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Category: Horror/Dark Fantasy
Description: A collection short vampire fiction, not for the faint of heart. Includes: Short Stories The Abandoned City Van and Sara live in a dilapidated city overrun with vampires, which is great for work, since Van is a vampire hunter. The only problem is--he's been bitten in the line of duty and is changing into one of the creatures he kills for a living. To make things worse, he's getting thirstier by the moment and Sara has bigger issues at "stake," like protecting her unborn child. The Blue Children An ancient vampire must make the difficult decision to lead his undead children into the light. Julian's Diary (A "Darklands Vampires" Story) The gruesome history of Duniwich, the setting for the novel Darklands: A Vampire's Tale is featured in his journal-style short. My Shadowman A colonial Charleston, SC lady-of-the-evening has an unpleasant caller. The Vampire Hunter's Tale A lone hunter in an industrial wasteland uses the safety of daylight to do his dirty work. Darklands: Kasper and Lexi's Tale (An Excerpt from "Darklands: A Vampire's Tale") Also includes the vampire poetry selections: Paint You Pale, Stepping Into the Light, Racing the Light and Thrown Away Children
eBook Publisher: Naked Snake Press/Naked Snake Press, 2011 2011
eBookwise Release Date: March 2011

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Available eBook Formats: OEBFF Format (IMP) [62 KB]
Words: 12707
Reading time: 36-50 min.

The Abandoned City

I looked out over a dead city. The fires below gave a false sense of daylight, but it was still an hour before dawn. Smoke spiraled up from the flames, gray and black, hiding the stars and the moon. The fires were the old buildings that were now empty. That was where most of the vampires stayed during the day. Some thought that the fires would drive them out of the city. Van did. "You can eliminate the rats by burning out their holes," he told me once. He believed it; therefore I was supposed to believe it, too. But it hadn't worked so far.

Van was down there somewhere, among the abandoned buildings, riding the abandoned streets of this abandoned city. And I was up here alone, waiting. But not as alone as I had been only a few months ago. Now I had little Sara to talk to, to break the dreary silence, to think about, to plan for. We were going to name the baby after myself. If it was a boy, we would name him for Van's father.

Van worked every night almost, and on those nights I just sat at the window, watching, or reading the books I had found in the apartment when we moved in. This place was nicer than our last place. Bigger. Plenty of room for a family. We could have never afforded it on what Van made, but it was ours now. The wealthy had retreated from the city a while back, to big, safe houses in the country with electronic security devices. Those left behind took over the better apartments. The only security we had was hidden under our pillows at night.

I was tired, but sometimes I stayed up to wait for Van, so I could sleep with him. I hate sleeping alone. He would be home soon. Dawn teased the darkness from the sky and a hint of pale morning touched the horizon, out beyond the ragged skyline.