Never Forsaken

by Michael Anderle

  She reached down to peel off the hand and half arm still gripping her leg. She stood up and cricked her neck. Walking towards the first beast with the missing arm, it noticed her and turned, screaming in frustration and pain charged at her. She pivoted to the side with the missing arm, making a complete circle she continued towards the second beast.

  The first one continued running, smashing into the wall, the cut head falling off to the side. The second was able to pull himself around in time to reach out with both hands. She grabbed them, putting a foot in its chest. It screamed as she slowly pulled each arm out of their sockets. Finally, she yanked hard enough to pull them both off. “Dude, shut the fuck up!” She sliced its head off. Covered in blood, gore and body parts she looked around the room. She back towards the main entryway when she heard two sets of footsteps coming quickly.

  She sighed; sounds like George went and got support.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

  Michael was worried, getting into the house became an effort of dodging the people screaming and leaving. Finally, he left the mass behind and he and Stephen became corporeal. They could easily pinpoint the direction of Bethany Anne from the cussing and screams of frustration and pain.

  They ran around the corner and both slowed down and stopped, looking at the sheer destruction and blood everywhere. She wouldn’t win any best dressed contests as she looked at them in return.

  “You guys are late, usually I complain about guys coming early, but you are definitely late.” Stephen snorted at the joke, Michael didn’t get it.

  Michael looked around, “I see you redecorated the place. Anton?” She pointed above his head.

  “He’s up there, or at least his body is. I don’t think Ecaterina and Killian left enough brain matter to regenerate. I have to admit he wasn’t the main thought on my mind. Fuck-nuts had these two beasts, who went ape-shit when the prodigal wank-lover unsuccessfully tried to stop two copper jacketed lovers simultaneously with his skull.”

  Michael turned to face Stephen, a confused look on his face. “Antons upstairs, head blown off. I’ll go make sure he is still dead.” Stephen went upstairs in vamp speed.

  Michael turned back to Bethany Anne, “Are you ok?” He looked her over, trying to see if any of the blood was hers.

  She looked at herself, “Well, I could use a bath… Hold it. Here comes more fun.”

  She looked over his shoulder back at the entrance to the room he and Stephen had come through. Four sets of footsteps came racing towards them. Sliding to a stop when they smelled the vampire on Michael.

  George, the one in the lead, held a shotgun in his hand, “Look, buddy, don’t care who you are, but you’re in the middle of a disagreement. This bitch,” he waved his head in Bethany Anne’s direction. She looked around, was their another female in the room?

  “This bitch just killed Anton, so we are going to finish her off and get South America settled before this becomes well known.”

  Bethany Anne was curious how Michael was going to handle this when steps could be heard from the banister above them. The four looked up to spy Stephen coming up to the rail. George started the same spiel but Stephen put up his hand, “I heard you the first time, jack-hole.” George looked like he wanted to start getting a word in on being called a name but Stephen just talked over him, “My name is Stephen.” That got everyone’s attention. “I’m sure you know she is Bethany Anne?” George gave him a quick shake of the head. “Good, that helps. Since she is my Queen, I’m sure you understand that I will not allow you to continue with your plan?”

  George got a look on his face like he had just eaten a sour lemon.

  Bethany Anne put her hand on her hip and stared up at Stephen, ‘he wouldn’t allow’? What was this man-breast beating bullshit?

  “Be that as it may,” Michael pulled everyone’s attention back to him. Bethany Anne spared a glance back to Stephen one more time; he was getting his ear twisted for damn sure. Michael’s eyes went black, his voice surrounding everyone and coming from everywhere and nowhere. “My name is Michael…” He disappeared.

  Bethany Anne had to admit, that was one fucking scary-ass introduction. She tried to see him, but she couldn’t.

  His voice still surrounded the room, “There is no question who is in charge in South America…” All four vampires were looking around, behind them, in front of them one even stared at her as if she had a clue. She just shrugged her shoulders and smiled at him.

  She tried to feel into the etheric and could slightly feel him. He was in the hallway behind the vampires. Well, they were trapped because they wouldn’t get away from her. She slowly walked into the middle of the room and stared them down. Now, they spent half of their time looking at her, half of their time looking around.

  A massive feeling of fear hit all of them, even she was affected.

  TOM, what the hell?

  One second…

  The fear turned off.

  Got it, he was affecting the mental areas that drive fear. Pretty fantastic. That is a level of control I hadn’t thought about.

  Look, you can conclude the Michael Adoration Society meeting later; don’t let him affect me again like that.

  The voice they all heard screamed, “I am Michael, YOU WILL KNEEL!”

  She stabbed a hand up to Stephen, who held himself up by force of will.

  The four others however, couldn’t get to their knees fast enough.

  He reappeared in front of them. He spoke, his voice a deadly whisper, “South America is mine, I am changing the strictures here. There will be one power, one voice and one rule. Mine.”

  Bethany Anne waved to Stephen and called him to come down. He was there in a second, beside her. “Yes, my Queen?”

  She smiled at him, “Michael seems busy, doing something he should have taken care of a long time ago and I need a bath, are you staying?”

  Stephen looked over at Michael and his face broke into a mischievous smile, he put out his elbow and she proceeded to lock her arm in his and they disappeared.

  One of the four vampires stared past Michael, who turned around. He noticed the two of them were gone and realized what she had probably done to get the one vampires attention. He turned back to the four to continue telling them what they would do to help clean up this mess, or they could choose a quick death.

  He would find her and speak with her again, oh yes he would. She wasn’t going to get rid of him this easily. He had time on his side.

  Gabrielle heard the shower in Bethany Anne’s suite, so she went inside and stopped short. Her father was sitting on the couch, leafing through a magazine on fashion. He looked up at her.

  Gabrielle pointed at the shower, “Michael?”

  Stephen smiled, “No, Bethany Anne.”

  Gabrielle’s eyes narrowed, “Where is Michael and how are you in this suite while she is taking a shower, father mine?”

  “Michael is, or was when we left him five minutes ago, where Anton had been holding his party. I’m here because she didn’t tell me to leave and there were no security agents up front.”

  She pointed at him, then at the suite door. “Consider the security here, now get out. She will normally come walking out of there naked and I don’t need your old geezer heart exploding with lust.”

  He closed the magazine. “But, that was what I was counting on. I hear the stories and never get to…” The pillow hit him square in the face.

  “Go!” He got up and walked out. He actually hadn’t known she would walk out naked; he just liked giving Gabrielle a hard time.

  He found Darrell and Scott jogging towards her suite, “She’s taking a shower, Gabrielle is in the suite.” Darrell just nodded and moved on. Scott smiled at him as if there was a shared joke and walked on past.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

  David was standing outside of his castle, looking down on it from a quarter mile away, bathed in moonlight. It had been his fortress for hundreds of years, the one place he could depend on to protect him.<
br />
  It had failed.

  It had taken him three days to realize he was not in a good position at this location. Michael knew where he was, and he wouldn’t be able to trick him and capture him as he had the first time.

  He had considered booby trapping the whole castle, but couldn’t. Maybe he would be able to survive this and if he did, he didn’t want to come back to his beloved place, full of memories, destroyed.

  He heard the car coming down the lane a full minute before it arrived. His legs caught in the headlights, he looked at his home and then turned around and walked to the opened and waiting back door and slid inside. The driver closed the door and walked back to the front and got inside and closed his own door. The car turned around and traveled down the road.

  Las Vegas, Nv - USA

  Jeffrey was sleeping on a cot. His head hitting the pillow thirty minutes before. He tried to go to sleep earlier, but he had a short argument with his wife. She was not happy that he was here for a second night in a row. If he hadn’t brought his kids here, and they hadn’t told her about everything including the kitchen and the cots, his wife might not have believed him.

  A buzz woke him up. He groggily looked around as his phone was buzzing and blinking. He grabbed it to see Tom’s ugly mug showing. He hit the accept button and closed his eyes, phone on his ear. “What the hell Tom. You’re two buildings away. Couldn’t you just walk over?”

  “Jeffrey, it’s asking for more input.”

  “Then feed it and let me go back to sleep.” Jeffrey rolled over.

  “JEFFREY! Wake the FUCK UP.”

  Jeffrey tried to wipe the sleep out of his eyes. “Tom, damn, no need to yell. Who wants food, and why are we feeding them?”

  “Jeffrey, you awake yet?”

  Jeffrey sat up with a grump. “I am now, so answer my question.”

  “ADAM is awake, he’s requesting data.”

  “ADAM is awake and he…”, Jeffrey’s eyes opened wide, “He wants more … Oh shit. Be right there!”

  Jeffrey scrambled to get his clothes on, buttoning his shirt as he jogged over to building 1 and practically ran into the security door. He stopped and plugged in the security code, taking two times to get it right.

  He walked into the main room, dark with green and blue lights flickering all over. Tom was at the desk, it had two monitors on top. One had a command prompt window, green text blinking on black background.

  He stared at the message. It reminded him of a grocery list.

  “Please provide the following >>”

  There were forty-three lines of requests. He sat down next to Tom.

  ADAM had just woken up.

  Michael’s Notes (Never Forsaken - The Kurtherian Gambit 05): Written Jan 11th, 2016

  Thank you, I cannot express my appreciation enough that not only did you pick up the fifth book, but you read it all the way to the end and NOW, your reading this as well. Since this book is part of a series, I am presuming you have blessed me by reading them all and what a fantastic feeling that is for any author!

  So, in my notes in BITE THIS, I mentioned the fourth book took 11 days to write and 4 days of slamming the editing together. This book was a completely different beast. Partially because I created a storyline too convoluted to keep in my head anymore and I wanted to have action points happening all over this book. The second is that I had a fan really dig deep and help pull together some great review notes through a huge chunk of the book, so I have to give a shout-out to Stephen Russell for helping through his weekend to make this book more than it was! In fact, as I write this he sent a note about a subsonic round (the gunshots that took out Anton). I’ve apparently written something completely false and not remotely possible. Cr@p. I’ve got a request to him to please help provide guidance with the correct way to blow Anton’s head off***. Because, believe me, that guy is a dead man. This isn’t a soap opera, Anton isn’t coming back. Hopefully I get that advice before I hit ‘submit’ in just a couple of hours and send this book out to the fans looking to get in on the pre-release $0.99 sale for 24 hours.

  The editing is coming together, #4 just got back and I will be updating that book shortly. #5 (this one) is in the queue next week and then we are back @ #1 or #2 right after. I’ll nail down those pesky editing issues, by God. (Note to Tutt - shutting up now.)

  Purchased vs. Kindle Unlimited update. As we go into book five, the Kindle Unlimited side is ahead in gross sales vs. The Kindle purchased group. I don’t have a reason for the change in income percentages from the last book, maybe a big swing in new Kindle Unlimited readers over Christmas? Income is about 55% Unlimited vs. 45% purchased (after Amazon’s cut). I”m in month 3 for Kindle Select (you join for 90 days), so I have about 2.5 weeks to go. I expect to re-up at least 1 more time before possibly going ‘wide’ (wide means pulling from Kindle Select (Unlimited) and being able to sell on Apple iTubes, Kobo, Barnes and Noble etc). I’m not in a rush to go wide as I think the extra effort is going to be substantial.

  But, here comes the stuff I DO want to do. I want to get the books tightened up for a possible Audible release if anyone is interested? I would probably have the biggest smile on my face to hear a professional reader say some of Bethany Anne’s lines. Or maybe Stephen when he is talking with Reginald? Can you imagine the interview process when speaking to the voice actor?

  Me: Do you have any issues with saying curse words?

  Voice Actor: What, like ‘f#ck’?

  Me: No, more like… (insert one of Bethany Anne’s long-ass line of expletives).

  I’m not sure I could say that out loud. I can type it, no problem. Well, no problem inside the book. Apparently, my face is blushing just writing that word above in a semi-personal Author’s note. Seriously, how lame is that?

  This is probably my favorite book so far from an action and emotional level. Lot’s of action scenes that were funny and a couple that brought a tear to my face (yes, I’m the kind of author that can make myself tear up when reading my own scene). The scene when Bethany Anne arrives and Stephen says, while coughing up blood, “Let me introduce you to my Queen, Bethany Anne.” I pointed to the laptop screen and I’m like, “Take THAT you fu#king bastard! Eat S#it and die you…” Well, you get the picture.

  Another scene that chokes me up is when Pete becomes Peter Silvers. That part makes me proud of him. It really is odd to admit that sometimes I don’t have a choice where the story goes. I have the idea, but occasionally stuff just happens (looking right at you, Ashur).

  I like that Jean got a scene in this book. She is like the little pistol that can. I’m personally wondering why John (engineering) hasn’t tried to get any closer to her. Damn dude, you quit the Navy because of her story, grow a pair and ask her out already or Todd might beat you to it.

  I had the most interesting and fun conversation with a fan over this last weekend. I hope she doesn’t mind me copying her comments (you can see them up on the Facebook Page).

  Her original message was:

  I would really like to get more than a couple of hours of sleep. Ever since I found this series I tend to keep reading and cooking microwave meals. Two things are going to happen (1) my microwave will need replacing or (2) I slip into a sleep coma. Thanks for a wonderful exceptionally well written and entertaining series with a smart, sassy, strong female lead. Keep "churning" out the series because at my age anything could happen and I really would haunt your butt.

  ROFLMAO. Seriously, go to the Facebook page and read the whole set of messages, this lady is fun! (“The cats and the chinchillas will starve.”) HAHAHAHAHA (That’s LOL for you youngsters).

  Oh! That brings up something I also find amusing. I am presently somewhere between #60 - #80 in the top 100 Horror writers (eBooks - cool, not funny), #116 in ebooks>Science Fiction & Fantasy > Science Fiction (it seems the readers are onto my devious plan to become the first Paranormal Military Science Fiction Niche writer… da#n) but ALSO #437 yesterday in Books > Teens. I have not considered these b
ooks “Teen” books. I have two teen boys and I don’t care if they read them, but I am not trying to market to Teens whatsoever. I just don’t want to get an angry Mom telling me that Bethany Anne is NOT a proper role model for ladies. I would have to agree, she is a kick-ass heroine who doesn’t take any sh#t from anybody but can still care enough for her family, her friends and her people and justice for those who have passed away. D@mn, I guess she is an excellent role model for ladies.

  Oh well, bring it on, I’ll take my lumps.

  At the very end of this book I have cut and pasted reviews from book 1 (to date) - I respond and I’m f’ing fun! I know I’m not supposed to ‘be a part of’ the review process, so I don’t respond online (freaking Amazon has actually deleted some of my responses that were really benign, like ‘thank you for your comment!’ type benign when I signed my name. Maybe they didn’t want me to put a whole name? Not sure.) So, like above, I’ve added some review comments that have warmed my heart and I appreciate you dropping them online!