CHAPTER ONE

Early Riser

The Bestiary slipped from Deputy Parrish's hand and fell to the floor. Jolted awake, Parrish found his hand had instantly gone to his gun. That could only be the after effect of the past couple of weeks.

They hadn't been boring.

He'd discovered that supernatural creatures were real and living in Beacon Hills, he'd taken on berserkers in Mexico, and he'd been burned alive – only to walk away unscathed. Apparently that meant he was something supernatural too.

But what was he? Lydia had given him the Bestiary hoping that by leafing through pages of spine-chilling illustrations of creatures that belonged in nightmares, he would discover his own lineage. After getting halfway through, Jordan Parrish wasn't so sure he wanted to know. Lydia had warned him that the book had been written from a hunter's perspective, so none of it painted 'monsters' in a very favourable light. From the descriptions of what some of these things were capable of, he was starting to see why families of hunters like the Argents existed. They definitely had a point.

Jordan rubbed sleep from his eyes and glanced at the clock on his desk. There was only an hour to go before work started. No time to go home and shower. His phone vibrated and he pulled it out of his pocket to see a text from Lydia.

Any Luck? X

He ran a hand through his short hair. Despite his night spent with the book, nothing had rung any bells. So far, there was nothing about being burned alive and living to tell the tale. Then again, perhaps no one had documented that happening to whatever the heck he was. It wasn't everyday someone tried to burn you alive.

At least now I know if anyone wants to burn me for being a witch, they'll have a hard time of it, he thought and made a grab for the Bestiary. He'd almost flicked to the end of the book in search of 'witch' when he remembered it wasn't in alphabetical order. It seemed to him that the book had been pieced together over the years as the hunters had discovered more monsters. Then they'd figured out how to kill them. Everything was written in the order it had been found.

He sighed and flicked back through the pages, trying to find where he'd left off. This was going to be one of those things you had to do properly.

Or so he'd thought.

As he turned back through the book, a flash of gold caught his eye. None of the book illustrations had been rendered in colour. His finger caught the edge of the page and pressed the book open where he'd thought he'd seen the gold.

Nothing glowed now, but when he read the page title and saw the all too lifelike illustration of a man standing in the middle of an inferno, he knew he'd struck gold.

Jordan shivered as he remembered being in that exact situation and feeling certain that he was a dead man. There was no time for thoughts like that. The past was best left. That was what his time working as part of the Hazardous Device Team had taught him. Holding on to bad news meant bad things would happen when you were out in the field. Back then, it had meant bombs exploding in your face. Now… he wasn't sure what the consequences would be.

His eyes flicked back across to the page title and then skimmed the description below. He tapped out a quick message on his phone and pressed send, trying not to think too much about what he'd just read.

I think I may have something here. JP


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