Vampire Elite
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All vampires possess extreme speed and strength; rapid healing; the ability to hypnotize humans; and simple energy manipulation (e.g. energy blast, moving small objects without touching them). Like most immortals, vampires can be killed only via methods that separate the head from the body or that destroy the body as a whole (e.g., burning, exploding). Contrary to popular mythology, death does not cause their bodies to disintegrate independently of whatever force has acted on the body. For example, the body will disintegrate into ashes only if it is burned; the misconception that all vampires’ bodies turn to ash at death may originate in the fact that the mode by which Amiti kill their blood-bonds is immolation, and because the Amiti blood-bond need not be present for this to occur, it is relatively common for vampires to burn into ashes with no clear cause.
Vampires are also sensitive to silver: used in the environment or in constraining devices, it weakens their powers; and when introduced into the bloodstream via weapon or injection, it can completely debilitate them.
Wereanimals
A large immortal subspecies, also referred to as weres, consisting of creatures capable of shapeshifting from human to animal form, and in some cases an interim or hybrid form as well. To outsiders, wereanimals seem very similar, but they experience group affiliations primarily with wereanimals who share their animal type (e.g. werewolves, werejaguars, werehyenas, and weretigers each have separate group identities).
Winged Demons
An immortal subspecies whose appearance is identical to humans’ but who possess retractable wings and can fly. Their strength and speed are almost as powerful as vampires’. They can sense violent death, human or immortal, within a radius of forty to fifty miles, and can tap into energies that reconstruct the incident for them, helping to identify the victim, culprit, and circumstances. Winged demons can also produce a powerful blue energy blast that immobilizes any immortal or human at whom it is directed. These powers make them indispensable to the Legacy’s mission, facilitating detention of suspects and investigations of violations of the Code’s No-Kill law. Every Legacy family includes at least one winged demon, and they make up much of the Legacy’s leadership.
About the Author
Irina Argo is the pen name for two friends who co-wrote this book. Irina lives in a pretty dark world: by day she’s a clinical psychologist at a juvenile correctional facility, where she deals with the extremes of human behavior on a daily basis; at night, she cares for her husband, who was paralyzed several years ago. Writing has always been her passion, and now it’s what brings light into her life. She is originally from Russia, where she worked as a TV journalist. Jo-An is a Leo, a lioness emerging to follow her dream: to write a book of her own. As the owner of a costume shop for many years, she was able to satisfy her creative nature and allow it to flourish. She believes that anything is possible if you believe in yourself. She currently resides in California with her five cats and one husband.
Acknowledgments
We would like to thank all of the amazing and fabulous people with kind hearts and immeasurable patience who have supported and assisted us on our journey of writing this book.
Our greatest thanks goes to our dedicated and highly professional editor Laura Holliday. If it were not for her, this book would have never become such an entertaining and thought-provoking work.
Thank you from the depth of my soul to my mother who unconditionally loves me and supports me in all my endeavors; my husband Gabor for being patient, being positive about the book, and encouraging me when I was feeling negative; and my dearest colleagues, clinical psychologists at DJJ—Dr. Pallotta, Dr. Dua, Dr. Carda, and Dr. Rourke—for their ongoing personal and professional support and for coming to save me when I was drowning.
—Irina.
I want to thank, from the bottom of my heart, my best friend, Lisah Aubergine, our technical support guru (“Hyperlink? What's that?”), and my husband, Dean Dye, who tolerated being totally ignored for ten hours a day while I worked on the book.
—Jo-An
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
Vampire Elite (Vampire Elite, Book 1). All rights reserved. Copyright © 2013 by Irina Argo. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means (information storage and retrieval systems, photocopying, recording, or otherwise), without prior written permission from the copyright owners.
The plain English version: please do not share this book, or portions of it, with others in any way unless you have been given explicit permission to do so by the authors. Doing so is illegal and punishable by law, and it is unfair to the authors, who worked hard and at great expense, to create it and prepare it for publication. Please purchase only authorized editions of this or any book, and do not participate in or encourage electronic piracy of copyrighted materials. Your support of authors’ rights is appreciated.
Visit our website at www.vampire-elite.com for more information about the series or to find direct links for purchasing the books.
Argo, Irina.
Vampire Elite (Vampire Elite Series, Book 1)
Edited by Doc Holliday Wordsmithing
Cover Design by Irina Argo