Forging Monsters Part 1

By Annie James

A modern and beautiful Frankenstein’s Monster fights for the right to carve her own destiny in the human world of New York City.

A talented young dancer tired of witnessing violent crimes against women go unpunished and takes matters into her own hands.

A young woman tries to escape her past in the anonymity of New York but finds out that she cannot escape the scars on her soul, which drives her to shocking acts of violence.

She was a top-billed exotic dancer in her uncle’s club, The Jade Kat, until she was attacked one night on her way home from work.

A few days later, her best friend was murdered in a brutal home invasion.

The streets of New York run blood-red as Ze’Eva Constantini’s past, and the scars on her soul drive her to shocking acts of violence, murder, and vigilante justice. Her course soon threatens to destroy everything and everyone she holds dear.

The denizens of New York’s criminal underground want her dead—and the contract is picked up by Zee’s love interest, former Marine Jack Bradley.

When Jack instead demands answers from her, Zee has to decide if he is worth the risk, to tell him of her creation and inhuman origin, or let him walk away forever.

Ze’Eva’s past will catch up with her, and she will cross the line between hero and villain.

Some monsters wear beautiful faces.

Don’t miss this complex and riveting tale of a modern and beautiful Frankenstein’s Monster who fights to carve her destiny in the human world of New York City.

Read this second book in the darkly thrilling Tales of OriGen series, which has been described as Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein meets the Island of Dr. Moreau.

If you like the plot twists and masterful storytelling of Dean Koontz and The Girl in the Box series by Robert J. Crane, you’ll enjoy reading Forging Monsters.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Annie James
• Release date: Apr 2, 2021
• ISBN: 9781005635183

Book preview

Annie James

Forging Monsters Part 1

Copyright © 2021 by Annie James

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning, or otherwise without written permission from the publisher. It is illegal to copy this book, post it to a website, or distribute it by any other means without permission.

This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author's imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.

Annie James asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.

Designations used by companies to distinguish their products are often claimed as trademarks. All brand names and product names used in this book and on its cover are trade names, service marks, trademarks and registered trademarks of their respective owners. The publishers and the book are not associated with any product or vendor mentioned in this book. None of the companies referenced within the book have endorsed the book.

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Contents

1. Prologue

2. Ze’Eva

3. Magen

4. Luna Park

5. Don Constantini

6. Dirtbag's Lucky Day

7. Ominous

8. Blade and Shield

9. Secrets and Lies

10. She-Wolf Goes on the Hunt

About the Author

Also by Annie James

1

Prologue

Sometimes human places create inhuman monsters.

Stephen King, The Shining

City Morgue

This body looks as if it has been chewed on—the edges of the throat lacerations are ragged and similar to a previous body that was brought in bearing the same type of teeth marks. A computer 3D model of the wounds on the second body, in front of me, determined the wounds to be made by the teeth of a large canine. However, The DNA test of the saliva left behind has been inconclusive.

Dr. Violetta paused the tape recorder. I have never seen anything like it, she said to her assistant Andrew. Take a look at the slide I have on the microscope. You’ll see.

Andrew studied the cells on the microscope and wrote some notes in his typical scrawl that only he could read while Dr. Violetta started recording again.

Cells separated from a human body die in moments. These cells scraped from the saliva on this body’s wounds have continued to divide and multiply, indicating that the cells are still living. Also, the DNA strands continually rearrange their structure without any outside influence. This is why it has proved impossible to conclusively determine which type of animal caused the damage to this body. She stopped the recorder.

This has to be kept out of the media, she whispered, shaking her head in horrified disbelief.

Where did this one come from? Andrew asked, looking up from the microscope.

He was found in Central Park.

2

Ze’Eva

Soft, muted blue and purple lights glowed in the dim room. In the center of the back wall was a stage of wood, polished to glossy perfection. A pole went through the center of the stage and was bolted to the floor underneath. On the back wall, electric blue letters blazed the name of the club, The Jade Kat, and reflected it in the rows of glass panels that lined the ceiling.

The stage sat five feet above the round tables in the middle of the club. Each table was covered by a white tablecloth and had two black leather armchairs. The bar and the roped-off and red-lit VIP area decorated with red velvet couches were on the club’s left side. Behind the stage was the dancer’s dressing room, hidden behind the wall, with a burly tattooed bouncer, clad from head to toe in black t-shirted and black-jeaned anonymity until a patron gave him a reason to make his presence known. No one got near the dancer’s dressing rooms.

Tonight, The Jade Kat was packed, the perfumed and stuffy air full of cigar smoke and the chatter of businessmen in the middle seats. Patrons sat on round stools at the bar, calling out drink orders to the two barmaids who wore purple and blue tank tops and black booty shorts, with their hair in high ponytails. The lights set in the floor around the perimeter of the stage came to life, glowing with purple light, painting the fog that began to creep from the back of the stage as the DJ yelled from his booth, Give a big hand to tonight’s Feature Dancer. Welcome, Luuunnaa!! The opening notes of Welcome to the Jungle blared from the speakers on the sides of the stage. Men jumped to their feet and began shouting and applauding as a young woman with curly raven hair strutted out on the scene and stared at them for a moment, her ruby red lips curled with disdain as she towered over the crowd and glared at them.

She was dressed in a black leather dress with a belt made of linked handcuffs and a gauzy black half-coat covering her arms and shoulders. It was open in the front, and the back flowed from her shoulders and pooled on the floor behind her. She stood still, posed with one knee bent outward, showing off fishnet stockings and leather platform boots. She maintained her pose and her sneer as she listened to the crowd chant, Luna! Luna! Luna! Her mocking attitude was part of her act, and they loved her for it. She played it up, relaxing her sneer and raising her eyebrow. She tapped the riding crop against her boot and pursed her lips as if she was evaluating them. It worked, and the men gathered started to work themselves into a frenzy. Luna was one of their favorites, and they had packed the seats to see her.

Luna’s attitude abruptly shifted, and a mischievous and wicked smile slowly bloomed to life. She tossed the riding crop aside, followed by her jacket as the opening Cha! of ‘Welcome to the Jungle’ popped from the speakers. Luna spun and slithered and gyrated through her routine, keeping time with Axl Rose. Halfway through her performance, she slowly unzipped her dress and shimmied out of it, continuing to dance in her black leather romper, fishnets, boots, and gloves, ramping up her pole gymnastics. As The final notes of the song played, she finished her set and strutted backstage.

After her dance set, Luna went into the dressing room and sat at her station to take off her makeup. One of the bartenders, Amber Westlake, walked into the dressing room holding a single red rose.

Hey Zee, Amber said in a singsong voice, calling Luna by her real name instead of her stage name. Amber was one of Zee’s real friends and one of the