Souls

by Kahilah Harry

  “Nice to see you again, Meadow,” she greeted, her teeth pearly white against her purple stained lips.

  “Wow, so Caspian was the boss you were talking about?” I ignored her greeting.

  She pursed her lips, tapping a manicured nail against her cheek. “I mean, I wouldn’t call him my boss per se. I was exaggerating only slightly.” She chuckled as she walked up to Caspian. He let go of my arm and I moved out of her way, rubbing my throbbing arm where Caspian had gripped it.

  “Sorry for taking all the credit. How could I forget about your excellent hunting skills that delivered them all to me?” Caspian hummed and grabbed Donatella by the waist, pulling her closer to him.

  She giggled and wrapped her arms around his neck. One hand slid down his shoulder, and the other cupped his jaw, a finger tapping against his cheek. “It’s okay, my love. You can make it up to me later.” Her sentence trailed off at the end as their lips touched, and I automatically whipped my head away from the scene in front of me. Donatella and Caspian?

  I glanced back quickly, and they were still locked on each other’s faces. Perfect. I slowly walked forward into the cave and continued to the stairs that Donatella had descended earlier. I had to watch my step as I climbed so I wouldn’t fall over the edge and onto the ground below with the rest of the young. I reached the top of the steps, and there was a large platform with a brown stone seat in the middle of it.

  Past that stone seat, there was an exit. I didn’t know where it led to, but as long as it got me away from this area, that was all I cared about. Without hesitation, I ran up the platform, kicking rocks as I went. A force hit my chest, and I stumbled backward, hitting the ground hard. Pain shot up my elbow, and I grunted from the force. In front of me, Caspian and Donatella blocked my way to the exit.

  “Now, where do you think you’re going?” Caspian asked, chuckling at my attempt to escape. He held his hand out for me to grab, and I ignored it, getting up on my own.

  “Nowhere now.” I groaned, rolling my eyes as I dusted off my clothes. I mean, I didn’t really expect to make it to the exit, but I was trying to be optimistic about it.

  Donatella laughed, tilting her head to the side in pity. “I wouldn’t suggest trying that again. You might slip up, and you never know who’s hungry over here.” Her eyes flashed violet and flickered to the ground below us. I followed her eyes.

  “Look a little closer at them,” Caspian said, a slow grin forming on his face. They all looked normal to me until the small details jumped out at me. The men and women tucked in a corner all had violet streaks tattooing their faces. The ones walking around didn’t have streaks on their faces, just on their hands.

  “So, you see, I would be careful if I were you because one of them might be hungry enough to take a bite out of you at my command,” Caspian warned, clapping his hands together.

  An actual shiver of fear went down my spine as I imagined teeth sinking into my skin.

  “Now that we’ve cleared that up, time for my meeting.” Caspian turned to Donatella. “Make sure everything is in place for later.”

  She nodded and walked away through the exit I was trying to escape through.

  “What are you planning?” I asked, watching him closely as he made his way over to the stone chair, sinking into it. He flicked his wrist, and I was yanked backward and pinned to the wall, with no control over my body.

  “Hush, Meadow.” Caspian rolled his eyes but grinned at me from his spot in the chair.

  “No. Let me go.” I tried to yank myself from the wall but failed.

  “I won’t let you go, but you can sit down.” He flicked his wrist again, and my body fell to the ground. I slumped down, my arms snapped behind my back, and I felt something wrap around my wrists, locking my arms in place.

  “Is this really necessary?” I complained, trying to snap the thin rope. No success.

  “Of course, it is. You remember what you just did, right? I can’t have you trying that again while I’m distracted.” He paused and situated himself on the uncomfortable-looking chair. “Now, sit still and stay quiet while I conduct my meeting.” His humorous demeanor disappeared, replaced with a serious one, and his eyes flashed from his brilliant blue to violet, then back to blue.

  If he was trying to intimidate me, it wasn’t working. Well, almost not working. A little part of me was worried about his reckless side. He could decide that he didn’t actually need me and throw me to the hungry vampires below.

  I huffed in annoyance and sank against the hard, cold wall. There was no point in fighting it. I couldn’t escape. I could only hope that my team would come for me, though they didn’t even know where I was. As I tried to figure out a way to leave the cave successfully, there was movement in my peripheral.

  Victor, the man I had been investigating, walked through the exit in the same black suit as the vampires below. I hadn’t seen him since the boat incident, and now that I was actually getting a clearer look at him, he didn’t look as old as I thought, despite his salt-and-pepper hair. He looked way younger than he’d looked on the ship. He had a troubled look on his face as he slowly walked to Caspian. He was so focused on him, he didn’t even steal a glance my way.

  “Update me, Victor,” Caspian spoke before he even made it to his side.

  Victor fiddled with his fingers, an obvious nervous tick. He must’ve messed up on something and was afraid to let Caspian know. I chuckled to myself.

  “Um, sir. You know the plan we had for the cruise ship?” Victor stuttered, clearing his throat a few times.

  “Obviously. It was my idea.” Caspian had a bored look on his face and waved his hand to hurry him along.

  “Well, it doesn’t look like we will be able to execute the plan on schedule,” Victor whispered the end, taking a small step back as Caspian sat straighter in his chair.

  “What happened?” Caspian raised his voice, his jaw ticking in annoyance.

  Victor shifted like he had to use the bathroom, and I wanted to tell him to hurry up because I really wanted to know what was going on as well.

  “Someone destroyed the yacht.”

  I barely heard what he said because he spoke so low, but by the look on Caspian’s face, he heard him clearly.

  He stood slowly, his cloak flowing behind him. “Excuse me? I just want to make sure I heard you correctly.” Caspian chuckled humorlessly, clasping his hands together. He walked up to Victor and towered over him, tilting his head to the side, waiting.

  A little laugh slipped from my mouth, and Victor’s eyes flew my way for the first time since he entered the room. I couldn’t wave, so I gave him a smile.

  His brows dipped, and mouth opened, staying agape. “What is she doing here? I thought you didn’t want to include her in the plans any—”

  Caspian snapped his fingers and pressed his index finger and thumb together, cutting Victor off. His lips were pressed together tightly, and his eyes were wild as Caspian slowly walked around him. “Why must you talk so much? You know plans change all the time. Now, back to the original topic.” He did a couple of circles around Victor and stopped when he had circled back in front of him. He spread his fingers apart, and Victor opened his mouth, moving his jaw around when he had control again.

  “The yacht that we planned to use for the shipment was destroyed,” Victor repeated with more confidence this time. Shipment? What were they trying to ship, and where?

  Caspian had a shocked look on his face, but it seemed fake. He blinked a bunch and put a hand over his chest, scoffing. “Someone dared to touch what belongs to me and got away with it?” Caspian asked, sinking back into his chair.

  “About that. It seems, based on the extent of the damage, it was done days before we found it,” Victor answered, his voice wavering from nervousness.

  Caspian didn’t say anything, but his face was cupped in his hand, a finger tapping quickly against his tensed jaw.

  “Would you like to know the rest of the information I found out about the yacht, sir
?” Victor broke the silence, earning a dirty look from Caspian.

  “Why wouldn’t you tell me everything at one time? Of course, I want to know. I want to know everything!” Caspian shouted, throwing an arm in the air. Rocks from the ground flew up with his arm, and Victor flinched, his arms flying up to protect his face. I even tried to scoot back a little bit from reflex, even though the rocks weren’t even close to me.

  Caspian didn’t seem to notice what happened, or maybe he just didn’t care. It was probably the latter. Victor didn’t say anything and dropped his arms, pulling at the sleeve of his black suit jacket. Caspian looked at him and raised his brows, indicating that he was waiting for Victor to speak.

  Victor cleared his throat. “There was a cross left on the side of the yacht,” Victor whispered and bowed his head immediately.

  Caspian jumped up out of his chair, hissing. His eyes quickly turned violet, and he stretched out his arm. Victor flew forward into his hand, throat first. “A cross was left on the side of my boat?” Caspian growled, his mouth so close to Victor’s ear, it looked as if he was biting it.

  Victor didn’t respond, but nodded rapidly, not daring to open his mouth. A small wheeze started coming from him from how tightly Caspian was gripping his throat.

  He growled and pushed Victor away. Victor wheezed again, a few deep coughs following.

  “That damn Dmitri. I knew he was coming for me. I just didn’t think he would actually attack the boat,” Caspian muttered to himself, pacing angrily in front of his chair.

  I perked up at the mention of Dmitri and smiled at how upset it made Caspian.

  “It’s a yacht, not a boat,” mumbled Victor, and Caspian whipped around, glaring at him with blazing violet eyes.

  “What did you say?” Caspian raised his hand.

  “Nothing, nothing,” Victor quickly responded.

  “Forget about the boat for now. That plan can be fixed. Right now, instead of waiting for Dmitri to come to me, I’ll go to him.” He cackled and rubbed his hands together, eyes sparkling. “Victor, watch the girl. Make sure she doesn’t get away. Here, have my seat.” Caspian gestured to the chair behind him, and Victor hesitantly walked to it.

  Once Victor was seated, Caspian clapped his hands twice and faced the vampires below. They were all standing and staring up at Caspian. The ones who were in the corner were no longer there, and the ones who were pacing were now still. Their undivided attention was on Caspian.

  “My children!” Caspian raised his arms. “I promised you a fight, a way for you to prove that you are indeed worthy of being a part of my family.”

  The vampires collectively shouted ‘yes’, making the cave walls vibrate. “I now offer you the promised fight! We will go now, and you will prove to me that you are worthy enough to serve me! Are you ready?” Caspian shouted, his arms raised high in the air.

  What kind of narcissistic speech was that? They had to be brainwashed. They all had empty looks in their eyes when I checked them out earlier, but I figured that was because they were hungry.

  The group shouted again and started chanting Caspian’s name. He was pumping his arm in the air and looked back at me, his mouth open with a huge smile. He nodded along with the chanting and held his hand out, moving it like an invitation for me to join in.

  I made a face and shook my head, not wanting to join in on that foolery. He frowned and flicked his wrist. My body scooted back into the wall, and my arms raised uncomfortably above my head. I gritted my teeth and mouthed a curse at him, and he smiled, shrugging his shoulders. Victor didn’t react at all to anything and kept staring straight ahead, probably not wanting to be a target again.

  “My children, we go now!” Caspian shouted, his arms raised as they cheered, pumping his fists. Caspian looked over his shoulder again and winked at me before running out the entrance we came through, and my arms dropped. The rest of the vampires ran with him, fading into a large blur. In one blink, they were all gone.

  It was quiet. The only prominent sound was my breathing. Victor still stared straight ahead, his back straighter than a pole, and just as tense. I was finally alone in the same room as him, and it didn’t even matter anymore. My case no longer mattered.

  I shook my head. “You know Caspian is gone, right?” I asked, wincing at the rope biting into my wrists.

  “What’s your point?” he responded a few seconds later, surprising me. I thought he was going to ignore me.

  I scooted, elated that I was able to move now, and tried to move into his line of vision. His eyes flitted my way without moving his head and just as quickly looked back in front of him.

  “My point is, you don’t have to be so tense. I’m not going to hit you or anything.” I shrugged when he glared at my words. We stared at each other until I blinked, losing the staring contest. The corners of his mouth raised a bit.

  “Look now, that wasn’t fair. I’m human. Well, in a human form and you’re…not?” I guessed, not really sure what he was.

  He raised a brow at me and sighed, scooting back into Caspian’s chair. “I’m human,” he answered, and I made a face.

  “You’re lying.”

  He chuckled at my response and shook his head. “What makes you say that?” He finally looked at me fully, eyes large and curious.

  “For one, you look nothing like the picture I found of you on the internet or how you looked on the boat.”

  That earned a hard chuckle from Victor. “I forgot about that picture. Maybe they just got an unflattering angle of me. Maybe it was too dark for you to see clearly.” He smiled, throwing me off. He looked even younger when he smiled with teeth.

  “Nope, it’s not that.” I shook my head, not accepting his answer. “Even on the boat, you looked like an actual old man. Now you look like a man in his early thirties who just started graying early.”

  He laughed. “Thank you for the compliment. Any other reasons you doubt me?” he asked, leaning on the arm of the chair, chin in hand.

  I pursed my lips, tilting my head to the side a bit. “Caspian doesn’t seem to value humans. To have one work for him wouldn’t really seem ideal. I feel like he would accidentally kill a human if one worked for him. Maybe even on purpose.”

  He nodded, seeming like he was thinking hard about a response. “I understand. I can see why you think the way you do, but sorry to disappoint. I really am human.” When I opened my mouth to explain more, he held a hand up. “I am human, but I’m not like normal humans. I’m a priest.”

  I waited for him to elaborate, but he didn’t say anything more. “Is that supposed to mean something?” My head jutted out for him to explain more.

  “I forgot that doesn’t mean anything to you in your current state.” He chuckled lightly, brushing a graying lock of hair from his eyes. “In this world, there are very few priests. Priests in this world are basically immortal,” he explained.

  Immortal priests? Now that was a new one.

  “Why are priests’ immortal?” I questioned.

  He opened his mouth to respond but quickly shut it when a sound came from the entrance I came through earlier. My eyes widened when he got up from the chair, glancing back at me with narrowed eyes. I shrugged, just as confused as he was about the sound. I didn’t have anything to do with it, but it was a great distraction. That was my chance to escape. Victor walked gingerly toward the entrance, glancing back at me one more time before disappearing through the opening. I yanked my arms apart, trying to get the thin rope off. It felt looser, but it still wouldn’t come off.

  “Come on, come on,” I grunted and leaned back a little, rubbing the rope on the hard ground. My wrists were twisted in an uncomfortable angle, slight pain igniting in them, but I had to continue. I kept my eyes on the opening, hoping Victor stayed there for a little longer. I stopped rushing and yanked my arms apart again, this time, hearing a little snap. I could actually wiggle my wrists comfortably now.

  New confidence started building inside me, and I leaned forward and hopped
up, stumbling to catch my balance. Once I could stand still properly, I turned to the exit I was originally running toward, adrenaline coursing through my body. I barely took a step forward when hands grabbed my bound wrists.

  “Where do you think you’re going?” Victor growled in my ear, yanking me down.

  “Escaping!” I yelled back as he pushed me forward.

  He made me keep walking, past the chair and toward the steps by the cave entrance. Panic set in.

  “Where are we going?” I asked, struggling against his hold. He didn’t answer me, which I took as a bad sign. I had to act quickly, or I would probably never see the light of day again. Near a wall by the entrance, an idea popped in my head. When I was close enough, I yelled out and jerked backward, raising my feet to the wall. My feet connected, and I pushed back with all my might, catching Victor off guard. He growled, arms wrapping around my waist, and we fell backward off the steps, Victor on the bottom.

  He was my cushion, yet I still hit the ground hard, making my back arch as pain shot up my spine. Victor’s arms went limp, and I let out a pained breath before jumping up, eyeing him on the ground. He was knocked out, his mouth slightly agape, and a red trail of blood trickled from his mouth and down his cheek. A small bout of guilt crept inside me.

  “Sorry,” I whispered, and he groaned, eyes still closed. Struggling against the rope, I didn’t stop yanking until I heard a pop from the restraints snapping off my wrists. “Yes!” I cheered and ran at the same time, rubbing my sore wrists. I ran with my eyes trained on the exit, determined to finally make it there. And I did. I paused to catch my breath and took in my surroundings, trying to find a way out. The space was narrow, and I crept through it, wary of the bugs that might fall on me in the tight space. It was dim in this part of the cave, with many twists and turns. I had no idea where I was going, taking left turns at times, and right turns other times, hoping to find some type of exit. I couldn’t let Victor catch up to me.