Souled Out

by Blakely Chorpenning

  I couldn’t breathe. I lifted my head in search of air, but there was none to fill my shrinking lungs. All that was available was sorrow and rage. It crushed my chest until I became dizzy. When I tried to stand, I only stumbled and fell back to the ground, but the air was slowly coming back. I writhed on my back, forcing my chest up, forcing it to inhale something that meant life.

  While horror plastered everyone’s faces, the priestess merely watched with indifference. Ellenore finally spoke, though she looked almost as unaffected as the old woman. “This can stop, Myranda. Give up. Bend to the priestess’ will.”

  “No,” I rasped.

  Ellenore sighed. “You have always been such a pain in my ass!”

  I wanted to respond, to give some smart-ass comment that would really fry her temper, but I started to scream instead. Hair wrung with sweat, face drowned in tears, I fought. I was fighting my own body, willing it not to explode, though I could feel it trying to. My breath was quick and shallow in between screams.

  Gabriel said, “That’s enough. If you kill her now, the grave will claim her soul.”

  Just like that, the pain ceased. I relaxed on my back, not having the strength to stand or even sit up. The pressure was gone, leaving me to feel deflated, empty. I just stared up into the night sky, unable to blink because it demanded too much effort. But I was able to murmur, “What was that?”

  The priestess moved to stand just outside the circle. “The pain of the earth, my dear.”

  In a meek voice, I swallowed hard and answered, “I promise to recycle from now on.”

  “Time is running out,” the old crone barked. “Do you concede your soul now?”

  I was so tired.

  “I put up a good fight. I’ve tried so hard and you keep knocking me down. And I’m so tired. I’ve been tired for years. You’re just going to keep trying to break me until you finally win, aren’t you?”

  She looked very pleased and eager. “Yes.”

  “Well then, I guess the only thing I can say is kiss my ass because you’ll have to kill me before I let you win, bitch.”

  Anger took hold of the air. It buzzed in my ears like angry hornets. The crone was outraged.

  “You lay there half dead yet maintain such confidence that you are stronger than me. I find that quite entertaining.”

  “Really? I just find it to be a fact.”

  “You test my patience.”

  I mustered enough energy to sit up. “Well, you test my ugly meter.”

  Someone in the crowd snickered and then I heard Alexi say, “Shut up, Drew.”

  “When Ellenore has the soul she rightfully deserves, I will kill you very slowly.”

  “Pinky swear?” I held up a finger, but it wasn’t my pinky.

  “You should show respect where it is due.” The priestess, not taking my prodding lightly, recited something quick under her breath and extended her hands toward me.

  A bolt of lightning struck the earth, the power shooting me into the air so hard I thought it would throw me a mile away. As it turned out, there really was a wall of sorts around the circle because my body crashed into it. I bounced off and hit the scorched earth directly over the strike.

  Something in me had to be broken. Drenched in unimaginable pain, I lay face down, unable to move. Fresh blood ran over my skin.

  Voices whispered, “Is she dead?” “Is she broken?” “Is the ceremony over?” “Did something go wrong?”

  Yeah, my life.

  Chapter Thirty-Five

  The priestess hushed the voices. “She is alive. The ceremony continues. Ellenore, stand next to your sister.”

  “I’m not going in there.”

  “Do as I say, child, or the ceremony is for not.”

  There was a sloshing sound, and then I heard hesitant footsteps as my sister, I presumed, crept so close I felt the grass bend next to my arm where she stood.

  The instructions continued. “You must touch her in order for the completion. Wipe the blood I have dowsed on your chest and smear it across her back.”

  “No. What if she takes it back?”

  “She is unconscious. Now, do as I say! You both try my patience. Let this be done.”

  The dress wisped across my arm as she squatted to touch the back of my neck. I felt warmth not from her hand, but from the blood running down my back.

  “Nicely done, mistress. Let us continue.” Those words seemed out of place. Why would she call my sister, of all people, mistress? Someone so powerful answers to no one. My sister had to be paying her big money.

  Ellenore sounded upset. “What are you doing, now?”

  “I must reseal the circle.”

  “I don’t like that idea.”

  The priestess was angry when she said, “It must be done. Silence.”

  “Yes, Priestess.”

  The priestess walked the full circle. I knew it was sealed when the footsteps quieted. This was my chance. I was hurt, but life had been flowing back into my body as I listened to them squabble. I knew I could move. “Attack” was all my mind understood when I reached around and snaked Ellenore’s ankle. The action knocked her to the ground and I was on top of her quicker than the hag could send down another lightning bolt.

  “Priestess!” She was paniced.

  Between gritted teeth, I reminded, “What hurts me will hurt her, Priestess. Patience is a virtue. But I’m sure you lack any real virtue.”

  Everyone moved to the parameter of the circle to watch. You would have thought it was a mud wrestling cage match from the looks we got from some of the guys. But I’ll give Gabriel credit. He just looked worried.

  “Don’t hurt me, Myranda!”

  Pawing her throat, I leaned in so close our faces almost touched. “What’s the secret word, Ellenore?”

  She spoke so low I could barely hear her. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”

  I whispered back, “Why should I believe you now?”

  As I stared into her stricken face, the blue ocean of her eyes wavered to unmask a touch of brown. And before I could blink, the blue sponged it right back up.

  I was frozen, my death grip still holding. Now my voice had turned uncertain and breathy. “What was that?”

  The brown filtered back through, though the blue never truly receded. Ellenore whispered in my ear, not of childhood secrets, but trespasses on the natural world. “I didn’t mean to do it. She recognized me at the party and knew my soul wasn’t mine. She said she could help me. It was like she could see into me, what I really wanted and... And she made me want it more. So much more that now we’re here and I can’t take back what I’ve done to you. And a part of me doesn’t want to. I am so sorry. I didn’t know what she was.”

  The priestess moved closer to the boundary that she’d created, that she, herself, could not cross. “What is going on?”

  We didn’t acknowledge the witch. I stared at Ellenore’s unnatural eyes. “What’s happened to you?”

  “I don’t know. She knew my desire, and somehow being close to her made me want to make it real. I think she’s inside my head. Help me.”

  “That’s what she tried to do to me. She was reading my desires, but it didn’t make sense. I think it’s because you and I were standing so close together. She was trying to control us both at once and it kind of merged together in my mind when she had me in the trance. That’s what broke it.”

  “Why can’t she control us now in the circle?”

  “I think it blocks out everything except her magic to do harm.”

  “But she could cross through the circle at any time.”

  “No, she can’t. It was made for us, not her.”

  “How do we stop this?” She looked so distraught.

  “I have an idea. Do you trust me?”

  Ellenore paused. We stared at each other silently until she finally nodded.

  “After everything, you trust me in this?”

  “Yes,” she said, tears falling.

  “Then hug me, for old
time’s sake.”

  She gave me a funny look before giving in to the embrace.

  “What are you doing, Ellenore?” the priestess demanded as she paced the invisible wall.

  We stood up slowly. I dusted the dirt off my clothes while Ellenore straightened her lively dress. She whispered discreetly, “Hold my hand.”

  I was just as discreet. “Why?”

  “The dress needs to touch you. It’s blessed, remember?”

  Oh, yeah. “Sure.” I clasped her hand in mine as I stepped in front of her to face the priestess. “We’ve discussed the matter, my sister and I. Go ahead.”

  “With the ceremony?” she asked, flabbergasted.

  “Yeah.”

  “Why, all of a sudden, have you changed your mind? You were so adamant that we would never win.”

  “I was being selfish.” I looked at Ellenore as I spoke to the old woman. “She’s my sister. What can I say? If one of us has a chance at a decent life, well...” I made eye contact with the priestess again. “She’s got more than I’ll ever have. So if one of us can be happy, then let’s do this. You can’t win if this is what I want, too.” I couldn’t help it when my voice wavered a bit. I was scared, and by the sweat on Ellenore’s palm, I could tell she felt the same way.

  “Finally, you are making sense, girl.” The woman walked back to her bag of tricks. “The ceremony continues. Everyone, stand back from the parameter.”

  Gabriel stepped in front of her.

  “This is not what she wants.” He turned to Ellenore. “How can you live knowing you sold out your sister’s life?”

  Oh, come on with the heroics. Where was he when Mother Earth had been ripping me a new one?

  “Gabriel, it’s okay. Ellenore and I talked it over. We had a sister moment. I know you mean well, but back off.”

  “No!” The anger in his tone matched the pleading in his heart.

  I would have to play the sap card to calm him down. “Gabriel, I know it’s hard to accept, but this is what I want.”

  The priestess began her incantation without a second glance in his direction. With her words, we could feel the power growing, thickening the air around us. The wind whipped our hair and tousled our clothes but as Ellenore and I watched, we realized the wind only affected us. Everyone else was as still as death. Well, everyone except Gabriel.

  “Don’t go through with this, Ell!”

  Wow, I was really impressed. He was quite shaken from the tips of his toes to the ends of his hair. Gabriel had verbalized his feelings downstairs earlier, to see them at work, however, was overpowering. But he needed to cooperate.

  “It’s okay, Green Bean. Everything will be okay. I’ll be the same person, no matter what happens.” My words were soft, intimate, like no one else existed. Funny, considering we had quite an audience.

  He stared at me blankly before asking, “Green Bean?”

  “Yes, Green Bean. Don’t cause more pain when I’ve already made my decision.”

  His gaze turned to recognition, then to admiration. He hadn’t thought I could pull it off. Well, shame on him. I had a few surprises up my sleeve yet.

  I smiled sadly and, when the priestess lowered her head in prayer, I winked at him. The last was unmistakably idiotic. In fact, the world had narrowed so much that only Gabriel filled my vision. We were in a private moment, but our public audience took notice. Alexi, having glimpsed that private moment, yelled for the priestess to stop the ceremony. As it was, the crone had just finished her last words, clapping her hands together so loudly that Alexi’s plea was drowned.

  The ceremony was finished.

  Alexi ran to the old hag. “Priestess!”

  She turned to Alexi with unforgiving eyes. “Shut up!”

  “But Mistress!”

  Mistress?

  “Shut up!” She drank from a cup and spit the liquid onto the edge of the circle. I felt a wobble through the air, and then the old woman was standing next to us. Quite a surprise to us both.

  “Well, hell, why didn’t you do that earlier?”

  “I dared not enter until the ceremony was complete. Had I breached the wall prematurely, it would have spoiled the entire event. But now...” The smile on her face was truly bone-chilling. “Now you both belong to me and no one beyond the pentagram’s barrier can stop me.”

  Ellenore looked completely puzzled. “What do you mean?”

  The hag spared an expression of pity toward Ellenore before explaining. “You stupid, stupid little girl. I made you act on what you wanted most. You had no idea, and I had no idea how easy it would be.”

  It was my turn to ask the questions, seeing as how Ellenore’s were leading nowhere. “What was easy? Helping Ellenore ‘secure’ my soul for her own?”

  “No.” She stopped to ponder her answer. “Well, yes. It was easy. But I did not go to all of this trouble to help a stranger find what she believes to be true happiness.”

  “What’s in this for you?” I knew it couldn’t be good.

  “Your soul is secure in her body now. She would be useless without it. As it stands, I am claiming her flesh and newly acquired soul. As you can see, I have grown old. How can I let all of this power and knowledge die from something as foolish as mortality?”

  “You want my sister?”

  She smiled. “She was so easy to control. And she does have quite the life. Have you had the pleasure of meeting her husband?”

  “I have.”

  “Then you realize how priceless he is. I can sense it in the air that animates him. His power, too, will be mine. It was all so easy.”

  I stood in front of Ellenore. “How do you plan to take her over?”

  “By doing this.” She reached around me and grabbed Ellenore’s arm. “Yours will be mine and mine yours. Your blood will beat through my heart and mine through yours. Your soul will fill my body and mine yours. Your—” She stopped in horror.

  “Didn’t get very far, did you?” I smiled sweetly.

  She paled. “What have you done?”

  “Nothing. It’s what you didn’t do. You see, Priestess Buzz Kill, you only re-secured my soul as my own.”

  “No!”

  “I’m afraid so. When she and I hugged, I took my soul back. You can’t secure it within her if it isn’t there.” I gave her my patented duh look. “I suppose you didn’t think about that potential outcome.”

  The priestess looked stricken. “I... Ellenore would not have given it up easily. I made sure of that.”

  “I’ll give you an ‘A’ for effort. The pain of Mother Earth is a mother, but not the sweet kind her name refers to, let me tell you. And the lightening, that was a once-in-a-lifetime rush. Better than a roller coaster. The flesh-tearing, however, I can’t forgive. Call me crazy, but that sucked. And you ruined my favorite jacket.”

  She began backing away, closer to the edge of the white ring. “I have failed.”

  “I was trying to be nice about it, but yeah, you’re a big loser.”

  Ellenore moved to stand next to me as she spoke to the old wretch. “I’m responsible for the abominations in my heart, but you made me act on them.” Tears streamed down her face. “You exposed my worst fears to the one person I tried so hard to keep safe from them.”

  I touched her hair. “Don’t cry in front of her. She doesn’t deserve to see your tears. We’re done crying.”

  Ellenore straightened her posture and wiped the tears from her face. I took that time to stalk the priestess. “You’ve hurt me and my family. You tortured us and I’m not a forget-and-let-live person. You won’t find forgiveness here. But you will find your mortality. In fact, much sooner than you feared.”

  “Do you think I will let you harm me?”

  “To commit harm in the circle is to endanger all in the circle. That includes you, you freaky rotten prune.”

  Alexi and Drew rushed the barrier. The minute their bodies made contact, they were flung out of sight. Gabriel grabbed two vampires and ordered them to find and det
ain the deranged duo. I turned my eyes to the priestess. She finally looked as scared as I wanted her to be. It helped that I was feeling particularly scary and that it was all about to crash into her.

  “You can’t kill me!” She shrank back.

  “I think my soul will forgive me.”

  As I knocked her down, Gabriel yelled, “You still have your soul!”

  Right. I couldn’t take hers if I had a no-occupancy sign in my chest. “Thanks for the reminder, Green Bean!” Before he could answer, I flung my soul into Ellenore. It hit so hard she was thrown from the circle. I felt the electricity as she barreled through the invisible force field. I’m sure it wasn’t a pleasant ride.

  Without thinking, my palm found the old woman’s chest and her soul was mine. Because Ellenore had breached the circle, the magic was broken, enabling Gabriel to toss me a knife. I stabbed the wretch right in the heart the exact moment I gave her soul back so she could feel her death with every part of her being.

  Eyes squinted in rage, I said, “I’m glad I burned your house down. It was ugly and creepy, just like you!”

  “Stop touching her!” Gabriel grabbed me from behind and lunged us both backward.

  “Why?” I yelled as I lay on top of him, my back pressed to his chest.

  “I’ve heard stories of witches. They’ll do anything to save themselves. I don’t trust this one not to do the same. Touching you would give her more power... Can you get off of me now?”

  “Oh!” How embarrassing. “Sorry.” I rolled onto the grass next to him.

  Gabriel realized his faux pas and awkwardly added, “My ribs are still healing.” Thank God it wasn’t my fat ass he was complaining about.

  I started to say something, but the priestess was suddenly on top of me.

  Chapter Thirty-Six

  People had started yelling warnings, but it was too late. She had me by the neck. The air was quickly being squeezed from my body. Seriously. I could feel every bit of oxygen being artificially forced from my cells.

  The old bag of bones said, “I told you I would win.”