Amazon.com. It will soon be available in ebook at Kobo Books too.

Felicity Heaton
A vampire prince on a four hundred year old mission to avenge his murdered sister…

Aleksandr Nemov won’t stop until the last of the vampire hunter’s progeny is wiped from the Earth. Each kill has stolen a piece of his humanity, pushing him towards the black abyss all vampires hold within their hearts. Now he is teetering on the edge, close to devolving into a beast, and time is running out as he tracks the last hunter to Prague. There he finds a beautiful woman who could be his one chance for salvation, but is it already too late for him?

A vampire guard who will do whatever it takes to protect those she loves…

Elise is dedicated to her duty. It’s the only thing she has left. All that changes when she meets Aleksandr in Prague and her master grants him permission to stay at her bloodline’s mansion. She knows all about Aleksandr but none of it prepares her for how she feels when the legendary prince’s hunt becomes one for her heart. Elise battles him with all of her strength but can she stop herself from falling for the handsome hunter? When he reveals the depth of the corruption in his soul, will she have the strength to face the pain in her past and do whatever it takes to save him?

ebook price: $3.99
paperback price: $9.99 genre: paranormal vampire romance
length: 130000 words
rating: sultry
released: October 2011

Available in e-book from:
Author’s website: http://www.felicityheaton.com/ebooks.php?title=Heart%20of%20Darkness
Amazon Kindle: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B005WK6E58/
Amazon Kindle UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B005WK6E58/
Barnes and Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/heart-of-darkness-felicity-heaton/1106991833
All Romance eBooks: http://www.allromanceebooks.com/product-heartofdarkness-620972-139.html
Sony Reader Store: http://ebookstore.sony.com/ebook/felicity-heaton/heart-of-darkness/_/R-400000000000000534302
Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/97624
Amazon Kindle Germany: http://www.amazon.de/dp/B005WK6E58/
Amazon Kindle France: http://www.amazon.fr/dp/B005WK6E58/
Apple iBookstore USA: http://itunes.apple.com/us/book/isbn9781466173286
Apple iBookstore UK: http://itunes.apple.com/gb/book/isbn9781466173286
Apple iBookstore Australia: http://itunes.apple.com/au/book/isbn9781466173286
Apple iBookstore Canada: http://itunes.apple.com/ca/book/isbn9781466173286

Available in paperback from:
Amazon.com: http://www.amazon.com/dp/1466452897/

The night was quiet and overcast, warmer than the past few days but the wind had picked up. It blew against Elise, tousling the fine strands of her dark hair in her ponytail and causing her to squint. She jammed her hands into the pockets of her waist-length uniform jacket and glared at the cobbled road ahead. They had been walking the streets for almost an hour, touring the areas where hunters usually appeared.

Aleksandr’s plan was flawless. Capture a vampire hunter and get information on the rest. The trouble was, so far they hadn’t found one. There wasn’t even a sign of activity tonight.

Elise wished there was. It would take her mind off her latest irritation.

Aleksandr had chosen female guards.

Walking into his private reception room on the first floor to discover five women from the guard there hadn’t shocked or angered her in the least. What had annoyed her was the sight of him reclining on the couch, eyeing them as though he was planning to sleep his way through them.

That and the fact he had chosen the prettiest women.

Well, he could sleep with them for all she cared but he wasn’t getting into her bed and she wasn’t going anywhere near his.

Elise shifted her focus to her surroundings, taking in the narrow alleyways between the old painted buildings. The niggling feeling in the pit of her stomach didn’t go away. Whenever she looked at the two blonde female guards with them, she wanted to grind her teeth and growl.

Aleksandr looked across at her and Elise schooled her features, hiding the jealousy that was riding her and not giving her a moment’s rest. She was a danger to Aleksandr when she was so preoccupied and she knew better than to lose her focus when out on the hunt.

It was shameful of her to behave such a way.

That thought alone sharpened her focus and pushed out any jealous thoughts. She was a guard and one of the best, and she wasn’t going to ruin her reputation because of something as petty as envy.

“Remain close.” Aleksandr fell into step beside her, as near as he had been during their tour of Prague.

Elise ignored him and the dark anger that bubbled within her. He had been condescending all evening.

Remain close. It was the tenth time he’d said that and whenever she heard it, she wanted to remind him that she was a soldier and could handle a vampire hunter.

“If there is an attack, stay near to me and I will protect you.” The Russian clip to those words annoyed her tonight, adding to her frustration and her desire to tell him where to go.

She bit her tongue and moved on ahead of him, striding to lead the pack and give herself some space.

She hadn’t needed a man to protect her since joining the guard at seventeen, over two hundred years ago, and she certainly wasn’t about to start needing one now. She could take care of herself.

Aleksandr came up beside her. He evidently couldn’t read subliminal messages and she couldn’t tell him outright to leave her alone. She had been wrong to speak to him in such a disrespectful way the other night. She humoured him, allowing him to feel as though he was protecting her only because he was their prince.

Elise reminded herself that he wasn’t a prince. It didn’t stick. He might have renounced his title and broken ties with his family to avoid tarnishing their peaceful name, but the blood that flowed in his veins was still Nemov. He could forsake his family to protect them, but he couldn’t surrender his name so easily, and he couldn’t change the hearts and minds of every vampire in Europe. They all thought of him as royalty.

And all would protect him given the chance.

Elise focused on that, clinging to the thought of doing her duty and protecting him, rather than his closeness and the way he spoke to her so intimately. Her life was nothing compared with his. She would gladly give it in order to ensure his survival during an attack. It would be an honourable death.

She walked on ahead, towards an intersection, scanning the area. It was still quiet.

“Wait.” Aleksandr caught her upper arm, drawing her back and close to him. “We are not alone.”
Elise focused harder but couldn’t sense anything. Was Aleksandr able to sense farther afield than her? He was four times her age and from a stronger bloodline, and had spent half of his years hunting. His senses would be more attuned than hers were.

He signalled to the two female guards. They moved closer, forming a tight group with her and Aleksandr.

Elise’s heartbeat quickened. She kept scouring the area but nothing came back. Finally, two human signatures registered on her senses and her instincts whispered of danger.

Hunters.

A very Russian sounding curse rolled off Aleksandr’s tongue and his grip on her arm increased. He pulled her closer to him and she yanked her arm free. It didn’t matter whether two hunters were coming their way and she was a little afraid, she wasn’t going to let him coddle her. She had fought vampire hunters before, although she had never killed one. Perhaps tonight she would change that and claim the life of one of the hunters coming towards her. Or both.

She moved to one side, forming a square with the others, and placed her hand over the dagger sheathed at her waist, waiting for the hunters to appear in view.

Aleksandr had said that their numbers were decreasing, but the threat they posed was still very real and recounted daily in society’s newspapers. While the humans were weaker, slower and died more easily, they were skilled and had several advantages. As vampire society’s desire to retain their humanity increased, their ability to fight and defend themselves declined. Many young vampires fell at the hands of hunters. Most of them had never reached maturity, had never killed, or hadn’t completed any sort of training. Hunters targeted those who were weak and vulnerable. They were ruthless and were adapting. Several religions and institutions trained specially selected humans for hunting vampires. They used entire lines of certain families—those which showed the best results and had the best genes in terms of reaction speed, strength and intelligence.

But even those humans needed an advantage over her kind.

Weapons.

Without them, all hunters would easily fall in a fight against a vampire.

Modern weaponry had caused an increase in the number of vampires killed by hunters, and each year the humans found ways to improve their arsenal.

She didn’t fear the hunters. She feared the stakes, the rapid-fire crossbows, and the silver bullets.

Aleksandr removed his coat and casually tossed it into the dark doorway of the residential building to their right. The metal on his vambraces reflected the low overhead streetlights as he drew his curved dagger and shifted into a fighting stance.

He looked as though he feared nothing.

Elise drew strength from the sight of him so calm and strong, and assumed a fighting stance too, bracing her feet shoulder-width apart. She took a deep breath, sensing the hunters moving closer and quicker now.

Her group had the advantage in one respect. The hunters wouldn’t be able to sense them.

The vampire hunters appeared in view, heading towards them along the road across the intersection. She drew her dagger and took another deep breath.

Before she could release it, Aleksandr was running at the two men. She struggled to react fast enough to keep up with him. The other two female guards were even slower, splintering their group.

Aleksandr reached the two men before her and dodged the crossbow bolt that flew at him. Elise sidestepped it too and sprinted, using her speed to come around behind the man with the bow. The other man blocked her short blade with his sword before she could penetrate the back of the man’s neck, and she growled at him, exposing her fangs. The sight of Aleksandr going to fight the two hunters alone had brought them out and the red had bled into her eyes quicker than usual.

The hunter with the bow drew a short sword and turned on her. Elise blocked his attacks and searched for an opening. The man was young, no older than mid-thirty, around Aleksandr’s age in terms of appearance, but he was strong and skilled with a blade. How many vampires had this man killed? He would kill no more. Tonight he would find death by her blade.

Aleksandr dragged her to one side when the man struck at her, his short sword a silver streak in the low-lit street. She gasped when she found herself face to face with the other hunter, a man in his early forties. Her blade was before her in an instant, blocking his sword, and she pushed him backwards.

The other two guards reached them and the fight became a mess. Elise did her best to keep to one hunter but the men kept switching on her, not giving her a chance to figure out their abilities or moves. They were clever.

Her breath left her when one of the men kicked her in the stomach and she fell backwards into the wall, grasping it for support and dropping her knife in the process. The younger man attacked again and she dodged his short sword, searching for a chance to get her knife. He didn’t give her one. She ducked and his blade scraped along the wall above her head, showering her with sparks.

Elise dived forwards and rolled onto her feet. The two female guards attacked the young hunter.

She went to assist them but stopped when she saw Aleksandr fighting. She had never seen anything like it. He was vicious, violent, but methodical and efficient in his actions, barely dodging the sword of the man he fought, stepping no further than necessary and gaining ground with each swipe the man made. There was no emotion in his eyes as he stepped around the man, came up behind him, and braced his arm across the man’s chest. The hunter struggled but it was useless.

Aleksandr’s blade moved silently over the man’s throat and blood spilled from the fine line, cascading over Aleksandr’s arm and hand.

As though it wasn’t enough to kill him, Aleksandr turned the blade and stabbed the man through his heart. He withdrew the dagger without any sign of feeling and dropped the body.

She sensed nothing from Aleksandr. No fear or excitement. Nothing. He had dispatched the hunter in a way that avoided awakening their inner darkness and risking losing some of his humanity.

Elise struggled to contain her emotions, even when she knew that it was dangerous for her to feel anything during the hunt. She trembled with fear and couldn’t tamp down her underlying excitement and hunger. She wished she were as strong as Aleksandr and in such perfect control.

Her eyes widened when Aleksandr grabbed the hunter’s body by his throat, lifted him, and turned him to face him. He sneered at the man, revealing long sharp canines, and thrust his blade into the man’s chest again. She balked when he dragged it down, gutting the hunter, and then dropped the dagger to the floor. It clattered on the cobbles, sending a shiver tripping over her skin, and she tried to look away but she couldn’t.

Not when she was looking straight into Aleksandr’s eyes.

They were black.

She swallowed. It was her imagination or the low light that made them look that way. His eyes weren’t black. It wasn’t the darkness within him showing through. He had killed the man without feeling. She had seen it herself. It had been a perfect kill. His soul wasn’t corrupted. It couldn’t be.

He snarled and sank his fangs into the man’s throat, his eyes still fixed on hers as he drank deep of the man’s blood.

In that moment, he was everything humanity had described them as in literature and in legend. He was a beast, something without feeling, only an instinct for blood and death driving him. He was dangerous and he frightened her.

He had been a kind man once, one destined to lead their people and one who had upheld the royal family’s desire to maintain peace and avoid bloodshed.

Aleksandr dropped the body and wiped the back of his hand over his lips, smearing the dark blood across his cheek.

He was no longer the prince her people adored. She could see that now. He was a brutal killer, fiercer than any other vampire, and she both feared him and feared for him.

She was afraid he would tread too close to the darkness within his heart and be lost to it.

Something moved out of the corner of her eye. The remaining hunter had broken free. Her heart galloped and she ran towards Aleksandr when the man raised his crossbow, aiming it at him.

It didn’t matter that Aleksandr was dangerous. She had to protect him.

She threw herself at him, shielding his broad body with her slender one, and screamed when the bolt pierced her left shoulder blade.

Aleksandr caught her around the waist and roared close to her ear.

Elise shuddered, her fingers twitching as the poison entered her system. She groaned and screwed her face up as flames burned her shoulder and a blazing inferno ignited her blood. She was too hot. She pushed Aleksandr back, needing air and to escape his strong grip.

There was a snarl and then he was gone.

The world wavered in her vision but not enough that she didn’t see the horrible sight when she turned to look for Aleksandr. He was attacking the hunter who had shot her, relentless and merciless, tearing into the man with his claws. She had to stop him. He needed information and was ruining any chance of getting it by killing the man.

Elise stumbled forwards, sickening heat chasing over her skin and making her tremble. Her knees threatened to give out but she tripped on, reaching for Aleksandr.

He didn’t stop. Her stomach roiled, bile rising. She pressed her hand to her abdomen and swallowed, wincing when her throat burned. The poison. She had to fight it but she didn’t know how. She shook, tears spilling down her cheeks and her breath hitching in her throat. She didn’t want to die.

Aleksandr tore a long gash in the hunter’s side, growling the whole time.

Why was he doing this? Why had he changed? He was brutal, terrifying in his lust for violence, a prince of darkness incarnate.

“Stop,” Elise whispered, fighting the overwhelming urge to surrender to sleep.

The two other guards came over to her but she pushed them away, forced them to part and let her through to Aleksandr. If his reason for turning so vicious was the attack on her then she had to stop him. She couldn’t let him do this, not because of her. She had chosen to take the bolt but she hadn’t realised this would be the consequence for her actions. Aleksandr was too violent, taking too much pleasure from the kill. It was too dangerous for him to do such a thing.

He ripped the man’s chest open, peeling his ribs back and snarling, and she shook her head. He had to stop or whatever darkness she had seen in his eyes would consume him forever.

She didn’t want that to happen because of her.

“Aleksandr.” She took another laboured step towards him, racked by chills and weakening with each passing second. She couldn’t hold out much longer.

He buried his hands deep in the man’s chest.

Her fingers hovered just short of Aleksandr’s back, fear of disturbing him crawling in her gut along with the poison. Elise took a breath and placed her trembling hand on his shoulder. He turned on her and snarled.

Elise looked into his eyes. He wavered in front of her, darkness blurring the edges of her vision, and she blinked to keep the lure of sleep away. She shook her head in sorrow when he raised his bloodied hands. He licked his fingers, his eyes never leaving hers, black pools of midnight. She feared the darkness in them and the way he had fought. She wouldn’t believe what she had seen. Aleksandr couldn’t be losing himself to the black abyss that lived inside them all.

He stared at her with predator’s eyes as he licked the blood off his fingers and she felt as though it was her blood not the hunter’s that he wanted to taste.

“Aleksandr.”

His expression shifted, a hint of recognition entering his dark eyes. She swallowed again and tried to find the strength to ask him to stop but it failed her and she collapsed as heat blazed through her blood.

When she managed to open her eyes again, Aleksandr was cradling her. His grey eyes shone with so much concern that she almost believed that he felt something for her. She tried to raise her hand but couldn’t move. She shivered, freezing now when only a moment ago she had been on fire.

“There you are,” she murmured and relief over seeing him normal again carried away the last of her strength. She had no reason to fight the poison now. Aleksandr was safe.

The image of him slipped away, drifting into the distance

She hoped his eyes hadn’t been black.

Her prince shouldn’t have to sacrifice himself for his people.

She didn’t want him to.

Available in e-book from:
Author’s website: http://www.felicityheaton.com/ebooks.php?title=Heart%20of%20Darkness
Amazon Kindle: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B005WK6E58/
Amazon Kindle UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B005WK6E58/
Barnes and Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/heart-of-darkness-felicity-heaton/1106991833
All Romance eBooks: http://www.allromanceebooks.com/product-heartofdarkness-620972-139.html
Sony Reader Store: http://ebookstore.sony.com/ebook/felicity-heaton/heart-of-darkness/_/R-400000000000000534302
Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/97624
Amazon Kindle Germany: http://www.amazon.de/dp/B005WK6E58/
Amazon Kindle France: http://www.amazon.fr/dp/B005WK6E58/
Apple iBookstore USA: http://itunes.apple.com/us/book/isbn9781466173286
Apple iBookstore UK: http://itunes.apple.com/gb/book/isbn9781466173286
Apple iBookstore Australia: http://itunes.apple.com/au/book/isbn9781466173286
Apple iBookstore Canada: http://itunes.apple.com/ca/book/isbn9781466173286

Available in paperback from:
Amazon.com: http://www.amazon.com/dp/1466452897/