Decayed World

By A. Blackwelder

The world is no longer the way we remember. Few are even still alive to recall the days when midnight didn’t mean cowered away & hidden. Out of sight became our only way to survive since the...Century Vampires. If you want to live, trust no one.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Ami Blackwelder
• Release date: Oct 28, 2012
• ISBN: 9781301940721

A. Blackwelder

A indie writer of paranormal and syfy

Book preview

Born Vamps: Vamps born with the mutated vamp gene.

Cavern Vamps: Younger vamps typically living in the caverns.

Century Vampires: The general term used for all vamps born or turned during the period between 2025-2125, when they began breeding.

Coven: The general term for all vampires who submit to the vampire king.

Sanctuary Vamps: Vampires who protect the king and live among him in luxury. Made up of mature vamps and chosen young vamps. The prince and all royal blood.

Turned Vamps: Vampires who have been turned from human to vampire by the process of being bitten by a vampire and then released. The poisonous venom then surges through the human’s veins, transforming him.

Vamp Repellant: A fluid used to keep vampires from smelling humans.

Vamp Suppressant: A serum used to suppress the vampire venom within a human.

Chapter 1

Move your ass Mark! Aura shouted from the mouth of the cave, where the rocks ended and the forest began–well, what was left of the forest after the constant brush-fires of a world gone awry.

Just one more bomb. Those bastards are going to have a real awakening. Mark slammed his last homemade explosive against the cave wall. Searching the walls with his vigilant eyes one last time, he took note of the wrinkled skin hanging from the ceiling.

Like bats, the human vampires hung with feet clinging to the crevices. Their decrepit arms criss-crossed their chests, rejuvenating themselves. Well, that was what the humans called it, but how did they stick to the cave ceilings? Some humans speculated that vampire blood secreted some kind of sap through the pores of their skin. Others figured it was just pure evil that held them there.

Let’s go! Aura shouted. Mark had a way of pushing himself to the edge. Aura wanted to make sure he didn’t fall over it.

One minute! Mark yelled, staring at the cave walls. Aura watched his dark copper-brown, wavy hair move like the tide over his face as he just stood there.

Standing on the border between the outside world and the dark cavern, Mark wanted nothing more than to watch those blood-thirsty beasts burst all over the damp walls. Here inside this cave before midnight they looked like the monsters they were, the creatures that sucked the life from his sister Laura, the vamps that decapitated his parents. Vampires didn’t appear beautiful until they turned and grew fangs at midnight. Then the deathly hallow their human bodies had become grew into something almost celestial and hypnotic-like, with unparalleled strength surging through their veins.

We are running out of time! The vamps will be hunting soon! Aura urged.

But Mark stood frozen, green eyes fixed on the bloodsuckers, his memory spinning. Aura dug her fingers and nails into his shoulders and spun him around to face her. We’re going now! Aura’s face filled with a hot red color, and after she shook him once he returned to her.

I’m here, I’m going. He lunged away from the cave and grabbed Aura’s palm in his. Racing across the fire beaten terrain, they had never moved faster. Wind hit their faces in a rush and their feet sunk into the soggy mud with each step forward.

Pop, Pop, Pop…Within seconds the cave imploded and went ablaze.

Bits of vamp flesh burned as it spattered across the barren forest. An arm limb nearly hit Mark in the head. The entire mission took nearly an hour to complete, the explosion just under a minute. The cave became rubble and debris shot everywhere.

Won’t be seeing those bloodsuckers again. Mark sounded proud, beads of sweat dripping down his cheeks.

We still have to make it back to O-Tech-1. O-Tech-1 was code name for the basement of the abandoned church in Manhattan.

Aura tightened her grip on Mark’s hand. And you know a few of those mature vamps will be out hunting. Six to midnight is still not safe. Aura emphasized that point often. Mark may not mind missions from dusk to dark. Most vamps still needed rejuvenation then, but Aura didn’t trust the dark. Vamp or no, the dark could be dangerous.

Besides she smelled the scent of something...someone following them for miles now. Someone familiar.

Chapter 2

We’d better shake whatever is behind us before O-Tech-1. We don’t want to lead him...it to our hideout. Aura slowed to a stop and bent down next to a tree. Only one of a few that they passed. Tying her shoelaces over her torn sneakers, Mark leaned over her with one hand on the tree trunk and one hand on her shoulder.

He whispered, Someone behind us? Aura nodded. Ready for a fight? Chills rushed down his spine as he glanced at Aura; she always appeared so fragile to him. Small bones, thin cheeks, tiny feet. He worried one day a vampire would get the better of her. Yet as dainty as she appeared on the outside, in the two years they had known each other, ran side-by-side together chasing and fleeing from vamps, Aura never once fought like she had a delicate bone in her body. Instead she fought like a warrior, feisty and brutal. As soft as she could be with him, she never once showed the bloodsuckers any mercy. She could be hard when she needed to be, and she needed to be now.

Twin vampires dove like vultures over the tree as they landed on Mark and Aura. Meeting their prey with such precision, they could have been gymnasts.

Two lean, but strong, pale bodies fought with Mark and Aura in the dark under a sliver of moon. Aura didn’t have time to admire Mark’s robust frame, chiseled features and rounded arms. She had to keep focused on the bloodsucker trying to rip off her head. Vamps enjoyed that, sometimes more than sucking blood.

Mark dug his hand into his back pocket and pulled out a sharp switchblade. The click of the blade unlatching diverted both Aura and her enemy’s attention for a quick second, then they resumed fighting. Rolling over the mud. Digging nails into each other. Aura’s beast opened his mouth and intense fangs spread over Aura’s stoic expression. She didn’t wear her feelings. She had become brilliant at hiding them over the years.

The hiss accompanying the tooth-to-chin fangs forced Aura to push her hand onto the creature’s nose. She had to keep the fangs from entering her chalk-white skin, from squirting its venom inside her veins, from draining all of her blood. Saliva dripped from the monster’s fangs and slid down Aura’s reddening cheeks before the putrid smelling fluid slipped over her lips. She spit to keep it away from her.

Gagging, Aura spat upon the vamp just before he slapped her across the face. Leaving a hand print on her cheek, the saliva slid down her chin and onto the ground beneath her. Her back pressed against the soil hard. The vamp didn’t give her an inch to move. His two legs teetered on either side of her, his knees kicked into her ribs. His arms braced him above her as his fangs dripped of desire–desire for her blood, for her death.

Aura could smell this desire as much as she could smell his rotting flesh. He might have looked pristine, but the decaying human form underneath the perfect vampire skin she knew to be an illusion. She had seen too many of these things not to know better.

You’re not taking me you bloodsucker! Aura kicked her legs, her knees hitting his back.

Hissing, the creature forced more saliva to drip from its fangs.

From six in the morning until six at night, these creatures of the darkness kept hidden within their human host. Only from six at night to six in the morning did these creatures reveal their true monstrous forms, where the beast finally clawed its way out.

Damn you! Aura clawed her nails into his face, ripping skin from his cheek. He moaned in anguish as venom slid down the sides of his chin. He jerked away from her.

No, Damn You!

She dodged as he threw his fangs toward her chest.

AHHHH! Aura shouted, kicking repeatedly, as she finally threw the vamp off of her. Jumping to her feet, she spun around in a well-trained roundhouse kick and knocked her foot hard into the creature’s chin. Slamming him backward, the vamp hit his back into the tree.

Glancing up, she saw Mark and his opponent both in a choke hold. Each had their strong hands around the other’s open neck, Mark thrusting left and his enemy thrusting right. Mark stepped forward and his creature stepped backward, a deadly tango.

Look out! Aura shouted to Mark as her vamp lunged for him from behind. Busy with the twin, Mark momentarily jerked his head around toward the oncoming vamp savage. The opening allowed his vampire to dive fangs at Mark’s open neck. Aura sprinted.

Clawing her hands over her vamps back, Aura yanked him backward. Stumbling, the vampire fell upon the soil. Aura hit her foot over his neck, and twisted. Crunch. The red eyes dimmed until they finally died.

But as Aura stared into the red-eyes she couldn’t help but be drawn back into her past, into a life she wasn’t sure she wanted returned, but also a life she felt she lost too soon.

Her mother stood over her five-year-old frame, crying and yelling. She could never decide which. Life was only ever a torture or a fight for Aura’s mother—for everyone. Growing up with a father didn’t help. She often wondered what her father looked like—blue eyes like hers? Maybe she’d never know.

When her mother’s sobs and screams finally ceased, Aura found herself in a pool of her own pee, too terrified to move.

Chapter 3

Myths of these night creatures circulated since 2042 when the first recorded human was killed and the culprit found to be a teenage vamp. The biggest myth, about keeping their identity secret, became laughable now. These vampires had only one rule: there were no rules. They wanted the Earth for their own and did anything to acquire it. Humans became expendable as food, and the human population dwindled year after year.

Hiss. Hiss. The remaining vamp pressed his fangs inches from Mark’s neck before Aura jumped at the vampire’s side with a kick. Hitting the beast away from Mark freed him long enough to step away from the attack. Aura lunged at the savage again with long fingernails aimed at his eyes.

Damn Aura, I got this one! Mark shouted, his shirt in a vamp-ripped tatter.

But she didn’t hear him, or perhaps just didn’t pay attention. Still with a stoic expression, nothing revealing fear or hate, Aura pierced her nails into the vamp's dark blood-red eyes and blinded him. The savage squirmed with flaying arms for seconds, before following

Reviews for Decayed World

[roadway2000_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I was gifted this book, I really enjoyed it. It gave a new and sinister slant to the typical vampire story. It is also a romance which helps make it even better. There is quite a bit of violence in the book, but that is to be expected with vampires. Another good series of books from Ami Blackwelder. This is a relatively quick read which keeps your interest.