Long before I started writing, I was a reader. I loved all things fantasy—the epic fantasy of Tolkien's Silmarillion, the dark fantasy of Elric, the sword and sorcery of Dragon Lance, the magic realism and heroism of Mercedes Lackey's Valdemar.
Vampires didn't figure too prominently—I had Lost Boys on VHS and a worn-out paperback of Dracula but that was pretty much it. I’d read “Interview With a Vampire”, but it was for a class assignment—not for fun. Vampires were generally topics of horror, not fantasy.
One day I stumbled across an urban fantasy about a zombie raiser named Anita Blake and, well, the rest is book-bingeing history.
Vampires were no longer the subject of horror; their powers, always seductive for the purpose of obtaining prey, now offered a benefit to humans—they became a source of fantasy and forbidden desire. The vampire's kiss now held so much more than death.
When writing BLEEDING HEARTS: BOOK ONE OF THE DEMIMONDE, I became submerged in the world I created. I knew my characters. I knew what they went through. I knew their strengths and their quirks and even bought a present once for my MC because I knew Sophie would love it. (My husband just rolled his eyes.)
I would often lie awake at night, imagining my creations, speaking with them, walking with them, getting up close and personal with them. (Especially with Marek. *wink*) One thing I knew for sure—he couldn't be vampire.
For one thing, vampires are cold, or at least room temperature, unless they feed. I couldn't imagine smooching someone who felt like a piece of furniture. I'm always cold. My grammy used to say we were dead and too dumb to fall over.
One of my husband's many charms is that he runs hot (hmmm. Werewolf, maybe?) so needless to say I do a lot of cuddling up to stay warm. He's very accommodating. =)
For me, love isn't just the heat of passion—it's the warmth of comfort, that penetrating sense of intimate connection. I'm blessed to have that kind of love with my husband. I can't imagine anything less for my heroine. I just care about her too much.
That's what led me to explore the world of the Demivampire. Up until I began writing Bleeding Hearts, my only example had been Blade. As kick-ass cool as Blade may be, he just wasn't what I was looking for in a demivamp.
I wanted to explore the science, the myth, the reasoning behind being demivamp. What made them different than vampires? What was their greatest fear, their greatest weakness, their greatest hope? I realized I was in a very fortunate position—I was a writer, after all, and I could tell their story to satisfy my own curiosity.
In Bleeding Hearts, Sophie falls for the mysterious Marek, a demivampire. Powerful on the outside, she works her way to the essence of his being, discovering his wants, his needs, his fears. He's very much alive (and very warm.) Marek is just what Sophie needs –unlike a vampire who, in the story, is cold, dead, and beyond redemption.
That's another reason why Marek couldn't be vampire. Bleeding Hearts isn't just an urban fantasy world with paranormal creatures—it's a story about love and, more importantly, redemption. The heroine has a special gift that can keep a demivampire from becoming damned…and the vampires hate her just a little bit.
A demivampire is a creature with a soul-in-progress. Vampires, on the other hand, are pretty much beyond help.
That's why I knew, when I was writing this story, that vampires just weren't going to cut it. My demivamps give a new facet to vampire lore, opening an entire realm of possibilities. I love the dynamics of Evolution (the term for the demivamp's journey toward vampire) and I have so much fun exploring the spiritual nuances.
And, of course, demivamps provide warm heroes for the snuggling, even if it *is* imaginary. That keeps the reader in me very happy.
If you're a happy vamper* tell us—what is it about vampires that seduced you and drew you into their world?
(*my term for a vampire aficionado…my husband thinks it's too lame to catch on but I think he's always been too quick to judge…)