Hidden in the Immortals (Book #1)

Prologue

The town of Old Brook was founded in 1912 by four families: the Nelson's, the Mercado's, the Shipley's, and the Reynolds'. Two years prior the entire globe was, without warning, attacked by vicious creatures who had the appearance of man, but fed on the blood of the living and wielded unnatural abilities. The people were horrified; they hadn't a clue how to stop these creatures, or if they could even be stopped.

As the months progressed, people discovered that the creatures could only be killed by decapitation or an injury to the heart of any kind. This information spread quickly from coast to coast. Hundreds of thousands of brave men, women, and children took a stand against the creatures. Many were killed; both human and Immortal—which is the name they were eventually given. The Immortals could also turn humans into Immortals by draining every last drop of blood from their body.

The big question everyone was asking was this: How did the Immortals even come into existence in the first place? And for a while, no one knew.

Two years after the Immortal outbreak, as we know; Old Brook was founded. It soon became a well-known town for Immortal hunters to move to and gain in numbers; as well as a safe haven for people in general. Henry Nelson soon became elected mayor of Old Brook; with Arnel Mercado, Peter Shipley, and Sam Reynolds as his right hand men.

Another two years passed. One evening Henry and his wife Grace, were disturbed by a knock on the door. On their doorstep was a beloved, elderly woman in the town by the name of Mabel Lewis. Mabel had lived in Old Brook before it was even founded. The house she lived in was very old and was passed down for generations and generations in her family.

Henry immediately noticed the large, very old looking book in her arms. Mabel told the Nelson's that she had vital information she had to press upon them. They ushered her inside and they sat down at the dining room table. Mabel told the Nelson's that the book she had out on the table before them she had found earlier that day. She said she was in her attic doing some cleaning when she looked over at a chest that she had up there. She informed them that the chest had been up there since she was born, but had never looked inside it in her life.

That day when she was up in the attic, she became curious as to what had been in the chest all those years. In it she found love letters between her parents when they were in their teens, old family heirlooms, and even some pictures she had drawn as a child that her parents must have kept.

At the bottom of the chest however, she saw the book. The moment she opened it, Mabel sensed something very dark and very evil.

The Nelson's were listening intently to Mabel's story and she opened the book again. Immediately a chill swept through the dining room. Mabel picked up a piece of paper from the book that she had ripped out and looked as if it were hundreds of years old. She slid the paper over to Henry for him to read.

There were words that were clearly a spell or curse of some sort, but it was written entirely in Latin. They did however manage to make out a few words; 'incantationibus', 'elementa', 'immortalis' and 'daemonia'—as incantation, element, immortal, and demon. At the bottom of the page was a very disturbing drawing. It was of a creature with long claws for fingers and hooves for feet; along with dark, black dead eyes. The creature was sinking its long fangs mercilessly into a woman's neck. It was dated 1753.

Mabel took notice to other spells and curses that were in the book. Some of them had been slightly changed here and there by someone else; most of them dated in 1810. Including the one with the drawing of what seemed to be an Immortal. That was exactly 100 years before the Immortal outbreak. The three of them agreed that it was not a coincidence. Someone had enacted this curse 100 years ago.