Vampires Never Died

The last time I wrote about vampires on this blog was in September, 2012. I was all ready to get started on a book and series I was calling Project Veil. It never got off the ground because both The Witching Pen and Eye of the Storm series took off. Well – vampires are back! They never died for me, they just had to wait a long time (just as well they're undead).

Project Veil is well and truly buried. In fact, I mixed a bit of its mythology into the last two books of The Witching Pen series. But I'm here to introduce you to Blood Surge instead. Thirteen years on, a totally different idea for a vampire story came to mind, but it would be a lie to say nothing from the original Project Veil will appear in Blood Surge. It will.

Please find below the cover, blurb, and the first (unedited) excerpt I've rolled out for the book (all subject to small changes.) Its release is at the end of August, 2025. Keep up to date with it on its web page.

A beautiful library in a historic, sleepy town in Hampshire is the perfect place for Sophia to settle away from a fraught childhood and forgotten past. So forgotten, she hadn’t thought about it in over two decades until an old, unpleasant lover borrows a book and an innocent chat over coffee stirs long-buried emotions.

And once those gates open, they’re not so easily shut – the crazy keeps on coming in the form of a dead woman, a ridiculously gorgeous (and annoying) man who keeps turning up around every corner, and a party at a stately home that’s to die for. Literally.

Sophia’s forgotten history is going to have to be remembered in a race against time if she wants to save her own life. Unfortunately, Sophia’s discovering her life isn’t what she thought it was – at all. In fact, her life might not even be hers, but indebted to a twisted, dark world made up of ancient vows and blood ties ... ones she can feel surging through her veins...

Excerpt copyright © Dianna Hardy, 2025

Once more, the steady rhythm of her heart reaffirmed she was, indeed, human. And truly asleep. Not quite in the deepest cycle, but deep enough. She’d taken off her jacket and placed it next to her. The blanket he’d lent her lay loosely across the tops of her arms, the right side of her neck, stretched and fully exposed; her left cheek resting on the leather of the couch. He zeroed in, instinctively, on the carotid pulse that rippled her skin with its beat, then forced himself to look away, gritting his teeth. If he was going to hang around her in any capacity, he was going to have to do something about that neck of hers – buy her a damn scarf or something.

You should wake her.

But he couldn’t bring himself to just yet, her hypnotic heartbeat soothing to his senses. And the peace was nice. Not being questioned – not feeling responsible for her life in this brief moment – was nice.
He made his way to the kitchen instead and put the kettle on, glancing at her briefly to see if the noise would wake her. It didn’t. He’d promised her a hot drink, but he owned almost nothing in the way of food or beverage. Rummaging through a cupboard, he found an old coffee bag. He couldn’t even remember where it had come from, but it smelled fine – not off or mouldy, anyway – so he dropped it in an empty mug assuming it would steep in water like a teabag. He hadn’t made a cup of anything for … too long to count. He hoped she’d like it black because he sure as hell had no milk.

The kettle switched off and he poured the boiled water straight in, then stilled as he focused his hearing on the swift change to her heartbeat.

It skipped, and then sped up.

Leaving the coffee to brew, he made his way back to her.

Her eyes twitched under her lids and her lips parted as a whimper escaped them. She was dreaming. Unsure of what to do, he found himself studying her instead. Her hair – in what was now a very disarrayed ponytail – was thick and a rich brown, not too dissimilar in colour to his own. Hers contained strands of a natural, deep red, though. Her lashes were just as dark and full, and he’d noted her eyes were a dark hazel when he’d locked his gaze with hers earlier that night. Her lips were simply sensual – heart-shaped under a beautifully rounded nose.

He sighed. He was going to have to keep his distance from her while he kept her safe.

~*~

Nope, the excerpt doesn't give much away, but if you're used to my writing, you may remember how I've always found it a little hard to find excerpts that don't give a plot point away!

Look out for more. I have a new way you can keep abreast of important updates and book releases. While my Facebook page remains my consistent platform for chatting with readers, it's a far cry from how it was in 2012! Barely any followers see my posts nowadays, the spam and politics on FB driving so many people away, so I've also created a WhatsApp Broadcast Channel – no chats, no comments, just updates once a week or less. JOIN HERE.

I'll keep this blog active, too, with a handful of posts every year.

Keep well until next time,

Dianna xx