Spooks & Specters: A San DeLain Short Story Collection

Chapter Two

ISADORA’S FANGS dripped with the venom as she opened her mouth wide. Oh look. She just thought he was past the point of screaming. Apparently, she was wrong, according to the sounds echoing off the brick walls now.

She barely caught the flash of metal in the dimly lit alley before a blade sank into her side. Pain exploded through her, and she screamed—a high-pitched, eye watering screech. Fuck her sideways, that fucking hurt.

Anger clouded her mind, and she briefly lost control. Four massive spider legs exploded from behind her. One pair sprouted from her hip area, the other from her shoulders. The legs were made up of seven segments and had tiny hairs like a real spider. They towered behind her.

She barely managed to drag herself back from a full transformation. The last thing she needed to do was walk out of here naked, and that was exactly what would happen if she didn’t rein herself in. That could be more trouble than even she was willing to deal with.

Still, this mother fucker had hurt her. Snarling, she sank her fangs into his neck. They punched through the thin skin like a hot knife through butter. For her, it felt exquisite. For him? Probably not so much. Her venom released.

Like spiders, her kind passed venom through bites. An arachne possessed two types of venom—a lethal one they used to feed, which was a cocktail of many different types of chemicals, some of which were neurotoxins and cytotoxins.

This venom allowed her to immobilize her victim, then break down their tissue so she could ingest a liquefied meal. The other type of venom she had was used to change humans into what she was. Unfortunately, the success rate for transforming somebody was practically zero. She had only attempted it once, and of course it’d been unsuccessful.

The beautiful young woman had died, and Isadora had mourned her death. She hadn’t tried since. But now was not the time to revisit the past, and shame on her for allowing herself to get distracted even for a second.

The gurgling screams coming from the young man she was feeding from stopped. These two punks weren’t capable of hurting her—the knife to her side was nothing really—but other paranormals could, even though she was practically indestructible.

In order to kill her, she had to be decapitated. The body couldn’t function without the brain, and as long as her head and body were kept separate, she could not regenerate. Because that’s what her kind did—regenerated.

Set her on fire? As soon as it was out, she regenerated. Shoot her in the head? In the heart? Unless she was decapitated, she regenerated. Drown her? She regenerated. Of course, she kept drowning until she got her ass out of the water.

But that was a horror story for another time.

The banger she had her fangs in sighed softly as he died. Isadora stopped injecting the venom and leaned back to look at her victim. There were tear tracks down his face and snot dripped from his nose.

His lifeless eyes stared back at her. She wondered how many victims he had left looking like this. There would be no more now.

She was hungry, but the venom needed a minute or two to work before she could start feeding. Tissue broke down pretty quick, but it wasn’t immediate. She jerked the knife out of her side and hissed in pain. If the little fucker wasn’t already dead, she’d stab him with his own damn weapon.

Speaking of little fuckers, it was suddenly very quiet. She glanced over at the guy she had pinned with her webbing. “Dammit.”

There wasn’t a heartbeat. Had he died from fear? It was entirely possible, and that was too bad. Fortunately, she didn’t need to feed from both of them, although it would’ve been nice.

She dropped the knife next to her feet. She planned to take it home with her as a souvenir. It was pretty nice. Judging enough time had passed, she reinserted her fangs into the wounds that she had left and started to suck. A couple of minutes later, she stepped away and calmly wiped her mouth.

She dropped the body she had fed from. Her venom would continue to destroy the body until there was nothing left but a greasy wet spot. Granted, there would be bones, but it wasn’t like someone was going to call the police in this area of town. She doubted they would even come.

She yanked the webbing off the guy she had restrained… and ate it. Her type of webbing would break down eventually on its own, but it was better not to leave evidence.

The other human appeared as if he’d died by natural causes, so she planned to leave him there. Nothing would tie her to him. Taking a deep breath, she forced the transformation to reverse.

When she looked human again, she checked her side. There was a slit in her shirt where the knife had entered her. Pulling it up, she examined the wound. It had closed, but it was still swollen and angry looking.

By tomorrow morning there wouldn’t even be a mark left. It also helped that she’d just fed. She wouldn’t have to attend to that for another couple of months at least.

Satisfied with how the night had gone, she picked up the knife and calmly strolled out of the alley. At the mouth, she stopped, surprised at what she was seeing.

The young gang banger who had run away was standing guard over her vehicle. Now that was interesting. She walked toward him, casually flipping the knife in her hand.

The young man’s eyes widened when he saw it, and he swallowed. Isadora watched his Adam’s apple bob. She stopped within a couple of feet of him. He stank of fear.

She honestly couldn’t think of a reason why he’d be standing there. She would’ve bet good money he’d be on the opposite side of San DeLain by now.

“Can I help you?”

Because, why not? Things had taken an interesting turn, and she was always up for a little excitement.

“I… I… I….”

Goodness, he was either going to pass out or throw up.

“You…you… you… what?”

The banger took a deep breath, then scrubbed shaking hands over his face. “Please, please don’t kill me.”

Isadora raised her eyebrow. She appreciated when people got straight to the point. “Then give me a reason not to.”

The young man nodded frantically. “A nice ride like this? Imma gonna be honest. It’d be stripped in a matter of minutes. And you were gone longer than a few minutes.”

Isadora checked her watch. The little punk was right. She’d been screwing around with those two for a solid twenty minutes. She’d let time get away from her. Normally, she kept her feedings to under ten minutes, but being stabbed had distracted her.

“I… I protected your vehicle. When other dudes approached, I made it known this was under my protection.”

Well now. How utterly fascinating. What in the world possessed him to not only come back, but to protect her property? “Why? One would think you’d be as far away from here as you could get.”

“I was. Seriously, lady, I was. I don’t know if I ever ran that fast.”

Okay, she could admit he’d snagged her curiosity. “Then why come back?”

“Because you the baddest fucker I’ve ever seen. I don’t know what you are, but I know you’re somethin’ not human. You’re dangerous.”

He wasn’t wrong. He had no idea how much danger he was in right that second. She had to give him credit though—he had balls.

“My bros? They dead?”

Apparently, he also had his own fair share of audacity. Brave, brave human. “Do you really want to know?”

“Not really. It don’t matter.”

He ran his hand through his hair. “You rich. You got class too. And Jesus fuck, I don’t want to die on the streets. I want to work for you. I can run errands. Get dry cleaning. Clean your vehicle. Go get fuckin’ coffee. Stab someone.”

“Are you serious?”

Never in a hundred years did she think she’d be having a conversation like this. The boy had almost been her dinner, and now here he was trying to maneuver his way into a job.

Not only did he have more audacity than any one person should, he had balls the size of coconuts. She approved.

“So, you want to work for me.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“I like manners. What’s your name?”

“Jamail. Jamail Rodriguez.”

“Well, Jamail, I can do my own stabbing, thank you.”

She glanced down at her side. “Although one of your bros got a lucky shot at me.”

Jamail’s eyes widened. “They got you? Yo, you okay? You need the hospital?”

Isadora eyed him, then inhaled subtly. Huh. He actually was a tad bit concerned. Go figure. And scared. The boy was scared down to his toes. Again, smart. The very fact that he was standing here was impressive.

The one scent she didn’t pick up was arousal.

He was in no form or fashion attracted to her. Which, all things considered, made sense. Frankly, she was glad he wasn’t. If he was serious, and she was really going to do this, she didn’t shit where she worked.

“No, I don’t need a hospital. I heal incredibly fast. In fact, the wound is closed and healing. By later on this evening, all that will be left will be a faint pink line and some bruising. Nothing left by morning. It’s damn near impossible to kill my kind.”

Jamail swallowed. “Your kind.”

“Yes. My kind.”

Isadora almost felt sorry for him. The poor kid was sweating buckets. Yet, here he stood in front of her.

Jamail closed his eyes and then snapped them open again, almost as if he was afraid to take his eyes off her. Little did he know that if she wanted him dead, no amount of precautions would save him.

“Yes, my kind. Are you going to ask, or do you want to guess? Although I can guarantee you won’t guess what I am in a million years.”

“I… I…. Shit.”

Jamail suddenly stood tall. “It don’t matter none. I still wanna work for you.”

Isadora inhaled again. She couldn’t detect any deceit in his scent. It was astonishing. He was actually winning her over.

“Last chance, human. If you turn around and walk out of here, I’ll let you leave. I won’t pursue you, and if you’re lucky, you’ll never see me again. But if I take you into my employment, the only way out will be death.”

Jamail gulped. “Gang life ain’t no different.”

“Oddly enough, working for me would be a lot like being in a gang. I will demand your loyalty. Betray me? You will die hideously. Are you sure you want to be a part of my world?”

Look at her giving him yet another way out. Since when was she so sentimental?

“Yes, ma’am. You scare the livin’ shit outta me, but—I don’t know—you don’t seem cruel.”

“Oh, sweetie, I can be to those who deserve it. So, a word of advice? If you’re going to do this, don’t ever deserve my cruelty. It takes time to build trust, and I don’t know you, so I don’t trust you. Yet.”

“I understand.”

“And you don’t trust me.”

Jamail nodded.

“If you become mine, you’ll work your way up in my organization, which will happen as you earn my trust. Here are the perks—I will supply you with a place to live, furnish it, give you a job, buy clothing to help you get on your feet, and finally, provide you an education. Also? I’m not interested in having sex with you.”

Jamail exhaled loudly. “Yes, ma’am.”

Isadora’s lips twitched. That was relief right there. If he felt like that now, wait till he found out what she was.

“Um, did you also say education?”

“I did, yes. It’s not an option. If you work for me, you represent me, and I cannot have you sounding like a gutter rat.”

Jamail nodded his head frantically. “I’d love to have more schoolin’.”

“Excellent. That makes things easier.”

Isadora pursed her lips. “Okay then, as you know, I’m obviously not human. I’m a paranormal—an arachne. In other words, I’m a paranormal who is part spider.”

“Jesus, Joseph, and Mary,”

Jamail whispered.

“I don’t believe in your God, but you’re more than welcome to. When I transform, I have spiderlike features, even though I am still humanoid.”

“Humanoid?”

“Humanoid means having an appearance or characteristics resembling that of a human. I still have two legs, two arms, a torso, a neck, a head. But I also have several small eyes on my face, pincers around my mouth, and four spiderlike legs on my back. And fangs.”

Jamail slowly sank to the ground.

Amused, Isadora helped him put his head between his knees. “Regretting asking me for a job yet?”

He didn’t speak, just shook his head no.

“Well, okay then. I am a creature who can create strong webs, just like real spiders. I can see better, hear better, move faster than any human. As I’ve said, I heal incredibly fast. It’s almost impossible to kill me.”

“Oh God, oh God. A spider.”

“You humans seem to have an innate fear of spiders and insects.”

Isadora patted him on the shoulder. “Look, kid, don’t betray me, and you don’t have to worry about being my next meal.”

Jamail shuddered. “So, you eat like a—”

“Don’t worry about it. Maybe one day I’ll tell you, but not right now. You haven’t earned that right. Last chance, kiddo. Are you running? Or are you staying?”

Jamail raised his head. “I’m so fuckin’ scared right now, but I still think you the better bet. May God help me.”

“Like I said, you’re welcome to have your God. But just remember, it’s me who’ll be helping you, not some sky daddy.”

Jamail nodded his head. “Yes, ma’am.”

Isadora stood. “Well, this is your lucky night, Jamail. I could actually use an errand boy.”

Isadora held her hand out. “Up you go.”

Jamail blinked owlishly at her, then took her hand. Isadora had no problem pulling him to his feet. Jamail’s eyes bulged again at how easily she picked him up.

Isadora hoped she wasn’t making a mistake, but her gut said she wasn’t. Did the kid have a killer instinct? Of course he did. He was a gang banger. She’d also bet her diamond stud earrings he’d already killed people. So he wasn’t afraid to get his hands dirty, which would be a good thing, working for her.

He was terrified of her, yes, but hopefully their relationship would evolve and the fear would take a back seat to respect. And eventually trust. There was just something about the boy. She had no sexual interest in him, but he could definitely become somebody very important to her. And if she was wrong? He’d die screaming in her web.

“Is there anything you want to take with you into your new life?”

Jamail nodded. “Yes, ma’am. Some things. And I need to say goodbye too.”

“Sorry, no. There is no saying goodbye. You just disappear. I highly doubt any of your gang members will be walking into my territory, so I’m not worried about that. But you do need to cut connections. Is there anybody important in your life?”

Damn, maybe that was something she should’ve asked beforehand.

Jamail slowly shook his head. “My ol’ man was killed several years ago, and the bitch who had me is an addict.”

Sad, but that seemed to be the story of the people who lived there. “So, your gang is your family.”

“Yes, ma’am.”