The Rise of the Son-first chapter

(coming to eBook)

It's been a long time coming, but the time is almost here.  The sequel to Blue Moon has almost arrived. 
But for now, here's a sneak peek at the first chapter of:

The Rise of the Son 

 

1

 

 

 

My name is Sephina.  For those of you who know me, no introduction is necessary.  I’ve been told I’m not an easy one to forget.  For those of you who don’t know me—who are coming into this thing with blinders on—I hope you have an open mind.  I hope you accept the things you cannot explain.  I hope you don’t take things at face value.  I hope you will leave some room for speculation.  For the possibility that what you are about to read is real.  For the possibility that what you are about to read actually happened.  This is a recalling of events transpired.  Because if you don’t do that—if you blow it off as just another work of fiction—then I’m writing it all down for nothing.  And that simply can not be.  That cannot happen.  It cannot be for nothing.  It could not have all happened for nothing.   For no reason.  No purpose. 

I have to tell this so others will be informed.  So they may learn.

Some saw this book and knew immediately that it was meant to help.  It was meant to warn.  As was its predecessor.  You knew that within these pages was information you may or may not find useful.  

And you also know what I do.  What I am. 

Although, as you read this book, I’m sure you will see that the years have changed me.  The years of preparation.  The years of consistent patrol.  Consistent dread.  It takes its toll on a woman.

Those familiar with me also know who Adam Keel was.  What he was.

Back to those of you who just happened to pick this book up because you thought the cover was cool, perhaps read the synopsis and thought, What the heck.  Allow me to tell you what you’ve gotten yourself into here—

Some years ago, there was a book published called Blue Moon.  It was written by a man named Adam Keel.  It was published by me, under a pseudonym, as this one will be.  Adam wrote the book, but died before the final page was completed.  The final pages were written by me.  I felt it the right thing to do to close his story.  I felt I owed it to him in some way.  I don’t know if Adam ever considered that I would write something in his book.  But I don’t think he would mind. 

Adam was a great man.  He cared so much for others.  He tried to help people.  He cared about them.  It tore him up inside to know what he did to so many.  It was his greatest failure and his deepest regret.

Adam died by his own hand.  He shot himself in the head with a gun possessing a silver bullet. 

He shot himself in the head.

He took his own life.

He did it to help others. 

He killed himself to protect others.

To possibly make right what had gone so terribly wrong.

I sit here and my heart aches even now as I write down these words.  I don’t know why it still hurts so badly, like a newly acquired wound.  Each morning I wake, I hope the pain and feeling of emptiness in the pit of my stomach will go away.  But it’s like an unwanted relative that’s over-stayed their welcome, who won’t take the countless hints you’ve dropped to get the hell outta your house. 

I’ve tried to come to terms with it—with the loss.  I’ve gone over it in my head time and time again.  I know it was something that had to be done.  Adam knew it was something that had to be done.  The book was something that had to be done.

You see, Adam was a very special person—a loving and caring person.  But he had a life that was stained blood red since before his birth. 

Adam was cursed. 

He was destined to be one.

As John had been one.

He never had a choice.

It was his destiny.

You see, Adam was a werewolf.

I can almost hear the simultaneous What? This is ridiculous, as those words are read.  .

But it’s true.  Adam Keel was a werewolf.  And so was my late husband, John Spier.  He was the one who changed Adam.  He was a patient of Adam’s—

You know what; we’ll talk about that later. 

First I need to get this story started.  I’m not as good a writer as Adam.  He was the one with the smarts.  I had the looks.  Actually he had the looks, too, which seems a bit unfair in hindsight.  He was pretty much perfect.  Great looks.  Great personality.  Except for the whole werewolf thing, there was nothing wrong with him. 

Anyway, I’ll try to stay on track and get this all down.  When I go through the actual motions of trying to recall every single detail, I realize how much has occurred in such a short amount of time.   I’ll try and remember it all.  I’m not as young as I used to be.  A lot has happened.  A lot of the memories I have tried to shut away.  But I’ll pull them from the bottom drawer of my mind and get them in order. 

We covered a lot of ground.  We traveled a long way during that time.

By “we” I mean us.  Myself and Payat.  Adam’s son.  Our son.

       Adam didn’t know we were going to have a baby.  I found out a few nights before the blue moon.

Let me back up a bit, again for those new comers—a blue moon is the second full moon that occurs in the same month.  It only happens every once in a while. You know, ‘only once in a blue moon.’  I’m sure you know what a blue moon is, but what you might not know is that is also the only night when a werewolf can take its own life.  Most who are born to be cursed don’t know about it, the blue moon secret—the “out”, if you will.  The others, who do know about it, don’t want it to end.  They like it.  They like being a monster.  They love the power.  They don’t want to end the bloodline. 

But that’s exactly what Adam was trying to do that night.  He was trying to end it.  The curse had finally reached someone too good at heart to let the wolf overtake him.  He wanted so badly to end it.  He thought he was going to. 

There can only be one wolf.  

That’s the rule.  Part of the reason Adam thought he could end it by simply taking his own life.

When God handed down the wolf to Man as a punishment, He never meant for it to last this long—centuries on end.  It has gotten away from Him.  But God still has some control, if nothing else: He won’t allow there to be more than one wolf. 

But, as rules go, there’s an exception to every one.  My late husband, John and Adam were wolves at the same time.  It was brief, but it happened.  It was the first we had ever heard about it occurring.  Of course none of us were experts.  I only really started studying wolfism after I met John.  Before that I had only dabbled out of curiosity.  John couldn’t figure it out afterwards, why he and Adam were both alive at the same time.  I couldn’t figure it out.  Adam, well he didn’t know what the hell was going on in the first place.  He had only learned a week earlier that John was going to turn him into a werewolf.  It was Adam’s turn to “become”.  He was still trying to wrap his head around that whole thing.  He actually didn’t fully believe it until the night of his first change. 

You see, Adam was a doctor, and John was his patient.  John had been convicted of several murders and also thirty counts of cannibalism.   John’s only argument was that he had no control over his actions.  Every time he changed into the wolf, he lost more and more control.  There was nothing he could do.

Insanity.  That’s what the courts ruled. 

And so he was placed in Adam’s care.  Adam would later discover that John was placed with him so that he might make John well enough to stand trial and be truly punished for the crimes brought against him. 

During their sessions, John began to explain to Adam—from the other side of the thick glass of his cell, on the top floor of a Boston mental intuition—how it was Fate that brought them together and how John would change Adam on the following full moon. 

Adam had his doubts, of course.  Just the ravings of another person not in their right mind.  Not in grasp of reality.

But the days and night passed, and John slowly began to tell Adam that he was not crazy or delusional.  He was a victim.  And soon Adam would be a victim, too.  John would break out of the cell and attack him.  And when the curse of the wolf passed to its next host, John would die. 

That’s what was supposed to happen.

But it didn’t.

Not at first.

Even though it happened—two wolves at the same time—the fact that there were two werewolves took care of the situation.  They righted the wrong quick enough in a battle of blood and hair.  It was over shortly after it began.  As if realizing its blunder and rectifying the error. 

Adam cried so often because of what he had done.  He always regretted it, killing John.  But he had no control.  The wolf made the rules.  The wolf set the game pieces out on the board.  Adam was simply one of those pieces.  It had to be done.

There couldn’t be two wolves.

And more than that, Adam knew there could be none at all.  The night of the blue moon, he would end it.  He would stop the killing and the sadness and the pain.  He would stop the grieving of families left behind in the wake of death.  He would make the ultimate sacrifice. 

He tried.

But he didn’t know— 

He didn’t know about Payat. 

I didn’t know about Payat.

I wasn’t sure about it all until after we started to run.

 

 

The Rise of the Son will be available as an eBook.  Blue Moon is available in eBook and paperback.  If you haven't read it yet, there's still time.  Stop by the Store:

http://www.polmcshane.com/store.htm