Deadly Night Shade

By Mark Cantrell

SHORT FICTION | January 2013

She was the one who was afraid of the dark, that's why the other vamps in her gang laughingly called her Shade, but now the joke's on them, and she's the one still breathing.

When a night on the town turns deadly, when all her friends are slain, Shade must overcome her fears or join them in the grave.

Only one of them is getting out of this alive, but the man she hunts is no ordinary vampire slayer…

In the dead of night, Shade faces a horror she never expected. She will learn there are worse things to fear than the dark…

Deadly Night Shade is the first of a small selection of short stories from the anthology ISOLATION SPACE (2009/2011) to be published as standalone digital shorts.

The story first appeared in an edition of The Velvet Vampire (1994) under the title 'Blood Feud'. The story was subsequently revised and reworked, later appearing under its current title in Monomyth Vol. 6.4 #40 (2006).

• Language: English
• Publisher: Mark Cantrell
• Release date: Jan 19, 2013
• ISBN: 9781301799268

Mark Cantrell

A coffee-guzzling journalist turned author, Mark Cantrell has chased the literary dream for years. Somehow, it's always managed to stay one step ahead, but Mark perseveres in his pursuit all the same. There are worse ways to kill time, after all. Mark is the author of two novels (so far), both released in paperback and digital editions by the indie press, Inspired Quill. Both his novels haunt dystopian ground, but aside from their dark tone they remain very different beasts. While CITIZEN ZERO (2017) runs towards political science fiction thriller, SILAS MORLOCK (2013) ventures into the shadows of dark, urban fantasy in homage of literary culture. For want of comparison, in CITIZEN ZERO The Matrix meets V for Vendetta with a touch of I, Daniel Blake. SILAS MORLOCK, though, is more a macabre melding of Fahrenheit 451 and Nosferatu. Away from novel-length works, Mark has written plenty of short stories and novelettes in his time. He's even been known to dabble in poetry. Over the years, his stories have appeared in a variety of small press journals both in print and online. Way back in 1998, two of his stories were featured in the Clover Books horror anthology, Spirit of Darkness. In 2001 there was Love, Sex, Death & Carrots. More recently, his work appeared in Bards and Sages Publishing's The Society of Misfit Stories Presents, Vol 1, Issue 1 (February 2019). Between times, his fiction has appeared in publications such as Sci-Fright, Alternaties, Asphalt Jungle, Writers' Muse, the Writers' Compass, and more. He's even self-published some of these works, individually as 'digital shorts', and in his collection of short fiction, ISOLATION SPACE (2009/2011). Available through Smashwords, you can find more details of these works below. Broadly speaking, Mark's work fits into the science-fiction-fantasy-horror spectrum, but he tends to write to the story and worry about the genre later. It seems to work, more or less. Certainly, he's happy (flattered) to be called a science fiction author even if he frequently feels unworthy of the accolade. By trade, Mark is a journalist. This is reflected on his author blog, where he writes articles about politics, society and current affairs, along with regular excursions into science, culture and literary life. Well, it keeps the 'blog-beast' fed. As a jobbing B2B hack, Mark has mostly written for trade mags. He worked in Manche...

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She was the one who was afraid of the dark, that's why the other vamps in her gang laughingly called her Shade, but now the joke's on them, and she's the one still breathing. When a night on the town turns deadly, when all her friends are slain, Shade must stalk the man who slaughtered them or join them in the grave. But he's no ordinary vampire slayer, and Shade is no ordinary vampire. Only one of them is getting out of this alive...

Deadly Night Shade

Published By The Author On Smashwords 2013

Copyright (c) 1994/1999/2013 Mark Cantrell

All Rights Reserved

ISBN: 978-1301-7992-6-8

Mark Cantrell has asserted his right under the Copyright, Designs & Patents Act 1988 to be identified as the author of this work.

Smashwords Edition, License Notes: This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this ebook with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you're reading this ebook and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

Mark Cantrell,

Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, UK

[e-mail] | www.markcantrell.co.uk

Cover Photo: 'Goth Baby Belladonna' (2006) by D Sharon Pruitt. Creative Commons.

This story was first published under the title 'Blood Feud'