Infinite Moon Read online

  INFINITE MOON

  Vampire for Hire #20

  by

  J.R. RAIN

  MATTHEW S. COX

  Other Books by J.R. Rain

  STANDALONE NOVELS

  The Pale Cold Light

  All the Way Back Home

  Winter Wind

  Silent Echo

  The Body Departed

  The Grail Quest

  Elvis Has Not Left the Building

  The Lost Ark

  The Spear (with Randy Keys)

  The Journey (with Piers Anthony)

  The Worm Returns (with Piers Anthony)

  Lavabull (with Piers Anthony)

  Jack and the Giants (with Piers Anthony)

  Dolfin Tayle (with Piers Anthony)

  Dragon Assassin (with Piers Anthony)

  Lost Eden (with Elizabeth Basque)

  Judas Silver (with Elizabeth Basque)

  The Vampire Club (with Scott Nicholson)

  Cursed (with Scott Nicholson)

  Ghost College (with Scott Nicholson)

  The Black Fang Betrayal (with multiple authors)

  VAMPIRE FOR HIRE

  Moon Dance

  Vampire Moon

  American Vampire

  Moon Child

  Christmas Moon (novella)

  Vampire Dawn

  Vampire Games

  Moon Island

  Moon River

  Vampire Sun

  Moon Dragon

  Moon Shadow

  Vampire Fire

  Midnight Moon

  Moon Angel

  Vampire Sire

  Moon Master

  Dead Moon

  Lost Moon

  Vampire Destiny

  Infinite Moon

  Vampire Empress (coming soon)

  SAMANTHA MOON CASE FILES

  Moon Bayou (with Rod Kierkegaard)

  Blood Moon (with Matthew S. Cox)

  Parallel Moon (with Kris Carey)

  SAMANTHA MOON ORIGINS

  with Matthew S. Cox

  New Moon Rising

  Moon Mourning

  Haunted Moon

  SAMANTHA MOON ADVENTURES

  with Matthew S. Cox

  Banshee Moon

  Moon Monster

  Moon Ripper

  Witch Moon

  Moon Goddess

  Moon Blaze

  Golem Moon

  Moon Maidens

  VAMPIRE FOR HIRE SHORT STORIES

  Teeth

  Vampire Nights

  Vampire Blues

  Vampire Dreams

  Halloween Moon

  Vampire Gold

  Blue Moon

  Dark Side of the Moon

  Vampire Requiem

  Moon Love

  Moon Musings

  Moon Beast

  Vampire Widow

  VAMPIRE FOR HIRE

  COLLECTED SHORT TALES

  Moon Tales

  Moon Shots

  Vampire Vacation (coming soon)

  VAMPIRE FOR HIRE EXTRAS

  Vampire Alley (poem)

  Moon Extras (Bonus Scenes)

  Moon Dance (Deluxe Edition)

  JIM KNIGHTHORSE SERIES

  Dark Horse

  The Mummy Case

  Hail Mary

  Clean Slate

  THE WITCHES SERIES

  with Rod Kierkegaard and Matthew S. Cox

  The Witch and the Gentleman

  The Witch and the Englishman

  The Witch and the Huntsman

  The Witch and the Wolfman

  The Witch and the Hangman (coming soon)

  WINTER SOLTSICE SERIES

  with Matthew S. Cox

  Convergence

  Containment

  Catalyst

  Catacombs

  ALEXIS SILVER SERIES

  with Matthew S. Cox

  Silver Light

  Deep Silver

  Silver Quarrel

  Silver Cauldron (coming soon)

  MADDY WIMSEY SERIES

  with Matthew S. Cox

  The Devil’s Eye

  The Drifting Gloom

  Dark Mercy

  The Queen’s Gambit (coming soon)

  THE PSI QUARTET

  with A.K. Alexander

  Hear No Evil

  See No Evil

  Speak No Evil

  Touch No Evil

  NICK CAINE SERIES

  with Aiden James

  Temple of the Jaguar

  Treasure of the Deep

  Pyramid of the Gods

  THE WATSON FILES

  with Chanel Smith

  Sherlock Holmes and the Missing Shakespeare

  Sherlock Holmes and the Lost Da Vinci

  Sherlock Holmes and the Werewolf of West End

  DEAD DETECTIVE SERIES

  with Rod Kierkegaard

  The Dead Detective

  Deadbeat Dad

  ICE WOLF

  with H.P. Mallory and Crystal-Rain Love

  Ice Wolf

  She Wolf (coming soon)

  IMMORTAL OPERATIVE

  with Matthew S. Cox

  Broken Ice

  THE SPINOZA TRILOGY

  The Vampire With the Dragon Tattoo

  The Vampire Who Played Dead

  The Vampire in the Iron Mask

  FOUR ELEMENTS TRILOGY

  with Matthew S. Cox

  The Elementalist

  The Black Rose

  The Wakefield Curse

  THE ALADDIN TRILOGY

  with Piers Anthony

  Aladdin Relighted

  Aladdin Sins Bad

  Aladdin and the Flying Dutchman

  THE WALKING PLAGUE TRILOGY

  with Elizabeth Basque

  Zombie Patrol

  Zombie Rage

  Zombie Mountain

  THE SPIDER TRILOGY

  with Scott Nicholson and H.T. Night

  Bad Blood

  Spider Web

  Spider Bite

  TEAM QUANTUM TRILOGY

  with Kris Carey and Matthew S. Cox

  The Accidental Superheroine

  My Big Fat Accidental Superheroine Wedding

  Accidental No More

  SHORT STORY COLLECTIONS

  Dark Rain: Stories

  Blood Rain: Stories

  Black Rain: Stories

  Red Rain: Forty-One Stories

  Moonlight & Monsters: Ten Vampires Tales

  For Young Readers

  STANDALONE NOVELS

  The Enchantress (with Randy Keys)

  Spirit Mountain (with Alexandra Swan)

  The Emerald River

  Forever Silent

  The Angel and the Gift

  YOUR CHOICE BOOKS

  Deep Sea Danger

  The Legend of Eagle Eye Mountain

  Playoff Pressure

  THE ROBOT TWINS

  The Mystery of the Walking Statue

  The Secret of Stonehead Island

  The Mystery of the Lightning Cave (coming soon)

  KIDQUEST ADVENTURES

  The Secret of the Sphinx

  Treasure of Oak Island (coming soon)

  THE DISTANT WORLD TRILOGY

  Dare to Enter a Distant World

  Dare to Rule a Distant World (coming soon)

  Infinite Moon

  Published by Rain Press

  Copyright © 2020 by J.R. Rain

  All rights reserved.

  Ebook Edition, License Notes:

  This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

  TABLE OF CONTENTS

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

>   Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-one

  Chapter Twenty-two

  Reading Sample: Dragon Assassin

  Reading Sample: The Vampire Club

  About the Authors

  Infinite Moon

  Chapter One

  On the Fly

  Frantic emotions make it difficult to think.

  My entire vampiric life thus far feels as though it’s been leading up to this point: a confrontation with Elizabeth. The emotional strain of constant vigilance, worrying what she’d do and when she’d do it has eclipsed my memories of mortality to the point they’re more like a dream than anything I’ve ever lived through.

  Ever since she’d escaped from me, I’ve expected she’d do something bad. The only questions I had were ‘when, and how many are going to die?’ To be fair, my assumptions proved a bit off. We’d all been bracing for her attacking us: meaning my family, possibly Kingsley and Allison as well. Turns out, she didn’t really care about us one way or the other.

  Perhaps a little hubris came into play, but the woman did have me convinced for quite a while the only thing standing between her and the ruination of the world as we know it was me. Yeah, also a lie. Not exactly sure what benefit it provided Elizabeth other than getting me to resist her taking over my psyche entirely. Maybe a host ‘letting them out’ fuses dark master and host together in a way where she couldn’t simply leave whenever she wanted to, so she had to trick me into doing everything I could to keep her in a metaphorical pit in my head. I suppose it would also imply a dark master can’t help themselves but attempt to infiltrate their host’s psyche.

  Or I could be completely wrong.

  Elizabeth adores messing with people and causing emotional pain. She might have only been mocking me for being proud of my becoming a federal agent, thinking I made a difference for good in the world. I confess to a little pride, but no one goes to HUD for glory. Eight out of ten people probably don’t even know the agency exists. Hollywood is riddled with movies starring fictional FBI agents or CIA agents. Can’t say I’ve seen even one film about a Housing and Urban Development agent.

  Whatever.

  Point is, Elizabeth separated herself from me awhile back, and ever since, we knew she gathered her strength for something big. I’d mistakenly assumed she planned to raise an army of immortals and conquer the world. Believe it or not, ancient mysticism doesn’t have a big advantage over modern weapons. Vampires are tough, but if Elizabeth took them public and tried to overwhelm entire nations, big bombs, tanks, military aircraft, and so on would get involved.

  She’d probably set off nuclear war—sorta like that guy in Florida who burned down his entire house trying to get rid of a cockroach.

  No, the only way a creature like her could take over this world would be subtle manipulation of prominent leaders behind the scenes. And while such a plan is completely within her powers, she doesn’t want to be subtle anymore. This crazy bitch wants to be an empress, queen, or some such thing like a goddess on earth. Sorry, Liz. You might be fast, but you can’t outrun a hellfire missile from a Predator drone. Can’t mind control one of those either. Blow a vampire into tiny enough chunks, especially with fire involved, and it might be game over. Though, I have a feeling she would drift off somewhere and regenerate a new body.

  I got a peek at her frustration when Izeth the ninth-dimensional being nearly exploded. Guess when you’ve been planning something for centuries, an unexpected failure is exceptionally infuriating. Damn her for fooling me again. Sitting there having tea and talking came too close to making me think of her as an actual somewhat-human being with functioning emotions and depth of personality.

  Looking back on it, I’m sure she had no intention of releasing the creators she abducted alive. If her plan worked, she’d have needed them to essentially prop up the world they made. Without getting the creators’ work out there into the sphere of public awareness, it would have ceased to exist without them. Her entire reality would only have existed by virtue of the creators mentally living in the world they made. As soon as they died, bye-bye everything. She probably would’ve turned them into vampires, maybe brought them into the world with her so they had the motivation of oblivion keeping them working on it for eternity.

  Anyway, back to my whirling emotions. Not only do I have the worry, fear, and adrenaline rush that comes with the manifestation of my biggest anxiety of the past few years coming to fruition (the war between Elizabeth’s dark masters and everyone else), I also get to freak out over bringing my damn kids with me.

  This is elevating ‘take your kids to work day’ a bit too far.

  Tammy emits a noise... part sigh, part giggle.

  She’s scared, but dealing with it. Can’t blame her at all. Of everyone here, she’s the closest to a normal person. Even Allison can defend herself with magic to a point. Granted, one of those ascendant dark masters would easily kill her before she even knew an attack was coming. They’re ridiculously fast, though Kingsley probably has the reflexes, at least in wolf form, to deal with them. He’s also far tougher than an average human, so a hit or two won’t be instant death. Any ascendant who bites Kingsley is in for a rude awakening. He bites back, and his fangs are way bigger.

  Even Anthony, at least if he shifts into the Fire Warrior, could probably protect himself against ascendant dark masters. The big burning guy isn’t terribly fast—albeit he is much faster than a person would expect from looking at him—but my son has impressive dexterity. Probably from working out with Jacky and boxing. He’d have a better chance of catching an ascendant by the throat or punching them in the face than diving out of the way.

  Point being, Tammy is an ordinary human girl with ridiculous telepathy, who doesn’t belong anywhere near a fight with supernatural beings strong enough to throw cars. Fortunately, she’s got long range skills. She doesn’t have to be close to the dangerous parts to read minds.

  Anthony thinks of her like ‘command and control’ from one of his video games. She’s our radar and communications system, so to speak. My daughter can allow us to all basically communicate (through her) as though we had radios. Plus, she can sense the presence of sentient minds trying to sneak up on us and give us warning. Most importantly, however, she can mask us from Elizabeth’s ability to detect our presence.

  That reason, more than any other, is why she insisted on going with us.

  Another source of my crazy emotions is how rapidly everything is moving. Elizabeth and her people took a magical gateway straight from Barrow, Alaska to somewhere in Venezuela. She’s planning to invade another dimension, but not one above ours. Going laterally prevents certain annoying issues like eventual complete disintegration—always a plus.

  Her plan is to invade an alternate version of Earth containing a far more primitive civilization so she doesn’t need to worry about laser-guided smart bombs or nukes. It’s also supposedly ‘more magical’ than what I think of as our ‘normal’ world. I’ve got no idea exactly what it means to be more magical… anywhere from dragons flying around like sparrows to people like Allison making up a significant portion of the population. Good chance, magic in the dimension Elizabeth has targeted isn’t something people try to keep hidden and/or don’t believe in.

  In her ascendant form, she has access to the full range of the abilities she had in her mortal life plus all the perks of immortality. I’m also not sure if we should consider ourselves lucky Elizabeth’s forte is ritual blood magic. This means, she’s not going to do—I
’m guessing—the ‘stand there and throw fireballs’ thing like Allison. Oh, wait. She tried to impale me on an earthen spire.

  Yeah, I’m anxious as hell because everyone is rushing, trying to stop Elizabeth from opening a portal to the other dimension. It would’ve been one thing to let her rule a world the creators made up for her, since everyone in it never would have existed otherwise. However, I can’t just sit idly by while she spreads pain and misery over already-existing actual people. Just because they live in an alternate world doesn’t make them less than real.

  Worse, Tammy saw a vision of men tied to trees in a ritualistic manner, their chests bare and painted in arcane markings. Since they all wore olive drab pants, she thinks they might be soldiers. Kingsley suggested the idea of criminal gangs, mercenaries, or rebels as well, all of whom might be wearing ‘military type’ uniforms. Since, according to him, all sorts of ‘bad guys’ are down there.

  Great.

  It’s like having to run through a swarm of wasps to get to the fire in the corner of a backyard so we can put it out.

  Max has a private jet, much to my surprise. He’s gathered up all the Light Warriors in close proximity who aren’t either children-in-training or too old to help. They’d been preparing to meet us up in Barrow, but changed plans when I updated them on her sudden relocation.

  Once Kingsley arrived at my house, I teleported us all to LAX.

  Speaking of teleportation, I almost used Google Earth to jump us straight to Venezuela, but allowed Kingsley and Allison to talk me out of it. Allison worried Elizabeth would expect this and might have put up a temporary magical trap. The last thing I’d need is to try teleporting down there and being forcibly redirected into the heart of, say, a volcano or some such thing… or potentially across dimensions. Kingsley thought teleportation risked us leaping into an ambush of a more mundane type, and also believed the people Tammy saw about to be sacrificed had already been killed by now.

  He has a point. It doesn’t seem like ritualists would tie their victims to trees days in advance.