Tattered Souls (Broken Souls Book 1)

by Richard Hein

  “Listen,” Swim Trunks said in a voice like gargled gravel.

  Band Shirt leaned down onto the pinning foot. Ribs creaked, feeling like I was about to pop like a battered piñata.

  “Listen,” it echoed. “Stop talking.”

  “Listen to what, damn it all?”

  “To me, young Walker.”

  The voice was like bone crunching beneath a thousand sharp teeth. The primal centers of my brain twisted in revulsion, and I shuddered beneath the foot of a demon. I craned my neck, twisting toward the sound. Out of the darkness of the stairwell slid a figure. The bulb above it flickered once and expired in a pitiful pop. There was enough light to see by in the red glow coming from its eyes, though. From its eyes — a disturbing amount of them set in a coffin-shaped angular head. Twitching appendages trailed away like hair, only made of something chitinous. Robes that could have been woven from night wreathed around it, save for silver runes that were picked out in vibrant detail around the hem. My head dropped back amid the gore with a defeated sigh, the anger giving way to terror.

  “It has been many long years, Walker,” it breathed. Cities crumbled at the sound of its voice. It stepped past the unconscious old woman I’d managed to save. “I despaired of ever facing you once again.”

  “Abezethibou. How’s the baby-eating business treating you? I was hopeful when we nuked you into black fuzz thatI’d never have to see your ugly mug again,” I said. I blinked rain out of my eyes as I stared upward. The two subordinate creatures loomed over me, still as statues. They didn’t breathe, didn’t blink. They stared off into the distance, constructed eyes vacant. I guessed my last conversation was a private one.

  “I have walked this world since the memory of your kind began, Walker,” it said, lowering itself by my side. One dark hand reached out and dragged a taloned finger across the cuts on my arm. I writhed as new pain blossomed, but Band Shirt’s weight pressed down like a tanker on my chest. “I will do so again and again. There is no defeat for me, only rest. Only a pause, the lull between the beats of a heart.”

  “Yeah, but the point is you can’t be all that good,” I said, trying to shrug. “If you keep coming back, it means something keeps knocking your ass out of my universe. Ponder that one.”

  The hair of finger-like tendrils atop its angular face waved. A dozen burning eyes watched me with as much hatred as I’d ever faced before. This was Francis levels of animosity. A claw scraped along my side, parting my jacket and shirt like smoke. I felt blood welling again.

  “If you’re expecting me to beg and plead, you tuned to the wrong channel,” I said through clenched teeth. “Kate got away. She’s safe. If you’re keeping score, that means you’ve lost.”

  “Something has been guiding you for ulterior motives,” Abezethibou said. It rose.

  I propped my hands under my head and tried to make like I was reclining comfortably in the cold puddles and gore that I was trying not to think about. “No shit?” I said. “You don’t say.”

  The ruby eyes flared. Pools of water around me began to steam. “Sarcasm is the last defense of the weak, Walker.”

  I gave him the finger. Last defense my ass.

  “You have been led astray,” Abezethibou said as it retreated. Band Shirt animated and stepped off of my chest. The three of them stepped away. I blinked in the rain. That wasn’t at all what I’d expected.

  I pushed to my feet and scrambled back a few steps, placing my back against a heating unit and watching them warily. Blood trickled from my wounds, mingling with the rain. They made no move, simply watching me instead. I swallowed hard, trying to find something to latch onto. I’d never run into a situation like this before. The bad guy should have monologued and then crushed me into an alcohol-soaked paste.

  This was all wrong.

  “Explain,” I said. “You’ve been chasing her for a month or more.”

  Its head twisted to the side. Its chest rose and fell, the black robe billowing as it laughed. The sound ripped at my ears, at my soul, like a choir of teenage boys with cracking voices all trying to ask out a cute girl at the same time.

  “We have done nothing of the sort,” Abezethibou said. It gestured at its minions. “I sent these two to find you and warn you of the coming trap that had been set for you. My own presence among mortals is… unnerving.”

  “Bullshit,” I snapped. “Your two dork-hounds here have been after her since her brother died and found her at my office.”

  “Coincidence,” it said, drawing out the word. “I sent them after you earlier in that day after summoning them forth to this world, Samuel.”

  “You attack us, Walker,” Swim Trunks said in a voice that sounded like it had a trash compactor for vocal chords. It hunkered down into a squat in a way that looked like the world’s ugliest dog and cocked its head to one side. “You fight. You challenge. We were messengers.”

  Abezethibou spread clawed hands. “It is in their nature to attack when threatened. Such are the limits of their kind. You and I, though. Ah, we have a special understanding. I came to speak to you directly, young Walker. I say to you now, we had nothing to do with that young woman, delicious as she is.”

  No. That couldn’t be… I shook my head. My stomach knotted and kicked at my throat, begging for access to empty. I slumped downward with a rather final wet splash.

  “Why?” I croaked. “Why would you warn me?”

  “What happens affects everything,” Abezethibou said as it turned and retreated toward the stairwell. It lifted a clawed hand. Band Shirt and Swim Trunks followed along like obedient dogs. “You’ve been duped, Walker, but you must not fail in your task, or everything is at risk. I can see the possibilities of this reality unfolding like a thousand limbs of a tree, each unique and different, each a choice made or declined.”

  I started. That was news to me. Abezethibou had some sort of future-sight like Michael? No, not quite that exacting, but some sort of way to sense possibilities?

  “I see possibilities, Samuel Walker. Maybes and what might be.” It paused and drew in a rattling breath. “In too many of these you are duped into a course of action that will sear the Earth. My sight doesn’t let me see what causes it or how you bring it about, but many of the branches of the future are withering because of you. Too many to be random chance. You have been misled by powerful forces.”

  Abezethibou paused. “I like the Earth. I enjoy coming here. You can not know the depths of terror and depravity you can only find here. It is… my favorite vacation spot. Do not fail.”

  They left me collapsed in the cold Seattle rain.

  It had to be a lie. Entities lied. Abezethibou had an angle, I just couldn’t see what. Nothing added up, but I couldn’t just take the word of that thing. It went against everything I’d ever believed in. I didn’t have the full picture, but I couldn’t buy into what it was selling, and Abezethibou was certainly no Girl Scout peddling delicious Thin Mints.

  I stared at the unconscious elderly woman, the only resident that had lived. With a wavering groan, I staggered to quaking feet and stumbled across to her. It took a bit, but I pulled her into the darkened recess of the stairwell. It was a hell of a lot warmer in there at least. She was still breathing. At least one would survive. My stomach threatened to upend itself once more, and I had to lean against the wall for a minute to shout it into submission subconsciously. So many people dead. That didn’t speak well to Abezethibou with his minions killing them like that.

  My head came up. Except, why would they go through the trouble of summoning up something to trap us, letting the infection spread, and then cutting them all down like diseased wheat? I rubbed at the stubble on my jaw as I pushed back out onto the roof. Nothing made sense any more, but I had a serious sense of dread that had moved in at the base of my skull and blossomed into a wonderful little headache.

  It just seemed too outlandish. Abezethibou would have needed amazing foresight. He’d have needed to have seen our moves ahead of time to make sure Kate an
d I hadn’t been killed, or—

  I froze.

  Oh, fuck.

  Chapter 15

  I detonated out into the wet night in a panicked run, yanking my phone from my pocket and snapping it open. It still had full signal, but that hadn’t mattered before. My feet beat a mad pace back and forth before the decrepit building as I searched through the contacts and stabbed the call button. It took two times. My hand was trembling as I waited.

  It rang. Whatever had been blocking my calls earlier had vanished. The dread I’d been feeling ramped up to full paranoia. I shouted a few vicious curses, uncaring who might hear me this late at night.

  “Oh, Samuel,” Dieter said as the call connected. “We’d tried to call earlier, but it wouldn’t seem to—”

  “You found something,” I said, unable to keep the edge from my voice. I started walking around the block, unsure where to go. I’d gotten a ride here. How the hell would I get out of here? It would take the twins a good thirty minutes or so to get here. “Please tell me you know something.”

  “Is that Samuel?” I heard Stefan say. “Did he finish the job?”

  “Fuck the job!” I screamed into the phone. “The job was a set up. Everything is wrong here, Dieter. I’ve been had and it had better not have been you. Tell me what you found.”

  Silence. I stormed around the corner and saw a familiar angelic classic car parked in front of a fire hydrant. I sprinted over to it and tested the door. Unlocked. I threw myself in and took a second to familiarize myself with the ancient controls. The keys were even in the ignition. I guessed being an Archangel that could see the future meant you didn’t worry about theft much.

  “Samuel, it’s Stefan. That explains a lot, actually. The dagger is a fraud.”

  The engine roared to life, spluttered and then finally caught as I tried to figure everything out. I wrenched the car out onto the street, phone clutched to my ear as I stomped on the accelerator and headed for the interstate. My skin tingled as everything grew cold, like I’d just plunged into the Sound in winter. For a moment, I was sure my heart stopped. The dots were connecting, and I was certain I knew what Stefan was about to say. “Fraud how?”

  “It’s brand new,” the Entity said. “Bronze, but weathered to look old. I’ve seen cunning fakes in my time. This is the King Fraud on High. Normally with non-magical items that’s all you have to worry about — pieces being made to be passed off for dealers.”

  I whipped the steering wheel and passed a little Toyota on the on-ramp. The driver of the car gave me an encouraging blare of her horn. “It was magic, though.”

  “No more than two months old,” Stefan said. “The spells laid on it are intricate, but fresh as the snow Dieter is always complaining he wants to ski on.”

  “Focus,” I growled, slamming my foot down on the gas. There wasn’t much traffic at least. “Someone went to great lengths to make it seem like an ancient artifact, one that would be used in sacrifices or rituals, then?”

  “More or less, yes.”

  “Right,” I said, everything coming into focus. “Anything else I need to know?”

  “Whatever did it is powerful. The aura it gives off was strong enough to appear legit under basic scrutiny by our usual work. Until carefully picked apart, of course, but they’re so new they evaporated after we unraveled a few threads. It would pass the scrutiny that the OFC could give, though. I don’t think anything a mortal could examine it with would tell the difference.”

  “I owe you guys,” I said. “We’ll be in touch.”

  “Maybe you and Kate could join us for bowling next week?”

  I snapped the phone closed and tossed it on the passenger seat. The roar of the engine mingled with my stormy thoughts for a few angry heartbeats, then I slammed my fist into the wheel and let loose a bellowing scream. The car wobbled in the lane as my fist hammered until I was panting.

  Michael. It had to be. All of this was a set up. My thoughts raced through the last week, trying to get a focus on everything with the newfound information I had. The two demons had shown up, and I’d assumed that they’d been following Kate, just as she had. Except that we’d only had the journal to go off of. It could have been a coincidence. I tried to picture that day again. Kate, looking nervous and attractive, excited and scared all at once. Dark hair and enchanting eyes. The perfect hook to reel me in. How long had Michael searched for the right details that would pull me out of my stupor and send me rushing headlong into the thick of it once more? How quickly I’d slipped back into that role at my office, comfortable with it all like well-worn garments. We’d almost gotten away clean in the distraction I’d staged.

  Until Margaret had mentioned my name. Only then did the demons attack. They’d been looking for me.

  I swore again. I’d made the first move against the demons when they’d shown up at Ben’s. Hell, they had even knocked. Michael had shown up at Ben’s house and been very careful about what he’d said. He apparently couldn’t lie, but that didn’t mean the truth couldn’t be massaged a bit. All of this had been a funnel, leading us to that rooftop, using his perfect future sight to get me to…

  “Ask him to get Kate to the safest place around,” I said. I swerved around a long haul semi without bothering to use any blinkers, pushing the car past ninety. Sweat beaded on my forehead as realization sucker punched me. Had my request given Michael access to Sanctuary? I thought back. I’d asked him to take Kate to Christina, and the old goat hadn’t left the kiddie-pool of a universe since the seventies. Yeah. Yeah, I’d just invited the Right Hand of God into Sanctuary. I’d violated one of the highest laws, asking an Entity into our home. One of the most powerful ones in existence. Any existence.

  To what end, I had no idea, but he’d orchestrated this whole thing. Abezethibou might actually be on the level, and, if so, I’d just royally screwed up.

  My phone rang, the ringtone startling me half into another lane. I snatched it up and flicked it open. It was too late to be worrying about breaking laws. I was already speeding in the torrential rain anyway, so I might as well pepper the danger with a little fatalistic risk as well.

  “Samuel?” Daniel’s voice was frantic. “Where are you? What’s happened?”

  “I’m on my way back to Sanctuary,” I said. “Something bad is about to happen. How quick can you get there?”

  “I’m heading there now,” he said. “God, what’s going on? I got a call from Seneschal Taylor recalling me immediately, but the line went dead.”

  My blood went cold. I couldn’t speak for a moment. “Daniel,” I said. I licked my lips. “This is bad. We’re about to be breached. You need to be ready for anything.” I gave him the overview as best as I understood.

  “Oh my God, Samuel,” he whispered.

  “Yeah.”

  “Do you know what you’ve done?”

  “Oh yeah.”

  “What about Kate?”

  I was silent for a long time. “I don’t know,” I said. My voice sounded weak to my own ears. I hated myself for it. “I’m going in after her, though. I don’t know what I can do to stop this, but I have to try. You and I both, Daniel. It’s time to put on your big boy pants and graduate, okay? Are you with me?”

  “Um.” His breath shook in the phone. “Yes. Of course.”

  “Wait out front for me. I’ll be there shortly.” I hung up.

  Almost immediately my phone buzzed again. Voicemail. My heart swelled with hope as I dialed in. Maybe Kate had found a way to call while flying Air Archangel.

  “Sammy,” Grant said. “Samuel. I wanted to let you know that your services are no longer required. Consider this your notice of termination. You’ve missed too much time, and your review was conducted without your presence. You were found lacking in a wide variety of—”

  I hung up and tossed the phone to the side and let loose with another string of creative expletives, inventing a few on the spot.

  The classic tank of a car hit the off ramp with enough speed that my he
ad brushed the roof. I hammered on the brakes and slid down to the light, swore and ran it. It all made a sick sense. Michael had set me up. He needed a target less concerned about the rules. If I’d still been shackled to the OFC, I’d have never even considered trying to get the Archangel to drag Kate back to Sanctuary. I’d have done everything a bit more by the book. Three years and a wide gulf of soul-burning agony had broken a lot within me. I’d been a perfect target. Hell, him working with me on a case all those years ago had likely been picking me out, guiding me toward the moment when I’d be vulnerable. Willing to do anything to keep Kate from suffering a similar fate to Lauren’s. Even the lack of police inquiry into my mangled wreck of a car could probably be tied back to him somehow. Jessica MacIntyre’s face floated to mind, the horrified expression as she’d seen us driving away in this very car. I’d expected it had been from witnessing some of the fight, but what if she’d recognized Michael as the stranger lingering around Ben’s house?

  I’d failed. I’d been desperate to save Kate from the horrors that the darkness beyond our universe could inflict, and handed her to another one. I’d forgotten the lesson that Lauren’s death had taught me.

  You couldn’t trust anything from beyond our reality.

  The car squealed into the parking lot of the OFC. It was packed. Everyone had been recalled earlier in the morning as the seriousness of Kate’s situation had been revealed. My heart fell. Wheels within wheels, and another part of Michael’s plan. He’d wanted everyone there, the full might of Sanctuary waiting for him when he arrived, and there had been a lack of supernatural activity of late to ensure the gang was in town. Why? I stuffed my phone into my pocket and wove through the cars. My hands were trembling. Everything felt numb and dreamlike. I couldn’t move fast enough. A dark form slipped between two vehicles, calling my name. I ignored it. Nothing mattered. I had to get inside. I had to get to Kate, to find some way to stop Michael.