BLOOD & STEEL, a futuristic fantasy, is Angela
Knight's newest addition to her collection of vampire
stories. In this novella, vampire Elyn Castel has recently
escaped the assassin, Kruz, who held her captive for fifty
years. Now she is on the run from the man who killed Kruz
and gave her back her freedom. She fears he
wants to kill her for her part in the slaughter of his
former team. However, she's not sure how long she can stay
out of the sexy cyborg's grasp.
Jarl "Blade" Bladin is after the fiery little vampire that
helped set up his team for assassination. By seducing him
six months ago, she kept him from being there to defend them
from his enemies. The way he figures it, she owes him big
time. He certainly has ideas about how she can pay him
back, ones that will leave both of them satisfied. But when
the feelings between them start to grow, he has to wonder if
there can ever be trust between them or if the past will
stand in their way.
Knight is a master at writing erotic love scenes that leave
you panting, and BLOOD & STEEL is no exception. Blade is
a typical alpha hero, and when paired with the
tough-as-nails Elyn the sex is nothing short of explosive.
I found myself rooting for these two right from the start.
The rest of the story is filled with lots of action. The
fight scenes are well-detailed and intense, and there is not
a slow moment to be found anywhere in the book.
My one complaint about this story is the length. It is
definitely a novella, and a short one at that. It took me
under an hour to read the entire thing. The two main
characters are very likable, and I would have loved to
learn more about their backgrounds and personalities. The
plot is simple and could have definitely been drawn out
more to allow the budding romance some additional time to
develop. That being said, I really enjoyed it and would
recommend it to anyone looking for a sexy, action-packed
bedtime read.
Elyn Castel spent 50 years as the slave of a vampire
sociopath. Now, thanks to cyborg bodyguard Jarl “Blade”
Bladin, Kruz is dead. But Blade is after Elyn now, and she
has to do everything she can to get away from Blade. But
that’s easier said than done…
Excerpt
Fleeing in terror wasn't something Elyn Castel did. People
usually ran from her, not the other way around. Besides,
after she'd spent fifty years as the slave of a sadistic
sociopath, there wasn't much anyone could do to inspire
terror in her.
But Elyn ran now, and she ran hard.
She darted down the concourse in long bounds that made the
humans gape, leaping over tables filled with diners,
spinning around astonished space station security guards,
ducking the angry clawed swipe of a huge A'vi warrior.
Her sensors revealed Jarl "Blade" Bladin was still behind
her, matching her stride for impossible stride. But when the
ill-tempered A'vi tried for him, one swing of an armored
fist sent the massive alien down with a crunch and a
started, agonized "Chik!" The pursuing security guards had
to stop to help the injured A'vi.
Never piss off a guy named Blade. Her own master could have
told the A'vi that, had Blade left the vicious fuck alive.
Elyn had heard that Blade did a very thorough job on Kruz.
She would have thanked him for that, if only he hadn't
targeted her next.
Just that instant, Elyn's cyplant whispered, and she shot in
the direction it indicated, a service corridor that snaked
out to one of the station's ten huge cargo holds. She could
lose Blade there if she got lucky, or kill him if she had
to. Or die if she failed.
Odd. A few months ago, Elyn would have viewed the prospect
of dying as a relief. But Kruz still trapped her then,
vicious blight that he was. Now she had no interest in
dying. She was curious about what life would be like as
something other than a vampire's slave.
Elyn might not deserve to live, but she wanted to give
freedom a try.
As she ran for the service corridor, she was acutely aware
of the distance between her and her target. Cold
star-flecked blackness lay beyond the towering transparent
walls of the Kring Station concourse, along with the elegant
white shapes of the great passenger liners and cargo vessels
that orbited alongside space station. Beyond the ships lay
the vast blue arc of the planet Cameron, with its landmasses
in a hundred shades of green and brown. A thoroughly
beautiful view, had she not been running for her life.
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