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  Sarah’s Coming Out

  The Shadowed Series

  Sammie Joyce

  Contents

  Copyright

  Sammie Joyce

  Sarah’s Coming Out

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  About Sammie Joyce

  Copyright

  Copyright 2019, Sammie Joyce

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form, electronic or mechanical, without written approval by the author, except for short excerpts used in a book review.

  All characters, places, events, businesses, or references to historical facts are fictitious and products of the author’s imagination. Any references to actual people, places, or events are purely incidental.

  Sarah’s Coming Out

  The Shadowed Series

  Sammie Joyce

  1

  Sarah felt like she was being torn in two. She tore off her sweater, beads of sweat falling down her brow and into her eyes. She could feel her blood start to boil. Why was she so hot? It was like every part of her being had a fever. Pouring herself a glass of cold water, she prayed that her heat level would go down once she drank it. She downed the cup to its last drop, her throat parched, feeling like it hadn’t had a drop of water for days.

  She couldn’t understand what was happening to her. She had felt fine when she came into work this morning, but she was asked to work a double shift and now it was getting close to midnight. Her body was probably just tired. She hadn’t taken a break in hours.

  “I’m going on my fifteen, Mike!” she yelled to the cook behind the counter. There weren’t too many people in the diner that night - just the two of them and one other waitress. She could watch the handful of customers while Sarah took a break and tried to regain her bearings.

  She took the seat closest to the restroom out the back and poured herself another glass of water. She had brought the whole pitcher with her. She felt like pouring it all over her to feel some reprieve from the heat consuming her. She couldn’t explain it, but it felt like an entire ball of fire had taken refuge in her lungs.

  Her hands started to shake as she held the glass and her teeth started to chatter. The ice cubes clinked against the glass. It took all her effort not to snap back at anyone that walked past her to the bathroom. The stream of sweat that ran down her back felt ice cold and it only intensified her shivering.

  She tried to stand up to go to the bathroom. Throwing some water on her face might do her some good, but her knees buckled for a moment and she fell back onto the hard bench. Her body finally started to calm down and she felt like she was able to breathe again.

  When she looked up from the table, she noticed that one of the men on the other side of the room looked vaguely familiar. Through her short reprieve, she stared at the man until recognition hit. This was one of the men who had been following her for the last couple of weeks. She didn’t think anything of it at first because the men never approached her. But she would see one of the members of this weird group wherever she went, their eyes following her until she was out of view.

  It made her feel uneasy, especially now that one of them was at her place of work. She prayed that he wasn’t waiting for her to take his order. There were too many reasons that wouldn’t work right now.

  Sarah knew that her break was almost over and she started to get up to get back to it. Suddenly, she knew she had to be alone. She was panicked and queasy. She ran into the bathroom and found a bit of refuge in one of the stalls. The door to the bathroom banged open and Melissa, the hostess, ran in.

  “Sarah, are you okay?” she asked.

  Sarah pulled herself off the floor and sat on the toilet seat. Her head was spinning. She tried to respond to Melissa, but she couldn’t get the words out. She realized the door wasn’t locked when Melissa pushed her way in.

  Sarah looked up at Melissa and the other woman instantly noticed her flushed appearance. She reached forward to touch her. “Oh my God, you’re burning up. I think we need to get you to the hospital. I don’t think I’ve ever known anyone to be this hot. Your skin’s on fire,” she said shocked.

  Melissa helped her walk out of the bathroom and sat her back down at the booth. Melissa ran behind the cash register and told Mike who came to check on her.

  “Call the paramedics. We need to get her some help quick,” he yelled back toward Melissa, who picked up the phone and called 911.

  Sarah felt herself starting to get woozy again but could feel someone’s eyes burrowing into her soul. She looked up and that man on the other side of the room was looking at her again.

  “Sarah, the paramedics are on the way.” Mike leaned over her. “What can I do to help you? I have no idea what to do here.” Sarah was aware of the concern in his voice, but all she wanted was to get some air.

  “Could you please give me some space?” she asked. She appreciated his concern but hovering over her was not going to help her at all. She needed to breathe and Mike was sucking in all her air. She put her arm out to push him back. He lifted his head before her arm reached him.

  The sound of the ambulance could be heard turning the corner in front of the diner. There was a commotion as all of the people inside made way for the paramedics who were bringing a stretcher inside.

  Mike helped her up and they slowly walked towards the paramedics who were asking a lot of questions about what happened. Her head was in a fog. How was she supposed to describe what was going on inside her body without understanding it herself? She opened her mouth to speak and her eyes locked with the paramedic who had just waltzed through the door. Did he wink at the man on the other side of the room? Was he a member of their group?

  Fear started to build inside her and the fog cleared enough for her mind to form silent questions. Who were these men? And what did they want from her? Something inside her made her realize that if she went with them in the ambulance, they were not going to take her to the hospital. She did not want to know where they planned to take her instead.

  Adrenaline started pulsing through her veins and she started to feel stronger. Better than she had when she’d felt like she was going to burst into flames. Actually, she felt better than she had in years. She knew she could use this new-found energy to her advantage. Pulling away from Mike, she caused him to stumble and fall to the floor. A lot of the attention turned toward him which gave her an advantage.

  She ran.

  2

  Three Months Prior

  Sarah sat up in bed panting, sweat running down her face and her hair plastered to her head. Her body ached in places she never knew it could and it was all due to her night terrors. Reaching over to her nightstand, she picked up her journal and started to piece together the fragments of the dream she’d just had. When she first started having these dreams, she had thought that they were just random, but as she continued to have them on a consistent basis, she started to piece them together like a puzzle.

  The place she had been taken to today was one of her childhood memories -one that should have brought her so much joy and happiness but instead, it filled her with absolute pain and sorrow. The events were not what she remembered, but they were still important because it was something she had to face – something she had pushed to the back of her mind for as long as she could remember.

  She had been alone in the world since her parent's tragic death when she was seventeen. At least that was what she had been told, but she couldn’t
be sure anymore. Her dreams indicated something else – it was like they were trying to tell her something, to lead her to the truth. But the truth about what? And, why was it all coming to the surface now? Her parents had been dead for ten years. She had been trying to move on with her life ever since. But no matter how hard she tried, their death still affected everything she did. Sometimes she just wanted the painful memories to go away.

  Her nightmares told her that parents were keeping secrets from her. They never trusted her enough to tell her why they suspected that the government was spying on them. They told her that she would find out in due time. But then they died on that fateful night in a horrible car crash leaving her alone and wondering what information would slowly start to surface. To her luck, none had. No one had followed her. She hadn’t seen any government officials or noticed her phone being tapped. She hated to say it, but she thought her parents were paranoid.

  Well, that was at least until she started having these dreams and then she noticed things she never noticed before. In the beginning, she started to question if she was becoming paranoid too, but that was when she noticed the group of men who followed her randomly through the streets.

  Ever since her parents had passed away, she had found ways to take care of herself. She didn’t know any of her other family and the truth was that she wasn’t even sure she even had any other family. On top of that, she didn’t have many friends – none that she could turn to in her time of need. So, she did what she had to do to survive, but never anything illegal.

  She started working at one of the local diners by her parent’s old house. They had frequented there on a weekly basis when she was growing up and the cook felt sorry for her. He gave her a job which started out part-time and quickly moved up to full time. She was able to save up enough for a deposit on a studio apartment and some second-hand furniture. She had settled in nicely, and before she knew it, her life had become somewhat of a routine. That was until she kept noticing the same men. She had the strange feeling they were watching her.

  They didn’t do anything that drew attention to themselves, but they would be on the street corner when she exited the grocery store, hailing a cab when she left her apartment in the morning, or even be so bold as to order in her diner. They never said anything to her but they watched her every move and it was creepy. It made her feel violated and she tried to switch up her routine at all costs.

  But that morning she was running late. She had a 10AM shift and it was already 9:30. She was going to have to haul ass if she was going to make it there on time. Hopping up from her bed, she grabbed her waitress uniform and threw it on. She didn’t have time to take a shower, so she threw her greasy and unruly hair into a messy bun. She grabbed her sneakers and half-ran half-walked to the elevator while trying to pull them on.

  The air was stifling when she walked outside of her apartment. Even a small breeze would have been welcome at that moment. Sarah knew that the heat was already going to cause her to have a hard enough day, so she raised her arm to hail a cab, hoping that the ten minutes of air conditioning would help her forget the amount of money it would cost for her to go two blocks. Her therapist kept telling her that it was perfectly alright to treat herself once in a while. This was just as good time as any to start.

  3

  The Supernatural Protection Agency, also known as the SPA, had become a government agency during the 1920s, around the conception of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. However, it was far older than that. This agency went as far back as the Ancient Egyptians, which was when it was technically founded and had moved on through the centuries, forming divisions in almost every country in the world.

  As a special forces organization, their ultimate goal was the preservation of their race. Their job was to help investigate supernatural cases and eradicate those who put their species in harm’s way. The federal government had tried to ban the supernatural species from entering the country due to fear. However, once they understood that they just wanted to live among the human race without detection and did not mean them any harm, things changed.

  Shane sat back at his desk and sighed.

  “Any news?” Axel asked as he walked in. He was holding two bags covered in grease.

  “No, not yet. They are going to let me know when they have her in their sights,” he said. “Is that lunch?” he asked changing the subject.

  “Two Original Philly’s, extra cheese,” Axel said as he handed Shane a bag.

  Shane’s stomach started to rumble. He didn’t remember sending Axel out for lunch. He had probably gone out on his own, knowing that Shane worked too hard.

  “You haven’t told me, or any of the other men for that matter, why this girl is so important. Who is she? We have been watching her for months. She has no family. I mean she lives in a studio apartment and works in a diner. How much more basic can your life get?” Axel asked as he ripped his sandwich in two with one bite. As he was a towering man of extreme stature, he had made sure that there was more than one sandwich in each bag. Shane had seen this man put back five steaks in one sitting.

  “It’s not important. Orders are orders. Yours are to bring her back here where I can question her,” he replied back with a growl.

  “Alright, alright,” Axel said. “Don’t you think that it might be easier if you just talked to her, instead of acting like we’re stalking her? I know that would give anyone an uneasy feeling.”

  “I understand where you’re coming from,” Shane said in between bites. “But this is how we do things. Believe me, everything will be fine, and she will be okay. We just want to make sure that she knows the rules and how to protect our species. As someone who doesn’t have anyone to guide her, it becomes our responsibility to guide her on the right path and to let her know that she isn’t alone in the world,” Shane said.

  “That’s understandable, but she doesn’t even live like one of us. She lives like one of them and that’s odd to me,” Axel said looking down.

  “Well, as I said, she doesn’t have anyone to guide her how to live like us. So, we need to pull her out of the world that she thinks she knows and bring her into ours. Believe me, she will be grateful. I mean who wouldn’t?” he asked as he started to eat his second sandwich.

  "Doubtful... and maybe we'll find those royals that have been missing for the past twenty years while we're at it? Solve the ultimate unsolved mystery..."

  The two men exchanged a look and then laughed. As if.

  The helicopter touched down on the pavement and all three shifters and the vampire jumped out to carry on their missions. Josh and Tom were headed to the restaurant to the figure out why Sarah slipped through their fingers during the 911 call. Shane and Dimitri were headed to over Sarah’s apartment.

  “Let me know if you find out anything,” Shane told the others. “We’ll meet back here in an hour.” He turned and looked at Dimitri. “Are you ready?” he asked.

  The vampire nodded and the two set out for F Street where Sarah’s apartment complex was located. The two walked in silence. Shane had a lot on his mind. He kept thinking back to the other day when Axel had acted like what they were doing was wrong. Shane had never felt that way before. He and his crew had been following Sarah and her weird case forever. There was even a part of him that felt like he knew her. He just didn’t know why she hadn’t shifted yet and that was one of the things that still interested him.

  “This is the place?” Dimitri stopped in front of an apartment building painted bright red with three others grouped behind it, bungalow style. They knew that Sarah lived on the second floor and they slowly made their way inside the building, up the steps and through the wide hallway. 28B came into view and they stopped in front of the door. Shane looked around the hallway to make sure they were alone. Only then did he pick the lock on the door. The door swung open into the apartment and hit the wall.

  Dimitri walked into the apartment first to get a feel of the place. “Nothing…” He shook his head in dissatisfa
ction.

  Shane walked in behind him and closed the door. The small studio apartment was meticulous. Nothing was out of place.

  Shane opened the fridge to check and see if there were any clues in there. Sometimes people’s eating habits told you a little bit about them. The fridge was stocked with organic food. So, it seemed like Sarah ate healthily.

  “Nothing in here,” he said to the vampire.

  “Boss, there’s nothing in this studio that might tell us her whereabouts at all,” Dimitri responded. “This woman led a very simple life, from what I can tell. There's stack of books on her nightstand,” he said as he fingered the stack of books. “But she has no journal, or any papers left out or in her drawers that give some sort of clue, there isn’t even a TV in here. What does she do to pass the time?” he asked.

  Shane laughed. “Okay, well there’s nothing here we can use. Let me call the others and see if they’ve found anything at the restaurant that can help us.”

  He took his phone out of his pocket and dialed Josh’s number. “Any updates?” He got right to the point. He listened for a couple of moments and then hung up the phone and turned toward Dimitri. “He said that nothing interesting turned up at the restaurant either and they decided to go back to headquarters and look more into her file and see if they can access her family, friends, and any social media accounts that can help give us any idea of where she could have gone,” he said.

  “I heard,” Dimitri said. “You forget that I have impeccable hearing,” he said with a laugh.