Felicity Heaton's Blog, page 64

January 26, 2013

Paranormal Romance Books Released in 2012 – A year of erotic vampire romance, hot bad-boy angels, and a reunion with a beloved cast of vampires

I thought it would be good to take a look back at the paranormal romance books I released in 2012 and recap them all in case you missed any. As always, I had a crazy number of releases. Six in total, and four of those were the start of a new series that quickly blossomed into a firm favourite with my readers.

The year kicked off in style with a new erotic vampire romance series that immediately caught the hearts and imaginations of readers everywhere, and had many of you instantly falling in love with a certain white-haired vampire called Snow… introducing the Vampire Erotic Theatre romance series…

Covet

Felicity Heaton

They’ve burned for each other for two years, the forbidden attraction between them growing each night. Now resisting the sinful desires of their hearts is becoming impossible.

Javier knows better than to succumb to his hunger for Lilah. The mortal female belongs to a powerful aristocrat patron of Vampirerotique, the theatre he runs with three other vampires. A single touch is all it would take to break the sacred law of his kind, sentencing himself to death, but his passion for her has become too fierce to ignore and he will risk everything to make Lilah his.

Lilah has fought her desire for Javier since arriving at his theatre as a servant but each glance he has stolen, his eyes promising pleasure that will satisfy her longing for him, has chipped away at her defences and she can no longer deny her need and her forbidden feelings for the powerful vampire male.

When they find themselves alone in a private box during one of the erotic performances, will they surrender to their passion and live out their wildest fantasies in a night of wicked pleasure or will the threat of Lilah’s master keep them apart forever?

Available in e-book from:

Author’s website

Amazon Kindle | Amazon Kindle UK | Amazon Kindle Germany | Amazon Kindle France | Amazon Kindle Canada

Apple iBookstore US | Apple iBookstore UK | Apple iBookstore Australia | Apple iBookstore Canada | Apple iBookstore New Zealand

Barnes and Noble | Kobo Books | Smashwords | All Romance eBooks

Available in paperback from:

Amazon.com (Covet and Crave in one book) | Amazon.co.uk (Covet and Crave in one paperback) | Barnes and Noble (Covet and Crave in one book)

Crave

Felicity Heaton

His mind has been set on his work for the past one hundred years. Now a forbidden beauty has stolen his attention and is threatening to steal his heart too.

Callum has come to the city of romance on business, not pleasure, but when he sets eyes on a gorgeous werewolf in a nightclub, he can’t ignore the dark carnal craving she ignites in him. His work for Vampirerotique, the erotic theatre he runs with three other vampires, can wait. The only thing that matters now is satisfying his sinful hunger for a woman who most vampires would consider an enemy.

Kristina is on the run from her pack. Her alpha is intent on forcing her to bear his child and she’s not about to live through the same nightmare as her mother had. When a tall, dark and sexy vampire catches her eye, she can’t believe the ferocity of the desire he unleashes in her or the fact that she enjoys the feel of his eyes on her and his silent pursuit of her in the clubs each night.

When Kristina finally gets a taste of Callum in a forbidden kiss, will she be strong enough to resist the allure of the vampire and his offer to share his bed for a week of unbridled, wild sex, or will she surrender to her own craving for the safety and passion she finds in his embrace?

Available in e-book from:

Author’s website

Amazon Kindle | Amazon Kindle UK | Amazon Kindle Germany | Amazon Kindle France | Amazon Kindle Canada

Apple iBookstore US | Apple iBookstore UK | Apple iBookstore Australia | Apple iBookstore Canada | Apple iBookstore New Zealand

Barnes and Noble | Kobo Books | Smashwords | All Romance eBooks

Available in paperback from:

Amazon.com (Covet and Crave in one book) | Amazon.co.uk (Covet and Crave in one paperback) | Barnes and Noble (Covet and Crave in one book)

Seduce

Felicity Heaton

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

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

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

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

Apple iBookstore US | Apple iBookstore UK | Apple iBookstore Australia | Apple iBookstore Canada | Apple iBookstore New Zealand

Barnes and Noble | Kobo Books | Smashwords | All Romance eBooks

Available in paperback from:

Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk

Enslave

Felicity Heaton

His determination to succeed in business has left no room in his life for love. Now, a beautiful and deadly succubus has teleported into his dark, decadent world and is in danger of enslaving his heart.

Andreu’s future entails opening an erotic theatre like Vampirerotique, gaining wealth, women and power, not shackling himself to a single female, but he cannot deny the dangerously seductive succubus who stirs his anger and passion, and tempts him like no other—he will have her.

The moment their eyes meet, Varya knows she cannot have the exotic dark vampire who sets her pulse racing. His shadowed aura marks him as forbidden, but the hungers he awakens in her are too intense to resist—she must have a taste.

When an erotically-charged kiss ignites their soul-searing passion and reveals something dangerous about Andreu, will Varya leave forever or will she dare to risk all in pursuit of something she thought was beyond her reach?

Apple iBookstore US | Apple iBookstore UK | Apple iBookstore Australia | Apple iBookstore Canada | Apple iBookstore New Zealand

Barnes and Noble | Kobo Books | Smashwords | All Romance eBooks

Available in paperback from:

Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk

My Vampires Realm romance series reached the tenth book with a dramatic Creator Day masquerade featuring a new hero and heroine, and a cast of familiar and loved characters from the previous books in the series…

Masquerade

F E Heaton

Ten years have passed since Sophis and Vivek, two vampires of the Venia bloodline, came close to death at the hands of twin hunters Aleksis and Izabella Romanov. The events of that night turned Sophis and Vivek against each other, shattering their close friendship and driving them apart.

Now, on the eve of a centenary Creator Day masquerade and at a time when things between them are dangerously close to separating them forever, they uncover a small army of vampire hunters in Saint Petersburg, led by their nemeses, Aleksis and Izabella.

With the safety of the rulers of the seven pure vampire bloodlines in their hands and their chance for vengeance hanging in the balance, can Sophis and Vivek face their past and overcome their differences? Will they realise their true feelings for each other before it’s too late or will the hunters finally claim their lives as their deadly plot to destroy the bloodlines unfolds?

Apple iBookstore US | Apple iBookstore UK | Apple iBookstore Australia | Apple iBookstore Canada | Apple iBookstore New Zealand

Barnes and Noble | Kobo Books | Smashwords | All Romance eBooks

Available in paperback from:

Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk | Barnes and Noble

And my Her Angel romance series reached the fifth book, with a novel that took things to a whole new level and took us straight into the deepest bowels of Hell!

Her Demonic Angel

Felicity Heaton

A demonic angel with a heart of ice, Veiron walks a dark path with vengeance on his mind. Nothing will sway him from his mission to destroy his master… until he risks his life to enter Hell once more to save a mortal female. The fiery beauty makes him burn with hungers he must battle and needs he cannot deny, tempting him to surrender body and soul to her.

Erin is convinced her refusal to do the Devil’s bidding will see her die in a terrifying realm straight out of her nightmares. The last thing she expects is the lethally sensual warrior who breaks into her cell and awakens the darkest desires of her heart and a fierce longing to know the heat of his caress.

Pulled into an incredible world where war is set to ignite and darkness is on the rise, Erin races with Veiron to escape the Devil’s legions in a journey fraught with danger and filled with passion that flares white-hot.

When Erin is faced with a life-shattering realisation and an extraordinary destiny, will their love give them the strength to battle both Heaven and Hell or will they be parted forever?

Apple iBookstore US | Apple iBookstore UK | Apple iBookstore Australia | Apple iBookstore Canada | Apple iBookstore New Zealand

Barnes and Noble | Kobo Books | Smashwords | All Romance eBooks

Available in paperback from:

Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk

Which of my releases in 2012 was your favourite?

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Published on January 26, 2013 06:50

January 25, 2013

UNLEASH Complete in First Draft and a Song Made For Snow

I’ve just completed the first draft of Snow’s book, Unleash (Vampire Erotic Theatre romance series book 6). It ended at close to 94,000 words and I think it might grow a little during the edits. For now, I’m setting it aside to work on a series proposal (more about that next week) and planning the next Her Angel series novel.

To celebrate completeing the first draft of Unleash, I decided to write some tour posts for the Vampirerotique Winter Book Tour that kicks off next week. I’m doing something different this time, and each post is a labour of love, and takes me a while to write, so I need to get ahead of myself to keep on top of then.

But as I was working on them, a song came on my iPod that was utterly perfect for Snow, and his heroine. It immediately made me think of them and I just had to share it in this post.

The song in question is Holding On To Heaven by Nickelback, and it goes a bit like this…

I keep listening to my chest

For a beat but there’s nothing left

It’s been a week since I’ve seen you

And I still can’t believe it

‘Cause I’m dying inside alone

And every day we gotta be apart

I’m like a baby with a broken heart

But the second that I’ll see you

You will know how much I need you

Because I’ll never be letting you go

(Well you know I…)

I’m lost without you

And there’s nothing I can do

You’re the one I can’t go without

If I ain’t holding on to you then I’ll be holding out forever

I’ve got you now and

I’m not letting go of you

Never be together long enough

‘Cause every moment I’m with you

It’s like I’m holding on to heaven

And if forever never comes then I

And if forever never comes then I

And if forever never comes then I

I’ll hold on, hold on

And if I could write a symphony

Then baby you would be my melody

And you would flow like a river

Slowly going on forever

Like a feather that’s blowing away

Like everyone that needs a fairytale

Like every mother’s love that never fails

Like every game that needs a player

Every sinner needs a savior

I’m the villain you’re willing to save

Now you know why

I’m lost without you

And there’s nothing I can do

You’re the one I can’t go without

If I ain’t holding on to you then I’ll be holding out forever

I’ve got you now and

I’m not letting go of you

Never be together long enough

‘Cause every moment I’m with you

It’s like I’m holding on to heaven

And I’m willing to wait

Just to see you another day

What I’m waiting for

Will wash this pain away

And it’s never too late

(Never too late…)

And if forever never comes then I

And if forever never comes then I

And if forever never comes then I

I’ll hold on and hold on

Now you know why

I’m lost without you

And there’s nothing I can do

You’re the one I can’t go without

If I ain’t holding on to you then I’ll be holding out forever

I’ve got you now and

I’m not letting go of you

Never be together long enough

‘Cause every moment I’m with you

It’s like I’m holding on to heaven

Oh, heavens, that song is SO perfect for them! I can’t wait for you to see why when the book comes out… this song was made for them.

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Published on January 25, 2013 08:27

January 23, 2013

WIP Wednesday – Nearing completion of my next paranormal romance book

I’m into week four of fooling around with everyone’s favourite crazy vampire, Snow, and work on his book, Unleash (Vampire Erotic Theatre romance series book 6), is coming along nicely, albeit slower than I had planned.

I had intended to have this book wrapped up by last Friday, but with the release of Bewitch (Vampire Erotic Theatre romance series book 5) at the weekend, I had to take a couple of days off from writing to get work for the release day done and everything prepared. Of course, now I’m behind schedule on both writing Unleash and all the work I need to do for the virtual book tour with Bewitch. The work of an author is never done, and I do think it might be time to start thinking about an assistant! Switching between my marketing mind and my writing mind always causes delays and I find it difficult to stop my brain from pursuing marketing ideas and stats and figures and all that non-writing stuff once I engage it. It really can slow down my writing dramatically. I am beginning to miss the old days when I literally just wrote and released books with no thought to marketing, platform, and all that other stuff that goes with the territory these days.

Unleash is coming along though, and I’ve tackled a tough spot during which I practically ground to a halt. I hit a stumbling block trying to get the book to move from point A to point B. Thankfully, it was around the time that I had to do work for Bewitch instead, so I could allow my muse to think about the problem and a solution presented itself. Another reason for my delay in completing the first draft is because the book is turning out longer than I had anticipated. Not bad news if you’re a Snow fan. It now means that the book will be around 90,000 words when complete in first draft, which makes it a full length novel. It has already broken my predicted 75,000 word length, and I still have three or four chapters left to write, including an epilogue of sorts, and I have some work to do in some areas of the book before I can let it rest for a few weeks prior to editing it.

I’ve also been thinking about the proposal I’ll be working on next for my agent. Of course, thinking about a completely different series just ends up whetting my appetite for writing said series and delving more into that world. I think my muse’s focus is shot this week and he’s all over the place. I shouldn’t blame him really. I fear the repercussions if he finds out!

At the moment, Unleash is still slated for a late spring 2013 release date. That is a very short deadline in reality and I can’t guarantee I will hit it, but I will do my best to make it happen. I also need to work on the next Her Angel novel at the same time as I work on Unleash, so my work forecast is set to punishing!

Nothing unusual there then.

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Published on January 23, 2013 08:39

January 21, 2013

Teaseday – Exclusive excerpt from Bewitch (Vampire Erotic Theatre romance series book 5)

Today’s tease comes from the book Bewitch, which is the fifth book in my very popular Vampire Erotic Theatre romance series and is available now from Amazon Kindle, Apple iTunes, Kobo Books and other retailers. Read on for your Tuesday tease from…

He reached the bottom of the stone steps and the crowd immediately swallowed him. Women dressed in very little tossed provocative looks his way and his incubus side purred from their attention. He wanted to tamp it down but his vampire side had a tendency to show when he forced it to the fore to obliterate his incubus hungers. He couldn’t risk them seeing he had a dual personality.

Payne preened his long fingers through the dirty blond spikes of his hair and the women hissed at him and disappeared in a flash, teleporting out of his presence. Fairly standard behaviour for a succubus when it saw an incubus. He grinned to himself, remembering how Chica had reacted to him in such a way when she had first come to the theatre. Succubi were weaker than incubi, and it had led to the incubi taking advantage of them more than once, and trying to kill them too. It seemed both sides of his genes had trampled on the feelings of other species without remorse.

He found his first street sign at a junction between four shops all selling herbs that stung his nose. Each plump female owner stood outside, trying to outshout the others. Payne covered his sensitive ears and glared at the wooden post in the middle of the busy crossroads and the boards pointing in different directions.

Just as he had expected. He was shit out of luck.

He didn’t recognise any of the symbols on the wooden boards. He jammed his hands in his jeans pockets and not just because he was frustrated. He had been bumped more than once and he was damned if he was going to have his wallet nicked. That would be the turd icing on a crap cake.

A woman with milk white skin and hair the colour of snow approached him, the crowd parting to allow her through. Her starlight coloured robes flowed ethereally around her, revealing more than they were concealing. She looked like a ghost. Payne stood his ground, his vampire senses sparking high alert, and steadied himself. Every instinct said to roar and scare her away.

Phantom.

He had never seen one before but he had heard that a phantom’s touch could make a man incorporeal. A phantom too. It was the only way for one such as her to mate. She needed to make her male as intangible as she was. When he had first heard that, it had sounded as though it might be fun. Then he had learned that once a phantom, always a phantom. The male never got his corporeal status back and was destined to roam the world as a hollow husk when the phantom cast him aside. No way was he signing up for that.

Her palest silver eyes slid to him and she held her hands out.

Payne reacted on instinct, his eyes darkening to crimson and his pupils turning elliptical. He bore his lengthening fangs at her and growled. She halted and even moved back, but she didn’t leave. She stared at him and her white lips moved. No sound left them but he heard her words in his head.

Unfortunately, he didn’t understand most of them. He caught fae words for ‘fated’, ‘bond’, ‘blood’ and ‘death’.

Before he could ask her in English what she had said to him and what it meant, she swirled into smoke and disappeared. He looked around at the people now staring at him, his skin crawling from their attention and the way they were looking at him as though the phantom had just announced his death sentence. He let his fangs recede and his eyes change back to dark grey, and then singled out one of the witches who had stopped to stare.

“What did she say?”

The woman frowned at him, turned her back and went about her business. Just great. It seemed their looks of horror were because he had flashed his vampire nature. No one else had heard what the phantom had told him and he was damned if he could remember what she had said to repeat it to them.

He didn’t need this shit on top of everything else.

Payne stared at the street sign and decided to go left. He was feeling in a sinister mood after all.

He reached another crossroads and was in the process of deciding which route to take next when a huge cloud of sparkling grey dust exploded into the air off to his right. People ran from that direction, pushing past him. He braced himself and frowned over their heads. There was a shape in the dust, small and curvy, and she wasn’t alone. Four larger shapes surrounded her.

That didn’t seem like a fair fight to Payne.

Did you enjoy the snippet?

Bewitch is available now at Amazon Kindle, Apple iBookstore, Kobo Books and other retailers!

If you haven’t had a chance to read any of the books in the Vampire Erotic Theatre romance series yet, they’re all available at major ebook retailers and in paperback, and you can find the links and samples of the books at my website:

Covet (Vampire Erotic Theatre Romance Series #1)

Crave (Vampire Erotic Theatre Romance Series #2)

Seduce (Vampire Erotic Theatre Romance Series #3)

Enslave (Vampire Erotic Theatre Romance Series #4)

Bewitch (Vampire Erotic Theatre Romance Series #5)

Caris Roane is also posting a Teaseday snippet, so be sure to check out her blog and read it! http://carisroane.com/2013/01/22-gates-of-rapture-3/

View more on Felicity Heaton's website »

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Published on January 21, 2013 17:32

January 20, 2013

Manday Hotties – Get your Monday morning hot mancandy fix!

It’s time for the Manday Hotties Hop again and I’m determined to give you lots of new hotties this year. Here’s my latest hot mancandy…

Which shot is your favourite? I want to lick all the moisture off #2!

Visit the other blogs in the hop:

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Published on January 20, 2013 17:10

January 19, 2013

Sensual Sunday – Another hot new excerpt from Bewitch (Vampire Erotic Theatre romance series book 5)

Sensual Sunday is brought to you today by Bewitch, which is the fifth book in my popular Vampire Erotic Theatre romance series. Bewitch was released yesterday and is now available on Amazon Kindle, Apple iBookstore, Kobo Books, and other retailers.

Sensual Sunday always features a hot excerpt from one of my paranormal romance books and for the next few weeks it will focus solely on Bewitch. Read on for this Sunday’s sensual snippet…

It seemed she wasn’t satisfied with his aloof air and refusal to place her at risk by touching her. She tiptoed and touched the cut on his cheek.

Payne felt that same intense gut-tugging jolt as he had the first time they had made skin contact.

Warmth crept outwards from where she touched, turning him hazy, drugging him with how good it felt. His very nature said to go with the flow because the flow felt divine. The little witch could give him what he needed. Not just the method of freeing Chica from her bond. She could give him bliss.

He could feed on both her energy and her blood.

His incubus side and his vampire one purred at the prospect.

His cut stung and he could almost feel his flesh knitting back together. Magic.

“Witch,” he growled, a low warning that he didn’t like her meddling with his body.

She didn’t heed it but she did eventually withdraw her hand. She smiled up at him. “Sort of.”

“Sort of?” He frowned at her. How could you be sort of a witch?

“I don’t have much power yet. I’m still learning.” Her sweet voice was a melody in his ear, curling around him, petting him and feeding his desire.

She stepped back, distancing herself. His eyes must have changed again, swirling blue and gold. Payne lifted his hand and grazed the backs of his fingers across her soft cheek, his breath shuddering in his chest over how exquisite she felt. He wanted her.

She knocked his hand away. “Don’t turn on the charm. I don’t like it.”

That brought Payne back to earth with a bump. “You can tell when I’m using my ability?”

She nodded and moved back another step. “I don’t like it. It feels as though I’m seeing myself do things, feel things, that aren’t really anything to do with me.”

Strange. Was it a witch thing? He hadn’t heard that immune females could sense an incubus attempting to use his ability on her. It had to be a witch thing.

“Normally people can’t tell it isn’t their natural feelings.” His gaze tracked her across the room.

“I’m not normal now, am I?” She stared into the fire and sighed at her melting hairbrush. At least the flames had died down. Her heartbeat was level again too and he couldn’t feel any anger in her.

She looked back over her shoulder at him, her eyes locking with his, their dazzling silver depths enchanting him once more. Her lips parted and her pupils dilated. Desire. He could get drunk on the way she felt whenever she looked at him. How would she feel if he took things further?

“I don’t like it,” she said in a breathless voice. “I don’t know why you feel the need to use it… so stop it.”

Payne smiled. “I’m not right now.”

Her eyes widened and she blinked. “You aren’t?”

He shook his head. “Whatever you’re feeling, it’s one hundred percent yours, and I’m flattered.”

She turned her nose up at him. “Get over yourself.”

Did you enjoy today’s hot sexy snippet?

The fantastic Caris Roane is also posting a sensual snippet this Sunday. Check out her offering: http://www.carisroane.com/2013/01/20-sensual-sunday/

Bewitch

Felicity Heaton

A vampire with a past stained with blood and a soul tainted with darkness, he is perfect in his self-control, never surrendering to his darkest desires. Now a beautiful witch in the shadowy fae underworld threatens to reawaken long denied hungers and tempts him with carnal pleasure.

Payne despises the incubus side of his mixed genes and refuses to give it free rein, but when the wickedly sexy Elissa offers him a possible way to help a friend, he finds it difficult to resist paying the price, even if it will be his undoing—one night of passion at her command.

Elissa is a witch down on her luck until Payne comes crashing into her life. The dangerously handsome male is the key to fulfilling a promise she made, but he is also forbidden, and surrendering to the wildfire passion he stirs within her means risking ruin and death.

When one incredible night of fulfilling their deepest fantasies leads to more than just a pathway to keeping a promise and saving a friend, will they be able to overcome the barriers that stand between them and forever?

Click here to read a sample, or find out where Bewitch is available.

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Published on January 19, 2013 18:29

New Release – Bewitch (Vampire Erotic Theatre Romance Series Book 5) is out now on Kindle, Apple iBooks, Kobo Books and more!

Yes, that’s right. It’s the release day for Bewitch (Vampire Erotic Theatre Romance Series Book 5) and we’re kicking things off in style with a fabulous giveaway too!

You can win a $75, $50 or $25 Amazon Gift Card and fantastic signed book swag by entering the giveaway at my website. The giveaway is international, and closes on January 27th, so hurry and enter: http://www.felicityheaton.co.uk/ebooks.php?title=Bewitch

Available in e-book from:

Amazon Kindle Stores:

US/International | UK | Germany | France | Canada

Apple iBookstores:

US | UK | Canada | Australia | New Zealand

Other Retailers:

Author’s website | Kobo Books | Smashwords | All Romance eBooks

(Coming soon to Barnes and Noble Nook and Sony Reader Store)

Available in paperback from:

Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk

EXCERPT
This was the last place on earth that Payne wanted to be.

The heavy iron gate squeaked as it closed behind him. Slippery, damp stone steps led downwards into the gloom. Payne allowed his eyes to change to reveal his vampire nature, his irises burning red and his pupils turning elliptical, and the tunnel brightened enough for him to make out the arching roof cut into the rock. Noises came from ahead. He followed the steps in a sweeping curve, his footfalls echoing around him. His breaths formed as white fog in the moist air before dissipating. A golden glow crept into view further down the tunnel and a gust of drier air washed over him, carrying a myriad of scents. Herbs. Spices. Dead things. Blood. Other disgusting fetid smells joined them as he continued to descend and he wished that vampires didn’t feel the need to breathe.

The steps ended and he followed the uneven earth floor. The tunnel grew larger until it opened onto a high plateau at the start of a cavern. His eyes switched back to their normal grey and the world dulled to a more manageable level of brightness. Enormous rust-coloured stalactites hung from the ceiling arching above him, as though the cave had grown fangs, rows of them, all sharp and wicked in the golden glow rising up from below. Their menacing shadows stretched long across the roof, adding to the sense of danger that he liked. He could live in a place like this. A vampire liked mystery. It was perfect for his kind.

Or it would be if it weren’t for the thousands of fae that bustled in the small underground town spread out below him.

Stone buildings covered the huge base of the cavern, a hotchpotch collection of square flat-roofed structures of different heights. Some were two storeys but most of them were a single level, with large windows and tattered canopies reaching out from them into the narrow streets, each a different jewel-tone colour. Some of the ones directly below him bore crests or fae words he didn’t understand. Alleys wound between the stores and homes in stilted lines that reminded Payne of veins. His stomach growled a reminder that he hadn’t eaten in days, not since he had started out from Vampirerotique on this ridiculous mission.

Scents rose from copper stills, thatched baskets, vials and terracotta or stone jars that stood on display outside the stores on his left, and a wooden arch at the start of one of the streets declared it was the witches’ district. Fae and other creatures crammed the streets, passing from store to store. There had to be close to five thousand fae and other creatures in the area.

Payne studied them, an increasing sense of dread churning in his stomach.

Witches didn’t like vampires. His kind had almost driven them to extinction many centuries ago and they hadn’t forgiven them for it.

Still, he had to go down there. He had made a promise and he intended to keep it. He smiled to himself as he thought about the succubus who needed his help. She had chosen to call herself Chica. Andreu, her lover and one of the vampires who worked at the erotic London theatre with Payne, had explained that it was a pet name that he had called her a few times. Payne couldn’t blame her for keeping her real name secret. He knew firsthand the danger of giving your true name to someone.

Chica needed a way to break the spell that bound her to the theatre, Vampirerotique, stopping her from ever leaving its walls. They had tried everything over the past few weeks and none of it had worked. Antoine, the vampire in charge of the theatre, was at the end of his tether and the dark aristocrat didn’t need this extra burden on his shoulders. He had enough to deal with. Callum had brought a very heavily pregnant Kristina to the theatre, moving the werewolf into his apartment there, and then Snow had taken a turn for the worse three weeks ago, shortly after Javier and Lilah had married at Vampirerotique.

Payne smirked. It hadn’t quite been the wedding that Javier had envisioned for his lovely bride, but Lilah had wanted everyone there, including Snow and Antoine, and Andreu. Andreu, Javier’s younger brother, hadn’t wanted to leave Chica alone at the theatre with Snow and Antoine in order to travel to Spain, so Javier had brought his whole family to the theatre to wed his bride on the stage. It had been tasteful enough. They had since left to hold the traditional celebrations in northern Spain at the family’s mansion there.

Chica had been miserable then because Andreu had again refused to leave her and she felt it was her fault that he was missing his brother’s wedding celebrations. Andreu had done his best to reassure her and Payne had reiterated his promise to help her and free her of the binding spell. He’d had more luck in his latest search for a way of undoing it, managing to find three potential leads, all of them in the fae world.

One of those leads had landed him in trouble.

One had refused to speak to a half-breed. That had pissed Payne off no end. He had told the shapeshifter that he was a vampire but the male had focused on the incubus side of his genes. Payne had felt like killing him but had let it go. Dead or alive, the man wouldn’t have been any help.

The final lead had brought him here, to a whole fae town hidden beneath the grounds of an elegant palatial mansion in the English countryside. Fae lived in the mansion too, the elite of the light side of that world. Everyone down here were merchants, plying their wares to make ends meet, or workers and travellers. Payne had thought witches had higher standards but there were probably hundreds if not thousands of them here, trading with other creatures, selling spells, ointments and god only knew what else.

A group of three young females reached the top of the stone steps to his left and passed him, dressed in the traditional garb of witches, long black featureless dresses that swamped their bodies and concealed their curves. They tittered amongst themselves, their eyes on him, blushes heating their cheeks. His incubus side rose to the fore and he shot them a smile, earning giggles and a few sultry smiles in return. The incubus in him loved every second, lapping up their desire, draining it from the air around him.

Payne tamped it down and his vampire side took control again. The witches’ looks turned dark and he knew they had seen the red in his eyes. Strange how they would toy with an incubus, one who wanted them purely for sexual gratification, but they would scowl at a vampire. His incubus nature was more likely to kill them.

He took the steps on the left down to the cavern floor, his eyes on the town, studying it. There were larger buildings near the edges of the town. Banners hung on their walls. He recognised a few. Not just covens. There was a shapeshifter pride. A wolf pack. Ogres too. There was even a succubus clan. He didn’t need to recognise the banner on that particular building to know what type of creature lived within its dark red walls. There was a steady stream of men coming and going, and some succubi were hanging out of the open windows, calling to them and teasing them with flashes of flesh. The fae equivalent of a bordello.

He shook his head and focused back on the witches’ district. He was shit out of luck if the street signs were in fae. The fae language was extensive and his knowledge of it was limited. He knew the basics but names were often written in a special way. He had never learned those characters. He looked down at the line of markings that tracked up the underside of his forearms and disappeared beneath the charcoal grey rolled up sleeves of his shirt. The swirls, dashes and spikes shifted in hues of dark blue and burnished gold. Not a sign of his incubus side. His markings shone bright gold and cerulean when that was in control. No, this was apprehension.

Understandable considering he was about to enter a world that prided itself on bloodlines and purity.

An abomination like him was liable to end up deep in shit. He wasn’t sure which role to play. The vampire or the incubus? They were more likely to accept his demonic lineage and most of the creatures in the area he needed to head into were unlikely to be able to sense the vampire in him.

Incubus it was.

He hated that.

He reached the bottom of the stone steps and the crowd immediately swallowed him. Women dressed in very little tossed provocative looks his way and his incubus side purred from their attention. He wanted to tamp it down but his vampire side had a tendency to show when he forced it to the fore to obliterate his incubus hungers. He couldn’t risk them seeing he had a dual personality.

Payne preened his long fingers through the dirty blond spikes of his hair and the women hissed at him and disappeared in a flash, teleporting out of his presence. Fairly standard behaviour for a succubus when it saw an incubus. He grinned to himself, remembering how Chica had reacted to him in such a way when she had first come to the theatre. Succubi were weaker than incubi, and it had led to the incubi taking advantage of them more than once, and trying to kill them too. It seemed both sides of his genes had trampled on the feelings of other species without remorse.

He found his first street sign at a junction between four shops all selling herbs that stung his nose. Each plump female owner stood outside, trying to outshout the others. Payne covered his sensitive ears and glared at the wooden post in the middle of the busy crossroads and the boards pointing in different directions.

Just as he had expected. He was shit out of luck.

He didn’t recognise any of the symbols on the wooden boards. He jammed his hands in his jeans pockets and not just because he was frustrated. He had been bumped more than once and he was damned if he was going to have his wallet nicked. That would be the turd icing on a crap cake.

A woman with milk white skin and hair the colour of snow approached him, the crowd parting to allow her through. Her starlight coloured robes flowed ethereally around her, revealing more than they were concealing. She looked like a ghost. Payne stood his ground, his vampire senses sparking high alert, and steadied himself. Every instinct said to roar and scare her away.

Phantom.

He had never seen one before but he had heard that a phantom’s touch could make a man incorporeal. A phantom too. It was the only way for one such as her to mate. She needed to make her male as intangible as she was. When he had first heard that, it had sounded as though it might be fun. Then he had learned that once a phantom, always a phantom. The male never got his corporeal status back and was destined to roam the world as a hollow husk when the phantom cast him aside. No way was he signing up for that.

Her palest silver eyes slid to him and she held her hands out.

Payne reacted on instinct, his eyes darkening to crimson and his pupils turning elliptical. He bore his lengthening fangs at her and growled. She halted and even moved back, but she didn’t leave. She stared at him and her white lips moved. No sound left them but he heard her words in his head.

Unfortunately, he didn’t understand most of them. He caught fae words for ‘fated’, ‘bond’, ‘blood’ and ‘death’.

Before he could ask her in English what she had said to him and what it meant, she swirled into smoke and disappeared. He looked around at the people now staring at him, his skin crawling from their attention and the way they were looking at him as though the phantom had just announced his death sentence. He let his fangs recede and his eyes change back to dark grey, and then singled out one of the witches who had stopped to stare.

“What did she say?”

The woman frowned at him, turned her back and went about her business. Just great. It seemed their looks of horror were because he had flashed his vampire nature. No one else had heard what the phantom had told him and he was damned if he could remember what she had said to repeat it to them.

He didn’t need this shit on top of everything else.

Payne stared at the street sign and decided to go left. He was feeling in a sinister mood after all.

He reached another crossroads and was in the process of deciding which route to take next when a huge cloud of sparkling grey dust exploded into the air off to his right. People ran from that direction, pushing past him. He braced himself and frowned over their heads. There was a shape in the dust, small and curvy, and she wasn’t alone. Four larger shapes surrounded her.

That didn’t seem like a fair fight to Payne.

He ran towards the fray and broke through the dust. Storeowners screamed at the fighters, some of them ferrying their wares inside where it was safe and others standing in front of them, physically protecting them.

The female he had seen through the cloud of dust stood her ground before him, feet spread shoulder width apart beneath the hem of her drab black dress, the long chestnut waves of her hair tangled in the pieces of straw sticking out of it. Grey dust sparkled across her backside. She must have hit whatever had exploded and sent the dust into the air.

Four large males stood opposite her, each of them hunkered low, assessing her.

They were witches too, judging by the coven emblem stitched onto the breast of their loose white shirts and the fact they were all wearing matching dark brown trousers, like a uniform. Payne raised an eyebrow at the elaborate lacing down the front of their shirts, and on their trousers. Where had their coven bought their outfits? Or when for that matter? They looked like something straight out of the eighteenth century. Although, the female of their species didn’t exactly dress in modern attire either. His gaze slid back to her, slowly taking in her dull black dress, trying to pierce the material to see what curves it concealed.

One of the men shuffled, bracing his feet shoulder-width apart on the cobblestones, preparing to attack.

What did they want with the female?

Her heartbeat was frantic. Frightened.

One of the males lunged at her and she turned on the spot, threw herself forwards and rolled towards Payne. She found her feet just a few metres in front of him and her eyes widened as they met his. Smudges of black ash dotted her pale face but Payne didn’t notice them.

She was beautiful.

Entrancing.

Her silvery eyes sparkled like stars.

The male grabbed her from behind and leaned back, lifting her feet off the floor. She unleashed a low growl of frustration and landed a series of devastating blows on him. Her foot slammed into the man’s left knee, hobbling him, and then she jammed her elbow into his face, right into his eye. Payne winced when the man howled and dropped the petite firecracker and she turned and landed a hard kick to his balls. The man hit the deck, clutching himself and groaning.

The sight of her so easily dispatching their comrade didn’t stop the other three. They attacked as one with magic, hurling colourful sparkling orbs that caught her right in the chest and sent her flying. She tumbled through the air, the skirt of her dress hiking up to reveal sinfully red knickers. Payne had intended to catch her but the sight of them froze him right to his boots. His incubus purred. The vampire in him purred too.

The female landed hard in the baskets outside one of the stores to his left, scattering their contents. Snakes slithered over the cobbles and frogs hopped, making a break for freedom. Payne lifted his left boot to allow a black and red snake to pass. The elderly witch who owned the store added insult to injury and beat the poor female with a broom. The beauty got to her feet by rolling unceremoniously into the cobbled street, her dress still tangled around her middle, flashing her knickers and a lot of smooth creamy leg.

He wasn’t the only one the sight of her had enchanted. The three males were all dumbstruck too, staring at her exposed skin.

She got to her feet, grabbed a length of thin silver rope that had fallen from one of the baskets, and brandished it like a whip.

She lashed out at the males, cracking the end of the rope across their chests and legs. The males reacted then, each making vain attempts to close the distance between them. Even teleportation spells didn’t help them. She struck them before they could fully disappear, stopping them.

Payne stared. The sight of her with the makeshift whip, dominating the more powerful males with it, was arousing to say the least. He knew his eyes were glowing blue and gold, and he knew he should get his hungers under control before they took him over and made him do something he might regret, but by god almighty he wanted the little witch.

One of the males managed to reach her and caught the hand that held the rope. The others looked ready to pile in. It was going to get out of hand.

Payne felt a strange urge to protect her.

He leaped into the fray, barrelling into the man who had captured her and taking him down. He slammed a right hook into his cheek, felt bone give and then crack under the force of the blow. The man bellowed in pain and he struck him again, breaking his jaw. The enticing scent of blood filled the air and Payne growled. His hunger rose.

The female was back in action, hurling vicious magical attacks at the other two males, shrieking at them in the fae tongue. When he had made a vague effort to learn the language, Payne had followed the tradition of all language students and started with the swear words. She cursed better than any of those clichés. Sailors, soldiers and troopers had nothing on this woman.

One of the males grabbed Payne from behind, hauling him off the other witch. He snarled, quickly turned and caught the man with a hard right uppercut and then a left hook as the man dropped him. He kept dealing blows, driving the man away from the female.

A bolt of something blue shot past Payne and sent the male he had been fighting flying through the air. The man smacked into the side of one of the buildings, rolled awkwardly down the emerald green canopy and landed hard on the cobbled street.

The other man fled, helping one of the injured. The fourth man hobbled past Payne and he growled at him, allowing his eyes to blaze red and fangs to lengthen enough that the man got the hint.

The four males looked back past him, to the female. They said something in fae. Payne caught a few words as his fangs receded and his eyes changed back to grey, enough to know they intended to tell on her to their coven. Had she done something wrong?

Payne turned to face her.

She stood in the middle of the narrow street, her silver eyes dark with determination, her breathing as rapid as her heartbeat. Payne took a step towards her and she lashed out at him with the rope. He easily caught the end of it before it could strike him.

Payne stared at her. She struggled with the rope, trying to pull it free of his grip, her pretty face twisting in anger and her eyes bright with it too. Hay stuck out of her long chestnut hair in places, the tousled waves resembling more of a bush than the beautiful glossy locks they had been before her tumble in the baskets and beating with a broom. She looked like a wild animal, feral and vicious.

Payne wanted to tame her.

He held her attention. The sparks of silver in her striking eyes brightened. He took a step towards her, gathering the rope at the same time, keeping it taut between them. She raised her other hand and a golden orb glowed close to her palm. She didn’t want to let him near her. He got the message and ignored it too. He kept moving towards her, steady steps, his eyes constantly locked on hers. He could see she didn’t want to lower that magic or let him close to her, even as he worked to change it. He hated to use his natural talents on anyone but she was going to get herself killed if he didn’t get her off the street soon. Those males would come back with more like them.

She blinked slowly. Payne lost focus as her long dark lashes shuttered her incredible eyes, stealing them from view. The distraction cost him. She smiled and yanked the rope. It slipped from his grasp and she lashed out with it, catching him hard across the cheek. He didn’t flinch, didn’t take his eyes off her. The smell of his blood mixed with the scents in the air.

Payne kept slowly advancing, his eyes on hers, keeping them riveted on him. She wanted to give up her fight. She wanted him. He sent that feeling to her, filling her mind with thoughts of them together, trying to convince her to lower her guard.

She drew her arm back to strike again.

Payne teleported just as she let loose with the rope and appeared right in front of her. He caught her wrists, his eyes still on hers. She stared up at him, her sensual rosy lips parted in shock and her eyes dark with desire that swirled into him through the point where they touched, feeding his hunger. Her breathing quickened to short soft pants. He had never heard anything so erotic and alluring. He wanted to hear her panting like that into his ear as he thrust into her welcoming wet heat.

“I won’t hurt you,” he whispered and her pupils dilated. “Give in to me.”

He felt her relax. Her fingers opened and the rope fell from them.

Her dark eyebrows drew together and her pupils narrowed. She yanked her right hand free of his grip and slammed her fist into his cheek, splitting open the gash there from the whip. Payne grabbed her wrist again and held them both in a bruising grip. It seemed she was a little immune to his charm.

“I won’t hurt you,” he repeated and her struggling slowed until she was wriggling against him in a way that fired him up.

He shoved her away and scowled at her. She blinked into his eyes and then dropped her gaze to his hands where they clutched her wrists. It rose to his cheek and she stilled.

“You’re bleeding.” She spoke in English, her voice soft and light, full of warmth that curled through him, easing his tension.

Was his charm offensive getting through to her now? He focused on her and his incubus side didn’t purr. Evidently not.

She pulled her hand free of his and gently pressed the pads of her fingers to the skin below the cut on his cheek. Payne hissed in a sharp breath, heat flooding him, all stemming from the point where she touched him. He stared down into her silver-grey eyes, hungry thoughts spinning through his mind, his body reacting swiftly.

She broke free of him, a soft gasp escaping her sinful mouth and her cheeks darkening. Had she sensed his thoughts? She smoothed her plain black dress, looking for all the world as if she was doing her best to smooth her feelings with it. Her heartbeat was all over the place and he could sense her desire.

“Come with me.”

She didn’t wait for a response. She turned her back, picked up the rope, and walked away, heading towards the crossroad he had come from. Payne raked his gaze over her, the oversized black dress hiding none of her from his imagination now. He had seen her shapely legs and crimson knickers, and he still burned from that brief glimpse. She plucked a piece of straw from her hair and glanced over her shoulder at him, her beautiful eyes immediately capturing his attention. He was supposed to have cast a spell on her to get her under his control.

He felt as though she had cast one on him.

Payne followed her, unable to resist his need to know her taste and her touch. He could never allow it to happen though.

He couldn’t influence her.

She was immune.

Immunity to an incubus’s charms was a sign that she was their fated mate.

The last woman who had been semi-immune to his charms had broken his heart.

The phantom’s words came back to him.

Fated. Bond. Blood. Death.

Sounded like a recipe for disaster to him, and this little witch was just the first ingredient.

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Published on January 19, 2013 08:04

January 17, 2013

BTS eMag – Cover feature and five great reviews for the Her Angel romance series

I’m very excited to share that yours truly was the cover feature for the January issue of the fantastic BTS eMag! If you haven’t see this eMag yet, then do be sure to check it out. I have an author interview spread in the magazine where I’m answering all sorts of questions, especially about the Her Angel romance series.

There are also five fabulous reviews for each book in the series in the review section of the magazine!

Here’s the magazine for you to read:

How cool is that?

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Published on January 17, 2013 04:00

January 16, 2013

WIP Wednesday – Six-feet-five of sexy, dark and deadly vampire

Yes, Snow has been on the loose again this week, sharing his story with me, and generally flipping between sane and just that little bit crazy. The sort of crazy you love about him and have done since the first book in the Vampire Erotic Theatre romance series came out.

It’s been a weird week since my last WIP catch up post. I’ve been trying to balance writing Unleash and everything else I need to do in the run up to the release of Bewitch, the fifth book in the series, this weekend and all my usual author stuff with it. It hasn’t been easy, and it has been riddled with ups and downs, and lots of stumbling blocks, but I have made some fantastic progress with the book and I’m flying through it now.

By last Wednesday, I was up to 32000 words of the story down in first draft. I’ve brought that up to 66000 words now. It would have been more, but I had to spend Saturday, part of Sunday, and Monday working on other things so I didn’t get to write on those days. I wrote 10,000 words yesterday, and 13,000 today. Not bad.

At this rate, I will have the book completed in first draft in the first half of next week. That’s a little behind schedule but I was being overly optimistic when planning that schedule. I had predicted last week that it would be 75,000 in total. I think it may edge closer to 80,000 now and probably longer. It’s already longer than Payne’s book, Bewitch, but then I always knew that Snow’s book would be the longest. I am on the downhill slide to the finish now, but still have a few chapters to write and another love scene to add too. Of course, the book will grow as I edit it and layer in some more description and detailed, and heighten everything.

I’m still feeling weird about this being the last book in a series that has really captured my heart and my attention, and I don’t want to leave this world. I’ve decided that I won’t say goodbye to it, just see you later, and I’ll probably be delving back into it again before you know it, unable to stay away from everyone at Vampirerotique.

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Published on January 16, 2013 12:17

January 14, 2013

Teaseday – Exclusive excerpt from Bewitch (Vampire Erotic Theatre romance series book 5)

Today’s tease comes again from my next release, Bewitch, which is the fifth book in my very popular Vampire Erotic Theatre romance series and is due for release on January 19th 2013. Read on for your Tuesday tease from…

The final lead had brought him here, to a whole fae town hidden beneath the grounds of an elegant palatial mansion in the English countryside. Fae lived in the mansion too, the elite of the light side of that world. Everyone down here were merchants, plying their wares to make ends meet, or workers and travellers. Payne had thought witches had higher standards but there were probably hundreds if not thousands of them here, trading with other creatures, selling spells, ointments and god only knew what else.

A group of three young females reached the top of the stone steps to his left and passed him, dressed in the traditional garb of witches, long black featureless dresses that swamped their bodies and concealed their curves. They tittered amongst themselves, their eyes on him, blushes heating their cheeks. His incubus side rose to the fore and he shot them a smile, earning giggles and a few sultry smiles in return. The incubus in him loved every second, lapping up their desire, draining it from the air around him.

Payne tamped it down and his vampire side took control again. The witches’ looks turned dark and he knew they had seen the red in his eyes. Strange how they would toy with an incubus, one who wanted them purely for sexual gratification, but they would scowl at a vampire. His incubus nature was more likely to kill them.

He took the steps on the left down to the cavern floor, his eyes on the town, studying it. There were larger buildings near the edges of the town. Banners hung on their walls. He recognised a few. Not just covens. There was a shapeshifter pride. A wolf pack. Ogres too. There was even a succubus clan. He didn’t need to recognise the banner on that particular building to know what type of creature lived within its dark red walls. There was a steady stream of men coming and going, and some succubi were hanging out of the open windows, calling to them and teasing them with flashes of flesh. The fae equivalent of a bordello.

He shook his head and focused back on the witches’ district. He was shit out of luck if the street signs were in fae. The fae language was extensive and his knowledge of it was limited. He knew the basics but names were often written in a special way. He had never learned those characters. He looked down at the line of markings that tracked up the underside of his forearms and disappeared beneath the charcoal grey rolled up sleeves of his shirt. The swirls, dashes and spikes shifted in hues of dark blue and burnished gold. Not a sign of his incubus side. His markings shone bright gold and cerulean when that was in control. No, this was apprehension.

Understandable considering he was about to enter a world that prided itself on bloodlines and purity.

An abomination like him was liable to end up deep in shit. He wasn’t sure which role to play. The vampire or the incubus? They were more likely to accept his demonic lineage and most of the creatures in the area he needed to head into were unlikely to be able to sense the vampire in him.

Incubus it was.

He hated that.

Did you enjoy the snippet? Bewitch will be out on January 19th, but if you haven’t had a chance to read any of the books in the Vampire Erotic Theatre romance series yet, they’re all available at major ebook retailers and in paperback, and you can find the links and samples of the books at my website:

Caris Roane is also posting a Teaseday snippet, so be sure to check out her blog and read it! http://carisroane.com/2013/01/15-gates-of-rapture-2/

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Published on January 14, 2013 17:32

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