Albert Manlii has walked this earth for more than two thousand years, but survival on his own was never easy. Now he leads a faction of highly organized vampires who carefully guard the secret of their existence. Unlike the old days, potential recruits are carefully selected and presented with an offer.<br><br>Phillip Brewer has weeks to live -- if he lets his disease run its course. He doesn’t want to die, but given a choice, will his desire to live outweigh his concerns about the vampires’ ethics?<br><br>When the new recruit’s missteps are cause for concern, can Albert control the fallout, or will Phillip’s life once again be torn apart?

The Recruit

Albert’s revelation probably should have made Phillip run in the opposite direction—if he’d believed it, or made him angry—because really, what kind of person fucked with a dying man like that? But at least his final hours were diverting. “You had me going there for a while.”


Tilting his head to the side, Albert raised a single eyebrow as he continued to gaze at Phillip. “Not the usual reaction. Intriguing, though. You don’t believe me, do you?”


“Please,” Phillip scoffed and gestured toward the bright sun overhead.


“Ah. I see. I haven’t burst into flames. You’ll find there are many so-called ‘facts’ of the lore that are pure myth. This one came about, I suppose, because often times in the past we had no choice but to feed on living people. We were fugitives slinking about under cover of darkness, so the belief that we couldn’t come out during the light of day spread.”


Phillip stilled. Albert was really going to pursue this story?


Chapter 8