PROTECTOR

Arlon Kearnst has been the Protector of his village and his country for many, many years—four hundred, to be exact. He protects them against the Undead, the Vampyre, the very pestilence that has cursed him since the day he died, at the age of twenty-one. But there is a difference between Arlon and the Undead he reluctantly claims as ‘kin,’ for Arlon has refused to kill a single human, over the course of his very long Vampyre existence.

Instead, he is sustained by the blood of a very special family. The females of this family, descended from the woman who helped raise him, have willingly and proudly offered up their blood to Arlon, each month on the full moon.  A few sips make him stronger, more invincible than any of his kind. Strong enough to keep the Undead from his door and his village; strong enough to make his name the one these creatures whisper around the campfire, their voices struck with awe and fear. In four hundred years Arlon has remained undefeated and his people unmolested, thanks to this devoted family and what they give to him.

But when his current and most beloved sustainer faces a life-threatening illness and can no longer give him the blood he needs to remain invincible, Arlon must search for a compatible replacement—and very soon. For there is another of the Undead even older than Arlon . . . and this creature is without a drop of anything resembling humanity. He wants to annihilate and destroy, and Arlon stands in his way. So does Lisette, the woman Arlon discovers will become his mate as well as his ultimate sustainer.

Lisette is young and innocent and unaware of her family’s history—until she is thrown into the path of Arlon’s needs and the battle brewing far too close. As she struggles with her prejudice and fear of the Undead, versus her growing love and desire for Arlon, the enemy will find out exactly how necessary Lisette is, to Arlon . . . and do everything to keep them apart.