Rumors are flying throughout the publishing industry. Readers are looking at me askance. “Can it be true?” they whisper. Has Teresa Medeiros—author of charming fairy tales and numerous stories about cuddly kittens—truly succumbed to the seductive lure of the vampire? Has she turned her back on the sunlight to take a walk in the shadows, accompanied by a dangerous hero who could very well be the ruination of her?And my answer can only be..."Well, duh! What woman wouldn’t want to take a walk on the dark side with Julian Kane?” I eased into the genre with AFTER MIDNIGHT, then decided to embrace my first full-fledged vampire hero with THE VAMPIRE WHO LOVED ME. (Needless to say, embracing Julian wasn’t any great hardship on my part ) I’ve always written and loved dangerous heroes and I’ve never found it difficult to understand the appeal of the vampire hero. (Especially not after seeing Frank Langella’s portrayal of DRACULA during my formative teen years!)
The vampire is the ultimate Bad Boy, the consummate Alpha hero. Power is one of the most delicious aphrodisiacs and what greater power is there than the power over life and death? There’s something wickedly sexy about a hero who has the power to kill you but can’t resist kissing you instead. His hunger for you is all-consuming and he could literally die if you don’t satisfy him. What beauty wouldn’t want to tame such a beast?
But I definitely don’t believe THE VAMPIRE WHO LOVED ME represents a rejection of my straight historicals. I was told by an editor years ago that the primary theme that runs through all of my books is redemption. That theme comes to ultimate fruition with Julian because he is literally a man in search of his soul. I knew from the start that I’d never be able to tell his story if I couldn’t bring the same humor, love, and light to it that I’ve tried to bring to all of my books. For me, it’s the contrast between the light of true love and the darkness that tugs at all of our souls that makes a story like Julian’s worth the telling.
