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The Red Sector Chronicles (The Red Sector Chronicles Omnibus
Author: Krystle Jones
Genre: YA Paranormal Romance/Dystopia
Buy Links: Amazon / Smashwords
Description:
The strength of Sloane’s heart is about to be put to the ultimate test.After the Eclipse – the night vampires began openly slaughtering human victims – everything changed. Out of fear, the government salvaged what remained of the human population and enclosed them in massive, security-laden cities called White Sectors, while marking the vampire infested territory as Red Sectors.
When seventeen-year-old Sloane McAllister’s twin brother disappears, she seems to be the only one who thinks he isn’t dead, and she vows to stop at nothing to find him. Gathering her courage, she braves the Red Sector to search for clues to his whereabouts. By chance, she encounters Aden, a handsome, charismatic vampire with a hidden agenda. He turns Sloane against her will and whisks her away to his underground city. Enemies quickly become friends as Sloane struggles against her attraction to Aden, and resists her growing loyalties to the creatures that ruined her life.
But the vampires themselves are the least of her problems. A war is brewing between the humans and vampires, along with a growing web of deceit and betrayal. And before it’s all over, loyalties will be tested, hearts will be broken, and no one’s lives will ever be the same.
Stale air rushed up and we all gagged.
“Whoa,” Rook said, covering his mouth with his arm. “Smells like something died.”
Orion wrinkled his nose. “Probably just an animal.”
A bolt of fear surged through me as I took in the decay coating the air. I wanted to run but I was helpless, trapped inside the other Sloane’s body as she pasted on a bold grin and climbed down the ladder into the basement, covering her nose and mouth with her hand.
It’s like I was there but wasn’t there, a bystander watching the events unfold through 14-year-old Sloane’s mind. This wasn’t simply a dream – it was a memory.
I screamed at her to turn around while she still could, but she took a flashlight from her utility belt as the others joined her/me.
More flashlights flipped on. “Oh, sweet! Check this out.” Rook pointed to a shelf lined with containers. We all shuffled closer to examine them. Most had some sort of liquid in them, though it was too opaque to see much of what was inside. I shined my flashlight on one, and something long and bloated drifted past the edge of the light.
“Oh my God,” I said. “Is that a finger?”
“No freakin’ way!” Orion leaned forward, completely engrossed in my find. I tilted my head ever so slightly, caught Rook’s eye, and winked.
Taking my cue, Rook snuck up behind Orion and grabbed him by the shoulders, screaming into his ear.
Orion leaped about two feet in the air, nearly knocking over the shelves in the process. He rounded on Rook and punched him in the arm so hard he staggered a bit. “You think that was funny, smartass?!” Orion yelled, clenching his fists. His normally mischievous smile was gone, and his eyes had gone steely. I recognized the look on his face, the same craving for bloodshed I saw him get whenever he got into a fight. As much as I loved my brother, I hated the darker side of him, like how he’d pull off butterfly wings because he thought it was funny or said disturbing things like “Wouldn’t it fun to drown Ms. Allerby’s cat? Then it wouldn’t use our yard for a litter box anymore.”
I quickly stepped between them as my brother advanced on Rook. “Back off, Orion,” I said, throwing up my hands. “We were only joking, and you know it.”
Orion blinked at me, and just like that his goofy grin was back. “Hey, I know that,” he said, tapping me on the arm with a playful punch. “Maybe I was just playing too.” He laughed awkwardly, and I let my arms down, giving Rook an apologetic smile. We both knew the risks of hanging out with my brother. His dark mood swings were just part of “the whole package,” but he was largely a good guy and a lot of fun to be around.
Something – a shadow – darted away in the corner of my vision.
I stiffened, scanning the dark. “What was that?”
The others paused, a look of fear crossing their faces before Rook laughed. “It’s probably a rat or something scavenging off of whatever died down here.”
“Yeah, this reeks,” Orion said. “Let’s see what’s upstairs.”
Something about the shadow set me on edge, and I gladly let him pass, dismissing the thought to paranoia and the jitters. We found a rickety looking ladder and climbed the short ascent to the main floor. It looked like we had walked into a parlor.
As far as haunted houses go, this one was pretty damn creepy. Moth-eaten sheets were draped across the furniture, and there was so much dust and dirt floating in the air that it looked like mist. My throat immediately began to itch; it wasn’t long before I started coughing.
“Hey, sis,” Orion said, looking back at me. “Could you tone it down a notch? You’re kind of ruining the mood for me.”
I was about to respond with a rude comment when Rook’s light landed on a chair. There was an odd shape to the sheet lying across it.
“What’s that?” I asked, pointing.
Rook moved the light back until it was directly on the chair. At first, I didn’t want to believe what I saw. The folds of the sheet outlined arms and legs and a lowered head.
No one moved, and I knew we were all thinking the exact same thing.
Orion broke the silence. “Is that… a body?”
The sheet stirred, lifting just enough to see long, blackened nails dig into the armrests before a creature straight out of hell pounced on us.
I opened my mouth to scream, but all that came out was a choked gasp for air. There was a roar, almost human, right before Rook and Orion started screaming. Their terror-filled faces burned into my mind as I spun on my heel and ran.
Krystle Jones was born and raised in the small, southern town of Tullahoma, Tennessee. Reading and writing have been lifelong passions of hers. In addition to being a novelist, she is also an award-winning flutist, and moonlights as a voice actress. Her voice can be heard in the popular online game, Alice is Dead 3.
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