Interview with Elizabeth Kolodzeij, Author of Werewolf Descent

Welcome to our interview with Elizabeth Kolodziej, author of Werewolf Decent, a paranormal romance following the journey of the world’s last witch and her vampire companion. Did we mention the vampire is Irish? #ohyeah :-) Elizabeth is giving away two copies of her eBook so make sure to leave us a comment after the interview. Are you ready to meet the author?

So, tell us a little bit about you. What makes you tick?

I’m going to say my heart. Haha. A little about me? I grew up as a city girl in L.A. loving to read and write and the reason for that is due to my parents. I am roller derby girl under the name of Kitty Vampyre. I am a total commitment phobe when it comes to guys and what I consider my kids are my dog Sherlock and my cat Ahmemotep. Oh! And I love anime.

Now on to the important bit, your book. Can you tell us about it?

The series is titled The Last Witch Series, the first book being Vampyre Kisses and the second being Werewolf Descent. It involves a young woman named Faith who find out she is a witch and falls in love with a vampire. The first book shows her growth from a woman needing saving to one doing the saving while the second book is more adventurous and mysterious. The third book in the series is going to be Witch Devotions, which I am currently in the process of writing and plan to have it out by 2012.

What inspired you to write in this genre?

I blame my mother. Haha. I grew up on loving the paranormal/supernatural world because it was something that was always around me due to her. She loves vampires and was very much in to the masquerade, Ann Rice, Buffy, all the biggies. I guess I fell in love with it for that reason and began studying all of it, especially witches. So in the end it feel natural to write what I know best.

 Do you have plans for more?

I have at least two other books planned so that will make four total. I have to see where the characters take me so I don’t know exactly how many books will be in this series.

Which comes first the character or the plot?

For me, the character or at least 85% of the time. It starts with a small idea of what if this happened and it grows from there with the character telling me the plot.

Describe your main characters in a single word.

Faith: Caring. Trent: Protective.  

Okay, now you can tell us more about them.

LoL. Faith is the type of girl that wants to see the good in everybody and killing is always the last resort. Faith will help anyone in need. At the same time she is coming into her independence as a witch (if that makes sense). Trent on the other hand is a vampire so he as this need to protect Faith at all cost since she is the love of his life. Trent goes through the problems of trying to figure out when to let Faith go and when he needs to stand his ground with her, which I find hilarious in the second book.

What made you put a vampire and a witch together?

It never really crossed my mind not to put a vampire and witch together. I’ve always had that idea in my head since I was young and I guess it just never went away.

What was the hardest scene to write?

The last scene of Werewolf Descent was the hardest. I cried. I will totally admit it, I cried and I am not a crier. But what was done had to be done. The third book is going to be even more interesting for it.

What is your favorite scene?

That is so difficult to answer! LoL. I love the scenes when Zou Tai and Trent are going back and forth with snide comments. If I had to pick one off the top of my head I think I would go with the scene where Louis comes to Faith’s house. Here is a clip:

There was only fifteen minutes left until sunset. I had just finished spreading sage throughout the house to cleanse it and in the hopes of wiping away any scent of Vincent on me. I wasn’t sure if it would work, and that made me wonder if I should start experimenting with things that might cover up scents from a vampire.

I smacked myself on the forehead. “No need to do that. You don’t need to keep anything from him.” But then I thought about it more, and it might just prove useful in the future. With that in mind, I pulled out a few sticks of lavender and nag champa. If it worked I’d know at least one of the three was right.

Oran was already hiding out on the patio away from the strong smell of sage. I couldn’t understand why; I loved the smell. Before I could find my lighter, I heard a knock at my door and put down the sticks of incense before answering it.  

“Louis?” His blue eyes were bright from the light on the porch.

He let his pearly whites show with a smile that would make angels tingly all over. “Hey, Faith.”

A few short breaths escaped me before I asked, “How did you know where I lived?” Did anyone follow him? Did he let anyone follow him?

“Calm down. I just so happened to follow you home that one night we met up.”

“You followed me home? Why the hell would you do that?”

“To make sure you got home safe. You were meeting with me, and if the wrong people had seen that they might have tried something.”

I wasn’t sure if I believed him or not. He was a slayer and all, but at the same time he was a longtime friend, and a friend would have done what he did. “Come in.” I finally backed away from the entrance to let him through.

“Thanks.” As he passed by me, I noticed he had let his hair grow out a little more. The spikes were much longer now. He was dressed in a suit and tie like at the restaurant, and I smiled at the fact he was wearing a tie with little hearts on it. “Nice place you have here.”

“Thank you.”

“What’s the smell?”

“It’s not a smell, it’s a beautiful scent, and it’s sage.” I smacked him on the bicep and made my way to the kitchen.

He took in a few sniffs. “Ah, now I see.” He rubbed his nose and I giggled.

“Would you like some coffee or tea?”

“Jack?”

I laughed some more. “How did you guess I would have some around?”

“Daughter like mother and all that.” He quickly bit his lip. He must have seen the shocked expression on my face. “Sorry.” 

“I’m nothing like her.” I bent down and came back up with the Jack I kept in one of the pots-and-pans cabinets. After reaching up for a couple of shot glasses, I looked at his face. He seemed upset.

“She wasn’t that bad.”

“Hmm. Being in the same business as her, I can see why you would say that.”

“Faith.” He stretched out my name in almost a whine. “Let’s just…agree to disagree.” He took one of the shots of Jack from the counter and raised the glass. “To your mother.”

“To my father,” I countered and downed my shot. After feeling like I was breathing out fire, I was finally able to speak again. “Want another?” He nodded and I poured us both one more.

After that shot, I took his glass and turned around to rinse them both out. With the water running I asked, “So what brings you here, Louis?”

Turning back around I was shocked to see Trent holding Louis up by his throat. Lucky for me he had worn his boxers while sleeping this time.

“Trent!” I screamed at him while rushing over. Louis had both his hands on Trent’s wrist. “Let go of him!”

His blackened eyes met mine. “He is a slayer, Faith.” His fangs showed through every word.

“I know that.”

His expression became perplexed. “What?”

“This is Louis, that slayer I told you about.” I heard a few gags come from Louis, and I looked up to see his face starting to turn a pastel bluish color. “Let. Him. Go,” I demanded with enough emphasis that he must have known better than to disagree with me.

“Fine.” He let Louis go, but not in the way I’d intended. He fell to his feet and lost his balance, sending him to his butt.

“That was not what I meant and you know it!” I went to my knees and put both hands on either side of Louis’s face. “Are you okay?”

He put a hand to his throat and rubbed the reddened area. “I’ll be fine,” he choked out. “So this must be your vampire boyfriend. He seems nice.” I rolled my eyes and linked an arm through his to help him up. “It’s okay, I can do it.”

While Louis got to his feet, I noticed Oran run by and onto Trent’s shoulder. Trent looked at him with as much amazement as I did.

“What are you doing?” I asked.

I agree with Trent.

“Oh for heaven’s sake,” I blurted out without thinking.

Trent looked at me and then at Oran before a righteous smile found its way to his face. “I guess he agrees with me.”

“Bite me.”

“Maybe later.”

“Faith, you don’t…” Louis let his words trail off.

“It doesn’t matter.” I was looking at Louis but talking to both of them.

“It will when he brings his little swarm to your place. We are going to have to move again.”

“No, he won’t,” I said while sighing. “I trust Louis. He helped us.”

Trent took a few steps closer. “Did you ever stop and think that he helped us to further his own plans?” I looked at Louis, but before I could say anything Trent added, “And by the way, Louis…” He said his name in a mocking way. “She is nothing like her mother.”

Crap. How much had he heard? The phone rang and I was glad for the interruption. It was Trent’s cell phone coming from his bedroom. He stormed off to answer it.

“I only came here to give you some information about Lilith. I was sure you would want to know about her.”

“What information?” My anger was lost in my need to find the vampire who’d saved Morgan.

Louis just shook his head. “He has a little bit of a temper.” Louis began making his way to the door.

I followed behind him. “Well, you are a slayer and all, out to kill him and all of his kind.”

“Is it any wonder we want to kill those monsters off? He just attacked me for no reason.”

Now that pissed me off. “Wait a minute.” I grabbed his arm and pulled him around to face me. “He only attacked you because you are a slayer, and even though it isn’t your sworn duty to kill a witch, it wouldn’t be the first time one tried to take my life. Trent was only protecting me.” By the way his mouth dropped open, it looked like I had surprised the hell out of him. “Now, what information do you have on Lilith?”

The anger in his eyes faded away. “Be safe, Faith. I will check in with you at another time.” He pulled the door open. “When you’re not surrounded by undead monsters like him.” He slammed the door behind him and a few seconds later I heard a car start.

Maybe he is a dickhead.

Trent came rushing out of his bedroom and into the living room. “Faith, we need to go.” He handed me my shoes and finished buttoning up his shirt. “Zou Tai was kidnapped.”

As if my life couldn’t get any worse. I raced to put my shoes on. “Give me one second.” I dashed to my bedroom and grabbed my spell book.

“Why are you bringing that?” He gave me a curious look.

My mouth twitched before I admitted, “Just in case you’re right. I wouldn’t want them to take this.” I gave him a weak smile and he grabbed the keys for the car off the tiled countertop.

He kissed me deeply and smiled. Oran was still perched on his shoulder. I fumbled with my keys until I found the one to the front door.

“By the way,” Trent said while walking to the car. “We will discuss why you smell like Vincent later.”

I twisted the key in the lock and finished zipping up my hoodie. Mental note: scratch sage off the list.    

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We’d like to thank Elizabeth for stopping by to chat with us. Tune in on Wednesday at 3:30pm Pacific for our live Blog Talk Radio interview. Set a reminder for the show on our channel here.

Now it’s your chance to win a copy of Werewolf Descent. Leave us a comment below with your email address for a chance to win one of the two eBook copies. You have until Saturday at midnight Pacific Time to enter. We’ll announce the winner on Sunday.