My Dark Desires series is a combination of science fiction and paranormal romance. It takes place in the future and follows the adventures, romantic and otherwise, of the crew of the space ship the Blood Hunter.
As you might guess from the name of the space ship, a vampire is involved and the hero of book 1, Break Out, is Ricardo Sanchez, owner and pilot of the Blood Hunter. Rico is a very old vampire, born on Earth in the Middle Ages, and probably my favorite hero yet. I’ve always loved vampires, I’m a sucker for a bad boy, and for me, Vampires are the ultimate bad boys—there’s always a little bit of evil lurking inside them.
But then in book 2, Deadly Pursuit, we have a very different hero, Jonathon Decker, who just happens to be a werewolf. I’m quite fond of werewolves as well, and Jon is a particularly fine specimen.
It got me thinking about the relative merits of those two paranormal favorites—vampires and werewolves. At least they’re my favorites.
Obviously, there are loads of differences between vampires and werewolves – one’s dead and the other alive, werewolves are way more hairy, and a lot more hot blooded, vamps drink blood, weres like to sink their teeth into a nice bit of….
But for me, the biggest difference between vampires and werewolves is that vampires are loners, and werewolves are pack animals, and that completely changes the way they react to different situations.
Rico is a loner. Or at least he is at the start of the book, but Rico is also very old, and he’s learned that in order to survive you need to break the rules now and then. So he’s willing to break the loner rule just a little bit if the right incentive comes along. In Break Out, that incentive comes in the form of beautiful Skylar Rossaria, who’s about to make Rico an offer he can’t refuse… and doesn’t really want to!
Werewolves on the other hand are pack animals. They might have an aggressive streak, and love to fight, but they are not fundamentally evil (unless of course they were evil before they were changed). An alpha werewolf has to be strong, and a brilliant fighter, but his biggest motivation is protecting his pack (unlike a vampire whose biggest motivation is protecting himself).
Jon is an alpha werewolf who has lost his pack and with it, his faith in his ability to protect. Consequently, he’s sworn he’ll never be responsible for anyone again, and he’s become a loner, which is totally against his nature.
It’s screwing him up, though he’s managing to delude himself that he’s not doing too badly—until he meets the heroine, Alex. Alex is about to make him an offer, but unlike Rico, Jon has no problems refusing. For a little while, anyway.
Of course, when they first meet, Rico and Jon have to decide who’s the most alpha—and here’s an excerpt from Deadly Pursuit when they attempt to do just that. Who would you want to win—werewolf or vampire?
Deadly Pursuit – Excerpt
Jon’s mood lightened. Yeah, this was definitely what he needed. How long was it since he’d been in an honest-to-goodness fight? Killing was his profession, but his business these days always seemed to be from a distance, and it always left a nasty taste in his mouth. Killing the vamp would feel good—real good.
He rolled his shoulders, easing the tension in his muscles, and heard the shirt rip down the back.
The vamp’s eyes narrowed. “That’s my shirt,” he growled.
“Yeah, I thought it must belong to someone puny.” He rolled his shoulders again and the material tore a little more. Grinning, he stripped off the rent fabric and tossed it at the vamp. “Have it back. It doesn’t fit anyway.”
“Nice. Very nice.” Jon heard the muttered words of one of the women in the background but took no notice. The vamp didn’t try and catch it, and the cloth fell to the floor between them.
He saw the moment when the vamp’s muscles tightened and readied himself. Jon’s vision narrowed, the rest of the room fading to nothing, his concentration fixed on his opponent.
It still came as a shock when the vamp made his move, and Jon barely had a second to brace himself before the impact. Lightning fast, he slammed into Jon hard, pushing him back step by step, until his shoulders pressed against the smooth curve of the wall.
He took a deep breath and lashed out with his foot, swiping the vamp’s legs from under him. His grip slipped, then tightened again, dragging Jon down as he fell.
Jon landed on the bottom, his cheek pressed against the cool metal of the floor. He rolled instantly so he was on his back, just as the vampire reared up over him. Jon clenched his fist and punched him in the jaw. The blow hardly seemed to register, but it nearly broke Jon’s hand.
“Can’t do better than that?”
Jon gritted his teeth. Grabbing onto the other man’s shoulders, he smashed his forehead into the vamp’s nose.
Jesus. The guy was like granite. But he heard the crunch of bone and the sharp acrid scent of blood filled the air.
“Fuck, that hurt.” The vamp shook his head and blood sprayed across the room.
“Don’t look so pretty now, do you?” Jon mocked.
The vamp’s eyes narrowed as he licked a drop of blood from his lower lip. Then he raised his fist and punched Jon in the mouth. Fuck. A warm trickle oozed down Jon’s chin, and he resisted the urge to wipe it away. Instead, he bunched his knees to his chest between them and thrust out, hurling the vamp across the room so he crashed into a chair. Somebody swore loudly, but Jon ignored everything else. He rolled to his feet, charged, and slammed his head into the vamp’s belly, and they crashed to the floor again. He was vaguely aware of booted feet scrambling out of the way.
They were rolling, each trying to get a grip. Pretty evenly matched in strength, each tried to get in the punch that would make a difference.
Twisting, Jon freed himself and scrambled to his feet. His eyes stung with sweat, and he blinked. Blood smeared his chest from his cut lip, but the vamp looked no better. His nose was clearly broken.
For a moment, their gazes locked. As Jon watched, the vamp slowly raised his hand to his face and licked the blood from his knuckles. Jon’s blood.
Ugh!
The vamp’s eyes glowed crimson now. The tension in the room ratcheted.
“Rico!”
Someone spoke urgently behind him, but Rico seemed not to hear. He stalked toward Jon, his lips curled back revealing razor-sharp fangs.
A flash of primordial fear rolled over him, but he held his ground. Shifting wasn’t an option in such a confined space, and besides, there was nowhere for his wolf to run. Instead, he concentrated on his right arm, heard the bones crack and the claws pop from his skin until it was covered in thick dark brown fur and ended in vicious claws. He flexed his fingers and smiled.
“Come on. Let’s party.”
Bio
Nina Croft grew up in the north of England. After training as an accountant, she spent four years working as a volunteer in Zambia, which left her with a love of the sun and a dislike of nine-to-five work. She then spent a number of years mixing travel (whenever possible) with work (whenever necessary) but has now settled down to a life of writing and picking almonds on a remote farm in the mountains of southern Spain.
Nina writes all types of romance, often mixed with elements of the paranormal and science fiction.
Links:
Website: http://www.ninacroft.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Nina_Croft
Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/Nina.Croft.author
Goodreads author page:
I do enjoy werewolves with a good vampire thrown in once in a while.
So do I, Debra! Thanks for stopping by!
Me too!