No, I’m not talking about the Holidays. No, I’m not talking about presents or family or decorations. I’m talking about my new vampire romance, Immortal Death! December 1st is the release date from Pink Petal Books, but if you’re interested you can hop over to my website for a sneak peek! Laurel O’Donnell

Here’s a short excerpt. Enjoy! And don’t forget to let me know what you think!

“I think for your own safety that you should remain with me.”

Jade looked down at her toes and wiggled them. “For how long, Demetrius? You’ve made it very clear that I mean nothing to you. I don’t know that I can stay with you under those conditions.”

Demetrius stretched out his legs before him. “What conditions would you stay under?”

Jade’s eyebrows rose. She brushed a lock of hair from her cheek. “I would want you to believe I made up my story. I mean really believe it.”

Demetrius remained silent. How could he grant that? She had to have heard it somewhere.

“Or at the very least not ask me about where I heard it from.”

Demetrius’s lip rose in a half smile. “Agreed.”

“And…” Jade added quickly. She closed her mouth tightly, her lips pursed. Then, she scowled and looked away.

“What?” Demetrius encouraged.

“Nothing,” Jade said. “That will be enough…for now.”

“You can’t change the terms of the agreement,” Demetrius warned. “So, you’d better tell me all of your conditions now.”

“Okay.” She lifted her chin and met his stare. “You have to answer all my questions truthfully.”

“That’s not fair.”

“That’s my condition,” she said.

He narrowed his eyes. She was so beautiful. The softness of her skin, the gentle curves of her jaw. His gaze dipped to her lips. He just wanted to kiss her. “If you let me kiss you.”

“What?”

“After each question. I should receive some sort of compensation. A kiss. That’s what I ask in return.”

Jade considered this.

The sun grew higher on the horizon and it hurt his eyes immensely to be outside.

Finally, she nodded. “One kiss.”

“May we begin my interrogation inside?” he asked, standing. He offered her his hand.

“It’s not an interrogation,” Jade murmured, placing her hand into his.

The feel of her small, warm hand in his sent a tingle of desire through his body.

“Does it really hurt your eyes?” Jade asked.

Demetrius nodded. “It does. That’s why I wear sunglasses during the day.” He pulled her to a stop in the doorway, grinning. “Question number one answered.”

Jade gasped. “That wasn’t really a question.”

“It was formulated as one.” His smile grew as he came closer to her. Her coffee and strawberry scent overpowered him. Like an aphrodisiac, she aroused him. But it had been a simple question, so he refrained from taking what he wanted and placed an easy kiss against her cheek. He heard her heart quicken, her gentle inhale when their skin touched. He was pleased he had this affect on her.

He pulled back and opened the door behind her.

She bounded onto the bed, sitting cross-legged, and stared at him thoughtfully.

Oh, he was going to enjoy this game. He sat on the bed, crossing his long legs, grinning.

She studied his face as she formulated her next question.

With each caress of her gaze, his desire grew. She radiated a beauty that no darkness could ever hide from his keen eyesight.
“Let me see your fangs.”

He straightened. “That is not a question.” He had no intention of letting her see him as a monster.

“When do your teeth lengthen to fangs?”

“When I am angry or sometimes when I am excited. Always when I lose control,” Demetrius answered truthfully. He grinned again. Such a simple game for such wonderful rewards. He reached out to her and brushed aside her long, damp hair from her shoulder. He leaned in and pressed a kiss to the pulse beating in her neck. Her intake of breath was reward enough.

She swallowed. “Would you turn me if I asked you to?”

Demetrius’s lips thinned. Why would she ask him that? “Never.” An easy answer for an easy question. He came forward slowly, his eyes grazing her body as he decided where to put his lips on her this time. He kissed her jaw. Her pulse was racing. She was becoming aroused by merely his kisses.

“Why?”

He had not had enough time to pull back. Her eyes were so close and so large, her lips so close to his. He lifted a hand to run his fingers over her cheek. “You are a creature of light and beauty. I would never subject you to eternal darkness.”

“Why did you become a vampire?”

Her breath fanned his lips. He remembered the insanity of the moment. He remembered the desperation, the need for revenge. “They had taken Rosaline from me. I wanted to spend eternity making them pay.”

“An eternity without her?”

Demetrius stared into her eyes and a longing filled him. “My need for revenge was too strong. I didn’t realize the mistake I had made until after I killed the first Malachite. It didn’t bring her back. It never would. I couldn’t undo what I had done. I see it now as a punishment. My eternal punishment for not being able to protect her, for not keeping her from harm.”

Jade’s gaze swept his face, a frown of discontentment marred her forehead.

“Do you find that contemptible?” he asked softly.

Jade shook her head and tears welled in her eyes.

He saw his pain mirrored in her eyes and was confused by it.

Jade’s warm hand caressed his cheek.

“That’s at least three questions.”

“It is, isn’t it?”

She was the one to act this time. She leaned into him, pressing her moist, hot mouth to his. Not tentatively, but with hot, feverish passion. He grabbed her head, holding her close, never wanting the kiss to end. Her tongue brushed past his lips and into his mouth, deepening the kiss. He groaned, needing her. He would never let her go again. He hadn’t realized the extent of his loneliness until Jade slipped past his defenses. She was warmth to his cold, light to his dark, innocence to his tainted soul. He was desperate for her.

He eased her back onto the bed, looming over her like a dark angel. “Jade,” he whispered. “Do you know what you’re doing?”

“Never when I am around you.”

He kept her body captive beneath his. “No more questions?”

“A thousand more questions.”