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Tales of the Executioners

Joleene Naylor is the author of the glitter-less Amaranthine vampire universe, a world where vampires aren't for children. Comprised of a main series, a standalone prequel, and several short story collections, she has plans to continue expanding with a trilogy and standalone novels. In her spare time, Joleene is a freelance book cover designer and for-fun photographer. She maintains several blogs, full of odd ramblings, and occasionally updates her website at JoleeneNaylor.com. In what little time is left, she watches anime, plays PokemonGo, and works on her crooked Victorian house in Villisca, Iowa. Between her husband, family, and pets, she is never lonely, in fact, quite the opposite. Should she disappear, one might look for her on a beach in Tahiti, sipping a tropical drink and wearing a disguise. Twenty-nine short stories of love, death, heartbreak, and blood. Meet the Executioners, elite enforcers of the vampires’ laws. Walk with them through origin stories, follow them across the sea to the colonies, and run with them through the wilds, as they try to bring civilization to a land ruled by “day sleeper” clans. Fifteen interwoven stories tell the beginning of The Guild, set under the watchful - and sometimes malevolent - gaze of the ancient Malick, whose heavy shadow stretches even across the sea. Meet his favorite son, his willful daughter, his child-like pet, and many more whose jealousies, hatreds, and loves twist together to create consequences they can’t foresee.

Joleene Naylor · Horror
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186 Chs

Chapter 153: Kioko - On Equal Terms, Part 1

This story takes place in late December, during the novel Ashes of Deceit [in the Amaranthine Saga], two months after Franklin's story.

***

Kioko stood uncomfortably to the side while Ark gave the guards instructions. Two weeks ago she'd been one of them; dressed in black and taking orders. Now she was one of the elite, an Executioner, chosen by Malick, the head of the Guild.

It's strange, she thought. After more than a hundred years of immortality, two weeks can make all the difference. Just two weeks.

Her appointment had come at Bren's expense. Earlier that month he'd been killed in an altercation with Jorick, the legendary Hand of Death. Though Kioko had never met Jorick he'd been an Executioner and quit long before she moved to the citadel she'd heard the awed whispers, the stories of things he'd done; vampires he'd murdered, superhuman deeds she doubted any vampire could accomplish.