OFFICIAL "RELICT" BOOK SERIES BLOG


THE RELICT Book Series  
This is the place for the latest info on the release of the critically acclaimed VAMPIRE Book Series!




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Shadow Speak

Words, Phrases, Idioms 
from the 
World of the Vampires 
Living Amongst Us

From RELICT Book Two - Shadows in the Light



A Shadow Affirmation 
Reminding Vampires to stay on a path 
Free from any viable Threat to their Amortality. 


In via ambulate in ...
Mortem non latere utrinque
Nec manet ut postularet mei finis.

On the Road I Walk…
Death does not lurk on either side,
Nor shall it be Waiting for Me at the End.


A Commonly Used Shadow Phrase
Six Words defining the General Philosophy 
guiding the thoughts and actions 
of a vampire's Existence.  



Mortem non expectare ad me

Death does not Wait for Me


A Shadow’s Phrase of Endearment
Words used to declare the Undying Love and commitment 
to another Shadow, 
whether the two vampires are 
literally or figuratively blood related. 


Qui et semper, et sanguinis mei.


One Who Is, and Will Always Be, Of My Blood. 


The Abbreviated Phrase of Endearment 
More often spoken between two Shadows.


Sanquinis mei

Of My Blood 



The Essential Shadow Mantra 
One of the earliest Collected Thoughts 
Originating from a Vampire.
The Standard First Words heard by the Newly turned. 


As a Shadow, We Dwell in the Darkness, 

Finding Shelter and Comfort in the Night.
Always Aware Our Future Lies…
In the Challenge of Embracing the Light.



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Vampires have taken Over the World. 

Of those who survived the holocaust...
 Most have become prisoners in concentration camps. 

The captured are kept Alive to Tap their Blood

For the Undead.
If the Living are to reclaim the planet... 
The rebellion begins with an Escape from Captivity. 
All the Prisoners of CCC187 must be willing...

To Bleed for the Living... Or Die Donating Blood to the Undead. 

EXCERPT FROM THE RELICT VAMPIRE SERIES 

SHADOWS IN THE LIGHT




She pushed the front door open and was surprised that there was no odious smell to welcome her return. 
    Beth had not been back to her home since the vampire takeover. Walking into the living room, she immediately saw the reason the place was tolerable to her nose — the glass pane that took up most of the wall facing the street had been shattered, allowing for clear ventilation that swept away the stench of death. During the first days after the vampire takeover, Beth opted to stay put, hiding her house while everyone else living on her street made a different choice. Every one of her neighbors packed their belongings in their cars and left. Each one she spoke with had a different reason to explain their flight from their homes, but none made any sense to her. 
   Later, when the vampires began their first sweeps of the neighborhood, Beth was the only one left on her block. She hid in the house’s underground cellar to avoid being taken prisoner by the blood patrols. After being there for more than a week, she took a chance, during the daylight, and responded to a voice that sounded like it was still part of the Living. 
    “If there’s anyone down there, you need to shout out now… or be left behind for the blood suckers…” 
   That’s how she met Ryan, and the other members of the resistance group she eventually joined. Every time there was a reason to go back to her house – to retrieve supplies, tools, even weapons that would help in the resistance – Ryan would volunteer to go instead of her. 
    As Beth moved through her living room, what she saw took some time to process. Clearly, there was some kind of confrontation, one involving a wounded vampire. Blood was splattered all over the walls. The furniture lay scattered across the floor. The stain in the carpet revealed that someone had fallen and bled, but did not stay down. Beth’s flashlight then revealed a
gummy bear laying on the carpet. Inches away were more gummy bears next to her open jewelry box. 
    Matt had definitely been in the house. Her ex-husband probably thought he could take down the vampire with bullets. The entire world had changed overnight, but Matt was still stuck in the only world he felt comfortable living in; one where bullets stopped any immediate threat, but didn't necessarily address the larger problem. 
    Beth shut off her flashlight, but she was not able to shut off all the thoughts that rushed across her brain begging to be recognized. 
    He had come back.  
    For her.  
    Or so he said.  
   It was the same Matt that had made her life a living hell even before the vampires took over the world.  
  Coming back to the house had been a huge mistake. What was she thinking?  
    There was nothing here.  
    Now or... then.  
    She needed to leave immediately.  
  But after taking just a few steps toward the front door, Beth stopped. 
    The garden room. 
    Beth thought to herself, that if she did not check it out now, there would probably never be another chance. 

In the dark, Beth made her way to the middle of the garden room with only one thought — all around me is death.  
    She couldn’t smell it. Even when a flower dies, the smell of its' death eventually disappears into the surrounding air. 
    Beth turned on her flashlight and panned it across the garden. Her eyes saw the devastation she felt the moment she entered the room. When she could stand the sight no longer, Beth switched off her flashlight. 
    Standing in the darkness she began to tear up. 
    A long time ago Beth had taken over the tending of a garden, because she wanted to show her husband how much he meant to her. She assumed a responsibility she had never asked for, but accepted as the price for love. 
    Beth began to cry. 
    What she once sincerely believed to be true, Beth knew now was all bullshit, nothing different than the manure she had habitually spread all over the room to make everything grow. How in the hell could she not know what she was stepping into years ago? 
    A cold breeze hitting her face finally caused Beth to stop crying. She wiped away her tears and switched on her flashlight. The garden room door leading to the back yard was wide open. Beth moved across the room to shut the door, but then discovered the door's glass had been shattered. Before she could form a theory about what had happened, Beth’s eyes caught sight of movement in the backyard. 
    She switched off her flashlight and quickly ducked down. 
    There she held still long enough to rearrange her emotional state.     Then she ignited the torch in her flamethrower.  


THE NEXT BOOK IN THE RELICT VAMPIRE SERIES IS COMING SOON!!! 

RELICT - Drawing Blood

PREMISE OF THE BOOKS: Vampires have emerged from the shadows and taken control of the world.

Those left amongst the living now envy the dead once they realize what they must do to service the undead.

Matt Haynes and Tyra Redmond briefly met in the Green Zone, when he was a world weary mercenary. She was working for the U.S. government trying to rebuild a country.

When their paths cross again the world has completely changed.

They are now both now part of the Coagulation Concentration Camp, a “Blood Donation Center” located on what was once known as the East Coast of the United States. The inmates of “CCC197” must endure a daily dehumanizing existence of being kept alive only to serve as a source of blood for their captors.

Matt and Tyra must overcome their clashing personalities, forge an alliance, and then rally their fellow prisoners as they plan and execute an audacious escape to freedom.
And not just an escape for two people… the entire roster of prisoners!

If they are to succeed, it means going up against a security system manned by human traitors working for the bloodsuckers.

And it means going up against a species that has lived amongst humans for thousands of years! The vampires’ move for world domination was only triggered when they saw their “food” supply threatened by humanity’s deadly march to self-destruction.

Now that the vampires have assumed control, they plan on using their super human powers to maintain it.

For Matt Haynes, there is even more compelling complication. One of the vampire commanders running CCC197 was once his brother, Ian Haynes… before he became a member of the undead.

DRAWING BLOOD is the gateway novel to an epic saga depicting the fall of humanity… the attempt at vampires to maintain control of their new world order, and a clash of the living vs. the undead. 


VAMPIRE WISDOM


This is the wisdom that vampires have used as a guide for thousands of years as they remained in Humanity’s shadows.

“The living are consumed with the prospect of dying, and therefore fear informs their existence. Our kind has no such concerns, and that is what we must dwell on so we can always feel alive.”

- Laski Weldon

“Wise are the ones who have seen what lies on the road ahead. But the wisest are those who can also look into your eyes and understand where you’ve been.”

- Keyes Youngson
“The living often declare the world has changed, but what remains the same is the changing faces of the living who utter those words.”

- Roland Elridge

‘The world changes, the living remains the same, and vampires will see both the world and the living through eyes forever open.”

- Roland Elridge

“Those riding the train do not see what those who stand at the station staring at the passing trains see,”

- Lehand Mast.

“Our kind. How are we defined?”
“Our kind are not defined by death.”
“Our existence is dependent on the living.”
“What must we do to justify taking the blood of the living so we may exist?”
“We must give back to the living at least what we take in return or we are a kind that should have embraced extinction when it was offered.”

- a Dialogue of affirmation traditionally spoken between two vampires, attributed to Glut Berwick and E. Bathory

“Those of our kind do not have much of an imagination.”

- Unknown

“Nothing is too small to escape notice, as long as it is moving,”

- Unknown

“One is a fool to argue with VC statistics.”

- Hedge Romone

“Those who fail to rise above the mistakes of the past, are simply animals behaving as predators or prey.”

- C.Q. Yarbaro  


Journal Entry of Ian Haynes

A Vampire currently assigned to CCC197 
Head of the Blood Donor Out Reach Program

I wish everything I wrote was more than just statistics.
But that’s what you become really great at after you’ve been turned.
Statistics.
No notes. No calculators.
You have a perfect recall of facts, figures, or events in a timeline.
In fact, a timeline is our specialty.
When all you do is… exist.
Remembering the dates, names, achievements, failures of the living is not a problem.
I’m like a computer that never needs to be rebooted.
Perhaps the best way for you to understand what I have become is to stay just with the stats.
There are over 221 “Blood” camps in “North America.”
210 in “Europe.”
Those working in “Asia” have got to be concerned. Only 43 camps so far.
The latest official line from the committee is that at least seven of those camps aren’t even extracting blood from donors because everyone they test flunks the most basic redlines.
And that’s the “Official Line!”
Yeah, right now I’d be thinking “eternity” is not so locked in if I was stationed in one of the blood camps in Asia.
According to Winston the “unofficial line” is everyone is scared shitless.
Of course no mea culpa, official or unofficial, from anyone on the committee about how they obviously miscalculated about setting up blood camps so close to where all the bombs went off.
We all saw the explosions: some of us on TV, others firsthand. What was the VC thinking? That there would still be people we could tap?
Here’s an idea; we should have made everyone on the committee who wasted resources building those camps be the first to get off on the radioactive juice.
I know Winston feels the same way.
He often talks derisively about the Second Seating. He refers to them as “VireArchII,” but to me, they’re all just part of the same “Vampire committee.”
“Watch what happens,” Winston said to me. It was just a couple weeks before we moved from the shadows to take over control of the world. “Politicians of the living will say anything to save their career; a vampire will promise anything to save his, and he has all of eternity to make good on his promise.”
But even Winston was shocked as we pored over the official worldwide estimates of the living. Clearly the VC had drastically underestimated how many would be left standing after the takeover, and I could detect a glint of paranoia in his eyes. This was a rare sight. Over all the years I’ve known him, Winston seldom allows his existence to be influenced by fear. His favorite quote from Laski Weldon – “The living are consumed with the prospect of dying, and therefore fear informs their existence. Our kind has no such concerns, and that is what we must dwell on so we can always feel alive.”
I have had the benefit of his wisdom for a relatively short period of time. And his depth of knowledge has been vital to my new life. His words are often chosen from those of our kind who he has shared the shadows with for nearly a thousand years. “Wise are the ones who have seen what lies on the road ahead. But the wisest are those who can also look into your eyes and understand where you’ve been.”
My master is one of the wisest of our kind. What Winston has taught me continues to inform all my actions, even if at times I don’t always understand what lies behind the long history that underlines each of the words.
I was not surprised when the committee requested that he serve as commander of the Coagulation Concentration Camp. CCC for short. All the Blood Camps have some sort of reference to blood in their official designation. It was probably meant to refute a myth about vampires – that they have no sense of humor.
However, to draw a complete picture of the situation, it should be mentioned that the official designation of the camp in any of the VireArchII rankings of the Blood Camps would report the camp as CCC197. The number attached to the camp letters was assigned based on the original population of the living it had enrolled when the donation center received its first prisoners.
Perhaps the myth of no humor amongst our kind first took flight as the living noticed our preoccupation with… details.
“Nothing is too small to escape notice, as long as it is moving,” is a common phrase amongst our kind.
You are alive.
We exist.
But if it does not move, it will escape our notice.
As it should.
My brethren speak of the distinct sound of the breaking of the skin of the living.
Then they subdivide their impressions depending on the age, race, and gender of those they feed on.
There are many subdivisions… within divisions… within categories, within general subject matter.
Embracing what I have become means discovering that the passage of time has changed.
After the discovery, the process of learning to deal with how time has changed is what one must embrace as well.
Winston recounted all the significant efforts of our kind who had ambitiously attempted to make the most of the one advantage that we have over the living. And though most of the stories lacked… a conclusion, all have become beacons for me as I walk this long path with the reassurance that others have gone before me.
I have found that my existence is best spent observing the world around me and then logging my findings.
What I eventually will do with these observations is not important.
Small observations. Statistics of course. Small deductions, if possible.
What is essential is to record them. Observe and record, and…
And that is all.
This existence mandate has evolved over time. And it is not something I have ever shared with my brethren.
Some would be appalled to hear of my efforts. What is the point? What is to be gained?
The answer to their veiled questions would probably only succeed in condemning me further in their eyes…
“What if I am indeed wasting my time on such pursuits? ‘Time’ is the only aspect of our lives where the cup runneth over.”


MEMOS FROM A MEMBER OF THE VC

Messages from a VC (“Vampire Committee”) Representative 
To his “Fellow Shadows”

 <incoming>messagevcnet>>

Greetings Fellow Shadows,

I write today with an enthusiasm that a region representative is rarely able to sincerely feel. It’s difficult to limit my emotions to just words, but I will make the effort.

First, join me in celebrating the two latest donation centers which began pumping out their first pints of blood yesterday -  CAC29 and CAC18!

Both donation centers, located in the Rakshasis region, were not expected to be online until later this month, but both facilities sent out juice two weeks ahead of schedule.

Help me give a round of applause for the tireless effort of Vivek Asharti, the commander of both CAC29 and CAC18!

Just another reminder that we are all in this together. Those who you trust with your existence could be standing next to you… or a hemisphere away!

Stay Hidden, Stay Silent, Stay Sui Generis!

Very sincerely yours,

Hamil Deane
vc member - davanzati region


<incoming>messagevcnet>>

Fellow Shadows,

I’m excited to update the latest on the STAY ALIVE! Care Packages which were dropped across the Uppyr and Vjesci regions last week.
I can sincerely attest to some guarded optimism regarding the entire SA! CP Operation and its goal in recruiting more blood donors.
Kudos to VC members Bernhardt, Lochner, and Dedio for their brilliant idea!

Over 20,000 care packages were dropped in the Vjesci region alone, with the following message attached to all the packages:

You don’t have to be an outlier to stay alive!
Let’s WORK TOGETHER!
Join us in our effort to STOP THE BLOODSHED!
Review the included map and use the portable GPS…
And go to the nearest Donation Transport Station near you!
Simply wear one of the red shirts included in this package.
One of our Outreach Teams.will get you to a Donation Center.
And your FIGHT TO SURVIVE WILL FINALLY BE OVER!
You will be taken care of FOR THE REST OF YOUR LIFE!
Your WELL-BEING is our TOP PRIORITY!

Included in this package are:
(2) Boxes of Bandages
(1) 8-ounce bottle of Disinfectant
(12) Sterilized Needles
(6) Needles with pre-loaded doses of Morphine
(6) 8-ounce bottles of Sanitized Water
(3) 8-ounce bottles of 97% proof alcohol
(2) 8-ounce bottles of 100% pure Orange Juice
(1) 16-ounce package of sugar
(2) 16-ounce bags of Beef Jerky.

 STAY ALIVE so we can find you and bring you into our care.
Let’s all STAY ALIVE on this planet TOGETHER!

The initial data on the SA! CP Operation has come in, and as I’ve already indicated, there is a reason to have guarded optimism. 19% of the SA! Care Packages have been moved from their initial drop points. In the last week, 37 living donors visited a Donor Transport Station; and 23 have survived long enough to contribute their first two pints at a Blood Donation Center.

I want to acknowledge those of you who have contacted my staff to strongly suggest that we enact the sonar-homing device located on all the SA! Care Packages and begin rounding up the recipients. I will honestly confess to not passing on to the other members of the VC any of your suggestions or objections concerning this operation. The justification for my lack of letting your views be known is because I firmly believe that this operation has just begun, and we must wait and see the results before concluding that it has not been a success. Furthermore, by activating the homing devices to zero in on all of those who have the care package would destroy donor trust and preclude any similar operation in the future.

At this time I simply ask for the patience of everyone who doubts the wisdom of this operation.

To the rest of you; thank you for your positive messages and encouragement!

Stay Hidden, Stay Silent, Stay Sui Generis!

Very sincerely yours,

Hamil Deane
vc member - davanzati region



<incoming>messagevcnet>>


Greetings Fellow Shadows,

“Challenges lie ahead for the living. Their sins will be brought out into the light, which will certainly have the potential to expose our passage through their lives.”

Those words were from my Mentor Linus Holson.

I have a special place in my heart for Linus, but my dear mentor was both… wrong… and right with his opinion so many years ago.

Certainly he was wrong about the timing. But who amongst us isn’t guilty of a similar miscalculation!

He made the above remark around 1801. All of you will surely agree that 1801 was the beginning of at least thirty years during which our existence can only be characterized as “salad days” amongst the living!

But dear Linus was not wrong about the challenges the living would face eventually… about 40 years later. Many will surely recall how the shadows cast by many of our favorites amongst the living were lost forever…

My mentor’s words came back to me as I reflected on the situation we all face at this present moment. I daresay, there may be those amongst us that have no idea what the word “now’ even means! I certainly hope that is not the case with the majority of us who realize that certain actions currently under discussion between the two factions would have an immediate impact on our existence.  

Something Bess Rampart said comes to mind, which I believe are words we should all reflect on in these coming days – “Time is not something at the forefront of our existence. But there are opportunities that none of us must lose sight of in our transcendence. I speak of ‘the moment’ when what is happening with the living is worth not only our attention, but our careful observation. If we are not aware of this single frame in time… what might be dismissed as just another crow’s peck on the stone, indeed could turn out to be the complete destruction of the rock.”

I will report back to you all, my faithful, after both wings meet to settle these delicate matters that divide us all.

Very sincerely yours,

Hamil Deane
vc member - davanzati region


<incoming>messagevcnet>>

Greetings Fellow Shadows,

I wish I was writing to you with more upbeat news, but I am seated on the VC only at the grace of those of you who believe in my will, and continue to support me through these troubling times.

An unfortunate turn of events has forced me to announce that negotiations between the so-called “red wing” and “black wing” factions have broken off.

At this moment, I would characterize the possibility that the two wings will resume talks and reach a compromise as more than doubtful.

Indeed, I will characterize the situation by repeating a word that someone on one of the wing factions used during a heated argument in the middle of negotiations…

The word is “floating.”

I must admit I felt very offended, at hearing the word spoken aloud, not only because of the context, but also because the speaker who uttered the word did so as if he was perfectly entitled to not only use the word to support his argument, but that he should feel comfortable in allowing the word to leave his lips in such a casual manner.

Simply put, there are those amongst our kind who believe that because we all share a similar existence, we all have had a similar experience. And that is simply not true.

At the expense of offending those who need not defend their knowledge of what the word actually means, I will lay down a few details of background for those who cannot claim such experience.

There was a time when travel between the different regions meant weeks of isolation on board a ship, which often forced the hand of a shadow who wanted to simply survive.

Killing one crew member of the ship could be hidden. The draining of two crew members might have gone unnoticed if it was cleverly handled, but the loss of blood from three members of a ship’s crew would, without exception (I’m drawing on the personal experience of four transatlantic, oceanic journeys), trigger a full-scale witch hunt from rudder to anchor.

Anyone who even looked like they had red in their cheeks would be keelhauled or receive twenty lashes before being set adrift.

“Floating” is the word those of us with personal experience came to use to signify the beastly survival tactics one must employ when forced to utilize the blood from the other “passengers” of the ship, who would not be missed.

None of those experiences are looked back with any pride. But it is we “floaters,” living off of the blood of rats, who have enabled many of you to be reading this at all. Forgive me for coming off as “old school,” but unless you’ve actually had rat hair stuck between your teeth, I do not believe you are qualified to use the word in any context, no matter how much you claim your policies will alleviate suffering amongst our kind.

Stay Hidden, Stay Silent, Stay Sui Generis!

Very sincerely yours,

Hamil Deane
vc member - davanzati region