Spider Wars: Lords of Shifters, #2

By Angela Carlie

Jess' life has never been ordinary. After all, life on the road with an immortal family of gypsies is hardly predictable. Living in the small town of White Salmon, Washington has brought some normality to her life. But when her boyfriends gets involved with a gang of arachneshifters, life gets a little sticky. Will she be able to save him from the web he's spun? More importantly, how much is she willing to risk to get him back?

Lords of Shifters:

Loramendi's Story, Spider Wars, Dark Horse, and coming soon, Death Touch.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Angela Carlie
• Release date: Jun 5, 2015
• ISBN: 9781513051581

Book preview

-cookie-

you were our friend

our protector

our spider eater...

see you on the other side

SPIDER WARS

A Lords of Shifters Novel

by Angela Carlie

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When he woke that evening, he didn’t expect to look his fear in the eyes. All four or six of them, depending on which one stood before him at the time. Eight gangly long legs, shifting left and right, protruded from two fuzzy globes connected in the center.

Spiders.

They covered the ground, a moving carpet of legs and eyes and dagger hairs.

A virus of terror rushed through his limbs, solidifying them in place. His body a potential carcass to be devoured by tiny fangs.

Every surface of the room, the stone walls, the dank ceiling, and the only exit — a heavy wooden door, moved in waves of spider parts. Big and small, brown spiders, black spiders, green and yellow, traveled up his legs and over his muscular body.

In his century of life, he’d never known terror like this. If these creatures ate his body, he’d walk the earth as a soul forever. He wasn’t ready for that.

Hair-like legs scurried over his unshaven cheek. He gathered every ounce of strength he had and broke his limbs free of their paralyzed state. He jerked and gyrated to shake the creepers off, but they stuck to him like maggots to rotting meat. They burrowed under his skin, sucking his body dry of life fluids. Dehydrated and close to mummified, he dropped to all fours and crawled through the masses, crunching tiny lives into smashed bits under his hands and knees as he moved for the exit.

The door swung open. A young woman with fiery hair and a tattered black corset dress cast a shadow into the small room. The carpet of crawlers scurried away toward the back wall. Spiders shot out of his mouth and ears as if he was possessed — they backed out from under his skin, fleeing from the woman.

She drifted into the head of the room, a goddess, a monster.

Two others joined her, their faces unrecognizable in the dark, but their hair glowing from the moonlight behind them. A blond and a dark brunette.

The dark-haired woman nudged her long limbs past the redhead. Children, she hissed. The time is near to prove to the humans your place in this world is not under their feet, but to put them where they belong, wrapped in a web and on dinner plates.

The surface of the walls and ceiling bubbled with movement, down to the floor again where he lay helpless, void of hope. His internal tissues had already begun the regeneration process as he rested on the dirt floor, realizing the horror of the woman’s words. His heart burned from new tissue growth out of half-eaten muscle, but he held onto the groans of pain. His breath rattled in his chest, his body’s attempt to clear the venom the spiders left behind.

That’s right, my children. Feed on this wretched immortal. Gain your strength. You’ll need it for the battles to come.

The room snapped alive. This time, he didn’t have time to scream. Even if he wanted to.

ONE

Six eyes bugged at me from behind quarter-inch thick glass. I moved my finger from left to right in front of the aquarium, and the tiny black eyes followed the movement. Two front legs, speckled with fine hairs, pricked the small slab of a tree branch the creature sat on while watching me study it. The Tegenaria duellica, better known as the giant house spider, was held captive in an artificial environment by Mr. Spider Oppressor, better known as Mr. Daniels, White Salmon High’s biology teacher, and resident hottie. There should have been a prerequisite that all teachers be as good looking as Mr. Daniels.

I tapped the glass. The spider didn’t move, just watched, like I was the science project and it was the student. Its legs (I hoped he or she didn’t mind me calling it an it) spanned nearly double the length of its body. It probably could have wrapped those legs around the branch if it wanted to.

A cricket fled from under a mass of webbing in the back corner of the aquarium. Stupid cricket.

I hated spiders with a passion. Everything about them screamed gross on so many levels. Whenever I saw one, I never failed to stomp its guts out with my shoe or anything handy. For good measure, I’d smear them across the sidewalk to make sure they were completely obliterated from ever returning to their more disgusting form.

But looking at the spider from the safety of this side of the glass wasn’t so bad. It was actually kinda cool. Not in a good way, but still cool.

The spider leapt backward.

I jerked away and let out a small grunt. No one saw, though, because the class had yet to file in for first period biology.

I laughed and shook my head. Jumpy much?

It had attacked the stupid cricket and now held the insect in its long grasp, rolling it along the tips of each leg.

I moved in closer to watch the dance, an inch away from the glass. The spider stopped.

SLAM!

I jumped a mile high and hit my hand against the aquarium, knocking off the mesh cover.

Hey, Jess. Johnnie stood next to me laughing and holding his stomach, like humor hurt or something. That was priceless! You should’ve seen the look on your face.

I punched the laugh out of him.

The skin around his baby blues crinkled. Ow! Hey, I just put my books down. You don’t have to get so bitchy.

"You know you weren’t just putting your books down."

Johnnie held his left arm where my power punch hit him. Why are you so interested in that spider anyway? You hate spiders.

I shrugged. I don’t know. No reason. Johnnie’s long blond hair was pulled back in a ponytail. His scrunched expression of pain relaxed into a smile to brighten anyone’s day. I looked into the aquarium to find rocks, wood, some old cardboard, and a small lid of water. Hey, it’s gone. A shiver skipped across my back. Oh crap, the lid!

Johnnie grabbed the mesh and adjusted it on top of the aquarium. You think it got out? Mr. Daniels is gonna be pissed.

Shhh. The class filed into the room and sat at their lab stations, chatting and paying no attention to us. Good. Move your books.

Johnnie lifted his books. We searched the counter behind the aquarium, the floor, and the windowsill. No spider.

Good morning, class. Mr. Daniels walked in and stood at the front of the room.

I smacked Johnnie’s arm. We sat at our lab station in front of the aquarium. The room hummed with gossip and chatter, a bit louder than normal.

Now, I know with this being the last day, you’re probably ready to get out of here, but I have one more assignment for you. Mr. Daniels pushed his glasses up the bridge of his glorious nose. If I had a choice of dates, I’d choose Mr. Daniels and pull him to the darkest corner available and participate in naughty actions that would shock most people if performed in daylight. His sweater vests were what really turned me on. I couldn’t resist a sexy sweater vest, but his always seemed to hug his body just tight enough to outline a strong chest and lean abdomen.

Johnnie leaned into me and whispered cereal breath onto my face. Stop daydreaming.

Whatever. I wiped the drool from my mouth with the back of my hand. You find the spider yet?

Johnnie searched the floor again. Nope.

Maybe Mr. Daniels won’t notice.

Mr. Daniels slid a sheet of paper onto our lab station. Notice what?

Oh, uh, nothing. I picked up the paper. What’s this?

Jessica and Johnnie. What did you do now? Mr. Daniels pushed his glasses up on the bridge of his nose.

I cringed. Nobody called me Jessica except for Mr. Daniels. I never corrected him because I didn’t want to embarrass him or anything. Jessica wasn’t even my real name.

Nothing, I said.

Nothing. Johnnie grabbed the paper from me. This looks interesting.

Really? Yeah, real interesting. I gave him my cross-eyed, total moron face. We were just discussing how clean everything looks today. You know, all the posters are taken down already, and the chalkboards are free of dust. So, we were just wondering if you noticed. Jess to the rescue once again.

Janitors must have gotten an early start. He turned and walked to the chalkboard.

Johnnie kicked me under the table and whispered, Good save.

I nodded. Of course it was a good save. No one should expect any less from me. I could bullshit myself out of practically any situation. Johnnie knew that.

Mr. Daniels destroyed the efforts of the janitors by picking up a new piece of white chalk. He drew two oval shapes and filled them in completely, and then eight thin legs.

You may have noticed the spider I brought in today. He pointed to the aquarium behind me and Johnnie. I looked everywhere but the aquarium. Spider? What spider? Nope. I hadn’t seen it.

Johnnie kicked me again. I didn’t acknowledge him because doing so would mean that I had seen the spider, and I hadn’t.

This is a rare spider. The label on the front tells you that it’s a typical giant house spider, which it is, but this spider has lived over fifty years. He emphasized fifty with two distinct syllables that he drew out just a little bit too long. His eyes widened and a grin grew on his face.

The class didn’t have the same enthusiasm. Everyone remained silent, praying the stupid spider wasn’t part of a hard assignment on our last day of class before summer break.

Well, except for Michael, the teacher’s pet, who said, Fifty years? How is that possible?

Mr. Daniels almost skipped out of his Doc Martins with glee at the prospect of a curious mind ready to absorb his not-so-interesting information. Great question, Michael. These spiders usually only live about one year. But this one is special. He’s been with my family since my father’s chemistry days at the university when they experimented with pesticides in Hood River. He pushed his glasses up again and then scratched his blond waves on his head. How I wished I could run my fingers through that mop of fine hair. Apparently, that little guy was part of one of the top-secret experiments. Of course, they were trying to kill bugs, not keep them alive. He’s a very important specimen.

Johnnie’s leg tapped against the chair. I held his foot down with mine until he stopped shaking. My palms grew sweaty. Great. Freaking super. We lost a miracle spider. I searched the floor with my eyes, not moving my head. It had to be somewhere around here.

Dani, who sat in front of me, was blocking my view of Mr. Daniels — as usual. Her blond locks, spread out evenly down her back, moved. A curl on the right twitched and then the spider peeked from under strands of gold.

I nudged Johnnie and pointed toward Dani. Look at her hair, I whispered.

Johnnie stared for several long seconds and then his eyes grew wide and his leg began tapping again.

The spider remained still on Dani’s red and black cheerleading sweater. It watched us as if we were prey. Half its body remained hidden behind blond strands, but the head and front legs poked out of the curtain, ready to dance.

Mr. Daniels ranted on about pesticide chemistry and junk, and wrote on the chalkboard, but I didn’t hear a word. I was transfixed by the ancient spider hiding in Dani’s hair, waiting for it to climb farther up her scalp to devour her brain. Of all the people in class to eat, she would have been the most appropriate. But that didn’t happen.

Instead, the spider leapt right at my face, in slow motion. Its long legs stretched forward to grab hold of me. My muscles contracted, but before I could move, the hippie spider from the sixties with eternal life landed directly on my forehead.

A shrill scream escaped my mouth.

TWO

Oh my gawd! I flapped my arms in the air and jumped out of the chair. It fell back, crashing to the ground. I danced around the room with my head shaking to rid it of the creepy crawly. I couldn’t help it. Call it a reflex. Everybody freaks out when a spider lands on their head.

Every face in the room turned toward me. Johnnie leaned as far away as possible, like he didn’t know me or something. Dork.

Mr. Daniels jogged over with a jar in his hand. He held it to my head. Hold still.

What? Oh my gawd! Is it still there? I clenched my jaw.

A prickling pain pierced my scalp. Ouch! What the —

Mr. Daniels closed the lid of the jar. There. Safe and sound. He peered through the glass at the spider trying to crawl the smooth, clear walls. How did you get out of your aquarium?

It bit me! I rubbed the spot on the top of my head that was now tingling.

No he didn’t. Mr. Daniels’ face went all straight and rigid. He’s never bitten anyone in fifty years.

Yeah, well today it did. I picked up my chair, plopped down in it and crossed my arms over my chest. I couldn’t believe a spider just bit me with an entire class as witness, and Mr. Daniels stood there and argued with me. Was he blind? Speaking of which. What are you all staring at? I hissed at the class.

Everyone turned around, except for Dani. Her perfect porcelain face held a worry line across her brow. She whispered, Are you okay?

I nodded to satisfy her curiosity.

I would have died, she said before facing forward.

Dani really was a nice person. I just couldn’t stand her. She was too happy all the time and she had never said an interesting word since the day I met her. It was always Oh, look at my hair. Or Let’s put lipstick on together. Or I just bought this gorgeous sweater! Lame stuff like that.

Mr. Daniels dropped the old spider in the aquarium and then lectured the class again about the assignment. It was the last freaking day of school and I had no intention of doing his dumb assignment. There were other things to think about than spiders, like the fact that tomorrow I was heading to San Francisco to visit Nana, my grandma. I still had to pack and have dinner with my mom and Aunt Amy and then hang out with Lora and Johnnie. See, way too much to think about.

Don’t worry about me, Johnnie said, I’ll do the work and you can take the credit, like always. He circled two answers on the worksheet, wrote our names on the top, tossed his pencil into the air, and caught it. Done.

See, that wasn’t so bad, I said. Let’s get out of here.

Johnnie dropped our assignment on Mr. Daniels’ desk.

Have a good summer, you two. Mr. Daniels graded papers without looking at us. He wasn’t so cute anymore.

We walked out of the classroom into the fresh Pacific Northwest air. I’d lived here for about two years and still wasn’t used to the moist, clean air in my lungs. Spring brought every color of green imaginable to this place. I practically died when we left the south. We’d lived mostly in California, but we moved around a lot. Arizona, Texas for a short stint, Nevada. My family came from a long line of gypsies, always wandering. Not just always, but forever, since 1889. Clans of us, spread across America, living for what seemed to be eternity. White Salmon was the only place my aunt, Mom, and I stayed for longer than a year.

Hey, hold up. Johnnie grabbed my arm. He pushed my long, brown hair away from my temple.

What? I flinched. He may have been a touchy-feely kind of friend, but rarely did he make it so obvious by touching my hair. Usually, he hugged a lot. Not everyone; just me.

His brows furrowed. That spider really did get you.

Gross. I touched my left temple, right on the hairline where the assault happened. A small bump swelled under my fingertips. See. I told him that spider attacked me!

I’ll say it did. That’s nasty.

Gee, thanks. It’s just a spider bite. Not a zit or anything, I said.

Yeah, but maybe you’re allergic. His nose crinkled. It looks bad.

Great. Perfect way to start summer break. My ribs seized around my lungs, as if someone stuffed a vacuum tube down my throat and sucked out all the