Category: vampires

Spotlight on In Too Deep

From the author of Enslaved, Just Ink Press brings you R.C. Murphy’s vampires in her latest book, In Too Deep, the second in her vampire trilogy. Watch out for those Council Elders! They’re a pretty nasty bunch.

NOTE: In Too Deep is paranormal horror with a touch of romance and graphic details when it comes to the horror aspect.



Blurb:
Meghan Sterling—CIA agent.
For six months, she’s been living in Central California under the name Clara Osbourne—and not by choice. The Cold War is over; however, she’s still tasked with infiltrating a potential cell of Russian sympathizers, possibly ex-KGB operatives. The CIA has heard they’ve found a way to render the vast agricultural hub of Fresno, California useless, tainting the produce as well as beef, milk, and poultry produced in the county.


The problem is, the CIA has Meghan following the wrong group. She doesn’t realize their mistake until she’s already in too deep and working with Jarlan and his partner, Rich, in what she thinks is a security company guarding Emerald Produce. She’d never have guessed they were vampires. Until Jarlan forgets she’s off the lunch menu and attacks.


Meghan helps Jarlan control his bloodlust, but she can’t ignore her duty to her country. Someone in California wants to wreak havoc on the economy and food supply. If it isn’t the vampires, then who is it?


EXCERPT:
February 1992

Fog in California’s Central Valley was a creature not to be trifled with. It swallowed up buildings, cars, and people without a second thought. The fog took more lives than automatic weapons. A trickster on par with Loki, it manipulated distances, making people believe they had plenty of time to slow down, when in actuality they were seconds from becoming intimate with the rear bumper of a semi truck. Surviving the fog was the most difficult part of life in the valley. Or so Meghan thought.
Meghan Sterling tugged the scarf around her neck tighter and tucked the ends into the too-big uniform jacket hanging off her shoulders. Cold crept in on the heels of the fog. The warehouse parking lot she patrolled was damp, freezing, and didn’t make her job any easier. Whose brilliant idea was it to become a security guard? She cursed and shoved her gloved hands in her pockets. It was time to make another pass around the back quarter of the property. Whoop-dee-doo. More weeds and fog. And being forced to deal with the two men stuck working the graveyard shift with her.
Walking with her chin tucked into her scarf, Meghan made her way to the rear of the massive warehouse. Why farmers were so protective of a warehouse full of oranges, she had no clue. The money paid her expenses, but it wasn’t worth the frostbite and vampire-like work hours. She’d need a month-long vacation on the beach when the job was finished.
“Let’s grab a bite to eat,” a male voice said from around the corner of the warehouse.
Meghan stopped before she stepped into view, listening to her coworkers, despite the lack of movement, which made her colder. She had no desire to trade not-so-witty banter with them any time soon. They were okay on the eyes, actually possessed brains, but ran out of non-manly things to talk about after five seconds in her company. She couldn’t make herself pretend to be interested in the Superbowl.
“All you think about is your stomach, Jarlan. Give it a rest. We’re not done here. You can eat on the way home.”
“I’m tired of fast food. When’s the last time you sat down to a nice warm meal, Rich?”
“Too long to remember, but we agreed to this job. We can’t leave Clara to watch the place by herself.”
Jarlan laughed. “She’d piss herself watching shadows if she knew the truth.”
Meghan held her breath. Six months of lurking and waiting were about to pay off. She tucked in closer to the warehouse wall. The heel of her boot caught a pebble and ground it into the asphalt. The noise was deafening to her ears. This is why I’m not a ninja.
Cover blown, she plastered a smile on her face and stepped out to meet them near the back door, measuring her pace so it didn’t look like she’d been listening in. “Have the oranges turned into man-eating monsters yet?”
Rich shook his head and grinned. “No, not yet. All’s quiet here. What about the front, Clara?”
Meghan rolled her eyes, afraid for just a second they’d stick from the cold. “Not even a roach. What’s the point of babysitting produce at three in the morning?”
“Money.” Jarlan clapped Rich on the shoulder with one of his massive hands.
Could the guy be any bigger? He should be in the WWF, not in the middle of nowhere California. Then again, if he was who she thought he was, his size had a purpose. She needed to keep an eye on him.
“Money isn’t everything, friend.” Rich tucked a strand of his long brown hair into the knit cap pulled down over his ears. “We’re almost done for the night. Will you be okay by yourself until dawn?”
Nodding, Meghan waved them off. “Nothing ever happens out here. If something does, I’ll eat my boots.”
Jarlan’s hazel eyes fell to her feet. “Not much leather there. You’d have better luck getting a full meal out of a rat. They’re big enough out here, away from the city.”
Rats? Meghan had been trained to face a lot of things, but rats made her skin crawl with their naked tails and sharp teeth. Out in the sticks, they were the size of cats. She stole a look around the employee parking lot. Something skittered over the pavement near the eastern fence line. Her shoulders tensed. Please, don’t let it be a rat. She’d much rather face anyone stupid enough to cut the fence with three security guards standing in eyeshot.
A leaf tumbled into the jaundiced light puddled on the asphalt. Meghan shook her head and rolled her shoulders to shake off the tension.
The big man laughed. “Try not to bludgeon any foliage to death while we’re gone. If something posing an actual threat does come along, use the phone in the guard’s office. Stay out of the warehouse. Without the code, you’ll send an alert to the police and I’ll be stuck doing enough paperwork to level a forest. Take care, Clara.”
About the Author
R.C. Murphy spends her nights writing urban fantasy novels and a slew of short stories for her blog, The Path of a Struggling Writer. By day she is a not so mild-mannered housewife, wrangling vampires, demons, and various other nasty creatures. R.C. has joined forces with fellow writers, artists, and actors to form the Zombie Survival Crew where she reviews movies, TV shows, as well as penning articles on important survival skills.
Blog | Twitter | Facebook | Zombie Survival Crew | Just Ink Press
Email: RC.Murphy5150 (at) gmail (dot) com

Have You Met Tracy H. Kitts?

Why vampires and do they have to be naked?
By
Tracey H. Kitts
A lot of people (relatives in particular) have asked me why I write so much about vampires. I write werewolves too, but vamps seem to draw the most attention. At least, it gets the most questions. The truth is, I write what I like. When I was in school I read every book that had anything to do with vampires. Anything I could get my hands on that had vampires in it, I read it so thoroughly it could be considered studying. I also wrote a few short and semi-erotic stories about werewolves just for fun. Of course, they weren’t up to par with what is considered erotica now, but it was pretty sexy to me and my friends.
I always knew that I wanted to write professionally some day. It wasn’t something that just came to me out of the blue or something I did on a whim. Everything I have ever done in my life I have viewed as “good writing material.” I knew that each experience, whether it was a job or a relationship that went wrong, would somehow end up in my books. In the case of bad relationships, it could be considered therapy. Ha. Ha. Of course, names have been changed to protect the guilty, but there are a few of those along the way.
Since I always knew I wanted to write and I have always been drawn to vampires, it seemed only logical to me that’s what I’d write about. The other question I get even more often than, “Why vampires?” is “Why sex?”
The short answer: Why not?
Now, for something more in depth:  I love science fiction, but find it grossly lacking in sex. Ha. Seriously, I enjoy a good story but what I also enjoy is a good romance. I used to read the really old romances, the ones you could find at garage sales and such. So, they were really outdated and for my tastes, too … sweet. I wanted a heroine who could kick ass and take names. I wanted someone I could identify with. Someone who wasn’t “pure as the driven snow,” and all that crap. I wanted someone real.
Of course, I also wanted a hero who was sexy beyond imagination. I don’t want the guy next door. Let’s face it, unless Hugh Jackman lives next door, none of us are really interested in normal guys, are we?
I also have a deep love of fantasy. So, you take all that, mix it together (shaken, not stirred) and you get paranormal romance. Paranormal romance is really an adventure for women. We just happen to find romance to be part of the adventure.


I write what I like to read. Why would I try to sell something to someone if I didn’t even like it myself? That’s ridiculous. I love vampires and if we get them alone in the story, someone bettertell me what they look like naked! I don’t know about you, but I’d feel cheated otherwise. Of course, I’m okay with waiting for such a moment (like in the case of a series, which I enjoy writing). But once we get there, I want details. Ha. Ha.
The last and probably best answer I could give is this: Writing is wish fulfillment and so is reading. Who hasn’t fantasized about living forever with some gorgeous hunk? Tall, dark and immortal sounds pretty darn good to me. To never grow old, never get sick and die. And let us not forget, eternal love. I think these are all pretty strong fantasies that most people can identify with, even if they don’t get into the whole, “Bite me,” thing.
Unfortunately, in the area where I live most people just see it as macabre. For the rest of the fang bait™ out there (like myself), please check out my latest release. LOL For everyone else, I do hope we can move beyond that some day.
My latest release is Bitten and it’s available at Amazon.
For more information me and my books, you can find me at www.traceyhkitts.com

Switching Heads

I’ve decided to do something I’ve never done before, and to be honest I’m a little nervous. I’m writing the sequel to Day Shift (tentatively titled Blood Rush) from the hero’s POV rather than the heroine. First person certainly isn’t new for me but writing from a man’s perspective is. I’ve considered it a few times, and written third person stories where part of the story is from the guy’s frame of mind (Resignation), but writing totally in Greg’s head is very…different. So far I’m just over 3,000 words in and I think it’s going well. So, here’s a little teaser. Let me know what you think.

Prologue
The sound of flesh striking flesh woke me before the stinging slap burned my cheek. I gasped in a lungful of air that made me cough it right back out. I was dying, which wasn’t necessarily a bad thing, considering. I’d had a good run, saved a few lives, pissed off a few people and left as little damage behind as possible. Collateral damage they called it, but complete and total fuckery is what it really amounted to. In my line of work, losing an innocent kid to the sick fucks currently beating the shit out of me had happened on occasion. I’d be damned if I let it happen again.
“You awake, sheep fucker?”
Oh yeah. It had happened again and now I was stuck with the assholes responsible.
“Fuck you,” I croaked back.
I didn’t even recognize my own broken voice. They’d starved and beaten me, left me without water or blood for days, then beat me again.
The vampire before me was a big, beefy fucker with meat-cleaver hands. They hurt like fuck when he hit me but I wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of flinching.
“No thanks. I heard you like to fuck sheep. No telling what I might catch.”
He thought that was not only clever, but fucking hilarious. I watched through swollen eyes as he laughed and reared back to swing again.
“Enough, Marco. We don’t wish him dead…at this time.”
The cultured voice that cut off Marco’s fun belonged to the biggest sick fuck of them all, the man I’d been sent in to watch. Some days I wished I wasn’t a cop so I could do more than watch men like him.
“Yes, sir,” Marco said before stepping back.
His boss, the leader of the Blood Martyr’s southern division, Jonathan Crosby, stepped forward into the ring of light given off by a single harsh bulb hanging from the ceiling.
“You have no idea what you have done, stepping into the hornet’s nest, Mr. Parsons.”
“Detective…Parsons…you sick…fuck.”
He smirked before throwing a glance over his shoulder at Marco.
“He does have a mouth on him. Perhaps it’s time we did something about that.”
Marco chuckled as Crosby stepped back into the shadows again. They had already whipped me, burned me, shocked me and tried to drown me. What the fuck could they possibly do next?
No sooner had the thought crossed my mind when the most glorious scent filled my nostrils. Sweet and fresh, like newly baked bread, I inhaled greedily despite the pain n my chest.
“Ah yeah, lookit, boss. He’s getting hungry.”
I knew the joy in Marco’s voice couldn’t be a good thing, but I’d been too long without human food or blood to care. I was hungry, fucking starving to be honest, and whatever they had brought into the room smelled like heaven.
“We’ll see how long this hungry sheep-lover can resist a little human sustenance.”
And then I knew what they’d brought.
Marco moved back into the shadows with Crosby, pushing a bundle of cloth towards the chair I was strapped into. I looked down at the trembling blanket, inhaling its sweet scent no matter how hard I fought it. My fangs ached and my stomach growled, I wouldn’t be able to hold out much longer. Crosby leaned forward and snatched back the cloth to reveal a pretty little human girl with bright red hair. Her face was puffy from crying and her eyes were tightly shut.
“There you are, Parsons,” Crosby said. “I know you’re hungry and I know you want to prove your loyalty to the Martyrs. Here’s your chance to satisfy both.”
Hunger crawled through my gut like a snake full of venom until all I could think about was how sweet the first drop of warm blood would taste. I shook my head and breathed through my mouth to escape her enticing scent.
She’s only four and her name is Libby.
I repeated her information in my mind like a mantra as I continued to shake my head back and forth.
“No? No?” Now Crosby was pissed. “How about we make a deal then, hmm? I’ll take this little sheep back to her parents and bring you a bigger catch. Oh, but there’s just one thing. The other treat I have in store isn’t human.”
He cackled like a B-movie villain as the door swung open again. A gasp sounded like a gunshot in the room, but even that brief sound had the hair rising on my arms.
“No. No! Motherfuckers! That better not be my sister, Crosby, or I’ll—“
“You’ll what, Parsons? Run back to the chief of police? Tell the media?” he laughed. “Don’t be an idiot. You’ll drink from one of these offerings to prove your loyalty or your sister dies. It’s that simple.”
I closed my eyes though they’d barely been open from the swelling of the numerous beatings over the past few days. My sister sniffed, the scent of her tears acrid in my nose. I had no choice. All I could really do was make it as quick and painless for the little human girl as possible. I straightened against the hardwood chair and looked up at Crosby.
“Give her to me.”
He smiled, showing dried blood on his teeth, and that image followed me into years of nightmares.

Day Shift now Available!

It’s here!!!!!
This may be the new release I’ve been the most excited about ever. It took a few years for me to decide to write vampires. Mostly because they’re very overdone, but also because I was leery of writing a type of character with so many preconceived characteristics. One of the first things I decided was that mine would be different. I didn’t want them to be dead or evil, allergic to garlic or the sun. I also think it’s silly to pretend a vampire’s bite won’t hurt. And orgasmic? Yeah right.


So, here it is finally. My vampire world is now available as the novella Day Shift. I hope you like it 😉

Introducing My Vampires

I know I’ve been threatening for almost a year now, but the waiting is nearly over. I will soon begin edits on my first vampire novella, to be published through Samhain in the Fall. If you visit my site there is a little bit of info on the characters. I promise to post the blurb as soon as I get the go ahead to do so.

Character Review #5: Quinn O’Conor

Welcome to my fifth character review where I discuss Keri Arthur‘s HOT vampire Quinn O’Conor. If you have no clue who he is, then you obviously haven’t picked up any books in the Riley Jensen series. Riley herself is half vampire, half werewolf, and a sexy, female guardian that can kick ass with the best of them. In the very first book of her series, Full Moon Rising, we get to meet Quinn, a much older vampire that has all kinds of secrets.

I have to admit that once we got to know Quinn I didn’t like him very much. He wasn’t very nice to Riley and made it pretty damn obvious that he was using her. His reluctant desire for her just pissed me off and every time she gave in I wanted to take away her bad-ass chic card. However, losing her seemed to be the best thing for him (sorry for the spoiler). I haven’t read the entire series. In fact the book I’m giving away is the last one I bought but never actually read. Why have I “broken up” with this series? I honestly don’t know. My tastes as a reader have changed and at the moment I’m not curious enough about what happens next to read Deadly Desire. However, Keri Arthur is an awesome writer and I highly recommend her to every reader of paranormal romance and hot urban fantasy. Most likely I’ll decide in a couple of months that I must know what happens and buy the last three books.

So, let’s talk about Quinn. He is a standard vampire in that he drinks blood, avoids the sun and is centuries old. He is intelligent and cunning which can be frustrating when he uses Riley for what he believes to be a higher purpose. He has lots of money, lots of charm and he is HOT! As I stated earlier he does eventually redeem himself (well, as far as I read in the series) and treats Riley better. He turns from asshole to hero and is the character that stood out to me the most in this series. If you haven’t met him yet, I recommend you pick up at least the first book to do so.

Has there been a character that made you mad at the beginning of a series, only to redeem him or herself later on? Comment below with your answer and include your email address. You may win a copy of Deadly Desire! I’ll pick my winner on Tuesday evening. Good luck!

Character Review #2: Dark Ones

Welcome to my second character review. I hope you enjoyed last week’s post about Carpathians. This week I’m talking about a different but similar type of character known as a Moravian Dark One. Who are these mysterious men that share blood-sucking tendencies with a plethora of other characters in fiction? They are Katie MacAlister‘s take on the vampire, and they are hot, hot, hot! For this giveaway I’m offering Zen and the Art of Vampires. It’s not the first of the series, but it does start a story of it’s own with human character Pia Thomason. As usual, it can be read as a stand-alone novel.

So, what do I like and dislike about the Dark Ones? Firstly, they’re very close to the traditional ideal of a vampire: soulless, bloodsucking, night-roaming men searching for that one special woman who can redeem them. Okay…maybe not entirely. I’ve enjoyed Katie MacAlister’s books for a few years now. Her historicals, contemporaries and other paranormal novels usually have me crying from laughing at the messes her quirky heroines always get stuck in. She keeps that same vein in the ladies of the Dark Ones novels. For the men, the actual vampires, she adds mystery and an alpha streak that is close to believable. Her Dark Ones are not chest-beating, male-chauvinistic characters (well…not all of them). They use logic and valid arguments to woo their “Beloveds”, even the non-human ones. Overall, I’ve enjoyed all of the Dark Ones novels. I can’t say they are my all -time favorite vampires, but they’re definitely worth a read.

Have you read any of the Dark Ones novels? What did you think? Are they your ideal of a good, romantic vampire? Comment below and you’ll be entered to win a copy of Zen and the Art of Vampires. Please include your email address. The winner will be posted on Wednesday. Good luck!

I’m Writing Vampires…

It’s kind of a new thing for me, writing vampire characters into a story. My current work in progress is actually set in a world where vamps are just another race of people, living alongside humans and having to deal with prejudices and fears. They’re actually the ruling class and the entire world runs on a different clock where daylight hours are when everything shuts down. I’ve written in first person again, this time from the POV of Zaria Stonewell, a human trying to survive in the vamp run society. Here’s a little taste:

            I eyed my landlord warily, noting the coffee stains on his white tank top. His dark jeans were so full of holes it was a wonder he hadn’t been arrested for indecent exposure. A stranger would think he was homeless rather than the owner of several businesses.
            “Yeah, Joe. You know I work day shift.”
            He grunted and licked his teeth with a sound that grated on my nerves.
            “I know, I know. Sucks to be you.”
            I waited almost a full minute in silence as he seemed to be searching for something else to say. Finally the suspense was too much for me. “Did you need something?”
            He seemed to think it over before raising one bony shoulder in a lazy shrug. “Just checking up on one of my favorite humans.”
            I fought the urge to shiver in disgust and slam the door in his face.
            “I’m cool, Joe. Just gotta finish getting ready for work.”
            He straightened and for a second I thought he meant to take a step into my apartment. I was blocking the doorway but with his vampire strength he could easily force his way in. I tensed, fighting down my inherent fear. Joe’s nostrils flared and he tilted his head. The overhead light danced across his elongated pupils, causing the inhuman sheen to spark for a second. I never forgot for a single moment that he was a predator.
            He smiled as if reading my thoughts and took a step back. “No problem, chica. Catch you later.”
            He turned and was gone in a rustle of cloth, the smell of old cigarettes drifting lazily after him. I released a breath I hadn’t meant to hold and closed the door. I rubbed my hands up and down my arms in a vain attempt to dispel goose bumps and returned to my toast.
            “Fucking vampires.”

I’m at 43,089 words with a goal of 50K. Hopefully it will be done by this weekend for a final read through and submission. I’ll keep ya’ll posted.