Lost Eden (The Soulkeepers)

by G. P. Ching

  Gabriel nodded. “As you wish. How shall I deliver this gift to the world?”

  God lifted the red ball toward the ceiling. The rubber skin inflated, thinning and rising from the prepubescent hand of Tommy Snider. Transforming into a giant red balloon, the ball sprouted a string as it floated above their heads. “Take this balloon and guide it in the sky above. See that it drifts for all to see.”

  “My pleasure.” Gabriel gave a small bow and flew for the window, red balloon in hand.

  “Prepare yourself, Gabriel,” God whispered. “The tide is turning. This means war.”

  * * * * *

  “Shouldn’t you kids be in school?” Mrs. McNaulty handed Jacob his Coke but eyed Malini accusingly.

  “Senior ditch day,” Jacob blurted.

  Malini widened her eyes at him, then turned her attention to Mrs. McNaulty. “He’s kidding. Of course it’s not senior ditch day; it’s the beginning of the semester.” She smoothed her hands over the table. “Actually, we’re doing a project for our sociology class. It’s part of the new curriculum. You can call the school.” She nodded nervously.

  Mrs. McNaulty pursed her lips and drifted off toward the kitchen.

  “Do you think she’ll call?” Jacob asked. “We can’t keep doing this, Malini. Someone is going to catch on that we aren’t going to school.”

  “Bull. Who’s going to say anything? Since the Watchers brought in the new curriculum, they haven’t exactly taken attendance. If she calls, I bet no one answers the phone.” Malini tucked her hair behind her ears.

  “It’s a small town. I’m willing to bet Mrs. M. tells my uncle.” Jacob nodded toward the kitchen.

  Nibbling on her lip, Malini took Jacob’s hand. “I’ve been thinking.”

  “That’s never a good sign.”

  She rolled her eyes. “I’ve been thinking we should tell our families the truth.”

  Jacob’s mouth fell open. “Are you crazy?”

  “No, Jacob, listen to me. They’re not safe. The town is crawling with Watchers. Every school is crawling with Watchers. They know who we are. I think the only reason they haven’t attacked is they don’t want to blow their cover. But it’s only a matter of time before they figure out who our families are and come for them.”

  He shook his head. “So we tell them, and then what? They either think we’re insane, or worse, they believe us but can’t do anything about it but worry.”

  “But we can teach them—”

  “Oh my God!” Mrs. McNaulty cried from behind the register. She lifted a remote control and turned up the volume on the flat screen hanging on the wall. A local newscaster frowned under a banner that read Special Report. Next to him was a picture of Principal Bailey.

  Again, long beloved principal of Paris High School, John Bailey was found dead today in an apparent animal attack. A memorial service is being planned for the man described as the best educator Paris has ever known. The news of his death was a huge blow to local families who were trying to have him reinstated after his recent termination. Several families have boycotted the school due to the changes in personnel and curriculum.

  Fingers pressed over her lips, Malini’s vision swam.

  “They killed him,” Jacob mumbled, staring at the screen. “It wasn’t enough to fire him. They killed him.”

  Malini squeezed his hand. “I had a feeling …” She didn’t finish her sentence.

  Dane flew through the door and focused on her. “Have you heard? Did you see?”

  “Yes, Principal Bailey. So sad,” Malini said.

  “No. Not that.” Dane rushed to Mrs. McNaulty, who was still watching the news, stiff and crying. Dane yanked the remote control out of her hands and changed the channel.

  “Hey!” she yelled, but when the television tuned in to Dane’s pick of channel, she paled.

  On the screen was a shaky cell phone recording of a Watcher. Not an illusion but a black-skinned, leather-winged beast.

  Across the country today, people reported seeing strange winged creatures. Scientists are baffled by the sheer number of pictures, videos, and personal anecdotes but have no rational explanation.

  Seventy-six-year old Hazel Yearly had this to say about her sighting. “My neighbor thinks they’re aliens, but I know what they are. They’re demons! Mark my words, this is the end of times. Repent now.”

  The newscaster smirked as the woman’s face faded from the screen. Well, whatever they are, the information coming in indicates they hate the sunlight. All residents are encouraged to lock their doors after dusk.

  “Lock their doors?” Jacob said. “That’ll work if your door is soaked in holy water.”

  “We’ve got to go.” Malini sprang from her seat. Dane handed the remote back to Mrs. McNaulty and followed out the door.

  “Where are we going?” Dane asked.

  “We’ve got to warn our families and then evacuate Eden.”

  “Evacuate?” Jacob pulled up short in the gravel parking lot.

  Malini pointed toward the door to McNaulty’s. “That, Jacob, was the second gift. They can’t hide among us any longer. And if I know Lucifer, when he can’t hide, he’s going to fight. Now come on. We’ve got work to do.”

  “My aunt and uncle are at the flower shop with my mom today,” Jacob said.

  Malini changed direction, crossing the street to Laudner’s Flowers and Gifts. A familiar face stopped her before she reached the door.

  “Daddy?”

  “Malini,” Mr. Gupta said, pulling her into a hug. “Have you heard? Did you see? I was afraid you were at school!” He kissed the side of her head. “Thank God you are safe. There are monsters … great, leathery—” He held his arms out to his sides and shook his head. “—winged creatures. I drove to the school after I heard about Bailey and saw one!”

  Malini sighed and took his hand. “Come on in. Call Mom. There’s something I’ve got to tell you.”

  Chapter 21

  The Truth

  Once her mother and Mary Michaels had arrived, Malini locked the door to the shop and ushered the group into the back where they couldn’t be seen from the street.

  Uncle John adjusted his thick-rimmed glasses. “What’s this all about? We can’t keep the store closed for more than a few minutes.”

  “Show them, Jake,” Malini ordered, brown eyes flashing to a vase of roses on the counter.

  Dane crossed the room to put his arm around his mom’s shoulders. Always so thoughtful. He gave Malini a nod of encouragement.

  Jacob paused, concentrating on the water. A thin geyser erupted, rising from the vase and forming into a rose. The flower turned to ice, then melted back into the vase.

  Sarah Gupta squinted, trying to figure out the trick behind it. “How are you doing that?”

  Malini raised her eyebrows. “More, Jake.”

  Holding out his hand, Jacob called the water to him. The liquid shot out of the vase and into his hand, freezing into his favorite broadsword. He twirled it around his body. Malini could feel the cold breeze as the blade sailed past her cheek and hear the sharp intake of breath from the adults.

  Aunt Carolyn pressed a hand over her heart. “But how? Is it some kind of a magic trick?”

  “Not magic. Genetics,” Malini said. “Jacob, Dane, Lillian, and I are Soulkeepers. We’ve been genetically gifted to kill the creatures some of you saw today.”

  Mary Michaels whipped her head around to face Lillian who responded with, “It’s true.”

  Jim Gupta snorted. “Genetically gifted? I know your genetics, Malini.”

  Malini eyed Jacob. “I need to show him what I can do.”

  Without hesitation, Jacob drew his blade across his palm, slicing the skin. Blood bubbled up.

  “Ah!” Mary Michaels groaned before collapsing in Dane’s arms. Thankfully, the other adults were able to keep it together.

  Malini reached out and touched Jacob’s hand. The cut stitched itself up while Malini’s fingers began to smoke. The smell of burning flesh
filled the back room. Jacob’s cut healed pink, then white, then disappeared altogether.

  “Holy mother of God,” Jim Gupta said, staring at his daughter’s burnt hand.

  Jacob commanded some of his sword to melt over her burn, healing the skin before rejoining his weapon.

  “How?” John Laudner asked.

  “Why?” Sarah Gupta blurted.

  “Who else knows?” Aunt Carolyn whispered.

  Lillian spoke from the corner of the room. “We kill Watchers. The creature you saw near the school, Jim, and the one you saw on TV, Carolyn, they are fallen angels or you might call them demons. You can see them because we are witnessing war between Heaven and Hell.” Lillian pulled up the news segment about the Watcher sightings on YouTube and passed her phone around the group. Conscious again, Mary Michaels insisted on watching the video twice, shaking her head the entire time.

  Malini rubbed her palms together in small circles. “We … the Soulkeepers are gifted by God to kill Watchers. Usually there are only a few on the Earth at any given time, not more than we can handle. But now … We’ve been invaded. Lucifer and his army are attempting a takeover. They want Earth.”

  “The apocalypse,” Mary Michaels murmured, clinging to her son.

  “But you said you can stop them,” Aunt Carolyn said hopefully. Her face was ghostly pale.

  Malini nodded. “We’re going to try.

  Mary Michaels pushed Dane an arm’s length away. “Malini said you were one of them. What can you do?”

  Dane cleared his throat. “Nothing on my own.”

  “I don’t understand,” she said. “You can’t go out fighting those things without some way to protect yourself.”

  “I have a gift,” Dane said. “It’s just hard to explain.”

  The adults stared at him blankly.

  “I can borrow other Soulkeepers’ powers.”

  He reached out for Jacob’s hand. Reluctantly, Jacob channeled his weapon back into the vase, then accepted Dane’s palm. A shock ran through both of their bodies, then Dane pulled the water from the vase again, this time forming a Katana in his hand.

  John barely caught Mrs. Michaels before she hit the floor. Sarah Gupta fanned her face with a Teleflora pamphlet from the counter. Next to her, Jim Gupta stared at his daughter as if he hadn’t noticed Mary pass out at his side.

  “Okay, enough,” Jacob said. “Give it back.”

  Dane made a face, but returned the water and reached for Jacob’s hand.

  Lillian cleared her throat. “I’m sure this all seems overwhelming,” she said. “But we needed you to know the truth.”

  Pale face unreadable, John Laudner shuffled Mary into her son’s arms. “So these demons are coming, and there are more than you can stop on your own. How do we help?”

  “I’m glad you asked that question,” Malini said. At the back of the room, she plugged the sink and turned on the water. “Jacob, your flask.”

  Jacob passed her his most prized possession, but she had to pry it from his fingers.

  “I won’t use it all, Jacob.” She poured four drops into the filling sink and returned the flask. “Holy water is toxic to Watchers. Everyday weapons won’t kill them, but soak them in holy water and they’re deadly.” She grabbed a floral knife from the basket John kept them in and tossed it into the water.

  “How long does it need to soak?” Carolyn asked.

  “The effect is immediate,” Malini said. “But we don’t know how long it lasts. We resoak after every kill.” She handed the blessed knife to Carolyn.

  John pushed through the other adults to a locked cabinet near the back of the room. Pulling a set of keys from his pocket, he unlocked the metal door and dug through the contents. He pulled out a rifle.

  Sarah Gupta gasped; Malini’s mother never liked guns.

  “If those things are half as terrifying as they look on television, we are going to need a hell of a lot more than a three inch blade.” John dunked the rifle and then a box of ammunition.

  Mary Michaels shook her head. Apologizing profusely, she regained her balance, then saw the dripping gun in John’s hand and had to steady herself on Dane’s arm again.

  “Mary, why don’t you come stay with us for awhile. Bring the kids,” John said. Mary nodded appreciatively.

  “What about us, Malini? We have no weapons,” her father said.

  “We’ll bring you some from Eden.”

  “Eden?” Sarah Gupta glanced around the room as if begging the other adults to make sense of this madness for her.

  Malini triggered the trapdoor in the floor.

  John dropped the rifle. Everyone scattered, except for Lillian who snagged the gun before it hit the floor. She had it safely pointed at the ceiling before anyone could say a word.

  “Weapons are my gift,” she said, smiling.

  Slowly, the adults again turned their attention toward Malini and the trap door. “There’s something else we need to tell you.”

  Chapter 22

  The Third Curse

  Lucifer paced his high-rise penthouse like an animal in a glass cage. They’d taken her. They’d taken his prize. The stench of Soulkeeper still burned in his nostrils.

  “I saw her. It was the redheaded twin again,” Cord said. “The one called Bonnie.”

  “Again she gets the best of you,” Lucifer snapped.

  Cord physically recoiled. Fortunately, at that moment, Auriel burst through the door, red heels click-clacking on the tile foyer.

  “Did I miss it? Have you issued the curse?” she asked breathlessly.

  “No, dear. It wouldn’t be half as fun without you.”

  “Good. It’s a pain in the ass only traveling at night.”

  “Yes, the Great Oppressor’s last gift is certainly problematic. But since he chose to bring us into the light, let’s not disappoint him by hiding under a bushel.”

  “My Lord?” Auriel asked.

  “Elysium was successful. We have addicts pounding on our doors for more of the drug. Do you know why it worked, Cord?”

  Cord cringed to have Lucifer’s attention back on him. He thought quickly and tried to give an intelligent answer. “Because people didn’t want to be sick anymore. The humans say the virus causes constant pain. They think they will die without the medicine.”

  “Exactly my wretched friend. They fear death. We must make them fear us.”

  “Us?” Auriel questioned.

  He slammed his fist into the back of the sofa. “We must bring them death and destruction, and when they loathe us and cringe in our presence, then we will save them.”

  “Save the humans?” Cord asked.

  “Why yes. We must save them to win them. Harrington Enterprises is going into the Watcher eradication business.”

  “You want to kill our own,” Auriel said, appalled.

  “Of course not,” Lucifer chided. “Don’t be an idiot, Auriel. It will all be for show. Amulets, security systems, repellents. We will invent dozens of products and command our Watchers to respond to them. Harrington will make a mint and Milton Blake’s face will be on every box.”

  “Your face.” Cord grinned. “Brilliant. They will love you and turn their hearts to you.”

  “Exactly.” Lucifer approached Cord, fire blazing in his pupils. “Do you hate the Soulkeeper that stole your illusion?”

  “Beyond hate, my Lord. I wish to pull out her teeth one by one before I remove each of her organs by hand,” Cord said through his teeth.

  “Good. I choose you as my vessel for the third curse.”

  “My pleasure.”

  Lucifer strode to the kitchen and procured a pair of scissors from the knife block. “Come here,” he said.

  Cord obeyed, approaching the counter quickly, although with the shivering limbs of a dead man walking.

  Lucifer pointed at the granite. “Rest your head here.”

  Cord swallowed hard, then lowered his cheek to the cold countertop. Lucifer positioned his hand over Cord’s profile, s
cissors finding the tip of his pinky finger. With a firm grasp, he clipped that piece of flesh, the black stump falling into Cord’s ear canal. While his finger healed itself, Lucifer watched his dismembered digit transform into a black worm that worked its way into Cord’s skull.

  “Ahhhhhh!” Cord screeched, banging his head on the counter until his black blood splattered the kitchen. “Get it out! GET IT OUT!”

  “It only takes a moment,” Auriel said without empathy.

  Soon, Cord’s thrashing slowed, then stopped. Carefully, he pulled himself to a standing position. “What did you do to me?”

  “I simply enhanced your explosive personality, my friend.”

  Cord smoothed back his black hair and straightened his suit.

  “Remember, when you terrorize the humans, you must look like a Watcher.” Lucifer lowered his chin. “Milton Blake cannot be associated with the monsters.

  “I understand, My Lord.”

  “Now, my gift to you.”

  Cord cocked his head to the side inquisitively. Lucifer did not give gifts.

  “Auriel, can you inform Cord of your latest news.”

  She nodded. “It seems one of our teachers at Paris High School saw redheaded twins visiting a local flower shop the night Abigail was stolen from us. The two went in but never came out. Seems Paris is a hotbed of Soulkeeper activity.”

  “Redheaded twins. The one they call Bonnie?”

  She laughed. “Oh yes. But be careful. If the shop is the entrance to Eden, your attack must be unexpected and efficient. The Healer is still living there. Remember what she did to you.”

  “I remember.”

  Lucifer nodded. “Leave Malini for me. The others you are welcome to kill.”

  Cord growled and headed for the door. “My pleasure.”

  * * * * *

  “Do you have the weapons packed?” Malini asked Lillian.

  “Ethan and I have been packing all day. We have a duffle bag for each Soulkeeper. Everybody carries their own.” Lillian yanked the elastic from her hair and reformed her ponytail, tighter, smoother. The Horseman showed no emotion over the task. Her eyes weren’t wet with tears, and she didn’t look around the dojo mournfully. But Malini knew she felt it, the aching loss. All of them did.