ABSOLUTION
The Penton
Legacy, Book 2
By Susannah
Sandlin
Release
date: October 9, 2012
Publisher:
Montlake Romance
Book
Description:
With the vampire world on the brink of civil war over the scarcity of untainted human blood, battle lines are being drawn between the once peaceful vampire and human enclave of Penton, Alabama, and the powerful Vampire Tribunal.
A Scottish gallowglass warrior turned vampire in the early 17th century, Mirren Kincaid once served the Tribunal as its most creative and ruthless executioner—a time when he was known as the Slayer. But when assigned a killing he found questionable, Mirren abandoned the Tribunal’s political machinations and disappeared—only to resurface two centuries later as the protector and second-in-command of Penton. Now the Tribunal wants him back on their side—or dead.
To break their rogue agent, they capture Glory Cummings, the descendant of a shaman, and send her to restore Mirren’s bloodthirsty nature. But instead of a monster, Glory sees a man burdened by the weight of his past. Could her magic touch—meant by the tribunal to bring out a violent killer—actually help Mirren break his bonds and discover the love he doesn’t believe he deserves?
It’s a town under siege, a powerful warrior in a battle with his past, and one woman who can make the earth move—literally—as the Penton Legacy continues.
What was Matthias thinking, throwing a human woman in the cell with a vampire who’d been locked up and starved for over a month?
Mirren waited on the bench, his back
against the wall, his head down. Waited until Matthias climbed the steps,
slammed the door, clicked the dead bolt home. Waited until he could get control
of the hunger that had begun raging the second the woman stumbled down the stairway.
She was unvaccinated, and he wanted nothing more than to take her, blood and
body, until there was nothing left.
If he did that, he’d be no better
than the version of Mirren Kincaid he’d tried so hard to leave behind. He’d be
the Slayer again. His hands could too easily remember the mindless sweep of the
sword, the heavy fall of the battle-ax, the controlled back-thrust of a heavy
firearm. If the cold darkness ever fell over him again, he feared he’d embrace
it.
“Mister, you awake?”
Shit.
She would have to be a talker. Mirren hated a talky woman. They always expected
you to talk back.
He raised his head slowly and caught
his breath. She was young, maybe mid-twenties, and pretty in a rode-hard kind
of way.
“Your eyes are silver—I’ve seen enough
vampires since I was kidnapped to know when your eyes get lighter, it means
you’re hungry. But I’ve never seen any like yours. How long has it been since
you ate? Umm…Make that how long since you drank?”
If the stupid woman kept walking
toward him, he wouldn’t be held responsible. “Stay where you are.” He narrowed
his eyes at her, thinking. How could she help him without sending his need so
far over the edge he lost control of it?
She eeked when he shifted on the bench and turned his back toward her.
“Untie me.”
She stumbled a little when she
reached the bench and sat hard. The woman was stoned out of her gourd. He could
smell the drugs on her.
“Your
wrists are all torn up. That has to hurt.” She sat on the bench behind him, and
Mirren breathed in her scent with his eyes closed. Damn, but he wanted to feed
so badly his muscles ached.
She muttered as she worked, her
drug-addled fingers slipping off the rope. “You’re so big that I’m surprised
this rope could hold you. I should be able to…Let’s see here, it’s too dark.
Man, this is funky rope.”
“Stop yapping, start untying.” She
had that broad, soft Southern accent he found sexy, but she used it way too
much.
“Yeah, yeah, okay.” She tugged harder
on the ropes, burning his sensitive wrists with each pull. “Sorry, sorry. Why
is it burning your skin like that?”
Mirren growled and spoke through
gritted teeth. “It’s laced with silver, and I’m a freaking vampire. Just untie me.”
Damn, he had to get himself under control, or he’d scare the woman to death and
she wouldn’t finish freeing his arms or feed him either one.
“Well, you’ve got the funny eyes,
but I don’t see any fangs.”
God help him, he’d show her some
fangs. “I said I was a vampire. Now finish untying me.”
Mirren twisted his wrists and felt
the rope give way—the woman had gotten it loose enough that he didn’t need her
help.
“But wait, how do I know you—”
She gasped as Mirren pulled his
wrists apart, popped the rope onto the cell floor, and shifted around to face
her.
“Can
you…?” She paused and swallowed hard, edging away from him on the bench. Mirren’s
gaze dropped to her mouth. “Can you feed without killing me?”
Mirren nodded slowly. Maybe. Maybe not.
Susannah Sandlin is the author of paranormal romance set in the Deep South, where there are always things that go bump in the night.
A journalist by day, Susannah grew up in Alabama reading the gothic novels of Susan Howatch and the horror fantasy of Stephen King. (Um…it is fantasy, right?)The combination of Howatch and King probably explains a lot. Currently a resident of Auburn, Alabama, Susannah has also lived in Illinois, Texas, California, and Louisiana.
Website:
http://www.susannahsandlin.com
Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/susannahsandlin
Indie
Bound: http://www.indiebound.org/book/9781612183541
a Rafflecopter giveaway
5 comments:
This book is perfect for the season^^ mattjias is frigthening, Mirren seems to be but is a sweetheart, intrigues, blood and romance nothing better when the wind is blowing outside
O wow, that is a great piece of story! Thanks Susannah.
Have read Absolution and really liked it, better than Redemption and I like it a lot. Ah, the world of paranormal romance, who would have thought. Susannah talked me into reading these after I liked Royal Street and River Road so much. Thanks Susannah. Glory is my favorite character now, after D.J. of course.
Thanks guys!
Miki--yes, this could be a perfect read for a storm :-)
Glad you enjoyed the excerpt Aurian!
And Roger...DJ was about to get jealous until you added that afterthought :-)
--Susannah/Suzanne
Thanks for the giveaway and tour
elaing8(at)netscape(dot)net
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