I posted the cover for Crave the Night on Tuesday and this got me thinking about sharing my characters from Enemy Embrace with y'all.
The heroine is Nicole Ruiz. She's a psi tracker--an elite vampire hunter--and she's got a personal crusade. She wants to find the vampire who killed her family when she was ten and avenge their deaths. The vampire in question was out of Los Angeles for a long time, but he's come back at last.
Her hero is Daktan, he's a demon and an executioner (like Andras from Demon Kissed). Dak's been assigned by his king (no less) to take out the same vampire Nicole wants dead. It's a favor the demon king is granting to the vampire clan lord in LA. If you read Blood Feud, you know that the demons and vampires are trying to forge an alliance and this is viewed as one of the bridges. Plus, it doesn't hurt to have a vampire clan lord owe a favor or two, right?
The vampire they both want dead is a rogue. In this world, any vampire who is not affiliated with a clan lord is considered a rogue, but the title itself doesn't connote they're evil. Of course, this particular vampire is, but well, you know.
The clan lords are the original vampires, the origin vampires, and one of them was killed during the war with the demons. All his blood line became "rogue" instantly, but many chose to form affiliations with other clans. There are a large number, though, who didn't. They remain untethered to a clan lord, but there are power plays and issues going on that I hope to address in future stories.
This turned out to be a very complex world, and with stories all being short in length, it means I can only focus on small segments at a time. It's actually kind of an interesting way to reveal society and the issues going on. Blood Feud introduced the demon/vampire divide and that they're trying to form an alliance. Demon Kissed focused on the demon world and the fact that there are human demon slayers out there. Shadow's Caress introduced human vampire hunters and psi trackers. In this case, I use "introduce" to mean when I reveal its existence to the readers. There is a whole bunch more yet to come.
Enemy Embrace will reveal a little bit more of the world. Because Nicole is a psi tracker, I'll show a little more of that. I'm also bringing in another group of humans that have a stake in the magical world beyond demons, vampires, rogues, hunters, and slayers. They won't have a direct role in the story--there isn't space for them--but the wizards are coming. :-) I have a story with a wizard human on the back burner, but he won't be in EE.
