HAPPY HALLOWEEN!~JAKE MOSELY: NIGHT STALKER

Chapter 1

The night was dark as the ace of spades. No moon to show the path that led deeper into the shadows. If it weren’t for the yellow glow of his lupine eyes, Jake Mosley would not have been able to see his hand in front of his face. He could not believe he was down in this Mexican jungle stalking a night crawler through the thick shrubs and trees that grew here. He had followed his mark to an old abandoned archeological dig.
Jake stopped for a moment and took a deep breath, leaning against the cold stone pyramid that jutted up out of the earths bowels. Slowly he took in his surroundings. Nothing moved. Not even the air surrounding him. No jungle noises, no footsteps, no bodies crashing through an insect infested, creepy crawly jungle. Absolutely nothing. The only thing he could hear was his own breathing. Slowly he followed the path through the ancient doorway that led inside the pyramid.
It was even darker in here. The musky odor of centuries of decay filled his nostrils as did the faint scent of the man he was following. He really needed some light in this place but he didn’t dare. So far his target hadn’t noticed him following and that would be much better as far as he was concerned when it came time to bring him in or leave the man’s useless dead body behind in the jungle where it belonged.
He hated having to bring back live ones. In his opinion, the deader, the better. He had been hunting these vile creatures for centuries and with each passing year they just seemed to multiply at an uncanny speed. The creepy crawly things that go bump in the night were too many to ignore. When he’d become one of them, that was their first mistake. No matter how accidental it had been.
Jake shook his head to regain his concentration. It had been too long. No need to think back that far. There was no changing what had happened so it was an expenditure of useless energy to get all riled up about it again. Tucking it back down into his memories where it belonged, he sniffed the air and followed the scent of the Alusian. As a matter of recourse they had a very strong scent that was easily detectable. Well, at least the men did. Their women were another thing all together. You couldn’t tell if you were next to one of them unless you got them aroused and by that time you were dead meat anyway. Their mating rituals could be very fatal even for an Immortal.
He snorted softly thinking about the last Alusian female he got close to. He was lucky to be alive. He’d learned his lesson the hard way. They were off limits with big letters. Those she-cats could be more deadly than their men. Shaking off his lack of concentration, Jake made his way through the open room that looked to be a grand hall at one time. Suddenly he heard a noise just in front of him and picked up speed to intercept the man he’d been following for the past three days.
But he was too late.
“Damn! Damn it to hell!” Jake cursed as the solid stone wall fell back into place. He ran his hand slowly around the circumference of the wall but there was nothing to indicate a door had just opened. No levers, no buttons, nothing. He cursed a blue streak that would make his own mother blush, if she were around, and fisted his hands in agitation. Three long days of tracking with nothing to show for it. He was starting to loose his grip. It’s not that he wouldn’t get paid for his trouble but he never liked having to loose a mark before he had the chance to interrogate them and well, if they happened to fight him, more’s the better. That was his motto after all, the deader the better.
Taking a deep breath, Jake ran his hand through his mused sandy blonde hair. He had pulled his shoulder length mop back into a queue to keep it from getting in his way, but it had come loose to drape across his shoulders. The muggy heat from the jungle was making him swelter into a sweat bath as he climbed his way back out of the temple. He had taken another hour to check the perimeter but he couldn’t find any other way into the building except the original way he’d gone so, berating himself for his lack of striking his mark, he left the temple and ragged jungle behind.