Your Soul to Take (Rise of the Fallen)

by Hayden, Sean

  “Okay. I believe you. The good news is he said that under no circumstances was I to go anywhere with that creep. He was rather angry that they even knew I had changed.”

  “What’s the bad news?”

  “That we might be in serious trouble.”

  Chapter 26

  The bell rang, echoing through my soul just as much as it rang through the halls and classes of James Underwood High. I looked up at the clock and had never ever been disappointed to see three o’ clock. It was a new experience.

  I glanced over at Jess and she looked about as happy as I did. I just needed to get her out of the school and home before Chuck found her. He had been in our homeroom and first period, he had even been around at lunch, bet neither of us had seen him since then.

  Inwardly, I hoped the asshat had gotten so flustered he had gone home, or wherever the hell the self-righteous pricks went when they weren’t bothering normal people. However, I sincerely doubted he had left. My luck just wasn’t that good.

  “Ready to go?”

  I looked up at Jess and nodded, standing while grabbing my books. “As I’ll ever be.”

  “So what’s the plan?”

  “The plan is to get you out of here and home.”

  “I know that, I meant how?”

  “Stealthy as possible, forcibly if necessary.”

  “You’re gonna protect me?” She smiled as she asked.

  “With my dying breath, but let’s hope it doesn’t come to that.”

  “Well, Daddy should be waiting out front. Hopefully he can keep Chuckles at bay.”

  “So I just have to get you out the front door and into your big black limo. I feel so secret service agent.”

  “First of all, it’s not a limo. It’s a SUV. Second of all, you’re pretty hot when you’re all protective,” she said and wrapped her arms around my waist.

  “Roger,” I said, putting my fingertips to my ear.

  “And now you’re just being a dork.”

  I nodded and gave her a quick kiss, scanning the hallway as soon as we left the class. There was no sign of Charles. I took her hand and headed for the stairwell. Luckily, I glanced over the banister before heading down. I caught a glimpse of his blond head coming up the stairs. I pulled Jess’ hand and practically ran in the other direction. Luckily, our school had more than one stairway.

  “Was he down there?”

  I nodded. “Yeah.”

  “Plan B?”

  “Plan B.”

  We dodged and weaved through the masses heading toward freedom from academic slavery and made it to and down the stairs without tripping, falling, or getting hurt. Nothing was more dangerous than a student stampede heading home.

  We stepped off the stairs and made it into the main corridor leading to the outside world. The sunlight pouring in through the glass front of the school shined off the highly polished linoleum floor, casting rays of sunshine on the walls and ceiling, giving our route to freedom a beacon to follow.

  “Looks like the coast is clear,” Jess said and hurried toward the exit.

  We bobbed and weaved the best we could, but the hallway was packed. We were about halfway through when everyone stopped moving. It was actually more than that. Everything stopped moving. It was like time had stopped. You could even see the motes of dust illuminated from the sun, stop their swirling dance through the air.

  I had a bad feeling. A very bad feeling.

  I looked down at Jess. She was still able to move, just as I was. We continued walking forward, stepping agilely through the immobile students.

  Charles stepped off the stairs, just as we were about to pass by. He was clapping slowly. “Congratulations. You almost made it.”

  “Made what?”

  “Your play for avoiding me. As you can see, though, it’s not possible. Are you ready to go, Lady Jessica?”

  “No,” she said firmly, took my hand and tried to leave. We made it as far as the glass doors, which were quite locked.

  “Neat trick,” I said and tried two of the other doors. They didn’t budge an inch.

  “When you’ve lived as long as I have, you pick up a few tricks,” he said snidely. “Now if you will please excuse us, we have business that doesn’t concern the likes of you.”

  He reached for Jess.

  I slapped his hand away.

  The look of surprise on his face was worth it. “You dare touch me?”

  “I dare kick your ass if you touch my girlfriend again. Leave. Her. Alone. She doesn’t want to go with you. Ever.”

  “She does. She just doesn’t know that she does. I merely wish to introduce her to the splendors of the Chosen. Surely you don’t want to keep her heritage from her.”

  “She can learn from her father. Not from a snooty dick like you,” I said and turned back to the door. I grabbed the handle and pulled. Not like I was trying to open it, like I was trying to rip it from the frame of the building. With a loud creak and some shattered glass, it opened. I gently nudged Jess through the door and outside.

  Her dad was standing by the car, watching the exchange. He nodded at me when Jess cleared the building. I meant to walk out behind her when a hand grabbed my shoulder.

  “Let her go. I will deal with her and her father later. Let us have a little chat about the hierarchy of things.”

  Jess stopped and nodded to her dad.

  “Come on,” she said.

  “You go ahead. I’m going to have a chat with Chuck.”

  “Connor–”

  “Go ahead, baby. I won’t be long. Meet you at your house.”

  “Jess, come on,” her father called from the student drop-off.”

  Jess reached into her pocket and pulled out her car keys, handing them to me. “Bring my car,” she said and gave me a quick kiss. “I love you.”

  “I love you more,” I said and the hand on my shoulder started squeezing. I could hear the popping of bone. I waited until she was safely in her father’s vehicle, ignoring the pain in my shoulder and then I slowly reached up and grabbed two of the fingers digging into my flesh and jerked them as hard as I could.

  Charles slammed into the back of me. Clearly he hadn’t been expecting that. “You maggot,” he screeched and pushed me out the door.

  I stumbled on the concrete, but didn’t fall. I wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of knocking me down. I hoped. When all was said and done, he was still a lot more experienced than I was.

  But then again, so is Raven…

  I silently thanked my brain for the little bolster in confidence. I turned and smirked at Chuck. “Wow. You are a dick.”

  “What is that?”

  “Something you’re obviously lacking. Now listen and listen carefully, feather boy. Jess doesn’t want to have anything to do with you or your kind–”

  “You mean her kind?”

  “Whatever. Just because she has the feathers, doesn’t mean she’s a self-righteous asshole like the rest of you.”

  “Think what you may, Fallen. The truth is we won the war. You have little say in the affairs of the Chosen.”

  “I do when they impact the ones that I love.”

  That pissed him off. With a flash of blue light, a flaming sword appeared in his hand. “You do not get to love that which you cannot have!” He struck, barely giving me time to call my blades.

  As usual, I saw his eyes widen at the twin black swords nestled loosely in my hands. I needed to have T-shirts made that said, they’re not those swords, or something like that. Either way, his eyes narrowed and he approached, a little more cautiously this time.

  He struck, I parried and attacked but missed, he was fast. Damn fast. But not as fast as Raven. I smiled and stepped forward, weaving my blades in the intricate dance I had learned.

  Apparently he was never taught it.

  It didn’t mean he wasn’t good, but fighting him was different than fighting Raven. He wasn’t clumsy, just had a different style. He began smiling at me and attacked faster. I kept up
but struggled to bat away his one sword with both of mine.

  You’re as fast as you can imagine yourself being…

  Score two points for my brain as Raven’s words echoed inside my skull. Instead of willing my hands to move, I imagined them already being there to block. It worked. Not only was I blocking his blade, but had more than ample time to attack. I returned his smile as his began to fade.

  I let go of the hatred I had for him. I didn’t want to kill him. That would probably complicate things beyond belief. I did however want to wipe the smirk off his face.

  With the next block, I turned my blade and brought my other in a downward arc against his, close to the pommel. It smacked the blade right out of his hand. In less than I fraction of a second, I had both blades across his throat. I stopped dead in my movement. I tiny silver drop of blood escaped from his neck and settled itself on my blade.

  He sighed and closed his eyes.

  I banished my blades and punched him in the face.

  He looked up at me from the concrete and snarled.

  “It’s over. Stay away from Jess,” I said and walked away.

  “It’s only just begun,” he said, but when I turned around, he was gone.

  Chapter 27

  I dropped off Jessie’s car to her, and checked on her. Her father thanked me with a nod of approval before assuring me that he had everything under control and that Jess was quite safe with him. His eyes made me believe him. He looked furious and I was quite relieved it wasn’t directed at me.

  I gave Jess a quick goodbye before heading back to la casa del Sullivan. I called my scooter into being and took off down the road. It was official. We were on winter break. I wouldn’t have to deal with the headache of school for two and a half weeks. I couldn’t help but smile for the rest of the ride home.

  I pulled into the driveway, parked my scooter on the side of the garage, and went inside to find an empty house. It was still pretty early. Mom and Dad wouldn’t be home from work for another hour or so, and my sister was probably with Elizabeth watching a movie or painting their claws.

  I had the house to myself.

  My smile got even bigger.

  I knew what had to be done. I ran up to my room as fast as my legs could carry me. Which, as a Fallen, was pretty damn fast. I double checked to make sure I hadn’t set the carpet on fire on my way up the stairs.

  Satisfied, I slipped into my room and turned on my Playstation 3. A little COD would help me relax. Unfortunately, my console picked that exact moment to start clicking…

  The TV sparkled to life, but the loading screen wouldn’t even come on. I reached behind the console, unplugged it and waited ten seconds before plugging it back in. It started clicking again. I started crying. Okay, not really crying, but I wanted to. The PS4 was out, but I didn’t have five hundred bucks to spend on getting a new one… Or did I?

  I could pull a scooter out of thin air, why couldn’t I pull a PS4?

  I couldn’t think of a reason I couldn’t. Not even a little one. I raised my hands in the air, picturing its sleek black contours, its shiny controllers and…

  The front door exploded.

  The whole house rattled in shock. I darted out of my room and hit the stairs, only to have them crumble beneath my feet. I dropped the last six feet to the ground in a crouch. Drywall dust and splintered wood blocked my vision. I could see the gaping hole where my front door used to be, but not much else.

  The crunching of debris under foot was the first clue I had that I wasn’t alone. I waved my hand in front of my face and finally made out a silhouette walking into the remnants of my living room. My parents were going to be pissed.

  I stood, brushed the dust off, and met whoever had blown up my house at the crumbled remains of the broken stairwell. I half expected Charles to be standing there, but it was someone else and nobody I recognized.

  He stood about two feet taller than me, wore nothing but leather, and had hair longer than Clarisse. “Excuse me? Why did you blow up my house?”

  “I’m here for the vampire. Where is it?”

  Usually when people showed up to my house, they wanted to kill me. The fact that someone was there for my sister was a bit of a shock. One I didn’t like. “That vampire just happens to be my sister… Why do you want her?”

  “She is an un-contracted soul with inhuman power. She must be dealt with.”

  “And you are?”

  “Elrich the Chosen.”

  “Chosen what?”

  “Of the Chosen.”

  “Who chose you?”

  “Don’t play games with me, Fallen. I can smell your stench from here.”

  “Oh. I thought that was you. All I can smell is ass.”

  He didn’t take too kindly to that statement. His wings burst forth in a flurry of shredded leather that added to the debris littering my floor. Now he was standing in my living room wearing nothing but leather pants and boots. He looked like a Village People. A seven foot tall angry Village People.

  Without warning and without me seeing him move, he wrapped his arms around me in a crushing embrace. I could hear my ribs cracking under the immense amount of pressure I was suddenly caught in. His lips, only inches from mine, cracked an evil smile. I brought my head back and smashed the smile from his face.

  He dropped me as I felt his lips splatter against my forehead. Warm wet blood dripped down my face. I wiped it away and glimpsed it on my hand. Its silvery hue caught me off guard. When someone bleeds, you expect red. It’s almost your reward for hurting the bad guy. Silver just isn’t the same.

  He wiped off his mouth and I could see his lips knitting themselves back together. We could get hurt, but it didn’t last long. He called forth a spiked club. It looked like it could tenderize a whole cow with one swing. I really didn’t want to get hit with it. Hell, I didn’t even know if I could block one of his attacks. I briefly saw my swords, arms, and face shattering in my mind. I called my swords and stood my ground.

  “What happened to the first blood rule? I made you bleed,” I said sheepishly.

  “Doesn’t count when you use your forehead,” he said and swung the massive mace in a downward arc.

  Instead of blocking, I dodged it and swung one of my blades at his midsection. I totally wasn’t expecting it to hit. I mean the guy was the Chosen’s version of a vampire hunter. I expected him to be inhumanly fast. He was fast, but not fast enough.

  Blood dripped from the wound I had made just under his ribs. It wasn’t deep, but it still cut him. The blood fell antagonizing slow and struck the ground with a resounding chime…

  That just pissed him off even more.

  I ran around, dodging his wild swings, screaming, “First blood! First blood!”

  “I’m here to kill a vampire. You’re protecting it and keeping me from my duty. There is no first blood.”

  Well, shit.

  I stopped running and turned and faced the behemoth. There were very few reasons I would stand and face an opponent like him. Protecting my little sister just happened to be on the list. “Fine,” I said and crossed my blades in front of me.

  He grinned evilly and swung his mace across, hoping to bash me off my feet and into the next county. Halfway through its arc, I ducked and stabbed him in both his knees. He dropped like a sack of boulders, clutching both wounds. His mace vanished. I stood and lowered my blades to his neck.

  “Leave my sister alone.”

  He looked up at me and then to the blades at his throat. His eyes widened in fear. This time I was grateful for the recognition. He nodded.

  “Say it.”

  “What?”

  “That you give me your word that you will not pursue my sister and that you’ll leave Cedar Hills forever.”

  “You have my word.”

  “Say it,” I repeated and dug the tips of my swords into his throat.

  “I’ll not pursue the vampire and I will leave Cedar Hills forever.”

  I nodded, stood straighter, and ban
ished my blades. “Now get out of my house.”

  He stood and left through the gaping hole in the front. Leaping into the air, he took off into the darkening sky. My living room had turned into a war zone. With a heavy sigh, I briefly glanced out the front to make sure no one was watching and began the arduous task of magically repairing everything before my parents got home.

  My thoughts were consumed with worry. Something wasn’t right. In the past few days, someone had killed one of my sister’s friends, attacked my sister, come looking for my sister, and the Chosen had somehow found out my girlfriend had changed. It was like they had the Connor Channel in their cable lineup.

  “Hey, honey,” Mom said as she walked through the front door. I had just finished fixing the couch. She had good timing as usual.

  “Hey, Mom,” I said and sat down, pretending I had been straightening the cushions.

  She walked past me, and headed toward the kitchen, presumably to start dinner. I took a deep breath and sank back into the couch to finally relax.

  Her scream rang in my ears like the fire alarms at school.

  I shot off the couch and found her standing at the bottom of the remnants of our stairs. Shit. I forgot the stairs.

  “What the hell happened?”

  “I don’t know. I was walking down them and they collapsed.”

  “Why didn’t you say anything?” I could hear the panic in her voice as she looked me over for injuries. I looked down, too. My pants were a little shredded, but other than that, I was fine.

  “I forgot.”

  “Forgot?”

  “Yeah. As in didn’t remember.”

  “Don’t get smart with me. How do you forget falling through the stairs? Are you on drugs?” She leaned forward and actually peered into my eyes.

  This conversation took a turn I didn’t want to deal with. I looked my mother in the eye, leaned forward and whispered, “The stairs are fine. You came home and no one is here. Go make dinner.”

  She blinked a few times and did just that. I could hear her in the kitchen banging pots and pans and soon enough, I could smell spaghetti sauce cooking. I quickly repaired the stairs before anybody else came home.