Soul to Shepherd

by Linda Lamberson

  “Peter, I’m sorry about what happened between Madeleine and you. I’m sorry you couldn’t save her. But Quinn isn’t Madeleine. And getting back at me for not loving you by making me lose Quinn and experiencing the same kind of pain you did when you lost Madeleine isn’t going to solve anything,” I said.

  “You think all of this is about getting back at you?” Peter laughed cynically. “You are so naïve. I pledged my allegiance to the Servants before your grandparents were even born, and I’ve been doing their bidding ever since.”

  “What?” I gasped.

  “It was while Madeleine was my charge,” Peter began somberly. “One day, a Servant approached me. He said they’d spare her life if I did them a small favor—nothing too noteworthy or difficult. And because I loved her, I did it. It meant saving her life. Only that was just the beginning. The Servants kept holding her safety over my head, threatening to harm her if I didn’t do what they asked.

  “I went to the Council and confessed my transgressions, but they were at a loss as to what to do. So I appealed to the Order, and you know what they did?” He chuckled dismissively. “They threatened me. They told me to figure something out or be stripped of my immortality.

  “So the next time a Servant asked me for another favor, I refused. The Servant was so enraged, he threatened to kill Madeleine on the spot, so I destroyed him. It was the first time I’d ever destroyed a demon; I remember feeling so proud. But my celebration was short-lived. The next day, Madeleine was dead.” Peter shook his head. “And it was all my fault.”

  “Peter, they baited you. They found your weakness, and they exploited it.”

  “Maybe so, but it doesn’t change what happened. I was so angry and distraught, I became obsessed with finding the Servant responsible for taking Madeleine’s life. I met Tartuf and learned as much as I could about the Servants. I learned their every weakness. I must’ve destroyed nearly a dozen Servants before I met Mathius himself. I didn’t know about the sorcery designed to protect him at the time, and he easily captured me.

  “As punishment for destroying his brothers, Mathius gave me Madeleine’s heart—he somehow made it my own. And it was then that I realized Madeleine had loved me as much as I loved her—despite the fear my immortality caused her. I’d been so hurt by her rejection, I left without even trying to understand how she felt, and I ended up hurting her too. The pain of that discovery was more than I could bear, and that’s when Mathius made me an offer I couldn’t refuse.

  “He promised I would never again have to feel the heartache of loving and losing Madeleine if I continued to do favors for him and provide him with inside information about us. And so I’ve felt nothing for the past two hundred years. I almost forgot I even had a heart—until you came along.

  “When I met you, my heart starting beating again—can you believe it?” he continued. “And when it woke up from its slumber, I felt emotions on a whole new level—one that is impossible to explain. Joy, jealously, pain—love.” His face grew softer; he looked like the Peter I knew and trusted once. “You remind me so much of her. It’s uncanny, actually. And it brought back all of these feelings that had been buried for so long.” He cleared his throat and clutched his chest. “And then, to have that love unreciprocated …”

  I remembered the wicked chest pains I’d had when Peter was my mentor. And I remembered standing in front of the Council and watching Peter clutch his chest just like he was doing right now, but I no longer felt a thing. His connection with me had been broken, presumably the minute he stopped being my mentor.

  “Even so, everything I’ve done has been for the sole purpose of protecting you—to draw the Servants’ attention away from you so you would not be harmed further.”

  “But why did you have to make Quinn a bigger target in the process? It’s not fair.”

  “So, it is unfair to risk his soul to save you, but not mine?” he huffed.

  “That’s not what I meant,” I replied. “You made a choice. You weren’t forced into anything against your will. And you didn’t become a demon.”

  “Didn’t I?” he asked forlornly. “I made my bed with the devil a long time ago.”

  “No, you didn’t,” I insisted. “And there’s still time to prove it. Please tell me how to find Quinn so I can save him.”

  “It’s too late.” With that, Peter phased out of view.

  “Peter, wait! Peter!” I called out. There was no response. “Peter!” I yelled. Nothing. He was gone. “Damn it!” I screamed as loud as I could. My body was shaking—I’d never been so furious and scared in all my life.

  I frantically searched for the exit, waving my arms about in hopes of seeing a glimpse of the shimmer of light typically marking portal doors, but it was no use. I had to put all my faith into believing Dylan and Minerva would find Quinn before the conversion ritual began and rescue him. Hopefully, they’d find me as well.

  *

  I don’t know how long Peter was gone, but it was long enough for me to wear a well-trodden path into the snow. As in all portals, time beat to its own drum, and for all I knew, the worst already had happened.

  When Peter finally returned, I grabbed the collar of his shirt with both hands, pulling him towards me.

  “What day is it?” I asked, on the verge of hysterics.

  “August seventeenth,” he replied calmly.

  “What?!?”

  “Don’t worry. Your precious Mr. Harrison is still alive.”

  “You’ve seen him?”

  “No, but I have my sources.”

  “When are you going to take me to him?” I asked impatiently.

  “You know, Brady was the key to convincing Mathius to convert Quinn,” Peter continued, ignoring my question. “He was already so far down the path of lies and deception, all I had to do was wave a fat, juicy carrot in front of him, and he jumped right down the rabbit hole. Did you know of all Quinn’s brothers, Brady was genetically the closest to Quinn? Not to mention their strong bond—it made Brady the perfect choice.”

  I looked at him in complete shock.

  “Oh yes, I knew the blood was his brother’s.”

  “How is it you know all of this while Tara and the rest of the Council don’t?”

  “I chose not to tell them.”

  “You mean, you lied to them,”I clarified.

  “I like to say I am uniquely qualified to keep secrets,” he announced arrogantly.

  “How can you do it?”

  “Did you think you were the only hybrid out there?” Peter smirked. “I became one the moment the Servants gave me Madeleine’s heart. Humanity courses through my veins with each beat. And with that humanity comes one of the most central of all gifts tied to free will—the choice of whether or not to tell the truth.”

  “Humanity courses through you? Ha!” I scoffed.

  “Let us not forget your role in all of this.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “Had you let Brady go that one summer night, had he been able to escape with the money in the lock box, he would have rejected my offer. He would have gambled with the money and hit the jackpot, as they say, only to live to bet another day.”

  “You’re lying.”

  “You would like to think so, but unfortunately for you, I’m not this time. You interrupted his fate. He was destitute and in trouble, desperate for a break. And I was happy to give him one. All he had to do was take those Servants to his brother’s apartment in exchange for forgiving his debt.”

  “That’s not all it cost him.”

  “No, you are quite right. And, of course, Cy and Rex already knew where Mr. Harrison lived, but the impact of having Brady there, to be a part of the scheme as it unfolded, made it so tragically poetic.”

  My chest heaved, and I thought I would throw up. Be strong. He’s lying, I told myself as I fought off the tears. He’s lying, I kept repeating to myself.

  “Clearly, Cy and Rex were not the right lackeys for the job, however. They neve
r followed orders all that well. Thankfully, I intervened just at the right moment.” He walked over to me and placed his hands on both of my arms. I froze, repulsed by his touch. “I never meant for them to hurt you.” He leaned in and kissed the top of my head.

  I had to get out of there. Maybe I could egg Peter on enough to take me to Quinn.

  “You know what? I think you’re full of crap,” I challenged. “I bet Quinn’s safe and out of harm’s way. In fact, I bet Dylan stashed him in another portal—one you’re not clever enough to find. I think that’s why you brought me up here. You want me to think the Servants have him, when in reality they can’t even find him. The ritual’s not going to happen and there’s nothing you can do about it except keep me locked away up here and feed me lies.”

  I watched the emotion drain from Peter’s face and his eyes turn stone cold. “Fine,” he growled through his clenched jaw. “I was trying to protect you—to spare you from witnessing the worst. But obviously, you need to learn your lesson the hard way. So I will take the bait. I’ll take you to your precious soul mate so you can watch him die a slow and painful death, so every last horrid detail will be forever burned into your memory. And when it’s all over, when his human heart beats for the very last time, just remember I warned you.

  “You know,” he added, grabbing my arm. “In the end, I will be curious to see what hurts more—my broken heart or your grieving soul.”

  23. double-crossed

  Peter teleported me to a clearing surrounded by mountains and lush green rainforest. The humid air was hot and dense, making my first couple breaths difficult as my body transitioned from the arctic conditions of the portal. Lightning struck in the near distance, setting the sky on fire.

  “Where are we?”

  “The Democratic Republic of Congo, near the town of Kifuka.”

  So I’d been right. The Servants chose the most frequent spot for lightning strikes in the world to perform the ceremony. I checked my watch and was relieved to discover it was still August seventeenth. Another bolt of lightning lit up the dark sky, followed by a loud clap of thunder.

  Peter tugged at me, pulling me towards a group of human forms shrouded in black robes chanting in some tongue I didn’t recognize. Much to my surprise, the figures parted for us to enter the circle they formed. It was as if they’d been expecting us.

  As we continued to the center of the circle, I saw Quinn tethered at the ankles, forearms, and neck to what resembled a large wooden door. Tears sprang to my eyes when I saw the condition of his body. His wrists had been slit and he was bleeding out. He’d been badly beaten—one of his eyes was nearly swollen shut, his lip was busted open, and his nose was broken.

  “Quinn!” I cried out, breaking free of Peter’s grasp. Quinn cast a glance in my direction. Immediately, I could see his aura glow a little more brightly.

  “Stop her!” Peter yelled.

  I was ten feet from him when two Servants grabbed my arms, stopping me in my tracks. I struggled against their grasp, but I couldn’t move; they’d ingested Shepherd’s blood.

  “Quinn!” I gasped.

  “Evie,” he could barely whisper. He looked like he was in so much pain.

  “Ms. Eve Sanders, I’m so glad you could join us on such a momentous occasion,” the Servant in the only garnet colored robe stated. He was standing directly in front of me on a stone platform. I knew this had to be Mathius. He looked exactly the way Quinn had described him from his nightmares, which made me shiver to my core. Could it be that Quinn really had seen glimpses of his future?

  “I wouldn’t miss this for the world,” I replied sarcastically as I surveyed my surroundings. Quinn was ten feet to the right of me at two o’clock. Dylan was fifteen feet beyond Quinn, slumped down on the ground with a Servant standing over him, its foot on his torso. His body was seizing, and I couldn’t even be sure if he was conscious. He’d been bitten on the arm, possibly on his back as well, but I couldn’t tell from the position of his body.

  To my left, at ten o’clock, I saw Brady. He was tethered to a plank identical to Quinn’s. Attached to the top of his plank, however, was a lengthy metal pole—a lightning rod. Judging from his battered body, he was alive, but just barely. The Servants had planned a double ceremony, just as Ronald had suspected.

  Minerva was there, too—just to the left of Brady. She was also restrained, but rather than a plank and leather ties, she was bound by a thick crimson silk cord. Even in a weakened state, I could’ve broken those bindings. I glanced at her inquisitively. She met my gaze and tried to phase, but obviously couldn’t. Her body was reduced to static momentarily before returning to her human form. The restraints were preventing her from teleporting somehow.

  I scanned the rest of the area and realized there were at least two dozen Servants present. It was an ominous sight, made even more eerie by the continuous barrage of lightning and thunder getting closer and closer to our location.

  How the hell are we going to get ourselves out of his one? I asked myself, feeling the last shreds of hope quickly slip away.

  “Bring the girl to her true love and let her kiss him goodbye,” Mathius ordered the Servants holding me.

  They dragged me over to Quinn, and forced me to bow down to kiss him. I watched as my tears fell on his cheeks. I could see the tears brimming in his eyes. I wanted to tell him I had a plan and that everything would be all right, but the truth was, I didn’t know how to save him. I tried to break free from the Servants’ grasp, but the demons only jerked my arms behind my back.

  “Quinn, I’m so sor—”

  “Shh,” Quinn hushed me and tried to grin. “Don’t, okay?”

  I nodded as a new flood of tears streamed down my face. I lowered my head and kissed him, hoping our bond would give us the strength to pull through this in one piece. I could feel the energy surge through my body. “I love you.”

  “I love you, too,” he whispered.

  “Switch the girls!” Mathius demanded as I moved in to kiss Quinn again.

  “No!” I cried out, struggling once more to free myself from the Servants’ clutches. I was stronger, but still not strong enough to compete against demons high on what was probably my blood.

  “What?” Peter exclaimed in shock. “Mathius, this wasn’t part of the plan.”

  “You mean it wasn’t part of your plan,” Mathius replied. From the look on Peter’s face, he’d just been double-crossed.

  “We had a deal,” Peter implored.

  “I don’t need the girl anymore. She is nothing but a liability,” the Servant replied coldly. He nodded at two Servants flanking Peter, who then grabbed him by the arms and held him tight. “And I don’t need you any longer either. It has recently come to my attention that you have not been as forthright as I believed you to be—that you have the ability to deceive.” Mathius looked at Quinn, who was glaring at Peter, and I knew it could only mean Quinn had let Mathius in on Peter’s little secret.

  The demons dragged me over to Minerva while two other Servants untied her and yanked her off the platform. Then, I was hoisted onto the same platform and held in place while they bound me by the same red silk cord. From the stench of the tethers, I realized the rope had been soaked in Servants’ blood. That was why Minerva couldn’t teleport—why I couldn’t. Having contact with their blood had the same effect as having contact with a Servant itself, making any hope of escape impossible.

  I looked at Minerva, who was restrained by two Servants a few feet from me. She wasn’t even trying to fight them. In fact, her eyes were closed and she remained very still, almost like she was concentrating deeply on something. She must’ve had a plan—or, at least, I hoped she did.

  *

  “Are you ready Magnus? Cicero?”

  “Yes, Mathius,” they replied in unison.

  “My brothers!” Mathius announced loudly. “You have gathered here tonight to witness an event that will forever change our destinies!”

  Cheers could be heard from the de
mons waiting in anticipation for their newest brothers to join them. A minute later, a bolt of lightning hit a tree just yards outside of the perimeter, creating a shower of sparks and setting the tree on fire. Thunder boomed overhead.

  “It won’t be long now,” Mathius said eagerly. More cheers erupted from the group.

  “Quinny,” I heard Brady call out feebly. “Quinny, can you hear me?”

  “Yeah,” Quinn replied just as weakly.

  “I’m sorry.” Brady labored to take a breath. “It wasn’t s’posed to be like this. If I—I wish I could go back—change things—make things right.”

  “I know.”

  “I love you, little man.”

  “I love you, too.”

  A large crack of thunder sounded just as a single streak of lightning hit a tree twenty feet outside the circle. The storm was on top of us. The chanting got louder.

  “Quinny?”

  I saw the tears well up in Brady’s eyes.

  “Yeah?”

  “I’m scared.”

  “Me too.”

  I couldn’t believe this was happening. I couldn’t believe how things had gone this wrong.

  Another large crack of thunder boomed and a streak of lightning hit the metal rod attached to Brady’s plank. Sparks flew everywhere as Brady’s body began to jolt, seizing uncontrollably as he screamed.

  “Brady!” Quinn cried out weakly as tears streamed down his face.

  “Magnus—quickly!” barked Mathius.

  I looked back at Brady and blinked twice through my own tears to make sure what I was seeing was real. The electricity from the lightning had changed Brady’s aura; in fact, it no longer looked like an aura at all. His entire body was covered by what looked like a veil of illuminated lace; it was so bright it almost hurt my eyes to look at it. I gasped in awe—it was Brady’s soul. The lightning, the “spear of light,” had separated it from his body.