FEATURED TITLE
Title:
Oceanfront Dining
Author:
J. Joseph Vouono
Email: http://www.facebook.com/JJosephVuono
Genre: Horror
Excerpt
Heat Level: 1
Book
Heat Level: 3
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BLURB:
Thane Harmon, a dedicated monster
hunter, travels to Ocean City, Maryland to investigate into a possible werewolf
incident upon the area’s sandy shores.
Unconvinced of a threat, he allows himself to relax, breaking protocol
by becoming emotionally involved with a woman from his past. However, when the threat
to the resort town is found to be worse than ever imagined, the hunter is
forced into action. Through
a series of flashbacks, he recalls the moments that led him to his current
lifestyle and finds himself questioning the world he’s known for over a
decade. The resort beaches close and the bodies begin to pile up. Now,
Thane must confront the current danger and battle the scars of his past, facing
down the toughest choice of his life.
EXCERPT
He stalked softly to the mounds and
stood over the creatures. The vamps were lying on their backs, arms at their
sides, eyes wide open. On the left was a young woman, blonde hair, black eyes
and a slender figure, definitely a victim of a Seductive. The pin-striped blue
business suit she was wearing was dirty and tattered, fraying around the hem.
She must have gone to the wrong happy hour after work. Had he encountered her
in a bar, Thane would have been tempted. But as a member of the undead, she was
just another target.
On the right was a middle-aged man,
chubby and balding. Thane smiled to himself, thinking this was the only way the
bald fellow would get to lay next to anyone nearly as attractive as the blonde
Reluctant beside him. It was a shame he had to contract the blood thirst to get
to this point, but at least he'd spent his last night so close. The chubby
man's gray t-shirt was splotched with blood from the pets piled up in the
corner, and his jeans caked with mud around the knees. This vamp didn't match
most of the normal profiles for a Reluctant, but no self-respecting Seductive
would feed on dogs and rest huddled in a basement. He must have been an
out-of-towner who stumbled across this safe house, a mistake that proved to be
his undoing.
Thane knelt down on his left knee
between the vamps and leaned over the blonde in the business suit. He placed
the stake in his right hand softly on the woman's chest and quickly inspected
the tool in his grasp. The ash was sanded smooth and the point was sharp to the
touch. It was thirteen inches from tip to the rounded end, just enough room for
two hands to grip. Ransom members
rarely used mallets anymore to stake a vamp, though most still carried one. It
took far too long, and in this business, time was often the difference between
a successful eradication and the hunter taking a hit. He placed the point of
the stake against the woman's left breast, and chose his mark. Extending his
arms upward, Thane tensed up for the final blow. He held the spot for a moment,
building momentum then slammed the stake downward into the vamp's chest.
The point entered the target and
slipped through the suit toward her now still heart. In an instant, the stake
was embedded in the vamps chest. She sprang up at the waist, mouth open in a
muted scream. Her blood caked fingers wrapped around the small portion of the
wood that protruded from her breast.
Thane slid backward on his knee,
watching as the creature writhed in pain.
She stared back at him, eyes slowly
closing.
Less than fifteen seconds after Thane
staked her, the vamp slumped back. Her head hit the ground with a sickening
thud. Within a minute her skin would shrink around her body and her bones would
crumble to dust. Within five minutes there would be nothing left but a sharpened
ash-wood stake and a pile of gray and white powder.
Job well done, Thane thought to
himself.
Behind him, the male vamp moved.
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