Welcome Michele Hauf!

What a wonderful Friday treat, to welcome fantastic and prolofic paranormal romance author, Michele Hauf! Welcome, Michele!

I love a good party!  Especially when the guests of honor are flashing a little fang.  But is it all right if I tote a few angels along with me?  Well, one angel and just a tiny little demon.  She's not that big; she won't hurt anyone.  Unless she sees the muscle-strapped angel, then all bets are off.  Because this demon is the heroine of my latest paranormal romance, FALLEN, and she's out to slay the hero, who is a fallen angel.  Will they ever get along?  It's a pretty good possibility.  J

But enough about those two. This party is about vampires, and yes, there are vamps in FALLEN as well.  Mean ones.  Vindictive ones.  The kind of vampires who live underground in the tunnels beneath Paris because they can't do sunlight.  They really want to walk in the light, though, so they're trying to get their hands on a fallen angel and his muse, because when those two get together, a nephilim could be born.  I promise no nephilim at this party!  Because that would be the ultimate party crasher.

So back into the party groove…  What I want to know is: If you were invited to the elite vampire party of the year, and could invite one famous vamp along with you, who would it be?  I think I'd have to go for the big guy, Dracula, but if I could invite one of my own vamps, it would definitely be Creed Saint-Pierre (Her Vampire Husband).  I have a set of my vamp stories to give away to one commenter: Her Vampire Husband, Seducing The Vampire, and Forever Vampire.

Excerpt from FOREVER VAMPIRE:

One would expect a faery fetish shop to look as though a faery had exploded all over the place, and Lyric was not disappointed. So much color hurt her eyes. The spectrum electrified, the rainbow would be put to shame by the vivid color.

        No sparkles—the faery would obviously provide that—but plenty of see-through stuff in indiscernible fabrics.  The walls and racks were hung with fluttery, slinky, sexy things she couldn't resist touching.  Some fabrics were cool, others warm.  Some liquefied between her fingers and she dropped the fabric thinking she held water, but the bright material simply dropped in a graceful sweep.  Intricate laces in all colors had been fashioned into strange designs that emulated flowers, insects, and horned creatures.

        The Seelie gown would have been the jewel amongst this dazzle.  She hoped being here wouldn't remind Vail to get tough with her about that. She really needed to contact Leo, see if he'd been successful in his search to help her.

        "This one."  Vail handed her a weightless bit of fabric.  Truly out of place in his dark attire and sunglasses, he commanded her attention with but a few words.  "Over there."  He pointed to what looked like a wall of leaves, but when Lyric approached she figured the dressing room was behind all the verdant greenery.

        The dress Vail had handed her was thin and felt as if it would tear if she twitched, but it was gorgeous.  A deep crimson, it hugged her body as if a second skin.  It was too risqué, for her nipples were plainly visible and it had an a-line cut right across her groin that emphasized her flat belly and the place where Vail had enjoyed putting his tongue.  It felt snuggly though, as if a sweater, even for its thinness.

        She turned and checked out the back view in the mirror.  Did her ass really look that good?  Her smile reflected back at her.

        Wait.

        Lyric turned and pressed her palms to the mirror.  Her reflection gaped at her.  "I can see myself?  What the—?"

         Must be some kind of magic faery mirror. Or—who cared?  She could see herself.  She hadn't been able to see her reflection since her first blood hunger. And looking in a pool of water, which was possible, always distorted her features.

        Tilting her head, Lyric smiled at what she saw. Bright blue eyes and a fine nose. Not so bad, she thought. The moment took away her breath. Even without makeup she liked what she saw.

        "Not so bad," she muttered to her reflection.  "Kinda pretty."

        "Kinda pretty?"  Vail popped his head in through the leaves, and she stepped aside to invite him in.

        "I can see myself in the mirror," she pointed out the obvious.

        "Yeah, it's a genuine sidhe mirror.  But just kinda pretty?  Lyric."  Standing behind her, he slid his palms over her hips, and looked over her shoulder into the mirror. "You are gorgeous."

        "It's been so long," she muttered, caught on the reflected image.  Was that a tear burning at the corner of her eye?

        He slicked back his hair and winked at his reflection.  "Pretty damn sexy myself."

        The bad boy at his finest.  Lyric smirked and he winked back at her.

        "So tell me why you don't do a riot of color, Mr. Dark Lord?  I can't imagine black is a popular color in Faery."

        "True, I identify with Faery."  He adjusted his tie knot in the mirror. "But you might say I'm on a protest of sorts.  I wear black because it is everything Faery is not.  I don't need a reminder of what I once had."

        She tapped the spikes running down his jacket sleeve.

        "Well," he added, "a little flash is necessary.  The mortal realm can be so dull."

        She tilted her head against his shoulder. "We make a good looking couple."

        "We do."

        They stared at one another's reflections, and Lyric could almost imagine they were a real couple, until Vail stuck out his tongue at them both.

        "Here."  He reached outside the leaf curtain, and returned to hand her a pair of high heels.  "I picked these out for you."

        Five-inch stripper heels appealed to her inner nasty.  It looked like tooled violet leather, but what kind of animal it had come from was anyone's guess.  "Gorgeous," she said.  "Too pretty to wear any place but…"

        "But?"

        She whispered, "Only place to wear these shoes is in bed."

        "I can arrange for that to happen."

        "I bet you can.  Come out and model for me," he said, and slipped out of the dressing room.

        Lyric gave one last glance to her face, winked at her sassy self, then swished aside the dressing room curtain.  Striding out in the complete outfit, she posed for Vail.  His eyes dropped right to her breasts, and then her slender waist, before traveling down her legs to inspect the bedroom-worthy shoes.

        "Passable?" she asked, finding she preferred her reflection expressed in Vail's eyes to that of the mirror's.

        He grabbed her by the neck and devoured her mouth in a claiming kiss that perked her nipples hard against his crisp black shirt.  Sliding her hand down his chest, she grabbed his hip and pulled him to her, while hooking a leg up aside his thigh.

        The man could kiss.  Nothing tentative or weak, he took what he wanted and made damn sure she did the same.  It was impossible not to like the guy, despite his wanting to ruin her life by bringing her home, and ultimately, right back to the Unseelie lord's hands.

        "It's almost perfect," he offered.

        "Almost?"

        He grabbed something from a wall display. "I think you should add this." 

        Dangling from the middle of one finger sporting chipped black polish, he displayed a thin red braided collar with spikes on it. A delicate silver chain trailed three feet in length. 

        "I thought you said this wasn't a normal fetish store?"

        He moved to put it around her neck.

        Lyric swiped it from him.  "I don't think so, big boy.  That's not my scene."

        "Come on.  It's a look."

        "Oh yeah?"  She threaded the collar about his neck and snapped it to a snug fit.  A tug of the chain pulled up his wicked sexy sneer.  "Can this work for you?"

        He flexed his shoulders and his neck strained against the red collar.  It looked a slice of blood above the somber black shirt collar. 

        The vampire who could scare any mortal shitless, not to mention most other vampires, glared at her.  He looked ready to blow, his eyes narrowing viciously—then he nodded.  "Works for me."

To win the set of Michele's books, Her Vampire Husband, Seducing The Vampire, and Forever Vampire, answer her question: If you were invited to the elite vampire party of the year, and could invite one famous vamp along with you, who would it be? The contest closes at midnight tonight EST and the winner will be announced tomorrow on this thread.

 

Hunting Karoly

All this vampire talk over the last week has got me thinking of the very first vampire story I wrote - a tongue-in-cheek tribute to the genre I loved :). A novella originally published as Undead Men Wear Plaid, and is now expanded a bit and reissued by Ellora's Cave as Hunting Karoly.

My vampire hero is lazy, bored and lonely - and mouth-wateringly gorgeous. In search of pastures new, he's rolled up in Glasgow, Scotland, where, dressed in an antique kilt, he hangs around wedding receptions, imagining he blends in with the locals. Jenny, my no-nonsesne heroine, is struggling to believe she has the psychic powers she's been told she has. Until she runs into Karoly and recognizes him instantly as a vampire. Anyway, here's a snippet to entertain you!

HUNTING KAROLY  By MARIE TREANOR,
Now available from Ellora's Cave

Also available in the paperback anthology: SEDUCING SCOTS

By MARIE TREANOR, from Ellora's Cave.

You’re not meant to fall for the bad guy…are you?

On the rain-soaked, famously mean streets of Glasgow, Jenny, a reluctant psychic, hunts Karoly, a dangerous but incredibly sexy vampire. Clad only in his antique kilt, he hangs around wedding receptions, biting the guests and seducing an unsuspecting vampire hunter—Jenny in particular. Half ready to stake him, half ready to beg him to have sex with her again, Jenny sets out to hunt Karoly.

After amazing, intense sex and a dramatic exit from Glasgow, he follows Jenny to London, fueling both her growing awareness of her psychic powers and the hot, sexy dreams that fill her nights, leaving.  When he shows up at Jenny’s workplace, cooking for her friends and apparently determined to share her life, Jenny has to figure out who’s hunting whom—and if she’s ready to share her life with the evil, sexy, gorgeous undead.   

Excerpt:

    He knew that I knew. Slowly, a smile began to form on his full, sensual lips and the terror galloped through me till I thought I would be completely crushed.

    Then a lamp clicked on by the window, causing both me and the vampire to look across the room. Bathed in light, Maggie got up from a sofa, still in her fine white wedding gown—not quite spotless, since someone had spilled red wine on the sleeve, but still looking pretty regal.

    “Hi Jenny.” She walked straight past me. If she noticed her best man clutched in the arms of the kilted vampire, she didn’t mention it. “Back to the guests, I suppose…”

    Fear for her finally broke through my torpor. Why had she been sitting there motionless in the dark, unless…? My mouth opened to demand if he had hurt her, but something—the dull, objectionable training perhaps?—stopped me. Maggie was walking and talking and leaving the source of the danger. Davie was not.

    I turned back to the vampire.

    “Let him go,” I said hoarsely. I was surprised any words came out at all. I was even more surprised when the vampire obeyed, casually releasing the best man so that he slumped gracefully to the floor, revealing a long expanse of muscled thigh. I just wished I’d seen in it in other circumstances. A thin trickle of blood ran down the side of Davie’s neck into his collar.

    “Is he dead?” I whispered in horror. I don’t know why. It wasn’t as if the vampire was about to call an ambulance.

    Astonishingly enough, the evil one answered me.

    “Of course not,” he said irritably. “Why would I leave dead bodies lying around?”

    His voice was another shock. Smooth, deep in timbre, curiously beautiful and yet with accents that came perilously close to Bela Lugosi.

    “Oh please!” I said, rolling my eyes. “How gullible do you think I am?”

    The vampire misunderstood. Frowning, he said, “For your information, he’s asleep because he is dead drunk. And he tastes disgusting!”

    He kept the accent. More worrying, he started to walk toward me, his kilt swinging subtly with his graceful, cat-like movements, for all the world confusing evil demon with noble Highland warrior.

    His words, however, were merely carping. “What is the matter with the people in this town? What do they eat, for God’s sake?”

    “Meat and cakes,” I said, surprising myself as much as him. He actually paused in his stride to stare at me.

    “What?”

    “And chips,” I babbled. “Lots of chips. No fresh fruit or vegetables. Curry.”

    For a second, a frown puckered his smooth, pale brow. Then, to my amazement, a definite glint of amusement sparked in his inhumanly cold eyes. They shifted to my throat. “Thank you for taking the trouble to answer me. Do you eat your vegetables?”

:) Marie

Welcome Bonnie Dee!

As our guest of honour today, I'm delighted to welcome the very talented Bonnie Dee, my partner in the Fairytale Fantasies series at Samhain, and multi-published author in many genres, including, most recently, the vampire menage tale, Vampires' Consort.  Pull up a drink. Bonnie, and tell us about your vampire world!

Vampires: Day or Night Walkers? 

We tend to think of vampires as creatures of the night, barred forever from sunlight. There’s something tragically romantic about that which seizes our imaginations. Eternal life lived forever in darkness. I think female readers in particular like the idea of the heroine being the “sunlight” the vampire hero has lost. She brings light into his cold, dark existence, hope to his hopeless emo-brooding self.

But the idea of vampires only walking at night isn’t a given. In Bram Stoker’s Dracula, I recall a scene set in daylight, albeit a foggy day, when Dracula is outdoors. In current works like the Twilight series, vampires don’t appear to be allergic to sunlight at all, although it does make ’em sparkle so prettily. And where would the Salvatore brothers in The Vampire Diaries be without their super decoder rings that allow them to walk by day? The plot would move a lot more slowly if they could only come out at night. Plus it would make it impossible for 100-year-old Stefan to attend high school with his girlfriend—not that they ever actually go to class in Mystic Falls.

I may have some issues with the over-the-top craziness of True Blood, but I wholeheartedly approve of the way those vamps sizzle and smoke like bacon in sunlight. Ditto the blood-suckers in Buffy and Angel. Yes, I have to say I’m a much bigger fan of night-slinking predators than day-walking supermen. How about you?

In my recent ménage story, Vampires’ Consort, I have a vampire hero who chooses to spend much of his time at a most unlikely location, a tropical island. He may not be able to walk in the light but Valarian Kaspan loves to experience it in a house with specially treated windows with a gorgeous ocean view from every one.

The consort in the story is Akila Massri, average American girl of Egyptian descent, who is approached by a stranger in a supermarket one day and offered an invitation to join Valarian at his tropical retreat. The bearer of this invitation is Jacob Baum, thrall to the vampire and the third side of this romantic triangle. Thralls don’t get much mention these days in vamp lore, but in early tales you might recall that the creatures of the night had servants who did their bidding in daylight. I thought rather than have Akila paired with two vampires, it would make a more interesting dynamic to include a man caught in a sort of limbo, a man with a love-hate relationship with his master.

As a thrall, Jacob has some extra powers although he’s definitely not as strong as Valarian. He can’t take too much full-on sunlight but he won’t burn to a crisp if he catches a few rays. Part of him regrets his pact with the master and wishes to make a change in his life, but he also recognizes that they’re linked forever—or until one of them turns to dust. How does a woman wedge herself into a relationship that strong? By not detracting from it, merely enhancing it. Thus a pair becomes a threesome.

Here’s a blurb from Vampires’ Consort, followed by an excerpt that introduces the main characters. Drop a comment for a chance to win a copy of Vampires’ Consort.

One riveting glance from the handsome stranger stalking her in the supermarket shakes Akila Massri down to her soul. And when Jacob Baum hands her an engraved invitation to visit his billionaire employer’s retreat, curiosity—and the need to pay off her student loans—overcomes the instinct to refuse.

Once on Valarian Kaspan’s private tropical island, her dark and deadly host confronts her with several incredible facts. Vampires exist. Her Egyptian ancestry traces back to the sun god, Ra. And her bloodline is critical to the future of mankind.

From his thrall’s heated reaction to the supple-limbed Akila, Valarian is certain she is destined to mingle his Genghis Kahn bloodline with that of Ra. As a vampire, Valarian is sterile; it is through Jacob that a prophesied savior of mankind will be born.

As Akila tries to wrap her mind around all this, she finds herself caught up in a whirlwind of erotic passion for two, very complicated men. When they all come together, something powerful unfolds within her. Something that makes her the target of evil vampires who plan to use her—and her unborn—to erase humans’ very existence from the earth…

Excerpt:

Akila glanced at her silent companion, sitting beside her as if there were only two seats available in this empty eight-passenger Leer. Jacob looked even sexier today than she had when she’d first met him. He was wearing a plain white Oxford button down over another T-shirt. Apparently, the man liked layers and long sleeves even in this humid Florida weather.

“How long have you worked for Mr. Kaspan?” She watched a flicker of emotion chase across his face like a cloud on a windy day.

“Too long,” he said dryly.

“You don’t like him?”

The corner of his mouth drew up and his eyelids slightly lowered. “That’s beside the point.”

Oh, so their relationship went beyond employer and employee. She could sense sex in those bedroom eyes. Gay, then? But no, she’d definitely caught an appreciative look in his eyes when he’d examined her and she was rarely wrong about male interest in her. He must bat for both teams.

“You’re tired of him, but you can’t leave him,” she guessed.

A quick widening of his eyes told her she’d nailed the crux of their relationship with one blow.

“Mr. Kaspan is a fair employer. I’m compensated well for what I do.” He went stiff and formal trying to backpedal from that admission of “too long”, but it was too late. Akila had glimpsed an emotion, a disgruntled impatience he preferred to keep hidden from his boss and possible lover. This knowledge gave her a little bit of power and she liked that.

Settling back into the comfortable seat, she took a sip from the bottled water Jacob had given her. “It’s all right. Your secret’s safe with me. I know what it’s like to get that ‘moving on’ feeling but not be ready to go yet. It happens in both jobs and relationships.”

“You’re very perceptive.”

“Thank you.”

“Sometimes it’s better to keep your perceptions to yourself.” He turned the full force of his gaze on her and Akila suddenly felt like a child who’d been prodding a lion with a stick.

“You really have no idea who or what you’re dealing with,” he added. “A wise man keeps his mouth shut and his ears open.”

God, she just couldn’t help herself. She had to poke again. “But a wise woman ferrets out the truth by asking the right question.”

She could hear herself being obnoxious, but couldn’t turn it off. When she was nervous she grew even more smart-assed than usual. And despite her attempts to appear at ease, she was pretty damn nervous right now. Her mother used to say her outspokenness would get her into trouble some day. This might just be that day.

“Sorry. You’re right, I don’t know anything about you or your…employer.” Akila tried to patch things up and even then she couldn’t help the little pause that gave the word “employer” a whole other meaning. “But you could tell me something about him. I’d like to know a little about what I’m walking into.”

Jacob paused a long moment. “There’s really nothing I’m at liberty to say. Mr. Kaspan will explain everything.”

She could tell it was his final word on the matter so she stopped poking and looked out the window at the azure sky above and the sapphire water below. A few seconds later a blob of green appeared in the water. She’d barely had time to decide it was an island and not some coral reef beneath the water when the plane approached a bone-white landing strip. Akila braced herself as if they were coming in for a crash landing. Here we go. What in the hell have I gotten myself into?

The plane touched down, light as a feather, and rolled to a stop.

Jacob rose and ushered her from her seat. “This way, Miss Massri.”

They descended the steps of the plane and Akila stood for a moment, absorbing the tropical sun’s heat and the glorious view that lay before her.

Fantasy Island, indeed. The place was pure paradise. From the airstrip she could see bleached sand and gently breaking surf on one side, emerald green foliage laced with showy tropical blooms on the other.

Jacob carried her bags to a golf cart. They climbed inside and zipped along a path through the trees. The track climbed upward in the cool shade and then broke through into a sunny glade. Gracing the crest of the hill was a huge house with white walls that shone in the sun. A red, clay-tiled roof made a pretty contrast to the harsh white.

Akila thought of every action movie she’d ever seen featuring a drug lord. They always had mansions like this, paid for in blood. For all she knew, Kaspan dabbled in the drug trade too, but he had enough legitimate businesses it hardly seemed necessary. Besides, criminals didn’t usually fund schools, hospitals, orphanages and programs to build roads in third world countries—all philanthropies Kaspan was involved in.

“Home, sweet home, eh?” She glanced at Jacob’s chiseled profile and wondered what he was all about. She couldn’t imagine such a somber man ever having been a playful child. Where had he come from and how had he ended up as the lackey of one of the most powerful men in the world?

She was tired of wondering about things. Patience wasn’t her strong suit and she’d been pondering a million questions ever since that day Baum had handed her the invitation. Kaspan had allowed her little time to consider the offer. The airline tickets had been for the following week, which was just as well or she might have talked herself out of this crazy adventure.

Now here she was, getting out of the golf cart and facing a glossy red door behind a decorative wrought-iron grill. Tendrils of vines grew in a trellis arching over the walkway and plants erupted in lush profusion from beds on either side. The path to the front door meandered invitingly down the tunnel of green. The house was not at all the Gothic mausoleum she’d half expected an eccentric recluse to live in. Akila’s fears were somewhat alleviated by the welcoming atmosphere.

“What a lovely place to live.”

Jacob looked around as though seeing it with fresh eyes. “It is.”

He held the door for her and she walked from the humid heat into the refreshing coolness of the foyer. A fan swept lazily high overhead in the vaulted ceiling and sunlight from a window illuminated the open space. A plush carpet in deep reds and earth tones covered most of the tiled floor. Potted trees and plants brought the outdoors inside.

Akila barely had time to glance at the artwork on the walls or the exotic artifacts scattered here and there before Jacob guided her down a corridor.

“I will take you to your room first so you may refresh yourself before meeting Mr. Kaspan.”

She decided his courtly, almost old-fashioned manner of speech may have been from learning English as a second language. “Are you from Germany? I keep catching a trace of an accent.”

“Yes,” he said. “But I’ve lived many places in the world since then.”

“Mm. I did the European backpacking thing one summer when I was in college, but money’s always been too tight for me to travel much.”

This tropical retreat was a dream come true, especially with icy gray slush still piled alongside the streets back home. Whatever Kaspan wanted, she would enjoy her time here in this paradise for as long as it lasted.

Jacob opened a door and Akila stepped into a room that reminded her of the iridescent inside of an oyster shell. The floor underfoot was covered with dove gray carpet, but the walls were swathed in fabric, the colors of which seemed to shimmer and change as she looked at them. Cool blue, lilac, rose and flashes of green mingled with gray and white. The same colors were picked out in abstract designs on the comforter covering the bed. Embedded in one of the walls was a saltwater tank with fish darting among colorful corals. Entering the room was like stepping into an undersea world.

“This is beautiful,” she murmured, turning in a slow circle to take it all in while Jacob set her suitcase on the bed.

“I’m glad you like it.” Something about the pleased way he accepted her compliment made her look at him.

“Did you design this?”

He shrugged. “Master Kaspan gives me free rein on decorating decisions. It’s my hobby, I suppose you could say.”

Akila studied him. She’d just learned two extremely interesting things. Jacob possessed an artistic streak at odds with his rigid manner and he had slipped and referred to Kaspan not as his boss, but as “master”.

“The bathroom is there.” He indicated a door. “I’ll give you an hour to rest and then take you to see Mr. Kaspan.”

She’d half hoped the man would be waiting at the door so she could get this meeting over with. She should’ve guessed he’d summon her to his throne room.

Jacob turned to leave, then paused and looked back at her. The blue in the room enhanced the vibrant hue of his eyes and Akila saw uncertainty there for the first time.

“I would like to say I’m glad you accepted Mr. Kaspan’s invitation to come here. Even if you don’t choose to go through with his proposal, it was a pleasure meeting you.” Abruptly he lifted her hand and kissed the back of it, then he was out the door before she could say a word.

Akila stared at her hand, feeling the warm, moist pressure of his lips. Her heart pounded as if he’d dipped her into a backbend and kissed the hell out of her. What did he mean by “go through with his proposal”? Now she was more curious than ever about this mystery. God, she couldn’t wait another hour to find out.

But, by the time she’d hung a few clothes in the wardrobe, washed her face, fluffed her short hair, applied a little eyeliner, watched the mesmerizing fish and examined the decorative artifacts throughout the room, the hour was over and Jacob was knocking on her door.

“What’s he like?” she couldn’t help asking, even though she’d know for herself in another minute.

Jacob paused for only a second before answering. “Charismatic. Valarian Kaspan leaves his mark.” A small smile curved his lips as though at some inside joke.

“I feel like I’m about to meet Oz,” Akila said as they approached an open archway. Through it she could see a wall of glass and a stunning view of the ocean.

For once, Jacob understood her reference. “Except Mr. Kaspan is no fraud. He truly is great and powerful.” His tone was almost reverent, a far cry from the frustration she’d sensed earlier. Apparently he was very conflicted about his feelings for his “master”.

Then there was no more time for talking as Jacob ushered her into the large, airy room and she beheld her host. Her first impression was that, despite the generous size of the living room, the dark-haired man seemed to fill it. He sucked up all the oxygen and the light. His eyes, trained on her, were midnight black like his hair and his skin was olive-tone. He was not overly tall, yet seemed enormous and quite overpowering as he strode—no, glided—across the floor toward her.

“Ms. Massri, I’m so pleased you accepted my invitation.”

To be entered in the draw for Bonnie's ebook Vampires' Consort, answer Bonnie's question above: do you prefer day or night walking vampires, and why? Or make some other comment on her post. The contest will end at midnight tonight, and the winner will be announced tomorrow on this thread.



Lust at First Bite

Okay, what is it with those hot, sexy vampires that keeps us coming back for more?

On the face of it, they are hardly the stuff of romantic heroes. They’re dead for a start – have been for centuries in some cases! Some of them live in coffins, lined with their native earth. Traditionally, they’re not fond of running water, so I can’t see many of them washing. And what about laundry? Although I confess I did once have a vampire hero of mine washing his shirt - which, biased as I am, I found quite endearing – I can’t imagine Saloman in the Awakened by Blood novels, doing anything so mundane. My heroine found herself noting in Blood on Silk that Saloman couldn’t have brushed his teeth in three hundred and twelve years. Ew. So, unclean and evil as they are, why in the world are vampires so attractive?

Well, being undead, they don’t do anything so ill-mannered as rotting, like zombies for example. And as far as personal hygiene goes, they need not be “dirty” as in “minging” (to use a good Scots word for filthy or smelly!). But in the world of vampire romance, they are very often “dirty” as in “sexy” – and, yes, we love that!

Vampires have always had a very definite sexual allure. This was understated but definitely present in Bram Stoker’s Dracula, and even in Dracula’s predecessor, John Polidori’s The Vampyre (published back in 1819). And they like to act on it. In today’s steamier romantic fiction, they tend to have voracious sexual appetites intensified by heightened sensitivity. They entice partners and readers alike into their heady, sensual world. They have supernatural power, immortality, eternal youth and superior strength to defeat their enemies and protect those they love, and, of course, the undoubted attraction of the ultimate bad boy. It’s partly this, the forbidden element, that makes the vampire such a wonderful hero of steamy and erotic romance.

Besides, being immortal, they tend to learn a few things about the pleasures of the flesh over the years. And their strength – physical and supernatural - is as irresistible as their attraction.

And so any human heroine of vampire romance, however strong a character she might be, has an excuse for giving in to her lust for evil congress – he really is, literally, impossible to resist, so why try any longer? As a reader as well as a writer, I love that – the build-up of sexual tension, and its final release. And a bit of sexy detail enhances an intensely physical story of this kind. Most modern romance readers need to feel with the heroine – all her conflicts, emotions and desires.

So let’s hear it for all those hot vampires out there! They’re my favourite fantasy, and I hope they’re yours too!

Screen Vampires

OK, who ar your favourite screen vampires? Who makes the best film or tv vamps?

From monster-type vamps like Nosferatu, to the suave, cloaked noblemen like Bela Lugosi's or Christopher Lee's "Dracula", many have been eye-catching and mesmeric in their undead roles. Gary Oldman's Count looked positively bizarre at times, and yet he draws you in and still manages to be tragically sexy by the end.

Of course, things have moved on since the Victorian gentleman idea of a vampire. Now we have undead bikers, teenagers, punks, rockstars. I've confessed before to a soft spot for Angel from Buffy the Vampire Slayer; and for the punkish Spike from the same show. And Tom Cruise as the irrepressible Vampire Lestat from Interview with the Vampire. I know there are many fans of The Vampire Diaries and True Blood...

And let's not forget the comedy vamps! Who remembers George Hamilton in Love at First Bite? ("For you, never ze quickie. Always ze longie.":) ). And vampiresses, like Countess Dracula and the Queen of the Damned, to say nothing about Drusilla from Buffy (for whom my husband has an inexplicable penchant!)

Anwyay, that's a few to be thinking about! (Sorry, by the way, for the slightly odd arrangements of photos - I couldn't make Blogger put them where I wanted them!)  Let's hear your favourites - heroic and villainous!

Welcome Theresa Meyers!

Our first guest of honour this week, is the very talented Theresa Meyers, whose stunning debut, The Truth About Vampires, was recently released by Harlequin. She's joining us today as part of her Bewitching Book Tour. Welcome, Theresa!

Thank you, Marie, for letting me kick this Vampire Party off this week! I don’t know about you, but my interest in vampires started when I saw the movie Lost Boys. Anyone remember that baby-faced Keifer Sutherland with spiky blonde hair? They were bad boys. Very different from the vampires so popular in Twilight. But that’s one thing I think makes vampires awesomesauce. They can be totally different. From the kick ass Black Dagger Brotherhood of J.R. Ward’s stories to the high-school antics of P.C. & Kristin Cast’s House of Night series, our notion of what makes a great vampire is always shifting and morphing into something new. So why do we love them?

Top Ten Reasons We Love Vampires

10. Fang marks are less obvious than hickies. – Let’s face it. We want to be bit. But it’s just so much easier to cover up two little puncture marks that will fade quickly, than a bruise that’s going to look ugly for days, possibly a week. Besides, while a hickie might be fun, getting bit, well, that’s taking it to a whole other level.

9. They’re perfectly happy to stay out all night. –You know how you’d like it to last all night long. Vampires deliver. Not only does a vampire have the stamina, but night’s their best time.

8. Who doesn’t want to be young and hot forever? – There’s an appeal to having a body that won’t quit. Especially if you don’t have to diet and exercise to get it! OK, well, perhaps you do have a liquid diet that’s fairly specific, but still! Vampires are the ultimate when it comes to a society obsessed with being young forever.

7. Vampires are sexy and experienced. – There’s no denying vampires have sexual appeal. They’re dark, brooding, mysterious and sensual. And they’ve had the time to perfect every move. And while I don’t know about other people’s vampires, the ones in my vampire world change to suit the most intimate fantasies of their partners. So whatever is the hottest you to, boom, there it is!

6. The Ultimate Bad Boy is so misunderstood. – Vampires get a bad wrap. They are the ultimate bad boys, dangerous, damaged and so misunderstood. Sure they are tempting. So they have to drink blood to survive. Lions have to hunt, and we don’t hate on them. And just because they have to drink, doesn’t mean they kill. Besides, do you know anyone else who looks as hot on a motorcycle in black leather?

5. They’ve got cool powers and super strength.— No matter which writer you look at, for the most part vampires are super strong. There’s nothing wrong with liking your guys powerful! My vampires have some additionally cool powers, like being able to glamour mortals, transporting to places they’ve been before, being able to flux (go invisible), materializing objects and, last but certainly not least, the ability for incredible mind sex. No matter where you are and where they are, there’s a potential for a hot encounter. Sure it might make them seem like superheroes, but who doesn’t like superheroes?

4. A little bit dangerous, a whole lot hot.—Vampires are tempting because we ride a dangerously fine line when it comes to relationships. They’re so strong and the need to feed so overpowering, that it wouldn’t take much to make a good time the last time. That alone can get your endorphins amped up.

3. They’re protective of the ones they love.—One thing can be said about vampires that makes them super sexy, they protect the ones they love. Think about it. Even in Lost Boys, what was the head vampire ultimately trying to accomplish? He wanted to protect his “boys”. Edward wants to protect Bella. The members of the Black Dagger Brotherhood, watch out for their brothers and their mates. And we like that!

2. Immortality, baby.—What culture on this planet hasn’t engaged in one way or another in the search for immortality. It’s a universal instinct. We want to live past this mortal lifespan. They’re driven by emotion, and desire, and are as close to mortals as immortals get. Vampires give us a little glimpse at what we could be, if we could just live forever.. And vampires do. Therefore, they rock.

1. Love you forever.—What’s better than a love that last forever? Nothing. It’s the ultimate in romance no matter how you look at it. A love that transcends time and space. Heck, my vampires even are able to connect with their mortal lovers in their next lives because the bond between them is so strong.

So that’s my top ten reasons we love vampires, based on what I’ve read, watch and written in my new Sons of Midnight mini-series for Harlequin Nocturne. What would you add?

Here's a little taste of The Truth About Vampires:

The Truth About Vampires

Harlequin Nocturne - Vampire Romance

March 1, 2011

ISBN-10: 0373618549
ISBN-13: 978-0373618545

Pulling back the veil on a world shrouded in darkness, Theresa Meyers' stunning debut reveals a sinfully handsome vampire whose secret is about to exposed...

All her life Seattle reporter Kristin Reed sought her breakout story. She never thought she'd find it in the crimson lair of a real life creature of the night. Kristin never believed vampires existed—until with dark brooding eyes and a decadent chocolate scent, Dmitri Dionotte called out to her...

Dmitri and his clan's true nature was cloaked in secrecy until a warring vampire order threatened their existence. Kristin was just the woman he needed. She couldn't resist their story...or Dmitri. Her blood pulsed hot and furious when he touched her, and with his kiss, all logic fled. But each night she spent with her vampire lover brought her closer to death and destruction. A death not even an immortal could triumph over.

http://www.eharlequin.com/storeitem.html?iid=23240&cid=2577 direct buy link at Harlequin

His eyes bored into hers and suddenly the room smelled like the inside of a dark-chocolate bar and something even more seductive, sucking her in, setting off all her senses at once.

“You don’t have anything to fear. I’ll make certain of it.”

She swallowed. She should be frightened of him. The strength of her reaction to him made no logical sense. It was as though he exhaled sex appeal. She leaned in closer to him, against every logical impulse that stammered in her brain.

“So, your mentor showed up here because…” She was close enough now that she could feel the heat of her breath bouncing off him. Her body squirmed. Tightened. Her heart beat against the confines of her chest.

“He wanted to meet the mortal who’s revealing our existence to the world. Not every day you get to scrutinize a legend.”

“Legend?” she breathed.

Dmitri brushed a strand of hair away from her cheek, his thumb caressing her skin. Jolts shot down her spine, to the tips of her breasts, turning her nipples hard. His eyes turned impossibly dark. If desire had been smoke, the alarms in the whole damn building would have been going off by now.

He cracked a smile, his sexy mouth all but daring her to kiss him. “You’ll be a legend. The woman who discovered real vampires.”

That sounded good. Better than Pulitzer good. But the buzzing sensation under her skin wasn’t about being a legend.

It was all about the mojo he was throwing off like an intense light from a million-watt bulb. Just being this close to Dmitri amped her up, all circuits firing. She licked her lips with the tip of her tongue.

God knew whatever eddied in the air between them—whether pure unadulterated lust or just some wacky chemical pheromone thingy between human and vampire—hit home. And hit deep. She ached to feel every inch of him against every inch of her. She intentionally leaned in further, her sensitized breasts pressing against his rock-hard chest.

He flinched. “Don’t.” The darkness in his eyes swirled with secrets.

“Is this the part where you’re going to tell me you’re dangerous? Because I kind of already figured that out.”

“But you don’t know—” He looked away.

Kristin cupped his hard jaw in her hand, forcing him to face her. “I’m a big girl. I know what I want. And right now I want you to touch me.”

His resolve crumbled right before her eyes. His seductive mouth locked down on hers. Hungry. Decisive. He seemed to saturate the air, that blend of dark chocolate, citrus and something utterly masculine seeping through her skin and into her bones, melting them.

For a second she couldn’t breathe. She cursed the turtleneck, her bare skin screaming to feel him. He kissed along her jaw, growling in her ear, his hands threading into her hair. Kristin arched, letting her head fall back.
He inhaled the heady cinnamon-vanilla scent of her blood now spiked with the lush combination of honey and jasmine.

Innocence and female desire. The pressure inside him was cresting, begging for release. But if there was one thing Dmitri excelled at, it was the art of denial.

The priests had beaten the lessons into him so well as a lad he’d never forgotten it. Just because you thought you needed something like your next breath didn’t mean you truly needed it to survive. But one taste was all he wanted. Just one.

“Kristin…” He breathed her name like a fervent prayer. Her artery throbbed at the base of her jaw. But this was a hunger that could well drive him insane. It clawed and tore at him, a wild thing in his breast, demanding every shred of his attention.

He had to be careful, so very careful not to let the taste turn into death. His hand slipped beneath the soft cashmere as he kissed her, indulging in the delicious fullness of her soft lips. His fingers spread over her skin, which was far softer still. And hot, like sunlight on silk.

“Touch me.”

He phased away the fabric, leaving her clothed from the waist up in nothing but the night air. He kissed the delicate shell of her ear and lower. Her throaty moan was like flipping on a switch. With a flick, his fangs extended.

Instantly her body tensed. “What was that? Was that your fangs?”

Dmitri pulled back and locked gazes with her. Her fear tinged the air with the musty odor of decay. “You don’t have to be scared. I’m not going to feed from you.”

She scooted back, pulling out of their tight embrace, covering herself with crossed arms. “Then what’s with the fangs?”

Her sudden coolness was mercilessly cold to him. He phased the black turtleneck back over her bare skin and retreated from her. “It happens sometimes. Vampires can’t always control when their fangs extend. Most often when we are angered or aroused.”

Kristin reached forward, tentatively sliding a finger down the length of his right fang. Dmitri closed his eyes, a shudder rippling through him. It was by far the most intimate place she could have touched him, even more so than her hand running down the length of his shaft. But the mixed messages of hot to cold and standoffish versus intimate were too cluttered for him to sort through at the moment. He blew out a frustrated breath and turned away from her. He had no right to claim her. He was supposed to be protecting her, acting as her guide, not her lover.

“Does that hurt?”

He glanced at her. “No. Just the opposite.” The ragged edge to his voice betrayed him.

“Oh.” She blushed and the pretty pink in her cheeks pierced him with desire and need. Dmitri swallowed hard against it, determined to deny the call.

“What did Achilles mean when he said you were pious?”

Dmitri’s gaze flicked to the photograph of the abbey ruins shrouded in mist on the wall. He hesitated. “In my mortal life I was a priest.”

“A priest?” she murmured, stunned. “Becoming a vampire must have been an enormously hard decision for you, then.”

He moved so quickly she barely had time to take a breath before he pinned her against the couch. His unyielding, rockhard chest pressed against hers, his mouth a mere inch from hers, the tips of his fangs gleaming in the light.

The anger and fire erupting behind his eyes told her more than words ever could. “I never chose this life,” he spat out.

She blinked and he was across the room, facing her. “I’m sorry,” she said. “I didn’t mean to bring up a bad memory for you.”

His laugh had the brittle, crumbling edge of a piece of termite-rotted wood. Suddenly he seemed far more a shell of a man than a real man, or a blood-eating monster, for that matter. His fangs had receded, leaving his teeth looking perfectly normal, even and white.

It had been a shock to discover that Dmitri was a vampire. Her father—good grief, everybody she’d ever known—would see them as an anathema, an evil, an embodiment of the devil. The living dead. Bloodsuckers. Dracula and things that go bump and murder people in the night.

And now they’d somehow randomly selected her to introduce them to society? A light throb started behind her left eye. This was a way bigger story than she’d ever anticipated. Deep down in her stomach swished a bad cocktail of uncertainty and ambition. Did she have the chops to cover something this huge and not muck it up?

But looking at Dmitri, at this moment, she could see that, like people, not all vampires were the same. Good and bad fell somewhere in between the cracks, in the gray. There were likely a million different stories. The challenge would be putting a face to this story, making humans care about vampires. And give vampires a chance to prove that they could peaceably coexist with humans.

Connect with Theresa online:

http://www.theresameyers.com/

http://www.theresameyers.com/blog/

http://twitter.com/Theresa_Meyers

http://www.facebook.com/TheresaMeyersAuthor

http://www.ageofsteam.wordpress.com/

To enter Theresa's contest for a copy of The Truth About Vampires, plus this coffee mug full of chocolates, answer her question above: what would you add to her list of why we love vampires? Or comment on her post in some other way. The contest will close at midnight tonight EST, and the winner will be announced tomorrow on this thread.