The Sixth Ghost: a supernatural urban fantasy action adventure (Cards of Death book 6)

by Tamara Geraeds

  Charlie creates two gel balls, and Gisella turns her hands into blades. Maël raises her staff while Taylar picks up the shield he put on the floor. Kessley multiplies several times, each copy holding a mace out threateningly.

  The wall has slid almost completely open now, showing us a shimmering portal to a dark world.

  We all prepare for an attack. What hits us instead, when I send my lightning bolt closer, is shock and relief.

  “Jeep?” we call out as one.

  * * *

  Dante Banner returns in The Seventh Crow – Will he be able to take Jeep home safely or is he too late to help his friend?

  An unexpected enemy blocks his way to the next soul, and this one cannot be taken out easily… Will Dante and his friends find a way around this enemy in time, or will they lose another soul to the Devil?

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  Cards of Death book 7

  The Seventh Crow

  CHAPTER 1

  A couple of weeks ago I would’ve considered what I’m seeing now impossible.

  I’m in a secret room, looking into another secret room with a portal in it. That’s weird enough to begin with, but it gets crazier. I’m surrounded by several ghosts, who are all part of my Shield, which means they protect me, because I’m the chosen one, the only one capable of keeping the Devil in Hell. Every time I think about this, I question my sanity. Maybe I fell asleep and got caught up in a really long, crazy dream? Did I get into an accident and end up in a coma? That could explain the weird turn my life suddenly took. I mean, an angel as a friend? Two friends who turned out to work for the Devil himself? Making love to a ghost? Traveling to other worlds, meeting the ferryman of the Underworld, Saint Peter and the Four Horsemen? All in my head, right? I made all of this up in my dream, to escape from Mom’s horrible fits, Dad’s disappearance and… a car accident? The weird things started happening after we all drove home from school in Quinn’s car, so why not?

  Sure, Mom’s fits were also weird. And weird is an understatement here. At least once a week she acted like she was possessed by a demon. Of course, demons don’t exist, so we searched for some other cause. Brain damage? Severe epilepsy with something else on the side? It was none of that.

  My mind short-circuited and came up with this explanation. The world is filled with magical beings. Humans with powers, monsters of all kinds, demons, and to make the horror complete: Lucifer. Maybe Mom’s lunacy was hereditary. That makes much more sense.

  I shake my head to get rid of the images from the past that roll by before my eyes. I see Jeep, the necromancer of my Shield. He’s trapped behind the portal in the secret room. Can a dream feel so real? Can you love the people you meet there? Because my heart breaks at the sight of Jeep suffering like this. Just after he died, his wife was attacked by a bunch of ghosts. He was able to fight them off and save his wife, but the only way to beat the ghosts was to trap them in his tattoos. He’s been fighting to keep them there ever since, and now they’re escaping. Being trapped in the empty world behind this portal must have consumed the last of his energy.

  The tattooed ghost doesn’t look up when we call out his name. He doesn’t even seem to hear us, although that’s hard to tell with only a faint, small light shining down on him in an otherwise completely dark world.

  Vicky is the first to break the stunned silence. She dives forward before I can stop her. Then, with her nose inches from the portal, she comes to an abrupt halt. “No! Jeep!”

  The ghost is on his knees with gritted teeth and closed eyes. He trembles violently. Stretched-out bodies rise from his tattoos. Bony, transparent hands push bodies from the pictures that have been their prison for so long.

  “Do something!” Taylar yells behind me.

  My foot moves forward on its own. It bumps against an invisible wall. My heart stops beating when I hold out my hands to find the same obstacle.

  “No…” I breathe. Why is this happening? We finally found Jeep. The thing we’ve been fearing for a while has come true, and there’s nothing we can do about it. There’s no way of reaching him.

  I put my arm around Vicky and pull her close. All we can do now is watch in horror as our friend gets surrounded by the evil souls he trapped under his skin. Souls that have been yearning for revenge for decades.

  Vicky’s hand clutches mine as we watch helplessly, an invisible wall between us and our friend.

  I close my eyes and will myself to wake up. Enough of this. I want my life back. I’m going to wake up now, in a hospital bed. I will find Mom sitting next to my bed, with an exhausted, but relieved look on her face.

  “Dante?” Vicky’s voice makes me open my eyes.

  I realize I’m swaying on my feet.

  “Stay with us, Dante. We need you. We need to figure out a way to get to Jeep, and help him.”

  She sounds desperate. There’s a mixture of emotions in her eyes I can’t fully read.

  Mom’s voice comes to me from the corner of my mind. A Christmas memory. Me and Mom sitting at the dining table. Me with my sketchbook, Mom with her sewing machine. Winter Wonderland playing in the background. Mom is staring at me and I put down my pencil. ‘What is it?’

  She smiles. Pride and love shine through her eyes. ‘You are so talented.’

  I look down at my drawing. It’s a portrait of a snow owl, surrounded by trees covered in white bliss. I shrug. ‘It’s okay.’

  ‘It’s more than okay, Dante. Can’t you see that?’

  ‘Not really.’

  ‘You should apply for art school. If you want to make a living with this.’

  It’s probably the tenth time she brings this up. ‘I don’t know. I’m not that good.’

  ‘Yes, you are.’

  ‘I’m good at one thing, Mom. Drawing animals. Nature.’

  She stands up and walks around the table. With her arms wrapped around my neck she studies my work again. ‘You could draw something else. Practice with other materials, see what else suits you.’

  ‘That’s just it, Mom. I’m not really interested in anything else.’

  She lets out a sigh. ‘Try a fictional animal then, to start with. Do it for me.’

  Of course I agreed to try it, but it didn’t work out. Not enough imagination, like Dad would say.

  With a jerk I jump back to the present. Not enough imagination. Dad wasn’t only talking about when I am awake. Even my dreams are much more realistic than those of other people. Even in my sleep I lack imagination. Which means I could never come up with all these powers and this whole crazy plot about the Devil wanting to escape the nine circles of Hell by myself. Which means… this is all very real.

  I blink and see Jeep hunched
over on the floor, alone and unable to defend himself against the angry souls that pull themselves from his tattoos.

  “This isn’t right,” I say, and I take a step back, pulling Vicky along. I turn my head to face my other friends. Charlie, Gisella, Taylar, Maël and several Kessleys. That last ghost is certainly something I could never have imagined myself. Someone with the ability to shapeshift and multiply? No way. “Everyone, hit the barrier with everything you’ve got, in three… two… one…”

  It rains lightning, gel balls and weapons around me. But they all bounce off against the invisible wall. Gisella slashes away with her blade hands, but although sparks fly everywhere, they don’t penetrate the barrier.

  “Again!” I yell.

  We hit it even harder, Maël with her staff and Vicky with powerful kicks.

  Nothing.

  We seize our attempts, panting hard.

  “Vicky, try going invisible,” I say.

  She vanishes instantly and the wall lights up.

  “Yes!” I cry out. But my excitement is premature. Vicky appears again, on our side of the portal.

  We have some success though. Jeep looks up from his place on the floor. The souls still swirl around him, most of them attached to a tattoo with only a small sliver now.

  “Jeep!” Vicky and I call out at the same time.

  I move closer to the portal. “Can you hear us?”

  “Guys?” Jeep’s voice is hoarse.

  “Yes, it’s us!” Vicky shouts.

  “We can’t break through,” I explain, although I’m not sure he can hear us. “Try to damage the wall from your side.”

  A glint of hope flickers in Jeep’s eyes. He swats the souls away that try to wrap around his face. Two other ones grab his wrists, but his newfound hope makes him stronger. He pulls his arms free and reaches for his bowler hat, which is lying two feet away.

  “Hit the wall once more with everything you’ve got when Jeep’s hat connects with it,” I order the others.

  They all prepare, their faces contracted in concentration.

  Jeep’s hand is an inch from the rim of his hat when one of the souls finally manages to pull free. The tail of the dark wisp frees itself from the tattooed skull and shoots up high into the emptiness of the world Jeep is in.

  “Watch out!” I yell as it drops back down.

  But Jeep is too late to avoid it, because the other souls hold him down. The sliver of black mist slams into him and he screams in pain.

  I pound my fists against the wall. “No! Leave him alone!”

  Vicky joins me. “Keep fighting, Jeep!” Tears stream down her cheeks while she moves her fists forward with all her might.

  But Jeep stays down. One by one the souls pull free from his tattoos and slam down on him like bricks. They wrap around his wrists and ankles and pull.

  Jeep moans and screams.

  “Make yourself invisible!” I tell him.

  He flickers like a bulb that’s about to die. It’s no use, the souls keep him in a death grip. They will literally tear him apart and we can only watch as they do it.

  Vicky stops pounding and rests her forehead against the invisible wall. “If you can hear me, Jeep, I want to tell you something.” Her voice is fragile and full of sorrow. “You mean the world to me. You watched out for me from the moment I was added to the Shield. You supported me, taught me how to fight and had faith in me. You never failed me.”

  Jeep stops struggling and looks up at her. He wants to answer, but as soon as he opens his mouth a dark sliver covers it.

  “I want to thank you for the great time we had together, Jeep,” Vicky continues. “I never thought it would end like this, and I’ll miss you terribly.” She wipes her nose and looks Jeep in the eye. “I love you, Jeep.”

  For a second Jeep’s mouth is uncovered and his lips form into a sad smile. “I love you too.”

  The ground rumbles and a thin golden line trickles from Jeep’s forehead. Vicky grabs her head as the same happens to her. Slowly the two lines stretch toward each other. Vicky’s travels through the wall unharmed. The moment the two lines touch, the rumbling gets louder. I jump back as invisible bricks hit me in the chest.

  Vicky reaches forward and steps over the shattered wall and into the empty world. I follow her, afraid of the wall mending itself. The ground still shakes and the souls loosen their grip on Jeep. Vicky has reached him and pulls him up with both hands.

  I bend over to pick up his hat before hitting the fleeing souls with lightning.

  Balls of gel zoom past my head. Something tugs at my leg, but I kick it with my other foot and it lets go.

  Four Kessleys take their place behind us and fight off the souls that are trying to reach Jeep again.

  One by one Vicky and I pull the rest of the slivers away from him. Mouths appear at the end of one and snap at me. Others have blinking eyes and I even see an arm.

  “They are transforming back into their human forms,” Maël says, smacking a half-formed head with her staff.

  “What happens after that?” I ask, throwing Jeep’s arm over my neck.

  “I do not know.”

  “I’d rather not find out,” Gisella says, while she cuts souls in half with her blades.

  Taylar holds his shield up above Jeep’s head as two souls dive down. “Can we lock them back inside this room?”

  Maël and I answer at the same time. “I hope so.”

  Slowly but surely we get closer to the portal. I try to ignore the feeling of oxygen getting sucked out of my lungs with every step I take. There’s something off about the air in here. It’s unnaturally dry.

  The Kessleys, Taylar, Charlie, Vicky and Gisella try to block the souls’ way back to Jeep.

  Maël moves faster than me, unaware of the lack of oxygen flowing to my brain.

  “Hurry, Dante,” she says, and I urge my feet to keep going. But the longer I am in here, the foggier my mind becomes. All strength floods from my limbs and suddenly I’m on the ground. In the corner of my eye I see Jeep tumbling to the ground as Maël loses her grip.

  I gesture at her to pick him up. “You go… on. I’ll… follow.”

  “No!” Jeep’s voice is suddenly strong. He lifts his head and meets my eye. “You… safe…”

  Maël hauls him back to his feet and he leans on her heavily. “I’ll take him out and come back for you.”

  I nod and rest my head on the ground for a moment.

  “Babe!” I feel Vicky’s cold touch on my cheek. “Don’t give up. It’s only three more steps.”

  “I can’t,” I whisper without moving. All energy has left my body, as has the will to even try to get up.

  “Vicky! Hurry up!” I hear Charlie yelling.

  Then Taylar’s answer, “We’ll never be able to trap them in here. Can you use the shadows, Gisella?”

  Someone tugs at my arm. “Come on!”

  My eyes have closed and no matter how hard I try, my eyelids refuse to open.

  Then something wraps around my ankles and drags me along. Hurried footsteps follow me.

  I force my eyes open and see shadows hovering in the air, diving left and right whenever a soul tries to pass. Fresh air flows back into my lungs and I push myself into a sitting position.

  Vicky is still on the other side of the portal, with Taylar and Gisella. When I turn my head, I find Charlie next to me on the ground, gasping for air.

  I pat him gently on the back. “Take it easy. You’re okay.”

  He takes another gulp of air and wipes the sweat from his forehead. “I couldn’t… breathe… you know.”

  Maël helps us both up. “It was the climate in that world. Hardly any oxygen in the air.”

  I point at Gisella, who’s directing the shadows with some simple hand movements. “Why isn’t she gasping for air?”

  Charlie frowns. “Good question.”

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  Sneak Peek

  Soul Jumper

  House of Decay

  Welcome to Vex Monster Tours.

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  “Hi there, and welcome to Vex Monster Tours. If you’re looking for an adrenaline-filled adventure, you’ve come to the right place. My name is Vex and…

  You’re laughing, aren’t you? I don’t blame you. I would too if I were you. But it’s not my fault that I’m called Vex. My parents had a great sense of humor, or so they thought. They were both Soul Jumpers, of course, like me, and thought it was ironically funny to name me Vex, since they trained me to be a nuisance to any kind of monster.

  Anyway, in case you don’t know what a Soul Jumper is, I’ll explain it to you briefly.

  A Soul Jumper is a human with special powers, born and trained to kill monsters. We are stronger and faster than regular humans and have more endurance and agility and some other extras. When we touch the last victim a creature killed, a connection is made with the next target of that monster. When that target is attacked and about to lose the battle with the monster, our soul jumps into the target’s body. From that moment on, our natural strengths are doubled, as are our senses. This gives us the power to defeat the monster before it kills another person. While we’re inside the victim’s body, they have no control over their moves but can still feel everything and talk to us. If they die, we jump back into our own body, which is protected by a flock of birds. Hawks, in my case. We have special Soul Jumper battle outfits, like I’m wearing now, connected to our souls to make them jump with us. They have some neat gadgets as extra back-up.