Beautiful Souls (31 page)

    
              No one had told me soul possession was painful. It was even more than that though, it was downright excruciating. I thought I would scream certainly, but I tried to hold on to what little control I still maintained.

    
              The process and transformation was insane and intense. Red-hot lava flowed through my veins, my mind had been wiped blank, feelings and sensations turned numb, and my ears deafened by the throbbing of my quickening heart-rate.

    
              I wasn’t sure how much time had passed, but I was certain it fell into the minutes category rather than seconds. I gave in to the pain finally, and allowed each sensation to take me over.

    
              “Becca, no!”

    
              All I heard was an indecipherable muffled noise, as if someone had screamed under water.

    
              “Oh, God! What did you do?”

    
              This time the words sounded more distinct, but they remained indecipherable still. The pain seemed to ease somewhat; either that, or I had grown numb to its ache. My head more or less began to clear, and the throbbing in my ears and chest had ceased.

    
              “Why? Becca, why would you do something so reckless and crazy? What have you done?”

    
              “I think she’s coming to.”

    
              That last comment I understood. What the hell? I passed out? Again?

    
              “Becca, can you hear me?” I recognized Leo’s frantic voice. I felt his hands on my arms and I could sense his panic.

    
              “Yeah, I’m good, I think. I’m here,” I responded groggily. I hadn’t noticed my eyes being closed till I finally opened them.

    
              Leo was crouched over my dirty body, concern filled his bloodshot eyes. There was another figure also. Lots of black. Oh right, Luke was here.

    
              “Becca, why the hell did you do that?” Leo helped me to a sitting position.

    
              I rubbed my head, massaging away the final traces of brain fog. “I don’t know, really. My instincts kinda took over I guess, I just decided to do it, and I did it.”

    
              “Or stupidity took over.” Leo shook his head.

    
              “Hey.”

    
              “I’m serious, Becca. You have no idea what kind of soul you possess now.”

    
              “Well I guess we’ll find out, won’t we,” I responded sarcastically.

    
              “That’s not funny,” Leo snapped back.

    
              “Leo’s right, Becca. You didn’t know Zoey very well or what she was capable of. The soul you now possess could be a dark one,” Luke explained.

    
              “Or my mom’s,” Leo mumbled.

    
              “I’m sorry.” I didn’t know what else to say.

    
              “Well for starters, I think you should both know that Zoey wasn’t a seventeen-year-old high school girl.”

    
              If she wasn’t that, then what? I shook my head in an attempt to comprehend. “What the hell was she?”

    
              “She came from a coven of very old Witches and Warlocks. Our so-called parents, for all intents and purposes, were from a similar practicing coven. They’re ancient in age and in practice,” Luke spoke slowly.

    
              “Wait a minute,” Leo interrupted. “Are you telling us that Zoey’s body…that body right there, isn’t really
her
body?”

    
              “That’s exactly what I’m telling you. She’d hexed that body to be her current one, but no, it’s not the one that she was born with. Neither were our so-called parents’ bodies. They moved on months ago, by the way. Our entire family structure, it was all just a show; part of the ruse in order to get any one of us nearer to you.” Luke’s intense gaze burned into my retinas.

    
              I scrambled backward clumsily and slipped on the mud and gravel-packed ground.

    
              Leo shook. “You’re not going to lay one hand on her!”

    
              “Wait a minute! Wait a minute!” I yelled. “Who are you really?”                   “I’m not a warlock. Is that what you thought? No, no, I’m really just an average eighteen-year-old guy. Well, if you forget the fact that I lived with Wizards.”

    
              “Why were you with all of them?” Leo asked skeptically, gesturing toward Zoey’s lifeless form and keeping up his stance, reading to fight at any moment.

    
              “Wrong place, wrong time. They snatched me off a beach in the Florida Keys a couple years ago and used me as their muscle and errand boy. All this time, we’ve bounced from state to state, tracking down new souls for them with each new location. Their ultimate goal was finding The Book Of Magic, but finding and killing Naturals was always a bonus for them.”

    
              “I don’t understand. Why do they want to kill Naturals?” I asked.

    
              “Less to contend with. No one standing in their way, I suppose.”

    
              “Hang on a minute. You said they moved months ago? Where?” I asked, confused.

    
              “Don’t know. Matriculated again, but they’ll be back.”

    
              “You said they’re ancient?” Leo questioned.

    
              “Again, I don’t know for sure. You see, none of them ever intended to die. This was their way, they’re plan, to gain immortality. With each and every new place they traveled, another life would be taken and a new soul possessed. Since they never remained in the same body long enough to grow old or sick, then essentially they could live forever. Well, that was their plan, anyway.”

    
              “Oh. My. God.”

    
              “I don’t get it.” Leo looked baffled. “How’d they do it? I can only stay in my shift form for a few minutes. How did they stay, and live, in those bodies?”

    
              “Some type of ancient black magic, voodoo magic, that I overheard them mention in secrecy once or twice. But again, I don’t really know the details. They never confided their plans in me. They only kept me around for their convenience. They even told me I’d be dead the moment I’d no longer fulfilled a purpose. I’m lucky to have lived this long. I actually thought they would’ve tried to kill me a long time ago.

    
              “I’m sorry that I can’t tell you two anymore, but like I said, I’m not a Wizard. I can share my thoughts and visions non-verbally though. You know, like telekinesis. My so-called mother put some sort of spell on me when they first took me, so that I could communicate with them while I was out doing their bidding. I still haven’t managed to figure out if it works only through them or if I could use it on anybody. Probably just them, I imagine. I tried to share my memories of Zoey with you a few times, Becca. I tried to warm you of her dangerous ways, but I suspect you’d have known if it had worked.”

    
              I perked up. “It did work! I think.”

    
              “Really? That was a total shot in the dark. What’d you see?”

    
              “Well, the first time it happened, was in school and all I really saw was Zoey in different places. There were just flashes of her in locations and towns that I’ve never seen before.”

    
              “Yes! That was the first time I tried to send you my memories of her. That was my first day of school here.”

    
              “Oh yeah, that’s right. I remember you glaring at me from across the hallway. I couldn’t figure out why you’d looked at me like that.”

    
              “Sorry about the creepy vibe. I was trying to send you images of all the terrible things she had done, to warn you to stay away from her. I’d known we’d come here for them to get to you, and they had an inclination that you had The Book. They had all been following it for years, you know,” Luke nodded, as if he’d just told me something important. “I suppose though, that my images weren’t strong enough. You must have only received partial visions.”

    
              “I can’t believe that it was you, all along. I’d always thought the visions were connected to Zoey. I just couldn’t figure out the randomness of them, why at times they were so strong when I was in close proximity to her, then other times not so much. Sometimes I’d have the visions when she wasn’t around at all, and I could have sworn she’d been lingering in the woods just out of sight. I thought for sure the visions had been sent by Zoey,” I coughed up a nervous laugh. “It was becoming a little creepy feeling like I was always being watched,” I confessed.

    
              “Who’s to say you weren’t?” Leo added, as he dug a grave near the edge of the clearing close to the woods. He wanted to make sure the body would not be washed up or uncovered by the rushing river at a later point in time.

    
              “Honestly, Zoey probably had watched you. And like I said, the others will return eventually to check on our progress in obtaining The Book. You’ll have that to contend with one day…and so will I, come to think of it. But I was the one sending you the visions, not Zoey.”

    
              “Great,” I replied sarcastically. The news that ancient, voodoo practicing wizards would be back one day --- probably one day soon with me in their sights --- was not welcome news.

    
              “Yeah, well, it’s all in the life of being a Natural, I suppose.” Luke sent me a comforting wink, patted my knee, then stood to his full height. “I’ll talk to you again soon. I’m going to help Leo with the digging.”

    
              I nodded. I watched as the two of them used what appeared to be small logs to carve out a grave-like ditch. They used flattened river rocks to sculpt the bottom of the hole, and I could smell earth, smoke, and fresh springtime vegetation on the light breeze blowing across the river.

    
              I could tell Leo was attempting to play off his emotions. He was trying to act tough. Even though Zoey wasn’t really what we considered to be human because of all the lives she’d taken over so many years, I could tell that Leo was having conflicting arguments inside his head over what he’d done. I’m sure having to see his mom for months, knowing it wasn’t actually her, caused damage of it’s own as well. Leo had a lot to overcome, but right now he was simply trying to take care of what needed done, overcompensating for his pain by keeping busy and acting as if it all didn’t bother him.

    
              “We need to hurry and get this done before some morning jogger accidentally stumbles across what we’re doing here.”

    
              “Agreed,” Luke said determinedly. “I think we’re good here. Let’s get her body.”

    
              I watched and listened, as Leo mumbled words I couldn’t quite understand. My ears perked up at snippets of foreign words said under Leo’s breath, and I realized quickly that he had cast a spell. Moments later I watched with astonished amazement, as both Leo and Luke tossed boulder after giant boulder into the grave after the body, then Leo filled the ditch to capacity with the fresh unpacked dirt using only one full sweep of his arms.

    
              “How, how did you do that?” I stuttered.

    
              “Superman spell. That’s what I call it, anyhow. It only lasts about twenty minutes, but sure as hell came in handy today,” Leo answered, while he and Luke walked around for a couple seconds making strong-man poses.

    
              It felt strange that none of us were showing any emotions over the death of an ancient Witch, especially since I had been infatuated with her just a few short months ago and Luke was her so-called brother. I supposed that was one’s destiny, though, when all they’d accomplished in life for centuries was the selfish death and destruction of the people around them --- Wizards and humans alike --- then this sort of seemed like part of her payback. I was certain Zoey would get more of what she deserved in the afterlife. I hoped, anyway.

    
              The boys fidgeted with the  natural elements and perfected the grave sight till it looked as if the vegetation growing there hadn’t been trampled on in years. They made their way back over to me, and Leo put his hand out to help me up from the ground where I’d been sitting for some time.

    
              “We need to grab the horses,” Leo mentioned to Luke. “Do you want to ride back with us?”

    
              I knew this gesture took a lot for Leo to offer. I could tell that he didn’t know whether or not to trust Luke, but probably felt that he at least owed him this much after all of his help, not to mention being a traitor to his own so-called family in order to warn us. This situation was so utterly confusing and screwed up, and now The Book Of Magic was gone.