Fangs for the Bite by Marie Treanor & Blood Sin Giveaway

OK, I apologize for the pun, but on Fang-tastic Books, I thought Roxanne might let me off :-). In fact, it was the title of this blog that set me thinking about fangs and biting, and exactly what it is about them that is so seductive to readers.

Ever since Bram Stoker’s Dracula, writers and readers alike have been entranced by the sensuality of the vampire bite, and even of the victim in turn drinking the blood of the vampire. To some, it might be the sublimation of pain into pleasure, or a bit of sadistic-masochistic delight. But I have to confess I don’t like pain! In my Awakened by Blood books, the initial pain of a bite is overwhelmed by sensual pleasure, and the vampire’s tongue has healing properties.

For most, the neck is a highly erogenous zone, and so lavishing attention on that part of the anatomy is bound to be sexy. But although my vampires prefer the neck, this isn’t necessarily the case for a story involving sensual biting. The giving and receiving of blood, the life force itself, seems to be the important issue, despite the fact that, described in a different way, such an act would be gross at best! I suppose that’s the difference between vampire horror and vampire romance… which brings me back to the wider issue of why we read vampire romance in the first place.

How did the wildly different concepts of “vampire” and “romance” manage to come together?

My conclusion is that romance readers are always looking for something more than the simple boy meets girl, lives happily ever after. We want a great love, an overwhelming experience with a larger than life hero, whatever form that hero takes. A vampire hero is the epitome of those things; he takes more, is prepared to give more, in terms of pleasure, blood and just about everything else!

And those teeth – the fangs that pierce or tear the skin – are very much part of that experience. In some stories they are erogenous in themselves, as with my hero, Saloman, while my heroine, Elizabeth, finds them wickedly attractive, perhaps because they’re associated with the forbidden and therefore most exciting part of their relationship.

Anyway, what do you think? I have a copy of Blood Sin (the second of my Awakened by Blood trilogy) to give away, so to enter the contest for it, please tell me your opinion on vampire biting? Is it gross or sexy? And why? What do you like or hate about it?

To help you decide, I’ve added an excerpt with just a little fang appreciation!

BLOOD SIN: Awakened by Blood 2 By MARIE TREANOR Published by NAL Signet Eclipse Available now from Amazon:

Even if you walk in the light, you can dwell in the dark.

Months after her dangerous encounter with vampire overlord Saloman, Scottish academic Elizabeth Silk is still trying to cope with both the demands of her ancestral bloodline—which marks her as a vampire hunter — and the overpowering desire she feels for the immortal she brought back from the grave. But she is not alone in her fascination with Saloman.

When Elizabeth tracks down a distant cousin from America, she learns he possesses an antique sword that has caught the interest of the Grand Master of the American hunters. It is the ancient and mystical sword of Saloman — a treasure of vast occult powers and a prize beyond measure to both vampires and humans. Now the race is on for possession of the sword.

Even as her enemies and allies shift their allegiances and battle for supremacy, Elizabeth must decide which will rule her own perilous fate: unwanted loyalty or unholy love.

Excerpt:

Elizabeth closed her eyes. In that moment, she understood him so completely it hurt. She knew his loneliness as if it were her own, and this was all there would ever be for them, snatched nights when circumstances beyond them dictated they could be together for twenty-four hours. For a being thousands of years old, that was less than a drop in the ocean.

This is all there is. Don’t waste it, Silk.

She rose from the bed before she could change her mind, padding the few feet across the soft-pile carpet to his side. Still he didn’t turn from the window, but by the city lights reflected on his face, she glimpsed his faint smile.

“Is it all illusion with us, Saloman? Is none of it real?”

“It’s all real, just . . . fleeting.”

He wanted more; he still wanted more. It should have appalled her; it should have sent her scurrying back to bed with the sheets drawn up to her chin in protection. She should not have continued to stand there in her sexy nightdress, and she certainly shouldn’t have taken his hand, threading her fingers through his as she gazed with him across the blackness of Central Park. The sounds of traffic and partying were faint, but audible.

“I never expected New York to be this beautiful,” she observed.

“It has its own charm, as all places do.”

“You have been here before!”

The smile came back briefly and vanished. “Not since it was like this. A long time ago, before it was called America.”

She accepted that. One day, perhaps even tomorrow, he would tell her about it. Tonight, it seemed, he didn’t want to talk. So she lifted their joined hands to her cheek.

“I wish it was different, Saloman,” she whispered, and then, before the tears came, she dropped his hand and turned away.

But she moved too slowly. Before she had even taken a step, he’d seized her wrist and swung her against him. His arms were hard around her and his head swooped like some bird of prey. There was no time to protest before his lips crushed hers.

Her mouth opened wide in shock; she might even have intended to object, but as he took possession, she gave up and sank into his embrace with a muffled moan of relief and joy. He bent her body backward, grinding the hardness of his erection into her abdomen, and she flung her arms up around his neck, grasping his hair between her fingers. As he deepened the kiss, she welcomed his tongue with her own, and when she felt the graze of his dangerous fangs, she licked them greedily.

Saloman spoke inside her head, presumably so that he could keep kissing her. Did you come to offer me your blood or your body?

Either. Both.

I wish I’d thought of showing you weakness before.

At that, she tore her mouth free, tugging at his hair in a feeble attempt to prevent him from doing exactly as he wanted to. “You think this is some kind of weird, misplaced pity?” she whispered.

He didn’t answer, simply took her mouth back, and her tugging fingers relaxed in his hair, holding him to her. You don’t like pity, she reminded him.

I like sex with you.

Marie Treanor lives in Scotland with her eccentric husband and three much-too-smart children. Having grown bored with city life, she resides these days in a picturesque village by the sea where she is lucky enough to enjoy herself avoiding housework and writing sensual stories of paranormal romance and fantasy.

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To enter to win a copy of Blood Sin answer Marie's question -please tell me your opinion on vampire biting? Is it gross or sexy? And why? What do you like or hate about it?

Leave your email address with your answer in the comments

Winner TBA Next Wednesday