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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 26:Clara Pretty Pet, Part 1

Though not an Executioner, as Malik's pet, Clara wanted to have her say. This story takes place in 1761 in The Guild's den in New York, six years after Byrn's story.

***

Clara pressed her ear to the thick door. She could hear the voices inside: Malick and Ark. One of the Enforcers, Ark was a tall immortal with a slender frame. His long chestnut hair caught the candle light to shimmer with a million highlights, and his green eyes were ringed in darker emerald. Whenever she saw him, she thought of a fairy prince from a storybook.

Now, though, closeted with his master, his voice was rough, angry. "It was only my quick thinking that stopped all of us from dying. To be afraid is one thing, but to be a coward another."

Malick laughed, a low, heavy rumble, like summer thunder. "And why did you not kill him yourself?"

There was a moment of hesitation, then Ark's reply came. "I thought, perhaps, you would prefer chastisement to death."