STAGE1s (S1s): Hollow Walkers who are humanoid in form, strong, with red beady eyes.
STAGE2s (S2s): Hollow Walkers who are more monstrous in form with four massive tentacles, claws, teeth, empty dark eyes, and tough hides.
About the Author
Ms. Sinclair is an American fantasy author with books crossing into urban, contemporary, paranormal, YA Epic fantasy, NA, Romantic, and SF fantasy genres.
Parker gives credit to the development of her imagination and passion for writing to multiple childhood destinations lacking indoor plumbing. It may sound odd, yet when your journey to adulthood consists of numerous backpacking, camping, and hiking trips to the most out-of-the-way and breathtakingly beautiful places in North America, the creation of games, worlds, and characters are the results. She would never trade the childhood her parents gave her, and she thanks them for raising her to have her own thoughts, dreams, and bountiful imagination. Oh and she wishes to thank them for teaching her that one should never leave their jeans on the floor of an everglades campground shower—lest they do the dance of the scorpions in the pants again!
While attending college, Ms. Sinclair studied biological sciences and psychology, specifically animal behavior, but her love has forever been to write. There are boxes in her house filled with notebooks, journals, and logs with poems, stories, lyrics, and personal rants scratched into them with pencil, marker, pen, whatever she could get her hands on. Words demanded to be thrown out of her mind and onto paper by any means necessary. Ms. Sinclair’s studies have contributed greatly to the worlds, characters, and stories she creates, proving that no matter what path you take, it will all be part of where you end up—sometimes in spectacular ways!
Since 2007, Ms. Sinclair calls Coastal Virginia home where she works as a writer at a local newspaper, is a member of RWA, a licensed educational counselor, and enjoys quality time with her children, husband, and fur babies.
BOOKS BY THE AUTHOR
The ArcKnight Chronicles
The Vampires of Vegas Series
A Dark Faerie Tale Series
Other Stories:
The Fall of Sky
Wicked Grove
Anthologies:
Soul Games
Faery Worlds
Faery Realms
Faery Tales
Lacing Shadows
Destiny’s Dark Fantasy
Once Upon a Curse
The Shapeshifter Chronicles
Once Upon a Kiss
It’s a Bird! It’s a Plane! A Superhero Anthology
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BREVITY: A VAMPIRES OF VEGAS STORY
©November 2017 Alexia Purdy
All Rights Reserved
All rights reserved. Except as permitted under the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.
The characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.
Cover Art by Alexis Purdy
Edited by Michael K. Rose
Book Design by Christie Lee
CHAPTER 1
Lianna leaned forward and yanked back the crazed creature’s hair hard enough to feel some of the roots rip beneath her grip. Growling, the wilding struggled against her, snapping her jaws with a feral glare in her eyes while blood seeped out from between her teeth and dripped down her chin. It was gruesome yet fascinating all at the same time, Lianna thought.
“I can’t let you live even if I wanted to. Not when you had to go and do a thing like that. Too dangerous to keep you alive.” Lianna groaned, pain radiating up her left arm and into her shoulder. Pressing her teeth together, she frowned at the monster before her. It was a miracle she could hold her down. It was easier now that she had Brian’s help. Before, as he’d struggled to don his splash-protection coveralls, she’d thought it was all over for her. Now the creature could do nothing but squirm and buck beneath their grips.
The savage woman paused while glaring back, her breath coming in quick, hissing gasps. Long, pointed canines gleamed beneath the artificial lights of the gore-covered glass prison. It was a horrifying sight to behold. She’d awoken from a centuries-long frozen slumber to find herself in a modern facility with scientists hovering above, poking at her arms with syringes. All this creature had felt was an insatiable hunger stabbing at her insides and an unfathomable urge to reached out, grab the woman scientist, and bite into the thick, pulsating carotid artery, its pumping like a beacon to the creature’s senses.
So much hunger, need, and thirst. Sustenance was needed. Even just a bit.
Her eyes flicked around, burning with lust for the liquid running through the other woman’s veins. There was no denying the animalistic, preternatural need to drain the living. If only she could finesse her way out of the vise-like grip holding her down. She’d gotten a taste already, and it had felt heavenly running down her throat. All she knew was that the sweet, red liquid she’d stolen from the other woman was life. Sustenance. Ambrosia.
All she knew was that she wanted more of it.
“So many secrets you hold, yet you’ve stolen all the time I had to discover it all. Damn you!” Lianna yanked the creature back once more and hefted the ice pick she’d found in the freezer area of the underground facility. She slammed it through an eye socket and directly into the skull. The moment the pick entered the brain, the creature fell slack, and Lianna held her up by one arm as her head cradled against her chest.
“Blast,” she muttered. “Brian, help me hoist her onto the table.”
“Okay.” Brian awkwardly reached out toward the body. “Is it dead?” He appeared to shiver in his britches, a sight that made her roll her eyes.
“Yes, it’s dead. Help me out; she’s heavy.” They managed to move the body onto the steel examination table. Once it was there, she’d cut the creature open and take more samples than she’d been able to do before.
“You should clean that wound,” Brian commented.
Lianna peered down at her arm where the sleeve hung torn and bloodied. Beneath the mess of material, deep tooth marks leaked crimson blood.
“Yeah. Good point. You got this? I’m going to treat it and change. I need to decontaminate. My suit’s useless now.”
“You can’t leave quarantine like that.” Brian raised an eyebrow. “You’ll have to remain here.”
“It’ll be fine. Trust me. I’ll get this cleaned up and decontaminate before I leave. It’ll be fine.”
“You sure? What if it’s… contagious?”
Lianna focused on the body on the table once more, a tight frown tugging the edges of her mouth. “It was frozen for centuries. I doubt any kind of contagion could’ve survived long in those conditions. The preliminary tests showed no activity in the blood. It wasn’t truly alive, just a crazed, decimated mind inside a body that revived itself somehow and reacted to higher temperatures. Demented. That’s all. I’m going now.”
Unconvinced but knowing that arguing was pointless, Brian nodded, watching her from behind his mask as she cleaned the wound, shed the torn coveralls, and stepped naked into the decontamination pod where the shower sprayed water over her to remove any contaminants she may have acquired. Once t
he wash was done, she was air dried with speed dryers then allowed to leave the quarantined area via another pressurized chamber. Once the air pressure equalized, the door clicked opened to a dressing room where she bandaged her wound, still seeping blood, and donned a fresh pair of sweat pants, sweat shirt, socks, and shoes. She tugged the sleeve down over her wound and yanked a comb through her long brown hair.
Brian had gotten a nice peep show, but she didn’t give a damn. He was collecting the necessary specimens she needed to continue her research on the creature. She’d be working on the other side with thick gloves and computerized robotic arms. That way there would be no further contamination while they worked. It was the chance of a lifetime, and she wasn’t going to let one tiny bite screw that up for her.
Protocol would be to report the bite to her superiors, and then she’d be quarantined for weeks and studied like an insect before they’d let her out. Plus, she’d be sick to death from all the medications they’d pump into her as a precaution against any illnesses she might contract. It was a risk, and the rock in her gut told her to be careful, but she refused to be locked up, and nothing was going to convince her that the creature’s bite was anything but a nuisance.
She pressed her hand against the bandaged wound and winced. She wouldn’t let it hinder her chances of discovering something new. No. She would continue her work. This creature could be the key to a major breakthrough. Immortality, perhaps? Whatever had helped that creature last all these years, alive beneath the ice, was the key she needed to become the most renowned scientist of all time. The fountain of youth was in this creature’s blood, and she was going to be the one to discover it.
She squeezed her eyes shut and prayed. The wound was just a small annoyance, and that was all it would ever be.
CHAPTER 2
His name hadn’t always been Rye, short for Rystrom. Once he’d been called something else, something more mundane and normal. He’d also worked in the Air Force as a mechanic alongside his cousin, Blaze, formerly known by another name too. But names, with time, lose their meaning when a person is no longer the way they used to be. Once they’d led normal lives on base, working day after day under the protection of the hangar looming high above them.
But that had been a long time ago.
No. Neither of them was the same person they’d been months ago. Here and now, Rye had found a world bent on thrusting what was left of the human population into a new era of blood, chaos, and destruction. It was no wonder he stared upon the ruins of Las Vegas after its glorious reign of lights, slot machines, and parties and felt a cold hard, rock settle in his chest. The place would never recover. It was forever scarred, like everyone who’d managed to live through the initial outbreak.
Remembering the past was never easy. It was a torment which never let go without tearing into the flesh of the mind, reopening scars until nothing but pain and suffering remained as constant companions. It was in these memories that he found solace though, like a soothing balm over burning skin. He ran the scenes through his head like an old film, flashing through the moments, filled up the time he spent alone or standing guard at the entrances of the hive. If he could not learn from the past, what good did it do to live in the present?
In the crevices of his mind, he stared at the old parking lot of the Air Force base. People had been laying into each other without provocation, stumbling and confused from the initial craziness of the incident. He remembered that day like it was yesterday, yet it felt as if it had all been a nightmare which he’d never truly awaken from. Were they all stuck in this place of decay for eternity? Could it all be real or just a thought in someone’s mind, standing still, daydreaming while on duty?
Sometimes he wasn’t sure what was real and what was imagined, and it almost drove him to the point of oblivion. It was so easy to get lost…
Rye turned to find Blaze standing near him, watching the commotion around them and scratching his head, as confused as his cousin. Whatever was happening, it was on a need to know basis, and as mechanics they were certainly not on any lists of important people. If things got any tenser, the MPs were going to have their hands full once the families living on base started to panic. Plus, there was already a rumor flying around about some people acting strange, psychotic even, all throughout Vegas and on the base. Rye hadn’t seen anyone acting odd, but he hadn’t really been outside the hangar today. Repairing the planes took all day and more. Most of the time, Blaze and Rye hardly spoke, working on separate planes and engines. It was a solitary job, but they did pair up at times on bigger projects.
They had stopped working due to the sirens going off. The MPs were everywhere. Something was keeping the base on high alert. Ever since the incident in New York, anything could happen. But here, they felt so far removed. Here at Nellis Air Force Base, not much happened. It was all consistently steady, and not much changed from day to day. This was highly unusual.
“What do you think is going on?” Rye asked.
Blaze downed a swallow of water from a bottle and shrugged. “Hell if I know. There were reports last night in the city about crazed people trying to bite other people. You know, like that zombie drug they constantly talk about in South America?”
“No way. There’s a drug that turns people into zombies?”
Blaze nodded. “Sounds crazy, right? It’s true. I watched a report one day on TV. People actually lose all sense of reality, ram their heads into buses over and over again, bite at anyone who approaches, no reason, no higher thinking. Drugs, man. Fry your brain and turn you into a zombie. Crazy.”
“That’s insane.”
“Yep.”
Rye listened to yet another siren in the distance. It was probably off base, from the muted sound of it, but still closer than some of the other sirens. “Nothing on the news?”
“Nope. If the world is ending, someone’s doing a damn fine job of keeping it quiet.”
“Hell, it’s probably just a drill.”
“Not like any drill I’ve ever seen.”
Rye felt a shiver run up his neck. “Or it’s like you said, a bad batch of drugs got shipped up from South America. So Lianna is coming home tonight?” he asked, eager to change the subject. “I bet you’ve been missing her tons. Been how long? Two months?”
“Yeah. She’s already back from the Antarctic research lab. She had to ship a bunch of specimens and stuff here to the base and is now busy unpacking them. She’s been here for a few days, but I don’t get to see her until tonight.”
“Why not?” Rye asked.
“Oh, work. You know. Same stuff as always. She mentioned doing tests on some bodies they uncovered in the Antarctic. She mentioned they were centuries old but perfectly preserved. Something was off about them. Like they’re human, but somehow something is different about their bodies. Lots of tests and stuff she and the other scientists will have to do. So she’s undoubtedly been working around the clock and sleeping in the bunks at the lab.”
“Sorry to hear that, but that’s awesome about the specimens. Bet you’re proud to be married to a smart lady like that.”
“Yeah,” Blaze sighed. “What about Angela? How are you two doing?”
“She’s awesome, but lately she’s been a bit… distant? I really don’t know. I think she’s just stressed about work. They keep her in Arizona for weeks, managing too many stores plus the ones she’s in charge of here in Vegas. I wish she’d just settle for one store here in town.” Rye frowned and shifted his eyes away, wanting to desperately change the subject.
“Dude, you guys all right?”
“Well, I’m not asking her what’s wrong yet, but when she is in town, she comes home late, doesn’t say much except that she’s tired. It’s just… awkward. But I don’t know what’s going on. At least when we are together we don’t waste much time talking.” Rye’s cheeks flushed at the thought of his wife.
“Yeah, I bet.” Blaze snickered.
“Hey, can’t help it if she’s such a sex maniac. I�
�m totally up for that. Who needs to talk, right?”
Blaze stared at him, lifting an eyebrow and shaking his head. “Sure. What guy isn’t?”
“Enough about me and Angela. Lianna hasn’t been hitting you up for some? You gotta tell her you’re aching.”
“She’ll come around when she’s not busy or tired. I’m not going to force her.”
Rye shook his head. “Man, you’re married and you’re getting laid way less than some of these single airmen here.”
“Shut up, man. That’s not cool.” Blaze’s jaw tightened as he glared back.
Rye threw his hands up in defeat. “Just saying, man. Are you sure she wasn’t cozying up to any of the other scientists down there in the Antarctic? It does get mighty cold and lonely there. Four weeks is a hell of a long time for anyone to go to bed alone.”
Blaze stared at him as he tried to keep his cool. “No, it isn’t. I’ve done four weeks without her before, and neither of us cheated. It can be done. Besides, we’re married. It means something.”
Rye sighed. “I get it. No worries. Sorry I said anything. Hey, are you and Lianna going to join us at Dog ’Ems tonight? Drinks on me!”
Blaze shrugged, his mood already killed by Rye’s comments. Damn. Why did he have to say such things about Lianna? He shouldn’t have even brought it up.
“I don’t know. Maybe. Don’t you have to show the new guy some stuff first? He’s got no retention or common sense, and I’m afraid to leave him alone on a project.”
“Yeah,” Rye groaned, rubbing a bead of sweat from his brow. “He still needs refreshers on stuff. These new recruits keep getting dumber and dumber each year, no?”
“Unfortunately, I have to agree with that observation.”
The Aching Darkness_A Dark Fantasy Anthology Page 8
