Heart of Darkness, a vampire romance book by Felicity Heaton
– Just $0.99 until April 28th
Heart of Darkness, a stand alone vampire romance novel by
Felicity Heaton, is on offer for just $0.99 / £0.99 / EUR 0,99 until April
28th.
That’s a saving of $3 on the normal cover price of this paranormal romance
ebook. This bargain deal is available at all Amazon Kindle, Kobo and Apple
iBooks Stores.
Heart of Darkness was
an Epic Ebook Awards 2013 finalist in the Paranormal Romance
category.
Read on for the blurb and links to where you can grab this discounted
novel.
Heart of Darkness
Felicity
Heaton
A vampire prince on a four hundred year old
mission to avenge his murdered sister...
Aleksandr Nemov won’t stop until the last of the
vampire hunter’s progeny is wiped from the Earth. Each kill has stolen a piece
of his humanity, pushing him towards the black abyss all vampires hold within
their hearts. Now he is teetering on the edge, close to devolving into a beast,
and time is running out as he tracks the last hunter to Prague. There he finds a
beautiful woman who could be his one chance for salvation, but is it already too
late for him?
A vampire guard who will do whatever it takes
to protect those she loves...
Elise is dedicated to her duty. It’s the only thing
she has left. All that changes when she meets Aleksandr in Prague and her master
grants him permission to stay at her bloodline’s mansion. She knows all about
Aleksandr but none of it prepares her for how she feels when the legendary
prince’s hunt becomes one for her heart. Elise battles him with all of her
strength but can she stop herself from falling for the handsome hunter? When he
reveals the depth of the corruption in his soul, will she have the strength to
face the pain in her past and do whatever it takes to save
him?
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*********EXCERPT *********
It had been an easy kill.
Aleksandr Nemov stood over the body of the
vampire hunter, their blood splattered across his black shirt and saturating the
leather and metal vambraces that protected his forearms. It coated his fingers
and the curved dagger they gripped, and the sweet scent of it heavily tainted
the crisp night air. Strong moonlight caressed his back, throwing his shadow out
long in front of him, across the hunter’s corpse.
A female.
She
hadn’t been strong enough to fight his kind. Too young and inexperienced to best
him. It had been foolish of her to try.
Aleksandr raised his hand and
swallowed at the sight of the blood glistening on his fingers. It tempted him to
taste it.
He dragged his eyes away and settled them back on the female
laying on the grass of the small public space, her blood warming the frozen
earth. He hadn’t fought a woman in a long time and hadn’t expected to find a
hunter so soon after arriving in Prague.
The fountain nearby bubbled
regardless of the frigid temperature, defiant of the frost that caused the grass
around it to glitter.
Aleksandr glanced at his bloodied hands again and
then closed his eyes against the temptation. He took no thrill in the hunt. Yet
he found no calm in its aftermath. There was only the threat of unending
darkness that beat within his chest and encroached upon his soul. It bled into
his eyes. He could feel the jagged points of black that speared the red. He had
too much blood on his hands but he couldn’t give up now, not when he was so
close to attaining his vengeance.
With great effort, Aleksandr sheathed
his dagger against his left hip and wiped the blood away.
The smell of it
still permeated the air, taunting and filling him with the dark urge to feast on
the hunter’s remains. He refused to obey the voice within that commanded him.
His kind had fought hard against it and no Nemov had turned to the darkness.
They were stronger than that, and he would die before it happened to
him.
“You… what are you doing here?” A light female voice shattered the
darkness within him.
Aleksandr glanced at her out of the corner of his
eye. She stood with the fountain at her back, the cascade of water providing
wings that completed the vision of beauty. Moonlight bathed her skin, turning
her round eyes dark and her hair as black as the uniform she wore.
An
angel.
The red bled from his eyes, returning his irises to grey, and he
straightened to his full height, desiring to look his best even when he looked
his worst.
She brought her right hand up to reveal the blade clutched
tightly in her fingers, held backwards with the blunt edge tucked against her
forearm, ready to slash at him if he made a wrong move.
“I won’t ask you
twice.” Her strength surprised him.
Such a beautiful
creature.
Before Aleksandr could find his voice, she was gone. He turned,
blocked her attack with the metal covering his left vambrace around his forearm,
and attempted to disarm her. She dodged his counter-attack with ease and came
around behind him. He spun and blocked her again, and this time managed to get a
hand on her before she leapt backwards, out of his reach, and bared her
fangs.
His heart beat harder.
She attacked again, her cry piercing
the silent wintry night, and brought her blade down hard. It was difficult to
block it. She was strong and skilled for a female. He strafed left and right to
avoid her knife, trying to find an opening that he didn’t really want to take.
She was fascinating. Beautiful and deadly. Everything a vampire should be, yet
there was something more to her. She turned and brought her leg around in a
swift kick. The heel of her black knee-high boot smashed into the side of his
head, sending him down.
Aleksandr rolled onto his feet and blocked her
again. Why couldn’t he bring himself to fight her? He could barely bring himself
to defend.
Her red eyes narrowed on him and she growled, exposing her
extended canines again. His cheek throbbed where she’d caught him. He would bear
a bruise there before the hour had passed. She lunged at him and he barely
avoided her blade. If he survived the fight that was. He ducked when she swung
at him and swept his leg around to take hers out. She jumped it and rewarded his
effort with another hard kick to the head, sending his brain spinning out of
control. The darkness threatened to return, goading him into attacking. He
didn’t want to. He would not attack another vampire, especially not a
female.
Definitely not her.
She huffed as though disappointed. Was
it because he wasn’t fighting or wasn’t falling? Aleksandr kept his arms in
front of him, blocking her swift attacks with his vambraces, and staring at her
face the whole time. Fascination wasn’t the right word for what she did to
him.
The warmth he felt, the intense attraction, the abject desire to
look into her eyes forever, even when they only promised him a slow death. It
was more than fascination.
He wanted her.
“I do not wish to fight
you.” Aleksandr leapt backwards, away from her, and raised his hands.
Her
grip on her blade tightened and she attacked.
He left himself open to see
what she would do. Her clothing was formal—a black military-style jacket that
only reached her waist and tight black trousers coupled with polished riding
boots. She looked like a guard. If she were, she surely wouldn’t kill
him.
If she weren’t, he was making a terrible mistake.
The moment
she neared him, she sheathed the blade, threw herself forwards so her hands
pressed into the dirt, twisted and launched herself at him feet first. Had he
wanted to defend himself, it would have been impossible. The speed at which she
locked her knees around his neck, sending him falling backwards with her
momentum, and slammed him into the icy earth knocked the breath from
him.
Aleksandr stared at her where she perched on his chest, straddling
it with his arms trapped in the crook of her knees and her blade against his
throat.
He laid beneath her, sprawled out, his back aching and
freezing.
Utterly in love.
She leaned forwards. A single strand of
her dark hair had fallen out of the tight bun at the back of her head and grazed
her cheek. Her soft breath against his face carried the enticing scent of her
blood. Her eyes went from darkness to a lighter colour that the moon stole from
him. Beautiful.
Aleksandr swallowed, causing the knife to grate his
Adam’s apple through his thick beard. He wished that he had cleaned up now
before coming to Prague. She wasn’t exactly catching him at his
best.
“You will answer for entering my bloodline’s territory.” She
pressed the blade harder against his throat. “I’m taking you in.”
“No
need to be rough.” Aleksandr smiled slowly. “Unless you like it that way, of
course.”
She was off him in an instant, her weapon still held at the
ready.
Clearly, she wasn’t into the rough stuff like so many of his kind.
With the thrill of hunting denied them, they had to find excitement elsewhere.
Dancing with death through sharing blood was the most intoxicating thing a
vampire could do without risking their humanity and many of them did it often.
He had never been into that sort of thing.
Aleksandr sat up, grazed his
fingers over the silvery scars on his wrist, a reminder of why he was tracking
and killing vampire hunters, risking his humanity, and then got to his
feet.
The female backed off a step, but remained close enough that she
could easily attack him if he tried to leave. He didn’t want to, but if he did,
she wouldn’t be able to stop him. A woman was no match for him.
First a
female hunter and then a female guard. Prague was a modern progressive city, or
the world was changing faster than he realised. He had noticed it for a few
years now and had been struggling to adjust ever since. He hadn’t expected the
change to happen within vampire society too. The males had always been the ones
to take care of the females. His gaze settled on her. Now there were females
capable of taking care of themselves. It was both disturbing and
intriguing.
Aleksandr went to move but she was in front of him before he
could take a step.
“Can I at least gather my belongings?” He motioned
towards the coat and bag that waited near the fountain.
She looked at
them and her gaze tracked back and settled on the corpse. Her pupils narrowed
and then she frowned. Had she only just noticed that he had killed someone? She
sniffed and then looked at him, her pale eyes falling to his shirt and then his
hands, carefully taking all of him in. He liked the assessing edge to her gaze,
and the way it lingered on his body a moment before coming up to meet his. She
stared into his eyes, long enough that he felt as though she was renewing the
spell she had cast on him, and then nodded.
“I desire an audience with
your master.” Aleksandr crossed her path and picked up his long heavy black
coat. Her gaze remained on him, intent and focused.
He put his coat on,
picked up his black bag and slung it over his shoulder. When he turned to face
her, she was looking at the dead hunter again. The way she stared at it,
studying it closely, made it clear that she hadn’t seen a fresh kill in a long
time.
Or she hadn’t seen anything quite like the butchery that had
happened tonight.
Aleksandr clenched his fists and reined in the dark
hunger that the memory evoked. He was in control now, not his instincts. The
hunt would continue until he had avenged her and had rid the world of her
murderer’s progeny.
He would not surrender until then.
For four
centuries, he had tracked and killed them, his anger still fresh in his heart,
the pain of losing her still raw. He would not surrender until he had killed the
last of the hunter’s line and protected his people.
The woman stepped
forwards and his attention was back with her. The second his gaze locked with
hers, the darkness inside him receded, washed away by the light in her eyes and
her beauty. He had thought of nothing but the hunt for four hundred years, had
closed himself off to society and focused on his duty, but the woman before him
stole his attention away from it so easily. It drifted to the back of his mind
with the darkness, unknown to him in this moment while her eyes held his. She
wasn’t afraid of him. She had fought him without fear, and with strength and
skill that he had never expected to find in a female. She enthralled
him.
Looking into her eyes, Aleksandr realised something dreadful. He was
too close to the edge. The feelings she evoked in him were ones he had long
forgotten existed. It was strange to feel warmed inside by happiness to have met
her, desire to make her belong to him, and hunger for the feel of her bare body
against his. He had not felt such positive emotions in decades.
He was
losing himself.
“Follow me,” the woman said and he did, using her as a
distraction from his dark thoughts.
She was young. He placed her at
barely over two hundred years old, her appearance somewhat of a human in their
mid-twenties. She was at least six inches shorter than him, and slender. Her
strength had surprised him because of those facts alone. Young females were
often weak and needed protection. She had strong blood in her
veins.
Aleksandr ran a hand over his matted long dark hair and then
rubbed the several months’ worth of beard on his face. What did he look like? He
felt like a mess now, both inside and out. She had definitely caught him at his
worst. If he had looked as he had back in his days at court, he was sure she
would be looking at him differently.
He was sure that she would recognise
him for who he was.
She walked swiftly ahead of him, not once looking
back to check if he was still there. She had mastered her senses then. He could
feel them fixed on him. How strong were they? He had honed his to perfection
through years of training and hunting, but he hadn’t sensed her approach. He had
been too lost in the darkness.
His gaze slid down to her small backside
and the way it moved as she walked mesmerised him.
He hadn’t really
wanted to meet her master, but saying that he did seemed like the easiest way of
remaining near to her.
Aleksandr lost track of how long they had been
walking. He looked up when he sensed the presence of more vampires. Black
wrought iron gates punctuated an endless grey stone wall ahead. Beyond them
stood the extensive bleak façade of a mansion. Light emanated from many of the
rectangular windows marking the three storeys, at least on the left side. On the
right, they were mostly dark hollows. Two male guards at the gate saluted the
woman and then eyed him with suspicion as he passed through.
Who was his
escort? She was strong, spirited, and these men ranked lower. If she weren’t
dressed as a guard, Aleksandr would have placed her as a lady of the bloodline.
A female guard. He still couldn’t quite comprehend it.
He followed her up
the gravel drive to the house, walking on the left side of the wide expanse of
frosty grass that stretched into the distance in both directions. It was a habit
of his to mask his footfalls. It had saved his life more than once. The long
grey stone front of the mansion was imposing and cold even in the moonlight. The
size of it told Aleksandr that this bloodline held the power in the city, or
they were the only one resident.
They crossed the large parking area in
front of the house, passing a fleet of identical black Mercedes-Benz limousines.
This bloodline was definitely doing well for itself. Judging by the fact that
the woman had been in the city whilst wearing her uniform, it had to be
masquerading as a military school of some sort. Many bloodlines bought privacy
from the local government by donating large sums of money and setting up such a
front. The humans never questioned them. It had been the easiest way to keep
their species secret for many centuries. At least some things hadn’t changed
since he had left society.
The moment she entered the house, Aleksandr’s
attention was back with her. She hurriedly smoothed her warm chestnut hair back
into the tight knot, fixing her appearance. In his opinion, she didn’t need to
fix it at all. The slight wanton edge her messy hair gave her was alluring to
say the least. His gaze drifted to her throat and he frowned when he spotted her
bloodline’s mark on the back of her neck. It was an elaborate black ink crest with a stag
incorporated into the design.
Černý.
They passed another pair of
male guards and Aleksandr glanced at the back of their necks. The mark was
visible above the collar of their short black jackets. A strong
bloodline.
He had forgotten who ruled Prague. Perhaps they would be able
to help him after all and his coming to their master would prove beneficial in
more than one way.
His grey eyes slid back to the woman. She looked over
her shoulder at him, her
aquamarine eyes briefly fixing on his before she turned away
again.
Aleksandr quickened his pace and fell into step beside her. She
glanced at him again and then looked forwards. His gaze remained on her as they
walked along the elegant gallery at the front of the house, heading towards the
lit area he had seen on the left of the building. She had soft features—youthful
and graceful. Her oval face, pale skin, and rosy lips set his heart racing
again, quick enough that it almost matched a human heart rate. A flicker of a
frown wrinkled her brow and her eyes darted to him and then away. He steadied
his heart, aware that she could hear the effect she had on him. Her heart was
beating at a restful pace, a soothing patter in his mind.
She moved
ahead, entering a large red drawing room. The vampires relaxing in it were
powerful but none of them were stronger than he was. He carried on without
glancing in any of their directions, following his temptress. She turned right
in the room, heading towards a guarded set of dark wooden doors. When she
reached them, she faced him, her expression stern.
“Wait here,” she said
and the guards stationed on either side of the doors opened them for
her.
Aleksandr lowered his black holdall from his shoulder. The two
dark-haired male guards eyed him. He smiled but it didn’t relieve the tension.
It only made it worse. The one on his left cast a glance over him and Aleksandr
was thankful that his long coat hid his dagger from view. The female’s voice
drifted through the open doors to him and he looked at her. She stood in the
middle of a dark green room, the back of a gilt-framed green velvet couch in
front of her. A male spoke to her in Czech, his voice a lazy drawl.
Tired
of waiting, Aleksandr walked into the room, his knee-high boots heavy on the
polished wooden floor. The woman’s blade was at his throat again in the space of
a breath. Aleksandr halted and looked at the man her body had shielded from
view.
He was young to be leading a bloodline, only in his late twenties
in terms of appearance, meaning he was little more than four hundred. He would
have been born around the time that Aleksandr had begun his hunt.
The man
leaned back into the green couch opposite the one near to Aleksandr and the
woman and crossed his long black-clad legs. He smiled without any trace of charm
or meaning and preened his short sandy hair back.
“This man desires an
audience with you, Master,” the woman said and Aleksandr glanced down into her
clear blue eyes. She looked away, towards the leader of her
bloodline.
“Then allow him to introduce himself so I may know with whom I
speak,” the master said in English.
Aleksandr was familiar with both
English and Czech. He had understood everything the master had said to the
woman. He wasn’t interested in guests and wanted him gone. His opinion would
change once he knew who Aleksandr was. It always did.
Aleksandr’s gaze
met the guard’s again, holding it for long minutes. Whenever he set eyes on her,
he was struck by her beauty as though it was the first time he had witnessed it.
He willingly accepted her blade against his throat because it meant she was near
him. Soon she would be this close to him without a weapon. He was sure of it. He
would ask for sanctuary and the master would grant it. It would give him time to
clean up his appearance and then he would start a new hunt. One for this
woman.
His gaze slid across to the master and locked with his hazel one,
silently showing the younger vampire that he wasn’t the most powerful in the
room by a long shot.
“I am Aleksandr Nemov,” he said in a calm measured
tone.
The female’s shock rippled through the knife at his throat, which
was gone an instant later. She stepped back.
“You will not mind me
requesting proof of that claim,” the master said.
Aleksandr smiled behind
his beard. It was to be expected. He had been absent from society so long that
many probably thought him dead.
With a flourish, he unsheathed and
presented his bloodstained dagger. The curved silver blade caught the warm light
of the fireplace to the left of the couches. That same light made the gold
handle shine brightly. Only a Nemov carried such a weapon, and it had been given
to him at birth, inscribed with his name so those who died by it knew who had
taken their life. When the man nodded, he sheathed the blade and took hold of
his black shirt above his right hip. He pulled it free of his trousers and
revealed the mark he bore there on his pale skin.
The mark of
royalty.
The woman’s eyes widened, fixed on the crescent moon on the
shield of his bloodline.
Aleksandr lowered his shirt and she slowly
raised her eyes to his. She blinked, fumbled with her own knife, and then looked
away. The shy sparkle in her blue eyes added to her beauty and his desire for
her, momentarily stealing his attention away from the other occupant in the
room.
“You will stay a while with my bloodline. It would do us great
honour.” The master stood and crossed the room to Aleksandr.
The woman
stepped to one side, her eyes still downcast.
The master grinned and
held his hand out. “I am
Ladislav Černý, and I welcome you to my home. I hope you will be able to enjoy
our hospitality for a long time.”
Aleksandr shook his hand. Ladislav was
young but wise enough to see a way to gain more power when it was standing in
front of him. Being
favourable to a royal would grant him more leeway with the law and more
privileges in court. It was a shame then that Aleksandr had long since
surrendered such authority. No matter how many times he reminded society that he
was no longer royalty, it still insisted on treating him that way. In this sort
of situation, he usually reminded them that he had given up his title, but this
time he couldn’t bring himself to mention it. He wanted to remain here and
pursue the woman, and for that reason alone, he would tolerate Ladislav’s
mistake.
“We will hold a ball tonight to celebrate,” Ladislav said, his
English thickly accented.
This man was no fool. He would serve Aleksandr
well. His gaze slid back to the woman. Her eyes were on him again but darted
away when his met them. How well would she serve him?
“Then I will need
to freshen up.” Aleksandr removed his hand from Ladislav’s grip.
“Any
room in the guest wing you desire, and I will arrange whatever you need.”
Ladislav motioned to the woman. Her expression blackened for a moment, as though
escorting a guest was beneath her, and then she saluted.
Aleksandr picked
up his bag and smiled at the woman. She answered it with a frown and then walked
out of the room. His smile widened and his gaze raked over her.
She was
going to be an interesting hunt.
But he would be the
victor.
Biography
Felicity Heaton writes
passionate paranormal romance books as Felicity Heaton and F E Heaton. In her
books she creates detailed worlds, twisting plots, mind-blowing action, intense
emotion and heart-stopping romances with leading men that vary from dark deadly
vampires to sexy shape-shifters and wicked werewolves, to sinful angels and hot
demons!
If you're a fan of
paranormal romance authors Lara Adrian, J R Ward, Sherrilyn Kenyon, Gena
Showalter and Christine Feehan then you will enjoy her books
too.
If you love your
angels a little dark and wicked, Felicity Heaton’s best selling Her Angel series
is for you. If you like strong, powerful, and dark vampires then try the
Vampires Realm series she writes as F E Heaton or any of her stand alone vampire
romance books she writes as Felicity Heaton. Or if you’re looking for vampire
romances that are sinful, passionate and erotic then try Felicity Heaton’s new
Vampire Erotic Theatre series.
In 2011, five of
her six paranormal romance books received Top Pick awards from Night Owl
Reviews, Forbidden Blood was nominated as Best PNR Vampire Romance 2011 at The
Romance Reviews, and many of her releases received five star reviews from
numerous websites. In
2012, she received the GraveTells Author of the Year Award and her vampire
romance novel, Heart of Darkness, was selected as a 2013 Epic Ebook Awards
finalist in the paranormal romance category.
If you want to know
more about me, or want to get in touch, you can find me at the following
places:
