Vampire Elite began unfolding two years ago. It came to me at a time when I felt particularly miserable. Gabor, my husband, had a stroke, and I was doing everything to help him deal with his depression and loss his mobility. At the same time I was preparing for my licensing exam in clinical psychology and was working full time as a psychologist (under my supervisor’s license).

The pressure was intense. That must have been the catalyst for my mind to begin taking me into an alternate reality filled with unique and powerful people. These people were also going through challenges. Their challenges were much greater than mine so my own felt like a piece of cake compared to theirs. The story unfolded as a sequence, like a movie playing in my brain when I was driving, sitting in meetings (extremely boring) or doing housework. I was also dreaming about it and making notes in the morning. The characters were coming to life, events were happening with lightning speed. It seemed as though I was living in two parallel worlds.

In this world I was Irina with all my responsibilities; in the other world, I was four people simultaneously: Simone, Arianna, Theores and Anock. It was beyond thrilling. I’ve always been interested in other people’s inner worlds, which is why I chose psychology as my profession. Listening to people’s stories is one thing. To actually live the life of your characters, is a completely different experience.

One day the story stopped, and there was a nagging thought that I had to breathe life into this parallel world by writing a book.

Book 2 of the Vampire Elite series, Keepers of the Key.

I was insecure about my proficiency in English, hence my resistance to write a book. But the thought about not writing was unbearable. It was eating me alive. So I sat down and began typing. In a few days the first few chapters were born. I sent them to Jo-An, my dearest friend, for some feedback. She was thrilled. She actually took what I wrote and rewrote it improving the verbiage, developing the characters further, adding incredible details and descriptions. That is how our partnership was born.

When the book was finished, we found an absolutely fabulous editor, Laura Holliday, PhD, whose contribution to this book is immeasurable.

That is the story of how the first two books of the Vampire Elite series were born. The first draft of book 3 is already finished.