The Soul Healer

by B. Groves

  “No, he isn’t,” Alison said, softening to the older man. “I’m here to help.”

  Charles shook his head. “I’ve lived in this town most of my life. When he came, everyone else thought he was an angel sent from God himself. I only saw the devil. Kept it to myself until now.”

  Alison leaned in to whisper to the older man. “The day of the festival. There will be a lot of strange people here. People you’ve never seen before. They’re coming to help. Don’t be afraid.”

  Charles shrugged. “I can’t attend anyway. My son can’t handle crowds, but I hope you can rid this town of this… whatever this is. May the Good Lord keep you both safe.”

  “Thank you.”

  “State patrol found a car in an embankment off of highway two,” Carter said after finishing his phone call. “Victim, female, found inside. The plates match Clara Reid. I’m waiting for identification.”

  “Fuck,” Kyle murmured, as he ran a hand through his hair.

  Alison hoped there was enough of Clara’s soul left to move through the veil. She only met the woman briefly, but the demon seemed benevolent which made Alison kind of depressed. If Clara had lived, she could have provided more information about Samuel if Alison needed it.

  The demon inside Clara returned to where it came from, and Clara’s own soul was lost.

  Alison glanced at Kyle who bowed his head and mumbled a few words. He looked more haggard than he did an hour ago.

  Alison stood up and walked over to a corner while Carter talked to Kyle.

  She told Miguel what happened over the phone and he sighed. “Did you think he’d do anything else?”

  Alison smirked. “Not at all. I think he would have been okay if Samuel hadn’t shown up.”

  “Do you need me to come over?”

  “I have it handled. It looks like Chief Carter and the others are wrapping things up. Meet us at the house tomorrow. I have an interesting revelation,” Alison explained.

  “You can’t tell me now?” Miguel asked.

  “I’d rather not,” Alison answered.

  “Poor, Ms. Reid. She turned her life around and this happens,” Miguel commented.

  “All the more reason to make our plan tomorrow,” Alison said. “It’ll be justice for you, Clara, and all the other lives ruined by them.”

  “I’ll be there,” Miguel said.

  “I’ll see you in the morning.”

  Alison hung up and walked back over to Kyle and Chief Carter. Besides Charles Cox, they were the only ones left and Charles had to pick up his son.

  The older man thanked Alison for her work and apologized to Kyle one last time.

  “It’s not you, brother. This is all on me,” Kyle answered.

  Charles shifted on his feet. “It still ain’t right. I hope you can get this resolved.”

  Kyle nodded and Chief Carter said goodbye when Charles walked away.

  Carter ran a hand over his bald head and sighed. “Clara Reid was a good woman. Never hurt anyone even after that thing took over her soul—”

  “Oh, I don’t feel like shit about it or anything,” Kyle said.

  “Well, if you’d left well enough alone with her, she’d be alive,” Carter pointed out. “Instead, you did what a lot of other people did for years with her and preyed on her weak constitution. It makes you as guilty as her sister, Kyle.”

  Carter checked his cell phone and sighed again. “I have to go.” He turned to Alison. “Do you have a plan yet?”

  “Can you be here tomorrow morning?” She asked.

  “I’m sure I can. If I get held up, give me the rundown later,” Carter answered.

  He turned back to Kyle with a glare. “You’re lucky Manes didn’t press charges.”

  Carter turned on his heel and walked away. It was clear Clara Reid’s death upset Carter. Their small group knew full well what the truth was and it frustrated Carter he couldn’t do anything to bring her justice in the human way.

  Alison checked on Simon who had settled down and sat obediently beside her. She patted his head and smiled at him.

  She stood up straight and eyed Kyle who never moved from his spot. Darkness now surrounded them. The clouds overhead threatened rain, the only noises were Carter’s departing car and the cicadas.

  “Are you going to sit there all night?”

  “I might.”

  “You said yourself that you wanted to move on.”

  Kyle sucked in a long breath and rubbed a hand through his beard. “I’ve been fighting an inner battle about that for a long time, but I guess I never expected it to be real.”

  “Can I take your mind off it for a moment?”

  “Please.”

  “I think Emma is harboring some of those missing people.”

  This caught Kyle’s attention. His eyes widened and he stared at Alison waiting for an answer.

  “You mentioned a barn. A barn you helped Emma build.”

  Kyle scoffed. “She said she wanted horses. Emma can’t stand animals. Their all dirty creatures to her. Emma goes on these tangents and never follows through. That place looked more like a storage facility…”

  Kyle trailed off. Alison heard a low gasp and realization played across his features.

  “Do you think it’s there?”

  “She became nervous when you mentioned it.”

  Kyle stood up and paced back and forth mumbling. “I should have known. She didn’t build it until after Samuel came into town and then she abandoned the project.”

  He turned back to Alison with a slight grin. “Emma is an immaculate person. Everything in its place. She doesn’t like clutter or messiness. When she changed her mind about the horses, I thought she’d tear that place down, but she never did. I always thought it was odd.”

  Alison smiled at Kyle. “I could be wrong. I’ve been wrong before.”

  Kyle shook his head. He bent down to pet Simon. Simon wagged his tail in response. “I don’t think you are. It all makes sense now.”

  “I want to look at the barn on Google,” Alison said.

  Kyle ran another hand through his hair and sighed. “I’ll be there in a minute.”

  Alison’s eyebrows furrowed in question. “Why?”

  Kyle’s face turned somber. “I have to tell my father the elders fired me. My dad isn’t exactly forgiving with this kind of thing. It happens all the time, but my dad is so old school he won’t understand.”

  Alison nodded sympathetically.

  Kyle laughed lowly and said, “I’m sorry. I’m sure it won’t be as bad as what you must have gone through with your family.”

  Alison shook her head. “Don’t take away from your situation, Kyle. What will happen?”

  Kyle shrugged. “I don’t know. I’ve never been in this situation with them. All I know is, after Hannah died, I’ve walked on eggshells with both my parents my whole life and…” Kyle frowned and shook his head. “Maybe this will free my soul from Hannah’s memory.”

  “I understand. I’ll take Simon for a quick walk and meet you back at the house.”

  Alison turned to leave when a hand grasped hers. She spun around to gaze into blue eyes.

  “Thank you.”

  Alison narrowed her eyes in confusion. “For what? While I’ve been here a woman lost her life and you lost your job. I don’t think I deserve a thank you.”

  A warm hand squeezed hers. “That woman is on me, not you. You saved a child and another man. You will save more. You also made me see what I was blind to for a long time.”

  Alison shook her head. “No, I didn’t. The answer was in front of you the whole time, but you didn’t see it.”

  “What do we do now?”

  Alison grinned. “Teach you some impulse control and we’ll go from there.”

  Kyle laughed. “I suck at that, I know.”

  Kyle let go of Alison’s hand and told her he’d meet her back at the house. Alison put a hand on his arm for strength when dealing with his parents. She knew that all too well and
it was hard dealing with family when situations like this happened.

  Alison walked away with Simon. The events of the night playing over in her head. She wished Kyle would have kept his temper under control. With each time Kyle lost it, Samuel won another battle that brought the humans over to his side and that meant bad news for this town.

  Alison shivered when she thought about what could happen when demons took control of a town.

  She’d seen it herself in New Mexico.

  Alison scoffed. What happened in that town never made the news because no human could swallow what went on in the shadows of this world, no matter what their religious convictions were. The number of cover-ups was humongous. Alison sucked in a breath when she recalled the carnage. A whole town… wiped off the map. Authorities called it a natural disaster, but those on the inside and those that work with hunters knew better but to keep order, they had to call it another name.

  That town was a test site. This town was the same, but Alison and her team would put a stop to it.

  Alison heard Kyle’s voice carry over the humid air. The tone of his voice meant the conversation wasn’t going well.

  She shook her head and made her way back to the house with Simon next to her. She would look up Emma’s property on Google Maps and zoom in to see this barn thing.

  Were the missing people there? The expression on Emma’s face said she was hiding something in that barn. But was it the missing people? Alison couldn’t be sure.

  Alison worried about how far along those people were in their possessions. How many could they free? Were they all feral or were some civilized and working behind the scenes to help Samuel on his full takeover of the town. Alison and the rest of the hunters never knew what they’d find when an infestation happened.

  Memories of New Mexico flooded her mind as she opened the door to Kyle’s house and removed Simon’s leash. She watched as he made himself comfortable on his doggy bed.

  Alison wanted a cigarette when she thought about how many innocent humans died before the hunters could arrive and help.

  The news said a wildfire had devastated the town and wiped out a whole community. If they only knew…

  Alison didn’t want that for this town. She wouldn’t let it happen. She wouldn’t let them take over because if they did with this town, they would move onto the next one and the next, and before the hunters could make a dent, the world would be at their mercy.

  Alison shivered at the thought. She sat down in front of the laptop and pulled up Emma’s address.

  She turned on the Earth feature and zoomed in. On the left, next to a deep forest, a small road led to the barn. Alison didn’t see fences surrounding it, but as she tried street level, she couldn’t spot cameras but Emma probably had security on site. She’d had to ask Kyle.

  Alison wondered if the forest was a good entry point. Again, she’d have to ask Kyle because who knew how much security Emma placed around the property.

  Another thought occurred to Alison. It was a sobering one and one she didn’t want to think about but if Emma had the ability to hide these people on her property without notice, who else worked with her and Samuel? Who else had inside information about this?

  “Dammit,” Alison mumbled and ran a hand through her hair. She didn’t want to fling accusations until she was sure the people were there but someone else had to know, someone who could keep the peace and deflect stories about the missing residents.

  It wouldn’t be the first time.

  Alison gripped the edge of the table, trying to stifle her need for a nicotine fix.

  She turned when Kyle cleared his throat from the front door. Simon stood up and wagged his tail but Kyle didn’t seem to notice the dog wanting attention.

  “I didn’t hear a good tone when I was outside,” Alison said.

  Kyle placed the phone on the table beside and walked over to Alison. He pulled the dining room chair out and sat down next to her.

  Kyle ran a hand through his hair and over his face. “They told me they still loved me because I’m their only child and all they have left, but my dad said he’ll find someone else for the church.”

  Alison reached out and placed a hand over his. “I’m sorry. Family may say they love you, but sometimes their words are the cruelest.”

  “My dad said that he recommended a hunter to take care of the problem for me, not for me to step in and help,” Kyle explained. “How could I not help? Would God want me to step aside and watch you do all the work while I continue to preach to a bunch of hypocrites every Sunday?”

  “If it wasn’t for you, Olivia might have murdered Miguel as the demon acclimated to her body,” Alison said. “If it wasn’t for you being so persistent then I wouldn’t be here now.”

  Kyle adjusted his glasses with his free hand and shook his head. Alison understood the defeat that battled for control within him.

  Kyle gave her a half-smile. “Can I still be your assistant?”

  Alison chuckled. “The pay sucks.”

  “Can’t be any worse than what I’m getting now.”

  Kyle gazed around and shook his head. “I’ve given this town part of my life. I even stuck by it after my divorce when I should have fought for my marriage, but I said my parishioners came first. I counseled, comforted, and led by example, and what did it reward me with? Nothing. Not a fucking thing in return and not that I ever expected it. All I wanted was to bring hope when the town was at its worst before Samuel Manes

  swooped in to save it.”

  “Maybe your time has come. You said it yourself that you’ve doubted your preaching for a long time. If there is a God, He gave you the answers you sought.”

  Kyle nodded. “It doesn’t make the hurt any less.”

  Alison squeezed his hand a little harder. “Is there anything I can do?”

  Kyle inhaled a breath and said, “Not talk about this anymore tonight? Order some Thai takeout and drink a lot?”

  A smile played at Kyle’s lips and Alison grinned. “Are you asking me on a date, Reverend Ellis?”

  Kyle’s smile widened and his face turned red. “I am.”

  “Then, yes. I’m starving.”

  “Me too.”

  Chapter 40

  Kyle woke up before sunrise because Simon was pacing around the bed alerting them that he needed to go to the bathroom.

  Kyle was never a dog person but he’d grown fond of Simon over the past week and he was growing even fonder of his owner.

  Kyle flinched a bit from his sore ribs, although they felt better this morning. The bruises turned from purple to yellow and faded in certain spots.

  He wiped his eyes and put on his glasses so he could take Simon outside.

  Kyle glanced over at a sleeping Alison. He thought about waking her up and asking if Simon needed his leash, but she was sound asleep and he didn’t want to disturb her.

  He smiled thinking about the light conversations they had last night before they went to bed as he walked down the hallway.

  “So, you were homecoming queen and prom queen?”

  Alison rolled her eyes and said, “And the winter dance princess.”

  “You pretty much had your whole life laid out for you, even then,” Kyle said taking a sip of his beer.

  “Yep. I was a straight A student, popular. I was involved in all these clubs and sports, you know the whole nine yards,” Alison said thoughtfully. “My life was an easy ride. Recruiters were falling all over themselves for me and all I wanted was a decent job, two kids, and a nice home.”

  “Then?”

  Alison studied her drink. “You know.” Her expression became thoughtful. “Even if I hadn’t discovered my powers, that accident would have changed me either way.”

  “When I returned to the sorority house,” she continued. “Nothing was the same. It wasn’t what I was seeing. It felt like nothing about my world was important anymore. It was all so shallow. The girls didn’t look at me the same and none of them wanted to listen to me when I
needed someone to talk to. They wanted to ignore what happened to me and go on living in their little bubbles.”

  “Did you stay?”

  “No, because a girl named Katie was one of them and I couldn’t stand to look at her anymore. She’d taunt me all the time, daring me to exorcise her. This was before I knew what I could do with my powers. I didn’t understand what she was doing and I had to move out.”