Souls

by Kahilah Harry

  After a few minutes of weaving through the confusing cave and swatting at random bugs, I saw light from my right side. I followed the light and pumped my fist in the air when it led me straight outside.

  The sky was darker than it was when I first came in here. The air was chilly and felt nice against my hot skin. I ran, looking for any sign of Dmitri and the others. I was really hoping to make it to him before Caspian, even though that was probably unlikely. Caspian had a head start and his ability to run fast. As I ran, a cackle filled the air, halting my steps. I listened, and the cackle came again, this time even louder. It sounded like Caspian.

  Fear slithered up my spine, and I ran up the incline and saw the backs of Dmitri, Axel, and Rita standing in the clearing. Caspian stood in front of them with his possessed army.

  They were all standing in the middle of the yellow path, and it started blinking, though I thought I imagined it because none of them were reacting to it. I glanced at the ground for a second, and black boots appeared in front of me.

  I was yanked up, and a face came close to mine, piercing silver eyes narrowed with a hard look in them. I breathed out a sigh of relief.

  Dmitri didn’t say a word. He just shook his head and pulled me along with him. I knew he was furious with me for leaving the group. He would get over it though, hopefully. We made it to the clearing, and I looked up to see Caspian staring hard at me, his eyes narrowed when we locked eyes.

  “Ah, Victor, what a useless man,” Caspian hissed, crossing his arms over his chest.

  I smiled at my accomplishment, while Dmitri, Axel, and Rita had their full attention on Caspian.

  “Like I was saying, you know I can’t let you all make it up the mountain. At all.” Caspian smirked, eyes trailing over the four of us, lingering on me the longest. He kept his eyes on me, his intense stare making me a little squeamish.

  It was as if he had a secret plan already and was silently taunting me. I sighed inwardly, wishing I had just stuck with the plan.

  26

  “What do you want, Caspian?” Dmitri asked darkly.

  Caspian chuckled menacingly at Dmitri’s question, his funny demeanor disappearing.

  “Dmitri, you out of all people know what I want,” he answered, starting to pace back and forth. His hands curled into fists, his jaw ticking.

  “You can’t have her,” Dmitri growled. The passion in his voice startled me.

  “Then you will die!” Captain snarled, his chest was heaving and his fists were curled and pressed into his side. I heard a low hiss and looked at Dmitri to see he leaned forward, teeth bared at Caspian.

  “If only you would just see it from our side and actually listen, you would understand why it’s so important for her to get her memories.” Dmitri threw his hands in the air, exasperated.

  “Dmitri, I know why it’s so important, which is why I have to stop you,” Caspian responded, a slow grin forming on his face.

  Gasps filled the air, and I saw shocked looks on Dmitri, Axel, and Rita’s faces. I didn’t understand what made them react that way.

  “You didn’t!”

  “How could you?”

  “Caspian, you better be lying.” They all growled at the same time, making Caspian guffaw loudly, clutching his belly.

  He wiped a tear from his eyes, a huge smile on his face. “Did you guys really expect anything less? I needed help, and they were the only ones willing to provide the services I needed.” Caspian waved his hand in the air nonchalantly.

  “Killing innocents is never the answer! Nothing should be so serious that you’d go back to The Comitye!” Dmitri shouted at him, breathing heavily.

  My mouth dropped at Dmitri’s statement. He’d told me about The Comitye and how it was an organization that he thought was for good, but they wanted him and the others to kill. But he didn’t want to kill innocents. It clicked. The pale males had to be the ones who failed to transition.

  There was no way I would’ve been able to solve this case. That was why there were so many cold cases. I didn’t know Caspian was a part of The Comitye as well. Their history went deeper than I thought.

  “The Comitye is the only answer! I can’t believe I let you brainwash me to leave!” Caspian yelled, shaking his head.

  “Our lives were going to change for the worse if we stayed! There was nothing good associated with The Comitye!” Dmitri threw his words back at him.

  Caspian cackled humorlessly and punched the side of a tree, causing it to vibrate. “Leaving The Comitye changed my life for the worse! We were a brotherhood, a family! And you tore us apart!” Caspian spat, his voice cracking from emotion. His eyes were blazing in anger, his chest heaving from his outburst. All the emotion in his voice almost made me feel sorry for him. Almost. He was still panting heavily and hissed, his eyes turning violet. “I’m going to make sure you pay for ruining my life. Starting with her!”

  I took a step back when he pointed at me, glowing eyes trained on me. Genuine fear engulfed me. I had never seen him so angry and emotional. He almost looked animalistic.

  Dmitri took a step in front of me, partially blocking my view. “You’re going to have to go through me first,” Dmitri hissed, crouching.

  Caspian crouched himself. “With pleasure.” He glanced back at his army that hadn’t moved a muscle the entire time they’d been there and whistled. All of them crouched like Caspian, hisses filling the air.

  Axel and Rita crouched, their hisses just as loud as they prepared themselves.

  “I hope you didn’t lose your staff,” Dmitri said in a low voice, glancing at me.

  I shook my head. It was still safe in my pocket. My heart started racing when I realized every single one of them were looking my way. The look in their eyes was pure hunger. How were we going to defeat them?

  Caspian lifted his head, snapped his fingers, and pointed our way. His mouth moved, and lips curled over his teeth as the vampires started racing our way.

  “Let’s go!” Dmitri yelled, reaching to the pack on his back and grabbed a machete. I took out my lighter, tossing it in the air. Catching my fiery staff, I slashed the air, ready for them to come my way.

  “Take this too.” He lifted his hand, and in it sat one of the daggers. I grabbed it out of his hand. “I kill, you ice.” He grabbed my hand and started running, easily catching up to the other vampires. A female jumped in the air at him, and he shoved the machete into the air, the female landing right on it. There was a nasty crunch that made me cringe, and blood trailed down his hand and arm.

  He held her up by the machete. “Slice her arm.”

  I gripped the dagger and sliced her arm, opening a wound that gushed blood. It changed immediately, and the blood froze, turning the wound an icy blue.

  Dmitri tossed the body to the side, and we ran through the army, stabbing and slicing anyone that got in our way. My energy was never-ending. I wanted more. I was in my element.

  “Rita, phase!” Dmitri yelled, and she turned to us, eyes glowing violet. Dmitri chucked his machete at her, and I gasped when it reached her face and went right through her. An earsplitting shriek filled the air as the machete hit a vampire in the head, lodging itself right in the middle of his forehead. The air around us contorted, and it was completely black for a second before we appeared in front of the male vampire.

  Dmitri yanked out his machete, and a spray of blood flew up.

  I sliced his arm. The process was the same, and we moved on to the next. Dmitri joined Axel as he shot two vampires who tried to jump him and sliced one more that was sneaking up on Axel from behind.

  I did my job of making sure I sliced each one and defended myself at the same time. Multiple vampires jumped in front of me, and with no hesitation, I sliced them all in half cleanly with my staff. The sky was getting darker, the once red color now battling between orange and purple.

  “Dmitri!”

  He whipped around quickly at Caspian’s call, and I turned as well, to see Caspian holding Axel by the throat, his
feet dangling off the ground.

  “Axel!” Rita shouted, a gasp leaving her mouth. She threw her arm back with her double-bladed sword in it, prepared to chuck it at Caspian.

  “Rita, wait! Don’t do anything.” Dmitri threw his arm out to block her.

  She looked up at him with a confused and hurt expression on her face.

  “Look at his hand.” He continued, gesturing Caspian’s way. I gasped along with her when I saw what was in his hand. He was holding the other dagger.

  “How did he get that?” I whispered.

  “Axel had the other one and was going to finish what you couldn’t,” Dmitri whispered back, pulling me closer to him as he eyed the other vampires who stopped fighting. Seeing Axel fight and thrash to get out of Caspian’s grip was too much for me after what happened to Dax. I shook my head get the images out.

  “Caspian, please. Don’t do this, not to Axel. He’s my best friend. I can’t lose him,” Rita pleaded with Caspian, shrinking her weapon and pocketing it.

  My heart tugged at her voice full of emotion, and I hoped Caspian would find a grain of tenderness in his heart to let Axel go. We weren’t as close as I had been with Dax, but he was still a part of the team.

  Caspian chuckled, holding the dagger close to Axel’s throat, who was still swinging his legs in the air from the tight grip around his throat. “Give me Meadow, and you can have your precious Axel back.” A large smile grew on his face after his proposition.

  Rita’s eyes swung to me quickly and then settled on Dmitri. I chuckled humorlessly and silently at the look on her face. She had no problem trading my life for Axel’s. I mean, why would she? I was literally nothing to her, and Axel was her life.

  “Absolutely not, Rita! Don’t even start to think about that,” Dmitri growled, and I felt the anger radiating off of him.

  Rita scoffed, crossing her arms and relaxing them just as quickly. “That’s not fair! Just give her to him. Her life isn’t worth Axel’s death! Look at what she already did to Dax!” she yelled, not even looking at me.

  I flinched at her words. That one actually hurt deeper than I thought it would. But deep down, I kind of agreed with her. Who was I to them, and why should my life be more valuable than his? “She has a point, Dmitri,” I spoke up, earning a shocked, furious look from him.

  “No! You have no idea what you’re talking about, so you definitely have no say in this.” He dismissed me, turning his attention back to Rita. “We will find another way,” he said, making her hiss.

  “There is no other way,” Caspian interjected, lowering Axel to his feet. He let go of Axel, who coughed and wheezed as he tried to get air back in his lungs. He straightened after his coughing fit and took a step forward.

  “Uh, uh, take one more step, and I’ll rip out your spine,” Caspian hissed at Axel, who froze in place. When Rita tried to step forward, Caspian held a hand up, and she flinched backward. “If you want your friend to live, I suggest you stay right where you are.” He let his hand fall when she didn’t move again. Her fists were shoved into her sides, eyes filled with fear for Axel, and it looked as if she was about to cry.

  Dmitri glared at Caspian, his eyes darting back and forth. My heart clenched at the situation, and it hurt. I couldn’t let Axel die. If surrendering myself to Caspian was going to save his life, I had to do it.

  “Everyone, stop! I’ll go to Caspian.” The words had barely left my mouth when Dmitri started yelling.

  “Absolutely not! You aren’t going anywhere!” He reached for me, but I moved away from his grasp.

  “I have to do this. I can’t let Axel die because of me.” I mouthed I’m sorry before I started in Caspian’s direction, and Dmitri hissed harshly, his eyes flickering from silver to violet with conflicting emotions. I faced Caspian and walked slowly, my heart pounding. Whispering to my weapon, I turned it back into a lighter and pocketed it.

  I couldn’t believe I was willingly doing this. Dax’s death scarred me deeper than I realized if being a martyr didn’t seem so bad.

  Caspian grinned, and I didn’t realize what was happening until it was too late. While I walked toward Caspian, he grabbed Axel by the throat again, lifting him high in the air.

  “No!” Dmitri shouted, and I turned back to see why he was shouting, but he disappeared. I whipped back around in time to see Dmitri appear next to Caspian, but Caspian threw his arm out, sending Dmitri flying back.

  Caspian laughed and shoved his hand into Axel’s abdomen, and I almost stopped breathing.

  “Caspian, no!” I screamed, running his way. I tripped and fell hard, my arms catching my fall. Tears welled up in my eyes when I looked up to see Axel’s spine in Caspian’s hand, blood dripping to the ground.

  Rita’s shrill scream filled the air, and wind from her speed rushed over me as she tried to attack Caspian. He simply swiped his hand in the air, tossing her into Dmitri, who was trying to get up.

  I couldn’t move from my spot on the ground out of shock and could only watch as Caspian dragged the dagger across Axel’s throat, a blue line following his movements. Rita cried out, and my vision got blurry as tears spilled down my cheeks. The pendant sizzled against my chest, and I swallowed a gasp. I didn’t need any explaining as to what was happening. This was it. This was the price I had to pay. I offered myself to Caspian in exchange for Axel’s life, yet he still killed him. The price was bloodshed.

  I choked on a sob and scrambled to my feet when Caspian locked eyes with me. His attention turned to Dmitri when he was punched from behind, and I took this opportunity to run to Dmitri’s side. His eyes were glowing vibrantly, his teeth bared in anger. Rita joined him, weapon out and ready to do some damage.

  “I told you to give me the girl or your friend would die,” Caspian said, shrugging.

  “She was on her way to you! How could you?” Rita cried out, angry tears streaming down her face.

  Caspian glanced at me before turning his attention back to Rita. “She was taking too long.” he replied nonchalantly.

  A gasp left my lips at the same time as Rita’s, and her eyes swung to me, pure fire in them. I couldn’t look her in the eye and instead looked at what was left of Caspian’s army. They gathered behind him, only about forty of them left, yet Caspian still seemed pretty confident.

  There was a long silence filled with hard staring, Rita’s heavy breathing louder than my own. The tears stopped running down my face, but my heart still felt the pain. Axel’s body was no longer there, only an ice sculpture in its place.

  I didn’t dare move a muscle, not wanting to be the one to break the tense silence.

  Caspian’s eyes slowly went over each of us, starting with me and ending with Rita. He locked eyes with her, and I watched as he raised his leg over what was once Axel and dropped his boot on the ice sculpture’s head.

  “No!” Rita roared and charged after Caspian. Dmitri didn’t even stop her. Before she could reach him, everything started shaking. The entire mountain rumbled. Rita lost her balance, falling to the side a few feet away from Caspian. He had a look on his face that resembled fear, but it was quickly replaced by shock.

  “Crap,” Dmitri muttered under his breath, his eyes trained on the ground.

  I crouched, trying to keep my balance, but it was hard. “What’s happening?” I shouted over the rumbling, looking around for the source. I had to squint to see anything clearly since the sun had fully set. The only light source were the stars casting a bright twinkle to the ground, giving me barely enough light to see the others and the area.

  “It’s an earthquake!” he shouted, eyes now darting around the area.

  I groaned and walked closer to him the best I could. Even Caspian and his followers were having a hard time keeping their balance.

  “What are we going to do now? Are we going to take this time to try and evade Caspian?” I whispered to Dmitri. I didn’t want to waste time when we could take advantage of this opportunity.

  He squinted a little bit, looking like he wa
s thinking about the question. “Give me a second.” He disappeared, appearing next to Rita. He quickly grabbed her and appeared by my side in a second. “We’re going to run before the mountain starts shifting.” He patted his back, and I sighed, reluctantly getting on the best I could without falling.

  They started running, and like before, I clutched my arms around his neck, terrified of falling off. I didn’t tuck my face in his shoulder and spotted Caspian getting up from his fallen position, trying to run after us.

  The mountain shook harder than before, making Dmitri and Rita almost lose their balance. My pulse rushed in my ears, and I hoped Dmitri wouldn’t fall and crush me. I heard a snarl and saw the followers running after us.

  “They’re coming!” I yelled over the rumbling, and Dmitri grunted in acknowledgment, picking up the pace. He took another step and was suddenly in the air. My scream was lost from the force, but I couldn’t stop it as I looked down, seeing a wide pillar carry us in the air.

  “Hold on!” Dmitri shouted and leaped into the air, my arms locking around his neck. I shoved my face into his shoulder, trying to control my breathing. The wind rushed against my skin, and Dmitri grunted hard when he landed. My mouth dropped open when the mountain started shifting, massive pillars shooting up in the air around us. Several narrowly missed us. My eyes darted back and forth as I tried to take in what was happening. The mountain didn’t even look like one anymore. It was chaos, the surface cracking, making way for the pillars to come through.

  “Rita, look out!” I shouted when I saw one of the vampires running after her.

  She jumped up from her fall and turned around in time to dodge her attacker. Before he could grab at her, a pillar shot up, carrying him into the air.

  My eyes followed as he jumped off the pillar, falling from the scary height, but then started flailing. I squinted to see what was happening, but he was too high up for me to see properly.

  “What’s happening to him?” I asked when Dmitri started moving as more pillars shot up closer to us.