Patten Brookwater's Curse Volume Three

Extinction Agenda
1. Auflage 2014
ISBN: 978-0-9907917-7-5
Verlag: Laughing Black Vampire Productions, LLC
Format: EPUB
Kopierschutz: Adobe DRM (»Systemvoraussetzungen)

E-Book, Englisch, 279 Seiten

Armed with a new, prestigious title and his family and friends still at his side, vampire Christian Brookwater has spent the last four years helping to cure the werewolves of their insatiable bloodlust. The only problem is that his funding is coming from vampire taxes. Christian is about to be called on the mat for it and must defend himself on national vampire television. If that isn't enough to contend with, a vengeful goddess with ties to the Original Vampires begins uniting old enemies, encouraging betrayals and murdering friends. Christian's closest allies, Jeremiah The Werewolf King and Caleb the shape-shifting rachasa, must step up and have his back like never before , as The Heroes of Osaka find themselves assailed from all sides. Personal drama also unfolds as Christian and his second in command, Helen, each find themselves embroiled in separate but equally volatile love triangles, one of which will result in a surprising fatality. Secret alliances will be revealed, deals will be brokered, villains will emerge and heroes will rise. Most shocking of all, Christian Brookwater will discover that he is and always has been MORE THAN A VAMPIRE!

Autoren/Hrsg.

Patten, Steven Van

Leseproben

Chapter 1

A Vampire, A Werewolf, A Rachasa and a Human Walk Into A Bar…

“What the hell do you mean, you haven’t seen her in three months?” Christian demanded.

“Just what I said,” Jeremiah answered. “She claimed there was a problem in Colorado, and I haven’t seen her since.”

“Christian, I already told him it was bullshit,” Stephen Buja interrupted as he walked a step behind the two handsome monsters.

Christian was not so much bothered by the idea that Jeremiah was letting himself be taken advantage of, or ‘played’ as the kids say. As far as Christian saw it, that was already an established dynamic in the relationship Jeremiah shared with Lily, the Werewolf Queen. What bothered him was the fact that he had seen Jeremiah several times within the queen’s three-month absence and this was the first Christian was hearing of it.

“Your love life aside, Lily being missing is a serious issue,” Christian chided. “You guys are supposed to be providing leadership to the werewolf packs, not vacationing in Colorado.”

“Dude! People are going to hear you!” Jeremiah hissed, noting the people bustling all around them in the crowded streets of New York’s Hell’s Kitchen area.

“No one on this street is listening to me,” Christian dismissed. “And even if they were, I don’t care at the moment. I’m taking serious heat for the Werewolf Rehabilitation Project. And I still can’t believe I have to do this fuckin’ interview tomorrow.”

Earlier that night, before deciding where he and Jeremiah were taking Stephen for his twenty-eighth birthday, Christian had lamented about having to appear on Vampire’s Weekly. The talk show, broadcasted over an encoded and strenuously password protected website, was a product of the vampire nation’s newfound interest in availing itself to Internet usage. Ironically, the inspiration for the building of an Internet based television network for vampires had been drawn from Stephen Buja’s successful use of that very technology during The Battle in Osaka. Jackson Witherspoon, a traditional conservative and rabid supporter of the old vampire regime under Emmanuel, hosted this show that Christian was expected to appear on. While many vampires had witnessed the events that took place in Japan on their computer screens and walked away feeling that the right side had emerged triumphant that night, Witherspoon from his first broadcast in 2004, began ranting mercilessly against Lord Tanata’s rule. He also slipped in a few choice remarks regarding how Christian murdered Antonio Caramano only to inherit everything the celebrated vampire earned.

For this alone, Christian would have killed Witherspoon with the same nonchalance that he would drink a glass of blood with a salmon dinner. However, Lord Tanata took on a more diplomatic position. The vampire samurai lord felt that killing the critic would make him no better than Emmanuel. So he spared the talk show host, and all but ignored him until it became clear that the talk show host might actually succeed in turning other vampires against his rule. The key to this would be the public defense of the Werewolf Rehabilitation Project that Christian was the administrator of.

“This Witherspoon fellow has earned a following. I need you to go on the show,” Lord Tanata instructed Christian during a phone call a few hours ago. “I need you to explain why we still need the program, and why we will all benefit in the long run. You winning the debate with him will not only put an end to his complaining, it would undoubtedly sway his followers back to our side.”

Christian believed that while Lord Tanata certainly had a point, the problem could have been resolved by simply appearing on the network in a press conference setting as the new leaders of the monstrous world. That way, they could plead their case without the hysteria of juggling some fame happy TV host and his underhanded agenda at the same time.

Christian’s argument would be a simple one. The vampires who were reacting to the rehab project negatively, were in many ways taking the same stance that many humans do when they discover that their tax dollars are being spent on social programs that provide education, healthcare or food to those less fortunate. Instead of realizing how their entire society can benefit from a certain level of altruism, humans will justify rallying against things that benefit their fellow man until you can show them that a certain course of action serves them. In the case of humans, it could be the cost of incarceration versus the cost of education. With the vampires, it would be the cost of rehabilitating the werewolves held up against the billions of dollars spent on a never-ending war with the lycanthropes.

Statistically speaking, The Werewolf Rehabilitation Project should not be a hard sell. Not only were casualties among vampire constables at an all time low, the World Vampire Council had managed to save the money that constables no longer had to spend cleaning up crime scenes, and bribing local police to create the network of websites that vampires like Witherspoon were now utilizing to produce Internet TV shows for and about the world’s monster population.

The only problem was, the synthesized pheromones that the newly found werewolves were being provided were proving to cost more to synthesize than had been originally anticipated. While many werewolves were able to at least share in the cost of their new medicine, many who had lost their jobs and cut themselves off from humanity after being struck with lycanthropy in the first place, did not have the means to pay for their treatments. Christian, being in charge of the program and believing in its necessity, had approved enormous expenditures, all to ensure that no werewolf be left behind.

So even though money was actually being saved, Witherspoon was categorizing the fact that vampire tax dollars were being diverted to the program as unfairly imposed ‘werewolf reparations’. In Witherspoon’s words, the program “benefits our unfortunate, but still savage enemies more than it helps us and our kind.”

During another broadcast, Witherspoon expanded on his terse remarks. “In the eyes of Lord Tanata and WVC’s newly appointed director, Christian Brookwater, the everyday vampire is expected to shoulder the expense of this experimental lycanthrope treatment, as a way of making up for the so-called ‘mistakes’ that our dearly departed Lord Emmanuel allegedly committed. Well, I don’t think that’s fair at all. If the self-proclaimed ‘heroes’ in the Battle for Osaka knew anything about the population they currently claim authority over, they would know we want our money to benefit our kind, and our kind only.”

During their walk through Hell’s Kitchen, Christian explained his dilemma to the young werewolf king and suggested that Jeremiah and his mysterious wife could join him on the show, and help put a friendly werewolf face on the situation. That’s when Jeremiah gave him the disturbing news regarding his queen’s absence.

Resolved to appear on the show alone, (by himself, Jeremiah would come across as too young to be in charge of anything) Christian fell quiet as the trio walked north on 9th Avenue and turned left on 46th Street, entering what is commonly referred to as the Restaurant Row section of Hell’s Kitchen.

Jeremiah decided to lighten the mood. “Hey, Birthday Boy,” he called out to his best friend. “Don’t get so drunk I have to carry you home, OK?”

“Hey, don’t worry about me getting drunk,” Stephen countered, “you be sure you don’t cock-block me with your muscular build and your freakin’ Prince Charming attitude. You’re still sort of married, remember?”

“Who? Me? Prince Charming? You got me confused with the sexy, vampire guy,” Jeremiah laughed as he pointed a thumb at Christian. “Women have been checking him out ever since we passed Thirty-ninth Street.”

Christian was still lost in thought and gave no indication that he was listening to their banter.

“Great,” Stephen moaned. “I’m not going to get any play tonight, hanging with you two chocolate stud monsters.”

“You could be a vanilla stud monster, but you keep punking out on having me bite you,” Jeremiah taunted.

“Yeah, I know,” said Stephen with a sheepish tone. Over the course of the past three years, Stephen’s becoming a werewolf had digressed from a solid expectation to the elephant in the room that both friends seldom acknowledged.

As always, Jeremiah knew when Stephen’s feelings might be bruised by an aggressive chiding. Fortunately, he was also good at the clean-up.

“C’mon dude, it’s your birthday,” Jeremiah said, showing Stephen as big a smile as he could muster. “You gotta think positive.”

Christian followed the two boyhood friends and snapped out of his funk long enough to notice that the establishment they decided to enter was named ‘The Joshua Tree.’ It seemed like a jovial enough place. Clusters of people sat at either the bar or within a row of tables on the other side of the walkway. Everyone who wasn’t carrying a serving tray or mixing an alcoholic beverage seemed to be putting a drink to their lips, smiling and conversing happily with the people around them. The dining areas in the back and...