Free Blood Kisses (Nightwalkers Book 1) by H. N. Sieverding Page B

preference of the Elder. Our life span is the same as
yours, but due to a generic mutation, only males are born from our women, so
initiating a wife is very important step for a young vampire."
    "Interesting."
Holding her hand over the bottom of her bottle, she let it rest on her knee. "So,
how do you initiate a—?"
    "Now,
I have questions for you."
    "Okay."
Licking her lips, Ashleigh was finding this interview easier than she thought
it would be. The only thing bothering her was the fact that Robert wanted to
make her his mate.
    "You
write the Nightwalker series?"
    She
nodded.
    "Why
did you choose to keep your identity secret?"
    Ashleigh
began to stroke the side of the bottle nervously, her eyes looking down at it
briefly. "It was a mixture of a few things. At first, I was all excited to
see my name on a finished book, but then my Gran read my rough draft, and after
seeing the horror on her face when she read what I had written, I found that I
wasn’t ready for that kind of reaction. There’s a lot of—"
    Ashleigh
paused, her voice lowering a little as she spoke. " Me in my books. My dreams. My nightmares. Putting those ideas on
paper helped me deal with a lot of things, but also left me as open as my
books. So…I guess…sometimes there are things we write, and even though they are
fiction, they come from a place deep inside you."
    "So,
you’re trying to hide things about yourself in your stories?"
    "Kind of…but it's not really hiding things, it's more like putting them out there and writing a new ending. A
better ending."
    Ashleigh laughed in an attempt to lighten the mood of the interview, but
it really wasn’t helping. "Actually, the main story behind Nightwalkers came from my nightmares as
a kid. I started having them after…" She paused, her mind wandering to her
father's death. "A traumatic experience."
    "Nightmares?"
    She knew she needed to pick her words carefully because of her audience.
"Nicolas came from nightmares. Drake came from good dreams. He was like
the prince on the white horse that saved me from Nicolas. Like…umm…the sun that
came when I woke up and told me everything was going to be okay. It's weird,
but…." She pushed a piece of hair behind her ear then turned her eyes to
Robert. "That’s how it happened."
    "Ah…that must be why you make so many references to Drake being like
the sun." He chuckled. "Very interesting."
    "Not really." She tapped on the neck of her bottle. "The
sun and moon have always been used to represent good and evil."
    "You
like vampires." Robert smiled as he watched her squirm in her seat, her
reaction seeming to please him.
    “Yeah.”
    He glanced at the bar briefly then back at Ashleigh. "And this
character…Lord Drake. Your perfect sun." Ashleigh turned to him sharply,
her eyes opening wider. Her reaction made him chuckle. "I see you are
sensitive on this subject."
    She
took a drink from her bottle as she looked down instead of into his eyes,
trying to distance herself from the question.
    “‘A
prince with sky blue eyes, his hair a deep black, the silken hairs sweeping
upward and forming a small peek near the start of his hairline. The sight of
him made women swoon, a deep ache flowing through their loins, and yearn for
one taste of this godly man’."
    He
had quoted a line from her books. Embarrassment washed over her face as she
covered her forehead with her hand. She wanted to run, but she knew she
couldn’t, so she tried to keep her voice as steady as she could. "You must
be a big fan if you’ve memorized passages from my books."
    "Oh
yes." Robert chuckled, his serious voice becoming slightly lighter in tone.
"Your books are beloved by my kind."
    "So
I’ve heard." Ashleigh tried to steer the conversation in another direction.
"Apparently, some people find my interpretation of a vampire kiss
hilarious." Her mind wandered back to the things she had heard Spencer and
the others say about her books.
    "Did
you base your character on Caleb Mason?"
    Her
words