Excerpt Day: Diamond In The Shade by D.J. Manly

[reviews_and_ramblings]

Diamond In The Shade by D.J. Manly
Release Date: July 27, 2009
Publisher: Liquid Silver Books
ISBN: 978-1-59578-570-1
Publisher Link: http://www.king-cart.com/cgi-bin/cart.cgi?store=linda018&product_name=Diamond+In+The+Shade&return_page=&user-id=&password=&exchange=&exact_match=exact

Blurb: Diamond has never known anything but death and destruction. An abandoned baby left to die, he was raised in a monastery and trained to kill. When his trainer pays him an unexpected visit in his native Hungary, Diamond is surprised to learn that he is needed in North America, where a curious and seemingly unstoppable force is at work. Sebastian Shade also fights vampires, but with a difference. He is one. Reformed by love experienced and lost some years before, Sebastian was urged out of his self-imposed hibernation and secretly recruited to help the Order of Destroyers fight evil. Now in present-day New York, he continues his work, along with his team of mortals. Diamond arrives in New York and goes straight to work, not knowing that Sebastian Shade is hunting the same villain as he. When they meet, it’s fireworks, and in more ways than one, when they finally come to the realization that if they are going to defeat this evil, they’ll have to do it together.

Excerpt:

"Why didn´t you tell me Karl was dead?" Diamond demanded the moment he walked through the door.

"I was waiting for the right time," Vanguard replied.

"It´s the reason I was brought to New York, isn´t it?"

"That, and because of this surge of new activity."

"How did he die?" Diamond´s jaw was set.

"The vampires drained him."

"More than one?"

"We assume so," Vanguard said. "What happened to you? You look a little battered."

"I met a vampire tonight," Diamond said, "and he walked away."

Vanguard´s eyes widened.

"I´ve never lost a battle before. The next time I meet this demon, he won´t walk away again."

"Why aren´t you dead?"

"I don´t know. Maybe he enjoyed our little battle, and he wants a second round. Anyway, that was his error. He should have killed me when he had the opportunity."

Vanguard was about to say something else when Richard came out of the other room, holding up an old photograph.

"What have you got there?" Vanguard asked, moving in to take a closer look. Diamond came to stand beside him. He narrowed his eyes as he studied the photograph. Dark hair, dark eyes, looked to be in his late twenties, handsome in a wicked kind of way.

"Sebastian Shade," Richard announced, "the greatest killer of destroyers that ever was."

Diamond grabbed the photograph. "That´s the vampire I fought tonight."

"That´s impossible," Vanguard scoffed. "Shade hasn´t been active in centuries. He was crossed off the list a long time ago."

"That was him, I tell you," Diamond countered. He looked at Vanguard. "Why would the Order cross him off the list? Was he recorded as destroyed?"

Vanguard shook his head. "No. There was never any record of his destruction. However, there was a rumor that he destroyed himself."

"I guess the rumor isn´t true," Richard muttered.

Diamond studied Vanguard. "You know more than what you´re telling me. If I´m going to fight him, you have to tell me everything."

"He fell in love with a destroyer."

Diamond´s eyes widened. "I thought he killed them?"

"Yes, and at one time, for sport. He moved around, hunting them, one by one, in the nineteenth century. The Order attributed the death of over thirty destroyers to Sebastian Shade. Then, he met Tanus. Tanus was a champion of his time. He made it his personal vendetta to find Shade and make him pay for his crimes."

"Tanus died of natural causes," Richard pointed out. "I´ve read about him. He was extraordinary."

"Apparently not so much," Diamond scoffed. "Shade is still walking around."

"They fell in love," Vanguard said. "And it is said that love transformed Shade, touched him in a way that made him connect with his lost humanity. And when Tanus died, he just allowed himself to waste away."

"Monstrous," Diamond sneered. "A vampire and a destroyer in love; it´s insane. Either that vampire bewitched him somehow, or this Tanus had lost his mind."

"Nevertheless," Richard said, "Shade is back. He´s dangerous. And from the looks of it, he´s involved in what´s happening to this city right now. We need to take him down."

Diamond nodded. "That shouldn´t be a problem."