QSFer Kayleigh Sky has a new MM paranormal vampire book out: A Vampire’s Heart.
Vampires live.
And they hunger…
Otto Jones, a cop assigned to the seemingly random murder of a vampire, would rather hide out in the nearest bar than waste his time on a dead vamp. He hates the bloodthirsty demons. But when the king of the vampires commands him to work with one of the lesser princes and find the killer, he has no choice.
Prince Jessamine Senera is ready to sacrifice his happiness in a loveless marriage for his family’s benefit… but not yet. He dreams of adventure, excitement, and true love. He lives on romance novels and detective stories and wishes he could drink synthetic blood like every other vampire. But he can’t. He needs human blood to survive and is hated by vampires and humans alike.
As Otto and Jessa draw closer to an entity that doesn’t want to be discovered, Otto finds the heart he thought long dead opening to the romance-loving Jessa. No good can possibly come from falling in love with a vampire, but when a shadowy assailant attacks Jessa, Otto will descend into the darkest pit of the earth to rescue him.
If you like vampires, mythical and urban settings, intense suspense, and happy ever after, then you’ll love this first book in the dark and mysterious Ellowyn Found trilogy!
A Vampire’s Heart is a stand-alone paranormal dystopian noir romance with a satisfying conclusion to the love story and a central mystery that weaves the trilogy together.
Get it On Amazon
Giveaway
Kayleigh is giving away a title from her backlist to one lucky winner – mobi/kindle format only – for a chance to win, comment on this post below.
Excerpt
The Second Bloomwas a dumb-ass name for a bar, but Otto liked the dark interior and the usually quiet customers.
Tonight, of all nights, he didn’t want conversation.
“No fucking reason to bother anymore,” Otto muttered as he sped past the pink neon sign and swung his car around the block.
With any luck his heart would explode and do away with his shit life. It threatened to anyway, not that he gave a damn, because it wasn’t like it mattered. Until he remembered. You aren’t done yet, asshole.
After he pulled to the curb, he locked up and headed down a short alleyway to a private parking lot for the nearby businesses. A single light fixture attached to the building at the end of the alley lit his way.
At first, the only sound was his footsteps until a chuckle reached his ears, and he tensed at the mean-ass sound of it. The slow drum of his heartbeat eased some of the pressure inside as he crept to the end of the alley. The parking lot wasn’t large, mostly for people who worked at the businesses on the block. In the center of the space at the edge of illumination from a street lamp, three guys surrounded another guy, oblivious to Otto. One of the guys smacked the one they surrounded on the shoulder and rocked him back a step. Their target wore jeans and a hoody, arms wrapped around a satchel he held in front of him.
“Say you’re sorry,” said the ringleader.
“Sorry,” came a mumbled reply.
“Faggot.”
Humans. Only humans gave a fuck about that kind of thing anymore. Vamps didn’t give a damn who they screwed, and they called the shots now no matter how it looked on the outside.
Another slam on the shoulder knocked the guy back again while one of the other guys grabbed onto his bag and jerked it out of his grip. It smacked the damp pavement, and the guys laughed until Otto strode forward and drew their attention.
Three gazes swung his way.
He yanked his badge out of his jacket pocket. A few millimeters over and he’d have grabbed his gun. So close. He didn’t trust himself anymore, and these assholes didn’t know how close they’d come to something a lot worse than a pissed-off cop about to shoo them away.
“Fuck you doin’?” he growled.
“Nothing,” said one.
“Nothing? Looks like fuckin’ assault to me, assholes.”
“Officer—”
“Detective. Get the fuck outta here.”
Not only did Otto not want the temptation of taking his rage out on the kind of people he hated most, he wanted a drink, not a trip to the station and an hour of paperwork. He was good with sending their asses scattering.
“Go!”
They bolted between the cars and fled toward the busy street.
Christ, no fucking balls. That was the trouble with bullies. They gave no satisfaction the minute anybody bit back.
He flipped the cover closed on his badge and slipped it back into his pocket.
The other guy knelt on the pavement outside the rim of the light. Otto’s shadow drowned him in darkness. With a frantic jerkiness he swept a pile of… romances?…toward the mouth of his bag.
The image of a guy’s naked torso and a woman’s body held tight in the curve of a bulging arm decorated one of the front flaps. His Saving Grace.
Romances.
The guy wiped the covers off on his jeans before he crammed them back into his bag. His hands shook, and Otto frowned. Was that nail polish? Yeah, it was. And whatever the color, it was dark and chipped. The guy had short, nibbled-down nails. Not much to decorate. Every bit of tension seeped out of Otto’s body, and a weird pain stabbed him in the chest and stole his breath instead. He swallowed a gasp at the shock of it and yanked back the hand he’d stretched to the frantic figure stuffing books into his bag.
Tenderness swamped him.
Maisie.
This bewildering rush of emotion had to be a flashback to Maisie, the most unromantic person Otto had ever known, and her collection of romantic novels. “Find me a guy like this,” she’d laughed, tapping the bare-chested hottie on the cover, “and I’ll give up my wicked ways.”
Too late.
Well, this guy didn’t need his help anymore, and Otto was a long way from hero material anyway.
“Maybe you shouldn’t be out by yourself,” he snapped.
“Sorry… I—”
The guy threw a glance upward and Otto caught a glimpse of dark eyes and nostrils pinched thin in the cold. But it was cool out, not cold, so maybe a skinny nose was normal for him.
The guy lurched up with his bag. “I’m going.”
Well, he wasn’t a kid, not with that voice. It had a good weight to it, though he was light on his feet. Otto stared as he bolted out of sight down the alley.
Glowering at the energies raging inside him now, Otto squeezed the back of his neck and continued across the parking lot. He entered the bar through its back door and spotted a pair of vampires sitting at the counter.
Fuck my life.
Vampires everywhere. Even at work. Especially at work. His boss’s voice jangled in his head. “Otto. Come over here and meet your new partner. Upwood Prosper.”
Maybe if he drank himself blind, he’d wake up in the morning and discover today was one big cosmic joke and Upwood Prosper was still only a lousy memory he’d never have to deal with again.
Previously an enforcer in one of the underground cities, Prosper had been among the first vampire hires to a human police force—and the asshole who’d botched the investigation into the murder of Otto’s sister. After the case went cold and his father died, Otto had moved almost seventy miles away, never expecting he’d have to deal with Prosper again. A million years of never setting eyes on the bastard sounded good to Otto, but no, the vamp had to go and apply for a detective opening in Otto’s new town, and now… Now he was Otto’s partner.
A second drink warmed his belly but brought none of the fuzziness he wanted. Too much adrenaline from the encounter in the parking lot.
Romances.
The guy was a walking target. Was that why they’d picked him to bully?
Otto hated bullies. And hated he actually was one a lot of the time, but his resolve to be better always dissolved at—
The vampires at the other end of the counter laughed.
Jesus fucking Christ. They sounded human. That was the kind of thing that held Otto up—twisted his insides into a knot only booze could loosen. He hated vampires and the way they congregated at every café and coffee shop. The pair at the end of the counter played a game with a handful of colored stones. They were weird with their games, like kids. One flashed its fangs, the glistening curves shadowed with tattoos Otto was too far away to see in detail. The creepy things grew back like lizards’s tails. Otto guessed that made sense though. Each fang had a vein in it that pulled blood into a hollow chamber where it mixed with an enzyme that catalyzed the breakdown of proteins. The enzyme was fragile in the open air, so they had to bite to survive. Nothing personal.
Until Otto was thirteen, the world had been normal. Then a fracking accident by Nova Energies sparked a flurry of earthquakes along a web of underground faults and the vampires fled their collapsing cities.
They were the things of myths and nightmares.
Murderers.
Otto pushed his empty glass across the bar, still with no relief from the sharp edges inside him. As afraid as he’d been of humans, that little romance lover in the parking lot was probably terrified of vampires.
So?
Why the hell did Otto’s thoughts keep returning to him?
Better than thinking about vampires.
He picked up his fresh glass and took a swallow.
Nothing. Nothing but a fire in his belly.
He oughta go home, but he wasn’t going to. He oughta eat his gun, but he wasn’t going to do that either. Not until he found Maisie’s murderer.
Not until he made the bastard pay.
Author Bio
So… About me. I’ve never run a marathon or scaled Mt. Everest. I’ve never scuba dived or sky dived. I’ve surfed though. That was fun. I have six tattoos, and I really love ink. I also love all plants. Zinnias are one of my favorite flowers. If you’ve never see a zinnia, look it up. Very pretty. It’s an old-timey plant but super easy to grow.
Anyway, the big thing I do is write m/m erotic romance. But as much as I love romance and sex, I really love going deep into the dark with my characters. What are their wounds? How can I peel them raw and drag them into the light? This leads to some fairly dark stories sometimes, but even the dark ones come with humor.
I think the contradictions in people are ripe for hilarious scene setups. I need humor and light in my life—otherwise, I go into some pretty dark places myself. I live with only one cat now—I once had thirteen. That was crazy.
I take up most of the things I research for my characters—photography, tarot, and jewelry making for example. I even bought a recorder once because Ori from Jesus Kidplayed one. I love that part of my job. I also love to walk and lift weights. I’m not a big fan of yoga—just throwing that out there
So far, all of my characters embody something of me, and all of my characters have given me something of them. But no matter what the struggle is from book to book, love always wins out. I’m strong on plot, strong on character, stronger on love. You can count on happily ever after from me every time.
I write my stories to open hearts and uplift spirits. Love matters. It counts. And it’s for everyone.
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