Beside the Darker Shore is the story of the choices David Gedden, governor of Massachusetts, must make to have what he wants, which is singular love. But throughout the story, his battle between reason and passion is influenced by secondary characters.Is there a secondary character you would like to explore more? Tell me about him or her.

Yes, a number of readers told me that they wanted to know more about the vampire Arturo de Rosa, from Spain. I was happy to hear this because Arturo was still talking in my head. I’d begun writing short stories about his travels. In the fifteenth century, he travels to Africa and, through the Nama people, searches for ways to experience sunlight. In the 1960s, he goes to see the aurora borealis in the virgin forests of Michigan. He relives his mortal childhood, recalling a sunny cypress grove outside tenth-century Cordoba where he sits with his love Alexandros. He hasn’t stopped talking.

Arturo de Rosa is the antagonist, in a sense, yet has he become your favorite character?

Yes! Although I also have an undying love for Stephen Salando. But Arturo is far from my own personality and comes through boldly, maybe essentially, and that is liberating. I’m in the process of exploring both of them in a novel sequel, in which Arturo comes to terms with his actions in Beside the Darker Shore. Arturo is expansive, unafraid, loyal, artistic, and deeply in love.

Then you didn’t have to fight with Arturo in the story?

No, I had to fight with the main character David Gedden. Advice on writing often says you have to push your characters to their limits. I struggle with that. I want to protect people and characters, want to keep everyone from harm. But I’m trying to push myself in this area, make my characters face hard choices and live with the consequences. I have to remind myself that this is fiction, and fiction often needs to be exaggerated to make a point, to push limits. I had to push myself to make David do what he does.

Let’s talk to your favorite characters for a minute. Arturo, what was it like to work for such a demanding writer?

Arturo de Rosa: Oh, I had her wrapped around my finger. A few poetic allusions, a sensual image here or there, a dare now and then, and she followed my lead like a hungry puppy.

Stephen Salando: Don’t be cruel, Arturo. You wouldn’t even be here without her.

Arturo: Of course I would. We wouldn’t be talking about her without me creating this story.

If you created the story, then what was your core motivation?

Stephen: Don’t listen to him. He beguiles.

Arturo: My motivation? Fire. Tenth-century Cordoba, I burned down a granary out of anger and pride; here I am burning down the noble Alex’s tower.

Stephen: Out of anger and pride again.

Arturo: No, out of desperation. What would you do with ten centuries of unrequited love?

Are you happy with where the author left you in this book?

Arturo: No. I have unfinished business. The author can’t stop writing my stories, and I’m enjoying telling them, but they all lead back to one thing. And that we will come to in the next tale she’s fighting to complete.

Back to the author, are you fighting to complete something? What are you working on now?

Arturo is right. I’m currently working on a sequel to Beside the Darker Shore, which follows the vampire Arturo’s life as he recovers from his regretful actions at the end of this novel and finds himself falling newly, humbly in love. Meanwhile, outside the vampire realm, my novel The Past Breathes Through, about psychic shadow exchanges and a twin’s ghost that won’t let him rest, is complete and circulating among publishers.

I like it best when my characters guide the story. Arturo is right, and I’m giving him free rein.

Patricia J. Esposito has a new MM paranormal romance out: Beside the Darker Shore. And there’s a giveaway.

What might the ethical Governor David Gedden give up for one man’s exquisite beauty? It’s terrifying to consider when the man is a destructive blood prostitute and David is responsible for the state’s peaceful vampire community. Blood sales in Boston are up, blood taxes support a thriving new nightlife, neighborhoods have been refurbished, and deaths by vampires have plummeted. David is assured reelection.

However, the blood addict Stephen Salando has returned from exile with one unalterable plan: to turn the good governor into a vampire. Stephen is an immortal dhampir, whose beauty obliterates reason, who rouses in David a fierce desire he’s ignored his whole life. But for David to have Stephen, he must ally with an ancient vampire, the community’s seductive archnemesis. To have him, he must become a killer himself.

Will David hold on to his ethical public life? Or will he follow what he most desires, a kiss with a killer to become a vampire himself?

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Wetness enveloped him. It was exhilarating, this deep lake submersion. David hadn’t been told about the effects of water. Here, in this water, he wasn’t sure he even needed blood. He wasn’t sure he needed anything. He dove under and swam toward Stephen.

His body cleanly cut the surface, and he emerged before the bound liveblood. Blood streamed from a gash in Stephen’s chest. The vampires dipped white fingers in his blood, licking them. No one had bitten him, and his eyes held none of the ecstasy of bloodletting. They stared darkly at David.

“You’re an irresistible pleasure,” David said.

The black rock shone glassy, Stephen’s skin a warm contrast. David placed his hand flat on the bloody chest. He sniffed Stephen’s neck, up his cheek. His hair was cold satin. Water lapped at Stephen’s chest, drinking him. One of the two vampires bit into Stephen’s arm, making him gasp. But still he didn’t drink. They were waiting.

Cupping water, David raised it to Stephen’s face.

“You’re moonlight caught in darkness, but see how it slips away.” The water slid over his palm. “What are you sacrificing on these rocks?”

Placing both palms on Stephen’s chest again, David felt the hard cavern of chest bone, smoothed his hands over the satin skin to the round nipples shocked at the touch. He could take this body he desired, take it and leave it. This blood was promised to him. He heard Stephen’s heart beating warmly even in this cold water.

“David,” he whispered.

With that, David froze. His heart that had calmed in the water became erratic again. Stephen’s skin blurred like a warm brown sheath over David’s eyes. His throat closed, and the vampire laughter around him grew muffled, like he was underwater.

One word, one plea from Stephen and David couldn’t breathe. He couldn’t look at those eyes, couldn’t say what he needed to say. Fear clenched his stomach. Stephen’s breath burned David’s cheek.

Cold water slid between them.

And then Stephen lunged forward, and David felt the pain of blunt teeth on his neck. Stephen grabbed hold of him, biting hard, ripping David’s skin.

“No!” He shoved Stephen off. He didn’t have to do this. He wouldn’t be slave to this kind of need. The water had been healing; he’d felt at peace until seeing Stephen. David slammed Stephen back against the rock.

His legs quivered in the water. He backed away, letting water rush between them, and then Elena broke through, turning the water electric.

“Are you with me then?” she asked. “Can you see there is but one point to him?”

David scraped his leg against sharp rock as he backed away; seaweed twisted around his feet.

“No,” Stephen said. David couldn’t look at those eyes that pleaded with him. Stephen had propelled him to this point, whether deliberately or not. How much more could he make David do? He had to leave. He had to stay far from Stephen.

“David,” Stephen called, but his voice faltered. Pushing tendrils of wet hair from Stephen’s neck, Elena sunk her teeth into him. Then David did look up, as Stephen closed his eyes, as he succumbed to what he couldn’t resist.

David’s chest hurt, as if his ribs and chest bone had turned to iron mail. Clouds drifted across the moon, and Stephen’s face fell into shadows. He heard Stephen’s voice in his head, words he’d said three years ago, “Exile,” he’d said back then. “When did you go into this exile?”

Long ago.

David turned away, but Arturo was there, blocking his way. “You leave so soon?” Hate bruised his usually welcoming eyes. “When the festival has just begun?”

“Whatever you do to me, Arturo, I won’t let you live through me or love through me. I’ve found where my joy and peace are.”

“In water, like Alexandros?”

“Not like Alex. I need to kill, and the only way I can find peace with that is in solitary existence. I can’t be both mortal human and vampire. Maybe Alex can’t stand to be anything but what he was, a human. I think I can only be a vampire. I don’t want human connections. Consider your fledgling a success as a vampire. That’s all that’s left for you.”

Arturo’s hand slapped David’s chest in an icy brand. “No, that isn’t all. You think you need the kill, but you know nothing of need if you can’t love.”

Pain seared David’s chest, a raw burn that shuddered through him. Arturo had cut him. His hand slapped again, and another slice tore through to David’s ribs. The pain was silent in his throat, blocked by the rush of blood, his legs buckling. Blood poured.

“You bleed,” Arturo whispered. “You bleed into your healing water. Water loves blood. It will drain you.”

Around his waist, the water warmed and thickened. For a moment he thought how short-lived his vampire life had been, and then his body swayed with the pain.

Patricia Esposito lives by the notion Luis Alberto Urrea once expressed: When the world is so dark and bloody, be brave enough to broadcast innocent joy. Dare to be naive. She has written edgy paranormal fiction for most of her life, but always finds beneath it a romantic heart. Her most recent fiction and poetry reflect that enduring quest for love and joy beneath the human struggle.

Patricia has received honorable mentions in Ellen Datlow’s Year’s Best Fantasy and Horror collections, is a two-time winner of Rhino’s Reader=Writer award, and is a Pushcart Prize nominee. With a Master’s degree in English, she edits law books and textbooks for income and tries to keep up with a retired husband and enjoy time with her two adult daughters—when she’s not off exploring the intoxicating realms of the imagination and chasing muses.

Beside the Darker Shore is her first full-length work of fiction. She welcomes the chance to meet other writers and readers through her website or Facebook page.

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