Vampires in the White Mountains by Kate Hill

Please join me in welcoming guest blogger, Kate Hill. I too love the White Mountains of New Hampshire. Kate adds a fun twist to the area.

It's not surprising that many of my stories are set in New England. I've lived there all my life. One of my favorite places is the White Mountains of New Hampshire. It's the location of a setting that appears in both the Darkness Therein (Ancient Blood 2) and the Immaculate (Ancient Blood 3). Jocelyn's house in the woods is a place where the characters, both vampire and human, go to meditate, practice magic, and train for important events like the battle against the First Father in the Immaculate. 

When the characters visit Jocelyn's house, it's a way for them to break away from their harried lives—usually they're in the middle of a crisis!— and focus on what they need to do. Surrounded by beauty and fewer distractions, they are able to

get in touch with their magic, their powers, and their connection to the wild parts of themselves. 

I've shared some photos of the White Mountains area and an excerpt from the Immaculate. I hope you enjoy them! 

What are some of your favorite settings in books?  

The Immaculate (Ancient Blood 3)

Heat Level: Steamy

Purchase Links:

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DK2MCDF8

Barnes & Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-immaculate-kate-hill/1005704391

UBL: https://books2read.com/u/bzywNL 

Scarred in mind and body after a brutal attack, Mara travels to Spain in pursuit of an explanation for flashbacks that hint at supernatural evil. There she meets Adam, a gorgeous vampire fighting demons of his own. Bound by mutual attraction and suffering, it seems they can heal each other, until their romantic relationship turns potentially deadly for one of them. 

Note: The Immaculate was previously published. This re-edited version contains additional scenes. The Immaculate contains scenes with sex and violence. The story refers to past rape, past child abuse, and a past suicide attempt.                        

Excerpt:

“Good boy.” Vincent pointed a long, wiry finger at Adam. “Keep sharpening those telepathic skills. Someday, you’ll be a helluva psychic. But for now, we hunt.” 

The men fell silent. Leaving the vicinity of the house, they entered the dark woods. To vampires, especially Immaculates, everything was as clear as day. They traveled swiftly and quietly through the trees.

 The scent of a buck wafted on the air. The animal plodded through a nearby creek. 

Though this particular prey wasn’t his, Adam’s pulse still quickened with desire for the chase. He held back his animal instincts. It was Matthew they wanted to assess. 

Vincent caught Matthew’s eye and motioned with his head in the direction of the deer. 

For a moment, Adam thought Matthew might refuse, but his brother’s vampiric scent was strong. Pure, animal excitement rolled off the doctor. He fixed his unblinking gaze on the buck. Simultaneously, the antlered creature and the vampire bolted.

Matthew moved so swiftly through the trees that for several moments, Adam and Vincent nearly lost him. Matthew’s initial attack had taken them by surprise, but soon they fell into step and had him in sight. 

Adam bounded through the trees, branches lashing his face, and followed Matthew over a brook. The scent of trees, damp earth, and the buck’s fear hung on the air. Running wild and free through the forest was so exhilarating, yet they weren’t free. Not really. No one was free until the First Father was destroyed. 

About Kate: 

Kate Hill is a vegetarian New Englander who loves writing romantic fantasies. When she's not working on her books, Kate enjoys reading, working out, watching horror movies, and researching vampires and Viking history. She runs the Compelling Beasts Blog that is dedicated to antagonists, antiheroes, and paranormal creatures. Kate also writes as Saloni Quinby. 

Visit her online at https://www.kate-hill.com. Join her newsletter at https://kate-hill.com/index.php/newsletter. 

Contact Links: 

Website: https://www.kate-hill.com

Blog: https://kate-hill.com/blog/

BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/kate-hill

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/16157.Kate_Hill

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/katehillromance/

Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/katehillromanceandmore/

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Twitter: https://twitter.com/KateHillRomance

Inspiration in Her Dreams by Fiona McGier

MUSE MONDAY

How fun to have Fiona McGier on Discover... for Muse Monday. And let me clue you in: all of her books are on sale at Smashwords in July. I've also heard some are free. Leave a comment and ask her about them!

Hello, I’m Fiona McGier. Have you ever wondered how authors get the ideas for their books?

For me, the answer is often dreams--vivid and convincing dreams, which show me the story arc my characters want me to write. One time I dreamed of a brilliant Black female scientist doing research into the brain chemicals involved with intelligence. Once she succeeded, her boss sent her home with orders to tell no one. When she balked at that she became the target of murderers sent to silence her. The dream also had the Mayan prediction of the end of time in 2012 as part of the setting. I started to write Keesha Brown's story but got stalled during the second chapter, where I had to introduce a man for her. I was going to have him be a Native American doctor, but it just wasn’t flowing out of me. So, I put it aside. 

Months later I had another dream in which a tall, pale man with white-blond hair spoke directly to me. Never before or since has a character spoken so boldly to me like that. He told me I was having writer's block because I was giving Keesha the wrong hero--it had to be him. Then he smiled, showing me his fangs. "Oh no," I told him, "I don't write vampires. They're too overdone. There's nothing more to say about them." He shook his head, still grinning, and told me, "Research the Mayans." I woke up the next morning and did just that.

What I found was that the religious and public rituals of the Mayans all involved blood sacrifices. Leaders would pierce themselves in various places, many of them sensitive, intimate areas, to produce blood collected on paper or fabrics, or in urns, to be offered to the gods. I wondered why the Mayans regarded blood as life—then I remembered those fangs in that sexy blond guy's mouth and saw him nod at me. Of course! Vampires were the Mayan gods! 

I pulled the manuscript up, tossed out the second chapter, and the rest of Prophecy of the Mayan Undead wrote itself. My vampires are intelligent and articulate because they are the ones who have what it takes to survive eternity. We all think we want to live forever but in reality, life is precious because it's ephemeral. Anything taken for granted loses its value. My supporting vampire characters include a 700-year-old Spanish teenager who crossed the Atlantic with Columbus, and his chosen mate for the last two-hundred years, a Russian man forever in his early twenties. The hero is Yuri Kozakov, brought across in his late twenties by Rasputin in the waning days of the Romanov Empire. César has lived for centuries in the Yucatan Peninsula surrounded by ancient Mayan structures, supporting himself as many vampires do, by being a part of the supply chain of illegal drugs that have no effect on the eternal ones, but render their cattle more controllable. And all are working in various ways to support the return of the Mayan gods as predicted for December 21, 2012. 

Blurb: Keesha wants to find a way to increase the intelligence of humans to save the world. What she finds is the secret to eternity that comes from the stars, and a love that can save her. Ying never expected to discover her own humanity in the arms of an alien--he never expected to fall in love. Can they join forces with others on Earth to face the return of the Mayan aliens and save humanity? 

Excerpt:

Yuri is a Russian vampire who has been searching for years for someone to help him research what causes vampirism. He engineers a meeting to Keesha because he thinks with her intelligence, she can find his answers. Once he meets her, he is surprised to have his body respond to her generous curves, since he had thought himself to be "past all that". When she doesn't show up in the coffeehouse they had agreed to meet at, he goes to her apartment to find out why. When he finds evidence of a fight, he’s determined to find her.

         He quickly searched her apartment for anything that might give him any clue as to where she might have run to. Then he remembered the boyfriend.
     Of course. She’d have run there first. Now where is her computer? I can break into it and hopefully find an address or phone number for him.
     It didn’t take him long to find what he searched for. With one final look around, he promised the air that he would make someone pay for the damage done to her piece of mind.
     If she’s been harmed, I’ll tear the limbs off the persons responsible and laugh while they bleed to death.
     A few minutes later, Yuri scaled the side of the building Dan lived in, up to the penthouse. He stood on the balcony watching and listening as Dan made a phone call.
     “Is it done yet?”
     He listened, and then responded in a petulant voice.
     “You said it would be done already. I know you are just waiting until they call you to tell you it’s done. Every minute that she’s still alive is another minute she could find someone to believe her about what’s been going on. That would jeopardize the plan.”
     He listened again and then sighed heavily.
     “Fine. Just let me know when it’s done, all right?”
     Yuri felt the growl start somewhere deep inside of his soul. He watched until the perfidious boyfriend turned his back to the balcony to pour some brandy into a snifter. He didn’t have time to turn around before Yuri sank his teeth into his neck to sip the blood while he delicately sorted through the recent memories.
     Two men were pursuing her. They chased her for days. They found her today. They are driving her to a desolate place so they can kill her. She knows too much. We can’t let her ruin all these centuries of planning.
     With a start, Yuri broke off the contact to stare at the man who collapsed at his feet.
     Centuries of planning? He’s mortal and too young to have even seen a half a century. What is this all about?
     “Danny-boy? When are you coming back to bed?” Two naked blonde women stood in the doorway leading to what apparently was the bedroom. They stared in shock at Yuri standing over the object of their desire.
     Damn.
     Throwing himself across the room, Yuri grabbed a wrist of each of the girls and twisted, forcing them to kneel in front of him.
     “Look at me,” he commanded aloud, while exerting enough mental force to capture their minds but not to destroy them. He created the memory of watching as Dan collapsed while pouring himself the brandy. No one else was in the room.
     He let go of them both, then turned and walked back to the balcony. Determined, he gathered his strength and took a deep breath, then imagined himself riding the night breezes out of the city. And he did.Universal buy link: https://books2read.com/u/barA8x

But for the month of July, since I self-pubbed this book on Smashwords, it’s half-price, so $1.49, ONLY if you purchase it at Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1023111

Author BIO:

I write romances that involve strong, independent women who don't mind casual flings, but who are not looking to fall in love. Enter the man who decides this is the woman for him. I think that how they ultimately both realize that they have found the one is the most interesting part of a romance. I read and review romance because, as I've told my long-time HEA, the only men I'll cheat on him with live in books. Some I write, some I read. And he's okay with that. Phew!

Website: www.fionamcgier.com  (1st page is my blog.)

www.facebook.com/fionamcgier

Fearless Vamps...a Whole Family by R.E. Mullins, Revisited

For the balance of the year and the first week of January, 2018, I'm reprinting some popular posts dating back to 2013. Hope you enjoy again or for the first time.

August, 2017

FEARLESS FRIDAY

Thanks to Brenda Whiteside, this Fearless Friday is all about R E Mullins paranormal series about the Blautsaugers. This family of vampires goes through a lot to secure their happily ever afters.

Press the Goodreads button at the very end for an opportunity to win a copy of the author’s upcoming release: Cold Hearted Vampire 

Each book can be read as a stand alone. Read in order to further increase your enjoyment.

First we meet the family in It’s A Wonderful Undead Life 

The story focuses on Gabe, the eldest child of Andris Blautsauger. Cailey, a night-shift phlebotomist, has been found stunted or left trapped in the untenable position between the vampire and human realms. Gabe understands what he’s giving up even as he knows he must finish her turning. If he doesn’t, she will die. What he doesn’t expect is to be captivated by the feisty woman. 

Book Two, Vampire In The Scrying Glass is all about gorgeous

Rafe. The youngest in the family was only a toddler when he saw his mother beheaded by religious zealots. Now a tough Nosferatu Enforcer, he tracks down vampires from the murderous Toltec clan. Knowing vampire/human relationships rarely work out, he can’t stop himself from falling for Cailey’s best friend, Morgan.

Unbeknownst to him, she’s a witch hiding powers she can’t control. When a demon threatens his family, can they come together to dispatch it back to hell? 

Book three features Metta Blautsauger in A Vampire To Be Reckoned With. This middle child and Andris’ younger daughter is known as the family airhead.

What her relatives don’t know is that Lucas O’Cuinn recruited her long ago and trained her to be an agent for the secretive vampire Orcus Agency. After her mother’s murder, she nobly returns home to tend Rafe. Now that he no longer needs mothering, she’s grown bored with life.

A group of local, human ministers livens things up when they ask for help in taking down a human trafficking group called Servuco. Orcus isn’t happy to learn about their former agent’s unsanctioned activities and sends Luke to reign her in. Can old hurts and new dangers bring them back together? 

It all concludes in Cold Hearted Vampire set for Internation release on September 6, 2017. The book is already available for pre-order—check below to find where.

Inside you’ll discover the exciting conclusion of the Blautsauger family saga.  

Dr. Michaela Blautsauger is on a one vampire mission to complete her blood formula. Her goal—to end vampire dependence on human blood. Learning about a plant which possesses the necessary properties to be her blood base, she sets off for the Yucatan jungle, an area held by their Toltec enemy.

Human Detective Seth Whitehead has been secretly monitoring Dr. Blautsauger for several years. Convinced she has the answers needed to solve a cold case. The next thing Seth knows he’s headed to Mexico to extricate her from the jungle.

What can he do to save her when Toltecs capture her? It seems that Morgan, now a vampire/witch has given him a secret weapon. 

Blurb and excerpt from Cold Hearted Vampire:

Dr. Michaela Blautsauger, a Nosferatu vampire, is considered an expert in her field of work. However, her skills when it comes to dealing with others and showing emotion is almost non-existent. When Detective Seth Whitehead barges into her lab, she discovers the human is just as interesting as the blood formula she is working on.

Seth's tenacity to find who is committing crimes in Amber Heights pits him against vampire aristocracy as well as Toltec vamps who are nasty to say the least. When the she-vamp he is falling heart over fangs for leaves the country to find the blood plant she needs, he follows and discovers his cold-hearted vamp truly has a heart.

When they both fall into Toltec hands, Seth knows he will do anything he has to do to keep Michaela from suffering harm. But will he be able to keep his own life in the process?

Rating: Hot
Page Count: 384
Word Count: 96955

Excerpt

Sweat poured off them, coating their skin as they collapsed down on his tiled entry in a tangled heap.

“What was that?” Michaela panted.

He decided, because it was what he wanted to think, that she sounded impressed. “Can’t let you call all the shots,” he spoke lazily as he slicked a hand up to her waist, and half-heartedly tickled her.

She retaliated by tugging on a bit of chest hair. Playfully, teasingly, they began to grapple. Rolling over and over across the foyer floor. Their hands slipped off slick skin as they tried to best the other in a sexy sort of King-of-the-Hill game.

“The winner gets her way in whatever she wants to do next time.” Michaela laughed. Scissoring her legs, she practically knocked him off her.

Seth whacked his funny bone, and yelped as he crowded her against the front door. Giving up on pinning her, he pushed up on his haunches, and rubbed his sore elbow. They shared a light-hearted and yet intimate grin. “Naked wrestling just topped my list of all-time favorite pastimes,” he told her.

“Oh, yeah?” The competitive little minx cheated by utilizing her vampire strength against him. Flipping him onto his stomach, she sat astride his lower back, and held him down with her palms braced against his shoulders. Her thighs gripped his waist in a hold he didn’t want to break. “Mine too,” she leaned over to whisper in his ear and pressed teasing little kisses all over the side of his face.

Had he ever been taken down so easily by a female half a foot shorter and weighing a good stone less? Or had such a good time being defeated? No doubt, her strength was astounding. That gave him a moment’s pause. He’d just had sex, twice now, with a vampire. Been inside the living undead. Even as the idea boggled his mind, he found he only wanted a chance to do it again.

Because, vampire or not, he had feelings for the lovely and cool Dr. Michaela. From their first kiss, he’d known there was something about her. Something that drew him in. Not just animal magnetism, but the almost indiscernible vulnerability he glimpsed in her eyes. Anyone who thought her cold and unfeeling had obviously never looked below the surface—or had her in the sack.

She was open in her lovemaking. Kept nothing hidden. It made him wonder why she considered it so necessary to keep her passionate side concealed the rest of the time.

His front door suddenly slammed open. Hitting hard against Seth’s hip, and almost knocking Michaela off of him. Their private time ended as three men clambered through the broken entry.

Seth instinctively reached for a weapon that wasn’t there.

“Dad!” Michaela squealed, and everything inside him froze as solid as ice. Scrambling off Seth’s body, giving a flashing view of that lovely backside, she attempted to use his body as a shield.

Even as he sat up straight, she was tugging at him and cowering behind his back.

Catching the look of pure venom in Andris Blautsauger’s eyes, Seth slapped a hand to his forehead and groaned.

Things were about to get really ugly. 

I hope you enjoyed this peek inside Cold Hearted Vampire.

Ready for preorder at Amazon

                           The Wild Rose Press

                     Or any online book outlets.

See what else the author is working on at remullins.com

Or follow her on Facebook and Goodreads

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Goodreads — go to Goodreads to enter a giveaway. Your name might be picked to receive a copy of Cold Hearted Vampire. Contest ends soon so hurry.

Thanks again to Brenda Whiteside for graciously hosting me today on her Discover Yourself Blog.