Jessica Sorensen's Blog: Darkness Falls Series

Darkness Fades (Darkness Falls Series, Book 3) Final Book

Description and cover coming soon.

Darkness Breaks (Darkness Falls Series, Book 2) Now Available

Cover by Mae I Design

Kayla made her choice and now she has to live with it. She stays with the Day Takers, hiding in the city, staking vampires. But fighting vampires as a human is difficult.
Sylas constantly pressures Kayla to choose the life of a Day Taker. But until Kayla knows what Monarch is planning, she can’t make her choice. Plus there’s Aiden. No matter how hard she tries, she can’t stop thinking about him.

As Kayla’s memories resurface, the pieces of her history unfold. She learns of Cell 7, a place that Kayla believes holds the answers to the creation of the virus. But getting to Cell 7 is a dangerous mission. And with Kayla's strength weakening, it's one mission she might not make it through alive.

Darkness Breaks teaser:

The rain pours down like needles against my skin. The sky booms, lightning bolts flash sliver across the cloudy sky. The vampires are screaming, begging me to stop. But I can’t. This is what I’m meant to do.

I pursue them, running down the vacant streets, weaving through rusty cars, my boots kicking up the glass and mud on the road. The vampire I target, a tall one with fleshless skin and bloodless eyes, scurries around a burning barrel and jumps onto the steps that lead to a building of shiny steel. It bolts for the doors, its bare feet shedding skin. Clutching the stake, I charge after it and with a swift launch off the bottom step, I’m airborne, soaring through the darkness. But my boot catches against the railing, and just as quick as I caught up to the monster, it vanishes inside the building.

“Dammit!” I crash to the muddy ground, skinning my hands on rocks. I let out a frustrated scream. With each passing day, my strength and fighting skills slip away from me.

“If you’d just take the medicine, then that vampire would be dead by now.” Sylas creeps from the shadows of the cars, dressed head-to-toe in black, dark eyes that light up like coals against the fires burning in the streets. His hands are stuffed in his pockets and his dark hair brushes across his forehead. “You’re mortality is your weakness, Kayla.”

Pushing to my feet, I scowl at him. “I’ve told you, I’m not going to do that… yet. I’m not sure if I want to.”

He backs me against the railing and traps me between his arms. “I think you want to, you’re just holding back because of a certain someone.”

“You mean Aiden.” I straighten my shoulders, confident and strong, and look him straight in the eye. “I’m not going to change until I know what I’m supposed to do.”

“Always following Monarch’s orders.” He coils a strand of my long, black hair around his finger. “I thought after everything you’ve learned, you’d have given up on him by now.”

“I’ve learned nothing.” It takes a lot, but I shove him back. “Emmy’s gotten nowhere with my memories.”

He lets out a low laugh and touches his chest where I shoved him. “Always so feisty.”

A shrill shriek pierces the air and our gazes dart to the street.

“Shouldn’t you be hiding out with the rest of the Day Takers?” I flip the stake in my hand and slide it in the back pocket of my jeans. “Or do you have a death wish.”

He winks at me and backs toward the road. “I was just seeing if you’d made any progress with the whole slaying thing.” His dark eyes wander to the top of the stairs where I lost the vampire. “Looks like a owe Emmy a shot of amortire.”

Amortire is the Day Taker’s “special” medicine. It’s a numbing solution they take to block out their cravings, but honestly I think they use it more for recreational purposes than anything, just like they do with most things.

“You were placing bets on me.” I stomp after him, past the fires, and dip into the shadows of the cars.

“Hey.” He grins through the night, long legs stretching as he maneuvers gracefully over the dented hood of a small car. “I was betting you’d be kicking ass.”

“Sorry to disappoint you.” I hop over the hood of a car and slip clumsily onto the ground.

“Take the medicine, Kayla,” he calls out, barely a silhouette anymore. The rain lets up, the sky calming down. “You’ll never be able to pull anything off if you don’t.”

I stop in the center of the street, listening to the vampire’s shrieks rattle against the buildings’ walls as monsters hide from me, the one and only person they want nothing to do with.

It hasn’t been that long since I left Aiden and the others, but it feels like an eternity. I don’t regret my decision to leave. Not yet, anyway. If it turns out Emmy can’t extract my memories, then I might be kicking my own butt.

I sigh and head down the street. I can’t see Sylas anymore, but I don’t care. I know where I’m going; to a place where I feel just as uncomfortable as I did in The Colony.

I take my time, lollygagging along the curb of the street, my boots grazing against the broken pieces of concrete. My hand moves for my knife as I spot a vampire crawling from the shadows, fangs drooling, skinless fingers clawing at the sidewalk. I pause and take a step back, knocking my hip into a bumper.

“What on earth?” I squint through the dark at two outlines of pale white figures with feathery white hair and flawless skin.

Highers.

Cover design by: Mae I Design & Photography

When the disease spread through the world, people had no choice but to go into hiding. The Colony is hidden deep underground, far away from the vampires—humans that were transformed by the disease. The vampires are hideous, starving, and they will kill any human they come across.
Seventeen-year-old Kayla is a Bellator, a warrior that protects The Colony. In order to survive, there are three rules she must follow:
Rule #1—Never go out after dark.
Rule #2—Always carry a weapon.
Rule #3—No matter what, never EVER get bit.
But what happens when the rules Kayla has always lived by can no longer apply?
The Highers run The Colony and accept nothing less than perfection. One slip up can mean death. Kayla has always worked hard to follow the rules and strive for perfection. But during a moment of weakness, she lets her imperfections show. Her punishment is worse than death. She is chosen for The Gathering and is thrown out into a world full of starving vampires.
No one has ever survived The Gathering, at least that’s what Kayla’s been told. But when she runs into a group who insist they were once part of The Gathering, Kayla discovers the Highers have been keeping secrets. Secrets that could lead to a cure.

Available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, smashwords, and itunes.

Chapter 1

The sky is black, the streets are full of cries, and my clothes are drenched with either rain or blood…maybe both. I’ve broken a rule and the consequences could be severe.
Rule #1—Never go out after dark.
The broken buildings, lost in the dirt of disease, tower the sides of the debris-covered roads. I swing a sharp right and dip down into the underground tunnels, away from the dead city, away from them. But a hand grabs the back of the shirt and yanks me back.
My weapon slips from my fingers and falls to the ground, clanking against the cement ground.
Another rule broke: rule #2—Always carry a weapon.
The monster snarls, fangs gleaming, drool dripping from its rotting lips. I squirm from its grip and dodge to the right, but another one appears, just as hungry, and blocks my exit. I’m cornered. I inch back, my back pressing against the concrete walls that soaked with filthy water which seeps into my clothes.
It’s as dark as death down here, but I can still make out the blood dripping from the monsters eyes, the gaping wounds mapping its flesh. Its fangs tremble for my neck, desperate to devour—needing to feed. I search the ground for my weapon—I need my weapon.
But it seizes me by the shoulders and presses its fleshless fingers into my arms. My skin starts to give. If it breaks, I’ll be infected. I should be afraid—I should fear for my life. But I’m hollow.
I kick the monster between the legs, but it doesn’t faze …maybe it’s not male? Male or not, I’ve pissed it off. It tips its head back and growls. Then it clutches my throat. Blood pours from its eyes. I ram my elbow into its chest, hard. But it barely budges. It’s a strong one.
They all are.
And humans are weak.
It dips its nose toward my neck and takes a deep whiff, like I’m a top grade sirloin steak. I whack it in the chest and kick it in the shin, refusing to give up. Finally, it loses balance and stumbles backwards. Not missing a beat, I skittered around it and swerve around the other one. Then I run.
But a few steps later, I fall, my nose cracking against the concrete. I roll over, moaning in pain. The monster hover above me, blood dripping out of it’s eyes like raindrops. Not a good sign. The more blood, the hungrier it is. It assess me over with blood soaked eyes. Death is looking me right in the eyes, yet why am I not afraid? This is the closest they’ve ever gotten to me and I should be terrified.
It’s lips part. “No!”
My blood freezes. I’ve never heard one speak. I didn’t think they could speak.
It turns away from me, and wanders back down the tunnel, the other one following at its heels.
I stay on the ground, my jaw slack with shock. Because vampires never EVER leave humans alive.

Darkness Falls (Darkness Falls Series, Book 1) is now available at Amazon, Barnes & Nobles, smashwords, and itunes.