The Rising of Dawn and Her Vampire Crew: Riding with the Devil

By Brian Painter

Satan's Maze is a great book filled with incredible dialogue and great fight scenes. Dawn and her crew are now faced with the dilemma of saving the world from a horrible creature. This creature's so powerful that they bring in the old Egyptian gods as well as team up with someone Dawn swore she was done with. So if you want to read a book with all those incredible twists and turns we all look for, well, here it is. Dawn and her crew are unstoppable in this edge-of-the-seat-reading book. By this I mean you will not want to set this book down, and you will want to jump on the bandwagon that's reading all The Rising of Dawn and Her Vampire Crew books.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Page Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Sep 23, 2019
• ISBN: 9781644627617

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The Rising of Dawn and Her Vampire Crew

Riding with the Devil

Brian Painter

Copyright © 2019 Brian Painter and Kim Benson

All rights reserved

First Edition

PAGE PUBLISHING, INC.

New York, NY

First originally published by Page Publishing, Inc. 2019

ISBN 978-1-64462-760-0 (Paperback)

ISBN 978-1-64462-761-7 (Digital)

Printed in the United States of America

Table of Contents

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Introduction

For those of you who don’t know the story or for those who started by reading this book instead of the previous books, here’s the story of Dawn and her crew. Dawn is a centuries-old vampire who has slowly built up a crew of vampires that fight demons, Lycan beasts, other vampires, and more. She has a boyfriend named Keith and two good friends, Greenie and Eli. This makes up the original crew. They all like to drink tequila along with their ever-famous beer called Mainers ale. They have incredible tolerance for alcohol but seem to find enough of it to keep them happy. Now as far as drinking blood, Dawn and her crew like to hunt down big game or whatever type of big animal can be found where they are presently. The reason I say where they are presently is because they travel all over the world. They can be frequently found in Egypt (Dawn’s birthplace). If there is no big game in the surrounding area and they get thirsty, well, there’s always the hospitals that have blood bags. There is one catch to their blood intake. Sometimes when they drink blood, it is to get to a place called the room of Zen. This is a place where they get their instructions for missions that they take on where they use their incredible powers. So that’s a basic rundown on Dawn and her crew. I hope you enjoy reading about her adventures.

Satan’s Maze

Dawn was thirsty for blood when she walked into the room where her crew of vampires sat. There was Alicia, her sister; Greenie, her friend whom she had pulled from purgatory; and Greenie’s boyfriend, Eli. He was also pulled from purgatory by Greenie for accomplishing a mission for one of the higher beings. The higher beings were angels and other creatures who sent her crew on missions when a bad vampire was causing trouble, a Lycan beast was trying to reveal himself to humans, or many other similar problems. On the other hand, they had been on some missions that consisted of saving the world. They never knew what they were going up against until the higher beings informed them. Last but not least was Keith, her boyfriend, whom she had turned into a vampire a few years back. Dawn and him had become very close over the past few years.

I’m hungry, she said. She was thinking about the giant caribou that was sitting on a ledge a mile west of her back door, deep in the mountain’s forest. Her keen senses had picked up on it as soon as she had entered her house earlier. The thirst was getting unbearable, so she glared at her crew, thirsty for blood.

Anyone wanna go? Anyone, going once, twice. All right, I’m gone, she said. Greenie did speak up, but Dawn had not heard her due to the thirst for blood pounding in her head.

Dawn, I will go, Greenie had said. Without hearing her, Dawn ran out the back door, almost ripping it off its hinges. After all, Dawn is a very powerful vampire, and she hit it running at sixty miles an hour. She is a very fast vampire with incredible strength.

I am a good centuries-old vampire, she thought to herself. I have been around for a long time, she started thinking until she had to respond.

Yep, she said aloud. Dawn was thinking about everything she had been through. When she made it close to the rocky ledge that dropped 150 feet onto sharp boulders below, she imagined pushing the beast over the edge. She laughed a little at the idea of watching the caribou take a tumble.

You are demented, she said aloud to herself. She was becoming a little nervous now that she had spoken out loud with no one around.

I know not to do this, she warned herself. She was trying to calm her nerves, but she knew talking to herself would just make things worse. Ironically, she did it anyway.

Damn, Dawn, be quiet, she said. She wanted it to stop. There could be no crazy conversations with herself that went in circles. Sometimes she would get mad she was talking to herself and scold herself out loud.

That’s it, she said. She slid her hand across the front of her throat to show herself she needed to cut it out. Her very insides wanted the craziness to stop. Sadly, she attempted to smile, but knowing it would never stop kept the smile on her face from forming. The caribou was a big one, and she was hungry for its blood. She said a little prayer, shot out from behind the tree, and hit the animal at top speed. She was overwhelmed when the caribou turned into a hole that she became engulfed in that transported her into an alternate realm.

What the hell? she stammered. She waved her hand to rid her of the conversation she was having with herself once again.

It must be a demigod or even a god calling me to a different plane of existence, she told herself. She wasn’t scared because she had been to places like this before. There were no stars there except for one bright purplish light in the distance and a black airlike substance that swarmed around her. This darkness seemed to grab at her like a mist or smoke full of life. She was just happy she could breathe it in without it choking her. She could go for long periods without breathing, but she was still happy that this would not be that kind of situation.

Damn, she said. Overwhelmed with curiosity about this new realm she had fallen into, she stood up. With her hands on her hips, she stared in wonder at the purplish light in front of her. A flaming character appeared a couple miles ahead of her, scaring her for a second. It was a scary sight and coming at her and fast. She glanced at the surrounding area, looking for a place to hide without finding any. Just then, a voice entered her head.

Don’t worry, Dawn. It’s just me. Give me a minute, and I will explain, the voice said. At that moment, the flames turned into the last person in the world she wanted to see.

Oh no, not you, Dawn said. I should have known you would have a hand in this.

Well, it was either I come see you and hide you, or you would be going up top to see the big man himself, the unknown being said.

Damn it, Lucifer, why are you here, and…well, why in the hell am I here? She turned on him in a mere second. Her eyes were blazing red with anger, but Lucifer took in her anger and calmed her down.

Dawn? Why do you think you would be seeing me or the big guy? And by that, I mean God. He wants you to come straight to him when you… And then he looked at her for her to finish his statement. When she figured it out, it hit her deep in her stomach, sickening her.

I’m dead! she said. She giggled sarcastically as a tear almost came out of her eye. Instead, she toughened up.

How? Why? I mean when? I mean I was just after that caribou on the… And then her voice trailed off, with her realizing what had happened.

I fell off that cliff, didn’t I?

Yes, Dawn, you did, and you and I both know that fall wouldn’t faze you normally, but a sharp rock pierced your heart. Your friends sensed it, and the cavilier is on the way now, but I will make this quick for you because if god finds out, well… I’m in trouble, and you are dead for sure.

Why in the hell, after all the missions I have completed for him? Dawn, said.

Yeah well, about that, he is big on the nature of the way things happen—the order of the way things happen, ya know? She was disturbed and looked away, about to cry, when she thought of Keith seeing her dead body.

Well, I helped you out a little. There’s one way to get back in that body of yours, and it’s through a whole bunch of connected alternate universes. I put a slight heartbeat in your body to fool God and your friends so they think you are in a coma. Hell, I guess you are! A crooked smile crept across his face. He looked at Dawn for humor, but it never came, not even a giggle.

Screw you, Dawn said. Her demeanor changed as her black eyes and a sarcastic smile built to kill stared him down.

How do I get back in my body? She slowly looked away from him and at her surroundings. He said for her to follow the purple light and kill anything in her path. Then he laid it on her, telling her she was in her alternate ego, the superego and the id.

These parts of your mind, well, they are not a nice place, so if anything comes at you, use that superstrength of yours to rip its head off, ok? And with that said he was gone, a ball of flames streaking down whatever plane she was on. Then he disappeared into the mist as if he were never there.

Damn it, she said. She looked down, confused, then started walking through the crazy black mist, thinking, This is going to be one hell of a trip. I took the brown acid in the sixties and never saw stuff like this. She let out a small chuckle again. That’s when the caribou appeared in front of her again. When she ran toward it to quench her thirst, a stroke of bad luck hit her, and she fell again, repeating her earlier fall. This time she felt the rock pierce her lungs and heart. Instinctively she leaped off the pointed rock, just to find herself at the top of the cliff again.

So what, am I not supposed to feed in here? Is this some damned lesson I’m supposed to learn? she asked. Her voice echoed but no one answered.

Damn it, she said again. She was looking through bloodthirsty eyes at the animal on the cliff again. This time she walked toward the purplish light and away from the blood beating in the caribou’s heart that smelled extragood to her senses.

Maybe if I go at this angle. She had just passed the caribou, and she imagined there was a possibility of a feed she could take advantage of.

Nah, it will just be another attempt ending in another insane repeating circle of life. She continued toward the purplish light, thinking about her friends. As she grew tired, her thoughts became blurred. Eventually, it got to be too much, so she sat while attempting to sort through her erratic thoughts. When she did form a rational thought, it was of a flight of stairs that came out of the mist and engulfed her. She tumbled down them and into her room in her house, where she could see her body and friends surrounding it. Keith was in hysterics, so she ran to hug him, but she was nothing but a phantom, just a thought of herself without her solid body. She passed through his body then her own when she tried to leap in it. For a moment she gazed at her dying body, then out the front door she went and on toward the purple light.

Destination insanity was the direction she was heading, she told herself. It had been banging around in her mind, trying to tell her she would never make it out and back to her scheduled but happy life. She yearned to be in the world of the living again. In her mind, she was set on autopilot, ignoring the truth or whatever that nagging thought was in the back of her mind that was telling her she was stuck here. After walking for a minute, she decided to see what she was walking on. This was just another ploy to put the truth of her downfall aside, or at least a brief second was all she was asking for. She insisted on telling her alter ego to go to hell. All it was telling her was she would never make it out alive. The ground was smooth like marble but cold as ice.

Why when warned? she said very quickly. Why was she about to do something that the voice in her head was telling her not to do? Her mom had this saying she remembered from her childhood. She knew it was going to hurt. It was so cold, but she blistered her fingers on the cold ground after touching it due to curiosity. She was glad she left in her Chuck Taylor shoes.

Damn. Won’t do that. No more. She whispered this in half sentences formed from insane laughter cutting her thoughts in two. Out of the middle of nowhere, a creature appeared, flying up on her from behind. It was a beautiful parrot-colored bird but more like a pterodactyl in structure, circling over her and screeching. She decided it would be best to ignore its screeching noise, figuring it was a warning that she was going to ignore.

Maybe I can latch on to the death vulture, and it will fly me in the right direction. It is moving fast, and I’m tired, she thought. She crouched down like a tiger ready to pounce. When the bird circled directly overhead, she leaped at it. Luckily, she managed to cover the fifty feet between them. She latched onto its foot, but the bird turned away from the light and started flying straight up toward a bright white light. She decided to drop from the bird but only made it twenty feet when the bird dived down and latched onto her with its beak.

Owwww! she screamed as blood spewed from her midsection where the creature’s beak had penetrated her stomach muscle. She knew what she had to do. This damned bird was dead set on taking her up to God, she thought, so she started sinking punches in its face one right after the other. After twenty hard hits to the face, blood poured out of its nose and mouth. When its beak opened up, it made a noise she had never heard a bird make before. It sounded like a killer whale’s voice. It made a squawking noise after that, then the bird dropped her. She fell the remaining hundred feet onto the rocks again and was pierced through her heart in another reoccurring life dream. She leaped up just in time to see she was back at the caribou, but this time it saw her and ran, but a furious Dawn was right on its heels.

That bird bled, and so will you, caribou! she yelled. She was looking through a bloodthirsty haze. She was on it in a second flat, tackling it. As it rolled, the bloodthirst took over, and she dug her fangs in its neck, but the caribou just disappeared by becoming a part of the black mist.

Oh no… No, this can’t be, she cried out, and her voice answered back, taunting her by echoing throughout the whole area. She dusted herself off, swearing at the devil for putting her here when he could have just saved her. You’re torturing me, Lucifer, aren’t you? But nothing answered back but her own voice reminding her to follow the purple light.

Whoa, she said, now that’s weird. But she followed her own orders and went toward the purple light. The minute turned to hours, and the hours dragged on, and her bloodthirst increased until she started hallucinating—or so she thought. She saw her heart beating in front of her with a hole in it.

I must repair that. She laughed to herself. She jumped up and wrapped her hand around her floating image of a heart. This was no mirage, she realized. After squeezing the hole together, it stayed shut. It was a part of her heart’s image emitting from the real world, not Satan’s maze.

Finally, a streak of good luck, she said. She was curious about what she had done. It seemed like she had put a puzzle of her heart together in this dreadful place, and it helped her real heart. She decided to congratulate herself and went to give herself a high five when she saw her own body and the crew around her again. This time they were celebrating. Keith was jumping up and down, screaming.

She has a heartbeat! he was saying over and over. A good, steady beat, he finished saying. He was holding Dawn’s limp hand that lay in front of her.

That’s weird, she said. She looked at her hand and saw the indentation where Keith was holding it on her actual body.

Weird, she said. She started walking on farther toward the purple light. She was imagining that she had made some sort of accomplishment. This eased her fear of never returning from this place.

Let’s go, Dawn, she said to herself. She realized she had been talking to herself here, and it made perfect sense. It was different from out there. There were no laws of sanity here, she realized. Then she remembered the devil saying that she was in her alternate ego. He was serious. She reached down and pulled a fingernail out. She wanted to say ouch, but there was no pain. She wanted to say ouch because that was normal, and she craved normal. She would not find it though, not here. She looked in the distance while circling her head to ease her neck muscles. She stared deep into her own mind. She did not find normal there either. What she saw was her as a young kid. She was in a bathroom, slicing her wrist with an obsidian knife she owned as a young child. Her dad busted in the door, and she said the angels were bothering her. He took the knife from her, but the hallucination ended before she was all right in her head. That’s when two of the brightest lights she had ever seen started coming through the black mist at her. Her worst fear as a child had come for a visit.

Angels, she screamed. They walked up to her and glared at her. Their grimacing and distorted faces etched their way into her brain. They physically started pounding on her while squashing her very soul. Their voices shrieked in her head so loud, it was about to explode.

I need to get a grip, she said as she emptied all thoughts from her brain, including the shrieking bad angels. She wanted to scream at the top of her lungs, but a whimper came out as the faces reentered her brain. They spun and twisted, tearing parts of her soul apart with no abandon. The only solution she could think of involved them coming at her last time when the obsidian knife was present. With her last thought before being turned to a pile of meat with no soul, she squinted, grabbed her temples, and made the knife appear in her hand. She threw it, and it soared off into the black mist, followed by the angels. All she could think about was how she made the knife appear out of nowhere, but she decided it was just another weird occurrence in the Satan maze. She had to get away, so she ran toward the bright purple light.

When her soul had reattached itself to her body and settled down enough, she slowed to a walk, wondering what the hell that was all about. She thought calm thoughts to herself as she walked watching her body and soul mend themselves. She had one thing on her mind, and that was she hoped the angels were gone for good. As she rounded a turn, the smoke dissipated, and she realized she was in a swamp, of all places.

Wonderful, just amazingly wonderful, she said. She sensed creatures like her. She realized others were near when she heard faint noises in the distance. She waded out into the water. When it got over her head, she decided to head back, that it was time to get the hell out of the shark-filled waters. She could hear the heartbeats of all the sharks she had hunted and killed over the years at her beach. One at a time, she had bled at least a thousand sharks over the years. Now they were circling her, and to top it off, land had disappeared.

Why Satan? What else do you have in store for me? she asked. She decided to let her anger go as she breathed out a long sigh.

So my worst fear is here. And I’m without beer, she said. Dawn laughed aloud at her rhyme then dived under the water just in time to sink punches in three circling great white sharks’ noses. Blood, she thought as a quick-moving agile mako shark came near her. She latched on with her fangs. This time the blood filled her mouth, and she drank while snapping its spine to kill it. She became full and decided to surface and get a look around. There was a ship a hundred yards in front of her, but when she got near it, it disappeared, just to reappear another hundred yards away. That’s when she saw land. She swam for what seemed like five minutes, but when she got close to shore, she realized it had been an hour.

Time sure is acting weird, she said aloud. She was quoting a man she had heard say this in a favorite movie of hers.

Screw it. Who wants to get on a boat anyway, she said. She gazed at the still boat and laughed, realizing it had been nothing but a trick illusion. Who put it there was the unanswered question of the day. Quickly, she swam the rest of the way to the shore and climbed up the bank. When she had done her best to dry herself off, she noticed a three-dimensional image of her heart again. It was floating about fifty feet off the ground and in front of her. The problem was it was slowing down.

Not now! she screamed at her giant heart in the sky. Then she was off, running as fast as possible toward it. When she got where she could leap up and grab it, she did, but it slowed and faded. So it, too, became a phantom heart, and she fell through it. The heart slowly made its way toward her, and she tried to run, but it found its way into her chest. Damn it! she said. I am dying topside, where my real body is. All she could think to do was yell the devil’s name.

Lucifer! Come here, damn it! she said. At that moment, Dawn was realizing how often she said damn it. She thought it was appropriate that she called out his name in a place as crazy as this. Sure enough, a blackish light started out over the swamplands, coming to her at full speed. When it reached her, the light transformed back into the devil. When she asked if he could help, he said Sure and jammed his fist into her body. She went to scream, but there was no pain to be felt in the swamplands or wherever she was. Without a warning, he pulled a beating heart from her chest, and it enlarged and floated into the sky once again, beating.

Last favor, he said. In a blink of an eye, he was gone.

Works for me, she said with a smile, realizing she knew people in high places. Then it dawned on her: she wasn’t in any high place; it was just her overinflated pride. It was more like low places. She looked up at the