Hello, everyone! Thanks for joining us today to celebrate the release of Blood Bathory: Like the Night, the first story in the Guardians of Gaia series! We’re so excited to be re-releasing these books – they’ve been out of circulation for a few years now, but they are probably the stories that we are most proud of out of everything we’ve ever written. You say you’re tired of vampires and shifters? Well, we put a very, very different spin on the genre, one that we hope you will enjoy!
When you think about vampire and “werewolf” stories, there are the standard tropes we’re all familiar with, and which we’ve seen written time and again. There’s a unique take on the genre in the Underworld universe, where they take the creation of vampires and werewolves back to a single point. Origin stories are something that have always intrigued us as writers, so when we decided to turn an idea we came up with many years ago into an actual series, we thought long and hard about how the vampires and shifters came to be… and so was the Blood Bathory universe born. I promise you our vampires and shifters are quite unusual!
The first book revolves around Evan St. John, who is an extremely unwilling “vampire”. Evan never asked to be turned, he didn’t want the “gift” he was offered, but he was taken against his will and made into a creature he loathes. But Evan isn’t ready to give up on regaining his life, so he flees Paris and the monster who made him, running back to the man he loves – police officer Will Trask. Will understands good and evil, but he firmly believes all the monsters are human. He learns differently when Evan comes back into his life, bearing a curse that turns him into something inhuman. But no matter what Evan has become, Will loves him and vows to fight for him – no matter who he has to battle in the process.
Both Evan and Will are stunned to learn they’ve landed right in the middle of a conflict between two opposing supernatural forces. On one side are the theriomorphs, the guardians of life, shapeshifters who are in the service of Gaia. While powerful, Gaia is not a diety – “she” is the sentient manifestation of life on Earth, an immense but not omniscient or omnipotent consciousness. The humans who enter her service have the power to change form, so that they may help protect all life, the very essence of Gaia.
On the other side, the vampires, or the “blood cursed”, are creatures who have left the natural cycle of life and death. Gaia cannot affect them directly because they are cut off from her, like parasites. They destroy life, and so it is the job of the theriomorphs to hunt them down and destroy them.
Evan presents the theriomorphs with an ethical dilemma they’ve never faced before – while indisputably a “child” of their greatest enemy, Elizabeth Bathory, Evan is not evil and repudiates the need to take human blood to survive. Elizabeth wants him dead for being a traitor, and Evan isn’t completely certain the theriomorphs aren’t going to want him eventually destroyed as well. Will is the only one Evan believes is truly on his side, so now the reluctant vampire and his lover find themselves in what will literally be the fight of their lives.
Thanks for spending a few minutes of your time with us, and we hope that you’ll give Blood Bathory: Like the Night a chance to capture your imagination, and maybe even your heart!
Evan St. John, a young fashion photographer running from the pain caused by the death of his younger sister, is thrilled when he is offered a job with House of Nadasdy, a leading fashion house in Paris. What he doesn’t know is that Elizabeth Nadasdy, the elegant and powerful owner, is a centuries-old vampire with a penchant for collecting beautiful people. To Evan’s horror, he is turned into one of her “children.”
Unable to bear what he has become, Evan flees to New York and to his best friend, police officer Will Trask. For years, Evan has nursed an unrequited love for Will, but he also knows Will is the one person who might be able to help him. As Evan and Will try to deal with Evan’s condition, they are drawn into the world of the theriomorphs: shape-shifters who are guardians of life and the sworn enemies of vampires. Caught in an ancient war between two powerful supernatural forces, Evan and Will find they must choose sides – because if they are to have any chance of a future together, they must destroy Elizabeth Nadasdy before she destroys them.
Ari McKay is the professional pseudonym for Arionrhod and McKay, who have been writing together for over a decade. Their collaborations encompass a wide variety of romance genres, including contemporary, fantasy, science fiction, gothic, and action/adventure. Their work includes the Blood Bathory series of paranormal novels, the Herc’s Mercs series, as well as two historical Westerns: Heart of Stone and Finding Forgiveness. When not writing, they can often be found scheming over costume designs or binge watching TV shows together.
Arionrhod is a systems engineer by day who is eagerly looking forward to (hopefully) becoming a full time writer in the not-too-distant future. Now that she is an empty-nester, she has turned her attentions to finding the perfect piece of land to build a fortress in preparation for the zombie apocalypse, and baking (and eating) far too many cakes.
McKay is an English teacher who has been writing for one reason or another most of her life. She also enjoys knitting, reading, cooking, and playing video games. She has been known to knit in public. Given she has the survival skills of a gnat, she’s relying on Arionrhod to help her survive the zombie apocalypse.
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