Jar of Souls

by Bradford Bates

  “Hey, it sounded serious,” he said in mock outrage.

  “I’m happy you told me. If Jackson needs anything, I should be the one to get it for him,” Britta said while staying glued to my side.

  April let out a little huff, and we all pretended not to hear it. Marcus just smiled his goofy grin, and I could see why he was such a lady killer. In his own way, he had a ton of charm. April was watching me expectantly, and Marcus seemed to finally pull his head out of whatever fantasy he was imagining for me. Britta just held me, and that kind of made me forget to talk as I played out a little fantasy of my own.

  Marcus broke the silence. “So don’t leave us all hanging, man. What happened?”

  I looked around the room once more. Every eye was turned toward me. “You’re not going to believe this, but I just met my mom.”

  “Your dead mom?” Marcus asked. “Was it a ghost or something?”

  April tossed a pillow at him to shut him up. “I think what he is saying is that his dead mom isn’t so dead. Dumbass.”

  Britta finally pulled away from my shoulder and looked at me. “You mean she is alive?”

  “Yep, I guess she is. I mean, I didn’t really do a background check or anything, but Adam introduced me to her and she was very much alive.”

  For the next few minutes, I was assaulted with questions from all sides. Most of them I had to say I don’t know to, or maybe I’ll find out later. I explained that we were going to be taking it slow, getting to know each other over time. Somehow it just felt right. I could feel a connection to her already, but neither of us knew anything about each other, and both of us didn’t want to push the other for something they weren’t ready for. I really hoped both of us stayed alive long enough to get to know each other better.

  After all of that, Marcus broke the tension in his normal joking way. “All of that sounds awesome, dude. It’s good that you have some family left. There is just one thing you haven’t told us yet.”

  “Oh, and what’s that?” I asked, knowing something horrible was coming.

  “Is she hot?”

  Before I could reply, April had hit him in the shoulder, hard.

  Britta said, “Gross, Marcus.”

  The only thing I got out was, “Keep your paws off my mother.”

  Marcus just grinned at all of us and said, “That means she’s hot.”

  This time I just laughed, and just like that, the tension I had been carrying around was gone. I mean, I was happy, so happy, but I had also been worried that everything was going to crumble down around me if she disappeared or was killed. Now I knew that wouldn’t be the case. I had friends who cared about me, and by extension, they had grown to be family. Fighting and dying for one another forged a bond that could never be broken.

  Just as things had seemed to get back to normal, there was a knock at the door. “Come in!” I shouted.

  Henry popped his head in the door and smiled at us. He was clearly happy to see all of us together. His eyes lingered for a second on Britta and her arm on me before he met my gaze again. “Adam requested that all of you dress and grab your gear for combat and meet him in assembly hall one.”

  “Just how many people are going on this mission, Henry?” I had to ask. The assembly hall could hold a couple hundred people.

  “Not that many, but too many to meet in Adam’s office, and he doesn’t want word about what you’re doing out in public yet.”

  “Thank you, Henry.”

  “You have thirty minutes,” he said, and then shut the door.

  “Jackson, what’s this all about, man?”

  “I’m not sure, unless we are going after Gaston.”

  Marcus gave me a look, and I nodded my head. Yes, it was the same guy who had kicked our asses last time. The same one who almost killed Marcus; the same one who put Marcus in debt to Sarafina.

  “Let’s do this,” he said.

  “Are you sure you want to come?”

  “I would never miss out on a chance for some payback.”

  April had caught up with what we were saying. “What, this is the guy who hurt you?” We both nodded. “Well, I’m coming for sure.”

  We all looked at Britta. She looked nervous, and to be honest, outside of some sparring, I had never seen her fight. I squeezed her hand, hoping she knew that none of us would think less of her if she didn’t want to come. She seemed to come to a decision and looked up, meeting my eyes. “I’m in. No one fucks with our friends.”

  Marcus let out a little whoop, even April smiled. I gave Britta a huge hug. It wasn’t like it was the most inspiring speech we had ever heard, but it made all of us feel good. No one messes with us or we will rain fire down on them. We all stood smiling.

  “Meet back here in twenty, and we will head down together.”

  Marcus waved as he cruised out the door. April stopped to give me a hug and then was gone in a flash. Britta stepped up and gave me a huge passionate kiss. “What was that for?”

  “For being you, and we might not have a chance to do that again.”

  The reality of her words sunk in. It was always possible not all of us would be coming back from this mission. I hoped that wasn’t the case, but you never knew. “I wish we had time to do more.”

  She smiled, her eyes melting my heart. “Me too.” She gave me another lingering kiss and was gone.

  I spent the next twenty minutes getting ready. Before I started, I poured as much power into my staff as I could. I would regenerate it before we got there, so it made sense to load it up. I checked my swords, as if they needed it. I had yet to find anything that could even dull one of the blades. They were loose in my over-the-shoulder scabbards and ready to roll. Boots, pants, shirt were all ready to go, and my necklace seemed to almost feel warm against my skin. It was as if it was anticipating the battle and longed for it.

  April was the first one back. I had never seen her in full combat gear before. Her outfit and look was so different than what I had seen her wear when we found her at the club that she looked like a different person. She was rocking steel-toed combat boots, black leather pants, and a black leather jacket. Her hair was tied up in a no-nonsense ponytail, and it bounced gently with each step she took. April favored using two blades just like me, which was part of what made her an ideal sparring partner. That and she was so much better than me that I learned from every session. She also had a sheath wrapped around her right thigh that seemed to hold five or six silver throwing knives.

  I had to say she looked badass. She may as well have been the terminator. She smiled as she watched me catalogue all of her assets. Yes, I mean weapons. At least I hoped she knew that I wasn’t just leering at her because she was wearing some tight leather pants. Marcus walked in right before I could open my big trap to explain, and April gave me a wicked grin before turning toward him.

  “Damn, girl, hot and deadly!” he said, giving her a high five.

  Well, good, at least I wasn’t the only one who noticed. Marcus looked the same as he did from our last battle. He must have had a stash of the same clothes because I knew his last set was ruined. April was checking out his gear. She was the least magical of all of us, and I knew she would have questions about all of his beads and little knickknacks. I had questions too but had never really found the time to ask. Marcus just sat there and watched us with his big grin. His dreads bounced as he shook his head and ran his hands over his gear, making sure everything was there.

  Britta walked in and stole the show, at least in a deadly supermodel kind of way. Remember the original Resident Evil where Mila rocked the red dress and shorts? Britta looked like that except her dress was black and she had on all black leggings. She topped it off with a leather jacket, black calf-high boots, and her hair was ponytailed but with a few strands left out to frame her face. Man, she was hot.

  I gave her a second look to see what kind of weapons she had brought, and I was surprised to see that she actually had a gun on her left thigh and one in a shoulder harness tu
cked under her jacket. Just like all of us, she also carried a blade across her back. She favored a single longer blade just like Marcus did. I knew that we had trained with guns, but I had yet to see anyone in the Ascendancy use one in the field except for the inspector. Maybe that was because I hung out with Marcus and April and they both preferred magic and blades.

  Britta saw me looking at her weapons and she smiled. “They fire silver bullets. Well, not pure silver. They are normal lead bullets with a silver nitrate tip. That way they still fly true when you shoot them.”

  “Those are ok for werewolves and vamps, but what about against other magic-users?”

  “Well, even against Lycans and vamps they don’t do much but slow them down. Against the gifted the silver can leach some of your power, but really no one wants to get shot.”

  “But you can’t shoot a bullet through one of our shields.”

  “Can’t shoot a normal bullet through one of your shields, you mean. These are runed. They won’t go through a full-strength shield but against a wounded opponent, they could be deadly.”

  I just kind of nodded my head in thought. I was going to have to spend some more time at the range and think about adding a gun to my backup weapons. April just kind of snorted and brushed the conversation off. As a specialist in defensive magic, a bullet wouldn’t be finding her any time soon. Marcus looked kind of interested, but he also could have just been using the extra time to check out my girl’s righteous outfit.

  “Let’s go,” I said, breaking up the weapon envy that had been going on. Everyone kind of shut down the fun we had been having checking each other out, and put on a serious face. If we were going to live, we had to mean business and that meant being sharp. Distractions could get you dead out there. It was time to rock and roll, locked and loaded. Well, you get the point.

  16

  Jackson

  My companions paused as we entered the assembly hall. It might have just been the shock of walking into a room full of predators dressed for battle; it could have been that all twelve heads swiveled toward us at once. It was easy to pick out the twelve Lycans; they just carried themselves differently than we did. All of them had a slightly aggressive set to their shoulders, and their bodies looked coiled with tension. The only one who looked calm was my mother. She gave me a nod when I walked in, letting me know that she cared without pressing. I couldn’t help but smile back.

  I walked into the room without slowing, and my friends followed me but all twelve sets of eyes focused on me. All three of my friends never took their eyes off of the Lycans. It was hard for them to ignore their years of training. On the other hand, I couldn’t care less about the fact that they were here. I just wanted to find out what the plan was to kill Gaston and get it over with. Evil like that couldn’t be allowed to exist in the world.

  Adam and the inspector waited for us at the center of the Lycans. I walked forward, and a few of the Lycans moved to the side to make room for our group. I noticed that my mother moved toward the edge of the group, putting herself between me and the rest of the pack. The Lycan who was standing closest to Adam gave us a quick look and then seemed to dismiss us. I watched him for a few more moments and then turned my gaze back to Adam.

  Adam acknowledged us with a look and started to talk. “Now that we are all here, let me outline our plan.”

  The Lycan leader interrupted before he could continue. “We bring you some of our best warriors and you want us to go into battle with children!” The word children came out with a snarl.

  Adam stood flashing anger, which was odd for him. “I expect you to do what you’re told. Your Alpha sent you here to do as I requested. Either you will do it or you can explain to him why you didn’t live up to your word.”

  Everyone around me tensed, I felt my friends behind me place their hands on their weapons. My mother moved a step closer to me, preparing to shield me from any kind of battle. Adam stared into the face of the Lycan in front of him, his face red with anger. The Lycan looked down at him and smiled. He took a step back, and the tension visibly lifted from everyone in the room.

  “As you say, Adam, we are here only to assist you. I’m sure the warriors you have selected will be fine.”

  “Thank you for your support, Julian.”

  He moved back another step and made a motion with his hand for Adam to continue. Adam looked at everyone in the room, making sure he had their full attention. When he was assured of that, he continued with his briefing. “Our goal is simple. We need to lure Gaston out, and we need to kill him. Anything short of his death will be considered a failure. The good news is we have the one thing in this world that he wants, the Jar of Souls.”

  “It seems to me this is something that you would be able to handle on your own. Why do you need us?” Julian asked.

  “For one reason, Gaston will not come alone. I need you to be able to handle anything he brings with him so we can focus on Gaston.”

  “And our agreement still stands that you will let me attack with you and that one of yours will help the pack with magical protection?”

  “The deal still stands even though I would advise against it.”

  “I know that you look down on us because we aren’t like you, but trust me when I say we can hold our own.” Julian snarled again. Several of the wolves behind him made sounds of agreement at the statement.

  “Oh, believe me when I say that I do not look down on your kind. I’m well aware of how lethal you can be.” Adam looked directly at my mom when he said this. “What I am implying is you have never seen a foe like this before.”

  “I think we could handle anything he could throw at us.” More echoes of agreement from the pack.

  “I’ll outline his abilities for you. He will be as fast as one of the Fallen, almost as strong as one of you, his skin can deflect sword blades and your claws, he will be able to cast spells, and is in control of a horde of the undead. That’s if we are lucky. If we aren’t lucky, he may have already created a few ghouls to support him.”

  “All the more reason for one of us to be at the forefront. Part of this honor should belong to the pack.” This time there were no words of agreement.

  “So what I need from the pack is to engage and dispatch the undead. This won’t be like your normal zombie movie. Whatever creatures or men he brings will move with the speed of the living and with just as much power. They cannot be killed by simply stabbing them or ripping out their throats. You will need to shred them to pieces, and the person I send with you will incinerate their corpses.”

  “The pack will do its part; you just have to do yours.”

  “I would have expected no less.” Adam’s eyes moved over our group. He was trying to decide which one of us to place with the pack. I could see his lips move as his mind worked through all the possibilities. “Britta, I’m assigning you to the pack. Make sure every corpse they destroy is ashed, and help out where you can.”

  I watched a couple of the wolves high five and then one of them made a thrusting motion with his hips. If I could have killed him with a look, I would have.

  I felt a hand on my shoulder. “Don’t worry, I will do my best to keep an eye on her,” my mother whispered, and then stepped away.

  That reassured me a little more than I would have thought. I also doubted any of those wolves would be dumb enough to try anything against one of the gifted. Nothing would bring down faster retribution than something like that. I shot one more look at the man who made the gesture. He met my eye in challenge. I decided to ratchet it up a notch by winking at him before turning back toward Adam.

  “Now that the plan is in place, we are ready to go. If you would be so kind as to follow me.”

  Adam headed out the door, followed by Julian and the rest of the pack. All of them picked up their massive swords as they exited the room. The blades had to be at least seven feet long and were probably close to ten inches wide and a solid four inches through the middle. They were massive weapons that must have weig
hed a few hundred pounds. All of them carried them with ease. I noticed that Julian and my mother also had a lightweight black steel armor on. I couldn’t wait to see them work with those swords.

  Lapointe, who had said nothing during the meeting, fell in stride next to me. “You ready for round two?”

  “You know it.”

  “Just be careful out there. We are counting on you for bigger things than Gaston.” He reached out and squeezed my shoulder before walking ahead. He weeded his way through the pack until he stood by Adam’s side.

  Adam stopped by a door and motioned to the inspector, who used his gift to open the portal. Adam went through first, followed by the pack and then the rest of us. Lapointe closed the portal behind him and joined us, again moving to the front to stand by Adam.

  I watched as April did a quick weapons check, and then I did one of my own. Marcus looked just like he always did; he may as well have been taking a walk on the beach. Britta looked nervous. It didn’t help that a couple of the male wolves were still staring at her. I headed in her direction and put my arm around her. She returned the quick hug and then looked up at me. “Don’t worry, Britta, we got this. Just stay close to my mom and ash everything that hits the ground.”

  She gave me a weak smile. “It’s just that it’s my first time in actual combat. I know I’ve trained for this moment for years, but it’s still a little nerve-wracking.”

  “Just remember everything happens faster than it does in training, so stay alert, keep moving and, if you need help, ask for it.”

  She seemed to calm down a bit. “Go get in position by my mom. You’re going to be fine.” I gave her one last hug and then moved up with Marcus and April.

  “How’s the princess doing?” April asked.

  “Probably scared shitless,” Marcus said.

  “Come on, guys, that’s not fair.”

  “What, the princess crack or that she is scared?” April joked.