Greg Gifune: Kingdom of Shadows

Across the street, Nauls’ car waited.

Gaby smiled, no longer wolf, but lamb.

“Where are we going?” Rooster asked.

“Away from here,” she said, offering him her hand.

“Home?” he asked.

“Home,” she said. “But get rid of the cigarette. Those things’ll kill ya.”

He slipped his hand into hers, and for the first time in a long while, felt himself smile.

Fires burned. They always would. But Rooster’s flames no longer trapped him in a Hell of his or anyone else’s creation. Instead, they destroyed those things shackling him to the Devil’s playground, and all the nightmares and lies that had tried so desperately to keep him there.

The longer you struggle against truth…

In a dark and distant field, a hideous scarecrow closed its sightless eyes.

The longer the forces of darkness will bind you…

Rooster’s soul quieted as the demons fell back into the lightless abyss from which they’d come.

Hand-in-hand with Gaby, Rooster walked to the car. Somewhere beyond the horizon, death’s other kingdom waited.

A kingdom not of shadows and darkness, but of peace.

Called “One of the best writers of his generation” by both the Roswell Literary Review and author Brian Keene, Greg F. Gifune is the author of numerous short stories, several novels and two short story collections ( Heretics and Down To Sleep ). His work has been published all over the world, consistently praised by readers and critics alike, received starred reviews in Publishers Weekly , Library Journal and The Midwest Book Review (among others) and has recently garnered interest from Hollywood. His novels include Children Of Chaos , Dominion , The Bleeding Season , Deep Night , Blood In Electric Blue , Saying Uncle , A View From The Lake , Night Work , Drago Descending , Catching Hell , Judas Goat, and Long After Dark . In addition to working as a full-time author, he also serves as Associate Editor at Delirium Books. Greg resides in Massachusetts with his wife Carol and a bevy of cats. Greg can be reached online at: gfgauthor@verizon.netor through his official web site at: www.gregfgifune.com.

First Digital Edition

October 2009

Published by:

Delirium Books

P.O. Box 338

North Webster, IN 46555

sales@deliriumbooks.com

www.deliriumbooks.com

Kingdom Of Shadows © 2009 by Greg F. Gifune

Cover Artwork © 2009 by Zach McCain

All Rights Reserved.

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either a product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.