Vampire Origins is a new series that weaves historical fact with fiction to trace the origins of five very different vampire tribes: Strigoi, Cambion, Strix, Bretonnian and Nosferatu.

What makes the tribes so different?
Well take the Cambions for instance. Unlike other vampires, Cambions are born not bitten. Because they age so slowly, it is not uncommon to have a 300 year old vampire still trapped in a child’s body. But it is their lack of human emotions that makes them  such efficient killers. There is just one law that all Cambions must obey. They must never turn a human.

Strix vampires were all once human – soldiers, hunters, bodyguards, and mercenaries. Chosen for their warrior instincts, and led by a General who began his career during the Crusades, the Strix are an elite special force sent in to take down the most evil dictators. There are Strix battalions operating throughout the Middle East, Africa and wherever trouble arises. If the Strix have one weakness, it is their hunger for blood, which has turned more than a few warriors into the very thing they hunt in the first place.

What about the Bretonnians?
The Bretonnians are another tribe who elect their members from among the world’s elite. Yet it’s not soldiers the Bretonnians seek out. It’s artists, musicians, scientists, writers, and actors – the very
best of the creative geniuses. Their free love, free spirit and free choice tenets have made them one of the most exclusive secret societies the world has ever known. Bretonnians do not believe in forced conversions. They have harnessed fame and used it to draw willing humans to their ranks, where they freely give of their blood to feed their idols.

And everyone’s heard of Nosferatu.
Of all the vampire tribes, the Nosferatu have the most in common with the gothic vampires of the nineteenth century. Led by a fallen priest, these deeply religious vampires are shackled by their beliefs, unable to move beyond their ancient superstitions. Weaker than their vampire brethren, the Nosferatu hide in the dark, convinced the light will kill them or that a wooden cross has the power to condemn them to hell.

Tell us about the final tribe – the Strigoi?
Vladamir Strigoi, the leader of the Strigoi vampires, slaughtered 30,000 humans in Jerusalem during the Crusades, and impaled 100,000 more in Romania as Vlad the Impaler. Thanks to his new project, he has found a way to enslave mankind and rule the world. Only one thing can stop him – one born of Vlad’s human bloodline. He has spent the last thousand years searching the world for those descendants, killing them before they realise they have the power to end his life.

It is Vlad’s continued search for Strigoi humans that forms the backbone of Book 1.

Tell us more.
Vlad has grand plans for his ancestral home that include Project Ichorous. He employs single dad, Simon Fraser, to renovate Castle Bran, unaware that Simon’s daughter, Scarlett is the very thing he has been searching the world for. 

Scarlett soon finds herself thrust into the center of a centuries old battle. She can save her family, and the world in the process, but to do so, she has to remain human. Surrounded by supernatural creatures, staying human is going to be a lot harder than she ever imagined it could be.

What genre is this book?
Vampire Origins is YA Paranormal.

What kind of readers will it appeal to?
If you love action packed books full of larger than life characters, you are going to love Vampire Origins. It has got a little bit of everything in the mix. It is suspenseful, tender, romantic, scary, funny, magical and has the kind of explosive action scenes that beg to be put on the big screen.

Complete this sentence for us: if you like _________________, you’ll love Vampire Origins.
Hollywood blockbusters in book form.

Tell us a bit more about your main characters.
There are a lot of characters in Vampire Origins – humans and not so human.

First, there is the Fraser family: Simon and his five children, seventeen year old quadruplets Scarlett, Max, Nate, Seth, and five year old Ruby, who Scarlett holds responsible for their mother’s death. The Fraser have lived in a lot of different countries, following Simon as he moves from job to job. As the subject of an ancient prophecy, Scarlett is definitely one of the main characters but her siblings and her father have an important role to play as well.

Vlad heads up a motley crew of vampires, including his Cambion wife, Veronika, their birth daughter, Angeline (half Cambion, half Strigoi, and obsessed with her new BFF Ruby), and three of Vlad’s creations – Romanov siblings, Alex and Anastasia, and the man hungry Renee, who immediately sets her sights on Scarlett’s brothers. Rounding out the vampires living at the castle is Veronika’s nephew, Lachlan, who was exiled by his grandmother, the Queen of the Cambions, for turning a human, and his creation, Nataschia, a newborn vampire who is not quite comfortable with being a vampire yet.

Any other main characters?
Lachlan’s bastard brother, Caleb, also lives at the castle but is treated as less a member of the family and more like a werewolf slave due to his dual heritage. The only reason Caleb is alive is because he can mutate into anything he kills.

Gabriel is the leader of the werewolf pack, and just dying to mount a rebellion against his vampire masters. Gabriel would be furious to find out his brother, Ryder, is secretly in love with Anastasia.

Rounding out the animal pack is Bern, a shapeshifting polar bear, and Arturo, who masquerades as a domestic cat named Bear.

Although Rose does not live at the castle, she has a number of connections to those who do. She is Vlad’s mistress and shares a connection to the Frasers that will put all their lives in danger.

Have you written any other books that we should read next?
My debut novel, The William S Club, is an adult thriller that is definitely for an over eighteen audience. Charlotte Burke had no desire to return to Australia, but the William S Club had other ideas. They trick Charlotte into attending a cross-continental press trip, but their true motives are blackmail. The men at the helm of the mega-rich Harvey family are hiding a terrible secret, and Charlotte’s estranged father knows exactly what it is.

Tell us a bit about yourself.
I have always had a love of words and have been writing stories for my family for over thirty years. It was only natural that I became a journalist and later, a communications specialist.

My other love is travelling, and having lived more than a decade as an expatriate – in PNG, Dubai and Saudi Arabia – I have had plenty of
opportunities to indulge. In fact, I have travelled to more than 21 countries.

I have three teenage children, two cocker spaniels and a cat named Bear (who became a character in Vampire Origins, and may or may not be a shape shifter as well).

I am currently living in Hobart, Tasmania, but I have learned never to get too comfortable. There are too many places to see to stay anywhere too long.

Do you have a website where we can keep up with your work?
I have two websites: http://www.rileybanks.net and http://www.vampireorigins.net.

How can we follow you on Twitter and/or Facebook?
@rileybanksbooks or @vampireorigins.
https://www.facebook.com/authorrileybanks
https://www.facebook.com/TheVampireOrigins.

What’s next?
I am working on Book 2 of Vampire Origins, which is currently titled Seize the Night. I am also putting the finishing touches to Dirty Little Secrets, which is book 1 in the Expat Wives series.