Guest Blog by Author Irina Kardos

You probably don't know this about me...

In August 1998, there was an economic collapse in Russia. The economy crashed in one day. Most companies had to go out of business and all of the banks closed. I worked at a TV station at that time. When I arrived at work one morning, the doors of the TV center were closed. We were told that we would have to take some days off. For many of us, these days off lasted for more than two years. It was a really dark time; no job, no hope, no money (all of our savings ran out very quickly). I was divorced by that time and was raising my 10-year old son alone. There was no support I could rely on.

On top of that, my parents had lost their life savings during the bank crisis. The banks just robbed the people, usurping all of their money. A majority of the people never got their savings back. So I was responsible not only for my son, but for my parents as well.

I tried to find a job, any job, but there were none, just none. When winter came, I had no money to pay for heating. It was a particularly severe winter -30 centigrade or -22 Fahrenheit. I was heating the house with electrical heaters and the temperature inside the house dropped down to +4 centigrade or 39.2 Fahrenheit. It was miserably cold. My son and I were sleeping in fur coats, hats and gloves then covered ourselves in all of the blankets and coats we could find. As time passed, I finally got to the point when I had no money at all to buy food. We were boiling hot water and drinking it to have something in our stomachs.

It is a very rare occasion for me to share this story, so very few people know this about me. Most people think I’m the poster girl for a success story. Russian girl comes to America and "poof" ends up with a PhD. --Irina

Can the ultimate choice be made if saving your race means destroying the one you love?

At the beginning of the twenty-first century of our era a millennia long war between two immortal races was coming to an end. The Vampire Elite, the strongest among vampires, forced the race of immortal beings, the Amiti to become their blood suppliers, called bloodstock, locking them in their underground cells and treating them like livestock. The surviving free Amiti make a final attempt to strike back. The Queen of Amiti is proclaimed a traitor and is executed. Her death signifies the rise of a new Queen, her young daughter Arianna who becomes the last hope of her dying race. Arianna totally embraces her mission and is ready to fight for her people to the last drop of her blood but encounters an unexpected challenge—the vampire King Tor. They both are captured into a trap of love where they had to make an ultimate choice; to kill the loved one or to let their races die.

Vampire Elite is the epic story of a bitter conflict between two peoples, and the effect of that conflict on everyone living in its grip. The characters are driven to love and betrayal, vengeance and sacrifice in a world without easy black-and-white answers.

Based on an ancient Egyptian legend, packed with action and intrigue, Vampire Elite will pull you into the entrancing world of immortals and open new portals into their hidden universe.

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EXCERPT

As the auctioneer spoke, two Sekhmi in eveningwear—a male carrying an elegant dagger and a female a silver tray covered with glass vials—approached the Amiti girl.

“She’s barely eighteen, ladies and gentlemen. That’s a good three years younger than the youngest bloodstock you’ll usually come across. Look at her; she’s stunning, simply stunning, and as you can see, we’ve kept her well conditioned, in excellent health.”

The auctioneer paused as the male Hunter grasped the Amiti’s hand and held it above the tray. The girl showed no resistance, her only display of anxiety the butterfly fluttering of her thick eyelashes. He raised his other hand, and the dagger flashed in the light as with a swift motion he slit the Amiti’s palm. The dark, intoxicating scent of fresh blood filled the room as it poured into the vials.

Simone’s gums began to itch and burn, and she covered her mouth with her hand so no one would see her fangs punching down. It was considered terribly rude to expose one’s fangs in public, even among other vampires. But she needn’t have worried; everyone’s attention was riveted to the stage and the blood flowing from the girl’s wound. The room vibrated with bloodlust and sexual arousal.

The female Sekhmi approached Simone’s table, offering the Royal Pride the first of the blood samples. Knowing that all eyes were on her, Simone forced herself not to hesitate and took a small sip—and was immediately flooded with euphoria.

“For this magnificent specimen, we open the bidding at ten million U.S. dollars,” announced the auctioneer. 

BOOK TWO OF THE VAMPIRE ELITE 

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MEET THE AUTHORS

Irina Argo is a combined pen name for two authors,
 Irina Kardos and Jo-An Torres. 

Irina’s world is dark. She works as a clinical psycholo-gist in a Juvenile Correctional Facility deal-ing with the extremes of human behavior on a reg-ular basis and takes care of her paralyzed husband who suffered a stroke several years ago. To bring light into her life she writes. Writing has always been her passion. She is originally from Russia where she was employed as a TV journalist. 

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Jo-An is a Leo, a lioness who has emerged to follow her dream, to someday write a book of her own. She owned a costume shop for 15 years and was able to satisfy and excel in her creative nature. She is an over-achiever and believes that anything is possible if you believe in yourself and ignore the nay-sayers.  Her philoso-phy is based on Shakespeare "It is not in the stars to hold our destiny, but in ourselves." She currently resides in California with her 5 cats and 1 husband.

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