Vampire Venators Series – The vampires
Firstly, I want to say thanks to Melissa for having me here again as part of my Paranormal Pandemonium 2011 Blog Tour and letting me share all my releases with you guys. My latest release, Forbidden Blood, is a vampire romance novel and the first in my new Vampire Venators romance series.
Here’s a little bit about me and this series. I’m a paranormal romance / sci-fi romance author writing as Felicity Heaton and F E Heaton, and I have penned over forty stories since I started writing in 2005. Most of those are still available, either for purchase as e-books and paperbacks or as a free download.
The Vampire Venators series is my second vampire romance series, the first being my ongoing Vampires Realm series that I write as F E Heaton. The world of the Vampire Venators series is complex. There are nine demon species living in either our world or in the demon realm, with a tenth species known as the Sovereignty that governs them. The Sovereignty are a group of nine beings, one for each species of demon, and they are the last of their kind. They’re ancient, powerful and mysterious, and were elected to govern the demon species by using Venators, hunters who are given power by the Sovereignty, to deal with any who break the law. Each species has its own hunters. The series focuses on the laws and Venators of the vampire species, but it will feature other demons in future stories.
Forbidden Blood is a dark romantic tale of love, betrayal and revenge, full of passion and action that will keep you turning the pages and panting for more, and is the first book in the series.
I’ve already spoken about eight of the demon species during my blog tour, and today I’ll be talking about the species at the centre of the series. The vampires.
The vampires in my Vampire Venators series are different from what you normally get in a vampire romance. They aren’t dead for a start, and there are three different types of vampire. All vampires share common abilities such as heightened senses and an aversion to sunlight, but each type of vampire has it at a different level. Vampires can breed, so their bloodline is literally their family. Their hearts beat, but at a rate far slower than our human ones do, and because of that they age more slowly. All vampires suffer the usual weaknesses such as death through decapitation and staking, much the same as a human would. They can be killed through blood loss and share the same weaknesses that we do. Enough damage to their bodies will kill them. They can also starve like we can.
The most powerful and elite of the vampires are the Nobles. Nobles have abilities beyond the grasp of those bloodlines beneath them. They’re extremely powerful, their heightened senses are second to none, and some of them inherit abilities such as telepathy and psychometry, etc, on top of their usual powers. Their normal powers allow them to tear someone apart without touching them, destroying them through thought, or turn on lights in their house, drive a car without needing to lay a hand on the steering wheel etc. There are vampires in the Noble bloodlines who inherit rare talents too. Nobles aren’t immune to sunlight, but can withstand all but the noonday sun if they have to, although most prefer to stick to night hours when moving around outside.
Second to the Nobles, are the Lesser Nobles. They’re weaker than the vampires of the Noble bloodlines, but they live alongside them, in families, and can also use powers and some of them have special abilities like the Nobles, although this is quite rare in the Lesser Noble lines. Because they’re weaker than the Nobles, they can’t tolerate the sun other than at dawn or dusk.
The Nobles rule over the Lesser Noble families, but they live in harmony, and many members of Lesser Noble bloodlines seek to marry into a Noble line to improve their status within vampire society. Both the Lesser Nobles and Nobles can turn humans through a single bite. Even a scratch from their fangs is enough to start the transformation process. No blood exchange or death required. Over the period of a few years, the human will gradually change and will become a vampire when their thirst awakens. Many Noble families look upon turning humans with disgust. They prefer to keep their bloodline pure, and some will even frown upon a Lesser Noble marrying into their family.
Noble and Lesser Noble bloodlines often have many different lines of their family living in the same house, and behaving in different ways. There is a ruling line for each house, and these are the titled vampires. The ruler of a Noble bloodline is the Duke or Duchess. The ruler of a Lesser Noble bloodline is the Earl or Countess. I won’t go into detail about their hierarchy now though. I’ll be writing an article about that at a later date in my blog tour. Other lines in a bloodline will act as servants or guards, or run businesses and live away from the family home. Only children of a ruling line can go on to rule the family upon their parents’ deaths. Not all Venators come from the ruling line. There are many bloodlines where the Venator line is one of the other families. Under those circumstances, the Venator line is allowed to live with the same freedom and respect, and benefits, that the ruling line has, as Venators are very respected amongst the Lesser Nobles and Nobles.
The third type of vampire is what the Noble and Lesser Noble families refer to as Commoners. Commoners are very different to them. They can’t tolerate sunlight at all and have no special abilities, so all they have is heightened senses and strength. Commoners require a blood-exchange and death to turn a human. They’re more like what we think of as a vampire. Lesser Nobles and Nobles don’t tend to interact with Commoners. There are no Venators amongst the Commoners because they don’t have the strength and powers required by the Sovereignty, and are deemed unworthy of the role. Venators from the Lesser Noble and Noble families can also carry out justice on a vampire from the Commoners line.
I hope this post has given you some insight into the vampires of my Vampire Venators series. If you have any questions, please feel free to leave them as a comment and I’ll do my best to answer them. If you’re interested in the series, you can find details of the first book in the series, Forbidden Blood, below, and can also follow me on my blog tour by visiting my 2011 Blog Tour page on my website - http://www.felicityheaton.co.uk/paranormal-pandemonium-blog-tour.php
Forbidden Blood is available now in e-book formats direct from my site, on Amazon Kindle, Smashwords, Barnes and Noble Nook, Apple iBookstore, Sony Reader Store and Kobo Books. It is also available in paperback from Amazon.com and will shortly be available in paperback from Amazon worldwide and Barnes and Noble.
Forbidden Blood by Felicity Heaton
In a dark world where vampires exist and where Source Blood, a rare human blood type, can bestow godlike powers upon them, the vampire Venators of the Sovereignty fight to protect the humans by banishing those who drink it to the endless dark.
Exiled from his family and with only his duty to sustain him, Kearn has been on the trail of an elusive Source Blood abuser for three years. When he saves a beautiful human female from the vampire’s grasp, it turns out she’s the lead he’s been waiting for. Amber is a Source Blood and the perfect bait, but for who?
As they race to catch the vampire and survive the cruel games he plays, Amber is pulled deeper into Kearn’s world and discovers the painful secrets he hides behind his handsome but emotionless exterior—hurt that she has the power to heal if she is brave enough.
Read an excerpt:
http://www.felicityheaton.co.uk/ebooks.php?title=Forbidden%20Blood
Available in e-book for $3.99 from:
Author's website:
http://www.felicityheaton.co.uk/ebooks.php?title=Forbidden%20Blood
Amazon Kindle:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0055I1LNW/
Amazon Kindle Germany:
http://www.amazon.de/dp/B0055I1LNW/
Amazon Kindle UK:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0055I1LNW/
Barnes and Noble Nook:
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/forbidden-blood-felicity-heaton/1103572024
Smashwords:
http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/66030
Available in paperback for $10.99 from:
Amazon.com:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/1461132193/
Biography:
Felicity Heaton is a romance author writing as both Felicity Heaton and F E Heaton. She is passionate about penning paranormal tales full of vampires, witches, werewolves, angels and shape-shifters, and has been interested in all things preternatural and fantastical since she was just a child. Her other passion is science-fiction and she likes nothing more than to immerse herself in a whole new universe and the amazing species therein. She used to while away days at school and college dreaming of vampires, werewolves and witches, or being lost in space, and used to while away evenings watching movies about them or reading gothic horror stories, science-fiction and romances.
Having tried her hand at various romance genres, it was only natural for her to turn her focus back to the paranormal, fantasy and science-fiction worlds she enjoys so much. She loves to write seductive, sexy and strong vampires, werewolves, witches, angels and alien species. The worlds she often dreams up for them are vicious, dark and dangerous, reflecting aspects of the heroines and heroes, but her characters also love deeply, laugh, cry and feel every emotion as keenly as anyone does. She makes no excuses for the darkness surrounding them, especially the paranormal creatures, and says that this is their world. She’s just honoured to write down their adventures.
If you want to know more about me, or want to get in touch, you can find me at the following places:
My website:
http://www.felicityheaton.co.uk
My blog:
http://www.indieparanormalromancebooks.com
Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/feheaton
Twitter:
http://twitter.com/felicityheaton
Goodreads:
http://www.goodreads.com/felicityheaton
