The Adventure of the Post-Traumatic Redemption

By Kevin L. O'Brien

When Eile was turned into a vampire, her partner Sunny and their mentor Medb hErenn moved heaven and earth to find a cure, with the help of their nemesis, Dr. Mabuse. Unfortunately, that was not the end of her ordeal.

She must now come to terms with what she did, and find a way to assuage the terrible guilt she feels concerning what she did, despite the fact that she had no control over her actions.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Kevin L. O'Brien
• Release date: Jun 30, 2013
• ISBN: 9781301824687

Kevin L. O'Brien

Kevin L. O'Brien was born with a pen in his hand.Well, not quite, but he has been writing for as long as he can remember, at least since First Grade. Writing has always been his first, true love, but it hasn't always been his career. He worked for 15 years as a biomedical researcher, then for 3 years as a web designer. However, after 30 years of trying to be published in print with little success, he has decided to try his hand at self-publishing.He writes primarily speculative fiction -- fantasy, science fiction, horror, and their sub-genres -- but he also likes to try his hand at thrillers, suspense, mystery, and even westerns. However, his stories tend to have a fantasy element, no matter how subtle.Most of his stories involve the following three main characters:Medb hErenn (http://www.medbherenn.com/) -- One-time queen of Ireland, she is over 3500 years old. A warrior and a sorceress, she cannot be harmed by any weapon made by the hand of man.Eile and Sunny, Team Girl (http://www.teamgirlforever.com/) -- They are two adorable, vivacious, fun-loving young women whose motto is ONWARD TO ADVENTURE!!! Yet trouble follows them like a love-sick puppy wherever they go.Sir Differel Van Helsing (http://www.sir-differel.com/) -- The descendent of Abraham Van Helsing and King Arthur, she heads the Caerleon Order, the premier monster-hunting organization of the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth. She commands Dracula, the most powerful vampire extant, and the greatsword Caliburn, better known as Excalibur.He also writes a series of sword & sorcery stories set in an alternative universe known as the Lands of the Dreams of Men.Kevin lives in Denver with his family and 4 cats.For more information, see his website: http://www.kevinlobrien.com/

Book preview

The Adventure of the Post-Traumatic Redemption

Kevin L. O'Brien

Smashwords Edition

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Text Copyright 2013 by Kevin L. O'Brien

Cover design and typography copyright 2013 by Kevin L. O'Brien

Black Chancery font distributed under a free use license by Doug Miles

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License Notes

Thank you for downloading this ebook. It is licensed for your personal enjoyment and remains the copyrighted property of the author. This ebook may not be sold, reproduced, or copied, whether for commercial or non-commercial purposes, but it may be given away if no changes are made. If you enjoyed this book and would like to share it, please encourage your friends to download their own copy from Smashwords or their favorite online retailer, where they can also discover other works by this author. Thank you for your support, and for respecting the hard work of this author.

Please consider writing a review for this book on the retailer's website.

If you see any misspellings or typographical errors, please notify Kevin L. O'Brien using one of his online social networks. Thank you.

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This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents, including those based on the real world, are either products of the imagination of Kevin L. O'Brien or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

Because some ebook platforms do not support special characters, certain words may appear misspelled, but this was done deliberately to avoid the problem of the platforms deleting the characters. Also, the LRF platform used by older models of the Sony Reader does not permit the use of links to external URLs, whereas the PDB platform used by Palm reading devices does not support any form of linking whatsoever.

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Table of Contents

Preface

Post-Traumatic Redemption

Biography of Pastor John Sjauken

About the Author

Other Books by Kevin L. O'Brien

Connect with Kevin L. O'Brien

Sample Excerpts

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Preface

I'm writing a story in which Eile is turned into a vampire, and Sunny and Medb must ask their nemesis, the mad scientist Dr. Mabuse, to cure her. It will lead to other stories involving Team Girl interacting with vampires, including them befriending the 500-year old Giovanna Mencia Borgia, who appears as young as they do.

However, being cured doesn't always mean the ordeal is over. Considering how vampires live, learning to cope with the memories can be more traumatic than performing the acts in the first place.

This story takes place in July of 2009, barely five months after the events in Masie's Mind. It also introduces a new character, Pastor John E. Sjauken, who will appear in other stories. Eile seeks his advice on how to deal with her guilt, but in the process reveals a deeper, more personal fear.

I give fair warning: Pastor Sjauken quotes from the Bible several times, in case you are offended by what appears to be Christian moralizing and proselytizing. But if you give the story a chance, you may be pleasantly surprised by the end.

Back to TOC

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Eile came into the foyer carrying a tray loaded down with a coffee service, a plate of small sandwiches, and a cake as the doorbell rang. Sunny ran for the front door and threw it open.

Pastor Sjauken! she squealed, and threw her arms around him in a bear hug. For his part, the elderly man just smiled and patted the back of her head.

Geezus, Sunny, let 'im breath!

Sunny giggled and let him go.

Come in, come in! Sunny gushed, pulling on his arm. He did as he was told and Sunny closed the door. The Rev. John E. Sjauken was a head taller than Sunny, with a fit build on an average frame. He had short, ash-gray hair combed over the top of his head, with fallow-brown eyes behind black-rimmed glasses in a rectangular face with soft, grandfatherly features and clean-shaven, light tan skin. He wore the clothes of a Lutheran pastor, including the collar, with a silver cross on a gold chain suspended from a vest pocket, but Eile didn't know what his denomination was. Sometimes she thought he didn't belong to any.

They both followed her into the living room and watched as she placed the tray on the coffee table in front of the sectional sofa.

Please, sit down, Sunny urged, gesturing towards the sofa, make yourself at home!

I'm glad you could come over, John, Eile said.

Don't mention it, he replied in a low tenor. There's nothing I wouldn't do for my two favorite parishioners.

Eile smiled as Sunny grinned. They weren't really that. He had no church, not that they went to one. He ran a homeless shelter downtown. It wasn't very big, but he catered to three dozen single mothers