Warning: This book contains language and graphic violence. It is not geared for kids or people with sensitive dispositions. Sorry!
What do you think of the title?
What of the concept?
Do these first couple pages catch you?
I am very seriously thinking of self-publishing this one. Would you buy it?
Please let me know in the comments below.
Here is the opening of the book, hope you enjoy!
The clearing was dark and quiet, the full moon hidden behind
a bank of clouds. Four youths sat in two vehicles at the edge of the clearing.
At first glance it would appear that this was the local make-out area. Both
vehicles contained two young people. However, there was more than meets the eye
to these two vehicles. The first was a black Saturn. The driver, a young man
just entering manhood, sat quietly; his eyes half closed, as if he were
listening to some inner voice. He was oblivious of the young woman sitting next
to him, clenching a knife in her tense fist. Every muscle in her body was strung
as tight as a bow and she anxiously chewed on her lip.
The second
vehicle was a 1974 ford pickup truck. The occupants of this vehicle weren’t
much older. A man of twenty four with a marine cut, black hair and a tight
cropped goatee sat listening to an mp3 player. One ear bud was tucked in his
ear, the other dangled in his shirt. The platinum blond sitting next to him
glowered at him.
“You know
Chris would be pissed if he knew what you were doing. Lucas told us not to!”
She hissed, gesturing angrily at his mp3
player.
“Chill the
fuck out. It helps me relax. I’ll hear anything coming, I only got one bud in.”
The blond
put on a full pout, her pink lips glistening. “What if they hear it or
something?”
“Hell,
you’re making more noise than this is. For all we know they can hear us
breathing, hear our heart beating. Fuck it! I’m tired of living in fear of
them.”
“Why do I
always have to get stuck with you!” she hissed then sat silently, holding her
breath. Ricky knew it was in fear of what he had just said. He smirked. It
really was the simple pleasures in life.
Suddenly
the young man in the Saturn sat up, gesturing to the two in the truck to
listen. The girl next to him tensed beyond what could be believed as humanly
possible.
“What is it
Chris?” She asked in a squeaky whisper.
“Shh…
Listen.”
She
strained her ears and her eyes went wide with the intense effort. After a
moment she looked at him blankly. “I don’t hear anything.”
“Exactly.”
He whispered back. Suddenly it dawned on her that the clearing only moments ago
had sounded quiet, but had been full of the subtle sounds of the night;
crickets, owls and other critters scurrying about. Now it was as silent as a tomb.
Chris gestured to the others and slowly crawled out the window of the Saturn.
The young woman with him suddenly felt terrified and scrambled to exit through
the window as well, desperate to not be left alone. She stumbled on the uneven
ground and fell. Moments later the platinum blond was silently beside her,
offering a hand.
“ Thanks
Bianca,” she mouthed silently, afraid to speak, so afraid she probably couldn’t
speak even if she had to. Bianca nodded and they all crouched down next to
Chris in the shadows of the Saturn. Another few agonizing moments were spent
with all four pairs of ears straining to hear anything in the darkness. Gradually the sounds of the night returned.
Chris cocked his head.
“False
alarm?” Ricky whispered.
“I don’t
think so,” Chris shook his head.
They all
sat quietly waiting for Chris. The young woman began crying silent tears.
“Please,
let’s get out of here. I have a really bad feeling!” She was trembling
uncontrollably. Chris held up a hand to silence her, and listened intently.
Bianca patted the young woman’s hand reassuringly then crept forward to Chris’s
side.
She leaned in close to his ear and
breathed, “We should go. She’s cracking up. We’re too vulnerable.”
“Too late.”
Chris pointed across the clearing. Just as they all looked in the direction he
was pointing the moon peaked out for a brief moment revealing clearly what he
was indicating.
Two beings were dragging a third
across the far end of the clearing. They all could hear clearly now the
shh…shhh sound of the body being dragged across the ground.
A gurgled
scream suddenly erupted from across the clearing. They all shuddered at the
sound. The young girl was frozen in perfect terror.
“Now!”
Chris hissed, “while they’re distracted on their feeding.” He bolted low across
the field. The others followed him, everyone except the young woman. She was
still frozen in fear. She tried to move, but her muscles absolutely refused to
respond.
Chris was halfway across the field
when he felt a strange sensation, a tingling in his spine; as if someone had
just tap danced across his grave. He paused and an instant later was driven
into new action. From behind them a howl ripped through the night. Without even
looking he knew what had happened. Terah had been attacked. In front of him he
saw two more creatures rise from where the other two were feeding. In that
split second he knew.
“Ambush!” he yelled, immediately
veering to his left, moving in a zig-zag pattern. He could hear the other two
following behind. More screams erupted from their fallen comrade and he was
blinded with rage.
“Scatter!” He shouted the order and
immediately turned back the way they had come. If he was going to die tonight,
he was going to kill at least one of these bastards! As the moon peeked out
again, the scene before him became grotesquely animated. Terah’s body was
pinned on the truck, her entire chest ripped wide open. He knew she was dead,
but his body refused to stop this course of action. His mind exploded with fury
as he watched the creature rip Terah’s heart out of her chest.
The creature held the heart up
savoring the blood as it poured into the awaiting mouth and splashed over its
face. Chris could see in his peripheral that two of them were already halfway
across the field, closing off any escape if he continued on his present course,
but he didn’t care. He pulled a gun from his left pocket and a cross-hilted
dagger from his right. As he dove at the creature devouring Terah, he shot
blindly at the ones coming at him. As his blade embedded to the hilt in the
monster’s back he prayed that Bianca and Ricky were getting the fuck out of
here. Maybe his distraction would save their lives. The monster arched back
trying to reach behind and dislodge Chris and the knife. Black blood oozed from
its wound. It struggled to turn, but clearly the knife had hit the spine.
Surprised that the other two weren’t upon him yet, Chris aimed the revolver
into the creature’s face and pulled the trigger.
At that same moment two other shots
rang out in the clearing. Chris pulled his dagger free and leaped away from the
body as it burst into flames. He turned, preparing for the attack that should
have already been upon him. Looking out in the field he saw Ricky stand up
about center point and fire at the vampire that was headed straight for him.
“Run!” Ricky screamed, but it was
too late. The woman dove at Chris, knocking him to the ground. He immediately
recognized her as she pinned his arms over his head. It was Ms. Frost, his old
high school teacher. She looked ten years younger and had the strength of a
football player.
“Hello Chris, so good to see you
again,” she whispered in a sultry voice.
“Wish I… could say… the same.”
Chris groaned, trying to hold her back. Her breath was putrid!
“Come, come Chris, you always were
a difficult child.”
“Gifted was the term you used back
then.”
“You know you want me,” she laughed
evilly.
“Of course.” Chris twisted his
wrist and cut her fingers with a blade that was hooked on his cuff. She hissed
and began lapping at the wound as it poured blood. She was obviously newly
made. Too bad for her. Even with one hand occupied, she still managed to hold
him down, but no more!
“I want you dead!” Chris growled,
ripping his crucifix from his neck and stabbing it into her throat. She gaped
in shock and tried to physically force the blood back into the wound, causing
it to widen. Suddenly her skull was obliterated before his eyes.
Bianca stood there holding a small-caliber
gun. Chris quickly shoved the body away and Bianca pulled him to his feet,
yelping when the body suddenly burst into flames. Chris looked around the field
for Ricky. He was running like a bat out of hell in the opposite direction with
two vamps on his tail.
“Bianca the car!” Chris yelled,
tossing the keys and running after Ricky, hoping to get there in time. His legs
were pumping as hard as they could, but he wasn’t catching up enough. Ricky was
starting to waver and the two vampires were gaining ground. Chris didn’t dare
shoot at them, for fear of hitting Ricky. He’d been lucky Bianca’s shot hadn’t
gone right through Ms. Frost’s skull and into his own.
Directly ahead of Ricky two figures
rushed into the clearing. Ricky stopped short frozen like a rabbit, unsure
where to go, then quickly made a ninety degree turn. In the moment he was clear
of the two vampires, Chris pulled his gun up to line up a shot. He popped off
two shots, hitting one. It went down, but Chris didn’t believe for one moment
it was dead. The other continued to hurtle after Ricky. Just as Chris had lined
up the next shot he felt a sudden gust of wind and smelled death. Whipping
around he found himself face-to-face with another creature. He pulled the
trigger and the creature’s shoulder exploded. It grabbed him around the throat
with its other hand, laughing a high-pitched maniacal laugh.
“So you are the one making all the
trouble. Well, no more!” It lifted Chris clean off the ground squeezing hard.
“Who the fuck are you?” Chris
gasped, struggling against the grip, trying to find a foothold to help him
breath, maybe gain some leverage.
“One who is older and stronger than
the others you’ve disposed of here. I
will be your executioner!” Chris clawed at the hand that now had a vice-like
grip on his throat. He noticed that the shoulder wound hardly bled at all. He
kicked out at the creature’s stomach and felt the inch long spikes he’d added
to his boot tips embed itself there. The monster roared and threw him on the
ground like a used-up rag doll. It flung itself forward, clawing him with its
long nails in rage. He struggled to crawl away, but the creature continued to
maul him. Searing pain tore through his chest and shoulders as the creature
grappled with him. This was it. He knew he was going to die; but a part of him
refused to go out alone. This bastard was going to be coming along for the
ride, if Chris could help it.
Ricky was running as hard as he
could, but his strength was quickly waning. He could hear one gaining on him
and he knew the other two weren’t far behind. This wasn’t how it was supposed
to end! He was about ready to give up when he saw the Saturn come barreling
toward him. Bianca leaned out the front window, and Ricky saw the muzzle
flashes exploding in the night as she fired on the vampires behind him. He
veered toward her, hoping she wasn’t too late; praying he had the stamina to
stay ahead until she got to him.
He risked a glance back. There were
only two pursuing him, the third had turned back toward Chris. Ricky looked
back and realized he couldn’t see Chris. Bianca was closer, but Ricky couldn’t
keep his speed up. He didn’t think he would have time to get in before they
would be on him. In which case he would be risking Bianca’s life too, and he
couldn’t do that!
A howl erupted from behind him and
he glanced back. What he saw stopped him in his tracks. The one nearest him,
only five hundred feet away now, was frozen in its place with flames coming out
of its chest and arms flailing at the sky.
A powerful voice yelled, “Get
down!”
He dove to the ground and rolled
over. A moment later a shock wave hit him. Rocks, sand and other debris
scorched his skin. As soon as it passed he leaped back to his feet. The other
figure was just rising as well. Where the vampire had stood was a burned out
hole. Ricky prepared to dive back down so that the other didn’t see him, but
realized that it wasn’t interested in him. It had turned and faced the other
figures across the field. There were two running ahead of a third. Ricky was
pretty sure that one of the two was Chris. What the hell?
The one nearest him pulled up what
looked like a cross bow and shot a flaming arrow at the third creature. The third creature pulled up short and turned
and fled.
Ricky leaped in shock as Bianca
pulled up in front of him and yelled at him, “Get in the fucking car! Chris
needs our help!”
Ricky was shaking. What the hell
was going on? His brain couldn’t process everything it had just seen. He dove
in the back of the car and Bianca revved the engines, pulling the small car
around and heading toward Chris. As they
looked through the window another vampire rocketed up. The other figure with
Chris leapt toward it, grabbing for its ankle. They hit the ground together and
the vampire attempted to flee, but something pulled it back. Some kind of rope?
It looked like the two mystery figures were on their side, but where did they
come from?
The vampire attempted to flee again
and this time broke free. Ricky realized that Bianca had stopped the car and
gotten out. She was heading toward a heap on the ground… Chris. Ricky started
to get out too, but a woman’s deep voice shouted for him to get back in the
car. He looked up and saw the figure coming toward them. How had she gotten so
far so fast? Before he could even react she was shoving him back onto the car.
The other rear door opened and a man got in pulling Chris with him. Bianca
jumped in the front passenger seat as the woman climbed into the driver’s seat.
Something slammed into the roof of the car, denting it.
“Shit!” Ricky couldn’t help
himself. The man fired a gun into the roof. The thunderous sound deafened him
and as the car spun out a howl ripped through the air as a body flew off the
roof of the car. Ricky looked back and saw the vampire standing behind them
shaking his fist at them as they hauled ass.
Ricky’s ears were ringing and his
head was spinning. The woman shouted something, but Ricky was so disoriented
that he couldn’t understand anything. The man next to him was leaning over
Chris. Ricky sat back numb. What the fuck was going on?!
The car hurtled out of the woods
and spun out onto the highway. The woman driving was tall and solidly built,
clearly in control even though the car careened madly.
“Is he alright?” she called to her
partner in the back seat. Their eyes met in the rear-view mirror and he nodded
once tersely. She glanced at Bianca in the front seat. The blue eyes burned
into Bianca before passing on and looking out the window.
“Are you alright?” the woman asked.
There was no warmth or concern, merely evaluation. Bianca hesitated before
nodding.
“I… I think so. Ricky?” She looked back
at Ricky. He was staring out the window dazedly. “Ricky!” He turned and stared
at her dumbly. “Are you alright?” Bianca demanded. He finally seemed to focus
looking at her, then at the woman driving and the man in the back seat. They
were tall, dark and exotic looking.
“I’m not hurt,” he finally
responded. “What are you doing to Chris?” he asked, looking at the man.
The woman answered from the front
seat. “Your friend is badly hurt. He is healing him. Now, be quiet and watch
the sky.” She was doing just that, only occasionally glancing at the road to
keep the car on it. The speedometer crept past 85 mph and the engine began to
whine.
“Who are you?” Bianca whispered.
The woman seemed to ignore her, continuing to scan the sky.
“Why the sky?” Ricky asked angrily.
“What are we looking for?”
“That is where they are most likely
going to come from,” the woman answered matter-of-factly.
“They can fly?” Ricky gasped in
shock. No answer seemed forthcoming
“Chris said he thought they could,”
Bianca whispered.
The woman looked at her, clearly
startled for the first time. Once again she and the man in the back exchanged
glances in the mirror.
“You know what they were?” she
asked hesitantly.
Suddenly Ricky exploded in
anger. He had been able to process part
of what had happened and the realization he’d come to infuriated him.
“We were fucking ambushed!” he
yelled.
“How could they have known we were
coming?” Bianca asked wide-eyed.
The woman’s eyes continued to roam,
but she took yet another glance at Bianca and Ricky seeming to size them up.
“You were hunting them?” she asked,
not entirely expecting an answer.
Ricky had come to another conclusion. He held
the gun up to the woman’s head. She did not flinch, but the man next to him
did. He did not stop whatever he was doing to Chris, though.
“Who the fuck are you two and where
in the hell did you come from?!” Ricky demanded.
Bianca turned and saw the gun.
“Ricky, stop it! They saved our lives!” she yelled at him.
“Why? How!? What the fuck are
you!!!”
The woman replied frostily, “We’re
hunters. We didn’t realize you… were… also.”
“For God sakes, Ricky, put the gun
down!” Bianca snapped.
Suddenly the man next to him spoke.
“He is healed.” He pulled Chris to a sitting position. Chris began gasping for
breath, which sent him into a coughing fit and the man thumped his back as if
he were burping a baby.
Ricky hesitated, the gun wavering.
“Fuck!” Chris gasped, holding his
hand up to the man. “I thought for sure that was the end. How?” He looked at
the man sitting next to him, then at the woman driving recklessly.
The silent tension continued for
several minutes, the woman pushing the car as fast as it would go, taking
hazardous turns. After a few more minutes she began to slow to a more normal
speed.
“I think we’re clear of trackers.”
“Trackers?” Bianca asked.
“There does not appear to be
anything following us,” the man concurred, speaking past the three in the car.
They seemed to be ignoring the three in the car, including the gun Ricky still
held to the woman’s head.
“Thank you for healing me,” Chris
finally said.
The man simply nodded. He was tall
and lean, but muscular like a panther, with long black hair braided down his
back. He looked Native American, but Chris couldn’t be sure.
“I don’t know how you did it, but
thanks. You saved us out there.” He watched carefully, but the woman didn’t
react to his statement at all. “So, you guys are hunters too?” Chris asked
casually. He looked them both over
carefully. They were both tall and muscularly built, wearing tight black tank tops
and black cargos with black combat boots. Both wore seemingly matching silver
pendants shaped like a dagger. The hilt had an amber liquid encased in a small
vial. It appeared that both the dagger
and the vial could be detached. Interesting.
“So, you’ve come to get rid of the
vampires?” Chris asked nonchalantly. There was another exchange in the mirror.
This exchange lasted quite some time; easily two or three minutes. Finally
there was a subtle nod from the man and the woman sighed.
“We came for one, but I suppose
we’ll have to clean up his mess before we leave.”
Chris tried to quell his
excitement, but he could still hear it in his voice when he spoke. “That’s
great. We could use the help. With all of us there is no way they stand a
chance, especially if you can teach us…”
“Woah!” The woman held up her hand.
“Us? No. Havoc and I work alone.”
Chris was numb with the sudden
refusal. “But…but we could help you.” He hated the whine in his voice.
“Nothing personal, kid,” she said
matter-of-factly “but you guys would be more of a hindrance than a help. You
should just lay low for a couple of days and we’ll take care of the problem for
you.”
Ricky burst out in derisive
laughter, but an icy glare from the woman caught the rest of his laughter in
his throat. “Sorry, but how do you expect to kill… what was the last estimate
Chris? Fifty?”
“Those are conservative estimates.
We know of thirty for sure… sorry, twenty nine after tonight. Then there are at
least twenty with strong suspicion and another thirty or so that are likely.”
The woman seemed to mull this over
for a moment. “You say you know for sure that thirty are vamps. How do you
confirm?”
Well, the first five died of
seemingly natural causes and were buried, but I’ve seen them up and walking
since then. We checked the graves. They’re empty. The others are people we’ve
observed changes in. The thirty confirmed don’t go out during the day...
ever. We’re still working on the list.
We follow those we suspect for several days, until we’re fairly sure.”
“What is the population here?”
“Around 5,000,” Ricky answered
quickly.
“That is an awfully high vamp count
for such a small population,” Havoc said thoughtfully. Another meaningful
exchange in the mirror.
“When did you realize there were
vamps among you?” The woman looked at Chris.
“About a year ago,” Chris
responded.
The woman looked at him closely
gauging his response. His whole body itched at the scrutiny, but he didn’t dare
squirm. She was measuring him up and he would not be found wanting if he could
help it.
Seemingly satisfied, the woman
continued her interrogation. “How long have you been hunting them?”
“As a group?” Chris shrugged.
“About six months, but that’s because it took some work convincing the others
this was really happening.”
“How many others?”
“Nine, all together.”
“Eight after tonight,” Bianca
mumbled as she stared out the window and fingered her cross. Chris blushed.
He’d forgotten about their fallen comrade. Poor Terah; they hadn’t even tried
to turn her, they had simply butchered her.
“How many have you killed?” the
woman continued. Chris looked to the others, but both seemed to avoid his eye
contact. The interrogation was exhausting him.
“Five,” he muttered when the others
didn’t volunteer. The woman arched one
perfectly shaped eyebrow at him. He knew five wasn’t impressive, but it was
better than none at all. “That’s beside the point. We’ve learned a lot and are
ready to learn more. Besides, we can show you which ones are vamps. It’ll save
you a lot of time.”
“We have our own methods of determining
accurately who is a vamp and who is not.” The woman seemed to dismiss the
conversation.
Bianca, not able to bear the
silence, quipped. “What do you do, dunk them in water and if they don’t drown
stake them?” She was clearly flustered.
Chris rolled his eyes. “That’s the
legend of witches!” he snapped.
Bianca rolled her eyes back. “Whatever!”
Chris turned back to the woman.
“Listen, this is our town…”
“Oh, by all means, then we’ll leave
you to it!” the woman scoffed. “As I have already said, Havoc and I work alone.
End of discussion.” She whipped the car into a motel on the highway.
“What are we doing here?” Ricky
asked, snapping out of his silence. He was always better at asking questions
than at answering them.
“Parting ways.” The woman jumped
out of the car moving lithely towards the nearest door. She withdrew a hotel
key card from her hip pocket. Chris scrambled out of the car and rushed to
catch up with her long strides.
“At least come back and meet the
rest of our team before you write us off,” Chris pleaded. He sensed Havoc right
behind him. The man moved swiftly and silently. Chris couldn’t help but think
that he would hate to meet either of these two in a dark alley. Here in the
empty motel parking lot he could sense that they were primal predators. “We
aren’t just going to stop what we’ve been doing just because you’re here. At least we should coordinate our moves.
We’ve got a system set up already.”
“What, kill a few a year ‘til
you’re all dead?” The woman responded flippantly. “Look, just stay out of our
way. We know how to handle these bad asses. Go home and pretend this was all a
bad dream. In a week you’ll wake up and it will be almost as if it had never
happened. Then you can go back to your normal life.” There was something in the
way she said it that made Chris pause. All his life he’d never wanted to be
normal. He wanted to be just like these people. Yet here this woman was
practically pleading him to have a normal life. She reached out to open the
door to room thirteen.
As the door opened a shadow crossed
the lamplight. Chris heard the woman gasp and as she slumped forward Chris got
a glimpse of blood red eyes and a pale face. Even then he was only just
beginning to understand what had happened. Suddenly her arm came up in an ark
and the head of the ambusher rolled over her shoulder landing right between
Chris’s feet. He recoiled in horror recognizing the face of his newspaper
carrier. Fuck, he’d never have thought of him!
He stared numbly and was unable to
react as Havoc shoved him aside to grab the woman before she fell. “Move,”
Havoc growled. “Move, get back in the car!” He shoved Chris toward the car
where Ricky and Bianca were sitting oblivious of the violence that had just
occurred as swiftly and silently as the wind.
Even though he was carrying the
woman, Havoc moved fast. Chris heard the sizzle and pop as the vampire’s body
began to burn. Only then was it becoming clear to him what had just happened.
He jumped in the front seat and could only shake his head to Bianca’s unspoken
question. Havoc was already setting the woman down in the back seat.
“Fury? Fury!” Havoc whispered hoarsely.
There was no response.
“Is she dead?” Chris asked, turning
in the seat. She hadn’t even made a sound. Unbelievable!
“What the hell is going on?!” Ricky
snapped, the confusion making him angry.
“Watch out the windows. They may
attack again at any moment.” Havoc ordered. Chris was already on it. Every
shadow seemed alive, yet when he looked closely it was only his imagination.
