When I started the Forgotten Brotherhood series, I envisioned a unique group of paranormal assassins. They’re not the monsters lurking under the bed. They’re the ones the monsters under the bed fear.
They live by a strict code: Kill only those that truly deserve it and let their gods sort them out. Kill them before they kill you. Never, ever betray a fellow assassin.
It started with FURY UNLEASHED when a fallen angel named Maccus Fury stepped onto the page. Feared by both Heaven and Hell, he’s a force to be reckoned with. Now one of Hell’s bounty hunters has been sent to assassinate him. Trouble is, they’re falling for each other.
Next came ARCTIC BITE and Alexei Medvedev, a secy hybrid vampire/polar bear shifter. He’s been sent to hunt down a missing reaper, who is much more than she seems.
In BURNING ASH, we meet Asher, the father of vampires. He crosses paths with a human vampire hunter, and the both of them become embroiled in a conspiracy to harm the Brotherhood.
BJORNED CURSED—Ancient Viking warrior Bjorn Knutson, the father of werewolves, is tasked by Odin himself to return a woman who’s escaped from the Norse afterlife. Problem is, she’s his long-dead wife, his love. Now they’ll have to fight the gods and Lucifer if they hope to survive.
Nothing was supposed to wake half dragon, half human Lucius from his Deep Sleep, but someone has. Waking a sleeping drakon wasn’t in her plans. Neither was falling in love with him. Love and intrigue challenge their growing relationship in ANCIENT DESIRE.
Last, but not least, is HUNTER AVENGED. Immortal Viking hunter Sven Knutson is on the hunt for an angelic librarian suspected of being part of a plot against the Brotherhood, and she’d led him on a deadly chase. But there is a greater force behind it. Someone powerful enough to take on the most dangerous assassins who have ever lived. Someone who could unleash the fury of both Heaven and Hell. This time the Brotherhood will end the threat to their existence or die trying.
Fury Unleashed
Forgotten Brotherhood, Book 1
Maccus Fury, a fallen angel, is trying hard to keep his sanity. Seems being an assassin might be catching up with him. Now, Heaven, or Hell, has sent a beautiful assassin to kill him. Lovely. She’s pretending to seduce him, and he’s okay with that. She’s smart and snarky—but she has no idea what she’s walked into. And he’s more than peeved that they only sent one person. They’re going to need an army if they want him dead.
Morrigan Quill is one of Hell’s bounty hunters. She sold her soul to keep her sister safe, and now she’s working off her contract by catching bad guys and dragging them back to hell. When Lucifer makes her a new offer––that’s definitely too good to be true—she can’t say no. All she has to do is kill a powerful and crazy-hot fallen angel, who will totally kick her ass in battle.
N.J. Walters is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author who has always been a voracious reader, and now she spends her days writing novels of her own. Vampires, werewolves, dragons, assassins, time-travelers, seductive handymen, and next-door neighbors with smoldering good looks—all vie for her attention. It’s a tough life, but someone’s got to live it.
First, I’d better introduce myself, eh. The ‘eh’ is due to being a Canadian writer, but I digress. I’m the author of over twenty published books in the last few years and just as many unpublished. Crafting a story is such an exciting process that I wanted to share with all of you some of my thoughts on the journey.
Why did I begin writing? I guess like so many others, I thought I might have something to say, but little did I know that the experience would require far more hours of learning the ins and outs of what is story than I could have imagined!
Today, I want to discuss creating a character, specifically, the characters in my latest book Hellfire, book 4 in the series, Sin City Wolf. The discovery of the personalities I will be spending months with is a fascinating part for me. I generally start with their emotional wound, which tells me why they are the way they are and allows me to understand their background and how they fit into the story.
Hellfire has two main characters like most romances: Dante and Amara. Dante’s a werewolf and Amara is human. I wanted to explore the idea of a werewolf rescuing a human female just after she’s bitten by a vampire, which makes them eternal enemies immediately. A forbidden love calls to my heart!
As always, I wanted a strong heroine that could give back as much as she was given. One who would fight the good fight. I found her in Amara, a young woman who is able to take on anything the world offers and come out the other side more understanding and wiser about life.
And Dante, a science guy with serious alpha appeal, was the perfect foil for Amara.
I now want to share the blurb about the pair and their unique story…
Sin City Wolf: Hellfire
Amara St. Clair is just out for a rare night of fun on the Vegas Strip. But when she discovers her fun-loving side in the Glitter Palace casino, a life-altering altercation with a deadly ancient vampire leaves Amara lying unconscious in an alley near the famous casino.
Doctor, geneticist and genealogy expert Dante Luceres, dedicated to research that will keep his fellow werewolves safe and healthy, is attending a mandatory yearly event of the House of Luceres. Coming across Amara, he saves her life, though vampires and werewolves are forbidden from interfering with each other in the supernatural world. There are dire consequences for interfering with another supe’s domain, and he expects that soon both the vampires and the werewolves will be after them, but he can’t leave the beautiful, vivacious little human to suffer alone.
Drawn to each other, the pair must hide from the world. But with everyone against them, including Dante’s clan and an evil vampire hellbent on having Amara for his own, how can they find a path to a shared future…and true happiness?
The following is an excerpt from this action-based story that is all about finding yourself and true love…
My feet moved before my mind could form the word. Run. I yanked up my dress and jumped aboard. I grabbed hold of his waist and he gunned the engine. The back tire left the ground as the bike spun out. Too much gas! Oh, my lord, we’re going to spill. Right into a pit of vipers.
Then Dante responded, shifting his weight, the tire grasped the pavement and we were flying through the fast-diminishing space between two of the menacing men in black. Would we make it? One elongated hand reached out to grab me. He missed by the smallest of margins, his cold fingernails grazing my upper thigh. The touch sent an icicle of fear stabbing through me. Worse, the piercing intensity of his red eyes that flashed as we raced by him with inches to spare would penetrate anyone’s armor. Now I knew how real fear paralyzed.
We hurtled down the Strip flat out, Dante driving like a Mad Max character, dodging vehicles, me holding on for dear life, unable to look away. The wind tore at my hair, whipping it all about. All I could think about was how my normally taciturn life had turned on its head. But deep down, I was loving it, this adventure like no other. I was on the high seas, surrounded by possibilities and excited beyond belief.
That I was shocked to discover this about myself didn’t begin to cover it. My body felt electrified, every cell supercharged. On the cusp of something I couldn’t give a name to. Or explain. Me, the one who normally hated change, had undergone a metamorphosis in the space of an hour.
UPDATE: The winners are…Jen Todd and Katherine Anderson!
*~*~*
In a realm where deadly creatures lurk, there’s a town that functions as a haven for all species. Magic enchantments cast by the witch’s council protect its borders, and hellhounds police the streets.
Mortals can co-exist and even breed with vampires, demons, werewolves and witches. You can stop by The Gilded Scroll and chat with the elvish bookshop owner, or visit Tina’s Treats for the realm’s tastiest desserts, or even pick up a love potion at The Broomstick.
But be wary of the magical fountain in the center of town.
Severn the siren lives there with her many daughters. Legend has it she seduced a witch while out at sea and convinced him to build her a home in the heart of Clayridge. Fed up with the dangers in the wild, she tricked him into creating a fountain in the safest place in the realm.
Large gates warn you not to enter. Pity, since its beauty shouldn’t be missed.
Cobblestones surround it, and a gorgeous carved stone balustrade encircles it. Inside, its waters are deep. Aside from the sirens, no aquatic creature exists there. Their home consists of glass, gold, and rock. Above the water, it looks a bit like a mountain, with some sandy surfaces and rock faces for the sirens to sunbathe on. But like an iceberg, the bulk of it sits, suspended below the surface.
Hive-like, their rooms face outward, providing them with lovely views of clear blue water, and deep within the fountain are the common rooms. Places where they gather when the weather is poor, or to eat or shop.
Vendors from across Clayridge travel to the fountain to exploit the sirens’ controversial wealth. Market days are very busy in the fountain, as sirens like expensive material items and fancy new electronic devices. They’re driven by base pleasures, and if they have the coin, why shouldn’t they indulge?
You can spend a night with one of these seductresses if you have enough money or attend one of their parties. Or attend a party held in their home, though beware, you’re likely to bump into a vampire or demon. Riffraff are commonplace in the fountain, and gossip is nearly currency.
If you’re willing to take a risk and have little to lose, a trip to the fountain is a perfect stress reliever, as Ezra is about to discover. Too bad he has more to lose than he realizes…
*~*~*
Dear reader,
I have two new releases this fall. The Siren and the Water Witch releases today (YAY!), and Drew releases on October 1. The former is a fantasy short story that is part of the Clayridge Chronicles ongoing series, and the latter is a paranormal romance wolf shifter novella.
Below are the blurbs for each story. Comment and tell me which of the two stories you are more interested in reading, and I’ll select two winners and provide them with an ebook copy of their preferred story.
The Siren and the Water Witch
Ezra is about to discover just how much one night of pleasure is really worth.
Star athlete and academic wizkid, Ezra Graves, is acing his classes at the Barrett Academy, all except botany. After scoring a passing grade on the midterm, Ezra considers ways to celebrate, and nothing sounds more appealing than a trip to the Clayridge fountain to indulge in the forbidden with a siren.
Ezra doesn’t need to vie hard for female attention as the Academy’s golden pupil, but he’s dying to shed his good boy image and taste the forbidden. Visiting the fountain could damage his reputation and academic career—even get him kicked out of the Academy. More could be at stake, as he receives a gentle reminder that half-blood witches have been disappearing lately. Being away from the protection of the school grounds—particularly at night—could prove deadly.
Armed with enough gold coins to pay for a night with one of the fishy seductresses, Ezra ignores his better judgment and heads for the fountain. But little does he know something dangerous is lurking in the shadows, with Ezra’s name and the promise of a significant paycheck if the witch can be caught and delivered to the notorious vampire, Nixon Castor.
Alyssa Mayer’s scent is intriguing. It’s sweet, sensual and ignites Drew’s blood like nothing before. His body burns for her, his mind is occupied with thoughts of her, meaning only one thing. She’s his fated mate.
The problem? He doesn’t recognize her from a local pack, nor any pack he’s ever smelled before. Is she human? She is his fated mate, but if she’s human will he dare to break the species barrier? It wouldn’t be the first time a wolf shifter mated with a human, but such a bonding brings its own mess of troubles, and that’s before considering a neighbouring alpha wants Drew to agree to an arranged mating.
After spending her youth drifting from one foster home to the next and spending her adolescent and adult life homeless and alone, Alyssa wonders how long she’ll be able to stay in the small town. She can’t risk anyone discovering her secret. All she wants to do is paint and find a forever home, but as an oddity, a freak of nature, she knows that can never be, no matter how much she’d like to stay.
When she meets Drew, her instinct tells her to run, but for the first time she might just have a reason to stay, despite pack pressures and hidden foes are threaten to keep them apart.
It’s FRIDAY! I have a FREE read for you to enjoy this weekend. Be warned! It’s an erotic paranormal! So, it’s mostly sex. It was originally published by Avon Red eons ago. Get your copy while this offer lasts! Enjoy!
Dani’s dreams are anything but restful. Each night, a wolf waits in the moonlight to lead her into the forest for a rendezvous with a mysterious man. Like a choreographed dance, they repeat the same words, the same actions, which lead inevitably to a sensual frenzy that ends too soon. Tonight, Dani’s determined to change the course of her dream, slow the pace and find the rapture she’s sure awaits her…
As a writer, I love all the characters who’ve shared their stories with me, but the Salvation Pack holds a very special place in my heart.
When I met them a decade ago, I’d planned a five-book series. Nine books later I was done. Or I thought I was. All the original pack members had their stories, along with new members we met along the way. What else was there to write about?
You know what they say about the best-laid plans, right?
I couldn’t stop thinking about the next generation, the kids of the original pack members. And I wasn’t the only person with questions. Readers kept asking me for more, so I dove back into that world and created the Salvation Pack: The Next Generation series.
While there may be more stories to tell in the future, Wolf in the Night is the last one I’ve planned for this series. The original pack is aging. I need to stop while everyone is happy and vibrant and loving life. It’s my happily-ever-after for a wolf pack I’ve loved for almost a dozen years. They’ve brought so much joy to my life.
I’ll be forever grateful to Jacque LaForge, Armand LaForge, Cole Blanchard, Gator Rollins, and Louis LaForge for changing my life forever.
I hope you enjoy Wolf in the Nightas much as I do.
Wolf in the Night
Salvation Pack: The Next Generation, Book 5
Driving home from a trip, Emma Matheson is run off the road in an abduction attempt. Seems the alpha of her father’s former pack never forgave his defection. To settle the old score, he plans to force her to mate with a male of his choosing—his son, Dmitri.
Dmitri Gribkov wants no part of his father’s revenge. A loner by choice, nothing has prepared him for sexy, stubborn Emma. He’ll do whatever it takes to protect her—even if it means losing her.
Determined to control her destiny, she does her best to escape, even as the attraction between her and Dmitri sizzles. Doesn’t take long for her to realize this huge, sexy wolf is a protector at heart.
Tracking and killing are what he does best. Before this is over, he’ll have blood on his hands, but winning her love will be the hardest battle.
From Wolf in the Night…
Fear had a taste, something she’d never realized until tonight. It was metallic and nasty. Her shirt, damp with sweat, clung to her torso. Some of her hair had escaped her braid and fell into her eyes.
She’d thought she was going to die.
Her throat throbbed. Her ribs ached. And tears filled her eyes.
Not yet. She couldn’t break down until she was safe. She sucked air into her starving lungs, unable to remember ever being so winded. Exhaustion, along with an adrenaline dump, was making it difficult for her body to heal.
It was the first time in her life anyone had intentionally tried to harm her. Growing up with an overprotective father and overprotective siblings, she’d lived a charmed existence, filled with love and acceptance.
None of it had prepared her for this … hatred. Ivan despised her, had enjoyed hurting her. Now he was gone, driven away by this mountain of a male.
She blinked several times, but he didn’t disappear, wasn’t a figment of her oxygen-deprived brain. The wolves of her pack were the deadliest she’d ever known. This one, the one Ivan had called Dmitri, might be the most dangerous she’d ever met.
Shaggy black hair fell around massive shoulders. The lower half of his face was covered by a thick beard. His eyes were the same color as the dark amber honey she used to sweeten her tea. Every muscle was sculpted and rippled when he moved. There wasn’t a spare ounce of fat on him anywhere.
N.J. Walters is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author who has always been a voracious reader, and now she spends her days writing novels of her own. Vampires, werewolves, dragons, assassins, time-travelers, seductive handymen, and next-door neighbors with smoldering good looks—all vie for her attention. It’s a tough life, but someone’s got to live it.
Romance is well known for its series. It’s rare to see a stand-alone book that doesn’t connect in some way to a previous work by an author. Why do we love series so much?
There’s comfort in the familiarity of going back to visit places and people who are as recognizable to us as our next-door neighbors and friends. Being able to immerse ourselves in a world where we know bad things can and do happen, but there will be retribution and a happily ever after at the end. Sometimes when the world’s gone crazy, it’s a nice escape to visit one of these make-believe worlds.
The same reasons I love to read series are also the same reasons I love to write them. In fact, I can’t seem to not write them. Every time I start to write a book, before I’m finished it, I’m already thinking about one or more of the other characters, and I know they must have their story told. But with my latest series, I’ve taken it a step further.
I first met the Salvation Pack wolves a decade ago. I’d planned on a five-book series. You know what they say about the best-laid plans, right? Nine books later I was done. Or I thought I was. All the original pack members had their stories, along with new members we met along the way. But I couldn’t stop thinking about the pack or about the children, the next generation. Who would they grow up to be? What would happen to them?
Turned out I wasn’t the only one with questions. Readers kept asking for more, so I dove back into that world and created the Salvation Pack: The Next Generation series. I’ve planned for five-books—everyone gets their story told.
It’s been a joy to revisit characters I love and create brand new stories.
Wolf Meets His Fate features Aaron LaForge, the youngest son of the alpha from the original series. He’s set out to find his fate, but it—or rather she—finds him.
Be sure to check it out.
Wolf Meets His Fate
Salvation Pack: The Next Generation, Book 4
Orphaned at birth, Jesse is raised in the Louisiana swamp by powerful witch Lottie Broussard. Hated by her father and shunned by the pack that should be hers, she is forced to run for her life after Lottie’s death.
Searching for his life’s purpose, Aaron LaForge has left his pack and is living on a farm in West Virginia.
When their paths cross in a local bar, he sees it as fate. At first, he only wants to help but quickly realizes she’s his mate. Jesse isn’t ready or willing to trust anyone—let alone a male wolf. But Aaron is as stubborn as he is convincing. As their relationship heats up, the dangers around them mount. Can their love survive their fight to stay alive?
Teaser from Wolf Meets His Fate
Closing her eyes, she tried to catalog everything she remembered about him. It had all happened so fast, but he’d left an impression. And it wasn’t only his physical appearance.
Yes, he was handsome in a primal way with his broad shoulders and muscular build, but there’d been something in his eyes—compassion, understanding—that made her want to run toward him instead of away. That made him dangerous.
N.J. Walters is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author who has always been a voracious reader, and now she spends her days writing novels of her own. Vampires, werewolves, dragons, assassins, time-travelers, seductive handymen, and next-door neighbors with smoldering good looks—all vie for her attention. It’s a tough life, but someone’s got to live it.
UPDATE: The winners are…PansyRose Parsons and Debra Guyette!
*~*~*
Before I wrote bounty hunters, I wrote about vampires…
Knight in Transition
A member of an elite police unit sworn to hunt vampires, Joe Garcia’s life is turned upside down when he’s transformed into one. On a quest for a cure, Joe’s search brings him to New Orleans in a last-ditch effort to recover his humanity.
Professor Lily Carlson, a renowned expert in vampire lore, has a condition of her own. Her sexual libido has been in hyper-drive for months. Her only defense is to hide behind her glasses and tweed suits and stay as far away from men as possible. However, she’s thrilled to discover vampires really do exist when Joe shows up on her balcony.
Although Joe deflects her attempts to make him a case study and confirm a few vampire statistics, he is drawn by her powerful allure. When werewolves join the chase and track her through New Orleans, Joe’s cop instincts tell him there’s a mystery to solve. Intent on protecting her, he must seek help from the last vampire on Earth he wants to ask.
While his hopes for deliverance from his fate dwindle, Lily’s life is forever altered by an unexpected inheritance.
The small sign in the café window read: Welcome Vampires and Sanguinarians! (No blood products provided—none permitted on premises! The Management).
Joe Garcia snorted. Every human in the place was a walking, breathing blood product — a portable soda fountain for the Fanged Ones.
He pushed through the glass door and tried to dampen the hope that rose in his chest, causing his heart to beat faster and his hands to sweat. Thusfar, he’d met only disappointment in his long search. This might be just another dead end-the last one he could afford before his cash ran out and his credit card was maxed.
Professor Carlson was his last hope.
Inside the cafe, enticing aromas assailed him. The smell of roasted coffee beans, which had been his life’s blood in another existence, was overlaid with the tangy scent of the real thing-the warm, viscous red stuff. The latter reminded him he hadn’t fed this evening, and hunger gnawed at his belly, making him edgy and irritable.
And something else enticed him. Something dark and sensual perfumed by a female musk with a tincture so unique it immediately sent a curl of heat to his groin.
He walked past the coffee bar without acknowledging the barrista’s greeting and wound his way through the tables, ignoring the human appetizers. His gaze was fixed on a menu board at the entrance of a roped-off area in the back, that read, “Vampire Survey Here”. An arrow pointed down to a table laden with a stack of pamphlets.
He brushed past the table, searching the back of the restaurant for his quarry.
“Sir, are you here ’bout da survey Professor Carlson is conductin’?”
Joe turned toward the voice flavored with a deep Louisianan accent. A pleasant-faced girl with black corkscrew curls all around her head sat at a table near the cordoned entrance.
He bit back the rude retort that immediately came to mind and answered, “Yes. I need to speak with her.”
“Well, you’ll have to complete a screenin’ survey first,” she said pleasantly but firmly, holding up a stapled document.
Joe sighed and accepted the papers. What the hell? Five more minutes wouldn’t kill him.
“Do you have a pencil?” she asked. When he shook his head, she gave him a superior smile and extended a short, sharpened pencil.
Joe didn’t like her attitude one bit, so he reached for her hand, running his fingers over her palm before taking it.
Her smile slipped and Joe could well imagine her thoughts. Another vampire wannabe was hitting on her. He smiled and let her see his teeth.
Her eyes narrowed and a single brow rose. She wasn’t impressed.
That actually gave Joe hope he was in the right place after all. His sharp fangs hadn’t fazed her.
“You can take a seat with the other guy,” she said, indicating the first booth along the back wall.
Joe walked over and slid across the vinyl seat opposite a young man dressed in black leather and sporting no less than five facial piercings. The piercings glittered like tinsel in the dim light and Joe wondered how the kid could stand leather in May-New Orleans was already sweltering, even at night.
Turning over the top page of his survey, Joe quickly scanned the questions. He hoped like hell they were only meant to screen out the weirdoes and pretenders. Otherwise, he was screwed.
He wet the tip of his pencil on his tongue and read the first question.
“Do you consider yourself a Vampire or a Sanguinarian?”
Since he had no clue what a Sanguinarian was, he checked, “Vampire.”
“If you checked ‘Vampire’, skip to question 6.”
Maybe this wouldn’t take so long after all.
In the middle of the page, he found 6. “How often do you have the urge to drink blood?”
He checked the block beside, “More than three times a day.” Three times a night would be more accurate.
“How often do you drink blood?”
“Once a day.”
“Do you drink your own blood?”
“What would be the point?” he muttered, and checked “No.”
When he reached the question, “Do you drink blood during sexual encounters?”, he’d had enough.
He tossed the survey to the table and started to rise.
“She won’t see you unless you finish the survey,” Metal Boy said, without looking up from his form.
“She’ll see me.”
The young man’s mouth twisted into a sneer. “You’ll have to wait your turn. I was here first.”
Joe lifted his lips and showed him his fangs.
Metal Boy smirked and then lifted his lips, displaying a whole row of sharpened teeth.
Joe took a quick glance around the café to make sure no one was near, and then leaned over the table and shook his head. He let the change come over him, reveling for once in the wildness that surged in his veins as the bones in his forehead and brow shifted, and his skin stretched tightly.
The boy’s eyes widened until the whites symmetrically framed his irises. “I-I’ve just thought of somewhere else I need to be,” he said, and quickly scooted off the seat and ran for the exit.
Satisfied that vamping was good for at least scaring the shit out of punks, Joe took a deep breath and relaxed, feeling his face reform to his human mask. Then he headed back to the girl with the wild hair.
“I’ll see her now,” Joe said, not even trying to conceal his impatience.
“Have you finished dat survey?” she asked, her nose buried in her Cosmo magazine.
When he didn’t respond, she raised her eyes.
Something in his expression made her hesitate. “I’ll see if she’s free.”
Joe smiled grimly. “You do that.”
She was back in a moment. “Professor Carlson’ll see you now. You left your survey on the table, but I gave it to her.”
He followed her to the farthest corner of the café, toward another booth. A green lamp suspended over the table lent the corner a warm glow. When he drew alongside the green vinyl seat, the girl indicated he should sit and promptly left. Joe turned his gaze to the figure seated on the opposite bench.
His research had told him the professor was considered an expert in vampire lore. She’d written papers, magazine articles, and books, and even been consulted by more than one movie producer. When he’d typed “vampire expert” in the Internet search engine, her name had popped up everywhere.
All his research told him she might hold the answer, but it hadn’t said anything about how young or drinkable she was. Her hair was neither blonde nor brown, but the warm color of whiskey. Her eyes, hidden behind a pair of wire-framed glasses, glinted cognac. Her lips were a pale rosé.
The hunter within him woke.
Realizing he’d been staring, he cleared his throat. “You’re Professor Lily Carlson? The author of ‘Vampires: Myth and Reality’?”
Her gaze swept over him. An action so swift, he thought he might have imagined it. “And you are?” she asked, leaning over the table to extend her hand.
Joe froze. That indefinable scent was all over her. He had the urge to rub on her like a kitten in catnip. He eyed her small hand, afraid to touch it and feel the blood humming below the surface of her creamy, white skin. He was that close to jumping her. “I thought the survey was anonymous.”
“Oh, it is,” she replied quickly, withdrawing her hand. “You’re responding to the ad, then?” At his nod, she looked vaguely disappointed. “Well, I suppose I should review your answers. Please have a seat,” she said, waving him toward the bench seat opposite hers. “Thank you for taking the time to help me with my research.”
Bemused, Joe slid onto the seat. He knew he should get straight to the point, but he stalled. For just a few minutes, he wanted to be with a woman while she looked at him as if he was just like any other man. Well, perhaps like he was a man with a serious mental disorder. But at least, she wasn’t recoiling in horror or inspecting him like the Bearded Lady at a freak show.
Not that she was a great beauty, nor even as strong and fierce as his ex-partner Darcy. Dressed in a boring-beige suit, her whiskey-colored hair piled in a loose knot on top of her head, and her glasses sliding down her shiny nose, she looked like the schoolmarm she was. But while all the beige and brown should have made her look muddy, she glowed golden in the lamplight. And her scent—richly textured with something wild and animalistic—was extraordinary.
The woman opened his survey and glanced at his answers, then flipped the page. Her lips pursed for a moment, drawing his gaze to her full lower lip. “There are a few more questions I need answered. Do you mind if I learn a little more about you?” she asked, glancing up at him from beneath her gold-tipped lashes.
The surge of heat that centered in his groin was way out of proportion to her innocent question. Afraid he’d stutter over a tongue that suddenly felt too large for his mouth, he merely nodded.
“You understand the questions I’m about to ask you are part of a sociological study I’m conducting about our vampire subculture?”
Again, he nodded.
“All information you provide,” she recited as if from rote, “will be completely confidential. I hope you will answer me honestly,” she gave him a doubtful stare, “or to the best of your ability.”
She looked expectantly at him, so he nodded again.
Her gaze returned to his survey, and she cleared her throat. “You…are a vampire?”
“Yes.” This was the first time he’d admitted that fact out loud, and he knew how ridiculous it sounded.
“So, are you a Psy or a Sang?”
“There’s more than one kind?” Joe asked.
“A Psychic vampire feeds on a human’s energy; a Sanguinarian is a blood-drinker.”
“I guess I’m a Sang.”
“You drink blood once a day?” she asked, her head still bent over the paper.
He shrugged, hoping she’d glance up at him again so he could see whether her eyes really were a warm, golden-brown. “More or less.”
She scribbled something in the margin of his survey. “Well, which is it?”
“Sometimes more.”
“Do you drink human blood?”
Joe wished she’d end this line of questioning, or he’d be drooling shortly. Her scent had every appetite revving into high gear. “Yes.”
She glanced up from the survey. “How long have you had the urge to drink blood?”
“Since I woke up, tonight.”
She blinked. “No, I meant…since ever.”
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