A Murder of Vampires
The Imperial Vampires Series
By Catherine Winters
ISBN: 9781535325509
ASIN: B01KD5DUYE
Book
Description:
Even vampires have bogeymen.
Geneviève Lacroix wasn't really made to
be a leader. Perhaps that's why she chose to form a council instead of an
empire; she wouldn't have to bear the burden of responsibility alone. While the
Council of the Undead was a success, her inability to face challenges head-on
would affect vampires all over the world.
When Coventry Payne informed Geneviève
of her intent to betray her sire, Grant Black, Gené did nothing. When Coventry
succeeded, Gené ignored her own laws and Coventry went unpunished. When
Coventry showed up asking for her own House, Gené gave her New York. When
Coventry began weaving myths of Grant's excessive violence and ruthlessness to
keep fledglings in line, Gené remained silent. When Geneviève feared Coventry
would make a play for the Paris Council House, she gutted it instead of
fortifying it.
As Coventry continued to grow her power
and influence, Grant lay bound in a box, alone in the dark, starved of blood,
slowly going mad. Only Coventry hadn't counted on the ever-increasing
population of humans, the "shrinking" of the world, the eventuality
that someone would stumble upon his prison and release him.
One hundred and fifty years has seen
that eventuality come to pass, and now he will have his revenge. Coventry will
get the bogeyman she created — although the monster she claimed he was is
nothing compared to the monster he's become.
This book is a
standalone within the universe of The Imperial Vampires Series
Excerpt:
The couple at table twenty-seven were
not unusual for a Thursday dinner service. He was more handsome than most, and
she more annoyed, but their clothes were expensively made and perfectly
tailored, their shoes shiny and fashionable. She was perhaps too short for him;
they looked a bit mismatched, but then, the gentleman was so tall that it was
probably unavoidable. She was beautiful, though cold, refusing to smile even as
her companion tried to charm everyone in reach. If they noticed the shaky hands
and determined lack of eye contact from their waitress, they hadn't mentioned
it; if they'd noticed the series of wait staff who had subsequently tended to
them, they likewise had refrained from commenting. They were, in truth, the
perfect table: neither of them ate, but both drank, and were pleasant and
uncomplaining. The gentleman paid the tab, and tipped extravagantly – enough so
that the shaky waitress didn't mind sharing, and even grudgingly admitted that
perhaps she'd been wrong in her original estimation of his character
("Creepy.").
The
couple left the restaurant, not touching each other, not even looking at each
other. They were a mismatched set indeed: he was more than a foot taller than
she. He towered over her, loomed, used all his great bulk to intimidate, but
she would have none of that. She opened her own doors, assuming he was
following, got behind the wheel of an obscenely expensive sedan, and pulled
into traffic without looking.
"Is
the car bugged?" He wished not to be overheard. As did she, when it came
to that – the restaurant had been merely a convenient rendezvous, not a place
for conversation.
"Of
course not, it's mine."
"You'll
forgive me if I don't have the greatest confidence in your – What is he,
anyway? Is he even there anymore?"
"Not
so often as to care what I do with my personal time." They spoke English
with similar accents: softened consonants, narrow vowels, a superficially
British sound with something more exotic underneath. It was the language they
had in common, and the one in which they did the most business. "You
didn't drag me to Budapest to discuss Vlad."
"True
enough. I need your help."
She
laughed. "It wasn't enough that I rolled back the stone from your
tomb?"
"You
did that for yourself."
"Did
I? I can't remember what you've done for me since."
"I've
been a convenient villain, haven't I? A tale told to fledglings so they fall in
line."
"You
could have been that lying in the sarcophagus."
"Yes,
yes. I'm a terrible burden on your conscience. One has to wonder why you
bothered to free me if it was going to plunge you into this ridiculous
guilt."
"One
does. I do. Daily."
"But
I've stayed out of your way, out of Europe, like I promised, haven't I?"
"I
fear that's going to come to an end."
"I
deserve vengeance."
She
bit her lower lip, worrying it with her teeth, drawing a tiny bead of blood
that filled the car with a sweet-rotten scent, like berries gone slightly bad.
A human wouldn't have noticed, but his nostrils flared and he turned to stare
at her.
"I
don't know those laws," she said, and he could hear every ounce of relief.
"It's
not the law that gives me the right to kill them."
"Then
you don't have that right."
"They
locked me in a box for a century and a half."
"Didn't
you deserve it?"
"You
thought I didn't."
She
shook her head, taking a sharp right turn off the main road. They'd left the
city completely behind, and he thought he knew where they might end up, but
allowed her to determine their course. "I…don't know if that's true."
"Then
I am the villain to all of us, is that it? I'm the bogeyman, the big bad
vampire?"
"We
all have our roles to play," she whispered, without looking at him.
Hey, all!
*waves* I'm Catherine Winters, here to promote my newest novel, A Murder Of Vampires. It's part of my
Imperial Vampires universe, and a prequel to the Josephine Trilogy. I hope
you'll give it a try – it's a great place to step into the series!
I'll be honest,
I struggled with this guest post for a while. I just couldn't decide what y'all
might want to read about. Writing? Reading? My characters? Why I love Star Trek
so fucking much? (Probably not that last one. But feel free to message me if
you're interested. I could talk about Star Trek for days.)
Finally, someone
suggested that I should just let you all get to know me. And I figure there's
no better way to do that than to see my Buzzfeed quiz results. I mean, they're
clearly the most accurate personality assessments on the interwebs, right?
Right. So let's get started!
I'm 40, based on
my McDonald's order. But also 21, based on my shoe preferences. I'll let you
guys sort it out.
I'm 100% pug,
which I think is pretty damn impressive. I mean, how many pugs do you know
who've published five novels? But I'm also somehow 67% cheese, which doesn't
seem likely, mathematically. Though I did only get a D on a basic math quiz, so
maybe don't take my word for it?
I'm 64% keen,
which I think must be a British quiz, because it means, like, smart? And since
I got 8/10 on the "Can you guess the animal from its French name"
quiz, I'm going with smart. At least with words.
According to a
visual test, I think I should live in London, but should actually live in
Sydney. Denver, where I actually do live, was not an option, which is
straight-up bullshit, yo. Denver is the place to be, as so clearly evidenced by
all the out-of-state license plates I've been seeing lately. I'm also never
going to get married, which will be news to Mr. Winters, who thinks we walked
the aisle at least a decade ago. (Fun trick if I'm 21, eh?) And our fat,
grumpy, orange tabby is apparently most like a black panther. I'll believe it
when I see it.
I am not a
die-hard Disney fan, though to be fair, the quiz was about the parks, mostly,
and not the actual stories. I know a lot of useless facts, but not a lot of
them are about theme parks. Sorry, Charlie. As for which famous redhead will
play me in the movie of my life? Julianne Moore. I was hoping for Tess Holliday
– she's much more my style – but who am I to argue with the Buzzfeed gods?
So. There you
go. I hope you've got a pretty good idea of who I am, now, based on the world's
most accurate metric: A 21-40-year-old unmarried married pug, who is kind of
smart, doesn't know jack about Disney, looks like Julianne Moore, is more than
half cheese, and should live with her black panther in London or perhaps
Sydney.
Sounds about
right. ;)
About the
Author:
Catherine Winters writes urban fantasy,
women's fiction, and literary fiction. She is an undefeated four-time Chopped
champion and the principal mezzo-soprano for the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of
Denver. When she's not writing or singing, she enjoys teaching French to cats.
At least one of these things is actually true.
Tour giveaway:
5 copies of A Murder of Vampires, print
or ebook (to be decided by the winners). Open internationally.
2 comments:
Thank you so much for having me!
It's my pleasure! :)
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