STORY EXCERPT
The night was uncommonly warm for early fall and the street eerily quiet, even for a weekday, Adam noticed as he locked the door to his apartment he shared with Emerico. The only thing he could hear was the distant rush of the river Ebro, one of the largest in Spain that ran along the city’s edge.
A warm gust of air raced across his face as he opened the last button on his long-sleeved Henley T-shirt, the wrong choice for a brisk walk to Jose’s, Adam’s cousin and the most recent mortal member of the Fraternidad.
He shoved up his sleeves and tucked his hands into the front pockets of his Levi’s and watched and listened for any danger lurking in the side streets or dark recesses of the ancient street.
Romans, Arabs, and Jews alike lived and worked in this section of the city. But one group that had consistently remained was vampires. They had lived and hunted along the river when the first humans settled, and they stayed and thrived, creating a place for their kind alongside humans. They fed from human veins, careful not to be too greedy, allowing the humans to multiply and grow the once-fledgling settlement into a powerful and populated city. Only once was the somewhat harmonious existence of Zaragoza, depending who you asked, threatened by vampires. And that threat was now upon them once again, and Adam was here to help.
Adam had asked himself time and time again, why him? Why was he the chosen one to head up, alongside Emerico, the war against the Romani? No one knew, or at least they weren’t talking. Emerico gave his theories, but nothing more. And the senior members of the Fraternidad just shrugged their shoulders but kept a very tight lip. Sure they had theories all of their own, too, but nothing more, and Adam wanted answers. Fast. He had already sacrificed his life. What else do they want?
“Don’t answer that,” Adam muttered to himself as he spotted a black cat that was missing a tail and half of its ear as if it was chewed off by another cat claiming his territory. The damn cats can’t even get along. What chance in hell do the Romani, the Fraternidad, and humans have? Not to mention that the poor, unsuspecting humans, most of them at least, had no idea there was a potential war brewing in their backyards.
A war between ancient vampire clans.
Adam shook his head and whispered at the cat. “You got it easy except for that missing tail. All you have to do is eat, sleep, and do your best to stay warm and dry. I have to save Zaragoza from turning into a twenty-four-hour buffet for Romanian vampires.”
From behind, a gravelly voice interrupted his thoughts. “Talking to yourself. You must be going mad.”
Adam spun, almost losing his balance, and his heart jumped out of his ribs. He didn’t recognize the voice, but he did recognize the face.
Nicu.
“I–I–I thought you were dead?” Adam sputtered. “Leandro ripped your throat out. I saw it with my own eyes.”
“I didn’t die. You did,” Nicu answered, his lips curled into an unfriendly smirk. “Unfortunately that wimp, Emerico, couldn’t live without your ninny ass, so he decided to make you his little butt boy. So how do you like being one of us now?” Nicu stepped closer, his movement fluid and quick.
“I might be turning into a vampire, but I am nothing like you, and I never will be. You are the scum of the earth. Dead or alive.”
A voice that sounded more like a grunt came from a shaded doorway. “Watch it, fledging, or I will tear you limb from limb.”
Standing his ground, Adam scanned to the left just in time to see the cat morph into a six-foot-two, muscular black man missing an ear. He was covered in tattoos of human faces with their mouths stretched open, screaming, their finely drawn and detailed eyes showing panic and pain beyond belief. A shudder ripped through Adam as he wondered if his tattoos were his trophies.
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