Countess's Captive: Blood and Velvet

The Countess's Captive: Blood and Velvet follows Hazel Monroe, a twenty-three-year-old woman who voluntarily takes the place of her younger sister, Clara, as the blood tribute owed by the village of Oakhaven.For three centuries, an ancient blood contract has required the village to send one mortal every ten years to reside within the castle of the immortal Countess Lenore Von Raven, a powerful vampire aristocrat whose presence protects Oakhaven from the savage vampire packs that roam the northern Alpine valleys.Hazel arrives at the imposing Castle Von Raven expecting to become a prisoner and face an inevitable death. Instead, she discovers that Lenore is not the cruel monster described in village legends. The mysterious countess welcomes Hazel as an honored guest, allowing her to live within the fortress under a strict set of rules.As Hazel begins uncovering the secrets hidden within Castle Von Raven, she also senses the profound loneliness concealed beneath Lenore's icy exterior. But with dangerous emissaries from the High Council arriving at the castle and feral vampire packs threatening the region, Hazel's presence will soon challenge the fragile balance of the immortal world.What began as a sacrifice to save her sister could become a forbidden bond capable of defying a three-hundred-year-old contract, the laws of the vampire world, and the frozen heart of a countess who has spent four centuries refusing to let anyone come close.