The Hunted Soul

by Miranda Brock

  I hoped he was right, and I hoped he trusted in the advice of his friend. After Alastor had pointed us to a false key, I was suspicious about directions from sources I didn’t know.

  Time stretched on, and I was beginning to think we’d never find the woman, and never stop walking. The day seemed to grow warmer by the minute. I was down to a tank top, and was seriously considering cutting off the bottom half of my pants, even if it did further expose me to bugs and scratchy weeds. My head had been throbbing for the past hour, despite the water I’d been drinking.

  My energy was quickly sapping, and I tripped a few times with feet that had grown heavy. The third time I stumbled, I hit my knees. I leaned over and braced my hands on the grass. A shadow fell over the grass in front of my face.

  “Livvie?”

  I glanced up to find Kael’s face pinched with concern. “Hey.”

  He grabbed me under my shoulders and settled me back on my butt. I didn’t even have the energy to protest being handled like a child. His hand paused on my arm, and he frowned.

  “You’re really hot,” he said.

  Really hot? I stared at him. If he was going to compliment me, did he have to do it with such an uneasy look on his face?

  “Now isn’t the time for that,” I said.

  It was beyond me why Kael thought being lost in the African wilderness would be a good time for flirting. Wait. Was he flirting?

  I squeezed my eyes shut for a second. It felt like someone was tapping my skull with a tiny hammer.

  “No,” he said slowly. I opened my eyes, and he gave me a tight smile, and though a tiny spark of amusement lit in his eyes, his brow remained furrowed. “I mean you feel hot, like feverish.”

  I pushed him away from me and blinked. Kael was a sturdy guy, but it had been like trying to push a truck out of my way. “It’s impossible not to be hot in this climate, Kael.”

  He let out a sharp breath and stood. He bent down to help me up. As I climbed to my feet, a sudden pain licked my side. I grabbed it with a gasp.

  Before I could say anything, Kael grabbed the bottom of my tank and lifted it. His nostrils flared. I glanced down to see what he was staring at. The skin around the scratch was red and inflamed. It was starting to burn a little. Still, I pulled my shirt from Kael’s fingers and yanked it down.

  “I’ll be fine,” I said. Judging by his silent stare, he obviously wasn’t convinced.

  Kael’s lips pressed into a thin line. After a moment, he said, “Perhaps we should find a place to rest. Tomorrow we can continue our search.”

  I couldn’t help but scoff. “Where are we supposed to rest?”

  Aside from the grass and scattered trees, there was nowhere we could hunker down where we wouldn’t be exposed to the elements, wild beasts, or worse, demons.

  Kael squinted as he peered around. Then, he paused and pointed. “There.”

  I followed his gaze to a slight rise in the horizon that looked to be a forest.

  “We can go for that,” he said.

  So, the pair of us continued through the endless sea of grass, the silence broken occasionally by the indignant, territorial birds. After a while, the sky turned from blue to gray, followed by a blush of pink and orange. Kael’s steps were quick, obviously in a hurry to get to the forest before nightfall.

  The pain at my ribs had worsened. It burned, growing hotter with each step, as if someone were teasing me with a red-hot poker. I gritted my teeth and concentrated on putting one foot in front of the other.

  Left. Right. Left. Left.

  I stumbled, and only quick footwork kept my face from meeting the ground.

  Kael glanced back at me, and I gave him what I hoped was a reassuring smile. He frowned, but continued on his way.

  Minutes dragged on. A strange fuzziness flickered in my mind. I shook my head and tried to clear it, but the sensation persisted. I glanced up from my boots shuffling through the grass to find Kael had gotten quite a bit ahead of me.

  “Kael,” I called. My voice sounded strange, as if my mouth were full of cotton.

  Something hard hit my back end, and I realized after a moment it was the ground.

  Grass and sky spun around me, and I closed my eyes against the dizziness. A warmth pressed against my face, and I wished it would stop. I was so hot.

  “Livvie.”

  I opened my eyes. Kael had his hand pressed to my face. Why did he look so worried?

  “Kael?” The word was hardly more than a whisper from my dry lips.

  He dropped his hand from my face and lifted my shirt. His breath hissed in, and I flinched as he yanked off the bandage. The wound at my ribs was an angry red, with bluish-green tendrils spreading across my skin like spiderwebs. I peered up at Kael, and wondered if I had the same panic in my eyes that stared from his.

  “Where did this wound come from?” he asked. His voice was tight, and I couldn’t tell if he was angry or scared. Maybe both.

  Strangely, it took me a minute to recall where I had gotten the scratch in the first place.

  “One of the demons,” I said.

  A muscle ticked at his jaw, and I wondered if he was trying not to yell at me. He put his arm around my back. “We’ll find some help, but we need to get to the forest so you can rest.”

  Kael glanced up. When had night fallen? He started to help me to my feet, when his head snapped to peer behind me. A low growl rumbled through his chest. I didn’t have to ask to know what he had seen or heard.

  Demons.

  Without a word, he hauled me to my feet. The forest was ahead of us. If we hurried, we could reach the trees and maybe find shelter. Kael kept his arm around me, but even with his support, I was having difficulty. Every step and breath I took brought more pain. I couldn’t get my feet to work right, and my vision faded in and out. Hairs rose on the back of my neck.

  The demons were drawing closer. We weren’t going to make it into the forest in time.

  Magic. I could use my magic.

  I glanced behind me into the darkness, expecting a group of demons to race toward us at any second. I pulled at my magic, but the more I tried to summon the power that could save us, the more my stomach churned. It wasn’t working.

  Pain lashed at me, and tears pricked my eyes. The agony ripped through me, and my muscles gave out as we neared the forest. My legs bent. I tried to clutch at Kael. He caught me before I fell and, tightening his grip, he swung me up into his arms.

  My head bounced against Kael’s shoulder as he ran. He glanced back and swore. We reached the trees, and he bent to ease me onto the ground. Grass and twigs tickled at my cheek as I lay wishing I had a softer place to put my head.

  I twisted as best I could to stare up at Kael. His face was pale, but determined, as he stared forward. I tilted my head just enough to be able to see a dozen pairs of eyes, burning like coals in the dark.

  I pulled the necklaces from beneath my shirt and closed the keys in my fingers. I tried to tell Kael we would be all right, but a moan came from my lips instead at the pain that sliced at my side. If I could reach for him, get his attention, maybe he would understand. My muscles wouldn’t hardly work, however, and my vision started to fade.

  A sudden deep rumbling carried from the trees and reverberated in my chest. Something heavy thumped from somewhere behind me, like the footsteps of a giant. Shrieking came from in front of us, and I winced at the horrid sound. The indignant cries faded.

  Were the demons fleeing? Why?

  Kael crouched and hovered over me protectively. Had another demon come? A bigger, more terrible demon?

  “What is this that has stumbled into my home, and brought demons to my doorstep?”

  I tried to crane my neck to see who had spoken, but the pain enveloped me, and dragged me down with relentless claws.

  Chapter 16

  A soft sensation floated from my forehead and over the crown of my head. Once. Twice. Then, over and over again. It was nice, and drew a small moan from me. The feeling paused, a
nd I could have sworn someone said my name from the darkness weighing me down.

  I tried to find a light, but I was wrapped in shadow. If I could reach out, maybe I could find my way out of the dark, but my limbs felt heavy and sluggish. A warmth touched my cheek, and I tilted my head to lean into it.

  “Livvie? Can you hear me?”

  Yes, I wanted to say, but when I opened my mouth to speak, only a small, pitiful noise came out.

  “She needs more rest. Leave her be, or you can wait outside.”

  I didn’t recognize the deep, chiding voice. Who else was in the darkness with me? I fought and clawed my way out of the depths and slowly opened my eyes.

  At first, Kael’s face was nothing more than a blur, but after a few moments, the lines of his jaw, the golden-brown of his eyes, and his puckered forehead sharpened into view.

  “Kael,” I breathed.

  “See? Now you’ve done it, you baboon.” There was a heavy sigh. “I will get some tea for her.”

  There was that voice again. I tried to look around, but Kael had trapped my head in his hands.

  “Are you all right?” His tone was tight, and scratchy, as if he hadn’t slept or drank in days.

  “I…” Truthfully, I wasn’t really sure. It took a moment for the memories to drag back into my muddled mind, and even then, I couldn’t recall much. “I was hurt?”

  Yes, that sounded right. I started to reach down toward my ribs, but Kael caught my hand.

  His eyes closed, and he lifted my hand to his lips. “You are all right.” He mumbled the words, heavy with relief, against my fingers. Then, he leaned down and rested his forehead against my own. “You are all right.”

  He sounded more like he was trying to convince himself than he was trying to convince me.

  Kael’s breath tickled my face, his lips a hairsbreadth from mine. I had a sudden, crazy urge to close the distance between them. Before I could, he straightened. The man looked like he was trying to put himself back together.

  “Kael?” My throat was raw and scratchy, and I cleared it before continuing. “Are you okay?”

  His eyes were wide. “You almost died.” The way he said those words, it was as if his universe had been swept out from under him.

  “I did?” Honestly, I couldn’t remember much except that I had a wound festering on my side and a pack of demons on our tail. I was fairly certain we’d reached the forest, but after that, I couldn’t recall anything.

  Kael nodded. “You were feverish and screaming about being on fire.” He reached down and touched my side. “It was the scratch from the demon. Some of them have poisonous claws, and you were unlucky enough to encounter one.”

  I leaned up. My ears rang a bit. I was covered in a blanket to my waist and wearing nothing but my sports bra. A bandage had been placed on my side, so I couldn’t tell what the actual wound looked like, but the skin around it held a healthy glow. My gaze slid from myself to my surroundings.

  I was laying on a low cot in a small room. The ceiling was nearly dome-shaped, if peaked slightly at the top, and the walls were a rich brown. Kael was leaning on a brightly covered woven rug sitting on a floor of stone. There was no window, but bright light filtered through a beaded curtain doorway behind my partner’s back.

  My stare swung back to Kael. God, he looked exhausted. When was the last time he slept? How long had I been out?

  “What happened to the demons?” I asked. If we were safe, perhaps he could now get some much needed rest.

  “They are waiting for you outside of my forest.”

  The beaded curtain parted, and a woman walked in. I froze as I stared at her. It was as if a goddess had just strolled into the room. Not only was she beautiful, even with the fine lines of age, but something about her presence commanded respect, even reverence.

  She wore a brightly-colored dress and plain brown sandals. Earrings that looked to be the very tips of an elephant’s tusks hung at her ears. White dots, running a path from the top of her forehead and down to the tip of her nose, stood in stark contrast to her dark complexion.

  But it wasn’t her feminine stature, or her perfectly sculpted face that had me unmoving on the cot.

  It was her eyes.

  They were gray, almost non-descript compared to the rest of her beauty, but her gaze was heavy with more wisdom than I could ever hope to possess.

  We had found the prophetess.

  She strode over and nudged Kael to the side with her hip.She held out a plain white teacup. Steam swirled up from the dark liquid. “Here, child, drink this.”

  I took the cup, glanced at Kael who was staring at the woman with an annoyed frown, and took a careful sip. My face scrunched as something akin to sour ditchwater flowed over my tongue.

  The woman nodded. “Yes, I know. It is awful stuff, but will help you to heal faster. You are fortunate you found me when you did. Another ten minutes, and you would be gone.”

  She climbed to her feet, muttering something about foolish girls and demon poison.

  I sat up and was glad to find the movement only hurt a little. I took another sip of the horrid concoction and motioned for Kael to come and sit beside me. The woman settled cross-legged in the corner with a wooden bowl in her lap and started tearing up what seemed to be an assortment of herbs.

  “What’s your name?” I asked.

  “Most call me Bibi.” She looked up from her bowl with amusement in her ancient eyes. “It means ‘grandmother’.” Her gaze narrowed as she stared at me. “You carry some interesting trinkets with you.”

  I lifted my hand to my collarbone, and panic flashed through when I found the keys were missing.

  “Here.” Kael pulled them from his pocket and handed them to me. I took them, and the one bound to my soul hummed at the reunion. I placed them back around my neck.

  “That one does not trust me,” Bibi said. She fixed her steely gaze on my partner.

  “I don’t mean to offend, but these, and her, are too important to risk.” Kael was sitting very close to me, and I could have sworn his hand twitched toward me just a bit. I groaned inwardly. This near-death experience of mine was going to make him hover more than ever.

  Bibi did not seem bothered by Kael’s explanation. Instead, she jerked her head toward the keys now resting around my neck. “I have not seen the likes of those in many years.”

  My heart skipped. “Have you seen a key like these before?”

  “I have, indeed.” She ripped more of the herbs and dropped them into the bowl. “Seen it, held it―” Her gaze swept over the pair of us. “—and gave it away.”

  This woman gave away the third key? “Well, who has it now?”

  Bibi’s head tilted, and her eyes narrowed.

  I squirmed under her shrewd gaze.

  “I do not know if I should trust you with such information.”

  I sputtered. Had she not just chided Kael for being untrustworthy? “But…but we need it.”

  “And why do you need it, child? No one needs objects such as the ones around your neck, unless they are planning something very wicked, or very stupid.”

  Kael was silent and unhelpful beside me. Trying to stop Vehrin wasn’t wicked, it was the opposite.

  “Well, I guess we’re probably doing something stupid, then,” I said. “Stupid, but still the right thing to do.”

  “You want to stop Vehrin.”

  I blinked at Bibi’s words. How did she know who he was? I nodded slowly.

  She set the bowl aside. “And what makes you think you are capable of doing such a thing?”

  Before, as with Cordelia, and the witch coven in Scotland, I had shown them my magic as proof of who I was and what I could do. I reached for it, and tried to draw my magic up from inside of me, but my head suddenly buzzed, and my vision blurred at the edges.

  “It is the demon’s poison. It tampers your magic, but it will wear off.”

  Bibi’s tone held a promise I wanted to believe. “Are you truly a prophetess?”

/>   A big, booming laugh shook from the woman’s slight frame and bounced off the walls. It seemed impossible that such a loud sound came from her.

  “Prophetess,” she scoffed, though her lips were lifted in a smile. “Most claim I am such a thing, but truly, it is only because the more you know about the past, the more you can read the future.”

  “And you know much about the past?” Kael asked.

  She heaved a heavy sigh, pushing out a few more chuckles. “I have been alive for a very long time.” There was a story playing about in her mind. I could see it in the way her eyes dimmed, as if seeing into the past. Suddenly, her gaze flicked to me. “Drink your tea.”

  I had forgotten about the cup in my hand. It had grown cold, and my nose wrinkled as I downed the rest of the foul drink.

  Bibi bobbed her head in satisfaction, then shifted on the floor and faced us. “My grandmother knew of a sorceress across the seas on the other side of the world. She lived in a place of twisted vines, of shadows and heavy rains.”

  I leaned forward. The rainforest. She had to be talking about the rainforest, and the place I had supposedly lived in my past life.

  “The sorceress was a powerful woman, full of great magic, with ties to an equally powerful mage.”

  I shared a brief glance with Kael. This woman could be the only being on earth besides the mage who knew the true story about the keys.

  “They were aligned, for a time. Together, they kept the balance of magic, and life. Eventually, there was a disagreement between them. The mage had grown to rely too heavily on magic, forsaking things which were real, and good. He cared not for the fish in the waters, or the animals of the earth, or the people that followed his and the sorceress’s rule. He grew twisted, and dark. There was war, and sacrifice. In the end, both of their lives were forgotten, until now.”

  Bibi’s gray eyes which, at first, I had thought dull compared to the rest of her features, sparked with life.

  I swallowed. “I already knew who I had been, in a past life. I know who I am.”