So we’re going back like ten years for Bloodlines; I don’t even have access to the original computer I wrote it on, let alone the full playlist, but a couple of songs stuck in my head, and a handful of new ones were there when I rewrote it in 2011.

Here are some Zara-related tunes for you! (There’ll be lots more when I get around to posting Exhumed‘s playlist.)

Aimee Allen – “Revolution” 
Zara Lain appeared in my head in 2004, talking in full surround sound and completely fully formed, and I wrote her very first scene while this was playing.

Aimee Allen – “Too Fucked Up for Love”
I…can’t find a link to this one for you to listen to. 🙁 Title should say it all, though.
I’m afraid you’re holding on to something that’s too far gone

Garbage – “Wicked Ways”  
Another very Zara song. Let’s face it, she’ll never actually mend her wicked ways.
I’ve done things I never thought I’d do//Sure it helps to lose myself in you

Garbage – “Temptation Waits”
It’s a tad on the nose, but still, Zara.

Florence + The Machine – “Blinding”
I do think of this as Zara/Ana’s overall theme—it captures her past, her present, her insecurities and her strength.  (I can’t even pick specific lyrics—the whole thing sums up the awakening as Vampire!Ana to her present self straight through to the novella Damaged.)

Evanescence – “Going Under“
Don’t want your hand this time – I’ll save myself//Maybe I’ll wake up for once 

Evanescence – “Bring Me To Life“
How can you see into my eyes like open doors?//Leading you down into my core where I’ve become so numb//Without a soul my spirit’s sleeping somewhere cold//Until you find it there and lead it back home

E.S. Posthumus – “Pompeii”  
I listen to a lot of “trailer” type music when I write—Immediate Music/Globus, E.S. Posthumus, Two Steps from Hell, etc—and this is the one song I associate the most with Zara and Bloodlines.

Immediate Music – “An Epic Age“
This would also be in my Bloodlines trailer, if it were a film.

Milla – “Rocket Collecting”
and I’ve turned into this//smiling, snarling monster

Shivaree – “Goodnight Moon“
Well goodnight moon//I want the sun//If it’s not here soon//I might be done

Puscifer – “Rev 22:20”
Look, she’s a highly sexualized character–Zara needs a highly sexualized song on her playlist.
Prayin’ to stay in her arms just until I can die a little longer//Saviors and saints, devils and heathens alike//She’ll eat you alive

Fioana Apple – “Criminal“
I’ve been a bad bad girl//I’ve been careless//With a delicate man//And it’s a sad sad world//When a girl will break a boy//Just because she can

Atreyu – “Her Portrait in Black“
Can you feel her//Running through your veins?//She will always live forever

Sarah McLachlan – “Stupid” 
If I had to pick a song for Zara and Nate…I actually listened to this one a lot when I originally wrote their scenes in 2004. It’s all Zara, a determined bachelorette, realizing she’s way over her head and this is likely a mistake
love has made me a fool//it set me on fire and watched as I floundered

Katie Melua – “No Fear of Heights” 
Now that I’m older and have seen Zara/Nate’s relationship mature, this is the theme I’d lean toward in this book (in fact, I have flashback scenes from their night in the cabin in Amends, and wrote them to this one). I wouldn’t say either of them particularly come across as scared of anything, but the sense of doing something you know could ultimately lead to your downfall—in this case love—fits them well.
I was scared of what I couldn’t keep//But when you give me love//I have no fear of heights//No fear of the deep blue sea//Although it could drown me

Bonus: “Thrall” songs

Apocalyptica – “Bittersweet” 
I wrote“Thrall” (available with Bloodlines and 9 Crimes) with this on repeat. Nate’s song.
I won’t give up//I’m possessed by her//I’m bearing a cross//She’s turned into my curse

Slipknot – “Vermillion Pt. 2“
Nate’s other song! Looking for Zara, when Heaven accuses him of being her thrall.
She is everything to me//The unrequited dream//A song that no one sings//The unattainable, she’s a myth that I have to believe in//All I need to make it real is one more reason

Demons of Oblivion fans–if you’re on Facebook, you can join the group Alchemy Red to talk with other readers. For the next month and a bit, Soundtrack Sundays will be devoted to these books, and at the end, I’ll do a special edition with fan-submitted soundtrack songs. If you have any tunes you associate with the series, head on over there and let us know!