His Vampyrrhic Bride

A girl . . . a boy . . . and a fearsome Viking curse that will tear them apart and unleash a terrifying creature on the world . . . What is this striking yet ghostly figure doing gliding across my lawn at midnight? Chasing the dangerously beautiful woman into the wood next to his family’s new home, Tom Westonby is attacked and beaten unconscious. Returning home the next day, he meets the stranger, Nicola Bekk, once more. Tom is deeply drawn to her, but unbeknownst to him, Nicola is both protected and enslaved by her Viking ancestry – and the choices he makes will trigger the curse that has blighted the lives of the Bekk family for centuries.

From Booklist

Clark, author of London under Midnight (2006) and Lucifer’s Ark (2008), among many other horror titles, continues his reassessment of the vampire genre with this frightening story of a man who falls under the spell of a beautiful, mysterious woman whose family has a long and tortured past. Though not a direct sequel to 2009’s Whitby Vampyrhhic, or its Vampyrrhic-titled predecessors, the novel is set in the same region of England (the Yorkshire moors) and shares some of their DNA, particularly the strains involving a Viking curse and the toothy undead. Nicola Bekk, the mysterious woman, is a compelling and seductive character, and young Tom Westonby, who dreams of opening a scuba-diving school in Greece, is appropriately naive and easily enthralled. Readers, too, will be enthralled by Clark’s imaginative story and his dark, atmospheric prose style (which mixes gothic and contemporary language and motifs). Another winner from an always-interesting writer. --David Pitt

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His Vampyrrhic BrideBy Simon ClarkSevern House Publishers LtdCopyright © 2012 Simon ClarkAll rights reserved.ISBN: 978-1-84751-445-5CHAPTER 1He sees her ...Tom Westonby's life changed the moment he saw the woman.She shouldn't have been there. Certainly not at this time of night.But there she was. Tom looked out of the window and watched the stranger walk across the lawn. Moonlight flooded the valley. That other-worldly radiance gave the white cotton dress she wore a spectral glow. While her pale, yellow hair had the appearance of a luminous mist that cascaded down around her shoulders.She was beautiful. Uncannily beautiful. Somehow dangerously beautiful. As well as tingles of physical attraction, he felt the cold, tingling sensation of an inexplicable fear trickling down his spine.So, what was this striking, yet ghostly figure doing gliding across his lawn at midnight? The question made him wonder if he'd fallen asleep on the sofa again. These fourteen-hour working days were exhausting. Maybe he was busily dreaming about the remarkable, luminous vision dressed in white?'My God,' he breathed, 'what on earth is she doing?'The stranger lifted the skirts of her dress before stepping into the little pool in the garden that was fed by a natural spring. She took a deep breath as her bare feet entered the cool water. At the same time she raised her face to the moonlight, an expression of sheer bliss spread across her face. She closed her eyes, a smile touched her lips. Even from this distance, Tom could tell she loved the sensation of chilled liquid stroking her skin.The expression on her face sang out: this is ecstasy!He had two choices. Either turn away, forget he'd seen the woman, or go out there and find out what the hell she was doing on his lawn. Tom Westonby wasn't one to back down from a challenge. He decided to learn more about the mysterious beauty dipping her bare toes in the spring pool.The possibility that this was a dream vanished when his hip smacked into the table as he strode across the room to the patio door. The blow hurt. So maybe it was the pain that made him act out of character, because a dangerous, reckless spirit seized control. He decided to confront the woman. No, he'd do more than that. This was going to get physical. His heart pounded, his breath vented in gusts through gritted teeth. A wild excitement ignited his blood.The moment he opened the patio door and stepped out into the night air he passed the point of no return. Something significant would happen tonight. No ... More than significant. Tonight will be momentous.He follows her ...Tom Westonby knew that in the next few minutes life as he'd lived it would die. Nothing would ever be the same again.The sound of his feet on the patio immediately warned the woman that she wasn't alone.His midnight visitor turned towards him. Her eyes locked on his. There wasn't any sense of fear, or even surprise. It was as if she'd expected all along that he'd come out of the house. If she'd stayed there, then what happened next would never have happened at all.But even though she'd held his gaze for a moment without any sign of being frightened of him, she suddenly ran. Her bare feet splashed through the shallow pool. Moonlight caught the drops of water, turning them into glittering gems that flew up to speckle her white cotton dress. By the time she left the pool those sparkling drops of water were caught in her fair hair. Twinkling diamonds flung outwards as she quickly twisted her head to watch what he'd do next.He followed.No. Not followed.Chased.

About the Author

Simon Clark, described as ""one of the most exciting British horror writers around,"" is the author of numerous novels, including The Fall, Darker and Blood Crazy. He was awarded the British Fantasy Award for his short story ""Goblin City Lights"" and for his novel Night of the Triffids, which continued where John Wyndham's original novel left off.

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