Shadows and Blood Read online

  The Hexecutioner

  3: SHADOWS AND BLOOD

  WILLIAM MASSA

  CRITICAL MASS PUBLISHING

  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

  Also by WILLIAM MASSA

  Chapter One

  Natalie had no idea that she was about to meet the man of her dreams. Nor did she realize that this Prince Charming planned to turn her world into a nightmare.

  The tires of Natalie’s beaten-up Honda Civic screeched as she whipped into the mall’s packed parking lot. Through some miracle, she managed to snag the last spot. Thank God for her excellent parking karma. Maybe she wouldn’t be too late for work.

  As a single mother, life was a never-ending juggling act. She’d pick up her ten-year-old from school, drop him off at her mother’s house, and drive to work with minutes to spare. She toiled away at a busy chain restaurant in the evenings, a complement to her day job as a medical receptionist.

  On most days, she somehow pulled off this nutty schedule. But not today.

  Traffic had been a nightmare this Friday night, and she was at least fifteen minutes late. She would have to ask Dennis, her manager, to clock her in, and she could already hear him lecturing her about being on time.

  Ever since she’d rejected Dennis’ advances, he seized every opportunity to get on her case.

  Trying not to think too much about what lay ahead, Natalie bolted out of her vehicle and ran toward the busy restaurant. Long lines stretched out the door of the family restaurant’s rustic stone exterior, which seemed to have been plucked straight out of the Italian countryside and magically appeared next to the mall’s Macy’s and Apple store.

  Saturday nights at The Godmother were a madhouse.

  People loved the Tuscan architecture and art, not to mention the giant helpings of food and super-sized cocktails, but none of it held any charm for Natalie.

  After two years of waiting tables here, she wasn’t exactly in love with her job. Or even in like. She hated the crappy tips and terrible cheapskates that her place attracted.

  Kinda sad, considering how much she and her son used to enjoy frequenting the chain. They’d shared a lot of wonderful memories at the Italian eatery over the years, which is why she’d decided to apply for a part-time job here in the first place. But all those fun times had faded in her mind, replaced by her new reality. The one saving grace was that The Godmother was always busy. Volume made up for quality tips. Through some miracle, she always earned enough to keep the lights on.

  Her apron clutched tightly to prevent her pens and wine key from flying all over the parking lot, Natalie weaved through the hungry, impatient crowd and entered the restaurant’s packed front lobby. Everywhere she looked, people were twiddling with their buzzers.

  Natalie exchanged a few quick hellos with coworkers under her breath as she circled the host stand and headed for the nearest computer terminal. As expected, the system didn’t let her clock in with her employee card as she’d missed her time window. Great!

  Before she could even look for her manager, Dennis appeared behind her.

  He glowered at her and barked, “You’re late!”

  “I’m sorry, Dennis, traffic was crazy.”

  “Traffic is always crazy. And those days when it isn’t, you have a different excuse.”

  “I’m trying my best…”

  “Try harder.” Dennis pointed at the crowd of guests in the front lobby. “You see those people waiting at the host stand? Want to explain to them why they had to wait an extra five minutes?”

  He let the question hang in the air for a beat, then continued. “Sorry ain’t going to cut it. This will be your third write-up this month. One more warning, and you won’t have to worry about being late again. You understand?”

  Biting back her growing anger, Natalie watched as Dennis clocked her in, a smirk painted on his face. Deep down, she wished she could tear off her apron and throw it into his smug mug. But what would that do besides make her feel better for a minute before the real headaches began? She needed this job. Her son’s father was barely in the picture—she couldn’t remember the last time she received child support from David. He was going for some kind of Deadbeat Dad of the Year award at this point. She had to think of Sean and swallow her pride.

  In time, she’d land a fresh gig, a better gig, and be able to walk away. But for now, she needed the money.

  Natalie clenched her jaw and turned toward the dining floor. In her great wisdom, the hostess was seating all five of her tables at the same time.

  Shit, her life was about to turn into a living hell!

  Within seconds, Natalie was swept up by the rush. All her thoughts focused on the challenge of being in five places at once. She rapidly greeted one table after another, took orders at the speed of light, and thanked her lucky stars that Jose was her busser today. The man was a rock star, always willing to roll up his sleeves and help even when he didn’t have to do it.

  For the next thirty minutes, Natalie’s reality became a blur of faces and orders as she zipped back and forth like a hen with her head cut off. Thankfully her first few tables were cool and super-patient. Good guests were the difference between a smooth shift and a bad one.

  Her luck ran out an hour later.

  A party of eight landed in her section, and within seconds, Natalie knew she was in trouble. The table was a waiter’s worst nightmare: a rude clan of trashy people made even less appealing by their brood of bratty, out-of-control kids.

  One of the guests, a 300-pound woman with poor hygiene, stared daggers into Natalie as she arrived with a steaming tray of food. A loud shriek greeted her, and she almost dropped her tray as two little boys darted around her feet, nearly tripping her. She didn’t blame the kids but the parents who failed to discipline these wild ones and keep them under control. Being a single mom was no picnic, but she had a zero-tolerance policy for tantrums while out in public.

  Fortunately, Sean was a good, well-behaved boy.

  Unlike these brats.

  Natalie cursed under her breath. As the kids chased each other, the parents remained oblivious of the ruckus the tykes were causing. Discipline clearly wasn’t high on their list of priorities.

  Another guest, the grandmother of this clan, held out an empty bread basket in front of Natalie.

  “More bread!”

  “I’m right on it, ma’am.”

  This was the cue for one of the kids to chime in with, “Lemonade! I want more lemonade!”

  Natalie made eye contact with the busboy while balancing two heavy plates. A visible film of perspiration coated the middle-aged Mexican man’s forehead. This shift was turning into a serious workout for all of them.

  “Hey Jose, could you please bring me a pitcher of lemonade?”

  The family’s baby started screeching, adding her voice to the chorus.

  “And don’t forget some ranch and Tabasco,” the elderly lady added.

  “Hey, this isn’t what I ordered,” a man who looked like the old woman’s son snapped as she set down his meal.

  “Just give me one second, sir...”

  The man ranted on, ignoring her words. “I ordered the steak, not the steak salad. How stupid are you people?”

  Natalie felt her blood pressure rising. She bit her lip as she lowered the two steaming plates.

  “No worries, sir, I’ll take it back into the kitch
en and get you a steak.”

  “You better hurry. I’m starving!”

  The man’s words were still ringing in her ears when Natalie spotted Dennis looking at her from across the dining room, a jackal catching a whiff of blood.

  “WHERE’S MY LEMONADE?” the kid yelled.

  Would this nightmare ever end?

  Just as Natalie was starting think about shucking off her apron and heading for the hills, Jose materialized behind her with the pitcher in hand.

  Natalie spun toward him and snatched the pitcher from the busboy with a nod of thanks. Without slowing down, she turned back to the table just as the two tykes blasted around her legs again.

  Natalie did her best to avoid a collision, but the maneuver sent the contents of the pitcher flying.

  Laughter erupted around the dining room as the lemonade sprayed the table of rude diners.

  For a beat, the world froze. As the initial laughter died down, silence descended. Even the baby seemed to have ceased its incessant wailing.

  The manager arrived on the scene just as the table went nuclear. As the diners’ complaints filled the air, Natalie took a few steps back. Her face fell, defeated.

  And that’s when Natalie felt eyes on her.

  She turned around, and her mind went blank. Watching her was a handsome young man, seated alone in a booth.

  Natalie’s heart raced. For one, she found the man’s dark looks and calm smile very attractive. For another, this Adonis was sitting in her section, and she didn’t know how long he might have been waiting for his server to notice him. The family of eight had taken up so much of her time that she’d lost sight of the rest of her tables. As if this shift couldn’t get more embarrassing.

  There was a playful twinkle in the man’s green eyes, however, that put her at ease. He wasn’t upset that she had overlooked him. She gingerly walked up to a handsome guest while her manager promised free desserts and gift cards to the complaining guests.

  Natalie smiled sheepishly at the good-looking man. “I’m so sorry; I hope you haven’t been waiting for too long?”

  “Not at all. I saw what you were dealing with. Some people should stay at home, don’t you think?”

  Natalie nodded, unsure how to respond but grateful to have someone on her side. “Again, I apologize.”

  “No need to. You’ve got a crazy tough gig here.”

  The man smiled again at her, and it gave her butterflies. The guy was her type: dark hair, dark eyes, and nice, too. And going by the way he looked at her, it seemed to be a mutual feeling.

  Snap out of it, girl, you have a job to do.

  “So, what can I get you?” she asked.

  The rest of the evening went so smoothly, it was like the earlier catastrophe had never happened. Her new guest had turned the night around, his good cheer infectious. She now navigated the dining room floor with a bounce in her step, catching the man looking at her more than once and not minding it one bit. By the time her shift was over, she’d learned that his name was Todd, he was 33, and he was a lawyer at some big firm in the city. The banter between them flowed freely, and it felt like they’d known each other forever.

  As Todd rose to leave, he leaned toward Natalie. “I hate to cook, but I hate eating by myself even more. How about you join me one of these days?”

  Natalie nodded, struggling to keep up a calm appearance and not look too excited about the man’s interest. She felt like she was in a trance as she gave Todd her digits, which he thumbed into his cell.

  Her heart was hammering against her chest as Todd left the restaurant. Between being a mom and juggling two jobs, she hadn’t dated anyone in months. Scratch that, it was more like a year.

  She was both thrilled and terrified. Damn, she was acting like a schoolgirl and not the mother of a ten-year-old boy. But it had been so long since someone had had that kind of effect on her. Natalie hoped Todd wasn’t playing games and would call her.

  The next day he did. Little did Natalie know she was about to let real demons into her life.

  Chapter Two

  The Hexecutioner was on the hunt. But he wasn’t the only one.

  The man who’d just asked the attractive waitress out was hunting, too. His goal wasn’t to eventually get this lady into his bed. He was after something very different.

  He wanted Natalie’s blood.

  Not for himself, though. Todd wasn’t a supernatural creature even though he craved to be. The scars all across his body gave away his true nature. The blemishes were invisible to the human eye. To Weylock’s magically enhanced senses, the markings of evil glowed with a blazing red light. The twin puncture wounds on the bastard’s neck and forearms didn’t lie.

  Todd was a Familiar. A man who served monsters.

  From the looks of the bite marks, two vampires had fed on the man. The nosferati hadn’t killed him because they required his services. Most likely, the monsters were quite old and incapable of passing themselves as humans any longer. Even immortals aged, just at a much slower rate. After a few millennia, time eroded the veneer of humanity from such creatures, turning them into grotesques, forced to dwell in the shadows.

  The vampires couldn’t do their own hunting any more. So it was up to Todd to find their next meal.

  And he’d been a busy boy. At least ten women had gone missing under mysterious circumstances in the city over the last month alone.

  Weylock understood all too well what had happened to them. The monsters that Todd served had feasted on their blood. Their remains now rested in shallow unmarked graves, unmourned and unavenged.

  Weylock knew all this because the vampires’ victims had communicated with him directly through the pages of the Necrodex, the mysterious Book of the Dead gifted to him by the monks at the monastery of the Holy Knight.

  They’d reached out to him as many other lost souls had reached out to Hexecutioners over the centuries, demanding vengeance for their untimely deaths and release from the perpetual limbo state they found themselves trapped in.

  Only one person on Earth could answer their desperate call.

  Only one person could help them throw off their earthly shackles so they could move on to the world beyond.

  That person was the Hexecutioner—judge, jury and executioner of monsters.

  There was only one in every generation. A man or woman who’d triumphed over demonic possession and now was able to tap into the infernal beast’s power to fight evil with evil.

  The demon doesn’t possess the Hexecutioner; the Hexecutioner possesses the demon.

  That’s what Weylock’s mentor, Brother Ignatius, had taught him.

  After an intense two-year battle with the demon, former FBI Agent Jaxon Weylock had gained the upper hand over the creature squatting in his soul. It had been a bittersweet victory for Hexecutioners walked a lonely path, doomed to go through life locked in an eternal struggle with the dark entity raging inside them. The demon was both the source of a Hexecutioner’s powerful magic and his greatest curse, cutting him off from the rest of humanity and destroying any chance at a normal existence.

  It was a high price, but one Weylock payed gladly.

  He got to keep the world safe from the nightmares and save lives in the process.

  Like right now. The whispering voices of the dead had identified the vampire’s newest victim.

  “Her name is Natalie, she is a waitress and single mother, and time is running out for her.”

  Those had been their words.

  Weylock gritted his teeth as Todd work his game on his latest victim. Natalie was so much more vivacious in real life than in the hologram-like image the enchanted book had shown him earlier. He vowed right then and there to let no harm befall this woman.

  Even though this was the first time that Weylock had laid eyes on Natalie, he felt like he knew her to a degree. Once again, this was thanks to the voices of the dead.

  Their cursed spirits saw and heard everything but were powerless to interfere in the affairs of
the living. So instead, they whispered in his ears whenever he embarked on a new mission of vengeance, revealing secrets and details of the woman Todd was going after now.

  That’s how Weylock knew that Natalie was a single mom devoted to her young son, Sean. She worked hard and provided for her little family. Weylock admired her strength and courage, her love and dedication to her son.

  But none of that mattered to the bastard who was luring Natalie into his deadly web.

  The only thing stopping Weylock from walking up to that table and crushing the disgusting cockroach right on the spot was that without Todd, he wouldn’t be able to find the two nosferati. Killing the Familiar wouldn’t destroy the vampires he served. In a world full of corruption and evil, such creatures always found new servants willing to hunt for them in exchange for the promise of life everlasting.

  There were hundreds of potential Todds out there. Weylock would have to be patient and let the bastard lead him back to the secret lair of his inhuman overlords.

  For now, all he could do was watch and wait.

  Chapter Three

  When you work in a restaurant, going out to eat is usually the last thing on your mind when you have an evening to yourself. Natalie avoided noisy crowds as much as possible and regularly camped out on her couch and binged Netflix on those rare occasions when she had the evening to herself. This was both a blessing and a curse. Sure, she saved a lot of money, but it also accounted for her non-existent social life. As her mom loved to point out, you’ll never meet Mr. Right in front of the TV.

  Luckily for her, she’d met someone in the most unexpected of places—her crappy job.

  Natalie and Todd had settled on grabbing a bite on Wednesday, as that was her one night off. Well, it was Wednesday now, and excitement had given way to the stress of the big evening. This was her first date in ages so no wonder she was spending way too much time trying on different clothes. But she had finally picked an outfit for the night.