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LENGTH: Borderline Full Novel
SENSUALITY: Sensual

Cover art (c) Alex DeShanks 2008
ISBN 978-1-60394-221-8
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Jane Masters had no idea she was a necromancer … until she raised her dead boss. Luis Phillippe is the vampire responsible for the power mingled in her blood. When Luis reveals the details of her past life and the source of her power, her heart remembers him. But will she survive to love him this time?

Rating: Sensual.

BRAIN DEAD

By

Tracey H. Kitts

This is a work of fiction. All characters, events, and places are of the author’s imagination and not to be confused with fact. Any resemblance to living persons or events is merely coincidence.

Chapter One

“Sheep’s clothing doesn’t come in my size.” The words jumped off the page of the magazine Jane Masters was reading. It was featuring an article about an overweight female werewolf.

“Here,” she said, turning to her coworker, Josie. “You can read it now if you like. I’ve had my fill of overweight werewolves and psychotic psychics for one day.”

“Anything interesting?” Josie asked, taking the latest copy of Paranormal Times from Jane.

Jane shrugged. “Bite and Run accidents are on the rise.”

“Burning Desire,” Josie read the next headline out loud.

“Yeah, it’s about some pyromancer who accidentally set fire to his whole neighborhood.” Jane turned toward the door. “I’m going to take a break.” she added.

In the past month she had been demoted, kicked out of her office, and forced into taking over the duties of not only the secretary, but the receptionist, as well. If this was how life was always going to be, Jane had begun to seriously consider that life wasn’t worth it.

What was the point? She had yet to have in her twenty seven years, one positive work experience. Everyone it seemed was ruthless, lacking in basic compassion and human kindness. Human, that had become such a strange word. Funny, how no one seemed to treat her as even that.

“Do you want anything?” she asked.

“Yeah,” Josie answered with a laugh, “a million bucks and a hot vampire.”

Josie wasn’t so bad when she wasn’t too busy flinging herself at all the male students who came into their office, having hot flashes, or actually showed up sober. The way she’d swaggered into the office early that morning let Jane know that today was not one of those days.

Jane had two true friends in the university where she worked and met one of them on her way downstairs. Keri Underwood worked as a secretary on the third floor. She was petite and blond and much too bright to work in a place like this.

“How’s it going?” Keri asked. . “Did you find anything in the classifieds worth looking into?”

“Let’s face facts,” Jane said. “We live in the South, and if you’re not a good ol’ boy, you don’t go far. I don’t have a high enough education or the right equipment between my legs to get a better job. So, I’m stuck working for barely above minimum wage for a bunch of jerks who think they know it all.”

She thought about the ‘bite and run’ article and tried to control her smile as she wondered if anyone would be willing to bite her boss and run. The thought gave her much unexpected pleasure while she fished some change out of her pocket.

“I’ll take that as a no,” Keri said.

“Same shit, different day,” Jane answered miserably.

“You get another nasty note from Jason?”

Jason Walters was Jane’s boss. He taught English and was good at what he did, but should never have been given a management position. She still remembered their conversation about ‘management’.

“I treat them all like kindergarteners,” Jason had said.

“What?” Jane asked. “You can’t be serious.”

“Have you ever tried to manage thirty college professors?” he asked. . “I’m telling you, Jane, the only way to get them to cooperate is to treat them all like children.”

When she’d told Keri about this she laughed until she realized there was no punch line. That was just Jason’s warped way of thinking. If any of the other faculty knew how he thought of them, she doubted whether or not he’d be able to keep his head, let alone his job.

Jane had spent the last three and a half years of her life trying to live up to his standards, and she was at the end of her rope. If it wasn’t one stupid thing with him it was another. He simply could not be pleased. Jason was in his early fifties and considered himself well acquainted with the education system.

“What was it you said he did before Jason was hired as the dean of Arts and Sciences?” Keri asked. “He was a high school principal for … I forget how many years,” Jane answered.

“And he still refuses to take meds for his OCD?” Keri inquired.

“He doesn’t think he has it!” Jane replied angrily. “He thinks everyone else has a problem. During the last week of registration I caught him picking lint out of the carpet!”

“No way.” Keri laughed.

Jane recalled vividly having to walk down the hall past the line of students waiting to be registered.

“He was on his hands and knees with a comb ‘grooming’ the carpet,” she said. “I told him to get up that he didn’t need to be seen that way. I was trying to save what was left of his dignity, but he wouldn’t let me.”

“Why? What did he do?” Keri asked.

“He told me the place was a mess and kept trying to comb the carpet.” Jane laughed. “I finally took him by the arm and told him he was embarrassing himself and took him back in the office.”

“Good grief.”

“Yeah, it took a full month for people to stop laughing to his face. Now they just do it behind his back,” Jane said.

Jane had been hired as Jason’s personal assistant only because she’d made no errors on the ‘test’ she was given as part of her interview, which consisted of producing several graphs and charts as well as a three page letter in less than thirty minutes.

Now due to budget cuts the other secretary, Lindsay, had been let go.

“So, have you heard from Lindsay?” Keri asked.

“Yeah, last I heard she was working at a strip club on the other side of town.”

“Really?” Keri seemed stunned.

Lindsay hadn’t finished her education either and was kind of screwed when it came to the job market. She was nearly six feet tall, blond, and magnificently tanned. She looked great, every bought and paid for inch of her.

“I have to admit she does look the part.” When Jane laughed Keri added quickly, “I’m not insulting her. It’s got to be hard to get anyone to take you seriously when you look like that. So, why do you suppose Josie wasn’t laid off?”

“Oh, I’ve got my suspicions,” Jane said darkly. “And it’s got something to do with carpet burns and the need for proper dry cleaning.”

Keri laughed and nearly snorted her soda.

But Jane was right about Josie. The woman was a moron whose thoughts ranged between ‘duh’ and ‘vodka’. Jane knew this because she’d read her mind. Of course she didn’t spread around the fact that she could read minds, but it sometimes came in handy. Jane was a strong enough telepath that she blocked out the world in general and only tuned in to what she wanted to know. Unless she was really sick or drunk, this normally wasn’t a problem.

“Are you listening to me?” Keri asked, shaking Jane’s shoulder gently.

Jane hadn’t even realized Keri was speaking.

“No, I’m sorry. I got another stupid note from Jason this morning.”

“That’s what I was asking about. What did it say?”

“He’s writing me up this time for excessive errors. You know the drill. At least once a week he finds another excuse to write me up.”

“Excessive errors?” Keri looked confused. “Where does he come up with this shit?”

“I think he pulls it out of his ass,” Jane said. “I made one typo when I was working on my evaluation yesterday,” she practically growled while beating on the snack machine. “Fucking piece of shit.”

This time Jane kicked the machine and it delivered her candy bar. Then she looked at the snack and wondered if ‘sheep’s clothing’ would continue to fit her if she ate many more of these.

Keri looked alarmed and she explained, “I need some chocolate if I’m going to make it through the day without killing somebody.” She was kidding, but Keri gave her a cunning look.

“Somebody needs to kill that prick,” Keri said. . “I’m surprised you haven’t done it by now.”

“Don’t think I haven’t thought about it.”

Jane was being honest but would never seriously consider such a thing. She’d had the sort of thoughts that most overworked, underpaid people have. Thoughts like if their boss had an ‘unfortunate accident’ they wouldn’t mind. But, Jane didn’t belong to the mob and wouldn’t have the faintest clue of how to go about causing such an accident.

Keri shrugged. “Yeah, well if we all went around killing the people we didn’t like …. Hell, everybody doesn’t like somebody.”

“This is true,” Jane said as they made their way back up the stairs together. She’d worn heels and was seriously regretting it after making it to the third floor.

“He made you type your own evaluation?” Keri asked incredulously, opening the door for Jane.

“Yeah, after he called me into his office and took thirty minutes to tell me all the reasons I suck.”

This was how Jason Walters conducted evaluations with everyone in his department. He felt it was better to let them know the reasons he was not recommending them for a raise, because he rarely recommended anybody for a raise. Jane had never had a raise, and her friend Michael, who taught astronomy, hadn’t had a raise in four years.

“Shit, I’m so glad Dr. Merick is my boss instead of Jason Walters. Dr. Merick isn’t perfect, but she’s not that bad.”

Keri worked in a different world just one floor down, and she was glad of it.

Jane walked Keri to her office, and once Keri looked around to be sure they were alone she asked, “Do you have class tonight?”

“Yeah, biology.”

“You seeing Shawn?”

Jane almost cringed at the sound of his name. Every time she thought of him, she knew that being involved with Shawn was a mistake. But it was one she wasn’t aware of in time to stop herself. Shawn Bradley was the married security guard she had been dating for the past two years. Well, you couldn’t really call it dating. Whatever sort of relationship they had it wasn’t normal. She hadn’t even known he was married for over a year. Now they were sort of off again, on again. He kept telling Jane that he’d left his wife, and she kept being foolish enough to believe him. After a week or so, she’d break down and read his mind and find out he was lying again.

Jane kept hoping he would leave his wife and Shawn kept hoping his wife didn’t find out about Jane. They’d started out as friends and as far as she knew he was single. Once she’d begun to trust him Shawn started putting the moves on her. Jane wasn’t stupid, but she was a romantic at heart and desperately wanted to believe his lies. He knew enough about her to really play up the romantic part until he had Jane where he wanted her.

“I might,” she said. “But I’ve already decided that something has to give and it’s got to give soon or we’re through. I’ve already made up my mind. I can’t keep seeing a married man. He keeps swearing he’s separated from his wife but that’s bullshit. It just isn’t right. I’m ashamed of myself for being with him in the first place.”

“So … are you going to tell him this tonight?” Keri asked.

Keri was her confidant and the only person who knew about Shawn besides her friend Michael , the astronomy professor. They had both been as surprised as her when she found out Shawn was married. After her initial anger, Keri had suggested Jane start dating her hot mailman instead. Yes, Burt was hot, but he wasn’t really her type. Rather than explain this to Keri, she’d just smiled and said, “I might.”

Now she gave the same response when Keri asked about Shawn again.

“I might.” I’m really getting sick of his shit. Speaking of shit, I’ve got to get back to work.”

Jane made her way back up to the fourth floor and met Michael as she came into the office.

“Hey, Michael,” she said as he walked past her.

“Hi,” he said softly and kept walking.

When he didn’t make eye contact Jane knew something was wrong. She paused behind the file room door and took a look in the full length mirror. Jane winced at her own appearance. She ran a hand through her shoulder length black hair and wiped some of the smeared mascara from underneath her eyes. She felt like hammered shit and it showed.

“Everything alright?” she asked.

“Mmhmm.”

Josie was sitting quietly at her desk typing. What the fuck? Josie never did any real work. Something must be bad wrong. Then she saw it and she nearly had a panic attack. Her heart fluttered miserably then seemed to sink into her stomach. There was an envelope on her desk with the university’s logo in the top left corner. In Jason’s handwriting the word ‘confidential’ was written clearly in all caps.

“Two notes in one day? He is really getting on it,” she said.

She shot a look toward Josie, but the older woman was deliberately not making any sort of eye contact. If Josie opened her mouth things had a tendency to come out and Jane was certain she had been told to keep it shut.

“Damn, I didn’t even get to eat my candy bar. I’m going to the restroom,” she said, snatching the letter off her desk.

Both women were accustomed to the routine. Neither of them could stand to open Jason’s letters where someone else might see them. They were never good news and he never had the courage to say it to their faces.

Jane walked numbly down the hall into the women’s bathroom and locked the stall door. She slid to the floor and sat for several minutes with her forehead resting against her knees. This was the position she sat in to prevent herself from hyperventilating. Every day had become a living hell and there seemed to be no end in sight. Tears slid down her cheeks and she knew her mascara was running again. Until a few months ago, she hadn’t cried in years, but now it was an almost daily occurrence.

“I can’t do anything right,” she whispered as she broke the seal on the envelope.

“Dr. Charlie McBride and I request to meet with you at five fifteen this afternoon in my office,” she read out loud.

Jane got off at five thirty, so that meant he didn’t plan to be long winded about whatever she’d done this time. As usual, the letter didn’t state the nature of the meeting.

It involved her. Jane figured the least he could do was tell her what it was about, but she’d made the mistake of asking that question before. The answer was always no. He was more than willing to talk about anyone behind their back, but when it came to a face to face meeting, you never knew what to expect.

She had little choice except to suck it up and try to make it through the rest of the day. When she looked in the mirror Jane opened the collar of her blouse to find she was already breaking out in hives. Jason had that affect on her. The blotches would be gone within an hour if she could ever manage to calm down. The last time he’d called one of these little meetings she’d thrown up twice and broken out in hives.

What griped her the most was that there was nothing she could do about it. Jane was more than capable of taking care of herself, but she couldn’t beat him up, and she couldn’t afford to get fired. While she wiped at her smeared mascara she wondered if Lindsay needed any help at the club, then quickly pushed the thought from her mind. She wasn’t judging anyone. It just wasn’t something she wanted to do.

“You okay, honey?” Harriet asked from the doorway. Harriet was the maid assigned to the fourth floor.

“I’m fine,” Jane said. She wiped at her makeup a little faster.

“Girly you’re about as far from fine as I’ve ever seen, but if you don’t want to talk about it that’s alright by me,” Harriet said.

“I’ll be alright,” Jane assured her.

Harriet gave her a skeptical look while she replaced the paper towels.

Jane washed her hands, sprinkled some cold water on her face and took three deep breaths. She went through the motions of smoothing down her black slacks and blouse just to make herself feel better. She’d been around Jason long enough that having things in order calmed her nerves and it made her angry that his OCD had rubbed off on her. Jane steeled her courage and walked back to the office.

When she walked back in she didn’t say a word to Josie who was clearly ready to talk now. She had also adjusted the temperature while Jane was in the bathroom. Josie was in her early forties and in denial that she needed hormone replacement therapy. Then again, just plain therapy would have been helpful. Josie had so many issues she should have just bought a subscription. She fidgeted in her seat and fluffed her spiky brown hair before turning to Jane.

“Everything alright?” she asked.

As if you care, bitch, Jane thought.

She knew the only reason Josie asked was so she could find some sort of way to use it against her. For someone with the IQ of an amoeba Josie sure was conniving.

“Fine,” Jane answered curtly and turned back to the test she was supposed to be typing.

* * * *

At five fifteen Jane marched into Jason’s office and sat down like she owned the place. She would be damned if he got the best of her. They had to wait five minutes for Dr. McBride to join them and it was torture. Both of them sat there quietly, trying not to make eye contact with the other, but she got sick of that.

Jane began to stare him down, daring Jason to look her in the eye. She wanted him to see the hatred there. The eyes truly are windows of the soul and Jane’s had fogged up a long time ago. She’d never felt this way about anyone else, and it frightened her. Then again, no one had ever treated her so badly. If Jason knew how close he was to his own death he would have backed down before now. It wasn’t that Jane was a bad person.

On the contrary, it was like she’d explained to Keri recently. “I’ve spent most of my life trying to do the right thing.”

Since that had gotten her so far in life she’d decided to do something purely selfish, thus the affair with the security guard. Recently, though, she’d become fond of another fantasy, killing Jason.

When Jane worked out it was his face she envisioned in front of her punching bag. Her years of martial arts training had taught Jane to see through the target. So, she didn’t visualize her foot hitting Jason in the head, she envisioned going through it. Her workouts had never been so intense. She was getting into great shape but possibly at the cost of her sanity, and that was a price she wasn’t willing to pay.

“Would you like a glass of water?” Jason offered.

“No thanks,”

He could be so nice sometimes it was amazing. Maybe he was bi-polar, and obsessive compulsive.

Since they had a moment to themselves Jane sat back, crossed her arms and legs and took a good look at the source of her anxiety. Jason Walters was around six feet tall, average build that bordered on thin, thick glasses, an artificial smile, and he was bald on top. What was left of his hair was brown and what was left of his soul was black. He knew the affect he had on Jane and somewhere in his twisted mind Jason thought he was doing her a favor. He thought that by showing her all the things she did wrong it would motivate her to be more efficient, like him.

Jane only thought she was the only one who caught hell. As it turned out, ‘hell’ was handed out randomly. He liked Josie, but he’d told her the week before that if she took one more day off within the next three months she was fired. Naturally she wouldn’t say anything to Jane about it, because Josie got a break for spying on Jane at his request. He chose to overlook the fact that she balled most of the faculty as long as she gave him some good inside information from time to time.

Once everyone had taken a seat Jason said in a very calm patronizing voice, “Now, Jane, exactly what time did you arrive this morning?”

“I was here at seven forty five, just like we’re supposed to be,” she said without hesitation.

“Okay,” he said. He nodded humoring her. “Now you may have ‘arrived’ at seven forty five, but you weren’t at your desk at seven forty five.”

She sat staring at him unblinkingly. Jane was afraid that if she opened her mouth she might actually snarl at him. She could feel her cheeks flushing and knew her face was turning redder by the second.

“Because I saw you walk in here at seven forty nine this morning,” he pointed out.

Fucking bastard, she wanted to yell but bit her lip in order to keep quiet.

He deliberately set his clock faster than anyone else so that no matter what time she arrived she was ‘late’. Jane took a deep breath and dug her nails into the leather upholstery on her chair. She always took the same chair in Jason’s office. It probably had permanent dents from her nails by now.

“Now, you need to be at your desk by seven forty five,” he continued in that same patronizingly mild voice. “I’m gonna need you to sign out for those four minutes.”

If looks could kill, Jason would have been dead right then. It might have been a cliché, but killing Jason with a look was very appealing to Jane. As he droned on in his mild tempered voice she began to fantasize about looking at him and watching him choke, like something out of a science fiction movie. The thought kept her entertained enough to stomach the rest of his little speech.

When the meeting was over and she was filling out her leave slip for four minutes Dr. McBride approached her desk. Dr. Charlie McBride was a tall woman with short white hair and bright blue eyes. Her kind smile did Jane good.

“Are you alright, dear?” she asked, patting Jane’s shoulder.

“I’ll be fine,” she lied.

Jane had every intention of going home and having a glass of wine to settle her nerves. She looked back down at the form, still unable to sign her name for four stupid minutes. Glass, hell, she might just have the bottle.

Charlie knew Jason was harder on her than Josie, but she didn’t know why. She had only a few years before retirement and though she hated to see Jane get screwed over, Charlie didn’t want to risk her pension by getting involved. Jane read these thoughts just as clearly as if she’d spoken them out loud. She couldn’t really blame Charlie for not wanting to get involved but part of her hated the older woman for being such a coward.