Collide (40 page)

“NO!” I screamed, and jumped forward. My hand
slammed into its chest and I again felt Maria’s fingers against
mine. I squeezed my hand so hard my tendons actually groaned and I
pulled backwards for all I was worth. The
Gaki
screamed and
screamed
, but I refused to let my best friend go. Little by
little she emerged and separated from the
Gaki’s
body, her
eyes desperate on mine as she silently begged for me to not give
up.

I dug my heels in and pulled with everything
I had as my own strength returned and determination filled my mind.
Bit by bit I pulled the soul of my best friend out of the cage that
had contained it for the past several months.

A final yank and she was free, but I knew I
wasn’t done. I continued to hold tightly to her hand as I carefully
guided her to where her body lay, and with my free hand I reached
down and placed it directly over her heart. Only then did I release
her hand. Maria faded from sight, but I felt her heart lurch
underneath my left hand and her chest hitched as she took in a
breath. She coughed and sat up, managed to croak out “the others”
before she doubled over and vomited.

I leapt to my feet and ran to where the
Gaki
writhed on the ground. My eyes blurred again as I got
closer, and I saw more people standing around staring down at it.
They were all faded to the point that they looked like wisps of
smoke. One in particular caught my attention, for it was the same
man as the body that twisted at my feet, and I realized that it had
to be the soul of Akira’s brother. They all looked at me and one by
one held out their hands.

“You bitch!” the
Gaki
screamed, but I
closed my ears to its rage, reached out, grabbed a hand, and
twisted
.

There was the sound of paper ripping, a rush
of wind that stirred no leaves in its passing, and I watched as one
by one the souls of the
Gaki’s
victims were released from
their prison and vanished. I knew that their bodies no longer
existed and I couldn’t return them the way I had Maria, but as they
disappeared they smiled at me. Young men and women whispered “thank
you” across my heart as they vanished, and I couldn’t stop the
tears when Akira’s brother added in
watch over him
as he
left. I drew in a deep breath as that something that had been taken
from me returned and my mind fully cleared just as the last person,
a young Japanese man who looked like he was wearing some type of
priestly robes, bowed deeply to me.

Your gift has saved us, thank you. I knew
you were the one we needed, which is why we caused the Gaki to
fixate upon you,
whispered through my mind, and my jaw dropped
when I realized that the priest was speaking to me.
I only wish
I could guide you through that which I have awoken, but you have
friends who will help you
.

“Wait, what?!” I cried, but I was too late
and the priest’s soul faded from view.

The night was quiet with only the moans of
Akira and the
Gaki
to break the silence. My eyes first went
to Maria, who was bending over Dellar and checking on the wound in
his chest, and then I hurried over to Akira. I paused to pick up
his
katana
from where the
Gaki
had dropped it.

“Oh my god, Akira,” I said once I got a real
good look at his wounds. I don’t know how he hadn’t completely lost
the one wing, and both ends of the puncture were still bleeding
steadily. I didn’t know how to help him. I couldn’t call for help
because there was no cell phone service, and the whole issue of the
fact that he had wings was something you just couldn’t smooth
over.

“I’ll be ok,” he rasped. One bloodied hand
reached out to cup my cheek as his warm eyes held mine. “I need my
katana
, it will help me heal.”

I handed it to him, bewildered when he
cuddled it to his chest as if he were holding a kitten or even a
baby. The katana started to glow softly, and as I watched his
bleeding began to slow and stop as his wounds closed over. His wing
shifted as muscle and sinew reformed and reattached itself to his
shoulder, and he groaned as it moved back into place with a
snapping, cracking noise.

“JANE, WATCH OUT!”

Maria’s scream was just a second too late as
something grabbed my hair and jerked me backwards, a pained scream
escaping my already sore throat. I looked up at the enraged
Gaki
, the face it wore no longer handsome but twisted and
distorted by hatred. As I stared cracks began to form in its skin
and pieces started to flake off.

“I will have you!” it hissed as it jerked on
my head in an effort to force me to stand.

“Not this time,” Akira said calmly, and stood
to his full height. His wings flared out behind him, the only sign
of his horrific injuries that was left were the blood stains on his
clothes.

The
Gaki
hissed at him and dragged me
backwards. My hands clawed at his wrists and, to my horror, I
started to pull away chunks of skin and flesh. I twisted my body
and dug in my heels, but it continued to relentlessly move
backwards towards the old farmhouse. I gave another wrench, there
was a sickening crack, and I squeaked as I dropped onto the ground.
I rolled over and got to my knees. The
Gaki
stared down at
the stump that should have been its hand.

The
Gaki
tore its eyes from the
mutilated end of its arm and looked up in time to see Akira pull
back and swing. The
katana
passed through the
Gaki’s
neck in a motion so smooth that the body simply fell back onto the
ground without the typical “head popping off” visual that Hollywood
loved to put into their films. As I watched, the body slowly
disintegrated until only a little bit of dust was left. I swiped my
bloodied cheek with my sleeve and looked over at Akira, who had
bowed with his hands pressed together as if in prayer. He
straightened and returned my gaze. His face was filled with grief
for the brother he had lost, and yet it also contained a quiet
inner peace that I had never seen before.

“It’s over?” I asked, my voice shaky.

“It’s over,” he said as he sheathed his
katana
and folded his wings against his back.

I closed my eyes and allowed my head to drop
forward in relief. Something heavy, solid, and rather disturbing
thudded against my back. My eyes popped open in horror.

“It’s still there, isn’t it?” I squeaked, and
Akira gave a slight cough that could have been a laugh as he looked
off to the side. He stepped towards me, but the damage had already
been done. I leapt to my feet and started to run around as I
screamed “GET IT OFF!” at the top of my lungs. It didn’t help that
the
Gaki’s
hand bounced against my back with every step.

Akira grabbed my arm the third time I ran by
him and laughed as I struggled and squeaked. I only stilled when he
reached up with his free hand and untangled the rather grotesque
souvenir from my hair. Once it was freed the hand disintegrated the
same way the rest of the body had and Akira dropped the crumbling
remains that vanished on the air.

“Thank you,” I said, or rather, I tried to
say, but he plunged his hand into my liberated hair and crushed his
mouth to mine. Fireworks went off in my blood and my head went all
bubbly, for this was very different from when the
Gaki
had
claimed my mouth. I closed my eyes and clutched his ruined shirt as
a gentle wind whispered by my head and the sudden lack of light
told me that he had folded his wings around us. His lips moved
gently, and when his tongue lightly tickled mine my legs buckled
and I sagged against him. He pulled away and opened his wings as he
stared down at me for a moment, then he gently released his hold
and stepped away, his head tipped to the side in an oh so familiar
bird like gesture.

I don’t know how long we would have stared at
each other, nor do I know if he would have dragged me to him to
begin kissing me again and if I would have let him, because
Dellar’s tired voice broke the spell.

“About time,” he said. I looked over,
relieved to see him sitting up and leaning against Maria, who was
grinning for all she was worth.

“And you say you’re not dating,” she added
with a smirk.

Akira had the audacity to chuckle as the skin
of my face immediately increased in temperature. It was most likely
a release of tension instead of laughter at my expense, but it
didn’t matter. I balled up my fist, drew back, and slugged him for
all I was worth.

Chapter Eighteen

“How are you going to explain the blood
stains with no injuries?” I asked Akira as I turned onto the main
road.

I was going to have to request a sick day
from school. All I wanted to do was curl up and go to sleep, and
one glance in my mirror assured me that I would be granted said
sick day. My face was chalky pale and there were large dark circles
under my eyes. The only true visible bruise that I had was a light
blue across the bridge of my nose, and I wouldn’t have been
surprised to discover that I had fractured it when my face had hit
the ground. Amazingly enough, the other bruises I had were covered
up by my clothing, so there was no way Mom would know that I had
been in a major fight for my soul. Maria looked completely
unharmed, even the puncture where I had shoved my hair stick into
her flesh had closed over, and assured us that she felt better than
she ever had before, and was looking forward to returning to school
in the next few days.

“I’ll sneak in through the window I left
open,” Akira said off handedly. “My raven form comes in handy.”

“Good point. Um, just what was it that I did
back there?” I asked, hesitant and not sure I wanted to know the
answer.

“You released what was left of the souls that
the
Gaki
had eaten,” Akira said and looked at me out of the
corner of his eye. “It was a form of soul retrieval, which is
something that Shamans all over the world train to be able to do,
but they usually only retrieve a lost piece, not the whole thing.
This is the first time I’ve ever seen someone retrieve multiple
souls from a single entity before.”

“Just how was I able to do that?” I asked.
“I’m not a trained Shaman.”

“You could have a very strong Shaman in your
family line somewhere, gifts like that tend to pass down through
the blood. Did anything different happen when the
Gaki
was .
. ?”

He paused and turned away. I knew how he
felt; I had a hard time wrapping my mind around the fact that I had
almost lost my body and soul. I thought back, and told him about
swallowing a little of the
Gaki’s
breath and what the priest
had said to me before he had vanished.

“A few of the ancient stories talk about
collective captured souls banding together to take down their
jailor. And the priest said that they influenced the
Gaki
to
be fixated upon you?”

“Yeah.”

“It’s my guess that the priest took control
of the body at that moment right before you swallowed, and might
have been able to reach through and awaken the soul retrieval
ability in you. You said he was the last one to leave, so he must
have been the first soul the
Gaki
absorbed. Sometimes
possession can go both ways, the possessor becomes the possessed,
though the other soul has to be extremely powerful to be able to
take control, and it never lasts for very long.”

“So I’m going to be stuck with this soul
stripping ability? How is that supposed to work?”

“I don’t know, but I do know you need to
learn how to meditate, and there are going to be tests . . . It’s
not safe to have someone running around with the ability to rip
souls out on a whim.”

“I would never!”

“I know! I’m kidding! OW! Watch the
road!”

“What happened with your
katana
healing you?” Maria asked from the back in an effort to diffuse the
tension.

“My
katana
is special in that it has a
small part of my powers bound within it. Along with banishing or
killing rogue Paranormals, it has the ability to heal most minor,
and even a few major, wounds,” Akira said as he poked at one of the
many holes in his shirt. “But it only does that if the situation is
close to hopeless because it drains a lot of the energy out of
it.”

“You talk like your
katana
has a will
of its own,” Maria said from the back.

“It’s from the paranormal world,” Dellar said
before Akira could answer. “It probably does have a will of its
own.”

Akira nodded and I asked, “You mentioned
tests?”

“We don’t know if your new abilities are
permanent,” he answered, his face slightly troubled. “There’s a
strong chance my boss will want to test you himself when he gets
here.”

“He’s still coming?”

“I need to be debriefed in person, and also
evaluated.”

“Evaluated?” Maria asked.

“I essentially just killed my brother. They
need to do a full psychiatric evaluation on me. As of right now,
I’m off duty, so to speak.”

“Greeeaaaat. Ok, one more question. When
Maria’s soul returned to her body, I felt her heart start to beat,
but Dellar was able to feed from her without problems. What does
that mean?”

“I have no idea,” he said again, his eyebrows
pulled down in a worried frown.

“Ugh,” Maria grumbled from the backseat where
she leaned against Dellar. “I’m now an Unknown.”

“Not always a bad thing,” Akira said, but
Maria just turned her head and buried her face in Dellar’s
shoulder.

The rest of the drive was spent in silence as
we were all locked in our own thoughts, and when I got home I fell
onto my bed and slept for about sixteen hours straight. Mom had
taken one look at the exhaustion on my face and just closed the
door and left me in peace.