Soul Thief (Blue Light Series)

by Mark Edward Hall

  How do you know about the baby, mama?

  I’ve always known the child would come. And I’ve dreaded it. But I’ve always loved you, Annie. Even when you thought I didn’t. It’s just that I could never . . . comfort you.” The voice broke. “But I did love you, little one. More than you will ever know.

  Did daddy do something to me—?

  No! He did not harm you.

  Then why do I feel this way?

  It’s because he’s desperate.

  Did he kill you, mama?

  I know that’s what you think, child, but it’s not true. You’re father would never have hurt me.

  It’s what Doug thought.

  He was wrong.

  Who then?

  Not who. What! Something evil. Something from hell! Your father’s been trying to run away from it his whole life. And he’s still running. But he can never escape it.

  Because it’s here, isn’t it, mama? It always has been.

  I don’t understand it, child. It’s something your father brought with him into our marriage. It’s something that’s been with him since the beginning.

  It lives inside him, doesn’t it?

  In a way, yes.

  It lives inside me too, doesn’t it, mama?

  Silence.

  Tell me!

  It’s more complicated than that, darling.

  I need to know.

  I told you I don’t know any particulars. There is something, though. There’s an old house on the property.

  Yes, I know the place, the old stone house with the boarded up windows out on the back property by the woods. There are thousands of tiny bones in the mortar holding the stones in place.

  How do you know that?

  I used to go there when you and daddy weren’t watching me. And I would stand close and try to count the bones. It’s where I felt him the strongest. And it’s where I heard the children crying. Why, mama?

  Years ago there was a massive bird die off. Millions of birds fell from the sky. No one knows why. His followers gathered them up and used their bones in the mortar. Somehow those bones protect him. It is where he stores the souls he steals. Somehow the bones are important.

  But why do I hear children?

  He needs their souls.

  He steals children? Oh, God, he wants my baby, doesn’t he?

  It’s not for what you think, Annie. Your baby will be special. He has waited all these years for it to come. But it’s not him who wants your child, it’s your father. It is why you must run and why you must hide.

  Doug knew, didn’t he, mama?

  The Collector needed the right father, Annie. Douglas was chosen just like you were chosen. Both before you were born. The baby needed to be part you, and part Douglas.

  Why didn’t Doug tell me?

  He didn’t know.

  He knew daddy wanted the baby.

  He was just trying to protect you.

  I’m so tired of people trying to protect me.

  Your father threatened Doug’s life.

  That’s why he was so afraid.

  He was afraid for you, Annie.

  But that would mean me marrying Doug was something more than chance, and I’m not willing to accept that.

  He didn’t count on you loving Doug so much, child. Your father doesn’t really understand love because love is something he’s incapable of.

  I’m just dreaming this, mama. You’re not real. None of this is real. I was dreaming about Doug too and he’s not real either. Doug’s dead. I feel so terrible. I loved him so much. But I betrayed him.

  Doug’s not dead, Annie!

  Annie gasped and began to come awake.

  Oh, please, mama, don’t toy with me.

  You must leave this place at once. Go out and find him. He’s waiting for you.

  But he died in a plane crash—

  No, Annie. That’s what they want you to believe.

  Oh God, mama. If this is some sort of trick—

  Get up, child.

  I don’t want to. I want to dream about Doug some more.

  Get up out of bed and go into the hallway, Annie. There’s something there that you need to see. Go now before it’s too late.

  Why should I?

  Because you’ve been lied to and you need to see the truth.

  Annie felt the pressure on her lessen as she was slowly but surely being dragged up out of that deep, dark lake, like a fish attached to a very long line.

  Get away from this place, Annie. It’s not safe here. And whatever you do, DON’T EVER COME BACK. AND DON’T LET ANYONE HAVE THE BABY!

  Suddenly Annie was awake and sitting bolt upright in bed, her ears literally ringing from her mother’s shouting voice. The terror inside her was pure, as only terror can be. Oily sweat slicked her body as tears coursed down her cheeks. She put her hands on the soft swell of her abdomen feeling the vital child within.

  He’s made a bargain with the devil. He wants what’s inside you.

  Annie breathed a sigh of relief even as panic tried to capture her. But it was okay. The baby was still safe inside her, its heartbeat strong and comforting.

  Such a terrible dream.

  Annie looked toward the window. Although it was mostly dark outside, she could see that the light of dawn had begun gathering in the east.

  A sudden and massive explosion rocked the world. A blinding flash lit the sky. Annie pushed the covers aside and placed her feet down onto the floor, stood up, slipped her robe around her and went to the window. The echoes of the explosion were now diminishing and Annie was unable to pinpoint its location, nevertheless she knew something significant had happened.

  A noise somewhere in the house put her on guard. She could not identify it or pinpoint its position, but it spurred her into action. She went to the door, opened it and stepped out into the hallway. Her mother hung on a wire suspended from a ceiling light fixture, a human-sized fishhook piercing her trunk. Her eyes were glazed with shock and her bloody tongue hung crookedly from her mouth. Blood ran from her wounds and dripped from her nightgown, pooling on the carpet beneath her. Annie backed away in horror, knowing immediately that this was the real truth of her mother’s demise. Rachael had wanted her to know everything, including the deceit she’d had to endure. Annie closed her eyes and reopened them again. The image had vanished. The hallway was empty. What she’d seen hadn’t been real. Not in the literal sense. Nevertheless she now knew that it was the truth: the Collector had murdered her mother. He’d done it as a warning to her father because daddy had somehow betrayed him. Annie fell back against the door sobbing, vowing that she would defeat the monster if it was with her last breath.

  I did it for you and your child, love, The Collector said inside her head. It was the only way to make your father keep his bargain. My sanctuary has been destroyed. Now I must leave this place. I will never bother you again.

  From somewhere down the hallway, near the top of the stairs, a confusing mix of ruby-colored light-beams stabbed back and forth in the darkness. Annie recognized them as the laser sight pointers that belonged on weapons.

  Hurry, Annie, you have to get out of the house now. It was her mother’s urgent voice. The shock of realization struck Annie like ice water. She backed into her bedroom, closed and locked the door. Running for the closet she pulled out a shirt and a pair of jeans, dressing hastily, never taking her eyes off the door. Socks and sneakers were next, lacing quickly and going to the chest of drawers where she extracted and pocketed a substantial sum of cash. She put her hand on Doug’s nine millimeter, wondering if she should take it. Raised and angry voices from somewhere within the house followed by a series of muffled pops that could only be silenced gunshots made her decide. She grabbed the gun and tucked it in the waistband of her jeans.

  Not wishing to know the details of events transpiring mere feet from where she stood, Annie opened the window and stepped out onto the ledge, inching along, her back pressed against the building’s cold stone.


  The thought struck her that if she fell she would most probably kill her unborn child. But she would not fall. She was familiar with this particular drill. Being a sneaky little bitch was the only way she’d attained any freedom as a child. And just as she’d done back in those days, she deftly dropped from the ledge to the porch roof, and from there she eased herself down to the ground, trying to ignore the fact that there were cameras everywhere, not to mention dogs, and that it would only be a matter of moments before somebody realized what she was up to.

  Something had gone terribly wrong inside the mansion, she was sure of it. And as she moved stealthily across the estate’s lawn her thoughts ran a gamut. Perhaps assassins were attempting to kill her father. Perhaps it was she that they wanted, or the child she carried inside her. No matter. Annie knew that she could not waver in her resolve to put distance between her and her father. She knew things about the man now that she’d never known before. There was something supernatural—perhaps even inhuman—about him. How was he even alive? He was born hundreds of years ago. How was that possible? And what did it make her? What implications did it have for her unborn child?

  In the distance, somewhere out behind the mansion, the sky was lit by a massive fire.

  Movement up ahead made her hesitate, then stop. Squinting through the pre-dawn half-light she caught sight of a figure. A few more tentative steps forward and she identified the interloper.

  “Where do you think you’re going?” Greta said.

  “Wherever the hell I please.”

  “No way. You need to come with me.”

  “I’m not going anywhere with you.”

  “You need to get to a safe location.”

  “That’s exactly what I’m doing.”

  “I’m only concerned with the baby,” Greta said.

  “You’ll never touch this child,” Annie said. “Now get the hell out of my way before I run you over.” Annie tried to go around the woman, but Greta leapt at her like a cat. Her arm came up and Annie saw the glint of a hypodermic needle. Annie easily sidestepped the woman. Greta tore past her, lost her balance, staggered and went down. She clawed her way to her feet and began moving slowing toward Annie, stalking her like a predator, the needle fisted like a weapon.

  “You’ve caused me nothing but trouble, you little bitch,” Greta growled. “I’m done with it. I’m done with you.”

  Annie laughed in the woman’s face. “How come they sent you?”

  “No one sent me. I know your every move. My job is to keep you in line.”

  Annie laughed. “Good luck with that,” she said. “By the way, what happened at the house?”

  From somewhere not far away Annie heard shouted voices, and in the distance, the sound of sirens. Dawn was breaking over the estate and a dark cast settled over Greta’s face like a stain. “Your father’s been arrested. But they won’t hold him long. They don’t realize who he is.”

  “Don’t you think I know who he is?” Annie said. “He’s a monster.”

  “It doesn’t matter what you think,” Greta said. “You’re coming with me.”

  Again Greta leapt at Annie, but this time Annie was ready for her. She pulled the nine millimeter from her waistband, pointed it at the woman and said, “Stop!”

  But Greta did not stop. Again Annie stepped to the side, this time deflecting Greta with a crack on the head from the handgun. Greta didn’t seem to notice. She spun around and with a growl came back at Annie. A small pop stopped Greta in her tracks. Greta dropped the syringe and staggered back, a look of utter amazement on her face. She put her hands to her abdomen and brought them to her face, gazing at the blood on them.

  A tall, bent figure stepped from the shadows holding a silenced handgun. It only took a second for Annie to recognize him as Joe Remy, the dog handler.

  Greta stared at the man in astonishment then fell down in the grass. “Oh, you stupid asshole,” she said. “You don’t realize what you’ve done. He’ll destroy you.”

  “Shut the hell up, you bag of shit,” Remy said. He turned to an astonished Annie. “Don’t you have somewhere to go?”

  Annie hesitated. “What happened out back?”

  “Something that should have happened a long time ago. That evil place is finished.”

  “Where are the dogs?”

  “Locked up for now. Go,” Remy said. “The bitch is right. The feds won’t hold your father long. They know your husband’s alive, and so does he. And they know where he is. They’ll fall all over each other trying to get to him. You need to find him first.”

  “How do you know all this?”

  “I’ve got ears.”

  “Where is he then?” Annie said.

  He motioned toward the injured woman on the ground. “I don’t know. Ask her.”

  Annie went to where Greta lay moaning in the grass, kicked the needle out of the way and grabbed her by the hair, snapped her head back so that she could look her directly in the eye. “Where is he, you bitch?”

  Greta smiled around a mouthful of bloody teeth. You’ll never reach him before they do,” she said and died.

  “Are you the one who sicced the cops on my father?” Annie asked Remy.

  Remy frowned. “I’ve done things you wouldn’t believe, things that turned my stomach cold and made me question my own sanity. I can’t do it anymore.”

  “I need to know where Doug is.”

  “I can’t help you. I hope you find him before they do.” Remy turned and made his way back toward the house.

  Without further thought Annie sprinted off in the direction of the beach.

  Two hundred yards down she came to the sea wall that marked the end of her father’s property. She went over the wall and slipped into the tepid water, swimming across the intercoastal with strong overhand strokes. When she reached the opposite bank she did not take time to rest, but moved onward into the pine forest knowing it would not take them long to track her.

  When she felt she was well out of harm’s way, she stopped and disassembled the side arm, dried it out and put it back together, just like Doug had taught her to do, all the while thinking of Doug, her heart soaring at the prospect of him being alive, her heart sick with the reality that they knew where he was and she didn’t.

  She waited for the sun to come up, to warm her body and dry her clothes, the loaded gun at her side. She would not hesitate to use it if she had to. When the sun was fully up she rose and walked on out of the woods with her head high and her spirits soaring. She was through being a victim, done being afraid. She was a strong woman with so much to live for. It was time for action. She hitched a ride to the nearest shopping mall where she bought a disposable phone and placed a call.

  When the answering service picked up, she said, “Rick, Doug's alive. I'm on the run and I need your help.”

  Chapter 64

  Once Jennings had cleared security at Tampa International he checked his phone inbox and found the message from Annie. He called her right back, got her location and told her to stay put. After renting a car he sped north.

  Twelve hours before Annie called him, Jennings learned that the feds had finally obtained a warrant to search the De Roché estate. It seemed that they’d received information from an anonymous source that the body of a murdered prostitute was buried somewhere on the property. It didn’t matter that the source was anonymous, or that the claim might be fraudulent, it was enough to obtain a warrant and Spencer was all over it. Jennings needed a way to warn Annie. She had to get out of there before the feds showed up.

  Much to Jennings’s amusement, most of the major television news outlets had also received the same anonymous information, and of course the sensationalists were running with the story. The airways and the internet were filled with speculation about the mysterious financial billionaire who might or might not be running for president and the scandal that seemed to be breaking around him. Jennings wondered what De Roché’s chances were now of becoming president. He knew that perception was eve
rything and that you didn’t actually need to be guilty of a crime to be convicted in the hearts and minds of the public. In this twenty-four hour news cycle, accusation was as good as conviction.

  Jennings had immediately booked a flight for Tampa. He needed to get to Annie before Spencer did, so he was elated when she called him. A little over an hour later, he was hugging a very pregnant Annie.

  She briefly explained her escape from her father’s house.

  “So you’re saying that this guy Joe Remy killed Greta, your father’s assistant?”

  “That’s right.”

  “Let me get this straight,” Jennings said. “You think Remy is the one who sicced the feds on your father?”

  “I don’t know. Maybe. He told me he’d had enough of the craziness. And he said that they knew where Doug was. He was very specific that both the feds and my father knew where he was and that they’d be tripping over each other trying to get to him.”

  “I don’t like the sound of that,” Jennings said.

  “Do you know where he is?” Annie asked, her eyes hopeful.

  “Get in the car, Annie. We need to move.”

  Annie got in, and as Jennings drove she stared at him. Finally she said, “You didn’t answer my question.”

  Jennings exhaled a long, windy sigh. “I have some information but I don’t know how reliable it is. The feds believe he’s being helped by rogue members of some mysterious religious organization.”

  Annie grunted out a short laugh. “A religious organization? Doug’s not connected to a religious organization. He doesn’t even go to church.”

  “True, but it has come to light that this organization, the Brotherhood of the Order, has been keeping an eye on Doug since he was a child.”

  “What? Why?” Annie asked.

  “You mean you honestly don’t know?”

  “No, Rick, I don’t.”

  “Ten years of marriage and Doug never confided in you?”

  Jennings was driving north, heading away from the Tampa Bay area using back roads and keeping to the speed limit.