Kayden's World of Paranormal

Heather Kuehl: How I learned character development

2011-08-08T01:00:00.000-07:00

Dear Reader,

Right now, as I’m writing this, I’m watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Just finished season five and I’m starting season six. I’ve watched this show and its sister show Angel over and over again more times than I can count and it has taught me so much. And not just life lessons. It’s taught me now to create awesome characters.

My favorite Joss Whedon character, development-wise, would have to be Wesley Wyndam-Pryce. When he first stepped on the scene in season three of BtVS, he was a pansy of a Watcher who didn’t have a clue how the real world worked. After Faith went crazy he was fired from the Watcher’s council, and the character transferred from BtVS to Angel. From there, his evolution is just amazing. By the time Angel concludes Wesley is like a bad-ass Giles, carrying a gun and wielding magic in a way no one thought possible back in season three of BtVS. Seeing this character’s development over the course of the show has taught me how a character should be written. It’s showed me that change takes time and it has to be believable. If a character changes too much over night, readers will never identify with him or her.

Now I can’t write about BtVS without gushing about my favorite character - Spike. I love Spike; I can’t get enough of him. Yep, I’m a Spuffy fan. I think it’s because I started watching BtVS at the end of season three, so I never really cared about the whole Angel and Buffy relationship. But Spike…yummy, hilarious, and a bad boy with a romantic middle. Oh and he writes poetry. Gotta love a bad boy who can wield a pen.

If you are a fan of Joss Whedon, please feel free to tell me who your favorite character is and why. Mal? Echo? Willow? Dr. Horrible? I’m curious.

And, of course, it’s time for my shameless promotion. :o) Please check out my new releases, Dream Lover and Epiphany.

Dream Lover blurb: Denna Rainerd has dreamed about Warren Connelly for the past ten years, their relationship in the dream world hot and passionate. Pity he isn't real...or is he? Warren wishes that Denna was in his real world, but a human in his world would be a liability. He's a Hunter shapeshifter; sworn to protect his world from the darkest of creatures while he's focused on revenge for the death of his brother. Their worlds collide when Warren saves Denna's life, setting up a chain of events that will change their lives forever. Will Denna be able to accept Warren's supernatural secrets?

Buy link: http://eternalpress.biz/people.php?author=273

Epiphany blurb: Everlena doesn't usually go out to clubs, but one night she decides to, on a whim. She meets Mika, a man who is as mysterious as he is delectable. Everlena doesn't know that Mika has plans for her, or that dark forces are out to get her. Mika is the Fey-King of the Unseelie Court. He's trying to find the princess of the Seelie Court, and is shocked to find her living life as a human. Even more shocking is that this human has no clue Mika’s world even exists. Mika must get Everlena to safety while convincing her that a union between her light court and his dark court is the only way to end the violence. With danger around every turn, will Everlena be able to leave her human life behind and take her place as a princess of the Seelie Court? Or will the feelings blossoming between Everlena and Mika get in the way?

Buy link: https://sites.google.com/site/heatherkuehl/epiphany

And don’t forget to check out my other books at http://www.heatherkuehl.com

Heather Kuehl's Top Ten Paranormal Hotties

2011-03-03T03:00:00.000-08:00

Dear Reader,

Please welcome Heather Kuehl!

There is nothing readers love more than a super sexy hero or heroine. Here’s a list of my ten favorite paranormal hotties in no particular order; it was way too hard to choose just one favorite.

Eric Northman (Sookie Stackhouse series by Charlaine Harris; True Blood) – He’s yummy and a real Viking. While he’ll lie and omit details to get his way, it shouldn’t come as a surprise since this is the type of person he is. But even then, a girl could be happy with a guy like him (and let’s not forget that sexy shower scene in Dead to the World).

Spike (Buffy the Vampire Slayer) – The fan fiction books and the season eight comic (published by Dark Horse) has led me to adding Spike onto this list. Even before he won back his soul, Spike was a teddy bear hiding behind his bad boy exterior. Heck, not even Buffy could resist the purr of his British accent in her ear. What makes you think anyone else could?

Rachel Morgan (The Hollows series by Kim Harrison) – It’s no surprise that this ginger witch made it on to my hottie countdown. Not only is she bad ass, but she does so while wearing the sexiest clothes ever described. While she hooks up with almost every eligible bachelor she meets, I’m keeping my fingers crossed that she hooks up with Ivy at least once. They’ve been going at the cat-and-mouse game since Dead Witch Walking. It’s about time to give readers what you’ve been hinting at, Ms. Harrison.

Mercy Thompson (Mercy Thompson series by Patricia Briggs) – She’s Native American, turns into a coyote, and works as a mechanic for a living. How is she not hot? Even after finding out that the cover art took liberties with her looks (Mercy only has one tattoo, not the full body artwork the covers depict), I still love her attitude.

Adam (Mercy Thompson series by Patricia Briggs) – He won me over in Iron Kissed. Originally I thought that he was going to be another Richard (from Laurell K. Hamilton’s Anita Blake series); a tortured werewolf who wants to be nothing but human again. Happily, I was wrong. Adam turned out to be a strong alpha wolf who’d do anything for the woman he loves.

Spade (Night Huntress series by Jeaniene Frost) – Do you want a tortured vampire in need of some love? Read First Drop of Crimson to see why Spade fits that request easily. While scrumptious Spade can be a bit over protective. To me that is the only down side with this mysterious vampire. I can deal with from protective issues if it means getting to be in his arms for the night.

Zarek (Dark Hunter series by Sherrilyn Kenyon) – If anyone ever needed a hug, Zarek would. Trusting no one, Zarek does his best to stay away from everyone. Because of his inability to follow orders, Artemis has him isolated to Alaska where he can be closely watched. Reader can’t help but pull for him in Dance with the Devil, hoping that Astrid will be able to see the man beneath the monster and make him whole.

Micah (Anita Blake series by Laurell K Hamilton) – Kind, understanding, and loyal…what more can a girl want? With yummy chartreuse eyes and tawny build, this wereleopard could keep me warm on any night of the week.

Jane (Twilight series by Stephenie Meyer) – While I’m not a huge Twihard fan, I must say that Ms. Meyer had a stroke of genius when she created Jane. Jane has no good side to get on, and loves using her ability to inflict pain whenever she can. To me, there’s nothing sexier than a dangerous bad ass in sheep’s clothing.

Pam (Sookie Stackhouse series by Charlaine Harris; True Blood) – As Eric’s right hand woman, Pam is one not to underestimate. She may like pastels and dress like a girly girl, but she’ll throw down with the best of them. But she has a soft side too, one that comes out when she’s around Eric or Amelia. I wouldn’t mind having Pam at my back during any situation.

This list was harder to compile than I first thought it would be. I wanted a variety of authors, but quickly discovered that the hottest paranormals in fiction were usually created by the same author. And with the hundreds of paranormal hotties out there, I knew that I had to leave some out. So tell me, who would you have on this list and why…

Check out some of my other favorite hotties (a biased opinion…I know) in the Sarah Vargas Series. Books one and two in this series, Fade to Black and Malevolent Dead, are available now from Eternal Press. Book three, Blood Moon, is due out on March 7, 2011.

Fade to Black blurb:

Werewolf bounty hunter Sarah Vargas has only one goal in life; to kill the Were that attacked and changed her. However a slew of werecreature murders send Sarah and her partner, Jared Fontaine, on the mission of their lives, ending with a discovery about Jared’s past that might destroy them both.

Malevolent Dead blurb:

Werewolf Sarah Vargas thought all she had to worry about was the Blood Moon Corporation's retaliation. She never dreamed that another vampire would arrive, disputing Damian's claim over the throne to Charleston, SC. To make matters worse, he is no ordinary vamp; he's a vampire necromancer. He's exceptionally hard to kill, and Sarah will have to do what ever she can to keep those that she loves safe... Even if it means doing the unthinkable.

Blood Moon blurb:

After she broke her contract with the Blood Moon Corporation, Sarah Vargas knew that it was only a matter of time before they came for her. What she didn't know is what lengths they would go to make sure that she had no where to run. Everyone Sarah has every relied on is in danger during a time when friends become enemies, and Sarah quickly realizes that the Blood Moon Corporation will never give up until she is dead. The Blood Moon Corporation is coming, and even Sarah doesn't think she can make it out alive.

Buy Links

Malevolent Dead: Book Two of the Sarah Vargas Series, Eternal Press

Fade to Black: Book One of the Sarah Vargas Series, Eternal Press

Promises to Keep, Eternal Press

Coming Soon

Blood Moon: Book Three of the Sarah Vargas Series, Eternal Press (3/7/2011)

All proceeds from Blood Moon will be going to MUSC Children's Hospital. Please visit http://www.musckids.com/ for more information about this wonderful children's hospital.

Visit Heather Kuehl online at http://www.heatherkuehl.com/,http://www.heatherkuehl.blogspot.com/ or follow her on Facebook or Twitter.

Coming Soon; The Foxworth Coven, Book One, Death Of Innocence

2011-01-13T08:31:00.000-08:00

The Foxworth Coven, Book One, Death Of Innocence

By Kayden McLeod

Website: http://www.kaydenmcleod.com/

Genre: Erotic Paranormal Romance (Vampires, Deities, M/F)
Publisher: Silver Publishing

Website: http://silverpublishing.info/

Release Date: May 2011

Tag-Line:

Even unconditional love cannot always banish an eternal nightmare

Summary:

The Foxworth family has blazed a trail through human and vampire history alike, changing the ways of both races in Canada for all time. The Council has demanded a full report for the long and twisted tale of how the Surrey Coven had come to be the most powerful and feared; an assemblage that anyone would question before coming up against.

The Leader of the Surrey Coven, Canya recalls how her family came to be. A story filled with pain and heartache, until she meets Gregory Foxworth: a debonair CEO to the family shipping company. Gregory remembers taking her away from a life that shocks him, hoping to shelter and love her. But little does he know all he has done, was make her a target for a sadistically warped man. One who will have her and his own personal brand of vengeance. Sometimes, a grudge isforever.

Excerpt One (Rated PG):

Prelude

Canya

Surrey, British Columbia, Canada

June 32010

The sky was overcast, grey and temperamental, much like my mood. The ocean was the flat colour of slate, reflecting the drab clouds above, while the waves lapped at the long expanse of sand making up the beach.

I loved my house in White Rock, a nice city in British Columbia within the Fraser Valley. It was our main residence, but we owned a lot of property all over the territory that was ours to tend.

I sat outside, on my patio with expensive white paper and a pen, with Gregory at my side. His hand was on my shoulder in a show of support, a silent partner, until it was his turn to write his account. The beginning, where we started, was my words. But I wasn’t sure where to begin. When a story went on for decades, where does one start?

I thought of my family to give me strength.

The Foxworths had grown and changed so much in the last century. They too were asked to tell their parts of the tale, but they’d decided that it was when I discovered the new world, remaining even now in shadows that this story should begin.

It was almost a century to the day, when we finally ended what plagued my family for so long. Was a hundred years too long to hold on to hope that your loved ones would eventually survive and thrive, even if some had to die in seeing it happen?

The Council, our governing body, paid me a personal visit yesterday. Though it had been an official visit, I didn’t have a great track record with those appointments. I was respected, but all in my Coven were also feared for their individual reasons, their individual pasts.

Over the years, our Coven had been allied with some of the most powerful entities this world would ever know. We have the forces of nature on our side, the power of dreams and the most feared monsters that make humans run and hide under their beds.

The Council only “requested” this document, because it is unbelievable, as it sounds. I believed they wanted to watch us fail to give the facts; to prove beyond doubt that what we said was real.

And we do have proof of all of our accomplishments. But I still suspected they don’t believe some of what my family and friends claim. Even to us, who are vampires and know of all sorts of real magic, our story is very far-fetched. Our experiences rip apart our own beliefs, not just the human view-point, and then stitch them back together again. To know the real truth of what lays just out of even our sight.

For a race with our real origin of beginnings, you’d think that they’d believe our tall-tale.

Personally, I wouldn’t have ever chosen to put this to paper, but when the Council decrees something, you refuse or disobey at your own risk. So, I will do so for our own well-being, and finally admit what we really are.

Some think the Foxworths were lucky for our “good” fortune. Others consider it a curse on top of the Curse that all vampires already share. I didn’t know which side to follow in that.

As a race, we’re the damned that had at one point been blessed. We were the ultimate oxymoron and the personification, if you will.

Our kind has seen both sides of the balance, and now we were precariously hanging by our fingertips, trying to protect mankind from ourselves. Most of us moved steadily forward to evolve with everyone else, but outlawed Rogues kept trying to throw us back into the dark ages.

Even so, we would always stand between the evil that rears its head within us, and the good in everyone else. Though we cannot protect humankind from their own forms of evil, we could do our part to keep the harmony on our end.

That was the Foxworth Coven’s mission statement.

We lived with humans, not just among them. We tried not to abuse our power, and assimilate into humanity the best we could. We raise our children with those beliefs, in hopes that one day we’d have real freedom and understanding. It was only one small step in the face of many, and so far, our ways had set the standard for Canadian ways.

We must be doing something right.

Possibly this record of our family would convince a few more of our kind that just because we are at the top of the food chain, manned with more power then any being had a right to, didn’t mean vampires had the right to abuse it.

Maybe it will show that no matter how bad life appears at the time, hope is always at the end of the tunnel. Sometimes it will just take a little time to get there.

I knew this better than most. In the end, I knew just how lucky I’d been.

As a child, I’d known real love existed out there—somewhere. But my parents had never been examples of that. They’d almost hated each other, and liked me even less. It was a match for necessity and nothing more.

Years ago, my cousin had told me, I’d been born to be a servant. Since the time I had been old enough to clean and mind the cattle, it’d been my life. Being taught to cook simple meals before turning the age of ten, I was expected to serve them nightly.

Under my mother’s watchful eye, I grew up alone and afraid. My father had been a big, burly man who was far too gruff to ever have children. I believe he had me, only because it had beenexpected of him. After me, they’d never tried for a boy. Something that enraged my father and something I had to suffer for continuously.

But it isn’t my childhood hell that begun my long journey, nor my terrifying family legacy. For generations my human family possessed magical gifts, but these required us to keep them quiet for our own survival. The differences between those who are gifted and those who did not understand them were vast in the early twentieth century, more so than they had in the nineteenth.

As a teenager I’d been starved for love and affection, something that all of my friends had received and gave so easily. I’d searched far and wide for it, a way to leave my past behind me. To finally get out from under my parent’s thumb or I would surely go mad.

They didn’t want me to go. They’d made no move to marry me off. I still believed that if the occurring events of my early life hadn’t taken place, they would’ve found a way to keep me tied to them forever.

Near the age of twenty, I was practically an old maid when I’d met Thomas. For months we had come together in secret. I’d thought nothing of it. Those were the times then. Plus, I didn’t want my parents to know, until it was too late to stop me.

I went to Thomas willingly, time after time, needing to feel human and liked. So much abuse from my parents made me desperate to jump into anything that would bring about my escape far too quickly. My normally intelligent mind hadn’t had the time to warn me of the impending dangers, in direct relation to the hard-pressed decisions.

I had mistaken lust for love, and that really had been my downfall, and breakthrough for survival.

If I hadn’t met Thomas, I doubted I would’ve met my true love.

Every cloud has a silver lining, even the darkest and most deadly ones.

* * * *

The Cornwall Coven Book Tour

2010-12-31T11:18:00.000-08:00

Book Two, Carnal Magnetism

Released by Silver Publishing on: January 15th 2011

More Information:

http://kaydenmcleod.com/CarnalMagnetism.php

Cover Art by: Reese Dante

Book Three, Demonic Pandemonium

Release by Silver Publishing on: January 29th 2011

More Information:

http://kaydenmcleod.com/DemonicPandemonium.php

Cover Art by: Reese Dante

Carnal Magnetism

and

Demonic Pandemonium

Book Tour Dates

February 3rd 2011

Cindy Jacks' Bad Girl (And Bad Boy) Writer's Block

Giveaway and blog-post

http://cindyjacks.blogspot.com/

February 10th 2011

Fang-tastic Books

Giveaway and blog-post

http://cindyjacks.blogspot.com/

February 17th 2011

Love Romances and More Yahoo Chat Group

Contest and Author Chat

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/LoveRomancesCafe/?yguid=431075999

Coming Soon...Martyr of the Flaminian Gate

2010-12-13T12:13:00.000-08:00

Martyr of the Flaminian Gate

Valentine's Day Story, released within the Heart And Soul Anthology (M/F)

Kayden McLeod

http://www.kaydenmcleod.com/

Publication Date:

February 12^th 2011

Genre:

Erotic Romance

Sub-Genre:

Time-Travel/Historical

Publisher:

Silver Publishing

http://silverpublishing.info/

Heat-Rating:

Three—Boiling

Tagline:

A love that spans through the ages

Summary:

In the times of the Roman Empire, it is declared that no solider would marry to distract them from battle, and their duties to their Emperor, Claudius Gothicus. Jacobus de Voragine hears these orders, but does not heed them. He seeks out a priest who would wed him and his love, Petronia. And that one decision of devotion causes them both unimaginable adversities. But there are some forces in this world not even the Emperor can circumvent. The priest, Valentio sees the good in the hearts of men, especially Jacobus. And gives him a chance of a lifetime: to love purely and freely, no matter who tells him he can’t.

Excerpt One (RATED PG)

Prologue

269 AD, the Roman Empire

Valentio stared up at Claudius Gothicus from under the brush of his eyelashes with an unpleasant glint inspired from these indecencies.

The guard had forced the martyred priest to his knees, chained in shackles and presented to their ruler—though he wasn’t Valentio’s. The priest followed his faith in honour, love and God. But the Roman Emperor had deemed it necessary to eradicate what Valentio held sacred, and impose his own to replace it.

“Do you still persist in these foolish notions, Saint Valentine?” Claudius’s index finger danced along the rim of his wine-filled goblet. “Has your incarceration not been enough? You have had ample time to reconsider.”

The priest bit his tongue in an effort not to laugh at the label some called him, in all ignorance. A saint he may be considered—but none here had any idea what responsibility this imposed on him. Miraculous occurrences would always happen and missionaries like Valentio and those akin to him distributed some, but not all.

“I persist in nothing that is foolish—nor have I ever. I will not convert to your ways. If you so choose to follow in your own beliefs, fine. But extend me the same courtesy. I do nothing wrong.”

The guard around the Emperor laughed—with a clear fake ring to it. They did not wish to anger the very man who held their fate in his hands, the power to do unto them, as what was done in the priest’s position.

At least, some of them. A few among these strong and intimidating men had come to change their faith—no longer seeing Christianity as offensive: not like Claudius had deemed it. But they would not allow the Emperor to have this knowledge, for it would only get them prosecuted. Valentio did not hold them accountable for this.

No one but Valentio would be to blame for his predicament, whether that was true or not. He had given himself up in many ways, all to save another who proved himself worthy of his specific attentions.

“Valentio, I am fond of you—your fortitude and rigid loyalty. It is why breath still fills your lungs and your heart continues to beat beneath your breast. However, is it possible you like living your waning life in chains, in a blackened cell? Because until your dying breath and the last beat of your heart that is how you will stay, if you do not come to see my way of things. Do not mistake my charity in your recently continued life to be my foolishness. I will kill you without a second thought.”

Valentio felt the cold weight of the metal binding his hands and feet. No, he did not care for the atrocities and the belittling of being bound in such a way. There’d be little doubt it would be his impending death, if his soul-deep convictions remained unchanged.

Yet, none of it mattered. To alter such a thing would be to lie to one’s self about fundamental needs. And that was something he would never do.

It took everything within Valentio not to snarl and rail against the injustice of this. Why could Claudius not see there should be freedom in religion? That people should have a choice?

“Then so shall it be. I will not have another way of life, thinking and being forced upon me. I will not go against who I am to please anyone—nor will I find variance in who I am, just to survive a pitiful existence of dishonesty. I hold true to fidelity in my faith.” Valentio calculated his words, though near reaching the end of his rope. “Perhaps it is not me that needs to look inward and see who or what is wrong.”
Claudius’s eyes filled with anger. “You dare question my beliefs?”

“You question mine. One does not judge another, until one judges himself first.”

“I do not have to judge myself. I am ruler here—what I say is to be heeded as the utmost authority. You are trying my patience, and I will not have that. Do you wish to spend another fortnight in the cells below, perhaps to gain some common-sense before I decide what your end will be?”

“I will spend the time there—but I will acquire nothing but hunger and friendship with rats. There will come a time, Claudius Gothicus, that you will see my ways are not as depraved as you have come to believe. You will see damnation for what you have wrought—and it will not be me who kneels before you, manacled to what he values. We all have a higher power to answer. You are not and never been mine. I sincerely hope yours has more clemency than you do.”

Claudius laughed at Valentio’s words. “You imagine that the Emperor of the Roman Empire will genuflect before a mere priest of a Christian Church? Who has knowingly gone against my dictates and wed my soldiers? It is you, and only you who will be arbitrated for these heinous crimes against me.”

“Those soldiers have want of families—children. Do you not desire for them to broaden your domain, and strengthen your rule? It is not fair to deny them a most basic principle—something all men covet. They fight for you, give their lives for your campaigns. Yet you will not give them a loving touch waiting in their homes, when it causes you no harm?”

Claudius snorted with distaste. “They are my legions—borne to violence and bred with a devotion to protect my lands. That is a much greater good than siring a few brats—who along with their women will distract them from battle, taking their focus away from what ismost important.”

Valentio took the chance for a sideways glance to the guards—those same soldiers who were condemned to live out their lives alone, barring brief visits to bordellos and rare contact with females, whom cared nothing about them, except for what lined their pockets.

The priest’s gaze strayed upon one of those—but not too long—lest anyone notice.

Jacobus de Voragine.

No one could know they were still friends after all that had happened. All the horror and pain Claudius had put him through—all the agony Valentio allowed him to continue to visit upon him, while the priest plotted out the best way to bring about the events destined to the solider.

Even if it was the very last thing Valentio did—and more than likely, it would be—he would see Jacobus’s family restored.

“I have had enough of this,” Claudius said, his voice a strange mix of musing and anger Valentio did not care for.

He had been jailed by the Emperor and his actions for too long not to know this wouldn’t turn out well for him. His gaze strayed back to Claudius, while everyone else in the room held their breath in anticipation of what punishment would be handed out this time.

“Decide my fate. We all know in the end, you will do so anyway.” Valentio raised his bound hands to display this fact.

“And what do you think I will do?”

“Kill me for impertinence.”

Claudius Gothicus regarded his prisoner with something broaching respect in the face of what would come. “While tempting, that will not be today, Valentio. I think I will try one more thing before condemning you to such a conclusion.”

“And what would that be?”

“My loyal guard—those who always serve me without question, will take you out into the street and flog you to show my people what will happen when I am disobeyed. If you come out of it alive, we will convene again. To think of all your attempts to convert me will do you no good. I will teach you that it is better to listen than to ignore.”

**********

Excerpt Two (RATED PG)

It was her. His Petronia in the flesh.

Her chestnut hair was sheared off, brushing her shoulders and gently curling outward at the ends. Petronia watched him like she didn’t know him, when all he wanted was to take her into his arms and hold her close.

To have thought her dead! And then to have the priest tell him all of that nonsense and being idiotic enough not believe him—to this! It was incredible, even to someone who had jumped damned near two-thousand years forward in time, just three days before.

Then Petronia snapped her fingers in front of his face. “You still in there?”

“Terribly sorry, my lady. My name is Jacobus de Voragine, and this is my daughter…”

“Aelia. We’ve met.”

“Do you know her?” Jacobus asked with hope. Valentio had promised she wouldn’t remember them at first, but something in her eyes said she wasn’t as ignorant as she put on.

A woman bustled past them, wafting Petronia’s sweet, seductive perfume his way. And that was all it took. His cock hardened for her right then and there. Thank the gods his pants were baggy enough to cover it! How would he explain it to her if she happened to look down and see his straining erection?

“No,” Petronia replied, an odd note to her voice, eyes downcast like she was uncomfortable. “But your daughter does look so familiar to me.” She shook her head, taking a half-step back. Jacobus held his breath, needing her to recognize them. “But I suppose many children took a like.”

Aelia looked up between them with a sweet, innocent expression before she took off into the aisles of clothes to play. His heart filled with joy to see her carefree and unburdened. It was hard to reprimand her and order Aelia back to his side when she wanted freedom she’s never had.

“Stay where I can see you!” Jacobus called.

Aelia giggled, weaving through the displays in figure eights, around and around again. He watched her, unsure what one would say to his unknowing wife.

“You sound so formal—dignified. And you stand so straight, like a general of some great army. Different from anyone I have met here.” Petronia said it as if it were praise. He turned back to her. “You haven’t been in Canada long, have you?”

“Only a few days. I come from a place that is so diverse in comparison to here. I am completely lost, despite promises on how easy it would be. There is so much to learn, and it’s quite overwhelming.”

“Aelia seems to have adapted.”

His breath held. “My,” oh, how he wanted to say our, “daughter has had to come to terms with a lot lately, and I am so proud of what she has accomplished. Her mother—died, I suppose.” Petronia’s brow lifted at that. “And then Aelia was cured of two maladies, only to be whisked away to this new land, where she knows nothing. I am pleased she does not struggle like I do, but I know it is still hard for her.”

* * * *

Petra winced at hearing the immense pain behind his words. Something about him tugged at her heartstrings, making her want to reach out to him and his daughter. Enough that she almost placed a comforting hand on his arm to try and dispel the darkness which had crowded his eyes as he stared off in the direction Aelia had gone.

“Children are resilient little people, who are capable of amazing feats.” Petra fidgeted, feeling nervous. Not of him per se. She just felt off-centre, like she’d known him forever and a day, but couldn’t recall a thing about him.

But that was impossible.

“Father!” Aelia called before she raced out of the store, back into the activity of the mall.

Jacobus launched forward to follow her, Petra close at his heels. His pace picked up as he weaved through the crowds, worry etching his features as the young girl stopped in front of greeting card shop. Valentine’s Day decorations adorned the windows in hues of red and shades of white. Pink streamers coiled across the ceiling in the store, with hundreds of holiday related items to entice the passersby to buy them for their loved ones.

“Are they not pretty, father?” Aelia pointed at the hearts in an array of Medias, which sat beside helium-filled balloons and stuffed animals. It was like she’d never seen anything like this before. “What are they?”

Jacobus’s stern appearance melted into affection at her excitement. “I don’t know. Decorations of some sort.”

“Haven’t you heard of Valentine’s Day?” Petra asked in surprise. But Jacobus’s confused look confirmed he hadn’t, not to mention that he winced at the reference. Why did he look so haunted?

“No. What is it?” His reply came out hoarsely.

Petra’s brow furrowed, wondering how best to explain it. She assumed it wouldn’t be as extravagant where he’d come from. Possibly, it would lean more toward the real origins of the date.

“Nowadays, it’s about buying gifts of chocolate, cards, stuffed animals and flowers to pass between lovers and school children, who pay twice as much for them.”

“But you know better, don’t you?”

“It is supposed to be in commemoration of Saint Valentine and the sacrifices he made. But today, too few remember that, only seeing flashy sales gimmicks.”

“And how do you know about this Valentine, if no one remembers him?”

**********

http://kaydenmcleod.com/index.php

NOW RELEASED, Masquerade, Erotic Paranormal Romance

2010-10-30T10:28:00.000-07:00

Masquerade

Kayden McLeod

Buy-Link:

http://silverpublishing.info/product_book_info/new-release-c-1/masquerade-p-95

Erotic Paranormal Romance (Werewolves, Vampires and Zombies)

Silver Publishing

Heat-Rating:

Three Flames, Boiling

Tagline

What lies behind the façade isn’t always what it seems

Summary

Abigail claimed the land of North Vancouver as her own, sharing it only with a clan of vampires, the Jericho Coven, who accepted the werewolf into their territory without qualm. Within their numbers is one, Cyrus Jericho; a suave, brooding vampire who isn’t quite as he appeared. He declares Abigail for his own the moment they meet, despite the fact that another werewolf pack is in British Columbia looking to claim Abigail into their midst, no matter what they must do to see that goal complete.

Excerpt (Rated PG)

Cyrus stood alone at the bar when Ada walked back into the party with Dina and who he now assumed to be the party-planner, Abigail.

He liked to think himself suave and not so easily ruffled, but that single moment in time, both proved wrong. The moment he laid eyes on the she-wolf, he went weak in the knees and a fine sweat worked over his body.

And that was from across the room.

He stared at his hand that shook ever so slightly. And to make matters worse, Ada made eye contact with him and smiled, making a beeline straight for him with the wolves in tow.

It would be a very rough night.

“Cyrus, may I introduce you to Abigail Weber, the party-planner,” Ada said in a smooth voice that revealed nothing of her increased heart rate pounding in his ears, signifying her anxiety.

He discreetly sniffed the air, but what he came up with blew his mind. The wolf is in heat. When his mind filtered this information to him his cock hardened, making him crave the party-planner like nothing else. Not even the whiskey he treasured like a favored lover came even close.

The worst impact to his libido had to be how Abigail reacted to him. Her breath shuddered into her lungs, heart thumping and going far faster than Ada’s. Her hand curled around her black clutch, holding it tightly to her stomach, right over her womb.

Cyrus was thrilled to know he wasn’t the only one affected.

Her exquisite beauty! It rivaled and surpassed any female in the room, regardless of race. Even with her mask covering the top half of her face, he could still see it, the perfect lines of her face – and her body; it was enough to drive the sanest man mad.

“Hello, milyi,” he replied softly, and he swore she sighed at the sound of his voice.

“Ahh, Cyr, such a charmer,” Dina smiled gratefully.

Dina knew something he didn’t, though this didn’t surprise him. Surely a normal occurrence, one he had long since accustomed himself to. She was a strange animal, to say the least, but that was his Dina.

“You know him?” Abigail whispered to her friend.

“Very well. We have known each other for years.” Dina didn’t meet her eyes when she said it. Protecting him no doubt, as much as herself.

“Cyrus, I highly recommend you ask our Abby for a dance,” Ada asked – an order under the guise of a request. And keep an eye on our new friends. This most recent development, I am sure you have noticed by the state of your pants, has not gone undetected by them. I was foolish enough, not taking into account her going into heat. It will spur them on even more.

Then kick them out.

Cyr, the point of knowing what they do, and when they do it is still important to me. Abigail will fight to the death for her territory. And I outright refuse to leave her alone for this coming battle. Sabern wants her, badly. I can smell it on him. And while Abby is a strong wolf, she can’t take them all on, even though she will without thought or question. And if they threaten us, she will lay her life down in protecting our Coven for taking her in. I cannot stand that thought. I know there is much about your past life you have not told us and I do not pry now, but I have a feeling you are capable of adequately defending her.

Now that was definitely true. He looked Dina in the eye over Abigail’s head, seeing the cold expression she hid from everyone else, the feel of friendliness leaving her for a brief moment. Dina had full intentions of protecting Abigail. She cherished this rare, real friend in her life, and what these vampires didn’t know about his long-time companion, would and could, kill the rival pack.

And the same could be said about him.

The FREE release of Sara's Story

2010-10-19T16:41:00.000-07:00

Dear Readers,

It’s finally happened! The FREE paranormal erotica series, Sara’s Story is now available in e-book on my website. This includes Book One; Suspicious Circumstances, Book Two; Unknown Worlds, and Book Three: Breaching Loyalty

To get your copy: CLICK HERE

Summary of Sara’s Story Books I, II, and III

Sara has led a hard life; her past plaguing her in ways a rational mind can barely conceive of—and this woman is by no stretch of the imagination balanced. She does the best she can with what she has, but fate just keeps throwing her hardballs. Learning that Suspicious Circumstancessurround the men she’s allowed in her life, Sara has to rethink everything she’d once believed in. She gets involved with a vampire of another Lower Mainland Coven, Loren Foxworth, who takes her to Unknown Worlds. Loren shows her the ways vampires of old follow, and Sara finds that she doesn’t care for them. She will go against powers far greater than her for what she feels is right. Sara seeks her own way in life, only to find that despite what she may do or which way she turns, some people would always Breach Loyalty.

Hope you enjoy!

Kayden McLeod

http://www.kaydenmcleod.com/

Releases Today! From Brigit Aine; Red's Return

2010-09-30T10:25:00.000-07:00

Red's Return: Book One of Torrent’s Talents

Brigit Aine

Paranormal romance, Shape Shifter

Heat level: 4

Buy-Link:

http://www.decadentpublishing.com/product_info.php?products_id=168&osCsid=2jmumietracp2sfl1rtd89dih4

Summary:

For Red Hood, it's been a long journey to Grandma's house. Her escape to big-city life is not what she had expected; the hustle and bustle of metropolis has left her feeling alienated and more of a freak than she could have imagined. Torrent, the town where she grew up, on the other hand, has so much more to offer--friends, family and acceptance of her 'special' breed of talent.

Red quickly makes up her mind to return home. The warm embrace of her parents and grandmother are alluring, but the mysterious stranger she bumps into on the path to Grandma's might just sweeten the deal.

Excerpt:

“Nice to meet you Red Hood, I am Ethan Wolfe.” Red started to laugh so hard, she almost toppled again. If Ethan had not been holding her hand and caught her under the elbow she would have. The tingling sensations in her fingertips from his touch had her sobering fast. She hadn't felt an instant attraction to a man in a long time. Ethan looked at her as if she had lost her mind.

“I am sorry, but the story of Little Red Riding Hood just popped into my head there. Red and the Wolfe?” She smiled. “My grandmother always told me the big, bad wolf was going to find me on the path and want to keep me for himself someday.”

Ethan smiled at her, a wide, hungry smile.

Red took another step back.

“Well I was on my way to my grandmother's house, so I think I had better get there. It was nice to meet you Ethan Wolfe.” Red took off at a brisk pace for her grandma's house.

Ethan watched Red Hood walk away from him, the wicked smile unwaning. Grandma always told her that the big, bad wolf would want to keep her, did she? Well Grandma did not know how right she was. Ethan was definitely going to keep her for himself and he was the biggest, baddest wolf around. Ethan licked his lips as he watched the gentle sway of Red’s hips as she walked away. He and his wolf had both smelled the scent of an orgasm on her hand. The thought of her pleasuring herself hardened his cock until it pressed against the seam of his zipper. He felt his palms sweat at the thought and a rush of heat throughout his body. He found her absolutely delightful—from the melody of her laugh, to the gravel in her voice, to the tiniest glint of passion and fear he had seen in her beautiful blue eyes.

The Author:

Brigit Aine

She lives in the Sacramento, CA area with her husband and two boys. Working full time during the day, she writes at night and on the weekends to release the voices in her head. She is the author of the Torrent's Talents series and is working on a number of other projects as well. A lover of reading as well as writing, she is the co-owner of Sensual Treats Magazine, a free quarterly magazine that focuses on the romance of life, and the administrator of Siren Book Reviews.

Brigit’s Blog:

http://www.brigitsworld.blogspot.com/

The Cornwall Coven, Book Three, Demonic Pandemonium, coming this winter

2010-09-27T10:28:00.000-07:00

The Cornwall Coven, Book Three; Demonic Pandemonium

Kayden McLeod

http://www.kaydenmcleod.com/

Publication Date:January 29th 2010

Genre:Erotic Paranormal Romance (Vampires)

Sub-Genre:Horror

Publisher:Silver Publishing

Website:http://silverpublishing.info/

Heat-Rating:Four Flames—Fiery

Tagline:

Sex, blood and rock and roll

Summary:

Pandora is a half-demon, alone in the world and good as abandoned, with a mother who barely tolerates her and a father who is unable to be with her nearly often enough for her tastes. She keeps to herself, and tries not to associate with others often, lest they discover her secret—until she meets Kevlar Cornwall. The two collide in ignorance of one another, but the sexual-attraction is indisputable and cannot be ignored, growing more profound with every passing moment. It blinds them to the lurking danger hiding just around the corner, out to end both their lives and everyone either of them have ever known or loved.

Excerpt One (RATED: PG)

Prologue

There are many types of people in this world.

And I have no idea what type I would be classified under. I walk through life always unsure of my next move and how it would affect others. Because everything I did rippled outward and long ago realized I had to limit my association with the “outside world”, relying on no one but myself.

I couldn’t rely on my family, friends or enemies for guidance of any sort; forever alone and doomed to always be. Such was the case with my kind—though I wouldn’t know, since I didn’t associate with them either.

What am I? A demon.

Hell, I couldn’t even fit into that category. I was half-mortal, a thing cursed to be complicated and dangerous—even to myself. I couldn’t do normal things, normal people did, mostly since all it would take is one wrong word or action, and all of a sudden I would turn into a monster that made everybody else quake in fear. A Frankenstein, but of a different sort.

And I was the only one on earth.

I had a human mother who hated me, and a demon father who I rarely saw or talked to. Creatures of the lower realms weren’t allowed on this plane without a direct access pass. And even then, it was sketchy.

So what was life like for me? Shit. Absolute uselessness.

You’d think it would be enough to drive a person just a little batty. But no. There’s more.

I was an author by profession. I had an agent, an excellent career—or I’d had anyways. It isn’t as good as it sounds.

Within the past few days, I’d realized my chosen path in life wasn’t as great as I’d cracked it up to be. My agent, Sam, proved to be ripping me off; stealing my work right from under my nose.

The most important book of my existent too boot. Well, to me anyway. The novel would be published, but it sure as fuck wasn’t by me. Sam Poetize was an underhanded slime-ball who had worked on my behalf since the beginning of my writing days. He made me believe in him for believing in me. But that came to an end.

Trusting him was one of the biggest mistakes I could’ve made.

One of; but definitely not the worst.

Oh no, that would be reserved for the day I’d been born, if you asked my mother, Lillian.

I lay in bed, staring at the ceiling while I thought of this, when the radio came on instead of an alarm clock, at exactly six-forty am. Loud noises hurt my overly sensitive ears.

Nickelback’s Burn It To The Ground blared through the speaker.

When it ended, one of the disk-jockeys of the Jeff O-Neil Morning Show, Charis’ voice filled the room. The program was a favourite of mine with their causal banter and favoured rock; but not the deep concern that weighed her careful words.

"It continued last night," Charis began. "The murder count is now up to ten."

"Ten?" Jeff repeated.

"The police are cautioning the people of Vancouver to be on the look out, and to report anything suspicious."

"What did they find this time?" Scotty inquired.

"The witnesses on scene were reported saying a severed arm was found in one part of an alley, and a leg on the other side of Hornby Street. No weapon was found or determined."

I sat up in bed, listening closely. I lived only a few blocks from there.

This would cause hysteria. Pandemonium. Something deep inside stirred at the thought of so many terrified people. I shivered, and then thrust aside the part of me that relished the distinct possibility. My human part was appalled, and since I resided on earth and not—well not on earth, that would be the emotion I stuck with.

I’d seen this as nothing more than a serial killer the news named him—or her.

Yet these murders held a far greater meaning in relation to me, and the lives surrounding mine. I just didn’t know it then.

Perhaps if I’d been more cautious and aware of my surroundings, the signs of my own demise would have shown themselves to me before it was too late.

But that was wrong.

It had been too late for a long time already.

Sara's Story

2010-09-26T18:58:00.000-07:00

Sara’s Story—the FREE paranormal erotica Series

Places to find it:

Blog-Format:

http://thecornwallcoven.blogspot.com/

Free Download coming soon, and the summaries of each story: http://kaydenmcleod.com/freebies.php

To get the FREE e-book early, feel free to e-mail me at:

kaydenmcleod@gmail.com for your copy!!

Genre:

Paranormal Erotica (Menage; MF, MMF, MMMF, Anal)

Rated: R

Summary for the series:

Sara has led a hard life; her past plaguing her in ways a rational mind can barely conceive of—and this woman is by no stretch of the imagination balanced. She does the best she can with what she has, but fate just keeps throwing her hardballs. Learning that Suspicious Circumstances surround the men she’s allowed in her life, Sara has to rethink everything she’d once believed in. She gets involved with a vampire of another Lower Mainland Coven, Loren Foxworth, who takes her to Unknown Worlds. Loren shows her the ways vampires of old follow, and Sara finds that she doesn’t care for them. She will go against powers far greater than her for what she feels is right. Sara seeks her own way in life, only to find that despite what she may do or which way she turns, some people would always Breach Loyalty.

Excerpt One—Rated R—Sara’s Story, Book Three, Breaching Loyalty

Chapter One

The damned phone was ringing again.

I shoved my head further into a pillow to pretend it didn’t exist. Sleep…sleep was much needed. I never seemed to be able to get nearly enough of it.

I felt someone reaching over me to get the infernal contraption, to then drop it, swearing under his breath. The mattress dipped when he rolled off of the bed to retrieve the cordless. Or at least that was what it sounded and felt like.

To know for certain, I would’ve had to open my eyes, and that just wasn’t going to happen at this ungodly hour, whichever one that happened to be.

To confirm the time…ahh, screw it. Sleep. Now.

With no more phones.

Then my beloved pillow was ripped away, light piercing my clenched eyes. Groaning and rolling over a little, I blinked to see warm, brown eyes glittering at me.

“Morning,” Keoni mumbled groggily.

“It’s against the law to be morning. I declare it so.”

“Then why is the sun shining? I don’t know if it’s different in this part of the world, but where I come from that means daytime.”

“Are you always such a smartass?” I grumbled when he finished dragging the pillow from between my clenched fingers. Damn him.

“I try my best, and you’re teaching me more every day.” He grinned. “Yolie didn’t allow either of us speech often as she saw it as unneeded, so I’m severely out of practice. We weren’t kept for such things, though there were times she would speak to us.”

Ignoring yet another disturbing reference to his old life, I rolled over to stretch my body, my back arching ever so slightly. Loren’s mouth closed over my nipple, making me smile. My hand ran down his cheek as his warm, espresso eyes locked with mine, nuzzling me as his hand cupped the other.

Keoni’s tongue swirled over my belly, moving down to my apex, chuckling when my breath stopped. The tip swiped over my clit and I moaned for him.

My hand settled on Loren’s head, the other falling to the side of the bed where Adoniia caught it in his mouth, kissing one tip as he brought the phone to his ear.

It was always like that with my men and sex; instant and devastating. But then again, with them everything always was. All three had grown on me, in ways I had never expected before.

“Hello?” Adoniia yawned, and then it rang again, right in his ear and he jumped.

“Baby, you have to turn it on. Remember we talked about this.” I chuckled to myself. “The phone only works, after you press the green button.”

“Oh, right,” he murmured, pressing the key, and then placing it against his ear. “Hello?” he paused, listening. “Yes, this is he. Uh huh…what was that again?” Another moment. “You want me to do what?”

I watched every last change on his face, seeing emotions I’d hoped to have banished in my naivety. While I knew I couldn’t erase two-thousand years of his personal torture in thirty-days or less; in that one second, it was like we were back at square-one.

He allowed me to feel his growing concern, and something racing towards panic, but it was much more profound than such a weak word. I pushed Loren away, and climbed over Keoni to get to him. His hand gripped the edge of the mattress, other still clutching my hand, until all of his knuckles turned a harsh white.

I focused my finely-tuned hearing on what the person on the phone was saying. But I had to try and fight past his vulnerability that affected my own. He had come to depend on me on all levels, relying on my knowledge and how I handled things when something in the real world confounded him.

“You will be leaving this evening.”

Leaving for where? It was on the tip of my tongue to ask, but Loren’s slight body language told me he wanted silence, and I learned enough to pick up on the subtleties. When he stopped moving; it was absolute, until he was no more than a life-sized doll.

“But, I don’t know how to hunt,” Adoniia said quietly. “I have not been trained yet.”

My heart skipped three separate beats, each one providing an unsettling silence that stunted the aptitude for thought.

Adoniia spoke nothing but truth; he didn’t know how to hunt Rogues, no more than a well-kept pet for two millennia, with every need taken care for him. He still hadn’t learned how to survive outside of his habitat yet, without constant baby-sitting. Or at least that was my point of view. Those around me thought much differently.

“That doesn’t matter…”

Whoever it was would’ve continued, but Loren plucked the phone right from Adoniia’s ear, and sat up away from me. Whatever was going on, he knew exactly what was happening. I was lucky to even know half of it, if that.

His eyes were chillingly devoid of emotion, but only a testament to what he really was, and just how pissed he was about to become.

“Who is this?” Loren asked the question, however his tone told me all I needed to know.

“Hello, Loren,” a familiar voice titillated through the phone. My head cocked to one side, a sneer spreading across my lips. “This is Edgar, but of course you already knew that, didn’t you? You’re just playing around, I know. I’m so glad to…catch you while you’re free.”

“Cut the bullshit, Eddie.”

“You know better than to call me that. I come from a time when we didn’t shorten and degrade our given names in such a fashion. And come to think of it, so did you.”

“I only do it, because it pisses you off. And you know better than to call my residence. If you need me for something...”

“Oh but I want him, too. You’re going with him on this little escapade, out of town for a while.”

“What do you want with, Adoniia? The Cornwalls have many more able Hunters at their disposal, as does the Foxworths. We both know that, and I don’t understand why you would want the both of us...we aren’t even from the same Coven.”

I looked toward Keoni, the single calm person amidst the chaos that now made up our silent collective mind-set. My head was filled with his half-asked questions, and searching for the answers to accompany them.

He both understood, yet didn’t comprehend what challenges Adoniia would face in hunting a Rogue, who didn’t want to be caught or killed, especially with him being untrained in the ways of the Council. His Maker had gone to great lengths to avoid exposure to the establishment, and had completely succeeded in her quest to live unheeded by the many laws that made up the rest of our lives.

Why is this happening? I asked no one in particular, but Keoni was the one to answer with a rush of warm reassurance.

This Edgar is angry about being slighted, I believe. Over a few different matters, some of it I am not sure of. Loren is not telling you a lot I believe, though I am not clear on what it would be.

My eyes slid to the man in question, who hadn’t reacted in the slightest from the conversation with Keoni. He chucked sardonically in my head.

Your Loren has no clue that we speak. I would never allow that, never any that would cause you even the slightest bit of harm.

So you find need to hide us from him?

I do not think of it that way. He hides from you, but you do not possess the power to reciprocate. I just provide the means to level the playing field.

“Like what?” I said aloud before thinking about it. He didn’t answer, nor react.

“Is that your human thing?” Edgar asked with his voice thick with scorn.

Yea, he wasn’t my biggest fan. But not even he could contest my absolute clean-kill record, no matter what he thought of me. My stats were near-perfect, ranking right up there with any one of my brothers, and beating some of the hunting team’s totals from the surrounding Covens. I had the occasional ear of the Head of Canada, as an old-standing drinking-buddy, who ran in much the same circles as I. He actually asked my opinion over someone else’s, say like Edgar. But then again, I’d confer with a bug before this one.

“She has a name.” Loren growled. Adoniia’s wasn’t far after it.

“So? It does not mean I must use it.”

I flipped the phone off, and Keoni cracked a worried smile, but widened when Loren held his hand up, eyes pleading that I behave. He knew I could get carried away before I knew it.

Loren gritted his teeth, not responding right away while he gathered his thoughts. He really hadn’t been expecting this, but I was probably the only person in the room who didn’t know for sure if he were scrambling for a solution.

Adoniia was well schooled in carnal sin, but in almost all else, he was almost childlike in his quest to understand, to take everything apart to know what it did. And it wasn’t like we had hidden this fact from Edgar and his team when we approached them for registration from the ancients.

Had Edgar decided this because of that fact? I shook my head, to boot-fuck the stupidity that had suddenly come over me, infecting my rationale. Couldn’t have that. But it still didn’t stop my imagination running very vividly away from me.

Just because he can’t fight as well, doesn’t mean he wouldn’t win, my love. Adoniia is almost two thousand years old, as Keoni is. His power would wipe through almost any Rogue by sheer will alone. He isn’t like either of us, and even as a convert, he has shared Yolie’s blood centuries upon centuries exclusively. He is almost as powerful as Manuel, himself.

“You leave for Europe this evening. A very special assignment just for you, and one you will enjoy immensely, I assure you,” Edgar said gleefully. “This is a highly classified, dangerous mission. We will need…both of your expertise on this case. It is time those lollygaggers learn a time or two about who they consort with.”

“What are you talking about?”

“You think too much Loren, and do as you are told far too little, but because I am in such a good mood, I will throw you a bone. Just one word; Abellana.”

I wasn’t sure how something so frozen in time by his anger, could still anymore than he had, but he did. Something about the name triggered something deep within him, and I felt the malevolence simmering just below the surface.

“Say it again, at your own risk. Go any further, and it will be your death,” Loren said softly, between clenched teeth. “You know better.”

“It’s time you just do as ordered. Learn where your place in the pecking order is.”

“Don’t you dare speak to me like that, worm,” Loren thundered menacingly, but in complete contrast, sighed. No matter how much he hated it, he answered to the establishment the same as the rest of us. There wasn’t any point in arguing, when they could literally just break our will. “Then I will go, alone.”

“Tisk, tisk. This isn’t a discussion,” Edgar sang. “Or would you rather me send the convert? I could change my plans, you know. Did I mention I am in charge of this case, because the reasons for it being are living here, in Vancouver? I will call the shots, and you will kneel to my every wish. Or I will blow it all wide open. Understand?”

“Perfectly.” Loren grunted, looking at none of us, but we couldn’t exactly say the same.

I was in shock.

Perhaps if it had been another case, one not so close to my heart, I would’ve possessed enough intelligence to see the plot thickening to the point of suffocation around me.

And I was only at the tip of the iceberg of information, lying just out of my grasp, for now anyway.

Adoniia’s arms wrapped around my waist, pulling me backward, to press his cheek against my lower back. Some deep portion of my mind clicked, and it sunk in. There was nothing I could do about this, and no matter of whether Adoniia was of capable in theory, didn’t really make him able to put it into practice.

I had made him so many promises; safety, compassion and freedom. This one thing would take all of that away, placing him apart from everything he clung to while getting his bearings, including me.

“I will not allow Sara to go to Europe,” Loren replied, echoing my futile thoughts about Adoniia, with much the same savageness. “And you know damned well why.”

“Oh, not that convert,” Edgar said, sounding even more sinister. As if the little geek would have the balls in person. Only be on the phone would he dare to, where powers were near useless to most of our population. “That is tempting, and surprisingly enough, not a possibility I had considered until now. What say you Loren, do I send your little human bitch along with you for this task? She could help you, instead of her toy.”

I growled at the reference, much the same as Loren had of me. He looked at me strangely, and I swore I saw hurt there. Something I hated to witness, especially being the cause of it.

It was difficult sometimes to have so many men. Correction; it was very delicate to balance my relationship with Loren, and then Keoni and Adoniia, who went hand in hand. They were almost the same person, and I sensed they only put up with him, because of how I felt.

And then it sunk in who Edgar had meant…

“No, it can’t be Carl,” I whispered brokenly. That was even worse!

“Yes, I think that would be a good idea; for the newborn to accompany you, with the animosity toward you, and all.”

“It gives you great pleasure to piss me off, doesn’t it? Knowing that in a second, I would enjoy tearing your heart out, right from your throat.”

“Just as much, as you do purposely with me and my brethren. It is time for the payback. We will show you the strength of our control yet, Loren. We are moving in shortly, and will be neighbours. What do you think of that?”

“It will never happen. Manuel will do anything to see it not so, and he is a greater power than you will ever be.”

“There are ways around him.”

“And there are ways around you.”

“But this, Carl,” Edgar said. He obviously feeling, and succeeding that he’d gotten to Loren. “You wouldn’t care much in that thing gone. Would you? Most likely rejoice in whatever ended his pitiful, almost powerless existence. I just cannot see the point for why your most recent obsession with the female gene-pool thought him worthy of our existence. But then again that thing is perverse, unnatural, and I am not the only one to think so.”

“She’s a vampire, just like us,” he replied tiredly, like this was an overdone argument, one that I obviously didn’t hear as often as he did.

“That thing is nothing like us. They all should be exterminated.” Edgar lost his happy, conniving tone, replaced with absolute disgust that set my teeth on edge. “Especially that wilful, disobedient woman, along with the rest of the convert-garbage.”

“They are people too; vampires that strive to keep your kind happy, working their asses off to apply themselves to every single rule you set up for them, so they can survive into ‘adulthood’ without being slaughtered,” Loren said in a deadly voice.

He will break soon, Keoni told me sadly, but there was a distinct hard edge I’d never heard before while referencing Loren. Just what was going on behind the scenes here that had this much of an effect on my men? If he says what is really on his mind, he will damn himself far more than he already has.

“Keep talking, Loren, and I will send her without qualm,” Edgar said thoughtfully. “Alone and unguarded. And I’ll order your presence in Vancouver, without the chance of leaving the country, for the entire duration of this assignment.”

“Why are you doing this? You know we’re tied up right now.”

“Literally? See what happens when you get involved with the Cornwalls? That club and those ridiculous parties.”

“That feed countless vampires in a controlled, safe environment,” Loren snapped. “And you know what I meant. We’re busy with three new vampires, showing them this way of life.”

“There are many others who can show them whatever they like. Six hours, Loren. You and Adoniia better both be at headquarters. You’ll be briefed then.”

And Edgar hung up.

A sick, despairing lump had settled in my stomach. I stared into Adoniia’s cold crystal eyes, wondering if this would be the last time I ever saw him.

The Vampire Coven Histories, By Kayden McLeod

2010-09-25T18:27:00.000-07:00

The Blue Rose—Foxworth Coven

The Foxworth Coven have been in British Columbia for over four-hundred years—the very first vampires to stake claim to the western Canadian territory, before the density of human population flooded their wide birth of territory. Back then, the entire province was theirs—but now, since the arrival of new Covens, their lands have been reduced to the Fraser Valley, making their home in Surrey.

A hundred or so years ago, Henry and Anastasia Foxworth led a formidable group who followed them, complete with three sons to call their own. Two were born of their blood; Corbin and Gregory, and one rag-tag adopted son; Antonio.

They loved their sons as equals, but it wasn’t quite the same amongst them. Antonio was jealous, and caused a war that ended in the Leader’s deaths, forcing the Heir, Gregory to take the one job he never wanted; manning the Foxworth legacy; the Coven, along with the family endeavor, Foxworth Shipping; an import/export business.

Gregory had a vision for the balance of man and vampirekind. He wanted peace brought to his people, and he knew how to bring some semblance of it. For the first time in history, a vampire would prove to his government, the Council that by acting human—working with and not against them would bring on a new era. And he was right.

Gregory, along with his human-convert, Canya, led and lived by example. Not hiding in the wilds in solitary, but existing in the centre of society, with humanity. He showed his Coven members how to eat real food, work jobs and associate with humans, to make friends with them.

And by doing so, he created this North American country’s way of life—bringing with it, new conciliate laws into practice. With the help of a family friend and Head of Canada to the International Council, Manuel Martinez, these lands became different than anywhere else in the world, setting up practice for the future covens that migrated here.

Today, they sit as one of Canada’s most powerful and largest Covens, feared and respected in and out of North America. Their Hunters rival the best the Council can offer. They hold favor with many of the earth’s Deities—a feat very few can accomplish.

Gregory and Canya Foxworth have one daughter born of their blood, Josealynn, who is the current Heir. And four adopted children; Ceanna and Arcadia (twins), and Ambrosios and Doros (brothers).

The Red Rose—Cornwall Coven

The Cornwall Coven was the second group of vampire to inhabit British Columbia, subsequent to the Foxworths. They came to be in the late 1940’s, but the concept of this Coven didn’t begin in Canada, but in Europe.

Corrine Cornwall comes from a more traditional background, one that portrayed vampires like their namesake—the true monsters of myth and legend. She looked around her, feeling disgust—but she knew just as well as them, vampires were visitors in this world where man ran free. Their power and evolution on the food chain did not afford them the right to rule over anyone.

She left her Coven in the depths of Europe, to seek out a different kind of life. It didn’t take her long to stumble across two vampires; Ryder and Holly, both who were older than her and just as lost in their world as she was. As one, they traveled to Canada, hearing rumors of the Foxworth Coven, and their different ways of being—craving to have peace of mind that the typical wars of their kind would come to an end.

Despite their age, she adopted Holly and Ryder for the political reasons for obtaining her own Coven, and the territory to tend, knowing she would eventually need a mate to solidify her position.

Maximus Demarche, along with his only surviving blood-relative, Cassandra travelled the world, seeking to carve their niche out in the world. They had seen every land there was to see—and still didn’t find where they belonged. Until they found Corrine Cornwall and her two sons. On sight, Maximus staked his claim on Corrine; courted and mated with her, giving her what she wanted—a permanent and safe home.

Together, they looked at this new place, while Corrine tried out different business ventures over the years, quickly growing bored with them. And then the idea hit her late one night when one of her members was dragged in by the Council Hunters and declared Rogue for allowing his Curse to take too much control over him, killing a human by mistake too visually for the establishment to overlook. She’d known that young vampire honestly hadn’t meant to—not being in his right mind at the time. The fact that he had willingly gone into custody, head hung in shame had spurred her to make a life-changing business venture.

Corrine Cornwall conferred with the councilman, Manuel Martinez about her plans and ideas to create an environment for vampires that stuck closely to Canada’s strict codes of conduct. And the RedLine was born, a fetish club in downtown Vancouver, employed by vampires who watched over the humans and their kind alike.

In addition to the two adopted sons, Maximus and Corrine sired three sons; Kane, Samuel and Dante.

The Green Rose—Jericho Coven

Not long after the Cornwalls settled in Vancouver, a rush of smaller Covens came to Canada, specifically British Columbia to escape the horrors the world’s vampires had come to call life. This was spurred on by the Council and their greed that extended everywhere in some space or form; making them hope to find out more about this new way of life.

The Jerichos were one of them, the rest heading to the less populated areas of northern British Columbia. Darwyn and Ada Jericho took their roots in North Vancouver, where places like Grouse Mountain and other forest areas allowed them some privacy, while sticking close to the hustle and bustle of the two neighboring groupings of vampires.

But they didn’t have any interest in politics. Unless dragged into them, they preferred to only take care of their own. As the loners they are, no one really knows what to make of them—and the Jerichos prefer it that way.

Darwyn and Ada have three beloved sons of their blood; Ian, Cole and Adrian.

Coming Soon...A Cornwall Christmas

2010-09-20T10:44:00.001-07:00

Title:

A Cornwall Christmas, Anthology, Just Another Paranormal Christmas

By:

Kayden McLeod

Author Website:

http://www.kaydenmcleod.com/

Publication Date:

November 27^th 2010

Genre:

Paranormal Romance (Vampires, PG)

Publisher:

Mojocastle Press

Publisher Website:

http://www.mojocastle.com/

Tagline:

A Christmas the Vancouver vampires will never forget

Summary:

Even vampires celebrate the holidays. Marcus and Kelly wake up Christmas morning with their own extraordinary presents for the other, one of them being blowing up of the kitchen. In an effort to appear more human, the Cornwalls plan an extravagant dinner, with all the trimmings and more. Differences are put aside; the Council and Covens come together to show that this time of year is only for good tidings.

Excerpt Three (Rated PG):

My eyes fluttered open on Christmas morning, alone.

I would’ve gone back to sleep, but I heard a loud bang, followed by several less severe crashes. Just what was going on?

Allowing my senses to search our rancher-style house in Vancouver, British Columbia, I found Marcus in the kitchen.

“Is everything alright?” I called out, trying to get my groggy brain to catch up with me.

“Go back to sleep, Kel. It’s nothing...major. At least I don’t think it is.”

“Are you sure?” Did I dare trust that statement?

“Sleep, woman! This is your morning to relax. You promised you wouldn’t do anything. It’s all on me.”

“Yes, boss.” I smiled. It was the same thing that happened every time I had him near me, or heard his voice.

I closed my eyes again, fully intending to just lay here and doze for a little while. He’d asked for this chance to completely surprise me, and I would give it to him.

But that lasted all of three minutes. The next series of loud noises had the fire alarm going off. When I smelled smoke, I wondered at my own reasoning. All sorts of crazy notions filled my head. Would I get up to an intact house?

“Are you okay in there?” This time, I yelled. I wasn’t frightened by any means. If there was a cause for panic, he’d already be in here freaking out. He was bad for things like that.

Yup, life with a vampire was a different sort of experience. And you had to learn to just go with it, especially with this particular one.

The alarm was silenced with a string of foul curses. “Just fine! All under control.”

I snorted. Like I was going to believe that.

The Vampires Go To FaceBook

2010-09-19T16:25:00.000-07:00

Dear Readers,

The Cornwall Coven and some of the related vampires from The Cornwall Coven Series, Sara’s Story and more are on Facebook! Feel free to add and interact with them—you’ll never know what they might do…

The RedLine, the fetish club Corrine and Maximus own in The Cornwall Coven Series is also on Facebook! And all the vampires can be found there...

Cheers,

Kayden

The RedLine

Hotspot in downtown Vancouver, Fetish Club

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=138339672844776

Corrine Cornwall

Vancouver Coven Leader, Ruling Family

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1848048830#!/profile.php?id=100001216546045&ref=ts

Maximus (DeMarche) Cornwall

Vancouver Coven Leader, Ruling Family

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1848048830#!/profile.php?id=100001273995794&ref=ts

Kevlar Cornwall

Registered Member, Coven Hunter

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=138339672844776#!/profile.php?id=100001225726382&ref=ts

Holly Cornwall

Ruling Family, Adopted Son, Coven Hunter

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=138339672844776#!/profile.php?id=100001218105204&ref=ts

Marcus Cornwall

Registered Member, Coven Hunter

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=138339672844776#!/profile.php?id=100001255757245&ref=ts

Kelly Cornwall

Registered Member

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=138339672844776#!/profile.php?id=100001244655566&ref=ts

Ryder Cornwall

Ruling Family, Adopted Son, Coven Hunter

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=138339672844776#!/profile.php?id=100001250626506&ref=ts

Catalym Cornwall

Ruling Family, Registered Member

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=138339672844776#!/profile.php?id=100001215046250&ref=ts

Sara Cornwall

Registered Member, Coven Hunter

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=138339672844776#!/profile.php?id=100001268566346&ref=ts

Adoniia Cornwall

Registered Member

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=138339672844776#!/profile.php?id=100001257645965&ref=ts

Keoni Cornwall

Registered Member

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=138339672844776#!/profile.php?id=100001272586846&ref=ts

Manuel Martinez

Head Of Canada, Councilman, Original Cursed One

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=138339672844776#!/profile.php?id=100001267426694&ref=ts

Loren Foxworth

Registered Member of the Foxworth Coven (The Surrey Vampires)

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=138339672844776#!/profile.php?id=100001269136265&ref=ts

Where To Find The Cornwall Coven Books And Stories

Published Stories

http://kaydenmcleod.com/books.php

Free Short Stories

More About Sara's Story....

http://kaydenmcleod.com/freebies.php

Where Sara's Story Appears...

http://thecornwallcoven.blogspot.com/

Pre-Release Reader Review; Carnal Magnetism

2010-09-19T16:24:00.001-07:00

The Cornwall Coven Series

Book Two

Carnal Magnetism

Publication Date:

January 8th 2010

Genre:

Erotic Paranormal Romance (Vampires, M/F)

Publisher:

Silver Publisher

http://silverpublishing.info/

Heat-Rating:

Five Flames, Explosive

Tagline:

Trust only works when it’s both ways

Summary:

The RedLine is the perfect haven for a man of Ryder’s extensive desires and tastes. He uses the women of the club, much like they do him, with little care to know anything more than their names, sometimes even less than that. His reputation for open-minded, tantalizing sex was renowned, and willing victims for this particular vampire were never at a shortage. At least until Catalym comes crashing into his life, taking over from the moment they’d met. And it isn’t long before her past life’s tribulations follow her, including a dangerous ex-boyfriend who is hiding far more than Ryder or his friends could ever guess.

Review:

Kayden McLeod spins a tale in Carnal Magnetism that sucks you in at the beginning and doesn’t let you go. You won’t be able to put down this entrancing story of a vampire family formed from need, but able to stay together because of love.

Ryder is a rogue gentleman, but with old world valor. He belongs to a vampire coven that protects and loves their members. Then along comes Catalym, a pureblood vampire that has been used horribly by her family. Sheltered and abused for most of her life, Catalym still manages to hold onto an air of innocence and wonderment. All of Ryder’s protective instincts come forth and will not be denied. Ryder quickly falls under Catalym’s spell, for she is charming, beautiful, and smart. What else could Ryder do, but protect Catalym from her crazy family?

However, protection from her family is not all she requires. Catalym must be able to feed not only on blood, but on the sexual energy she needs to survive. Ryder can handle it though, and doesn’t mind feeding Catalym anything she wants. Their sexual encounters are erotic and hot! Soon, under Ryder’s care, Catalym starts to blossom into the vampire she was always meant to be.

Not only does Kayden McLeod supply us with a sexy, erotic story, but humor as well. This coven of vampires’ antics will have you laughing out loud! These boys know how to have fun, and the girls can give as well as they get!

Plot twists and turns keep the action going and the reader on their toes! The cliff hanger ending leaves you wanting more. This is a great addition to The Cornwall Coven Series that you won’t want to miss!

Reviewer: Stacey Krug

SneakPeekWednesday; Masquerade, Excerpt One

2010-09-19T16:22:00.000-07:00

Masquerade

Kayden McLeod

http://www.kaydenmcleod.com/

Publication Date: October 30^th 2010

Genre: Erotic Paranormal Romance (Werewolves, Vampires and Zombies)

Publisher: Silver Publishing

Website: http://silverpublishing.info/

Heat-Rating: Three Flames, Boiling

Tagline:

What lies behind the façade isn’t always what it seems

Summary:

Excerpt One (Rating PG):

A figure stumbled from behind the nearest trunk, one so incredibly wide, it was no wonder how it hid this man—what she thought to be a man.

The silhouette froze in motion, foot not even touching the dead grass when he saw her standing there, displayed so vulnerably beside the broken angel.

He snarled, gaze moving to the space on the ground at his side, before cutting back to her. Hisquiescence seeped into Abigail, and she stood at his mercy. Not that there would be any; not from him.

When he moved into the light, she shook in foreign cowardice. Somewhere, deep inside, Abigail knew him. Impossible not to recognize him, even if her mind wouldn’t bring up the facts associated with the creature before her.

He rushed into motion, leaping into the air. Abigail didn’t so much as flinch when he landed in front of her, revealing a masquerade of “human” flesh. For whatever this thing was, it had never been as such. It certainly wasn’t like her.

His long, dull hair lay upon his shoulders saturated with filth and leaves, falling around him in a disarray of stringy, dirty white. His red-rimmed blue eyes focused on Abigail, and her alone; flickering with a predatory nature that grated against her own.

She felt like he’d made a silent declaration while they maintained eye contact, and somehow she knew, he had claimed her in some form. But in which context, she had no idea.

Something within her flared, sparked back into being and reminded her that Abigail would never be weak or compliant. This time wouldn’t be any different, dream or no.

“Abigail,” he called in a shallow voice that grated on her nerves. In the back of her mind, the possessiveness in which he said her name angered her.

Then her eyes strayed to the rounded object in his hand; a gore–stained, severely mangled skull. With little room to doubt that it could be an old bone dug from the ground, she cringed. The only reason she knew this; the chunks of flesh still attached were fresh, the bone beneath luminescent in the moonlight.

Then her gaze moved to the base of the tree, seeing the decapitated corpse there. This entity must have killed and eaten parts of it – stripping it nearly bare before her arrival.

A monster, no less.

The stained clothes were enough evidence of that fact. Its garb wasn’t of this time, but that of olden days long since been seen – parted shirt baring a blood-coated chest, broken up with ties of blue upon ashen flesh holding the material together, tight-fitted pants flaring over grimy, sodden boots.

This thing had made a real mess of its snack, something she would never do. Abigail had seen and done a great many things in her life, but this had never been among them.

Run, damn it, run! She screamed at herself. Make your feet work. Do you wish to end up like its past meal? Turn tail, and get the hell out of here!

The man began to speak in a language she ill understood—or perhaps it did, in fact, speak English, but its growls garbled it past recognition. But eventually the words became clearer to her.

“Abigail, so beautiful,” he said calmly, not looking in her direction, but at whatever lay behind her.

She backed up until she collided with the nearest tombstone, stupidly pleased about the fact that she could finally move of her own accord, thinking herself safe. Surely now she could escape.

Wrong.

“Mine.” He looked pointedly at her, and she sneered in response.

“I belong to no one,” Abigail snapped. As usual, her tongue got the better of her.

His eyes narrowed on her. “I beg to differ, moj ljub. I want you, and I always get what I want.”

His hypnotic eyes enraptured her, for a moment seeing past the gruesome image he represented, and seeing just the man.

Distraction could be a bitch. In this case, that was a definite.

The dirt burst underneath Abigail’s feet, spraying up to her knees. She looked to see a bare-bone hand escape the soil and grab her ankle in a painful grip, joints biting into her flesh as the second arm revealed itself from the swirl of dirt.

“Abby, you will never escape me.”

And she screamed.

Carnal Magnetism, Excerpt Two

2010-09-19T16:19:00.000-07:00

The Cornwall Coven, Book Two; Carnal Magnetism

Kayden McLeod

http://www.kaydenmcleod.com/

Publication Date: January 8th 2011

Genre: Erotic Paranormal Romance (Vampires, M/F)

Publisher: Silver Publishing

Publisher Website: http://silverpublishing.info/

Heat-Rating: Five Flames, Explosive

Pre-Release Reader Review:

http://kaydenmcleod.blogspot.com/2010/08/pre-release-reader-review-carnal.html

“Kayden McLeod spins a tale in Carnal Magnetism that sucks you in at the beginning and doesn’t let you go. You won’t be able to put down this entrancing story of a vampire family formed from need, but able to stay together because of love.” –Review by, Stacey Krug

Tagline:

Trust only works when it’s both ways

Summary:

The RedLine is the perfect haven for a man of Ryder’s extensive desires and tastes. He uses the women of the club, much like they do him, with little care to know anything more than names, sometimes even less than that. His reputation for open-minded, tantalizing sex is renowned, and willing victims for this particular vampire are never at a shortage. At least until Catalym crashes into his life, taking over from the moment they’d met. And it isn’t long before her past life’s tribulations follow her, including a dangerous ex-boyfriend who hides far more than Ryder or his friends ever guess.

Excerpt Two (RATED R/XXX):

My hand slid down her long back, leaning towards her middle to run my hand over her ass. She reared back slightly when I skimmed between her thighs.

Catalym’s mouth took the full of my cock, her throat accepting me so easily, provocatively practiced. It was so wet and snug while she ascended slowly. I couldn’t help the rhythm my hips produced in answer to her skill. She didn’t hold back, but dove into the action with relish and eagerness that fractured my mind.

She expected me to just enjoy this, but craving took over. I wanted to taste her, needed to listen to the whimpers, and hopefully begging.

Unfortunately her pants were in my way, but it was nothing to focus just a tiny bit of energy to fix the annoying problem. They faded from her body to reveal she wore nothing beneath them. I groaned at the uninterrupted access.

“A girl after my own heart.”

I grabbed her hips and half flipped her off the couch. She made a lovely sound when I hauled her thighs over my shoulders, forcing her to hang upside down over my lap.

Her large breasts hung perfectly, the long arch of her throat curved with my cock stuffed inside. The most alluring sight I could’ve ever imagined.

The muscles in my arms bulged, letting her legs fall open with her knees on either side of my face.

She rolled my shaft with her tongue, and a deep growl escaped from between my parted lips. My fixated gaze zeroed on her already glistening clit, head lilting towards it with a mesmeric force.

Her breathe stilled, and waited. She didn’t even move, no matter how much I wanted her to.

She read my every intention, exactly what I wanted to do to her. The muscles in her thighs contracted exquisitely while she watched, no more than a quiet presence in my mind.

The first touch of my tongue had us both moaning in synchronization, giving me a much better understanding of what she’d explained before. It was magnificently different.

In her pleasure, every barrier between us broke down, and shed. Liquid heat met my next pass. I growled at the delicate taste of her, letting the vibration titillate her.

Her head swivelled to watch me awkwardly. I suckled her clit into my mouth, watching over the rise of her ass.

Her violet eyes darkened inexplicably, hooded and sexy.

Like that?

I ran my tongue lazily from her mound to her entrance.

“More than you could possibly know.” Her voice was soft with arousal, hips moving helplessly, urging me to continue.

“Oh, I have an idea.” I disengaged one arm to slip one finger inside of her. Her tiny muscles clenched unbelievably tight, making me fantasize about what it would feel like when I finally slipped inside of her.

I held her more securely with my arm, mainly so she couldn’t move to change the angle I’d found. She didn’t like pain, but she seemed to enjoy being rendered helpless, as long as it wasn’t harmful to her.

She returned her mouth to my cock, to renew an assault of her own. There were very few who could compete in the same league as her. And I had a really solid ratio on the subject.

We both felt the gathering orgasm I craved to persuade to new heights.

When she screamed around me, her entire body locked tightly around me, trying to thrash when the desperate pressure built, but I wouldn’t lend her the movement.

She would quiver in pleasure, scream until she was so hoarse speaking wouldn’t be a possibility. I had full intentions of seeing that happen.

*Are you going to come for me, Cat?*

Her reaction was immediate. The sensations boiled over, and leaked to me in a detonation of feeling so intense it was a wonder I didn’t follow her. But my body hung in there, desperation filling me to have just a few more passes before it all ended.

When the devastating waves crashed upon me, she hollowed her cheeks to suck me in so hard, my balls tightened unbearably in response to the gratifying pulls.

Her hips moved in time to my constant assault, finger probing deeply while her helpless cries finally catapulted me over the edge.

Masquerade, Chapter One--Coming This Halloween, by Silver Publishing

2010-08-20T11:32:00.001-07:00

Hey Readers,

As promised, I am posting my first excerpt of Masquerade, my newest release coming Halloween 2010, by Silver Publishing;

http://silverpublishing.info/

You may remember The Jericho Coven from Jezebel's Article, Erotic Paranormal. They appear again in the mixture of Halloween monsters in this novella. Within these pages will be my typical vampires, but as well expect to see the first appearance of werewolves and zombies...

The first picture is the one that inspired the bulk of this novella...

Masquerade

By, Kayden McLeod

Erotic Paranormal Romance

Publisher:

Silver Publishing

Website:

http://silverpublishing.info/

PUBLICATION DATE:

October 30^th 2010

Heat Rating:

Three Flames—Boiling

Length:

Novella

Tagline:

What lies behind the façade isn’t always what it seems

Blurb:

Chapter One

Nightmares always had a way of instilling fear, even in the bravest of folk.

Abigail knew in theory dreams every now and then meant something, but she had no clue howthis scene pertained to her, short of giving her a healthy respect of her rambunctious subconscious.

It could have something to do with it being three days short of Halloween, a time when all sorts of monsters came out from under their imposed guises. Possibly to play under the light of the moon at midnight; the witching hour at its peak. And many of them did celebrate this time of year for good reason.

Possibilities of mischief and creating unimaginable havoc would be at its peak of power and potential, though she wouldn’t know much about that.

Abigail wandered a decrepit graveyard; the kind people of today never saw anymore. Complete with unevenly cut hills, gnarled live oaks and chipped gravestones of varying heights and intricacies that made this woman shiver in apprehension.

It seemed her dream-self wasn’t quite as courageous as her wakeful-self. Normally, she felt fear for nothing; not even death. Yet the undeniable urge to cower in terror hung over her head.

Abigail looked down to see she carried a single white rose tipped in fresh blood; a substance her subconscious mind told her Abigail craved. This fact made little sense to her. She wasn’t a vampire, but something else entirely. Though she knew they existed; she was even acquainted with a few of them. But even so, this fact didn’t faze her terribly much as she continued up the unseen path.

Shrouded in a simple, formless black nightgown and bare feet, the ground, littered with rocks, cut deeply into her soles. Her thigh brushed upon a roughly hacked-up tombstone, which sliced her clean open. This filled the heavy, humid air with the sickly sweet scent of her life-fluid. She swore her teeth and gums ached painfully, like her canines fought to extend. Why? What – or whom was she feeling?

It surely wasn’t her. It couldn’t be. While many of her traits were unusual, this was not one of them.

Her gaze darted warily about. Said live oaks were winter-bare, even though it was merely fall. The branches dipped and reached into the nothingness of the icy cold night, curling toward her in a menacing fashion.

A shuffling and then a moan sent her head up, but her body would not stop to properly assess the situation like she would at any other time. Soon following, the sound of something being ripped or torn gave her a foreboding she could not escape.

Just what lay out there in the darkness, waiting while she was powerless to stop herself from just meandering into its grasp?

A piercing howl, not so much different than a wolf’s, but just enough that Abigail knew it wasn’t an everyday animal, sent an excited thrill along her erect spine.

“Even in dreams, you are going crazy. You know that?” she spoke softly, unable to quite bring herself to speak at a normal volume for fear of disturbing the…dead? Why would she care about such things? But alas, her mind remained terrified of what resided below the ground.

The soil began to slope upward, toward an old granite angel with half-extended wings. Its face, stance, everything about it seemed more sinister than angelic in the shadowy light thrown from the partially cloud-covered stars that lent little comfort to her.

The left arm looked sawed off, but as she grew closer, Abigail realized someone or something had snapped it off; the edges not as clean as they’d appeared at first glance.

Abigail felt unstoppably drawn to the statue, like a magnet that pulled her bruised feet against her will. A trickle of wetness worked down her leg from the wound that throbbed with the rhythm of her heartbeat. Breath came in ragged, hard-won gasps of her terror when thinking about the unseen adversary.

And something did watch her, semi-aware of her presence, just as she was of it.

Stopping in front of the statue, she reached with her free hand to touch the face with the saintly features staring out at her in warning.

Abigail wanted to turn back, to go back to where she’d come, though the likelihood of that was too close to nil. The dream had begun after her entrance to this place. Therefore, she didn’t know how to get out, which way to turn and run if the need arose. And her instincts screamed that specific allotment of time fast approached an end.

The guttural howl sounded again, far too close. Near enough that every hair on her body rose to attention at the unnerving sound.

Panic froze Abigail’s breath right there in her lungs. Her blood pounded through her at an alarming pace, giving her a headache and lending a hazy quality to the scene around her.

And then a figure stumbled from behind the nearest trunk, one so incredibly wide, it was no wonder how it hid this man—what she thought to be a man.

The silhouette froze in motion, foot not even touching the dead grass when he saw her standing there, displayed so vulnerably beside the broken angel.

He snarled, gaze moving to the space on the ground at his side, before cutting back to her. Hisquiescence seeped into Abigail, and she stood at his mercy. Not that there would be any; not from him.

She felt like he’d made a silent declaration while they maintained eye contact, and somehow she knew, he had claimed her in some form. But in which context, she had no idea.

Something within her flared, sparked back into being and reminded her that Abigail would never be weak or compliant. This time wouldn’t be any different, dream or no.

“Abigail,” he called in a shallow voice that grated on her nerves. In the back of her mind, the possessiveness in which he said her name angered her.

Then her gaze moved to the base of the tree, seeing the decapitated corpse there. This entity must have killed and eaten parts of it – stripping it nearly bare before her arrival.

A monster, no less.

This thing had made a real mess of its snack, something she would never do. Abigail had seen and done a great many things in her life, but this had never been among them.

*Run, damn it, run!* She screamed at herself. *Make your feet work. Do you wish to end up like its past meal? Turn tail, and get the hell out of here!*

The man began to speak in a language she ill understood—or perhaps it did, in fact, speak English, but its growls garbled it past recognition. But eventually the words became clearer to her.

“Abigail, so beautiful,” he said calmly, not looking in her direction, but at whatever lay behind her.

She backed up until she collided with the nearest tombstone, stupidly pleased about the fact that she could finally move of her own accord, thinking herself safe. Surely now she could escape.

Wrong.

“Mine.” He looked pointedly at her, and she sneered in response.

“I belong to no one,” Abigail snapped. As usual, her tongue got the better of her.

His eyes narrowed on her. “I beg to differ, moj ljub. I want you, and I always get what I want.”

His hypnotic eyes enraptured her, for a moment seeing past the gruesome image he represented, and seeing just the man.

Distraction could be a bitch. In this case, that was a definite.

“Abby, you will never escape me.”

And she screamed.

***

The First Book In the Jericho Coven Series

Jezebel's Article

http://kaydenmcleod.com/JezebelsArticle.php

What I've Been Up To Lately...

2010-08-11T18:55:00.000-07:00

Dear Readers,

How is everyone?

I’ve been busy, quiet on the blogs, but busy.

What have I been up to?

First off, I completed a Christmas submission for Just Another Paranormal Monday, which will be an anthology with the proceeds going to The Armed Forces Children’s Education Fund Inc(AFCEF). Mojocastle Press will be hosting the book.

Title: A Cornwall Christmas

Genre: Paranormal Romance (Vampires)

Rated: PG-13

Summary:

Yahoo Group of Just Another Paranormal Monday:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ParanormalMonday/?yguid=431075999\

Mojocastle Press:

http://www.mojocastle.com/

Secondly…

XOXO Publishing accepted my second charity project for breast cancer, entitled The Pink Ribbon

Title: The Pink Ribbon

Genre: Contemporary Romance

Summary:

Katalina has watched her mother, Alice’s uphill battle against breast cancer with awe and compassion. She feels the need to show some small token of the fight that will last a lifetime. One of Katalina’s biggest fears is needles, but it is such a small thing in comparison to what Alice just went through. Braving her fears, she undergoes tattooing to show her mother just how much she means to her.

XOXO Publishing:

http://www.xoxopublishing.com/

And finally…

Just the other day I contracted my next Erotic Paranormal Romance with Silver Publishing. This particular book brings werewolves in the vampire world you are used to from me for the first time ever! And some of you will remember the Jericho Coven from Jezebel’s Article…

I am so thrilled! It will be published October 30, 2010 in e-book format, and I will post some excerpts in the coming weeks!

Title: Masquerade

Genre: Erotic Paranormal Romance

Heat Rating: Three Flames—Boiling

Tagline:

What lies behind the façade isn’t always what it seems

Summary:

Silver Publishing:

http://silverpublishing.info/

I have some more projects in the works, and will keep you updated!

Until Then…Happy Reading…

Kayden McLeod

The Cornwall Coven, Book Two; Carnal Magnestism

2010-06-10T10:25:00.000-07:00

The Cornwall Coven; Book Two, Carnal Magnetism

Coming soon…

Erotic Paranormal Romance

Tagline:

Trust only works when it’s both ways

Summary:

The RedLine is the perfect haven for a man of Ryder’s extensive desires and tastes. He uses the women of the club, much like they do him, with little care to know anything more than their names, sometimes even less than that. His reputation for open-minded, tantalizing sex was renowned, and willing victims for this particular vampire were never at a shortage. At least until Catalym comes crashing into his life, taking over from the moment they’d met. And it isn’t long before her past life’s tribulations follow her, including a dangerous ex-boyfriend who is hiding far more than Ryder or his friends could ever guess.

Excerpt One:

“Hello.”

To hear her speak that one word made my cock tighten past what was possibly sane. My distress deepened, took hold in my mind, making me feel like a teenager.

My unwillingly eyes roamed her body, unable to quite hide it from her. But a quick glance at her face told me she didn’t mind. There was a distinct flush on her cheeks I was entirely too entranced by.

Breathe Ryder, she won’t bite unless you ask her to.

Corrine laughed in my head, but I had no idea if she did so out loud. I was enthralled, shaking my head to dispel the haziness.

All at once remembering civilized manners, I extended my hand, and lifted hers.

“Hi.” I smiled. Maybe a little dumbly and late, but at least the ability to speak had returned to me.

Kelly chuckled into Marcus’s shoulder, and I knew Sara would be rolling her eyes, as was her petulance to do so often. They knew me to well.

“Good show there, buddy boy. What about Shakespeare next? Gene, I think he is losing his touch,” Sara muttered.

At any other time, I would’ve reacted to her banter. But this wasn’t a normal moment in my life.
Bringing Catalym’s silky hand to my lips, she blushed, eyes sliding away. I was pleased by the coquettishness that was so rare in my world.

“My name is Catalym. I assume you’re Ryder?”

She lucky I was a vampire. The club’s music would’ve most definitely prevented my hearing her otherwise with that soft voice.

“Beautiful name, that,” I whispered just as gently.

Still she didn’t look up at me.

I couldn’t help but study her. Even amidst the crowd, she was still apart from all of us in an inexplicable way. But she had fire, and was by no means feeble by any description of the word. To be near her was to feel supremacy so deep and old, it vibrated through my very being.

This wasn’t normal vampire.

“Thank you,” she replied.

“Well then, let me introduce the people who will annoy you in their own endearing way.”
The joke pulled another smile from her reluctant, cautious face. She finally looked up, not at me though, but at them.

“This is Marcus and Kelly.” I nodded to them, and turned to the others, “Gene and Sara.”

I wondered by her shyness, if Corrine had forced this on her. I certainly hoped not. It wouldn’t make her charge any easier to deal with.

“Catalym, these are truly good people, and they will protect you while you’re here.” Corrine came around the bar to put her arm around her niece’s shoulders protectively.

Marcus mechanically digested Corrine’s candid words, and their possible hidden meanings we normally had to decipher with very little help from her.

“So, we’re to protect her then?” Marcus said with quiet anger. We all knew his thoughts were centred on Kelly and Sara before anything else. “From what exactly?”

My lips tugged into a half smile at his tendency to be overprotective of his woman and what made her happy, which was of course Sara. Nothing else mattered to him anymore. They had become his life.

“Her ex-boyfriend, and anyone else who means her harm.”

He thought that over for a moment before responding, “Then we’re at your service.”

He brought Kelly further to the shelter of his arms, gaze darting about like the threat was already here. He was thinking so much and so hard, he was broadcasting openly to Gene and I. It was beginning to give me a headache.

At the mention of the need for protection, Catalym turned ashen until I thought she may faint. Terror clashed in her beautiful eyes, and my stomach wrenched violently at the sight.

I had seen so many traumatized humans in my work for the Council, but not something that went this deep. Just what had happened to this woman? She looked too much like a child who had been beaten down past the point where they were capable of getting back up again, or would even want to.

Hatred for a man who was unknown filled me, and I snapped just a little.

“Corrine, we need to talk. Now, please,” I barked, and then continued in a slightly nicer tone, “Marcus, how ‘bout you guys take our lovely guest to the table. I’ll join you shortly.”

The latest; Freebies and more...

2010-05-28T19:28:00.001-07:00

Hey Readers,

It has finally happened…Sara’s Story continues into Book Three; Breaching Loyalty, starting this weekend. And her new hangout is The Cornwall Coven blog;

http://thecornwallcoven.blogspot.com/

How it will work is a chapter will be posted every week, and upon completion of the chapters, it will go to a free e-book format available to be downloaded from my website. Become a follower to keep up with Sara, and the rest of the Cornwall Coven from Deadly Fetishes as they explore new parts of their world.

As well, authors Cindy Jacks, Kristin Manter and myself are continuing on with Tales of Erosity: paranormal free short story blog;

http://www.talesoferosity.blogspot.com/

And my new website is up and running, with more to come! Janet Jones of Novel Web Design;

http://kaydenmcleod.com/

Have a great weekend!

Cheers,

Kayden

Do You Believe In Ghosts? Kristin Manter

2010-05-26T07:52:00.000-07:00

Is it just me or are there more shows on the television these days about hunting ghosts, detecting spirits, debunking hauntings, and trying to find answers to the afterlife? There is actually a show on the Animal Planet about animal ghosts called The Haunted. The one and only time I watched that specific show it was about a house turned gift shop that was being haunted by monkeys that had been used as test animals. Society has always had a morbid curiosity for what, if anything, happens after we close our eyes for our eternal slumber.

We hate saying goodbye to those we love, we enjoy the thrill of a good mystery, we rejoice in knowing that evil people might possibly be unable to rest in peace and so we are drawn to the idea of spirits roaming the earth; stories of people, the lives they lived, the way they died, and their activities since the time of their earthly death continue to become legend. With all the different type of E.V.P. And audio recording devices available in this day and age, we have certainly come a long way in communication with spirits from Ouiji boards and seances. Despite the technological advances, the quest is still the same, we are seeking proof that this life is not all that there is for us.

What wonderful inspiration for paranormal romances! It is warming to think that when you love somebody, or somebody loves you that that love can conquer even death and be the chains that bond a soul to this earth for eternity. This gives love that sense of selflessness that is often described as true love; is part of the very idea of soul mates. To know that somebody loves you so much that they are unwilling to pass onto heaven and eternal bliss simply because they can not stand the idea of being separated from another individual for even a temporary time is the perfect set up for a sappy romance.

Even better inspiration for a steamy and erotic fantasy. To feel the touch of somebody who may or may not really be there, to think of a spiritual voyeur watching you during your most personal and intimate times, to shudder at the pleasure that an unearthly being can bring is all wickedly naughty and taboo. Ghosts have the ability to effortlessly pass through solid objects like doors and walls, this skill can really emphasize the whole 'two become one flesh' concept of sex and can really make for powerful sensations as the spiritual being envelops the body, reaching places no physical being has ever been able to, literally going to depths unreached by anyBODY ever. This is a fantasy based less on the visual and more on perception, giving it power and fuel as it heats our imaginations.

“Hello there, my mistress,” he said with a low, honey-sultry voice. He bowed. “Thank you for summoning me. I am here to serve your every want and need until you grow tired of me and release me on your will.”
Sara licked her lips. She might just want to keep him around for an eternity. Still in a daze of disbelief and wonderment, Sara made her way toward him with careful, almost Parkinsonian-steps. Then she stared into his eyes that reflected an image of her. She looked at his highly-kissable lips and sculpted jaw-line. His Adam’s apple bobbed. He smelled like cedar wood and spices, with a hint of manly scent that came from acute sweating.
Phantoms could sweat?
He breathed and his body emitted warmth. And yet he had no shadow beneath the streetlights and the moon. Sara touched his face. Warm. She blinked. He took her hand and kissed it. The entire length of Sara’s spine tingled with delight. She sucked in her breath.
“I am here to serve your every want and need, my lovely mistress. What would you like me to do next?”
Sara pulled her hand away from the Phantom Lover and ran into her house, a plethora of feelings consuming her, from disbelief, fear, to arousal. Never in her life had she wanted to strip her clothes and make love to a stranger like so before. Right on her front lawn, hard and fast, and not caring if the neighbors see her humping the air. “

Phantom Lover excerpt by Aaron Sparx

Format: Kindle Edition

• File Size: 24 KB
• Sold by: Amazon Digital Services
• Language: English
• ASIN: B0036MCUJS

So, readers, my question today is this; Do you believe in ghosts? Is this a sub-genre in the paranormal romance/erotica line that interests you? Who are your favorite authors when it comes to stories of ghostly seductions?

High School Vampire's Bite, Kristin Battestella

2010-05-25T16:52:00.001-07:00

A Plea from Victoria Welshire, beloved daughter of The Vampire Family

I've had to visit more blogs than I'd like this year with my complaints, but apparently no one was listening. This emo, girlie girl, kiddie vampire phase has to stop. I've lived NINE hundred years and this whiny, teeny bopper vampire moment can't end fast enough for me. When I was what we now call a teenager, there wasn't high school cliques and bad boy romantic decisions. All this black eye makeup and spunky hair really gives the rest of us vampires a bad name-especially those whose story has been told long, long before.

Should you meet me in a dark alleyway in Philadelphia or London amid the stormy chill of a dark summer evening, remember the true meaning of the masks we vampires wear. I am not regretful, melancholy, or brooding. I'm not you're friend, and I'm
not your lover. You wish! But no, I'm a vampire to be feared and run away from, for I will eat you the first chance I get. Yes maybe I'll bat my eyes at the foolish gents or admire a lady's leather jacket. But when he's spent and she has no use for the jacket, only I'll remain. I can't speak for these other *dreamy* vamps, but our house is not one to be trifled with- just ask my sister.

My webmaster Kristin would have me remind you our complex, torrid tale can all be found in The Vampire Family and its forthcoming sequel Fate and Fangs: A Collection of Tales from the Vampire Family Edited by Professor A. James. Not only is some of this new technology a little too speculative for me; but I have to say, it's a real pain the in ass Googling myself and having to weed through all these other references to some 'Cullen' family. The Welshires were here long before and from further away. Occultist Professor A. James is in the process of compiling more of our earlier records in order to make his fortunes. Until then, you'll just have to keep up with us through Kristin's efforts. Someone has to chronicle our latest adventure-to combat this hormonal vampire drivel if nothing else.

Victoria crept into her room and shut the door. She stood a moment in the dark.
Her dress was not plain, and she didn't eat crumbs. They lived better than
anyone anywhere although she knew no one beyond her castle.

Is Gaston right?

She lit the candle beside the entrance and saw Stephen on her bed.

"Did you have fun?" He inched toward her and pulled some moss from her hair.
"Our dear mothers have told us not to venture off. Yet every night you get on
your dark horse and ride off into the sunset. You are hiding something, and I
want to know what it is."

"Mind your own business." Victoria crossed her arms. Where James over sought
books and art, Stephen divulged in people too much. "We are too alike for you to
blackmail me."

The door opened, and Samantha peaked in.

"Mother is coming." She shut the door.

Goody Goody Girl.

"Tell me."

"No."

The door opened again and Ann entered.

"Stephen," she said sternly. "Get to your room and go to sleep."

The boy reluctantly followed his mother's orders.

"You best be getting to bed, too, Victoria."

Ann was strong willed, unlike Elizabeth, but Victoria enjoyed chiding her
father's mistress.

"I already have a mother. I don't listen to you."

Ann blew out the door side candle and left Victoria in the dark.

http://vampfam.blogspot.com

Thanks!

Kristin

Heather Kuehl Presents; Promises To Keep, Character Interview

2010-05-12T06:00:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone! I’m Heather Kuehl and I have a special treat for you today. T.D. Drake from Promises to Keep is here to talk about being a witch, playing with guns, and her personal reasons for helping Starlette DeFore.

HK – T.D. thank you for being here with me.

TD – The pleasure is mine.

HK – First I have to ask, what does T.D. stand for.

TD - *laughs* That seems to be everyone’s first question, Heather. T.D. stands for Tabitha Desdamona, which is kind of a mouthful for a child to say so my parents cut it down to T.D. Besides, I think T.D. strikes fear in the hearts of nasties everywhere. Tabitha…not so much.

HK – I have to agree with that. So, what exactly are you? And what do you do that requires you to deal with “nasties?”

TD – I’m a witch. The Covenant calls my type of witch an Enforcer because I take out the trash. I also do the odd job for those that require my type of services…for a fee of course.

HK – The Covenant? What is that?

TD – I had forgotten you’re human. The Covenant is a group of witches that govern over other witches. They make the rules, and send me out to “enforce” them.

HK – Is that how you met Starlette DeFore?

TD – That was an interesting set of circumstances. I was hired to take out a sorcerer in Verella…

HK – Take out? What’s Verella?

TD – Patience. I’ll get there. I took care of him and earned me the wrath of his mother, the Dark Lady Dreashae. She came into our world and attempted to kill me. Starlette’s father saved me. In exchange for that deed, he was kidnapped by Dreashae and taken to Verella. I feel that it’s my fault he’s there, and I have promised myself that I will assist Starlette in any way to get her father out of Verella.

HK – And Verella is?

TD – It’s a separate world. Within it lives dragons, centaurs, and other mythical creatures. Go to your library, pick up any high fantasy book, and that is the world you’re stepping into when you travel to Verella.

HK – That sounds, pardon the pun, magical.

TD – Oh it is, until some super powered nasty tries to kill you. Then, not so much.

HK – What type of weapons do you use when dealing nasty things?

TD – In Verella I tend to go medieval since modern weaponry works differently there. When I’m here, I tend to favor the finer things, like my two FN Five-Seven semi-automatic pistols. Now those are bad ass. I also have an FN P90, but I only pull that out on special occasions.

HK – Sounds to me as though you like your guns.

TD – Like? I love them! Have you ever taken out a vampire at 400ft with a wooden stake? I don’t even think Buffy could do that? But with my P90, I can do that and much more.

HK – Vampires? Wow that’s some world you’re immersed in.

TD – It’s your world too sweetie. I just take care of the baddies so you can sleep well at night and pretend the things that go bump in the night aren’t real.

HK – I don’t think I’ll be sleeping too well tonight. Well, that’s all the time we have here today. Thank you again T.D. for taking the time out of your harrowing schedule to answer some questions.

If you want to know more about T.D. and to see whether or not she helps Starlette save her father grab your copy of Promises to Keep, available now from Eternal Press.

Blurb:
Starlette is on a mission, and nothing will get in her way. Starlette DeFore knows that her father is alive, even though her family buried him ten years ago. When a faerie confirms this she travels to Charleston, South Carolina to hunt down Sivad Night, the only person to have ever escaped from the hands of a powerful sorceress, the Dark Lady Dreashae. With help from a witch, Starlette travels into Verella, a fantasy realm filled with centaurs, dragons and magic. She is very close to finding her father, but first must defeat Dreashae. Will Starlette, a mere mortal, have the strength needed to finish her quest and save her father?

Want to read an excerpt? Check out Chapter Seven

Heather Kuehl was born near the Great Lakes, but made her way to South Carolina where she lives to this day. While working at her local library, she earned a Bachelor of Science degree and worked on her writing. She is the author of Promises to Keep and Fade to Black (#1 Bestseller in fantasy eBooks on Fictionwise.com) as well as numerous short stories and poems. Visit Heather online at http://www.heatherkuehl.com/, http://www.heatherkuehl.blogspot.com/ or follow her on Facebook or Twitter.