Hunting the Siren
Book Two in the Blood Currency Series
A vampire queen grown
powerful with age, Imogen has protected her band of nightriders through the
centuries. When refugee vampires from earthquake-shattered Europe seek shelter
and sustenance, she’s honor-bound to feed them, by any means necessary. When
her lieutenants dump the vengeful human man Kasar at her feet, Imogen succumbs
to his masculine vitality and her overwhelming hunger for his blood—and his
body.
Kasar has survived the
breaking of the world, only to discover the vampire queen has slaughtered his
sister and her unborn child. With the last of his bloodline dead, only his
desire for vengeance keeps Kasar alive. He imagines he can pretend to succumb
to Imogen’s seduction—not that he has much of a choice, chained as he is to the
foot of her bed—and bide his time until he has an opportunity to kill her. The
passion he finds in her arms is unexpected, and impossible to resist. But this
haven of desire and satiation could easily destroy them both.
Feeding the Vampire
Book One in the Blood Currency Series
Publisher: Ellora's Cave
Date Published: August 3, 2011
ASIN: B005HBYPGW
Through good luck and
healthy cowardice, Misty has survived the earthquakes that have torn the world
apart, but has no skills to speak of. Or so she thinks. She does have blood,
and someone must feed the vampire who has offered his protection and strength
in exchange for sustenance.
Feeding Ivan is a priority,
and Misty finally serves a purpose. But when she awakens tied to his bed, an
unwilling gift to Ivan from the townspeople, she discovers he has hungers other
than blood.
Hungers he expects her to
satisfy in the most carnal manner. Under his seductive persuasion Misty
discovers she has the power to sustain Ivan in all ways, while experiencing
unspeakable pleasure herself.
Feeding the Vampire Excerpt:
I was compelled to feed
him. I had no choice, really.
Earl cleared his throat.
“Thank you.” Our town administrator looked around for agreement, but they
weren’t meeting his eyes either. Like kids ducking the teacher’s gaze. “Thank
you, Misty. We all appreciate your…” He trailed off uncomfortably.
Sacrifice? Surely no one
wanted to hear that word aloud. Martyr to the cause? No, not much better.
Earl shuffled the papers in
his lap. Waiting for me to get to it, I supposed. Well, he had just said that
feeding Ivan ought to be the first order of business. We couldn’t very well
make plans for our community while the guy in charge of our defenses wilted
before our eyes, especially since we needed him alert and focused. Me? I was
pretty damn expendable. I hadn’t brought much to the table so far, except my
survival, which really was accidental. Right place at the right time. Turns out
stolid New England was just the right place to be for the particular form this
apocalypse took. Granite bedrock and all that.
My boring hometown was a
safe haven and everyone wanted in on our resources. The people turning up every
day were let in or turned away depending on what they offered. I counted my
lucky stars I’d been grandfathered in simply because my neighbors didn’t have
the heart to kick me out. Excellent keyboarding skills and a customer-friendly
personality didn’t count for much in this economy. Especially without, um,
customers or working keyboards.
I couldn’t afford to be a
useless mouth to feed. Their hearts would harden—they already had. Tonight was
pivotal. We’d acquired a vampire of our own for defense. Everyone felt better
about our future—if we could keep him happy. At least I knew how to make blood.
You could say I was a natural. And yet, the certainty that had propelled me to
my feet seemed to be bleeding away, frightened off by Ivan’s fixed intensity and
everyone else’s obvious relief. They waited, restless, for me to just get on
with it. Uncomfortable silence.
Hi, I’m Misty and I’m a
Fool. I haven’t done anything really unwise in twenty-seven days. Kind of a
record for me really. Apparently I was due.
The vampire just stared at
me.
I set my yellow pad on the
chair and made myself walk across the circle to where he sat in the tacky
folding metal chair. My sandals slapped lightly on the tiles, making tinny
echoes. Ivan’s roving gaze sent tremors of anticipation up my thighs.
A few murmured
conversations resumed. They probably didn’t like the creepy silence any more
than I did. I appreciated their polite attempt not to gawk. I’d never seen a
vampire feed—probably none of them had either. I stopped in front of Ivan. He
leaned back, long legs sprawled out in careless indolence. He tilted his head
at my hesitation and held out his hands as if to help me down from a carriage.
“Perhaps we should step out
of the room?” I tried.
“I haven’t the strength to
stand.” His grave eyes watched me with avid intent.
If I ran, he would
definitely find the strength to hunt me down. After all, he’d walked into this
room. Heck, he’d arrived at the bridge leading to our sleepy town only last
night, offering his protection in return for our shelter and sustenance. He had
to have gotten there somehow.
He wrapped his long fingers
around my wrists, cuffing them with bands of steel. Exerting steady pressure,
he drew me closer, parting his lips. White fangs gleamed with fluorescent
highlights. My heart thumped in panic, hot fear filling me.
“Will it hurt?” My voice
sounded thready, weak.
Hunger flared in his eyes
at the question. “It always does.”
Ivan snapped me against his
hard body. The sharp movement splintered any second thoughts. He pulled me
astraddle his lap. My cheap cotton dress hiked up alarmingly. The chafe of his
dark denim jeans sent tremors up my fully exposed thighs. Shame and terror
flashed through me.
Then all thought and
emotion burst in flame, immolating me through the fierce violence of his teeth
sinking into my throat. The agony of the deep puncture, fear feeding pain,
fired through my blood. I struggled like a wild thing, without thought. Animal
instinct screamed at me to flee, to escape by any means possible.
The vampire held me
trapped. There was no escape for me, the mouse flailing under the cat’s paw.
My will, never my strong
point, snapped. The fight ebbed away with the tide of my blood. The steady drop
of pressure left me enervated, without resistance. Darkness filled my brain,
prickled with sparking stars. I wilted, becoming a bit of detritus washed upon
the shore of Ivan’s body.
Pain filled my veins,
pumped through my heart. It replaced my blood, spiraling through my body from
the insistent penetration of Ivan’s teeth in my throat. Helpless against the
crashing waves, I relinquished my last hold on consciousness and sank into the
hot, tarry sea of oblivion.
About the Author:
Jeffe
Kennedy took the crooked road to writing, stopping off at neurobiology,
religious studies and environmental consulting before her creative writing
began appearing in places like Redbook, Puerto del Sol, Wyoming Wildlife, Under
the Sun and Aeon. An erotic novella, Petals and Thorns, came out under her pen
name of Jennifer Paris in 2010, heralding yet another branch of her path, into
erotica and romantic fantasy fiction. Since then, an erotic short, Feeding the
Vampire, and another erotic novella, Sapphire, have hit the shelves.
Her
contemporary fantasy novel, Rogue’s Pawn, book one in A Covenant of Thorns,
will be published in July, 2012. Jeffe lives in Santa Fe, with two Maine coon
cats, a border collie, plentiful free-range lizards and frequently serves as a
guinea pig for an acupuncturist-in-training. Find her on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/Author.Jeffe.Kennedy)
and Twitter (@jeffekennedy) or visit her at her website http://jeffekennedy.com/.
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