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GOLDEN VAMPIRE
Blood Knight Chronicles
BY LINDA THOMPSON-SUNDSTROM
Blurb
The Dark Surrender… is the ultimate embrace of everlasting love that can exist between immortals. But can this kind of love exist with a mortal?
Former cop Jesse Stewart, hired by a foreign government to find a senator’s missing daughter, finds much more instead – a centuries’ old immortal, and a haunting piece of her past.
Lance Van Baaren, born in the time of Britain’s King Arthur, was one of seven Blood Knights chosen for a special quest. After centuries of adhering to the vow that made him immortal, he now, in the current century, must face a woman who threatens his secret existence. The one woman who, after all his time on earth, might also steal his heart.
A long time ago, a group called the Seven was formed from seven of the best knights of the Round Table. These knights were offered immortality in order to protect a holy relic known as the Grail, which contains secretive powers best kept hidden from the masses.
Seven immortal knights, protectors of the Grail, will live through time until we find them now, in the current century…. in this series. Called “Blood Knights” because of the way they became immortal. Not vampires, though they do possess not only fangs, but longings for the kind of justice no mortal men could conceive of. Undefeated in battle. Unearthly gorgeous. If not exactly righteous, something close, with the will to protect humankind from monsters that lurk in the shadows of a modern world.
One book per Knight, starting with Lancelot, now called Lance. Seven books altogether.
GOLDEN VAMPIRE
Blood Knight Chronicles
BY LINDA THOMPSON-SUNDSTROM
Excerpt
Perched in his boots atop the railing of the balcony, knees bent in a squat, coat blowing in the wind, Lance watched Jesse sweep through the suite.
Like a professional, she moved quickly, agilely, until she was satisfied no one would jump out at her, at least right then. Was she a police officer? Something similar? Is this why she had come here to help rescue the American senator’s daughter?
He watched her whirl to the door, gun in hand, and heard her chopper pilot call out from the hallway, “Boss? You in there? You up?”
Her relief was obvious when she heard who stood in the hallway. Noting this, Lance experienced what felt like a bullet piercing his flesh, but was in fact something else altogether. Jealously? Lust? Hunger?
The warm scent of a woman after all this time spent in limbo was an indulgence, and intoxicating. Jesse was soap and oranges and silk. She was pink flushed skin and musky feminine dampness. Soft curls danced over her collar. Those same dark curls, the color of night, curtained her graceful, scarred throat.
Turning his face into the wind, Lance tried not to think about her throat or the veins beneath it. Tried not to let his thoughts linger on all that heat bubbling beneath the surface of Jesse’s skin.
Closing his eyes, he again caught the scent of blood, heard a little girl’s cry, tasted fear in the old alley. Her cry. Jesse’s.
Having once rescued her, it appeared now as if he might have saved her for himself. As if destiny might have played a hand. Yet his dilemma was a troublesome one. Was this attraction merely bloodlust, having tasted Jesse in the past? If not bloodlust, would he be able to bring her to him in the end? Bring something so alive, so beautiful, over, forcing her to give up everything she knew?
Did he dare to find out if he could love Jesse, knowing he might lose her, as he lost Gwen?
He’d vowed celibacy. He’d lived like a monk ever since that night in the Los Angeles alley when Jesse had thought him an angel. A very dark angel. The moment had opened his eyes.
He’d been a Watcher. A Guardian. A purveyor of justice. He was an immortal set here to keep other immortals in line. He had given all that up because of Jesse. Because of the bloody night they’d shared in that alley and the look in her eyes when she’d asked for his help.
He closed his eyes now to block out the memory.
*
“Stan?” Jesse said to her pilot through the adjoining room’s door.
“Yes, boss.”
Jesse yanked back the bolt, lowered the pistol and threw open the door.
Stan caught sight of the gun right off. His gaze rose to meet hers. “Room service that bad?”
“Yep. If it was the maid, I was going to ask why she didn’t leave more towels.”
“Yeah? Well, the gun might have gotten you towels, for sure. Maybe even two chocolates on your pillow.”
“You think?”
“I know.”
Jesse motioned for Stan to step inside. He obliged.
“You went for beer?” she asked, gun dangling at her side.
“Had one, but was tired, so I came back. Thought I’d check in before hitting the sack. I’m right next door, you know.”
“I know.”
“If you need anything…”
“I’ll shoot.”
Stan grinned. “Now, that’s the boss we all know and love.”
“Yes, well, I aim to please.”
Stan stifled a chuckle as he gave the room a cursory glance. “Big and drafty,” he said.
“Good sheets, though,” Jesse reminded him.
“Wouldn’t want to get spoiled, would we?”
“You imagine this will ever happen again?”
Stan shook his head. “You’re right. I doubt it would. So I should probably savor that piece of chocolate on my pillow. Take small bites.”
“If the maid shows, I’ll send over a case.”
“You do that, boss,” Stan said, turning toward the hallway. “Eight o’clock?”
“Eight it is.”
Stan spoke over his shoulder. “You don’t suppose they’ll give us coffee?”
“I’ll bet they would if we were going to be around long enough to drink some. They might toss in a couple of gold watches.”
Stan waved a big hand in the air. “Okay. I hear you loud and clear. And I’m not spoiled. No sirree. Not me.”
With that, Stan disappeared.
Jesse closed the door, took a breath that filled her lungs, spun with her pistol raised and pointed, and said to the presence she felt like a draft creeping along her skin, “How the hell did you get in?”
About Author Linda Thomas-Sundstrom…
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Links to Linda’s websites, blogs, books, #ad, etc.:
Amazon:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07RF9VVQS?ref_=pe_3052080_276849420
Barnes and Noble:
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/golden-vampire-linda-thomas-sundstrom/1100167382?ean=2940161296486
Web site: www.lindathomas-sundstrom.com
Linda’s Facebook:
www.facebook.com/Linda Thomas-Sundstrom
Amazon author page:
https://www.amazon.com/stores/Linda-Thomas-Sundstrom/author/B002BMBNS8?ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_17&qid=1782246191&shoppingPortalEnabled=true
Special Giveaway: Linda will gift an ebook copy of NIGHT BORN, a book associated with this series, to one lucky reader who comments on her Karen’s Killer Book Bench blog. Happy Reading!
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