A
Novel of the Hegemony
By Brian
Patrick McKinley
In order to
survive, Caroline and Avery take their place as servants in Sebastian’s
household during a gathering of the most powerful vampires on Earth, the
Hegemony, and soon find themselves involved in the myriad intrigues and
deceptions that form the night-to-night existence of The Order.
A society of
wealth, power, and inhuman decadence whose existence is protected by human
complicity and disbelief, The Order is the immortal aristocracy hidden behind
the giant corporations and political leaders of the world. Sebastian, however, has
a plan that will change The Order forever and shatter human civilization.
To avoid this
terrible fate, Avery and Caroline will not only have to defy the most powerful
creatures on Earth, but also confront the darkest aspects of themselves. For in
the world of the Hegemony, even victory may cost them their souls . . .
A fast-paced
thriller that both re-imagines and pays tribute to the traditional vampire, Ancient Blood is a story of love,
ambition, sacrifice, and betrayal that is frighteningly human.
Brian is a lifelong vampire fan from New Jersey and has written four screenplays,
a stage play which won a state-wide contest and was produced by a NJ community
theater, and numerous short stories which have been published online in various
magazines.
Excerpt:
She gave me the earring and, as delicately as I could, I
pierced one of the smaller arteries at the bottom of her neck. I handed the
earring back to her and bent to drink. While I did, she punctured my neck in
the same way and put her lips to the wound. This is probably the one major
advantage a starving Vampyr has over a starving human, this mutual-cannibalism
we can perform. I guess it’s a little like having sex while freezing just to
generate bodily warmth, but among Vampyrs, this is considered the purest form
of lovemaking. It didn’t have the climactic intensity of sex, but it was a
warmer plateau, like riding that pre-orgasmic moment forever. Or, for those of
a more gastronomic bent, imagine eating the best chocolate sundae you ever had
and never reaching the bottom of the dish and never losing your appetite for
it. It made me feel close to her in a way that was impossible with any other
form of verbal or physical expression. At that moment, we were literally one
being, one system circulating its life between our separate halves.
We fed and kissed and comforted each other for the rest of
the night. When sunrise came, we fell into our daytime hibernation coma holding
each other.
No comments:
Post a Comment