About the Book:
Watch out, vampires! There’s a new girl in town!
Nicoleta has never taken a life before, but she will have to make her first kill soon. Typical of girls her age, her concerns are boys and college. But when she takes a trip to Romania with several of her classmates to celebrate graduating from high school, Nicoleta is going to discover who she really is. When Nicoleta learns that she is adopted and that her biological parents live in Romania, it’s just the tip of the iceberg. Finding out that her birthright is hunting and killing vampires, Nicoleta has to decide if she will remain in Romania and fulfill her destiny or if she will return to America and try to forget about the nightmare of a world that she has been thrown into.
Adding to Nicoleta’s problems, a notorious vampire named Varujan has been waiting for Nicoleta’s arrival. Her parents are called voinicos because they survived being bitten by a vampire. By birth, a voinico’s child becomes a vampire hunter, also known as a vanator. Varujan has known that the voinico’s daughter would eventually return to Romania, and he is looking forward to meeting her and killing her. With his vampire mistress, Antanasia, Varujan seems unstoppable.
Is Nicoleta ready to face Varujan and Antanasia? The other vanators have been training to kill vampires since they were children. Will Nicoleta be able to catch up with her training and be ready for the battle that is inevitably coming? Can she keep herself and her friends safe, or will they become the vampires’ victims before their trip is over? Whatever happens, one thing is for sure. Nicoleta’s life is never going to be the same again!
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Excerpt:
“Were you really so foolish?” the voice was deep and ominous. “I thought that of all the voinicos, you were one of the wisest. You are the great Andrei, after all, aren’t you?”
Andrei lay on the ground bleeding, a mere ten feet from Varujan. His adversary had picked him up and thrown him to the ground, and Andrei had cut his calf on a sharp rock. The wound wasn’t lethal, but a steady stream of blood oozed down his leg.
The vârcolac’s words stung. Andrei would rarely want to admit that a vârcolac was right about anything. But in this case, Varujan was right. He shouldn’t have come alone.
Normally, Andrei wouldn’t have been so careless. But when he had caught wind of Varujan, he had to see where he was going.
Vârcolacs, being fully-turned vampires, were natural enemies to the voinicos. Andrei knew that the vârcolacs despised voinicos more than any other human. It was their defiance that made the vârcolacs the angriest. A voinico was a human who had been bitten by a vampire, but they had resisted the urge to feed on human blood for three long days and nights after having been bitten. In doing so, they had been spared the fate of becoming a vampire. It wasn’t often that a vârcolac chose to turn a human instead of feed on them. It would obviously be the ultimate insult for someone to decline that gift and keep themselves from turning. The voinicos would always be a reminder that there were humans who would defy the vârcolacs even after they had been spared of having their blood drained.
When Andrei had followed Varujan, he hadn’t planned on getting close enough for Varujan to see him. He had only planned on following the vârcolac and then reporting back to his friends. It would give the vânătors the intel they needed to be able to track Varujan and fight him. That was the vânătors’ job. Hunt vârcolacs and extinguish them.
If the vânătors were lucky, they would find other vârcolacs and destroy them also, although Andrei had hoped there wouldn’t be too many. Even though they had quite a number of vânătors ready and willing to fight, the vârcolacs were still stronger than them. If there were too many vârcolacs and not enough vânătors, it would be a bloodbath. Literally.
“I’m surprised to hear you call me great,” Andrei said weakly. “You know I’m no match for you.”
That was an understatement. When a voinico encountered a vârcolac, they became weak. Most even became paralyzed in the presence of a vârcolac. No one really knew why, but everyone believed it had something to do with the fact that they had been bitten by a vampire but hadn’t allowed themselves to turn. Being too close to a vârcolac was more than their bodies could handle. Andrei was definitely too close to Varujan now. There would be no chance of getting up and trying to run away. Not that it would do much good anyway. Vârcolacs were much faster than any voinico.
Upon hearing Andrei’s feeble reply, Varujan laughed, but there was nothing light-hearted about it. It was a cruel and taunting laugh.
“No, you are no match for me,” Varujan said. “And yet, you still followed me. I suppose you thought you were far enough behind me that I wouldn’t sense you. It’s true that I wouldn’t sense a voinico as quickly as I would sense any ordinary human. Your blood did change after I bit you. If only you had fed within those first three days, you would now be nearly as strong as me.”
Vampires gained strength as they aged, at least until they reached full maturity which usually didn’t happen until around a hundred years. Some continued to get even stronger over the next few centuries. Indeed, if Andrei would have fed, he would be much stronger by now and would be close to matching Varujan in strength. But he would also be as evil.
Andrei still remembered the night more than twenty years ago when he had first encountered Varujan. He had been naïve back then, not knowing anything about the dark creatures who lived in the outskirts of his world. Of course, he had heard of vampires. But like most other people, he had thought they were nothing more than fantasies meant to be a part of scary stories. He found out differently when he was bitten, and his life would never be the same again.
“I regret nothing,” Andrei said. “Kill me if you must. But know that if you do, you will have ten or more vânătors hunting you down.”
As if that wasn’t the case already!
“Anyone I know?” Varujan’s voice sounded sarcastic.
Andrei knew that Varujan was trying to anger him. Andrei had heard a rumor that Varujan and Antanasia knew about the girl. He had encountered one of Varujan’s servants, a human who was referred to as a paznic. Andrei had been forced to kill the young man when he was attacked by him. He still remembered the paznic trying to choke the life out of him. As they struggled, the paznic admitted that his plan was to take Andrei to Varujan. He told Andrei that Varujan was angry with him because he hadn’t allowed himself to turn and that Varujan wanted him alive. So, Varujan wanted him alive, did he? Andrei knew that at least guaranteed his safety for the moment. The paznic wouldn’t dare to kill him. The repercussions for that mistake would likely be fatal for the paznic.
Andrei was strong, provided there were no vampires around. He was stronger than the paznic. Had he not been taken by surprise, the paznic wouldn’t have gotten him into a dangerous position in the first place. Andrei was able to push the paznic off of him. The paznic wouldn’t give up, though. However, his determination wasn’t enough to save him. As the fight continued, Andrei laid a blow to him that ended the paznic’s life.
Before the paznic died, Andrei had gathered a little information. Nothing about Varujan’s and Antanasia’s whereabouts, unfortunately, but the girl’s name had come up. It had been a great distress for Andrei. How did the vârcolacs know about her? It frightened Andrei. And now, to hear Varujan’s tone, Andrei knew who he was talking about.
“No!” Andrei shouted. “Not her! She will never fight you!”
Varujan laughed.
“Maybe you’re right. But then again, maybe you’re not,” he said. “Do you really think she can stay hidden forever?”
“You and I both know that you will never leave the safety of your woods to track her down,” Andrei pointed out.
Okay. So maybe Varujan would leave the woods on occasion to hunt in Cluj-Napoca. That was a city in the region of Transylvania. Like most locals, Varujan just called it Cluj. But Andrei knew that Varujan would never go beyond Cluj, and the girl was hidden much further away than that.
“That much is true,” Varujan said.
He looked down at Andrei, toying with him.
“My, oh my!” Varujan spoke as he inhaled deeply, smelling the blood still oozing from Andrei’s leg. “You’d better get that tended to, or you may get a nasty infection. You might be stronger than you once were before I bit you, but like me, you are not immortal.”
Even though vârcolacs were vampires, it was a myth that they were immortal. They did enjoy much longer life spans, however, often reaching a thousand years of age or more. Because they lived so long and aged so slowly, the myth had risen that vârcolacs were immortal. Of course, few people believed in vampires anyway, not until it was too late. Usually, once they met one, their life was about to end.
Only the voinicos and vânătors knew that their enemies were mortal. They could be killed, but it wasn’t easy. It wasn’t like a voinico would do the killing, though. While they were significantly stronger than the average human, that strength faded whenever they came near a vârcolac. That would leave the fighting and killing to the vânătors who were the children of the voinicos. Depending on whether or not a vânător had one or both parents who were voinicos, they could be up to three times as strong as an ordinary human.
Even so, a vârcolac was still stronger than even the strongest vânător, so the vânătors rarely hunted vârcolacs alone. On those rare occasions, it would be an unexpected hunt. Any organized hunting party would include several vânătors since no one knew how many vampires they might encounter. Still, plenty of vânătors stayed out of the hunt. They couldn’t send everyone out at once. If a hunting expedition went wrong, then there would be no one left to fight the remaining vârcolacs.
“What do you care about my injury?” Andrei asked. “You and I both know you will end this here. I won’t live to see my wound tended to!”
Varujan got down on the ground so quickly that Andrei didn’t even see the movement. It was as if Varujan was standing one moment and was on the ground beside him the next. Varujan held Andrei down. Andrei struggled to move, but with the vârcolac so close to him, his whole body was paralyzed. Varujan leaned his mouth down to Andrei’s neck and let it hover about two inches above it. Andrei could feel Varujan’s breath on his skin.
“This does bring back memories,” Varujan said. “That night when I bit you seems so long ago, doesn’t it? Funny, I didn’t think it would be a repeat performance. I thought you would be joining me and that we would be ruling the woods together by now.”
“Never!” Andrei spat out the word.
Tears spilled out of his eyes. He didn’t want to be afraid, but he was. He didn’t want to die at the hands of a vârcolac, let alone the one who had changed his life so long ago.
Varujan lowered his teeth to Andrei’s neck. He exposed his fangs and felt the blood pulsing under Andrei’s skin. A strong desire came over him. Bite! Even though, a voinico’s blood wouldn’t taste good like a normal person’s blood would, it had been a while since Varujan had fed. He was hungry. Biting Andrei would be so easy.
Of course, it wouldn’t do much for him. Once someone became a voinico, their blood changed. It didn’t nourish vampires, not like human blood. It would only take their mind off their hunger for a few minutes. Then, they would still be looking for someone to feed off of. Vânător blood was even worse. It made them slightly nauseated. The only reason to bite a vânător was if they were doing so in an attempt to kill them. Fortunately, there were much quicker ways to kill someone, so they rarely bit a vânător. Voinicos, on the other hand, could at least take their minds off their hunger for a short time.
Andrei braced himself. He knew it would be quick. Once the vârcolac bit him, the blood wouldn’t remain in his body much longer. Within seconds, he would lose consciousness.
Like many animals, vampires could sense fear. Andrei had plenty of fear for Varujan to feed off of now. He had no doubt it was giving Varujan a rush of adrenaline. That feeling would be almost as satisfying to the vârcolac as if he were to take his victim’s blood. Varujan let his fangs stay on Andrei’s neck for several moments. Andrei knew that Varujan was enjoying himself immensely.
Finally, enough time had passed. Varujan slowly pulled his mouth away from Andrei’s neck and pulled himself back up into a squatting position, looking down at his victim.
Andrei was confused. Why hadn’t Varujan killed him? He knew it was what the vârcolac wanted to do more than anything.
“I don’t understand,” Andrei muttered, still overwhelmed by what had just happened.
Again, Varujan laughed.
“No, I suppose you don’t,” he said. “But it’s not you I want. You know who it is that I’m after.”
“No! Why?!” Andrei’s voice grew louder, his body pumping so much adrenaline that he felt slightly stronger.
“Why?” Varujan asked bitterly.
“Yes, why?” Andrei asked again.
Varujan sighed.
“It’s simple really,” Varujan said. “No one gets to escape their destiny.”
“I’ll never tell you where she is, and you will never leave the woods to go find her,” Andrei reminded him. “You might as well kill me now. You’ll get nothing out of me!”
“I don’t need to get anything out of you. And yes, I could kill you now,” Varujan said. “But then, you wouldn’t be around when I do find her, or rather, when she finds me. You and I both know that it’s in a vânător’s blood to hunt vârcolacs. It doesn’t matter how far away you sent her. She will eventually fulfill her destiny. And when she does, I do want you to be around to enjoy the show.”
“Never!” Andrei shouted. “I will kill you first myself!”
It was an idle threat. He and Varujan both knew it. He was in no position to fight Varujan, let alone kill him. His body could barely move. He was at the vârcolac’s mercy.
Varujan reached his finger down to Andrei’s leg. He scraped up the line of blood that was still slowly oozing out. He put it to his mouth and licked the blood off his finger.
“Just as I expected. It’s kind of like eating stale food, if I remember right,” Varujan said, and then he laughed. “Still, stale or not, I am hungry.”
“You and I both know that feeding off of me would hardly nourish you at all,” Andrei reminded him.
“Yes, that’s true. Probably no more than if you were to eat a couple of potato chips,” Varujan agreed. “But it might alleviate my boredom and take my mind off of my hunger for a while. It might buy me enough time to go get a real meal in Cluj! It would be rather blissful to drain your body, wouldn’t it?”
“Then, what’s stopping you?” Andrei asked bitterly. “It’s certainly not me.”
Varujan laughed.
“No, it’s certainly not you,” he replied.
He stood up and stared down at Andrei for a few moments, looking like he was lost in thought. Neither of them said anything more. Then, Varujan left at lightning speed, so quickly that it was all a blur to Andrei.
After Varujan had been gone for a few minutes, Andrei’s strength slowly came back to him. He carefully pulled himself up and started hobbling back to the village to warn the others about what had just happened. They needed to know that he had found Varujan. Andrei knew that he would see the vârcolac again soon. He and the others needed to be prepared. Of course, he couldn’t tell them everything about his encounter with Varujan. There were certain details that he was going to have to leave out.
Author Interview:
1: Tell us a little about yourself and what got you in to writing?
I have always loved writing. Even as a child, a lot of my free time was spent writing stories and scripts. I often imagined stories when I went to bed, dreaming up my own plots. In high school, I was placed in a creative writing class. I wrote plays, poems and stories. My writing still needed to be developed, but it definitely got my creative ideas flowing. One of my teachers saw my writing talent. She told me that she knew I would want to major in English when I went to college but not to do it. The reason, of course, was money. I’d most likely end up teaching, and that didn’t pay well. I went to college and heeded my teacher’s advice, studying journalism. But when I graduated, I realized I couldn’t see myself as a journalist. I went back to college a few years later and got my teaching certificate. I taught middle school language arts for sixteen years. While I used my creativity to teach my students, my job was very demanding. It simply left no time to write for fun. I finally had to retire early due to health issues, but there was at least one good thing. I now had plenty of time to work on my writing! I took advantage of the opportunity and began to write novels and stories. It was a great stress relief, and I enjoyed it immensely. I grew as a writer, improving my craft the more I wrote. I took the self-publishing route. Now, my problem is that I have ideas for so many books, it will take me many years to write them. I have over a dozen books on my list to write, but I know that I will eventually get to all of them!
2: Do you have a favourite time and place where you write?
I don’t really have a favorite time or place. I just like to write when the ideas come. I find that if I even delay writing for a short time after an idea comes to me, it’s never as good as what I had originally come up with. I find that many times when I go to bed, the ideas start coming. I’ve often gotten up out of bed to at least jot down my notes so that I don’t forget my thoughts. I also find that I sometimes write for hours a day, several days in a row. Then, I go a week or two without writing anything.
3: Where do your ideas come from?
I usually just start brainstorming. I think of a general idea of what I might want to write about, maybe aliens or an imaginary friend. Then, I start outlining the plot in my head. Once I have a general idea of what I want to write, I type out the general plot and go from there. I have also come up with several ideas from dreams. My short story, “Traffic Stop,” was based on a nightmare I had. Part of the dream is almost exactly the same thing as what happened in the story right after the main character gets pulled over. A lot of people are disturbed by nightmares. I can be too, but I also often look at them and think that it’s a great opportunity for a storyline. Then, there is my “Alien Cats” trilogy. I always wanted to write a book about cats ruling a distant planet. That series was also inspired by cats I rescued and was lucky to share my life with. For me, it’s kind of like a memorial to those kitties as well as a fun story.
4: Do you have a plan in your head of where the story is going before you start writing or do you let it carry you along as you go?
I always have a general idea. I know some authors do great just letting it go where they want. I find I do much better if I know where I want my story to start and how I want it to end. I do often wind up changing things significantly. I’m not afraid to change an ending altogether if that’s what feels right, but it helps me to have a general map of the story when I write. Once I have written several pages, I usually make a general outline of what I want to happen in each chapter. Sometimes, a single chapter is too long and becomes two or three chapters, but that’s okay. Just knowing that I have enough material in my head to come up with enough chapters to make a novel, I know that I can do it. It becomes less overwhelming for me.
5: What genre are your books and what drew you to that genre?
I am all over the place with genres! I simply love to tell a good story. It’s the same when I read other books also. My genres include science fiction, dark fantasy, horror, humorous fantasy, psychological thriller and even Christian fantasy. I also am working on a dystopian series. As long as I have an engaging plot and characters who I connect with, genre doesn’t really matter to me.
6: What dream cast would you like to see playing the characters in your latest book?
My sister, Elsie Marie Cochren, helped me co-write my latest novel, “The Voinico’s Daughter.” It comes out in December. It’s about a girl named Nicoleta who finds out she is meant to be a vampire hunter. I would kind of like to see Willow Shields play Nicoleta. I absolutely loved her as Prim in “Hunger Games.” I would like to see her take on the role of vampire slayer and show the strong character that Nicoleta becomes by the end of the novel. Speaking of Hunger Games, who couldn’t love Amandla Stenberg as Rue? I would like to see her play Nicoleta’s best friend, Tatiana. Both Willow Shields and Amandla Stenberg would be the right age now to play Nicoleta and Tatiana who have just graduated from high school when the novel begins. In addition to Nicoleta and her best friend, two other characters are the notorious vampires who are looking for Nicoleta. Being a huge “Divergent” fan, I picked out an actress and actor from that movie series who I would like to play those characters. For Antanasia, I would pick Shailene Woodley. I loved her in “Divergent.” While Antanasia is a much different character than Shailene’s role as Tris, I believe she could pull it off. Likewise, I think her co-star, Theo James, would be good playing Varujan. Both Antanasia and Varujan are evil characters. It would be interesting to see how Woodley and James would portray them.
7: Do you read much and if so who are your favourite authors?
I love to read. Lately, I’ve been so busy writing that it hasn’t left a lot of time for reading. The last book I read and finished was “The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes” by Suzanne Collins. I’m a huge “Hunger Games” fan. I have loved all of the books and movies. I watch the movies repeatedly. “The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes” did not disappoint. I even deprived myself of sleep as I stayed up to read it to see what would happen next. Needless to say, I didn’t write much those few days that I was reading that book! I’m also a huge “Twilight” fan even if my own vampire book is nothing like the “Twilight” series. I love all four books in the original series, as well as the movies. Another author I also love is Marie Lu. In my opinion, “Legend” is just as good as the “Hunger Games” and “Divergent” series. I would love to see it become a movie!
8: What book/s are you reading at present?
I bought “Midnight Sun” by Stephenie Meyer. I’ve read about half of it. I don’t know why, but I’m having trouble finishing it. Like I said earlier, I’m a huge “Twilight” fan. I think if I would have started this book before reading the others, I would probably be devouring it. But knowing the story and simply reading it from another point of view hasn’t grabbed me yet. I like it enough to eventually get back to it and to not read another book until I do so. However, I haven’t made it a priority over other things right now.
9: What is your favourite book and why?
This is such a hard question. There are so many good ones, but I think I would have to go with “Hunger Games.” First of all, I love the dystopian genre. But mostly, I love it because of the characters and theme. I like that it has an ordinary girl put in extraordinary circumstances. She wants nothing to do with being a hero and leading a revolution. Yet she winds up reshaping her entire society. To me, it’s a beautiful story of bravery amid impossible circumstances!
10: What advice would you give for someone thinking about becoming a writer?
Just do it! Don’t let anyone stop you from doing what you want to do. You will get plenty of people who will tell you that you will never make it as a writer or others who will criticize your work. Don’t allow them to keep you from writing. Write a lot. Listen to constructive criticism. I find that no matter how many times I look over a book, I still find things I can improve. Writing is one of those art forms that you will never completely perfect. You need to be open to improving your work, but the most important thing is to be comfortable with writing. The more you do it, the easier it gets. At least, that’s the way it is for me.
11: What are the best Social Media Sites for people to find out about you and your work?
My main website is www.salliecochren.com. I also have author pages on Facebook (www.facebook.com/Sallie-Cochren), Instagram (www.instagram.com/aliencatsauthor) and Twitter (@sallie_cochren). I also have a Youtube channel at www.youtube.com/channel/UCzhXHVMiPvnMDFCvfq77ptQ.
About the Author:
Sallie Cochren is the author of several books in multiple genres. A retired middle school teacher, Sallie has created a variety of stories, ranging from comedic to dystopian to thrillers. Sallie has published one short story collection. The stories are also available to purchase individually. She also has full-length novels. Some of her books are part of a series. You may find out more about the author at http://www.salliecochren.com.
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