Hello all, today I have with me Marie Treanor, author of Blood Sin and Blood on Silk. Today, we will be talking about the third book in the An Awakened by Blood series.
Blood On Silk (Book 1)
The debut of a seductive new series of vampires, lust, and revenge.
Scottish academic Elizabeth Silk is spending the summer in Romania researching historical superstitions for her PhD. While she is tracing local folktales, one subject in particular sparks her imagination. His name is Saloman, legend's most powerful vampire, a seductive prince staked centuries ago. Now, in the ruins of a castle crypt, Elizabeth discovers the legends are real. Her blood has awakened him. Her innocence has aroused him. But Elizabeth unleashes more than Saloman's hunger.
An army of vampire hunters has amassed to send Saloman back to hell. Sworn to help - yet fearing Saloman's deadly blood lust - Elizabeth seeks to entrap him, offering her body as bait. But something stronger than dread, more powerful than revenge, is uniting Elizabeth to her prey. Caught between desire and rage, Elizabeth must decide where her loyalties lie...and what the limits are to a yearning she can no longer control.
Reviews:
"BLOOD ON SILK is sensual and thrilling, a wonderful combination of vampire myths old and new. Saloman and Elizabeth's relationship is both amazingly hot and terrifyingly complicated. Readers will fall instantly in love with the world that Marie Treanor has created. You cannot miss this novel!" --Michele Bardsley, national bestselling author of the Broken Heart series.
"A provocative read... witty, sensual and, sometimes, dark... Brimming with complex and compelling characters, sexual tension, danger, betrayal, emotional turmoil, witty banter, a thrilling plot, an enigmatic hero who is at times an anti-hero, a captivating heroine and plenty of vampires, this erotic, gothic story grabs your attention and holds it right up to the very last page." ~Dottie, Romance Junkies, 4.5 Blue Ribbons
"Praises for Marie Treanor; this book has found a permanent place alongside the likes of Anne Rice and Laurell K Hamilton." - Rating 5, Jillean, Once Upon a Romance.
Blood SinAwakened by Blood, Book 2
Even if you walk in the light, you can dwell in the dark.
Months after her dangerous encounter with vampire overlord Saloman, Scottish academic Elizabeth Silk is still trying to cope with both the demands of her ancestral bloodline—which marks her as a vampire hunter — and the overpowering desire she feels for the immortal she brought back from the grave. But she is not alone in her fascination with Saloman.
When Elizabeth tracks down a distant cousin from America, she learns he possesses an antique sword that has caught the interest of the Grand Master of the American hunters. It is the ancient and mystical sword of Saloman — a treasure of vast occult powers and a prize beyond measure to both vampires and humans. Now the race is on for possession of the sword.
Even as her enemies and allies shift their allegiances and battle for supremacy, Elizabeth must decide which will rule her own perilous fate: unwanted loyalty or unholy love.
Reviews:
"An action-packed sensual read, filled with danger, romance, vampires, humor and seduction, BLOOD SIN is an unforgettable story... a delightful read and a welcome addition to the keeper shelf... this amazing series..." - 4.5 Blue Ribbons, Dottie, Romance Junkies
"Beautifully worded... Unique plot twists... Steamy chemistry and passion-filled romance... an altogether spicy read." - 4 cups. Virginia, Coffee Time Romance
"The fantastic sequel to Blood on Silk... delicious... I truly cannot get enough of...Saloman... a fascinating character, free from cliche... truly an amazing series..." - 5 Tombstones, Jennifer, Bitten by Books.
Blood Eternal
By Marie Treanor
Awakened by Blood, Book 3
Signet Eclipse
Mass Market Paperback
4th October 2011
Secrets don't disappear after seduction...
Elizabeth Silk is struggling to reconcile her passion for the vampire overlord Saloman and her allegiance to the vampire hunters. When a shocking vampire revolt calls Saloman away from her, she refuses to follow him.
To make matters worse, Saloman’s beloved cousin Luk has been found and awakened by one of his greatest enemies. Frenzied with bloodlust, Luk embarks on a killing spree and prepares to expose Saloman’s biggest vulnerability: Elizabeth.
But under Saloman’s regime, vampires have become less concerned with secrecy, no longer willing to hide their power. Rumors are swirling about attacks on humans. After Saloman joins forces with the vampire hunters to consolidate his power, Elizabeth begins to understand her role in the inevitable collision of the two worlds. She could bring resolution between vampires and humans—if she can manage to stay alive long enough to play both sides….
Excerpt:
Set up: An Ancient vampire, believed to be Saloman’s newly awakened cousin Luk, has gone on the rampage in the Turkish hills. Elizabeth Silk is helping the hunters to track Luk and his allies…
Luk began to run, and as his limbs stretched out, he remembered their strength and what they could do. A surge of excitement urged him to speed up, to run around the entire world and never stop. But her scent was close and sweet, and as he leapt down the final fifty feet to land right in front of her, he grew dizzy.
Startled, the woman fell back, her dark hazel eyes huge in her beautiful face. Hair the color of a long-forgotten sunrise whipped against her soft cheeks in the breeze. Blood pumped through her delicate veins. The sound and smell of it drove him to new hunger, but this was one human he’d never kill.
“Tsigana,” he whispered.
The name held Elizabeth frozen. She’d had an instant’s warning from the Ancient detector, which suddenly, after indicating his slow plod away from her, went nuts, the readings obviously failing to keep up with the speed of the vampire who leapt out in front of her a bare instant after she’d known he would.
She’d had time to press her buzzer, at the same moment it had gone off in warning. The others knew. So she backed off, giving them time to get here, holding the stake poised for the vampire’s attack that didn’t come. He stood unmoving, staring at her.
The ordinary vampire detector in her pocket was still and silent. So the Ancient was alone. She prepared to attack, targeting the spot in his chest that she needed, but before she could fly at him, he said, “Tsigana.”
If he’d said her own name, if he’d called her Jane or Esmeralda or Buffy the Vampire Slayer, she wouldn’t have hesitated in the slightest. But he said Tsigana, as if he’d seen straight to her one weakness, a jealousy that amounted almost to fear of the long-dead human woman who had once held Saloman’s heart.
Her fingers curled convulsively on the stake, altering its aim by accident, and she had to readjust it. The Ancient who was Saloman’s cousin, his onetime friend and his betrayer, one of Tsigana’s three vampire lovers, continued to stare at her. She had the impression that if he breathed he’d have been panting, but weirdly, she sensed no threat from him. He lifted his arms slowly, reaching out to her with intense, weirdly unfocused longing. Understanding slammed into her like a blow.
“I’m not Tsigana,” she said between her teeth. “I’m Elizabeth, the Awakener.” And she flew at him, aware her aim was true. She summoned every ounce of strength, every ounce of power she believed in. Because she didn’t know how long the hunters would take to get here, she had to try to do it alone, as she’d once tried to kill Saloman alone. She still believed she could have slain him, using her power as his Awakener, but she’d never found out for sure, because her heart, not her body, had prevented it. There was no such prevention here; Luk was the cause of most of the unbearable pain that had haunted Saloman for centuries. He was as good as dead, and she couldn’t even regret her lack of compassion.
But he didn’t wait for her. He leapt back so fast she didn’t even see him move. Her stake sliced through air, almost overbalancing her.
“Not Tsigana,” Luk repeated. He sniffed the air.
“Tsigana is dead.” Again she leapt, this time before she finished speaking, but again he evaded her. A howl rent the air, like a dog or a wolf in agony. It had to be coming from Luk, as his distant figure leapt back up the hillside at impossible speed, the bloodcurdling wail fading with him into the night. Not because he’d stopped crying, but because he was too far away to be heard.
“Shit,” Elizabeth whispered. With shaking hand she retrieved the Ancient detector from her pocket. The pointer indicated the hill up which Luk had vanished, the display counting madly as the distance increased. Then it went dead. Elizabeth delved for her phone, just as the needle swung rapidly several degrees to the west, and the display galloped forward.
Oh, hell, he’s doubling back. He’s gotten over Tsigana and now I’m dinner.
Guest post:
Vampires: the Ultimate in Dangerous Heroes by Marie Treanor
Vampires are lethal. They drink human blood to sustain their own existence, they lurk in shadows and emerge only to pounce on their helpless prey. Ruthless, monstrous, terrifying…
Or at least that’s how I like to think of them. And I do mean “like” . To me, a large part of the attraction of vampires is their sheer danger. They may look handsome, sexy, may hide their murderous instincts behind a veneer of civilization, but the threat is always there. You can’t trust them.
Unlikely heroes for romance, I agree, and yet we love them! My vampire hero, Saloman, is the epitome of the dangerous vampire – ancient, sensual, powerful, murderous. And yet my human heroine, Elizabeth Silk, is aware of his attraction, even when she’s terrified of him, even when she doesn’t believe in him! This makes a fine opportunity for sexual tension and fraught encounters, not least when he captures her with the express purpose of making love to her before he kills her. He’s that inhuman. Which is fun to play with, but of course if their relationship develops beyond that, then a hero who’s quite so alien and quite so careless of human life is rather more difficult to live with!
Fortunately, Saloman has some redeeming qualities. He isn’t just sexy, he’s witty and sensitive, and once you understand his alien reasoning, his shocking actions aren’t quite so shocking. It may not make them right in the eyes of our heroine – and who could blame her! - but it makes him even more fascinating to her.
Since the third of the trilogy is due out next week, you’ve probably guessed that Saloman does not kill Elizabeth in the first book! Instead, their relationship grows, and my challenge became to keep Saloman dangerous while making him bearable to live with! There has to be a degree of trust, which develops from a gradual understanding that although Saloman is ruthless, he isn’t without purpose or feelings. He is capabale of profound love and compassion. He just doesn’t always express it – or indeed expend it! – as she might expect.
By the beginning of BLOOD ETERNAL, Elizabeth and Saloman are recognized “companions”. The issue of trust has altered slightly. Elizabeth knows that she’s safe with him, and that he’ll always protect her from any vampire or human threat. She’s extracted promises from him concerning her friends. But no one else is entirely safe from him! More than that, she’s still unsure of her place in his heart. She doesn’t trust that she’s worthy of the love of so ancient and powerful a being who can, and occasionally does, use his phenomenal powers for the good of the world as well as to promote his own interests – which are still world domination! She’s afraid she can’t hold his interest, when her relationship with him might be all that keeps humanity safe from him.
In BLOOD ETERNAL he reveals more emotion, more vulnerability concerning his past, present and future. But Saloman hasn’t retracted his claws. He’s still dangerous, still lethal.
Just the way I like him .
What about you? How “good” or “bad” do you like your vampire heroes?
Giveaway: One print copy of Blood Eternal US only
-Must be a follower
-Extra point if you comment on review
-Must answer Marie's question above
-Enter by Friday, October 7th
