A Night Shift Novel

Only fifty years left before vampires rule the world.

When Dallas police detective Cami Davis joined the city's vampire unit, she planned to use the job as a stepping-stone to a better position in the department.

But she didn't know then what she knows now: there's a silent war raging between humans and vampires, and the vampires are winning.

So with the help of a disaffected vampire and an ex-cop addict, Cami is going undercover, determined to solve a series of recent murders, discover a way to overthrow the local Sanguinary government, and, in the process, help win the war for the human race.

But can she maintain her own humanity in the process? Or will Cami find herself, along with the rest of the world, pulled under a darkness she cannot oppose?

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Excerpt

It hit me, hard, that no matter how I twisted it around in my head, Reese was going to be more than just an informant to me. I didn't know if I could trust him, this cowboy-vampire I had been thrown together with. But something about him sang to me, like a tune just out of hearing, almost recognized—a song of protection and death. And I wanted to dance to it, almost as much as I wanted to escape it.

The department wouldn't force me to stick it out, wouldn't expect me to team up with a vampire for anything more than the most superficial of connections.

I could walk out at any time.

But I wouldn't. He'd help us find and stop whoever was killing these women.

That's why I'll stay in this.

"I'll tell you everything," I said to the vampire snarling at me. "But I'll need your help."

Reese's lip dropped back down, covering the fang.

I was glad—it was easier to contemplate joining forces with him when he wasn't reminding me that he was one of the monsters.

"Talk," he said.

I shook my head. "Not here," I said, speaking quietly. How good his hearing might be was only one of the many things I didn't know about vampires.

He slid up to the bar beside me.

"We can't leave," he said, equally softly. I had to lean close to hear him.

"Why not?" I asked.

"Mendoza all but dared me to Claim you, back there." He didn't look down at me. "If I don't bleed you at least a little before we go, he'll be suspicious."

At his words, the half-healed bite mark Reese had left on my shoulder throbbed once, sending a hot pulse throughout my entire body.

I wanted the response to be revulsion.

Almost everyone who went undercover with the vamps came out addicted to their bite. The ones who could still string two sentences together, like Garrett, stayed on the force.

The others . . .

The press portrayed us as bumbling and stupid—and maybe we were. Sending detectives in against humanity's worst nightmare? We were like little kids trying to hold back the dark with matches, bound to get our fingers burned, and worse, maybe burn the house down around us.

I paused and swallowed.

Guest Post

Please welcome Sanguinary author Margo Bond Collins to Diane's Book Blog.

My Favorite Vampire Hunters in Film and Television by Margo Bond Collins

In Sanguinary, Cami Davis is a detective on the Dallas police force, and part of an anti-vampire squad. My depiction of her is absolutely influenced by my love of vampire hunters in film and television. Here's a list of some of my favorite vampire hunters:

Buffy: Because what’s not to love about a snarky blonde cheerleader with a destiny to be a vampire slayer? Add Joss Whedon’s particular brand of brilliance, and Buffy is still one of my favorite vampire hunters, even more than fifteen years after the television series first aired.

The Winchester Brothers: Normally, these are top five lists. But I’m going to count Sam and Dean Winchester from the television series Supernatural together—it’s virtually impossible to consider them any other way. Technically, Sam and Dean are monster hunters in general, and vampires make up only a small percentage of their hunts—but since Dean was once briefly turned into a vampire and Sam had to contemplate beheading his brother, I think it counts. Plus: they’re just so beautiful.

Peter Vincent: I know that the 2011 remake of Fright Night was not exactly a favorite of either critics or fans. But I love, love, love David Tennant in the role of the stage magician whose dark past makes him a vampire expert.

Blade, Whistler, and Abigail Whistler (I'm counting these guys together, too!): I love the way the Blade film series uses the conventions of vampire film and myth. The dhampir (or half-vampire) as a vampire hunter is one of my favorite semi-obscure vampire myths, and Wesley Snipes does a nice job of being a taciturn, tortured hero in the dhampir role. Film scholar Jeffrey Weinstock has claimed that the vampire film is always about technology, and Whistler (Kris Kristofferson) is the consummate tech guy. Finally, the addition of Abigail Whistler brings the kick-ass heroine into the series, making it just about perfect, as far as I’m concerned.

Pike: In the original film version of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, she ends up with Pike, a mechanic whose best friend is turned into a vampire. I like Pike because, like Elle in my book Legally Undead, he doesn’t want to kill vampires. In fact, he packs up to get out of town. But then he sticks around to help Buffy figure out that she is, as he says, “the guy. The chosen guy.”

I really wanted to find a film or TV version of Van Helsing to include in this list, but I just couldn’t. The movie Van Helsing was simply laughable, and the Van Helsing character in the various Dracula movies doesn’t seem strong enough. I’d love to hear about any Van Helsings or other vampire hunters I might have missed who should be considered!

About the Author

Margo Bond Collins is the author of urban fantasy, contemporary romance, and paranormal mysteries. She has published a number of novels, including Sanguinary, Taming the Country Star, Legally Undead, Waking Up Dead, and Fairy, Texas. She lives in Texas with her husband, their daughter, and several spoiled pets. Although writing fiction is her first love, she also teaches college-level English courses online. She enjoys reading romance and paranormal fiction of any genre and spends most of her free time daydreaming about heroes, monsters, cowboys, and villains, and the strong women who love them—and sometimes fight them.

Connect with Margo:

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Email: MargoBondCollins@gmail.com

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Genre: Urban Fantasy

ISBN: 978-0692211496

Book Length: 278 pages

Publisher: World Weaver Press

DESCRIPTION

A reluctant vampire hunter, stalking New York City as only a scorned bride can.

Elle Dupree has her life all figured out: first a wedding, then her Ph.D., then swank faculty parties where she’ll serve wine and cheese and introduce people to her husband the lawyer.

But those plans disintegrate when she walks in on a vampire draining the blood from her fiancé Greg. Horrified, she screams and runs--not away from the vampire, but toward it, brandishing a wooden letter opener.

As she slams the improvised stake into the vampire’s heart, a team of black-clad men bursts into the apartment. Turning around to face them, Elle discovers that Greg’s body is gone—and her perfect life falls apart.

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Excerpt:

The worst thing about vampires is that they're dead. That whole wanting to suck your blood business runs a close second, but for sheer creepiness, it's the dead bit that gets me every time. They're up and walking around and talking and sucking blood, but they're dead. And then there's the whole terminology problem--how can you kill something that's already dead? It's just wrong.

I was twenty-four the first time I . . . destroyed? dispatched? . . . a vampire. That's when I found out that all the books and movies are wrong. When you stick a wooden stake into their hearts, vampires don't disintegrate into dust. They don't explode. They don't spew blood everywhere. They just look surprised, groan, and collapse into a pile of corpse. But at least they lie still then, like corpses are supposed to.

Since that first kill (I might as well use the word--there really isn’t a better one), I've discovered that only if you're lucky do vampires look surprised before they groan and fall down. If you're unlucky and miss the heart, they look angry. And then they fight.

There are the other usual ways to kill vampires, of course, but these other ways can get a bit complicated. Vampires are notoriously difficult to trick into sunlight. They have an uncanny ability to sense when there's any sunlight within miles of them, and they're awfully good at hiding from it. Holy water doesn't kill them; it just distracts them for a while, and then they get that angry look again. And it takes a pretty big blade to cut off someone's head--even an already dead someone--and carrying a great big knife around New York City, even the Bronx, is a sure way to get arrested. Nope, pointy sticks are the best way to go, all the way around.

My own pointy stick is actually more of a little knife with wood inlay on the blade--the metal makes it slide in easier. I had the knife specially made by an old Italian guy in just about the only ratty part of Westchester, north of the city. I tried to order one off the internet, but it turns out that while it’s easy to find wood-inlay handles, the blades themselves tend to be metal. Fat lot those people know.

But I wasn’t thinking any of this when I pulled the knife out of the body on the ground. I was thinking something more along the lines of “Oh, bloody hell. Not again.”

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Margo Bond Collins is the author of a number of novels, including Waking Up Dead, Fairy, Texas, and Legally Undead. She lives in Texas with her husband, their daughter, and several spoiled pets. She teaches college-level English courses online, though writing fiction is her first love. She enjoys reading urban fantasy and paranormal fiction of any genre and spends most of her free time daydreaming about vampires, ghosts, zombies, werewolves, and other monsters.