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ROY’S EYES DARTED LEFT and right as he read through article after article of local news. He was sure there was an easier way, a blog or some other Internet tool that filtered all the minutia and focused on violent crimes and murders. But easier never meant better. And a project as important as the one he was working on couldn’t be subjected to the inferior vetting skills of a website moderator. The buffoons moderating such websites didn’t possess his keen senses and investigative capabilities. They concentrated on what reporters tended to concentrate on: everything except what mattered. The reports would describe in great detail how the families and neighborhoods were “reeling” and “shocked”. They’d share information about the deceased’s education and occupation, as well as the education and occupation of the killer, if one were found. They’d interview random people on the street and passersby. Roy found it particularly funny that when the neighbors of a mass murderer, terrorist or cannibal were interviewed, they’d weigh in and say how the perpetrator was such a nice, quiet man or woman and how they’d never suspected a thing. What reporters didn’t know was that in doing so, in interviewing these clueless, intentionally ignorant bystanders, they exposed humanity for what it really was: a blind, weak society of people too consumed by their own pathetic lives to see what was right beside them. How could they not know that the person living in a house five-hundred feet away from them had been bringing people over and killing them and boiling their decapitated heads in Soilex and bleach once the flesh had been filleted off? How was that possible? Hadn’t there been any clues? Roy found the absurdity of it all to be laughable. That’s why he never trusted the reporting of human beings.
As he scoured pages of news bulletins, he happened upon a story in a small, New York paper. It stated that in Poughkeepsie, a city just an hour or so away from the Pennsylvania town in which Roy resided, a known drug dealer had been killed. On the surface and to the untrained eye, such an occurrence was not surprising. The death of a drug dealer was not uncommon, after all. Death was an occupational hazard of those peddling illegal substances. The small paragraph dedicated to reporting this seemingly trivial murder was accompanied by an even smaller picture. In it, a glimpse of the covered body was revealed. Roy, sensing a strong pull to the death, zoomed in. He studied the image.
The moment his eyes landed upon the two puncture marks in the man’s throat, Roy realized that, as usual, human beings had missed the most critical point of the man’s death. His heart rate sped. The man had been drained without a doubt. His mocha skin was ashen, sapped not only of life but of lifeblood prior to death. His pallor told the story. A story humans couldn’t piece together. One that announced that the marks were the work of a vampire.
A vampire offering a public challenge to Roy.
Roy, placing his iPad Pro in his lap, leaned back in his leather office chair. He pushed away from his desk and closed his eyes. Clearing his mind of all but what he’d just seen, he invited clarity to come to him. He didn’t need to work to reach out with all of his senses as the vampires did. Answers came to him. He was not a medium. He was neither psychic nor did he possess extrasensory perception. He’d simply been created better than the average human being.
The widely-held myth perpetuated by the general population and the film industry was that average human beings used only ten percent of their brains. In reality, they used every part of their brains, though that fact was hard to believe judging from the poor decisions they made in every aspect of their lives and their general inability to think rationally. Nevertheless, the average human employed one hundred percent of his brain. And while Roy did too, his brain had been designed better. It afforded him luxuries the average human being could only dream of. While they clung to hopes of potent drugs that would unleash the latent energy of their brains and allow them to move cars with their minds and learn foreign languages in a day, Roy was already enjoying it. He had yet to move a car with his mind, but when an image of a diner was reflected in his mind’s eye with a sign that read “Stavro’s Diner”, he didn’t think it was beyond the realm of possibility for him. He was simply using energy that wasn’t a hope or dream or dormant. It was reality. His reality.
He relaxed further, allowing the picture to develop deeper. It was then that he realized where he needed to go next. A place called Hopewell Junction in New York. It was only an hour away. And it was where his next target awaited him. Alex. The name came to him, breathing through him and dancing across his flesh as gently as a summer breeze. The image of a woman appeared. An alluring silhouette beckoned him. It filled his head and consumed his thoughts. “Alex,” he said the name aloud and knew he’d see her soon.
Another vampire would fall...
About the Authors
Jennifer and Christopher Martucci hoped that their life plan had changed radically in early 2009. To date, the jury is still out. But late one night, in January of 2009, the stay-at-home mom of three girls under the age of six had just picked up the last doll from the playroom floor and placed it in a bin when her husband startled her by declaring, “We should write a book, together!” Wearied from a day of shuttling the children to and from school, preschool and Daisy Scouts, laundry, cooking and cleaning, Jennifer simply stared blankly at her husband of fifteen years. After all, the idea of writing a book had been an individual dream each of them had possessed for much of their young adult lives. Both had written separately in their teens and early twenties, but without much success. They would write a dozen chapters here and there only to find that either the plot would fall apart, or characters would lose their zest, or the story would just fall flat. Christopher had always preferred penning science-fiction stories filled with monsters and diabolical villains, while Jennifer had favored venting personal experiences or writing about romance. Inevitably though, frustration and day-to-day life had placed writing on the back burner and for several years, each had pursued alternate (paying) careers. But the dream had never died. And Christopher suggested that their dream ought to be removed from the back burner for further examination. When he proposed that they author a book together on that cold January night, Jennifer was hesitant to reject the idea outright. His proposal sparked a discussion, and the discussion lasted deep into the night. By morning, the idea for the Dark Creations series was born.
The Vampire Extinction series, the Planet Urth series, the Remains of Urth series, The Demon Hunter series, as well as the Arianna Rose series and the Dark Creations series, are works that were written while Jennifer and Christopher continued about with their daily activities and raised their young children. They changed diapers, potty trained and went to story time at the local library between chapter outlines and served as room parents while fleshing out each section. Life simply continued.
As the storyline continues to evolve, so too does the Martucci collaboration. Lunches are still packed, noses are still wiped and time remains a rare and precious commodity in their household, but it is the sound of happy chaos that is the true background music of their writing. They hope that all enjoy reading their work as much as they enjoyed writing it.
Books by Jennifer and Christopher Martucci:
The Dark Creations Series (A YA paranormal romance series)
Dark Creations: Gabriel Rising (Part 1)
Dark Creations: Gabriel Rising (Part 2)
Dark Creations: Gabriel Rising (Part 1&2)
Dark Creations: Resurrection (Part 3)
Dark Creations: The Hunted (Part 4)
Dark Creations: Hell on Earth (Part 5)
Dark Creations: Dark Ending (Part 6)
The Arianna Rose Series (A paranormal romance series)
Arianna Rose (Part 1)
Arianna Rose: The Awakening (Part 2)
Arianna’s Awakening (Part 1 & 2)
Arianna Rose: The Gathering (Part 3)
Arianna Rose: The Arrival (Part 4)
Arianna Rose: The Gates of Hell (Part 5)
The Planet Urth series (A YA science-fiction/futuristic series)
Planet Urth: (Book 1)
Planet Urth: The Savage Lands (Book 2)
Planet Urth: The Underground City (Book 3)
Planet Urth: The Rise of Azlyn (Book 4)
Planet Urth: The Fate of Urth (Book 5)
The Demon Hunter series
The Demon Hunter: Rise of the Hunter (Book 1)
The Demon Hunter: The Dark One (Book 2)
The Demon Hunter: Hunter of the Damned (Book 3)
Remains of Urth Series
Remains of Urth (Book 1)
Remains of Urth: The Black Forest (Book 2)
Remains of Urth: Sin City (Book 3)
The Vampire Extinction Series
The Vampire Extinction: Greyson Undead (Book 1)
Oh, One Last Thing Before You Go...
When you turn the page, you may be given the opportunity to express your thoughts on Facebook and Twitter automatically. If you enjoyed our book, please take a second to click that button and let your friends know about it.
If they get something out of the book, they’ll be grateful to you, and we will be, too!
Thank you so much!
Love,
Jenny and Chris