Soul Bite

by D. N. Erikson

  “Rayna won’t budge. Says she has orders from the very top.”

  “Did you tell her that’s a bad idea for, I don’t know, a million reasons?”

  “She doesn’t care.”

  “Rayna’s a good little soldier,” I said. “Anything for a promotion.”

  I had to hand it to her and the rest of the higher-ups at the Bureau, though.

  Wiping the demon hunter from the face of the earth would solve their PR nightmare. The killer would be brought to justice, and no one would learn that demons had hidden in plain sight behind badges and guns.

  “You’ll have to take her.” Kai rushed inside the trash-strewn hovel and took all of Miesha’s weapons, except for the rifle on her back. “I can distract them and let you escape.”

  “Whoa, buddy. Slow down.”

  “You have to go.” Kai threw his sister over his shoulder—still out cold thanks to my well-timed forearm—and handed me a pistol.

  I sensed darkness nipping at the edges of his soul, like hellhounds at the gates.

  “Then what happens to you?”

  “I’ll be just fine, Eden.”

  But that was a lie.

  An explosion plumed into the sky, pouring orange embers over the settlement. Beneath the flaming light, I watched what looked like a massive ant colony stream across the sterile landscape.

  “There’s gotta be a hundred of them.” I could hear the growl of the bulldozers, now.

  “I can’t work for the FBI after this.” Kai blinked as the facts settled in: aiding and abetting a murderer was a one-way ticket out of the Bureau.

  And straight to jail.

  “Join the club. Although technically, I already quit.”

  A mechanical whir emanated from the horizon. “Drones.”

  “Tell me there’s a back exit.”

  “Look at the fence and you tell me.”

  I didn’t have to look.

  It was solid junk, packed tightly. There were no secret tunnels or exits.

  This place was built to die in.

  Small-arms fire and explosions peppered the front gates.

  Beating rotors cut over the plains, drowning out the whir of the drones.

  “I think they’re bringing choppers, too.” They should have been visible in the day, but all I could see was empty sky.

  Then I realized the sound was coming from behind us.

  “Run!”

  We tumbled down the hill as the burned-out structure erupted in a swath of explosive flame.

  I rolled over in the ash, watching the helicopter speed off.

  “There’s no way we get out alive,” I said, touching the blood trickling down my face. “They don’t want justice. They want blood.”

  But I received no response.

  And when I turned, all I saw was a patch of matted grass and Miesha’s unconscious body.

  49

  “Kai.” I kept my voice to a whisper, even as the FBI’s machine gun fire rolled through the smoky sky like thunder. “Kai.”

  No answer came beyond the rat-a-tat of bullets slamming against the walls.

  I jammed my fist into the grass and pushed myself upright. Smoke poured from a nearby trailer, having caught some shrapnel from the missile strike.

  I spun around, but the truth was undeniable.

  Kai had vanished.

  I found his car keys in the matted grass.

  Absorbing the unspoken message, I pocketed them.

  His crazy sister and I would have to escape on our own.

  I hurried to Miesha and yanked her upright. She mumbled, but was still mostly out of it. Her feet dragged over the grass as I staggered through the trailers. Screams filtered down from the walls as Miesha’s loyal followers were picked off by the FBI’s army.

  Even with a distraction, there was no way Kai could get us out of here.

  Miesha’s weight dug into my shoulder, but not as badly as I’d expected. A minor perk of being turned into Aldric’s disciple.

  A little voice whispered, your master’s disciple.

  I shook the notion from my mind and kept moving through the town.

  It was then that I noticed the rifle had vanished from Miesha’s back.

  “Son of a bitch.” I picked up the pace, trying to run, but held to a slow walk by Miesha.

  Kai wasn’t causing a distraction.

  He was going to take the rap.

  With the murder weapon in tow, it’d be an open and shut case. Motives would be a little sketchier, but I’m sure he could come up with something.

  “Wake up.” I shook Miesha, but she just drooled, her eyes closed. “Your brother’s going to jail.”

  Nothing.

  I looked in the grass, trying to determine which way he’d gone. But I’d never been a tracker, so the mess of footprints told me nothing.

  A feeling of helplessness settled over me as I realized the truth.

  There wasn’t a damn thing I could do.

  Shoulders slumped, I dragged Miesha into a trailer—this one intact—and hunkered down inside.

  The gunfire and explosions lightened as the minutes passed, the resistance from within the compound beginning to falter.

  No.

  It couldn’t be too late.

  I found a pair of novelty handcuffs in a drawer—used for sexier purposes, no doubt—and cuffed the still unconscious Miesha to the bed. Then I drew the pistol and rushed outside.

  I weaved through the streets, approaching the neon signs that adorned the shops by the entrance.

  When I knifed around the corner, my heart almost dropped out of my chest.

  The gate was opening. Only light peppers of gunfire sounded.

  Kai waited, rifle slung over his back.

  “Hey,” I yelled, and he turned around.

  The agent smiled and gave me a sad wave.

  I pointed the pistol at him. “Don’t you dare leave.”

  But he slipped through the opening, out into the black expanse.

  I heard the shouts of the agents.

  Punches landing in his ribs.

  Epithets hurled.

  But I saw none of it.

  Head low, I just headed back to the trailer and slumped against the wall.

  It was over.

  We’d lost.

  50

  The FBI spread out over the compound, searching the trailers and booking Miesha’s cult members. I decided it was best to blend in, so I undid the cuffs from the bedframe, propped the wild-haired woman up, and cuffed her hands behind her.

  The tight t-shirt and jeans weren’t exactly government-attire, but the FBI’s dress code on the island had always been more Hawaii 5-0 than X-Files. If I walked confidently enough, I could sell it just fine.

  After all, who knew I’d quit? I doubted Rayna had been eager to spread that news far and wide over the office.

  Miesha murmured beneath her breath as I guided her to the trailer door.

  “What’s that?”

  “So many loud noises.”

  I was about to shoot back with something snarky when I remembered what I’d told Kai up on the charred hill.

  His sister needed a purpose. With a purpose came clarity and focus—only temporary, and probably more fleeting with each passing day. But if I wanted to channel what remained of her frayed mind, I had to guide it like a laser beam.

  So I said, “You need to do something. To contain the demons.”

  “What demons?”

  “It’s very important that you say nothing to the FBI. Otherwise the demons will hear.”

  Her head jerked up and she rattled the novelty cuffs. “The demons must die.”

  “Good.” I nudged her out the door, into the smoke-filled light. Agents buzzed around the compound, bagging evidence and arresting survivors.

  I guided Miesha through the wreckage. No one gave us any problems.

  We’d turned the corner for the gate when I saw Rayna.

  The Field Director beelined toward us like she’d b
een shot from a rifle.

  “This is a goddamn disaster, Hunter.” She scowled, flashing her too-white teeth. “My best agent taking the fall for five murders.”

  “Maybe you shouldn’t have called in the cavalry, then.” I tried to push Miesha forward, but Rayna stopped us.

  “It was this one, right?” Rayna sized up Kai’s sister. “I saw you, up in that window.”

  Miesha began to say something, and I pinched her. “If it’s all the same, Rayna, I need to get going.”

  Rayna kicked at the dirt. “Never should have taken that soil sample. We wouldn’t have found this place, and I wouldn’t be staring down an official review.”

  “Forensics is a real bitch,” I said, without sympathy.

  “He’s going down for this, Hunter. There’s nothing I can do.”

  I started to walk forward with Miesha, then turned. “You know, I heard something crazy.”

  “Crazier than this shitstorm?”

  “Damndest thing.” I focused on Rayna’s face, ready to catch the slightest sign of deception. “There’s a passageway to the Elysian Fields beneath the Getaway.”

  I didn’t have to worry about concentrating so hard.

  Rayna looked like she’d tried to swallow a handful of razor blades. “You’ve been reading too many crappy tabloids, Hunter.”

  “Just a thought.” I shrugged. “Anyway, see you around.”

  “That woman is dangerous, Hunter.”

  “Then maybe you should arrest the right person next time.” I gave her a condescending wave without turning around.

  As we crossed the gate’s threshold, Miesha asked, “My brother has taken my place?”

  “Yes,” I said. “And you know what that means?”

  “They will pay.”

  “No,” I said, jerking her by the shoulders so that we were nose to nose, “it means I’m the leader. And you’re going to listen to every fucking word I say.”

  51

  I put Miesha in the backseat of Kai’s SUV, since I didn’t trust her riding shotgun. As I pulled away from the rusted chain-link fence—which had been flattened by the FBI’s bulldozer push—I fiddled with the radio.

  We passed a stream of police cars on the road out, red and blue lights painting the road.

  I finally found a station that got reception out here. A golden-voiced journalist faded in across the car’s speakers, clouded by static.

  “…and, in breaking news, the Federal Bureau of Investigation has mobilized a daring raid to apprehend a cult leader at his compound on the island’s western half. The raid was staged late this morning, and according to FBI officials, resulted in the leader’s arrest. In a statement, Field Director Rayna Denton said additional details will be released as they become available. She called this the first blow in a Bureau initiative to stamp out what Denton called ‘systemic criminal activity across Atheas.’ Now, with sports, we have—”

  I zoned out for a few minutes, thinking. Cold sweat drenched my shirt.

  They were really going through with it.

  They were going to throw Kai in jail.

  “Byron Murphy,” Miesha said.

  “What?” I almost missed a turn, and the wheels squealed as we careened around a corner.

  “They’re talking about the reporter man on the radio.”

  Miesha giggled, like it was all good fun.

  I focused on the radio broadcast.

  “Mr. Murphy was found dead in an affluent suburb of Atheas early this morning. His death is being ruled a homicide and is thought to be connected with the cult raid staged only minutes ago. Murphy’s final article was published posthumously, emailed to major publications simultaneously. It alleges the presence of a vast FBI conspiracy to cover up the presence of supernatural elements and extreme corruption within their ranks. The Bureau has yet to comment.”

  Well, Murphy had warned that you couldn’t stop the truth.

  And that made my life a hell of a lot harder.

  I slammed my palm against the radio dial. Miesha played with her hair, wrapping it around her fingers like a small child.

  Instead of Kai, this is who I had to work with. It was all crumbling down.

  I wanted to scream and pound the steering wheel, but doing that would probably send the crazy bitch into a psychotic break. So I silently seethed during the entire drive back to the city, so angry that I could barely think straight.

  Kai would get the needle for this. But worse than that, I needed him to free the Sword of Damocles. Without him, the blade would be lost.

  And, with it, any chance of defeating Aldric before the deadline.

  The FBI’s triumph over “systemic criminal activity” would be the shortest of victories. Aldric would bury them before them before the month was through.

  I’d bet money on that.

  I shivered and checked to see if the air conditioning was on.

  Nope. Just a side effect of turning into a heartless vampire.

  As I slowly turned into Aldric’s loyal disciple, I reflected on where my twenty-eight years had brought me to this point.

  The cons. The cards. When I was younger, I thought I had the answers.

  But I realized I was just like one of those old-time card hounds who, after the drinks have flowed like water, start dropping life-isms like they’re handing you the holy grail.

  Life is just one long fuckin’ poker game, girl. Fold, play, bet.

  Then the blackjack players—life is all a game of blackjack. Knowing when to double down and when to get the hell out.

  Or Roan: life was like a big video game, played out in accordance to laws and rules.

  And for me: life was just one long con. A series of illusions only shattered by the crushing finality of death.

  Truth was, we were all kidding ourselves: we’d mistaken our little closet-sized worlds for the infinite universe. And, when we went to tiny peephole and looked out at the rest of humanity, the light tended to blind us.

  When you had blinders on, you were destined to make the same error over and over.

  It was time to do something differently.

  Not throw everything out.

  Because as bad as things looked, and as bad as I almost wanted to, I couldn’t just lie down and die. Because everyone I cared about would also die if I gave in.

  The city popped into view before me, and a new plan came to me in a flash.

  What was the one thing Aldric couldn’t resist?

  More power.

  And what was more powerful than even a goddess’s soul?

  A blade capable of cleaving it from existence.

  I would lead Aldric to the Sword of Damocles.

  And his little view of the world—that worshipped power as king—would prove to be his undoing.

  Or my death.

  Either way, I’d go out swinging.

  52

  “You’re crazy.” Those were the first words out of Sierra’s mouth when I told her the plan.

  Her tiny house in the middle of nowhere was cramped with me, her, Miesha, and Khan sharing the limited square footage. The cat squeezed by my leg on the way to the directly adjacent kitchen, hissing with displeasure.

  I think, really though, he just wanted to rub against me.

  Miesha snapped out of a babbling haze, and said, “Crazy is just a state of mind. That’s what the doctors say.”

  Sierra glanced at me and I shook my head.

  Do not engage.

  My sister got the message. She lifted Khan and pushed herself up on the counter, next to her array of health food powders. Light darted through the glass walls, giving the interior a light, airy feel.

  I felt anything but, though.

  “You said it yourself. Zoe, Cross—they can’t crack the map.” It was the first thing we’d discussed before I’d launched into outlining my drastic new plan.

  “Well, they cracked a few words.”

  “Mount Danube is huge,” I said. “Like looking for an icicle in a snowstorm.
”

  “I didn’t say they’d solve everything,” Sierra said, looking grouchy.

  “And without Kai, we can’t dig up the treasure, anyway.”

  “If you’re right that he’s the key.”

  “There’s a lot of ifs here. Who the hell knows if the Sword of Damocles is even buried on this goddamn island? Could just be this map leads us to another map.”

  “Touché.”

  “But we can still use the idea as bait.”

  “An idea is more powerful than any other force on the planet.” Sierra stopped petting Khan and the cat unleashed a plaintive mew until she resumed. “Men will do almost anything in the pursuit of an idea.”

  “It’s the unknown that gets people. The thrill of the what-if.”

  “Okay, so maybe it’s not crazy given the circumstances.” Sierra leaned her head against the cabinet. “But what about the FBI?”

  “What about them?”

  “Don’t we still need them to step in once Aldric buys the farm?”

  “Were you not listening? Corruption all over the news.” I tossed the tablet to Sierra with Murphy’s article open.

  It was going viral. Every major news organization—even the reputable ones—were running with it. Message boards were alight with crazies.

  Not good.

  “I didn’t think anything could change your mind, E.”

  “I’m starting to think there’s been a better option staring us in the face all along.”

  “What?”

  “Not what. Who.”

  Sierra gave me a look. “Okay, fine. Who?”

  “Marie Claudette.”

  “The new mayor? Do you even know her?”

  “That’s the beauty of it,” I said, a sly grin spreading across my lips. “We don’t have to know her.”

  “I don’t get it.”

  “We can give her what she wants,” I said. “A big win.”

  “All I’m seeing is our backs against the wall,” Sierra said.

  I lost the thread of conversation and stared at Khan as his eyes slowly shut.

  I found my stomach rumbling, and I wondered what he would taste like.

  “Uh, E?”