| Supernatural Fiction posted March 17, 2019 | Chapters: |
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THE IMMORTAL/A Novel of the Breedline series
A chapter in the book THE IMMORTAL
Cursed
by scongrove
The author has placed a warning on this post for violence.
| Background I'm excited to share my fifth novel of the Breedline series. It's still in the working stages, but all your feedback would be greatly appreciated. Enjoy! |
Salem Cemetery, located in San Francisco, California . . .
As Jena, Todd, and Sophie made their way through a small opening of the cemetery's wrought-iron gate, they hadn’t expected it to look so eerie at this hour of the morning.
A mist of thick fog hovered among the nineteenth century gravestones as the dead slept deep and undisturbed. Feeling a chill work its way up his spine, Todd quickly dug his hands into the front pocket of his pullover hoodie.
All around them, headstones stood in stiletto silence like guardians of the dead. Some of the stones were simple rectangles, others had rounded shoulders, and a few had angel statues perched over the tops. Most of the marble grave markers remained dark in the subdued light, but several shone under the full light of the moon.
Hidden in the shadows among the despair of so many wasted lives rotting in the graves around him, he heard voices from a distance. As he lay there, weakened and consumed with hunger, they moved dangerously close to where he rested. He listened with excitement, a renewed sense of power surging within his beast. Can it be, he pondered, that they were human? Thirst gripped his insides and his mouth felt as dry as ashes. It had been too long since he’d last fed. His eyes widened as an explosive rush of skin and muscle began to shift, changing and converging in an instant. He clenched his jaws as tightly as he could, stifling the anguished howl building at the back of his throat. His veins bulged, and his features twisted and rearranged into the face of a beast—half-man, half-wolf hybrid—with the mouth of a muzzle, long curving fangs, and thick black fur. He could feel his ageless strength awakening from years of peaceful slumber. Now, it was suffocating. It had to be released. Buried underground and desperate for air, he clawed and dug until a few faint beams of moonlight entered the underground giving him just enough light to see by. Thick fog tumbled through the dark and murky pit. He exhaled a ragged breath as he crawled through the opening of the dark, confined space. The pungent scent of human flesh polluted the fresh air and ignited his appetite. For over forty years he had bided his time. Kill. He was ready to kill everything.
Todd flinched at the sound of twigs snapping. With a gasp, he whirled around, his eyes probing the mist and the graves, his heart stuck in his throat. For one brief second, he could have sworn he’d saw two glowing eyes in the distance, staring in their direction. It vanished into the shadows as soon as he turned to get a closer look. But something was there. He was sure of it.
Todd choked down a taste of fear and blurted, “What the hell was that?”
As Jena and Sophie paused to listen, a muffled moan blew through the cemetery.
“It’s just the wind, scaredy-cat,” Sophie giggled.
He turned to Sophie with an aggravated expression on his face. “No, it wasn’t the wind, dammit. I swore I saw something.”
Sophie shined a flashlight, aimlessly searching through the foggy graveyard and said, “Where?”
Todd directed her to a certain area of the cemetery and said, “Over there, somewhere.”
Sophie looked where Todd pointed. “I don’t see anything,” she said, holding the flashlight steady. “It’s probably just your imagination.”
“Yeah, well, what if you’re wrong?” he queried. “What if someone is here? They could call the police on us.”
“Quit worrying, Todd,” Jena said as she rearranged the leather strap to the satchel that was slipping off her shoulder. “There’s no one here.”
“Guys, I think this is a bad idea,” he said in a hushed voice. “I mean, what if we get caught? You do realize we’re breaking the law. I could lose my job at the hospital, or worse . . . go to jail. Hell, is all this really worth it?”
Jena—with her perfectly flowing waves of blond hair and tall, willowy model’s figure—rolled her eyes. “Good grief,” she grumbled. “Don’t be such a pussy. We’re not going to get caught. Besides, we’ve got plenty of time. The security guards don’t get here until six. That gives us two hours. Once we’re inside the mausoleum, all we have to do is locate Carla Rosi’s burial chamber. The rest is a piece of cake.”
Todd snorted. “Yeah, whatever,” he snidely remarked. “Don’t forget about the creepy part.”
“What’s a matter, Todd,” Jena’s tone was mocking. “You’re not afraid of a little séance, are you?”
“Why do you always have to poke fun at me, Jena? You know I hate this kind of stuff. I only agreed to do this because I don’t want you two here alone, especially at this hour. Besides, don’t you think I deal with enough death on the job?”
“Honey, where’s your sense of adventure? For Pete’s sake . . . pull that stick out of your butt.”
“Yeah,” Sophie chimed in as she glanced in Todd’s direction—huge, dark eyes ringed with even darker layers of mascara. “Don’t be so uptight, Todd. You’ve been driving an ambulance for way too long. I think it’s starting to mess with your head.”
“Whatever,” he groaned, throwing his hands up. “This whole thing is stupid, anyway. Carla’s body was never found. Her parents put an empty casket in the mausoleum.”
“Her body may not be there . . .,” Jena said, cocking a brow, “but her spirit might be.”
“Jesus, woman,” Todd sighed, disgusted with Jena’s idea that she could somehow connect with the dead girl’s spirit. “You’re a whole new definition of bat-shit crazy.”
“But you still love me, right?”
He glared at Jena in silent menace. And then a hint of a smile drifted over his mouth.
“Come on, you two lovebirds,” Sophie said, jogging ahead of them. “Stop arguing. Let’s just do this already.”
Todd took off through the cemetery in a trot, his senses on high alert for the slightest sound or movement, leaving Jena following close behind.
With little effort, they caught up to Sophie. When they neared the mausoleum, Todd paused in midstride. Without warning, a cold prickly feeling of being watched took hold and goose bumps crawled over his skin. For a split second reality threatened to crush him. Was someone waiting close by, hiding in the shadows? Closing his lids, he forced himself to stay calm, and told himself he was probably getting all worked up over nothing. Most likely it was just the wind playing tricks on him.
You’re only imagining things, he silently tried to convince himself. It’s just the branches swaying in the wind. That’s all it is.
Todd opened his eyes and breathed a sigh of relief as his mind finally accepted this explanation. The rancid odor of stagnant earth and rotting leaves invaded his nostrils, instantly producing a nauseous reaction deep down in his gut.
Slowly, he approached the old, stone structure that reminded him of something straight from a horror movie . . . like Bram Stoker’s Dracula. The dreary and ghoulish structure was draped with vines of ivy that covered the roof and the weathered stained glass windows. A cracked and worn statue of an angel guarded the gated doorway. But at last, he mustered the courage to move forward. With a trembling hand, he reached for the latch that was flaked with rust. Suppressing a shiver, he opened it and pushed his way through.
A rumble of thunder snaked its way through the cemetery.
Sophie looked up. “You’ve got to be kidding,” she moaned. “We better hurry. It looks like rain.”
Todd’s heart hammered wildly in his chest as he climbed the steps that led to the miniature house for the dead. At the top, a creepy feeling gnawed at the pit of his soul. Then he turned to face Jena and Sophie, who still stood outside the gate. “Well, are you coming, or not?” he said, trying to keep his voice even.
As Jena reached up to adjust the ball cap on her head, a bone-chilling shudder went through her. Carla Rosi? She silently asked. Is that you? She waited for a sign, and prayed that she’d pick up on something . . . anything. And then she felt a presence closing in around her . . . felt a breath on her face.
“Jena . . . it’s not safe . . . turn back now.”
“What is it?” Sophie whispered, noticing Jena’s blank stare as if she’d seen a ghost.
Oblivious to Sophie’s question, Jena turned slowly in all directions. “Sophie, did you hear that?”
“Hear what?”
“Come on, girls,” Todd called out to them in frustration. “What the hell are you waiting for? If you’re going to do this thing, let’s get on with it before the storm rolls in.”
“Never mind,” Jena told her, ignoring the voice in her head. “It’s nothing. Let’s go.”
As she went to take a step, Jena heard the voice again, but it seemed like some strange faraway echo.
“It’s here . . . run Jena!”
And then Jena’s body went rigid with fear. Oh god . . . was Carla Rosi’s spirit trying to warn her? Seconds crept by but she couldn’t move. Damn it, why had she ever come here? How could she be so stupid, what could she possibly have been thinking? Had she risked her fiancé and her best friend’s safety just to connect with a dead girl?
“Jena, are you okay?” Sophie asked.
Maybe she really had imagined the voice. Maybe it had just been her nerves. I can do this, she told herself. I have to do this. I want to know what happened to Carla. Waving it off like it was nothing Jena moved forward, and then stopped again, almost immediately.
As the creature moved in behind some bushes to watch its prey more closely, it fought a desire to spring out and kill them immediately. The urge to feed fueled its rage and gave it direction. It was exquisite torture holding in its lust for flesh and blood. After all these years, he’d been so careful, so cunning . . . concealing the ageless secrets of his kind . . .
Quickly, its crouching form slipped from the blanket of undergrowth and sprang to the decrepit structure that housed the dead. And so he waited.
Jena’s heart ricocheted into her throat as she caught a glimpse of a dark silhouette vanish behind the mausoleum. What she saw threatened her sanity. Was it a dog? Yet it seemed too fast. And the unsettling size . . . something far too big to be a dog.
“Get out of here, Jena! Run!”
In sheer panic, Jena stood there, too stunned to breathe, much less move. She clung desperately to the voice warning her. The satchel slipped from her shoulder, and finally, she found her own voice, barely choking out the words. “We need . . . to get out of here . . . now.”
“What?” Sophie said, looking at Jena strangely. “What are you talking about?”
A terrible howling cut through the darkness, and like a statue of stone, Todd froze with his mouth agape.
For a moment, Jena’s head began to spin. She put a trembling hand over her mouth to keep from screaming. She tried to think, to calm her frantic breathing and her rapid pulse. In less than a heartbeat, she saw something stir from the shadows. A rush of terror surged through her, flooding her with cold and cruel certainty.
Startled, Jena heard the voice again.
“Run!”
Before Jena could get a word out, Sophie screamed.
Out of the corner of his eye Todd saw something move from out of the shadows. His eyes widened in disbelief as a beam of light from the moon exposed a creature that looked like something he’d thought to be only a foolish myth. The sight of it nearly brought him to his knees. It looked so like a man, but it was huge and hairy like a beast. All of its hair was black, and its ears had a hideous peaked lupine appearance. And it was moving toward Jena and Sophie who appeared too frightened to move.
Todd held steady; he drew in his breath and reached for an inner strength he knew he possessed. You’ve got to save them, he thought.
Sophie was already backing away . . . from the creature’s luminous eyes that continued to follow her as though she was its next meal.
Todd waved his arms and shouted, “Get away from them!”
The creature quickly averted its eyes from Jena and Sophie and twisted fiercely in Todd’s direction. Its pupils were vertical slits like a cat’s.
Jena saw Todd turn toward her. He opened his mouth and started to say her name, but he never got the chance.
For one brief second, Jena wavered between hysteria and total collapse as she helplessly watched the creature attack the man she was engaged to marry.
She hadn’t even realized that she’d screamed his name. But there was no time. It happened too fast. At first Todd struggled, choking violently, but the creature was merciless as its ivory fangs tore into his jugular.
“Please,” Todd croaked painfully, but the words turned to bubbled, liquid sounds as the creature stripped his entire body of every last drop of vitality.
Jena’s heart ached with grief and regret. Oh god . . . this is my fault.
She felt as though time had stopped, and this was someone else’s nightmare . . .
It’s not too late, she thought. I can still help him.
Without a word, she began moving painfully in the direction the creature had vanished with Todd’s lifeless body. But before she managed to get too far, Sophie grabbed her from behind and jerked her back.
“We need to go, Jena,” she said quietly. “It’s too late. We can’t save him.”
“It’s not too late!” Jena cried. “We can’t just leave him here.”
“Run, Jena . . . it’s coming back!”
An icy shudder worked its way up Jena’s spine. She looked at Sophie with haunted eyes and uttered a small gasp.
“Run, Sophie,” Jena finally cried out. “It’s coming back.”
Frantically, Sophie quickly peered behind Jena. Her eyes rounded in fear when she caught sight of two yellow eyes, the color and brightness of the moon, shone across the cemetery at her. Her mouth locked in open terror, and her eyes blinked in disbelief. The man-wolf was standing on its hind legs, glaring at her as though it wanted to kill everything in its path. Its face was covered in black hair, and the smell of blood and flesh wafted up to her, making her gag.
Sophie felt weak and suddenly dizzy, falling on her hands and knees.
The ground shook with the weight of the creature as it set off after Sophie and Jena on all fours, letting out an ear-shattering roar.
“Get up, Sophie!” Jena screamed.
Sophie looked up at Jena. “I can’t . . . move.”
Jena quickly reached for Sophie’s arm and pulled with all her strength. “Please, Sophie,” she pleaded. “You’ve got to get up.”
In horror, Jena watched as the man-wolf got closer, looking hungrily at Sophie. Of all the terrors Jena felt, the greatest one, as she stared into that evil face, was that she was going to have to leave her friend behind. She was torn between the decision to stay with Sophie or to run away.
“I’m sorry, Sophie,” Jena said. Her voice was pain stricken and full of regret. Then she released Sophie’s arm and forced herself to run.
As she ran, it started to rain, but she could still hear Sophie’s violent screams. Jena’s heart clenched in her chest, and her eyes misted with tears. She felt guilty about abandoning her. My god, please, she painfully thought. Someone help us.
Jena tugged at the brim of her ball cap to help shield her face against the rain as it began to downpour. She ran blindly, stumbling across uneven ground, weaving between headstones, barely able to see where she was going. All she could think of was escape, but there was no exit signs posted in the cemetery, just rows and rows of graves. And then she heard heavy footsteps coming from behind. At first she thought it was only the sound of rain pounding against her ear drums until suddenly, they seemed to have a dreadful purpose, and she realized they were getting closer. Releasing a heavy gasp, she struggled forward as fast as she could.
A new fear began to rise in Jena when she heard long, guttural breaths all around her. As she plunged on through the rain, dark, clawed hands appeared from the mists behind her, grabbing the long strands of her ponytail, detaching the ball cap from her head. She cried out in pain but managed to pull free and resumed her endeavor to get away.
Without warning, Jena felt a searing pain slice through her shoulder. Pain so intense she couldn’t even scream. It was as if waves of fire burned through every nerve and muscle in her body. Jena tried to brace herself, but she slid on wet leaves and pitched forward. It seemed as though she fell for a suspended time until she finally landed on a floor cushioned with mushy, saturated dirt. For a second she lay there, too shocked to move, then slowly she reached forward to push herself up. Gasping, she lifted her head and stared in horror. Even in the darkness, she realized where she’d fallen. It was an open grave. And that’s when she heard the voice again.
“It’s okay, Jena . . . you’re safe now.”
As Jena paused to listen, she felt a sudden chill up her spine. She watched in fear as a girl’s arm lifted slowly and reached out to her.
“Listen,” the girl whispered, but her lips did not move yet Jena could hear her as though she was speaking aloud. “You must listen to what I tell you. You’ve been bitten.”
Jena could hardly see anything in the darkness—only brief flashes of the girl’s features as the lightning flickered over her ghostly white face, and the gaping wound to her throat that was so deep, you could see the raw, gruesome flesh and a glimmer of bone. She could feel the girl’s eyes upon her, sensing her death, and the death tonight, drowning in it, drowning in all the death. Jena wanted to close her eyes, but she found she couldn’t look away.
“Who are you?”
“Carla,” the girl said, but her lips did not move. “I’m the girl you came here for.”
“But . . . how?” Jena whimpered. “Carla Rosi is dead.”
“You’ve been cursed,” Carla murmured, ignoring Jena’s statement. “And I’m here to help you.”
Confused, Jena shook her head, her thoughts spinning in all directions. “What are you talking about? What curse?”
“The Rougarou curse,” Carla told her. “If you give in to human blood—and I promise, you will crave it with a burning desire—you will shift into the beast.”
Tears ran down Jena’s cheeks and mixed with the raindrops that fell from above. “Are you saying I’m going to turn into that . . . thing?”
“Only if you consume the blood or flesh of a human,” Carla continued to explain. “Not only does the curse bring forth the beast, it gives its victim the power to transform into various nocturnal animals, such as taking on the form of bats and packs of rodents, and also assume a cloud of misty smoke, or fog. It possesses the power of superior strength of a hundred strong men, and impervious to disease, and the ability to heal instantaneously from any bodily wound of any severity. Jena, you have one hundred and one days to control your hunger. Do you understand? If you resist the urge within that time frame, the curse will be lifted.”
“This is insane. This can’t be happening,” Jena sobbed. “Why are you saying these things?”
“Because Jena . . . they’re true.”
“No, no, no,” Jena babbled. “It’s not real. This is all a nightmare.”
“Please, Jena.” Carla grabbed Jena’s wrist and lightly squeezed. It felt cold and clammy against her skin. “I don’t have much time. You must believe what I’m telling you. All this is real. Promise me, you will take my warning serious.”
Jena nodded. “Okay, I promise.”
“It’s not your fault, Jena. You couldn’t have saved your friends. Nobody could.”
“Who did this to you, Carla?” At last her words choked out, consumed with sadness.
“The creature,” she said in a voice barely above a whisper. Seconds later, Carla’s glassy eyes shifted away, to something far beyond, something Jena couldn’t see. As her eyelids slowly closed, Jena could have sworn she smiled.
Dazed and weak, Jena took a deep breath and shut her eyes, but she couldn’t shut out Carla’s words that echoed in her mind . . . you’ve been bitten . . . the Rougarou curse . . . human blood and flesh . . .
She didn’t want to believe it. But she had to, because to accept what she’d just seen in the cemetery was too horrifying to deal with. And there was a young, dead girl, lying beside her that had been missing for years. Jena prayed that someone would find her. She wasn’t going to die next to Carla’s body in this muddy grave . . .
Todd and Sophie’s death hung over her like a recurring nightmare. And no matter how hard Jena tried to erase those horrific images, her mind kept trudging up thoughts of things she didn’t want to think about. Had she caused their death? And was that creature coming back for her? Jena wrapped her arms around herself and shivered violently. Exhausted, she managed to shut out everything around her. Yet despite the urgency of the situation, she choked down the taste of fear and let herself drift into a hazy slumber.
And that’s when he’d come back . . . one last time. After he had done what he had to do, he couldn’t get her out of his mind. He stood over the lip of the pitch-black opening and stared down at her with keen eyesight, waiting to see if she’d move, if her eyes would open, if she’d look up at him. But she didn’t move.
An overwhelming feeling crept into his dark heart and completely consumed him. It burned from deep within, filling him with a strange uneasiness and a craving he couldn’t understand. A craving so intense, he could almost taste it. She should never have come here, he thought.
With a burning desire, he lowered himself into the muddy grave and knelt down beside her. As he wiped the mud from her face, he studied her features, all the while wondering how long she’d resist the gift he’d given her. And then he glanced down at his strong hands . . . hands that could wield the power of life and death. Something changed inside him since he’d first saw her. At that moment, he chose to give her life, instead of death.
Footsteps from a distance alerted his attention. They were coming closer. Now he realized he had to think quickly and act with haste. He was in desperate agony, yet he could not help himself. His amber eyes glided smoothly down her body, then up again to her face. He bent lower, parted his lips, and squeezed his eyes shut. Oh so gently, he put his mouth upon hers . . . and kissed her.
As Jena struggled to wake, she felt something warm and feather-soft press against her lips, sending wave after wave of delicious sensations all the way through her.
His lips moved down the length of her neck. “I am your destiny, Jena.” His whisper created a tingle over her skin.
She gasped and tried to pull away from the coppery smell of blood on his breath.
“Do you deny it?” he asked, kissing the pulse at her throat.
Jena was sobbing now, trying to choke out the word, “No . . .”
He drew back from her as she lay weak and helpless, lost in guilt and regret. Little by little, he would remove those emotions until they existed no more. And then she would be consumed with him . . . and him alone.
Not far away, she could hear muffled voices. As Jena’s eyes flew open, she was surrounded by a veil of thick fog. And then a feeling of relief invaded her senses as she caught a glimpse of colored lights flashing from above. She tried to scream out for help, but all that came out was a frightened whimper.
“It’s okay, Miss,” a male voice said. “You’re safe now.”
To be continued . . .
As Jena, Todd, and Sophie made their way through a small opening of the cemetery's wrought-iron gate, they hadn’t expected it to look so eerie at this hour of the morning.
A mist of thick fog hovered among the nineteenth century gravestones as the dead slept deep and undisturbed. Feeling a chill work its way up his spine, Todd quickly dug his hands into the front pocket of his pullover hoodie.
All around them, headstones stood in stiletto silence like guardians of the dead. Some of the stones were simple rectangles, others had rounded shoulders, and a few had angel statues perched over the tops. Most of the marble grave markers remained dark in the subdued light, but several shone under the full light of the moon.
Hidden in the shadows among the despair of so many wasted lives rotting in the graves around him, he heard voices from a distance. As he lay there, weakened and consumed with hunger, they moved dangerously close to where he rested. He listened with excitement, a renewed sense of power surging within his beast. Can it be, he pondered, that they were human? Thirst gripped his insides and his mouth felt as dry as ashes. It had been too long since he’d last fed. His eyes widened as an explosive rush of skin and muscle began to shift, changing and converging in an instant. He clenched his jaws as tightly as he could, stifling the anguished howl building at the back of his throat. His veins bulged, and his features twisted and rearranged into the face of a beast—half-man, half-wolf hybrid—with the mouth of a muzzle, long curving fangs, and thick black fur. He could feel his ageless strength awakening from years of peaceful slumber. Now, it was suffocating. It had to be released. Buried underground and desperate for air, he clawed and dug until a few faint beams of moonlight entered the underground giving him just enough light to see by. Thick fog tumbled through the dark and murky pit. He exhaled a ragged breath as he crawled through the opening of the dark, confined space. The pungent scent of human flesh polluted the fresh air and ignited his appetite. For over forty years he had bided his time. Kill. He was ready to kill everything.
Todd flinched at the sound of twigs snapping. With a gasp, he whirled around, his eyes probing the mist and the graves, his heart stuck in his throat. For one brief second, he could have sworn he’d saw two glowing eyes in the distance, staring in their direction. It vanished into the shadows as soon as he turned to get a closer look. But something was there. He was sure of it.
Todd choked down a taste of fear and blurted, “What the hell was that?”
As Jena and Sophie paused to listen, a muffled moan blew through the cemetery.
“It’s just the wind, scaredy-cat,” Sophie giggled.
He turned to Sophie with an aggravated expression on his face. “No, it wasn’t the wind, dammit. I swore I saw something.”
Sophie shined a flashlight, aimlessly searching through the foggy graveyard and said, “Where?”
Todd directed her to a certain area of the cemetery and said, “Over there, somewhere.”
Sophie looked where Todd pointed. “I don’t see anything,” she said, holding the flashlight steady. “It’s probably just your imagination.”
“Yeah, well, what if you’re wrong?” he queried. “What if someone is here? They could call the police on us.”
“Quit worrying, Todd,” Jena said as she rearranged the leather strap to the satchel that was slipping off her shoulder. “There’s no one here.”
“Guys, I think this is a bad idea,” he said in a hushed voice. “I mean, what if we get caught? You do realize we’re breaking the law. I could lose my job at the hospital, or worse . . . go to jail. Hell, is all this really worth it?”
Jena—with her perfectly flowing waves of blond hair and tall, willowy model’s figure—rolled her eyes. “Good grief,” she grumbled. “Don’t be such a pussy. We’re not going to get caught. Besides, we’ve got plenty of time. The security guards don’t get here until six. That gives us two hours. Once we’re inside the mausoleum, all we have to do is locate Carla Rosi’s burial chamber. The rest is a piece of cake.”
Todd snorted. “Yeah, whatever,” he snidely remarked. “Don’t forget about the creepy part.”
“What’s a matter, Todd,” Jena’s tone was mocking. “You’re not afraid of a little séance, are you?”
“Why do you always have to poke fun at me, Jena? You know I hate this kind of stuff. I only agreed to do this because I don’t want you two here alone, especially at this hour. Besides, don’t you think I deal with enough death on the job?”
“Honey, where’s your sense of adventure? For Pete’s sake . . . pull that stick out of your butt.”
“Yeah,” Sophie chimed in as she glanced in Todd’s direction—huge, dark eyes ringed with even darker layers of mascara. “Don’t be so uptight, Todd. You’ve been driving an ambulance for way too long. I think it’s starting to mess with your head.”
“Whatever,” he groaned, throwing his hands up. “This whole thing is stupid, anyway. Carla’s body was never found. Her parents put an empty casket in the mausoleum.”
“Her body may not be there . . .,” Jena said, cocking a brow, “but her spirit might be.”
“Jesus, woman,” Todd sighed, disgusted with Jena’s idea that she could somehow connect with the dead girl’s spirit. “You’re a whole new definition of bat-shit crazy.”
“But you still love me, right?”
He glared at Jena in silent menace. And then a hint of a smile drifted over his mouth.
“Come on, you two lovebirds,” Sophie said, jogging ahead of them. “Stop arguing. Let’s just do this already.”
Todd took off through the cemetery in a trot, his senses on high alert for the slightest sound or movement, leaving Jena following close behind.
With little effort, they caught up to Sophie. When they neared the mausoleum, Todd paused in midstride. Without warning, a cold prickly feeling of being watched took hold and goose bumps crawled over his skin. For a split second reality threatened to crush him. Was someone waiting close by, hiding in the shadows? Closing his lids, he forced himself to stay calm, and told himself he was probably getting all worked up over nothing. Most likely it was just the wind playing tricks on him.
You’re only imagining things, he silently tried to convince himself. It’s just the branches swaying in the wind. That’s all it is.
Todd opened his eyes and breathed a sigh of relief as his mind finally accepted this explanation. The rancid odor of stagnant earth and rotting leaves invaded his nostrils, instantly producing a nauseous reaction deep down in his gut.
Slowly, he approached the old, stone structure that reminded him of something straight from a horror movie . . . like Bram Stoker’s Dracula. The dreary and ghoulish structure was draped with vines of ivy that covered the roof and the weathered stained glass windows. A cracked and worn statue of an angel guarded the gated doorway. But at last, he mustered the courage to move forward. With a trembling hand, he reached for the latch that was flaked with rust. Suppressing a shiver, he opened it and pushed his way through.
A rumble of thunder snaked its way through the cemetery.
Sophie looked up. “You’ve got to be kidding,” she moaned. “We better hurry. It looks like rain.”
Todd’s heart hammered wildly in his chest as he climbed the steps that led to the miniature house for the dead. At the top, a creepy feeling gnawed at the pit of his soul. Then he turned to face Jena and Sophie, who still stood outside the gate. “Well, are you coming, or not?” he said, trying to keep his voice even.
As Jena reached up to adjust the ball cap on her head, a bone-chilling shudder went through her. Carla Rosi? She silently asked. Is that you? She waited for a sign, and prayed that she’d pick up on something . . . anything. And then she felt a presence closing in around her . . . felt a breath on her face.
“Jena . . . it’s not safe . . . turn back now.”
“What is it?” Sophie whispered, noticing Jena’s blank stare as if she’d seen a ghost.
Oblivious to Sophie’s question, Jena turned slowly in all directions. “Sophie, did you hear that?”
“Hear what?”
“Come on, girls,” Todd called out to them in frustration. “What the hell are you waiting for? If you’re going to do this thing, let’s get on with it before the storm rolls in.”
“Never mind,” Jena told her, ignoring the voice in her head. “It’s nothing. Let’s go.”
As she went to take a step, Jena heard the voice again, but it seemed like some strange faraway echo.
“It’s here . . . run Jena!”
And then Jena’s body went rigid with fear. Oh god . . . was Carla Rosi’s spirit trying to warn her? Seconds crept by but she couldn’t move. Damn it, why had she ever come here? How could she be so stupid, what could she possibly have been thinking? Had she risked her fiancé and her best friend’s safety just to connect with a dead girl?
“Jena, are you okay?” Sophie asked.
Maybe she really had imagined the voice. Maybe it had just been her nerves. I can do this, she told herself. I have to do this. I want to know what happened to Carla. Waving it off like it was nothing Jena moved forward, and then stopped again, almost immediately.
As the creature moved in behind some bushes to watch its prey more closely, it fought a desire to spring out and kill them immediately. The urge to feed fueled its rage and gave it direction. It was exquisite torture holding in its lust for flesh and blood. After all these years, he’d been so careful, so cunning . . . concealing the ageless secrets of his kind . . .
Quickly, its crouching form slipped from the blanket of undergrowth and sprang to the decrepit structure that housed the dead. And so he waited.
Jena’s heart ricocheted into her throat as she caught a glimpse of a dark silhouette vanish behind the mausoleum. What she saw threatened her sanity. Was it a dog? Yet it seemed too fast. And the unsettling size . . . something far too big to be a dog.
“Get out of here, Jena! Run!”
In sheer panic, Jena stood there, too stunned to breathe, much less move. She clung desperately to the voice warning her. The satchel slipped from her shoulder, and finally, she found her own voice, barely choking out the words. “We need . . . to get out of here . . . now.”
“What?” Sophie said, looking at Jena strangely. “What are you talking about?”
A terrible howling cut through the darkness, and like a statue of stone, Todd froze with his mouth agape.
For a moment, Jena’s head began to spin. She put a trembling hand over her mouth to keep from screaming. She tried to think, to calm her frantic breathing and her rapid pulse. In less than a heartbeat, she saw something stir from the shadows. A rush of terror surged through her, flooding her with cold and cruel certainty.
Startled, Jena heard the voice again.
“Run!”
Before Jena could get a word out, Sophie screamed.
Out of the corner of his eye Todd saw something move from out of the shadows. His eyes widened in disbelief as a beam of light from the moon exposed a creature that looked like something he’d thought to be only a foolish myth. The sight of it nearly brought him to his knees. It looked so like a man, but it was huge and hairy like a beast. All of its hair was black, and its ears had a hideous peaked lupine appearance. And it was moving toward Jena and Sophie who appeared too frightened to move.
Todd held steady; he drew in his breath and reached for an inner strength he knew he possessed. You’ve got to save them, he thought.
Sophie was already backing away . . . from the creature’s luminous eyes that continued to follow her as though she was its next meal.
Todd waved his arms and shouted, “Get away from them!”
The creature quickly averted its eyes from Jena and Sophie and twisted fiercely in Todd’s direction. Its pupils were vertical slits like a cat’s.
Jena saw Todd turn toward her. He opened his mouth and started to say her name, but he never got the chance.
For one brief second, Jena wavered between hysteria and total collapse as she helplessly watched the creature attack the man she was engaged to marry.
She hadn’t even realized that she’d screamed his name. But there was no time. It happened too fast. At first Todd struggled, choking violently, but the creature was merciless as its ivory fangs tore into his jugular.
“Please,” Todd croaked painfully, but the words turned to bubbled, liquid sounds as the creature stripped his entire body of every last drop of vitality.
Jena’s heart ached with grief and regret. Oh god . . . this is my fault.
She felt as though time had stopped, and this was someone else’s nightmare . . .
It’s not too late, she thought. I can still help him.
Without a word, she began moving painfully in the direction the creature had vanished with Todd’s lifeless body. But before she managed to get too far, Sophie grabbed her from behind and jerked her back.
“We need to go, Jena,” she said quietly. “It’s too late. We can’t save him.”
“It’s not too late!” Jena cried. “We can’t just leave him here.”
“Run, Jena . . . it’s coming back!”
An icy shudder worked its way up Jena’s spine. She looked at Sophie with haunted eyes and uttered a small gasp.
“Run, Sophie,” Jena finally cried out. “It’s coming back.”
Frantically, Sophie quickly peered behind Jena. Her eyes rounded in fear when she caught sight of two yellow eyes, the color and brightness of the moon, shone across the cemetery at her. Her mouth locked in open terror, and her eyes blinked in disbelief. The man-wolf was standing on its hind legs, glaring at her as though it wanted to kill everything in its path. Its face was covered in black hair, and the smell of blood and flesh wafted up to her, making her gag.
Sophie felt weak and suddenly dizzy, falling on her hands and knees.
The ground shook with the weight of the creature as it set off after Sophie and Jena on all fours, letting out an ear-shattering roar.
“Get up, Sophie!” Jena screamed.
Sophie looked up at Jena. “I can’t . . . move.”
Jena quickly reached for Sophie’s arm and pulled with all her strength. “Please, Sophie,” she pleaded. “You’ve got to get up.”
In horror, Jena watched as the man-wolf got closer, looking hungrily at Sophie. Of all the terrors Jena felt, the greatest one, as she stared into that evil face, was that she was going to have to leave her friend behind. She was torn between the decision to stay with Sophie or to run away.
“I’m sorry, Sophie,” Jena said. Her voice was pain stricken and full of regret. Then she released Sophie’s arm and forced herself to run.
As she ran, it started to rain, but she could still hear Sophie’s violent screams. Jena’s heart clenched in her chest, and her eyes misted with tears. She felt guilty about abandoning her. My god, please, she painfully thought. Someone help us.
Jena tugged at the brim of her ball cap to help shield her face against the rain as it began to downpour. She ran blindly, stumbling across uneven ground, weaving between headstones, barely able to see where she was going. All she could think of was escape, but there was no exit signs posted in the cemetery, just rows and rows of graves. And then she heard heavy footsteps coming from behind. At first she thought it was only the sound of rain pounding against her ear drums until suddenly, they seemed to have a dreadful purpose, and she realized they were getting closer. Releasing a heavy gasp, she struggled forward as fast as she could.
A new fear began to rise in Jena when she heard long, guttural breaths all around her. As she plunged on through the rain, dark, clawed hands appeared from the mists behind her, grabbing the long strands of her ponytail, detaching the ball cap from her head. She cried out in pain but managed to pull free and resumed her endeavor to get away.
Without warning, Jena felt a searing pain slice through her shoulder. Pain so intense she couldn’t even scream. It was as if waves of fire burned through every nerve and muscle in her body. Jena tried to brace herself, but she slid on wet leaves and pitched forward. It seemed as though she fell for a suspended time until she finally landed on a floor cushioned with mushy, saturated dirt. For a second she lay there, too shocked to move, then slowly she reached forward to push herself up. Gasping, she lifted her head and stared in horror. Even in the darkness, she realized where she’d fallen. It was an open grave. And that’s when she heard the voice again.
“It’s okay, Jena . . . you’re safe now.”
As Jena paused to listen, she felt a sudden chill up her spine. She watched in fear as a girl’s arm lifted slowly and reached out to her.
“Listen,” the girl whispered, but her lips did not move yet Jena could hear her as though she was speaking aloud. “You must listen to what I tell you. You’ve been bitten.”
Jena could hardly see anything in the darkness—only brief flashes of the girl’s features as the lightning flickered over her ghostly white face, and the gaping wound to her throat that was so deep, you could see the raw, gruesome flesh and a glimmer of bone. She could feel the girl’s eyes upon her, sensing her death, and the death tonight, drowning in it, drowning in all the death. Jena wanted to close her eyes, but she found she couldn’t look away.
“Who are you?”
“Carla,” the girl said, but her lips did not move. “I’m the girl you came here for.”
“But . . . how?” Jena whimpered. “Carla Rosi is dead.”
“You’ve been cursed,” Carla murmured, ignoring Jena’s statement. “And I’m here to help you.”
Confused, Jena shook her head, her thoughts spinning in all directions. “What are you talking about? What curse?”
“The Rougarou curse,” Carla told her. “If you give in to human blood—and I promise, you will crave it with a burning desire—you will shift into the beast.”
Tears ran down Jena’s cheeks and mixed with the raindrops that fell from above. “Are you saying I’m going to turn into that . . . thing?”
“Only if you consume the blood or flesh of a human,” Carla continued to explain. “Not only does the curse bring forth the beast, it gives its victim the power to transform into various nocturnal animals, such as taking on the form of bats and packs of rodents, and also assume a cloud of misty smoke, or fog. It possesses the power of superior strength of a hundred strong men, and impervious to disease, and the ability to heal instantaneously from any bodily wound of any severity. Jena, you have one hundred and one days to control your hunger. Do you understand? If you resist the urge within that time frame, the curse will be lifted.”
“This is insane. This can’t be happening,” Jena sobbed. “Why are you saying these things?”
“Because Jena . . . they’re true.”
“No, no, no,” Jena babbled. “It’s not real. This is all a nightmare.”
“Please, Jena.” Carla grabbed Jena’s wrist and lightly squeezed. It felt cold and clammy against her skin. “I don’t have much time. You must believe what I’m telling you. All this is real. Promise me, you will take my warning serious.”
Jena nodded. “Okay, I promise.”
“It’s not your fault, Jena. You couldn’t have saved your friends. Nobody could.”
“Who did this to you, Carla?” At last her words choked out, consumed with sadness.
“The creature,” she said in a voice barely above a whisper. Seconds later, Carla’s glassy eyes shifted away, to something far beyond, something Jena couldn’t see. As her eyelids slowly closed, Jena could have sworn she smiled.
Dazed and weak, Jena took a deep breath and shut her eyes, but she couldn’t shut out Carla’s words that echoed in her mind . . . you’ve been bitten . . . the Rougarou curse . . . human blood and flesh . . .
She didn’t want to believe it. But she had to, because to accept what she’d just seen in the cemetery was too horrifying to deal with. And there was a young, dead girl, lying beside her that had been missing for years. Jena prayed that someone would find her. She wasn’t going to die next to Carla’s body in this muddy grave . . .
Todd and Sophie’s death hung over her like a recurring nightmare. And no matter how hard Jena tried to erase those horrific images, her mind kept trudging up thoughts of things she didn’t want to think about. Had she caused their death? And was that creature coming back for her? Jena wrapped her arms around herself and shivered violently. Exhausted, she managed to shut out everything around her. Yet despite the urgency of the situation, she choked down the taste of fear and let herself drift into a hazy slumber.
And that’s when he’d come back . . . one last time. After he had done what he had to do, he couldn’t get her out of his mind. He stood over the lip of the pitch-black opening and stared down at her with keen eyesight, waiting to see if she’d move, if her eyes would open, if she’d look up at him. But she didn’t move.
An overwhelming feeling crept into his dark heart and completely consumed him. It burned from deep within, filling him with a strange uneasiness and a craving he couldn’t understand. A craving so intense, he could almost taste it. She should never have come here, he thought.
With a burning desire, he lowered himself into the muddy grave and knelt down beside her. As he wiped the mud from her face, he studied her features, all the while wondering how long she’d resist the gift he’d given her. And then he glanced down at his strong hands . . . hands that could wield the power of life and death. Something changed inside him since he’d first saw her. At that moment, he chose to give her life, instead of death.
Footsteps from a distance alerted his attention. They were coming closer. Now he realized he had to think quickly and act with haste. He was in desperate agony, yet he could not help himself. His amber eyes glided smoothly down her body, then up again to her face. He bent lower, parted his lips, and squeezed his eyes shut. Oh so gently, he put his mouth upon hers . . . and kissed her.
As Jena struggled to wake, she felt something warm and feather-soft press against her lips, sending wave after wave of delicious sensations all the way through her.
His lips moved down the length of her neck. “I am your destiny, Jena.” His whisper created a tingle over her skin.
She gasped and tried to pull away from the coppery smell of blood on his breath.
“Do you deny it?” he asked, kissing the pulse at her throat.
Jena was sobbing now, trying to choke out the word, “No . . .”
He drew back from her as she lay weak and helpless, lost in guilt and regret. Little by little, he would remove those emotions until they existed no more. And then she would be consumed with him . . . and him alone.
Not far away, she could hear muffled voices. As Jena’s eyes flew open, she was surrounded by a veil of thick fog. And then a feeling of relief invaded her senses as she caught a glimpse of colored lights flashing from above. She tried to scream out for help, but all that came out was a frightened whimper.
“It’s okay, Miss,” a male voice said. “You’re safe now.”
To be continued . . .
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