Hello everyone. Welcome to the Bloody Chunks Tour!
I’m Thomas Winship, author of Vaempires: The Evolutionary War—a vampire series that explores the question: what if vampires evolved?
For this book tour, I decided to do something a bit different. Instead of sharing excerpts, reviews, interviews, and all the usual accompaniments, I’m giving you the book itself—piece by piece.
Or chunk by bloody chunk!
This tour is the only place where you can read Vaempires: Zombie Rising, the next chapter in the vaempires saga, before its official release!
The tale of The Evolutionary War resumes in Væmpires: Zombie Rising.
Væmpires have taken control of twelve major cities. Their leader, Vielyn, seeks the atomic weapons that will bring the rest of the world to its knees.
Vampire forces are reeling. As Linq and Ray race to the royal estate to rendezvous with Cassandra and Daniel, the princess is captured and Daniel falls.
With the fate of world shifting to their teenage shoulders, Linq and Ray must deal with tremendous losses while battling a most unexpected—and undeadly—new foe.
This tour wouldn’t be possible without the time and efforts of a very special group of people, beginning with Silvia and Franny at Dark Mind Book Tours and including everyone on the list below. Please show your support by stopping by, commenting, and spreading the word!
Tour Schedule:
September 10th: Darkest Sins | Book Trailer Reveal
The threat chilled Cassandra to the bone. She’d rather be shot in the head than have Vielyn’s fangs in her again.
Vielyn pulled his hand away and gazed at it. “Will you look at that,” he said, shaking his head with mock sadness, “I broke a nail.”
He looked away in contemplation, and then snapped his fingers. “I’ll bet it happened when I killed Daniel.” He laughed. “That was one powerful blow. I don’t think the poor boy even had time to know what hit him.”
The mention of Daniel ignited a small fire in Cassandra. How dare he?
“It is such a shame, really,” Vielyn continued, oblivious to her rising outrage. “I never thought it would be so easy. After all, he was the one who threatened to kill me the next time we crossed paths.” He sighed. “I really hate when people fail to deliver on their promises.
“And to not even put up a fight. I mean, heck, you’ve fared better than him and you’re a princess. He was next in line to be the head of our military.”
Vielyn took a lock of Cassandra’s auburn hair and twirled it around a finger. She wanted to bite the finger off. “It was all rather anticlimactic, wouldn’t you agree? I mean, I actually think I did you a favor, Princess. Just imagine what a disappointment he would’ve been in the long run.”
Cassandra fumed but remained silent. Vielyn gazed out a far viewport, pretending to be lost in thought. “Unless …” he said with a theatrical pause, putting his other hand to his chin. “But no. Our fairy-tale princess would never abandon her chastity for someone so unworthy.” He screwed his face up in a quizzical look. “Would she?”
Despite knowing that Vielyn was taunting her, Cassandra was further incensed. The thought that she would …
Her eyes blazed.
“Such outrage. Or is it shame in disguise?” Laughing, Vielyn unwound her hair from his finger—she expected him to give it a vicious pull, but he didn’t—and stepped back. “You make me wish I had Read poor Daniel.”
His dark eyes widened. “You know, Daniel wasn’t quite dead when I left him. I can Read from the dead, as long as it hasn’t been too long.” He looked at his wrist for a watch that wasn’t there. “I’ve no idea how long it’s been, but heck, the twerp might still be hanging on.”
Cassandra’s emotions flip-flopped as thoughts rapid-fired. Daniel was still alive? She’d seen him; it wasn’t possible. But what if it was? Linq and Ray were on their way. They’d be able to help Daniel. They couldn’t help her, though. She didn’t want them facing Vielyn. She couldn’t lose anyone else dear to her. Thankfully, she was a far way from the tower, where they’d begin any search.
Above all else, she had to keep Vielyn from going back outside.
Vielyn saw the alarm in her eyes. “What’s wrong, Princess? Afraid of what I’ll find?”
Cassandra was desperate. She needed to distract him. “At least let Daniel have peace in death, Vielyn,” she spit. “Lord knows you never allowed him any in life.”
Vielyn smiled. It was oily and vain. “Oh, the long-suffering fool really worked you over, didn’t he?” He gazed at her, and for a millisecond, she thought a flash of humanity tried to peek out. “Why do teenage girls always fall for the heart-in-hand, not-so-secret admirer? What the hell is so appealing about a guy who loves you from afar but doesn’t have the guts to do anything about it until all the competition’s been eliminated?”
She sighed, although secretly pleased that Vielyn was taking the bait. She fought to ignore her pulsating leg. “That isn’t what happened, Vielyn, and you know it.”
“That is exactly what happened,” he insisted, eyes flashing. “He hid in the shadows, waiting, plotting, until he could stick a knife in my back.”
Cassandra made her words cold. “You’re one to talk about betrayal.”
“Betrayal,” Vielyn repeated, raising an eyebrow to make it more of a question. “Actually, I am now in a position to talk about anything I like, Princess. Anything at all. So, what should I talk about if not betrayal?”
When she didn’t respond, he smiled. “No matter. There’ll be plenty of time for that
topic later, when you’re back on your feet. Literally and figuratively.” He snapped his fingers. “You know what? I’m feeling magnanimous. Why don’t you let me take away your pain?”
Cassandra flinched, expecting a trick. “My leg?”
“No.” He laughed. “I’m afraid you’re going to have to bear with that for a while longer. I’m talking about the pain of your loss.”
“What?”
“Just say the word and I’ll erase all the bad memories.” He saw the look of horror on her face and misinterpreted it. “I promise I won’t take a second more. I’m really very good at it.”
“You … you’re despicable!” she sputtered. “You kill my parents and the man I love, and then offer to wipe it away as a favor!”
“First of all, Princess, let’s tone it down with the ‘man I love’ stuff. You don’t know the first thing about love, and neither did your boyfriend.” Vielyn injected the boy part of boyfriend with pure disdain. “Second, there is nothing you can, or could, offer me that would convince me to erase the memory of his defeat. It’s the price you pay for backing the loser.”
He pursed his lips in mock thought. “Well, perhaps if the offer was to erase every memory of Daniel, I might be swayed.” He continued when she didn’t respond. “And third, I did not kill your parents.”
Cassandra scoffed. “Then one of your minions did. Do you think that matters? Forget your goddamn revolution for a minute, Vielyn. Your actions got my parents killed.”
“Great change always comes with great sacrifice.”
“What did you sacrifice? You and your ilk?”
“My ilk and I paid our sacrifices far in advance.”
“Really?” Cassandra cried. “No one killed your parents.”
“Once again, you’re wrong, Your Highness. I killed my parents. A few hours before the attack, in fact.”
“What!”
“Well, technically, my father killed my mother and then I killed my father … but since he killed her for siding with me … that still makes me responsible. It’s all convoluted, but no more than the usual family drama,” Vielyn explained, putting his head in his hands. “I’m still getting used to being an orphan, so I’m kind of vulnerable right now.”
Cassandra was aghast. “I-I don’t know what to say.”
Vielyn scowled, abandoning all pretenses. “Oh, don’t say anything, Your Highness. I don’t want your sympathy. I don’t want your understanding. In fact, there is one, and only one, thing that I want from you.”
Cassandra stared, afraid to guess what that might be.
“No more games. You know what I want,” Vielyn said, advancing. “And you’re in a position to give it to me right now.”
Cassandra scooted back on the bed, her burned leg screaming in protest. She hit the headboard and realized she had nowhere else to go. She was trapped on her parents’ bed.
“What do you want?”
Vielyn cocked an eyebrow, and it dawned on her.
I’m trapped on a bed. Oh no. First Jorl, and now Vielyn.
The thought sickened her so much that she almost vomited in her mouth, but she put on a brave face, glaring at him with all the loathing she could muster.
Vielyn gave her a once-over, a cold assessment that left her feeling violated. “Oh, don’t be so pedestrian, so cliché,” he said, waving a hand in annoyance. “I’m not about to savage the princess like some kind of common thug or former teen heartthrob,” he insisted. To his credit, the insult in his voice sounded sincere. “You’ve mistaken me for poor Jorl or one of those vampires who refuses to age and lurks in teenagers’ bedrooms while they sleep.”
He laughed. “Christ, even if a vampire doesn’t look his age, you’d sure as hell think he would act it. What the hell can an old fossil have in common with a child?” He met her eyes. “Why, it’s almost as ridiculous as a princess falling in love with a common soldier.”
Vielyn smirked, enjoying Cassandra’s scowl. “Nevertheless, my dear, I have neither the desire nor the need to take what isn’t offered to me.” His dark eyes bored into her. “Your innocence will not be lost here today.
“Not that innocence, at least,” he said enigmatically, backing away and looking around the room, as if seeing it for the first time.
The room, although spacious, wasn’t ostentatious. One corner held a writing desk, a bookshelf, and a trio of vidscreens. Another corner contained a small sofa, a plush chair, a reading lamp, and a coffee table stacked with books—the real, physical books that Queen Anne had preferred over their digibook counterparts. The other side of the room held the bed that Cassandra occupied, dual closets, and a large marble fireplace. The walls were adorned with family portraits and a few choice paintings selected by her parents.
Altogether, it was closer to the bedroom of a typical married couple—with clothes strewn across chair backs and closet doors ajar—than that of a king and queen. It had always been that way, and its familiarity coupled with the lingering scents of her parents to make Cassandra ache.
Vielyn walked over to the fireplace, running a finger across its mantel. The gesture angered Cassandra. She wanted to order him to take his filthy hands off her parents’ stuff, but she held her tongue.
“This is amazing,” Vielyn muttered, more to himself than to her. “I haven’t been in here since … well, since the last time I was in here.”
He shook his head, the spell broken. “Nevertheless, here we are, my young captive. You should know that my sources inform me that we’ve taken command of all the targeted cities. In a little over a day, your precious vampire kingdom has been overthrown.”
“Why are you telling me this?”
“So you can make an informed decision, Your Highness—one that avoids unnecessary loss of life. Catastrophic loss. Since it’ll be your last decision on behalf of your people, I believe it should be a good decision for everyone.”
“What decision is that?”
“I want the atomic codes.”
She gaped.
“I’m not going to use them,” he insisted. “I just need the threat of them to bring all resistance to a halt.” He tried to sound reasonable. “Think of how many lives you’ll save.”
“Never!” she cried, scooting to the edge of the bed and ignoring her protesting thigh. “You’ll get those codes over my dead body.”
Vielyn’s retort was drowned out by laughter—dark, sonorous laughter that conjured images of mutilated babies and other horrific deeds, laughter that didn’t come from anyone in the room.
Cassandra’s head whipped back and forth. What the … ?
She blinked and a man stood beside Vielyn; a light-skinned man with green eyes and a shock of red hair cut into short spikes.
Surprise was supplanted by recognition, which sent a hot streak down her spine. “You!”
The newcomer was one of the uninvited væmpires who had accompanied Councilman Donrel to the holiday summit some months earlier—the so-called scientist who had taken such offense to Dr. Wrede’s assertions that væmpires were working to exterminate humans and vampires.
“It seems we meet again,” the green-eyed man said, glaring at her. “And my name is Belmon.” He spoke with an Aurasian accent that hadn’t been evident during the summit. At the time, Daniel had claimed the man didn’t look like a scientist, and he sure didn’t look like one in the black night-fighter suit he wore. It didn’t help that his claws and fangs were extended.
“How did you get in here?” she demanded.
The red-haired man shook his head. “Still acting like you’re in charge, I see.” He gave Vielyn a questioning look, and Vielyn gestured for him to continue.
“I have a rather unique ability to move from one place to another by just thinking it, Princess.” He laughed. “You see, I could’ve crashed your Christmas party at any time, although we weren’t quite ready to reveal ourselves, or our abilities, just then. Still,” he said, looking around, “I must say that I prefer this setting much more than that stodgy old compound.”
“I suppose you’re here for the atomic codes, too?” Cassandra asked in a haughty tone that she didn’t feel.
“I’m here because Vielyn ordered it,” Belmon claimed, green eyes blazing. “Unlike some people, I know how to follow orders.” He smiled. “And what fortuitous timing, arriving just as you tell Vielyn that he’ll get the codes over your dead body.”
He took a step forward, leaning toward her. “You wouldn’t know, because you stomped out of the meeting like a child throwing a temper tantrum, but your parents used that same exact phrase when discussing the possibility of Vielyn ever coming near you again.”
Cassandra’s heart throbbed. At the same time, Belmon’s proximity gave her visions of tearing his throat open with her fangs and feeling his hot blood pour down her throat while burying her claws in his sternum and shredding his insides.
“Look where that got them,” Belmon said, his eyes betraying his pleasure at hurting her.
The red-haired væmpire turned to Vielyn. “I have interesting news for you, by the way. While coming here, I spotted two victims—er, vampires—heading toward the formal entrance.”
“Did you identify them?” Vielyn asked.
“Of course.” Belmon locked gazes with Cassandra and her heart sank. “It was her friends, the muscle-head and the joker.”
Vielyn’s face lit up with sadistic excitement. “Linq and Ray! My old friends. Now it’s starting to sound like a party.”
End of chapter 5 - Part 2
Now if Vielyn doesn't give you the creeps, at least his red haired friend should. I know they both did for me.
Book Trailer
Thanks for stopping in for my "Bloody chunk" of the tour. Follow along to read the story before the release.
Always happy to have you here Tom! I loved Linq and Ray in this story. Seeing Cassandra in action is fun as well. So many fun characters and twists in your stories! It's a roller coaster of a book series!
Thank you so much for helping share my story, Poison Rose.
ReplyDeleteAlways happy to have you here Tom! I loved Linq and Ray in this story. Seeing Cassandra in action is fun as well. So many fun characters and twists in your stories! It's a roller coaster of a book series!
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