Shifting Problems (Bloodline Awakened Supernatural Thriller Series Book 1)

by Jason Paul Rice

  The McNights allegedly had recruited underage people for their club and had been arrested for the sex ring. Upon investigation, the cops found evidence that the family had been deeply involved with the demon’s plan. Glenn the Barber disappeared, and all the shifters had been arrested, including Suzette. Most of the shifters had been moved to rehab facilities to monitor their behavior for a while before releasing them back into society.

  Ruth Westerhouse got to see Darren before they took him to a rehab house. They had to perform an exorcism and other rituals on her to rid the demon spirits from her soul. I had been there and it was a freaky scene to say the least. Ruth was going to be all right and eventually reunite with her man.

  As for me, I’m back in good graces with the Golden Chamber of Celtic Gods. I was taking things slow with Satoku because I didn’t know when something like this was going to happen again. The life of a wizard can be volatile and involving another person in it was somewhat unfair. Even wishful thinking wouldn’t allow my mind to believe that something like this wasn’t going to happen again.

  There is a five-thousand-word sample of the next book in the series after a few quick messages.

  Book 2, Graveyard Uprisings is available for PreOrder. Release Date January 8, 2018: https://readerlinks.com/l/51387

  I want to thank you for sticking around until the end. I hope you enjoyed the wild ride. If you have a few minutes, please consider leaving a review for this book. Here is a link to do so. Thanks in advance: https://readerlinks.com/l/52029

  If you would like to keep up with my new releases and giveaways, there are two ways to do so. You can join my VIP Reader group by following this link: http://wix.us12.list-manage1.com/subscribe?u=665dc0f022fe051e64658f2a5&id=fe264a44d3

  You can also Follow me on Amazon to make sure you don’t miss out on anything. Just hit the Follow button under that picture of me in the upper left. Link: https://www.amazon.com/Jason-Paul-Rice/e/B00L3JUJ6M/ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_1?qid=1511899976&sr=8-1

  Special Thank You: Mom, Nandita Naik, Ljiljana Romanovic, Malissa Phillips, Susan Harju, the members of Rice’s Reading Roundtable

  Preview: Graveyard Uprisings: Bloodline Awakened Supernatural Thriller Series, Book 2

  I stared through the bullet proof glass as my father sat down and picked up the phone receiver. Draped in an orange prison suit, he looked different than I remembered. His slicked-back black hair and dark eyes were in stark contrast to my looks. Luckily, I’d inherited my blond hair and blue eyes from my mom. My father could easily be confused for an extra on the set of Goodfellas.

  He put the phone to his ear and mouth. “Well, well, well, if ain’t little Mikey finally come to visit me. All grown up and lookin’ fancy.”

  For those scoring at home, that was not a compliment and for the record, I was wearing a wrinkled black button-down shirt with the top two buttons opened, exposing my hemp necklace.

  He continued, “I heard about you. Something about you’re some kind of wizard or something. Magic Mike.”

  “Please don’t call me that.”

  His crow’s feet and wrinkled forehead were a far departure from what I remembered before he went away. He said, “Well, what’s the deal? You know magic or you don’t.”

  “I do. How are you doing?”

  “How my doing? How my doing?” he asked, as he pointed around the room at the armed guards.

  “I realize that, but you were selling drugs.”

  He huffed, exasperated, “I wasn’t selling no drugs. Why can’t anyone get that through their thick skulls? I was holding something for a buddy and it turned out he set me up. I’m the real victim here, sent away to jail for thirty-five years.”

  Same old dad. Still not taking responsibility for his actions and I’m not at all surprised. He’s lucky I don’t bring up the fact that he used to put cigarette butts out on me. I pushed my anger down for a second. “Even if you were holding it, you know it’s against the law.”

  He groaned. “So you’re against me too. Don’t come to see me for five years, and now you’re going to give me a lecture. Same as the rest.”

  “What do you want me to do?”

  He leaned forward, elbows on the table, and lowered his voice, “I want you to help me out. Why don’t you use some of that magic stuff to help me get out of here?”

  The question made me realize that he didn’t know about our special blood line. I breathed a sigh of relief because, with the right training, my father could be even more powerful than me. Combining it with his raging temper made for a troubling mix.

  I explained, “I can’t help you bust out of jail. That’s not how magic works. It’s supposed to be used for the good of society and keep innocent people safe.”

  His tone turned sharp, angry, “Well use that stuff for the good of me. I already told you I was innocent, so help someone out with that magic. I’m dying in here, Mikey. I know we’ve had some ups and downs over the years, but I’m still your father and you got to respect that.”

  Ups and downs? I only remembered the downs. All the downs. Every single last one of them. I knew he didn’t remember most of his actions from being blackout drunk, but it didn’t change the fact that it had still happened. “I respect you, but I also respect the rule of law.”

  He took the phone from his head and threatened to hang up before holding it up again. “So, if you ain’t gonna help me, then why the hell you come in the first place?”

  I shrugged my shoulders. “I’m not sure why I came. I didn’t expect you to ask me to help get you out of here, that’s for sure.” I really had come with the asinine hope that my father would finally apologize for all the horrible things he had done to me over the years. Maybe tell me he was proud of me. I was being foolish thinking that prison had been rehabilitating him.

  He snapped, “If you ain’t gonna help me, you might as well go back to Prince Mount right now.”

  “I don’t live in the Prince anymore. I moved to Pittsburgh, just so you know.”

  “Well la di friggin’ da. Glad to hear you moved to another city while I suffer in here. Real proud of you,” he poured on the heavy sarcasm.

  I wanted my father to ask me about my life, if I had a girlfriend, what I was doing for work, why I had moved to Pittsburgh. I had a nice life that I wanted to brag about, but he wouldn’t give me the chance.

  “If you’re just going to insult me, I guess I should leave.”

  He pointed at my face, or maybe it was the door behind me. He said, “Go ahead. Run away like a little sissy like you always did. Go cry to momma. You wonder why I was hard on you. It was so you didn’t turn out like a little bitch. Guess the lesson didn’t work.”

  My blood started to boil. I contemplated using magic to pick up my father and throw him against the wall. He wanted me to use it, right? I took a deep breath. “It’s about time you take some responsibility for what you’ve done because it doesn’t seem like you’ve learned anything in here. You shouldn’t need your son to lecture you…”

  He cut me off, words drenched in venom, “I don’t need a lecture from anyone, and sure as hell don’t need it from some sissy boy. I’m going to get the hell out of here and if you don’t help, you better hope I don’t get out.”

  I tilted my head to the side, right eyelid narrowing. “You threatening me, old man?”

  He leaned forward, eyes wide open, and full of hate. “Ain’t too old to whoop your sorry ass. You better believe it’s a threat. You leave me to rot and I get out, it won’t be pretty for little Mikey, that’s all I can say.”

  “So this is a thinly veiled death threat?”

  “Call it what you want, kid. I don’t use them fancy words like you. I’ll give you one last chance to help me out.” He flashed his 42 Cent smile, full of yellowing, crooked teeth.

  I was floored he was asking me this. “Help you? Me help you? Fuck you. How about that?” I hung up the phone, letting him off easy. I didn’t rehash all the bullshit he had put me through. The man wasn’t wor
th it. I took a quick peek back as the guard let me out, and my father gave me the throat slash symbol.

  I don’t know why I had expected to talk to a different person. Wishful thinking, albeit naïve, it should seem. I exited the prison facility and walked toward the parking lot. Satuko was sitting on the hood of her car waiting for me.

  Her eyebrow ring and silver jewelry shimmered in the winter sun’s rays that bounced off the thin sheet of melting snow. “How’d it go?” she asked, eyes wide and full of support.

  I lowered my head, and her facial glow disappeared. We knew each other well even though we had been taking things slow in our relationship due to several reasons. Her mother/my partner and my dangerous line of work. I didn’t want her to get hurt because of me, but couldn’t push her away either.

  She got off the hood and we hugged. “Don’t worry. You still have a lot of people that really care about you. Not just in this world.”

  Her green eyes met mine and I looked down. The Soulsearcher could see anything inside me that she wanted. I said, “You don’t want to see right now. I’m too angry. My father can really get me fired up.”

  Satoku rubbed my cheek with her silky fingers. “I won’t gaze into your soul. Promise.”

  It was a dangerous proposition. How could I tell if she was keeping her word? “I hope so. Let’s get back to Pittsburgh.”

  We got into her Miata and my phone buzzed. I plucked it out of my pocket. Phone call from Gretchen.

  “It’s your mom.” I swiped to answer the call, prepared my Bogart accent, and put the earpiece to my ear. “Merlino here.” I raised my eyebrows at Satoku who got a nice chuckle out of me taking one from Gretchen’s book.

  The Lieutenant didn’t seem to enjoy it. “Quit stealing my lines, you two-bit fact checker.”

  “Detective, two-bit detective to you.”

  “How’d it go with your father?” she asked. Satoku must’ve told her.

  “Unfortunately, as expected.”

  Her sharp German accent softened, “I’m sorry to hear that. I know we give each other a hard time, but you’re a good kid. You know how I know?”

  “How’s that?”

  I could hear a horn honking in the background. She screamed, “Get off the road, you jagoff. Yeah, that’s right. Just let me in that lane and nobody gets hurt.” She paused for a moment and said, “Because I’m letting you date my daughter. That’s the highest compliment I can give you. However, you better not make her angry because when she gets angry, I get angry. Anyway, something’s come up that will take your mind away from that. Where are you?”

  “I’m still about an hour and a half from being there. What’s going on?”

  She shifted into officer mode. “Graveyard out on Saxonburg Boulevard. Jewish Cemetery. Gelman Cemetery. Apparently, someone dug up one of the coffins and stole the body.”

  “Okay. Have you checked it out yet?”

  She answered, “I’m on my way now. I’d still like to check it out with you considering this is more up your alley.”

  Lieutenant Gretchen Meyer had started taking her role as the head of the Pittsburgh Police Department of the Occult much more seriously after my public tussle with the Jersey Devil.

  I told her, “I’ll hit you up when we get close to Pittsburgh. Any preliminary thoughts?”

  “I don’t know. With all these packs of vampires popping up everywhere, maybe it has something to do with one of them. Do you know a pack that would want to steal a body?”

  I savored the thought for a moment. My fight with the Jersey Devil had also emboldened the vamps to come out of hiding and some were among the people all along. Pittsburgh was a changing city, magic sweeping the streets, noble and dark, leaving nobody safe.

  “First off, they’re called clans, not packs. Shifters run in packs. Uh, not off the top of my head. Could be any of them, really. What do you know about the body?”

  She immediately responded, “Body’s gone. Casket appeared to have been cracked open the reports said.”

  Satoku ran a red light, channeling her inner-Gretchen and veered onto the highway on ramp. I checked my seatbelt, and said, “No. I mean who was the person in the casket?”

  She grumbled. “Don’t have that info yet. Call me when you get close.”

  “Will do, buckaroo.”

  I heard her mumble ‘stupid ass’ under her breath and hang up the phone so I did the same.

  I turned to Satoku. “So I have to meet up with your mom when we get back.”

  “It’s fine. I was going to hang out with Felix this afternoon anyway.”

  Felix was a nineteen-year-old Japanese mage and new to Pittsburgh. He was half-Japanese, half-American to be precise, and thought he was hot shit because he had fought and killed a horde of demonic beetles. I had to be careful how much I told Satoku because I didn’t want her to run off and tell wonder boy.

  “Hanging out with Felix again,” I said in a mocking tone that I instantly regretted.

  She peeked over with her moss green eyes. “Don’t be jealous.”

  I snorted in derision. “Umm, definitely not jealous considering I could probably step on him and not even notice.”

  Shaking her head, she did not seem to like that assessment and a short silence ensued. She took a deep breath and said, “Okay, first of all, he’s not that short. Second, don’t be rude. I still think you guys should team up together and kick some serious demon ass.”

  I tried to quash that from the start. “Yeah, I kind of roll solo. You know that.”

  She spoke fast and jittery, “Uhh, I know you roll with my mom. That sounded much worse than intended. You’re basically partners with my mom and then what’s going on between the two of us?”

  “Bad choice of words. I meant with my wizard stuff, I roll alone.”

  She immediately called me out, “What about Alayna and Reginald?”

  Son of a gun. She wasn’t going to let me off the hook. “What can I say that will make this conversation end?”

  “Just talk to him again. I know it didn’t go well the first time.”

  “That’s because he a pompous prick,” the words burst from my lips without warning from my brain.

  She sighed audibly through her nose. “He’s not a pompous prick once you get to know him. He does come on strong, I’ll give you that, but if you get to know him, he’s totally different.”

  “That doesn’t make any sense. Someone once told me, when someone shows you who they really are, believe them.”

  She held her right pinky finger toward me. “Will you do it for me?”

  She went right for the kryptonite. I still hadn’t figured out if she was involved in a romantic relationship with the pipsqueak, which had me uneasy for the past few weeks. We had never put a classification or titles on our relationship, so I wasn’t sure. I grabbed her pinky with mine and squeezed.

  I asked, unenthusiastically, “What do you want me to do?”

  She pursed her lips in thought, “Hmm. Nothing really. Well something. Why don’t the three of us go out to dinner one night?”

  “And you’ll be there the whole time. The whole time.” I stressed the last sentence.

  “Promise.”

  We got back to Pittsburgh and I met up with Gretchen at the cemetery. We walked down a row of plots and found the resurrection area with some police personnel still combing the scene for clues. I immediately realized that the body hadn’t been dug up.

  The hole wasn’t even or uniform in any way. If two men had dug down to get a body out of a casket, the hole should have been much wider around the casket.

  I hovered over the hole and looked down at the silken interior of a casket through a small tunnel. The body appeared to have popped the lid to the coffin open somehow, and burrowed straight up to reach the earth’s surface. I turned to the headstone for a name.

  Jacob Joshua Edmonson

  Born 4-7-32

  Died 6-23-77

  So the body’s been buried for forty years and su
ddenly gets the urge to take a stroll down Main Street. It could only be a skeleton at this point. Not on my watch.

  “What do you think, Merlino?” Gretchen had settled on using my last name when we were on official business.

  “Can you tell that the body wasn’t dug up?”

  She craned her neck around for a few moments soaking in the entire picture. “I suppose I see it now. The dirt on the surface over there, looks pushed up, like a golf divot.”

  “Exactly. I still can’t figure out how the man opened the casket with all that weight on top. The door is open, but he appears to have just stood up and pushed his way to the surface. Any reports of a zombie walking the streets yet?”

  She pulled her cell phone out of her gun belt and looked at it. “Not yet, which is why we need to get this taken care of quickly.”

  “I’m with you, but something tells me this isn’t going to be an easy one. For an entity to control a dead body and cause it to do that, is scary. Spirits would have had to seep into the ground, go through the casket, and permeate the bones, taking control. However, the thought of the skeleton doing it on its own has me pretty terrified too.”

  She threw her hands up. “Great, so we’re screwed?”

  “Not exactly. Is there a night watchman or anything? This seems like a pretty nice cemetery to where they might have a guard.”

  “Just so happens they do. He has a little office attached to the main building over that hill.” She pointed south.

  We went down and knocked on the door to the security office. A young man who appeared to be in his early twenties answered the door. He frowned when his eyes met Gretchen’s police uniform. “I’ve already answered all the questions. You need to talk to your associates.”