The Awakening

By Laurie Bowler

The night a group of archaeologists ventured out to uncover a tomb buried for centuries would soon become their own nightmare. They locate the grave and unknowingly discover a creature bound, staked and buried,  they soon realise their ultimate mistake as they succumb to their fate.

Stephen Hoffman is a centuries-old vampire with only bloodlust on his mind; since his witch daughter performed the spell that turned him immortal, his bloodlust has always been his biggest downfall, along with his thirst for power. His son, Oliver, who hasn't taken a human life since his creation, is hellbent on ending his father's terror reign in the small town of Hawkins. Oliver enlists the aid of a local witch, Estella.

Despite her inner turmoil of helping a species that destroyed her friends and family, Estella must find a way to stop Stephen Hoffman before the entire town is lost to the immortals and then the world.

A new and exciting fantasy horror by Laurie Bowler, published by Blackhawk Publishing.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Blackhawk Publishing
• Release date: Mar 8, 2023
• ISBN: 9798215198339

Laurie Bowler

Laurie Bowler is a bestselling fantasy author residing in Hampshire, a county in the United Kingdom, where she started writing fantasy fiction in late November 2009.    After reading hundreds of fantasy novels, Laurie knew she wanted to write within that genre. She set her mind to writing her first novel, 'Vanquished', which was then quickly followed by the award-winning Moon Rising series.  Laurie attended college and has gained qualifications in Creative Writing, Music and Health and Social Care. She is still undertaking as many academic courses as possible to improve her knowledge.  Laurie lives with her daughter, fiance and a houseful of pets, including eight cats and three dogs, to name just a few. Her new novel Mythical and its sequel, The Battle of Evov, have both been an immense adventure and creativity of her mind. 

Book preview

The Awakening

By

Laurie Bowler

Published by Laurie Bowler

Copyright 2022 Laurie Bowler

Edited by Eloise Beckinsfield

License Notes

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

Prologue

Year 1918

Gently down there, it’s a kind of steep descent there. You need to be careful with my equipment; some of them are old enough to be your granddaddies and mommies! Perhaps you fall; ensure my equipment stays off the ground, please, said William, the 56-year-old archaeologist. He was wearing a white shirt on a brown pair of shorts with a suspender – his jungle boots could not go unnoticed.

Oh, c’mon! Come off it, William. I can’t believe you cherish those archaic tools over your staff, retorted Sarah. She had a white shirt on as well, adorned with a maroon colour waistcoat, a pair of trousers and high boots.

You may call it whatever – archaic, deteriorating or anything else; I’m pretty sure those tools you called archaic are more reliable than a few of these men you are defending, replied William.

Oh wow! And yet they accompany you at this hour of the night combing through some ancient tombs; how unreliable they really are, Sarah replied, giving William a stern look; one could tell by her facial expression under the moonlit night that she was not really pleased with William’s comments.

They all walked into the historic graveyard via the rear wall. The group of archaeologists consisted of William, the search lead, and their boss, Sarah, who had been William’s partner and wife for decades, and seven other young men, who bore the tools and equipment.

I really don’t know why we have to do this right now – I mean, at this hour of the night. This is almost 11:45pm. I’m pretty sure we could do this in the daytime, so why now? In fact, who walks about in the middle of a graveyard with lamps at this hour of the night? Sarah queried.

I would have said the dead, but they do not have lamps – hahaha, William replied, as he chuckled abruptly at his own response. A few crew members found this somehow amusing as they also laughed.

Sarah stopped walking; the quick joke William made got on the wrong side of her. And did you think that was funny? She asked in a low tone. William, who could deduce he had or was about to get his wife pissed, stopped moving as well; he was silent for a few seconds thinking for a better excuse or utterance. He dipped his hand into his coat to bring out a small leather jacket book. He shone the flashlight in his hand at it as he read from the book: At the hour when the day is just born, the moon naked, the Oak shadows the treasure’s chest and the....

And what? What’s all this crap you’ve been reading to yourself, William? Sarah interjected, cutting him short abruptly before he could complete whatever he was reading.

William took off his hat as he pointed to a direction afar. You see, my dear, what lies under that shade ahead of us, is a lifetime fortune that will put an end to our lifetime toils in the dirt. How long do you want to dig up the carcass and brush some teeth out of the dirt? He knew this would work well on Sarah, which worked the magic. She sighed and nodded as she proceeded in the direction of the other crew members.

When they got to the Oak tree, William signalled to the men to drop the equipment. He unzipped one of the backpacks and brought out a gadget with a protruding handle. He turned it on as he wielded it across the soil's surface underneath the Oak tree. The device beeped, which confirmed the presence of whatever they were looking for.  William nodded to gesture to his crew to start digging, but none could decipher that as they stood looking at the surface and then stared at each other.

Idiots! Must I scream before you know you are to start digging or didn’t you see me nodding? William snarled at his crew members.

They quickly started the digging as if it were a digging contest.

You know you are a bully, right? Who could apparently notice your head in this darkness or could tell you nodding meant start digging? Sarah responded, defending the ignorance of the men.

"Oh, so me nodding could have meant’, Oh boys, this is the point we all have been searching for, the reason why we all left our abode in the middle of the night, so let’s head back to our various houses now’?" William defended himself.

The men dug out the soil deep until one of them struck something hard beneath the ground.

Hey, gently, at this point, that’s meant to be the chest the book is referring to, William admonished them in the calmest tone, not to seem harsh again, which would attract another condemnation of character. They carefully unravelled the object, which afterwards became a coffin.

Holy crap! William, I’m sure you knew right from the start that we were coming to retrieve a buried coffin. Sarah said with a bit of disappointment.

"What difference is this compared to those dead bodies we often examine during our work. You and I have both closely examined Egyptian Mummies, gathering the remains of the dead. In fact, we have dealt with more human remains than animals or some other biological or geographical objects or elements. So, we digging out a coffin this time shouldn’t be weird to you. Come to