Spirit Breaker (15 page)

Vincent passed a series of giant, cracked flowerpots when Coraline sidled up to him. She moved with grace and nearly unearthly sensuality as she fell in step with Vincent – maybe he was beginning to understand why Dracula added her to the family.

“Hello, Vincent.” She embraced Vincent and he could smell her cloying perfume. It was too sweet and way too overpowering but it summed up who Coraline was – a woman who demanded to be noticed. Men who ignored her did so at their own peril.

“Hi Coraline.”
 

“This place sure is something else,” Coraline said with a smile that could shatter hearts. “Only thing missing is a lightning storm.”
 

Vincent nodded.
 

“Dracula always had a flair for the dramatic.”

A youthful voice chimed in.
 

“A nice way of saying he was hopelessly stuck in the past.”
 

Vincent and Coraline turned toward the new arrival, a young teenage boy who approached at an unhurried pace. The kid, who wasn’t really a kid and was far older than either Vincent or Coraline, cocked his head at them both. His name was Sebastian and he looked to be fourteen but had actually seen two centuries turn. He wore black slacks, a dress shirt and a tie of the same color. He looked like a teen pretending to be an adult.
 

Sebastian was an orphan and a thief who began his pick-pocketing career back in Victorian England, just another victim of social upheaval brought upon by the Industrial Revolution. His life had taken a sharp turn the night he tried to lift the Count’s purse but for some reason Dracula had spared Sebastian (Dracula used to call him his own
Oliver Twist
, a nickname the teenage vampire detested but had stuck). Sebastian hadn’t physically changed a day since that distant night but his frosty, ancient eyes betrayed his true age.
 

“Sebastian, it's been a long time.”

Vincent smiled warmly. He’d always liked this little devil.

“Too long. Vincent, it's good to see you after all these years. Funny how there comes a point when only death seems to bring people together.”
 

Footfalls sounded behind them, steel-heeled boots clicking across the gravel courtyard. Vincent fired a sideways glance at the approaching biker who moments earlier had been showing off his steed. Clad in black and brown leather, tattooed and studded, sporting faded jeans and a sleek pair of Ray-Bans, he looked like the perfect candidate for a Hells Angels recruitment poster. He appeared to be in his late twenties but strutted his stuff like a teenage punk who needed to get his ass kicked.
 

The biker ignored Vincent and regarded Sebastian with a sneer. “No one told me this was going to be an after-school party.”

“I'm two-hundred-and-ninety years old, asshole.”
 

“Tell that to the bouncer next time you want to cop a feel at a titty bar.”
 

Coraline was the sole person to laugh at the joke. Angelique had mentioned to Vincent that the former starlet had a thing for assholes, and it appeared she wasn’t far off the mark.

Vincent watched as Sebastian gave the biker a long, measured look.
 

“Meet Zane. The master’s most recent addition to the family.”

Vincent held the biker’s stare as he turned toward him.

“So you must be Vincent,” Zane said. I thought you turned your back on the clan.”
 

Vincent didn’t comment. Zane took his silence as encouragement to lean closer.
 

“No offense, buddy, but you don't look so tough to me.”

“Maybe I'm not,” Vincent said.

“That's not what Angelique says.”

“I wouldn’t believe everything that comes out of her mouth.”
 

”Angelique says she never hunted with anyone as merciless as you.”

This made Coraline perk up and she appraised Vincent with renewed curiosity.

“She’s been known to exaggerate,” Vincent said.

Vincent disliked Zane pretty much on sight. And with each new confrontational word that came out of the biker’s pierced mouth, Vincent doubted that he’d change his mind on the matter any time soon.
 

Zane stepped even closer. He had about five inches and sixty pounds on Vincent, but the former Texas Ranger wasn’t impressed.
 

“I know you guys had a history,” Zane said. “But nowadays, she belongs to me.”

“Last time I checked, Angelique didn't belong to anyone.”
 

Zane smirked and turned toward the chateau. Coraline fell in step with him. The two vampires dipped through a series of arched columns supporting a large awning that bathed the main entrance in shadow.

Vincent turned to Sebastian. “What’s his story?”

“Drug-dealing biker asshole who crossed Dracula’s path in the 70s. Your ex seems to have taken a shine to him.”

“Angelique likes to play with new toys. But she gets bored fast.”

“She never got bored with you,” Sebastian noted.

Vincent didn’t argue the point one way or another. Instead, he said, “You looking forward to this as much as I am?”

Sebastian grinned. “You kidding? Wouldn’t miss it for the world.”
 

GARGOYLE KNIGHT

When his kingdom is threatened by an ancient evil, a king is forced to make the ultimate sacrifice. If he is to defeat an army of monsters, he must become one himself! His victory carries a terrible price… An eternity frozen in stone.
Fifteen centuries later, the Celtic warrior is awakened when the world needs him most. A stranger in a strange land with his only guide a beautiful archeology student, he must battle his old adversary once again, all while struggling with his own darkness. For he is by day a man, by night cursed to become… The GARGOYLE!

“An Urban Fantasy Novel That Feels Fun and Alive. There's a cinematic feel in Gargoyle Knight...the experience is sweeping with entertaining action that builds to a satisfying climax.
”

Fantascize.com

Match: A Supernatural Thriller

Mark found her photo on a popular mobile dating site. Her name was Akasha, and she was beautiful. Seductive. Irresistible. She wrote that she was looking for friendship. Love. A real connection.
 

But Akasha is concealing a horrible secret...

Not everyone you meet online is who they claim to be.

Sometimes they may not even be alive...