Monday, November 5, 2007

The Vampire's Heart

by Kristina Lloyd
This week sees the UK release of Lust Bites, the first in a new line of novella volumes from Black Lace. Lust Bites might sound as if it’s a book revealing the sordid truth about members of this blog but it’s not. We’re holding out for lots more money on that one. Lust Bites is all about vampires: three sexy tales of love, lust and blood. Next year, the novella line continues with more volumes of paranormal erotica, many penned by members of Lust Bites. That's Lust Bites, the blog. Are you still with me?

My novella, The Vampire’s Heart, is, quite thrillingly, the first story in the first collection. Here’s a little bit about it.

The Vampire’s Heart

The action takes place in the Arctic. The permanent dark of winter is passing and the sun’s about to rise for the first time that year. You couldn’t escape the stories of this place. Sometimes, it was a mythical land where ancient explorers sailed through peppermint green seas, mistaking icebergs for giant swans and narwhals for aquatic unicorns. Over the centuries, reports had come back of ghostly mountains, mock suns and nights lit with curtains of coloured phosphorescence. Sometimes, it was a frozen desert, tempting men onto foolish, heroic quests. Their stories hung in the emptiness, tales of survival and loss; of horror and madness; of people on the borderline between life and death. And, of course, there were many untold stories too, stories with no one left to tell them.

Billy is a butch, modern vampire. His hair is clipped into a blond mohawk, and he’s broad chested and lighty-tanned, a punkish military figure in khakis, tight T-shirt and scuffed army boots. He’s hot, hard, mean and angry. Centuries ago, he accidentally killed the woman he loved and now she’s returned to earth, reborn as Esther. Fearing his lust could destroy her again, Billy has exiled himself to the Arctic with his two vampire lovers.

Simeon is an old school vamp. A pallid lanky creature with bony features and long black hair, he had that air of Transylvanian nobility that Billy really went for. The two men had been together centuries (though it was a bit on-off) and, having no reflections, were more familiar with each other’s faces than their own. ‘I don’t know where you end and I begin,’ Simeon used to say in the nineteenth century when they were tragically in love, as was the fashion.

Suzanne, Simeon’s cousin, is flighty, frivolous, beautiful and cruel. The three vampires live at Hope’s End, a high-tech dome hidden from view. To the untrained eye, Hope’s End, was nothing but a blip on the landscape, a hump of snow in a waste of ice. A Cold War relic modelled on igloo curves, it had fallen into the hands of the vampire community when one or two significant maps had been redrawn, and one or two significant people had been killed, easy things to achieve when there are vampires in high places. Mortals might be surprised by the number of monsters at the Pentagon.

They share their home with their pet cat, Renfield, a masturbating Arctic vampire pedigree and, since food is scarce, they survive primarily on a synthetic blood substitute, Blud. Billy, repulsed by his vampire-self and desperate to keep Esther safe from his hunger, hasn’t tasted human blood for over two decades. The urge to feed is still strong. Sometimes Simeon went to the coast and returned with tales of polar bears and all the blubber he had to bite through. But Billy knew he fed on the Inuit. He could see the flush in his cheeks and it made him so hot. When Simeon had tasted mortals, Billy wanted to fuck his brains out.

Esther works for a holiday company, White Sky Adventures, and is trekking in the Arctic with a team of five other mortals. The closer they get to Hope’s End, the more Billy’s lust intensifies. Simeon and Suzanne, jealous of Billy’s obsession for Esther, are eager to see the back of her. Weary of drinking Blud, they have no qualms about the prospect of dispatching the entire team. Billy must protect Esther from his lovers but it’s hellishly difficult when her physical presence threatens to destroy his willpower and turn him into the insatiable vampire he truly is.

A Sexy Snip of Hot Gay Vampire Loving:

Billy slammed Simeon’s body to the wall once more. His erection was thickening and he pressed it against Simeon’s butt.

‘It’s not even the same woman,’ accused Simeon. ‘It was centuries ago. Ever heard the phrase time to move on?’

‘It’s the same soul,’ breathed Billy.

‘And that gets you hard, does it?’

Billy grasped a handful of Simeon’s hair, pulling his head back so his throat arched. His Adam’s apple made a voluptuous jut in that long stubble-flecked neck, a sight that flooded Billy with memories. ‘Oh, if you were mortal.’

‘And what?’ challenged Simeon in a stretched, reedy voice. ‘You’d do what you did to her? Love me to death? Or what you did to me? Make me a vampire, possess me and make me yours?’

Billy tugged Simeon’s head back still further, his grip tightening on his hair.

‘You don’t give a person room to breathe,’ wheezed Simeon. ‘That’s not love, that’s suffocation.’

Billy jerked Simeon away from the wall, clasping arm and hair to frogmarch him across the room. He forced him over the pool table, pressing his head onto the turquoise baize. The white ball span away and bounced off the side cushion.

‘You’re jealous,’ murmured Billy. He tugged Simeon’s flies open, pushing down his clothes to bare his pale slender ass, wisps of dark hair fringing his crack. Simeon’s erection bounced free and Billy leaned over him, wrapping his fingers around that big sturdy shaft. He wanked him gently. ‘Jealous,’ mocked Billy, his lips behind Simeon’s ear.

Simeon lay still, breathing hard and saying nothing as Billy’s fist shunted along his cock, and Billy’s crotch dug into his buttocks. After a while, in a tender mannered voice, Simeon whispered, ‘Yes. I’m jealous. What of it?’

A surge of respect and lust nearly knocked Billy for six. Hurriedly, he unzipped and let his pants drop to his knees. ‘Get your top off,’ he said in a quiet command and Simeon obliged. He groaned as Billy rubbed saliva into the puckered bud of his asshole, and worked his fingers in to open him up. Billy pumped his fingers, gazing at the shifting sinew of Simeon’s back, at the wings of his shoulder blades and the way candleflame and shadow rippled over his ivory skin.

It was a perfect back. Billy withdrew and clasped his own cock, blood-hard in his fist. He loved Simeon like this: submissive after a row, horny, sluttish and spread. He spat onto his fingers, moistening himself before pushing at Simeon’s ring with his fat, flushed glans.

‘You fucker,’ said Billy tenderly. Slowly, he eased forward, meeting the circlet of muscle, forcing himself past its resistance as Simeon exulted and cursed, fingernails clawing the turquoise cloth. Both vampires groaned deeply as Billy slid his meat into the snug silky depths of his lover’s ass.

Billy held his breath, his hand against the small of Simeon’s back, relishing the hot squeeze around his swollen cock.

‘Oh, man,’ groaned Simeon. ‘You complete me.’


*
Lust Bites is published on 8th November in the UK and on January 1st in the US, the very same day that my third novel, Split - aka Wuthering Heights with bondage - is released. If you want to win a copy of Lust Bites and Split, just add a comment to this post and you're in with a chance.

44 comments:

Portia Da Costa said...

Phwoarrrgh! Awesomely hot stuff... love me a bit of m/m now and again. :)

And what an unusual and mythical setting... especially intriguing.

Way to go!

Megan Kerr said...

I swear you're my evil twin. If the gods gave me that setting, I'd have written the story about the giant swan and the peppermint green seas. (Hmm. Is stealing other people's interior landscapes plagiarism? Or a new kind of vampirism... I come to eat your thoughts - BWA HAA HAAAR...)
Now for some real plagiarism: Phwoarrrgh! And as usual your phrasing delights me: "when they were tragically in love, as was the fashion" - oh you hard-hearted cynic! I believe, in fact, that you're a classic Pinotage: dark purple, overtones of boot polish (this is a good thing in a wine, trust me), strong dark and heavy, then kicks you when you least expect it.
Now, having nicked your thoughts & trapped you in a bottle, I should be off to do some of my own writing, duly inspired.

Kristina Lloyd said...

Thanks Portia! Thanks Olivia! I love it when people say 'phwoarrrgh' and drown me in Pinotage. Please can we do it every week?

I'm really excited by this collection. I hope it's a winner.

Anonymous said...

This is so good. I have nothing much sensible to say. Amazing concept - amazingly done.

I love Billy

Anonymous said...

Phwoarrrgh and Wow!! Kristina!!
Talk about hot stuff! I believe that is your best extract yet! I have to..No..Must read more!

Megan Kerr said...

Here you are, Kristina.

And no, I'm not procrastinating. Frankly, I resent the suggestion that I might be delaying writing my own novella out of new-document-terror. Cutting out fellow writers and putting them in wine is an important and recognised part of the artistic process, thank you.

Kristina Lloyd said...

I hurt from laughing!

Ms Knight, you are a genius. Thank you.

Megan Kerr said...

My pleasure. Now before I pickle the whole cast of Lust Bites, I shall go somewhere with no wifi and buckle down to actually writing...

Kristina Lloyd said...

Writing, pah! What do you want to do that for? I think you have a great future in pickling pornographers.

Jeremy Edwards said...

"I beg your pardon, sommelier, but there seems to be a lady in my wine."

1. "Well, sir, you did ask me to bring you something nice in a Pinotage."

2. "I'm terribly sorry sir. She's supposed to come with the champagne."

3. "Yes, sir. It's Happy Hour."

Anonymous said...

Congrats on the new release!

Jeremy Edwards said...

Oops, sorry—I got caught up in the restaurant vocabulary and accidentally said "lady." Easily remedied:

4. "No, sir, there's a woman in your wine."

Anne Tourney said...

Wow, hot gay vampire lovin', at six o'clock on a Monday morning! Add a cup of fresh-ground Sumatra coffee, pitch black, and I think this could be a damn good week.

I have to echo Portia and Mathilde -- an incredibly creative and intriguing setting. I've always been fascinated by the Arctic. Just go melting the whole polar ice cap with your blistering vampire sex, okay? Maybe this is the reason for global warming . . . .

Seriously, though, the sex is powerful, hot and hard. Great writing, Kristina. g

Anne Tourney said...

p.s. And congratulations on your new release! I've been looking forward to Split for months. Kinky puppet sex -- I can't wait :).

Alison Tyler said...

Jeremy,

I think you meant:

5. "No, Sir, there's a slattern in your champagne."

It must have been champagne, right? To celebrate this trio of stellar writers! Can't wait to read the whole book. It's one I plan to buy for friends for the holidays.

You blow me away, KL.

XXX,
AT

Janine Ashbless said...

Inspired setting, Kristina. And m/m!

But be careful - sex this hot will melt the ice and cause a cave-in.

t'Sade said...

Yummy, yummy. Very nice and hot.

Kristina Lloyd said...

A slattern who comes with champagne. Heck, that's kinky. And look, here's a mug to celebrate it.

Thank you for all the kind words. I'm glad the Arctic setting's popular. I loved doing the research for this book. I found I was reading such an odd combination of stuff. One the one hand, there's a need for very practical, high-tech engagement with the land, and on the other, there's our more poetic, emotional response to the sublime. They could seem quite contradictory but they're about the same thing: death. If you don't wear the right gear, you could die. Plus, the ice is so vast and incomprehensible, it affects your sense of self and mortality.

People become unhinged when they spend too long in such lonely places. Death and wonderment are everywhere. Add vampires to the mix and you've got a delicious, snowy, psychotic nightmare!

Madeline Moore said...

I love/hate this excerpt. I love the setting, Kristina, and the setup. And the excerpt. The great white north...and me a Canadian...oh why why why didn't I think of it and pitch it to Adam and then write it and get it published?

I hate it when I'm jealous of my Lust Bites sisters.

Okay, get over it Moore... Kristina it's wonderful. Congratulations.
And pretty cool that the book is named after our blog. That must mean - um - something, don't you think?

ps - Is it possible to get a slattern in a chardonnay? Just wondering...

Angell said...

OOH - that sounds YUMMY.

Love the idea of Hope's End, and the three vampires. I can't wait to read it.

Anonymous said...

Vampires in the Arctic? Well of course! Why didn't I think of that?

Teresa (too lazy to sign in to Blogger)

Meljprincess said...

Thank you, Kate, for sending me over to this blog. I love it! I have a few BLACK LACE books and want to read the other lines. I would absolutely LOVE to win LUST BITES and SPLIT. They both appeal to me greatly. Please...my husband is in Kuwait and I just had to have my 20 year old cat put to sleep. I'm inconsolable and only find solace in reading. I'm definitely coming back to post here. Thanks.

Melissa K.
Meljprincess at aol dot com

CrystalGB said...

Sounds great. :)

Dayle A. Dermatis said...

Isn't there a movie just out about vampires in Alaska?

But seriously, this is an awesome idea. My biggest complaint about vampires is that there's nothing new to be said and the old tropes just keep getting rehashed. It sounds like you've smashed through that barrier! Can't wait to read the rest of it!

(I am definitely a champagne slattern.)

Unknown said...

Beautiful writing!
Great concept
Can't wait to read this book!

ps
Hi Meljprincess! sorry about your cat, but glad you found us here :)

Kristina Lloyd said...

Madeline, I think the book being named after our blog means the blog is very, very brilliant! And thank you for being jealous. I do appreciate it.

Dayle, yes, I heard about this film quite recently. I reckon they nicked my idea - I don't think there's a masturbating vampire cat in their version though. Or is there?

Once again, thanks everyone for liking the sound of my snow vampires. Maybe I should mention that they don't feel the cold. They can go frolicking across the ice in light summer clothes while those terrified trekkers struggle to escape, stumbling around in their parkas and boots. Ah, what fun!

Madeline Moore said...

God Kristina you are remarkably cool about vampires + arctic in a movie.
I googled it and it's Canadian, (which means, sadly, it doesn't matter much) and was released on Oct 19, this year.

I would say that your novella and the movie (Thirty Days of Night, btw, which is a terrific title, I must admit) happened at the same time.

I used to flip out when my ideas showed up elsewhere, but Felix has taught me to be sanguine about it. All it means is the zeitgeist is in motion, and that, if people like the movie they may find out about your novella, or vice versa.

I have a lot of examples of this happening to me, one that I won't talk about because I'm still bitter, and one that I will.

My Grandmother had been married twice, widowed once and separated from her second husband. She decided that if you totaled all the years she'd been married, it added up to 50, and therefore she deserved a 50th wedding anniversary party with all the bells and whistles. My mother scotched it.

I thought that was a terrific idea for a story, in fact, so terrific that I knew if I didn't write it fast, it would be 'stolen.' I didn't write it fast, but I did read it - in a new short story collection. Yes, I was sad to see the story idea gone, but I was mollified by the fact that the short story collection was by Alice Munro, one of the world's greatest writers writing in the English language.

Great minds think alike.

Madeline Moore said...

Of course, this means vampires + arctic is no longer an 'idea', it is now a 'sub-genre', so (Olivia) we are all free to use it! Yay!

Kristina Lloyd said...

Back off, sisters.

Kristina Lloyd said...

Actually, there's also a recent film in which Winona Ryder has sex with a puppet. It's a comedy called The Ten.

I'm not sure when it's released. It might be out already. All I know is they're monitoring my brain and stealing my thoughts.

Anonymous said...

Wow that is HOT!! On fire over here! I must have this...off to a cold shower! LOL

Unknown said...

Love vamp books and this one sounds great! Great excerpt!

Deanna said...

Beautifully written and sexy. What more could we want. Apart from the cat of course!

Ally said...

Wow, that was so hot I am nearly breathless. Do you guys have any idea what you do to me with those delicious excerpts?

I am one of those fortunate/unfortunate few who experience spontaneous orgasms (I call them mind orgasms because they are brought on by thought alone). Thanks Kristina, now I don't have to masturbate tonight. LMAO.

Vincent Copsey said...

Ah, you know I like a bit of man on man action, you big tease!

Hmm, blood on snow is pretty good too.

Madeline Moore said...

Blood on snow is beautiful.

I suppose, with the WGA strike officially ON, we will get a break from sweating out our fabulous ideas onto the page before Hollywood slaps them onto the silver screen.

I've written scripts and books, now, and scripts are much easier.

Oh, my screenwriter friend says, 'I'm not a real writer, Madeline, not like you.' I pointed out I write genre novels but he remained adamant. lol

Meljprincess said...

Hi Kate! Thank you for your sympathy. And thanks for showing me the way to this blog. Some of these books are extremely hard to find and we only have one bookstore for the Newport area. It's not even in Newport. It's in Middletown which is right next to Newport. I hope I win some goodies here. I loved SEX IN PUBLIC. Won it a while ago and that's how I learned about BLACK LACE.
With hubby in Kuwait I'd like to read some erotica. *wink*

Jeremy Edwards said...

6. "That would be our Ms. Lloyd, sir. She's in her cups this evening."

ChristyJan said...

Wow! This book goes to the top of my "must have" list.

Kristina Lloyd said...

Glad to be of service, Ally! Thanks again, everyone. And Jeremy - cheers!

We'll do a vampire round up at the weekend to announce winners of this giveaway, plus Portia's and Mathilde's. Heck, what a bloody lovely week this is.

Tam G. said...

Boy, this is HOT!!!! Gotta love those vampires!

Unknown said...

wowsa!!!!!! HOT
please enter me to win the very interesing books

Laura J. said...

This book will certainly warm up some cold winter nights!

Dee said...

Sweet mama! I never get tired of well-written (or portrayed) vampires. This story - and novella - sounds like it's going to be fantastic!

xx Dee