The Strix — Katalina Leon

“Welcome to Villa Lupus Unguis, the house of the Wolf Fang.” While getting her fortune told in a Wiccan shop in Salem, Massachusetts, Arcona's reality has a screaming meltdown. A past life as an obsessed Celtic witch awakens and she's flung headfirst into blood rites on a sacred island, captured by Romans, and sold in the markets of Pompeii as a pleasure slave to the sadistic owner of a gladiatorial school. Seeking revenge against Rome, Arcona lures a lonely Dacian gladiator into her bed and uses dark magic to turn him into an immortal blood-craving “Slayer,” a warlike vampire to be set loose on the Empire. Two millennia and an exploding Mount Vesuvius later, Tyr is still pissed off about being forced to spend eternity as a vampiric mercenary. Desperate to break the Slayer curse, he kidnaps Arcona, intent on learning the secrets carried in her blood. But they're in for a surprise. Once these two damaged souls share their stories, the possibility of redemption -- even love -- is offered. When another Slayer tries to claim Arcona as his blood slave, Tyr has to be her hero one last time. He loved her once but can a vampiric Slayer ever forgive his maker? This is an epic tale of witchcraft, vampires, reincarnation, and a healing act of love. Note to my readers: The Strix is NOT a straightforward romance. The heroine's personality exists in two time frames. She is virtually two different women, sharing the same experiences and evolving from them. This story contains Upir Likhyi or warrior vampires, graphic violence, and sex scenes, blood sports in the arena, and past life mayhem messing up the present. Full-length novel, no cliffhanger, HEA.