Review of Sacrifice of Innocence

Sacrifice of Innocence by Allison Cosgrove—êêê stars

Disclaimer: I received a free e-copy of this book in exchange for a review.

Warning: There are spoilers and hints of spoilers in this review.

Stan is a hard-working detective who is trying to rebuild his status after trouble with alcohol.  His partner has a reputation as well, but they work well as a team—and their relationship was truly one of the most enjoyable parts of the story.  It felt like a real partnership and there wasn’t a romantic undertone like many authors would have taken.

The plot of the story centers on a series of child abductions and murders that have finally been linked together.  At the start of the story, the police believe they have the right man in custody but another kidnapping casts that into doubt.  The trial is not going well, and despite the hope that the child was abducted by a copycat, Stan begins to believe that something more is happening.  The mother of the child gets involved, and slowly the protagonists realize that this is not a standard kidnapping.

The good parts of this story are very good: Stan is an interesting protagonist and a fun character to follow around the story.  The mother of the kidnapped girl is a very strong female character, not something you see in stories now—at least not really.  She feels very real—perhaps even more than Stan.  The backstory with the child’s father also plays out very well, and I like that the situation between mother and father isn’t completely settled.  There’s a sense that things will have to be worked on between them, but there is hope.

The weakest part of the story is the villains.  They make foolish mistakes which helps the protagonists, particularly Stan.  The personal attacks on his nature only serve to make him sure that something is wrong.  At one point, the leader of the villains seems to have magical powers which she wields over a minion, only those never show up in the final fight, when they would help her group the most.  I recognize that these could have been a fabrication of the minion’s mind, but I would have liked to know that for certain.  But the biggest issue I had was that there was no revelation regarding why the villains were the way they were.  If you don’t want HUGE spoilers, don’t read any further in this paragraph… gone?  Okay, good: the villains follow a deity of a Mesoamerican faith but they are not Mesoamerican in heritage.  How you end up with modern Caucasians following a Native American god would make a fascinating story, particularly given the heights of power some of the villains reach.  It is clearly a secret society, but it’d be really interesting to learn how it came to be and how it gained the power it has.

Overall, I still enjoyed Sacrifice of Innocence.  The characters, the heroes especially, are particularly well-written and very engaging.  The plot and strong characters carried the story, earning it three stars.

Review of The Black Sacrament (Part 1)

The Black Sacrament (part 1 of the “Creatures of Fire” Series) by J.B. Brooklin—êê stars

Disclaimer: I received a free e-copy of this book in exchange for a review.

Warning: There are spoilers and hints of spoilers in this review.

Sariel is the orphaned ward of her uncle, Harold Baldwin.  Alexander is an ifrit, a demon of fire that avenges murder.  He has come to New York to punish Harold, but first has a chance meeting with Harold’s niece, Sariel.  She’s been in her uncle’s domineering care since her parents died.  He’s sent her to boarding schools, but now she’ll soon graduate and attend college.  Her plan is to go the Paris and study art; he demands she go to Harvard.  Uncle Harold is more than just a bossy guardian, as Alexander quickly learns.

This is a fast, quick read.  Part of that is due to the fact that it’s only part of the story and the rest comes from the author’s simple style.  The words used are all very-well chosen and I never had an issue reading the story.   The Black Sacrament is given just enough details for me to be interested in what it will be while not spoiling the final surprise, which I assume will be in Part 2.  And the last few lines of Part 1 do build significant interest for what will happen in Part 2.

My first issue with this partial story is that it isn’t a complete story.  I probably should have caught that with the subtitle “Part one” but it also said it was a series.  I read that to mean that this would be the first book in the series, so when the end of the document didn’t contain a resolution, I was disappointed.    Next, while a quick read is a good thing, I think the author could have slowed the story down and fleshed out her world and her characters some more.  As one example, I know that Alexander is an ifrit and that heat heals and revitalizes him while cold impairs his powers but little else.   Moderate use of flashbacks could fill in more details about him as a character, so that we get to know and care about him.  Same with Sariel and Harold—though obviously caring about Harold is not exactly the goal.  He’s there to be the villain but we could still learn more about him.  Why does he want the Black Sacrament?  Is there a reason beyond having all the power in the universe?  Perhaps he has a dead wife/daughter and this is the only way to have her returned to him?  Those kinds of details would enhance the characters greatly.

The last note I’ll add is that I hope Harold’s existing powers are adequately explained in part two.  He seems pretty powerful already, even before acquiring the Black Sacrament. 

Overall, the Black Sacrament is an interesting teaser with good characters and a truly sinister villain.  I look forward to reading more.

More Inspiration

I filled out interview questions today for a review in a series of blogs.  There were a lot of questions, some of which were really hard.  Among one of the easier ones was a question about where I get the inspiration to write.  There are a lot of answers I could give, everything from a desire to be my own boss doing the only thing I’m really good at to just enjoying writing. 

But in truth (as I said in the answer I gave), I’m pushed to write.  My stories get into my head and demand to be written.  When I’m in the groove, I can write effortlessly.  Each word flies onto the page, and while they may not come out in their perfect form, they come.   When I’m not in the groove or anywhere close, each word feels as though I was drawing it up out of a deep well, straining hand over hand to pull up a dripping bucket…

When I’m editing, I can always tell if I was in the groove or not on the first write-through.   It’s much less work if I was in that magical place. 

But regardless of whether it’s easy or hard, one thing remains the same: I have to write.  Sure, I can pause for moments in time, to eat and sleep, or to tend to the important things like job and family.  But when I’m not doing something that I must do or that is necessary to my values, I want to be writing.  Even when I can’t write, my brain whirls with thoughts and ideas; I formulate scenes or ponder issues that I need to work out for a story or world.  I touched on this briefly and poorly on my August 20^th post, when I talked about overcoming writer’s block by writing.  And external things can help me get into the groove.  But the drive to write, the thing that keeps me coming back to the keyboard is the near-painful itch to get the stories in my head onto paper.

I’d call it an addiction… I was going to try to defend that it’s not an addiction, but it is.  It can be harmful if I let take over my life.  So I’m just going to say that no, my inspiration, my addiction, doesn’t stop. 

And if it ever does for some reason, shoot me now, because I’m already dead.

What about you?  Where do you get your inspiration from?

Review of Adrift

Normally I wouldn't do another review so soon after the last, but I tore through this book and finished in record time.  As you can see from the review, that's a good thing.

Adrift (The Last Selkie, Book One) by Elizabeth A. Reeves—êêêêê stars

Disclaimer: I received a free e-copy of this book one Amazon, then decided to review it. 

Warning: There are spoilers and hints of spoilers in this review.

Meg is left bereft and alone when her father dies of cancer.  After giving away or selling everything of value, she gets in a car and heads in random direction.  After driving until she’s out of money, she finds herself in Newfoundland, on the coast.   The sea calls to her, and Meg gives herself to it.  When she wakes, she’s in a cottage with a strange woman.  Without speaking, the woman disappears.  That is just the start of the weirdness that becomes normal for Meg.

This book deals heavily with the Fae.  I always approach those books with trepidation, because it’s so easy to make the Fae into humans with pretty magic, when the old legends are so different.  I always wonder which I’m getting when I start reading.  I shouldn’t have worried in this case, because the Fae in Reeve’s story are those dark creatures of legend.  They are presented as wonderfully not-human—not evil, just not us.  The world is richly described, with care given to immerse the reader in the world.  I found the characters interesting, even the ones we only catch glimpses of. 

As for the negative, I found only a few typos, nothing too glaring.  The story itself certainly didn’t put me off.  The only real “negative” was the ending, as in, the book ended!   The end was bittersweet and set with a cliffhanger, yet was written in such a way that I felt like the story being told in Adrift (a very apt title, I’ll add)  was finished, and Meg was getting ready for a new adventure.

I dithered between four and five stars on this.  The final question was, “Would I read this story again?”  When I answered yes, I felt that it has the fifth star in my book.

Review of Me, Myself and i-Chart

Me, Myself and i-Chart by Jonathan Ardell —êêê stars

Disclaimer: I received a free e-copy of this book for the review. 

Warning: There are spoilers and hints of spoilers in this review.

My latest book to read has been Me, Myself and i-Chart.  The story is told from the point of view of Richard, who is hired to be a quality manager in a remote factory in Alabama.  Richard isn’t sure he is qualified for the job, or that he wants to take the position after living in greater Chicago area.  But the perks of the job—and the charms of a lovely local—sway him and he is soon packing his bags and headed to the backwater.  But not all is as it seems, and soon Richard is in deep trouble.

The story is in first person and has two ‘voices’.  Without going into spoilery details, I’ll simply say that the in-story reason for the voices, told in two different fonts to differentiate between them, is explained clearly.  The story is told in an engaging, easy-to-read style, and the scientific jargon and math is explained in layman’s terms.  I didn’t really struggle with the technical details, and that’s really not my strong suite.  The story was often witty and because it was set in prior years, it was refreshing to be reminded of how things were before cellphones.  The characters are interesting, particularly Richard (which is great, since he is the one that really has to be).  The supporting cast is particularly strong, and I suspect that they are based on types of people the author has met before.

I had some issues with the book.  There is a lot of backstory in the book; I’d guess about a third of the story was background, and not just on Richard.  There was quite a bit told about the history of the facility, Fab 9, which didn’t feel pertinent to the story being told.  It was also a bit jarring because at times, Richard recounts the story as if he’d witnessed these events when he did not.  Another problem is that the story has a number of foreshadowing which verge on spoilers.  By the climactic scene, I was already aware of how it would play out, in general, which had an impact on my suspense.   The last major issue was the two voices that the story is told in.  As I mentioned before, there are two different fonts, one for each voice.  The voices narrate the story together; I found them a distracting at times.   Sometimes I’d see the font change and my eye would skip down; other times, I thought that the font didn’t match the voice.  Integration of the voices into a unified narrative would help the flow of the story and limit the reader getting distracted by the switches in font.

These issues aside, I enjoyed reading the story.  It was quirky and fun, and I found it engaging.  It took a subject that could be dry and difficult and created an interesting adventures story (tinged with romance).  All in all, well worth a read.  

At this time, Jonathan is trying to find an agent or a publisher, and I hope he does.  I'd like to see this book published.

Book 2 Progress

This is a quick note to my readers to let them know that yesterday I finished the first draft of Gideon Book 2.  It's longer than City of Promise, which I think people will appreciate.  It also has lots of action and takes a bigger look at the other side of Gideon, at the law and order of the city.

Now it's in the first edit process, after which I submit to my publisher.  I'm on my way to having a real series!

I'll keep you updated!

Buying Reviews and Socking the Puppet

Lately, there have been a number of articles about authors padding their reviews on Amazon.  There are two ways that they commonly do this; the first is to hire a third party to write five star reviews for them.  This method has, according to the man who was interviewed by the NY Times for the story, generated real sales for the authors.  Having the good reviews got people to try their works, and they found that they liked the author.  The second method is "sockpuppetry" which sounds like something awesome you do with kids at camp but is creating multiple accounts and posting reviews on each of those accounts praising your work.  One author, R.J. Ellory, took that a bit further and actually went to other authors' work, deriding them.

What are we to make of these trends in the digital world?  The first and most obvious answer is dismay that a system designed to help us find the books we will like is being circumvented and turned into paid advertising or an author's personal bandwagon.  Then the cynicism creeps: anything can be bought and sold, or twisted.  Last is only a sorrow, wondering if we can trust the reviews like we used to.

I'll admit: for a second, I wanted to buy reviews.  Selling your own book is hard work.  I don't know a lot of people.  I don't have a huge following.  I'm not a celebrity or someone well-known.  I'm starting at the ground floor, and I'll admit that getting a boost like that for something as inconsequential as money sounded pretty good.

But of course, I didn't.  Not only is the company now gone, but joining in would make me part of the problem.  And it is a problem.  Even if the first method is just paid advertising, it still erodes people's trust in the review system.  Without that system, people aren't sure if they're going to like a book.  Reviews at least gave people an idea of whether a book was worth their money and effort.  Ah, but quick fixes are so tempting.

I never really considered sock-puppeting.  It would take a lot of time, particularly to get any substantial return.  I'd rather spend that time doing things that created genuine fans and fan relationships.  It'll take a while to have a following; I know that.  I'm content to work on it.

Review of The Bone Sword

Book Review: The Bone Sword by Walter Rhein—êêê stars

Disclaimer: I received a free e-copy of this book for the review. 

Warning: There are spoilers and hints of spoilers in this review.

Bone Sword is a fantasy novel focusing on two children and a swordsman.  The swordsman, named Malik, is something of an antihero who is on the run from his powerful mentor in an elite guard.  Malik manages to also anger the local nobility and church leadership as he tries to find a place where he can sell his skills with the sword.  The two children are local peasants.  Jasmine and Noah start the story tending to their sick father; when Jasmine heals him using her divine powers, she comes to the notice of the local priesthood.  They see her abilities as a threat to their rule.  When Malik and the two children are caught up in the same prison, they help each other to escape—but soon their plans take them further than that.

The Bone Sword is a fun fantasy story with well-actualized characters.  The world is well-defined with clear rules about how magic works in the world.  It’s a fairly low powered world, with only two people possessing magical abilities.  As I mentioned, the characters are very strongly defined, particularly the three main characters.  Malik, Jasmine and Noah in particular are three-dimensional characters.  Malik’s flashbacks do a good job of establishing the PC, setting up the final confrontation nicely.  The book is written in a style that is engaging and easy to read.

My issues with the book/story revolve around the choices that the characters make.  The story has a very definite plot and it achieves that story even when it maybe shouldn’t.  The best example of this is when a character is deemed to be worthy of ruling for reasons that aren’t really supported.  The character hasn’t proven that they’re worthy to rule but it’s remarked that the person is worthy and several people swear fealty before they’ve proven their worth.  Characters also make foolish decisions—all of the villains are either overconfident or mad.  The good guys make some foolhardy blunders from which they have to be rescued.

However, I should emphasize that I still enjoyed the story.  The story is tight and stays on focus, and even if that sometimes feels forced, it means that the story doesn’t deviate from its course or wander into unnecessary arcs.  The final scenes come together well in the end, drawing on elements throughout the story to reach the emotionally satisfying conclusion. I would recommend this book for a fun fantasy adventure.

Inspiration

I'm always looking for inspiration for my posts.  Right now, I'm working on the project for High Stakes which is a story that involves games or gaming.  Though I'm a gamer nerd myself, I'm avoiding the obvious RPG idea.  I could have one of my characters doing that, but honestly I'm going to avoid that kind of connection.  I've got an idea for it, but its slow going.  Apparently I need more inspiration.

I thought I'd talk about inspiration.  I was talking with another writer today (its amazing how many people will confide in you that they're writing too once they know you have published a book) who confessed that he had writers block.  I've been there; we all have.  City of Promise took me almost a decade to write (though I had a draft done in 2008) because I let myself get distracted and set it aside.

I've been thinking about the other writer on and off, and so did what I do when pondering stuff: I went to Google.  A short search later, I came on a blog post called The Misconception that is Inspired Writing and Blogging.  The author talks about his first post of 2012; to summarize, he pointed out that his blog post wrote itself, but that he had to write it.  And that's the key to inspiration, in many ways: just writing, no matter whether you feel like it or not.  There are days it's easier and days it's harder; I've had days that my book just flowed and days where getting a few hundred words was a chore.

As far as external things that aid inspiration: music.  The right song can make or break my writing "flow".  An example of this is the fight scene in the Tiger Club in City of Promise.  I'm slightly embarrassed to admit it, but the song that inspired me to write that scene was Tokyo Drift, by Teriyaki Boyz.  And yes, that is the Tokyo Drift of Fast and Furious fame--or infamy, depending on the movie.  Regardless, I don't know that I particularly like the song, but when I was playing it, I could see the scene in my head clearly.

If you're wondering about the song, here it is.  It is J-Rap, just so you're warned.



Do you have any unusual sources of inspiration?  If so, I'd love to hear them.

As always, keep reading and writing.

Dawn

I'm published!

I can't believe it.  This is the day when I go from writer to author.  One is someone who writes; the other is someone who is published, who took that leap and made it.

There are a lot of things I want to say right now, but not many of them are coming out in words right now.  It's been years getting to this point, full of doubt and periods where I couldn't write and wasn't sure I was good enough.  It was only after my publisher picked up my book immediately that I began to think that maybe I'd been letting myself talk me out of my dream, rather than the world telling me I couldn't have it.

So what's next?  Why book number two, of course.  City of Promise it out now, but it's not the end of Misty's adventures in Gideon.  Additionally, I'm producing short stories to show other facets of Gideon and some of them will be posted here.  I'm also working on a submission of a Gideon short story for High Stakes, a vampire anthology by Evil Jester Press.  I'm toying with the idea of a fantasy steampunk world.

Additionally, I'm working for Perpetual Motion Games as a freelancer for their Exemplar RPG through the Savage Worlds line.  That's all I'm going to say for now, but when they have announcements and such, I'll be sure to notify my readers as well.

Happy reading and writing!

Dawn

Unfortunate Beginnings, Part 2

Three pops rang out as bright comets burst through the night; where they landed, her back erupted in flames.  Shen screamed, a terrible keening wail as her metal harness failed to stop the bullets and her jumpsuit caught fire.  “Fire, fire!  We’re under fire!” Peter screamed to the listening officers and heard others shouting the same thing.  He and the others dashed for the aero, using it for cover.  Shen was abandoned, forgotten; she was dead anyway.  Those ‘comets’ had been the tails of ‘leech-killers’; large incendiary rounds designed to melt through a vampire’s skin and set their bones on fire.  Shen would burn until she died. She was still screaming, thrashing on the ground but Peter could see her skin and bones were aflame.  

Peter cursed to himself as he heard the pilot of the support aero calling, “One on foot, heading clockwise.”  Had this happened in international waters, or in America, it would have been a victory for the good guys; time to grab a beer and share a toast.  Here in Gideon, it was ‘destruction of a sentient being’, which was murder. The term had been invented when it was pointed out that you couldn’t murder someone who was already dead.

Scowling, Peter jumped to the former prisoner transport.  “Go, go!” he shouted to the pilot.   Carson was the only other person to make it aboard before they started chasing after the support aero.  It was moving slowly, keeping the shooter in sight on the night cameras.  Their aero quickly gained; on the infrared camera, Peter tracked the runner.  “Cut him off,” Peter ordered, moving to the door.

Devon followed, clinging to the handle over the doorway. “Hell of a thing, huh?”  Peter looked at him.  “Five minutes ago, we were taking her to be killed.  Now we’re hunting down the guy that did shoot her.”

“That’s Gideon,” Peter said softly, making sure the safety was off the rifle.  He grabbed the handhold as the aero came around sharply; they could see the runner below.  The vehicle cut across his path and the runner recoiled, dodging left to dart between warehouses.  Peter cursed as the aero slid to a stop just over the ground, unable to follow.  Devon and Peter hopped out, their boots ringing on the pavement as they dashed up the alley between buildings.

They got to the end of the passage and stopped. Across the road was a building which forced the runner’s path to go left or right.  “Which way?” Devon asked.  Above them, the aero roared and whined, circling and looking.

“Go left,” Peter ordered.  He turned and went right as one of the aerocars turned to mirror his path above him.  Despite the hovering vehicle over him, Peter felt very alone.  That feeling worsened as he realized his path was taking him toward the open water.  Like many of Gideon’s residents, Peter tried not to think about living on a massive man-made island of concrete.  Seeing the open ocean was a stark reminder that Gideon sat in the middle of the Southern Atlantic, far from land.

“He’s on the end of the dock.”  The message from the pilot of the aero tightened Peter’s muscles.  There was no egress from that area; that meant that the shooter was trapped.  Vampires weren’t the only ones who were more dangerous when cornered.

“I’ve got him,” Peter said, as he stepped from between the rows of warehouses.  He could see the solitary form at the end of the docks, standing in the pool of radiance from the streetlight.  Peter stalked forward, his rifle at the ready.  The form at the end of the dock was turned away from him, but before he’d gotten to the halfway point, the form turned.  “Drop your weapon!” Peter cried.  Behind the shooter, the Atlantic raged, throwing up waves that dashed against the pier, creating an extra layer of mist that hung in the air.  The smell of salt was heavy, almost bitter. “Drop your weapon now!”

The rifle clattered to the concrete wharf.  “Lay down on the ground!” Peter ordered.  The man said something.  “Down on the ground!”

“Why are you defending that thing?” the shooter asked, pitching his voice to be heard over the wind and waves.

“We’re not having this debate.  You’re getting down, or I’m shooting you,” Peter snarled angrily.  He wasn’t really sure he could shoot an unarmed man who wasn’t threatening him.  He was sure he should.

“No, you’re not.  That thing is a predator, and the idiots who run this city think that if we feed them bagged blood we’ve leashed the beasts,” the shooter said.  Peter was finally close enough to see the man.  He was no one special; brown hair and dark eyes, with a medium build.  The features of his face were hidden behind a ski mask.  He was dressed in dark, non-descript clothing.  “All we’ve done is invite them to sit at the table with us.”

“That’s not for us to decide.  Last warning – get down or I’m putting you down,” Peter ordered.  He could feel the weight of the rifle, after holding it up for this long, pulling down on his arms.

“Do you truly think they’re going to be content to be in our shadows forever?”  The man was strangely calm.  Peter felt just as calm, even as he reached up and pulled the microphone plug from his helmet.

“No,” Peter heard himself say.  “I don’t.”

The shooter inhaled sharply.  “Then why are doing this?  Why are you protecting them?”

Peter thought of Bridgette and her secretive smile.  He remembered the look of barely restrained fury on her face when she first saw him.  “I protect humans, and I can’t do that if I’m not a cop,” Peter answered.  “My job means I do things I don’t like.  But when I put a vampire away, when I put them on a ship headed out of here knowing that they’re going to burn, I feel a little bit better.”

The man nodded.  “I can respect that.  What’d they do to you?”

Peter swallowed.  “She betrayed me.  I went against what I believed in to help her, and she screwed me over.  You?”

“They’re our predators,” the shooter said, his voice turning hard.  “I can’t understand why we wouldn’t see them as our enemy, why we don’t raise arms against them and wipe them off the face of the earth.”

“I don’t disagree with you,” Peter said, shifting his grip on the gun, “but I can’t go against the law.  Get down.  I won’t tell you again.” 

“Bendoit, I’m almost there!” Carson’s voice rang in his ears.

“And I won’t be subject to the injustice system of Gideon.”  The subject took a step back.  Peter heard himself shout a denial as the shooter tumbled off the end of the dock.  The cop dashed to the edge as the aero came around and dropped below the edge of dock, the spotlight panning over the water, trying to find him.

“You alright?” Carson asked as he stopped next to him.

“Yeah.”  Peter heard the rage in his own voice.  He was pissed at the turn of events.  Why had the man done this? What statement had he needed to make with shooting Shen?  She was dead anyway, once she reached America. The only thing the shooter had done was bring about his own arrest or death?

Peter gripped his gun tighter.  “I’m fine,” he said unnecessarily, though he wasn’t.  There were questions and he would find the answers.  

Unfortunate Beginnings, Part 1

Prisoner transfers were never handled lightly.  Every one was carefully planned and implemented to ensure that nothing went wrong. The officers in question attempted to anticipate every possible outcome, whether they could control it or not.  Tonight, the weather was interfering; a winter squall had come in over the Altantic, washing over the floating city of Gideon.

The stakes were even higher when the prisoner was a vampire.   Peter Bendiot was nervous for that reason; in all of his years of dealing with the undead, he’d learned that they were most dangerous when cornered.  Miu Shen was facing deportation to America.  She’d be burned alive, probably within five minutes of hitting US sovereign soil.  If she was going to try something to effect an escape, it would be now.

The door of the holding facility opened and Peter straightened, feeling his muscles tense.  Two guards walked out backwards, looking like robots in their body armor.  Their masks guarded their vision and supplied air if oxygen was cut off.  They had padding around their necks to blunt a strike to the neck; their arms, upper legs and torsos were covered with puncture-resistant plating over a kevlar underlayer.  They seemed to hulk over their prisoner; Shen was a deceptively small form, shadowed on either side by the officers escorting her.  The small Asian woman in an orange jumpsuit shuffled forward, her steps restricted by the titanium alloy leg restraints.  Not only were her ankles secured, but her knees and thighs were restrained by the strong metal as well, forcing her steps to measure in the mere inches.  Her arms were wrapped around her, held by a metal harness as if in a straight-jacket.

Her path was forced by the metal rods held by the officers; similar to those used to control vicious animals, these were attached to her harness.  A handful of green laser guides swarmed from the night to waver over her heart.  With her head down and the bite-guard covering the lower half of her face, she looked subdued and meek.

Peter doubted that.  Vampires were stubborn when it came to giving up their own lives.  They sold others much more cheaply, he mused darkly.  Her victim, Jeremy Matthews, was lucky to be alive.  His rifle was the source of one of those dots, glowing brightly on the orange cloth.  He took steady steps back, keeping his bead on her.  

Behind Shen, the two guards were using more restraining poles widened their positions as well, forming a rough X with Shen at the center.   Another seven officers were watching her tensely, their sidearms out. Like Peter, they’d be loaded with incendiary rounds.  If you could get a vampire to burn, you could kill them quickly.

The waiting aerocar idled behind Peter, its Harrier engines shoving against his armored body.  Above them, another aero hovered; it had three more officers waiting to support them from the air, if needed.  He carefully backed up the ramp as the officers guiding her stopped their progress.  The others watched, their guns pointed at the floor.  The space was getting tight; the arcs of fire without friendlies were closing.  Still, there wasn’t a moment when she wasn’t covered by at least two men. It wasn’t until Peter and another officer, Devon Carson, had secured themselves behind the bars of the guard cage that the officers moved forward. Peter and Devon aimed their guns at her, unwavering as the two forward guards entered and secured her restraining rods to the wall.  They eased around her and helped the two men in the rear secure her as well.  The four of them left together, leaving her with the two guards.

On the other side of the metal plate that separated the passengers from the transport section, Peter could hear the other officers talking as they boarded, strapping themselves into the restraints.  He should have felt better knowing that comrades were just on the other side of the thick plate, but he felt irrationally abandoned, left alone with a killer.

As if she’d heard the mental critique, Shen lifted her head.  Her dark eyes met Peter’s blue ones, hard, cold and dead.  “You think the worst of me,” she said, English melodic and accented.  Her voice was flat and monotone, empty and lifeless.

“You’re a prisoner, that’s all,” Peter said coolly, his voice sounding hollow in his helmet.  His words were broadcast over the helmet’s speakers, making him sound like a robot.  His words weren’t true, though; Peter hated vampire.  He hated their strength and ability; the ease with which they moved through their death.  He hated that they preyed on humans and lived off of them.  But most of all, he hated that Gideon gave them sanctuary instead of hunting them like every other country in the world did.

“No, it’s not,” she said softly, shifting as the aero lifted off the tarmac.  The vehicle came around, forcing Peter to put a hand on the wall as a brace.  Devon shifted and stumbled as well.  Shen, even restrained, barely moved, her prodigious strength allowing her to retain her balance.   “Were that all, you would not be staring at me like that.”

“You wanna know my issue with you? Fine.  You almost killed that kid,” Devon snapped.  Peter’s partner was darkly colored, with brown hair and deep brown eyes.  Those eyes burned with outrage, the fury of the protector of the predator facing the prey.  

“I love Jeremy,” Shen said, her voice filling with something other than apathy.  “He is beautiful.  He made me feel alive.”

Devon snorted.  “That’s what you leeches always say when you’re guzzling down our blood,” he sneered.

“Enough,” Peter said.  “Don’t talk to it.”

“The laws of your city allow me the right to be ‘her’, not ‘it’,” Shen growled.  Her eyes glittered with anger now, which was not something Peter liked.  Those dark, almond eyes dredged up bad memories-

“You said you loved me, Peter!”

“Sorry,” he said, not really meaning it but knowing that she’d be a hundred times more dangerous riled.  They were always most dangerous when cornered.  “Carson, leave her alone.  Don’t talk to her.”

Carson’s face through the visor was unhappy.  His stance was stiff and angry, even as winter winds forced the aero to shift again. Both of the humans compensated; the vampire merely shifted her weight. When the aero leveled out, Carson remained silent, which made Peter happy.

They rode in silence to the docks, where the loading procedure was repeated in reverse, moving with exacting care.  Peter and Devon were the last to disembark, keeping their guns trained on Shen.  The wind blew harder here, on the edge of open water.  Peter couldn’t hear, but he knew that the whistle of the wind would be harmonized by the roar of the ocean waves, crashing against Gideon’s sides.  The aero’s pilot had done a good job despite the heavy winds; they were less than a hundred feet from the ship.  “Let’s go,” Peter said, casting a nervous glance around the area.  

The group began its careful way to the open cargo container that would be the prisoner’s holding cell.  Peter tensed more and more as they approached.  Criminals always got more nervous the closer they got to confinement.  This would be her last incarceration, her last chance to escape lasting death.  Shen’s head was higher, her steps were no longer small because of the restraints.  She’s going to run, Peter thought, settling his rifle harder against his shoulder, making sure his green dot was dead on her heart.  She’s going to try to-