The Rising of Dawn and Her Vampire Crew: Passages Through Time

By Brian Painter and Kim Benson

Dawn and her crew are at it again. This time they are on a mission to save humanity from a rogue God who wants to turn Dawn into a goddess so he can keep her as his wife. This has Dawn determined for it not to happen but the alure that she feels when she gets a taste of being a goddess leaves her in a total state of confusion. Her crew and her still love to hunt down animals for blood including the great White Shark. This book is a must read!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Page Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Feb 23, 2023
• ISBN: 9781662483226

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The Rising of Dawn and Her Vampire Crew

Passages Through Time

Brian Painter and Kim Benson

Copyright © 2023 Brian Painter and Kim Benson

All rights reserved

First Edition

PAGE PUBLISHING

Conneaut Lake, PA

First originally published by Page Publishing 2023

ISBN 978-1-6624-8317-2 (pbk)

ISBN 978-1-6624-8322-6 (digital)

Printed in the United States of America

Table of Contents

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

About the Author

Chapter 1

So…here I am standing in the opening to some crazy hell jail on a foreign planet of all places, considering I'm not that much into sci-fi. Anyhow, I am surrounded by thousands of monsters ready to rip me apart. They're being controlled by an evil vampire god that I choose not to introduce. As they're closing in, they yell at me in some crazy dialect I'm not familiar with. The only thing keeping this evil and powerful vampire god from initiating an attack is because he is in love with me. This way, if the monsters decide to attack maybe he will side with me, but I doubt this very seriously after what I have put him through. At this time, I am hoping that at least my crew will make it into the time portal to get them home to our planet. How did I get here? Well, that's an interesting story and here it is!

Greenie, toss me one of those icy, cold beers! I yell across the backyard to my porch. This is where my crew of vampires, Keith, Greenie, and Eli are sitting while they sip on bottles of tequila. Greenie stands up and lets out a painful groan. I eye her with interest, from the corner of my eye, as she swaggers across the dew-covered grass in my backyard to my awaiting chock-full cooler of beer. She's sporting her ever-familiar devious grin, while telepathically telling me I can expect some sort of prank out of her. She has no idea I'm watching her thoughts. She removes the top of the cooler with a precise frontal kick, then pulls a beer from the icy depths below. Good and cold, I tell myself. Then in one reckless moment, Greenie attacks with nothing less than an act of immaturity. She reels her arm back and hurls the beer at me at about eighty miles an hour. She's thinking I don't see it, but my vampire sense of danger chimes in, telling me to stop the projectile she's launched at me. She thinks she's worried me. I can't let that happen, though. It would trigger a time-consuming response from Greenie, a reaction filled with immature laughter and childish antics. So I reach my right arm out without looking and snatch the beer out of midflight. She's bewildered and slightly upset, and she doesn't want anyone to know it. This causes an irreversible smile to creep its way into my facial features.

Thanks, Greens. And I saw you throw it, that's why I didn't sense it and destroy the beer. I would think you might be able to appreciate that, I tell her snidely. I watch her slowly saunter back to her perch beside her man, or soul mate as she considers them to be. Even though Keith and I would be considered more of a couple soul mates, I have to admit they are close—Eli and Greenie though.

I'm fighting the urge to feel sorry for Greenie, for her failed attempt to scare me, but we are best friends who would die for the other without any doubt. I study her movements and see that the fight to the death we just took part in against some bad vampires must have really taking it out of her. She usually heals up within seconds, but it has been a half an hour since the battle, and her leg is still bothering her. It's time for me to speak up.

Greenie, do you need some good ol' Dawn's love elixir? I ask wittingly. She replies with a wave of one of her hands to tell me to forget it. There's no letting one of my crew suffer, though, so I flash to her side and open a vein in my arm with my sharp incisor teeth. I can't help but love her for pushing me further into my position as boss.

When blood surfaces, everyone in the yard's actions come to an abrupt stop. They sniff the air and study their surroundings to find the source. Greenie turns and latches on to my arm, sucking up the blood like a puppy does when offered milk. I pull it away from her when I think she has had enough. She reaches down and snaps her leg to the side with one swift yank. It was dislocated. You're not getting old on me, are you, Greens? I ask. She mumbles some cuss words and directs them at me by glaring in my direction. Then she puts all her weight on the bad leg to check it.

Better? I ask.

Better? she replies with a rude smile. Then it's back to Eli and her tequila. No thanks, just a roguish smile is all she must think I deserve. I mumble oh well as I make my way back to where my soul mate, Keith, is building a small bonfire. I pick up a log and give it a good whack with the side of my hand. The log splits in two, and I hand the pieces to Keith. He takes them and throws them on the fire.

Thanks, baby, he says.

You know, Greenie is getting ruder by the day, I tell him. He laughs and asks if she has ever been nice.

Probably not, I say, and we both snort from trying to contain our laughter.

I decide it's time to go find some deer blood in the nearby hills. We are all in need of blood, that's why morale is low.

"Do you want to hunt down a deer with me, Keith?' I ask. He looks at the fire and shrugs while pointing at the small fire. This means he can't leave the fire unattended.

I can ask Greenie or Eli to watch it. I'm sure one of them will.

No, that's okay, I say, interrupting him.

Oh come on, baby, don't do that, he says. I am giving him the hurt puppy-dog look. I eventually tell him to forget it, and I run at a speed no one can see besides us vampires; it's called flashing, and I flesh into the woods.

I stop a mile deep in the forest. I listen carefully to all the sounds surrounding me. I can hear birds and a bunch of small animals like squirrels and woodchucks, but there are no large animals here. No there is nothing worth bleeding nearby, so I flash deeper into the woods. When I stop another mile deep into the forest, I realize I cannot hear the constant resonating noise in my acute hearing. During the spring, I can hear all the insects coming to life. It makes a constant ringing noise in my ears. I stop and wonder why I cannot hear it here and now. Then I hear a strange sound I have never heard before in these woods. It sounds mechanical. I figure it's about a half mile to the north, whatever it is. I flash until I'm close to the sound. Suddenly, there's a loud explosion, and a streak of light shoots into the darkening sky. I'm freaked out by whatever caused this strange eruption. I search the area for anything that could tell me what in the hell I just missed. I find nothing except for a circle burnt into the ground. At first, I think it's kids setting off fireworks, but then I realize I've never encountered the smell of the substance that caused the fire. I'm lurking around the circle when I hear something that entices my blood thirst. It's a heartbeat. I listen closely and decide the heartbeat belongs to a large caribou.

Perfect, I whisper to myself. I cast out the mystery clouding my head and set off toward my next meal. I pick up speed, and my heart races faster and faster the closer I get to the beating heart of the large caribou. I try to control my animalistic tendencies as the loud, beating heart pounds away like a bass drum in the very center of my soul. I am no longer in control of myself when I attack. I thrust my eager hand out toward the deafening sound of a heart pumping blood. I make contact with my hand and race beside the caribou. It lets out a loud noise to scare me away, but the urge to drink blood is too strong now. It presently feels like I'm the thirstiest vampire on the face of the earth. Now it's time to end the chase. So in one daring move, I tackle the beast and spike its throat open with my fangs. We roll over a couple times, sending a cloud of dust into the air surrounding us. When we stop, the caribou is on its side. I'm clutching it tightly with my left leg, suffering from the weight of the dead caribou that's lying on top of it. I drink eagerly from the fountain like stream of blood spurting from the hole in its carotid artery. When I'm done, I remove my leg from beneath the caribou's midsection. I turn over on my back and stare into the tree canopy filled with quiet birds. It's now time for the main feature. It's time to lie back and enjoy the euphoric feeling, and the blood story. This time, the blood story tells me about the life of the caribou. I watch through my mind's eye as it mates, drinks from streams, and fights other male caribou. I reel in a state of pure ecstasy from the godlike power of seeing a creature's life unfold in my mind. When the euphoria subsides enough for me to stand, I rise and snarl at the task ahead of me. I drag the lifeless caribou back to the house, so the others can partake in their own blood story. It takes me over an hour, but it's well worth it.

When I enter the yard with the carcass, my crew flashes to the caribou, drop down on it, and drink its blood. They all stand at the same time, then in a comical way they all fall to the ground with smiles on their faces. They are slipping into their individual blood stories. I can't wait to see what they encounter in their dreams, particularly about the deer's life. I saw it fighting, mating, and almost getting struck by a minivan driving on some unrecognizable highway. I start thinking about the time I hit a deer on the interstate. I was younger and had very little control over myself. I was driving on a dark road one night, when I had a vision. I was in an area with blood puddling up on the road from a deer I hit. Then as quick as the vision came over me, it left even quicker. I was traveling in my 1965 Mustang. I was alone and traveling fast. All I wanted to do was get to a hotel so I could hide from the bad vamps that had been tracking me. They were after my sword that can kill almost anything, including demons and pagan gods. It had a spell put on it by the famous sorcerer Merlin eons ago.

I was rounding a corner doing about seventy when the deer stepped in the bright, light shining out of my headlights. Of course, it didn't keep moving—it froze up and stared blankly into the light. My vision is coming true, I told myself. My visions usually don't happen as quick as this one had, and they also involve something that should not happen. It's similar to an early-warning system. I slammed on the brakes, and smoke poured out from under my screaming, still tires. I braced myself. I was thinking the deer would come through the front window, but instead it leaped across the road and disappeared under the passenger's side of the car. I came to an abrupt stop. I can recall putting my head down in my hands and crying for the deer for a few seconds. That's when it happened. Another car came, and the people got out to help just as the scent of deer blood filled the car. My vision didn't tell me about the people, but I should have known it would not be something as simple as me hitting a deer. I tried to control myself, but the urge to drink its blood was too strong. I stepped from the car and fell on the carcass. Just as I bit into the deer's carotid artery, I looked up and saw them. They were a young couple, maybe in their late twenties. Terror filled their eyes, and their fright formed silent screams on their faces. They tried to retreat, but my appetite had been suppressed, and I knew I had to do something. I flashed in front of them. Now I was between their car and them. Just before I slipped into a blood story, I was able to wipe the whole scenario from their minds. I replaced it with a normal scene of me moving the dead deer from the road. Thank God for my power of persuasion. The couple entered their car in a daze and drove off. I watched them go and sighed when I realized something. I had barely made it out of that one without a scratch.

When I come back to my reality, I look at the others lying on the ground. They are still in their blood story, so I decide to slip inside, get a glass, and fill it with tequila and ice. Damn, no lemons, I tell myself, so I grab a lime out of the fridge instead. I am always having to settle for second best. If it's not fruit for my drink, it's the type of blood I hunt down. Deer blood is okay, but bear and caribou sit on the top shelf. I think I hear Greenie cussing, so I slip outside via the back-porch door. As I am closing in on them, I hear them talking about something strange.

What is it? I ask when I reach my crew.

Something weird's going on, Dawn, Keith says. He stands up, stretches, and takes in a deep breath. He exhales then turns, so he is staring at me directly in my eyes. I wind my arm around a couple times to tell him to keep talking.

It's something very powerful that's killing off the deer in the surrounding area. We could see it in the deer's eyes during the blood story. It ran from some odd-looking, glowing lights that move faster than any car or…well, anything I have ever seen. He finishes saying this, and everyone stares at one another. They are looking for answers. I am beginning to feel the tequila, so I decide to blow it off.

We will find out soon enough, I insist. They just mumble and walk away. I watch them all go to the cooler and pull out bottles of tequila. Then it's down the hatch. They swill down bottles of straight tequila. Keith makes his way back to me. He wraps his arm around me to lift me off my feet.

Umph! I mutter. He picks me up over his head and starts lifting me like he's lifting weights.

Stop! I say as hysterical laughter emits from my mouth. Keith is the best man I have ever had, or the best vampire I should say. He has risked his life to save me more than once. I remember when we were surrounded by rogue vampires once. We were in snow up to my ass. It was a whiteout, and there were at least ten bad vamps tracking us. Every so often, one of them would catch up to us, and a fight would ensue. I was injured badly in one of these pleasant little rendezvous. The bad vamp tore my Achilles tendon, rendering me useless. I could not move. It was going to be at least ten minutes before the gaping wound healed enough for me to move again. Like a faithful dog, Keith stayed by my side, despite my pleadings to save himself. He carried me a ways, but the whole crew of bad vamps caught up with us. They had us surrounded. I pulled my sword from its sheath. Keith stood with his back to mine. We fought harder than we have ever fought before. We knew if either of us let up or got careless, it could be the others' life as well as our own. In the end, we killed the ten rogue vamps by hitting them with Keith's spell of confusion when they got close to us. When they were tumbling around and falling over one another, we were able to behead the ten of them.

This daydream reminded me of something. One of the rogue vamps had sworn that they were being controlled by a vampire so powerful he could walk through different realms and had glowing eyes. Coincidence, I say under my breath. Keith sets me down gently, and I insist that he must fetch me a bottle of tequila from the nearby cooler.

Anything for my queen, he says and bows down. I place two fingers under his chin and lift his head until we are looking into one another's eyes. I lay a kiss on him so intense that he comes up grinning ear to ear and humming lightly. I laugh again and can see he is feeling proud as he walks away to get my tequila. I'm taken aback by how tame my crew and I are being. When we are fighting, we can be ruthless and rogue as hell. I catch myself combing my hair with my hand while thinking I am a pretty vampire. What would the ruthless Dawn in battle say about that thought? I ask myself. As I am picturing myself cutting a Lycan's head off, its blood splatters across my dirty face. I am about to laugh at my idea when Keith comes to a stop just in front of me. He reaches his hand out and gives me a cold bottle of tequila. He has a half-empty bottle for himself and is prepared to make a toast.

May we live the remainder of our immortal lives here, drinking tequila with our good friends Eli and Greenie. After saying this, he raises his half-bottle of tequila and chugs it.

I can see I am going to have to take care of you tonight, I say with a sarcastic smile creeping across my face.

Take care? Me… You've got that backward, he claims. A happy smile makes its way onto my face as I clank my bottle against his almost-empty one.

Maybe you're right, but I was talking about sex, not babysitting my drunk boyfriend. I didn't expect the words to come out like that, so when they do, the words sting. I laugh when he cringes and turns to see if the others heard. I tip back my bottle and let half of it slide down my throat. The cold liquid burns my throat, and I cough.

The nectar of the gods, I say proudly. Then I hold my bottle upward until it's in the sun's rays, then I place my arm around Keith's broad shoulders. When the bottle is in the perfect position, the sun's rays filter through the bottle and hit Keith's arm. He does not notice until a small puff of smoke comes off his arm from a hair burning.

Damnit, Dawn, not funny! he yells when he sees what I am doing.

Don't be such a big baby, I say to him. I'm giggling like a bad child who just played a prank on someone. He stares down at his arm in disbelief. Then he looks at the bottle.

How did you do that? he asks. I explain how the sun's rays are magnified when they pass through the glass and liquid. He is impressed.

That could come in handy sometime, he says. I agree with him, and we turn away from one another. He tries to look in my mind to see what I am thinking. I immediately close off my thoughts. I am scared I am going to think about what happened when I was on the hunt, and he will want to question me about it. I am not in the mood to discuss something I have no idea about, or at least not right now. I leap up playfully and seize his hand. I pull him up to me and lay another passionate kiss on him. He tries to take it further, but I laugh and tell him to follow me. I've changed my mind; I want him to look at the burn marks on the ground and tell me what could have done this. My second sense is telling me that something big is coming our way. I feel like someone or something has eyes on me, and it's making me uncomfortable.

Follow me! I yell. Then I flash into the woods. Mainly cedars and some big redwoods are smearing in my vision as I race past them at top speeds. Keith is close on my heels and is still trying to look in my mind. You will see soon enough, I say. The mind-probing stops, and we continue deeper in the woods until we come to the spot. The smell of the burnt leaves and grass still fills the surrounding area. Keith's forehead wrinkles up as the smell enters his nose. He observes the burnt area when I point at it.

What's this? he asks. He can tell it's something I'm not sure about when I don't answer. I finally shrug my shoulders.

Beats me, I say abruptly. We stare at one another for a moment, then I turn and flash back to my house. The others are curious where we went. Keith is about to speak, and I interrupt him, so he doesn't leak the secret out.

We had to… Well, we made love, I say as I'm closing my mind. If they try and probe my mind and find it closed, I will just tell them to stop looking. I will say this in a sexual way. That way they will think I don't want them seeing our sex scenes. Sure enough, the probing starts when Keith starts getting nervous.

Screw it. Keith, you can never hide anything, can you? I joke. The others laugh for a moment, then Greenie hushes Eli.

Okay then. What is he hiding, Dawn? And why would you have to hide something from your best friend? Greenie asks. She is trying to make me feel bad, but it's not going to work. Greenie tends to not tell the truth at times. She is always stealing my liquor and blaming it on Eli. This is bad because Eli loves her so much that he takes the blame regardless. Eli's the kindest vampire you will ever meet. He would give you the shirt off his back and more. I am in mid thought about Eli when Greenie yells.

What gives? Are you going to let us in on your little secret or not? she asks.

I guess I have to now, I reply.

Yep, you sure do! Greenie says in an angry tone. I explain the whole scenario and get a response out of Greenie that I don't expect.

That's all! she yells. Then she stops and is in deep thought for a moment.

Is it, like…the blood story we had? she asks in a concerned voice.

Yeah, that's right, Sherlock, Keith says sarcastically. This causes a playful fight to break out between Greenie and Keith. I slide in between the two like a cat sliding in between a closing door and its frame, then I hold them both at arm's, length. They are strong, but I am stronger. After a moment of trying me, they give in and stand, unable to move. I think it's over, but Greenie erupts, calling Keith some name in a playful manner and the childish scrap ensues. They're squirming and trying to get away when I let my duties as a boss initiate some adrenaline to feed my nerves, as I yell, Stop! The playful battle comes to an abrupt ending when I follow this up with an earsplitting whistle.

You two are grating on my last nerve! I yell at them. I look back and forth between the two, giving them the evil eye to let them know I am serious. They look at one another for a moment, then they both slap my arm away, turn, and walk in opposite directions while eyeing one another over their shoulders. I turn and follow Keith. I am in midstride when everything goes blank for a second. When I try to get my bearings, I realize that my soul is floating into my mind. At first, I think it's my old angel friend trying to call me, but then I realize things are different than when we used to meet. I am not heading to a room where he and I would meet. No, I am in my own mind. I hear a voice calling out to me from a long distance away. But it's getting closer and closer by the second. Its someone calling my name. This is weird, I tell myself. I wonder what's going on in