Product Description

A woman driven by blood. A man thirsting for vengeance.
A place where darkness and desire meet...

As night falls, Claire Roth flees, driven from her home by a fiery threat that seems to come from hell itself. Then, from out of the flames and ash, a vampire warrior emerges. He is Andreas Reichen, her onetime lover, now a stranger consumed by vengeance. Caught in the cross fire, Claire cannot escape his savage fury—or the hunger that plunges her into his world of eternal darkness and unending pleasure.

Nothing will stop Andreas from destroying the vampire responsible for slaughtering his Breed brethren . . . even if he must use his former lover as a pawn in his deadly mission. Blood-bonded to his treacherous adversary, Claire can lead Andreas to the enemy he seeks, but it is a journey fraught with danger—and deep, unbidden desires. For Claire is the one woman Andreas should not crave, and the only one he’s ever loved. A dangerous seduction begins—one that blurs the lines between predator and prey, and stokes the flames of a white-hot passion that may consume all in its path. . . .

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #4931 in Books
• Published on: 2009-05-26
• Released on: 2009-05-26
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• 368 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780440244509
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

About the Author
Lara Adrian lives in New Hampshire with her husband where she is at work on the next novel in her sexy vampire series featuring the Midnight Breed.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
Chapter One


BERLIN, GERMANY

The vampire had no idea that death awaited him in the darkness.

His senses were overloaded with need, his hands and arms full of a half-dressed redhead who pawed at him with barely restrained lust. Too fevered to notice they weren't alone in his Darkhaven bedchamber, he willed open the carved double doors and guided his eager, panting prey inside. The woman teetered on a pair of tall heels, laughing as she twisted away from him and wagged a finger in front of her face.

"Hans, you fed me too mush champagne," she slurred, stumbling into the dark room. "My head's all woozy."

"It will pass." The German vampire's words were _sluggish, too, though not from the alcohol that had inebriated his unsuspecting American companion. His fangs were no doubt filling his mouth, saliva flooding over his tongue in anticipation of feeding.

He tracked her with deliberate movements as he closed the doors behind him and prowled toward her. His eyes glowed like embers, transforming from their natural color to something otherworldly. Although the woman seemed oblivious to the change coming over him, the vampire held his head low as he approached her, careful to conceal the telling heat of his bloodthirsty gaze. Except for that shuttered amber glow and the dim twinkle of stars outside the tall windows overlooking the Darkhaven estate's private grounds, there was no light in the room. Then again, being one of the Breed, he could see well enough without it.

So could the one who came to kill him.

Enveloped in shadows across the large chamber, a dark gaze watched as the vampire grabbed his blood Host from behind and got down to business. The first pungent copper whiff of the human's pierced vein made the observer's fangs erupt from his gums in reflexive response. He hungered, too, more urgently than he wanted to admit, but he had come here for a greater purpose than to serve his own base needs.

He had come for vengeance.

For justice.

It was that overriding mission that held Andreas Reichen's feet firmly to the floor as the other vampire drank greedily, blindly, across the room. He waited, patient only because he knew this male's death would bring him one step closer to fulfilling the vow he'd made some twelve weeks ago . . . the night his world had disintegrated into a pile of ash and rubble.

Reichen's restraint was held on a threadbare leash. Inside he churned with the heat of his anger. His bones felt like hot iron rods beneath his skin. His blood raced through his body, liquid fire that seared him from scalp to heels. Every muscle and cell within him screamed for retribution—screamed it with a fury that bordered on nuclear meltdown.

Not here, he warned himself. Not that.

The price would be steep if he gave in to the full measure of his rage, and by God, this son of a bitch wasn't worth it.

Reichen held that explosive part of himself at bay, but the effort came a fraction of a second too late. The fire in him was already swelling, burning through the fragile tethers of his self-control . . . 
The other vampire suddenly lifted his head from where he'd been feeding at the woman's neck. He drew in a sharp breath through his nose, then grunted, animalistic . . . alarmed. "Someone is here."
"What'd you say?" she murmured, still drowsy from his bite as he sealed her wound with his tongue then shoved her away from him. She staggered forward, huffing a couple of choice curses under her breath. The instant her sluggish gaze lit on Reichen, a scream ripped from her throat. "Oh, my God!"
Feeling his eyes smoldering with the amber fire of his rage, his fangs tearing through his gums in readiness of the fight to come, Reichen took a single step out of the shadows.

The woman screamed again, hysteria rising in her wild, panicked eyes. She looked to her companion for protection, but the vampire had no further use of her. With a _callous sweep of his hand, he knocked her out of his way and stalked forward. The blow sent her careening to the floor.

"Hans!" she cried. "Oh, God—what's going on?"

Hissing, the vampire faced his unexpected intruder and crouched into an attack stance. Reichen had only a moment to cast a quick glance at the confused, terrified human.

"Get out of here." He sent a mental command that unlocked the bedchamber's doors and swung them open. "Leave, female. Now!"

As she scrambled up from the polished marble beneath her and escaped the room, the Darkhaven vampire leapt into the air in a single, fluid arc of motion. Before his feet could touch down, Reichen launched himself at the bastard.

Their bodies collided, the explosion of Reichen's forward momentum propelling both of them across the width of the chamber. Fangs huge and gnashing, fierce amber eyes locked on each other in the deadliest kind of malice, together they crashed like a wrecking ball into the far wall.

Bones cracked with the impact, but it wasn't enough for Reichen.

Not nearly enough.

He threw the struggling, furious Breed male to the floor and pinned him there, one knee crushing his throat.

"Ignorant fool!" roared the vampire, arrogant despite his pain. "Have you any idea who I am?"

"I know who you are—Enforcement Agent Hans Friedrich Waldemar." Reichen bared his teeth and fangs in a profanity of a smile as he glared down at him. "Don't tell me you have already forgotten who I am."

No, he hadn't forgotten. Recognition flickered behind the pain and fear in Waldemar's slitted pupils. "Son of a bitch . . . Andreas Reichen."

"That's right." Reichen held the bastard in a gaze so deadly furious it must have burned to hold it. "What's the matter, Agent Waldemar? You seem surprised to see me."

"I—I don't understand. The attack on the Darkhaven this past summer . . ." The vampire sucked in a choked breath. "I'd heard no one survived."

"Almost no one," Reichen corrected tightly.

And now Waldemar knew why he'd been paid this unexpected visit. There was no mistaking the bleak awareness in the other male's gaze. Or the stark fear. When he spoke now, his voice shook a bit. "I had nothing to do with it, Andreas. You must believe me—"

Reichen snorted. "That's what the others said, too."

Waldemar started to squirm, but Reichen pressed down harder with his knee planted heavily against the vampire's throat. Waldemar wheezed, trying to raise his hands as the weight began to crush his air channel. "Please . . . just tell me what you want from me."

"Justice."

With neither satisfaction nor remorse, Reichen grabbed Waldemar's head in his hands and gave a fierce yank. His neck snapped, then the Breed male's head fell back to the floor with a heavy thunk.
Reichen exhaled a deep sigh that did little to purge his anguish, or the grief he felt at being alive and alone. The sole survivor. The last of his family line.

As he stood and prepared to leave this latest death behind him, a glint of polished glass on one of the room's several mahogany bookcases caught his eye. He stalked over to it, his feet moving automatically, sharpened gaze fixed on the face of his enemy that stared out from within the silver-framed photograph. He grabbed the picture and stared down at it, his fingers hot where they pressed into the metal of the frame. Reichen's eyes burned the longer he looked at that hated face, a growl curling low in his throat, raw with visceral, still-smoldering rage.

Wilhelm Roth stood among a small group of Breed males wearing ceremonial Enforcement Agency garb. All of them were decked out in black tuxedos and starched white shirts, their chests festooned with bright silk sashes and gleaming pendant medallions, gilded rapiers sheathed at their sides. Reichen snorted at the self-importance—the power-hungry arrogance—etched in those smug, smiling faces.

Now they were dead men . . . all but one.

He'd saved Roth for last, having meticulously worked his way up the chain of command. First the Agency death squad members who'd ambushed his Darkhaven home and opened fire on every living being inside—even the females, even the infants asleep in their cribs. Next he'd targeted the handful of Enforcement Agency cronies who had made no secret of their allegiance to the powerful Darkhaven leader responsible for ordering the slaughter.

One by one over the past several weeks, the guilty had met their end. The vampire lying dead and broken on the floor was the last known member of Wilhelm Roth's corrupt inner circle in Germany.

Which left Roth himself.

The bastard was going to burn for what he'd done.

But first he would suffer.

Reichen's gaze drifted back to the framed photograph in his hands and froze there. On first glance, he hadn't noticed the woman. All of his focus—all his fury—had been centered solely on Roth. Now that he had found her, he couldn't tear his eyes away from her.

Claire.

She stood off to the side of the group of Breed males, petite yet regal in a sleeveless ghost-gray gown that made her light brown skin look as smooth and lush as satin. Her soft black hair was swept up in a careful chignon, not a single strand out of place.

Time had not aged her so much as a year from when he'd known her—not that it would, when she was kept youthful and strong by the blood bond she shared with her chosen mate these thirty-some years. She was looking at Wilhelm Roth and his criminal friends, smiling with a perfectly schooled, perfectly unreadable expression.

A perfectly proper mate to the vampire who had proven to be Reichen's most treacherous adversary.

Claire.

After all this time.

My Claire, he thought grimly.

No, not his.

O...

Customer Reviews

Another awesome installment! 5 Blue Ribbons!
Fire is one of the most destructive things on the planet. Fire being thrown from the hands of a vengeful vampire is even more dangerous. Add in a mate he can't forget, and you have the sixth and newest installment of Lara Adrian's MIDNIGHT BREED series, ASHES OF MIDNIGHT.

Andreas Reichen is one out-of-control and angry vampire. Three months ago the Darkhaven compound housing his family and friends was annihilated and everyone killed by the Enforcement Agency. Andreas hatches a plan to kill the man responsible and goes to his mansion outside the city. With his newly released pyrotechnic skills blazing, Andreas mows through anything in his path. He wants gratification, and he wants it now. Burning anyone who crosses his path, Andre does not expect to see the one woman he can't forget - Claire Roth, his enemy's Breedmate and the only woman he has ever loved.

Claire Roth has spent the last thirty years regretting her decision to become Wilhelm Roth's Breedmate and yearning for news of the one man that she is unable to forget - Andreas Reichen. Now it is too late. Claire has gotten word that he, along with his family and friends perished after an attack on his Darkhaven compound. Silently mourning the man she secretly loved, Claire plans a memorial garden for him. When her bodyguards rush to her and beg her to leave because of an unseen danger, Claire reluctantly leaves her home only to be stopped by a power more deadly than nature - Andreas Reichen in pyrotechnic mode - and he is not happy.

Andreas will have his revenge on Wilhelm Roth and nothing will stop him - not even Claire, Wilhelm's ignored mate and Andreas' secret beloved.

Blazing heat comes to mind when I think of ASHES OF MIDNIGHT. Andreas and his hidden abilities forced me to gulp more than once in trepidation at his anger. Stone cold emotions were shown where before, playful but regal sentiments were the emotions of Andreas Reichen. He knew who had ordered his family's death and he knew what he had to do in order to get his revenge. He was not playing this time around. Wilhelm Roth was going down even if he had to go down with him. Claire balanced out Andreas' personality in ASHES OF MIDNIGHT. Not only did she love him unconditionally, but her loyalty to him and the memories of their long ago love affair changed her mind.

In a whirlwind of feelings, ASHES OF MIDNIGHT will scorch its way to your heart. Andreas and Claire's powerful and intense love will make you yearn for their happily ever after. I couldn't have asked for a better story.

Natalie S.

Blood, fire, fate
Lara Adrian has given us another amazing novel of the Order and the Breeds and Breedmates who live to protect our world. This novel is about Andre (such a cute nickname) and Claire. The last we heard of him he had found his entire estate and all of his family dead by a Breed named Roth who is high in society and the Enforcement Agency.

Needless to say this book is about vengeance and revenge. Andre's agony is so bitter that his rage consumes him and physically manifests itself into his pyrokinetics. He's so focused on avenging his family that his old lover Claire doesn't stand a chance. Andre is definitely not the man Claire had fallen in love with three decades past, he's angry, bitter and is filled with white hot rage. Claire has always realized that Roth doesn't love her and sees her as an accessory, as one might a purse or ring. She had thought Andre had left her and now being thrust back together seems to put the two on edge.

Dragos is breeding new Gen One assassins faster than the Order can recruit (it's already stretched so thin with Conlan's death) and he also has a plan to destroy the Order as he moves his breeding lab to 'higher grounds.'

This is another great story not just about the 'paranormal romance' but about war, fighting, guns, fire and yes the all consuming fate tying love. Andre is beautiful and broken, Claire is hurt but stubborn. All the Order's warriors are still deadly and and still so imperfectly perfect for each of their breedmates. Loyal fans will love this new book and newbies... go read Kiss of Midnight, I promise this author opens a wonderful new world that will have you looking over every inch of your skin for the tell tale mark of a breedmate!

4 1/2 stars- ending is thrilling and a bit shocking as the stakes get higher but will sure to please loyal fans of this series
Ashes of Midnight by Lara Adrian
Paranormal Romance- May 26th, 2009
4 ½ stars

The thing I like best about Lara Adrian's Breed Series is that she doesn't take her readership for granted. Each time I read one of her books I learn something new and exciting. I only wish I knew more...but if she didn't drag it out it wouldn't be half as intriguing. In her latest installment, Ashes of Midnight we meet perhaps her most fearsome hero to date.

Riechen is a vampire bent on revenge. The attack and ultimate destruction of his family devastated him. As a result, the powers he had long tried to keep dormant resurfaced with deadly consequences. Reichen is a dangerous and unstable pyrokinetic. With nothing left to live for he hunts down Roth, the vampire responsible. The same vampire who seduced and stole the woman he loved.

Claire's relationship with Roth is an obligatory blood bond. One she never enjoyed. Bound by duty and honor but never love. An arrangement she agreed to while young and naïve. After Reichen broke her heart and when she foolishly trusted Roth.

When Reichen finds her on his search to destroy Roth, Claire and Reichen cannot help their mutual attraction. But to be together is to betray the sacrament of the blood bond. To make matters worse, Reichen can only think of justice, but each time he uses his powers he become less able to control it. Claire fears for his life but knows he will not give up vengeance.

It was a pleasure to read Ashes of Midnight. I was particularly fascinated to learn more about the blood bond. I enjoyed revisiting members of the Order and their breedmates as they played key roles in this story. Lara Adrian delves deeper into vampire society and slowly reveals more about: the Ancient, Dragos (the mastermind), and the new Gen Ones assassins infiltrating the city. Tantalizing glimpses which allude to but do not answer where the final story will lead. The only difficulty I had was that Claire was not as strong a female character as Lara Adrian's previous books in the series. Claire became tougher later in the book but I wish it had occurred earlier. Her personality made sense and was true to her character but I can't help liking the feisty/gutsy heroine. But this is still a book that is NOT to be missed. The ending is thrilling and a bit shocking as the stakes get higher but will sure to please loyal fans of this series, even as it makes you long for the next book.


Reviewed by Steph from the Bookaholics Romance Book Club