THE.
MIDNIGHT BREED SERIES.
COMPANION.
LARA ADRIAN.
About the Author.
LARA ADRIAN is a New York Times and #1 internationally best-selling author with nearly 4 million books in print worldwide and translations licensed in more than 19 countries. She lives in New England with her husband, where she is currently at work on her next novel.
To learn more about her books and to sign up for her email newsletter, visit www.LaraAdrian.com.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS.
This book has been a work-in-progress for a couple of years now--much longer than that, if I am to count all of the thought and planning that went into the development of the Midnight Breed series from the time I first began writing it and adding pages of notes to my series "bible."
At first, I expected my notes would remain as background material whose only purpose was to help me remember my own series lore and character stats. But along the way, as the series gained popularity and readers started emailing me with thought-provoking questions about one thing or another, or asked me at book signings to explain things about the Ancients or the Breed or the Breedmates that wasn"t necessarily in the text of the books, I realized that it could be fun to share all of my "insider info" with the fans of the series who had grown to love the Midnight Breed perhaps as much as I do.
I"ve had a lot of help from my husband and support staff at various times in compiling and editing the material contained in this Companion book, but no one has been more instrumental than my awesome Facebook admin and a.s.sistant (who also happens to be my lovely step-daughter and the mother of my first grandchild!) Heather Rogers. Thank you, Heather, for all of your effort, creativity and patience. I love you!
Of course, neither this book nor any of the others I"ve written would be possible without the love and encouragement of my husband, or the enthusiasm and support from you, my dear reader.
This book is for all of you, with love and grat.i.tude.
Introduction by Lara Adrian.
For as long as I can remember, I"ve had a deep love of books. Although neither of my parents are avid readers, they made sure my siblings and I had library cards in elementary school and a couple of dollars to spend when the Bookmobile came around to our small hometown in Michigan. I can still remember the wonder I felt-and the agonizing indecision-every time I wandered the aisles of the public library or perused the tables of brand-new books set out for consideration in the traveling Bookmobile. It was always so hard to choose just one or two!
Other kids saved their pennies for candy or the latest cool toys. I could never get enough books. I could never get enough of the mysteries that books showed me, the magic they created, or the many incredible worlds they opened up in my mind"s eye.
Books were my escape from all the things that troubled me. They were my pa.s.sage into amazing, sometimes terrifying places I never dreamed might exist. Books were my home port, their pages a comfort and companion, no matter my age or where life took me.
They still are.
The fact that I now make my living writing books-telling stories I hope will give my readers some of the same kind of escape and wonderment that other storytellers have given me throughout my life-is a privilege I never take for granted.
I worked hard, but I also got lucky early on, landing a publishing contract with Random House for the very first book I"d ever written-a medieval romance that released in 1999 under my first pen name, Tina St. John. I wrote six more historical romances over the next six years, books that received nice reviews and won awards, but never found a large enough audience to keep a publisher happy.
And so it was, in the summer of 2005, that I found myself at a crossroads. My publisher didn"t want any more medieval romances from me. The proposal for the book I was working on had been rejected and I was without a contract-news I received just after my husband and I had signed a mortgage on the first home (a condo) that we"d ever owned.
Fortunately, my editor believed in me and invited me to send in something totally different for consideration. Even though I was reeling from the fact that my Tina St. John career had just ended without notice, my mind was already leaping forward to the folder of story ideas I"d been gathering and playing with over the years-ideas that included everything from gritty thrillers and psychological suspense stories, to small-town, feel-good romances. I also had a couple of concepts sketched out for dark, s.e.xy vampire novels.
My agent wasn"t very enthusiastic when I told her I wanted to propose a vampire romance. She cautioned me that editors had been predicting the death (the true death?) of vampires for quite some time. She worried that, as with my historical romances, I might be coming in on the downward curve of the trend. Little did anyone know that in just a few months" time, a certain phenomenon called Twilight would breathe all-new life into romances with blood and bite!
A couple of weeks after that bad news call from my agent, I submitted a rough outline and first three chapters for a book I"d tentatively t.i.tled, Kiss of Darkness. Feeling I had nothing to lose, I packed my story with all the things that entertain me most as a reader: action, suspense, urban fantasy, and, of course, scorching sensuality and romance featuring a dark, absolutely lethal, drop-dead gorgeous, uber-alpha male.
My agent read the material, and she loved it. She loved it so much, she asked if I could possibly expand the outline to cover three books, so she could shop the proposal to a handful of publishers as a trilogy. I worked out brief plotlines for another two books (one story that stuck pretty much as I"d pitched it, and another that, well, didn"t-which I"ll explain further on in this Companion). My agent sent out the proposals and told me she hoped we"d have some nibbles of interest shortly.
Not even a week later, we had offers from almost all of the top publishing houses in New York. An auction took place between several of them, and within a few days I went from being an unemployed historical romance writer to a brand-new, dark contemporary vampire romance author with a new name and multiple offers in hand.
In the end, I remained with Random House and the wonderful Shauna Summers, the editor who plucked me out of the slush pile with that very first medieval romance ma.n.u.script. Random House released the first three Midnight Breed books in rapid succession-two of them back-to-back in the summer of 2007, and a third later that year. To my total amazement, the series was an instant success, landing on major best-seller lists since the beginning.
There are now a total of eleven Midnight Breed novels in print through Random House USA (with a twelfth coming soon!) and one ebook novella. This Companion to the series covers the first ten books-Kiss of Midnight through Darker After Midnight-which comprise the original story arc of the series. You"ll find background information on the story world and each of the first ten novels, a complete character reference guide, a Q&A with readers, fun trivia questions and more.
This Companion volume also includes Gideon and Savannah"s story, something I"ve been promising Midnight Breed fans for what seems like forever. A Touch of Midnight is an all-new, never-before-published novella of around forty-thousand words-a big "short" story, almost half the size of one of my typical novels. It finally answers all the questions you have about Gideon, how he and Savannah met, why he no longer runs combat missions, and even a couple extra surprises that shed light on other things you"ve asked me about through the years.
My intent for the Companion had been to release it as something of a bridge between Darker After Midnight and Edge of Dawn, the book that begins the current, second story arc of the series featuring the offspring of the Order and a powerful new enemy on the horizon.
But things don"t always work out as planned, and for a number of reasons, this Companion almost didn"t happen at all. Instead, with options opening up to authors through self-publishing, I decided not to wait any longer and instead release it myself in ebook and trade paperback.
If there is reader interest, I"d love to release a second Companion volume in the future to cover all of the exciting things and interesting new characters you"ll encounter as the series continues with Edge of Dawn and the other books still to come.
In the meantime, I hope you enjoy revisiting Lucan, the Order, the Breedmates, the story world, the behind-the-scenes tidbits and all the rest, in this, The Midnight Breed Series Companion.
Lastly, a word of caution: This book is full of spoilers!
You"ll find no warnings (other than the one you"re reading now) so if you haven"t yet read the Midnight Breed Series, this may not be the best place for a new reader to start. Unless you"re like me, that is--frequently peeking at the last page of a book first, and taking no less enjoyment in the journey despite knowing how everything will end.
Either way, enjoy! And thank you for being part of this journey along with me.
With big hugs and much love, Lara Adrian.
The Midnight Breed Series Story World.
Ancients.
Why Aliens?
If I"m going to talk about the world of the Midnight Breed series, I suppose I need to start at the beginning. I have always loved vampires, from the time I was a kid. From the creepy, sometimes campy, Dracula movies on the Sat.u.r.day afternoon "Creature Feature" on TV, or films like The Lost Boys and *Salem"s Lot, to Anne Rice"s mesmerizing novels featuring sophisticated, lethally seductive Lestat, vampires were-and still are-my #1 monster of choice. What other supernatural creature inspires fear and desire in such equal measure? He is death and s.e.x and limitless power, all rolled into one insatiable (usually gorgeous) package. Vampires represent the ultimate dark, erotic fantasy.
There"s just one problem with this picture. The corpse thing. I don"t know about you, but for me it"s not exactly a turn-on. Hard to imagine getting up-close-and-personal with a lot of cold, dead flesh. And no heartbeat means no blood flow. Which also means...well, no blood flow. And in a romance novel, especially the kind I like to write, that"s a leap of logic that really can"t be overlooked. But beyond that consideration, I suppose I just prefer my book boyfriends to be breathing.
So, when I got the green light from Random House and began creating my own race of vampires-my own mythology-the "undead" issue was the first thing I had to resolve. When I mentioned to John (my husband and most-valued plotting partner) that I needed to come up with a plausible origin for the Breed, he quipped, "Maybe they"re aliens."
It seemed kind of crazy-vampires from outer s.p.a.ce-but also kind of brilliant. All the pieces started coming together in my mind as soon as he said it. I couldn"t jot down my thoughts fast enough-everything from the Ancients" arrival on Earth, what they looked like, what kind of planet they came from, how their offspring would look, how they would live and love and sometimes die...all of it.
Not everything has made it into the books themselves. Maybe it never will. But when it comes to research and world-building, I think it"s important for a writer to know the answers to questions that might not ever get asked in any particular work. It helps give a firmer foundation to the characters and to the universe they inhabit, even if that foundation remains just below the surface of the actual stories.
Here are my world-building notes, taken from my story "bible" as I was writing the book that became Kiss of Midnight and the start of the Midnight Breed series: What life is like on the Ancients" planet The planet is mostly dark, with about four hours of sunlight during which the inhabitants sleep in order to avoid getting smoked by UV rays. The planet is chilly due to the lack of light, but the aliens" blood runs faster than human/mammals so they are not affected. There isn"t a lot of plant or animal life on the planet (also due to lack of light), but there is a lot of water and hilly, rocky terrain. The aliens live in technologically advanced cities and dwellings, made from metals excavated from the hills.
Because of the lack of natural animal life, the alien society eats its own-they are cannibals, except they don"t consume meat or muscle, only blood. They have farms that raise "crops" of blood hosts for the ma.s.ses. The powerful in alien society purchase private stocks of blood hosts, rather like slaves, who exist only to nourish and entertain their masters.
The race is cruel and aggressive: Males enjoy the sport of hunting and often arrange predator parties for their elite friends; females sometimes are permitted to organize gladiator-style spectacles of the choicest male slaves, who are typically forced to "service" their mistresses. The male hunting fervor has also spread to the "street" crowd, but it resembles more gang-style murder than organized sport. This underground form of hunting among the lower cla.s.ses is illegal, and punishable immediately by death.
As far as laws and government, a few powerful individuals control an entire society. There are no elections, no rights of the individual, only those of the strong and the elite. The work force is in business to serve rich masters. There are no schools for general population; they are kept ignorant of everything except what the government deems they need to know. Reproductive rights are non-existent; general civilians are bred like cattle, with most offspring being taken away to serve the rich. There is only one religion, and powerful priests dictate to the ma.s.ses how they should live.
There are no marriages, only reproductive matings among the powerful and selective, and clinical breedings (generally IVF, or stud servicing if the owners prefer more hands-on supervision) among the ma.s.ses. Females are viewed as valuable only so long as they can breed-whether that"s on the demand of an elite male (if the female is of a highborn bloodline) or in the farms and in servitude. Barren females, which are rare, and those who can no longer bear offspring, are euthanized-if they"re lucky. Basically, you don"t want to be born female on this planet!
The race has its own complex language, but they can also communicate telepathically and read one another"s mind. The ma.s.ses are prohibited from telepathic communication by the implantation of stunting chips at birth, which cut off that part of their brain. Individuals raised on the farms are basically lobotomized in vitro, since they will not need any of their faculties in their dim existence.
The army of this planet is immense, and brutal. This is a race of beings that thrives on violence and conquest, which has bred an entire cla.s.s of gladiatorial warriors in service to powerful generals, as well as the generals themselves, who relish blood sport. From time to time, pods of these warriors are sent out to scout neighboring planets for possible inhabitation and/or resources. They love bringing home trophies from "exotic" places-usually skulls or other evidence of the carnage left in their wake.
Physical description of the Ancients Humanoid in form, but typically 6"5" and often taller. Immensely strong. Eyes are greenish-topaz, with elliptical pupils-very much like cats" eyes. Optimum nocturnal and predatory vision.
Bodies and heads are completely hairless, with unusual skin markings ("dermaglyphs") that serve as camouflage and ultraviolet ray protection (meager) as well as indications of their lineage and social rank. These markings are henna-like and intricate, but change colors (brown, gold, green, blue, red) and iridescence based on the individual"s emotional state. The markings cover their bodies, often even into their faces and the tops of their heads.
Psychic abilities of the Ancients.
- Mind reading and telepathy between their own kind - Mind control of humans.
- Ability to create "Minions" (mind slaves) of bled humans - Ability to move at speeds beyond human sensory detection.
- Telekinesis - Heightened sensory perception (like predator animals).
The crash-landing on Earth.
Thousands of years ago, a group of eight warriors from the Ancients" planet set out on a conquest and crashed on Earth. Immediately following their arrival, two of their crew died of UV exposure. They learned quickly that Earth has long days of sunlight, and, vulnerable during this time, they had to seek shelter deep underground.
The aliens were highly evolved intellectually, so they picked up on human languages with relative ease, aided by the ability to read simple human minds. They communicated with Earth"s inhabitants when needed, if mainly to taunt them with threats and verbal domination, which provided a basis for some of the alien and vampire folklore that spread through countless human generations.
Hunger was an immediate factor in the survival of the aliens on Earth. At night, they would sweep in on quiet villages to feed and kill without discrimination. They actually wiped out entire civilizations in this fashion (Atlantis, the Maya, others of less note). Because of Earth"s harsh climate, the aliens required more blood than on their own planet, so they consumed in vast quant.i.ties, spreading ma.s.s fear and superst.i.tion through humankind for centuries.
Other hungers needed to be sated as well. The aliens relished hunting humans and razing peaceful settlements, but they also craved s.e.x. Rapes were commonplace in the raids and attacks. Human females didn"t always survive the brutality of their alien conquerors, but some did. And some-a rare few-actually proved fertile to the alien seed. These women were the first Breedmates, and would become the unwilling mothers of a new race of vampire on Earth...a hybrid race that would come to be known as the Breed.
The Ancients" demise on Earth.
Those Ancients who didn"t perish in the first few centuries after they arrived were later brought down (Post-Black Death era, so mid-1300s) by their own descendants--those who would become the first Breed warriors of the Order--who joined forces under Lucan"s leadership to rise up to overthrow the remaining Ancients for the good of mankind and the entire Breed nation around the world.
None of the original eight Ancients are known to have survived Lucan"s war on them, however, rumors persist about one Ancient who escaped and now hibernates in a hidden location. It"s likely that Rogues have information about this slumbering Ancient that the Order could pursue. [Author"s note: I later decided to keep the hibernating Ancient a secret, not a rumor, and put the alien under the charge of one individual, Dragos, rather than involving Rogues.]
Methods for killing a vampire.
- Sunlight exposure (typically within minutes) - Starvation (slow death) - Decapitation (instant).
- Complete or ma.s.sive body trauma (effectiveness depends on damage) - Severe injuries inflicted with weaponry or explosives (less effective).
The Breed.
The Breed are the hybrid offspring, and subsequent direct descendants, of an Ancient and a Breedmate. Through the genetic dominance of their Ancient fathers, Breed infants are born exclusively male. Breed males share the huge size and strength of their alien fathers, and when agitated (either by hunger, anger, or l.u.s.t-any extreme emotion) their eyes take on an alien, amber glow and their pupils turn thin like a cat"s eye.
The most powerful of the Breed are those born of the first generation (Gen One), however with their physical/mental strength comes fiercer hungers and an added vulnerability to the things that can kill one of the Breed, such as sunlight exposure and blood addiction. Later generations of the Breed must deal with these issues too, but Gen Ones bear the hardest burdens.
All vampires need to drink blood from a fresh, flowing human (or Breedmate) vein in order to live. No blood bags, transfusions, animals or synthetics. Blood is essential, but where their Ancient sires have no limits on how much their systems can absorb, for all members of the Breed, there is a dangerous tipping point where survival and excess meet. If a Breed consumes too much, or too frequently, he risks developing Bloodl.u.s.t, an addiction to blood.
Much like a human addiction to a powerful narcotic, Bloodl.u.s.t is destructive and lethal. The addict swirls deeper and deeper into the void, until all that was good in him is gone. For one of the Breed, once Bloodl.u.s.t claims him, he is very often a lost cause. Without intervention, his blood system will corrupt and his sanity will soon follow, turning him into a killing machine with no hope of recovery. At that point, he is considered Rogue, the closest a human/vampire can get to his savage alien roots.
How the Breed compares to cla.s.sic vampires.
Likenesses include: Must consume blood in order to survive; long lifespans of many centuries, but not true immortality in that they can be killed by various methods (see Ancients); photosensitivity, both the eyes and the skin; ability to move at great speeds, beyond the detection of human senses; mind control in varying degrees; telekinesis in varying degrees.
Differences include: No aversion to garlic or holy water; no need to be invited into a place before entering; no problems with sacred ground or churches, as they are not the undead or the d.a.m.ned; no trouble seeing their own reflections, as they are real flesh and blood individuals; no ability to disappear or dematerialize; no shapeshifting ability; cannot be killed by a wooden stake to the heart.
Physical traits of the Breed.
While Breed males inherit their Ancient fathers" vampiric thirsts and strengths, physically, in terms of hair, skin, and eye color, a Breed male"s appearance is influenced by his Breedmate mother"s looks. Breed males are also tall and muscular, like their alien fathers, with flawless health and physical fitness.
Dermaglyphs: Colors and meanings Also inherited from their alien fathers are the camouflaging and mood-influenced skin markings called "dermaglyphs." Gen Ones have the most elaborate and extensive glyphs. Later generations, as the purity of their alien genes are diluted with those from their maternal side, Breed males display less markings in fewer places on their bodies. Dermaglyph hues change according to the emotional state of the vampire: - contentment/normal state: a shade darker than his skin color - satiation from recent feeding: deep russet-bronze - general hunger: pale scarlet and faded gold - fierce, spasmodic hunger: deep purples, reds, to black - desire: burgundy, indigo, and gold.
Extrasensory powers and abilities.
Every Breed male has a unique ability (or curse, weakness) pa.s.sed down to him from his Breedmate mother. For some individuals, it is a tangible gift, such as the ability to heal or to kill. In others it is an extrasensory power, such as precognition or a psychic bond with animals.
With the exception of trancing, telekinesis of small objects, doors, locks, etc., and high-speed movement, most of the Breed"s psychic abilities exist only in the oldest or most powerful individuals. They can, with limited results, influence the minds of humans, but it is a taxing exercise for generations later than Gen One and is rarely put to use. It is considered dishonorable for any Breed male to mind control a Breedmate.
The most powerful Breed males, Gen Ones in particular, have the ability to create Minions, but Breed law prohibits the practice (as does Breed honor).
Weaknesses.
Like their Ancient fathers, the Breed is vulnerable to ultraviolet sunlight. Gen Ones can withstand no more than ten minutes of direct exposure and their skin begins to burn in less time than that. Later generations fare slightly better, but no member of the race would dare stay out in the sunlight for more than a half hour"s time.
In much the same way an Ancient is hard to kill, so are the Breed. Decapitation is the fastest, most certain means of killing one of the Breed (but good luck trying!). Other methods include ma.s.sive or complete body trauma, catastrophic injury, or starvation (rare occurrence).
The Breed is always susceptible to blood addiction (Bloodl.u.s.t), and if he should turn Rogue, a Breed can then be killed relatively easily, and surely, with a wound inflicted via t.i.tanium blade. Rogues" blood systems are diseased, corrupted in such a way that t.i.tanium becomes poison to them. One laceration can send the poison into their bloodstream, which devours the Rogue from the inside out. Should a Rogue evade capture and killing, very often his madness drives him to suicide, usually via death by sunlight.
Breed society.
Vampire society at large resides in civilian communities called Darkhavens. They are located in cities, towns, villages, on farmlands and islands-virtually anywhere, with the exclusion of the tropics or high UV areas. Each Darkhaven, from the toniest high-rise to the quaintest berg and hollow, has one thing in common: access to a secured room or bunker where the Breed vampires can escape the daylight, for long durations, if needed. A Darkhaven is usually home to a single or extended family unit, with a head of household known as the Darkhaven leader. This Breed male, very often the eldest, or highest-born, Breed male of the family or unit, is responsible for ensuring the security and general wellbeing of the Darkhaven"s residents.
Breed civilian society is protected, by and large, by an organization called the Enforcement Agency. They are a cross between a police force and a governing body, with all the corruption and political empire-building to go along with it. The Agency began with good intentions centuries ago, but over time has decomposed internally into an ineffective, often dangerous, organization.