Soul Thief (19 page)

THE VOICE CAME FROM
up the stairs. Katie stood at the top of the stairs, flanked by Michelle and Craig, who each looked to be in various stages of despair and surprise. Katie looked left to right through the room, shaking her head. “I don't understand. Myron, what are you doing here?”

Then it clicked. I'd seen the Reaper before in the pictures Katie showed of him.

A dark, raw anger welled up in my throat. It all clicked into place and I wanted to slap myself for not figuring it out sooner. “Why?” I growled at Myron.

He turned to face me, not once losing his cool. “Why, what?” He feigned innocence.

“Riley, are you all right?” Michelle asked, climbing down the stairs. Her face was ashen.

I went to stand in front of her, forming a blockade between Myron and my friends. “Stay back,” I snapped at her. “Don't come near him.”

“What are you doing?” Katie almost shouted at me. “That's my boyfriend.”

“He's not your boyfriend,” I told her. Her face fell and my heart broke for her, but I had to make sure she didn't go anywhere near him. “He's the one who killed those girls.”

“What?” Katie backed away. Her lip trembled and she blinked, as if waking up from a nightmare. She nearly tripped, but Craig grabbed her arm to hold her up. “That's not true. Why would you lie?” she asked me, almost begging me to tell her that it was a lie.

“Oh, but it is true, love,” Myron said, saving me from having to explain to my friend that I wasn't lying about this. “I did kill them. Well, I stole their souls. Small difference really, because without a soul, one tends to be dead.”

Katie grasped her chest and gagged. Tears filled her eyes. It was like whatever was holding her together vanished in that very moment, as if her entire skeleton collapsed and she became a rag doll.

I wanted to kill him for doing this to my friend. When I pictured Tara, overwhelmed by fear but unable to move as he ripped her soul out of her body and she felt the same pain I'd gone through before, I wanted to tear him apart by limb by limb.

“Now you look really pissed off, little Angel,” he said to me. “Thinking murderous thoughts? That's not very angelic.”

“I'll destroy you, even if it's the last thing I do,” I told him. I trembled all over from anger instead of fear, but I wasn't sure if even all that boiling anger would be enough to hurt him.

“Impressive words, but hardly enough action,” he said. Then, too fast for me to even react, he formed another one of those lightning bolts and threw it at me. It hit me straight in the chest and a searing pain went through my heart. I collapsed on the stairs.

“Riley!” Michelle put her arms under my shoulders and lifted me up. “You okay?”

I didn't respond. Instead, I unleashed the fury. Moving faster than light, I jumped at him, kicked him wherever I could and punched him as hard as possible.

He obviously hadn't expected that. Then he hit me back, slapping my head so hard I thought my skull must be broken.

This only made me more furious though. I hit him back equally as hard. Blood dripped from the corner of his mouth.

“Riley, stop it!” Katie screamed. She yanked my arm, trying to get me away from the boy she loved. I broke free easily, but it was enough to distract me.

Myron sent an energy force my way that sent me flying backward. I crashed into the wall. A deafening sound told me I must've broken some ribs, but I barely felt any pain. The Reaper was on his feet right away and he grabbed Katie and held her in front of him like a human shield.

“Let go of her.” My voice was a low rumble. Power swept over me again and again in uncontrollable tidal waves. It begged me to break free, begged me to release it, but it was so strong I feared if I did, it might bring down the entire house.

“Not just yet,” Myron said. “I'm bored, and I have a job to fulfill. Katie here,” he added, looking at her the way one would look at a disobedient child, “was fun to play with. But not fun enough to make me think twice about taking her soul if you don't give me yours.”

Katie's eyes went wide, as the truth of the situation only now revealed itself to her. Michelle and Craig were frozen on the stairs.

It all came down to me. Be noble and offer up my soul for Katie's, or be selfish and… and what? Could I really fight this guy, especially with my friends standing in the way?

“Fine.” I walked toward him. “Take my soul.”

“You surprise me, little Angel. You're not a coward, but you are a fool.”

I couldn't look Katie in the eye, even when she stood right in front of me. If I looked into her teary eyes and saw my own destiny reflected in them, I'd break and retreat.

He pushed her away the moment I was within reach. Katie tumbled to the ground. Myron reached out for me and grabbed my arm, yanking me closer until most of my body was pressed against his. “Sleep tight, little Angel,” he whispered. “When I'm done with you, I'll take their souls too. Can't have anyone know about our rendezvous here, can we?”

Then he pushed me away a little and seconds later the pain was back, as sharp and terrible as before. But this time the anger was back too, mixed with fear, not for myself but for my friends. They'd be powerless against him. At least I had a fighting chance.

HELP ME!

My mind screamed the message as loud as I could. I tried to reach Diane, Seraphyn, any Angel I could think of and all the ones I couldn't.

Then I pushed through the pain and forced the red haze to depart. I put my hand against Myron's chest and felt the beating of his heart below. My hand trembled from his energy, coursing all around him.

He looked down at my hand and his face changed. In a flash, the mocking grin was gone.

I pulled at the energy, at his soul. My mind clung to it, wrapped its own energy around it and yanked it back as hard as it could.

His mouth dropped open and a grimace appeared on his face. He took ragged, hurried breaths and his grip on my soul faltered. The stronger I pulled his soul, the less he pulled mine. His eyes nearly fell out of their sockets from pain and his body jerked back and forth, as if electric currents were coursing through him.

I tasted blood in my mouth, but I smiled through the pain. Even if I was dying I'd take him with me.

It was a battle of willpower now, a question of who would give up first. And if neither of us did, then the question was if he was willing to die.

A faint shape that vaguely resembled me hung in front of me. He'd already pulled half of my soul out, but I was gaining speed on him. It hurt like hell to have a part of me ripped away, but the expression on his face told me it hurt like hell for him as well.

He let go all of a sudden. My soul plummeted back into my body and the shock threw me back, letting go of his soul too.

He staggered back too, falling on the ground the same way I had done.

I took a deep breath. The air was fresh and clean, the red haze quickly disappearing. But every spot on my body hurt as if a train had ran over me.

My friends rushed toward me, released from the spell of fear and horror that had frozen them to the spot.

Myron coughed. A small stream of blood dripped from the corner of his mouth. “You'll regret this,” he said. “I'll take the souls of everyone you know, everyone you love.”

I tried to stand up straight but I fell back onto the floor. Michelle grabbed my arm to help me up, but I pulled back out of her grip and shook my head. Coughing blood, the world spinning all around me, I crawled toward Myron. Every step forward seemed like a mile. By the time I was near him, I was seconds away from collapsing.

“I won't let you,” I whispered because my voice was too drained to reach beyond that. I wanted to sleep for a week but I had to do this first.

I pushed him down with the last strength I had.

He looked at me with his eyes wide, as if he couldn't understand why I would even try doing this. “You'll die,” he said.

“So will you.” I put my hand on his chest, gritted my teeth and pulled at his soul with every remainder of energy I had left.

Life drained from me and I could only hope that by the time my last energy had disappeared, he'd be dead too.

“No!” Katie yelled at me. “Let go of him, Riley, please don't kill him.”

I ignored her, focused back on the task at hand. Anger flared up inside of me for a second. Why did she beg for his life if he was going to kill me too?

She pulled at my shoulders, grabbed my waist and pulled me back, but I wouldn't budge. Myron started screaming, his eyes transfixed on mine. They were the eyes of a dying man. A shiver of remorse went through me. Was I a murderer?

But he'd threatened me, my friends and my family. I yanked fiercer, harder, afraid that if I stopped for even a millisecond, I'd be dead before I could finish it.

Katie started crying in earnest now and I selfishly wished her tears were for me.

“This isn't you,” Michelle said. She pulled at me as well now.

“It's killing you.” That was Craig, from the other side. He'd grabbed my arm, the one attached to Myron's soul. He grimaced from effort trying to pull me away but I barely felt it.

“Killing him isn't worth dying over.” Michelle again. Couldn't they just shut up and let me do this?

Breathing became harder. My heart didn't have the strength to pump blood anymore. It slowly gave out, like a dying candle.

Let go. LET GO!

Now I figured out where the voice I heard before came from. It was my own voice after all, but a different version of it, darker, more intent on survival than anything. It roared through my mind like a demon's howl, ordering me to stop killing myself.

My heart pumped one last time and I instinctively knew that if I didn't let go now, I'd die. So I let go.

I slumped back, collapsing into my friend's arms. Michelle stroked my hair and whispered it would be all right.

Blood dripped from my nose and mouth. I listened to my heartbeat, wanted to hear it another time, wanted to know I wouldn't die for nothing.

Then it did. It beat slowly, ever so slowly.

I looked at Myron. Our eyes met, and he looked as exhausted as I felt. Dark circles had already appeared under his eyes. But he didn't have to speak for his message to come through. This wasn't over yet.

Then he disappeared. Katie screamed as if someone vanishing was the most startling thing she'd seen today. Her scream pierced through my ears and ruined my eardrums, but it also ripped me out of the semi-trancelike state I'd been in.

I sat up straighter and took a few deep breaths.

“Do you want some water?” Craig asked. To their credit, my friends seemed more concerned about my well-being than about what the heck just happened. I nodded and he rushed into the kitchen.

Katie dropped down on her knees in front of me. “Thank you,” she sobbed. “You saved my life.”

“Not yet,” I said. My voice was hoarse, as if I hadn't spoken in ages. “He'll come back.”

I STRUGGLED TO GET
up and Michelle and Katie helped me stand. They brought me to the couch and I slumped down into the pillows.

Craig rushed back with the water. I drank the entire glass at once.

They waited until I'd somewhat recovered to start the crossfire of questions.

“What was he? What are you? Why did he attack you? Did he really kill those girls?” They all shouted various questions at once. I held out my hand. “No questions. I'll tell you. Sit down.”

I took the time to explain the entire story, from the moment I saw Diane at the scene of the accident, to why I suspected a Reaper was stealing those girls' souls, to how I stumbled into Myron downstairs.

“I can't believe it,” Katie said when I was done talking. Her face looked red and puffy from crying. “He was so nice to me. I'd never expect this, not in a million years.”

“It's not your fault,” I told her. “He tricked you. What I don't understand is why he went after you in the first place, why he went through all that trouble to date you and…”

“But I do,” Michelle interrupted me. “You met him at a bar, right?”

“At the Shack,” Katie responded. Her voice was weak and I hated it, hated what this guy had done to her.

“Right,” Michelle said. “You told me he just walked up to you and started talking. But what were you talking about before?”

“I had just called you, and asked about…” Katie's mouth dropped open and she stared at me. “I asked you about Riley, how she was recovering from the accident. We even talked a while about the others injured in the accident.”

“He must've heard and then he must've figured that the girl he was after was one of your friends,” Michelle concluded.

“Oh my God,” Katie said. “I was with him when I talked to Laurel. That's the sister of Emily, the girl who died…” All color drained from her face and she dropped her head like a rag doll.

Michelle stroked her back. “It's not your fault, Katie,” she said.

“It's actually mine,” I told them. “I'm the reason he's in town in the first place. I'm the one he's been after from the get-go. If anyone is responsible for what happened, then it's me.”

“You're both acting like egomaniacs,” Craig said. “If anyone is to blame, it's the one who did this. Otherwise it's like blaming a rape victim who managed to escape for the rapist attacking someone else. We all know that's bull.”

“The important thing is to stop him,” Michelle said. She put a hand on my arm. “I understand now. Why you couldn't tell me what was going on, and about Leander and why he's not a therapist and all that.”

“He has a degree,” I told her. “It's just, well, from the 1970s or about there.”

“Why didn't he come here to save the day, by the way?” Craig asked. He leaned back on the couch. Sweat dripped from his forehead and he looked as if he'd run a mile. “I mean, he is your Guardian — doesn't that mean he has to protect you?”

“Yeah, it's weird. When we went to the club, I was in danger too, and he didn't hear me then either. We're supposed to communicate by thoughts, but somehow he doesn't always hear me.”

Michelle grabbed my hand. “I'm sorry for giving you a hard time. I understand why you wanted to keep this a secret.”

“I'm just glad you're all right.” I sighed and let the events of the last half hour fully hit me. “Oh my God, we almost died.”

“To be honest, you came the closest,” Craig said. “But I'm still shitting my pants.”

“What do we do if he comes back?” Michelle wrapped her arms around herself.

“I don't think he'll come back tonight. He's in no shape to try that again. Neither am I, by the way. I want to go all Sleeping Beauty on you right now.”

“Shouldn't you try to contact Leander again? Tell him what happened?” Michelle asked.

“Yeah,” I said. “I should. But first, I want to hug all of you.”

So we hugged. Katie was the last to join in, a bit reluctant, and in that moment I would've given everything to fix her, to prevent her from knowing the truth.

“At least you don't have to hide anything anymore,” Craig said. “We're here for you. We're in the loop now, and we'll help you, no matter what.”

“Thanks.” I let go first. Katie seemed relieved that the group hug ended. She pulled up her legs and grabbed a pillow to hug instead.

Leander, are you there?

Seconds later, the answer rang through my mind.
Yes. Is something wrong?

I got attacked. Can you come to me?

Before I could tell my friends I'd contacted him, Leander appeared in the middle of the living room.

Michelle screamed, Craig yelped. Katie was the only one who did nothing but blink. Even I nearly jumped off the couch.

“Are you okay?” Leander asked, rushing over toward me, ignoring the others. He dropped down on his knees in front of the couch. He cupped my face and forced me to look him in the eyes.

“I'm fine now. I tried contacting you,” I said, “but you didn't respond. Then I just screamed for help, but nobody replied. I even tried Diane.”

“She didn't reply either? Hm.”

“What?”

“Maybe I was wrong and I'm not the one who's got a spell on them. Maybe you're the one who's prevented from communicating with anyone whenever you're in danger.”

“But who would do that? And why?”

“Someone who doesn't like Halflings.” Leander rested his forehead against mine. His breath tickled my lips. “I'm so glad you're all right.”

Craig coughed and Leander pulled back.

“Hey, I'm Craig,” he said, holding out a hand. “Riley told us about her being an Angel and you being a Guardian. Sorry to say, you're doing a lousy job.”

Leander shook his hand. “I wish I could do a better job as well,” he said. “I'm sorry about what happened.”

“That's all right. Riley saved us.” Michelle smiled at me. “You were so brave.”

“I was scared out of my mind. But thanks.”

“So what happened?” Leander asked.

I told him the entire story. “I nearly killed him,” I said. “If it weren't for my friends, I would have.”

“And it would have killed you.” Leander pushed a strand of hair behind my ear. “I'm glad you let them talk you out of it.”

“But now he's still roaming free. We have to stop him before he hurts anyone else.”

“No!” Katie jumped up, dropping the pillow on the floor. “You can't kill him. He's not all evil. He was nice to me.” A tear dropped down her cheek and she had a bewildered, mad expression lingering in her eyes. “He loves me. I'm sure he does.”

“Katie, love,” Craig said, standing up as well and holding up his arms as some peace-offering. “He threatened to kill you.”

“He wouldn't have.” Katie shook her head. “I should've trusted him. I… maybe he's indebted to someone. I'm sure he has a reason for all this.”

“I'm sure he has,” Michelle said, “but that doesn't matter. Didn't you hear a word he said? He said he'd kill us all, one by one. That includes you. And even if by some miracle he'd spare you, he'd still kill all of us.”

“Myron wouldn't do that.” Katie's shoulders rocked as she started crying in earnest.

I got up, wanting to hug her, but she backed away like a scared cat.

“Don't touch me!” she snapped at me.

Craig looked at me, nodded, and then walked over to her. She let him hug her and she cried in his chest. I felt a pang of anger. I was the one who was going to sacrifice my life to save hers, yet she acted all pissed off toward me.

“Did you say ‘Myron'?” Leander asked.

“Yeah. He said his name was Myron, but that might as well have been a lie too,” Michelle said.

“Or maybe not.” The Guardian turned to me. “When he attacked you, did he throw black, smoky orbs?”

“No. His orbs were glowing. They were light, golden.”

“Oh, God.” Leander swallowed hard and sat down where Craig had been seated minutes ago. “Then we're not dealing with a Reaper at all.” He bit his lip and turned to me. “We're dealing with one of our own. An Angel of Death.”

“Wait. You know him?”

“Vaguely. We fought together once, but we didn't exactly keep in touch since we were both fighting on the losing side. I've heard rumors of him though. Always a bit lenient with rules. But never like this. I'd never expect this from one of our own.”

“What do we do now?” I asked him. “Obviously I can't contact you whenever I'm in danger. I could call, but that's kind of hard when someone is pulling my soul out. Plus, I'm not the only one in danger now. He threatened everyone — my family and friends. Maybe even you.”

Leander snorted, his face twisted with anger, and for the first time I saw him as an Angel of vengeance, someone powerful enough to take down anyone who stood in his way. “I can stand my ground against an Angel of his caliber. What I'm wondering is why he'd stoop so low, who could've possibly turned him against his own kind.”

“Forget the why,” I said, grabbing his hand. “We have to focus on how we're going to…” I was going to say, ‘kill him', but because of Katie's sobbing in the background, I said, “get rid of him.”

“You can't kill an Angel of Death. I mean, technically you can, but if you do you'll meet a fate worse than death. We have to trap him in an Angel trap and then call the Warriors, who will take him to the celestial prison.”

“Yeah, you lost me at Angel trap,” I said.

“You lost me at Angel of Death,” Michelle said. “I'm still not entirely clear on the concept.”

“An Angel trap is a magical trap designed especially to trap Angels. Really, the word is self-explanatory. Your grandmother should have most of the ingredients to set one up.”

“So we trap him, then what? Warriors?”

“The Warriors of Heaven. They're the strongest Angels, the ones who do the heaviest fighting. When there's a battle between Heaven and Hell, they fight in the first ranks.”

“Why can't we just call one of those and let them get rid of Myron?” I asked.

Leander shook his head. “They won't rise against another Angel without foolproof evidence.”

“We have evidence,” I said. “I can testify, so can my friends and the Book of Names makes no mention of the girls' names, so…”

“That won't suffice,” Leander said. “I'm sorry, but they won't accept the testimony of your friends. Even more importantly, it's best they never find out that your friends know anything about the world of the supernatural whatsoever. They're rather uptight about that. Your testimony alone won't be enough and the names not being in the Book of Names will only make them decide a Reaper is at play. No, we'd need more than that. But if we trap him, then they'll be able to see he was here and question him about his purpose here. If he's been in league with a demon they'll be able to smell it.”

“That sounds gross,” Michelle interrupted.

“So we trap him,” I ignored her, “get the Warriors and he's out of our hands. That sounds good. How do we set up this trap, and more importantly, lure him into it?”

“The trickiest thing is that the trap needs to be set on hallowed ground. We'll go to your grandmother's shop tomorrow, get the ingredients, and then work on it. How we're going to lure him in though, I have no idea.”

“We should sleep on it,” Michelle said. “You look exhausted, Riles.”

I yawned. “Sleep sounds good.” My muscles ached and my head throbbed.

“I'll bring Katie to bed,” Craig said. He put a hand on her back and escorted Katie upstairs. She looked like a zombie. The tears had dried but red streams still covered her face. Her eyes stared into nothing.

I waited until she'd vanished into her room to turn to Michelle. “Do you think she'll be all right?”

“I hope so.” Michelle sighed. “You sleep on this couch and I'll take the other one.” She looked at Leander as if wondering what he'd do. “Katie's parents will be home in a few hours, so you…”

“I'll zap out the moment they get here,” he said. “But until then, I want to stay here and keep an eye on all of you.”

“Okay,” Michelle said. “I'll go grab a blanket.” She looked at me as if to say she was leaving me alone on purpose and I better talk to him before she got back.

Leander took my hand into his. I rested my head on his shoulder. We didn't say anything, probably because neither of us knew what to say, given the circumstances.

Then eventually he touched my back, my wings, and smiled proudly. “I'm glad to see you've got your wings.”

“They kind of hurt though,” I said. “And I have no idea how to tuck them in and make them disappear. If Katie's parents come home and see my wings they're going to freak out. Not to mention, it's not exactly a look I can wear at school.”

“It's easy to make them disappear,” Leander said. “Do you feel them? Feel the muscles connecting them to your shoulders? Feel the bone?”

I focused on the wings. At first I felt nothing, but after a while I could make out where the wings ended and my regular body started.

“Now imagine the wings closed, rolled into your back.”

I did as he told me to and after a few minutes the wings closed and vanished back into the cuts on either side of my back. “Thanks,” I said. “My shirt is probably drenched in blood though. I should get a new one, except I only brought one, which was kind of stupid.”

“You can have mine,” Leander said. He pulled his shirt over his head and handed it to me.

I took it and waited for him to turn around. When he didn't move, I twisted my finger around. He got the message and turned away from me. I took my shirt off and put his shirt on. The shirt smelled like him, a mix of cinnamon rolls and night air.