Guest Author: Elisabeth Staab

I am excited to welcome author Elisabeth Staab, who will be releasing her second novel, Prince of Power, next week.

This Fight Is Personal…

Wizards and vampires have been mortal enemies since the beginning. Now Anton, son of the Wizard Master, has one last chance to steal the unique powers of the vampire king’s beautiful sister, Tyra…and then kill her. But when he meets Tyra face-to-face, everything changes…

Tyra will stop at nothing to defeat the wizards, until Anton saves her life and she suddenly sees an opportunity she never could have imagined…

As the sparks ignite between them, together they could bring an end to the war that’s decimating their people, but only if they can find a way to trust each other…

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When Bad Heroes Go Good

If I asked you to picture your ideal paranormal hero, what would you come up with? A vampire? A hunky wolf shifter? Something with wings or a tail? We’d probably all come up with something a little different. Someone pasty and undead, maybe? Fanged or not? An immortal alpha who makes knees weak with the smoldering heat of his gaze? Can he see his reflection? Walk in the day? Does he walk the thin gray line between moral and not so much? While vampires were my first love, I like to play with the unexpected inside of traditional wrapping. A hero with a touch of beta, inside an alpha body for example.

In Prince of Power, the wizards are the bad guys. In my world, the vampires come equipped with supernatural powers, which the wizards steal through murder and blood sacrifice. Like vampires they are born the way they are. In this case the way they are is power-hungry, soulless, and evil. Unredeemable, the lot of them.

All except one.

Anton, the son of the Master wizard himself, starts out as a bad guy who wants to be good. By necessity, he went along to get alone. His life was kill or be killed. Until the day he fell in love with the vampire king’s sister from afar and suddenly there was something–someone–worth dying for. He had a hope inside him that his short, terrible life could end with redemption. So when he was ordered to kidnap this vampire, he refused, knowing it would probably bring his demise.

So this is kind of a paranormal take on the classic story of an ex-con, former mobster or what have you trying to go straight. What challenges would he face in walking that road, especially when his heroine–who already doesn’t quite trust him–finds out he’s hiding more than he initially lets on?

Tyra, the vampire king’s half-human sister, spends her life working tirelessly for good. By night she fights to exterminate the wizard species and keep vampire-kind safe. By day she helps unfortunate humans. Her life revolves around making the world a better place. The idea that she could fall in love with an enemy of her race is impossible, right? But what if he holds the key to something she needs? In the course of trying to figure out whether or not Tyra can trust Anton, she also begins to wonder how much she can trust herself. Her own judgment.

I love, love a good dark hero. A huge, muscle-bound, growling alpha. But what I love about Anton and Tyra’s story, is there’s a little bit of role-reversal. A dark hero trying to find the light. A powerful, emotionally-closed heroine who needs to learn to be open up and part of an “us.” To accept love. In many ways for me, Anton is the perfect hero because he grew up knowing evil. He’s seen everything there is to see, which makes him afraid of nothing. Nothing, of course, except losing the woman he loves:

Anton growled and shoved against Siddoh’s meaty vampire mitts when they reached for him at the doorway. “I can walk through on my own.” He ducked slightly and turned to shove again when Siddoh struck from behind. Those opposing forces made him stumble, and his back hit the nearest wall with a lung-punishing “oof.”

The dimensions of the place were little more than about double by triple Anton’s arm span, and there was nothing inside except some old, rusty bolts and chains hanging from the wall. Dust and dirt and dark stains covered the floor. A thick, metal, windowless door was the only exit, and it clanged shut ominously in their wake. Not hard to guess what this place was used for. The primary directive was to convince them to keep him alive.

Upon leaving Tyra’s bedroom, he had planned to make nice with these guys. Too much aggression would send the wrong message, especially right now. Give them the excuse Siddoh was undoubtedly looking for with his jealous, glittery eyes narrowed at the fresh bite mark on Anton’s throat and his nostrils flared at the lingering smells of sex on skin.

Yet there were limits to Anton’s patience. He jerked his chin in response to the threat in Siddoh’s cracked knuckles and retracted arm. “Do it. G’head.” His own father had tried to kill him not so long ago. What fear could these vampires really hold? Anton was firm in his conviction that he would not go down without a fight–not without making every effort to protect Tyra–especially knowing what he knew now about Tyra…

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Meet Elisabeth Staab!

Elisabeth Staab still lives with her nose in a book and at least one foot in an imaginary world. She believes that all kinds of safe and sane love should be celebrated but she adores the fantasy-filled realm of paranormal romance the best. She lives in Northern Virginia with her family and one big scaredy cat, where she loves to spend time with good friends, go dancing, and sing off-key in her kitchen (when she isn’t making characters fall in love, that is).

Contact Info
Website: website
Blog: Blog
Social Media: Facebook | Twitter | GoodReads | Google+ | Newsletter

Want to purchase Elisabeth’s novels?
Chronicles of Yavn

1. King of Darkness
2. Prince of Power