“A man plans his course, but
The Lord determines his steps...”
- Proverbs 16:9



CHAPTER ONE

October 4th, 2011.
Cambridge, Ohio.
Michael sat alone at the bar with a double whiskey, though he wasn’t drinking
so much as staring into it trying to establish what it was that had brought him on
this journey from Columbus.
Yesterday’s newspaper article had read that four teenagers over the space of
seven days had thrown themselves from their dorm windows at State Park
University. Although the authorities were treating it as some sort of suicide
pact, Michael suspected otherwise. People don’t just throw themselves from
buildings for the sake of it and, knowing what he knew now, he wasn’t about to
ignore it.
Michael Warden is an investigator.
Not your usual, ordinary type of investigator−like the ones who track down
criminals or follow people suspected of having affairs and such−but an
investigator of the paranormal kind. Some might say a Demon Hunter; a Ghost
Buster. If only it was as simple as that.
He read the page that he’d printed out from the Daily Tribune’s website
again to make sure he hadn’t missed anything. Then he folded it up and placed
it back into his worn, black, double breasted coat pocket. He knocked back his
whiskey and made his way out of the bar. It was early evening in Baltimore,
MD, and a slight mist had started to settle in. Michael still had a little over three
hours’ drive ahead of him to get to where his reservation was: a small place
called The Sunshine Motel a couple of miles outside of Garrett Co. He’d
planned on having an early night so he could make a start on his new
investigation early the next morning, but he’d made an unscheduled stop for
some food on the way.
He crossed the rush hour traffic and headed towards his car. The dusty,
beige, 96 Chevy Cavalier (which had seen much better days) was parked up on
the other side of the street. He reached for his keys and was about to unlock the
driver’s side door when he heard a female voice cry for help behind him. He
looked back to see a young woman struggling to hold on to her purse as one of
three hooded youths attempted to prize it from her hands.
“Hey!” Michael shouted over the noise of the traffic, loud enough for the
youths to notice him as he immediately ran back to help. Two of the hoods ran
off, leaving one−who had succeeded in his goal−fumbling with the woman’s
purse. He looked up at Michael, dropped it in a panic onto the sidewalk, and ran
like hell.
“Are you okay?” Michael asked as he passed the young woman her purse
from the floor. She nodded, clearly shaken by her ordeal, but instead of staying
with her and waiting while the cops were called, he decided to do something
about it himself. After he’d visually checked her over, he turned and ran after
her attackers.
The group of youths made a right turn down a dimly lit alleyway between
two tall office blocks. Michael followed them. A few faint street lights
highlighted a row of dumpsters down one side; the heavy stench of their rotting
contents filling the air. They reached the end of the alley, and faced with
nothing but a high fence which split the dark space in two, they began to get
visibly agitated.
“You might as well give it up boys,” Michael shouted to them after he
realized they were trapped. One of them began to climb up the fence and easily
managed to pull himself to the top. Then he jumped down the other side. “Come
on!” He gestured for his buddies but they were bigger and heavier than he was and were having some trouble executing the climb with the same ease as their
friend.
Michael caught up to them and grabbed hold of one of the boys−now half
way up the fence−by his waist and pulled him down to the floor. “Get off me!”
The boy shouted as Michael grappled with him before managing to pin him to
the ground. Too busy batting the youth’s hands away as he tried desperately to
lay one on him, Michael hadn’t noticed that the other boy−the largest of the
group−had jumped back down from the fence. Suddenly a thick arm wrapped
around Michael’s neck, dragging him to his feet and holding him back long
enough for the other boy to jump up, grazed and bloodied. As he did, he pulled
a blade from his inside pocket and held it out in front of him pointing the
dangerous end right at Michael.
Michael managed to break free from the large boy’s surprisingly strong grip
after elbowing him right in his diaphragm. He paused for a second and looked at
the knife: nothing special, just your everyday Smith and Wesson pocket knife
with a three inch blade, but Michael started to back away. There was no point
getting into something he wouldn’t be able to explain to the authorities,
especially as he still had a long journey ahead of him. The boy had obviously
seen it as a weakness and lunged straight for him, causing Michael to jump back
out of his reach until his back hit a wall, which stopped him from going any
further. “Son of a. . . ”
The youth never stopped and at the last minute he lost his footing. Falling
forward, his knife plunged straight into Michael’s stomach, causing him to gasp.
His eyes widened with surprise.
The boy looked down at what he’d done and his face instantly paled.
Michael saw a moment of panic as he stared straight into the boy’s deep indigo
eyes. He couldn’t have been more than seventeen years old if he was that. After
a moment, the boy let go of the knife to leave it sticking out from Michael’s flesh. He stood frozen to the spot, his mouth working like a goldfish with no
sound escaping.
“Come on dude, let’s go!” the boy’s friend urged as he grabbed him by the
arm. “We gotta split before anyone sees us. Leave him, come on!” That was
enough to snap the boy into action and they both ran back down the alley to the
street, leaving Michael standing there looking at the knife as blood soaked
through his gray T-shirt spreading outwards from the wound. There was no
pain, though. In fact, he’d hardly felt a thing which hadn’t surprised him too
much.
Now all alone in the alley, with nothing but the sound of dripping water
from a leaky gutter nearby and the distant traffic noise, Michael placed his hand
around the black handle, held his breath and pulled the blade out slowly. It felt
strange, not like he’d expected at all. It was almost numb with a slight scratchy,
pulling sensation as the cold steel exited his flesh. He dropped it to the floor and
lifted his T-shirt to assess the damage. There was now a deep slit right under his
ribs on the left-hand side, but he felt okay. There was no panic because he knew
he’d be perfectly fine.
Under different circumstances, though, he knew that right about now he
would be dropping to the ground and waiting to die from such a lethal wound.
He’d already lost a lot of blood and was pretty sure that the knife had punctured
his kidney.
That wasn’t about to happen to him though. You see. . . Michael was no
longer human. The body he walked in wasn’t his. Neither was the name he now
used. Both used to belong to someone else−a young man. Someone who’d been
down on his luck, who’d had no family to care about him, and his misfortunes
had led him to choose a dark path. Fortunately for Michael, who now inhabited
it after discovering he could borrow a body. Which he had many times. This
one, however, was more of a permanent thing. After discovering that using
someone’s body could ultimately lead to their deaths, Michael had managed to
find someone close to death, who wouldn’t need theirs anymore. So, that man
was the reason he was standing in the alleyway at that moment instead of being
hauled off in a body bag.
He assessed the damage to his shirt. “Shit!” he said, poking his finger
through the tear. “This was my last decent goddamn T-shirt.”

Cadec007:
thanks front seat taken....

Yeah its my pleasure. Will make sure you enjoy the story

BiadeForla
Hadow
Cadec007,
Solomombrown64,
Theblessedman
Jomagibs...
drstainlex
nkemdave
tunjilomo
Ultimategeneral .
Osasnidas
Nightie
rosalieene
Afz9095,
that's the few that I know and if you mention your friends to read the story I will be grateful

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments or actual events is purely coincidental. All rights reserved. Except for the use in anqy review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means is forbidden without the express permission of the author

Thanks bro for the mention. Really waited for this story. Pls don't keep us waiting oooo

Hey fellas am starting my story here on nairaland for the first time.. I want you guys to show some love and view it.. Thanks. Help mention it to orhers@ Theblessedman

Nightwatchknine:
for real,wait o is it to help him re-juice the dried sac or what

Me self confuse oooo

jomagibs:
.

I must mention you when I start the main story.

Okay I go dey anticipate ooooo

wolesmile:
First it sounded like a joke. More like I was in a dream. Then reality hits me and I felt a cold chill. I couldn't cry. I couldn't talk. I just stood there, for what seemed like hours. When I mentioned the weekend, I sounded foolish myself. Some pitied me, and said he must've loved me so much to come visit. I saw disbelieve clearly written on others. I didn't cry there. It started in the bus on my way back home. I still tell myself I should've taken a pix with him that weekend.

yeh if na me I go faint

true life this happened to me

One night I was walking on the passage that led to my dad and moms room when I felt a hand on me.... mhen I ran faster than flash that day.... The scariest part of it was that everybody was in the palour that night...

Bleep some stories here are just so so real!!!!!!

Nice story bro keep it up more updates

Okay!! Thanks for the update, but pls don't keep us waiting

vanbrunt:
WHAT IS KEEPING THE STORY MAN

Na wetin dey tire me for their matter be this..... When they see say people don dey enjoy the story them go begin fuckup

Update please!!!!

Nice one here.... Anticipating for the next update

What can I say.... Nothing more than saying this little prayer to the person who owns this piece im reading now.... God bless you for something like this, more knowledge to your brain. Thumbs up bro... More of this... Keep it coming

Where's the update nah

must say nice one here bro

jomagibs:


Bcux of u guys das y hav been viewing threads as guest. I no fit bear una needs d tin dey make me Weak and srry



Tanx bro u are men in a man. If nt for anytin for ur sake alone I must complete dis stry

OK am anticipating ooooooo. pls no just leave us like Dis

Despirado121:
@jomagibs Y ar u doing like dis now??... Abi exam neva finish ni??

osinachi is not coming back oooooo this is the end of the story....

solomonbrown64:


....Replied....

Dis one you're replying us like Di's when is it coming out nah broda

solomonbrown64:


.....Lol.....it will be out soon and yes, it is not going to be free.

That one no be problem nah sha m e no delay cusi wan knw wwetin go do coach and his small family............ Abeg make this one long ooooo

solomonbrown64:


.......We can only hope that Audrey might come back although I really doubt that. I think we should be more concerned on what Zeus will do this time to Richard.

Hmm its true though, richie is in for it big time....

zelaws:
Solomonbrown64! Thrilling from the beginning all through to the end. There few typo to many though the message is passed and well received. My observation. Apollo couldn't hold much against Richard he believed so much in his godly strength. Richard actually worked hard against all odds. A learning point there. You hid the point at which the wolves acted according to the Alpha's plan.
The way it ended simply asking for the next season in this series. Many questions to answer .
Bro ! You are amazing in this art. More knowledge , more wisdom, more blessing!

To my observation, not only apollo underrated coach's sbility ( his godly powers) everybody believed he was no match for the god of light and the gods but my coach had something hidden in his cupboard..... Am still having this strong believe that Audrey can't just like that she's coming back and her coming back is going to be like a bomb.......

solomonbrown64:


........Waoh... I am flattered....

.....Well, Apollo is not a natural fighter unlike his twin sister and foolishly underestimated a man like Richard who had been in more battles than any mortal man alive. A very silly mistake by him but we must also commend Richard for knowing when to step back and leave a fight. If he had continued, perhaps, he might have lost.
.
.......True, the wolves followed without questions.... Part 4 will be longer with answers to numerous questions.


.....Thanks for this little review and don't worry as soon as the final editing is done. I will send it to you and to everyone who has bought the book. Once again, thanks.

my brother !!!!!! abeg hurry up oooo am dying of boredom here..... are we still going to pay for the fourth instalment?

solomonbrown64:


......Yes...just replied you.... Thanks

Oga solo sure say this thing complete ni abi the story never finish make I knw now oooooo cus ama loving this story.....

solomonbrown64:


....Yes bro...It is just God...

Solo I just sent the stuff, hope you've got it.

kingin55:
bros come continue

Go buy Am oooo

solomonbrown64:


.....Yes oh, I am waiting...

Hw far oga solo Hw I fit get ur mail and Acct details...
. Send it to me on alfa.kareem@yahoo.com
.. . I go dey expect ur msg bro