Determination (Noble Born Vampires, Book 1) by L.D. Silver

Release date: September 26, 2016

Subgenre: Urban fantasy 

About Determination:

 

Skye Denali promises herself that she'll never enter The Highlands. But then her sister Bree is taken by a vampire, and her mother is overwhelmed by grief.

She has no choice. To help her family, Skye will have to face her fears. She'll have to go into The Highlands - a town that's governed by vampires. And once she crosses the border and leaves the human sector, she'll lose her rights.

Any vampire can demand her blood and by law she can't refuse.

She'll have to avoid attracting attention, search the town, and free her sister. All without getting caught.

Because getting caught means an automatic death sentence, or worse...

Excerpt:

I can hear my mother's crying through the door and I force myself to ignore it.  I breathe past the knot of pain in my chest that's been there for months.

Today I'm doing something about it.  Today I'm taking action.

I take off my gloves and wash my hands to get rid of the plastic smell left on my skin.  Then I put in the dark brown contacts and stare at the stranger in the mirror.

It's taken only two hours to transform me.  My blue-black hair is now a muted brown, and my normally pale skin is now golden tan.  My makeup isn't quite as effective with my new look.  I'll have to pick up new eyeshadow and lipstick.

I slip out of the bathroom and pad down the hallway.  I pass by Bree's door, the proverbial elephant in our broken home.  I don't have to look inside to know that her wedding dress is still wrapped in plastic on the bed.  The ceremony would have been four weeks from now.

I reach my bedroom and close the door behind me.  I dress in a beige knee-length skirt, white blouse, beige jacket, and beige heels.  I put my keys, phone, bus pass, and some money into a matching purse and then sigh with disgust when I see myself in the mirror.  I look bland.  Normal.  Cookie-cutter.

"Only for you, Bree," I say, then kiss my fingertips and press them against the mirror.  It's a habit I picked up from her; a way of wishing yourself good luck.

The gesture makes me look in the mirror, though, and into my new strange eyes.  There, past the contacts, is a glint of fear.  It's not the interview, or the job, that's making me afraid.  It's the location.  I always promised myself that I would never go there.

Then Bree disappeared, taking with her all of the happiness in this house.  It was as swift and as destructive as a tornado.  I can feel the hole in our family with every step, with the aching quiet when my mother's asleep and with the sounds of her crying when she's awake.  My father tries to help her, but I can see the hole in his heart in his eyes.  It echoes my own.

It's why I have to get her back.  We can't live like this.  And I know that I can do it.  I don't care that it's never been done. 

I can get her back.  I will get her back. 

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About L.D. Silver:

LD has been writing stories since she was a little kid. She writes about people in worlds similar to our own, but with a twist. Sometimes it's zombies, or vampires, or magic, or robots. She likes to add a dash of romance too.

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