Acknowledgements
*Do not knock me on Nickelback, I love this song*
You have reached the end of Blood Lust, book 2 of the Ancient Blood Series.
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Oh my god. Oh my GOD it's done! I did it. Holy shit I did it.
Tell me the truth, how mad are you?
How much are you crying?
I've been crying my eyes out since I finished, and I am so tired. This is the ending I have been planning on for months. I honestly never thought I was going to get here. I don't even know if it was any good!
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Shoutouts!
A million thanks once again to my beta reader, Maximillia. This year has been incredible (good and bad) for both of us, and, again, I'm sorry for the tunnel vision I get at the end of this. I owe you big time and I think we need a spa day.
Also special thanks to the following people in no particular order:
You guys are the first people to read and vote and/or comment with every update. I can't express how honored I am that you guys keep coming back after everything I have written and done to my characters. And holy crap there are so many more of you than last time. When I was writing this, it was really emotional because I never thought I'd have this much of an audience.
And I have not forgotten about my silent readers. You guys are fantastic and thank you so much. If you feel like jumping out, feel free to shoot me a message or email, but if you're more comfortable hanging back, just know that I appreciate all of you!
To the readers who have been waiting for Blood Lust to be completed before reading on in the series, thank you for coming back, you have the patience of saints!
And finally, to any new readers, welcome and thank you for reading! I really hope you enjoyed the ride and I hope you're willing to stick around for a bit longer.
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So, some quick "author-god" facts about Blood Lust now that it's over.
*The REAL reason this story didn't focus on Rhia and Nolan is because it was SUPPOSED to be a quick little novella meant to get readers from the end of book 1 to the beginning of book 3. No one was going to let me get away with *six months later, everyone is dead*. But we all know I can't do simple or short. So, instead you get this mess of a book that's just as long as Dragon Blood.
This is also why the ending is so sudden, pretty much comes out of nowhere, and ends on a MASSIVE cliff-hanger. I ended Dragon Blood very specifically so that readers didn't HAVE to continue with the series to get a whole story. The epilogue was sequel-bait, but otherwise I wanted Dragon Blood to feel complete on its own.
However, Blood Lust is an entirely different beast. The whole purpose was to fill in the space between Rhia meeting Nekros and the vampire race suffering massive losses all at once. I WANT readers to go into the next book, because it gets back to what I know you all want. Rhia and Nolan. Love and loss, hurt and betrayal. The classic fight of good and evil. All that fun stuff.
*I was trying to portray the demons as nonbinary or gender fluid. In the veil they don't have physical bodies, therefore don't have genders. And in the mortal world, they can adjust their bodies to display whatever gender type they chose. And whether they're born with certain body parts in the mortal realm doesn't really matter BECAUSE they can choose to change it whenever they want. That's why there's a lot of 'they' pronouns when talking about the demons. Because not all of them chose a gender, and even if they did, the characters don't know it. I don't think I explained that very well in the book, so here you go.
*The original relationship was between Kate and Raphaël, believe it or not, and Kate was originally human. It was not indented to be healthy relationship, and it was more focused around her venom addiction to numb out the pain of losing a loved one. Cyrille was a background character and just an incubus. Aarón was more of an antagonist, and Danika didn't even exist. But NONE of that was working, so I threw it out and started over about six times each with a different variation before I latched onto the current story line and this cluster-F is what we've ended up with.
*Raphaël was supposed to have a much bigger part, but now I might end up taking him out altogether lol. He's had so little impact, I actually feel stupid for setting him up the way I did. Aarón turned out to be a way better character anyway, so I might adjust Dragon Blood to set up the werewolves to replace Raphael's rebellion.
*Ashton turning out to be the High Sin Envy was brand new and completely pulled out of my ass. So, if you're wondering if it felt a little out of the blue, that's why. I plan on reworking him a little better in the Dragon Blood edit so it's less *bam* he's a demon now.
*I took heavy inspiration from Yin Zhe's art for the description of the High Sins, so if you're looking for what I used for reference material, you can google them. They are a fantastic artist, and I'm still taking inspiration from them now.
* Rhia's designation as the entity "Charlie" is a bit of a play on that her OG name during the very first version of Dragon Blood. I changed it when I made her a dragon because I wanted something a bit more mystical and powerful.
* In the beginning of Blood Lust, Kate's name was Gaia. As a play on it, I was going to make Darius's daughter's name that as well, but then I remembered that I named another one of the lycans Gaia. So now it's Persephone, which works better anyway because Kate was always going to name her daughter in Darius's honor. Also, I love the name so deal with it lol
*Originally, Danika's relationship with Aarón was going to be a lot more volatile and abusive. I wanted to play more on the concept of soulmates who are on completely opposite sides of each other. Eventually Aarón was supposed learn that Danika worked for Nolan, and it was going to get really ugly between them. Then, when she turned human again, he was going to force her to turn into a werewolf so she could never leave him, and he could control all aspects of their bond. That obviously didn't happen, and I'm not sure what's going to happen to their relationship at this moment. All I do know for sure is that they both have parts to play in the future.
*Overall, the story was supposed to be a lot darker. Apparently, I don't have the heart to physically abuse my characters on screen nearly as much as I thought. Just emotionally tear them apart.
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I am also going to put in a bit of a explanation thingy about Nolan:
I know people were really not happy about the chapter that reflect on his memories of killing the werewolves, or his obsession with them as a whole. It put Nolan, a character that we thought we knew and loved, into a light that none of us wanted to see.
It was a really hard chapter to write, and I've been struggling with the subplot since I started writing book 2. But—and this is a huge, raging but—if I did not write that chapter, everyone was going to be blaming it all on Constantine. Yes, Constantine played his part in it, and he is not entirely blameless.
But it was Nolan's choice. Nolan's actions. And Nolan bears the weight of the guilt for what he has done, is doing, and was planning on doing.
The thing I have been saying from the beginning (mostly to myself and my beta reader) is that Nolan is twenty- thousand years old. He has lived a long-ass time, and not every second of that time has he been a golden boy. He is, as we all are, complicated.
Jesus, I'm talking about a character like they're a real person, so here's the long and the short of it.
Nolan is, overall, a good guy. But he is not the good guy in this particular story.
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Alright. So, what's next?
I know Blood Lust wasn't nearly as good as Dragon Blood, and parts of it got really confusing because of the back and forth between Kate and Danika and all the other characters. I definitely bit off more than I could chew in the beginning. I made a ton of new characters because I didn't really know where the bulk of the story was going, which made it way more complicated than it needed to be.
I know I have a lot of work out to make it a better, more cohesive story. Honestly, it's probably going to need a complete rewrite, and when it's done it will probably be shorter and closer to its original intention. I don't know though. It will kind of depend on what you guys think and the reception of the book now that it's done.
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The process of writing books 1 and 2 were extremely different. For Dragon Blood, I knew how the story began, how it was going to end, and a few things in between. In fact, the prologue and the final chapter were the first two chapters I ever wrote for the story. I had to change a lot of the last chapter to fit everything that did happen in between, but I always knew that Rhia and Nekros would have their reunion.
As for Blood Lust, all I had in my head was an ending. More of a concept of an ending. Constantine was going to die, and with him, every made vampire. That was it. That's all I had to get to book 3. And I didn't really set it up very well in book 1, because I didn't realize this was going to be a series in the beginning. So, there is a lot of waffling in Blood Lust that will get cleaned up later.
I'm not going to start an editing blog for either Dragon Blood (again) or Blood Lust. That was an ADHD fixation that faded pretty quick, and it didn't really work for me. I think want to finish the series before I start really editing this time so that the world, characters, and story are consistent throughout.
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I am probably going to edit Dragon Blood a little bit. I really want to enter it in the Watty's this year, but I think it needs a good spring clean at least on the grammar side of things. But I'm also terrified of all the amazing comments getting disconnected from the paragraphs!! 🙁
(By the way, if anyone knows how to write a tag line or how to squish the plot of that monster into 500 words, hit me up, because I keep struggling at that part of the entry process in contests.)
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What's next in the writing department?
Well, I'm going to work on Claimed by the Primals for a little bit. It's so different and I'm having fun playing with the different writing style and different kind of relationship. Jay is a neurotic overthinker with a filthy mind, and love cranking it up to eleven and seeing what happens.
I am completely rewriting it, so the plot has more than two matchsticks to hold itself up on, but that has caused it to have a completely different path of plot progression. I'll be taking the current version down on May 15 to start re-uploading the new stuff in maybe a week.
I'm going try stepping out of my comfort zone with this project. I'm going for shorter chapters (around 2500 words each) and try to finish the whole thing in less that 75,000 words. Doubtful, but I'm up for the challenge of toning down the unnecessary filler and cranking up the spice.
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...
...
Okay, okay, I see that look. You want to know what's next for the Ancient Blood Series?
Here you go.
Mixed Blood
Book 3 of the Ancient Blood Series.
Check out the book trailer I made on Tik Tok!------->
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"Why are we fighting each other?"
"Typical. I should have known your kind wouldn't have been taught the history our breeds share. Tell me, girl, what did your handlers tell you? That the lycanthrope are jealous of your vampiric greatness?"
The jeering of the werewolves grew once again, and the vampire guard inched closer around her and the elders and further away from them. "N-no. I know both sides of the story. I know our that your ancestor threatened the stability of the vampiric kingdom, according to us. And I've heard your side as well, that Nolan Wes tried to wipe out your breed on nothing but a whim."
She heard the hissing of the elder vampires behind her and winced again, knowing she was going to get a lecture for speaking about him that way.
"But... why are we fighting? Nothing you do will bring your ancestors back, and nothing I do can change what has been done."
"I promised Nolan Wes that his kind would face the same devastation as mine! I do not expect you to understand, nor do I need to explain it to you."
"Yes, you do! If you're going to kill me, then the least you can do is tell my why! Thousands of vampires have died with the loss of our king. Are we not devastated enough to sate the blood lust of your ancestors? What good does it do to continue this cycle of hate and violence?"
"It has nothing to do with good or evil, you child. It has everything to do with what is right. My people were hunted like dogs, and not even the Counsel would hold him accountable!"
"And now he's dead. He is not here to decide what path we take. Because of him, our breeds will never be allies. But I... I would like to try. What else can we do to break off the path he has set us on? Because this—us fighting and me following in his footsteps and continuing the hunt, if you will—that's what he would want."
A long pause stretched out between them. The red in his eyes started to fade, revealing dark brown irises. "What, then," she almost didn't recognize how easily he went from aggressive snarling to calm diplomacy. "Do you want, little vampira?"
"I... I don't know. All I do know is that you're right. I am a child. With a thousand years, I could never even begin to fill the vacuum left by either Nolan Wes or Constantine Moureaux, so..." she took a shuddering breath, set her shoulders back, and raised her chin with all the confidence she did not have. "So, I'm not going to try. I will start my own trail. My own legacy. But... I can't do it alone."
Another long pause as Aarón Guerrero considered her. Then, his lip curled in a cool smile, and she was relieved to see that his fangs were flattening back to regular, human-shaped teeth. "Very well, Valentina Wes. Let's see if you truly can break away from your grandfather's murderous tendencies."
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Yeah! What do you think about THAT?!
Yeah, okay, I guess that's a bit of a spoiler on who's still alive, but OH WELL! (It's like 2 am here, I'm exhausted but on top of being super sick right now I haven't been able to sleep for 3 days please forgive the insanity. I'm literally just watching the clock to tip to 6 am so I can post these chapters at a "reasonable" hour)
As of right now, I have the prologue and first chapter written. I have been working on the second chapter, but I legit cannot stop crying because the beginning is extremely depressing. I do want to get a little further in before I start posting. I took off two months between Dragon Blood and Blood Lust, I think I might need closer to three, maybe four for Mixed Blood.
I'm going to aim for the beginning of September, but I'll keep you posted, of course. The prologue, though, will be posted in the beginning of June to whet your appetites. It's sort of its own, separate story that has very little effect on the events of the book (as far as you know :P) kind of like the prologue of Dragon Blood.
I don't know if this is going to be the same kind of romance-centered book as the other two. If you think there was a lot going on in Blood Lust, then you should see my worksheets for Mixed Blood. I'm actually being forced to do outlining for this so I can tell the story I want, and it's insane (for anyone who doesn't know why this is a big deal; I'm a pantser. Basically, I don't plan ahead more than a couple chapters. A really detailed plan for a book makes me less interested in in the project. But I'm so deep into this series that I don't have much of a choice at this point)
Originally, I was going to try and go back to Atticus and Zesstra, but I think there will be too much going on for them to be the main focus, so I've been considering other options. In fact, you've already met both of the potentials love interests, one in Dragon Blood, the other in Blood Lust. If anyone can guess them both... I don't know. Shoutout at the beginning of book 3? I'm super sick and feverish while writing this so forgive the rambling.
(I am considering writing a little novella to expand on Atticus and Zesstra's story, but Blood Lust was supposed to be a novella, too, so... 🤷♀️)
Depending on the outcome of the outline and when I start writing, I might actually need to break it into two books just to get everything done, but as of right now there is no plan for a fourth in the main series. I'll keep you guys posted.
Thank you again so, SO much.
Stay tuned for more news!
M.C. Matthews
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