Good morning! It’s time for another adventure with the Saturday Book Diver. Today we’re returning to the world of the Forever series, where vampires are oppressed, but some have chosen to fight back.
I’m here in a penthouse at Carmichael hotel. It’s the unofficial home of a vampire called Egan. Seated in a plush chair across from the dark-haired, gray-eyed vampire, I glance around at the luxurious room. It’s beautifully furnished. Enormous framed landscapes hang on the walls. Looking at them, one almost forgets the penthouse has no windows.
Focusing on my handsome host, I begin.
SBD: Egan, thank you for agreeing to this interview and also for allowing us into your penthouse. I’ve sworn not to release the information you share to anyone in this world. Only readers on the outside will have access to it.
Egan: I appreciate your discretion. It’s illegal for a vampire to leave the Cemetery. Trusting a stranger isn’t easy for me.
Considering how vampires are treated here, I can understand why he feels like this.
SBD: How long have you been a vampire?
Egan: Close to three hundred years. I’ve traveled the world and have lived in many places. I wish I could tell you the world is a better place. I can’t.
SBD: It must be especially difficult for you, having been around before the laws restricting vampires’ freedom were established. What can you tell us about life before the global economic collapse that triggered the oppression?
Egan: We were accepted. We were artists, builders, educators, owned businesses and property. Now we are forced to live in places like the Cemetery, isolated and feared, dependent upon government rations.
Before the oppression, I was a free citizen. I designed and built the Carmichael. All I have now is the illusion of freedom within these walls.
I can’t imagine what life must be like here for vampires and those who love them.
SBD: I know interaction between vampires and humans is illegal, but do you have any human contacts?
Egan: Only a few. Good friends are rare nowadays, but I have a special person in my life. The government tells you vampires are soulless creatures. Believe me when I tell you, Harper is my one true love.
SBD: What three words best describe Harper?
Egan: Courageous. Provocative. Delectable.
SBD: Do you think there’s a possibility you can have a future together, or is it just too dangerous?
Egan: It’s very dangerous. Harper is a Dead Souls Agent. Our relationship defies government rule and breaks every vampire law. If we’re discovered we’ll pay with our lives. The price of Nights Sins.
It’s terrible to know in this world lovers are kept apart. To risk death, Egan and Harper must have a very strong bond.
SBD: Would you share one of your favorite excerpts from Night Sins?
Egan:
Egan had spotted the DSA vehicle and tracked it to the alley. To his surprise the headlamps were extinguished. From the rooftop, he’d watched Agent Croix exit her vehicle and step into the dark alleyway. Easily visible to Egan, she wasn’t wearing a helmet or weapons belt nor was she carrying a burner.
The agent was up to something.
Unarmed and vulnerable, the agent moved slowly, taking tentative steps deeper into the alley. Was she setting a trap?
Keeping his eyes on Croix, Egan listened for the familiar sound of DSA vehicles but heard nothing. Croix was alone.
Egan’s nose twitched. Her scent, better than any perfume, filled him with desire. More desire than he’d experienced in decades.
Then she did the unthinkable. She pulled a piece of red material out of her jacket pocket and raised it like a matador’s cape and turned around. Her red top was drenched in her sweat and scented with her blood.
Egan smiled. Old ones were rarely challenged and never by humans. He was the bull and Croix had returned for the kill.
Familiar and exotic, her blood scented the air. Egan’s fangs extended, stimulated by desire, hunger and need. Now that he’d sipped from her veins, her blood and his senses were forever linked. If she stood in a group of a hundred humans and Egan was blind, he’d pick her out of the crowd with ease.
She stood in the darkness, a siren drawing him to her. Egan had to admire her courage. Only a fool would stand outside in the dark unarmed in this section of the city. Croix wasn’t a fool. Her weapons were hidden.
He’d best resolve the situation before her blood scent drew others.
Egan crossed the roof and entered a door. Moving fast, he took the stairs to the main floor and made his way to the service entrance. He saw her through the open doorway. His nostrils twitched. Her scent perfumed the air and she smelled so good. “Agent Croix, I’m flattered.”
Her hands stuffed in her jacket pockets, she turned toward him. “You’re under arrest for the illegal taking and consumption of human blood.”
“You came to arrest me,” Egan said, watching her hands. Although he was able to see her clearly, she was at a disadvantage in the darkness and had to follow his voice. He moved closer. “And I thought you’d enjoyed our short encounter.”
She stepped toward him. “Lie face down on the ground.”
“So all that heat was just fear?”
Her hand moved. Egan ducked and lunged forward, grabbing her wrists and taking her down.
A beam of blue light shot out from her hand as they fell to the pavement. Egan shoved her arms out to the side, directing away the light beam that had come within an inch of hitting him. She’d almost gotten him. He covered her body with his. “Is that what you really want?”
Wow! That gives us a taste of the danger and excitement of their world.
The Book Diver Magic is fading and it’s time for me to go. Once again I leave this world uneasy about the treatment of vampires and the danger they and any humans who care about them live in.
To find out more about Egan and Harper’s world, check out
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