The Soul Trapper

by Ana Calin

  Our arms wrap around each other, our embrace tight like that of two people frantic to keep together, terrified they might be separated again. We touch each other to make sure the other isn’t hurt, and I must say the hard feel of his body under his shirt elates me. It gives me the feeling that he’s not only whole and healthy, but also indestructible. I couldn’t take knowing him in mortal danger again, it would surely kill me.

  I cup his face and look up into his pitch black eyes, revelling in the awareness that we’re together again, and promising him and myself that I’ll never leave his side again.

  “I love you, Kieran, I love you so much!” I stand on my tiptoes, kissing his cheeks and his forehead that he happily offers, bending down to me.

  “And I adore you, Saphira.”

  We kiss deeply and desperately, our souls merging with each other, forgetting time, place and the group of serpent-men hovering around us, watching. Joyous clears his throat and touches Kieran’s shoulder.

  “There are a few more matters you might want to deal with right away. Like Saphira’s mother, for example, she’s desperate to see her daughter.”

  “Take her to a room in the west wing. Saphira will come to see her after she’s rested.” He looks at me again, a delicate smile on his face. “It might take until tomorrow.”

  For a moment there I ask myself if all the horror I’ve been through is the price for the out-of-this-world love that I’ve been blessed to live out. It’s so unique, intense like the strongest drug, and so much more powerful than anything I’ve ever felt, even for Jeremy. Jeremy....

  “Isn’t that measure a bit too drastic?” I ask Kieran a while later, after immediate matters have been attended to, and the door to our chamber closes behind us. “Locking Jeremy in the lunatic asylum, I mean. In the end, he was under Basarab’s possession while he did everything he did, even as he first cheated on me.”

  “Precisely because of that,” Kieran says, removing his shirt and revealing the marble perfection of his elegant muscles. “Basarab’s possession left him seriously damaged, plus that—” He approaches and wraps his arms around my exhausted body. “He did serve the Elite, Saphira, remember? Those pigs that run half the country paid Jeremy Simmons to keep them warm in Northville and in his side of London, and he obliged without scruples.”

  The Elite . . .

  “What will happen to them?” I whisper.

  “They will pay dearly for what they’ve done, but that’s no longer our concern. I want to dedicate my life to making you happy, Saphira. No more revenge, no more bitterness, no more war.”

  Kieran bends his head and kisses me under the light of full moon that hazes between the vaporous curtains. I close my eyes and relish the silky, warm feel of his lips, excited like the first time my crush kissed me, and yet feeling so at home. The most wonderful sensation, the perfect interlacing between the highs of infatuation and the depths of true love. I nestle my head at his chest, listening to his heartbeat. Maybe we still have a chance of putting all this behind us, a chance at complete happiness, even after so much evil. Maybe this love does have the power to dispel the shadow of everything that happened.

  “Take me away from all this death, Kieran.”

  CHAPTER XXIV

  HAPPILY EVER AFTER

  It’s true what they say about London. It’s rainy, gloomy, but full of charm, and I feel like a maiden who’s eloped with the prince of her dreams to his magic land. My heart slowly cleanses itself of all the hurt and trauma from Northville, and I actually feel this love can put my soul back together.

  Kieran and I spent the first couple of weeks alone in a beautiful townhouse. In the morning we’d watch the fabled London rain together, me wearing his shirt and holding a steaming cup of tea by the window, surrounded by his strong marble arms. On each one of these mornings my heart swelled with heavenly pleasure and joy. We visited old cathedrals and museums, we went out to concerts and restaurants on fairy-tale dates, and I can swear all I feel is bliss. Until I think of my mother.

  It’s a good thing she stayed back in Northville. A good thing for me. It’s not like she didn’t want to come and be part of our lives, but the idea made me cringe with every one of her pleas. Kieran offered to pay for her to enjoy a comfortable life wherever she pleased to lead it, but since staying with us wasn’t an option because I refused, she decided to stay in Northville, where she could contemplate her past and her wounds.

  Northville. The place can never go back to normal life. The town people know too much. They agreed to help keep the serpents’ secret, and now the town has become a fortress, a keep for the serpents’ world-changing mysteries.

  Lauren remained in the dungeons deep under the manor in the end, while Zed, Joyous and Jeanie stayed behind to oversee Northville’s fortification, and only joined us again today—on my first exhibition.

  We’re at one of the most renowned art galleries in London, now filled with my paintings. The gallery is full to outburst with visitors, but I have a feeling that has more to do with the power and money of the Marquis de Vandenesse than with my work. People are more curious about me as the Marquis’s future wife than as a painter, though a few gentlemen do show interest in a few items that they also decide to buy. Whether for the sake of the art or for the Marquis’s favour, I’ll never know for sure. But what I enjoy most about tonight is watching the young and handsome Kieran Slate as the Marquis de Vandenesse outshine all other men, and realizing that all his hypnotic black eyes ever seek is me.

  “It must be a true blessing, being worshipped like that.”

  I recognize that voice even before I spin around and open my arms.

  “Vivienne!” I make a move to hug her, but the golden lace dress I’m wearing screams at the brusque move. It threatens to tear, though it cost a small fortune. Vivienne giggles when I fail to wrap my arms around her, giving her an apologetic smile.

  “You’re the most envied woman in the room, Saphira Lothar, soon-to-be Saphira de Vandenesse.” She looks me up and down, her intelligent brown eyes as kind as her words and voice. “Beautiful, talented, and loved beyond measure.”

  “I have a hard time fighting my vanity right now, I must admit.” I squeeze her hand, hoping the gesture expresses as much as a hug would. I keep my voice down, though I want to call out how happy I am to see her here. “So wonderful that you came.”

  “I won’t stay long.”

  “What do you mean you won’t stay long? Don’t tell me you want to return to Northville.”

  “Not in a million years.” She drops her gaze, but I keep mine steady on her. She’s lost nothing of her inherent refinement and style.

  Vivienne Grant is a highly educated young woman, she speaks five languages fluently, she’s been to the finest schools, and majored in Philosophy. She’s a pure blood intellectual. Her cleverness is obvious in her eyes, which intimidated men all her life—the very reason she was always single, I think, and still a virgin. After everything she’s been through she’s lost a bit too much weight, and the black pencil dress doesn’t do much to hide the willowy lines of her body—something that makes her look like a model. She’s not too tall, not too short, and she moves with the gracefulness of a ballerina. The natural porcelain smoothness of her face adds a touch of innocence to the nobility of her features, and so does her natural brown hair that’s now restrained in a sleek elegant chignon.

  “But where will you go?” I whisper. “And . . . why?”

  She lifts her eyes and looks to the other side of the room. I follow her gaze and see Zed in the Marquis’s entourage. Though the pain that last distorted his edgy, stony features is now well hidden behind the “Stone-mask”, there’s a bitterness and sullenness about him that scream it out. I remember Joyous’s explanation about what killed Yvette, and I grab Vivienne’s wrist.

  “Viva, it wasn’t your fault.”

  She yanks her hand away and looks around as if to remind me we are being watched. “I sure feel it was, Saphira. I feel such crushi
ng guilt, especially because....” She looks down at her hands. “I just can’t be around him anymore. I shouldn’t feel how I feel about him, Saphira. Yvette died because of it. And I know he believes me responsible for that, as if it’s my fault we are now bound to each other, I....” She looks up, struggling with her tears.

  I take her hand in both of mine. “Please, Viva. You just arrived, I just got you back. You can’t leave me again, please.”

  “You don’t need me, Saph. You’ll enjoy a wonderful life with Kieran, and you’ll share your happiness with Jeanie and Joyous. I don’t fit in this picture, I’m broken, and I can’t be fixed.”

  “With more reason. You need us.”

  Distress must be obvious in my face, because Kieran joins us and wraps a protective arm around me. “Is everything all right here?”

  Vivienne looks at us with her eyes full of tears. “From the bottom of my heart, I wish the two of you happiness beyond measure, with nothing to ever shadow your love again. I truly do.”

  Unable to control her tears anymore she turns and hurries away, losing herself in the crowd. Instinctively, my gaze flies to the man Vivienne has confessed to loving hopelessly. Zed is watching her make her way to the exit, hostile, his jaw tense. Fear tugs at my heart—their bond is indestructible. But what if it becomes deadly?

  THE END

  About the author:

  Born in vampire land Romania and living in romantic Germany, Ana Calin writes dark gothic stories with a modern feel. Supernatural blends with Sci Fi, and Romance never misses the party.

  Other Books by Ana Calin

  The Executioner Part One:

  Falling in love can be dangerous. For Alice Preda, it can be deadly.

  When a shady corporation that conducts experiments on humans targets Alice Preda, "muscle tank" Damian Novac is secretly assigned with her protection. Alice discovers his true identity and she's soon love-struck, but Damian keeps a cool reserve, protecting Alice not only from her hunters but also from himself.

  A villain who switched sides long ago, Damian is the biggest gun the science mafia ever created. He's been halfway stable serving the good for years, but when his makers return to the picture and provoke him, he threatens to relapse. The ice breaks, his demons awaken, and the Executioner is unleashed once more. Only the mysterious gift buried in Alice's psyche can tame him, but for that she'll have to place herself in the line of fire.

  The Executioner Part Two

  Be careful what you wish for -'cause you just might get it.

  Damian "The Executioner" Novac thought his past forever buried. But when he becomes Alice Preda's protector, it returns to haunt him. His makers, a shady biotech corporation, are here to either get him back or shut him down.

  Though aware of his obscure past, Alice crushes hard on Damian. He shields her from her hunters and his own, but he seems to maintain his emotional distance—until she unleashes her unsuspected talents on him. As the saying goes: Be careful what you wish for—for you just might get it. Will Alice be able to handle the demons of a killer?