Join us for
Spook-a-licious, running from October 24-31. I'll be posting on October 24 with a blog entry about the allure of vampires, and an excerpt and giveaway for my release, Know Thine Enemy, coming 10/24/2011 from Noble Romance!
Cover art will be made available soon! For now, here's the blurb.
He’s a vampire with a story. She’s a woman with a past.
The second Ryker spots the girl with midnight hair, he knows there’s more to her than meets the eye. She boasts the title of vampire hunter, but something’s off, something’s missing, and that something pulls him close…until backing off isn’t an option.
For years, Izzie has lived for the night, outrunning ghosts from home that seem to find her wherever she lands. Alongside her friend and mentor, who rescued her when she was at her lowest, she destroys creatures she once thought couldn’t exist. But Izzie doesn’t have what she needs to be her best, and doesn’t know if she ever will...or if the life she has is the one she wants.
When a shadow from Ryker’s former life surfaces to collect a forgotten debt, vampire and hunter are thrust together in a strange world of eroticism and servitude. They must trust each other if they mean to escape, but when trust turns into something more, the real enemy becomes harder and harder to pick out.
Excerpt
It wasn’t like he would run now. Not when Izzie waited for him down the hall.
Ryker drew in a steady breath. Behind him was the small, mousy assistant Dr. Briggs had introduced as Judy, her hand steadying a stake at his back, prepared to paralyze should he attempt to run. The other assistant stayed to the right, a gun in hand—one that allegedly injected another prototype on vamp poison from which they hadn’t yet worked all the kinks. Ryker tried not to focus on the distractions, rather keeping his eyes on the back of Dr. Briggs’ head while entertaining fantasies involving the sound of snapping bone.
He’d feel better once he saw Izzie. Once he figured out how the hell to right the wrong that was getting her mixed up in his fucking family drama. Getting a feel for their new digs was essential to placing his future getaway plan in motion; once he knew exactly where she was, he could begin formulating an appropriate escape route.
The stretch of hallway betrayed little he didn’t already know. Every now and then, a human in a lab-coat would stroll by, seemingly unbothered by the sight of someone being led by threat of death. There were a few medical stands, offices, and signs directing personnel to certain wings. His particular entourage took three turns before coming to a halt. The door on the left read Subject Beta on the sliding name placement; another door sat directly ahead, and the hall continued to the right. Dr. Briggs unlocked the door to Beta by means of a clearance key, and ushered Ryker inside alone.
The vampire stopped short of the doorway, his heart leaping into his throat.
“Oh my God,” he murmured.
She lay nude, splayed across a metal table, her legs bound and spread, her arms stretched above her head, and a gag around her mouth. A gnarly scar patched the skin around her belly, though it looked aged enough to attest to an old battle-wound rather than a crime at the hands of their human captors. Tied as she was, the cold tremors seizing her body could not be contained. Her head lifted at the sound, and when their gazes clashed, the fear he saw nearly tore him to shreds.
Ryker could do little but stare. His head pounded and his chest ached.
Holy fuck.
“All right,” came across an intercom. “Shall we begin?”
