Monsters Among Us

By TM Simmons

Monsters Among Us, a novella, is T. M. Simmons annual Halloween story.

Collin Cassidy, known as The Slayer, has enemies in the demon underground who will do anything to kill him. Faytareena has her own reason for seeking revenge against The Slayer, who killed her demon father and human mother. She's also bound by the contract Baltheezer tricked her into signing, and racing against the approaching deadline that will change her life one way or another: Halloween at midnight.

Come join T. M. Simmons as she takes you deep into the mountains where not only do monsters roam, but good has battled evil through the centuries.

• Language: English
• Publisher: TM Simmons
• Release date: Oct 1, 2013
• ISBN: 9781301855018

TM Simmons

For over twenty years, I have been chasing, and finding, ghosts and other paranormal entities. For even longer, I have been publishing fiction and non-fiction. I delight in scaring myself silly, as well as anyone else I can corner with my verbal or written tales.

Book preview

Monsters Among Us

T. M. Simmons

Copyright © 2013 T. M. Simmons

Original New Release

Cover Design: Angela Rogers ©2013

Misadvmom @ yahoo.com

Excerpt Dragon's Dishonor,

A Short Story

Copyright © 2013 by T. M. Simmons

Cover Model:

Mihaela Voicu, Sibiu, Romania

mihaela_voicu @ ymail.com

All rights reserved. With the exception of quotes used in reviews, no part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, or by any means existing now or in the future, in whole or in part, without the express written permission of the author, except where permitted by law. Piracy of copyright works is a crime.

This e-book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This e-book may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person. If you are reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to where you purchased it and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

This story is a work of fiction. All characters appearing in this work are fictitious. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

EXCERPT FROM

MONSTERS AMONG US:

Faytareena had no warning before the next beast grabbed her. She barely saw the scaly yellow arm snake out of the underbrush. It tossed her into the air, but she didn't hit the ground. A huge hand cupped her butt and threw her. She landed on her stomach, and the thing fell on her and pinned her to the ground.

She cringed as the coldness of the scales penetrated the holes in her clothing, an iciness meant to immobilize her, freeze her inactive.

The odor was as bad as the other beast, but she didn't smell it very long. The monster pushed her face into the rotting leaves beneath her, trying to suffocate her.

It had no idea it had actually attacked something similar to it. But that didn't do Faytareena much good, since she could feel the supernatural strength emanating from it.

She tried to dredge up some of the power she had blockaded inside herself. However, she failed against the other demon's abilities. She did manage to turn her head far enough to one side to clear her mouth and shout a chant.

The spell knocked the monster from her back, and she hurriedly scrambled upright.

The look of surprise on its face nearly made her laugh. Its long snout, filled with a multitude of fangs, gaped open, the expression showing clearly in huge, orange eyes widened in astonishment. As she watched, three smaller heads of what might have been the beast's babies peered over its shoulder and popped their mouths open and shut like bird fledglings. The thing slapped them, and they shrieked and disappeared.

This didn't suit her plan. She needed to get rid of this demon before someone from the compound showed up.

I'm warning you, Faytareena said in English, knowing the beast would understand whatever language she used. I'm Dillon's daughter. I can dispatch you easily. Get out of here!

It laughed, a garbled sound that grated on her ears.

Dillon had no daughter, it growled. And I'm hungry, as are my offspring.

It sprang without another word. She couldn't stop it from clasping her to its breast. The scaly arms tightened as though they were pythons squeezing the life from her.

Damn, that hurts, she moaned, then stabbed a finger into the beast's eye.

It roared with its own pain, but instead of dropping her, it flung her again. She hit the side of a pine trunk, and a broken limb penetrated her shoulder. Before she could free herself and organize her thoughts well enough to figure out what spell would destroy the scaly monster, it was on her again.

It jerked her back into its hold and tightened those snake-like arms again. She shoved and reached for the snout, but it kept its muzzle out of her reach. The babies weren't that smart, though. Two of them glared over the beast's shoulder and snapped their smaller mouths.

Faytareena grabbed one of them and flung it into the underbrush. It screeched as it flew through the air and landed in a patch of blackberry vines.

Dedication:

To George Jones and Heather,

Dodad and Susie.

I wish you all only

good entering your lives!

If you would like to be notified of my new releases,

please follow the url below. I promise you will not be spammed.

As a thank you, you'll also receive a free ebook novella,

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available for my newsletter friends.

http://ghostie3.wixsite.com/index1

Acknowledgements

I stretched myself somewhat on this one, veering into a bit of sci-fi. However, I had faith in both my Muse and my fellow creative minds, whom I can reach out to whenever I need some help. Writing is lonely at times, but on the other hand, very much a team effort. I'm so appreciative of my support group of friends and family.

Angela Rogers isn't only my brilliant cover goddess. She can zero in on a plot hole or inconsistency that makes me slap my forehead at how I could have overlooked something so obvious. Thank you for the final read, Angela.

Angela's also the one who found Mihaela Voicu, our cover model, and received permission for us to use her on Monsters Among Us. She also discovered that Mihaela is a gifted photographer. Mihaela is so perfect for Faytareena! Thank you, Mihaela. You help make my cover awesome. If anyone wishes to contact her, you can use the email address included on the copyright page, without the spaces, of course. The e-book sites frown on links near the beginning of our books, so I have to list Mihaela's Facebook page as: https:// www.facebook.com/ MihaelaVoicuPhotography. She has a link to her photography at mihaela-vstock. deviantart.com.

Zerelda wouldn't be Zerelda without the help of C. L. Smothers, author of The Wormhole and the upcoming MP-1, the Mineral Plant and also Last Forty Days. I love his writing, but just as much, I love the way he teaches that sci-fi tech stuff in a way I can actually understand … most of it. Sometimes, I feel (almost) as smart as him.

I can always count on Amanda (A. D. Guzman, author of Ghosts in the Footprints Anthology). She keeps on eagle eye on my sentences and story, pointing out problems or disbelief.

Floyd Brigdon brought our Terrell Writers League together. An English teacher, when he speaks, we listen. He's been teaching this writing business as long as I've been doing it.

Thanks, y'all! Couldn't do it without you.

And oh, yeah, Angela, Amanda and Floyd are also the core members of Supernatural Researchers of Texas, our paranormal investigation team, along with Timmy Smith, our Equipment Tech, and Sarah Brigdon. They're a fantastic group to prowl cemeteries or haunted houses with.

Boo!

T. M.

Chapter 1

The thing came out of the mist, surprising him. Collin barely took time to examine it, and only then at the end of his sawed-off shotgun barrel. Seven feet — a half-foot taller than Collin himself. Garish, flimsy green wings protruding from the humped back. Fangs. Natch, they all had fangs. Slime dripped from points in a mouth gaped to feast on Collin. Red eyes glaring a promise of torture it would enjoy.

Collin squeezed the trigger.

Surprise actually filled the thing's eyes as it stared down at the huge cavity the special salt mixture tore in its chest. It clasped clawed fingers over the hole as though hoping to pull the tattered black leather skin together before it crumbled dead to the ground.

If something already dead can even be killed again, Collin mused as he walked over to the monster and pulled out an innocuous package of paper matches from his brown duster pocket. He lit one and flicked it at the thing. An insignificant fire flared, but when it burned down thirty seconds later, there was only a pile of dust on the ground.

Collin removed a plastic sandwich bag and spoon from a pocket. He bent and scooped up a spoonful of the dust and placed it and the spoon in the bag. Sealing it securely, he stuck it in his duster. The DNA of this thing would be catalogued, the makeup of it shared and protections woven to guard against future attacks from demons like it.

He dug his snakeskin boot toe into the sand to kick dirt over the remains.

Meow!

Back arched, a huge, scruffy black cat stalked out from under a bush and cast Collin a glare with violet Liz-Taylor eyes. But it didn't attack Collin. Instead, it prowled over to the pile of dust. As Collin watched in astonishment, it squatted and peed, then scratched dirt and leaves over the urine-dust mixture with its back legs.

Good job, Collin murmured. Couldn't have done better myself.

He realized his fingers were on his own zipper pull, as though he planned to take himself out and mirror the cat. He jerked his hand away. The cat had done enough.

He turned to leave, but glanced over his shoulder when his senses told him he was being followed. Silently, the huge cat padded along behind him.

Collin sighed and squatted to pet the animal. It hissed.

He jerked his hand back just in time to save it from the swiping claws.

Why, you little minx, he muttered. But he couldn't bring himself to run the animal off. I guess you don't have a lot of trust left in you, huh? That thing was probably grooming you for its next torture-fest.

He stood. Well, come along if you want. Stay here if you don't. You can hang around the porch and I'll put feed out for you.

But the cat had other ideas.

Collin carefully checked his back trail as he guided the hovercraft through the West Virginia Appalachian Mountains. The vehicle his partner Roman had refined came in handy, since its propulsion system left no tracks in the leaf-matted soil beneath huge trees. Plus it wound easily through almost nonexistent paths in the thick underbrush.

The cat had jumped past him as soon as he opened the driver's door. Now it sat stoically on the passenger seat, gaze fastened on the windshield and ignoring Collin.

With no sign of pursuit, Collin turned a hard left and pushed a dash button. Ahead, a gate opened in the high fence. It closed behind him, and the craft flew on to the huge garage attached to the three-story mansion set deep in the mountain pines and hardwoods.

The garage door slid up at the touch of another button. He got out of the craft and left the driver's door open for the cat to decide if it wanted to follow. Or not.

Outside the garage, Collin stood quietly and listened as he fingered a small plastic box shaped like a cell phone on his belt. In reality, the device read a certain bandwidth used