Interview with a Vampire Venator Guest Blog with Felicity Heaton

Thank you for having me here today, Roxanne, as part of my Paranormal Pandemonium 2011 Blog Tour.

Some of you will probably know me, but for the rest, I’ll introduce myself. I’m Felicity Heaton and I’m a prolific paranormal romance / science fiction romance author who writes under that name and also as F E Heaton. I write dark romances full of action and passion, and often focused on vampires, werewolves, angels, demons or witches, but I do write about other paranormal species too.

My latest release, Forbidden Blood, is the first novel in a new series for me—the Vampire Venators series. It’s a dark, sensual tale of betrayal, revenge and a love that knows no bounds. I’ve been lucky enough to catch up with the very handsome and very eloquent, and also very dangerous, vampire hero of Forbidden Blood and he answered a few questions for me.

FH: I have Kearn here with me today to talk about his book, Forbidden Blood. Firstly, can you tell us a little about yourself?

KEARN: I am a Venator for the vampire species. I was chosen to succeed my father in his role as Venator for House Savernake. I was not happy with this, and I still resent the Sovereignty for the pain they caused my family and myself by forcing this role upon myself rather than passing it to my older brother, Kyran. A Venator is a hunter. It is my duty to carry out the sentence on vampires known to have broken the law. It is not a duty that I relish. I wish I were free of it, but that can only come through death or retirement, and I am a long way from either. I have a reason to live now. It was given to me by my beloved Amber.

FH: Can you tell us about what happened in your story?

KEARN: Most certainly. I was pursuing a known Source Blood abuser and had been hunting him for several years prior to the night I stumbled upon Amber under attack by a group of vampires. As a Venator, it is my duty to protect humans from my kind. I had not realised that she was a Source Blood, and by chance, the man who had sought to control her turned out to be the one I was looking for. He is elusive as the wind but with Amber’s help I was finally able to track him down and sentence him. It was difficult for me, and I do not think I could have done it without Amber’s assistance.

FH: As you mentioned, you meet Amber in your story, Forbidden Blood. How did you feel about her initially?

KEARN: The benefit of hindsight is a beautiful thing. Now I can see with clarity that I was falling for her from the moment I set eyes on her, before I first tasted her blood. At the time, I believed myself indifferent and purely under the influence of her blood. Source Blood is rare. It is a gene in the blood of a specific line of humans, and it can bestow godlike powers upon vampires. It is also highly addictive. When we first met, I was reluctant to interact with humans. Amber was the first human I had actually worked with. Most of the time they are dead by the time I reach them. She entranced me so quickly that I was under her spell before I could realise what was happening, and that only put her life in more danger. She was an easy target for the man I was hunting and he knew that he could use her to weaken me and drive me to act on impulse rather than rationally.

FH: Your relationship with Amber was complicated because she’s human, and a Source Blood, and it’s illegal for you to taste her. Was it difficult around her after you had taken a sip of her blood?

KEARN: Extremely. It had been a long time since I had tasted Source Blood and the effects of Amber’s on me were stronger than I had anticipated. Her blood is divine, a drug more addictive than anything else on this planet, and once I had tasted it, I wanted more. I could not help myself and it was difficult to control myself around her. That one sip triggered hunger in me stronger than any I had felt before and I craved her. Not just her blood though. I craved the whole of her. I needed her to be mine and I knew it was asking a lot of her after everything I had already put her through, but she is so beautiful, and she did not shy away or think me a monster because of what I was or what I desired from her. She accepted me and she brought me back to life and filled my world with light, chasing back the darkness.

FH: That’s beautiful. For all your growl and menacing edge, you’re a big softie when it comes to Amber. How has life been since the events that happened and brought you together?

KEARN: It has been quiet for the past few months. Amber is settling into her new life and says that she learns something new each night that we wake together and I teach her about the ways of my kind. Society has accepted her in a way I could not have wished or hoped for. Archduke Pendragon saw to that. We still turn heads at the balls and Amber’s name is on everyone’s lips. They are very eager to see how she turns out. I have been working with some of the other vampire Venators and the Sovereignty on matters regarding our species. It keeps me busy but I always find time for Amber. I want her to never feel that she is alone. She comes with me wherever I go when she can, and is becoming a very good ambassador for better treatment of humans who are brought into our world and are in transition.

FH: Your story, Forbidden Blood, is a book in a series. Can you tell us a little about the series and can we expect see more of you in other stories in this series?

KEARN: I believe that we are in the next book. The whole series follows the vampire Venators in their missions for the Sovereignty, a ruling body of demons that govern the nine demon species. They are the remains of their species, and countless centuries old, and extremely powerful. They bless their Venators with the power to sentence those who break the law. For a vampire, the weapon comes in the form of silver markings that cover the length of our strongest arm, in my case my right, but some are left-handed. Vampires have only a few laws that we uphold, and they are all related to Source Blood. I am not sure of the laws of the other species. Vampires do not tend to interact with them if we can avoid it, although I am aware that many of them share a complex society like ours. Lycanthropes and therianthropes in particular. I am told that the therianthropes are generally broken into two groups, the ailuranthropes, or those who shift into a cat form, and the rest. Vampires do not tend to associate with either group, but there are times when we are required to work together.

FH: Describe yourself in one word?

KEARN: Loyal.

FH: Thank you for meeting with me today and chatting. Is there anything else that you’d like to add?

KEARN: I wish to thank you for taking this time to interview me, and I also hope that you will be able to interview Amber too as she was very excited to hear that I was coming to see you to answer these questions. I am sure she would find it a pleasant change to her usual daily routine, and would like to meet with you again. I would also like to extend my thanks to the humans reading this, and to offer words of comfort in that the Venators are there to protect them should any of them be Source Bloods. I hope they will read, and enjoy my story, and also the glimpse it gives of my world.

Forbidden Blood is available now in e-book formats direct from my site, on Amazon Kindle and on Smashwords, and will soon be available from Barnes and Noble Nook, Apple iBookstore, Sony Reader Store and other retailers. It will also shortly be available in paperback from Amazon.

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.

Find out where to buy or read the excerpt: http://www.felicityheaton.co.uk/ebooks.php?title=Forbidden%20Blood

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