He chuckled, “Y’all believe in astrology?”
Gayle leaned forward.
“Michael, we live in a world where I routinely manipulate the elements, where Vamps and Werewolves are real and…” she shrugged, “F**k knows what else. I can think of worse things to believe in, can’t you?”
He paused to take a shot of tequila before continuing.
“Point taken,” he admitted. “I remember bein’ vaguely aware that the news reports had started talkin’ about somethin’ happenin’ on the US-Canadian border, but like most kids, I wasn’t much interested. It wasn’t till things started to escalate that I paid attention, but by then, everyone was tuned in.
Problem was, we had no real news. No one really knew what was goin’ on. News crews that went to the affected areas never came back. Then, ’bout a week later, Mom was called back to Service. I remember when it happened. My Dad… he tried to put on a brave face, but…”
Memories flooded back, and emotions he hadn’t shown in decades start to well up within him.
“She left the next morning,” he said somberly. “We never saw her again.”
Gayle reached her hand out across the table and gently placed it atop his. It felt warm and – for someone with so many years of combat under her belt – remarkably soft.
Excerpt from ‘Songbird’ Book 1 – Hunters
The year is 2016 and this world is just as you remember it… but then something happens to twist it to something new. Something dangerous and utterly unexpected.
They called it The Rising.
It started in the United States. The outbreak of a war between Vampyrii and Werewolf. Small at first, but then – as these things often do – it started to escalate out of control.
A supernatural arms race. Vampyrii turning Humans with a simple bite, burgeoning their numbers. Those that resisted were thralled, or killed. To prevent being outnumbered, Werewolves were forced to do likewise. Like a plague, it swept across the continent with alarming speed, and before the world could comprehend the threat properly… the USA and Canada had fallen.
It wasn’t just Vampyrii and Werewolf. The monsters people whisper about in the dark… they were all real. Trolls and Ice Giants in Scandinavia. The Harimau Jadian – Weretigers – in Malaysia. The Adze in Africa. All of them… Hidden in the shadows for centuries, now exposed to the world. Proof that myths and legends are based in truth.
Not that those stories helped much. Exaggerations based on the tiniest grains of truth. Only a fool would try and face a physically superior Vampyrii soldier armed only with holy water and a cross. Humanity reeled, trying to react, to fight back against a a foe it didn’t truly understand and was ill equipped to fight.
South America descends into chaos as the war spreads south. Africa, too. Russia goes dark, never heard from again. China and Japan isolate themselves for their own protection. A new mountain range springs up in the East, and there are rumors of Dragons in the skies over Asia…
By the time the fighting spreads to Europe, things are looking bleak…
But then… it all stops.
Europe is home to old magic. Ancient magic. Practiced by an old race with powers beyond anything else thus far unleashed…
The Fae.
Thirty years has passed since. The world has settled into an uneasy peace, thanks to their mysterious intervention.
This is the world of ‘Songbird‘.