The Reformed Vampire Support Group by Catherine Jinks

For God’s sake, are you deaf? Father Ramon’s outside-you want to keep him waiting? Nina! The door burst open to admit a withered old woman in a quilted nylon dressing gown. Her skin was the color of a maggot’s, and her legs were so thin that her tights were wrinkled around the knees. Her hands on the keyboard were like chickens’ feet, all scaly and dry. Zadia hesitated, Nina wrote, torn between her desire to punish the wicked and her need to reassure the tall, pale, handsome teenager with the big brown eyes. It was about time, she decided, that Zadia made friends with the boy she’d rescued. She stared unblinkingly at the computer screen, still gnawing at her hair-which was thick and dark, and cut in a heavy, clumsy, old-fashioned style that didn’t suit her bony little face. Nina! somebody shouted from beyond the closed bedroom door. She appeared to be leaping from rooftop to rooftop, her black cape streaming out behind her. Her canine teeth were long and pointed, but she was stunningly beautiful nonetheless. She wore high-heeled boots and lots of black leather, as well as an ammunition belt. Splashed across the cover of Youngblood was a glamorous, slinky young girl with white skin, black hair, and ruby-red lips. A small bookshelf contained multiple copies of Youngblood (book two of the Bloodstone Chronicles), by someone called N. A poster of David Bowie hung on the wall, curling at the corners. The room in which she sat was illumined solely by the glow of her computer screen barely visible in the dimness were her brass bedstead, her Indian cushions, and her lava lamp. Nina chewed away at a lock of her hair, thinking hard. He would be unaware, at this point, that Zadia was a heroic crime-fighting vampire who preyed only on lowlife scum. He would realize instantly that she was a vampire and run for the door. But if he saw her sink her fangs into anyone’s neck, he would also be frightened.

He might even be dazzled by Zadia’s flawless face and perfect figure. Within seconds, the two baddies had been knocked out-leaving a very important question unanswered. Then she’d whirled around to fight off his friend. Somersaulting to the floor, she’d walked straight up to the bigger thug and kicked the gun from his hand. But Zadia wasn’t troubled by bullets, because her vital organs could regenerate themselves at lightning speed. Only when she’d spread her arms wide had the crackle of breaking ice announced her presence.īang-bang! Two bullets had promptly smashed into her rib cage. Hanging upside-down from a meat hook, wrapped in a long black cape and covered by a thin layer of frost, Zadia had cleverly disguised herself as a harmless side of beef.

But Zadia Bloodstone was already waiting for them.

So far, her teenage love interest had been dragged into a refrigerated meat locker by two thugs armed with a gun and a boning knife.

The Reformed Vampire Support Group by Catherine Jinks