VAMPIRE'S THIRST by Cynthia Garner (May 6, 2014; Forever Yours E-Book; $3.99)
THE FEEDING
In a post-apocalyptic wasteland, civilization no longer exists, and only the strongest survive. The few remaining humans must band together with supernatural beings to battle unspeakable evil-or all hope will be lost.After accidentally starting the zombie apocalypse, Kimber Treat now lives with her vampire lover in a compound where humans and vampires live together peacefully. A gifted necromancer who can summon the dead, Kimber is beyond happy when she learns she's pregnant. But as her body changes, Kimber fears that her powers are being influenced by evil, a fact she must keep from everyone, including Duncan . . .
Duncan MacDonnough is preoccupied with his new role as leader of the local vampire conclave, but not so preoccupied that he doesn't notice that Kimber is acting strangely. She's grown distant, and Duncan is convinced she's hiding something. Duncan knows the key to stopping the apocalypse is Kimber's powers, but using them puts her life at risk. With the threat from the Zombie outbreak looming, will Kimber and Duncan learn to trust each other once more to save themselves, their unborn child, and the rest of the world?
In a post-apocalyptic wasteland, civilization no longer exists, and only the strongest survive. The few remaining humans must band together with supernatural beings to battle unspeakable evil-or all hope will be lost.After accidentally starting the zombie apocalypse, Kimber Treat now lives with her vampire lover in a compound where humans and vampires live together peacefully. A gifted necromancer who can summon the dead, Kimber is beyond happy when she learns she's pregnant. But as her body changes, Kimber fears that her powers are being influenced by evil, a fact she must keep from everyone, including Duncan . . .
Duncan MacDonnough is preoccupied with his new role as leader of the local vampire conclave, but not so preoccupied that he doesn't notice that Kimber is acting strangely. She's grown distant, and Duncan is convinced she's hiding something. Duncan knows the key to stopping the apocalypse is Kimber's powers, but using them puts her life at risk. With the threat from the Zombie outbreak looming, will Kimber and Duncan learn to trust each other once more to save themselves, their unborn child, and the rest of the world?
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She
fought back rising nausea. Since when was just thinking about morning sickness
enough to make her feel ill? She swallowed the bile rising in her throat, and
swallowed again before she realized that she really was going to throw up. She
bounded off the bed and rocketed into the bathroom, barely making it in time.
As
she rose to her feet and reached for the mouthwash, she started counting days.
Telling herself to not be silly, she realized how long it had been since she’d
had a period and felt her skin go clammy. At least two months. She hadn’t
really thought about it until now, but even if she had, she would’ve assumed
her lack of monthly bleeding was stress-related and not from the rare
possibility of being pregnant with a vampire’s child.
“God.”
She stared at her wan reflection in the mirrored medicine cabinet above the
sink. “I can’t be pregnant. Please don’t let me be pregnant.”
She
had part of the Unseen in her. How would that affect a fetus?
First
things first. She had to know for sure. Pregnancy tests weren’t something
vampires kept around, and she sure as hell had never thought she’d need one.
But now she did, and that meant a trip to the nearest drugstore. The shelves
were probably mostly empty, but how many looters had decided pregnancy tests
were necessary items in an apocalypse?
She
went back into the bedroom and threw on her clothes. On her way through the
living room, she picked up her trusty hatchet and slid the handle through a
belt loop on her side. She opened the door and headed toward Duncan’s office,
glad that the two guards outside their suite didn’t comment on the weapon
hanging at her side.
Giving
a perfunctory knock on the door, she pushed it open, glad to see Duncan was
alone. “Hey.”
His
brows drew into a frown, and he got up and came around the desk. “Hey,
yourself.” He pulled her into a loose embrace and stared into her face.
“What’re you doing up?” Gently he pushed her back a little, his frown growing.
“And why are you dressed like you’re going out?”
“Because
I am going out,” she said with a smile. “I need—”
“Duncan,”
a deep voice intruded, “I hesitate to impose further upon your hospitality— Oh,
I apologize. I didn’t realize you had someone with you.”
Kimber
turned to see one of the most gorgeous men she’d ever laid eyes on hesitating just
inside the room. He stood a few inches over six feet, with shiny black hair
that fell to the top of his broad shoulders and dark blue eyes framed by thick
lashes.
Duncan
pulled Kimber to his side. “Xavier,” he said with a smile. “You wanted to meet
my very good friend Kimber Treat. Here she is.”
Kimber
shot him a glance. Very good friend?
What the hell?
“Kimber,
this is Xavier Vachon, leader of the Cleveland enclave.”
She
gave the model-gorgeous vampire a smile of welcome. “It’s a pleasure to meet
you,” she said, and shook the vampire’s hand.
“The
pleasure is mine,” he responded with a slight smile curling his lips.
“I
hope you and Duncan were able to make progress,” she said.
“Yes,
indeed.” His gaze lingered on her face before dropping to her waist to light
upon the hatchet. He met her eyes again. “You are braving the wilds, then?”
She
nodded. “Yep. Need to run out for some…things.” Duncan placed one broad hand on
her shoulder. “Kimber, we need to talk about this.”
She
glanced at him. “It’s not a big deal. I just need…” She shot a look at Xavier.
It was bad enough that she was going to flat-out lie to Duncan, but she was
going to do it in front of another vampire king, and to top it off, the lie she
was using was that she needed feminine hygiene products. There was no getting
around it, so she just blurted it out. “I need tampons.”
Duncan’s
nostrils flared as he drew in a breath. “You’re not having your period.”
Damn
vampire sense of smell. “Not yet. I’m due to start any time.” She held his gaze
and tried to ignore the fact that they were talking about such a private thing
in front of a stranger. “I can’t sit around an enclave full of vampires and not
have tampons, Duncan.”
He
looked at her, and finally a sigh left him. He glanced out the window. She
followed his gaze to see the sky was lightening as dawn approached. “Fine,” he
said. “But take Atticus with you.”
She
leaned up and kissed him on the cheek. “Thanks. I will.” Turning, she headed
toward the door. “It was nice to meet you,” she told Xavier as she passed him.
“You
too,” Xavier responded. As she pulled the door closed behind her, she heard him
murmur, “If you have a moment, Duncan, I had another idea for the corridor.”
Kimber
ducked back into her rooms long enough to grab a backpack, then headed down to
the security office on the ground floor. Atticus was there with two other
vampires. “I need to hit a drugstore,” she told him as she shrugged into the
backpack. “Duncan wants you to go with me.”
Atticus
glanced at his wristwatch. “Give us a few minutes to get ready,” he said.
“I’ll
wait in the lobby.” Kimber walked out to the main receiving area and dropped
onto a sofa. So far, so good. She really, really hoped the nearest drugstore, a
couple of blocks away on Broadway, had what she needed. She didn’t want to drag
her posse of vampires all over town, especially if she found tampons at the
first one. What excuse would she give to get them to go to another store?
She
heard footsteps and looked up to see Atticus coming her way, the two guards behind
him. “Let’s go,” he said.
She
could tell from the look on his face that he’d double-checked her story with
Duncan and wasn’t happy being assigned babysitting duties. Oh well, sometimes
it sucked being the second-in-command during a zombie apocalypse.
Sometimes
it sucked being the possibly pregnant lover of a vampire during a zombie
apocalypse, too.
About the author:
Cynthia Garner discovered her love for writing when her sixth grade teacher told the class to write a story that began "It was a dark and stormy night..." With that Cynthia's love for all things paranormal was born. When she's not working her day job as a mostly mild-mannered Human Resources Manager, she's on her laptop writing or playing way too much Solitaire. Originally from Northeast Ohio, Cynthia now lives in the desert Southwest.
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My Review:
Another great installment to the series. This one is even more action filled and sexier than the first!
Not much time has passed between the first book and this one. Duncan is trying to make the compound even safer for the humans. While Kimber is still working on a way to try and stop the zombies.
Kimber is definitely very moody in this one. She's battling the unseen that's inside her and finding out that she's pregnant. She doesn't want to raise a child in this environment and knows that she has to find a way to stop it. Duncan is wanting to protect Kimber but knows that she has to delve into her necromantic powers to try and stop the apocalypse. Even if it is a risk to himself.
This one is a whole lot steamier than the first. Amongst all the zombies and vampires they still are all over each other. They have amazing chemistry and I love them as a couple.
I was a little disappointed that it ended so fast. I can only hope for more in this series.
Here's my review for the first one Vampire's Hunger
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Funny thing, my DH has already picked out the place we are going to go in the event of a zombie apocalypse. The Walking Dead got him thinking. :) So if it does happen we have a plan.
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