Bite of Story Thursday

Night Children: Dark Birth


Chapter Twenty-Nine: The Battle

Roland burst out of the scratchy foliage and leapt at his foe.  Before he could bite, Dominic kicked him back.  Instantly changing into bat, Roland flew up, spun in a circle and then zoomed at Dominic’s head.  The man slapped Roland away. 

Roland caught his bearings in mid-air and flew around a tree, past a group of crows that seemed to watch him intently.

Roland landed on Dominic’s head and began to claw him.  Dominic grabbed his neck and began to squeeze. 

“Mastering an ability doesn’t make you a master.  There is nothing you can do to stop me.”  Dominic started to shake him.

Fighting to break free, Roland switched back to his human shape.  Dominic simply moved his hand around Roland’s neck and crushed down.  Panic rushed through, followed by dizziness.  He struggled against his foe’s iron grip as the sky seemed to fill with black shapes. 

 

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Who's Who in the Annabelle Universe? Guarin

GUARIN

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

Name Origin
French form of Germanic Warin, meaning "cover, shelter."

Physical characteristics:Guarin appears young, in his twenties, and in good shape. Always seen garbed in a dark green hood and cloak with a green and blue robe. While he looks young, he is actually over seventy-five years old when Annabelle first met him in 1692. He took the Right of Ascendance some time prior which if successfully completed, grants a warlock or witch immortality.

Personality:
A good, strong leader. Always willing to do what's right. He is determined to stand in the way of Lord Domi and his evil. Like his mentor, Dagda, his desire to stand up for what is right, no mater the cost, is unwavering.

History:
Guarin practiced white magic under the teachings of the immortal warlock Dagda. His skills have been seasoned from decades of battles against Lord Domi and his many monster servants. Along with Dagda and Blandia Blackburn, Guarin created the magical barrier that protected Eliza Pratchet, Annabelle and Roland Foresight, the small English colonial settlement of Jorgantown and the Mohegan Indian village.

After Dagda's assassination by Domi, Guarin became the High Mage of the ancient Order of the White Warlocks and works from the North American division. He fought in the first Battle of Jorgantown after the barrier fell.

Despite the fact that the Coven have always acted as police to the magic world, most white warlocks and witches remain in hiding. Hunted by Domi (or Dominic’s) forces for centuries, they operate in super secret covens across the globe. No more than three in each group and always on the move, Guarin accepted new responsibilities after Dagda's death. He now has to keep the entire Order of the White Warlocks organized and hidden. He marshals their forces across the globe to constantly block Domi's attempts to take over the world. They regularly work with the prophetic Falabranwyn.

Guarin helped Blandia Blackburn to take the Right of Ascendance, a task he has been quoted as saying "was in some ways harder than fighting an army of werewolves."

New titles!

More Big news!


I’ve decided to change the title of my Annabelle books. In keeping with my upcoming eBook launch and the fact that “Book One” is now Books one and two, I’ve re-titled almost everything.

See, when I was writing this book I turned to Rowling for inspiration on a title. She had “Harry Potter and the…” for every title so I picked “Annabelle and Roland…” for my titles. It was easy and told the reader who the protags were.

Since I’m in charge of this whole launch, it rises and falls based entirely on me. This has made me rethink a lot of things and cleared my brain quite a bit.

Boiling things down to their basic core, this entire series really is about the life of vampire children or “night children”. So without further ado, the new titles planned are…

NIGHT CHILDREN: DARK THREATS (Brief looks into Annabelle’s adventures, a short story)

NIGHT CHILDREN: DARK BIRTH (How two children from England became vampires in Colonial America)

NIGHT CHILDREN: DARK TRIALS (The vampire children face werewolves, vampires a vampire hunter and the Salem Witch Trials, as well as a confrontation with Dominic, the vampire lord who killed their parents)

All three will be published soon on Smashwords, the Nook and the Kindle.

Meanwhile I’ll be taking the next installments (DARK SEAS AND SHADOWS) and breaking it into two as well as running it through the critique group when we restart this fall.

Watch this space!