THE IMMORTAL: A Novel of the Breedline series

by Shana Congrove

  He leaned back in his chair and simply watched her. The short distance that separated them, he studied every detail, every curve. Regardless of the high-heeled boots she wore, she couldn’t have been any taller than five-foot-two, and no older than twenty-five. The smoothness and flawless lines on her sun-kissed skin gave her a youthful glow. She had that girl next door look to her. Pretty, but not overly attractive. She looked out of place like she didn’t belong here. He noticed the way she chewed at her bottom lip and the swell of her breasts as she took each breath. And she appeared to be alone.

  “She’s perrrrfect,” the Shadow whispered to him in a soft purr. “We need her.” Its voice remained calm and collective, but also insistent. “Pick her, Joseph.”

  Joseph briefly closed his eyes and drew in a wavering breath. The Shadow was his driving force to take lives, always in his head, always picking out their next victim. It was like having an evil twin inside your head twenty-four-seven. Sometimes it was exhausting. God, he thought, how in the hell have I made it all these years without going mad?

  “Well, you are clinically insane,” the Shadow answered. “Admit it, Joseph. You need me. You’re weak without me.”

  In a flash, he recalled the day the Shadow gave him the courage to go back to his parents’ home one last time, to avenge his mother. God, he could still remember how his father begged for his pathetic life. But mostly, he looked back on the memory of watching the house go up in flames with his father’s body burning inside. As he savored that moment, he felt reborn.

  Yes, Joseph silently agreed. I need you, Shadow. He would kill if the Shadow asked it of him. Slaughter anyone without thought or hesitation. Besides, everyone eventually dies. He just sped the process up a little. And then, he smiled, his eyes growing hooded as his gaze lingered on the girl’s lips. But to his surprise, she wandered off, probably heading for the ladies’ room. His smile disappeared.

  “Don’t let her get away,” the Shadow urged. “Follow her, Joseph!”

  Joseph tossed back the rest of his drink, swallowing it whole. The minute he rose from his chair, a waitress wearing a bustier made of leather and lace, a studded choker that resembled a dog collar, skin-tight leopard pants, and four-inch heels came up to his table, working her hips as if they were double-jointed.

  She swirled her tongue over her black-coated lips and said, “How ‘bout another round, sweetheart?”

  For a brief, lapsing moment, the Shadow’s voice came back to him. “Hurry, Joseph! The girl is leaving the bar!”

  Joseph quickly reached into the front pocket of his jeans and dug out a twenty-dollar bill. “No thanks,” he said, placing the money on the table. “I was just leaving.”

  On her way out of the bar, the blonde-haired girl swiped her phone and initiated a call. After a few rings, it went straight to voicemail.

  “Dammit, Kevin,” she cursed under her breath, and ended the call. This had been the fourth time her boyfriend was a no-show, and this time she’d make damn sure it was his last. He was a total loser with a fat trust fund. And to make matters worse, he’d made plans with her later tonight for a supposedly romantic Valentine’s dinner.

  It was already after midnight, and she should probably call for an Uber, but her apartment building was only five blocks away. Besides, she was pissed and the walk might do some good.

  As she walked along, she noticed some of the businesses were hopping. Other than the Cat Club, there was Dino’s bar and grill, JJ’s Smoke Shop, and a hole-in-the-wall pool hall further down the main strip. Across the street was a tattoo parlor, an adult/lingerie shop, a Mexican restaurant, a pizza place where you can make your own pies and a little burger joint around the corner. Above the Cat Club, there were loft rentals that suited the local bartenders and servers. Most of the places seemed safe enough, especially for a female all by her lonesome at this hour. Although, there were a couple of places she didn’t care for. Ziggy’s pool hall had been one of them. It mostly brought in a rougher crowd that usually involved the police before closing time. She knew this because her cousin Rodney was the manager. The Cat Club had been the other place she disliked. If it weren’t for Kevin saying he’d meet her there, she would have never stepped foot in that particular bar in the first place. The clientele that hung out there easily stereotyped as members of the Vampire-Goth subculture, and not exactly her type. With a passion to help others and currently employed as an assistance program counselor for substance abuse, she stuck out like a sore thumb.

  When she rounded the corner and walked past Biggy’s Burgers, she got an uneasy feeling in the pit of her gut like someone was following her. As she turned to look, she saw that no one was there. She exhaled a sigh of relief when a noisy crowd of people suddenly walked out of the burger joint. With her nerves still intact, she hurried across the street toward Sunset. By the time she got on Richmond, she noticed it was unusually quiet. The street looked deserted, but her apartment complex was just a few more blocks away.

  A thick fog hung in the air, but the streetlights overhead and the headlights from an occasional passing car made the visibility tolerable. She slowed when leering whistles caught her attention.

  Don’t look back, her inner voice warned her. Keep your eyes forward and stay focused on getting home.

  Ignoring the obnoxious catcalls, she rolled her eyes and kept moving.

  Then, to her surprise, two men hurriedly crossed the street and jogged up to her from behind. Quickly, she reached into her purse, searching for the Taser her uncle—who was a detective at the San Francisco Police Department—had given her a few months ago. It had been a gift for her birthday along with a container of pepper spray.

  “What’s a pretty girl like you doing out at this hour all alone?” the tall one said as he came up alongside her, his eyes trailing down her body and then back up again.

  Her eyes rounded in fear but she kept them focused ahead, preparing to defend herself by any means if he made a move.

  “Damn girl,” the other guy said, his beady eyes focused on her hips. “You’re fine as hell.”

  Not far down the street, Joseph stopped in his tracks when he caught sight of the two men ogling the blonde-haired girl he’d spotted in the bar. It appeared as though they were taunting her, and maybe contemplating on assaulting her.

  With his hands fisted at his sides, Joseph stood back and watched as the tall guy circled her.

  “How ‘bout we give you a lift?” he asked, winking at his bug-eyed buddy. “Seriously, it’s no trouble. Our car is just across the street.” He held up his hands in question. “Whaddaya say, sweetheart?”

  She ignored him and picked up her pace. Where in the hell is that damn Taser? Her hand continued to fumble aimlessly inside of her purse. Then, a knot formed at the back of her throat. It was at that moment she remembered she’d left the damn thing in her gym bag and the pepper spray at home. Shit!

  “We are not going to just stand back,” the Shadow said, “and do nothing. She belongs to us.”

  “It’s too risky,” Joseph said in a hushed voice. “Besides, there’s two of them.”

  “But there’s two of us,” the Shadow pointed out.

  “I don’t know.” Joseph furrowed his brows, contemplating the idea. “One of them could have a gun.”

  “Pussy!”

  Desperate to drown out the Shadow’s derogatory remark, Joseph closed his eyes and let out a deep breath.

  Just as the girl was about to step onto a crosswalk, the tall creep grabbed her from behind.

  Joseph’s lids flipped back open at the sound of a high-pitched scream. The taller guy had his arms wrapped around the girl’s waist and was dragging her backward. Although, she was putting up one hell of a fight, kicking and punching.

  He managed to get her in a choke hold and roared in her ear, “Shut the fuck up, bitch!”

  She choked as his arm tightened around her neck making it nearly impossible for her to breathe. He smelled like sweaty pits and a dirty ashtray. She felt he
r stomach churn as he dragged her off the sidewalk and to a dark alley. The other beady-eyed creep followed them as they took her deeper into the shadows. They pushed her up against a brick wall of a vacant building. The tall, foul-smelling guy held her in place by the throat while the beady-eyed guy pinned her wrists over her head with one hand and pressed them against the rough exterior of the building. As soon as the stinky one slipped his free hand underneath her blouse, she screamed. He slapped her hard, splitting her lip open.

  “You scream one more time,” the tall guy muttered, his breath filling her nose, reeking of cigarettes and alcohol, “and my buddy here will cut you.”

  When the guy with bulging eyes put a knife to her throat, she felt the sharp edge of the cold steel as it slightly pierced her skin.

  “Are you going to keep that mouth of yours shut?”

  She slowly nodded, averting her tear-stained eyes from the man that held a knife to her throat and to the one who stunk like he hadn’t bathed in days.

  “Good girl,” the tall guy said as he leaned in and drew his tongue over her cheek. “Mmm,” he purred deep in his throat. “You taste sweet.”

  She cringed and held back her gag reflex.

  The other guy chuckled and lowered the blade. “I bet the rest of her tastes even sweeter.”

  “Stop wasting time, Joseph,” the Shadow demanded. “Kill them and take the girl.”

  As though something had taken control of his body, Joseph’s expression took the shape of a stone-cold killer. His handsome face twisted into a snarl, and he began to breathe in a strange rhythm. It was almost as if two people were inhaling and exhaling at the same time. Suddenly, he stopped blinking and the teal blue color along with the whites of his eyes turned as black as coal.

  Before Joseph started forward, an outpouring of guttural sounds exploded from the thick veil of fog. It sounded like the growls coming from a wild animal or a rabid dog. Then, out of nowhere, something big moved at the speed of a blur and tackled the tall guy, knocking him off the girl and onto the ground.

  Joseph’s jaw dropped. “What the—” He could not believe what was transpiring right before his very eyes. How was this even possible?

  No matter, he thought. Despite the nightmarish spectacle, Joseph refused to cower. Besides, he had the Shadow to give him strength and he did not frighten easily. Instead, he took a couple of steps back and hid in the shadows, watching in stunned disbelief as an enormous wolfish creature with dark matted fur tore at the man’s throat in a snarling frenzy. The man’s bloodcurdling screams lasted only a few seconds before he went still.

  Paralyzed with fear, the girl screamed into the palm of her hand and fell to her knees.

  It was a werewolf of some sort, Joseph realized, recalling the eerie stories he’d read from the institute’s library. It was said that the immortal creatures had been once human until they’d been bitten and infected with the virus.

  He couldn’t believe what his eyes were telling him. The stories were real.

  While the savage creature ripped and feasted on the man’s flesh, the other girl’s attacker turned to flee. As he ran, believing he could actually get away, something heavy with the speed of a moving train hit him from behind. As he toppled to the ground, he felt the weight of the ravenous creature on top of him, pinning him down.

  “Please…” the beady-eyed guy called out, “…help—”

  His call for help was cut off by the blunt force inflicted by the creature as it crushed the guy’s skull. Blood coursed from every orifice of his face, pooling on the ground beneath him. His body twitched and convulsed, then finally went limp.

  Throwing back its head, the wolfish fiend let out a thunderous roar.

  With a bolt of adrenaline, the girl got to her feet and ran, her screams filling the alleyway.

  To Joseph’s surprise, the creature did not chase after her. Although it seemed inconceivable, he could have sworn that it was somehow here to protect her. But why, he wondered.

  “What are you waiting for, Joseph?” the Shadow said, sounding impatient. “Go after the girl.”