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Creating Blackthorn’s Couples: Jask and Phia

*WARNING!! This post contains HUGE spoilers for Blood Torn.*

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One of the fun aspects of writing Blood Torn was creating a whole other side to Blackthorn. Up until then the series had been dominated by the vampire world versus the human authorities, with other species only fleetingly mentioned. Amongst those cameo roles was Jask Tao in Blood Shadows, when Kane made a brief visit to the lycan compound to collect an escaped Caitlin and, later, when Jask is waiting for her outside the courtroom. To keep the focus on Kane and Caitlin’s story, I revealed little about Jask and his pack at the time, let alone how he fitted into the overall Blackthorn picture.

Lycans and serryns

In the background though, I had already designed the lycan world in detail – who Jask was, how he operated, let alone why I created the pack the way I had (you can read all about that here, here and here). As with all the mythology I’ve developed for Blackthorn, I’d spent quite some time looking into adapting established ‘beliefs’ to suit the world I was creating. As a part of this, I developed the concept of lycanthropy as an allergy, the management of it having become increasingly challenging for the lycans under the regulations due to the systems put in place.

Jask’s character evolved out of developing that mythology. I had to work out what kind of personality would successfully manage a minority pack in Blackthorn under that new system. I knew I needed someone mature, self-controlled, strategic, intelligent and wise. I needed someone strong enough both physically and mentally to rule a pack, let alone with an edge of authority that not only demanded respect but equally with a fairness, dedication and selflessness to earn that respect. And, of course, my lycan leader had to be someone with insight into the dynamics of the world he’s in in order to best protect that pack – including executing sufficent humility to seemingly play ball with all the various groups, not least the human authorities.

But, like with Blackthorn’s other heroes, there also needed to be a dark side to Jask to warrant his survival in Blackthorn – an innate sense of the hunter and, in some respects, the feral. I needed someone who made the pack stronger by being its leader as well as being strengthened because of the pack’s faithful support, but I also needed someone who was equally capable of going it alone – and surviving against the odds. Jask became that type of hero and subsequently an integral player in Blackthorn’s future, especially because he has one of the most powerful potential armies under his effective rule.

My serryn mythology was already established by the time I wrote Blood Torn, having explored it in its fledgling form through Leila in Blood Roses. But in Blood Torn, I had the opportunity to start to show more of a serryn’s evolvement through Phia – not least because she had none of her big sister’s reluctance in embracing her new ability. Phia’s developing serenity is, without doubt, more destructive to her personality than it was to Leila’s, particularly because of Phia’ emotional vulnerabilities and not having her big sister’s self-control (despite Caleb’s fervent efforts to the contrary). It goes without saying that if Phia had turned up to save Alisha instead of Leila, Blood Roses may have been the shortest Blackthorn book ever!

However, you may be interested to know that when I first started mapping out Blackthorn, I didn’t plan on Leila losing her serrynity to her nemesis – nor it jumping down the line, along with her fate, to her sister. I’m so pleased it did though because it shifted Phia (and Jask) from being a secondary character to becoming integral in Blackthorn’s tapestry.

But romance was never the plan

For the future of the story, I knew Jask and Phia had to meet. I knew it was Jask who would find Phia in the ruins. I knew Phia had to forge a link with the lycans. The last thing I expected was for these two to fall for each other.

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My initial intention when designing Blackthorn was that, although Jask was going to be a hero in the story, he was never going to be a romantic hero. When I first created his character, he had given up any prospect of finding love again. Having written a few scenes between him and Ellen whilst exploring his character, I couldn’t imagine him with anyone else. Instead, I’d resolved he’d focus on devoting all his time to his pack and, with me already knowing they would come under attack from the authorities, he was going to have enough to contend with without the entanglement of romance too. Besides, he might have needed Phia’s help but, for the outcome I wanted, he didn’t need to fall in love with her. Like with most of my characters though, Jask had his own ideas.

Sophia. Sophie. Phia. From the moment she burst onto the page in Blood Roses as an unruly child with a pretend UV torch on her head, a wooden stake in her hand and trying to feed garlic to her little sister, I knew I had my hands full. Furthermore, painted as an adult as the thoughtless missing sister causing Leila a headache and later revealed to be on prejudice-induced, anti-vampire vigilante mission in Blackthorn, Phia was most definitely never going to be one of Blackthorn’s romantic heroines. Aggressive, stroppy, stubborn, immature, argumentative, even arrogant at times, Sophia is frequently quick to act and slow to think. With a plethora of issues that would create a fortress-type barrier to any potential love interest, I knew it would take a saint to bother to peel through her layers. And well, to be honest, I didn’t think I had time for that in the strict internal timescale I had set for the story.

More so, I knew all her flaws were going to be exacerbated by having her up against Jask. Even-tempered, rational and reasonable, let alone with the weight of trying to save his pack on his shoulders, the last thing Jask should have been putting up with was Phia’s often deplorable (and irritating) attitude problem when, instead, he deserved so much better.

But whilst giving them more time on the page together than I’d originally planned, I switched from constantly face-palming with Phia to seeing a whole other side of her – and a whole other side to Jask too.

I started to see Phia as painfully lost in her own frustration and fears, erratically and misguidedly running around trying to make things better in all the wrong ways. Above all else, her deep sense of insecurity born out of her own self-hatred started to emerge. Behind the mask of arrogance was a vulnerable and fragile character who acted badly to evoke the same reaction in others because, basically, she didn’t believe she deserved any better. She certainly didn’t think she deserved Jask, someone who she had come to both respect and admire.

And, rather than Jask’s loss of Ellen being the barrier between him and Phia that I first envisaged, it became an opportunity to reveal an even more admirable side to him. With refined survival instincts making him wary of quick judgements, Jask’s tragic past also created in him a deep empathy that enables him to read beneath surface behaviours. Understanding everything there is to know about self-hatred, Jask revealed a compassionate generosity of spirit, let alone a patience and tolerance with Phia that I think makes the best of both him and of her. He sees her strength, her independence, her feistiness and her bravery. Most of all, he sees how fiercely loyal she is to those she loves. When she is calm and focused, Phia McKay makes one hell of an ally because, in a battle, she’d be the first to step in-between the one she loves and the enemy – and that’s a pack-like trait Jask inevitably deeply admires.

Their futures

Unlike with Blood Roses where, for so many reasons, I had to conclude it with a sense of uncertainty about whether Leila and Caleb’s emerging love is strong enough to see them through, Blood Torn, I hope, gives that real sense of a hero and heroine’s bond being strong enough to surpass anything. But things are never straight forward for my couples. As is indicative of Blackthorn, there is a flipside of renewed complications out of what should have remained a forbidden love.

I concluded Blood Torn amidst an imminent threat. Sirius Throme, head of the Global Council is once again using Jask’s pack as pawns in his mission to get his hands on Kane. In a strategic move you’ll learn more of in Blood Deep, he’s had Jask’s young delivered to the cons – something Jask is yet to uncover. If he does, his reaction could reveal a whole other side to Jask that Phia is yet to see.

After all, Jask, at the moment, is successfully managing his dark side, but it still simmers beneath the surface – and at no greater time than when his allergy peaks. He may be one of the rare lycans able to control his change, but he was never given the opportunity to perfect it with the regulations having interrupted his progress. But even without his instincts to contend with, self-controlled though he is, his interrogation scene with the vampire in Blood Torn shows that he has no qualms in doing whatever it takes for those he loves. When it comes to lethal, Jask is more than capable of holding his own against, or alongside, Kane and Caleb. He’s just not been put in that situation in Blackthorn yet.

As made clear at the end of Blood Roses, Caleb is already on the hunt for Phia: next in line to be his sacrifice if he is to claim his Tryan status and save the third species from oppression. He’s yet to find her, he’s yet to know she now has Jask and his entire pack behind her, but with Caleb’s impressive networks in Blackthorn, it’s only a matter of time. Jask will have even more to contend with if he’s seen as the barrier to the third species’ salvation – something that could test his loyalty to Phia if, subsequently, he’s not only at risk from vampiric retaliation but also from his own kind.

As for Phia, she may have made huge progress as far as her sense of direction and self-esteem are going, but she’s still a serryn and serryns are renowned for becoming overwhelmed by their own selfish desires. Already impulsive by nature, Phia’s greatest challenge is in controlling her serrynity sufficiently to use it as a weapon as opposed to self-indulgence. That need certainly won’t be helped if her natural nemesis evolves into a threat to anyone she loves.

Let’s just hope Kane’s visit to Caleb goes well!

* 

That’s it for my couple insight posts for now. I will, of course, do the same for Jessie and Eden – but, no spoilers, I’ll do it after you’ve read Blood Deep.

I’ll be back next time though with a short post to show you my vision of what Eden and Jessie look like – and it’ll be kick-starting a give-away too!

Win Blackthorn e-Books via Jask on GraveTells

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Anyone who has been following Blackthorn for a while will know there are some awesome bloggers out there supporting the series. One site that has given Blackthorn LOADS of support is the fabulous GraveTells. Not only have they given the series glowing reviews in the past, last year they even ventured into Blackthorn for themselves to quiz Caleb and Jake (obviously they got back out again in one piece – phew!).

Now, in his first interview ever, it’s Jask’s turn in the hotseat – only, this time, I’m doing the quizzing. Inspired by conversations with my lovely Blackthorn fans, I put forward a series of questions to the infamous lycan leader to see what he had to say for himself.

So, if you’d like to know what provokes Blackthorn’s leading lycan into banishing members of his pack, why he fell for Phia, whether he believes he can protect his pack during the tough times ahead, and what he really thinks of Kane, you can read his interview here….

As a bonus, if you leave a comment, you can be in with a chance of winning a Blackthorn e-book of your choice (Blood Shadows, Blood Roses or Blood Torn). Or if you’ve got a burning question of your own, Jask is still open for interrogation – feel free to ask him anything! I know how creative Team Blackthorn can be. 🙂 

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Creating Blackthorn’s Couples: Caleb and Leila

*WARNING!! This post contains HUGE spoilers for Blood Roses.*

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Before I started writing Blood Roses, I was already gaining a gist of how I wanted the overall Blackthorn story to evolve. I knew it was going to be a story about overcoming oppression and injustice and about the measures that are put in place in society both intentionally and unintentionally that feed assumptions, discrimination and prejudices – where people are not seen as individuals but a collective and labelled as such. Blood Roses became the perfect opportunity to explore the terrifying extent of that, let alone allow me to test the cliché of whether true love really could conquer all. There was no better way to do this than through two characters destined to destroy each other for the sake of their kinds – who, by the very fabric of what they were, were the most fervent of enemies.

Caleb – the pending Tryan

When first introducing Caleb, I had to be careful not to give away any clues about him being the pending Tryan, but at the same time give him the necessary traits of being capable of leading a vampire uprising. I needed a character who was intelligent, hard-working, dedicated, focused, industrious, strong and assertive. One who also has a caring side, a compassionate one, and one that is fiercely protective of those he loves. I created a character who had managed to claw his way up through Blackthorn and stand on his own two feet despite the fact that his lineage dictates that he could join the Higher Order in Midtown any time he wanted to. Instead, Caleb opts to stay amongst his own, to be the iron fist ensuring that the interests of those in Blackthorn are maintained, not least against the threat of the cons. Caleb is loyal to those who are loyal to him and uncompromising to those who want to overthrow his power for their own ends. In Caleb’s district, the vulnerable are protected – and that is out of a reputation built on fear and zero tolerance.

But there is a flip side to Caleb. Caleb does what he has to do without apology because I needed him to be real to the environment in which he lives. There is an air of the authoritarian about Caleb, laced with brutality and arrogance because, like Kane, to survive Blackthorn, that means exhibiting traits that can been deemed villainous. That said, he is not perceived as a villain by his own. In fact, in any other context, in any other story, his serryn-hunting abilities alone it would be enough to herald him a hero – the Van Helsing of the vampire world.

Creating this kind of dichotomous character became essential for the sake of the rest of the series and what is to unfold. Of all the characters needing to maintain an air of uncertainty in readers’ minds, it’s Caleb. What this lead to was the closest epitome of an anti-hero I could get. He’s the scarred warrior still struggling every day, with a barely suppressed dark side when up against opposition. And there none that bring out his dark side more than a serryn – the catalyst of all that went wrong in his life. He has every reason to want to destroy Leila and is totally justified every step of the way if you truly understand his mindset and can empathise with what his kind are up against. Unfortunately for him, his nemesis is not the cruel, manipulative and vicious witch she should be.

Leila – the serryn anomaly

Leila’s character was developed when I knew Caleb was going to have to come across a powerful force to be reckoned with. When it came to vampires versus humans, it seemed the former were always top of the food chain. They didn’t appear to have any natural predators (of course, that’s evolved massively now). The idea of creating a serryn came out of me wanting to pitch an equal against my pending vampire leader – something that would make him feel vulnerable in her presence.

The serryn is born out of old witch lore – more Blair Witch Project and less Bewitched. Serryns are the dark witches of fairytales. But instead of preying on humans, they prey on vampires. Within that boundary, they are indiscriminate killers whether the victims be males, females or children and they do so without conscience. Using their looks, charm and then emitting a lethal chemical not dissimilar to a pheromone, this rare strain of witch draw vampires to feed on their toxic blood. There’s no purpose to it other than pleasure, their sadistic streak only developing and intensifying the more kills they make. Of course, I created an exception to the rule in Leila. To test Caleb’s resolve and give a ring of truth to any potential of him falling for her, I had to present him the polar-opposite of what his experiences and beliefs dictate.

I needed someone with a clear sense of self and a deep-rooted need not to evolve into a fully-fledged serryn in the face of abject temptation. I needed to create a back-story of reasons why she would not confront her destiny. I needed someone who, instead of being self-seeking in the story, would, for the majority of it, be thinking with clarity, focus and an absolute need to succeed. Instead of a character who would take Caleb on physically (and inevitably lose), I needed one who could sustain a psychological battle and unhinge him from the inside. The fact Leila is still alive by the end of Blood Roses proves she was exactly as effective as she needed to be.

Enemies to lovers

Aside from being destined to kill each other and have every instinct dictate that from the moment they met, this was only reinforced by Caleb and Leila being from opposite ends of the geographic, social and political aspects of the Blackthorn world. I wanted to create a sense that the compacted hatred between Leila and Caleb was almost a carefully constructed plot by fate to ensure that when they finally met, the implosion would be guaranteed. I wanted to give the impression of them as puppets helpless to what they would become.

As part of this, I needed to develop tight internal conflict to forge the hatred between my hero and heroine. It wasn’t enough to just present them destined this way or as age-old enemies. They needed their own deep-rooted reasons to sustain the prejudices against each other and this came out of both having witnessed the worse of each other’s kind.

At a young age, Leila witnessed her mother being slaughtered by a vampire. It was her first introduction to them. She grew up in the world of Summerton, where children are taught how segregation in their security is justified by the daily threat vampires pose. Her grandfather, who was also her mentor, loathed vampires and brought her up with a fear of the vampire prophecies. In many ways, those prejudices reinforced her need to fight the dormant serryn inside and suppress any desire to step foot near Blackthorn. Of course, she has been advantaged by the regulations allowing her to stay in the safety of Summerton as far away from her potential trigger as possible, until she was summoned by Caleb – the earthquake to her well-ordered world.

As a youth, Caleb was tempted by a serryn who quickly turned on him, inflicting the most horrific physical, psychological and emotional abuse on him. He was forced to watch a serryn inflict the most atrocious acts on males, females and children of his kind as he helplessly watched on. Surviving, his needs for vengeance was only managed by the support and positive influence of his older brother, Seth – only to then have him murdered by a serryn some years later. Internally, he is justified in doubting Leila for who she claims to be. He’s been on the receiving end of their deceit with tragic consequences. It’s no wonder that when Leila presents herself as being the key to either the salvation or downfall of his kind, he has every reason to see her proclaimed innocence as nothing more than an elaborate scheme to trick him.

The stage was set. It should have run according to plan. He’s destined to be the saviour of his species, she’s anything but destined to be the saviour of him. But as the story progresses, that’s exactly what she starts to become.

Psychological warfare

The result was intense psychological warfare exacerbated by a confined situation with the added conflict that both were a catalyst for the suppressed darkness in the other. The constant, relentless breaking down that Caleb does of Leila, while Leila fights the dormant serryn inside, was admittedly exhausting to write. They spin in circles like lovers caught in an intense argument, both needing to come out on top.

Into the mix, is the taboo simmering attraction between them. Not since his first encounter with a serryn has Caleb ever been attracted to one. He is renowned for being able to abstain from any physical interaction with them, but with Leila the draw is something even he can’t control. To suppress his own self-hatred at his growing feelings – the very prospect a betrayal to his dead brother, not least dismissing the torturous experience that changed who he was – he has to forge a distance that makes him appear cold and heartless. And Caleb is everything Leila should despise, not least because he’s blackmailing her, making it abjectly clear what he intends to do with her, let alone responsible for unearthing the serryn that she has fought so hard to contain.

But fortunately for both, Leila is empathetic enough to see behind the mask that Caleb has worn for too long. She begins to see the Caleb who once was. She sees him at the crucial point where he could flip from a tyrant to a hero – and she is determined to intervene. Not only does she want that part of Caleb to win over for his sake and for them as a couple, but she knows that, ultimately, saving him is the only way she’s going to save everyone else with it. Leila knows that if she succeeds in overcoming the darkness in him, there’s going to be a bright, shining light at the end of it that could save both their kinds.

And Caleb sees hope in Leila. She has a resoluteness he admires, a determination and an uncontrived strength of self, let alone a loyalty to those she cares about. And amongst that is her undeniable attraction to him. But Caleb has a vulnerability born out of knowing that once he falls in love, he falls deep. Caleb’s greatest struggle is his developing feelings for Leila whilst not being selfish enough to turn his back on his own. What Caleb really wants is the best of both worlds – to save his kind and have Leila. And despite the odds being stacked against them, Leila still believes in him when she has every reason not to. By falling for him at his worst, he starts to see Leila’s potential to be his salvation – at least enough to let her go, to let her try. For now.

To end or not to end?

One of the most challenging aspects of writing Blood Roses was maintaining the characters and the strength of their beliefs as genuine – no matter how dark that became at times. More than that, was the need not to override the magnitude of the decisions they are making. To overcome and resolve, in less than a handful of days, what are epic decisions would have undone the whole gravity of the developing love between these two. Caleb and Leila are in an impossible situation – damned if they do and damned if they don’t, and they both know it. What they both have is the weight of responsibility for their kinds on their shoulders with catastrophic consequences if they get it wrong.

But despite every reason for them to see their destinies through, when it comes to it, they cannot kill each other. For Leila, cornered and at her weakest point, when again and again Caleb is not given her the assurance she seeks, the point where she had finally given up hope, seconds away from her own death, she still placed her hand on Caleb’s chest to stop him because she couldn’t let him die. And Caleb, feeling her reach out to him one final time, finally starts to accept that whatever connection they have forged is something worth fighting for.

Their futures

Leila’s made Caleb a promise that she can find a way out of their predicament. Whether she succeeds, if she was telling the truth at all, is another matter. But for Caleb to put that amount of trust in Leila was an immense thing for him to do – the first step towards being able to trust her and let her undo all the damage that her kind have done before. Of course, if she fails, there’s every probability it will intensify his darkness more.

Because, whatever the outcome of their seven-day agreement, Leila is no longer a serryn but Caleb is still the pending Tryan. He’s got his finger on the button and so does his invisible enemy (more of that in Blood Deep!), with the question of who will press first. Caleb has everything he cares about, everything he has worked for, everything he believes in, resting on him making the right decision as to when that button should be pressed – before his enemy does the same. Caleb is left standing on the edge of the precipice, whilst what Leila does next being pivotal to whether he leaps.

What remains to be seen is whether absence makes the heart grow stronger when it comes to Leila and Caleb, or whether both will start to see things differently when they’re away from the intensity of each other. It depends if Caleb does get his hands on Phia, whether his love for Leila will override his instincts when faced with a serryn he hasn’t fallen for this time (and, let’s be honest, if anyone is going to try Caleb’s patience, it’s going to be Phia!!). Or even whether Leila’s loyalty to her own will win out, whether she will still see the potential of redemption in him, or whether she will accept that his demise is necessary for the sake of her own.

Unfortunately for them, the ante is about to be upped. Deep down, they both know there are consequences to them not fulfilling their side of the prophecy – consequences that you’ll learn more of in Blood Deep. Caleb and Leila’s fight to be together has barely even begun.

 

Jask and Phia will be in the spotlight in a short while – but an interview with the lycan leader is coming even sooner! I’ll have more news of that tomorrow. 🙂

Creating Blackthorn’s Couples: Kane and Caitlin

*WARNING!! This post contains spoilers if you haven’t read Blood Shadows or Blood Torn.*

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Blood Shadows wasn’t the first Blackthorn novel I wrote, Blood Roses was. But Kane and Caitlin were amongst the first couples to appear in my short stories whilst I was first finding my way around Blackthorn.

When I ‘met’ Caitlin, she was hightailing it alone down a maze of back alleys (which changed slightly). I instantly knew I didn’t want her to be the one being chased. Instead I gave her a purpose: she worked for some kind of agency – an agency that kept the third species, primarily vampires, in check. As I love conflict, I upped the ante. I couldn’t have her chasing just any vampire – I needed her to be hunting down the best, or should I say the worst.

Enter Kane Malloy.

I first saw him the same time Caitlin did. Initially she succeeded in cornering him, but I knew he was going to be even more trouble than I’d envisaged. With this in mind, if he was going to be true to this elusive, most-wanted vampire who was already rapidly developing in my head, it didn’t make sense that she would catch him – not on her terms, anyway. For the sake of the potential story that was already beginning to spark, I needed her good, but not that good.

Their first meeting

So, instead, Kane came out from behind her, pinning her face-first against the wall. It would have been so easy to let a fight to break out between the two, but I wanted Caitlin to be smarter than that. Besides, I already knew I didn’t want it to be a fist-flying and high-kicking kind of story. I certainly didn’t want a super-human heroine able to handle anything thrown at her. I created a sense of fragility to up the tension but, with it, had to justify to myself why she’d be irresponsible enough, even as a top agent, to risk her life pursing such a notorious vampire alone. And then I knew it: she had nothing to lose. Her life was already under threat. She had days left to live. And she wanted Kane because he was the only one who had the answer to help her save herself and, with it, avenge the loved ones she lost in the process. From then on, Caitlin’s character came to life very quickly. And so did Kane’s.

Evolving somewhere between a hero and an anti-hero, for a short while I wasn’t sure which Kane would be. But when logic dictated he should have knocked Caitlin out cold and promptly escape the authorities, instead he stayed to play. He subsequently developed into an even more intriguing character – not least because he had a purpose for Caitlin as much as she did for him. With his goading words revealing he knew just a little too much about her, it became obvious there was going to be some interesting psychological warfare between these two. And when Caitlin, despite all of Kane’s teasing, gritted her teeth, kept her eye on the goal and played the game quietly and carefully before finally getting one over on the master vampire, I knew she was the right one to take him on. And so Blood Shadows (or, as it was then called, Beguiling the Enemy) began.

In the background to developing Kane and Caitlin’s romance, I created the TSCD and its various departments along with the system of laws (not to be mistaken with lores, which apply to the third species belief/rule systems) that kept the third species in order. I’d already decided that one of the features that differentiated the third species from humans was their shadows in place of souls, so creating Caitlin’s shadow reading abilities became a part of that concept when I worked out what threat was looming over her (the soul-ripper). Kane became a master vampire when I had to work out what made him so special that only he could help her.

Shadow readers and master vampires

According to the Global Council’s classification system, a shadow reader is a second species – a human with additional skills but still with a soul (like witches). By reading pulses, where energy transmissions are particularly intense, Caitlin sees fragments of acts and thoughts that are stored both consciously and subconsciously inside the third species equivalent of their conscience. Giving her this skill would enable her to get the truth from Kane whether he liked it or not – hence her taking the risk of catching him. More so, further down the line, I started to see how her skills were going to play a pivotal role later in the series (no spoilers on that yet!).

Before Kane appeared on the page, I’d already started to sketch out how I wanted my vampires to be. I didn’t particularly find the ‘undead’ concept appealing for a romance, and I didn’t want to go down the well-establish horror route of evil binding these animated corpses to the earth. I wanted them to be alive – a different species. Out of this, I developed a vampire hierarchy of royalty and lesser vampires. But, through Kane, a race developed that sat outside of both. Master vampires are the purest of the species (not to be mistaken with the pure blood of vampire royalty): dual feeders able to consume both blood and energy. They sit outside of the rule of the Higher Order, governed by their own lores. Along with this ability, I gave master vampires knowledge about their species others didn’t have. Because of this, Kane became particularly relevant to the future of Blackthorn – not least why the authorities wanted him in the first place.

Love your enemy 

Over time, Blood Shadows became an evolving plot of secrets, lies and cover-ups – where the good guys are revealed to be the bad guys, and the bad guy, well… I’m biased, obviously! Amidst this, I developed both Kane and Caitlin’s characters to give them enough motivation to sustain their battle of wills in order to gain the upper hand in their causes – both sharing the same goal of vengeance for their loved ones.

Of course, their attraction to each other became inevitable. Despite fighting this, the sexual tension between these two became palpable very early on. Caitlin’s deep-rooted obsession with Kane for so many years before finally meeting him did nothing to appease it – not least when he started to prove himself as anything but the reputed monster. And when Kane discovered that, far from knowing the truth of what happened to his sister, Caitlin was more innocent than he could have imagined, it threw a whole raft of moral complications his way. What started out as a dark game for him on his journey to vengeance developed into real feelings when he found himself uncovering more admirable qualities in Caitlin than reasons to hate her. Though set up as enemies, Kane and Caitlin gradually started to discover that their greatest strength was through working together rather than as adversaries.

So did Kane turn out to be the good guy after all? That has been debated. But I think the pivotal scene where Caitlin learns she had the power to destroy the soul-ripper without Kane all along, says it all. I was once told indirectly in a review that if Kane was any kind of hero, he would never have let Caitlin fight the soul-ripper but instead killed it for her. That’s not how I see it. I see that Kane never left her side. I saw him poised and ready if anything went wrong. And I know he would never have let the soul-ripper succeed. What Kane did was forego his own fourteen-year quest for vengeance by refusing to kill Caitlin (despite it creating a whole raft of additional complications for him). With it, he could have easily broken even by taking Caitlin’s fulfilment of her vengeance away from her too. All he had to do was kill the soul-ripper, herald her indebted to him and, with it, conceal the truth of how little she’d needed him all along. But he didn’t. Instead of taking over, he let her discover her own strength. He let her see her quest through to the end – encouraged it even. And when he walked away, he did so only to give her the chance to do the same – with every excuse possible to do just that. I don’t know about you, but I’m glad she didn’t.

Their future

It might have ended with a happy-for-now for Kane and Caitlin, but if you’ve read Blood Torn (if not, look away!!), you’ll know that their actions potentially have huge global consequences. Sirius Throme, the head of the human-run Global Council responsible for putting the regulations into place in the beginning, had never had anything beyond his own interests in mind. He initially wanted Kane so he could ensure that whatever secret recipe could bind vampire and human blood together remained as such. After all, if there’s a cure for human ailments, if the third species are there for the good of mankind, justification for the segregation would fall apart and his world domination plans would be thwarted. Instead, Kane saving Caitlin presented Sirius with an even greater opportunity – a potential way to increase his power to an almost immortal state that has nothing to do with cures at all. He has plans for creating an entirely new world order by using and then disposing of the third species in the process.

But that’s only one of many problems Kane and Caitlin are facing. They’re still on opposite sides of the fence when it comes to the law. Caitlin has an unwavering belief in what she does for a living, not least her need to end the corruption in her organisation. Self-reliant and strong-willed, Caitlin’s not going to give all of that up easily. Then there’s the fact that she’s still recovering from the betrayal of those she loved and trusted. Having had her first love abandon her when she needed him most, the question remains whether she can truly learn to trust again. And with Kane still something of a closed book, it’s possible her insecurities could resurface – not least as it’s not just her heart she’s trusting Kane with this time, but potentially the future of her kind, let alone the third species too, if he is to go up against Sirius.

But Kane’s vengeance remains incomplete. He still carries his guilt for what happened to Arana. He’s still hellbent on not only bringing down the system (now more than ever since Sirius’ threat) but, as you now know, the prophesied vampire leader too. Up until now, Kane has sustained his middle finger at the authorities who slaughtered his sister by refusing to care about anyone who could be used against him again. Being with Caitlin means accepting he has made himself vulnerable. And with Caitlin potentially in the firing line, fiercely-protective Kane could create a whole new wealth of conflict between them if he doesn’t approach it the right way. And let’s not forget Kane’s falling for Caitlin also had him going back on his deal with Jask. Kane certainly can’t afford to lose his reputation – the one thing that he has to maintain to survive Blackthorn – especially with a pending war looming and Sirius having him ready as the scapegoat. With this on top of the prophetic threat of an even greater uprising imminent, having anything but his mission to worry about could get too much.

I’ve no doubt Kane and Caitlin’s love for each other is real though. They have an amazing understanding of each other, a mutual respect, let alone having found a companionship that is developing into become as emotionally fulfilling as it is passionate. Above all of that, they both have a new common goal – one that is no longer one of opposition – in preventing the pending disaster and stopping the real bad guys from winning. I’ve always had a good feeling about these two. Let’s hope they don’t throw me a curveball, but continue to prove me right in believing in them.

Leila and Caleb are up next time!