Joleene Naylor is the author of the glitter-less Amaranthine vampire universe, a world where vampires aren't for children. Comprised of a main series, a standalone prequel, and several short story collections, she has plans to continue expanding with a trilogy and standalone novels. 
In her spare time, Joleene is a freelance book cover designer and for-fun photographer. She maintains several blogs, full of odd ramblings, and occasionally updates her website at JoleeneNaylor.com. In what little time is left, she watches anime, plays PokemonGo, and works on her crooked Victorian house in Villisca, Iowa. Between her husband, family, and pets, she is never lonely, in fact, quite the opposite. Should she disappear, one might look for her on a beach in Tahiti, sipping a tropical drink and wearing a disguise. 

Twenty-nine short stories of love, death, heartbreak, and blood.
Meet the Executioners, elite enforcers of the vampires’ laws. Walk with them through origin stories, follow them across the sea to the colonies, and run with them through the wilds, as they try to bring civilization to a land ruled by “day sleeper” clans. Fifteen interwoven stories tell the beginning of The Guild, set under the watchful - and sometimes malevolent - gaze of the ancient Malick, whose heavy shadow stretches even across the sea. Meet his favorite son, his willful daughter, his child-like pet, and many more whose jealousies, hatreds, and loves twist together to create consequences they can’t foresee. 


Tales of the Executioners

Bren grabbed an old crock pot from a dirty table and flung it down the stairs. "Get up here!" The vessel smashed to bits on the floor below, followed by a chorus of fury. 


Good. They know what kind of mood I'm in.


Footsteps pounded up the stairs. Three vampires popped into the room, bloody hands at the ready. Clotted gore dotted their chins. The leader, a man who looked to be in his twenties, with dark tousled hair and scruff on his chin, lunged forward. Bren swung the sword and neatly severed his head. 


The body crumpled to the floor in a spray of blood. Bren rammed the blade through his chest, just to be safe, then flashed his medallion before the other two could move. "I'm an Executioner, sent by The Guild. If you so much as twitch, I'll kill you the way I killed your friend. Are we clear?"


They drew back, their faces wadded in fury and their bodies tense. That tension told Bren he wouldn't need to explain who The Guild was, or who the Executioners were. They knew.


Chapter 139: Bren - In the Dark, Part 2