Resurrection - Episode 1 (Lost Souls)

by Laurel O'Donnell

  Aurora sat at the table eating a banana. Christian scowled. She didn’t like bananas. They always gave her a stomach ache.

  “Mommy,” Aurora called.

  Diana didn’t look up from her texting. She leaned against the counter.

  “I love you, Mommy,” Aurora said.

  Diana grunted, but her fingers didn’t stop flying over the keys of her phone.

  Anger raced through Christian. She was too busy to acknowledge Aurora. Too busy to show her any kind of love.

  “I’m glad Daddy died.”

  Christian’s gaze snapped to his daughter, shocked.

  Aurora took a bite of the banana, her two tiny hands wrapped around the fruit. “I wanted to live with you, not him,” she said around a mouthful.

  Christian’s mouth dropped and his heart twisted. Those were the words he had dreaded hearing when he was alive. And now his daughter had just spoken them.

  Even Diana stopped texting and looked at Aurora.

  “I never loved Daddy,” Aurora proclaimed.

  “Aurora,” Christian gasped, pleading, stunned and hurt.

  Aurora turned her head to look at him. She stared straight at him. Her lips curled up in a grin. “I love you more, Mommy.”

  Christian’s entire body flinched with anguish and horror. It felt like an iron pole had been shoved through his heart. He took a step back as a small chuckle escaped from Aurora’s lips. Finally, he whirled and raced out of the house.

  Aurora’s beautiful laughter followed him out into the night. He squeezed his eyes shut, pausing in the middle of the street. Aurora. Aurora. How could she say that? He’d been dead only a few days. He stopped on the sidewalk across the street from the house, dazed and shaking, his head bowed.

  “Christian?” Samantha queried.

  “Leave me alone,” he answered through grit teeth without looking up.

  “What happened?” Samantha asked.

  He whirled on her, his fists clenched. “I said leave me alone!” He was off again, running through the night. He didn’t know where he was going, just running. Running from the words that scarred his soul. ‘I never loved Daddy.’ He ran harder, faster, passing through buildings and cars and people without even looking or caring. He stopped, the hole inside of him open and gaping. He had given up everything for his beloved daughter. Tears blurred his vision.

  How could she say that? How could she say that when she was everything to him?

  “Calm down, Christian,” Ben advised.

  He ground his teeth. “Why won’t you leave me the hell alone?” Christian snarled, his voice ragged, his fists clenched.

  He felt a hand on his shoulder and whirled to meet Samantha’s stare.

  Her large blue eyes shone with understanding and compassion. “It’s not what you think,” she said softly.

  Christian shrugged off her hand. “Not what I think? She said she didn’t love me! She said…” His voice broke and he spun away. Agony twisted inside him.

  “They didn’t tell you everything,” Samantha said.

  Christian turned to her, his anger fierce and hot. “I’m tired of this damned game! I’m sick to death of it! I don’t want to faze anymore! I don’t give a damn about picking up a fucking doll! I don’t care about the damned Changed. I just want to be dead and gone.”

  “It’s too late for that,” Ben said gently. “You chose to stay here.”

  Christian paced before the line of trains. For the first time, he realized he was in a train yard, maybe a freight yard. An empty train stood before him. Such rage and anger at what he had become, what Aurora had proclaimed, scorched through him. He grabbed the train car and with an inhuman roar of rage and betrayal and hurt, he tilted it, pushing it over onto its side. It landed with a loud thud and a puff of dust spewed out from all sides.

  Christian stood before the toppled train, unmoving. His muscles clenched tight, ready to explode. He wanted to topple a building. He wanted to rip apart a jet. And he knew it still wouldn’t be enough to banish the feelings whirling inside of him. God, he loved Aurora. How could she say she didn’t love him?

  “Wow,” Samantha murmured coming up behind him. “A train sure pales in comparison to a doll. That’s impressive.”

  “You have to understand, Christian, that whatever happened, whatever you heard, was not your child,” Ben added.

  “What the hell are you talking about? It sure looked like her,” he said bitterly.

  Neither replied and Christian straightened, turning to face them. “Tell me. I want to know. Tell me what you’re talking about.”

  “The Changed need our energy. Only the strongest ones, the ones that have gathered the most energy can achieve the Jump,” Ben said patiently.

  “The Jump?”

  Ben nodded. “They gather this energy and store it. And man, you need a ton. A ton. It takes centuries to build up.”

  “The Changed that had been following you around, the one that attacked you in the street, was old,” Samantha added. “Very old.”

  “It was probably ready for the Jump.”

  “What the hell is the Jump?” Christian demanded, not liking the sound of this at all.

  “Possession. They take over human bodies.”

  Three

  Possession. The word rocked Christian to the core. “Are you saying that this Changed is possessing my daughter?”

  “Is she acting normal?” Samantha wondered.

  Christian raked his hand through his hair. Every instinct he had was screaming no, and yet… maybe she was acting normal. No. No, it couldn’t be. And then, a thought occurred to him. “I called her name and she looked at me. I mean right at me.”

  Samantha and Ben exchanged a look.

  “It’s not her, is it?” Christian demanded. “That damn thing is inside of her!”

  Ben nodded. “It seems likely.”

  “How do I get it out of her?” Christian demanded.

  Ben opened his mouth, but Samantha cut him off. “You need to speak with Daniel.” Her tone was flat.

  ~~~

  “You told me it wouldn’t harm her. You told me it was after me!” Christian hollered. He stood before Daniel’s desk, the old man seated behind it. He slammed his fist on the desk. “It has my daughter!” He felt like he was caught in some hellish loop standing before Daniel again, but each time it played the situation got worse.

  The room was overly crowded, with Ben leaning against the wall, Samantha seated in a chair beside him. Brett rested his bottom on the desk and Luke stood with his arms crossed just beside Daniel.

  “It was after you. To drain the remainder of the energy it needed to make the Jump,” Daniel replied.

  Christian leaned toward him across the desk. “You son of a bitch. You knew this all along. You knew what it was doing and you allowed it to continue.”

  Daniel shrugged. “Your daughter has not been hurt.”

  “She’s a child! This thing has control of her! How can you say that total possession is not hurting her!”

  “The Changed needs her body. It won’t hurt her.”

  Christian lunged forward. “It already has!” Brett caught him and held him back. Christian shrugged Brett off and stepped back from the desk. “Get it out of her.”

  Daniel slowly shook his head. “I’m afraid there is no way to do that.”

  “What do you mean no way?” Christian grit out through clenched teeth.

  “Well, none that we know of. They possess the human and there is no known way to rid the human of the Changed.”

  “That can’t be! There has to be some way. Something. We’re fucking Souls! Can’t we just reach in and pull it out?”

  “Tell him all of it,” Samantha said from behind Christian.

  Christian cast her a glance over his shoulder. She sat in the chair, her legs crossed. But there was something in the rigid way she sat that set Christian further on edge.

  Daniel looked at Samantha.

  “He has a right to know. He’s in
volved now. He’s one of us.”

  Daniel shook his head. “Not yet.”

  “I have a right to know what?” Christian demanded of Daniel. But Daniel’s lips remained firmly closed. He turned to Samantha. “Tell me.”

  Samantha looked at Daniel for a long moment and then her gaze swung to Christian. She pinned him with those large blue eyes. “There is only one way to kill the Changed.”

  Daniel shook his head. “Not yet, Sam,” he warned. “Don’t.”

  Slowly, Samantha rose. “You wanted me to train him. Isn’t this part of his training?”

  “No. Not yet. It has to be finished.”

  “He has a right to know.”

  Daniel shook his head. “Brett.”

  Brett stepped toward Samantha. Ben moved into his path and put a hand on his chest.

  “What are you going to do, Daniel?” Samantha wondered. “Gag me?”

  Christian watched the interplay, not caring. He just wanted answers. He wanted a way to save Aurora. “Tell me.”

  “There is only one way to kill the Changed.” Samantha cocked her head. “While they can kill us by draining our energy, we know of only one way to totally destroy them.” She glanced at Daniel. Something hot danced in her eyes; something angry set her lips in a grim line. “They are allowed to possess the human. And then we kill the human, destroying the Changed.”

  Stunned, Christian stared at her. Kill the human. Her words rang tonelessly in his head. Slowly, he turned to Daniel. “You knew. You knew all along what was going to happen. You knew that thing was going to possess her and you didn’t do anything about it!”

  Daniel shook his head. “You don’t know the complete picture. These Changed are dangerous to everyone. Human and Soul alike. Once it takes possession of the human, it moves in their world as pure evil. The 9-11 terrorists, possessed by Changed. We didn’t know. We couldn’t stop them in time. Most of the serial killers –”

  “Aurora is a child!”

  “She is evil now.”

  “You lied so that thing could possess her! You told me she wasn’t in danger. You told me the Changed wanted me.”

  “All of that was true,” Daniel insisted. “It needed your energy to make the Jump. I told you to stay away from your human. Had you listened to me, the Changed wouldn’t have been able to collect the energy to make the Jump.”

  Realization struck Christian. When he had returned to the house while Aurora was watching television, the Changed had taken his energy. It had taken his energy and made the Jump. He hadn’t been able to stop it. He hadn’t been able to protect Aurora.

  “It’s not your fault, Christian,” Samantha said. “What you don’t understand is that Daniel looks for lost Souls. He looks for them because those are the most vulnerable, the newest, the most untrained. They are the ones the Changed are attracted to.”

  “We try to save the lost Souls,” Daniel explained.

  “No,” Samantha countered. “You are not looking for other Souls. You are looking for the Changed. You allow them to make the Jump so you can kill them.”

  Daniel nodded. “It has to be done.”

  “At the expense of human lives.”

  “They are expendable. One human for a Changed.”

  Christian’s lip curled into a snarl of anger. “You son of a bitch. I won’t let you kill Aurora. She is not expendable! She is my daughter. She is –”

  “She is no longer your daughter. She is a monster.”

  “Because you let her become one!”

  The room exploded in chaos as Christian lunged for Daniel. Luke intercepted him, punching him hard in the face, the impetus throwing Christian back across the room.

  Samantha moved forward with her finger raised to say something to Daniel, but Brett misinterpreted her intentions and cut her off, shoving her back. She slammed hard into the wall, hitting it beside Christian. Samantha’s jaw clenched. “You got that one for free.”

  “Take them!” Daniel shouted. “Throw them all in the Iron Room.”

  Christian rose to his feet and dived toward Luke, but passed harmlessly through him. Luke reached down and grabbed his arm, snapping cuffs on him. Christian tried to pull through the cuffs, but couldn’t. Iron. He tried to faze but no shifting and fading of the world around him happened. He felt nothing. It was like the cuffs had not only trapped his arms, but they had completely negated his ability to faze.

  “Go after her!” Daniel ordered. “Don’t let her get away.”

  Christian looked up in time to see Brett disappear. Samantha was already gone. Ben stood in the center of the room, calm. His wrists were bound by similar cuffs as those that surrounded his own wrists. Again, Christian tried to pull them apart, to twist his hands out of it, but he couldn’t escape the iron grip of the cuffs.

  “You’re making a mistake,” Ben warned, displaying the metal cuffs. “I’m not the one that should be locked up.”

  “I’ll make this right when the Changed is dead,” Daniel said.

  “I don’t think you can ever make this right again, Daniel,” Ben said.

  Christian surged forward, but was stopped by Luke’s hand on his shoulder.

  “Right now, I don’t have time to argue with you,” Daniel said. “I must prepare. Surely you understand, Ben. You understand how important this is.”

  “I understand there are other ways to handle the situation. We’ve discussed this before.”

  Daniel shook his head. “I’m more than willing to discuss options with you. For future Changed. But for now, for this one, I have it where I want it and it will not escape.” He looked at Luke. “Take them to the Iron Room.”

  “You can’t do this!” Christian hollered as they led him away. “Leave my daughter alone!”

  ~~~

  Christian slammed into the iron door again.

  “You can’t get out that way,” Ben said quietly, sitting in the far corner of the small metallic room. “The entire room is iron, hence the name the Iron Room.”

  Christian wouldn’t believe that. Couldn’t believe that. He had to get out of here. Aurora was in danger. He paced before the door again. “There has to be a way out.”

  “The front door is the only way in and out. Patience, Christian.”

  “I don’t have time to be patient. They’re going after my daughter.”

  “There’s nothing you can do to help her right now. Not in here. It will do you no good to waste your energy.”

  Christian ran his hand through his hair, the iron manacles still tight around his wrists. “I can’t just sit here and do nothing.”

  “That Changed hasn’t been alive all those centuries without being smart. It will expect them to be coming. It will be ready. We have time yet.”

  With a frustrated sigh, Christian dropped down into the opposite corner. He shook his head. “I can’t believe I trusted Daniel.”

  “You can’t blame yourself for this. You’re not the only one he has deceived. It’s easy for Daniel to mislead freshies.”

  “Why didn’t someone tell me the truth? Why didn’t you tell me? Or Sam?”

  “They would have locked you up earlier. You wouldn’t have had the chance to learn some of your abilities.”

  Christian chuckled with self-mockery. “Yeah, picking up a doll is so impressive.”

  “It takes the same energy and training to pick up a doll as it does to tip a train. You’re going to need your training if you’re going to save your human.”

  “She’s not my human. She’s my daughter.”

  “Your daughter,” Ben corrected after a quiet moment.

  Christian turned to Ben. “Do you know how to save her?”

  “We’re not sure, but Sam has a theory. And this might be our opportunity to try it.”

  “What theory?”

  Ben leaned his head back against the wall. “It’s all about energy. We are creatures of energy. The Changed need energy to make the Jump. A lot of it. They store it up for years. Every time we have a run in with th
em, their goal is to extract our energy. They’ll take all of our energy, if they can get it. But once they make the Jump, they have no more use for energy. They are locked inside the human. Mortal if you will. And yet still the Changed.”

  “What happens to the human? Is Aurora still inside?”

  Ben shrugged. “No one knows for sure. It is almost impossible to discern what entity we are speaking to when we confront it.”

  “She has to be in there somewhere.”

  “Some think that as the Jump is being made, there is a battle with the human energy. They think the energy the Changed needs to make the Jump helps it to defeat the natural human energy that resides in every living human.”

  Christian shook his head. “She’s just a child. What kind of fight could she have put up?” He had given up everything to save her life. And now Ben was telling him the chances of Aurora being alive were slim. He lifted his head to lock eyes with Ben. “What do you think?”

  Ben shrugged. “I’ve encountered many Changed who have made the Jump. But I’ve never seen any indication the human is still alive. I’m sorry.”

  “Then why help me?”

  “Because Sam is absolutely certain the human still lives inside their body with the Changed after they make the Jump. She believes they stay trapped within their own body, unable to regain control of it.”

  Christian scowled. “How does she know this?”

  “Because our first encounter with a Changed who made the Jump was with one who took over the body of her husband Damien.”

  ~~~

  Samantha fazed to a spot beside her car, and did a quick glance around the garage. She knew they would be close behind her, so she would have to act fast. She grinned. They hadn’t beaten her there. She quickly opened the car door, flipped open the compartment in the dashboard and grabbed the item she needed from inside. Then, she reached into the back seat and grabbed her sword.

  When she stood up outside her car, she saw Brett immediately; he had fazed in near the hood of her car. Another Soul, Peter, whose twisted nose was a leftover testimonial from his days in the ring, appeared on the other side of the car. A third Soul shimmered into view near Peter. It was William. His perpetual cocky grin had always annoyed Samantha.