A Vampire's Blessing: Order of the Dragon Side Quests, #3

By Tina Glasneck

Embrace the Magical Hunt: Unicorns, Vampires, and Dark Legends Await in Scotland.

 

Leslie's adjusting to her new life as a vampire, longing for a taste of normalcy. When a writer's conference in Scotland beckons, she jumps at the chance, hoping to reclaim some semblance of her old life.

 

But in the mystical land of Fae, nothing is as it seems. Caught in a territory ruled by a powerful Fae prince, Leslie should walk away, but she can't. Unicorns are in peril, hunted for their magical blood, believed to possess the power to restore life to the undead.

 

Will Leslie risk everything to change her "new normal" and regain her old life? Or will she uncover hidden truths within the legend that challenge her undead existence?

 

Action, suspense, and fantastical mystery await in this spellbinding Urban Fantasy mashup, where the worlds of "True Blood" and "The Last Unicorn" collide. Dive into a world where unicorns, vampires, and ancient legends converge!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Vie La Publishing House, LLC
• Release date: Aug 22, 2022
• ISBN: 9798201104801

Tina Glasneck

TINA GLASNECK can't imagine a world without books. Her works have been classified in several genres, including mystery, suspense, fantasy and paranormal romance, and new adult.Yet for Tina, it is all about the characters and their journeys. An avid reader with a love of traveling, meeting new people and exploring her world, her interest in law, religion, history, fantasy, and dragons, made writing about it an “easy” choice. Give her a castle to enchant her, and tell her a funny story to make her snort with laughter, but please don’t serve her cake with red icing. Tina takes joy in beautiful architecture, lively cities and world travel. She enjoys creating make-believe worlds where she sometimes resides, and is often thinking about and tinkering on her next story. Sometimes she feels like a real life Cinderella, without the ashes or the fairy godmother; and, at other times, she is just a girl, looking for a chance to tell that next great story.

Book preview

CHAPTER 1

Confetti rained down, and loud music mixed with the rousing laughter of people dancing in the streets. New Yorkers weren't monolithic. No culture or people were.

As a caveat, I wasn't a little chicken shit, either. This city made sure of that. Be it through its attempted marginalization, rising homelessness, and now rogue vampires and their ilk, who wished nothing more than for me to be twice dead.

But all of this was forgotten with the celebration. Nothing created solidarity like hope, cascading like Niagara Falls over all who wished to celebrate, palpable even as if the water's spray baptized everyone in what we'd all taken for granted: unity.

Capitalism, the beating heart of the American system, would soon thud again. Then would come the angry trolls with the excuse of having a hard day. Not tonight, though. No, tonight, New Yorkers took to the streets in pure delight.

Quarantine was officially over, and even the supernatural world danced alongside their human comrades. Nothing separated any of those gathered—neither race, religion, sexual or political orientation, nor magical abilities. I threw open the apartment windows to hear drums banging and horns hooting. Yep, pure jubilation.

The impromptu Mardi Gras-like street party below created a synergy, causing the air to hum as magic mixed with uninhibited New York excitement. Saga, my black cat, curled up on my bed, paying little to no attention to the noise outside.

I don't know why you're celebrating? Gran began and gave three misty squirts of her lemon-rosemary-lavender spray. I'm here trying to protect us from unwanted guests. No need to act like a beacon.

What started out as a ghostly Gran had become one that shifted between corporeal and incorporeal. Neon-yellow gloves accessorized the polka-dot apron covering her black mourning dress while an American-styled black bandana swept her hair away from her glistening face.

A wind blew into the room, scattering my oracle cards onto the carpet. I moved to pick them up, only to find them all facing down except the brightly colored unicorn card. Find your moxie; say its name. Quickly, I stacked them back together, put them in their bag, and shoved them into my desk drawer.

Aren't you excited to return to life as usual? The humdrum of the city and all it means? I asked. Goosebumps rose on my arms as energy zinged and popped.

Hmmph. No. These people have been isolated too long. As if to cement her point, Gran headed over to the television and flipped it on. This is the beginning of the end. She gestured to the news report playing on the TV showing people filling plastic shopping bags with gasoline. When people have been isolated so long, well, they seem to lose a bit of their grounding, their common sense even. Heck, maybe we should head away for a bit and let the city settle. You know, before the wave of violence starts again. She shrugged and went back to misting the corners of the apartment with her protection spray.

It made sense now as to why our apartment didn't overflow with ghostly visitors.

That's it. Claudine stomped into the apartment, and all thoughts of freedom outside disappeared. Sheer rage contorted her face as she strutted in with her hands on her hips.

What has you all akimbo? I asked. I thought you were going to get your hair done.

In fact, her brown-with-bronze-highlighted hair was now styled in a short, layered pixie cut with a bang that swooped into her face just over her inflamed and barely-there brows.

Drac came in a few minutes behind her. She had a bit of an incident at the spa.

The thing about Drac and Claudine was that I never really understood their relationship. He, of course, went by Drac instead of his real name, Vlad the Impaler. Yet maybe he wanted to shed that bit of menace. He'd bulked up from those Middle Age oil paintings, or perhaps that was what happened when he was turned. Although he might look like he belonged to a street gang, the sight of the large purse on his shoulder made me snicker. Despite the large leather designer bag, I knew he could kill a room full of people in under thirty seconds.

His relationship with Claudine now made him seem more like a brother. I shifted my attention to Drac in hopes of getting more than the huffing and puffing coming from my sister's anger. His venom still rushed through my veins, and since the blood transfusion, I sometimes felt his emotions and thoughts when he directed them my way. But not right now. Whatever it was, I'd have to wait until