Soul Bite

by D. N. Erikson

  “Okay.” But Kai didn’t sound enthusiastic about it.

  The city disappeared. The Forgotten Quarter was in the western part of the island, beyond the gas pumps. Beyond the jungle.

  A place no one visited.

  The rest of the ride continued in silence.

  Years ago, there’d been a chemical spill—a half dozen tanker trucks had tipped over during a delivery and crashed into the jungle. What had once been verdant grassland had quickly been transformed into a twisted wasteland straight out of a horror novel.

  Now it was quarantined off by a large, rusting fence about fifteen feet high.

  Rumor was, those who couldn’t afford to live in even the worst parts of the city holed up out here.

  Kai cut the engine. I scanned the apocalyptic landscape in search of threats.

  When I stepped out, the acrid breeze brought the scent of rotting flesh.

  “Nice place.” Surprised the tourism board didn’t put it on the brochures.

  Kai walked ahead and ducked beneath the fence without answering. I hurried to catch up.

  I followed him across the blackened landscape, charred branches crumbling beneath my flats. The wispy trees and dead landscape had the feeling of a haunted forest—where, lurking around a bend in the ashen path, a ghoul would emerge to devour our throats.

  That didn’t happen.

  Instead, the thicker trees at the outer edges of the Forgotten Quarter began to thin out. Tree stumps marked by axe blades suggested that the forest had been harvested for wood. Sunlight splashed over the dirt.

  “I remember when this was lush,” Kai said, his strong fingers brushing over a blackened stump.

  “I thought you were from Hawaii,” I said.

  “Our family lived there for many generations,” Kai said, charting a path through the remnants of the ruined jungle, “until my father got sick and Miesha’s outbursts became more difficult to manage. It was rumored that healers of supernatural ability lived on Atheas. So we moved here when I was seventeen.”

  I gave him space to tell his story without prodding. On the distant horizon, the sun glinted off a reflective, man-made surface. It looked curved. Beneath it, I squinted at what looked like a pile of trash.

  As we came closer, I saw that it was a small town surrounded by a makeshift wall.

  “My family were never strangers to magic. This mark has been passed down from father to eldest son since before time itself. It is our duty to protect our family from harm, no matter the cost.”

  A memory of Kai beating the shit out of Moreland in Alkemy flashed through my mind. He’d embraced his role as protector far beyond what most humans would be capable of. Almost killing a warlock in battle was no joke.

  “My father died our first year on the island. There was no magic capable of curing his ailments.” The sigil glowed brighter than I’d ever seen it. “On his death bed, he passed this mark down to me.”

  Smoke drifted in a clearing beyond the spindly trees.

  “Did your family live out here?” I couldn’t recall stories of people living out here before the accident, but I wasn’t overly familiar with the history. And the news had a way of twisting the truth.

  “No.” Kai stopped, staring at the smoke drifting into the placid sky. “But the people who did eased my father’s suffering. They didn’t deserve what happened to them. He didn’t deserve this.”

  “Your father?”

  “There was a great man who lived here,” Kai glanced back, and for the first time tonight, smiled. “A minute with this man—it was an incredible experience.”

  “Was he some kind of sorcerer?”

  Kai shook his head. “He had no special powers.”

  “I don’t get it.”

  “He showed people what it meant to be alive.” Kai spread his arms toward the wasteland, which had, by this point, devolved into a spartan, empty black field. Up ahead sat a short fence fashioned from rusted metal and planks.

  A footpath had been beaten into the tightly packed dirt.

  “Sounds more like mind control,” I said.

  Kai bristled at the characterization, his back stiffening.

  “Most people are like these trees, Eden. Living in the sun, but incapable of absorbing the light.”

  “That’s deep,” I said, reflecting on where I fell on that continuum.

  Probably not on the light end.

  “But a person who inspires such reverence is always dangerous.” Kai waved as a mirror glinted on the horizon. “To others.”

  “What’s out here?” I asked, watching as, three hundred yards away, the gate slowly opened.

  “A place of killers and thieves.” Kai’s voice troubled. “Led by Miesha.”

  I watched Kai hold up his fist, and for a moment I thought the agent was displaying his badge. But it transformed into a series of complex hand motions—waves, snapping fingers, and twisting movements that I couldn’t describe.

  And I realized he was probably signaling a secret code so that they wouldn’t shoot us on sight.

  “One other thing I forgot to mention,” I said.

  Kai grunted, but didn’t stop motioning.

  “I’m pretty sure we need you and your sister to release the Sword of Damocles.”

  “Have you found it?”

  “Everyone keeps asking that.” I squinted at the gate, and I could see guards with rifles aiming down at us. “When we find it.”

  “It’s not me who you will have to convince, Eden.” Kai finally stopped with the hand signals and turned, his face grave. “But Miesha.”

  “Is that going to be a problem?”

  “You’ll find out for yourself,” he replied, pointing at the horizon where a single hooded woman walked across the desolate land to greet us alone.

  45

  Each of Miesha’s steps was made with absolute purpose. She stopped in the black dust before us.

  “Hello, brother.” Two guns hung from her hips, flanked by a variety of knives. I saw the barrel of the magical gun poking up from her back.

  “I need to come inside the city,” Kai said.

  “You made your decision to abandon us.”

  “I’m trying to save you.”

  “Those people were our friends, Kai. And you left them behind.”

  Kai looked like he had swallowed a bucket of razor blades. “Please.”

  “And you brought her?” Miesha’s hand rested on one of her pistols. “This girl you begged me to spare?”

  I raised my eyebrow.

  He’d really been trying to protect me all along.

  Too bad I didn’t listen.

  “They’re not going to stop,” Kai said. “You’ve killed five FBI agents.”

  “Demons that your government refuses to handle.”

  “That won’t be the story.” Kai tried to lay a comforting hand on her shoulder, but Miesha snapped at him like a snake.

  “Every force on this island is the same.” If Kai was water—calm, and occasionally stormy—his sister was fire—all fury and unbridled emotion, wearing her heart on her sleeve. “All corrupt. None worthy of obedience.”

  “Miesha.”

  “There are snipers aimed at your head, brother. You have said your words and I remain unconvinced.”

  I took that opportunity to step in. “Nope. Not leaving.”

  They both looked at me like I was insane.

  “As much as you both need family therapy, I’m kind of on the clock.” I tapped my neck and turned toward Miesha so she could see the bite marks. “Bitten by a vampire. Three days before I’m fucked. That kind of thing.”

  “Eden, please—”

  I cut Kai off. “I will drag your ass across this ash if I have to, so help me god. But you’re coming with us.”

  I crossed my arms and waited for a response.

  Miesha said, “You come for one of us, you come for us all.”

  “Have it your way.” I shrugged. “We’ll let the FBI burn this place to the ground.”
/>
  “Who is this girl?” Miesha gave me a dismissive down-and-up glance.

  “My partner,” Kai said.

  It made me warm and fuzzy the way he said it with conviction. But I didn’t let that show.

  “I don’t want to hurt you, Kai. But the demons must be purged.”

  “We’d like to discuss alternatives,” I said.

  “There are no alternatives. It is my destiny to hunt them.” She drew her pistol and aimed it at my head.

  My pulse barely rose. Whether that was because of the vampirism or because I considered death less scary than living past Friday night was hard to say.

  I had to hand it to this chick, though: she stood her ground and refused to back down.

  “And you would rather have Aldric rule this island than stop killing?”

  “Do not say that name.” Spit foamed at her lips.

  “Here’s the thing. Aldric sent those demons. Well, struck a deal with Loki, really. But the vampire wins either way: reveal them, and the FBI’s integrity is questioned. Allow them to live, and Aldric has an endless supply of confidential intel.”

  “Lies.” Miesha pressed the cold metal to my temple.

  “A theory,” I said, admitting the truth, “but compelling, no?”

  She grabbed my hair with her free hand and jerked my neck. Despite her slim figure, she was surprisingly strong.

  Her fingers raked over the bite marks. “This is the vampire’s work.”

  “Yes.”

  “You’re loyal to him.” More a statement than a question.

  “Not one damn bit,” I said, with a wide enough smile to display my budding fangs. “So maybe we can help each other.”

  “I don’t think so.”

  “You want revenge, too, right?” I let the smile linger and took a leap of faith. “Since he’s the one who ruined this land.

  From the way Miesha’s wrist wobbled, my guess had been correct.

  Then she slowly lowered the weapon.

  Her eyes blazed with manic fury. “All the demons must die. That is non-negotiable.”

  “We’ll work something out.”

  “I wish to show you something, then.” The demon hunter turned around and headed toward the settlement. “Inside the gates.”

  46

  Unlike the brutal desolation lying outside its blackened fences, the interior of the compound proved to be an eclectic blend of technology and magic—a fully functional and autonomous village. Where I had expected a shantytown, I was greeted by a vibrant, thriving community, complete with grass and even trees.

  Neon signs advertised beer, cigarettes, and sandwiches as we passed a row of trailers.

  “You organized all this?” I asked.

  “Solar array provides power,” Miesha said, bounding ahead of us. “Powerful wards keep out the assholes. Not that they think there’s anything worth taking.”

  Classic survival tactic.

  Camouflage.

  The trailers were older, but well-maintained, free of rust and dirt.

  Gunshots and the clang of metal cracked through the air. My head snapped toward the noise.

  “Practice never stops,” Miesha said, glancing back.

  “Practice for what?”

  “For our hunts.”

  Miesha had taken it upon herself to form her own little demon-hunting cult.

  We wound through the village, all the essentials covered: housing, a school, a doctor’s clinic, shops. Black and white missing posters were taped to the side of some buildings, water-warped and faded by the elements.

  “So are we getting to the big reveal?” I asked.

  Miesha shoved me to the gravel.

  Arms bleeding, annoyed that she’d interrupted me, I swept my foot into her knee. She buckled, her various knives and guns clanging as she tumbled to the ground.

  I was on her quicker than even I expected. “What the hell—”

  A strong hand lifted me off, like an owner removing its dog from a dust-up.

  Kai stepped between me and his sister.

  Miesha coolly wiped blood from the corner of her lip and bounded away like nothing had happened, disappearing around a rosebush.

  “I told you my sister isn’t well.” Kai leaned in. “You’re lucky she didn’t shoot you in the head back there.”

  “I’ve always been a gambler.” But I felt less glib than my words suggested. I needed this woman’s cooperation.

  Which in many ways meant the entire island’s fate rested on her very volatile shoulders.

  I’d been fooled by the orderliness inside the gates. But appearances, as always, could be deceiving.

  “You’re the first outsider she’s allowed inside.”

  I realized then that bringing me here, then, was the ultimate show of trust.

  And that, however the cards fell, he’d be with me until the very end.

  47

  A single structure—more a blackened, skeletal husk than a building—sat on a hill at the back of the compound. It was surrounded by nothing but charred dirt. Just behind us, a blooming lemon tree waved in the breeze. But whatever efforts the people had put into rejuvenating the soil had abruptly stopped at the bottom of this incline.

  “A monument to the fallen,” I said.

  Miesha knelt and whispered to the earth, then rose. “This is what I wanted you to see.”

  I chose my words carefully. “Why?”

  “This is the beginning of it all.”

  Kai leaned over and whispered in my ear, “This is where the healer’s daughter lived. She died in Aldric’s attack, thus ending his lineage.”

  “Why did the vampire attack?”

  “Because he fears anything not subservient to him.” Miesha knelt and let the ash trickle through her fingers. “You tell the truth regarding his allegiance with the trickster god?”

  “Seems likely.”

  She trudged up the steep, lifeless hill, beckoning for us to follow.

  Burnt, stale air hung over the structure like a cloud. A stained sheet hung from the entranceway.

  I turned to look at the village. From up here, it looked like a settlement on an inhospitable alien world: a tiny cradle of civilization fighting to survive in a blackened tundra.

  Kai lingered outside the bent doorframe. “This is when things really got bad.”

  I put my hand on his shoulder. “We’ll keep her safe.”

  “I think it’s too late for that, Eden.”

  Darkness swirled through the air like an arctic chill as he brushed the curtain aside and stepped into the building. Trash—liquor bottles and some microwavable dinner trays—littered the dirt floor. A mattress sat at the back, with clothes piled atop its dirty center.

  “What do you think?” Miesha sat down in the middle of the bed.

  “It’s, uh, cozy,” I said, forcing a smile.

  “It’s my home.” Her eyes narrowed into diamond-hard slits. “The leader’s home.”

  I saw Kai bite his lip to avoid saying something that might set her off.

  I said, “And what does a leader do?”

  “Destroy. No, save.” She twitched, her eyes flashing with fear, like a cornered animal’s. “They keep their people safe. I couldn’t keep them safe. That’s why I have to do it myself.”

  She huddled in the fetal position, rocking back and forth amidst the dirty clothes.

  Kai wiped sweat from his forehead and looked at her with pity. “She’s gone. The darkness consumed her.”

  “Is that why you left?”

  “She left me and came to live in this place. I couldn’t convince her to return. And if I had come to live out here…”

  “You’d have been consumed by darkness, too,” I said, finishing the thought for him.

  “That’s why I didn’t want you to come. You’d see the truth.”

  “I’ve already seen that.” I patted him on the back. “Nothing I can’t handle.”

  Miesha stopped rocking for a moment, cocked her head at us, laughed,
then screamed.

  “What’s wrong?” I asked.

  “Whatever’s running through her veins.”

  “Is there a cure?”

  “We tried everything. There’s no hope.”

  “Christ,” I said.

  “I don’t think she’ll be much help, Eden.”

  “She can’t be all gone.” I looked at the babbling woman. “How else could she get away with five kills?”

  “Little shards of lucidity in the madness.”

  I pulled Kai closer. “You see all those missing posters on the way in?”

  “What are you thinking?”

  “I’m thinking they went looking for Brenda and her demon friends and got eaten as snacks.” I let that sink in. From the grimace on his face, Kai seemed to buy it. “And maybe that’s why your sister took matters into her own hands.”

  “Okay, but how does that help us?”

  “Maybe she just needs a purpose to guide her.”

  A large crack boomed across the expanse.

  Kai rushed out the front, throwing the curtain aside.

  Flames lit up the previously placid night.

  “My people!” Miesha charged forward, trying to run by us.

  I clotheslined her with a hard forearm, and she crashed to the bottle-strewn ground, slamming her head against an empty fifth of whiskey. Her eyes went dull.

  For a moment, I thought I’d killed her, but a quick check of the pulse calmed my nerves.

  Just taking a brief nap.

  I glanced at the bleak horizon again.

  Another rolling boom passed through the village.

  And enemies stormed the gates.

  48

  “Goddamnit.” Kai ripped the sheet down and hurled it down the blackened hill. “Rayna told me she’d give me more time.”

  “It’s not like Rayna to lie,” I said, sarcasm dripping from each word.

  “Not now, Eden.”

  I looked out at the advancing blitz of cars. Leading the way was a pair of massive bulldozers, clearing away the ruined forest to blaze a trail for the Bureau’s vehicles.

  “They really want blood.”

  Kai punched a number into his phone and paced down the hill. He had an animated conversation before throwing his hands up in exasperation and sprinting back up.