#SPeekSunday - 7/13/14 - Mortal Illusions - Where's Harry? #Vampires #ParanormalRomance

For a vampire, love means watching someone you care about die.

Sneak Peek Sunday is a weekly excerpt hop where each author shares six paragraphs from a published work or a WIP (work in progress).

My submission for this week is from my 1st book, Mortal Illusions. A vampire romance published by New Concepts Publishing, Mortal Illusions is currently the first in a series of 3 books.  Its sequel, Fatal Desire, is currently under production.

In this excerpt, which is the beginning of the first chapter, Germaine St. Justine has sensed his former lover's pain and visits her in the hospital in an effort to ease her suffering.  After some gentle teasing combined with a soothing back rub, he gently bites her neck and draws out a few seconds worth of blood, then uses a hypodermic needle to withdraw blood from his arm.  Germaine adamantly refuses to make another vampire, but he doesn't want Marguerite to suffer.  Unfortunately, she wants more than he is willing to give, so to reassure her his affections haven't altered despite the many years they've been apart, he kisses her.  When Claire walks in to discover a stranger kissing her dying mother, she assumes the gentleman is up to no good and reacts accordingly.  Germaine, is less than amused by her rancor, but when her brother, Robert, briefly joins them, then slinks away, he suspects Marguerite's children have more problems than she realizes.

          "Where's Harry?" Marguerite asked, her voice tight with disappointment.

          "He's paying the cab driver," Clarissa answered, dragging her regret-filled gaze from the empty doorway to her mother.

           Germaine caught the fleeting sense that she really wanted to run after her brother, but had restrained herself due to the futility of the exercise.  The feelings she had for her brother were strong, almost maternal, but her heartfelt concern for her mother was nearly palpable.   Although it was unusual for Germaine to register feelings from a virtual stranger with such intensity, he was neither surprised nor alarmed by his receptiveness given his strong link with Clarissa's mother.

            Yet, the heart-pounding fear he sensed in her when she stepped over to fluff her mother's pillow still puzzled him.  "He should be here any minute," she added with a reassuring smile.

            Her lips curving slightly, Marguerite gave her daughter a knowing look, then cast a sideways glance at Germaine.  "That means Harry's interrogating the staff on my condition again.  It's become his daily ritual ever since Clarissa suspected the doctors weren't telling her the truth.  She's set herself up as my personal watchdog--wanting to know what kind of treatments they're giving me, along with all the other gory details about my care here."

Marguerite's feisty daughter tends to attack first and ask questions later, a trait that is going to get her into a lot of trouble.

M/F, Contemporary vampire romance in a society based on D/s.

Read the first three chapters at: Mortal Illusions

Buy the book at NCP, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or ARe

Thanks for visiting.  I hope you enjoyed this brief excerpt and want more. Please click the link below to continue your hop Sneak Peek Sunday Wishing you a wonderful journey.