K.A. Tucker's Spin-Off, Short Story of The Causal Enchantment Series

Hey ya'll! First off, I have to say if you haven't yet read K.A. Tucker's Anathema (1st Book to The Causal Enchantment Series)...you are TOTALLY missing out!  See my review HERE!  Second, K.A. Tucker is one of the most awesome, sweet and by far one of my FAVE authors! She totally rocks! And to prove it to all of you, I asked K.A. Tucker if she would do something totally outrageous for my Blog Tour Stop! I asked her to use ME as a character in the fantasy world she created, back when humans were about to become extinct because of the vampire/human war, and write a short story about how I die in the war! AND...SHE TOTALLY DID IT! Even better, I could not possibly have imagined a better way to die! When you read my review of K.A. Tucker's Anathema, you may understand why this would be my death of choice...LOL! So I think you will all enjoy!

Here you go!  Enjoy!
“Stupid thing,” Mindy muttered into the darkness, rattling her flashlight furiously.

“Hush,” I responded, my eyes darting to the crack of light coming from beneath the dented metal shed door, watching for passing shadows. Mindy froze with my warning. The next few minutes dragged on as we sat in complete silence. Staring. Waiting.

No shadows passed by. No one had discovered us. Yet.

“I think we’re okay.” With a click, Mindy’s flashlight switched on, it’s dim light illuminating the six by eight garden shed.

“We could have picked a better place to hide,” I murmured, my eyes rolling over the shelves of soil-encrusted garden tools and tin containers plastered with skull markings. Looking up to the ceiling, I found a giant canopy of cob webs hanging over us, connecting all four corners. I cringed, wondering what kind of hideous third-world jungle insects could be lurking within the darkness. And then I remembered what was hunting us. I almost laughed out loud. Almost.

“Do you really think they’re out there?” Mindy asked, pushing a strand of her cornsilk-blonde hair back behind her ear, adding in a shaky, low voice, “the vampires?”

Only one month earlier, Mindy had been a complete stranger to me. We arrived on the same plane to New Shore to begin the same Habitat For Humanities project in a local village. We were both looking for the meaning of life then. Now, we were facing death together.

“I don’t know what to believe.” I shook my head, shock still numbing me to my core. “This can’t be happening.” From the corner of my eye, I saw a sharp-looking tool resting along a shelf. I scrambled to my knees and grabbed it, gripping it tightly in two hands. A weapon, perhaps. Or completely useless. We had no idea what to expect.

If only we had listened.

The rumours began two weeks after we arrived in New Shore, the locals whispering about vampire-led civil wars breaking out all over the world with high death tolls and no end in sight. Poor people, I remember thinking. So disconnected from the rest of the world. So delusional.

But a day later, the Habitat team discovered that no one could reach their loved ones by phone. Every line we tried to our home country was dead. We sought out Serge - the local politician hosting our team while we worked in his village – to check his satellite for any news. When we flicked on the television, grey static stared back. The internet connections were gone as well. It was as if we were cut off from the rest of the world overnight. Or the world was cut off from us.

Serge confirmed the rumours three days later. “It’s true,” he began, his normally dark skin looking chalky. I watched his Adam’s apple bob up and down as he swallowed several times before continuing. “We received a radio message only an hour ago. The world is under siege by… vampires.” His voice sounded hollow with that last word, in as much disbelief as the rest of us. “They’re multiplying at an alarming rate, beyond anything controllable. Governments started using nukes against them but… the results have been catastrophic. It got out of hand.” His gaze dropped to a spot in front of his feet. “Your families are likely gone already.” Gasps filled the room. Several people collapsed to the ground, unconscious. Serge continued, struggling, “We should be okay here though. We’re off the grid. I don’t expect that any vampires should have their sights set on a third world country.” That was a week and a half ago.

Twenty minutes ago, Serge was proven wrong.

The Habitat team was helping him weed his front gardens – busying ourselves in a pathetic attempt to forget what was happening – when two villagers ran by the gates of Serge’s two-storey white stucco villa, screaming, “they’re here! Run!” As if to confirm their warning, a chorus of blood-curdling shrieks sounded in the distance.

“Lock the gates!” Serge instructed the security guard in a rush, his voice shaky. But the security guard took off down the road after the two villagers instead.

“Into the house!” Serge ordered. Everyone stood up to scramble inside, myself included. Mindy’s tight grasp of my forearm stopped me. “That’s the first place they’ll look, don’t you think?” she whispered, her eyes wild with panic.

She was right. I nodded. “What should we do?”

“Come on. This way.” She took off running around the side of the house, heading through the massive backyard garden with me on her heels. “The jungle!” she hissed over her shoulder, veering off to the right towards the tropical thicket. It was only a hundred yards away. If we could make it… Shrieks from the house stopped us both dead in our tracks. They were too close. We didn’t have enough time. They would see us in the open ground if they happened to look. “Here!” Mindy whispered, grabbing my arm and tugging me into the nearest cover. The shed.

And so here we were. Like sitting ducks. Would they find us? I turned to regard Mindy’s youthful face. At thirty years old, she didn’t look a day over fifteen. I realized sadly that she may not live long enough to ever look thirty. “Do you think they can smell us?”

Mindy shrugged. “If they’re like all the stories… I don’t know. What if they do really drink blood?”

I shuddered, hugging my knees to my chest. “They must be hideous-” My words caught in my throat as the door flew open, two bodies blocking the entrance.

“Is there room in here for us?” a woman whispered anxiously before either of us had a chance to scream. She stepped in, her emerald green eyes wide as she scanned the cramped interior, her springy blonde curls bobbing with her movements. “Please?”

A small exhale escaped me. People.

“We’ll make room,” Mindy offered in her typical generous fashion, scooting closer to me.

“My name’s Amelie,” the young woman said, crouching down beside me. I gapped openly at her angelically beautiful face. She couldn’t have been more than sixteen years old. She gestured behind her. “That’s my brother, Caden.” At the mention of his name, the other body stooped to get through the shed entrance, closing the door softly behind him. I heard myself suck in air as his intense jade eyes glided over me before landing on Mindy.

He crouched down to sit beside her, his shoulder pressing up against hers. “Hi,” he offered in a kind, pleasant voice. “Don’t worry. Everything’s going to be fine.” Those jade eyes roamed Mindy’s face with interest.

Hi,” she murmured back, smiling dumbly, ogling his beautifully defined features. So many times she had complained that there were no good men left in the world. Maybe she had just found the last one. Maybe this would make a stellar ‘how we met’ story, years down the road.

If we survived.

“Where are you two coming from? You don’t exactly look like two people who should be wandering around New Shore-area villages,” I whispered, gesturing to Amelie’s designer leather jacket.

“Oh. We arrived on a plane this morning from Panamerica.”

Panamerica. Home.

“Really?” Mindy exclaimed too loudly, her catatonic state over Caden broken for the moment. “What’s happening over there? Are the rumours true? Is everyone… dead?”

“Pretty much,” Caden answered in a somber tone. “A few may have survived underground but they won’t last long.”

“Is it… vampires? Is it true?” I stumbled over my words, feeling foolish for asking the question.

Amelie’s head bobbed up and down, offering me a sympathetic smile. “I’m afraid so.”

“What do they look like?”

“Like intoxicatingly beautiful humans.” She threw a wink at her brother.

“Are they here? Have they come to New Shore?” Mindy asked in a rushed voice, her focus once again glued on Caden.

Caden nodded.

The light in the shed flickered then as Mindy’s flashlight gave out, throwing us into complete darkness again. She rattled it once, half-heartedly. It was no use. “Do you think they’ll find us in here?” I heard her ask.

Amelie and Caden chuckled in unison, their laughter like music from the harps of angels. I sensed warmth against the skin of my neck. Like breath. “They already have,” Amelie’s sultry voice murmured next to my ear.

Mindy’s shriek pierced my ear drum, a split second before mine joined in.


***

Don’t worry, everyone. Mindy’s not really dead. She was a very willing participant! Especially since it involved Caden!

Thank you, Mindy, for allowing me the opportunity to hang out on your blog for my Anathema tour and for your brilliant post idea! I had tons of fun planning our death-by-hot-vampire-in-the-shed scenario. Thank you also for all of your support behind the release of Anathema, for your help with organizing the blog tour, and for your kindness, in general. You will always be remembered <3


It's me...Mindy again! Wasn't that TOTALLY...awesome, fantastic AND amazing?!!! I can't even begin to tell you what this story means to me and how much K.A. Tucker totally rocks for doing this! Thank you Kathleen!!!