Soulless

by Garr, Amber

  I was about to comment on how comfortable the tight outfit was when I heard Jason yelling in my head once again. No words, just screams. “We have to go.”

  Having no idea how close Charles had gotten us to him, I ran out of the alley and raced down bustling 42nd Street, trusting my instincts that I was going the right way. Although night, the city was anything but dark. Colorful lights announced all kinds of amenities, and the car horn symphony added to the overload of my senses. I tried not to bump into other pedestrians, but they were packed too tightly in some places to avoid contact. I felt the glares stabbing at my back and heard the rude comments about my country attire.

  One block up, a panicked sensation strong enough to almost knock me off my feet swept through my body. My muscles tensed, my heart pounded against my chest, and something deep within me trembled in fear. I yelled back at Charles, “Over here!”

  We darted around the corner of a brick building, ignoring the irritated looks we got from others on the street. At first, I didn’t see anyone. But as my eyes adjusted to the dim alleyway, my heart sank.

  A dozen Soul Hunters had Jason surrounded.

  “What are they doing?” Charles breathed behind me. “They can’t hurt us.”

  Theron’s warning flitted through me again. He’d warned me that they’d found a way. I swallowed hard and readied myself. “Jason!”

  In an instant, all of the Hunters standing in the alley turned to face me.

  “Nora?” Jason asked, sounding surprised that I’d heard him calling for me.

  Just as the words left Jason’s mouth, three Hunters pounced on top of him. My heart practically beat out of my chest, as I stared at the horrific scene. The Hunters looked like a pack of wild hounds out for blood.

  The rest of the group turned their malicious gazes on Charles and I. Coming at us, I instinctively put my arms out in order to protect my friend. Not that I had any particular skill, but I was younger and more agile, thus better able to fight…or so I thought.

  Without a word or even a gasp of worry, Charles stepped in front of me and, in two seconds flat, knocked down four Hunters as if they were nothing more than bothersome flies on a hot summer evening. His arms moved rapidly—slicing, punching, twisting, and destroying any part of the enemy that got in his way. When a fifth man appeared, I jumped in, kicking the Hunter hard in the back and sending him flying past Charles onto the broken concrete.

  “Nora!” Jason’s call reached my ears. Breaking free from his captors, he ran straight to me. “Are you okay?” Placing his hands on my face, the concern was overwhelming in his eyes.

  All I could do was nod. Movement came from the corner of my eye, but I was so immobilized by Jason’s wealth of worry, I couldn’t get out a warning before he was yanked away and thrown through the night. Landing hard and painfully against the side of a building set twenty feet away, he tumbled to the ground, landing on top of a pile of trash bags…no movement came from his discarded body.

  My mind went blank. It was almost like I was stuck in a mirror, looking out at another world, when I focused on the Hunter in front of me. His smile was wide. “Love the boots,” he snarled in his deep southern accent. Offering a disturbing wink, his finger brushed the side of my cheek in a way that sent shivers to my core. That was enough to bring me back. That touch of a true beast awakened me from my state, bringing every instinct I had to the surface. “Thank you,” I replied, sending a kick so hard, fast and on target between his legs, that I was truly thankful the ‘solid’ state had come to both Hunter and Warden.

  A hearty, painful moan escaped his pursed mouth. Lurching forward, he attempted to grab me but I stepped to the side, letting him stumble to the ground where he belonged. Yet another unwanted hand appeared behind me and I turned, hoisting my fist in the air. I punched the first piece of flesh I could find, surprised when I landed a direct hit on someone’s chin. It was my moan that now echoed in the alley. I’d been in fights before at the orphanage, but with the passing of time, I’d forgotten how much it hurt to connect with a human being.

  Shaking my now sore hand, I looked up at the Hunter I’d just challenged. I had to contain my surprise as I stared at the angular female face surrounded by chin-length blonde hair. Nearly six-feet tall, she towered above me, and sent me a scowl that warned me I was about to be punished.

  I watched her curl her fingers, taunting me, drawing me to her. “Come on, Warden. Bring it!”

  I knew what my skills were and where my power stopped. I knew I didn’t stand a chance against this brute of a woman who had nothing but evil glowing in her eyes. So I did what any intelligent person would do…I ran. Dodging under her arms, I made my way down the alley to where Jason lay. I almost shouted with excitement when I touched his back and heard the blessed noise that told me he was still with me in this reality.

  “I thought they couldn’t hurt us,” he mumbled.

  “Yeah, me too,” I said. Wrapping my arm firmly around his waist, I helped him to his feet. We stared out at the slew of Hunters that now lay still, side-by-side with the layers of other garbage that littered the alley. However, the movements continued around the ones who were now prone. Enough of them were still standing—enough to outnumber us.

  Fear ran through me, as my neck turned side-to-side in search of my missing friend. “Charles!” I yelled.

  “Coming!” he called back. I was amazed by his calm tone; it was as though I’d asked him to join me for dinner.

  After several consecutive thumps, groans and shouts, Charles emerged from a small group of confused Hunters. They looked lost, as if wondering what powers the older man possessed that could possibly have beaten them to a pulp.

  Jason stumbled by my side, and stepped away. “Stay back,” he said. Reaching his strong arm out, he once again guided my body behind him. “Hey!” he yelled at two Hunters who were now back on their feet, bearing down on Charles, joining the fight to somehow win the battle that their brethren had obviously lost.

  The distraction worked. Immediately, they changed course and headed straight to our position. The panic took over. Wave after wave of fear flowed inside me, although I wasn’t completely sure if the feelings were mine, or if I had picked up on Jason’s emotions as well.

  Suddenly…I was suffocating. Pushed to the ground and crushed against the cold, foul-smelling cement. And as the weight grew heavier, my cheek dug into the pavement; the tiny stones and sharpened refuse sliced my skin. A massive weight pressed down on my body, pinning me, causing the pain to become unbearable.

  “Charles, look out!” Jason shouted.

  I twisted my neck to see what was happening. Watching a Hunter pull Jason’s arms tight behind his back, two other monsters struggled to hold him still, as if doing their very best to make sure that he could not enter into the new fight now taking place.

  Charles sparred with the woman, delivering and taking punches one right after the other. Even the Hunters around us who were still standing looked on in awe. Considering their differences in size and age, one and all were astounded by the surprisingly equal match between Charles and the female warrior.

  I pushed against the Hunter sitting on top of me, but my struggle seemed futile. “Stop moving,” he growled in my ear.

  “Get off me!” I yelled. Despising the fact that I was helpless and completely trapped, I began kicking at anything my feet could reach. Much to my disappointment, the only thing I achieved was hiking my skirt up to a level I knew Charles would be embarrassed by.

  My captor, most likely annoyed with my never-ending tantrum, finally rose up and yanked my body off the ground. I stumbled forward, but felt his grip tighten around my wrists. The Hunter was not about to let go.

  With a final punch, Charles broke free from the startled woman and began to run right at us.

  In an instant, a new Hunter appeared. My eyes took in the distinctive silver shimmer in the air only a second before his body materialized.

  …I suspected Charles didn’t see it at
all.

  The Hunter jerked his arm to the side and disappeared just as quickly as he’d arrived. But before he vanished, light reflected off the shiny object gripped in his powerful hand. My spirit seemed to choke inside me as I focused on Charles. Immediately collapsing, he yelled out in pain, grasping his stomach and falling hard on his knees.

  “No!” I shouted, trying to step forward. I pulled against my captor. My mind was racing. I had to get to my injured friend. I didn’t comprehend the full trauma of what had just happened until I saw the same Hunter reappear from the darkness directly in front of Jason. He paused for just a moment, offering a purely wicked smile at my Barden.

  And then he plunged the razor-sharp knife directly into Jason’s chest.

  “Jason!” I screamed. My knees buckled but the sheer will of my captor kept me standing. “Let me go!” I yelled, tears blurring my vision.

  Charles didn’t move and Jason’s short breaths squeezed my heart. With his back arched and arms stretched to the side, he looked frozen in perpetual agony. The silver knife protruded from his chest like a beacon of death. Gleaming in the dim light, the metal seemed to glow, turning the darkness surrounding us all into daybreak.

  The Hunter who’d stabbed Jason fixated on me. Black, soulless eyes shimmered with danger and his vein-covered body trembled with excitement. Without removing his gaze, he opened his mouth and bit down on Jason’s neck.

  In a second, every Hunter still standing rushed to Jason’s side and began feeding on his life force. They gnawed on his arms, sucked air from his mouth, and fought each other for a prime position. My captor stayed behind me, holding my wrists tight, and not jumping at the chance to feed on Jason.

  Was that what they were doing? I didn’t know that a Warden’s soul could be taken like that. Plus, Hunters weren’t supposed to be able to harm us. Too many questions swirled through my mind like a hive of swarming bees rallying for the last drop of nectar.

  “I need more!” One of them shouted, shoving the female Hunter to the ground.

  She jumped up and growled at him like a feral cat. “You will wait your turn!” In an instant, her hand shot out and grabbed the man by his throat. With little effort, she lifted him in the air and continued to snarl. His feet dangled as he clutched furiously at her grip. Apparently Hunters could also bring harm to each other.

  “Fallon, stop.” The Hunter who’d stabbed Jason lifted his mouth from his neck. He licked his lips, slow and methodically, as though cleaning up the invisible blood. “You’ll waste it all on him.”

  Fallon held her fellow Hunter a few moments longer, glaring at the man who’d interrupted her feeding. She finally dropped him to the ground, kicking him to the side when he landed. I must have made some kind of noise because I suddenly caught her attention. Her face, different from the first time I looked at her, was now covered in blue veins that stretched from ear to ear. Yet, underneath the trademark Hunter exterior, something glowed in her eyes. Normally dark and dead, a hint of white glistened behind them. Almost like a Warden…

  “Alex, are you going to partake?” She looked past me at my captor. He loosened his grip but stayed behind me.

  “I…,” he stumbled over his words, hot, rancid breath invading my space. “I don’t want to let go.”

  Fallon huffed. “She’s weak. You can let go. She won’t escape now.” With that last word, she glared at me, a smirk contorting her features even more.

  “No,” Alex said quietly. “I can’t.”

  Fallon reached us in three steps and tried to rip his arm away from mine. But Alex held tight as they began to fight over my body like a chew toy. “Alex, stop being such a…” Fallon’s words drifted off the moment she touched my skin.

  Both Hunters froze, one in front of me and one behind. Fallon’s gaze dropped to my own. Certain that the fear inside now painted my face, I tried to look brave. But her Hunter attributes softened, the veins began to fade, and color appeared in her cheeks. “What’s happening?” she whispered to me in awe.

  I shrugged, just as confused as the two of them. Anger and determination raced to the surface making me feel more powerful than the situation warranted. Suddenly, the lead Hunter’s voice cut through all three of us. “We don’t have much time if you want to fill up.”

  Fallon and Alex tore their perplexed gazes from me and slowly turned to face Jason. His body hadn’t moved, but his skin looked withered, and his head now lolled to the side. With mouth open in a silent scream, he still couldn’t fight whatever had paralyzed him in the first place.

  One by one the other Hunters lifted their mouths from Jason’s body. Sucking sounds followed their detachment making my stomach lurch. Not only was I watching my Warden suffer, but our entire world had been flipped upside down in a matter of minutes. And Charles still lay in the middle of the alley, writhing in pain with no one to help.

  Alex and Fallon refused to let go of me despite the struggle within each Hunter. They looked at Jason and then at their leader, torn. Finally, Fallon stepped away from me, pulling back her hand like she’d been burned. The veins trickled back over her face and black ink filled her pupils again.

  “What did you do to me?” she spat.

  “I don’t know,” I said. Alex tightened his grip.

  Fallon rubbed her wrist and shook her head. “It’s not possible…”

  “Fallon?” their leader asked. He moved closer to us, pushing aside the satiated Hunters and ignoring Jason.

  “She did something to me!” Hunter traits back in full force, a growl escaped deep from within her throat. “I will kill you,” she snarled between gritted teeth.

  Before I knew what happened, she jumped forward in an attempt to choke me. But someone in the distance stopped her cold.

  “Enough!”

  A deep voice echoed down the alley and every Hunter there sucked in a collective breath. As one, they turned. Forgetting about me, Jason and Charles, they focused only on the man standing in the depth of the shadows.

  He didn’t move but continued to shout demands. “Leave them be!”

  After several moments of silence, the Hunter who’d stabbed my friends stepped forward. Where his voice had once been in control and commanding, he now sounded unsure. Scared. “We’re almost done.”

  “You’re finished now.” Not a question. An order.

  With a snap of his fingers, the Hunters disappeared. One by one they shimmered out of this plane leaving only a mirage behind for the briefest of moments. Fallon was one of the last to depart. She spared one more glance at me as I felt Alex’s grip fade away. Her eyes bore into mine, our noses nearly touching. Blonde hair whipped at my face as she clearly tried to decide whether or not we were finished. But she never touched me again despite the all-consuming hatred I watched flow through her.

  “Now!” The man shouted.

  Something about his voice unexpectedly felt familiar. The vibrations echoing through the tight quarters resonated in me in a way I couldn’t explain. I tried to look past Fallon to see the man, and a second later her body disappeared, giving me a clear line of sight. He still hadn’t moved. The long coat rustled in a wind that hadn’t been there a moment ago. Standing strong, he held himself with a commanding confidence, despite being hidden in the shadows. I tried to brush off the strong sense of déjà vu sweeping through me.

  The loud smack of Jason collapsing to the ground helped. He cried out in pain as his knees slammed to the concrete. His arms remained stiff and to the side, while his body began to fall forward.

  “Jason!” I screamed and ran to him. Only I didn’t run, I transported. My body disintegrated into a million pieces, reforming by Jason’s side without a conscious thought. One moment I was standing, the next I found myself kneeling by his side. There was no in-between. No effort on my part to reform my body back into its proper state. All I cared about was reaching Jason before he fell forward and pushed the silver knife deeper into his chest.

  A light pink dust floated around me as I landed ne
xt to my Warden. Jason’s pale face and glazed eyes tore at my heart. His mouth was still frozen in a scream despite the occasional wheezing noise escaping with each weakened breath. Afraid to grip him too hard, I held onto his shoulders and forced him to stay on his knees.

  “Jason?” Tears filled my eyes at the sight of his suffering. “Jason!” I said a little louder, hoping he’d be able to hear me. But nothing changed. His face remained a contorted mask of silent pain, and his withered skin felt like chalk beneath my hands. Terrified, I yelled, “I don’t know what to do!”

  Remove the knife. The words were clear and loud in my head, but they didn’t sound like Jason’s voice. Without thinking about it anymore, I reached forward and wrapped my hand around the hilt. The metal warmed my skin and sent tendrils of heat up my arm. Not wanting to waste more time, I pulled. At first it didn’t move, and my hand slipped away. Instantly, cold replaced the warmth of the metal, but I shoved my curiosity to the back of my mind. Grabbing the knife again, I tightened my grip and yanked it from Jason’s chest.

  He gasped and then sucked in a long, deep breath. His chest inflated and he moved his arms to cover the spot where a gaping wound should have been. “What happened?” he asked in a frightened voice, patting his body down frantically. “Was that a knife?”

  I looked down at the weapon in my hand. Now free from Jason’s chest, the chill returned to the metal. The hilt was designed with twisted carvings made to look like wire wrapped in a chaotic pattern. Flecks of copper and gold interspersed with brass threads, but the polished silver blade gleamed like the sun. Even in the dark alley, I could make out the minute details carved along the sharp edges. I tossed the knife to the ground and wiped my hand on my skirt.

  Focusing on Jason again, I asked, “Are you okay?” But as I did, I noticed how…normal he looked. His skin glowed with life and his sunken cheeks filled out right before my eyes.

  “I think I’m all right,” he whispered. Touching his chest again, he sighed. Then suddenly, he lifted up his tunic. Too shocked to turn away, I examined his chest right along with him. Where the knife had entered his body, there was no hole. Instead, a dark stain with veins of blue radiating from its red center marked the area. No bigger than a quarter, the strange wound seemed to pulsate with life.