Interview with Slade Donovan
By Theresa Meyers
We’re talking today to Security Team Explosives Specialist Slade Donovan from the Cascade Vampire Clan in Seattle. He’s recently been recruited by state Wildlife and Fish Department officer Rania Ravenwing to investigate strange reports of some unusual wolf sightings in her area.
Good Morning, Slade.
You mean good evening, right? Vampire, remember.
True. You are a vampire, still aren’t you?
Of course I am!
You’ve had some recent run ins with some shape shifters in the area before you found out you had an unusual condition. How did you feel about Werewolves prior to your discovery that you’re half Were?
Are you kidding? Weres are a cruel joke of the gods. Half mortal, half animal. Sure they may be as fast and strong as vampire, but that’s where the similarities end. We vampires have far more abilities and certainly a more civilized way of expressing ourselves.
But that was before, right?
*shifts uneasily in chair and slides his gaze around the room* Hey, between you and me, I don’t think it’s a good thing I’m half and half, if you know what I mean. I really liked the whole idea of being a full-on vampire. Being punted down to low-man on the ladder isn’t exactly my thing, but what can I do about it. I didn’t choose how I got here. I can only choose how I go forward. Know what I mean? It’s just…
What?
Weird. Believe me, it was hard enough for me to wrap my head around it let alone try to explain it to anyone else. It’s not like they’ve ever had a half-breed vampire before. Normally the Weres stick to their side of the Cascades and we stick to ours. We just don’t mix. Being half and half means I stick out like a nail waiting to get pounded down.
So, do you feel any different?
I don’t know. I mean, I’m still the same to me, you know? Except for the moon sickness. Now that I can shift easily and I’m not fighting it, it’s much easier. Before my skin would get so tight and the pressure so intense I thought my skin was going to explode right off my body like damn confetti. And my teeth. Gods. I thought about having my fangs pulled and I would have done it too, except the pain of having them grown back in would have been just as bad. And there wasn’t anything the Clan doctors knew to do for it.
So how’d you find out you were part Werewolf?
*clears his throat* Let’s just say it wasn’t the normal way, if there can be a normal way.
What’s working with Officer Rania Ravenwing been like?
Look, don’t get me wrong, Officer Nature Girl isn’t—wasn’t—my type. But she’s grown on me, in a bossy kind of way. Sometimes she can be a bit distracting.
What was it like growing up?
I don’t know.
You mean you don’t want to share it.
No. I mean I don’t know. Can’t remember a damn thing before eight years old.
So where were you at eight years old?
Living on the streets in Seattle. Homeless. I did that for two years until the Clan took me in. They gave me a home and a family life, and when I was old enough, they gave me a job.
Sounds like you’re in pretty tight with them.
Yeah. They’re my chosen family.
And what about your real family? Don’t you ever wonder about them?
*shrugs* What’s to know? They dumped me off in Seattle and never came back for me. They didn’t want me, why should I want them.
Is that why being half Were bothers you so much? Are you afraid it’ll mean you losing your family, or your identity as a vampire?
Hey, if I’m not a vampire, then what am I? It’s all I’ve ever known. And who would want to lose their family? That’s normal. No one wants to be alone.
And what about Rania?
*narrows his eyes* What about her?
You two seem to be just more than working together on this case. Is that true?
*slow hundred-watt bad-boy smile spreads across his lips* That’s classified and only on a need to know basis, and you don’t need to know.
Not yet.
Excuse me?
They’ll all find out soon enough. Trust me.
THE HALF-BREED VAMPIRE
Book Three in the Sons of Midnight mini-series
Harlequin Nocturne
February 21, 2012
ISBN-10: 0373618794
ISBN-13: 978-0373618798
Ignorant of his true heritage, half-breed vampire Slade Donovan is fated to feel like an outsider among his clan. Until a mysterious woman arrives with the ability to unlock his secrets—and make him crave a future he never believed he could have….
As a Game Warden, Raina Ravenwing has only one mission in the Cascade Mountains: to track down a pack of rare wolves that is terrorizing her tribe. Her instant attraction to Slade is a distraction the beautiful wolf whisperer can't afford, unless she agrees to let him help her. Yet working so closely together only intensifies their passion…even as the unfolding truth of Slade's identity threatens everything Raina holds sacred and could potentially destroy both their worlds.
About Theresa Meyers:
Raised by a bibliophile who made the dining room into a library, Theresa has always been a lover of books and stories. First a writer for newspapers, then for national magazines, she started her first novel in high school, eventually enrolling in a Writer's Digest course and putting the book under the bed until she joined Romance Writers of America in 1993.
In 2005 she was selected as one of eleven finalists for the American Title II contest, the American Idol of books. She is married to the first man she ever went on a real date with (to their high school prom), who she knew was hero material when he suffered through having to let her parents drive, and her brother sit between them in the backseat of the car. They currently live in a Victorian house on a mini farm in the Pacific Northwest with their two children, three cats, an old chestnut Arabian gelding, an energetic mini-Aussie shepherd puppy, several rabbits, a dozen chickens and an out-of-control herb garden.
You can find her online on Twitter, Facebook, at her Web site or blogging with the other Lolitas of STEAMED!
The Half-Breed Vampire Giveaway
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That was a fun interview with Slade. One question though. How did you keep from licking him? I mean he's got to be HAWT!.
ReplyDeleteluvfuzzzeeefaces at yahoo dot com
LOL. Who says I didn't? Seriously, though, he's probably one of the most fun characters I've gotten to write. And the fact that Harlequin nailed the cover art for him really helped too!
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