Sorry I disappeared for so long, I'll try to post often from now on. please help this book move up. Leave a 💎 if you enjoy the book.
Red was a lycanthrope . . . a powerful creature whose physical existence shifted between her human form and a half-human, half puma entity. She wasn't meant for or fond of enclosed spaces. The inside of a passenger train definitely counted as "enclosed." But nevertheless, she found herself sandwiched between an elderly gentleman who smelled faintly of mothballs and a pretty young woman with her arm in a sling. It was this latter creature . . . Jane . . . who had brought Red to this place.A few months earlier, Red had simply been worried about hellspawn activity in the underworld of Springfield, California. Since then, Jane had showed up, helped save Red's brother (another lycanthrope), manifested a powerful magical Talent, been almost killed twice and had fought an ancient and evil creature, almost losing her life and sanity in the process. Jane had come to the Strays a fragile and breakable creature, and the Shoggoth had preyed upon that and fed upon her growing mental instability
---------- -------------------------------Later, somewhere out East . . .---------- -------------------------------The sign announcing Jane's home town had been tagged by wannabe "gangstas," making it impossible to read in the fading light. Jane would have been amused if her mind hadn't been elsewhere. There weren't any real gangsters in her home state of Idaho. Lots of pretend ones to be sure.Jane and Red were walking down the long, semi-paved road that led to the house she had grown up. Every step echoed in her skull, and every breath crept out from between clenched teeth. 'What should I do?' she asked of herself. 'I want him dead . . . I want his blood on my hands,' she thought, growing angry now. 'I want to show him who has the power . . .'Jane stopped in her tracks.Red looked over the young woman's shoulder at the house they had arrived at. The lawn was unkempt, the windows and doors boarded up and a sign in the front lawn that read, "Property for Sale.""Impossible," Jane
----------- ---------------------A few minutes later . . .----------- ---------------------"This isn't fair," Jane said, clenching her fists and staring at the small mound of earth before her.Red had found something out about the sleep little town that evening. There was only one thing on Pine Brook Road . . . the only thing that had ever been there and the only thing that ever would be . . . Pine Brook Cemetery. On the tombstone read "Jack Ewes: 1964 – 2005." No other epitaph was to be found."What now?" Jane asked almost angrily of Red. "How do I confront a dead guy?!" She fell to her knees and began beating the ground with her hands, leaving Red to hope she didn't start using her powers. "It's not fucking fair! You don't deserve to sleep you son of a bitch!""No rest for the wicked," Sheriff Horton muttered, taking a step back. He knew the girl deserved to vent. She deserved a hell of a lot more.Jane stopped and
------------ ----------------------------------------------Somewhere in the skies over California . . .------------ ----------------------------------------------Patrick wasn't sure why he had stuck around. The Strays had to have known that he had betrayed them, so his life was pretty much forfeit if they every caught up with him. But something had kept him here . . . had kept him from running. He kept thinking how easy it would be to just fly off into the night sky underneath . . ."What the . . ." he started to say. The stars had vanished overhead. "Oh my . . ."Whatever he had meant to say died on Patrick's lips as hew was enveloped by the darkness. The Dark One needed a host. Its body had been damaged, so it was going to borrow another one. This one was weaker than the girl had had been, but he would have to do. It seeped into Patrick's frail form through his ears, nose, mouth, and even his anal cavity. His legs seemed to explode t
----------- -------------Out east . . .----------- -------------Jane and Red were moseying down an old dirt road towards the town's only hotel. The sheriff had offered to give them a lift, but it was only a couple of miles and the two women, especially Jane, needed to walk off some frustration. The sheriff had given Jane some information that she has asked for, and they had agreed to rendezvous the next morning to work out some legal matters.Jane felt like someone riding a roller coaster whose heart was still beating in her chest, but who could finally see the end in sight. She wanted off that crazy ride and get her feet under her for the first time in many years."Talk to me," Red said after a lengthy silence. "What's going through your head?"Jane leaned against her girlfriend. "Nothing. I'm so used to it being dark in there . . . in my mind . . . and scary and chaotic. But now I don't know what to think. I'm not used to it
---------- ----------------At the motel . . .---------- ----------------It wasn't as romantic as Jane would have liked. Neither woman had engaged in much personal grooming for weeks and both smelled like they had just been in a fight. They were bruised, battered, and Jane was still ginger with her healing arm. But nothing short of an act of God was going to keep them apart that night.As soon as they had paid the deposit and gotten in the room, Jane had turned and with a bit of her traditional shyness returning, she slowly raised up on her toes, keeping contact with Red's eyes until the last possible second, and then kissed her. She could taste Red's sweat (and a little bit of her blood), but she couldn't remember anything feeling as good as those lips against her own."Are you sure you want this now?" Red asked."Yes," came the reply. "I really do."Red picked Jane up, minding her arm, and carried her over to the ful
--------- -----------At the Den . . .--------- -----------Robbie was sitting alone near one of the entrances to the tunnels. He was dead tired and had drifted off several times while leaning against the inside of the overflow tunnel. But he wanted to wait and see if his sister was going to call again. Like everyone, he had been stunned to hear that the Dark One was dead, and wanted to fill big sis in on the new plan. Then, at one moment he opened his eyes and noticed there was someone else in the tunnel with him."Not much of a lookout, are you?" the large man asked in an amused tone. The man was almost as big as Tarloh. Huge shoulders and arms, and his broad chest and powerful legs were clad in something that resembled snake-skin armor.'No,' Robbie thought, preparing to wolf-out. 'Crocodile armor.'"Ho there short stuff," the man continued, a smirk on his lips. "If I wanted to fight you, I'd have started and finished by now.
----------- --------Elsewhere . . .----------- --------"Man, the slums around here have gone straight to hell," Tarloh said as they scratched another possible new home off the list. "I can't believe I said that and was actually surprised."Talia and Shield had convinced the big man that he needed to get out and get some fresh air, so he had gone "house shopping" with them. They were trying to keep with Red's wishes of not removing themselves too far from the people they were trying to protect, but they hadn't found anything with the infrastructure needed to set up shop. They'd have to reroute power and water and keep both sets of tampering hidden."Maybe we SHOULD stay in the Den," he muttered."No, we need to get out," Talia reminded him. "We've been over this. You're just saying that because you hate shopping.""True."Shield shook his big head. "Listen, the slaughterhouse is still the best bet, but even it