Harlequin’s erotica line Spice gets spooky this month with the paranormal anthology What Happens in Vegas…After Dark. Author Anya Bast is here to tell us about her novella “The Promise”, which takes readers from the Vegas strip into faeryland…. 
by Anya Bast, author of What Happens in Vegas…After Dark
Hi all! My name is Anya Bast, national bestselling author of paranormal and erotic romance. I’m so pleased to be here with you today. I thought I’d talk a little about the most recent novella I’ve written for Harlequin Spice, The Promise.
I was excited when I learned we’d be doing a paranormal follow up to last year’s contemporary erotic romance anthology, What Happens in Vegas… In the sequel, What Happens in Vegas…After Dark, the anthology authors once again come together to tell tales of Las Vegas, only this time they’re about the paranormal underside of the city.
I love writing paranormal romance because the sub genre allows for so much freedom. You can take your reader anywhere your imagination is capable of going. In The Promise, my novella in the second Vegas anthology, I take the reader to faeryland.
In The Deal (my novella in the first Vegas anthology) you meet the heroine, Cassidy, and learn she’s been stood up at the altar by her former fiancé, Damian. Damian comes off as kind of cad in that story, since it’s told from Cassidy’s perspective. The Promise, is a prequel to The Deal, and in it you discover why Damian missed that very important date and learn his side of the story.
Damian has always felt out of step with his people. His people, as in, humanity. He’s never fit in, never felt like he belonged. There’s a good reason why he’s never fit in and he’s about to discover it.
On the morning of his wedding, he’s greeted by two brainless thugs bent on preventing him from getting to the chapel. Instead they drag him to a seedy nightclub on the strip. Damian has lived his whole life in Las Vegas and prides himself on knowing every inch of the strip, so how can it be he’s never noticed this place? The inside of the building is even stranger than the outside. At first he thinks it’s a goth club, but there’s something that doesn’t ring completely right with that explanation.
In the mysterious club he meets Elena, who is not his fiancée but is the woman of his dreams. His soul mate. His perfect fit. Together they find the kind of love that most people only dream of. She reveals to him a whole new world and shows him his true self. Suddenly all the stars are aligned and the universe is singing.
And not only does Damian find the love of his life, he discovers he belongs to a race of people he thought were only myth. Elena is a real, live faery princess. And while he’s no faery prince, he’s not human either.
But along with Elena comes a mess of problems. Not only is Damian engaged to be married, but so is Elena. Damian knows he must let his fiancée go for her own good-so she can also find true love. However, breaking Elena’s betrothal could mean death for them both.
True love might not be in the cards, after all….
Both Elena and Damian feel duty-bound to follow through on the promises they’ve made. Damian, on his promise to Cassidy. Elena, on her pledge to uphold her people’s traditions. She especially feels pressure to bend to her father’s will. These duties conflict with their heart wishes and it’s a battle for them to both to be true to themselves and honor their commitments.
I think everyone has times in their lives when their desire to travel one path conflicts with a promise they made to someone or some kind of commitment that influences them to take a less desirable path.
I can remember long ago when I wanted to take the path of a writer, but I knew that becoming a professional of some kind would please my family more. That was definitely a heart conflict, but I managed to find my way through it.
So, how about you? Have you ever been caught in a wish versus duty situation?
