Darkness Above
Jordan Korento, #1
by J.D. Brown
Date of Publication: September 12th 2022
Cover Artist: BZN Studios
Genre: Urban Fantasy
ISBN: 9798844461750
ASIN: B0B7FS53VQ
Number of pages: 500
Word Count: 115k
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Tagline: Her parents are legends but they’re losing the war. Now it’s her turn.
BLURB
Her parents are legends, but they’re losing the war.
Now, it’s her turn.
Jordan Korento spent her life training for the vampire war, but no one will give her a chance to prove she’s more than just a princess.
When Jordan learns of a twin brother who was sent to live in hostile territory, she takes destiny into her own hands, determined to save the sibling she never met and make her family whole.
Joined by her vampire ex-girlfriend who she still has feelings for—and the mysterious Sergeant who steals her breath with a single glance—Jordan embarks on a rescue mission to Bavaria, where nothing is what it seems. Will she find a kindred spirit in her twin or an enemy lying in wait?
Darkness Above (A Jordan Korento Novel 1) is an adrenaline-fueled urban fantasy full of dark magic and deadly creatures that are as sensual as they are bloodthirsty.
Excerpt
Torrance’s tone—half cheerful, half serious—cut through the bliss of a deep sleep as she shook me awake. “Rise and shine, birthday girl.”
My temples throbbed as I squeezed my eyelids tight and groaned into the pillow. “Ten more minutes.”
“Sorry, no can do.” Torrance yanked the covers away, and I curled into the fetal position against the sudden chill. “I already let you sleep in. Up and at ’em, soldier.”
“Ugh.” My eyelids peeled open, and I blinked to bring the room into focus. The angles confused me for a moment.
“Not my fault you insisted on working. I told you to take the night off.” Torrance offered me a paper cup of water and two generic brand pain reliever tablets. She wore her usual black tank top, cargo pants, and steel toe boots. Her dark shoulder length hair was pulled into a sleek ponytail at the nap of her neck. Torrance was unfairly beautiful with pouty lips, angular cheekbones, and a jawline that gave her features a touch of androgyny.
I sat upright and accepted the pills, swallowing them both in one go before gulping the water. The tip of my tongue ran across my chapped lips as I patted a hand against my auburn curls. My hair was doing that gross thing where half of it stuck flat against my cheek, glued to my drool, while the other half puffed into the air like a poodle’s ass.
“Why am I in your bed?” I asked while handing her the empty cup.
Like all the rooms in the Sword of Somnus Brotherhood dormitories, ours was tiny with two twin-sized beds, two narrow dresser drawers, and a single writing desk between them. I’d fought tooth and nail for this room, though, so I wasn’t about to complain. I just didn’t understand how Torrance’s navy-blue sheets had wound themselves around my legs. My bed stood directly across from hers, with its Buffy the Vampire Slayer comforter neatly tucked into the cheap faux wood frame.
Torrance tossed the paper cup into the wastebasket under the desk and then opened a drawer in my dresser. “You mean you don’t remember climbing in and saying we should be friends with benefits before passing out like a corpse?”
She pulled a pair of clean olive-green cargo pants and a matching t-shirt from the drawer and threw them at me. Since my reflexes were still steeped in alcohol, I didn’t catch the standard issued uniform in time and the clothes hit my face before falling to my lap.
“Sorry,” I murmured.
“No you’re not. Now go take a shower, you smell like vomit.”
I touched a hand to my cheek, where my hair was plastered to my face by something that might have been a little too thick to be drool. “I didn’t actually vomit though, did I?”
Torrance crossed her arms and arched her brow. “What do you think I’ve been doing all day? Mopping the floor because it was dusty?”
My gaze went to the mop and bucket in the corner. Neither of us owned cleaning supplies, so she obviously took it from the janitor’s closet at the end of the hall.
Even though vampires didn’t sleep, and Torrance had to occupy herself while I snoozed, she wasn’t my maid. It wasn’t her job to pick up after me. Especially not bodily fluids.
I winced and apologized again. “Sorry.”
Torrance pointed to our shared bathroom. “You can make it up to me by not being late.”
I nodded and then trudged into the facilities where I tiptoed over the cold tile and stepped into the single-person shower stall. I stripped and washed quickly but took a moment to examine the bruises over my ribs and thighs. I doubted Torrance would have let me fall on my ass during last morning’s party, so they must’ve been from training. None of them hurt. Much.
I dried and dressed, adding underwear, socks, and combat boots to the uniform. After applying ample leave-in conditioner, I used my fingers to separate the soft curls and then pulled them back into a ponytail, securing the locks with my favorite rainbow sequin scrunchie.
Torrance knocked on the door. “Done yet?”
“Just a sec,” I called out.
“We literally have three minutes to get to the Hall. I mean, I’m fast but ….”
I looked at my reflection in the mirror above the sink and sighed. I hadn’t meant to be hungover tonight. The party was supposed to be a small gathering, but every senior cadet and half the faculty had shown up. These days, people were encouraged to find happiness wherever they could, but that didn’t mean there wouldn’t be consequences. I could only hope that talk of last morning’s festivities didn’t reach Head Huntsman Chayton.
Or worse, my father.
“Jordan Korento, I will leave without you!”
I chuckled at the empty threat. Torrance was my bodyguard. She couldn’t go anywhere without me. But for some reason she always acted as though keeping me punctual was part of her job description.
Looking at my reflection again, I drew a deep breath and released it slowly. To be honest, being late to my shift was the least of my worries.
“This is it,” I murmured to myself. “Tonight, I meet my mother.”
I haven’t seen Mom since I was baby, which meant I had no real memories of her. I should be more excited. Other girls would be. Normal girls. But my family wasn’t normal. My father was a vampire king. My mother was a legend; a vampyre queen who’d done some badass shit in her lifetime. And now she was an elite assassin on her way home after twenty years of training.
No pressure, right?
Author Info
J.D. Brown knows that vampires exist because she dated one, and no he didn't sparkle. A magnet for subcultures and weirdness, J.D. was that socially awkward girl with more fictional friends than real ones. As a child battling a hearing loss and a medical condition called Muckle-Wells Syndrome, J.D. found comfort in books where strong women always saved the day and got the guy. An obsession with Charmed, Sabrina the Teenage Witch, and Buffy the Vampire Slayer lead J.D. to believe that her mutated genes made her something more, not something less. Thus her stubborn flare to persevere was born.
A lover of fine cuisine, coffee, and shoes, J.D. never understood why shoe stores don’t serve Starbucks and soufflé. She resides in Illinois where she writes urban fantasy - aka vampires for adults - and has political debates with her dogs. She loves to hear from fans and is active on Facebook.com/AuthorJDBrown
The Book Junkie Reads . . .Reckless Dreams Interview with . . . J.D. Brown . . .
Do you take your character prep to heart? Do you nurture the growth of each character all the way through to the page? Do you people watch to help with development? Or do you build upon your character during story creation?
100% My stories are VERY character driven. When an idea pops into my head, it’s almost always in the form of some random character who just showed up and refused to leave. When I plot, I always start with the character. I develop their back story, their current life situation, their skill set and personality, EVERYTHING. Then I think “what can I throw at this person to force them to grow?” It’s all about them and the challenges they overcome. I love to people watch and I also love studying characters in pop culture.
Do you have a character that you have been working on that you can't wait to put to paper?
Yes, actually, I do. The problem is that she’s getting a series all her own, but I have no idea when I’ll be ready to take on a fourth series. So that’s all I can say for now.
Can you share your next creative project(s)? If yes, can you give a few details?
I have two on my to-do list for 2023. The first is Darkness Below, which will be book 2 in the Jordan Korento series. I left the MC in a less-than-ideal place at the end of the first book and she’s got a long way to go to get to her happy ending. The other project on my list is Never Dare A Demon, book #4 in the Daughter of Eve series. My fans have been BEGGING me to finish that series and I promised I would, so it’s time to deliver.
Have you ever felt that there was something inside of you that you couldn't control? If so what? If no what spurs you to reach for the unexperienced?
Oh man… I was born with a rare auto-inflammatory disease called Muckle-Wells Syndrome, so I’ve been a spoonie all my life. There is a LOT that’s out of my control. But there is a silver lining here. Being born different means I learned very early on how to let go of the things I can’t control and focus on the things I can. I’m not perfect though. I still have to adjust most everything I do to fit into a world that wasn’t made for me, and I still sometimes get angry about that. But I’ve gotten really good at embracing my own weirdness and just owning it. I think that’s really all any of us can do. Just be authentically you and enjoy whatever that means for you.
If you could have a dinner/dinner party with 7 fictional characters, who would they be?
This depends. Are we talking about MY characters or ANY character? If mine, I’d invite Ema, Jesu, Jalmari, Jordan, Torrance, Brinnon and Sara. It would be a wonderful family reunion, though I have no idea where I’d find enough blood to feed seven vampyres. *wears a turtleneck*
If not my characters, then I’d like to invite Loki, Geralt of Rivia, Thomas Shelby, Kaz Brekker, Aaravos (from The Dragon Prince), Alucard (from Castlevania), and Klaus Mikaelson. I’d try to convince them to be my harem and pray they don’t blow up my house. LOL.
Where would you spend one full year, if you could go ANYWhere, money is not a concern? What would you do with this time?
I’m glad you said money is no concern because I’d need an interpreter for this one. I’d go to Italy and enjoy everything the Italians have to offer. I’d visit all the cities that have been on my bucket list – Venice, Rome, Milan – then I’d see everything else in between. I’d probably write a paranormal romance heavily influenced by local lore while I’m there. And drink a lot of coffee.
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