A Dozen of My Favorite Vampires with Denise Verrico

Every commenter is a winner! Denise is giving away a free ebook of shorts to every commenter at the blogs. 

She also is doing a tour wide grand prize basket consisting of a trade paperback of Servant of the Goddess, a Cara Mia t-shirt (XL), a set of posters (one from each book), a pen, a keychain, vampire notepaper and some other small items U.S. entries only. She’ll also give an ebook of Servant of the Goddess to two overseas winners. (Enter via the Rafflecopter link below).

1. Spike- Buffy the Vampire Slayer (TV) -  Unrepentant, menacing and funny at the same time.
2. Claudia- The Vampire Chronicles – Who isn’t terrified of a child with supernatural powers and bloodlust?
3. Lestat de Lioncourt- The Vampire Chronicles-You have to love the “Brat Prince.”  Sexy, swashbuckling Lestat is the ultimate bad boy.
4. Armand- The Vampire Chronicles- Full of secrets, angelically beautiful and dangerous--be still my heart. 
5. Drusilla- Buffy the Vampire Slayer (TV) - Simply the most chilling character ever—a vampire who is more than a bit mentally unbalanced.
6. Jerry Dandridge- Fright Night- I just love this guy.  Wickedly funny!
7. Barnabas Collins- Dark Shadows (TV) - My first gentleman vampire, wonderfully portrayed by the late, great Jonathan Frid.  I used to rush home from school in the sixties to watch this one.  My mom says she never should have let me watch this show.
8. Dracula- The iconic Count is still King of the Bloodsuckers.
9. Max Shreck- Shadow of the Vampire- Willem Dafoe plays the actor who portrayed Count Orlock in Nosferatu in this very funny and creepy film.  Is he or isn’t he a real vampire?
10. Lothos- Buffy the Vampire Slayer (film)- Scary and funny.  Interesting that Rutger Hauer was Anne Rice’s choice to play Lestat. 
11. Count Orlock- Nosferatu- A horrific and truly frightening vampire.  No sparkling here.
12. Carmilla- Probably the first female literary Vampire, penned by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu.  This book is unique because it also portrays a lesbian relationship between Carmilla and Laura, the narrator of the tale.

Servant of the Goddess
Book Four of the Immortyl Revolution

Denise Verrico

From the ashes of the first battle of the Immortyl Revolution, vampires Mia Disantini and Kurt Eisen set out to build a new Immortyl society.

Trouble arrives in the person of Cedric MacKinnon, a runaway adept of the ancient arts, who brings tidings of upheaval at the chief elder’s court that threatens everything Mia and Kurt have accomplished.

Mia finds it hard to resist when Cedric pledges his service and tempts her with the legendary skills he learned as an Immortyl courtesan.

Facing opposition from both within and out, Mia begins to doubt Kurt is up to the task of leading their followers to his vision of an Immortyl Utopia.

Torn between her loyalty to Kurt and Cedric’s insistence that she is the earthly manifestation of the Goddess Durga and destined to lead, Mia confronts the greatest challenge of her life.

Excerpt – Page-Servant

Sudden shouts battled against the sound of the wind. I peered down the block. Teen-formed Immortyls, sewer rats, closed a circle around a tall male, who held his hands high above his head. From the direction of the wind, I couldn’t yet ascertain this stranger as mortal or Immortyl. Best to investigate. I ran toward the disturbance, wrapping my fingers around the Glock strapped to my hip. 

 A shrill whistle split the air. Two of the sewer rats lunged for the stranger. He crouched and pirouetted on one leg, letting loose a rapid succession of kicks that knocked his attackers sprawling onto the sidewalk. A rat named Tommy growled and launched himself at the stranger. To my amazement, the stranger leapt high into the air and hovered there for a moment like a falcon before lashing out with both feet. Tommy’s head snapped backward, and he flattened against the pavement. The remaining rats hung back.

The slender figure of a boy maybe eighteen or nineteen touched down and crouched again, poised to strike. No mortal could perform such maneuvers with this speed and agility, not to mention almost ballet-like grace. The Immortyl’s face betrayed raw emotion, indicating he was new to the blood, probably not much older than his form suggested. Eamon, the rat pack leader, drew and aimed a pistol at him. The stranger raised his hands above his head once more.

 I gave a sharp whistle for Eamon to stand down. “What’s going on here?”

Eamon lowered the gun and spit on the ground. His forever-twelve-year-old face scrunched up. “We found this one skulking about,” he said. Even after a century and half in New York his speech still gave away his Dublin origins. “Says he’s come from the chief elder’s house.”

 The wind kicked up harder. Long, auburn hair whipped about the newcomer’s face. He shivered, hugging an Indian-styled shirt around him. Traces of black kohl and sienna rouge clung to his eyes and mouth, as if he’d scrubbed the paint off in a hurry. The make-up and impractical clothing pointed to origins more exotic than the russet hair and milky complexion suggested. His story sounded plausible. However, the odds that this kid had escaped the chief elder’s compound near Calcutta and made it all the way to New York on his own were unlikely. No slave had ever left there of his own accord.

Kurt had stood trial at the chief elder’s court for inciting rebellion. He’d told me that the chief, Kalidasa, employed state-of-the-art security, as well as vampire-eating tigers. The place was a veritable fortress. Still, there was always a first time, and this newcomer had held his own against Eamon’s band.

I had to admire the kid for standing up to Eamon and his thugs.

The pack leader and I didn’t care much for one another, but he’d fought for Kurt in our recent war with a rival elder. For political reasons, I forced myself to take a civil tone with him. “Did you bother to ask his business before you ordered an attack?” I called to the newcomer, “You--come here.”

 The boy lowered his hands and slinked forward. I’d never seen a man move quite like this, with delicacy just brushing the feminine, yet suggesting coiled up, sinewy strength like a jungle cat. Instinct prompted my hand to reach for the Glock concealed on my hip. The kid had danger scrawled all over him in big garish letters.

“Is this true?” I asked.

“I ran away from court,” the boy replied, his speech tinged with a Scottish burr. “I’m seeking refuge here.”

The plaintive tone struck a chord in me. I sized him up again. His winsome looks didn’t belong to the usual brand of vampire assassin, but to a household slave chosen for his decorative value. Still, his swift feet could kill if given the chance. Wouldn’t it be just like Giulietta to send death in such an appealing guise?

 “Kurt’s counselor, Chase Powers, can vouch for me,” he continued. “Take me to him.”

 “You know Chase?”

“We met in India during Kurt’s trial. He said I’d be welcome here. Please Miss. You have to believe me. I’ve come such a long way and got nowhere else to go.” Desperation filled the spooky, green eyes. They almost glowed, more like a cat’s than a man’s. “There’s probably a bounty offered for my return by now.”

“What did you do?”

“It’s not what I did. It’s what I am.” He held out his hands. Henna tattoos snaked around the wrists and tops, elaborate whirls and spirals. “The marks of my order. I’m an adept of the ancient arts.”

 He was an adept? I’d always imagined these temple devotees and de facto courtesans as Indian in origin. I gave the boy a closer look. His clothing had seen better days, but the sinuous way he moved made them a fashion statement. You couldn’t deny the perfection of feature and figure required of his order. He stood out from Eamon’s mangy lot like an emerald in a box of Cracker Jacks.

Web and Buy Links

For excerpts of the Immortyl Revolution Series, character profiles and the Immortyl Lexicon visit www.deniseverricowriter.webs.com

For insider information on the series visit www.ImmortylRevolution.blogspot.com

Cedric: https://www.facebook.com/cedricvampire

@cedricmackinnon

Servant of the Goddess Excerpt: http://deniseverricowriter.webs.com/excerptbookfour.htm

Book Trailer: http://deniseverricowriter.webs.com/apps/videos/videos/show/12715998-immortyl-revolution-trailer

Servant of the Goddess Trade PB: http://amzn.to/K8uwPb

Servant of the Goddess Kindle: http://amzn.to/J0R2Id

Barnes and Noble:

Servant of the Goddess Trade PB and Nook: http://bit.ly/IIz7ru

Denise Verrico is a New Jersey native who grew up in Pennsylvania.  She is the author of the Immortyl Revolution urban fantasy series published by L&L Dreamspell.  Denise was chosen as a presenter at Ohioana Book Fair in 2011 and 2012, and her books are part of the collection at the State Library of Ohio. Currently, she’s a member of Broad Universe and two writing groups.  She attended Point Park College in Pittsburgh, where she majored in theatre arts, and was a member of The Oberon Theatre Ensemble in NYC with whom she acted, directed and wrote plays. Denise is a roller coaster fanatic and lives in Ohio with her husband, son and flock of six spoiled parrots.

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