Kindle Edition Download to your Nook (eBook) Download from Smashwords (eBook) Amazon Luna Series Facebook Category:  Action/Thriller Publisher: Simon Okill ISBN-10:  B00DW2PDH8 Type: Fiction Pages: 234 Copyright: July 15, 2013 Price: $2.99 (eBook) A woman on the verge of God-like vampire supremacy is attacked by her evil cult followers and left amnesiac in an asylum as they hunt down her scent to steal all her blood. Just days before she will become an Eternal Vampire, a young woman escapes her cruel lover, Lucien and flees from Paris with friends. But Lucien is a hybrid vampire addicted to her blood, he uses his senses to hunt her vampire scent. With his evil cult he massacres all who get in his way. But Eternal slips away into the night. She wakes up in an asylum with no memory. Her only hope for survival rests on the shoulders of Edouard, the psychiatrist treating her, but he is a mere human and no match for Lucien - The Count. As Edouard tries to delve into Eternal's mind and unlock her past, Lucien searches nearby, getting closer to his prey with every beat of his black heart. Excerpt 5th June 1925 A CRUSHING CLOAK OF silence bore down, heavy and cloying like death itself. The faintest churning of her stomach would surely alert the intruders. Beneath the rosewood dining table the young woman shivered and wished she could curl up under warm bed covers for safety. The coldness of her fear tightened her skin to goose bumps. Oh how much she wanted to cry out but terror held her tongue. A shattering roar echoed within her like distant thunder on the horizon. The explosion of sound ripped across her mind like a savage wind through leafless trees. Her nostrils wrinkled with the stench of something bitter and metallic. It triggered her taste buds with a memory of something wholesome. Muffled screams and more explosions stabbed her mind with visions of death. Blurred images slowly came into focus as her trembling hands uncovered her eyes. She almost gasped in shock, biting her hand to remain silent. Ribbons of grey smoke swirled from the bloody hole in a man’s chest. His lifeless eyes stared into her terrified soul as his dark, rich blood pooled on the floor around his outstretched arm. The sickening aroma of his essence was instantly frightening. The scent teased her hunger and fear. Her tears blurred the scene, running down her cheeks to moisten her parched lips. Where am I? Her mind drew a blank so complete she thought she might be dead. Is this what death feels like? A cold numbing dread infected her senses with confusion. A scream of darkness so vile and stomach-churning penetrated her thoughts like a skewer through raw meat. Rigid with shock, she put her hands to her ears and stopped breathing as the scream became a torrent of agonised screeching ravens from hell. Her hands could not block out the black scream of hate penetrating her quivering soul. A plaintive whimpering, as if from a dying animal, attracted her attention. She forced air into her lungs and tried desperately not to gag on the putrid stench of death. The acrid taste of pervading terror filled her mind like bitter, sour wine and something else, something she could not quite grasp. She knew the woman making the sick, cat-like sound was dying, but her identity had been erased. She found herself hiding underneath the dining table and touched the rough wood. Solid, ridged, hard, the feeling reassured her of reality. Relief flooded her. She was not in the realm of the dead. A frantic movement caught her attention. The woman’s legs kicked in agony. A man in dark trousers and another woman with bare feet displaying black-lacquered toenails fought with the woman. Bright red blood dripped from the chair the woman was sitting on. The victim cried out. “No Sebastian!” Who was Sebastian? Heart-stopping fear ripped her mind apart and left an empty cauldron of oblivion. The metallic screeching of swordplay sent shivers down her back. She hugged herself to stop the cold creeping into her bones, pulling her knees up to her chin, stretching her dress. Her powerful mind shut out the cries of death and hatred. The silence comforted her. She listened to her stomach churn with the need to convulse its contents. Men’s legs rushed towards her. A heavy thud rocked the table. A crescendo of clattering cutlery almost forced a scream from her quivering lips. She brushed away her hair obscuring her vision. The frightened woman flinched as more cutlery and dinner plates crashed to the wooden floor. With utter dread, she stared at the blood-red contents of a spilled bottle of wine slowly spreading towards her. She recognised the long black coat covering the black leather trousers worn by Him, but she could not remember his name. Her mind tuned into His terrible thoughts of murder and hatred. A vitriol so complete it devoured all in its path. She crawled on hands and knees to get away from those legs. Her instincts told her she must escape Him again. The sound of splintering wood! She looked up, biting her hand to prevent her scream giving her away as the tip of His sword sliced through the table, stopping less than an inch from her eye. Gore dripped from the tip of His blade and ran down her face. The awful screams subsided to mere whimpers. The room fell ominously silent amplifying those dreadful sucking, gurgling sounds of insatiable hunger. The thought of those carnal sounds consuming her flesh brought a new level of terror. As she scrambled on all fours to the edge of the table, a faint rustling sound diverted her attention. She dared to look back. To her utter horror, a pale hand with black fingernails lifted the tablecloth. A leering white face, smeared with gore took her breath away. Her heart almost stopped. It was Him! The mouth grinned, baring oversized canine teeth stained red. “There you are!” The mouth laughed.

Extraordinary
An elegant, terrifying, seductive story is brought to life by the highly skillful pen of Simon O'Kill. From the stunning beginning to the shocking end, it is impossible to put the book down. Sometimes you want to stop reading, you want to escape from the relentless horror of the situations described, but you soon return because you simply have to know what happens next.

Luna Sanguis is hard to categorize. It is, of course, a vampire story, but it transcends the usual genre by its delicate psychological drama. The secondary personalities of the protagonists, the amnesia, the merging of time, space, dream and reality, are profoundly complex. However, there is no need to keep track of what is real and what is imaginary - it does not matter - and the way to get the most from the book is to let go and allow the dark waves carry you to the conclusion. The quest for eternal life, such as it is for a vampire, is not limited by the here and now, and the leaps across several time periods, back and forth, emphasize this obsession so closely tied with blood, sexuality, and existence.

Be warned; this book is not for the faint of heart. Expect to be gasping with surprise and shock at several of the brutal, cruel, distressing scenes of blood, torture, sex, and extreme violence. And yet, the language is poetic and polished, even when the subject matter is highly disturbing - or perhaps particularly at these moments. Above all, try not to read it before you go to sleep; nightmares are guaranteed. I highly recommend this book to the discerning reader, but please read it when the sun is shining, not the moon...


Luna Sanguis has class
Luna Sanguis is sumptuous. Erotic. Cultured. Like a ten-course meal cooked by a naked lover. Set in the artistic and intellectual soup that was Paris in the 20s - Picasso, Max von Schreck, Coco Chanel; the story also dips and weaves with history - Elizabeth Tudor, the Emperor Nero - as it blurs the lines between Gothic nightmare and great party. Have I mentioned this is a vampire novel?
The story begins with a horrific murder and subsequent chase through the countryside on the outskirts of Paris. A young woman, known as Eternal to herself and Delicate Rose to her tormentor and former lover, is found traumatized and suffering from amnesia by a passing farmer. Hoping to help her, the farmer drops her off at a progressive Parisian psychiatric hospital where the very latest therapies are being given a go.
But not everything is as it seems. Eternal cannot discern between reality, fantasy and memory. She suffers great longing for the love of her life, but is at a loss as to whom that love might be. To her revulsion, she also suffers from a debilitating hunger for something other than food. And no, despite the erotic elements in this story, I'm not talking about sex. It would appear Eternal is also, like her tormentor, a vampire.
What struck me most about Luna Sanguis was its celebration of beauty. Even during the most graphic and violent scenes, an appreciation for the soft line of an exquisite profile, the lament of a woman's sob, the color of fresh blood, held the story together. This is vampire legend in the vein of Anne Rice, not Twilight, and as an adult reader, I was delighted.


Luna Sanguis
I received this book free for an honest review. Simon Okill has managed a new take on vampires. There are so many twists and turns that at first I was a little confused. However, the more I read the more it made sense.

Count Lucien is an excellent depraved villain, with his two sidekicks Jacques and Claudette. Delicate Rose/Eternal is your main character who is running from Lucien. Then throw in a mental institute with your basic evil nurse and orderly, and a Doctor who thinks he is doing good. Then add a bunch of famous people who play minor rolls and you have a wonderful cast of characters.

Delicate Rose/Eternal has so many vile things happen to her no wonder she went amnesic. The sexual depravity, the death of friends, and the blood loss.

I cannot wait to read more by Simon Okill.