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    Gem: No Fear
    Gem: No Fear
    Gem: No Fear
    Ebook75 pages55 minutes

    Gem: No Fear

    By Craig Jones

    ()

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    About this ebook

    In this fourth Craig Jones vampire short story, Gem wears the Norse god’s pendant and is empowered with the un-light. For the first time in her undead life she is free of the darkness. Experiencing the vibrant life of New York City during daylight hours fills her with a sense of normalcy, but she soon discovers the pendant has some serious side effects: headaches, visions of the past, and the appearance of ‘the smoking man’ who will reveal her past human life and tear her undead world apart.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherTWB Press
    Release dateJan 23, 2012
    ISBN9781936991372
    Gem: No Fear
    Author

    Craig Jones

    Originally from South Wales, I have held a wide range of jobs from tennis player to gym manager to health service worker. I turned 40 in October, am married to Claire, and we have an insane ginger cat called Wookie. I went to school with Catherine Zeta-Jones, have played tennis with Jamie Redknapp, and coached Great Britain’s first ever World Number One tennis player. I have always loved horror stories, having grown up with Jason Voorhees and his slasher friends, and I love writing them even more. The thought of taking normal people and putting them in terrifying situations gives me a fantastic buzz. I hope to convey that buzz to my readers in every story I write.

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      Book preview

      Gem - Craig Jones

      Gem – No Fear

      By

      Craig Jones

      Copyright by Craig Jones 2011

      Published by TWB Press at Smashwords

      All rights reserved. No part of this story (eBook) may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without written permission of the author, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or book reviews.

      This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidences are either a product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to any actual person, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

      This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

      Edited by Terry Wright

      Cover art by Terry Wright

      ISBN 978-1-936991-37-2

      By

      Craig Jones

      Facing Fear

      Lying on my back, I watched a thin beam of sunlight reach across the room to my bed. I glanced at Katrina, still fast asleep next to me, her cheek buried in the pillow, and her gorgeous mane of blonde hair fanned out over her neck and shoulders. The Egyptian cotton sheets, cool on my back, failed to cool the hot anxiety that burned in my chest. My heart pounded harder than a piston pumping in my Porsche as the prospect of excruciating pain and certain death edged toward my left hand outstretched on the sheets.

      My breath stuck in my throat like a glob of molten rubber. A tiny chink in the curtains had conspired against me and allowed my most mortal enemy, the sun, into my room. I traced the path the golden beam would take as it slid yet closer, now less than six inches from my perfectly manicured fingernails.

      A hundred bucks worth at Madam Lucy’s Spa and Tan.

      Still, I was surprised to find my memory drawn to a movie I’d seen. A man lay tied to a steel table as a laser sliced a fiery line towards his groin. You expect me to talk? he asked. No, Mister Bond, came the reply. I expect you to die.

      Am I about to die?

      My right hand moved to my neck, and trembling fingers snagged the delicate but resilient chain, which I traced to the pendant resting between my breasts. I grasped it the way a little girl would grasp her father’s finger and take her first steps into a new world of mobility. If myth and legend were to be trusted and believed, The Mjölnir pendant had protected Nótt, the Norse Goddess of Darkness, from the power of the sun.

      But will it protect me?

      I had no doubt that Katrina believed it would free me from the darkness and make me a Daywalker. And if what I’d read over the years was true then she was right. I had nothing to fear but fear itself.

      And I should fear nothing!

      The morning sun’s emissary of vampire death edged nearer to my sacrificial left hand.

      For I am Gem!

      I closed my eyes and flexed the offered fingers. I’d been tensing them so tightly they’d begun to cramp. The waiting was killing me. I should tear open the curtains right now and face the sun with all my might.

      But I didn’t have to be so dramatic. In mere seconds, the beam would reach my flesh and either pass over my hand harmlessly or sear it to charred meat, drowning me in waves of revulsion, nausea, and ungodly pain.

      But I will not scream!

      I didn’t want to terrify little Angel and Maria asleep downstairs.

      I’m risking my undead life here...for Katrina.

      If the legend was true and the Mjölnir protected me, then I’d always be available for her, night and day. And for Angel and for Maria too. They’d never have to fear facing danger alone again.

      Because of my job, I’ve put their lives at risk too many times.

      If I only had to consider my own safety, then my profession as a vampire hit-woman for the New York underworld was all well

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