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 Channeling Morpheus - Payback by Jordan Castillo Price
Michael is young and uncertain and alone in the world. He also has a problem: he has found out the hard way that vampires exist. Therefore, he's the only one for the job when it comes to hunting down the hunters and protecting the young people of Detroit.
What are his qualifications? Is he a cop, a combat veteran, or a big-game hunter? Actually he's just a kid who is in way over his head, which gives this fast-paced short story a major jolt of suspense! Can Michael do what needs to be done or will he turn out to be the vampires' latest victim?
One thing Michael knows: he's gay. Also, he realizes that he owes his best friend Scary Mary some justice. It's for her sake that he is trying to track down and execute the vampire that murdered her.
His mission doesn't stop there. Knowing about the existence of vampires, Michael will have to continue to hunt them down or they will just victimize someone else. It's in the nature of vampires to feed off humans as wolves pick off sheep. Besides, once Michael attempts his first slaying, the vampires no doubt will seek their own revenge.
These facts weigh heavy in Michael's mind as he sits in a dance club in Detroit. His bag of supplies sits at his feet: sharpened hickory stakes, eyeliner (because he looks good in it), and holy water. He also carries Rohypnol, also known as the date-rape drug: a powerful sedative/muscle relaxant that just might slow down a vampire long enough to give Michael a chance to complete his mission.
Meeting at the club for drinks is Michael's clever strategy. After managing to track down his friend's murderer, Michael arranged a date between him and the vampire. Using himself as bait, Michael will lure the vampire to a secluded place, drug him, and then accomplish the execution. Part of this depends upon Michael looking "waifish and goth", which isn't hard because he really is out-matched when it comes to hand-to-hand combat with a vampire.
Then the unexpected happens: someone else tries to pick him up. An alluringly weird stranger who introduces himself as Wild Bill begins flirting with Michael aggressively. Michael wishes desperately that he could just go home with Wild Bill. However, trying to stick to his mission, he gives the other guy the brush-off. Soon his vampire quarry shows up: Gray, who is as handsome as Wild Bill, but in a more refined way. Gray even wears a striking peridot choker which will become significant as the story continues.
Heart pounding with fright, Michael manages to maneuver Gray out of the club. Then the unthinkable happens: Wild Bill follows them! Bill cheerfully proposes a threesome back at Michael's hotel room. What on earth is Michael going to do? Give in to temptation? Kill a vampire in front of Bill, an unknown variable? Put both him and Bill in grave danger?
You'll have to read this highly entertaining short story (at 36 pages) to find out. Channeling Morpheus - Payback is the first installment in what looks to me here at ObsidianBookshelf.com to be a great new vampire series.
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