“Well, yes, but you could stand off to the edge, couldn’t you? And do it that way? Or do you need eye contact or something?”
“That helps, yes. But, it’s faster to just kill them.”
His cavalier attitude struck her as wrong. “What about someone strong,” she argued. “Someone you can’t beat easily?” Like Kateesha.
“If they’re strong enough to pose a challenge, then their minds are probably too strong. As for Kateesha,” he broke off and pulled in a tight breath. “I’ve told you before that I can’t read her mind. If I could, I’d have known what she was up to before she ever betrayed us.”
She didn’t remember the conversation, but he had a valid point. “Why can’t you read her mind? I thought you could read everyone’s?”
“No, not everyone’s. There are those who are far older and more powerful than me, and those who are stronger, and those who have a natural immunity. I imagine Kateesha falls into the latter category, or perhaps it’s because we had the same Master.”
Katelina shivered as she thought about the dark demoness and her vengefully gleaming eyes. That was something she didn’t want to think about, so she asked instead, “I don’t suppose you can read his mind, either?”
“Malick’s? No. And I doubt I’d want to.” Jorick changed the topic with an attempted smile. “All of this talking isn’t leading to sleep. We can talk tonight. In the meantime-”
“Yeah, yeah. I know. I’m just… wound up.”
He gazed at her sympathetically, then drew her to him and held her close. His familiar scent filled her nose and his strong arms chased away the imaginary phantoms. “It’s going to be all right, little one. Trust me.”
Despite the comfort of his presence, she wasn’t convinced.
.**********
CHARACTER ART GALLERY
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Like a concept art gallery on a DVD, here are my “concepts” for the characters.
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Katelina Mauldin:
Hair: long blonde
Eye color: blue
Height: 5’ 6”
Katelina was an average woman with a job at a newspaper office, a best friend, and a nagging mother. The only idiosyncrasy in her life was Patrick - a free floating friend with benefits. When Patrick turned up murdered, Katelina had no idea that her life was about to turn upside down and plunge into darkness, thanks to the mysterious Jorick. Surrounded by vampires, Katelina struggles to find her place in Jorick’s world.
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Jorick:
Hair: long black hair
Eye color: so dark they look black
Height: 6’1”
A dark, enigmatic vampire. As he and Katelina grow closer, he turns from protector to lover, though she sometimes wonders what he sees in her. All he wants is some peace and quiet, but between the enemies he’s made in the last five hundred years, and his fledgling Oren’s wars, that peace seems elusive.
**********
Patrick Mullens:
Hair: pale blonde
Eye color: ice blue
Height: 6’
Katelina’s friend with benefits whom she found murdered in his own apartment. As she tries to piece together what happened, she discovers that, though he was human like her, he was tangled up in a sticky web of crisscrossing allegiances and vampire feuds. The more she learns about him and the war that got him killed, the more she wishes she didn’t know.
**********
Sarah Townsend:
Hair: brown
Eyes: green
Height: 5’3”
Cheery and energetic, Sarah is Katelina’s best friend - or was until Claudius’ henchmen kidnapped her by mistake. There is only one fate that she could have suffered, and it’s not a pleasant one.
**********
Michael Mullens:
Hair: blonde
Eyes ice blue
Height 5’ 11”
Patrick’s younger brother. Michael gets tangled up with Claudius’s coven. Not content to suffer alone, he drags his brother into the mess he’s made and creates a chain of events he could never have imagined.
**********
Claudius:
Hair: blond
Eye color: green
Height: 5’ 4”
Claudius is a powerful vampire with an extensive coven and plenty of money. When his mate, Arowenia, is kidnapped by Oren and his associates, Claudius does his best to reclaim her, including hunting down Katelina, who he thought was involved in the crime.
**********
Arowenia:
Hair: pale blonde
Eyes: blue
Height: 5’ 3”
Arowenia is Claudius’s mate, though whether by force or choice is a matter for debate. More child than woman, she was kidnapped by Patrick and his brother and held in a secret location. But, does Claudius really love her, or is she just an excuse for a war?
**********
Oren Cotterill:
Hair: golden tawny
Eye color: amber
Height: 5’ 10”
Jorick’s friend and fledgling. After the Guild’s Executioners attack his coven, he swears revenge and plots an attack on their citadel. When Jorick refuses to help him, he makes a pact with another coven, one whose reputation is dubious at best. But will he really leave Jorick alone, or will he pester him until he has no choice but to help him or watch him die?
**********
Jesslynn Cotterill:
Hair: long, black
Eye color: deep brown
Height: 5’ 7”
Oren’s wife. Jesslynn is tall, thin and haughty. She is at once regal and cold with a commanding presence. It’s quickly obvious that she’s the dominant force, not only in her marriage but in her household and even in her coven.
**********
Alexander Cotterill:
Hair: black
Eye color: brown
Oren’s son, he seems to be about five years old. With dark eyes and a cheerful outlook, he doesn’t find anything strange about his existence - or does he?
**********
Bethina:
Hair: blonde
Eye color: blue
Height: 5’ 2”
Alexander’s companion, her age is often estimated as “between twelve and twenty”. With the mind of a child, she is Alexander’s perfect companion, or is she? Is there something besides love that ties the boy to her? And what happened to make her the way she is now?
**********
Torina Cotterill:
Hair: red
Eye color: green
Height: 5’6”
Oren’s sister. One look at her slinky dresses, long nails and pouty lips and anyone can identify her as a man eater. When she’s not toying with men, she’s helping her brother plan his assault on the Guild - or would be if there was much to plan. However, even she can see how hopeless their situation is. Is it love of her brother that stops her from leaving, or fear of being alone?
**********
Fabian:
Hair: black
Eyes: brown
Height: 5’10”
Jesslynn’s brother and Oren’s brother-in-law, Fabian doesn’t bother to disguise his dislike of Jorick or Katelina. One of the main proponents of Oren’s war, Fabian is like a yapping Chihuahua with a bad temper.
**********
Kateesha:
Hair: black
Eye color: deep brown
Height: 5’9”
Jorick’s sister in blood; he and Kateesha share the same master. Meant to be mates, they are ill-suited to one another - or so Jorick says. However, the vindictive, ruthless vampiress does not agree.
**********
Loren Drake:
Hair: curly, black
Eyes: brown
Height: 5’ 11”
A teenage vampire who is too busy helping Oren with his war to sparkle. With a naturally cheerful attitude, he’s one of the few who seem to hav
e a real fondness for Katelina, but one question remains - how can he stand Micah?
**********
Micah:
Hair: bald
Eyes: brown
Height: 5’ 11”
A vampire who could have dropped right out of a seventies’ biker movie, Micah comes equipped with a strong dislike for Jorick and a bad attitude, not to mention a propensity for calling Katelina “Lunch”. Despite that, will Katelina really be happy to see him die in Oren’s attempted rebellion?
**********
Velnya:
Hair: black
Eyes: violet
A faded photograph with sad eyes, Velnya is a memory that refuses to fade. Will Katelina ever feel that she is out from under Velnya’s’ shadow?
**********
Malick:
Hair: white
Eyes: brown
Height; 5’ 4”
The oldest and most powerful vampire in North America and the leader of The Guild, Malick is also Jorick and Kateesha’s master. They will soon learn there is nothing more dangerous than an ancient vampire who’s bored…
**********
SHORT: HOW TO SILENCE A HUMAN
**********
This was written for Love in the Kitchen: Flash Fiction and Recipes anthology. If it were to fit canonically, it would go after Legacy of Ghosts.
Katelina hummed to herself as she dropped the giant sandwich onto the cookie sheet. The small kitchen smelled like green onion and mustard, and it made her eyes water. She glanced at Jorick, who leaned against the counter, an expression of abstract interest on his face. Despite his superior sense of smell, he seemed completely unaffected. Perhaps imperviousness to onions was yet another vampire super ability. It made as much sense as some of the others.
She slid the cookie sheet into the oven and checked the time on her watch. “Twenty minutes,” she announced, and then turned to face him. Her blue eyes shone with a smug light. “See? I told you I could cook.”
“Yes.” He pushed himself off the counter towards her. “You did, and I’m still waiting to see it.”
She wiped her hands on her jeans and gestured to the oven door. “You just did. That sandwich didn’t make itself.”
Amusement flickered over his features and he drew back a step to survey the oven, as though it would do a trick. “You call that a single sandwich? It’s an entire loaf of bread.”
He was right about the size, of course. It was designed to feed at least four people, but she didn’t have four people. There was only her and a vampire, and it wasn’t like he was going to eat any of it! Still, she had no intention of telling him that, so she rolled her eyes and turned to her clean up. Bag in the trash. Left over onions in the fridge, next to the blood-
He interrupted her mental directions. “Besides, I don’t call that cooking. At the very least cooking involves mixing ingredients. Slapping a sandwich together and heating it up-”
She snapped around to face him, her hands on her hips. “I didn’t just slap it together! I had to carefully arrange it so that the toppings are evenly distributed otherwise the taste ratio is wrong!”
He blinked at her as if she’d lost her mind and then brushed it aside. “Regardless of ‘taste ratios’, it isn’t cooking. You badgered me into buying dishes and so far you haven’t used most of them.”
She snorted contemptuously. It was hardly “badgering”. She lived with him, for crying out loud! He was just trying to change the subject because he knew what was coming, however, she refused to be silent. “Of course I haven’t used them all yet. Just wait until Christmas! Then I’ll make a big dinner.”
His eyebrow twitched. “Christmas? Do we really need to do that?”
She was torn between amusement and incredulity. “Of course we do! It’s Christmas! You can’t not do Christmas.”
“I do.” The glare he received was almost painful. “Do you realize how many Christmases I’ve been through? They lost their luster a long time ago. It’s all pointless, anyway. You murder a tree and cover it in foil and fake snow. Why not just leave it outside where it belongs and let it get covered in real snow. If you’re so desperate to look at it, you could always go outside and see it.”
“The presents would get soggy,” she snapped back sarcastically. “Since when did you worry about needlessly murdering things? You’re a vampire, for crying out loud!”
He crossed his arms over his chest. “So? What is that supposed to mean?”
“It means you kill people!” She waved her arms for emphasis. “And you kill animals, and you kill other vampires and-”
“So do you.” He snickered.
She started to argue, but stopped. Okay, there were a few dead vampires that he could pin on her. But she’d never killed people. Or animals.
“You eat animals,” he countered in answer to her unspoken thoughts. “You might not kill them yourself, but if you didn’t eat them then they wouldn’t be killed.”
At his words the world seemed to lurch in a terrifying direction and Katelina cringed. “I’m not having a vegetarian argument with a vampire! That’s just sick on too many levels. The next thing you know, you’ll be glittering in the sunlight!”
Jorick’s dark eyes grew darker and his face turned hard. “Real vampires do not glitter. Not ever.”
“Not even at Christmas?” She batted her eyes innocently. “I bet you’d look lovely all done in silver tinsel. Look at it this way, we wouldn’t have to murder a tree, then!”
He studied her a moment and then grabbed her and pulled her to him roughly. He dipped his face to hers, so that she could feel his breath on her cheek, and in a tone that was half guttural growl declared, “But then I couldn’t do this.” Before she could argue, he captured her mouth in a crushing kiss. His hot tongue pressed past her lips and tangled with hers. She moaned softly and wrapped her arms around his neck, pressing her body against the long, lean length of him.
Then, as quickly as he’d caught her up, he let her go, though the suggestion was still in his eyes. “Isn’t that better than a Christmas tree?”
For once she couldn’t argue.
**********
LINKS TO DOWNLOADABLE CONTENT
**********
What bonus material is complete without downloadable content? None! So, follow these links for some free Amaranthine goodies.
Print Your Own Bookmakers:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/pandora_6666/7865142222/sizes/o/in/photostream/
(Right click and Save As. For best results use cardstock. You can laminate them or slip them into plastic bookmarker sleeves.)
Desktop Wallpaper:
1: http://www.flickr.com/photos/pandora_6666/7865136436/sizes/o/
2: http://www.flickr.com/photos/pandora_6666/7865135802/sizes/o/
3: http://www.flickr.com/photos/pandora_6666/7865135228/sizes/o/
(Right click and Save As)
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Acknowledgments:
My husband, Charles, for being supportive.
My mother for her multiple re-reads and her enthusiasm.
My brother Chris for being a mean critic and for all his suggestions, and miraculous corrections.
Carolyn Cason for convincing me this series was worth finishing and Daniel Kennedy for talking me into the indie life. (Yeah, I’d already made up my mind, but we all want someone to agree with us!)
My beta readers: Sharon, Steve, & Juli (with no e).
Ruth Ann Nordin for all her help, Jonathan Harvey for the laughs, Sue, Donna, Angie, Yen, Barb, Stephannie and all the others who posted promos or forced copies on their friends and families. (You know who you are).
Anyone who’s taken the time to pick up a book or send me a comment.
Last but not least, God, who I believe is a fan of vampires.
**********
Joleene Naylor grew up in southwest Iowa surrounded by soybeans, corn and very little entertainment - so she made her own. She has been writing and drawing since she w
as a small child, with a particular leaning towards fantasy, horror and paranormal. It is this love of all that goes bump in the night that led her to write the Amaranthine series.
In her spare time she is a freelance artist and photographer. Her current projects include Children of Shadows, the sixth in the Amaranthine series and The Terrible Turtle Conspiracy, a web manga collaboration with writer Jonathan Harvey. She also does book covers for other authors. Joleene maintains blogs full of odd ramblings and hopes to win the lottery. Until she does, she and her husband live near Bolivar Missouri with their cats, dogs and turtles. However, unless she starts buying tickets she may never win anything.
Ramblings from the Darkness at www.joleenenaylor.com
You never know what you’ll find in the shadows…..
Find more Amaranthine goodness:
Amaranthine blog: http://joleenenaylor.wordpress.com/
Facebook author page: https://www.facebook.com/joleenenaylorbooks
Amaranthine Special Edition Vol I Page 60