I battle hard to keep my eyes open as I look through the back window. Kate is now just a bonfire in the distance, the flames spreading to the apple tree, the former flowerbed, and the grass around her.
The image is too disturbing, but I can’t take my eyes away.
‘Thea,’ I hear a voice in my head call out.
Kate?
“I’m here,” I whisper. “I hear you.”
‘Don’t let them change you,’ she says. ‘Don’t let them turn you into a monster.’
“I won’t.”
‘I love you, Thea.’
My eyes begin to close again. “I love you, too.”
‘Goodbye. I’ll never forget…’
Kate’s voice fades to nothing as I watch the farmhouse disappear.
The dirt track widens, eventually becoming a two-lane road.
In defeat, my eyes finally close, and then my body collapses onto the back seat.
And I’m pulled into darkness once again…
29
“You took your time,” a man’s voice says.
I open my eyes and lift my heavy head. Through blurred vision, I notice the skin on my arms. Pink. They’re healing.
The 4x4 has stopped moving, and the two men have left the vehicle. I find the strength to lift my body up a little. Through the side window I see an old, rundown factory, with its windows boarded up. There’s another car parked in front.
“Is she okay?” a female voice asks; her tone laced with panic.
“Yeah,” one of the men replies. “She’s fine.”
“And the woman?” she asks. “You’re certain she’s dead?”
“Yeah. I watched the bitch light up with my own two eyes.”
“Good,” the woman says as she climbs into the front seat of the 4x4. She hands them a small parcel and a set of keys.
“No goodbye then?” the man asks as she closes the door, muting his voice.
Suddenly the car speeds off, leaving the two men behind.
After a few miles, the woman stops the vehicle in a deserted car park. I gaze at her grey hair as she clutches the steering wheel.
My vision clears and I sit up.
The woman lets out a long sigh and then finally turns in her seat, locking her eyes on mine. “I’ve missed you so much, Thea,” she says, bursting into tears.
I put my trembling hand against the metal mesh and smile.
“I’ve missed you too, Gran…”
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Eyes On You: A Ghost Story
“She’s always watching.”
Having found the perfect flat, Matthew and Aimee settle into their new home with all the hopes of a young couple in love.
But something hideous resides within its walls.
Before long, curious incidents turn violent, and it becomes increasingly difficult for the sceptic Matthew to deny that an unholy ghost has descended upon his happy home.
Tormented by the wrath of this angry spirit, Matthew and Aimee’s relationship begins to crumble under the weight of their terror, and have no choice but to flee into the night, leaving their beloved flat behind.
But you can never run from your past…because dark secrets have a way of hunting you down.
“Once again, Jenkins has managed to move, surprise, and terrify all in one glorious novel.”
ANDREW MARMION – Author of Ghost Lady
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Burn The Dead: Quarantine
(Book One)
It’s a dirty job - but someone’s got to do it.
Robert Stephenson burns zombies for a living.
It’s an occupation that pays the bills and plays tricks on the mind. Still, his life is routine until his four-year-old son becomes stranded in a quarantined zone, teeming with flesh-eating rotters.
Does Rob have what it takes to fight the undead and put his broken family back together?
Or will he also end up in the incinerator…
…Burning with the rest of the dead?
“If you’re looking for a fast-paced zombie read, I highly recommend Burn The Dead by Steven Jenkins (5-STARS)”
K.C. FINN – Readers’ Favorite
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Burn The Dead: Purge
(Book Two)
There are those who run, while others hide.
And then, there are the Cleaners.
The living dead have staggered straight out of hell, and all that keeps humanity from crumbling is a small team of men who catch the rotters, before cleaning up the mess left behind.
Catherine Woods might not be a man, but no sexist, out-dated nonsense is going to stop her from following her dreams and joining the war against the undead.
The only problem is—even the best dreams can become nightmares in an instant.
“Filled with the perfect mix of crazy, jaw-snapping zombies, and heart-stopping horror.”
A.J. LEAVENS – Author of Death’s Twilight
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Burn the Dead: Riot
(Book Three)
A sold-out stadium.
A virus unleashed.
For 17-year-old Alfie Button, today was always going to be a memorable day.
The cheers of excited fans soon become desperate, bloodcurdling cries for help as a legion of the undead overwhelms the stadium. Panic erupts as 21,000 people rush for the exits, only to find them sealed.
With nowhere to run, suffocating in a torrent of blood and chaos, all Alfie and his friends can do is fight for survival—and pray that help will come.
But in every game, in every stadium…
There has to be a loser.
“I love the world the author has created—lots of action and real characterization.”
JAMIE WHITE – Author of The Stains Trilogy
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Thea: A Vampire Story
(Book One)
How far would you go to protect your child?
Vampires are real - hidden among us, concealing their lust for human blood. But monsters come in many forms. Teenage boys, drug addiction, underage sex - single mother Sarah battles to keep these demons from her daughters.
As the long nights of worry start to feed Sarah’s paranoia, she must take desperate measures to save her family.
Although sometimes, the only way to kill a monster…
…is to become one.
“The epitome of chilling vampire noir. Cements Jenkins' pre-eminence in the realm of terror.”
NATHAN JONES – Author of The Nowhere
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Fourteen Days
Workaholic developer Richard Gardener is laid up at home for two week’s mandatory leave—doctor’s orders. No stress. No computers. Just fourteen days of complete rest.
Bliss for most, but hell for Richard… in more ways than one. There’s a darkness that lives inside Richard’s home; a presence he never knew existed because he was seldom there alone.
Did he just imagine those footsteps? The smoke alarm shrieking?
The woman in his kitchen?
His wife thinks that he’s just suffering from work withdrawal, but as the days crawl by in his solitary confinement, the terror seeping through the walls continues to escalate—threatening his health, his sanity, and his marriage.
When the inconceivable no longer seems quite so impossible, Richard struggles to come to terms with what is happening and find a way to banish the darkness—before he becomes an exile in his own home.
"Fourteen Days is the most purely enjoyable novel I've read in a very long time."
RICHARD BLANDFORD – The Writer’s Wo
rkshop
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Spine:
A Collection of Twisted Tales
Listen closely. A creak, almost too light to be heard…was it the shifting of an old house, or footsteps down the hallway? Breathe softly, and strain to hear through the silence. That breeze against your neck might be a draught, or an open window.
Slip into the pages of SPINE and you’ll be persuaded to leave the lights on and door firmly bolted. From Steven Jenkins, bestselling author of Fourteen Days and Burn the Dead, this horror collection of eight stories go beyond the realm of terror to an entirely different kind of creepiness. Beneath innocent appearances lurk twisted minds and scary monsters, from soft scratches behind the wall, to the paranoia of walking through a crowd and knowing that every single eye is locked on you. In this world, voices lure lost souls to the cliff’s edge and illicit drugs offer glimpses of things few should see. Scientists tamper with the afterlife, and the strange happenings at a nursing home are not what they first seem.
So don’t let that groan from the closet fool you—the monster is hiding right where you least expect it.
“If you love scary campfire stories of ghosts, demonology, and all things that go bump in the night, then you’ll love this horror collection by author Steven Jenkins.”
COLIN DAVIES – Creator of BBC’s BAFTA winning The Coal-House
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Rotten Bodies:
A Zombie Short Story Collection
We all fear death’s dark spectre, but in a zombie apocalypse, dying is a privilege reserved for the lucky few. There are worse things than a bullet to the brain—much worse.
The dead are walking, and they’re hungry. Steven Jenkins, bestselling author of Fourteen Days and Burn The Dead, shares six zombie tales that are rotten for all the right reasons.
Meet Dave, a husband and father with a dirty secret, who quickly discovers that lies aren’t only dangerous…they’re deadly. Athlete Sarah once ran for glory, but when she finds herself alone on a country road with an injured knee, second place is as good as last. Working in a cremation facility, Rob likes to peek secretly at the faces of his inventory before they’re turned to ash. When it comes to workplace health and sanity, however, some rules are better left unbroken. Howard, shovelling coal in the darkness of a Welsh coal mine, knows something’s amiss when his colleagues begin to disappear. But it’s when the lights come on that things get truly scary.
Six different takes on the undead, from the grotesque to the downright terrifying. But reader beware: as the groans get louder and the twitching starts, you’ll be dying to reach the final page.
“Utterly hair-raising, in all its gory glory!”
CATE HOGAN – Author of One Summer
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Steven Jenkins was born in the small Welsh town of Llanelli, where he began writing stories at the age of eight, inspired by '80s horror movies and novels by Richard Matheson.
During Steven's teenage years, he became a great lover of writing dark and twisted poems—six of which gained him publications with Poetry Now, Brownstone Books, and Strong Words.
Over the next few years, as well as becoming a husband and father, Steven spent his free time writing short stories, achieving further publication with Dark Moon Digest. And in 2014 his debut novel, Fourteen Days was published by Barking Rain Press.
For More information
www.steven-jenkins.com
[email protected]
THEA II: A VAMPIRE STORY
Copyright © 2017 by Steven Jenkins
All rights reserved. This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental. All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
The right of Steven Jenkins to be identified as the author of the Work has been asserted to him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
Published in Great Britain in 2017 by Different Cloud Publishing.
Table of Contents
Dedication
Table of Contents
Free Books
I. The Road
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
II. Dead Man’s Blood
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
III. Red-Gold
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
IV. Junkie
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
V. Closer To Home
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Free Books
Also Available - Eyes On You: A Ghost Story
Also Available - Burn The Dead: Quarantine
Also Available - Burn The Dead: Purge
Also Available - Burn The Dead: Riot
Also Available - Thea: A Vampire Story
Also Available - Fourteen Days
Also Available - Spine: A Collection of Twisted Tales
Also Available - Rotten Bodies: A Zombie Short Story Collection
About the Author
Copyright
Thea (Book 2): A Vampire Story Page 12
