The Darkness Within

By Jessica Major

You can run from your past, but it will eventually catch up. The organizations top assassin and tracker, Sage Taylor, is about to find that out firsthand when one of her toughest cases yet unearths the horrors of her past that she has tried so hard to bury. She will have to seek help from an unconventional partner in order to stop the biggest, baddest monster shes ever faced. Has she finally met her match?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Jul 15, 2016
• ISBN: 9781524514303

Jessica Major

Born and raised in British Columbia, Canada, Jessica resides with the love of her life, Jeff, and their pod of cats on top of a mountain. When she isn’t hard at work as a mortician, she can be found indulging in one of her many interests, such as writing, going on adventures, playing with her cats, or curling up with a good book.

Book preview

Copyright © 2016 by Jessica Major.

Library of Congress Control Number:   2016910661

ISBN:      Hardcover   978-1-5245-1432-7

                Softcover     978-1-5245-1431-0

                eBook           978-1-5245-1430-3

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

Rev. date: 06/28/2016

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CONTENTS

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 24

CHAPTER 1

T hough the midmorning sun was blazing hot in the cloudless sky, a shiver ran down my spine. They had barely briefed me over the phone, leaving me with only a vague idea what to expect as I got out of my car. They were always secretive over the phone. I should be used to it by now, but it still irked me sometimes. I liked knowing what I was walking into. Oh well. Shutting my door, I walked to the back of my black ’69 Impala and popped the trunk. Sure, it wasn’t new or one of the more modern cars that most people nowadays liked to drive, but I sure as hell felt badass driving it. Definitely something those people couldn’t say.

Rummaging around in my trunk, I searched through all the essentials I carried with me. By essentials I mean my two Glocks both loaded with blessed silver bullets, a sawed-off shotgun, an assortment of blessed silver knives, a handful of silver stakes dipped in holy water—hey, silver works the best in my line of work—multiple pairs of latex gloves, and a pair of leather ones. I pulled a pair of the latex gloves out and shoved them in my jeans pocket. One of the Glocks went into the holster in back of my pants before slamming the trunk shut. What, you can never be too safe.

The air was eerily still. Only the faint murmur of voices wafted through the open front door. A man in an officer’s uniform stood guard outside alone with a blank look on his face. He must have drawn the short straw to get this duty. I was glad I never had the lousy job of standing guard. Recognizing me, he lifted the yellow police tape to let me through. I wonder where they got the tape from this time, probably stole it. As I ducked under, I caught a glimpse of his face close up. There was something upsetting about his expression. I couldn’t put my finger on it, but it made me wonder what I was about to encounter inside. These guys were normally tough.

From the outside, it looked like a regular house. Anyone could have lived there. Except for the police tape around the perimeter, it looked like every other house on the block. Quiet, as if the person living there had yet to wake up and grab the newspaper. The newspaper, which had been thrown carelessly by the paper boy, lay off the walkway and on the lawn where the morning dew was slowly seeping into it.

I immediately picked up a chill as I walked through the doorway. Something had happened here—something bad. The voices grew louder as I followed them through the house. The inside of the house mimicked the normality of the outside. Everything seemed in order, nothing out of place, not even a speck of dust anywhere. I always wondered how some people could keep their houses this clean; mine wasn’t a pigsty, but it definitely wouldn’t be mistaken for Martha Stewart’s.

The closer I drew to the voices, the stronger the chill got until my flesh was covered in goose bumps. Something bad had definitely happened here last night. Taking a left from the kitchen, I finally reached my destination. Three men in suits stood, staring down at something that was blocked from my view. The air popped with a sort of dark electricity, making the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end. Not a good sign.

Clearing my throat, I drew the men’s focus away from the object and toward me. Looking at me were three familiar faces with whom I had worked with many times before. Brad Ross was the odd man out, standing far taller than Paul Reyes and Derek Brown. Where he was lean, the other two were a little more on the husky side. Brad preferred to go by his last name, Ross, and was pretty much the opposite of the two in every way. Paul and Derek, on the other hand, had many similarities, most likely because they were cousins.

Ross, the one the Organization usually sent to investigate cases like this, had been the one who had phoned me. He stepped aside silently, unblocking my view of what looked like a bunch of pillows underneath a blanket. I knew there were no pillows underneath it. There were never pillows underneath it. I just always hoped. I always hoped that when I drew back the blanket, the face of death wasn’t going to be staring back at me. Ross’s height made me feel tiny as I walked by. Even Paul’s and Derek’s five feet eleven inches made me feel small, but I couldn’t help it if I was five feet five inches. It wasn’t my fault that I hadn’t grown since I was in high school.

I took the gloves from my back pocket and slipped them on as I squatted down beside the blanket. Taking a deep breath, I grabbed the blanket and lifted it. It came off without sticking to the body at all, which was good and bad altogether. Good was that there was no blood and gore to look at but bad because that meant something had drained the body clean.

The body underneath was a young woman—average height, average looks, average everything. She was the type of girl you walked by on the streets and never had a second thought about, the type that blended in with the background. Absolutely perfect to work for the Organization. No one noticed her when she followed them. I had always admired how well she could tail someone. Now as I looked at her, her skin was as white as the sheet that had covered her. As I turned her head to the side, I saw two perfect puncture marks.

It was sad to see one of our own lying cold, all privacy lost in death. I couldn’t mull over it now. I had a job to do. We all knew the risks that came with the job, which gave us the drive to work harder just in case we wound up in Samantha’s position. Well, it did for me anyways. Poor, poor Samantha.

Something felt off, though. I could normally tell right away as soon as I got to the murder scene that it was a vampire, but this time it had been blurry, almost as if something had been missing. I sat back on my heels and concentrated on what it could be.

Sage? Sage, are you there?

Ross’s voice brought me back to the present. Sorry, I must have zoned out.

So it’s a safe bet to say you haven’t heard a word I’ve been saying to you? An edge of irritation in his voice was noticeable, but I knew he couldn’t stay mad at me. I gave him a lopsided smile, and he sighed. It sure hits home when it’s one of ours, doesn’t it? Chief said to get our best on the case. You go after one of us, you get us all—that sort of enlightening speech that he so loves to give. That’s where you come in. Since you’re one of the best specialist we have. This is your new assignment. Do you recognize who did this?

Ted Walters, a.k.a. Chief, was the head of the Organization. It was an honor that he’d pick me to handle this delicate case. We don’t take kindly to our own being killed, and I was looking forward to killing the son of a bitch who had done this.

One could say I was a specialist, I suppose. I don’t deal with the everyday killers and psychopaths that run rampant throughout the world. No, I deal with things that are a little weirder and a lot more terrifying. Anything from vampires to werewolves and everything in between is my speciality. Most find it odd that I know as much as I do about the supernatural, but that is mostly because I am mistaken for a pure-blooded human.

I’m not a shape shifter, a witch, or anything like that. It’s not necessarily what I am, so much as what I can do. Ever since I was a child, I have been able to enter the Otherworld. Humans know about creatures that go bump in the night, whether they like to admit it or not, but most are completely unaware of there being another plane of existence.

Supernatural beings, also referred to as others, are able to hide their natural appearances; but when I enter the Otherworld, I can see them for what they really are. It’s not like the Otherworld is a place full of monsters, more along the lines of just different-looking people. While I am there, I not only see what someone truly is but I am able to see their aura. This is the main reason they call me a specialist and why I could do my job so well.

I am a tracker. Using the aura, I can mentally copy it; and most of the time, I recognize it when I see it again. In cases where the trail is fresh, I can follow it straight to the perpetrator. In cases where the trail is old, I have to do a little old-school tracking and find clues based on my knowledge. I work alone, which doesn’t always come in handy when I’m going into the bad part of the vampire district. It’s not that I can’t take care of myself because I am fully capable of it. It’s just that sometimes it’s nice to have a little backup.

Off the top of my head, I don’t recognize who killed her. But something feels wrong about this. Give me a minute. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath.

When I was a child, you could say I stumbled into my ability. One night my family was having a party and invited all their friends. I was with the other children when one of the adults had come over and asked if we wanted to hear a scary story. We all eagerly sat down in a semi-circle around the man and waited. He told us all to close our eyes and use our imagination to bring the story alive. Little did he know who he was talking to.

My eyes closed, I sat patiently awaiting the next part. As he began the story, I concentrated hard on entering a made-up realm of ghosts and monsters; but when I opened my eyes, the room didn’t go back to normal like it was supposed to. The room was tinged a darker shade, and the air felt different—almost heavier. There was an odd mist swirling over the floor. Looking around, I took a second look at the guests.

Where there had been normal human beings before now stood things I had only heard of in books. At first I was okay with it until I realized that it was real. Not everybody in the room was entirely human. There were people with fangs, ones that were a little hairier than before with sharp teeth. Where a tall man had once stood, he was now replaced by a tiny man with elf ears. Everyone’s eyes had changed to a different color as well. All around the room flew things that looked like fireflies until one came close enough for me to see that it was in reality a little person with wings, which I later found out was a pixie.

I shut my eyes with all my might, counted to ten before I opened them. I screamed when I saw a werewolf staring at me with at that time I had assumed were hungry eyes. The man telling the story stopped, and everyone at the party looked at me. My mother came over and asked me what the problem was.

I tried to explain to her the best I could what was happening, but she just didn’t understand. A woman with a glow all around her came over and laid a soothing hand on my head. In a kind voice, she told me to shut my eyes, relax, and imagine that I was back in the room with humans again.

The air rushed out of me, leaving me slightly breathless. Breathing in, I realized, without opening my eyes, that the room was warmer and somehow brighter through my eyelids. I opened my eyes a crack, scared of what I was going to see; but to my amazement, everything was back to normal. I looked from my mother to the woman for a type of explanation.

The woman explained my ability to me and my family, leaving me the most shocked. Of course, my mother and father knew about the existence of vampires and such, but I had never been privy to that knowledge. A whole new world had been opened to me that day, and I had made it my goal to learn everything there was about it and my gift.

I released my breath as I opened my eyes. Years of practice had made the transition into the Otherworld second nature for me. Smiling, I looked over at the guys. I knew when I did this, it freaked them all out, but they stayed and watched anyway. They can’t see what I see. They can just see me. I’ve been told that when I am in the Otherworld, my expression goes blank and my eyes glow an eerie blue, a shade lighter than their regular color.

Moving away from them, I focused my attention on the body. At first, I didn’t know what was wrong. I couldn’t see anything coming from the body—no aura, no presence whatsoever.

Most think that when you die, every part of you leaves this earth. It is somewhat true. In actuality, you leave a sort of footprint where your soul once resided. The strange thing was that there was nothing left attached to Samantha. This had never happened to me before. I had always been able to see everything, and then it hit me.

Shit, I swore under my breath.

Leaving that train of thought, I went back to my task. After looking over the body, I moved my search onto the killer’s tracks. I ignored all the other agents’ auras and pushed them to the back of my mind. Around the body were two clear imprints.

Auras are like fingerprints: no two are the same. I could feel the power emanating from both of them as I reached out to feel them. Touching them gives me a better sense as to what and whom I am dealing with. The first one I touched was a deep black with cold silver streaks running through it like veins. It definitely belonged to a vampire, one of the strongest I had ever felt.

Burning it into my mind, I filed it away before moving onto the second one. This one was pitch black with blood red dashed through it. I recoiled as pure ancient power washed over me. I had never come across anything like this before, and I had seen a lot of things. It was definitely from a vampire, but one so powerful had to be incredibly old. The older a vampire got, usually the more demented they became as the thirst overcame them. I had yet to meet a thousand-year-old sane vampire. Then again, I had yet to meet a vampire even close to that age.

The copy of that aura went next to the first one as I did one last scan of the room. Finding nothing useful, I shut my eyes once more. Within the blink of my eye, I was back in the bright, colorfully painted room with three sets of eyes boring a hole in the back of my head.

Quickly, I did another once-over of the body. There had been traces of two vampires, but I had only found one bite mark. I gently pulled her legs apart and found it. Right on the inner thigh was a second bite mark.

I braced myself for the news I was going to have to give them. Slowly I stood and turned away from the body, looking each of them in the eyes. We have a problem.

Immediately Derek panicked. Why did you say it like that? What kind of problem? Is it big? How—

Shut up, Ross commanded, taking control of the moment just like he always did. He’s one of those people that seize control of the situation right away without a second thought. It was one of the reasons I liked working with him. Taylor, what is going on?

Damnit, I hate when it gets to the point where he calls me by my last name. That always means he’s having a hard time keeping it together, which was odd considering he had seen a lot of dead bodies. It had to be the fact that it was Samantha. Might as well get it over with. It was a vampire who did this but—

We already know that. Give us something new. Something we can use! Paul was tensing up. There was something in the air here that was pushing the panic button in people’s heads. It was starting to play on my nerves, but I knew I couldn’t let it get to me. That would just make everything peachy keen to have me start freaking out and snapping at people, and I was about to if they didn’t let me tell them what I had found.

With a look from Ross, both of them zipped it, and I continued, "What I was saying was it is a vampire killing, but I don’t recognize them. There were two of them here, and both of them were powerful. I can’t tell if both of them took part in this killing or just one. I have never felt anything close to this amount of power.

That’s not even the worst part, though. I knew there was something missing here when I saw the body, but I couldn’t pinpoint it right away. Then I realized what it was. She has no essence left.

All three of them gave me a look to keep going. That means that we aren’t looking for just any vampire. No, this one doesn’t just leave after exsanguinating its victim. It sucks the human’s very essence out. All that is left of what used to be the Samantha we knew lying at your feet is an empty shell.

I let that sink in and watched their expressions change from horror to complete abomination. I don’t know about them, but I felt slightly sick to my stomach. Just the thought that there was a creature running loose out there that could actually do this to people. I was definitely going to be having nightmares, and that was saying a lot after some of the things I had seen.

So what do we do from here? Ross asked. Taking control must be a way of coping for him. I was just glad that at least one person in the room was keeping a cool head, at least in appearance. I mean this thing could be anywhere. It could look like anyone.

That definitely was not helping my nightmare situation. I have an idea where to start looking.

You need backup? I know you can handle yourself, but this shit is messed up. In all the years I’ve been with the Organization, I’ve never seen anything close to this.

Good ol’ Ross, always looking out for others. He should be looking out for the other two detectives who looked like they were about to wet their pants.

I’ll be fine. I’ll only be going to one of the most dangerous spots in the vampire district, but whatever, I’ve been to worse.

He hesitated. He could either start an argument he would never win, or he could deal with Paul and Derek. Both of whom seemed to need a lot of help right now. It was like I had told them that as soon as they fall asleep tonight, the bogeyman was going to crawl out of the closet and eat them. Then again, there was a possibility, but they had both probably been up against him before. The thought of them fighting a slobbering monster in their PJs brought out a smile in me. What I would do to see that.

Unfortunately, out of the four of us, I was the monster hunter. They just looked over the body and made sure everything was cleaned up so there was no need for police to get in my way. Ross was the best cleaner I had ever met. He had seen things that would make normal people curl up in a ball and cry, but this soul-sucking vampire seemed to scare the shit out of him. To be honest, I wasn’t too pleased at the thought either.

I say let her go find this thing and get it off the streets, Brown piped in. Of course, he would want me to do it—anything to save his own butt.

I let out an exasperated breath. All I wanted to do now was leave and get ready for the long night ahead of me. I gave Ross a look that told him I was not going to back down on the matter, and I watched his face as his will crumbled.

Fine, he submitted. But watch your back out there and call if you need anything.

I always do. Thanks, Mom, I said, turning to leave. With one last glance back, I called, Phone me if any more bodies turn up, okay?

The response was muffled as I walked out the front door. The glare of the sun felt like it was burning the retinas out of my eyes. I hadn’t realized how much darker inside the house had been. As I blinked, my eyes adjusted to the light as I walked down the steps.

Nobody had bothered to pick up the newspaper