by Paula Quinn
Laird of the Mist Lord of the Night
Dear Reader,
When yer called the Devil, there isna much to prove to the world anymore save that the title is a deservin’ one. I am an outlaw, a murderer, and a legend to be feared. I dinna seek fergiveness fer my many sins. My road to perdition has been long and my iniquities too numerous and too savage fer redemption. There is naught in my soul but darkness, and I am driven by one purpose: to kill those who have created this beast no one dares call a man.
I wasna born from my mother’s womb as such a detestable creature. I was formed in the dank dungeons of Kildun castle, home of my kin’s lifelong enemies the Campbells. Taken as a young lad by the Earl of Argyll, after his men slaughtered everyone in my village, I was shackled to a wall and tortured fer my faither’s crimes against the realm. My faither was an outlaw as I am. His crime was refusing to surrender his name during the MacGregor proscription. Mayhap, some would find my faither guilty. But I was sinless as was my sister, who bore his punishment with me and grew to adulthood in the caverns of hell. It took many years, but we did escape. When all that made me human was finally stripped bare, I massacred Kildun’s mighty garrison and fled north with my sister to the misty Isle of Skye. But I canna escape what I have become, and my hunger fer revenge against the Campbells is all I have left.
Fer six years now I have ridden forth from the obscure mists to exact payment fer that which was robbed from me and from my clan. I have killed withoot sympathy, fer what does a devil know of mercy? Aye, I am a cold-hearted beast whose name alone strikes terror in the hearts of his enemies. Save fer one.
Kate Campbell is the granddaughter of the man who imprisoned me. A woman I should despise. I took her from her home with the intention to lure her uncle, the current Earl of Argyll, to me. I didna expect her to slice me with her blade or to awaken a part of me I thought long dead with her saucy mouth and tantalizing curves. But most of all, I wasna prepared to find atonement fer my sins in the bonny eyes of a Campbell lass. And now, instead of killing my enemy,I must do all I can to keep her alive.
Clan chieftain of the MacGregors, and Laird of the Mist
Dear Reader,
I am neither man nor monster, and yet I am both. Killed by a chupacabra four-hundred years ago, I died and rose again as a vampire.
I killed friends and family before I learned to control the blood-lust. I killed for food, taking lives so that I might live. But no more. Now I kill others of my kind to protect the human residents of Hocksley, England.
I still reside in the Winslow family castle and have watched each generation of my brothers’ descendents come into this world. I’ve watched them grow and trained many to become vampire slayers. Their time upon this earth is far too brief, and when they pass each one takes a part of me with them.
Over the years, I’ve lived a thousand lives and died a thousand deaths. There are times when I long to meet the sunrise and end it all, but my responsibilities are too great. Should I die, who would protect my family from the scores of vampires not even they know exist? And who would protect my friends from the Winslow slayers?
Yes. I have friends. Michael, Sedrick, and Ty Ellington—my best friends in life—and better friends in death. Killed by the same chupacabra that killed me, we have endured the test of time. Michael runs the local lair and I control the slayers. Together, we rule the night.
This arrangement has worked well for years.
Now things have changed.
Sedrick is dead. I found his body the other night cut down by the blade of a slayer’s sword. But not by a Winslow, for all three—Gerard, Jess, and Kacie—are out of town. This is a new player and his actions will not be tolerated. He will pay for his deed—with his life. This I have vowed to Michael, lest he turn his lair of vampires loose on the innocent residents of Hocksley.
I have lost a great friend and the tenuous balance between vampires and humans that I’ve worked hard to maintain is threatened. I can’t imagine how the situation can get any worse.
Then, I run into Kacie Winslow in the streets of Hocksley, her sword still dripping red with the blood, and I know I’m wrong.
Earl of Hocksley, Lord of the Night
Dear Reader,
I hope you enjoyed reading Laird of the Mist as much as I enjoyed writing it. I loved Callum’s friends so much that I’ve written more about them for my next Forever release, Surrender in the Mist. My most notorious rogue yet, Graham Grant, just had to have his own story, and since I totally fell in love with the honorable Robert Campbell he’ll be in Surrender, as well.
Want to know a little bit more about Surrender in the Mist? Check out my Web site at www.PaulaQuinn.com for a sneak peek.