Vadas, sequel to Celic - Vampire Novelist Jayne Waggoner
The club named Daimio sat just within the city limits. The border lot displayed a vast assortment of vehicles. Celic raced across the pavement and glided through the double doors. Once inside, he located a dark corner for his continued search. The spacious one-story structure overflowed with patrons. Dancers, clad in long purple robes of silk, cruised around the room dipping and grinding to an alternative beat. The vampire noted the activities with a casual scan. His singular objective, the man he chased inside, needed to be found.
Celic discovered him shuffling his way toward the back. He studied the nightspot for a way to spring a trap. One exit, far in the rear, eliminated the possibility. The pursued had approximately four more feet to go before he’d reach it. Celic first thought to transform. Too many witnesses crowded around him, though. The headline of his alter might not be believed by the masses; however, he knew a sheriff who’d recognize its authenticity. He decided to leave, swing around to the alley, and try to locate a new trail.
“Didn’t you hear me yell at you, buddy?” A giant of a man blocked the doorway in a red tee shirt with sweatpants that expanded to cover his massive body. His baldhead gleamed green under the entrance light. “You can’t come in here without being a member.”
“No problem.” Celic turned to leave. “I’ve no plans to stay.”
“I ain’t finished with you, buddy.”
Huge hands grabbed Celic by the shoulders and swung him through the main entrance.
Celic’s instincts ordered him to strike back with an uppercut to the man’s throat in a jab by one of his extended fingernails. The large crowd followed to watch, so he let himself fall onto the sidewalk.
The three-hundred-pound brute lumbered toward him, his face ridged with anger. He kicked Celic hard with his left boot, rolling him several more feet. The assailant clumped over, bent down, and brought Celic up by a handful of his hair.
“You understand me now?” the bouncer snarled. “Our club is off limits to anyone who ain’t a member. It doesn’t matter if you want a peek or not. You’re to stop at the ticket window.”
Through squinted eyes, Celic checked how many spectators still lingered. Survival required him to blend into the environment. He couldn’t defend himself in front of a group of eyewitnesses. He worked too hard to disappear to let a mere brawl return him to visibility. Sheriff Dan Craft would find his location if he performed the savage murder he wanted to do right now.
Unbearable pain tore through Celic’s system, though not from the attack. Rather, it came from his body’s demands to counter. It wanted to transform and retaliate for the painful treatment it received. He growled deep in his throat. Sweat accumulated on his face. No one knew the true conflict fought between the absolute need to preserve his true uniqueness versus the thirst to slaughter. His extended fangs cut into his closed lips, and blood dripped from tightly clutched hands sliced by his lengthened nails. He kept his eyes shut knowing they glowed crimson with defiance as his fiendish wickedness commanded to be unleashed.
The assault came to an end. No one, it seemed, pitied the poor sucker left to bleed on the sidewalk. Instead, all went back inside the club. The doorkeeper returned to his duty after he landed a mouthful of spit on Celic. The vampire kicked over onto his back to peek around to see if he was alone. Nice place to visit…shit!
Celic gained control of his anger and assumed his human form. His expensive clothes reeked of street filth and blood. A dumpster stood nearby, and he went behind it to hide, to contemplate his next move. Damn. Not only did he suffer the embarrassment from a pointless ass whoop, but he’d also lost the reason he came into the club in the first place. Time to return to his lair.
Celic transformed into his misty form, a task easy to accomplish these days. The count costume he’d worn through his initial birth into vampirism altered with him. The street clothes he wore now gathered in a pile at his feet, considered foreign material by his body. Transformation completed, he floated toward his cave.
Arriving at his destination, he reformed to step into the dank cavern. Two wolves looked up when he entered the cave. He must have had a hostile look on his face, for they lowered their heads. They had become his sole companions after an airplane crash in
“I hope I catch the big lug alone in a dark alley some night,” Celic commented. At a stream in the back of the cave, he cleaned himself and put on a pair of white tube socks, blue jeans, and a button shirt of light blue. He sat down on a nearby stone to draw his knees up to his chest. “We’re hidden far back in the forest. We haven’t seen any hikers or even forest rangers. No one should have stumbled across us. I’m of the opinion the guy didn’t. No, he knew who he watched. How did he have enough knowledge of our presence to set up for a stakeout? Did he wait for us, or did he position himself after we were located? Why take pictures? For whom?”
One of the wolves had discovered the man two days prior while he hunted. Celic investigated the next night with the animals. They found a platform built in a large maple tree, some high-tech camera equipment, along with pictures of each of them. It was obvious by the snaps that the unknown person spied on them from almost the first day of their stay.
Celic left the whole lot where he’d found it. They left to return later and confront the man. Gone. They came upon him later in the woods and gave chase. Now, thanks to the thoroughness of the bouncer, Celic didn’t know anything about the situation.
He stirred the fire before him in thought. The answers to the puzzle disappeared with the man. Why try to solve a problem without any facts? He required rest. They’d locate a new place to hide tomorrow night with the hopes they’d lose their spy. He closed his eyes for a moment to relax. Both wolves growled, so he opened them again. Ears erect, they snarled in the same direction. Celic forgot fatigue. He heard several people in the distance. The volume of conversation grew louder with each step they took in his direction.
Both wolves stood guard at the lip of the cave. Celic slipped into a pair of soft leather boots then stuffed some clothes, along with his count costume, into a duffel bag. They cleared the nearby rise shortly before the words became distinctive. Three men with two women discussed how to approach the cave unobserved. Celic checked each face. All strangers in long black robes. Witches? He turned and ran.
The three jogged over the miles at night and rested in the daylight hours. The routine was repeated for a week until they crossed state lines. After that, they moved at a slower pace. Celic’s attention turned to an acute problem. His requirement for nourishment had arrived.
He’d visited a victim before the wolf uncovered the guy in the woods. It had afforded him time to escape. No longer. Delay wasn’t an option either. He’d let himself go beyond the requirement for blood once. He’d lost control. His body aged while racked with pain. The hunger ripped at his very fiber until he hunted. Though he prided himself on his ability to take a victim with care, he ravaged her.
He drained every drop of blood from her system. Fear made him burn the body afterward. If he didn’t she’d changed into an active corpse. Even worse, the creature created became a vicious animal with no thought other than to slaughter. He assumed, if he lost control while he fed, his system placed some kind of delirium in the dead victim that knew no boundary or sanity.
Chapter Two
Celic looked down upon a small farm situated in a narrow valley. The windows of the white wood house displayed no lights. He seldom found adults or young people up at such a late hour in the country. The barn doors were closed with no livestock outside to roam in the fenced-in corral. A chicken coop sat next to the barn. A large dog stood on guard in their yard. It didn’t concern him.
He ordered the wolves to wait for him then approached the house. He neared the yard expecting the dog to bark. Instead, the canine charged. Celic transformed to let the animal slide through him and land on the other side. The dog’s contact with his shadowy form must have disturbed its prospective. It cowered on the ground where it landed.
Celic found each window in the single floor home closed. It offered little challenge since he’d learned he could enter private residences in his wispy shape without invitation. He slid under the door to reshape in the kitchen. The clock on the wall chimed
He crossed from the kitchen into the main room. By the décor, the owners of the home lived simple lives. The padded blue flowered sofa wasn’t overstuffed. A brown recliner didn’t match any other piece of furniture, while two rocking chairs by a window looked homemade. A coffee table centered the space leaving a television on its metal stand to complete the furnishings. Four other doors led from the room. Sounds of sleep came from behind each.
Celic strolled to the first entranceway. Under a blue comforter printed with racecars, two little brown-haired boys slept. Body sizes indicated twins, though the bedding half covered their faces. He retraced his steps to go into the next room.
An old man and woman faced each other in slumber. The next closed door was unlocked. A young girl, about fifteen or sixteen, moved from her side to her back. Her hair color matched the two boys’. A look of innocence decorated her sweet freckled face though the plaid blanket outlined a plump, blooming body. Beside her lay a longhaired calico cat. It hissed yet didn’t attack. He reversed his steps to return to the hall. She’d be a desperate straw.
In the fourth room slept a woman back to back with a man. Celic crept across the room and stooped beside her. She looked like an older version of the girl with the cat. He brushed his index finger across the area above her right eye. She stirred, and he tensed. Either his hypnotic touch placed her under, or she’d awaken. The clock ticked several minutes away before he felt confident enough to commence.
“I need you,” he said, his voice no louder than a light breeze.
“Need,” she repeated.
Celic breathed a sigh of relief. A good sign—his suggestion worked.
“I dream of you,” he continued.
“Dream.” She smiled.
“Come to me.”
She frowned. “Now?”
“Yes.”
Her smile returned. “Where?”
“Kitchen.” The less he said the better.
She threw back the cover to stand. Celic retreated several steps. Another touch might bring her out of his control.
“Where you going?” her husband muttered, half-awake.
“Kitchen.”
“Great.” He turned over. “Breakfast.”
Celic froze. If the husband opened his eyes, he’d look directly at him. Instead, the man pulled the covers higher.
Celic released another vast breath before sneaking from the room. The woman waited by the refrigerator.
“I’m your lover,” he whispered. “You desire my kiss. Offer me your neck. You like it best when I cause you pain there.”
She unbuttoned her top to let it flutter to the floor. Celic ran his gaze down her bare skin. The cold air hardened her nipples. He almost touched one yet knew any further contact, except the bite, wasn’t smart. He stepped behind her and nimbly brushed her hair aside. She trembled in anticipation.
Now came the tricky part—to feed without body contact. He liked to use a certain artery on the side. This time he’d have to bite further back. He’d not be able to enter the vein of choice, which meant the blood would flow slower.
His fangs sliced smooth, effortlessly into her skin. Another moment of apprehension. Would she scream or accept the pain as part of a dream? She tensed, and he readied to reform. Her body relaxed. So did his.
Experience taught Celic to pull away at a certain time to keep the virus—given to him in the same potion that had caused his vampirism—from escaping his system. His fangs extracted, and she moaned. Her blood flooded through his system in a wonderful sensation of renewal.
Celic picked up her blouse but hesitated. To leave her exposed to the first person rising from one of the bedrooms appeared unkind, yet he couldn’t replace the blouse. Decision reached, he hung the top over the back of a chair then altered. The dog watched his departure from the same position he had left it.
Please find below a review of my book by The Vampire Huntress. You can find Vadas at www.wildchildpublishing.com)
TITLE: Vadas (Celic #2)
AUTHOR: Jayne Waggoner
PUBLISHER: Wild Child Publishing
4 STARS!
Celic Vadas no longer craves the companionship of humans with the urgency he once did. Yet still he longs to feel as though he is part of their race. He finally accepts his vampire existence for the most part. He is slowly learning his new abilities, his confidence growing. The demon within him still longs to feed, but Celic has learned how to control the virus and no longer unwittingly sends ladies to their deaths.
HUNTRESS REVIEWS
Reviewed by Detra Fitch
