by Justin Sloan
There was a moment, a brief moment, while she stood there with sword raised, where she wondered what life might have been like with a real brother. A brother that loved her, cared for her.
Real parents… not some father who she called father simply because he had made her into a vampire.
The moment didn’t last long, because neither had the dream. She brought the sword down, swift, knowing that Sandra and the others were her family now.
A family of made up of loyalty and love.
Donovan’s head rolled away from his body and came to a stop a few feet away.
It was over.
She dropped to her knees, weak.
The moments that followed Donovan’s death seemed an eternity. Valerie was vaguely aware of the rain slowing to a drizzle as it hit her back, then fading to nothing more than a light mist. Vampires who had fought for Donovan were fleeing the ship, and all the while Michael stood there, the Dark Messiah, watching her.
“What… now?” she asked, barely able to get the words out, the water dripping off her hair to the deck of the ship.
“You fought bravely, and acted with courage and Honor,” Michael told her. He approached her, and she felt a warmth go through her body at his touch. When he pulled her up, she stood without difficulty, the exhaustion seemed to vanish. But then she blinked and it was back—no, it hadn’t gone, she realized. It was only her amazement at being so close to a myth of her kind that provided her energy.
“I… I never wanted to kill like that,” she admitted.
“And yet, you will likely have to, for me.” He held out his wrist. “Drink.”
“What?” The action caught her so off-guard, she almost didn’t even comprehend the words coming out of his mouth.
“You will no longer have to fear the sun, Valerie.” He pulled her close, moving the bloodied hair away from her face in a gentle motion she would never have imagined was possible coming from him.
“I am a vampire, of course—”
“No, not just any vampire. From now on, you are my vampire.” He stared at her a moment longer, then asked, “Your father, the Duke. He won’t stop here, will he?”
“He—”
“Yes, as I suspected.” Michael nodded as if he understood something he hadn’t just seconds before.
It hit her, the realization that he could read minds, and again he smiled.
“You have a quick mind, you may learn to do this,” he touched the side of his head, “in time. Though the power I am about to give you manifests in many different ways. One thing it will change -- it will allow you to walk in the light, and that is necessary for you to continue your battle here in America.”
“Against the hunters?” She asked him, still trying to catch up to what was going on.
“Those yes. And now there are other Vampires, Donovan’s followers, who you will hunt down.”
“But you?” She shook her head, not understanding. “You’re here, or returned, now. Certainly you can do it?”
“I’ve been doing my part, because I didn’t know I’d have a worthy champion here to do it for me,” he told her. “But I’m needed in Europe. This Duke you speak of, or rather, think of, you can rest assured he’ll be getting a visit from me shortly. Then, it’s time I cleaned up the rest of Europe.”
“And what? I’ll be like... your enforcer, an enforcer for justice?” She asked, the question written plainly on her face.
His smile reached his eyes, “Yes, I like the sound of that. Use your police friend, yes, I’ve seen him too, and put this city back in order. Remove the Peace Enforcers, as they call themselves, and take on the title for yourself, so it means something true and honorable. You will be the first of my Justice Enforcers.” He looked down over the side of the ship. “Though you won’t be the last.”
She stared up at him, so amazed with everything that was happening right now. This was the vampire everyone spoke of, the father of Bethany Anne and the Vampires of old. Myth formed into reality. He was holding her in his arms, telling her to drink of his blood, so that she could walk in the daylight….
Walk in the daylight!
She laughed—the thought of that had seemed like a children’s story, a myth, just minutes ago.
“Do you accept my charge, young Valerie?” he asked.
She nodded, and so he again held up his wrist. “Then by my blood, on your oath, you are the first of my Justice Enforcers, Valerie.” He nodded to his wrist. “Drink.”
It seemed almost sacrilegious, wrong on so many levels, but he said it was right, so she trusted him, on faith.
She leaned in and pressed her lips to his skin, then felt an ecstasy as her fangs pierced his skin.
And oh God, the way his blood felt as it filled her mouth. Her eyes rolled back as her limbs filled with warmth and her injuries healed. A moan escaped her lips and she pulled his arm to her mouth so she wouldn’t miss a drop.
Then he was pulling away, and as she watched it leave with longing, his skin healed.
“Come,” he said, taking her by the hand and leading her to the edge of the ship before they looked down. “The rebuilding must start immediately.”
They looked out over the lights of the city, fires scattered about where the fighting had been going. All of Donovan’s fighters must have gotten word of his death and fled, because there was no sign of them, but her fighters, Weres, Vampires, and a couple policemen, were gathering below the ship, looking up at her with curiosity. That’s when she realized that she never would have been able to see their expressions this clearly before.
Michael’s blood was working miracles.
She turned to him, his bald head reflecting the flames in the night. “Will I really be able to walk in the sunlight? Lie under it’s warm touch?”
“When the sun rises today, have faith.” He sighed and looked at her. “There’s a lot for you to learn about our kind, some now, some in days and years to come.”
“I’m ready,” Valerie whispered into the night.
“I know you think you are. And as the world rebuilds, you will help it along the way and when the time is right, I’ll tell you all I know. But for now, just realize that we are so much more than the stories would have you and humans believe. There’s a whole other side to this Vampire and Were existence.”
“You're talking about what, the origin of Vampires?”
“The origin, and the makeup of... yes.” He looked at her for a long moment, then turned to look up into the night sky. “What if I told you I was the first vampire, and it wasn’t by choice? That I entered a strange spacecraft somewhere after 600 A.D., thinking I was going to die inside it, I fought to get out. But when I emerged, I had become this,” he waved a hand up and down, pointing at himself, “A vampire, if you must.”
“What, like an alien craft?” She almost laughed. “You have got to be shitting me.”
“Watch your mouth,” he said, then smiled as if it was an inside joke. “Would aliens be any less fathomable than creatures of the night, being formed by, as legends would have it, Satan? Tell me, do you feel right now that you are connected to the embodiment of evil?” He assessed her, then shook his head. “I didn't think so. And that's because evil had nothing to do with your creation, or mine.”
He looked around the city, “We are no more evil than our decisions. Is there a Satan? I do not know, but our condition doesn't affect our morality any more than it would a normal man or woman walking the streets down below.”
She stared at him, then slowly let her eyes drift up to the heavens.
The idea that there might have once been aliens, or still were, and that's what created Vampires… it was a little hard to believe.
After a moment of silence, he said, “Is there anything you want me to tell your father?”
She jerked her head back to him, “You’re going to him now? Leaving now?”
He nodded. “America has you, Europe needs me.”
She thought about his question, then shook her h
ead. “I’ve seen his ways, and I know what you must do. Tell him to change, to join us. And if he doesn’t… or let’s be real, when he doesn’t. Well then, he’s not my father and I’ll not shed a tear when Justice comes calling for him.”
Michael nodded once, slowly. “You have my word.” He turned to go, and but stopped and told her, “One day, I’ll call on you. I hope that by then you have taken care of this hunting business. I can’t stand to see my children treated this way. Finally, I wanted to say,” he nodded his head toward the dead body of her brother, “I could sense the strength in each of you. There was never any possibility Donovan could have won.” He pursed his lips, as if a question was inside his mind and then answered it aloud, “Bethany Anne would approve of you.”
With that, Michael was gone.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
Enforcer HQ – New York City State
“What do you mean, ‘gone’?” Royland asked as they all walked up the stairs. They’d returned to Enforcer HQ, and she’d briefed everyone on what had happened and what was going to happen next.
“As I said, he just kinda… vanished.” Valerie opened the doors to the rooftop and stepped out, Royland, Sandra, Diego, and Cammie behind her. Wallace and his new friend, Ella, along with Peterson, Rico, and the rest were downstairs, putting finishing touches on the wrap up of the night’s violence.
The sky was going from black to dark blue, while purple touched the clouds in the distance and a sliver of red was just visible on the horizon, over the ocean.
“I didn’t know we could do that,” Royland said with a look of concentration, “just… vanish.”
“Maybe we can’t, not all of us,” Valerie explained. “But there’s something about energy, I feel it differently after he gave me his blood. Who knows…?”
“And this building, we’re really making it ours?” Sandra asked. “I mean, the word Enforcers holds so much negativity.”
Valerie looked out over the city. “Exactly why we’re going to keep it and make it our own.” Valerie held onto the railing and breathed in the fresh morning air, a hint of salt carried in from the water. “We can’t let our history or our fears dictate who we are or what we’re to become.”
The red light on the horizon grew into pink, and the sky turned red and then, slowly, yellow.
“I… better be going,” Royland said, walking back into the stairwell. “You’re sure about this?”
“I’m sure,” she said, and closed her eyes, eyes outstretched as she welcomed the warm sunlight which enveloped her in it’s caressing embrace. Sandra put out a hand to hold hers, and she knew Diego had an arm around Sandra.
Valerie opened her eyes to see the sun had indeed risen, and she was still alive.
Unharmed.
Cammie was staring at her, wide-eyed with disbelief.
“Brief the others,” Valerie told them, a look of determination on her face. Dropping her arms and gripping her sword at her side, she turned to walk toward the stairs to descend into the building, “We have a lot of work ahead of us.”
FINIS
MICHAEL RETURNS TO A WORLD CHANGED…
BUT HONOR DEMANDS HE FULFILL HIS PROMISE
12.25.2016
Author Notes - Justin Sloan
Written December 1st, 2016
When I first thought of reaching out to Michael Anderle, I thought it made sense - he was writing military and vampires, I had been in the military and, while not a vampire, had also written about vampires (as well as ghosts, zombies, and werewolves).
We were almost done with our first book that I told my buddy Michael-Scott Earle that it was partially because of him, since he'd planted the idea in my head, to which he replied "No, it's because you had the balls to ask him."
I think that's when it hit me - my partnership with Michael Anderle was more than just another adventure in my publishing life, it was about to become something humongous.
To give you a bit of background: I wrote at Telltale Games for two years, on such properties as Walking Dead: Michonne, Minecraft, Tales from the Borderlands, and Game of Thrones. I tell you this because, at the time, working on Game of Thrones was a dream come true.
I'd started writing in the first place because I loved those books and wanted to attempt to write more like that - this led to my first book ever, which, after years of revision, became Land of Gods.
But then my writing evolved. Actually, the series evolved as well, to the point that book three has something very similar to the paranormal genre going on, and the rumored book four (yes, I'm working on it) deals with time travel and ties into a planned urban fantasy. I wrote a screenplay about a werewolf turned superhero, and a short story about King Arthur as a vampire.
So yeah, the paranormal blood was running deep at this point. And it wasn't like I just stumbled across it. My first love of vampires came from the movie Interview with a Vampire -- who can't love the dark sexiness of that story? Tom Cruise's best role, for sure.
And then I started to see a trend in film and books, after watching John Wick. A lot of stories are trending away from the Indiana Jones style hero who fails over and over again in order to succeed, and instead are going for the character that keeps kicking butt in an awesome and enjoyable way. Of course John Wick was faced with challenges, and had his down moments, but overall there wasn't any doubt that he was going to kick butt and continue kicking butt until, at the end of the story, he came out victorious.
I see this in Michael's creation with The Kurtherian Gambit Series and Bethany Anne. His readers love it, as you can tell by the hundreds of reviews each book receives. They say over and over that it's "enjoyable," and that they love the characters Michael has created.
Who wouldn't jump at the opportunity to write for these amazing fans, and hopefully bring in some new ones?
I'm loving it. Working with Michael has been the breath of fresh air that I have been looking for since I started as a writer. He's fun to work with, passionate about stories, and knows what his audience wants. I'm honored to jump on the ride.
With all of that, I give you Valerie's story in Justice is Calling - a story about the vampires after the fall of the world, and how they must work to reclaim honor. This is a world where Bethany Anne and Michael, the legendary vampires from before the collapse, are long gone. Were they ever real to begin with?
That's where this story started -- with the idea that there's one vampire who realizes the way they're doing things is wrong, and takes a stand. She'll see honor reclaimed, and, as you read at the end of the book, becomes Michael's Justice Enforcer. How cool, right? When Michael Anderle said we could bring his character Michael into the end of this story, I think I was ready to pee my pants in excitement. I certainly hope you enjoyed it as much as I did!
Don't worry, there's plenty more where that came from. We're already into book two, and book three and four won't be far behind. Keep reading, keep being awesome and supporting us indie authors, and we'll keep putting our hearts and souls into these books for you.
Author Notes - Michael Anderle
Written December 3, 2016
As always, can I say with a HUGE amount of appreciation how much it means to me that you not only read this book, but you are reading these notes as well?
About two to three months ago, Justin approached me on FB in chat and asked if I would be up to a collaboration?
