Tuesday, October 27, 2020

A Dark Infection (The Vampire, Book 2) by Erme Lander

 

Release date: October 28, 2020
Subgenre:  Gothic, Paranormal

About A Dark Infection:


A voice in the dark, “You have taken my Consort. You’ll give her up and take me instead, Kalmár.”

It has been ten years since Tina was kidnapped by Kalmár and she has settled into the twilight world of vampires and their pets. However circumstances and her own body are changing faster than she realises, leaving her vulnerable to those who would take advantage.

A different reality intrudes as she stumbles across her daughter, now a young woman, forcing her to make hard choices between the two worlds, both inimical to each other. To survive she must gamble with those most precious to her, while fighting to keep her both her sanity and humanity intact.


Excerpt:

 

Ignoring the look he was given, Ansell called to Nikos, “Wake your master.”

Nikos looked at Madame and then at Ansell. “How?”

Madame snarled, “Cut yourself, the smell of blood should do it.” Nikos looked nervous and hesitated. “Do it!” The order snapped across the room and jerked him upright. His olive skin went pale and he lurched out of the door.

“If he gets it wrong then Consort will drain him,” Ansell’s voice was mild.

“I do not care, I have had to deal with him for too long. He was never my choice.”

The casual dismissal of a human life by a creature who’d lost her own humanity years ago. Tina wondered if this was how she’d end up in years to come. She had a moment's disconnect, the man who held her and the other two in the room had lived so long that a human life was less than the span of a cat to them. All could snap her in two with ease. For the first time in years, she longed for the simple problems of human life and wondered how she’d managed to close her eyes to the strange existence she had. She looked at Kalmár, what would happen if she were given a way out, would she leave or would she fight to stay like the victim she’d seen in the news several weeks ago?

The silence lengthened and no one seemed willing to break it while they waited for Nikos to wake Consort. A red flash of lust screamed across Tina’s vision and she gasped. This wasn’t the normal waking, this was something else, fed by Nikos’ blood.

“You feel it too, good.” Madame smirked.

The hair rose on the back of Tina’s neck and she noticed the other vampires becoming more alert. Sasha, after glancing at Ansell, came to sit behind his chair, away from the door. Ansell had sat up, his eyes were still lazily hooded but there was an anticipation about him. Tina became aware of thuds in the passages a long way away and her heart began to beat harder. She could feel Kalmár's muscles tensing and his fingers had become still. He shifted to angle his body towards the door, partially shielding her.

The thumping came closer. A large heavy object was being dragged slowly across the wooden floors, the noise echoing through the corridors. A smashing sound, something had been broken. She winced, there were so many precious objects displayed, the casual opulence of decades.

Tina tried to control her breathing and failed, the tension between the three vampires rippled through her. Sasha looked white, her mouth a straight line, her eyes huge. She could normally sense vampires when they were close, whatever was coming didn’t have the same feel, there was a coldness flowing through the air. Stone and the drip of water, she pinched her arm and rubbed her hands against her jeans to ground herself.

A blow on the door, something trying to get in without the knowledge of handles, a child’s nightmare, her reality. She saw the door handle move and wondered which of the three inside had opened it.

Amazon.com | Amazon UK


About Erme Lander:


More frog than princess, Erme Lander lives in Gloucestershire, England.
My hobbies when not reading books are dancing, motorcycling, playing my accordion and karate, although not all at the same time. And daydreaming. I’ll daydream in the bath, on the sofa, in bed at that time in the night when all decent folk are snoring and allow the images to pass over my brain. But I’ve never actually written them down, until last year when a certain vampire wouldn’t leave me in peace. I’m still dealing with the fallout...


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