New Release Feature: Illumination, Penton Legacy Book 5, a PNR/UF by Susannah Sandlin

Illumination

Penton Legacy

Book 5

Susannah Sandlin

Genre: PNR/UF

Date of Publication: July 11, 2017

Number of pages: Approx. 330

Word Count: 90,000

Cover Artist: Kim Killion

Tagline: Nik wants to escape his family curse. Shay wants to change the world. Together, they are the only hope to save the vampires of Penton.

Book Description:

He came to Penton seeking peace. Nik Dimitrou joined the Army to escape his family legacy, only to have his psychic abilities exploited as a weapon. Now, as a civilian, he turns to the bottle to veil the images that haunt his mind whenever he touches anyone—except vampires. With them, he has finally found a home. But as Penton, Alabama, moves into open warfare with the Vampire Tribunal, Nik finds himself a linchpin in the deepening conflict, not to mention facing a transformation in his own body more frightening than anything he’s encountered before.

She wanted to change the world. Shay Underwood watched her Peace Corps parents move from one third world country to another—until both died following an outbreak of fever. Driven to her own career in tropical medicine, Shay works in New Orleans to cure the disease that killed her parents—until a careless weekend outing draws her into a world far more dangerous than the diseases she studies: a vampire society engaged in human trafficking and on the verge of all-out war.

Two cities, two strangers, one world. With Penton rebellion leader Aidan Murphy making risky choices and chief vampire lieutenant Mirren Kincaid forced to take a leadership role in Penton, it will fall to two outsiders, Nik and Shay, to find a way for the town—and themselves—to survive in this much-anticipated conclusion to the multiple award-winning Penton Legacy series.

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Excerpt:

“Right then. We have an obscenely large vehicle on the other side of that brick wall,” Cage said. “Archer or Nik should be able to help you over. Once I’m sure you’re in the car and locked up tight, I’ll collect Robin and Glory from the cemetery entrance and we’ll all be on our way back to Penton.”

Shay bit her lip. She had absolutely no reason to go to Penton, wherever the hell it was. Her home and life and work were here in New Orleans. She knew she’d have to be careful, but now that the breeding house was broken up and Jonathan was dead, the vampires and their minions had no reason to come after her. Whatever feelings Shay had nursed for Nik Dimitrou in high school, they were long dead. Gorgeous only took a person so far. Besides, he was a vampire.

She’d wait until they got her out of this cemetery, though, to decline her visit to Vampire Central. Maybe the handsome cat boy would drop her off somewhere. But where? She had no money or identification with her. She didn’t even have the keys to her own apartment or lab.

Maybe a police station. They could come up with a plausible story for her disappearance. Maybe even name Simon as her kidnapper, and the warehouse location. Let the authorities make of it what they would.

Shay was distracted by the sight of Archer leaping to the top of the brick wall behind the Le Boeuf crypt, followed closely by Nik. Her old classmate might be injured and hungry, but that wall had given him no challenge. Shay wasn’t sure she could climb over it without a sturdy ladder on a good day. Today had not been a good day except that she hadn’t died.

Nik reached down and motioned to Shay. “C’mon, let’s get out of here.”

Shay looked at the wall, at Nik, and back at the wall. “I don’t think you can lift me. You’re hurt.”

“Trust me.” Nik grinned, giving Shay a glimpse of an older, even more handsome version of the boy she’d known so many years ago. She’d thought she loved that boy; this man, though….was a vampire. Don’t forget that, idiot.

She nodded, dried her hands on her jeans as much as she could, and reached up toward Nik. He leaned over, wrapped strong fingers around both of her wrists, and lifted her to the top of the wall with what seemed like little effort, setting her down beside him.

“Swing your legs over, and I’ll lower you down the other side. Or I can leap down with you in my arms.” His grin widened, and her heart beat double-time when their gazes locked. Vampire. He’s a freaking vampire. He’s a freaking vampire involved in a war with other freaking vampires. You cannot trust him. Lust, yes. Trust, no.

“Whatever you do, would you please move your arses?” Cage stood beneath them. “I’m getting soaked and—”

A loud pop sounded from the Washington Avenue end of the cemetery, followed by a splintering noise and another pop pop. Shay had lived in New Orleans long enough to recognize the sound of gunfire.

About the Author:

Susannah Sandlin writes award-winning paranormal romance, including the popular Penton Legacy series for Montlake Romance, and romantic suspense and thrillers, including two series, The Collectors and Wilds of the Bayou, also for Montlake. Writing as Suzanne Johnson, she writes the Sentinels of New Orleans urban fantasy series for Tor Books. Suzanne grew up in Alabama halfway between the Bear Bryant Museum and Elvis’s birthplace and lived in New Orleans for fifteen years, so she has a refined sense of the absurd and an ingrained love of college football and fried gator on a stick. She currently lives in Auburn, Alabama, where she is a full-time author who does copy editing on the side through Reedsy.com.

Web: www.suzannejohnsonauthor.com

Blog: www.suzannejohnsonauthor.com/blog

Twitter: @SusannahSandlin, @Suzanne_Johnson

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AuthorSuzanneJohnson/

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Interviewing Susannah Sandlin about her new PNR release, Omega: The Penton Legacy

Today, I'm very happy to have Susannah Sandlin return to tell us about her third book, Omega, in the Penton Legacy series. 

In your new release, Omega, the bloody war between the Vampire Tribunal and the defiant scathe of Penton, Alabama, rages on, forcing its residents and their bonded humans to retreat into the underground fortress of last resort. How are certain humans bonded to Penton’s vampires? Are all human residents of the town bonded?

Yes, Penton was established by master vampire Aidan Murphy and his community as an “oasis” in the middle of a growing civil war among vampires. All vampires are bonded to him via a blood exchange, which means they’ve pledged their loyalty to him, and all the humans in the town are blood-bonded to one of the vampires. These humans are there by choice, and many have entered into a blood exchange, or bond, with their vampire, which means no other vampire can feed from them. Most vampires and their bonded familiars are very close.

How do the humans react to being forced into hiding? Are they confused and fearful or angry and resistance?

Many leave, albeit reluctantly, and quite a few vampires leave with their familiars. There ends up being a core group that moves into the underground facility called Omega—all voluntary. But it’s harder than they imagined, never being able to go into the sunlight or fresh air, and the vampires are always looking for ways to keep them entertained and not claustrophobic.

In the underground Omega fortress, Will Ludlam is charged with the care of Penton's humans. He knows the risks: as the renegade son of the Tribunal's vicious leader, Will's capture could doom the resistance. How does Will react to his appointed job? What might happen if he is captured by the Tribunal? 

The Tribunal member who’s managed to get himself put in charge of destroying Penton is Will’s father, Matthias. Matthias is the one who turned his son vampire at age 22, thinking he’d have an enternal acolyte to follow his orders for eternity. But Will grew tired of the abuse and he stayed on the run for years before settling in Penton with Aidan. Matthias wants Will back under his thumb, and Will will die before he lets that happen.

Will’s beautiful partner, Randa, a former US Army officer, is reluctant to believe that a former member of the vampire elite has skills to fight in war. Does that lead to stress in their relationship? Does she take part in the fighting?

Randa’s very much a part of the fighting, and in fact turns out to be an excellent strategist as the book progresses. Will and Randa are assigned to patrol together in book two of the series, ABSOLUTION, and they bicker through most of that book. She’s being a hardass to try and fit in and prove she’s as capable as the older male vampires. He’s a smartass and thinks she’s bossy and arrogant. It takes something explosive in OMEGA—literally—to make them let down their guard and see how much alike they are.

Thanks for having me here today, Marsha! 

*~*~*

Omega 

Penton Vampire Legacy, Book 3 

Susannah Sandlin

Genre: Paranormal Romance

Publisher: Montlake Romance

Date of Publication: February 5, 2013

ISBN: 978-1612183596  
ASIN: B0073XV3L2

Number of pages: 328  
Word Count: approx. 88,000 

Amazon        Barnes & Noble        Book Depository

The bloody war between the Vampire Tribunal and the defiant scathe of Penton, Alabama, rages on, forcing its residents and their bonded humans to retreat into the underground fortress of last resort: Omega. There, Will Ludlam is charged with the care of Penton's humans, though he longs to fight alongside his vampire brethren. He knows the risks: as the renegade son of the Tribunal's vicious leader, Will's capture could doom the resistance.

Yet he is determined to prove his worth to his adopted scathe, to his vengeful father and to former US Army officer Randa Thomas, his beautiful, reluctant partner. Randa has little faith that a former member of the vampire elite has what it takes to fight a war. But as their enemies descend upon Omega, Will's polished charm and Randa's guarded heart finally give way to the warrior within.

Fans of Susannah Sandlin's Penton Legacy are sure to devour this long-awaited third installment of the steamy paranormal series.

Excerpt: OMEGA (Penton Legacy, Book 3) by Susannah Sandlin

Will stopped and scented the air again. There were two vampires nearby; one belonged to the Penton scathe, and one didn’t.

            He ignored both vampires and skirted to the back of the street where the burned shell of his house still smelled of smoke and ash after three days. Aligning his position with the oak tree twenty feet behind what was left of his chimney, he paced forty steps into the woods.

            A thorny bramble that had been draped over a small, scrubby bush pricked his fingers when he pulled it back. Grasping the trunk of the bush, he eased it from its loose grasp in the soil, exposing the top of a metal box.

            The loud click of a cocked pistol preceded the cold press of steel against the back of his head by less than a second.

            He inhaled, annoyed. A rookie mistake. He’d gotten so engrossed in his task he’d let someone slip up on him.

            Vampire.

            Penton scathe.

            Female.

            Freaking Randa.

* * *

Randa grinned, enjoying the disgusted look on Will’s face. “If I were your father, I’d already have the silver spoon back in your mouth, Willy. He’d have you trussed up like a rodeo calf by now, hauling you back to wherever it is he lives when he’s not terrorizing innocent people.”

            Will Ludlam was the kind of guy Randa Thomas had hated as a human, and she didn’t like him a bit more as a vampire. Less, in fact. Not only was he a spoiled rich boy, he was now a virtually immortal spoiled rich boy. He had probably been a blue-chip jock in school with a 4.0 GPA and a string of girls trailing his every step.

            Plus, he annoyed the hell out of her. The consummate smartass.

            “No, if you were my father, you’d have slit my throat—not enough to kill me, but enough to make sure I couldn’t fight back.” His voice was soft, calm. “Then you’d hand me over to your sadistic, freakshow of a second-in-command Shelton, who would play with me until I couldn’t take it anymore. Only when I was good and broken would you return the silver spoon to my mouth.”

            Good God, would any father really do that? Will didn’t sound as if he were joking. Randa relaxed her stance for only a split second before the world tilted and she hit the ground, landing on her back with Will stretched out on top of her in a full body press. And he had her gun.

            “Damn it.” She pushed against him but it was like pressing on bedrock.

            He propped on his elbows and grinned down at her. His hat had fallen off in the scuffle and the moonlight glinted off his hair, making it look silver instead of a naturally streaked blond. And he had dimples, as if God hadn’t already rewarded him with enough in the looks department.

            “And if I were my father, you would be dead. Or worse. Believe me, with Matthias, there’s always much worse. Give up?”

            She squirmed again, but froze when she realized he was getting turned on by her movements. There was definitely more of him pressing on her than there had been a few seconds earlier.

            He laughed, a white glint of teeth in the moonlight. “Oh, don’t stop moving, sweetheart. This is getting more and more interesting.”

            Yeah, she could feel exactly how interested he was getting. She felt a very un-vampirelike flush of heat as he wedged a knee between her legs. Damn it. She clenched her teeth at her body’s betrayal—which he’d be able to sense. She hated being a vampire; there was no sense of privacy. “Get. Off. Me. Now.”

            Will lowered his head and, damn him, inhaled deeply, with his face pressed against the side of her neck. Her carotid artery also thumped in a very unvampire-like cadence. She waited for the smartass comments to start.

            Instead, he lifted his head and looked her in the eye. She could swear his heartbeat sped up, although it was hard to tell over the pounding of her own. Well, this was awkward.

            He blinked and opened his mouth to speak, then closed it again.

            Well, that was one good thing. Will had been stricken dumb, at least for a moment. It wouldn’

  

ABSOLUTION  

The Penton Legacy, Book 2 
By Susannah Sandlin

Release date: October 9, 2012 

Publisher: Montlake Romance

With the vampire world on the brink of civil war over the scarcity of untainted human blood, battle lines are being drawn between the once peaceful vampire and human enclave of Penton, Alabama, and the powerful Vampire Tribunal.

A Scottish gallowglass warrior turned vampire in the early 17th century, Mirren Kincaid once served the Tribunal as its most creative and ruthless executioner—a time when he was known as the Slayer. But when assigned a killing he found questionable, Mirren abandoned the Tribunal’s political machinations and disappeared—only to resurface two centuries later as the protector and second-in-command of Penton. Now the Tribunal wants him back on their side—or dead.

To break their rogue agent, they capture Glory Cummings, the descendant of a shaman, and send her to restore Mirren’s bloodthirsty nature. But instead of a monster, Glory sees a man burdened by the weight of his past. Could her magic touch—meant by the tribunal to bring out a violent killer—actually help Mirren break his bonds and discover the love he doesn’t believe he deserves?

It’s a town under siege, a powerful warrior in a battle with his past, and one woman who can make the earth move—literally—as the Penton Legacy continues.

Amazon    Barnes & Noble   Book Depository

 
REDEMPTION 

Book One Penton Legacy series 

By Susannah Sandlin

Following a worldwide pandemic whose vaccine left human blood deadly to vampires, the vampire community is on the verge of starvation and panic. Some have fanned into rural areas, where the vaccine was less prevalent, and are taking unsuspecting humans as blood slaves. Others are simply starving, which for a vampire is worse than death—a raging hunger in a creature too weak to feed.

Immune to these struggles—at first—is Penton, a tiny community in rural Chambers County, Alabama, an abandoned cotton mill town that has been repopulated by charismatic vampire Aidan Murphy, his scathe of 50 vampires, and their willingly bonded humans. Aidan has recruited his people carefully, believing in a peaceful community where the humans are respected and the vampires retain a bit of their humanity. 

But an unresolved family feud and the paranoia of the Vampire Tribunal descend on Penton in the form of Aidan’s brother, Owen Murphy. Owen has been issued a death warrant that can only be commuted if he destroys Penton—and Aidan, against whom he’s held a grudge since both were turned vampire in 17th-century Ireland.  Owen begins a systematic attack on the town, first killing its doctor, then attacking one of Aidan’s own human familiars.

To protect his people, Aidan is forced to go against his principles and kidnap an unvaccinated human doctor—and finds himself falling in love for the first time since the death of his wife in Ireland centuries ago. 

Dr. Krystal Harris, forced into a world she never knew existed, must face up to her own abusive past to learn if the feelings she’s developing for her kidnapper are real—or just a warped, supernatural kind of Stockholm Syndrome in which she’s allowing herself to become a victim yet again.

Susannah Sandlin’s REDEMPTION is the first in the Penton Legacy series. Book two, ABSOLUTION, will be out September 18, and book three, OMEGA, on December 18.

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About the Author: 

Susannah Sandlin is the author of paranormal romance set in the Deep South, where there are always things that go bump in the night. A journalist by day, Susannah grew up in Alabama reading the gothic novels of Susan Howatch and the horror fantasy of Stephen King. (Um…it is fantasy, right?) The combination of Howatch and King probably explains a lot. Currently a resident of Auburn, Alabama, Susannah has also lived in Illinois, Texas, California, and Louisiana.

Website: http://www.susannahsandlin.com

Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/susannahsandlin

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/susannahsandlin

Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5828129.Susannah_Sandlin

Indie Bound: http://www.indiebound.org/book/9781612183541

 

~ ~ ~ Marsha A. Moore is a writer of fantasy romance. The magic of art and nature spark life into her writing. Read her ENCHANTED BOOKSTORE LEGENDS for adventurous epic fantasy romance: Book One, SEEKING A SCRIBE, Book Two, HERITAGE AVENGED, and Book Three, LOST VOLUMES. She has also authored the Ciel's Legacy series, with fast action mermaid/pirate storylines: TEARS ON A TRANQUIL LAKE and TORTUGA TREASURE.  For a FREE ebook download, read her historic fantasy, LE CIRQUE DE MAGIE, available at Amazon and Smashwords.

Interviewing Susannah Sandlin about her paranormal romance series, The Penton Legacy ~ Giveaway Contest!

Today, I'm especially pleased to be able to bring you a terrific interview with one of my favorite authors, Susannah Sandlin. She gave some great information about the two books released so far in her Penton Legacy paranormal romance series--Absolution & Redemption. There are certainly some great plot twists and exciting characters--not to be missed! 

Contest Alert: Tour wide Giveaway ~ See the Rafflecopter at the bottom of this post for details of how to enter to win:

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5 signed print or audio copies of Absolution winner's choice of print or audio

In your Penton Legacy series, a worldwide pandemic results when humans begin to take a voluntary vaccine that leaves their blood deadly to vampires. The vampire community is on the verge of starvation and panic. Some fan into rural areas like Penton, Alabama, where the vaccine is less prevalent, and are taking unsuspecting humans as blood slaves. In the second book of the series, Absolution, have more humans now taken the vaccine, making usable blood less available for the vampires? Have humans connected the vaccine to the result of making themselves vampire-proof and sought the drug as protection?

The ironic thing about the vampires’ situation is that humans aren’t aware they exist, so the humans could eventually wipe out the vampire population without even knowing it. As far as humans are concerned, the pandemic virus of three years earlier is over and they’ve moved on. Meanwhile, vampires are starving and growing more desperate. In Absolution, the vampires take a step closer to civil war as they fight over how to survive the crisis and who will end up in power. But each book in the series (which can be read as standalones) is also a romance in which one of the Penton vampires faces up to his past and finds his future.

Rural towns like Penton become battlegrounds with vampires feuding over ownership and usage of the unvaccinated humans. The Alabama village gets an unlikely protector—Mirren Kincaid, once a vampire Tribunal executioner known as the Slayer. When assigned a killing he found questionable, Mirren abandoned the Tribunal’s political machinations and disappeared. What sort of execution went against his personal ethics? Are his ideals in line with the first-in-command, Aidan Murphy? Or is there friction within those who protect Penton’s humans?

Mirren started his human life as a Gallowglass warrior—a mercenary—in early 17^th-century Scotland and Ireland. He was brought up to be a killer, it’s all he’s ever known, and the Gallowglass were feared and admired in their time. When he was turned vampire, it was a natural fit for him to become the paid killer of the Vampire Tribunal. He was good at it. He never questioned his assignments until he was ordered to kill a child and he finally realized the people he worked for were bigger monsters than the ones he was being paid to kill. He realized that the life he was trained for was not the one he wanted to live.

Mirren is 100 percent loyal to Aidan Murphy, the leader of Penton. Mirren doesn’t want Aidan’s job. He doesn’t have the personality or the social skills or the patience for leading a community. Mirren hates himself for the past he’s led but he’s also realistic about what roles he is cut out for. He doesn’t always agree with Aidan’s decisions but he’d never move against him.

The Tribunal wants Mirren back on their side—or dead. They capture Glory Cummings, the descendant of a shaman, and send her to restore Mirren’s bloodthirsty nature. How will inciting his ruthless killer nature be to the advantage of the Tribunal?

The Tribunal naively thinks if it can turn Mirren back into the mercenary he once was, he can be used to destroy Aidan Murphy and Penton. Plus, their legendary Slayer would be back under Tribunal control. When Absolution opens, Mirren has been locked up by a member of the Tribunal and starved for more than thirty days. He’s desperate to feed, so when they throw an unvaccinated human girl—Glory—into the cell with him, they think his bloodlust will be rekindled.

But instead of a monster, Glory sees a man burdened by the weight of his past. With her sensitivities and magic touch, she might instead actually help Mirren break his bonds and discover the love he doesn’t believe he deserves. Why doesn’t he believe he deserves love? Are his efforts to save lives in Penton his way of redeeming himself?

Mirren carries around a lot of guilt because of all the lives he’s taken, both as human and vampire. And as much as he despises it, he recognizes that there’s a part deep inside him that likes killing, that likes the cold, black anger that comes over him when gets into his killing zone. He seeks absolution both by protecting Penton and by marking himself in a particularly unique way. Can’t say more. :-)

What attracts Mirren to Glory and vice versa? What might they gain from their relationship?

Except for Aidan, Mirren keeps everyone at a distance, and most people are afraid of him because he’s a really, really big tough guy—and he likes it that way. If they’re afraid of him, they’ll leave him alone. Then here comes this feisty chatterbox that Aidan’s made him responsible for, and she gradually chips away at his defenses. In each other, they find acceptance and a lack of judgment they both need. (And they are absolutely hilarious with each other!)

Briefly describe the magical systems of your world. How do those who are empowered (vampires, shamans, others) gain their abilities?
 
My vampires have some of the expected traits—they are created by being drained and re-fed by another vampire. They can’t tolerate sunlight, feed on human blood, are able to enthrall their prey, have some super-strength (which is neutralized by silver) and fast healing (unless injured with silver). Master vampires are those who have proven their mental toughness and gain greater mental skills such as telepathic communication and memory modification. (Both Aidan and Mirren are master vampires.) A blood exchange with a human creates a bond between the vampire and his or her familiar, so that other vampires can’t feed from that person. What can’t they do? They can’t fly, rarely cry, and don’t sparkle in the sun! They aren’t “undead,” but evolved, so their hearts still beat.

Thanks, Marsha!

***

ABSOLUTION

The Penton Legacy, Book 2

By Susannah Sandlin

Release date: October 9, 2012

Publisher: Montlake Romance

Book Description:

With the vampire world on the brink of civil war over the scarcity of untainted human blood, battle lines are being drawn between the once peaceful vampire and human enclave of Penton, Alabama, and the powerful Vampire Tribunal.

A Scottish gallowglass warrior turned vampire in the early 17th century, Mirren Kincaid once served the Tribunal as its most creative and ruthless executioner—a time when he was known as the Slayer. But when assigned a killing he found questionable, Mirren abandoned the Tribunal’s political machinations and disappeared—only to resurface two centuries later as the protector and second-in-command of Penton. Now the Tribunal wants him back on their side—or dead.

To break their rogue agent, they capture Glory Cummings, the descendant of a shaman, and send her to restore Mirren’s bloodthirsty nature. But instead of a monster, Glory sees a man burdened by the weight of his past. Could her magic touch—meant by the tribunal to bring out a violent killer—actually help Mirren break his bonds and discover the love he doesn’t believe he deserves?

It’s a town under siege, a powerful warrior in a battle with his past, and one woman who can make the earth move—literally—as the Penton Legacy continues.

Amazon    Barnes & Noble   Book Depository

REDEMPTION

Book One Penton Legacy series

By Susannah Sandlin

Following a worldwide pandemic whose vaccine left human blood deadly to vampires, the vampire community is on the verge of starvation and panic. Some have fanned into rural areas, where the vaccine was less prevalent, and are taking unsuspecting humans as blood slaves. Others are simply starving, which for a vampire is worse than death—a raging hunger in a creature too weak to feed.

Immune to these struggles—at first—is Penton, a tiny community in rural Chambers County, Alabama, an abandoned cotton mill town that has been repopulated by charismatic vampire Aidan Murphy, his scathe of 50 vampires, and their willingly bonded humans. Aidan has recruited his people carefully, believing in a peaceful community where the humans are respected and the vampires retain a bit of their humanity.

But an unresolved family feud and the paranoia of the Vampire Tribunal descend on Penton in the form of Aidan’s brother, Owen Murphy. Owen has been issued a death warrant that can only be commuted if he destroys Penton—and Aidan, against whom he’s held a grudge since both were turned vampire in 17th-century Ireland.  Owen begins a systematic attack on the town, first killing its doctor, then attacking one of Aidan’s own human familiars

To protect his people, Aidan is forced to go against his principles and kidnap an unvaccinated human doctor—and finds himself falling in love for the first time since the death of his wife in Ireland centuries ago.  

Dr. Krystal Harris, forced into a world she never knew existed, must face up to her own abusive past to learn if the feelings she’s developing for her kidnapper are real—or just a warped, supernatural kind of Stockholm Syndrome in which she’s allowing herself to become a victim yet again. 

Susannah Sandlin’s REDEMPTION is the first in the Penton Legacy series. Book two, ABSOLUTION, will be out October 9th, and book three, OMEGA, on December 18. 

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Excerpt from ABSOLUTION (The Penton Legacy, Book 2):  

           What was Matthias thinking, throwing a human woman in the cell with a vampire who’d been locked up and starved for over a month?

            Mirren waited on the bench, his back against the wall, his head down. Waited until Matthias climbed the steps, slammed the door, clicked the dead bolt home. Waited until he could get control of the hunger that had begun raging the second the woman stumbled down the stairway. She was unvaccinated, and he wanted nothing more than to take her, blood and body, until there was nothing left.

            If he did that, he’d be no better than the version of Mirren Kincaid he’d tried so hard to leave behind. He’d be the Slayer again. His hands could too easily remember the mindless sweep of the sword, the heavy fall of the battle-ax, the controlled back-thrust of a heavy firearm. If the cold darkness ever fell over him again, he feared he’d embrace it.

            “Mister, you awake?”

            Shit. She would have to be a talker. Mirren hated a talky woman. They always expected you to talk back.

            He raised his head slowly and caught his breath. She was young, maybe mid-twenties, and pretty in a rode-hard kind of way.

            “Your eyes are silver—I’ve seen enough vampires since I was kidnapped to know when your eyes get lighter, it means you’re hungry. But I’ve never seen any like yours. How long has it been since you ate? Umm…Make that how long since you drank?”

            If the stupid woman kept walking toward him, he wouldn’t be held responsible. “Stay where you are.” He narrowed his eyes at her, thinking. How could she help him without sending his need so far over the edge he lost control of it?

            She eeked when he shifted on the bench and turned his back toward her. “Untie me.”

            She stumbled a little when she reached the bench and sat hard. The woman was stoned out of her gourd. He could smell the drugs on her.

“Your wrists are all torn up. That has to hurt.” She sat on the bench behind him, and Mirren breathed in her scent with his eyes closed. Damn, but he wanted to feed so badly his muscles ached.

            She muttered as she worked, her drug-addled fingers slipping off the rope. “You’re so big that I’m surprised this rope could hold you. I should be able to…Let’s see here, it’s too dark. Man, this is funky rope.”

            “Stop yapping, start untying.” She had that broad, soft Southern accent he found sexy, but she used it way too much.

            “Yeah, yeah, okay.” She tugged harder on the ropes, burning his sensitive wrists with each pull. “Sorry, sorry. Why is it burning your skin like that?”

            Mirren growled and spoke through gritted teeth. “It’s laced with silver, and I’m a freaking vampire. Just untie me.” Damn, he had to get himself under control, or he’d scare the woman to death and she wouldn’t finish freeing his arms or feed him either one.

            “Well, you’ve got the funny eyes, but I don’t see any fangs.”

            God help him, he’d show her some fangs. “I said I was a vampire. Now finish untying me.”

            Mirren twisted his wrists and felt the rope give way—the woman had gotten it loose enough that he didn’t need her help.

            “But wait, how do I know you—”

            She gasped as Mirren pulled his wrists apart, popped the rope onto the cell floor, and shifted around to face her.

“Can you…?” She paused and swallowed hard, edging away from him on the bench. Mirren’s gaze dropped to her mouth. “Can you feed without killing me?”

            Mirren nodded slowly. Maybe. Maybe not.

About the Author:

Susannah Sandlin is the author of paranormal romance set in the Deep South, where there are always things that go bump in the night.

A journalist by day, Susannah grew up in Alabama reading the gothic novels of Susan Howatch and the horror fantasy of Stephen King. (Um…it is fantasy, right?)

The combination of Howatch and King probably explains a lot. Currently a resident of Auburn, Alabama, Susannah has also lived in Illinois, Texas, California, and Louisiana.

Website: http://www.susannahsandlin.com

Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/susannahsandlin

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/susannahsandlin

Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5828129.Susannah_Sandlin

Indie Bound: http://www.indiebound.org/book/9781612183541

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~ ~ ~ Marsha A. Moore is a writer of fantasy romance. The magic of art and nature spark life into her writing. Read her ENCHANTED BOOKSTORE LEGENDS for adventurous epic fantasy romance: Book One, SEEKING A SCRIBE, and Book Two, HERITAGE AVENGED. She has also authored the Ciel's Legacy series, with fast action mermaid/pirate storylines: TEARS ON A TRANQUIL LAKE and TORTUGA TREASURE.  For a FREE ebook download, read her historic fantasy, LE CIRQUE DE MAGIE, available at Amazon and Smashwords.