E is NOT for Easter

Happy Easter! I hope everyone had a good one. And for those of you who don't celebrate it, I hope you still had a great day.

My kids are older. My son painfully waited for the teens to wake up. We goofed around until it got late enough to wake up the teens. Then they looked for the eggs and thier baskets. Later on we saw the Host. My sweetheart stayed home cuase she's not feeling well.

I'm post poning Who's Who in the Annabelle Universe and Bite of Story Thursdays for a month becuase of something bigger.

Starting tomorrow this blog will take part in...

Yes, I'll be part of the A to Z April Challenge.
Each day I'll post something that starts with a letter of the alphabit. With Sundays excluded, there will be enough days of the month to include each letter. I'll show pics that inspire me, never before seen pictures as well as story bits for your enjoyment.

Watch this space. It all starts tomorrow.

Pixar’s 22 Rules of Storytelling by Mark Frauenfelder

Mark Frauenfelder over at Boing Boing has a great article about Pixar and their 22 Rules of Storytelling.

Some great concepts are included.

Bite of Story Thursday

Night Children: Dark Birth

Chapter Thirteen : The Shopkeeper

Eliza spoke up in an almost hypnotic tone, “Try to focus.  Look him in the eyes and focus your will.  Push your desires over his.” 

Annabelle did just that.  She took a deep breath and looked deeply into his hate filled eyes.  She repeated, “I would like to buy this doll.  Please.”

The storeowner blinked and nodded his head.  He rang up the doll and told her the price.  Annabelle placed some currency on the counter and then walked towards Eliza with a broad smile on her face. 

Roland stepped forward and pointed behind the man, “Can I have that ball, sir?” 

“What’s going on?  How did that girl get that doll?  Who are you urchins?” 

Roland tried to focus. “The ball, sir.  Give it to me.”  His face scrunched up with concentration.  Annabelle suppressed a giggle, but when the storeowner ignored him and stormed over to yank the doll out of her hands, she blanched.

“Give me that, you stupid urchin!” He raised his arm to hit her but in a blur Roland grabbed his arm.  The storekeeper’s eyes widened with shock.

“Roland, stop!”  Before he could bite down on the man’s arm, Annabelle pushed her brother back.  Roland’s body smashed into a display of dishes.

As he stood up and brushed the broken plates off, Eliza scolded him. “We don’t feed on mortals, remember?” 

“He couldn’t hurt me,” Annabelle chimed in.

“My dishes!  How can you urchins move so--” Eliza silenced the storekeeper with a stern glance. 

The minute Eliza’s eyes locked with Roland’s, his defiance melted to shame.  “I’m sorry.  I thought he was going to hurt her.” 

Annabelle hugged him. “Thank you for caring enough to try and save me.” 

The firmness in Eliza’s voice grabbed their attention. “Roland, next time control your temper and focus.  He cannot harm us.  He has no wooden stake or any other weapon.  To properly mesmerize someone you must push your thoughts over theirs.  Push your will.  Now try it.” 

“Mister Shopkeeper, it’s not nice to bully others.  You should be more polite.” 

The man mumbled the word, “Polite.” 

“Now please go fetch that red ball.  Yes.  Thank you.”  Roland placed the money on the counter and continued with his practice.  “Now forget you ever saw us and... leave.  Yes!  Leave town.” 

“Roland, wait.  You can’t just tell him to--” 

Annabelle’s voice must’ve broken the trance because the shopkeeper’s eyes opened wide with terror.  Eliza spoke up quickly.  “The trance I put him under has completely broken.  He can see us for what we truly--” 

“You’re vampires!” His face white with fear, he shouted, “Vampires are in my shop!  I’m going to die!  Help!” 

 

 

---------------

For more check out Dark Birth at your local online store. Links to Dark Birth on the web can be found on the Store Page on this blog or you could just go here, Dark Birth on Amazon.

And the winner of the 3rd Annual Lucky Leprechaun Giveaway Hop is...

Melinda Dartmann! Congrads Melinda! I'm waiting for a new set of Dark Threats to arrive in the mail. As soon as they get here, I'll ship yours out to you.

Sorry it's taken me awhile to announce the winner. Things have been crazy around here lately.

Watch this spot for future giveaways.

Special Repost: Who's Who in the Annabelle Universe? Dominic Pratchet

DOMINIC PRATCHET

 

 



This is the closest I have to a pic of Dominic
"Vampire: The Masquerade" developer: Nihilistic Software publisher Activision
artist:(if you know the artist, please let me know so I can credit him or her).


Other names:
Domi (original name), Vlad Dracula, Vlad the Impaler, Domhnall (Gaelic), Dominicus (Latin), Dominick (Old English), Dominik (Czech and Polish), Dominique (French), Domonkos (Hungarian)

Name origin:
DOMINIC: "Belongs to the lord." English name derived from Latin Dominicus. This is a name traditionally given to a child born on Sunday. His mother Lilith named him this as an insult.

DOMHNALL "World ruler." Gaelic name composed of the elements dubno "world" and val "rule."


Physical characteristics:
Tall, commanding presence, night-black hair, red eyes, and sharp white fangs, pale and radiant. Usually wears black suits, sometimes with a cape.

Abilities:
Dominic possesses the abilities of all vampires, only perfected with thousands of years of experience. This means he’s faster and stronger than humans, his senses are extremely acute as are his reflexes. He can fly, turn into a bat, wolf, rat and mist at the very least and has complete control of others through mesmerization, perfecting it at a lever beyond any other vampire.


Known History:
The vampire known as Domi seems to be as old as history itself. He has been behind all the terrible events of history and an advisor to various rulers through the ages. Throughout many cultures and eras there has been rumors of a powerful lord of the night who commands dark armies. His grim goal has always been to rule the world, turning a portion the population into food stock for those creatures he has deemed fit to survive. He has had many names, some lost through history.

Much of his personal history is shrouded in mystery. The vampire Annabelle has told me that she knows more and at the proper time she’ll reveal it to me. As the chronicler of her stories I’m extremely intrigued.

I have so many questions; if he’s so old, how come he hasn’t taken over yet? What is this Exodus War he was tied up in? How can he be the famous Romanian ruler Vlad the Impaler if we know Vlad wasn’t as old as Domi is supposed to be? What is his relationship with the Falabranwyn because every time he shows up, they do as well. Why does he have so many wives and who are the Three Queens? Who are the Seven Tyrant Lords? Why did he speak of future events as if he knew them?

I suspect we’ll find out together as Annabelle’s story continues.


Stop Being a Spoiled Brat by Chas Hathaway

Here is a great article on just writing. Just getting off your but and realizing that procrastinating till the "right" moment never works. Just do it.

It's from Chas Hathaway on the Author's Think Tank site. Give it a read.

Bite of Story Thursday

Night Children: Dark Threats

Chapter Four: 1899
How To Catch An Invisible Man

The new-fallen snow glittered under the bright moon like the unseen stars above.  The Foresight Coven House had a large front yard, showcasing the snow’s white beauty 

The white blanket seemed magical.  It almost felt to Annabelle like the snow wasn’t normal.

She ignored the silly thought and relaxed on the porch swing.  A new book rested on her lap while Charlotte snuggled under her arm. 

“Next year I’ll finally turn nine.”  The child vampire said with glee.  “I’ve been eight for a hundred years and I can’t wait to be older.”  She tried to make her voice deeper when she said ‘older’ but failed.  Ann suppressed a smile.

Memories flooded Annabelle’s head.  She remembered the night she woke after living a hundred years as an eleven-year-old.  Her body hurt and she had to relearn some abilities, but it was glorious to finally age.  Sure, others would still treat her as a child, but she was slowly catching up.

As long as Annabelle could remember, people were amazed at how mature she behaved.  Working with her father in his bookbinding business at a young age helped her mature a little faster. 

People assumed she was ignorant, so she simply worked around that obstacle.  Now, after two hundred years of people looking down on her, she couldn’t imagine anything else.  It simply meant more opportunities to prove them wrong.

She watched Charlotte beam with enough excitement to light the world.  This little one will have the same life as Annabelle, resetting expectations with everyone she meets.

Charlotte continued, “Selina said she’ll start letting me help with their pranks but Samuel said I’ll still be too young.”

Her soft voice began to whine, “I don’t want to wait another hundred years Annabelle.  Can’t you tell them I’m old enough?”

“I’m sorry but the last thing I want is another vampire prankster sneaking around.” 

Charlotte’s pale face scrunched up into a frown.  Her cherub cheeks dropped a little, her tiny mouth curled up and her big eyes pooled like a forlorn puppy.  With her blonde hair in ringlets framing her angelic face, Charlotte resembled a sad porcelain doll.  “Aw but I’d be good.  I promise not to nail your coffin shut like they did to Roland.”

Annabelle couldn’t stop a laugh from escaping.  “That was pretty funny.  Listen, I’ll consider it, all right?”

The child’s eyes lit up like the moon.  “Hurray!  I can’t wait to tell the others.”  She flew out of Ann’s arms and five feet into the air.  A light giggle escaped her lips as she sped through the front door, almost clipping Roland’s ear.

“Hey!  Why’s she in such a hurry?”  He crossed to the wooden banister and leaned back against it.

“She wants to start pranking once she Advances.”

He rolled his eyes.  “Oh no.  Not another one.  The twins have been tricking me for two hundred years.  I can’t take another one of them.”

She laughed.  “The big bad vampire pirate is afraid of a couple of children?”

“Evil children.  Last week they filled my cape with molasses.  Molasses, Annabelle!”

 

------

For more check out Dark Threats at your local online store. Links to Dark Threats on the web can be found on the Store Page on this blog or you could just go here, Dark Threats on Amazon.

Special Repost: Who's Who in the Annabelle Universe? Roland Foresight

ROLAND FORESIGHT

 

 

artist: Adam Diller

 

 

Other names:
Night Child, annoying brother, Bloody-Buccaneer

Name Origin:

Old German name meaning "renowned land."

Physical characteristics:
Straight red hair. Red eyes. Small white fangs. Wears a variety of clothing but likes to wear combinations of red and black.


Age Chart:
He was turned at age 13. Every hundred years he ages one year. He actually experiences his years longer than normal humans. Vampire children remain that age emotionally and mentally, perhaps for self preservation so they do not go insane living as an adult trapped in a child body.

How he handles immortality remains to be seen.

Advancement Chart:
b. October 13th 1679 d. 1692

born a vampire 1692-
Age 13= 1692-1792
Age 14 = 1792-1892
Age 15 = 1892-1992
Age 16 = 1992-Present Day

No other ages available at the moment.


Abilities:
Roland tends to have dreams of the far future, although he isn't aware of this at the beginning of the series. When he learns of this talent remains to be seen. He has the standard vampire abilities. This means he’s faster and stronger than humans, his senses are extremely acute as are his reflexes. He can fly and turn into a bat. In later years He has shown the ability to transform into a wolf, rat and mist but how he learned these things has yet to be told. He can control humans through mesmerization and communicate with lesser beasts.
He became an expert sword fighter thanks to his years as a Bloody Buccaneer.


Known History:
In 1692 Roland Foresight moved with his family to the wilds of Massachusetts. The Vampire Lord Dominic Pratchet killed his parents and left him and his sister Annabelle for dead. Dominic's wife Eliza turned them into vampires, taught them the things they needed to know and became a surrogate mother to them.

As the centuries have passed, Roland became a hero to many, constantly fighting Dominic's forces as a member of the Order of Righteous Vampires. He prefers to drink the blood of animals instead of humans. Roland is possessed with an overwhelming desire to finish Dominic off once and for all.

He's rebellious, acts before thinking, hot-headed and gets overly excited about new things without thinking about the consequences. He isn't afraid of much in life and is filled with a wanderlust for adventure and travel.

He learned to sword fight when he became a Bloody Buccaneer. Those years were both some of the best and worst of his life. Two men have filled him with a passion for revenge; the vampire hunter Hawke and Dominic, the monster lord who killed his parents. He has also had a few loves in his long life.

Any more information would be spoilers at this time.


Great Ideas for promoting a Book from Rachelle Gardner

Author Rachelle Gardner posted an interesting article on her blog about building an author platform vs. promoting you book.  You can find it here.

It's a short article and sometimes in this busy world that's a good thing, but it gives great ideas on how to promote your book. I want to share this and also have it here so I can return to it when Book Two and other things are ready to publish.

Now here's an unrelated pic...

The 3rd Annual Lucky Leprechaun Giveaway Hop!

Why hello there lads and lasses! I have the good fortune to welcome you t' the 3rd Annual Lucky Leprechaun Giveaway Hop! This one is hosted by I Am A Reader Not A Writer, Books Complete Me and Author Cindy Thomas.

As I've done in a previous hop, I'm givin' away a fine book about creatures that have nothin' t' do with the wee folk. I'll be givin' away a free copy of NIGHT CHILDREN: DARK THREATS

Now b'fore ye be gettin' all up in me face and sayin' "Now that's got nuthin t'do with the magical wee folk of t' emerald isle!" I need t' be tellin' ye that in fact the vampire Annabelle and her good friend, Thomas (what a fine Irish name!) did in fact visit the wee people in the mid 1700s. Of course you won't be seeing that tale until her third book, Night Children: Dark Quest, gets published. But I will tell you that she's been very kind to the wee people.


So don't  get yer dander up and be causing any problems or you'll be answering t'me!

Ahem.

Now, all ye have t'do is follow this hear fine blog an' reply to this post that you'd like a copy. I'll be postin' the winner at the end of the hop time.

Now I must be off. I've got gold to hide an' fools to taunt.

An' don't ye be forgettin' t' visit the other fine lads and lasses in this hop or I'll hide your shoes!

Btw, the winner of last week's hop be CBarton! Congrads to ye and my lady lack always be at your side.

The Lunar Love Giveaway Winner is...

CBarton!  Congratulations! And a big THANK YOU to everyone who followed ands commented!

Tonight right after midnight the next hop begins. I'm taking part in the 3rd Annual Lucky Leprechaun Giveaway Hop! The official  post will be at 12:01 and unless you're a night owl or bat like Annabelle and Roland, you'll probably catch it tomorrow morning.

I'll be giving away another copy of Dark Threats so if you missed your chance to get it, here's another opportunity.  Just like the one CBarton won, this will be a new paperback, straight off the presses.

I have added a few things to the paperback version and the proof copy will be arriving shortly. Once I review it, I'll give it the thumbs up and order a whole bunch. I'm also adding some extra things to Dark Birth as well.

Added to both books will be...

A new chapter list for Threats
A blurb on Birth (in Threats) and a blurb on Threats (in Birth).
Updated author picture and bio
A list of where to find both books
An altered scene (Birth only)

Keep in mind, these small changes are in the paperback copies for now, but later this month the eBook versions will get those changes, too, plus more stuff!

Bite of Story Thursday

I'm currently working on a short story called Night Children: Dark Loss. It's far from ready for even a sneek peek, so instead I thought I'd share a bit from Book Two in the Dark Beginings Saga. As always, this is from the rough draft so it does not reflect the final product. Enjoy!

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Night Children: Dark Changes
Chapter Five, A Peace Forever Shattered

Eliza saw it first.  The out of place shape caused her to stop her bat form short.  Lying in the middle of the main road, where anyone could stumble across it, was the body of a dead man.

“Who’s that?” She asked.

“I don’t... wait.  He looks familiar.”  Annabelle glided down to the ground.  Eliza followed.  They were in their human shapes when Eliza knelt down to examine the cadaver.

It was a young man in his early twenties.  His skin pale as a sheet, two small holes scared his neck.  “It’s Jonathan Jorgan.” Annabelle said.  “He’s one of Henry’s friends.  His grandfather settled the town.” 

The sound of many horses thundered through her ears.  Fear caused Annabelle’s legs to freeze in place.  Several angry men arrived in wagons and on horseback.  Henry Dunston, enraged like never before, leaped out of the first wagon and ran to his friend.  The men yelled and jeered as they surrounded the vampires.

Annabelle grabbed Eliza’s arm for safety.  She was scared out of her wits.  She chanced a look towards the forest behind the men.  Annabelle could not believe the hate and fear in their eyes. 

“Henry?  Why are you--”

He cut her off.  “They did this!”  Henry jumped to his feet and pointed at Annabelle and Eliza.  Spit flew from his red face as he shouted, “That’s Eliza Pratchet.  She’s a vampire.” 

The men gasped.  Every nerve in Annabelle’s body demanded escape, but the shock of Henry’s betrayal rooted her to the spot.  

Eliza’s strong look spoke volumes.  She wanted Annabelle to flee to safety.  Annabelle returned her look and squeezed her hand.  She’d never leave her adoptive mother. 

Henry continued, “Remember those Foresight children that were killed by wolves years ago?  She turned them into vampires.  That’s one of them.”  Angry shouts echoed through the night, running a shiver up Annabelle’s spine.  “She killed my brother Thomas and tricked me into keeping quiet.”  He pointed at Annabelle.

“No, Servo killed Tom.  I saved him by turning...” It was the worse thing she could say.  The ever growing crowd jeered her.  “Henry, please.  You promised.” 

“You tricked me.  You corrupted Thomas.”  Henry turned back towards the angry mob.  “She spent her first night as a vampire planning ways to change by brother and sister.  They snuck into our room and put a spell on Polly and Thomas.”

“That’s a lie.” Annabelle shouted it out as tears clouded her vision. 

“She mesmerized my brother, made him want to be... that.”  He gestured at them like they were diseased creatures.  “I don’t know how Polly and I escaped her notice, but she killed him.”

Furious jeers erupted from the crowd.  Eliza pulled at Annabelle’s arm but she held her ground.  There must be some way to convince them he was wrong.  She had to know why Henry was doing this.

“Now he’s a monster, just like them.”

“It’s not true,” she blinked away the tears.  “Tom wanted to be like us.”

“She admits it,” Henry roared and the mob shouted.  The deafening sound hurt her ears.  “Now look what they have done.”

“No, we didn’t do this.  We don’t know who--”

“Don’t listen to her lies.  Now they’ve killed Johnny.  This has to stop,” Henry roared from the top of his lungs as he grabbed tightly to her left arm.  “Get them.  Don’t let them escape.” 

By this time, the crowd had filled the street.  They moved as one, crushing into Eliza and Annabelle.  They pulled at the girls’ hair, bruised their bodies, kicked and hit them.

Savage pain raked her body from all sides at once.  Instinctively, she scratched and hit back and some men fell to the ground.  Others screamed as her sharp nails dug into their flesh.  It barely made a difference because more attackers replaced the fallen.

The Importance Of Keywords For MetaData And The Discoverability Of Your Book by Joanna Penn

Here's a great article on using keywords to get your book noticed. It's from Joanna Penn over at the Creative Penn.

I've applied this to Night Children : Dark Birth and hope to do it with Dark Threats as well.

More on this as things develop.

Special Repost: Who's Who in the Annabelle Universe? Annabelle Foresight

ANNABELLE FORESIGHT

By Adam Diller

Other names:
Ann, Night Child, bossy sister


Name Origin:

ANNABEL: "Beautiful grace." A compound name consisting of English Ann, "grace," and French Belle, "beautiful." Variants include Anabel, Anabella, Anabelle, Annabal, Annabelinda, Annabell, Annabella and Annabelle.


Physical characteristics:
Short in height. Red bushy hair. Red eyes. Small white fangs. Wears a variety of clothing but likes to wear combinations of red and black.


Age Chart:

She was turned at age 11. Every hundred years she ages one year. She actually experiences her years longer than normal humans. Vampire children remain that age emotionally and mentally, perhaps for self preservation so they do not go insane living as an adult trapped in a child body.

Annabelle, however, is more mature for her age. How she handles immortality remains to be seen.

Advancement Chart:

b. October 13th 1681 d. 1692
born a vampire 1692-
Age 11 1692-1792
Age 12 = 1792-1892
Age 13 = 1892-1992
Age 14 = 1992-Present Day
No other ages available at the moment.

Abilities:
She gets dreams that show the near future (but presently in the books she is unaware of this. When she learned of this ability remains unknown). She has the standard vampire abilities. This means she’s faster and stronger than humans, her senses are extremely acute as are her reflexes. She can fly and turn into a bat. In later years she has shown the ability to transform into a wolf, rat and mist but how she learn these things has yet to be told. She can control humans through mesmerization and communicate with lesser beasts.

Known History:

In 1692 Annabelle Foresight moved with her family to the wilds of Massachusetts. The Vampire Lord Dominic Pratchet killed her parents and left her and her brother Roland for dead. Dominic's wife Eliza turned them into vampires, taught them the things they needed to know and became a surrogate mother to them.

As the centuries have passed, Annabelle has become a hero to many, constantly fighting Dominic's forces as a member of the Order of Righteous Vampires. She prefers to drink the blood of animals instead of humans. Annabelle is deeply concerned about the safety of mortal children.

She is determined, loyal to family, feels love for others and angry if someone hurts her family. Annabelle is outward friendly,book smart, a quick learner and sometimes acts too serious to make up for her reckless older brother. She tends to pretend to be brave and mock the bad guys.

She takes life too seriously and can be bossy. She takes over when she should sit back. She can often make decisions before consulting others. She's afraid deep inside if she doesn’t just make things happen, they will fall apart right away.

Before vampirism she loved animals and winced when they got hurt. After becoming a vampire she now sees them as something to eat. In some ways she has lost touch with who she was. She has a deep fear of two men, Hawke the vampire hunter and Dominic, the vampire who killed her parents.

Update!

Hello gentle followers. It’s been crazy lately. Work has been insanely busy and so has my home life. Also I had a touch of the flu last week. Because of all this I haven’t been able to do this week’s Who’s Who so we’ll be skipping a week. Don’t fret though; we’ll be back next week. There are a few posts that will pop up so the blog won’t be completely boring.




I’ve watched three movies for the first time (Wreck It Ralph, Beautiful Creatures and Oz the Great and Powerful) and re-watched Breaking Dawn II. I should do some kind of review post for them so later this week or next weekend I’ll bang something out for you.



I’m trying to make the time to work on another Annabelle short story called Dark Loss. I figure if I get a short one finished, checked and edited I can get it online this year for those few Annabelle fans. Then it’ll be back to Myths. Still waiting to hear back from the bata readers on Book 2 AKA Dark Changes.



Also I’m in the process of doing a few tweaks on Dark Threats and Dark Birth before I order more paperbacks from Create Space.



I will announce the winner of the Lunar Hop real soon!



So lots of stuff going on. Watch this space

Author Sarra Cannon: MILESTONE: 100,000 Sales. The numbers.

I found this great post from Author Sarra Cannon. She's an independent young adult author and has reached 100,000 sales. On her site she does a breakdown on her sales and explains how she's been able to do so well.

Check it out here.

For me the biggest lesson is the amount of material she has brought out. Her sales are strong because she has a lot of books that the readers can enjoy. Sure, marketing is important, but sales come from plenty of product. And that translates to lots of adventures for the readers to enjoy.

I've got some history on producing lots of little stories. I can do this. So watch this space. I've got some plans.

The 2nd Annual Lunar Love Giveaway Hop!

Welcome to the The 2nd Annual Lunar Love Giveaway Hop, hosted by I Am A Reader, Not A Writer & Bookworm Lisa.

As anyone knows who has read my Night Children books, I love the moon. When I'm prowling the night with my three wolves I see that glowing orb and smile, but on those special nights when the moon glows richly, dominating the night with it's illuminating presence, I can't help but stop and stare at it.

This hop allows me to share with you a sample of adventures featuring one, like I, who feels empowered by that lunar orb.

I'm talking of course about vampire child Annabelle Foresight. The prize for my participation in this Hop? Why NIGHT CHILDREN: DARK THREATS.

All you have to do is follow this blog and post a comment if you're interested in taking home this book.

Also enjoy these other Blogs in this wonderful hop...

---
Click here for the winner!

Bite of Story Thursday

Night Children: Dark Birth

Chapter Two: Rumors

Henry looked around as if to check that no one was eavesdropping.  He gestured for the others to follow him further into the shadowed space behind a stack of crates.  Away from prying eyes, he seemed confident enough to continue his story. 

“Her name is Eliza Pratchet.  She and her husband moved here years ago.  Legend says they were never normal folk.  Their cabin’s always been boarded up.  The curtains are drawn and no one ever comes to the door.  Several people tried to visit them when they first arrived, but no one ever answered.” 

“They moved in, but you could never see them?” Roland asked. “Are you sure they actually lived there?” 

“Well, that’s the thing.  As time went on, people weren’t sure what was going on.  They said maybe the Pratchets never settled in.  Maybe they died before they could move in.  No one knew.  The town had a meeting and the people decided they were going to take down the cabin, but the night before they were to do it, she appeared, white as a ghost and...well, different than normal folk.  She said she and her husband still lived there and demanded they be left alone.  Now she comes to town once in awhile to buy goods but everyone stays clear of her.” 

“That’s spooky,” Roland said. 

Annabelle’s curiosity was piqued again.  “How does that make her a witch?  I mean, just because they only see her at night, and she wanted to be left alone doesn’t give her supernatural powers.  And what about her husband?” 

“They say she killed him because no one has seen him in--” 

Annabelle interrupted him. “That’s what they say but that doesn’t mean it’s true.” 

Henry stumbled for answer.  “Her husband disappeared and no one’s seen him.  People don’t vanish.  She had to have done something.” 

“Well that’s not entirely true, Henry.  His ghost walks the woods,” Tom said.

Annabelle and Roland looked at each other. She saw disbelief in her brother’s eyes and wondered if this was all a game.  She hoped with all her heart that it was. 

Henry continued, “The story is she killed him and burned his body for firewood.” 

Annabelle’s stomach turned. 

“What’s worse...” Henry continued. 

“There’s worse?”  Roland said. 

“Yes.  There are the bodies.” 

“Bodies?” 

“The townspeople figure she’s been making sacrifices.” 

A shiver prickled down Annabelle’s spine despite her intention not to believe any of this.

“We can’t prove the bodies were from her,” Thomas interrupted. 

“Each of them, animal or human, was found in the woods drained of all their blood.” 

Annabelle couldn’t believe what she was hearing.  A frightening thought crossed her mind, but she dismissed it.  She had been reading her book of monsters too often.  There was no way such a thing could be true. 

---------------

For more check out Dark Birth at your local online store. Links to Dark Birth on the web can be found on the Store Page on this blog or you could just go here, Dark Birth on Amazon.

Who's Who in the Annabelle Universe? Christopher

CHRISTOPHER

No picture at this time. Hopefully that will change someday.

Physical characteristics:
Christopher is tall with long black hair. He wears elegant clothing but it's worn lose, as if he has lost the desire to keep up appearances.

Personality:
His countenance is one of regret, self loathing and a general resignation to his fate.  He keeps himself amused by talking with his victims before he kills them or manipulating anyone who interests him into spending time at his side, telling him stories about their past. He has a great deal of pent up frustration against Vanessa Kimball, Reginald Worthing and the Rakes. He has no love for his subjects, the Destitute.

Known History:
Christopher was of royal birth. His last name was lost in history and it's doubtful even he remembers it. At one point in his life he was a young nobleman. He'd run through the farms and towns of England with other young nobles, causing mischief and spoiling lives along with his best friend, Reginald Worthing. Once he met noblewoman Vanessa Kimball everything changed. She turned Christopher into a vampire along with the other noblemen and called them the Rakes. She did it so she wouldn't be alone.

For many years the Rakes ran through London and the surrounding countryside.  They'd make sport of killing and terrorized anyone they wanted. One night Christopher decided to feast in Whitechaple, one of the more poorer sections of London. He found a lady of ill repute and used her for a meal. Unfortunately he bit her three times, unaware of the Three Bite Rule. He left her for dead but she transformed and in turn fed on some of the homeless of London.  Instead of turning into regular vampires, the homeless vampires became shadowy creatures with no sustenance.

Once Lady Vanessa found out, she exiled Christopher to a warehouse where he would rule the many new vampires, now called the Destitute. It became his job to make sure these shadowy creatures didn't give away the existence of vampires in London. Christopher accepted his penance and ruled the Destitute with a bitter heart. He discovered soon after his exile that his former best friend, Reginald Worthing , told Vanessa about Christopher's mistake. The lady of the evening, known as Abigail, met Reginald, told him what happened and the two of them ran away for America to start new lives.

Christopher had a cat named Azmodel. It's actually a male vampire whom turned into a cat. Christopher mesmerized Azmodel into thinking he is a cat. Azmodel stayed with Christopher for many years until he decided to follow Annabelle Foresight.

The 6 Most Badass Robots (Invented Before Electricity)

I found a cool article from Cracked.com and I wanted to share it with you all. See I like a good robot/artificial life story. In fact I have my share of favorite artificial beings.

The Vision from Avengers...

Red Tornado from the Justice League...

DC Comics' Metal Men...

One of my favorite bits what the Avengers saga where roughly 30 members of the team were sucked into a reshaped reality where they serve Morgan Le Fay (yes, the villain from Merlin).

Robotic Avengers Vision and Machine Man were reshaped as Medieval automatons.

I thought the idea of an early living robot that predated electricity was cool. Now I find out there really were some!

Check out this cool article, The 6 Most Badass Robots (Invented Before Electricity) by Christian Ames  It's pretty cool except the minor swearing. I'd share more of their articles but their vulgarity turns me off.