MIDNIGHT HUNT: Book 3 of the Bonded By Blood Vampire Chronicles (29 page)

“Oh, no,” Mikhail scolded. He tugged at his blood-and-wine-stained cravat and began unbuttoning his shirt. “I am the one who needs convincing. You two have a long night of kissing my arse…among other things…before I’ll bend to your will on this one.”

The End

Introducing

A New Series by Arial Burnz

Les Petites Morts

(pronounced lay peh-TEETS mohr)

The Title of the Series

La petite mort
, meaning “the little death”, is a French idiom or euphemism for “orgasm”. The new series consists of individual, stand-alone erotic short stories and each of them has the following in common:

•
     
10,000 words or less

•
     
HOT erotic tales

•
     
Paranormal

•
     
Twist ending

Les Petites Morts
is a double entendre of “the little death”: orgasm (erotic), little (short story), death (horror). The term pluralized, then, means multiple orgasms/multiple short erotic stories.

Summaries of the
Les Petites Morts Series

One To Die For (M/F)

Fame, fortune and females are the life for Russell Schmidt! However, reaching rock-star status through his self-published vampire novels isn’t enough. Trailing after a mysterious woman in red leads to heights of ecstasy he’s never known. But Russ soon finds the tables turned, and his next one-night stand may be to one die for!

Hot Rod Haunting (F/F/M—ménage)

On a girl’s night out, Kami Jacobs and Mona Rand begin to explore their secret attraction for each other, when an opportunity to lure a specter from the grave is too tempting to ignore. What starts out as a paranormal prank turns into a scorching encounter with Kenny Denman, a hot-rod hunk, and the girls would rather play with him than ghosts.

Hungry Like the Wolf (M/F)

Rocky Mountains, 1823—Silas Chase finds a Native American woman, Tala, in one of his traps. Not only is he unprepared for nursing her back to health, but the lonely mountain trapper is unable to resist her savage charms and the hunter becomes the prey.

’Til Death Do Us Part (M/F—Married Couple)

As if overnight, Rachel Sexton’s husband Jeremy cannot keep his hands off her and she has the fiery relationship she’s craved. But something’s missing from her memories and she’s plagued with horrendous nightmares. As Rachel pieces together last week’s events, the truth is graver than anything she could imagine.

I Love You in Pieces (M/F)

Kim Thanos and Steve Morse wake up in a barn. But the night is fuzzy for them and several of the other party-goers who attended the same rave party the night before. Kim and Steve head home to discover they have a voracious appetite…and not just for food. Sex is wild, hard and both are insatiable. But they’re not the only ones…and it’s spreading fast.

----------------------

Please note:
These are not HEA (happily ever after) or HFN (happily for now) endings. These are pure erotic tales with paranormal storylines, which might be classified as “erotic horror”, so some of the characters might not be entirely likable—like Russell Schmidt in
One To Die For
. But their character personalities are written to fit the stories (e.g., Russell has to be an arrogant prick for the ending to work).

The Ray Bradbury Challenge

Arial is posting free flash fiction (1,000 words or less) weekly on her blog for The Ray Bradbury Challenge. For 52 weeks, she’s creating a new short story for a productive writing challenge. Are you a writer? You can take the challenge, too! Visit her site for more details.
www.ArialBurnz.com

Historical Notes

There are a few surprising tidbits I learned while conducting my research for
Midnight Hunt
. According to some of my sources, the Protestants were just as responsible as the Catholics for the persecutions during the witch trials, where my previous studies had led me to believe the Roman Catholic Church was the ultimate villain in history. To add another twist, most of the trials were conducted in the
secular
courts and by the local legal authorities. However, at this point in history, much of the law was still majorly influenced by the church, and the bulk of the Thirty Years War
was
about religion—a war between the Catholics and Protestants. Of course, this little scrap of information I provide here only scratches the surface of the complexity of this bloody war, responsible for a loss of more than one-third of the European population during the 17
^th
century.

The witch trials were only a
response
to the panic and devastation of the Thirty Years War, and fed by the need to lay blame. The year my story takes place is near the tail-end of the witch trial craze and many people were beginning to finally emerge from the fever of accusations. There is a fascinating book, authored by a German Jesuit named Friedrich Spee, titled
Cautio Criminalis
(Precautions for Prosecutors). It was published anonymously in April 1631 and did much to argue against the use of torture, the inescapable methods of conviction and the extreme practices of execution. In the introduction, Marcus Hellyer—the translator of the book—gives a great background of the author and the mindset of the times. He explains that though this book may have not been a catalyst of change regarding the attitude of the prosecutions, it certain was a valuable resource for the cause. Spee’s arguments, presented in question and answer format, are derived from his personal experiences as a priest, who counseled many of the people convicted as witches and sentenced to such gruesome deaths. A highly recommended read if you’re interested in learning the inner workings of the witch trials.

Vollstadt and Kostbar are both fictional towns created for my setting. Having lived in Germany for three-and-a-half years, I was fortunate enough to learn some of their fabulous culture and history. However, one book did wonders to help me fill in the blanks regarding everyday living of that time period.
Our Daily Bread: German Village Life, 1500-1850
by Teva J. Scheer.

Thank you for taking the time to read
Midnight Hunt—Book 3 of the Bonded By Blood Vampire Chronicles
. I hope you enjoyed the story and you’re looking forward to
Book 4—Midnight Eclipse
! If you did like the book, reviews are always appreciated at Amazon, GoodReads, Barnes & Noble, iTunes or your favorite book review website. I invite you to visit my home on the web at
www.ArialBurnz.com
for updates on my latest tales, appearances, contests, and writing tips, as well as additional historical information, maps and character profiles for the series. I love to hear from my readers, so be sure to leave a comment on my blog.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Arial Burnz has been an avid reader of both paranormal and fantasy fiction for over thirty years. With bedtime stories filled with vampires, unicorns, hobbits, dragons and elves, she had no choice but to craft her own tales, penning to life the many magical creatures roaming her mind and dreams. And with a romantic husband who’s taught her the meaning of true love, she’s helpless to weave romance into her tales. Arial lives in Southern California, with her husband DeWayne (a.k.a. her romance novel hero)—who also happens to be a descendant of Clan MacDougal. Visit Arial’s website for the full story on that coincidence.