Absolom Rex: At Ages End (Preview)

By K.L. Coones

As Rome crumbles behind him, Absolom journeys into an ever darkening world increasingly ruled by superstition, fear and death. Walk with Absolom as he ventures through high mountain passes, isolated villages and darkened streets of dark age cities. This preview collection feature three short stories: The Grove, Sons of the Wolf, and Emet.

Absolom Rex: At Ages End continues in the style of its predecessor, using environment and description to create a gothic mood and intelligent dialogue to drive plot and character development.

• Language: English
• Publisher: K.L. Coones
• Release date: Jul 22, 2012
• ISBN: 9781476155791

K.L. Coones

"Horror used to terrify me. Some of that Asian stuff still does. I’ll never watch The Ring again..."Ever the non conformist...his first book, Absolom Rex, he decided to publish as an e-book and see if he could market it himself. So on top of being a writer, he is also an entrepreneur and marketing professional. It makes for a confusing description when people ask him what he does. In addition to his horror novels, K.L. also writes the Darkwater Adventures Guild series for young readers.Some of his favorite authors from growing up are John Bellairs, Mark Twain, Washington Irving and R.A. Salvatore."The first book I ever read cover to cover was Spell of the Sorcerers Skull by John Bellairs in JR High."From a small Texas town, K.L. spent some time living in Los Angeles. His welcome, a white knuckle 19 hour ride through deserted deserts and twisting mountain roads ending in a 4 am slash and burn through traffic on the 10 with cars everywhere.While in L.A. he braved the Devil’s Punchbowl with stalwarts mates, drove out to the middle of nowhere to watch the stars fall from the sky, relearned to drive stick (yeah, in the middle of L.A., so now you know he is insane...) and resumed training in the martial arts. A surfer, he has felt the zen that comes from hanging ten all day and he has played the part of the pesky reporter when he wrote for a local Halloween haunt blog called, CreepyLA.com. He currently contributes short stories for Darkmediacity.com's #Fridayfrights and flashfriday.org's #fridayflash."I really missed the old gothic story telling and I want to bring it back. I would describe my writing style as a cross between Mark Twain and Edgar Allen Poe..."He has since moved back to Texas with his dog Sid (at least for the time being). He’s an 80's movie and music lover and the thing that he likes most about a woman is her voice... When not banging away on a keyboard he’s scheming of ways to get himself to a new campsite for the weekend, hiking with friends and his dog, contributing to darkmediacity.com,or getting thrown around in a dojo by people in black suits.Oh, and a large telescope just arrived in the mail, bigger is better...

Book preview

Absolom Rex

‘At Ages End (Preview)’

By

K.L. Coones

SMASHWORDS EDITION

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Published By

K.L. Coones on Smashwords

Absolom Rex: At Ages End (Preview)

Copyright© 2011 by K.L. Coones

All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, brands, media, and incidents are either the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. The author acknowledges the trademarked status and trademark owners of various products referenced in this work of fiction, which have been used without permission. The publication/use of these trademarks is not authorized, associated with, or sponsored by the trademark owners.

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The Grove

Absolom stood on a hill, waiting for the last remnants of violet stain to wash from the sky. Below him, amid a valley of poplar trees, the fires of lamps flickered with life in a small isolated Roman village. He felt cold, but he did not shiver. He made his way down the hill toward the town, wrapping his toga about his shoulders and drawing his cowl over his head, though he knew the cold would remain.

He would not feed tonight; preferring to prolong the search for his next victim. Sometimes it seemed a hollow pursuit to him; the hunt went much the same way every time, but there was little else to occupy his time in the countryside. He would curb his hunger with a goat or a lamb tonight, after he had made a thorough search of the village. Killing an animal was less likely to arouse suspicion, as missing animals were normally attributed to the actions of a wolf or bear. Absolom wanted to linger, and to study the people of the village. It served to make the passing of time a little more interesting.

For the most part, the village was closed up for the night. He found this odd, as most homes would open their windows to the cool of the night’s air during their last meal of the day. He knew the inhabitants of the village were awake; his keen hearing could make out many of the voices around him. They spoke of many of the things the living remained concerned with like the weather, the next day’s trip to the market, a wedding. Absolom cocked his head to the side, focusing on the conversation of the wedding. The sounds of the outside faded away as he listened to the voice of a father discussing the last minute plans for his daughter the following day. Like a shadow carried soundlessly by the wind, Absolom arrived at the shuttered window of the home of the bride to be. It might be an interesting experience to take a bride on her wedding night. It was certainly something he had never had the opportunity to attempt before. For the first time in many decades, Absolom found himself anticipating a kill. He tried to shake away the powerful and unfamiliar feelings. He had to keep his wits about him. He may be immortal, but he knew he was not indestructible. Feeding under any circumstances was a dangerous endeavor.

With his next target located, it was time to find someplace suitable to rest during the coming day, preferably out away from the limits of the village. He began a search of the hills surrounding the village. By now, most of the inhabitants had gone to bed, so he was relatively safe from an unexpected encounter. An abandoned and ruined house supplied him with a cellar suitable to rest in, and try as he might; Absolom was unable to shake the feelings of anticipation that the coming night held.

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Awareness exploded around him, as it did every new night, with a rush of sound, smell and sensation. Absolom thought it not unlike what a newborn baby experiences as it is thrust from its mother’s womb.