Chronicle of Blood and Shadow

https://www.amazon.com/Chronicle-Blood-Shadow-Amy-Hodges-Laurenzo/dp/B09WQ4S6N7/ref=sr_1_1?crid=28QOVBG5ZUA19&keywords=amy+hodges-laurenzo&qid=1648827087&sprefix=amy+hodges%2Caps%2C162&sr=8-1

Chronicle of Blood and Shadow

By: Amy Hodges-Laurenzo

Available on Amazon in Kindle/Paperback/ Hardback

One act in time can change things for all. One life survived where perhaps it should have been his last breath...instead he survived to defy all and take into his keep an artifact that should never have been discovered by the rest of this World of Shadow. With it he defied the plans of others to create what he saw as his own world to rule over alone.

In Blood he stood and held his ground in Cruelty.

In Shadow she came...

Only she could bring him to his knees but only they can free the souls buried in each other.

Death or Life...what does the road hold?

How will the Chronicle be told?

**********

Raven lain alone for several minutes without interruption. Then the bay window on the house blew inward. She gasped as three men came in through the window. Unable to escape, she became teary eyed, but continued to lie on the couch just the same.

           One of the two men stepped forward and to the girl he saw. His hair was black but short and his eyes were brown. His basic attire was simply jeans and a t-shirt, but he had a shot gun strapped around his shoulder and a large dagger at his hip. His rough hands took hold of her face so that he could look at her. “The girl’s a live.”

           “She isn’t our problem, Dick. We are here for vampires.”

           “But if we don’t help her, Chad, we are no different than the blood suckers.”

           The third man walked forward and stabbed a short sword that he carried down into her chest. He was a scruffy looking brown haired man. “There, girl isn’t an issue now.”

           Raven yelped, her eyes incredibly wide. He staked her through the heart and now she was incapacitated. It was almost as though her body was on fire but she was unable to scream. Her own hunger aside, her eyes began to glaze over and her eyes closed.

           It was difficult to say what had occurred next. The ground began to shake at the home and the ground began to crack. Many involved with Emily Ro immediately withdrew as the house split in half. Adrian casted a single glimpse back as he saw the glowing red point with multiple men standing around it. But as he began to flee with his men, those that surrounded the red scattered.

           The brown haired Michael Thorne intercepted him and stabbed him in the chest with a bastard sword he was carrying. “You fucking idiot! You hid her for three months, but you should have known that he would find her!”

           Osiris raised his left fist and upper cut Michael before fleeing with his wounded master.

           Other sons of the Vampire God scattered through those fleeing. They struck at them in hopes of delaying or stalling them all.

           Where the house split, the glowing red being walked into opening he created. The vampire hunters found themselves unable to move and he went straight to his missing daughter a moment to evaluate her condition. 

Then he attacked all three men, brutally draining them of blood, leaving three husks behind. The red glare over his form came down with some minor concentration to expose the long dark haired vampire with ice blue eyes. All he wore was a pair of black jeans and boots. Though the light toned down, the red runes were still present.

           Carefully he took hold of the sword and pulled it from her heart so not to remove her heart with the blade. Raven gasped loudly as she could suddenly move again as he tossed it aside. Daemon continued to examine her condition. “You are breathing erratically”, his voice was still distorted to the demonic pitch. “You are weak and pale. You are also starving.” He slid his left thumb nail under a rune mark that was on his shoulder and lifted her body. He easily cradled her to it and her lips latched on to drink deeply. “Good girl”, he whispered as his voice returned to normal, “Drink in my blood and be sated.”

           Several moments passed and one such son manifested in the room. His reddish brown hair defined him as Jacob. “Our men do have some prisoners to interrogate. How fares the queen?”

           Daemon stroked her cheek as she fed from him. “A dangerous point had been reached and she will have to be watched closer. She was starving to a point of insanity when I found her. She will recover, but it will take a little time and supervision. In the meantime, I want all of them tortured to a breaking point and then tortured again. I need to know what Emily Ro knows.” He picked her up as a whimper escaped her lips, “Sh my beloved. Rest in my arms and relax yourself.” He took her away in a shimmer to a new room somewhere else and laid her down.

           At the home of Adrian Vaughn, the vampires gathered up the people that they captured and transported them to a station under the safe house that Daemon’s closest associates used.

A dozen humans sat quietly within a cell with no windows and very little light. They were in the station where blood is usually taken and held for those that serve the Vampire God. They were all Emily Ro’s people and prisoners. One by one they were taken out and their pain began.

           One such woman was grabbed and pulled out into the hall to a board, laid out, and cuffed down. Loud noises of pain permeated every wall around her as Dyson stepped up. His dark hair was slicked back and he appeared quite serious in his black leather shirt and pants with boots. He was the designated torturer of the darkness under Daemon Thorne and in charge here.

           “I am Dyson Conrad. I am the man in charge here. Your name is Amber Lyn, correct?” All she did was nod to him and he continued. “You know of Emily Ro and Adrian Vaughn. I want to know what they think of what our queen is and why they pursue her.”

           The woman shivered as she laid there in a thin dress. Her brown hair was disarrayed and her green eyes burned, “Please don’t kill me.” Her voice was stricken with fear.

           “The simplest way to end your suffering, Amber, is to tell me what I want to know. Otherwise you just might bleed to death in less than an hour.” He pressed a button that activated a device and a small spike was shoved into her shin. She screamed loud at the act. He waited patiently until she calmed. “Now the first question, what is Emily’s obsession with Raven?”

           The girl gasped and found breath, “OK, OK. It isn’t Raven Desoto parse. She believes that Raven is the first one.”

           Dyson raised an eye brow at the comment, “First one?”

           She swallowed and hesitated. His fingers went back to the button, but then she blurted out her response. “THE FIRST ONE was the first to carry the stone. A being of ancient power, the only darkness Magi ever called Allure. She was born in the first kingdom of Egypt. She held the stone and the Magi had to band together to stop her. When they did, she swore that she would return to this world and take back the stone and carry it into darkness with her.”

           Dyson tilted his head to one side at her words, “Emily believes that Raven is the being. So why doesn’t Raven act the role?”

           “She has not fed yet. She must take a human life to tap into the power that makes her who she is. If she doesn’t take the life, she is simply an innocent little vampire.”

           Dyson folded his arms and gazed at her a moment, then he hit the button. Multiple spikes shot up through her extremities. The chamber filled with screams as he walked away. Her blood poured over the table and down into a pool below as her life ended. Daemon would want to know the findings and Dyson would not disappoint him. “Kill the rest in the chamber! I have what the master wanted!”

           He continued on as vampires swarmed the chamber that the prisoners were in.