In The Absence of Light Series by Andy Monk

The road has brought him home. Running from a broken heart and the hangman’s noose he followed the road across Europe; searching for happiness in a pretty girl’s smile, the turn of a card and the depths of a brandy glass. Instead he became a womaniser, and then a thief living behind a charmer’s mask until, finally, the road ensnared him in insanity and murder... moreThe road has brought him home. Running from a broken heart and the hangman’s noose he followed the road across Europe; searching for happiness in a pretty girl’s smile, the turn of a card and the depths of a brandy glass. Instead he became a womaniser, and then a thief living behind a charmer’s mask until, finally, the road ensnared him in insanity and murder. It is 1708, the Age of The Enlightenment, and, in the shadow of the nearly completed St Paul’s Cathedral, Caleb Cade has returned to London a broken man; incapable of love and terrified of the grave, his only friend the half imagined ghost of his dead brother. The road has now brought him home for there is nowhere left to run and his only hope of redemption is to find the man he might have been. Haunted by his own ghosts and demons, he relives the events of his childhood that led to the death of the only friend he ever had known and the fear that The King of the Winter is forever peering through the window, all cold of heart and sly of eye, waiting to take him down to damnation. But whist one journey ends and another begins. He is befriended by a fellow libertine, Louis Defane, a strange man around which strange things seem to happen. A man with an insatiable appetite for all the pleasures of life, a man who can seemingly bend people’s will to his own, a man with sparkling blue January eyes and snow white hair. A man who might not be a man at all… Book One of the dark romance series In the Absence of Light; a story of love, loss, vampires and the black hearts of men. less

Monsters live behind all manner of masks. Dr Rothery and his friends are probably insane, but Caleb has agreed to help them in their search for the vampiric essence so he can stay close to the Doctor’s wild and intoxicating daughter. That is what he tries to tell himself anyway... moreMonsters live behind all manner of masks. Dr Rothery and his friends are probably insane, but Caleb has agreed to help them in their search for the vampiric essence so he can stay close to the Doctor’s wild and intoxicating daughter. That is what he tries to tell himself anyway. Could the vampiric essence free him from the grave and allow him to find love? Or is that just the ghost of Louis Defane living in his blood, whispering madness in his mind? When Rothery and his colleagues capture a vampire alive, Caleb travels with them to Captain Lazziard’s remote manor house where there will be no prying eyes to watch them work. As they apply their curiosity to the creature they chain in the cellar, Caleb is increasingly unsure who the real monsters are. When people begin to die Caleb must decide where his loyalties lie; but are his perceptions being manipulated by the ghost in his blood, his own selfish desires for immortality or the fact that the creature Rothery is experimenting on happens to be the most beautiful woman he has ever seen… less

All roads end... Caleb Cade, liar, thief, womaniser and sharper of hearts has fled into the night many times before, but always alone and never pursued by monsters, both vampire and human. Now he must care for the wounded Morlaine and nurse her back to health whilst keeping them safe from a world that would see them both dead. Their only protection the anonymity of the road and the wits of a man well practised in disappearing from sight... moreAll roads end... Caleb Cade, liar, thief, womaniser and sharper of hearts has fled into the night many times before, but always alone and never pursued by monsters, both vampire and human. Now he must care for the wounded Morlaine and nurse her back to health whilst keeping them safe from a world that would see them both dead. Their only protection the anonymity of the road and the wits of a man well practised in disappearing from sight. Caleb knows his salvation rests in his love for a woman who does not appear to be capable of the emotion. Her love could bring him redemption while her rejection could finally destroy him. But just how do you make a monster love you? Where the road leads Caleb will follow, on a journey that will take him back to his past and deliver him to his future; a journey which will teach him that there is a high price to pay for the love of monsters. Book Four of the dark romance series In the Absence of Light; a story of love, loss, vampires and the black hearts of men. less