Vendetta

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Book excerpt

Preface

Death is eternal. At least that is what we are taught to believe by most religions. Other religions speak about animal spirits watching over us and guiding us. Some animals symbolize strength, while others represent a “rebirth of the spirit”.

This brings me to an animal said to represent death and rebirth in the spirit world, the black panther. This animal has been portrayed in writings and beliefs dating as far back as the ancient Greeks.

According to legend, the black panther’s power includes astral travel, guardian energy, feminism, death and rebirth. Some legends say that the animal is said to be a guardian, guiding the soul to the afterlife. They also state that a panther spirit accompanies a soul, wronged in life, as a vessel of revenge on the people who had wronged them.

Most of the legends portray the panther as an animal involved in death in some way, shape or form. What inspired me to write this book was something that I read about in the news years ago, during my years living in New Jersey. There had been several sightings of large black cats near the Pine Barrens section of southern New Jersey. The Pine Barrens is a dense wooded section lying among the coastal regions. The area is home to myths ranging from the Jersey Devil to Bigfoot.

Panthers, however, are an unusual sighting in the area (people have experienced more Bigfoot sightings than panther sightings). The panther is not an indigenous species to New Jersey and the reports were not able to be confirmed by local authorities. Despite that, several photos of the beast circulated the internet depicting a large black cat roaming the woods.

Could this animal have been a black panther or just a very big house cat? If it was a panther, what was it doing in New Jersey?

Could someone be lying in the Pine Barrens, dead and alone, yet to be discovered? Perhaps this poor soul is wandering the vast emptiness of the Barrens, yearning to complete their journey to the afterlife.

Or could this animal be seeking out the parties responsible for their misfortune, yearning to exact revenge?

Chapter 1

Jody turned from the computer screen with her eyes closed and rubbed her temples. The beginning stages of a migraine were poking at her brain from inside her eyeballs. She was only finished with half of the department audits before the familiar throbs interrupted her work. Narrowing her eyes she looked at the desk calendar. The deadline was Friday, which left her two days to finish the quarterly audits. It was as if the day had a large red neon arrow pointing toward it, blinking in conjunction with the throbbing in her head.

Glancing at the stack of papers, she wondered if the company’s underwriters set a new world record for policies issued within the quarter. The new business was good for the company’s profit margins, but all it did for her was increase the size of her workload. Although she was used to the tedious process of auditing, it nonetheless drove her to the point of insanity every quarter.

“This sucks,” she groaned, tapping at the keyboard.

Mark Sherwood, her obnoxious cubicle neighbor, poked his head up from his cube like some macabre jack-in-the-box. He tossed her a derisive smile which made her want to punch him in his jaw. Better you than me, is what the smile inferred.

Mark made his disdain for her obvious whenever he could. Jody believed that his disdain stemmed from his low self-esteem, coupled with the fact of a woman overseeing his work. She was the “bad guy” who policed his department to make sure there were no discrepancies or violation of regulatory laws.

“Aw, what’s wrong, buttercup?” he asked.

Jody looked up and put on her best “go jump off a cliff” face. “Nothing, it’s just a migraine,” she said dismissively.

“Well, let me know if there is anything I can help you shred,” he replied with a wink.

“Don’t worry, buttercup, your reports are next.” She cocked her head and returned the wink.

Mark scurried back into his cube. The clackity-clack of his keyboard couldn’t hide the vulgarities he muttered under his breath. Jody performed a mental high-five with herself.

With a few taps of her keyboard, his underwriting efforts for the quarter flashed across the screen. Jody hit PRINT and a familiar voice called from outside her cubicle.

“Hey missy, it’s just about lunch time.”

Jody’s friend, Shelly Waters, stood in the doorway, her auburn curls cuddling her freckled cheeks. She snatched the print out and slid it to Jody.

“I’m going to spring for lunch today so we have a choice between Ruth’s Chris and Sunset Diner.”

Shelly melodramatically rummaged through her purse.

“Oh damn, I forgot that my ship hasn’t come in yet, so we’re stuck with the Sunset for this little shindig.”

“You’re hilarious,” Jody chuckled.

She placed the printout in her desk drawer, locked it and grabbed her purse. “I would tell you that I’d go ahead and pay for the high end stuff, but my ship sank.”

They giggled and sauntered out the door. Mark looked at them with a grimace and shook his head, which caused them to howl with laughter.

***

They entered the diner and took their usual seat at the corner booth, always finding it amusing that the oldest people in the community chose to hunch over newspapers at the counter, sipping coffee. Most of the time they quarreled with each other about politics or the state of the economy, but today they sat in relative silence. Not enough political shenanigans going on in the country today, she thought. Sometimes she wondered if the diner was secretly a retirement community hangout.

The waitress approached them and took their order. She had been taking their orders for as long as Jody had been frequenting their establishment, a little over five years. Her name was Olga and she came over on a Hungarian boat around forty seven years ago. She had also been planning on retiring for the last five years.

After Olga took their order they began their usual banter about how much their company, Martins Insurance Group, sucked the life out of them. They spoke about Shelly’s upcoming vacation and love life and Jody learned that Shelly was having more luck planning vacations than finding a suitable date. After several giggles and groans, the conversation turned back to work.

“So how’s the auditing going?” Shelly asked as she fidgeted with the portable jukebox mounted on the wall.

“So far so good, but I’m way behind,” Jody sighed.

The waitress dropped off their drinks and Shelly watched Jody pour her customary half-pound of sugar into the coffee.

“The only underwriters that I need to finish are Mark and Danny. Danny’s should go quickly, but Mark’s report is going to take me past the deadline.”

“Yeah, Mark has been a man on a mission this quarter.” Shelly looked at Jody’s stress addled face and shook her head. “I guess all of the auditing has been taking its toll on you, huh?”

Jody took another swig of coffee. “Yeah, just looking at the print out today made my eyes bleed.”

“Ok, enough about work.” Shelly nodded at Jody’s engagement ring. “When’s the big day?”

Jody smiled. Thinking about Alex always made her smile. “Two weeks from today.”

“I wish you would have a real wedding,” Shelly pouted.

“I know, sweetie. I wish we could afford it.”

The waitress interrupted them and slid their food in front of them. Shelly stuck her face in her salad and didn’t push the subject.

“I’m sorry Shel, Alex and I really wanted to have a wedding that we could share with our friends but we barely have enough cash for a decent honeymoon.” She poked at her patty melt with a fork.

“We hope that once Alex gets his book deal, we can have a second ceremony so we can share the moment with friends and family.”

The subject burdened Jody. She hated the fact that she couldn’t have a real wedding, but fortunately for her and Alex, their friends and family were very understanding.

Shelly flipped Jody a sympathetic look and nodded.

“So how’s Alex book coming along?”

Jody stopped stabbing her food to death. Her face brightened.

“He sent his manuscript to publishers. A few seem real interested, so he’s close.”

Shelly pumped her fist. “Hey when you guys get that big movie deal make sure you don’t forget your friends.”

“Yeah I will make sure to have them cast Angelina Jolie for the role of ‘Shelly’.

The waitress brought the bill but when Jody reached for it, Shelly’s hand shot out and snatched it.

“Uh-uh, I got this one.”

Jody drew in a deep breath. “Why do I feel like such a charity case lately?”

Shelly threw a twenty on the table and looked at her. “You, my dear, are the official American Red Cross of Palm Harbor, NJ.”

Jody stuck her tongue out. “Great, I better get back to my cubicle so I can donate some more blood from my eyes.”

They laughed like schoolgirls as they left the diner.