Supernatural Fiction posted December 28, 2019 Chapters:  ...40 41 -42- 43... 


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THE IMMORTAL/A Novel of the Breedline series

A chapter in the book THE IMMORTAL

Untold Secrets

by scongrove




Background
Thank you for taking the time to read my chapter. It's still in the working stages, so if you catch mistakes, please let me know. Wishing everyone a happy & safe New Year! Enjoy!
Previously . . .

After an age-old creature—buried deep in the ground—rises from years of peaceful slumber to feast on humans, it attacks Jena McCain—a young artist who has the ability to speak with the dead—and infects her with the Rougarou curse. As the virus spreads through her body, Jena must resist her newly found urges for human blood for one hundred and one days. If she succumbs to the blood lust, she will become the thing that has cursed her. 
   

Now that the creature is hunting humans, and infected an innocent young girl, God tasks Lailah—a battle angel gifted with the power of holy fire—with an important mission. She must take the Fury and Sebastian back to earth for the sole purpose of destroying this savage creature.

Now, as Jena heals in the hospital, she reaches out to the only person left in the world she can trust. When Jena contacts Angie—her childhood best friend—she reveals to her the dreadful news of Todd and Sophie’s deaths. Leaving out most of the details, Jena decides to tell her friend about the creature and the curse when she arrives to the hospital. 
         

The next day, Angie arrives at the Bates Hospital to be by Jena’s side. As Jena tells her about the creature and the curse, Angie reveals to Jena a secret of her own. When she explains to Jena about the Breedline species, and that she too, was born with the genetics, Jena is astounded.

As the bond between the two friends become closer than ever before, Angie promises Jena she will do everything she can to help her. Left with no other chose, Angie decides to reach out to the Breedline Covenant for help.

Meanwhile, as Angie has Jena moved to the safety of the Breedline Covenant, the creature manages to seduce Jena, and tricks her into drinking her own blood. Now that the curse is set into motion, Jena is doomed to become what she fought so hard to resist . . . a bloodthirsty killer. Just when Jena begins to feel as though she has lost all hope, someone mysteriously leaves a journal in her bedroom. Soon after, she discovers it’s a memoir from the 1800s and belongs to a Nicolas Ratcliff. As Jena continues to read on, she finds herself drawn to this mysterious person and that he is the creature’s younger brother. When she finishes reading the last entry, there is a note addressed to her. Nicolas asks Jena to come alone to the Salem Cemetery at dusk to help him end his brother’s curse and save a young girl that his brother holds captive.       
   

Regrettably, Jena must face her worst fears. Now that she had weakened to the creature, she had to confess the bad news to her best friend and to the Covenant, not to mention Nicolas’s journal.  While the Breedline Covenant process Jena’s dilemma, the battle angels are to arrive at dusk to help Jena destroy the creature.

While the Breedline prepares for the battle angel’s arrival, they unexpectedly discover Jena has shifted into her creature and somehow made it past the Covenant’s security. When Tessa and Angie search Jena’s room, desperate to find out why she took off and where she went, they find a note hidden under her mattress. After reading it, they are completely shocked to find out Jena is heading to the Salem Cemetery to help Nicolas Ratcliff destroy the creature. Before the angels arrive at dusk, they gather everyone in a meeting. When the battle angels and the Fury arrive, the Breedline tell them about Jena’s disappearance. While they discuss their plan, Bull notices Angie is missing and senses she is in distress. Without further delay, they form a plan—sending Jace’s beast ahead of everyone—to help Jena and Angie destroy the creature.


Continued . . . 

Without further delay, Jena moved in quickly and knocked Ashton’s creature off the Breedline wolf with a powerful swipe of her clawed hand. He struck the ground with a blinding force and rolled along the gravesites, the impact smashing several concreted headstones into bits and pieces. 

Throughout all his immortal years, the creature had never faced anyone or anything that had come close to his power and strength. Tonight, Jena had vowed, that would all change.  
     
Angie watched, in her Breedline form, as Jena went after the creature. She had to help, but when she struggled to stand on all fours, she was still too weak from the injuries inflicted by the creature’s sharp claws to be of much help. Blood was seeping from her thick hide, and there were gaping wounds in a few places. Although, she could feel the beginnings of the Breedline healing doing its work. 

When Jena came upon the creature, she stopped in her tracks as he slowly took to his feet. Covered in flakes of dirt, he was bleeding from his shoulder and other places on his torso where Angie’s wolf had used her teeth. As Jena prepared herself to fight against him, she knew it was time to wipe the creature’s evil existence from the earth. She had to succeed. Innocent lives, including Nicolas, depended on her. 

Then, before her eyes, his body began to reshape and spasms of pain contorted his face as though something inside of him was clawing its way out. Within seconds, Ashton’s creature stood in front of her in his human form, wearing only the torn remnants of his pants.   

A look of self-assurance came over his face as he said, “You kill me, and Nicolas dies.”

Jena shook her head, realizing Ashton was trying to confuse her, but she remained strong and pushed his words aside. “You’re lying,” she said through gritted teeth.

Ashton’s voice was calm, but his eyes blazed. “It’s true, my beloved.”

Jena growled and took a single step forward. “Don’t call me that!” Her hands balled up into tight fists at her sides. “I am not your beloved!” The words came out of Jena’s mouth before she could stop them. It was as though she had no control over what she was saying. “Your powers—they no longer have a hold on me.”

Ashton was looking at her stunned, his mouth open. Jena imagined that no one had ever talked to him like that.

“No, it cannot be,” he uttered, warily stepping back. Then, an expression of disappointment shown in his eyes. It was only there for a moment before it shifted into something harsh and resentful. “I am your creator. We are of the same.” His voice became angry. “You. Will. Obey. Me.”  

His words took her by surprise and she found that her power of resistance began to fade. “N-no . . .,” she muttered as her body suddenly began to shrink. It was as if the impending changes took on a will of its own. No matter how hard she fought it, her body continued to transform itself. She could feel every pore in her skin absorbing all the hair that had blanketed her body until her creature was no more and she was just a human again.

Naked and exposed, Jena quickly wrapped her arms around herself. “Why did you do this to me?” she demanded. “Why did you curse me?”

Ashton’s lips twisted slightly, although it was not a smile, more like a conceited smug. “Don’t you see, Jena,” he said, his words mocking. “You are my true beloved. My blood flows through your veins, and so does my dearest Isabella’s.”

Jena thought back—to the words in Nicolas’s journal as he told the story of Isabella Westfield and how she broke Ashton’s heart, not only once, but twice, and what her rejections had done to him. So far, she couldn’t figure out how Isabella was linked to her. She was almost positive there was no one by the name of Westfield on either side of her parent’s ancestry. 

“I don’t understand,” she said, her eyes brimming with tears. “What does that have to do with me?”

“Not only are you a descendant of Isabella,” he began to explain. “You bestow the blood of my Master in you. You were not born entirely human, nor just the creature I created. You are something extraordinary, something entirely other. A Necromancer,” he said with a calculated grin. “How else did you think it was possible for you to speak with the dead?”

Jena’s heart sank. “B-but, God gave me that gift,” she said, her expression hopeless. “The angels said—”

“They lied,” he interjected with an acidic flash of bitterness. “Your true father gave you this special gift, and I’m not talking about the one up above.” He made a show of mockery by rolling his eyes.

“My father?” Jena looked at him in question. “What are you saying?”

“Your parents kept a secret from you,” he told her. “They are not your biological family. You were adopted.”

Jena opened her mouth and then closed it again, until finally, she built up the courage to speak. “Who is,” she said, choosing her words carefully, “my real father?”

Ashton stood there silent for a moment, his eyes shining in the moonlight. He seemed hesitant to give her an answer, the stillness unraveling Jena’s already stretched nerves. Then, he simply said, “Lucifer.”

Jena drew in a breath, and for a moment, everything went dizzy. Ashton’s words seemed so convincing, and yet—

“No,” she said breathlessly. The ground beneath Jena began to sway, tipping from one side to the other. Her legs trembled, and her body shook with the horror of his revelation. It all seemed like a nightmare, trapping her in a state of torment and misery.

With her arms wrapped herself, she dropped to her knees and let out a scream that sounded like shattering glass. 

Ashton crossed the short distance to where Jena was and knelt down with his hand out. “Come, my beloved. Let me take the pain away.”

When she looked up at him, tears streamed down her face like an endless river.

“Take my hand,” he said softly, “and share this precious moment with me. Together, our powers will be limitless. We will start a new race. It will be a powerful race that will dominate the human species and destroy all supernatural beings on earth.”

Her lips quivered. “Y-you want me to give you . . . children?”

Now he was grinning. “Yes, my beloved. You will provide me a strong bloodline.”  
     
“No she’s not,” said a voice, laced with a southern accent, seemingly coming from behind. 

Startled, Ashton straightened and spun around on the balls of his feet, preparing to meet a familiar face. Although he recognized the voice, there was no one there.

“Where are you?” Ashton called out as his eyes darted over the dark and fog covered graveyard. “Show yourself,” he paused and snarled his upper lip, “little brother.” 

Out of nowhere, a faint outline of a ghostly image appeared behind Jena. When it fully took on a corporeal shape, the figure leaned over Jena and draped a long shawl around her, blanketing her bareness. The moment she felt hands on her shoulders, blurred memories came rushing up in torrent flood—memories of a man embracing a woman, touching her face intimately and softly, although she couldn’t make out their features.   

As Jena flinched and looked up, she was shell-shocked for a moment. The handsome face that stood above her took her by surprise. He looked at her as if some realization had dawned on him. Then, a strange sense of familiarity hung between them as though they had met before. Perhaps many years ago in another life. It was too dark for Jena to see the color of his eyes, but she could definitely see the resemblance between him and Ashton. They had the same square jaw, an ageless pale complexion, and ink-black hair that fell past their shoulders.

Jena’s face flushed, the color high in her cheeks, and Nicolas wondered if it was the vulnerability of her nudity, or something else.

She took a breath, and exhaled slowly. “Nicolas?” she murmured, pulling at the shawl so that it covered more of her exposed skin.

He gave her a comforting smile that seemingly eased her in some way, but his eyes looked tensed with worry.

As he opened his mouth to speak, a growling voice cut him off. “Why have you been keeping all these secrets from me, Nicolas?”

He lifted his head to meet Ashton’s menacing stare, realizing his brother was aware of the journal and his ability to vanish and reappear at will. “I’m sorry, Ash,” said Nicolas, his hands clenched at his sides and his eyes filled with regret. “I had no other choice. I can’t continue to let you do this.” 

“You had no other choice?” Ashton drawled. “Tell me, little brother.” He raised an eyebrow. “How long have you been planning all this,” he hissed out a breath through his teeth, “betrayal?”

Nicolas looked at him grimly. “That day you disappeared,” he told him, “after you confronted Isabella at the cemetery. When you returned, you were never the same.”

Ashton gasped as if his brother had sucker-punched him, and took an involuntary step back. “So this is your plan?” He looked at Nicolas, his dark eyes shooting daggers. “To have my beloved do your dirty work?”

“It’s the only way,” he slowly shook his head, “and it’s the right thing to do.”

“If she destroys me,” he grinned, his fangs shining like ivory pins, “your life will end as well.” 

Nicolas nodded. “Whatever it takes to stop all this madness.”

To be continued . . .
 
 

 




NOTE: This is not part of the chapter. A reference for terms and cast of characters, especially for new readers:

BREEDLINE - A species of humans that have the ability to change from human form into a wolf form. They are not like the old legend of the Lycanthropy myth. Breedline species can shift into their wolf at will. The moon has no power over them. They do not pass their ability to other humans with a bite or scratch like the Lycanthropy myth.
The Breedline only get their wolf if they are born with an identical twin. Although they live among humans, their species is secret.
In wolf form, they have super-strength, speed, and heightened senses. Compared to humans, Breedlines have tremendous advantages when it comes to health. Their bodies heal fast and are not subject to illnesses or diseases. The only thing that slows their healing process is silver. It is their kryptonite. Besides old age, a silver bullet to the brain is the only thing that can kill a Breedline.
All males change into their wolf at the age of eighteen. Females do not go through the change until they make love to their Breedline bonded mate.

BREEDLINE COVENANT - The Breedline species must live within the boundaries of a Covenant. There is one in every state. A council governs their laws and oversees the species population.

THE BREEDLINE QUEEN - A Breedline queen is born once every one hundred years. Her massive stature, black fur, and red eyes are the queen's trademarks. Her alpha wolf has twice the strength, speed, and size of any Breedline. She rules over all the Breedline Covenants where she makes all the final decisions. This is their absolute True Law.

TRUE LAW - All Breedline Covenants have an ancient book of laws. If disobeyed, they must face the possibility of being shunned, and no longer protected by their Covenant. If a Breedline takes another life out of revenge, or evil - other than protecting their life, and the life of another - they will never have the ability to shift back into human form.

The Fury - Three fraternal twins created by an evil German scientist named Dr. Hans Autenburg. Using his own DNA, he mixed it with the genetics of a Breedline, an Adalwolf, and a powerful Wiccan. After he kidnapped Sonya Hothburn for her genetics of a full-blooded succubus, he forced her into surrogacy. When the children were born, he forbid Sonya to see her children.
Their purpose was to destroy the Breedline species and dominate the human world. The first-born Apollyon, meaning 'destroyer' in Greek grew up with the strength of ten men, and possessed the power to dematerialize, taking others with him, from one place to another. He can transform into a creature that resembles an Adalwolf, and a vampire-like hybrid. The second born, Callisto, meaning 'most beautiful,' developed the power to form a shield, protecting herself and others from harm. Electra, meaning 'the shining one' was last to be born. She has the power to conduct electricity from her body, using it as a weapon. Inheriting their species instinct and extraordinary power, their thirst to kill became uncontrollable. As they grew up, the Fury became more and more unstable and unruly. With an insatiable hunger for human flesh and unmanageable powers, they became a hindrance to the physician. He had no other choice but to drug and imprison them for all time, each one placed inside a sarcophagus in a state of deep slumber, until their mother discovered their whereabouts and set them free.

Battle Angels - Their one purpose for existence is to serve the Creator in the war against demons and evil havoc on earth. The battle angels were unlike any of the Creator's angels. The indigenous battle angels, on average, stood ten feet tall. Although, a few towered to the height of twelve feet with a more muscular build. Tattooed with unique warrior markings, the black-winged warriors were suited with armor typical of ancient heroes, and they wielded a type of sword associated with a long-gone empire. They are the bravest of angels, who consider only the importance of their mission, and are perfectly willing to give their life in the service of righteousness. Gifted with special powers, they fight against the dark side. They are particularly fond of the human race and consider themselves humanity's special protectors.

Jace Chamberlain (a.k.a. the Beast) - He is a Breedline species and later discovers his birth father - who is possessed by the Chiang-Shih demon - murdered his mother when he and his twin brother were four years old. Raised by their new foster family and their Uncle Jacks, he later discovers he was born with a curse of the Beast. With the help of his twin brother, Jem, and his bonded mate, Tessa, they help him cope with his rage to keep the Beast at bay. He's an IT engineer, and is the lead singer and plays acoustic guitar in the band Chaos.

Tessa Fairchild (a.k.a. the Breedline Queen) - She was born into the human world and later discovers she's a Breedline. Abandoned by her parents, and raised by her aunt and uncle, Tessa has no knowledge of being born a twin. After she meets Jace, they become bonded mates. During her first change into her Breedline wolf, she became the new Breedline queen. She is an inspiring artist.

Tim Ross - He is a Breedline species, and the head council of the California Covenant.
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