Bait is about a Van Helsing legacy, a young girl named Bay-Lee. When the story begins, she has already spent most of her life on the run from monsters. She and her uncle move from town to town, constantly changing their identities. All she wants is to be herself, but she isn’t sure who that is. Then she gets two visitors in a single night: a dead rock star and a reaper. One gives her a dire warning. “It kills on your birthday.” She has no idea what this means until her father, Statler Van Helsing, shows up out of the blue to take her to school with him. She overhears him tell her uncle that hunters are dying on their birthdays, and no one knows what’s killing them.

Woah, that’s a lot of story – but tell us more.
The school is in New Zealand, beautiful and isolated. Bay-Lee thinks her worse problem here will be living up to the Van Helsing name. She quickly discovers getting good grades and showing off her battle skills are not as important as simply surviving. Wraiths, a border monster, and a reaper in disguise are only a few of the deadly obstacles she will face.

At Orientation, she is labeled as “Bait.” not good for anything except to be used as monster bait. She also finds out new students need a mentor. Who will stand for Van Helsing’s daughter?

An angry young man named Nick steps forward, volunteers to help her, but he has no intention of doing the job. The gesture is simply meant to get under her father’s skin. But he has no idea who he’s messing with. Bay-Lee is determined to be the greatest hunter the school has ever seen. To achieve this, she needs the best to train her, and Nick is the best. He’s going to train her whether he likes it or not. She just wishes he would stop staring at her with those amazing green eyes. If she’s not careful, she might fall in love… but will she live long enough to enjoy it?

The school setup makes us think of the Harry Potter series. Is that right? What novels should we be thinking of?
City of Bones (The Mortal Instrument series)

I wrote the book for teens, but most of my fans are women between 25 and 50. Still, I’ve gotten good reviews from kids between 11 and 15 as well.

We can see how a strong young heroine like Bay-Lee would appeal to women and to teens. Where does that strength come from?
Bay-Lee has a strong sense of justice. Her mother was murdered by a werewolf pack, and Bay-Lee wants to avenge her mom. When her roommate is killed, she is the only one who seems worried about getting justice for her.

She has had a hard life and acts tougher than she is, and she loves to dance, especially when she is feeling emotional. Bay-Lee may get scared sometimes, but she won’t run away from her fears. Her whole life she’s been forced to pretend to be other people, to lay low and be average. Now it’s time for her to be herself, and she has no idea who that is.

Tell us about Nick. We cannot tell if we like him or not yet.
Nick Gallos has also had a hard life, and maybe that’s why he is drawn to Bay-Lee. His parents voted to kill him because of a dark prophecy. Van Helsing was forced to raise him in his castle. He has few friends. For years he’s hunted vampires using the cover of a rock star. Yes, he is famous, and that gets him into trouble. Van Helsing killed off Nick’s alter-ego, and he’s under house arrest. So, he volunteers to mentor Van’s precious little girl to get even, but he has no intention of going anywhere near her. According to the prophecy, he needs to stay far, far away from her.

This is the start of a series. Tell us what to expect next.
Hunter is the second book in this series.

I also have a series of Witch-Game books (Crushed and Witch Hunt) about teen girls using their magical abilities to play dangerous games at school.

Then there are my vampire/werewolf books. Vampires Rule (also a free book) starts the series with a different take on vampires. Jack loses his fangs after a freak incident, falls in love with a werewolf hunter, and discovers he has to kill the head werewolf or mankind is going to be wiped out.

That’ll keep us entertained for a while.
Tell us a bit about yourself.
I am a former writer for Harlequin. My hobbies include trying new recipes, reading great books, shopping, and traveling. I was born in California, but I live in the Midwest on a farm now. I’m a huge animal lover. Right now I have cats, a dog, ducks, and some cows. In the future I would like to buy an RV and visit every state (except for the ones I can’t drive to).

Do you have a website where we can keep up with your work?
http://kasi-kcblake.blogspot.com.

How can we follow you on Twitter and/or Facebook?
@kasiblake
I have an author’s page on FB called K.C. Blake’s author page.

What’s next?
I am working on Warrior, the third book of this series. Then I am going to finish up the vampire series with Wizards Rule and Mortals Rule, because of the interest in it. Hardly a day goes by that I don’t hear from another reader asking when I will give them their ending.