Bonded By Blood – Vampire Fiction

Vampires, Revenge, Prophecy

Revenge is not so sweet. Family betrayal leads to slaughter and destruction, and deception and unforgiveness play their hand in Broderick MacDougal's destiny to become a Vamsyrian (vampire) and seek revenge. Immortality does not take away the human conditions of the heart, and as far as Broderick is concerned, it magnifies them. Love, hate, passion and boredom all seem exaggerated by the centuries. Love lends itself to many forms and matures over time. It also appears in places one never expected.

These books are the chronicles of Broderick “Rick” MacDougal and his struggle to find peace for himself and extract revenge for the slaughter of his family.

These stories contain strong romantic elements and graphic sexual scenes. NOT recommended for persons under 18 years of age.

• Book 1 – Midnight Conquest – Stewart Glen, Scotland – 1513
• Book 2 – Midnight Captive – Leith, Scotland – 1531
• Book 3 – Midnight Hunt –  Germania of the Holy Roman Empire – 1636
• Book 4 – Midnight Eclipse – Shetland Islands, 1734
• Book 5 – Midnight Savior – London, 1888
• Book 6 – Midnight Deliverer – Los Angeles, 21st Century

My Husband is Coincidentally a MacDougal

I originally wrote Midnight Conquest (then titled Bonded By Blood) back in 1992 (see story below). When searching through Clan names to choose  for my main character, I learned “MacDougal” meant son of the dark stranger and I thought, “What a kewl name for a vampire!” (Of course, all these years later I've come to understand it was the old Scottish way of saying son of the milkman. LOL! That's my story and I'm sticking to it!)

Fast forward about twenty years later when I met my now-husband, DeWayne Henderson. He was very enthusiastic about my stories and encouraged me to get Midnight Conquest out of storage and rewrite it. About four months into dating, he brought me home to meet his family and excitedly told his father that I was writing a book. I told him what the book was about and mentioned my hero's name was Broderick MacDougal.

My future father-in-law interrupted me to say, “MacDougal? We're MacDougals!”

DeWayne shrugged, hearing this news for himself the first time.

His father said, “A MacDougal married into the Henderson clan before they came over to America.”

DeWayne and I grinned at each other and had a silent exchange that said, “There's ANOTHER little fact that confirms we're meant to be together!”

And so goes the tale of how my husband is coincidentally a descendant of Clan MacDougal.

Author Notes

I have always had an intense love for vampires, so that naturally led me to write about them. My first novel BONDED BY BLOOD was actually the title of the original book I wrote back in 1992. I abandoned the first half of the book–showing how Broderick became a Vamsyrian (vampire)–and kept the second half, which has now become MIDNIGHT CONQUEST. When I had finished BBB, I submitted it to various publishers and agents and was very excited to have a New York agent interested in seeing more. She made suggestions, but I was in the middle of my first divorce, so the book had to be put aside.

About a year and a half later, I took two weeks off from work and finished rewriting BBB and resubmitted it. She said I had “missed the boat” on the vampire fiction (HA HA – Little did she know how popular they would become), but she was very gracious to give me a four-page critique. She also asked if I had any other books that I could send her. However, since life had thrown me a few more curves, I needed to put my writing aside again, but it never stopped me from developing the tales of Broderick MacDougal.

In creating the backstory for the first book, I discovered a whole world of vampires, adventure and revenge waiting to be written about. I had developed other concepts for stories about vampires – such as having Jack the Ripper as a vampire or creating the lore of vampires that leads to their final destruction – Rick just kept pestering me to weave them all into one large saga. After going through my second divorce, I decided to dust off BBB and re-read it. YUCK! No wonder the New York agent didn't want to represent me! It went from bad to worse with the rewrite. Time for an overhaul! MIDNIGHT CONQUEST was born and I was able to develop the rest of the concepts for the books in the series. Note to aspiring authors: The first book is the HARDEST to get through.

In all the vampire romance novels I've read through the years, one thing always struck me about them: Since most of the vampire heroes are a few hundred years old, some even a couple-thousand, I always thought it was unrealistic (because vampires are SO realistic…anyway) that in X-hundred years he couldn't find ONE woman that set his heart on fire! Come on! In all of 500 years, you can't tell me that a vampire doesn't fall in love with ONE woman until he hits the 20th or 21st centuries; when we humans–in our average span of 80 years–can marry, become a widow/er and remarry again…in just 80 years? That was my thrust for writing BONDED BY BLOOD. Broderick MacDougal does indeed have several wives throughout the centuries (his soul mate reincarnated in each one); however, he learns a lesson of immortality with each of them AND it takes him about 100 years between each wife for him to recover and open his heart again.

Keep checking my blog for updates and developments!