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Disarming (Reign of Blood #2)
By
Alexia Purdy
Blurb:
The world has changed. One must adapt to survive or hold on
to the crumbling shards of humanity.
April continues to hold her fragile world together, but the
ties that hold her family together are quickly unraveling. Rumors of a massive
human underground settlement draw her to the shadows of the city once more in
search of other survivors more like her, even with the hybrid vampires opposing
her every move.
The darkness hides secrets along with the continued threat
the Feral Vampires create, but a greater evil hides within the city. Something
tells April that the humans will be less than welcoming of her, and that's if
she can find them before the Vampires do. Joining sides with the enemy might be
the only choice she has left.
Links
to buy:
Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/268874
Bio:
Alexia currently lives in Las Vegas ,
Nevada –Sin City
Connect with Alexia Purdy
@AlexiaPurdy
Book 1:
Preview:
Prologue
Resonating
THE DAY WAS fading and I stood staring out the car window.
My backpack was strapped to my back, even though it was extremely uncomfortable
sitting with it on. The window was cracked just a touch, and I could hear
screams echoing over from nearby streets. It made the hair on my neck stand on
end and sent a snake of terror through me. Who was letting out those blood
curdling screeches? What was happening? I had hitched a ride with my best
friend Sarah after a study session for a huge math final the next day. I was as
ready as I was going to be, even though I hated math with a passion.
Another screech
resonated across the houses, bouncing off the stucco and windows, making it
seem as though the entire world was screaming. My eyes widened as I scanned the
streets before averting my eyes to my cell phone, flipping through some
websites I had wanted to check out to distract myself from the craziness.
People were running chaotically, not a lot but a few. It just occurred to me
that there had been quite a few people clogging up the streets on the way home.
“What the heck is going
on? Some stupid rave we didn’t get invited to?” Sarah groaned as she maneuvered
around another crowd of people who kept jumping in front of the car and
jaywalking across the street. Some had bags of groceries, some with bottles
stacked in wheeled wire carts, tugging their load along as they flitted across
the street. I glanced up from my phone and shrugged, trying not to think much
of it.
“Probably, or some flash
flood warning again. It’s been storming for a week. The power probably went
down again,” I muttered.
“Oh, I hope not! I don’t
want to miss my show tonight! If it goes out again, I can’t DVR it for
tomorrow! Ugh!” Sarah cursed as another straggler popped in front of the car,
making her slam the brakes. “Out of the road, moron!” she hollered out the window.
I cringed at the glare from the man who gave the car a tap with his palm as he
continued on across the way. Road rage was not uncommon here in Vegas, and
Sarah was a poster child for it.
“I’ll stick it on my DVR
in case your power goes out. One of us is bound to have electricity,” I
offered.
“Thanks, that’d be
great. I’ll die if I miss another episode. I already don’t know what’s going
on.”
“You and your vampire
addiction.”
“Oh shut up, you know
you like the show, too.” Sarah swatted at me as best she could without tearing
her eyes away from the street, making it easy for me to block her hand.
“Hey! I do, but I’m not
dependent on them like someone I know. Can you say addicted? The first step to recovery is to admit it!” I swatted her
hand out of my way as I laughed at her. She gave me an icy glare before weaving
out of the crowd, gaining speed down toward my neighborhood. A thump on my
window made me jump, and I frowned at the person. A woman with crazed eyes
stared eerily at me as we passed. Was that blood dripping from her mouth?
In a flash she was gone,
lost in the chaotic crowd. I shook my head. Studying had fried my brain,
because now I was seeing things.
“I’d want to be a
vampire if I could. They’re all hot, and immortality has benefits,” Sarah sighed,
thinking of the life she could have in her head.
“Careful what you wish
for, you might not like the fanged dental job or the bloody messes you have to
get into.” Arriving at my house just then, I jumped out of the car before she
could swat me again. I slammed the door behind me and waved at her as she stuck
her tongue out, rolling her eyes at me as I continued to laugh.
As her semi-new Honda
rolled away, the screams caught my attention once more. The sun had just set
under the west Summerlin
Mountains
“April! Get inside!” My
mother’s voice brought my focus onto her. Hurrying through the gate that cut
off our property from the street, I helped her shut and lock it. She looked as
spooked as I was, and I waited until we were inside to ask her what the matter
was.
“Something’s wrong.” Her
wild eyes darted about the street before she twirled around and made a beeline
for the door.
“You think?” I bit my
lip as her icy glare pierced into me. I needed to shut my smart mouth. “Sorry,
Mom.”
“What’s going on?”
Jeremy’s voice made me turn toward the living room where he sat in front of his
Xbox, his game on hold in the middle of an all-out gun battle.
“Nothing squirt, keep
playing. You might beat my score one day.” I winked at him as he smiled, turning
back to his game, newly eager to beat it.
“The news said there
have been incidents… attacks.”
“What kind of attacks?”
I grabbed an apple off the pile in the fruit basket and bit down on the sweet,
bitter fruit. Crunching on my snack, I finally noticed the stacks of canned
food and water bottles littering the kitchen. My curiosity was getting the
better of me when I realized the windows had boards nailed onto them and the
sliding glass door had huge planks of plywood fixed across it.
“Um… Mom?”
“I don’t know, they’re
saying people are turning into some sort of zombie-like vampires, pouncing on
others, biting and sucking blood out of them.” Her voice cracked as she shoved
some more food into a cabinet, making a pathway to the hall where our bedrooms
were.
“Why didn’t you call me?
I could have come home to help.”
“Randy helped us.” She
looked up at me, knowing this statement would make me fume. “Besides, the cell
phones are cutting in and out.”
“Randy? The plumber?
Come on, Mom, you know he only wants you for one thing. That’s all he wants,
he’s a no good convicted criminal, how could you…?”
“That’s enough of that,”
she snapped, giving me a stern look. “He has done plenty for us. He’s coming
back with more wood to bar the rest of the windows and bring more water.” She
sighed. Her eyes looked tired as the worry made her wrinkles deepen.
“Water? Why? We have the
filter, we have water.”
“No!” She shoved the cup
I had grabbed from the drying rack before I could fill it with the water. I
looked at her, shocked and unmoving. The water was running, clear and cool. The
smell of chlorine permeated the air, reminding me to turn it off and wait for
answers.
“Mom?”
“Don’t drink it.”
“Why?” her silence made
my temper seep into my chest. “Mom, what’s going on?”
She stopped shoving
paper plates and cups into another area of the open pantry and sighed. The look
she gave me showed me oceans of fear. This was bad, really, really bad.
“It could be a virus, or
the water could be contaminated. No one knows, April. People are dying from it,
too. The hospitals are full of bodies. People are keeling over out of nowhere.
Or turning rabid….” She ran her hand through her messy hair, exasperated and
looking extremely worn out. Her hands shook as she reached for more supplies.
“We have to stay here, inside, for a while. Be safe.”
I nodded slowly, letting
her words sink in as I glanced back toward Jeremy. I knew she was right. She always was. Mom was
as streetwise as a person got. She knew how to survive. She had made the few
dollars we’d had during hard times stretch to feed us. She had turned her side
internet business into a profitable one, bringing loads of extra income to
supplement her puny teacher’s salary. We had been able to buy a house with it.
She had been self-sufficient ever since Dad had died three years ago.
Still, he had left an
empty abyss in his place, nothing could fill it. Nothing ever would. Not even
this Randy, who had endearing aspirations of filling the spot. Nothing could
ever hope to replace him.
“I’m going to pull the
SUV into the garage, get it stocked with supplies in case we have to leave
suddenly.” She disappeared down the hall, leaving me suspended in disbelief.
I solemnly grabbed a
bottle of water to drink, cracking the seal open and gulping down the fresh
fluid. The screams I had heard earlier crept back into my mind, making the
gooseflesh spring on my skin anew as the comprehension spilled over me. What
did this mean? A sudden surge of panic filled me as I remembered that Sarah was
heading back to her place. I had to warn her, had to let her know what was
going on and to load up her car and come back to my place. It was much safer
here, with high walls and wrought iron. My mom had bought it because of the
fortress-like feel to it, always so paranoid of intruders. Funny, I thought she
had been nuts, but maybe she’d had some sort of sixth sense about it. Her
uncanny intuition was scary at times.
Pulling my cell phone
out of my jeans pocket, I noticed the “no signal” symbol and moved about the
house until I found one or two bars staring back at me. Dialing her number in
desperation, I waited as the phone rang and rang.
Come on Sarah, answer me, please….
The familiar beeping
sound of her voicemail announcement commenced, and I cursed under my breath,
hitting the redial as fast as it let me. I kept calling until the signal died
once more, leaving me to wonder about and worry for my friend. I prayed she had
made it home safely. I prayed the chaos of the world had not swallowed her up.
Excerpts:
Disarming (Reign of
Blood #2) Teaser #1
Testing out my fingers,
I slowly curled them into my palms, making sure it wasn’t obvious enough for
Miss Dictatorship to notice. If I could gain control of my body before getting
thrown into the cell, maybe I’d have a chance against whatever was lurking in
there. The sedative was strong and made me question what sort of heaping dose
they had given me. I hoped I would get a separate cell and discover they had
been joking all along. Come on body, wake up!
“No, not that one! Put
her in the cell with him.” The woman’s voice hissed. She sounded upset but I
was pretty sure it wasn’t completely my fault. “I brought you a little snack.”
This was not going to be
pleasant.
Disarming (Reign of
Blood #2) Teaser #2
In the distance, the
snarls and moans of the feral vampires filled the air as they descended from
their daylight tombs. It sent a different kind of shiver down my spine as I
concentrated on breathing deeply, attempting to slow my frantic heartbeat down.
It was unnerving, sleeping in the middle of the city, surrounded by fangs and
death. I hated this and doubted I would get much sleep tonight, if any. I’d
just have to do without.
“Going to be a long
night, try to sleep some.” Rye
“Okay.”
Disarming (Reign of
Blood #2) Teaser #3
Before long, I could
hear it coming. One scrawny straggler, inching its way toward me like a tiger
focused on prey. I must have looked incredibly savory, for it ignored the
beaming lights blinding its searing red eyes and headed right toward me. For a
half-starved beast, it was incredibly fast, its body looking bony and
malnourished. A growl snarled through its withered lips, exposing rotting teeth
and fangs. I took a quick step back before arching my sword right across its
neck, sending its head tumbling and spraying ink-black blood across the
cracked, muddy floor. Its body was left to twitch its last moments away near my
feet. I dodged the puddle it had created near me and crept farther down the
walls of the silent casino.
One down, how many more
to go?
Disarming (Reign of
Blood #2) Teaser #4
The woman, or girl—he
wasn’t quite sure for he hadn’t asked her what her age was, though it seemed
pretty certain that she was in her late teens, maybe early twenties—made her
way in easily. She slipped quietly into the rear of one of the main
greenhouses. It was lit up in there like twilight all night long with the full
spectrum of light slowly growing as daybreak came. It was sufficient to see a
lot of the floor, though the foliage and abundance of greenery would be
sufficient to hide her for a while. Elijah knew she had figured this out and
was now weaving her way through jagged rows of saplings, fruit and eucalyptus trees.
Her black clothing hid her enough that no one noticed the svelte woman dodging
people, sticking to the shadows and snapping quick, concise pictures of
everything she saw.
She’s studying us.
Elijah shook his head,
amused by this revelation. Of all things, this human was studying other humans!
Ha! But what for? What did she want to do with those pictures? Why didn’t she
just waltz right up to the door and introduce herself? She was definitely human
and might have been welcomed.
Or maybe not. He frowned.
Katrina was volatile and could decide she was a threat to the city instead. And
what if she was a hybrid human? Could she be?
Happy Reading!
Krisitna
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