Your Soul to Take (Rise of the Fallen) (8 page)

Chapter 11

My
cell phone rang, waking me up from a very pleasant dream I was in the middle
of. I reached over to my nightstand and grabbed it, unplugging the charger as I
glanced at the screen.

It
was two in the morning and it was my sister calling me.
What the hell?

“Hello?”

“Connor!
Come to the park, now!”

My
sister’s voice sounded panicked. “What’s wrong? Are you okay?”

“No.
Get here now. I need you,” she said and hung up.

I
jumped off the bed and slipped my cell into the pocket of the jeans I had
fallen asleep in. I slipped my feet into my converse and grabbed a T-shirt on
my way out of my room. I didn’t even take the time to sneak down the stairs.
Caelyn was in trouble. Getting to her was the only thought in my head.

Instead
of taking my scooter, I leapt into the air and called my wings. The park was
only a few streets over, and I could fly faster than I could drive.

The
playground and surrounding fields were completely dark. That was unusual. The
city usually left it well illuminated at night so passing patrol cars could
keep an eye out for kids doing things they shouldn’t be doing. A sense of dread
filled me as I plummeted from the sky right near the swings. “Cae!”

I
heard a muffled, “Over here,” from the edge of the woods surrounding
the playground. I headed that way, building speed with every step. I saw Cae
first. She was crouched down on the ground holding something in her lap. When I
got closer, I noticed it was Jenny. Elizabeth stood over them both in
disbelief.

“What
happened?” I crouched down to get a closer look.

Jenny
seemed unhurt, but unmoving. “We were attacked,” Caelyn said,
muffling a sob.

“Is
she okay?” I reached down and touched Jenny’s wrist to search for a pulse.

“She’s
gone,” Elizabeth spoke. She said it in a matter-of-fact tone that sent
shivers down my spine.

“Tell
me
exactly
what happened,” I told Caelyn, not wanting to hear the
deadness of Elizabeth’s voice again.

“We
were hanging out by the swings when the lights went out. We figured it wasn’t a
big deal and that they were on a timer or something. We could still see, so it
didn’t matter. All of a sudden, something landed behind us. I stood up,
thinking it was you trying to scare us. I even yelled your name and told you to
knock it off.” Caelyn started sobbing and lowered her head until hers
touched Jenny’s.

“What
happened, Cae? What happened to Jenny?”

Elizabeth
spoke, continuing where my sister left off. “It had wings like you, but it
wasn’t you. I couldn’t see it, even with my vampire sight. It was wrapped in
darkness. I only know it had wings, because they stretched upward above
it.”

I
nodded in understanding, waiting for her to continue.

“It
went right for your sister. It grabbed her in both its hands and tried to fly
away. Caelyn started screaming and kicking at it, but Jenny leapt onto its
back, keeping it on the ground. The thing was strong. Stronger than us. It
reached over its head and grabbed Jenny by the hair and flung her over its
head. She landed about ten feet away.”

Caelyn
looked up and stared at me. “It was one of you.”

“What
happened after that?”

“I
attacked it,” Elizabeth continued. “Your sister broke free and ran
for Jenny. She picked her up and took off for the woods, screaming at me to
come on. I tried as hard as I could to get away, but the thing was just too
damn fast,” she said and started crying. It was one of those cries that
you know won’t stop until there were no more tears left. She couldn’t breathe
between the choking sobs. I walked over to her and took her into my arms,
holding her tight. Caelyn kept talking.

“The
thing started to do something to Elizabeth. I knew I had to help her, so I put
Jenny down and ran back. I hit the thing as hard as I could, but it didn’t even
seem to faze it. That’s when it touched Elizabeth’s face with its hand. Connor,
I saw it pulling her spirit…soul…whatever, right out her body. I did the only
thing I could think of. I bit it. I bit it, started gnawing, and sucking its
blood as fast as I could.”

“What
happened?”

“It
let Elizabeth go. I grabbed her and ran the opposite way from Jenny, hoping it
would chase us.”

“Did
it?”

“No.
When I realized, we turned around and ran back. It was standing over Jenny and
let a little blue sphere go before vanishing in the woods…”

I
nodded, knowing exactly what had happened. I knew because I had done the exact
same thing to Brett. “She is gone then.”

Caelyn
nodded. “I know. I can always
feel
when Jenny and Elizabeth are
around. I think it’s got something to do with me being able to feed on them.
When we came back and I knelt down… I knew she was gone.”

I
kept one arm around Elizabeth and reached into my pocket, pulling out my cell.
I dialed Clarisse. She answered on the fourth ring. “Clarisse, come to the
park. We have a problem.”

She
hung up without answering and after a short while, landed not far from where I
had. I called softly to her, knowing she would be able to hear me. She jogged
to where we stood, looked down at Jenny and then back at me. “What
happened?”

“She
was attacked, by a Fallen. Her soul was taken.”

“What
did she do?”

Elizabeth
straightened in my arms, and whirled on Clarisse. I could feel the anger
radiating off her. “Nothing!”

“Why
would they send a Reaper after her if she hadn’t broken any laws?”

“It
wasn’t after her. It was after me,” Caelyn whispered, fear in her voice.

“You
don’t know that,” I said, but she shook her head.

“I
do. It marched right through Elizabeth and Jenny to get to me. Why? What did I
do?”

“I
can’t see why, you’re not bound by the laws. Elizabeth and Jenny were. They
promised their souls to become vampires and were bound by them. I don’t get it
either,” Clarisse said, just as confused as everyone.

“What
do we do now?” I nodded toward Jenny’s body so only Clarisse could see.

“We
need to call Darius. He needs to know what happened. The Reapers are his. He
will also deal with…other arrangements.”

I
nodded. “How do we call him?”

“It’s
like opening a portal, but instead of… Nevermind. I’ll do it,” she said
and walked back to the middle of the park. She looked up to the sky and I
felt
her call Darius. Quickly the sky turned to green and clouds began to swirl,
forming a vortex above us. Darius fell from the blackness beyond and landed
next to Clarisse. They spoke for a few minutes and he turned, looking in our
direction. He paused momentarily before walking over to us.

“None
of you saw who was responsible? None saw a face?” He sounded more worried
than remorseful.

“No,”
Caelyn said.

He
sighed. “I am sorry for your loss. We will find who did this. Connor, take
your sister and her friend home. Clarisse and I will finish here.”

“Finish?”
Elizabeth stopped sobbing and looked at him in disbelief. “You mean clean
up your mess. Our friend is dead and all your worried about is cleaning
up?”

“Watch
your tone, youngling. I regret deeply what has happened here. A promise was
made to your friend that was broken by someone. We will find out whom. Until
then, we must move on.”

“Who?
I’ll tell you who it was. It was one of
you.
It had wings. That is what
we saw.”

I
silently willed Elizabeth to calm down. The last person she wanted to enrage
was Darius.

“We
are not the only winged ones capable of doing something like this. Be careful
not to place blame where it does not belong.”

That
bit of information surprised me. I had never even considered the Chosen having
the same abilities as the Fallen, but it made sense. They were the same once,
after all. “You think it was–”

He
held his hand up for silence. His eyes said
not now.
I nodded in
response. “Come on, Cae. Let’s get Elizabeth home.”

“I
told mom I was staying over at her house tonight. I don’t think she should be
alone.”

“Please,”
Elizabeth added.

“Okay.”

*
* *

I
met Darius and Clarisse back at the park. They stood over where Jenny’s body
used to be. It was gone. “Where is she?”

“Her
mortal coil has left this world, just as her soul has. She is no more. I will
ensure that her parents’ memories are altered.”

“What
does that mean?”

“It
means her parents will wake up and have to face another day, knowing that their
daughter ran away and they will most likely never see her again,” Clarisse
clarified.

“Wouldn’t
a little closure be better?”

“Finding
their dead daughter’s body would help?”

“I
see your point. At least they can hope she is still alive.”

“Fear
not, Connor,” Darius spoke again. “We will find her soul and it will
have a place of honor among us. We owe her a debt.”

“You
can do that?”

“Her
soul was promised to us. It should have found its way to one of our realms as
it was released. Do not worry, we will find her. On that, you have my
word.”

“Do
you think she’ll know who did it?”

“You
have never visited with the souls who come to our realm, have you?”

“No.
The other day was the first time I had been there.”

“You
need to come home more. Find me when you return. You will have a place there
for you should you need to leave this realm for a while.”

“What
do you mean?”

“He
means you’ll have your own apartment-like thingy. All of the Fallen have
quarters in one of the realms,” Clarisse interpreted for me.

“You
have your own place?” I turned to her.

“Correction,
I have two of my own places. One in Shade City and another one here.”

“Most
of the time I forget that you don’t have parents and live by yourself. Doesn’t
that get lonely?”

“Sometimes,”
she said. I could tell by her face it was more often than sometimes. I fought
the urge to give her a hug. It probably would have ended with her fist in my
face, anyway. I turned to Darius instead.

“So,
what were you saying about the souls?”

“That
they usually have little to no recollection of their previous life. They also
never
remember their death. Often it is too painful a memory to bear.”

“That
makes sense. It would be on my top ten list of things to forget, anyway.”

He
nodded. “It is time for me to depart. If you have need, call me.” He
strode back to the center of the park and flew upwards once again, disappearing
into the green vortex that appeared in the night sky.

“I
can’t believe nobody is going to call the cops about green swirling clouds
above the park.”

“Humans
can’t see it. Most of them anyway. The ones that can are usually already
labeled by your society as different or insane. It’s quite convenient.”

“You
and I have different ideas about convenience.” The events of the night
finally caught up to me and I swayed a little on my feet.

“Are
you okay?” Clarisse reached out and steadied me on my feet.

“Yeah,
Just tired. Want to sit with me a minute?”

“In
the park?”

“Sure.”

“We
might want to get rid of our wings first. In case someone happens to drive
by.”

It
was nearly four in the morning in Cedar Hills. Nobody would be driving by, but
it is always better to be safe than sorry. I did as she suggested and followed
her over to the swings that had already collected dew in the cool night air. I
decided I didn’t care about having a wet butt nearly as much as I cared about
not falling on it.

I
could feel it seeping into my jeans, chilling my backside even more that it
already was. The cold no longer bothered me, but the wetness was a little
uncomfortable.

“Feel
better?” Clarisse wiped off her swing seat with her hand. She always was a
little smarter than I was.

“Feels
good to sit.”

“Not
what I meant, but I’m glad.”

“What
did you mean then?”

“About
Jenny’s soul. Death for humans is never permanent. For us on the other
hand…”

“It
is?”

“No
one knows. When we die, we disappear. We hope it’s to rejoin with the Creator,
but that’s just one of many theories by the Sages.”

“Sages?”

“Yeah.
I told you this before. We have many callings. Seekers and Reapers. You met
Darius. Warriors, are the responsibility of Jun, whom you also met.”

“And
Agravius is in charge of the Sages?”

“Yes.”

“What
is a Sage though?”

“Wise
one. They are our scholars.”

“That
makes sense. Who is in charge, charge of all the Fallen though?”

“No
one person. It’s the Triad. Three members so there is never a tie on any
decision.”

“And
who do they report to?”

“I
suppose the Creator, but he left these realms.”

“He
gave up on us?” I had a little trouble believing that.

“No!
He is the Creator. He Creates. He doesn’t oversee, or govern. He creates and
lets his people thrive, or fail. But he loves us all the same.”

“With
that mentality, why the huge fight over free will? Couldn’t it be considered
the Creator’s intention?”

“That
is our argument, but the Chosen interject with the theory that the Creator made
us to rule.”

“Ahh.
I see.”

“Don’t
worry. You won’t figure it out overnight. We’ve had millennia and we aren’t any
closer than we were in the beginning.”

“Kind
of like the Republicans and Democrats, huh?”