A vampire prince on a four hundred year old mission to avenge his murdered sister…

Aleksandr Nemov won’t stop until the last of the vampire hunter’s progeny is wiped from the Earth. Each kill has stolen a piece of his humanity, pushing him towards the black abyss all vampires hold within their hearts. Now he is teetering on the edge, close to devolving into a beast, and time is running out as he tracks the last hunter to Prague. There he finds a beautiful woman who could be his one chance for salvation, but is it already too late for him?

A vampire guard who will do whatever it takes to protect those she loves…

Elise is dedicated to her duty. It’s the only thing she has left. All that changes when she meets Aleksandr in Prague and her master grants him permission to stay at her bloodline’s mansion. She knows all about Aleksandr but none of it prepares her for how she feels when the legendary prince’s hunt becomes one for her heart. Elise battles him with all of her strength but can she stop herself from falling for the handsome hunter? When he reveals the depth of the corruption in his soul, will she have the strength to face the pain in her past and do whatever it takes to save him?

I am honored to welcome the fabulous Felicity Heaton to the blog!  It’s all yours, Felicity….

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Thank you for having me back here at Fade Into Fantasy for the Heart of Darkness leg of my Paranormal Pandemonium 2011 Blog Tour.

Today I will be interviewing the heroine in Heart of Darkness, Elise, but first I’ll introduce myself to you all. I write various paranormal romances as Felicity Heaton and my Vampires Realm series as F E Heaton. My paranormal romances are usually focused on vampires and werewolves, but I do also write demons and witches, and of course there’s my series about angels too. I’ve been writing original fiction since 2005, and have been an indie author since 2006, and in that time I have written and released over forty stories.

Now I suppose I should introduce Elise, or at least try to describe her. Elise is a vampire and a guard of her bloodline, so she’s often seen wearing a waist-length black military jacket and trousers with her black leather riding boots. She is average height for a woman and appears to human eyes to be in her mid twenties, but in reality she’s over two hundred years old. She likes to wear her long chestnut hair up in a bun as it keeps it out of the way when she’s fighting and has blue eyes. On with the interview.

FH: I have Elise here with me today to talk about her book, Heart of Darkness. Firstly, can you tell us a little about yourself?

ELISE: My name is Elise Cerny and I am a guard in the Cerny bloodline. I was born in Prague over two hundred years ago and I am a vampire. My mother lives away from the main Cerny mansion with the other women and children, and my father died an honourable death almost a century ago. I followed in his footsteps and joined the guard when I was very young. I hadn’t even finished maturing but my father had faith in me and my abilities. He had taught me everything he knew and believed I was ready. Because he was commander of the guard, no one questioned his decision and I’m glad of it. The guard is everything to me. I am honoured to serve my bloodline.

FH: In Heart of Darkness, you meet Aleksandr. How did you meet and how did you feel about them initially?

ELISE: I met Aleksandr at a kill site in Prague on a wintry night. I remember it like it was yesterday. We fought and I am sure now that he allowed me to win, and he agreed to come with me back to my family’s mansion. I had to bring him in. He was a strange vampire drawing attention to us by killing a hunter in our territory. At the time I didn’t realise who he was. When I discovered that he was Aleksandr Nemov, the heir prince of our royal family, I felt like such a fool. I apologised to him at the ball my master held in his honour, but Aleksandr refused to accept it. He forced me to dance with him instead, going so far as to make my commander order me to do it. I knew of the reputation as a womaniser that Aleksandr had gained at his time at court when he was a prince but I wasn’t prepared for the lengths he would go to in order to win his hunt for me and get me into his bed. I can honestly say that I thought he was a sexist arrogant womanising bastard after that first dance with him and his attempts to seduce me that followed.

FH: So you didn’t get off to a good start with Aleksandr. How did he manage to change your opinion of him?

ELISE: I think he changed my opinion by changing himself. I honestly hadn’t expected that to happen but when it did, I didn’t know how to react to him. He changed so abruptly and it threw me off balance. I found myself falling for him faster than ever and felt as though there was no way of guarding my heart. He took it so easily in the end but I refused to give up. He was our heir prince and I couldn’t see beyond that. I had no place hoping that Aleksandr felt the same way as I did and that what was happening between us was more than a game to him. He is above me in so many ways. The thought of him lowering himself to feel anything for me was ridiculous, and a dream that I knew would never happen. I was convinced that Aleksandr could never truly love me. I believed him merely infatuated and in lust with me because I refused to surrender to his advances.

FH: It must have been difficult for you because of that. I can understand why you felt that way. You’re a guard and were raised to respect those senior to you, and Aleksandr was the prince of your people once. Surely everything he did made you realise that he no longer sees himself as that person and that it was alright for you to be together?

ELISE: Aleksandr didn’t give up on me, and I thank him for that every night that I wake beside him. He proved to me that the feelings I held in my heart were also alive in his and that what was happening between us was real and special. He managed to convince me in the end that he was being honest with me and showed me that I was the most precious thing in his world and that he truly wanted to be with me. He hadn’t seen himself as a prince since leaving his family, but I know now that even if he had retained his title, it wouldn’t have changed anything that has happened between us. Aleksandr loves me.

FH: He certainly does. Anyone who sees you two together can see that. How has life been since the events that happened and brought you together?

ELISE: Aleksandr is recovering slowly and we’ve remained at the Cerny mansion for now. I’m continuing as a guard while he rests and recuperates. We take walks in the city as Aleksandr likes to spend some time alone with me and he’s interested in the architecture of Prague. Aleksandr has become a tutor of sorts to me too. He’s teaching me new fighting techniques and helping me improve my old skills. It’s wonderful to have a teacher like him. Sometimes he steps back and will let me fight Andrej instead. I think he likes to watch us fight, or at least watch me fight. I don’t mind it and I often find myself showing off. Andrej is growing to hate it as I defeat him every time these days. I’ve taken to passing on what I’ve learned from Aleksandr to him so we’re more evenly matched. I spend a lot of my free time looking after Aleksandr. He has trouble with the corruption in his soul sometimes and can have nightmares because of it. I tend to take care of him.

FH: He mentioned that in his interview, and said that he secretly enjoyed you fussing over him but that I wasn’t to tell you because he fears you’ll stop.

ELISE: You are a wicked woman. His secret is safe with me. I like to fuss over him and I know that he enjoys it. I swear sometimes he acts up just so I’ll hold him and kiss him better.

FH: I’ll finish on some fun questions. Describe yourself in one word?

ELISE: Loyal.

FH: If you could be anything, what would you be?

ELISE: A hunter like Aleksandr. He has promised that we can hunt vampire hunters together when he has sufficiently recovered and has mastered the darkness within him. 

FH: If you could go anywhere, where would you go?

ELISE: Wherever Aleksandr is. We will leave Prague one day and I will go with him. I would follow him to the ends of the Earth. He is my home.

FH: Can Aleksandr really go all night like he once promised? I know, it’s a bit of a naughty question, but I’m sure people who read your story are going to want to know the answer to it!

ELISE: Well, erm, I’m not sure that’s something I should really answer. If Aleksandr found out I wouldn’t hear the end of it. The man doesn’t need his ego rubbing. It’s big enough as it is… but yes… he has once or twice come good on that promise.

FH: Thank you for meeting with me today and chatting. Is there anything else that you’d like to add?

ELISE: Thank you for having me here to talk about my story and my love, Aleksandr. I really have to go and track down his interview now to see what he said about me. I bet he was sweet. The man is incredibly romantic when you let him be that way. I hope that readers have a chance to pick up our story so they can see for themselves that Aleksandr really is a prince among vampires.

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I hope you’ve enjoyed this interview with Elise from Heart of Darkness. Don’t forget to follow me on my Heart of Darkness section of my Paranormal Pandemonium 2011 Blog Tour too. I have some great posts about the book, fantastic excerpts, and giveaways galore. Find out more at http://www.felicityheaton.co.uk/paranormal-pandemonium-blog-tour.php

Heart of Darkness is currently available in e-book from my website, Amazon Kindle Stores, All Romance eBooks, and Smashwords. It will soon be available from Barnes & Noble, Apple iBookstore, Kobo Books and Sony. It will also soon be available in paperback from Amazon websites, Barnes and Noble, and other retailers.

Read an excerpt at my website: http://www.felicityheaton.co.uk/ebooks.php?title=Heart%20of%20Darkness

Available in e-book from:
Author’s website: http://www.felicityheaton.co.uk/ebooks.php?title=Heart%20of%20Darkness
Amazon Kindle: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B005WK6E58/
Amazon Kindle UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B005WK6E58/
All Romance eBooks: http://www.allromanceebooks.com/product-heartofdarkness-620972-139.html
Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/97624
Amazon Kindle Germany: http://www.amazon.de/dp/B005WK6E58/
Amazon Kindle France: http://www.amazon.fr/dp/B005WK6E58/

About the Author:

Felicity Heaton is a romance author writing as both Felicity Heaton and F E Heaton. She is passionate about penning paranormal tales full of vampires, witches, werewolves, angels and shape-shifters, and has been interested in all things preternatural and fantastical since she was just a child. Her other passion is science-fiction and she likes nothing more than to immerse herself in a whole new universe and the amazing species therein. She used to while away days at school and college dreaming of vampires, werewolves and witches, or being lost in space, and used to while away evenings watching movies about them or reading gothic horror stories, science-fiction and romances.

Having tried her hand at various romance genres, it was only natural for her to turn her focus back to the paranormal, fantasy and science-fiction worlds she enjoys so much. She loves to write seductive, sexy and strong vampires, werewolves, witches, angels and alien species. The worlds she often dreams up for them are vicious, dark and dangerous, reflecting aspects of the heroines and heroes, but her characters also love deeply, laugh, cry and feel every emotion as keenly as anyone does. She makes no excuses for the darkness surrounding them, especially the paranormal creatures, and says that this is their world. She’s just honoured to write down their adventures.

If you want to know more about me, or want to get in touch, you can find me at the following places:

My website: http://www.felicityheaton.co.uk

My blog: http://www.indieparanormalromancebooks.com

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/feheaton

Twitter: http://twitter.com/felicityheaton

Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/felicityheaton

 GIVEAWAY TIME!

Felicity has offered up the following sway pack, which includes: signed book cover postcards, bookmarks, trading cards for Heart of Darkness and her other books!

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