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  Shadow

  Published by Jan Stryvant

  Copyright 2017 Jan Stryvant

  Copyright 2017

  No part of this eBook may be reproduced in any form without expressed, written consent from the author. The material in this story features graphic depictions of a sexual or adult nature and is intended for a mature audience only. All characters in this story are fictional and of the legal age of consent for any sexual activities they engage in. Any resemblance between characters in this story and people living or dead is purely coincidental. Portions of this book were previously published in the collection 'The Secret Life of a Super Hero'.

  License Notes

  This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be copied and given away, or sold, to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, it would be really nice if you purchased an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use, then please consider purchasing your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

  #143622

  Prologue

  Liz

  Hard Lessons

  Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll

  Making Money the Old Fashioned Way

  Circe

  Gonna Raise Hell

  Fiona

  A Small Side Job

  Consequences

  Karen

  Thinning the Herd

  Nance

  Contracters

  Cat and Mouse

  Consequences

  Saying Good-bye

  Shirley

  A Chance Encounter

  Introductions

  Meeting with Liz

  The Circe Situation

  The Jimmy Problem

  The Janet Issue

  Family Matters

  A Deadly Challenge

  Shirley and Circe

  Shake The Ground

  Karen

  A Call from the Past

  Priorities

  Road Trip

  A Trip East

  A Brief Visit

  Prologue

  It was on his twenty-ninth birthday when his life suddenly changed, though perhaps this time it was for the better. For a couple of weeks now one of the secretaries had taken it into her head that he needed a girlfriend and started to insert herself more and more into his life.

  Up until now Sean found it at best a distraction. He'd just gotten back from a two-week vacation, which was really more of a hunting trip. He'd cleaned up most of Boston over two years ago, and now was having to travel to other cities to satisfy his quest for vengeance. Back at work he was currently focused on his latest project, which he had promised the company president to have done by the end of the month.

  “Surely you must have someone, somewhere in your life Sean?” Teresa said to him late that night at the office. She had been asking him what he was doing for his birthday later and was wearing something rather revealing and attractive and for the fifth night now in a row had been engaging him in small talk.

  Sean shook his head, “No,” he replied, his attention mainly focused on the simulation he was running.

  “No? How can that be true? Especially for such a hot looking guy like you?” She said and moved closer, her scent reaching his brain for the first time tonight.

  Sean looked up at her suddenly, the cat in him had caught her scent, she was most definitely interested in him in a very basic biological way and suddenly the cat was interested too. He had never had a woman. Ever. And here was one inches away from him who wanted him. A rather attractive one at that. After a second look he revised that to extremely attractive.

  “Hot, me?” He said softly.

  “Oooh definitely, I mean all these muscles,” she said stroking his arm. “You must work out a lot, huh? I bet the girls at the gym must be all over you.”

  “It’s a private gym; I go there pretty late after work when it’s empty.”

  She looked at him a little strangely, “You’re not gay are you?”

  Sean blinked surprised. “I have no idea,” he said honestly. Until this moment he’d never really considered it.

  “How can you have no idea?” she gave a small laugh, “Haven’t you ever...?”

  Sean frowned slightly, “Actually, no.” he said. And found it strange. Here he was almost thirty, he had no friends, no girlfriends, no lovers, hell he didn’t even visit prostitutes. He hadn’t done more than talk to his folks on the phone once or twice a year since coming to Boston. That was the complete extent of his social life.

  What had happened to his life? Hunting, vengence, work – suddenly he wondered: Was that all there was?

  “You’re serious, aren’t you?” he heard her say.

  Sean looked up at her, “Can we go to your place? Mine really isn’t much to look at.”

  Teresa gave a short laugh, “Well that was fast. I don’t think I’ve ever been propositioned so quickly before.”

  “You expressed an interest, and yes, I’m inexperienced.” Sean said slowly, his brain starting to engage in this new problem, this new situation. He really didn't know all that much about women or socializing he suddenly realized. “I haven’t been a very social person for years, Teresa, I’m afraid I have let my work take over my life. How would you like to be the one to show me the error of my ways?”

  Teresa smiled brightly, “Much better. How about we go get some dinner?”

  Sean smiled back and stood, “That would be nice.”

  Sunday morning found Sean in Teresa’s bed. Again. He actually hadn’t left her company since Friday, bedding her that night and again the next. He found that he really enjoyed sex, and Teresa was a lively, if slightly demanding, partner. She taught him a lot that first night, keeping him awake until the following dawn. Last night he had spent hours showing her he had paid a great deal of attention to her lessons, and was rewarded with even more lessons.

  Looking down at her he smiled. He knew she wanted him, he might not be a social genius, but he wasn’t stupid and both he and the cat figured out quickly that she was looking at him as an investment. She probably thought she would overwhelm him with her sexuality and then leash him to her, he suspected she’d be talking marriage within the month. He was, after all, the highest paid engineer at the company. With six patents to his name he'd amassed quite the bank balance.

  But the idea of settling down did not appeal to him. The idea of having a string of beauties like her at his beck and call did appeal greatly however. He spent a few minutes pondering his realization of a few nights ago. Suddenly the burning desire to hunt was no longer quite so burning. He had done his part, he had punished scores of wrong doers, maybe it was time he buried that demon, closed the door on that part of his life, and moved on. That led to the realization that he had actually started to move beyond the initial reason for his hunting and vengeance. He was starting to enjoy it, hell he was enjoying it! He was starting to become a monster, if he kept at it, he would one day be a monster.

  That would be very wrong. Yes, it was time he changed.

  “Morning handsome,” Teresa said and yawned, stretching rather fetchingly, distracting him from his thoughts.

  “Morning, sleepyhead.” Sean whispered back and starting to lick and nibble her body. Yes, a change was in store for him. And maybe a life as well.

  “Oh! Somebody wants something!” She laughed running a hand down to his erection.

  “Somebody most definitely does,” he whispered back huskily, and then showed her just how good of a student he was.

  The next month went by quickly. Sean no longer had much interest in his work. He wrapped up what he was working on and took a few weeks to do a little skirt chasing among his other female cowor
kers. Two quickly accepted his advances, rather surprisingly, and he bedded each immediately. Three more fell into his bed not long after that. He was honestly shocked to find out that he was considered to be rather attractive and desirable by the women in his office. Teresa was of course unhappy with this turn of events and let her displeasure be known.

  But by then Sean realized that it was time to move on. He wrote his resignation, gathered his few belongings, cleared out his bank accounts, and picked a flight at random to a city over a thousand miles away. It was time for a change, and he was going to make a big one.

  Liz

  Hard Lessons

  It took him a week to find a place to live, he wanted the top floor of an apartment building, well actually just half of it, but he wanted things arranged in a manner that let him come and go unobserved. In the end he had to buy the building, and did it through a front that his old sensei had set up for him many years ago. He set some contractors to remodeling it, then went down to the shadier part of town and found himself a nice little two bedroom place and set up a long term contract on that one, though this time he went in his man/cat hybrid fighting form. Being the bad part of town he didn’t get too many questions asked of him, though he did draw more than a few looks, but his cash was most definitely welcome. He moved in immediately and started living there. His midtown place would be a few months to complete and he wasn’t planning on staying there much, just when he felt like being human, or needed a place to lie low for a while.

  He got a lot of looks the next few days while he got settled in, he was definitely one of the more exotic looking supers now that he was no longer using his human form. But that was why he'd picked this part of town, where the bad guys were more likely to be found. It meant that the locals would leave him alone.

  Again he took a few precautions at this place, having a few things installed and installing a few more himself. He took to wearing slightly baggy, but stylish pants, with a slit in the back to let his long thick tail out comfortably. A nice, and expensive silk shirt, black usually, and a dark black duster. Occasionally a hat as well. He then switched his hours to something of a more nocturnal bent, getting up in the afternoon and not coming home till dawn. Something he had long known the cat in him preferred.

  That evening he spent walking down the streets in his new neighborhood, looking around at the sights. Well, more like the local landmarks. People were still a little surprised to see him, but he was no longer a shock to them now that a few days had gone by, and he was finally starting to get used to going out in public after decades of hiding what he really was from the public. Eventually he found someone passing out flyers for a rave and decided to go check it out.

  The rave was pretty cool, he'd heard about them of course, but he'd never been to one. There were a lot of girls, drugs, and alcohol there, along with a lot of loud music and flashing lights.

  But the best part was the attention he was attracting from the girls, they all seemed rather fascinated by his feline appearance.

  "Hi!" A rather hot blond said coming up and putting her hand on his furry chest. He'd opened his shirt because it was rather warm inside. "I'm Jean! I haven't seen you around here before!"

  "I just got into town," Sean admitted.

  "Oh!" she said and smiled, moving closer to him, and slipping her hand down inside his shirt, running her fingers through his dark fur. "Buy me a drink, handsome?" She giggled and smiled up at him.

  "Sure," he said and waved to the guy working the bar and she ordered a vodka martini.

  "So, tell me about you?" she asked, crawling up into his lap as he sat down at the bar, surprising him. She was making her interests in him known rather blatantly.

  "I just moved into town, and thought I'd take in the sights," he purred and put a hand on her ass and gave it a squeeze.

  "Oh? Who do you work for?"

  "Nobody," Sean smiled.

  Jean twisted in his lap a little and smiled up at him, "Nobody? Must be nice!"

  Sean laughed, "Yeah, it is," and he bent his head down and kissed her, setting his drink down and letting his hands explore her rather well developed body.

  Jean didn't hesitate and started trying to undress him almost immediately; Sean could only guess that she was rather turned on by all the fur. Looking around he noticed there were a lot of dark spaces around, and a lot of people having sex in them.

  Picking Jean up, he made for one of the unoccupied ones, and five minutes later he had her pinned to the wall as he fucked her brains out.

  He bought her another drink after they were done and had put their clothes back on, and surprisingly she grabbed his arm and asked if he'd like to take her back to his place for the night?

  Sean smiled and couldn't really believe his luck!

  "Sure!" He smiled and putting an arm around her he led her towards the exit.

  "What's your name, anyway?"

  "Umm," Sean thought for a moment, the last thing he wanted to do was give anyone any clues as to who he might really be. Then he saw an old vintage style poster on the wall by the exit for the old 'The Shadow' radio show.

  "Shadow," he said. "Shadow Cat."

  "Really?" Jean smiled, "That's cool. Shadow. I like that!"

  Sean smiled and flagged down a cab once they were outside.

  Jean kept him up until morning, introducing him to a lot of different drugs, as well as engaging him in almost constant sex.

  "Oh wow, is it after ten already?" Jean said looking down at him, she was straddling his hips; they had just finished having sex again. Shadow had lost count hours ago, the woman seemed insatiable.

  "You need to be somewhere?" Shadow asked, hoping the answer was yes. With all the drugs in his system he was really pretty messed up. Next time he'd know better than to just take whatever she offered him.

  "Yeah, I do," she sighed and leaning down she gave him a kiss, then grabbing a towel she got up off of him and after wiping herself off, she started to gather up her clothes.

  "I'm going to a party tonight, want to come?" she asked and smiled at him. "It'll be a lot of fun, and afterwards we can come back here and party some more."

  Shadow purred, he'd really gotten lucky with this one!

  "Yeah, I'd like that!"

  She got a piece of paper out of her purse and wrote her phone number on it.

  "Call me around four, and I'll tell you where to meet me."

  "That early?" Sean said, surprised. He'd be lucky to get six hours of sleep, and really didn't want to get up until at least eight.

  "Well, the party starts at eight, and I need a new dress, so I was hoping?" she smiled at him rather saucily, "I want to look good for you, lover."

  Shadow smiled and nodded.

  Jean handed him the piece of paper and he followed her to the door, a little shaky on his feet. As soon as she was gone, he locked the door and shifted into his healing form. Setting the alarm for four, he collapsed onto his bed and was out immediately.

  They got there after nine; Jean had spent a couple hundred of his dollars on a rather nice outfit, after dragging him all over town. At least he knew enough not to take any of the drugs she offered. Sean looked around as they walked inside. There was some serious muscle in here, and a lot of disreputable types. And drugs. There were drugs everywhere. And gals, lots of gals, probably five or six per guy, easily. And damn near all of them were pretty hot looking too.

  “What kind of party is this anyway, Jean?”

  “A bad guy bash,” she said and snuggled up against him. Sean noticed a few gals were eyeing him. “I think you’ll fit right in.”

  “Well I gotta admit the scenery is pretty nice,” he chuckled.

  “Hey, just remember who brought you here!” she protested.

  Sean smiled and gave her a squeeze. “Uh-huh. So, who are your friends here then?”

  Jean led him over to a large table.

  “This is Shadow Cat,” she said to the two guys sitting at the table. One was obviously in charge;
the other looked like a bodyguard or something. Sean smiled at the name, he still thought it was corny, but she thought it was cool so he decided to stick with it.

  “And this is Scorecard, and his lieutenant Vito.” She finished

  Sean gave a small bow to Scorecard, “Gentlemen, thank you for your hospitality, I am honored.”

  Scorecard’s eyebrows went up a little and he leaned forward a bit, “You follow the old ways?”

  Sean gave a small nod. “My master taught me to always show respect to the local leaders and bosses. It is obvious that you are a man of such stature, it would be rude and impolite of me to treat you with anything less than the respect you have obviously earned.”

  Scorecard laughed and leaned back in his seat. “I like you, Shadow, looking for work?”

  “Thank you for the offer, but no. I’m currently enjoying a rather extended vacation.”

  “Sounds like someone is laying low waiting for the heat to die down, Boss,” Vito said giving Sean an appraising look and a slight nod.

  Sean smiled, “That of course, would be telling. Thank you again gentlemen, I’ll not take up any more of your time.”

  “You’re welcome, Shadow Cat. Feel free to come to any of my parties. There’s always room for those who believe in respect.” Scorecard said and waved him off to the party.

  “Wow, that was impressive!” Jean said to him as they walked back towards one of the bars. Sean looked around and realized they were in a converted warehouse, the place was actually huge.

  “Why’s that?”

  “A lot of guys try to act tough and pull an attitude so he often has Vito beat them up.”

  “And you of course didn’t think to mention that?” Sean growled at her.

  “Uh... I uhhhh, didn’t mean to...” She stuttered looking embarrassed.

  “Relax; I’m not going to do anything to you. But if you want in my bed again tonight, better not pull a stunt like that again. Got it?”