REVISED 8/26 V V Synopsis - 3pgs

Vampire Vacation

By C.J. Ellisson

Novel Length: 90,000 words

Genre: Erotic Urban Fantasy

Series Title:  A Novel of The V V Inn





Synopsis:



Meet VIVIAN, an innkeeper who has learned to channel her mental powers in projecting illusions to create the perfect vacation spot for vampires in the dark woods of Alaska. She’s the supernatural equivalent of Mr. Roarke on Fantasy Island and has worked for decades on this oasis with the help of RAFE, her sexy, un-aging husband. Vivian keeps her most dangerous skill hidden: her ability to mind-control all vampires caused her to be hunted in the past and she’ll be executed by her own kind if she’s ever caught. For her own safety, she trusts no one but Rafe.

During a routine check, she stumbles across a murdered body in an unoccupied suite.  He’s neither a guest nor an employee so it’s not clear how he ended up in the locked room. Nonetheless, she and Rafe hide the corpse, convinced they can track down the killer without alerting their customers. Vivian’s plan to put herself at top strength, by drinking from her werewolf servant, JONATHAN, backfires on her. She has difficulty handling the influx of power from the werewolf’s blood, and the long-standing tension between her husband and Jonathan adds even more pressure. 

For decades, she makes her client’s wildest dreams come true, but when orchestrating the sexual escapades of some guests and unsuccessfully questioning others proves too much for her, Vivian listens to Rafe’s advice. For the first time in hundreds of years, she agrees to involve and trust an outsider for assistance. It’s a difficult step for Vivian, knowing in the end, she may wind up having to kill to keep her secrets safe.

Before help can arrive, Vivian must repair the ravaged mind of a confused guest.  In the process, she uncovers a vicious rape and the killer's identity to be Ivan, an insane vampire from her recent past. When the physical evidence doesn’t add up, first Rafe, then Jonathan, raise doubts on validity of her vision and whether Ivan could be the attacker. How would Ivan find his way here and who set him on Vivian’s trail?

Help lands on their private airstrip in the form of ASA, an ex-military weapons expert, who happens to be a fledgling vampire as well. Asa believes in Vivian and what she saw in the rape victim’s mind. With reluctance, Vivian accepts the young vampire’s assistance. However, to protect her secrets, she binds Asa to her vampire seethe in a blood ceremony. Rafe and Jonathan, though still unconvinced, join them in plotting the best way to catch Ivan. 

As they plan, the killer tries to sabotage the resort and starts to make his attacks more personal. The main power is cut, a wolf dog is butchered, and an employee is drained of blood to the point of death. In a snap decision, Vivian saves the victim by turning him into a vampire.

Vivian admits the situation has reached emergency proportions and pulls out all the stops to catch Ivan. They brief the guests on all the dangerous events of the last thirty-six hours and Asa organizes a hunt. Excitement is intense, as the vacationing vampires will get to use the predatory skills they suppress in their everyday lives. The ragged band of heros fans out over the fifteen square miles of darkness to track the crazed killer.

Armed with the resort’s dull sparring weapons and limited experience hunting a fellow vampire, Vivian has doubts that this group will be able to catch Ivan. In a moment of clarity, Vivian realizes if she doesn’t take a risk to save what she holds dear, she could lose everything. She draws on her distant past as a brutal vampire hunter to set up the murderer in a secret secondary plan. 

Vivian takes a risk that could expose her to the group by exercising her ability to manipulate one of the younger vampires into acting as bait. Vivian leads the killer along, drawing as much information from him as she can before the erotic images are shattered and Asa barges in to help slay Ivan.

The story concludes with Vivian leading a formal seethe of vampires for the first time in centuries. The strong, independent woman opens her heart and has begun to trust the newcomers. In the next book, these five new members, together with Vivian and Rafe, will work to find out who set this madman on her trail in the first place.