Vampires Don't Sparkle: Deathless Book 3 Read online

  Contents

  Title Page

  Copyright

  Dedication

  The Old Gods

  Previously On Deathless

  Prologue- Osiris Locked Out

  Chapter 1- Angel Island

  Chapter 2- Light Pulses

  Chapter 3- Hesitation

  Chapter 4- Escape

  Chapter 5- Imprisoned

  Chapter 6- Oh Shit

  Chapter 7- Pursuit

  Chapter 8- The Nexus

  Chapter 9- Osiris

  Chapter 10- Ark of the Cradle

  Chapter 11- Stabilizing the Nexus

  Chapter 12- Set

  Chapter 13- Intruder

  Chapter 14- Sucker

  Chapter 15-Audience

  Chapter 16- The Gift

  Chapter 17- Anput

  Chapter 18- Conduit

  Chapter 19- I know Kung Fu

  Chapter 20- Vampire

  Chapter 21- Collared

  Chapter 22- Spy

  Chapter 23- Banquet

  Chapter 24- Sun Study

  Chapter 25- Horus

  Chapter 26- Secret Meeting

  Chapter 27- Parlay

  Chapter 28- Get in the First Shot

  Chapter 29- Saved

  Chapter 30- Light Walk

  Chapter 31- First Born

  Chapter 32- To War

  Chapter 33- Hades

  Chapter 34- Training

  Chatper 35- Olympus

  Chapter 36- Into the Storm

  Chapter 37- Master

  Chapter 38- Big Ass Worm

  Chapter 39- Dog Fight

  Chapter 40- Boarded

  Chapter 41- Demons

  Chapter 42- Reunited

  Chapter 43- To the Rescue

  Chapter 44- Power Armor

  Chapter 45- Baiting the Trap

  Chapter 46- Run

  Chapter 47- Breathing Room

  Chapter 48- Now What?

  Chapter 49- France

  Chapter 50- Heavy Price

  Chapter 51- Dragons

  Chapter 52- Standoff

  Chapter 53- Gone Native

  Chapter 54- Near Sisters

  Chapter 55- Dramatic Entrane

  Chapter 56- Demands

  Chapter 57- The Cave of Painted Dreams

  Chapter 58- Surprise

  Chapter 59- Flight

  Chapter 60- Last Stand

  Chapter 61- A Fitting Fate for Baldy

  Chapter 62- Our Best Plan Sucks

  Chapter 63- Well and Truly Fucked

  Chapter 64- The Builders

  Chapter 65- Holding Action

  Chapter 66- Distraction

  Chapter 67- Sacrifice

  Chapter 68- Cutting it Close

  Chapter 69- Boom

  Chapter 70- Prep

  Chapter 71- Bait

  Chapter 72- On Four Legs

  Chapter 73- Set Arrives

  Chapter 74- Intercepted

  Chapter 75-The Repository

  Chapter 76- Free

  Chapter 77- Turning the Tide

  Chapter 78- Desperate Gamble

  Chapter 79- Final Deception

  Chapter 80- The Fate of Captain Douchey

  Chapter 81- Broken

  Chapter 82- Detonation

  Chapter 83- Gloating

  Chapter 84- TSDS

  Epilogue

  Vampires Don’t

  Sparkle

  Deathless Book 3

  Chris Fox

  This novel is fiction, except for the parts that aren’t.

  Copyright © 2015 by Chris Fox

  All rights reserved.

  Chrisfoxwrites.com

  ISBN-10: 1517796571

  ISBN-13: 978-1517796570

  For Trevor. You are and always will be my friend.

  None of this would have been possible without you.

  The Old Gods

  There are quite a few gods mentioned in this book, more so than either of the previous two. I’ve created a lexicon to explain who each one is, and how they relate to each other. Hopefully this will make it a little less confusing. Those readers familiar with Egyptian lore should see a lot of familiar names.

  Anubis- Also known as the Jackal. Husband of Anput, servant of Ra.

  Anput- Husband of Anubis, daughter of Osiris.

  Hades- Greek god of the underworld, companion to Vulcan.

  Horus- Eldest son of Isis and Osiris.

  Irakesh- Youngest son of Ra, and all around pain in the ass.

  Isis- Also known as the Mother. Wife of Osiris, mother to Horus.

  Nephthys- Wife of Set.

  Osiris- Husband of Isis. Father of Anput.

  Ra / Sekhmet- Mother of Irakesh, once a near-sister to Isis.

  Set- Brother of Osiris. Father of Wepwawet.

  Vulcan- Roman god of the forge, companion to Hades.

  Wepwawet- Son of Set, servant of Ra.

  Previously On Deathless

  Whenever I pick up the 2nd or 3rd book in a series I’m always torn. Should I re-read the first books, or just dive right in to the latest? I usually want to do the latter, but I can’t always remember what happened in the previous books. This page is for all those people like me who can’t quite remember everything that went down in No Such Thing As Werewolves or No Mere Zombie. I’ve decided to recap it just like a TV show. For those who just finished No Mere Zombie feel free to skip to the prologue.

  In an announcer voice ‘Last time, on deathless…”

  A giant black pyramid bores from the earth in Peru, and a team of soldiers have been dispatched to investigate. They encounter a werewolf dressed in Egyptian style clothing, which tears through their ranks before escaping. They bring in a team of scientists to help them investigate the pyramid, and quickly find the central chamber is full of very lethal radiation. They desperately seek a way into the pyramid’s control room, while the escaped werewolf with the bad fashion sense (Ahiga) begins slaughtering innocents. Some of those innocents rise as werewolves, and a plague begins spreading across South America.

  The desperate team of scientists recruits Blair Smith, a brilliant anthropologist working at a local junior college as a teacher. Blair finds a way into the inner chamber, where the team discovers a woman sleeping inside of a high tech sarcophagus the ancients called a rejuvenator. Unfortunately, the act of opening the door to the inner chamber injects Blair with an unknown virus and Blair dies (it’s all very sad, really). Within hours he rises again as a werewolf and begins slaughtering his former companions.

  Blair wakes up in a small Peruvian village not far from the pyramid, where he meets Liz, a beautiful young redhead from the United States. The pair are pursued by Commander Jordan, the leader of the forces controlled by the mysterious (terribly mysterious) Mohn Corp. Liz is killed and brought back by Blair as a werewolf, and we learn that female werewolves are much larger, and much scarier than males. The pair flees north, deciding that if they can get to California Liz’s brother Trevor might be able to help them find some sort of cure.

  Meanwhile Ahiga tries to catch up, because he realizes Blair has inadvertently stolen the key to the Ark (the pyramid). That key is required to wake the woman inside, who Ahiga refers to as the Mother. It turns out she’s the progenitor of the entire werewolf species, and when Ahiga finally catches up to Blair he tells him that without her the world is doomed. He explains that the world is about to enter a new age. The sun will go through a Coronal Mass Ejection, which will wipe out nearly all technology. This CME will also activate a virus that will turn all the people who currently have it into zombies (oh crap).

  Blair decides to be a dumbass and tells Ahiga to go screw him
self. He and Liz continue on to California where they meet up with Trevor and begin investigating the werewolf virus. It turns out Trevor is a helio-seismologist who just so happens to be investigating a giant sunspot (what a coincidence, right?). He confirms that a CME could royally screw the entire planet, and agrees to help Blair and Liz get back to Peru to wake the Mother.

  Before they leave, Commander Jordan and his comic-relief sidekick Yuri show up with a bunch of soldiers in power armor. They blow up Trevor’s house and his ’67 Mustang, but fail to catch Blair. The werewolves escape back to Peru where they gather some furry allies and invade the Ark. They battle Mohn Corp’s ever growing army, and there are casualties on both sides. The werewolves win and wake the Mother, who slaughters poor Commander Jordan and every soldier under his command. It’s very sad, because by this point we feel bad for poor Jordan.

  In the epilogue, the asshole author (that’s me) dropped a really, really messed up cliffhanger. One of the scientists had the virus that would cause her to turn into a zombie when the CME hits. Not only does she turn into a zombie, but Trevor gets bitten within the first 30 seconds of the zombie apocalypse. Poor readers were left wondering what would happen to Trevor.

  No Mere Zombie

  Did the asshole author answer the question right away? Nope, he made you wait until chapter 5 to find out what happened to Trevor.

  The book opens in 11,000 BCE just before the Arks went into hibernation. Irakesh, the son of Ra (the Mother’s greatest enemy), concocts a plan to sneak into the Mother’s Ark. When it returned, he planned to steal the access key for the Ark of the Redwood, located near San Francisco.

  Fast forward to the present. Jordan wakes up, his last memory the Mother ripping his arms off (ouch). He quickly realizes he’s a werewolf, and has no choice but to join Blair, Liz, Cyntia, and Bridget in their fight against the endless sea of zombies washing over the world.

  Led by Isis (the Mother), they attempt to save as many people as possible, setting up a refuge at a church in Cajamarca. Unfortunately, that plan goes to hell when Irakesh steals the access key and runs for it. Liz and Blair pursue, but have no choice but to turn back to protect the Mother’s Ark when Irakesh sends an army of zombies to invade it.

  We finally learn Trevor’s fate. He’s become a zombie, and can’t remember who he is. Fortunately, Trevor quickly discovers he can grow smarter by consuming, you guessed it, brains. He begins to recover his memory, and is one of the zombies Irakesh seizes control of.

  Irakesh realizes Trevor is smarter than most zombies, and begins grooming him as an apprentice. They head north, aiming for a Mohn installation in Panama that Irakesh learned about by snacking on an officer’s brain. Cyntia, love sick for poor Trevor, leaves the others to go find him. She eventually catches up to Trevor and Irakesh, and is recruited by the deathless.

  Cyntia begins feeding indiscriminately on zombies, people, and even other werewolves. Irakesh encourages this behavior, because he knows it will make her stronger. Of course it also makes her crazy, so maybe not the best long term plan.

  Blair, Liz, Bridget, and Jordan pursue Irakesh knowing they must stop him and recover the access key before he can reach the Ark of the Redwood in San Francisco. Isis remains behind to repair the catastrophic damage done to her Ark during the final battle with Mohn in the previous book.

  We get a new point of view character, Director Mark Phillips (that’s THE Director). He’s squirreled away at the Mohn research facility in Syracuse, New York, where Mohn Corp is experimenting on zombies and living in luxury. Unlike the rest of the world, all their technological toys survived the CME, including their nifty X-11 power armor.

  It isn’t all rosy for Mark, though. He’s learned that the Old Man has some dark secrets. He’s not what he appears to be, so Mark begins investigating. He dispatches Yuri to Panama to recover the nuke they’d intended to detonate in Peru, and to learn what happened to Commander Jordan.

  Meanwhile Blair, Liz, Bridget, and Jordan are hot on Irakesh’s trail. They arrive in the city of Medellin to find an encampment protected by werewolves. It turns out they know two of them, Doctor Roberts and Steve (aka Captain Douchey). They have a tense reunion, but it’s broken up by an army of zombies sent by Irakesh to ruin their day.

  Trevor, Irakesh, and Cyntia make it to the airport where Mohn has their secret facility. They find the airplane carrying Mohn’s nuke, which Irakesh decides to steal. By now Trevor has developed the powers of a deathless, and has regained all his memories. Unfortunately, Irakesh is mentally dominating him. Worse, Cyntia is growing more powerful and more unstable by the day.

  Blair and company finally catch Irakesh at the airport. There’s a big battle with lots of pew pew pew, rawr, etc. Blair’s side loses, Irakesh gets away, and Yuri arrives just in time to capture Jordan and Liz. They’re brought back to Mohn corp in Syracuse.

  Blair, Bridget, and Steve decide to pursue Irakesh, but not before Blair sleeps with Bridget (yes, his cheating ex. Poor Liz). They catch up with Irakesh in Larkspur, just before he finds the Ark of the Redwood. Blair once again gets his ass kicked, and this time the cost is higher. Bridget dies, and even though she cheated on him, we still feel bad because she redeemed herself at the end. Well most of us feel bad. Some fans wrote in to say the bitch got what she deserved. Heartless, people. Just heartless.

  Meanwhile, Director Phillips continues his investigation of the Old Man. It turns out the Old Man is really old, nearly two hundred. He serves a deathless named Usir, a name we later learn is a synonym for Osiris.

  The Director starts a brief civil war, freeing Liz and Jordan. He arms Liz with Object 1, a super-powerful magical sword. Of doom. Since that’s a really long title, let’s just call it what the Director does: Excalibur.

  Yuri pilots Liz and Jordan to San Francisco, where they link up with Blair and Steve. They attack Irakesh on the Golden Gate bridge. During the fight Trevor (very predictably) breaks free from Irakesh and joins the good guys. But not before shooting Jordan in the face. Again. It happens like four times in the book.

  Unfortunately, they aren’t able to stop Irakesh. He detonates the nuke he stole, destroying a chunk of the Golden Gate bridge. He channels the energy from the explosion into the Ark of the Redwood, charging up the battery and giving him control of a fully powered Ark.

  Meanwhile an enraged Blair attacks Cyntia, desperately seeking vengeance for Bridget. Cyntia’s much stronger, and more powerful, so he comes out on the losing end. His body is shattered and broken, but before Cyntia can kill him Liz uses Excalibur to slay Cyntia and drain her essence.

  The heroes are in pretty bad shape, especially Blair. He realizes their only hope is throwing everything they have left at Irakesh. Steve convinces him to give up the access key to the Mother’s Ark, which powers up Steve.

  Irakesh attacks, showing what a fully-powered Ark Lord can do. The heroes get their collective asses kicked, and it looks like this is going to be the last book since Irakesh has basically won.

  Then Blair throws the hail Mary. He uses his shaping to alter Irakesh’s helixes. Since Irakesh is a deathless, and the Mother designed the access keys to only work for werewolves, the key leaves him. It shoots into Blair, who is now a super-powered Ark Lord. He turns all the zombies on the bridge to ash, and kicks the crap out of Irakesh. The heroes teleport inside the Ark, where they imprison Steve and Irakesh.

  Director Phillips calls Jordan using a satellite phone, warning him that the Mohn Corp is compromised. He lost his civil war, and the Old Man is handing Mohn over to a deathless named Osiris. They’re heading to London, where Very Bad Things (tm) are happening.

  Just to throw a little salt on the wound, the book ends with Steve telling Irakesh he can light walk (teleport) from the cell, so they can escape and head to the Ark of the Cradle, where Ra rules.

  The cliffhanger for No Mere Zombie wasn’t as bad as the one in No Such Thing As Werewolves, but we were still left with a lot of questions. You’re about to get answers, because you
’re holding Vampires Don’t Sparkle, the third book in the series.

  I hope you enjoy it!

  If you do, please consider leaving reviews for any or all books in the series. I’m an indie author, and reviews are vitally important to my success. You might also consider signing up for the mailing list to hear when Deathless Book 4: The Great Pack is available (or my other tie in series, Hero Born). If you do, I’m happy to give you a free copy of The First Ark, the prequel that explains a bit more about who the Mother is and where the zombie virus comes from.

  Okay, enough rambling! On to Vampires Don’t Sparkle…

  Prologue- Osiris Locked Out

  11,000 BCE

  Osiris surveyed the assembled druids as he strode down the path and into the stone circle. Eleven of the most powerful men and women in his domain, each tending to one of the tribes. They were unperturbed by the steady drizzle, a near constant that had developed over the last few decades. It was one more sign the world was changing.

  The assembled figures encircled the raised dais as he stepped atop it, kneeling in unison as they’d done many times. The cowls of their hoods shrouded their faces in shadow, but he didn’t need to see them to know who they were. He’d selected each during their childhood for their talent in shaping, and he knew them as intimately as he did his own limbs.

  “The time has arrived at last,” he began, a rare note of sadness running counterpoint to the rain. “I must leave you, to slumber away the gulf between ages.”