Your Soul to Take (Rise of the Fallen) (9 page)

“Exactly.
Except none of us are as evil as some politicians.”

“One
of us is,” I said and nodded to where Jenny had been murdered.

“True.
What bothers me about it is
no one
has broken the Truce since the Rift.
To Reap a soul that didn’t break the law is…” She let her voice trail off,
letting me know that even she couldn’t get a grasp of it.

“Well,
it happened. Now we need to find out who did it and hope they don’t do it
again.”

She
nodded. “Keep a close eye on your sister. If she really was its target, it
might try again.”

“You’re
right. Can I ask you something?”

“Of
course.”

“Promise
you won’t freak out?”

“No.”

“At
least promise you won’t hurt me?”

“Maybe.”

It
was as good as I was going to get. “How much do you know about Raven? The
girls said the attacker was cloaked all in black. You’ve seen Raven. She makes
goth look cheerful.”

“She
is one of the oldest of the old. She is, or was, one of the Dominions.”

“What
does that mean?”

“They
were the middle hierarchy of the angels. Only the Seraphim, Cherubim, and
Thrones had more power. They were the ones who were the administrators of the
Creator’s will. What was passed down, came to be.”

“What
do you mean?”

“Floods,
famine, all the good stuff. Their power was, and still is, incredible.”

“Then
why is she teaching me, and why isn’t she on the Triad?”

“The
Rift. You know that the Usurper was a Seraphim, the most powerful of us all,
right?”

I
had heard that before and nodded. “Yeah.”

“Well,
after the Rift, most of the middle and upper hierarchy decided they were done
with this plane of existence and left.”

“You
mean they committed suicide?”

“No.
That is one of the greatest of laws. They just vanished. No one knows where
they went. A few of them, such as Raven, stayed to advise, but they would never
assume a leadership role. There is no trust among us that they wouldn’t cause
another Rift. That and they care little for anything anymore. They are not what
they once were. So to answer your question if I think it could be Raven? My
answer is no. She would have little interest in your sister, this world, or
anything else. She probably only agreed to train you for a bit of a chuckle.”

“Gee,
thanks. The rest of it makes sense, though. Fighting takes it all out of
you.”

“Especially
the Rift War. From what I hear, it was bad. Unimaginable bad.”

“Gotcha.
So when were you born?”

“A
few millennia after. I was one of the last. Until you came along that is.”

“And
you were born a Fallen?”

“Yes.”

“Where
are your parents now?”

“You
know Darius. My mother lives in another realm.”

“Wait.
Wait one stinking minute. Darius is your
father
?”

Clarisse
chuckled softly. “He sired me. I don’t know if you would call it being a
father. We are not born helpless like human babies. We are not coddled. We are
acknowledged. That is about it.”

“That
is kind of the saddest thing I’ve ever heard. Do you love your children?”

“Love.”
She seemed to think about it for a few minutes. “Not like you do. Down
deep, we love everyone, but… We are more embracive to the more passionate
emotions. Love, when you live forever, just like hate is an emotion better left
unfelt.”

“Okay.
I take it back.
That
is the saddest thing I’ve ever heard. I kind of
think I want to go home and hug my parents.”

“I
do, too,” Clarisse said and laughed.

“Wait
a minute! What about Mr. James and Jessie. He loves her with everything he’s
got.”

“Once
you throw a human into the mix, all bets are off. I’m sure he loved her mother,
too.”

“I
know he did. Jessie told me all about them.”

“It’s
different with humans.”

“Why?”

“No
one knows.”

“Great.”

“Alright,
bedtime.”

“Gee.
Thanks, Mom. See. You’re learning,” I said with a wink. “Good night,
Clarisse. Thanks.”

“For
what?”

“Answers
and being here when I needed you.”

She
walked over to me and gave
me
a hug. I returned it, but when my arms
slid around her, she pulled back. “Close enough, mister,” she said
and smiled.

Chapter 12

“Connor!
Jessie’s here!”

My
sister’s shrill voice echoed through the house and rattled through my teeth.
“Okay!”

I
pulled my shoes on and ran downstairs, seeing Jess and Caelyn chatting in the
living room. From the amount of giggles I heard, I figured I was the topic of
conversation.

“What
did I do now?”

They
both turned, looked at me, and giggled even harder. “Nothing,” Jessie
said, but I could tell she wasn’t telling the truth.

“Uh
huh. You ready to go, beautiful?”

“I’m
not going,” Caelyn responded innocently.

“You’re
also not beautiful,” I immediately responded.

“Connor
Sullivan. You take that back right now!”

I
didn’t know Mom was in the kitchen. She didn’t sound too happy with my witty
comeback. In fact, even Jessie didn’t look too happy with it either.”

“Relax
everyone! Caelyn knows I’m just kidding. Right, Cae?”

She
was looking down at her lap and sniffling. She said nothing. “Cae?”

“Connor!”

“Connor
Ryan,” my mom chimed in from the kitchen.

“Cae!”

She
started laughing, and looked up at me and gave me an evil grin. “Yeah. I
know.”

I
sighed in relief. “You’re a brat. They almost killed me, you know,” I
said and pointed at Jess and Mom, who still didn’t look too happy.

“Don’t
worry. I wouldn’t have let them cut off much,” she said and punched me in
the arm before running upstairs.

“Sisters,”
I said to Jess, who only rolled her eyes.

“A
good rule of thumb is to
never
tell a woman she’s not beautiful. Even if
she is your sister. Wars have started over that crap.”

I
nodded dutifully. “Consider it an oversight on my part, one that shall
never be repeated again,” I said and bowed low in a sweeping gesture.

“Smart
boy. You ready to go?”

“Yep.
You want to walk or take the scooter?”

“Oh,
I have a surprise for you.”

“What?”

“Come
on. Follow me,” she said and walked toward the front door. She opened it
and pointed outside.

In
the driveway was a shiny new convertible Mustang. “Holy crap. But wait.
You don’t have your license yet!”

“I
do. Daddy took me after school on Wednesday. You were off doing something, so I
decided to surprise you.”

“Consider
me surprised!” I pulled her into a hug and kissed her on the lips.
“Did I mention I’m very proud of you?”

“Not
yet, you haven’t.”

“Well,
I am.” I sighed heavily. I really needed to get off my butt and go get
mine. Maybe then the parents would finally relent and let me get something
bigger than a scooter.

The
one problem with Jessie driving was that she was too nervous to let go of the
steering wheel with both hands. Normally when we sat next to each other, her
hand was in mine. Being this close and not doing it kind of bothered me.

“You
okay?”

“Yeah.
Just not used to not holding your hand.”

“Don’t
worry, Mr. Clingy, we’ll be at the mall in a minute.”

“I
know,” I said defensively.

“Just
so you know, I like that you’re clingy,” she said with a slight wink,
taking her eyes off the road for just a moment.

That
brightened my spirits enough to put a smile on my face for the remainder of the
drive. It was only two minutes, as she said, but it felt a lot longer.

I
growled when she got a spot right in front of the mall. “What is it with
the women in my life and good parking spots?”

“You
better mean your mother and your sister.”

“Of
course I do, Mrs. Clingy.”

“Says
the guy who can’t even go five minutes without holding my hand.”

“Good
point.”

True
to her word, her hand was back in mine as we walked into the mall. It wasn’t
quite Thanksgiving yet, but most of the stores and even the mall itself were
decorated with lights, holly, and bright colored ribbons. Even the Santa
Encounter was being erected the last time I was there.

The
sounds of Christmas carols wafted through the air. The smell of fresh pretzels
assailed my nostrils, begging me to break my promise and pop their freshly
baked, salted flesh into my mouth. I glanced over at Aunt Annie’s and Shannon
was nowhere in sight. I sighed in relief, but steeled my resolve not to even
mention the word “pretzel” in Jessie’s presence.

“They
do
smell
good, don’t they?” Jessie said timidly.

I
played dumb. “What does?”

“Shut
up. I know you can smell the pretzels.”

“Oh,
those.
I guess. If you’re into that sorta thing.”

She
swatted my arm and dragged me to the pretzel shop. I gawked at her like she was
mad. “Relax,” she said. “Shannon doesn’t work here
anymore.”

“Huh?”

“She
got fired.”

“Huh?”

“Yeah.
Someone called in an anonymous tip that she was giving free pretzels out to all
her friends. Imagine that.”

I
stared at her as she ordered two pretzels and two cokes from the new girl
behind the counter. “Wow,” I finally managed to say.

“Didn’t
think I had it in me?”

“To
tell you the truth, I’m just shocked that you didn’t hire a hit man,” I
said and gave her a smile, truly impressed with her vindictive side that I
hoped I never had to face in a million-and-a-half years.

“Daddy
wouldn’t pay for the hit man.”

“Yeah.
Might be hard to explain that on his American Express bill to his accountant.”

We
munched on our food as we wandered through the mall. Jessie left me standing
outside Angelique’s Closet while she went in to look at some items. Who they
were for was a mystery. I kind of
hoped
they were for me. I just hoped
she didn’t expect me to wear them. I waved at Clarisse through the window and
she nodded while she rang up an older lady. She shrugged, wondering what I
wanted. I pointed at Jess who was looking at some revealing tank-top looking
thingies. She smiled and went back to work.

I
turned around and looked at a few of the shops around me, wondering if I could
pick up anything on my shopping list. The trendy record shop that sold
cult-series merchandise would be a good place to pick up some Dr. Who
paraphernalia for my dad. I could even pick up some useless pretty thing for my
mom at the Hallmark store. That just left Cae and Jess. I popped my head in to
Angelique’s and hissed at Jess. “I’ll be next door.”

I
wanted to be quiet and not draw attention to the teenage boy sticking his head
into a lingerie store. It didn’t work. Everyone turned around and smiled at my
unwillingness to venture forth into the realm of lady’s undergarments.

Jess
nodded absently and I blushed my way out of the store, breathing normally as I
finally made it out of sight. I made it all of twelve steps when I felt the
pull
.

I
found myself turning in the opposite direction I had been going. Thoughts of
Christmas presents were quickly replaced by a
need
to hurry to the other
end of the mall. I couldn’t explain it. I just had to be there.

Without
running, I made my way through the hundreds of slow moving patrons doing their
shopping. I heard someone briefly call my name, but I ignored it. I was on a
mission, to do what I wasn’t sure.

I
finally slowed down by the food court. Nothing seemed unusual, just a bunch of
people eating lunch or grabbing a snack. I scanned the crowd and found even
more nothing. I shook my head to clear it, and turned to head back toward
Jessie when it hit me again.

I
spun and shot through the food court in a full run, bursting through the glass
entryway and outside. Something was very, very wrong and I still didn’t know
what it was.

I
quickly ran toward the sea of cars parked in rows, each person trying to park
as close to the entrance as possible. The ground was littered with drink cups
and food wrappers. I inadvertently kicked a few of them in my haste to get into
the parking lot. My body kept being dragged farther and farther away until I
was almost at the farthest row of cars.

I
looked around. There were a few open spots, but not many. I kept walking the
length of the last row until the
need
I had been feeling screamed into
an alarm that rattled through me like someone had strapped a siren to my brain.

The
feeling intensified as I drew closer to a ratty-looking green Ford that was
probably older than I was. Whatever I was feeling was in there. My hand slowly
reached out to open the door. I briefly wondered if the handle would fall off
if I touched it, but the door opened with a rusty creak. The windows had been
tinted enough that I couldn’t see inside, but with the door opened, sunlight
poured into the driver’s side of the car.

A
young girl huddled in the passenger’s seat and a literal monster loomed in the
driver’s. As soon as the door was fully opened, she screamed for help. The
whatever-it-was turned toward me and snarled, drool dripping from its maw of
razor-sharp teeth. It leapt onto me and I cracked my skull against the dirty
asphalt beneath me. My arms shot up and I grabbed the thing by its shoulders,
stopping it from biting my face off.

As
soon as my hands touched it, I felt
everything
.

In
my grasp was one Thomas Harding. He had wished to be a werewolf ten years ago.
He lived in Johnsonville, which was nearly a three-hour ride from Cedar Hills.
He hadn’t come to our town to do any Christmas shopping, he had come to
hunt.

For
the past few years, he had been wondering what it would be like to feed off a
human. He had started small, feeding off the wildlife in the forests that
surrounded his town, but even the thrill of the kill was never enough. Deer
blood was sweet, but he was sure human blood would be even sweeter.

The
only thing that kept him at bay was fear. Only the fear of getting caught, not
by the Fallen surprisingly enough, but by the police, stopped him from giving
in to his whim. He held a disdain for the Fallen, finding them uncaring. Deep
down he didn’t think they would care if he ate a human or two, they probably
just told him the laws to keep him from preying upon too many.

A
missing person in a smallish town like Johnsonville wouldn’t go unnoticed. He
had watched enough television to know about DNA tests and such. With a limited
amount of suspects, somehow or someway, he was sure to be caught.

Until
he came up with the notion to hunt elsewhere.

The
sleepy little town of Cedar Hills would be perfect. It was far enough from his
territory he was sure he could get away with it. When he happened upon the mall
and saw the young girl looking for her car in the farthest reaches of the
parking lot, he knew he had found his next meal.

He
watched her as she wandered around and then made his move when the lot was
devoid of prying eyes. He grabbed her, put his hand over her mouth, and dragged
her to his car. He forced her inside through his door and slipped in beside
her, slamming the door behind him. He laughed at her as she tried to open the
other door, which hadn’t worked for years. Then he turned. Her screams melted
into his ears like candy on his tongue. Her fear would make her flesh that much
sweeter. He leaned in and licked her neck, from her shoulder to her ear. Sure
enough, she did taste just like candy.

Suddenly,
his door opened…

I
blinked my eyes a few times to clear memories that weren’t mine from my head. I
stared at the snarling face in front of me in absolute horror and disgust.

This
man was another Brett.

This
man didn’t deserve to have the gift that had been given to him. Then another
thought crossed my mind that I prayed wasn’t mine.
This man didn’t deserve
to live.

My
body took over.

My
wings sprouted beneath me, lifting me from the pavement a few inches. My hands
transformed, talons sprouting from my fingertips. They slowly sank into the
flesh of the monster above me, totally preventing him from getting away. I felt
a heat flow through my eyes. His expression told me everything I needed to
know. My eyes were glowing red. He knew what I was.

He
whimpered in fear as I released one of his shoulders and put my hand to his
face. My magic poured down my arm and through my hand, pooling inside him and
gathering his soul. His whimpers slowly faded from his throat as I pulled my
hand away, dragging his soul out with it.

His
soul looked like a blue, glowing translucent copy of his balding human self,
not the monster he turned into. Its pitiful cries for help and mercy sounded
like squeaks that would have been funny under any other circumstances.

I
pushed his body away and kept his soul in my hand as I stood. When the last of
it snapped from his body, the soul began to collect in upon itself, shrinking
down in size and turning into a blue glowing orb.

“You
broke the law, Thomas,” I whispered to the globe and released it into the
clear blue skies above me.

As
it floated away, I turned back into my human-looking self and checked on the
girl inside the car. She was staring at me like
I
was the monster, until
it finally dawned on her that I had just saved her life.

“Thank
you,” she whispered as her eyes widened. I had a feeling she might be
going into shock as the reality of what had just happened sank in a little
more.

“You’re
fine,” I said and caught her eye. I let my mind magic settle onto her
gaze. “The man on the ground tried to abduct you, but he must have had a
heart attack with all the excitement. Why don’t you rest for a bit, and when you
wake up, call the police and let them know what happened here.”