Hell Forged Books · A Sci-Fi Vampire Epic
Empire of Blood
Book One of the Empire of Blood Trilogy
Beneath the mortal world lies an empire of vampires — ruled through science, spectacle, and fear. In the darkness, one man wakes inside, with no memory, no name, and a body remade into something it despises.
Launches October 6 · Ebook $6.66
Descend
Power creates monsters. Survival always has a price.
The Premise
Welcome to the Underworld.
Ten kilometers beneath the earth is a world of no sun, no dawn, and limitless technological horror. Vaster than any nation above it, the Underworld is divided among four Great Houses: dominion, war, science, and industry. Every move is scrutinized under the watchful gaze of the Death Heads — skull-faced horrors of fused flesh and machine, the Empire's terror assets.
It is here that a man named Kane wakes on a strange elevator. A Convert with no memory, no allies, and hated on sight by all, he is thrown into the Blood Games — a televised arena where death and blood are mere entertainment.
But death isn't the only thing he has to fear. Nightmares of screams and a twisted red-eyed machine haunt his every night… For down in the depths where the Vault doors keep, things lie waiting… Things don't sleep…
Prologue · Anno Domini 1466
It began with a betrayal.
They were slaughtering children — and yet it was her kind the world saw as evil.
No longer needing the monsters he had used to win his holy war, and fearing the consequences of his actions, Pope Paul II unleashes his fanatical crusaders upon them. Castle Dracula burns. A bloodline is hunted to ash. And far below the reach of the sun, vengeance begins to build.
The Underworld Archive
Open the imperial records.
Empire of Blood is built on a fully realized world — its lore, its cities, its factions, and its buried history. Start anywhere.
The Underworld Imperial Atlas · First Survey — the cities of Book One
Tap a glowing city to raise its record. Tap the city's name to open its dossier — every city is charted against the surface metropolis it shadows. The first survey charts Book One — the Empire keeps the rest of its map to itself.
Record · I
The Great Houses
Dominion, war, science, and industry — the four powers that sustain the Empire Eternal.
Record · II
The Cities Below
Grelock, Kronos, Novacrypt, Vulcaneum, Vicestatt, Purgatory, Seraphel — and an empire that circles the globe beyond them.
Record · III
The Blood Games
Combat, betting, and death turned into spectacle.
Record · IV
The Death Heads
Bioengineered terror soldiers — dead flesh fused with living machinery, sent wherever defiance stirs.
Record · V
The Vault
Sealed beneath the deepest reaches of the Empire. What lurks inside, no one knows.
Four Pillars of the Empire
The Great Houses.
Every citizen of the Underworld belongs to one of four Houses — each with its own domain, its own cruelty, and its own price of survival.
Dominion
Draconi
Cousins to the Imperial bloodline, they are the coldest of the vampires. Every Draconi, coming of age, dons a faceless mask, never to be seen without it. A cruel aristocracy that governs the Underworld and answers only to the Empress. The words of their house reflect their view of the world.
Alle müssen dienen. — All must serve.
War
Sabre
Heirs to the legions of Rome, every vampire of their house is a soldier first and a citizen second. They are immersed in violence from cradle to grave. The sword of the Empire — and the iron that keeps the cities in line.
Their house words: Victoria per cruorem. — Victory through blood.
Science
Veisik
Logic is their faith, progress their creed. They are the brain of the Underworld — constantly refining their designs in cybernetics and genetics. The smartest amongst them earn the title: Necromancer, caretakers of the Death Heads. They recognize no limit on what may be done in the name of discovery.
Their house words: Perfection by any means.
Industry
Provak
Larger than all the other Houses combined, the Provak society is built on greed. Capitalism is their creed — a person's worth valued only in Digits. Their cities are lined with foundries and casinos that never sleep, as the wealthy Barons lord above them. A world of vast economic disparity. They are the brutal engine that builds the Empire.
Their words: By hammer and iron, our chains are broken.
Grelock · The Throne
The Empress & her Guard.
Victoria Dracula — the masked sovereign of the Underworld, she has ruled the eternal night for over five hundred years. The Empire is hers, every vampire within, her plaything. Many have tried to overthrow her; all have met horrible ends, for she is the Immortal Empress… and every being beneath the earth knows it.
Visions from the Dark
Images from the Underworld.
Cities, soldiers, arenas, and atlas records rendered from the world of Empire of Blood. Tap any plate to enlarge it.
The Library
The work of Christopher Kilgore.
One world arriving, one already on the shelf, and one still taking shape in the shadows.
Flagship · Preorder
Empire of Blood
A Sci-Fi Vampire Epic · Book One. A subterranean empire of vampires, a man with no past, and an ancient vengeance brooding in the deep. The first book of a trilogy, with a three-part prequel series to follow.
Legacy · Available Now
Jason Teufel
Dark Fantasy · 2013. Kilgore's debut. History is written by the victors — and the war between Heaven and Hell may be the most rewritten story of all. A man haunted by visions is taken by a vampire who means to wake a terrible evil.
In Development
Game of Souls
Untitled Future Work.