Yet, his reasons for choosing such a perilous life are intensely personal and it gives Payback and subsequent installments in the Channeling Morpheus series a satisfying emotional depth. He is well aware that he probably won’t survive much longer. At 21 years old, he is far too young to give up a normal life to dedicate himself to vampire hunting. Michael’s viewpoint contains a haunting combination of determination and wounded innocence. What makes the biggest impression on me is the story’s unrelenting tension. This dark novelette (at 11, 285 words) of white-hot suspense was first published in 2008 by Changeling Press, and is now in its second edition from JCP Books. Then disaster strikes as Michael and Gray leave the bar – and Bill cheerfully invites himself along for a threesome. He senses that he is hopelessly outmatched by a vampire like Gray. But Michael’s mission compels him to brush off Bill as Gray arrives. He introduces himself as Wild Bill and Michael would desperately love to go home with him. This man is completely Michael’s type from his spiked blond hair to his chipped black nail polish and ripped jeans. Meanwhile, a gorgeous guy leans over to ask for a light. Using himself as sexual bait, he plans to slip Gray some Rohypnol to slow the vampire down enough to kill. His first slaying will happen tonight as soon as he lures vampire Gray back to his hotel room. But why does he have a satchel filled with hickory stakes and Rohypnol (the date-rape drug)? Michael, who has recently learned of the existence of vampires, has made it his sacred calling to hunt down and destroy them. Payback (Channeling Morpheus 1) opens in a Detroit bar in the first-person viewpoint of Michael, who awaits an arranged date. (Novelette - Explicit Gay Content) Read more Looks like they're in for a wild, wild ride. Despite his best efforts, it seems there's nothing Michael can do to shake Bill loose. Unfortunately, with a vampire in his sights, Michael has no time for an actual date. Wild Bill is a vision in spiked hair and scuffed black leather-exactly the type of guy Michael would have fallen for.if he'd ever had the chance. But he didn't count on Wild Bill showing up. He's got a practiced repertoire of come-hither eyeliner looks and a full blister-pack of the date rape drug Rohypnol. Since it's his duty to start wiping out the scourge, he's posing as bait-and he's got a bag of sharpened hickory stakes to do the job.Įverything should go smoothly, given the amount of preparation that Michael has put into the hunt.

Too bad he can't exactly go to the cops and tell them his friend was murdered by vampires. For over two years, Michael has been scouring the midwest for buried newspaper articles and obscure medical reports, and now he's finally pinpointed the source of the problem. Pretty young men and women like Michael's best friend, Scary Mary, are disappearing from underground goth clubs all over Detroit.

Payback by Jordan Castillo Price