by Nancy Holder
For a moment, no one said or did anything, then the expressions on the faces of the vampires went from smugness to fear and dismay.
“You two are already dead,” Sheriff Jenner snarled. Spittle ran from his twisted mouth. “You just don’t know it. We wired this building last night.” He held out his hand, and from her position behind him, Asha could just see it over his shoulder. He was holding something small and boxlike, and as she focused on it, Sheriff Jenner pushed down on it with his thumb. There was a soft, dull click somewhere behind them, and Asha staked him before he could say anything. The world would definitely be a better place for his absence.
With nothing in her grip but vampire dust, Asha realized the room had gone unaccountably silent. That sound of just a moment ago, so small and insignificant . . . what had it been? She looked at the faces of the unmoving creatures in front of them and saw only dull acceptance mirrored in their eyes, like the surrendering of a mouse caught in the talons of the nighthawk. No one tried to run, or even talk.
Disbelieving, Asha turned toward her Watcher and their gazes locked. Laurent gave her a slow, sad smile. “Guess we’re going on to Glory together,” she said. She reached out a rough hand and touched Asha’s cheek, and it was the first sign of affection the Slayer could remember since the night the Cajun woman had plucked her from beneath the hanging body of her dead father. If nothing else, Asha knew she had done a measure of good in her small world, and she had been loved by someone besides.
Then . . .
Detonation.
About the Authors
After obtaining a degree in wildlife illustration and environmental education, Doranna Durgin spent a number of years deep in the Appalachian Mountains, where she learned not to get cocky about Things That Go Bump In The Night. When she emerged, it was as a writer who found herself irrevocably tied to the natural world and its creatures (even the ones no one else sees). Doranna hangs around with three Cardigan Welsh Corgis and an amazingly sane Arabian, and drags her saddle wherever she goes. Her online home is at http://www.doranna.net/.
Christie Golden is the award-winning author of seventeen novels and fifteen short stories published in the fields of fantasy, science fiction, and horror. Her historical fantasy novel A.D. 999, written under the pen name of Jadrien Bell, won the Colorado Author’s League Top Hand Award for Best Genre Novel of 1999, competing against novels from every genre including romance, mystery, and western as well as fantasy. A history buff, Golden has always been intrigued by the legend of the white doe of Roanoke Island, which has been around in one form or another for the last few centuries. When primary research sources yielded such choice tidbits as the fact that the Croatoans had tales about the walking dead, she knew she was on target with her idea. Golden lives in Colorado with her artist husband Michael Georges, two cats, and a white German Shepherd. Readers are welcome to visit her website at www.sff.net/people/Christie.Golden. She feels compelled to inform readers that, while she thinks very highly of fellow writer Christopher Golden, no, they are not related.
L.A. Times bestselling author Nancy Holder has written over two dozen projects for the Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel series of books. She has worked with a number of Buffy and Angel authors, including Christopher Golden, Jeff Mariotte, and Maryelizabeth Hart. Her love of France and her passion for history inspired her to set her Slayer’s Tale in Revolutionary Paris. She has visited the Palace of Versailles and stood in the Hall of Mirrors . . . where she found, to her dismay, that she cast no reflection. She keeps to the shadows in San Diego with her daughter, Belle, and their all-female cast of supporting characters—Dotdog and the cat sisters, David and Sasha.
Yvonne Navarro is a Chicago area novelist who has written a bunch of stuff, including novels, movie and television novelizations, and short stories. In the Year 2000 she had three novels published, Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Paleo, DeadTimes, and That’s Not My Name. Two of those novels, Paleo and That’s Not My Name (and one of her short stories), took first place in three different categories at the state level in the Mate E. Palmer Communications Contest in early 2001. Yvonne used to draw and publish illustrations, but alas, she hasn’t had time to make pictures in years—in the world of fiction publishing, one picture is not worth a thousand words!
Some readers might not be surprised to learn that her first published novel, After Age, was about the end of world as orchestrated by vampires. In her second novel, deadrush, she worked on zombies; both After Age and deadrush were nominated for the Bram Stoker Award. Final Impact (which won the 1997 CWIP Award for Excellence in Adult Fiction and the Rocky Mountain News “Unreal Worlds” Award for Best Horror Paperback of 1997) and its follow-up, Red Shadows, tell the story of some really nifty people struggling to survive when the Earth is nearly destroyed by a celestial disaster. Yvonne wrote the novelizations of both Species and Species II, as well as Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Willow Files, Vols. I and II and Aliens: Music of the Spears. She also authored The First Name Reverse Dictionary, a reference book for writers.
Currently she’s about three-quarters of the way finished writing a supernatural thriller called Mirror Me and still plans to someday write sequels to most of her previous solo novels. She also studies martial arts and loves Arizona (she has been scheming to take over the Phoenix area for years), dogs, champagne, and dark chocolate. Visit her site at www.yvonnenavarro.com, where you can read more of her stuff and see funny photos, plus find out how to get books autographed and keep up to date. Come visit!
Mel Odom lives in Moore, Oklahoma, with his wife and five children. In addition to writing novels for Buffy the Vampire Slayer, he’s also written for Angel and Sabrina the Teenage Witch. His new fantasy hardcover, THE ROVER, has just been published. His e-mail address is [email protected], and he welcomes comments and questions.
Greg Rucka is the author of seven novels, including five about bodyguard Atticus Kodiak and his companions. He is the author of several short-stories and comic books, and currently writes the adventures of Batman in Detective Comics, and the adventures of Tara Chase in Queen & Country. His favorite slayer is Faith.
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This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
First Pocket Pulse trade paperback edition October 2001
First Simon Pulse edition May 2002
TM and © 2001 by Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation. All rights reserved.
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Tales of the slayer.
p. cm.—(Buffy, the vampire slayer)
ISBN-13: 978-0-7434-0045-9
ISBN-10: 0-7434-0045-3
ISBN-13: 978-1-5344-2651-1 (ebook)
1. Vampires—Fiction. 2. Horror tales, American. 3. Buffy the Vampire Slayer (Fictitious character)—Fiction. I. Buffy, the vampire slayer (Series)
PS648.V35 T35 2001
813’.0873808375—dc21
2001133046