The Sunset Prophecy (Love & Armageddon #1)
Read The Sunset Prophecy (Love & Armageddon #1) Online
Authors: P.J. Day
Love
& Armageddon #1
Acclaim for the novels of P.J. Day:
“P.J. Day breathes fresh air in a genre oversaturated with the same plotlines and characters. This page turner is something special.”
—H.T. Night, author of Vampire Love Story and
The Fourth Sunrise
“A fun departure from the usual vampire tale, with King’s Blood author P.J. Day has introduced a whole new kind of vampire.”
—sookiestackhousebooks.com
“The Sunset Prophecy is The
Davinci Code, meets Percy Jackson, meets Beautiful Disaster, all with a much bolder twist.”
—J.R. Rain, author of
Moon Dance and The Witch & the Gentleman
Atmospheric and extremely memorable, this is the story of Jack, a vampire who is finally starting to feel that he can tell his story.
—
John Warner, indiebookspot.com
E-book Edition, License Notes
All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without the prior written consent of the both the copyright owner and/or author.
The Sunset Prophecy is a satire by P.J. Day, and is not intended maliciously. P.J. Day has invented all names and situations in its stories, except in cases when public figures are being satirized. Any other use of real names is accidental and coincidental, or used as a fictional depiction or personality parody (permitted under Hustler Magazine, Inc. v.
Falwell, 485 U.S. 46, 108 S.Ct 876, 99 L.Ed.2d 41 (1988)).
To my beautiful wife and mother of our gorgeous girls, I thank you for your unbreakable spirit, patience, understanding and incredible fortitude.
King’s Blood:
Best Selling Serial Novel
Episode One:
Vampire Revealed available on
Kindle
Episode Two:
Vampire Unleashed available on
Kindle
Episode Three:
Vampire Lust available on
Kindle
Episode Four:
Vampire Descent available on
Kindle
Episode Five:
Vampire Terminus (coming soon)
The Complete Serial Novel available in two versions:
Other Works in progress
Zombie Party & Other Stories w/ J.R. Rain (coming soon)
Daughters of Eve w/ J.R. Rain (coming soon)
Mercy's Magic (A Witch Series #1) w/ Elizabeth Basque (coming soon)
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Table of Contents
Chapter 1 The Parable of Rebellion
Chapter 2
The Maledicted Transformation
Chapter 3
At the Crossroads of Fate
Chapter 9
Rumors and Half-truths
Chapter 13
The 4
th
or 5
th
Commandment
Chapter 16
Blessed are the Autodidacts
Chapter 17
Good Night and Good Luck
Chapter 19
Loose Lips Sink Sponsorships
Chapter 24
Protests and Passageways
Chapter 28
Crossroads of the World
That song was about your mind. You have to change your mind before you change the way you live and the way you move...The thing that’s going to change people will be something that no one will ever be able to capture on film. It will just be something you see and all of a sudden you realize, ‘I’m on the wrong page.’
—Gil Scott Heron
The Parable of Rebellion
“I
’m afraid,” said Isaac.
The boy
winced as he sat up in his hospital bed. With IV tubing latticing his tanned forearms, nine-year-old Isaac looked too athletic and healthy to be bedridden. The profusion of medical equipment flickering at his bedside contrasted with a wall of pictures and handmade cards from classmates and Little League teammates—the Pasadena Reds missed their shortstop.
“
Talk to me,” said the young man wearing a black hoodie, jeans and distinctive green Puma Roma Slims. This was his third visit with Isaac. He sat in a visitor’s chair upholstered in an ugly 80s pastel Santa Fe print. The hospital and its staff were state of the art, but the non-medical furniture…not so much.
Isaac looked
comfortable around the man. There was nothing menacing about his face beneath the pulled-up hood. The boy relaxed into the safety and growing familiarity of the young man’s eyes. They were a soothing caramel color.
“
I’m afraid of things going dark, of hurting,” Isaac confessed. “My leg hurts, but I’m afraid of it hurting even more.”
The man glanced down at
the boy’s leg—through the sheets, through his skin and muscles, down to the cellular level—he could see a small black blob of cells feeding off the boy’s bone marrow. He perceived the pangs of dull pain throbbing in the boy’s leg; the cancer had spread to Isaac’s femur.
“
What’d the doctor say?” the man asked.
“
He’s not smiling like when I first got here. He smiles, but not the same kind of smiles. They’re fake.”
The man eyed the
rolling entertainment kiosk that held the television and the video game console. It sat unused in the corner of the hospital room. “Haven’t been playing as much...huh?”
“
No,” the boy said. “Not really into it.”
“
How about we fire up a game? You and me. I’ll let you have the rocket launcher this time.”
“
No, thanks. It’s all right.”
“
I’m surprised. You’re always itching to play.”
“
I’m just worried about my mom and dad and Natalie.”
The man got up from his seat and sat at the end of the bed. He flashed the occasional glance toward the door. The nurse wasn
’t scheduled to come in yet, but he didn’t want to get caught in Isaac’s room past visiting hours. That would just complicate everything.
“
What worries you the most?” asked the man.
“
That they will be sad if or when…you know…,” the boy said, his eyes tilting downward, shaking his head. “…I can’t say that word, I’m scared.”
“You don’t have to
say it,” interrupted the man. “That’s noble of you—you’re the only kid in this entire hospital who’s expressed that thought. I want you to know that.”
“
Really? My family is the most important thing. The only thing.”
“
But you don’t think you’re going to beat this?”
“
After the doctor told my parents that he had to stop chemo, he took my Mom and Dad outside the door to talk. I saw them through the window. It wasn’t just Mom who cried. Dad cried. That’s how I knew.”
“Things changed
since then?” asked the man.
“
Yeah. It’s different. They bought me more stuff. Now I have every first-person shooter on that game system. I got Disneyland passes. I only want to talk to them more...about everything, but they just buy me stuff. They give it to me and leave kinda soon. They don’t stay and talk.”
“
Grownups cope differently. You’re handling the situation better than most kids in this hospital. You’re a tough kid.”
“
Thanks,” said Isaac. “They ask me how I am, but every time I tell Mom it hurts, she cries and leaves. Now, when she asks, I just say, ‘Fine.’”
The man nodded.
“If you beat this, besides Disneyland, what would be the first thing you’d do?”
“
You...you think I’m going to get better?”
“
Where do you think you’ll go if you don’t?”
“
I don’t know...Heaven?”
“
Which would you want more? To be with your family, or go to Heaven?”
“
My family, of course. I make them laugh, they make me laugh. I’m not perfect. I get in trouble sometimes, but Mom...Dad, they always make me feel safe,” said Isaac.
“So, why not Heaven?”
the man asked.
Pensively, the boy lowered his eyes. When he raised them, he said,
“Everybody seems to want to go there, but I don’t know what it’s like. They don’t either, you know?”
“
From what I hear, it’s pretty swell there, but hard to get into, kinda like professional baseball.” The young man stood up from the end of the bed. He walked toward the door and glanced out the small window. He looked left and right, and then walked back toward Isaac. He leaned next to the boy’s bedside, and patted the back of his head. “Don’t change. Don’t ever change, you got me?”
“
What do you mean?”
“
Your loyalty for those who truly love you is a gift. Spread that around.”
“
Okay.”
“
You hold grudges?”
“
No. People have their bad days about stuff. Next day, everything’s okay again.”
“
Good.”
The man put his thin hand on the boy
’s forehead, as if he were checking his temperature and closed his eyes. Isaac felt a little hot. A pleasant fizzle—as if a warm electric eel slithered around his vertebrae—traveled throughout his body. A strange electricity surged through him, all the way to his fingertips and toes. “What are you doing to me?” he asked.
The man took his hand away from Isaac
’s forehead, stood straight and said, “Thank you.”
“
For what?”
“
For convincing me.”
“
Of what?” Isaac laughed.
“
To do the right thing.”
“
Okay...you’re welcome, I guess.”
The young man stretched out his arm and
offered a horizontal fist. Isaac hesitated at first. It looked like a salute, but eventually gave it a light fist bump.
“
Harder,” the man said.
Isaac cocked his arm back and smacked the man
’s fist.
“
There you go...you look better.”
“
Yeah?” Isaac said. “I do feel a bit better.”
“
Tomorrow, when they discharge you, have your father call the insurance company. Have him ask for Rick Baird. Don’t forget that name now. It’s similar to the lead character’s name from X-Wars—you know, Harold Baird.”
“
Okay,” said the boy.
“
Tell your father to tell Baird to shred the denial letter.”
“
Rick Baird. Denial letter…shred it. Got it.”
The man walked to the door and
again looked out the window. He quickly glanced back at Isaac. “Make sure your dad tells him he’s on notice, too, okay?”
Isaac nodded.
The man opened the door, stuck out his head and looked both ways.
“
You never told me your name,” said Isaac.
The man turned around with a sly grin
. “Batman.”
“
Batman? Really?”
“
No, but I like Batman.”
“
Okay,” the boy chuckled.
He smiled at Isaac
and slipped through the door into the hallway.