Blood Drawn: A novel of The Demon Accords

by John Conroe

  The world grew larger, filling my vision, the gleaming chrome body parts spiraling down toward the surface.

  “Possibly. I thought I saw a stripped world like the one Barbiel showed us,” Tanya said. “We focused on a moon around that big gas giant.”

  “It’s possible,” I allowed.

  The world below us zoomed in like an alien version of Google Earth, drilling down on the southern hemisphere, moving around the planet till we were focused on a light brown zone that looked like sand.

  “That desert is as large as North America, by my estimation,” Omega said, his voice almost in my ear.

  The sand got closer and suddenly spots appeared, growing into buildings as my viewpoint raced toward the ground. Details appeared, domes of some smooth white substance, like a cross between concrete and plastic. The evil body parts just went right through the roof of the dome, right into a vast, dark space, a circular room bigger than ten football fields. And we still fell, dropping from a ceiling as high as a skyscraper, maybe as high as Demidova Tower, falling till we suddenly stopped, right over a wide white area marked by concentric rings of circles.

  “Abort,” Omega said.

  “Dumped,” Declan’s voice said, calm and smooth like an experienced airline pilot announcing turbulence.

  “Look fast,” Ashling suggested.

  My view spun, rapidly, taking in the area surrounding the circles. I saw images of machines and people, of things and beings, watching. And then I was yanked away, my stomach dropping through my feet, my vision narrowing in a diminishing circle of light that shrank to a pinprick before disappearing altogether.

  I opened my eyes, blinking against the bright lights, tears streaming, my head beating like something large and angry was trying to get out of it. Across from me, Tanya blinked just as rapidly, but the two witches looked normal.

  Then I noticed the space above us was empty, the metal nervous system gone.

  “Omega, video from space?” Declan asked.

  A hologram appeared in place of the skull and spine, a black expanse of space that suddenly filled with a bloom of light that spread with unbelievable speed until the feed went dead.

  “Now, while it be fresh, what did ye see?” Ashling asked, looking around at all of us.

  “I saw machines that looked more organic than ours, and lots of creatures,” Tanya said.

  “I saw several short, long-armed, three-fingered aliens with big eyes,” I said.

  “I saw multiple beings, different sizes, colors, and shapes,” Declan said.

  “There was one alien that was closer than the others,” Tanya said.

  “Aye, it was definitely a Vorsook,” Nika said. “And I’m pretty sure it was the one to attempt our own trick against us.”

  “I recorded the feed from Declan’s optic nerve,” Omega said, and a new image appeared in the air above us.

  It circled twice, showing the same things I had seen. Then it slowed and stopped, focused on just one alien who looked like he had snuck out of Roswell and Area 51 both.

  “My time engaged in conflict with the alien AI gave me exposure to many things,” Omega said.

  “Like the kraykenast information?” I asked.

  “Exactly, as well as a short list of highly placed Vorsook. I recognize this one,” Omega said.

  “How?” Declan asked. “They all looked exactly the same.”

  “To humans, perhaps. To me, there are measurable differences in eye spacing, ocular cavity size and orientation, height, and other features. I recognized that one.”

  “Don’t keep us in suspense,” I said. “What or who was it?”

  “The Keeper of Vast Space,” Omega said. “Roughly analogous to someone like the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff in the US. It is a highly ranked Vorsook.”

  “And that means?” Declan asked.

  “That we have captured the attention and interest of their most distinguished conqueror of civilizations.”

  “Oh,” Declan said. “That sounds pretty bad.”

  “I cannot predict the ramifications of this information,” Omega said.

  “I can,” my vampire said. “We have come to the attention of a bigger predator. It means that Senka was right… Our war is just starting.”

  Author’s Notes:

  I’ve never taken this long to produce a book, at least not since God Touched. The end of 2020 was so distracting and disturbing that I couldn’t focus on a book of any kind. Pandemics, civil unrest, supply chain shortages – it was like an author’s plot come to life.

  In early ’21 we downsized, moving to a smaller residence and that disruption further slowed my writing. But by mid-year the arc of Blood Drawn was clear. And the arc of the next book, Blood Culled, was equally clear. However, I failed to communicate with my editor and found she had four books in front of mine when it came time to edit. My bad. It won’t likely happen again.

  Blood Drawn is the first of the last three books in the main Demon Accords series. It will be followed by Blood Culled, and then Blood Lines. Like the Avengers, things have to have an endpoint. However, the Demon Accords universe is a vast playground – I still have lots of stories to tell from lots of points of view. There are many books left to write. Currently I am writing a series from Levi’s point of view on Amazon’s Vella platform. It will eventually be a full book in both e-format, print, and audio. In the meantime, I’m enjoying the episodic storytelling format greatly. I can foresee Zone Wars and Shadows episodes galore. Speaking of Shadows, I will be working on the third book in that series after Blood Culled. It will be titled A Mischief of Rats.

  As usual, I thank Susan for her editing and Gareth for his excellent artwork. My wife continues to chain me to my desk for your reading pleasure and my daughters provide a constant source of ideas and inspiration. And I thank all of you for continuing to read and listen to my work.

  John Conroe