Survive the Dawn (38 page)

Epilogue

Sebastian stood at the gate inside the mausoleum. She had Tatiana’s book in one hand and the amulet in the other. Her destiny was clear; no more arguing, no more discussion.

While she glanced at the book, she instantly remembered the vision of Tatiana.
Over an ocean of time, Sebastian, I would have chosen you
. She hoped Tatiana was right in her choice, not that it mattered. There was no turning back.

Leigh was now back in the picture and her words taunted her:
I will destroy you without destroying you
. Knowing what Leigh referred to, Sebastian thought of Alex, who was sleeping in Tatiana’s bedchamber. They had much to discuss; there was much to do. They must go back and she must go to Ireland to meet with the historian again to decipher the book.

Tatiana said it held all the knowledge of what vampires were before the dawn; it would assist Sebastian in the next thousand years.

As she watched the morning sun rise and drift across the Carpathian mountaintops, Sebastian closed her eyes; she thought again of Alex. Without her brilliance, the sun would have destroyed Sebastian. Now she stood in its light and reveled in its warmth.

The next thousand years would start with the rising of the morning sun.

About the author

Kate Sweeney was the 2007 recipient of the Golden Crown Literary Society award for Debut Author for
She Waits
, the first in the
Kate Ryan Mystery
series. The series also includes
A Nice Clean Murder,
The Trouble with Murder,
and
Who’ll Be Dead for Christmas?

Other novels include
Away from the Dawn
,
Residual Moon,
and
The O’Malley Legacy
. She is also a contributing author for the anthology
Wild Nights: (Mostly) True Stories of Women Loving Women
, published by Bella Books.

Born in Chicago, Kate resides in Villa Park, Illinois, where she works as an office manager—no glamour here, folks; it pays the bills. Humor is deeply embedded in Kate’s DNA. She sincerely hopes you will see this when you read her novels, short stories, and other works by visiting her Web site at www.katesweeneyonline.com
.
E-mail Kate at [email protected].

By Kate Sweeney

The Kate Ryan Series

She Waits

In the first of the Kate Ryan Mystery series, we find Kate Ryan, a middle-aged accident prone, ex-private investigator who stumbles into the lives of Dr. Maggie Winfield and her adorable Aunt Hannah, thus becoming an unwitting participant in their tangled web of family secrets. The elusive Kate joins forces with the sarcastic Maggie as they become the nucleus for this ongoing series.

A Nice Clean Murder

The second in the Kate Ryan Mystery series finds Kate’s brother-in-law, Mac, heir to a family estate in the west of Ireland bequeathed to him by his Uncle Brian, who ‘accidentally fell off a cliff”. Suspicions arise when an Irishman collapses on Kate’s doorstep. Kate now agrees to accompany her family on a merry romp of murder and betrayal to the romantic, rugged coast of Ireland.

The Trouble With Murder

After a three-week photo assignment in South Dakota, Kate Ryan wants a quiet week in her log cabin. She decides to make it a ‘girls only’ weekend and invites her sister Teri, Maggie and her Aunt Hannah. Now, something troublesome is happening on Kate’s lake: A violent storm leaves them isolated; a body washes up on the beach; too many suspects and no way out—that’s the trouble with murder.

Who’ll Be Dead for Christmas

A week before Christmas, Kate Ryan moves back into her old neighborhood on the North Side of Chicago, back where she started and ended her PI business. Kate purchases a renovated brownstone, which she gets for a song. When Kate finds out that the former tenant, a scientist, was murdered in the kitchen, she understands why she got it so cheap.

Also by Kate Sweeney

Residual Moon

Two women are found dead on Chicago’s lakefront, both murdered in the same way. Detective Sergeant Grayson
MacCarthaigh’s
only common thread is Dr.
Neala
Rourke
, curator of the famous National Museum in Dublin, who is here with her archeological exhibit at the Field Museum. With a strange and eerie turn of events, Grayson finds herself going back to Ireland where Celtic beliefs and mythology are thrown into the mix, changing the logical detective’s world forever.

The O’Malley Legacy

Travel through history with the O’Malley women, from 14
^th
century
Branna
O’Malley to the 1820’s and Quinlan Stoddard, and finally to
Seana
Riordan and the early months before the invasion of Normandy in WWII. Strengthened by the spirit of all the O’Malley women who lived before them, they fight tenaciously for family; they fight passionately for love. They are—The O’Malley.

Away From the Dawn

Haunted by her immortality, Sebastian wandered Europe for five centuries in search of her lost humanity. Her quest—the live among the mortals. She meets the brilliant Dr. Alex Taylor and reluctantly joins forces with this mortal who would be her savior. Sebastian’s quest causes an upheaval in the vampire hierarchy; ancient ways are challenged and the battle for supremacy begins. Enter Leigh, Sebastian’s lover and companion throughout the centuries. Will Leigh aid Sebastian in her quest, or will she hold Sebastian away from the dawn.