Snippet: Daywalker and Rift Series Overview

This is a snippet from a story I've been playing with for some time. I work on several different stories as the mood hits, some I work on for several years. This story is a fantasy, not really urban fantasy because it is set in rural Montana! It is somewhat related to a Vampire Novella I wrote years ago, Single Mom, Vampire Lover, but takes place nearly twenty years later. I don't have a publishing date yet. Have considered having a couple of them finished before publishing. We'll see.

Excerpt Daywalker:

A man wearing an LA County jumpsuit in bright orange woke in a small meadow. 

Around one foot was a plastic hobble restraint attached to a ring around his ankle, but the restraint was broken so his leg motion was free. Orange coverall. Restraints. He’d been in jail. Suddenly the man jumped up, wide-eyed, staring at his surroundings in shock. “What the hell?”

He was at the bottom of a crater, next to a lovely pool of water under a huge tree. A small, grassy meadow surrounded the pool and tree. Beyond the meadow was rubble, climbing up to the edge of a crater, maybe three hundred feet.

 Earthquake? Do those cause craters? 

The sky was weird. To the south, high in the sky, there was a permanent lightning bolt, in a cloudless blue sky. An asteroid? An alien ship? Alien space weapon?

“What is going on?”

He couldn’t remember anything. Not even his name or why he was in prison. Or how he got away.

He decided to try to find...something. Other people, medical help. Since it seemed he couldn't remember a blessed thing. Clothes. I really need clothes. Don’t want some good ol’ boy to shoot the prisoner first, ask questions later.

The clothes he had on were obviously courtesy of the California prison system. Too bad they didn’t have his name on them somewhere. Just a number on the patch on his shoulder.

He trudged across the rough land and up the steep incline, finally coming to a blacktop, which he followed for several miles. Parts of the road were broken up. Crushed cars, flipped cars,  mangled bodies. No living people. The countryside didn’t look like LA, it looked like the Rockies in the distance, but he had no idea how he got there. 

He checked. Mostly Montana license plates. Okay, that explained the mountains. But not how he got here. Last he knew he was an inmate in LA County.

Maybe there was a nuclear war. Maybe I’m right in the hot zone. Fear clutched at him, but there was nothing that could be done.

Would a nuclear war toss him across the country?

Series Overview:

In Single Mom, Vampire Lover, Darlene's son is attacked by a rogue vampire and changed into a vampire to save his life. The Master Vampire who sired him is named Vare. Darlene is pulled into the world of Vampire Clans and eventually marries Vare. 

In the following years, they have two daughters, Harper and Harlow, who grow up with much older brother Brian in Vampire Clan O'Keife. The Clan has many members, vampires, daywalkers, paid blood crew, a few children.

An attack on the main Clan compound causes chaos. Harper and Harlow were not at home at that time, and were whisked away to hiding in Europe.

Then, a supernatural phenomenon, known in prophecy as The Rift takes place. It causes worldwide earthquakes and sudden deaths due to the burst of inhuman magic. Few survive.

I have a few more stories involving the Rift in various stages of completion:

Escape from the Cult: A group of young people, including the seer daughter of a Rift cult leader, run away from the cult just as the Rift forms. 

Shelter with a Vampire: A young woman weathers a tornado and learns her basement neighbor is a vampire. And the tornado was part of The Rift. 

Working title Baby Vamps: Roommates living in a warehouse rescue two Master Vampires held captive in a neighboring warehouse, and a clutch of very dangerous little kid vampires, created by their captors.