Torn Souls (Soul Ties Book 2)

by LJ Swallow

  I drain my body and brain of energy in a marathon online gaming session. Twenty-four hours blur past as the fantasy and real worlds meld into one. When I finally draw away, exhausted but high on energy drinks, I climb into bed and watch the bright colours of my game pass in front of my eyes. Dahlia drew me out of my old hiding place in that world, now I retreat there to escape the pain of a world empty of Dahlia.

  DAHLIA

  I don't feel any different when I first return to the human world. Then, something small and every day is the first indication of the effect of my decision. Running for a bus, my chest tightens, breath short, and an unfamiliar tingling spreads through my calf muscles. Normally, these reactions hit me after a long fight with a demon; this is now my everyday reaction to any exertion.

  Fighting with demons is over.

  I rest my head on the cool windowpane of the bus, unable to believe I'm here. I'm consumed by the need to see Jack, tell him what I've done. We spoke about this possibility, and I know we both wanted this, but the reality is different. Darius’s words echo; Jack is young and now I've made a decision, which binds me to him, even if we don't stay together. I can’t comprehend the consequences if our relationship ends.

  The first thing I do is go to Jack and knock on his door. Two p.m. and no reply. He's either at uni or still asleep. I knock again, louder, but don't want to shout and draw attention.

  The door opens and Jack appears; reddened eyes bleary and hair sticking up all over his head. He's dishevelled, as if he's been up fighting demons all night—virtual ones. I've seen the look before.

  “All nighter?” I ask.

  Jack’s tired eyes widen further, and the scrunched up, confused look turns into disbelief as he steps towards me. “Dahlia?” He touches my cheek and then snatches his hand back.

  Does Jack know? Can he tell?

  To my surprise, he grabs me and squeezes me so tightly my bones ache and air is pushed from my lungs. “Oh my god, I thought I'd never see you again!”

  I hear giggling as someone passes us, and Jack backs up into his room, closing the door. He withdraws and puts two broad hands on my cheeks.

  “Are you okay? What happened?”

  The tide of emotion from the last few days, weeks, months falls down my face with the tears, as I bury my nose into Jack’s chest. I have come home, and this is where I belong. With him.

  “They let me go.” My tiny voice is muffled against him, and he stands back.

  “Let you go?”

  “I returned with the soul Darius wanted, and they let me go.”

  Jack sits heavily on the bed. “You mean forever?”

  I nod through my tears.

  “I thought the opposite. You disappeared, Dahlia... what happened?”

  “I don't know. I can't remember everything. How long ago since you last saw me?”

  “Couple of days.” His look is expectant, waiting for me to finish my story.

  “Jack, I've no idea what happened, but somehow I was there, and I had the soul. Now I'm here.”

  “But I thought you would be given a Will in return. Not...”

  The mattress of his bed sags as I sit next to him. “I asked them to let me go, and allow me to live here.”

  “I can't believe they did,” he whispers.

  “Nor me.”

  The memory of Darius's surprise, then contempt, edges back inside my mind. I've spent hours trying to figure out exactly why they let me go. Then I recall the stories of the angels cast down for transgressions against the Caelestia who became Nephilim. But they were stronger than I ever would be. I have no powers left as they do. The way the human world is spoken of, he may as well have sent me to Hell. But I'd rather this Hell than the real one.

  “So you're normal now? Human, I mean?” Jack asks.

  I smile through my wet cheeks and sniff. “I'll never be normal, but yeah, I'm human.”

  “Do you feel different? I mean, you look the same.”

  “Everything's the same apart from my strength and my abilities—I can’t sense demons anymore, things like that. My identity in this world has existed since I was first sent here; my leaders just made it permanent.”

  Jack raises a hesitant hand and runs his fingers along my cheek to my neck and I shiver. The sensation of his touch is no different, but the intensity of how I feel for him has magnified. I catch his hand and kiss his palm.

  “So, you’re delicate Dahlia now?” He grins.

  “Just try it.” I push him in the chest.

  The smile disappears, and I tense. Did things just sink in for him? I ready myself to leave, in case he's about to tell me what I don't want to hear.

  “I never thought this was possible,” Jack runs his hands through his unkempt hair and stares at the floor.

  “No. Nor me.” The anxious fluttering in my stomach intensifies. “You are happy about this, aren't you?”

  Jack traces his finger along my bottom lip. “Happy? How can you need to ask me that question?”

  “I know we talked about this, but the reality...?” I say in a low voice, “Is this really okay with you?”

  Jack gently cups my face. “You know how in the dreams you were always falling? I fell for you the way the snow fell on my skin the night we met. I wanted you to melt into me like the snowflakes around because then I’d never need to catch you again.” Jack takes a deep breath, his eyes moistening to match mine. “I knew from the moment we spoke that you were the girl I dreamt of every night, who needed me to catch her. I love you, Dahlia. I don't think I could ever love anyone else.”

  His words squeeze my heart so tightly I think it might stop beating, and any reply can’t match his.

  Jack kisses my forehead. “There's something about us, isn't there? Like soul mates or something? Does that exist?”

  “I don't know. Maybe.”

  “There must be. For this to happen.”

  The conversation piles on the enormity of the situation and the strange new reality we’ve created and now begin to live in. With Jack, at this moment, I'm cocooned inside this world of secrets where we’re sealed together by whatever brought us together.

  “I love you. I don’t care how or why we met, just that we did,” I whisper.

  “Do you know why I think you're my soul mate?” he says, tracing a pattern across my lips. “Because you're my mirror. You reflect everything back to me; I can see my good and my bad. Being without you shattered me every time; with you, I’m complete, and I am never letting you go.”

  I don't know if I'm more shocked by his speech or the rough passion of the kiss, which follows. The desire for Jack is magnified by my almost loss of him, and I grab his hair and lock his mouth to mine. He pushes me down on the bed, and we entwine together, crazy with the mixture of love and lust overwhelming both of us. We’re not the cautious people we were a few weeks ago, and the intimacy we’ve developed spills into every touch, every caress, and every kiss.

  This moment is like the first time and every time rolled into one. The new, human Dahlia shakes with relief and with need. We belong together, with each other. We're already inside each other’s heads, connected somehow. Now we're physically bonded forever.

  22

  DAHLIA

  Being human isn't as bad as I feared. Darius was clear about the human frailties I’d face, but life isn't much different to being here as a soul hunter. If I'm not fighting demons, there's no need for super strength, is there? Jack finds my new weakness amusing, he teases by pinning me down occasionally. If I give him one warning look he stops, but I think Jack's secretly pleased to be the stronger one. So male...

  Jack insists I socialise more and become part of my new world. I find this ironic since he's never really been part of this world either, spending most time in his gaming world. The disastrous day out in Whitby springs to mind, but he’s right; I can’t avoid what I need to learn—how to be human. Half of his friends are about to leave anyway; Chaos Ride head off tomorrow. Kyle failed the year and decide
d to follow the band around Europe, which just leaves Jack and me here.

  I sit on Jack's knee, arm slung across his shoulders as we snuggle together in an armchair. Chaos Ride's going away party is at Kyle's friend's house. Paul, a second year student, who's travelling over the summer lives here and is gladly renting his room out to Jack and me, before we decide where to live next year. We’re staying near the university. I don’t think I could cope with more change just yet. Moving in together would be a huge step to most people our age, but this is minor compared to what we've experienced to reach this point.

  “How's the summer job hunting going?” asks Jack, curling an arm around my waist.

  “Not great.”

  “I don't suppose they have a lot of call for your old line of work.” The warning in my face wipes away his grin. “Sorry.”

  “I know you find this funny, but I am dealing with some difficult changes here. This isn't like moving cities.”

  “Sorry.”

  I poke him. “And stop saying...” He interrupts me with a kiss, stroking my hair as he does.

  Jack runs his nose along my cheek until his lips reach my ear. “I know how hard this is for you, and I also know how lucky I am. I shouldn’t tease.”

  At least I can hear him now the music has quietened. The Chaos Ride tracks are repeated enough times this evening, I now know every single word. Bodies squash together in the small lounge and kitchen, the room littered with empty cans. I look at one of the band members, sprawled asleep on the sofa with a half-empty bottle of bourbon in his hand. I smile wryly at his cliché. Chaos Ride created a tour T-shirt and everyone is wearing one—including Jack. When Sam handed them out, he couldn't understand why Jack and me giggled. There's a demon on the front.

  Jack slides his hands under my backside and effortlessly moves me onto the arm of the chair. “Be right back.” He waves his empty bottle. “Drink?”

  “No, I'm okay.”

  I watch as he weaves through the bodies crammed into the small lounge room, and I rest my head back, thinking how lucky I am. I'm with the guy I dreamt of, and never thought I’d have.

  Faith approaches and sits in the chair opposite me. She locks her gaze with mine, running her tongue along her teeth.

  I'm not yielding to her hostility. “Hey, Faith.”

  “You staying?” she asks, abruptly.

  “Tonight?”

  “No. In Leeds.”

  “I haven't plans to go anywhere else.”

  I never understood where her animosity comes from, and concluded weeks ago, she has a “thing” for Jack, otherwise why would she always behave like this towards me?

  “Don't hurt him,” she says.

  “I don't intend to.”

  “Do you love him?”

  I raise an eyebrow at her. “Do you?”

  “He’s a good friend—used to be my best friend. Of course I bloody love him.”

  Now I understand her overprotective, sister attitude. She’s a rival for his attention, but not in the way, I thought.

  “I love him, Faith. I made a huge change to my life so I could stay with Jack.”

  My voice cracks a little, and the faltering of my voice seems to put Faith’s mind at rest because her hardened features soften.

  Faith sits back and places her feet on the chair opposite. “If you hurt him, you'll have me to answer to.”

  Her words amuse me, but I fight down the urge to smile at her. “I won't hurt him.”

  Jack reappears with a fresh beer in his hand and grins. “My two favourite girls!”

  Faith rolls her eyes. “Getting drunk, Jack?”

  “Not really. This is a big day though. I won’t to see you guys for a while now.” A shadow crosses Jack's face. This is a big deal for him; his old friends and old life are leaving.

  Jack plonks himself next to me, and I move back onto his lap. Absentmindedly, he pulls my hair over his shoulder and winds his fingers around the ends. Faith watches, studying me. I lean my head against Jack’s, and he kisses my cheek. Happiness emanates between us. As his arm encompasses my waist, his love surrounds me too.

  Two a.m. isn't the best time to wander through the city, especially not the suburbs our soon-to-be new home is located in. Jack wanted to stay at the party for longer, but I wanted to leave. I can only stand to be around people for so long. Jack's not drunk, but he isn’t sober either. I remind him he's helping the band pack up and leave tomorrow, and he needs sleep to be any use to them. Partly, I want to leave because I want to climb into bed with him again and wipe away the day in the physical us.

  The summer night is muggy, the moist air unpleasant to breathe. Jack stumbles one or twice and is quiet as we pace along the dirty street past the identical redbrick terraces and towards the main road. I'm concerned about the teen gangs, who roam the street around here day and night, but we don't have any choice; buses don't run this late and a taxi is indulgent.

  Two guys head towards us, and I meet the gaze of one of them. He's dark haired, tall, and his brown eyes narrow as they meet mine. My heart skips, and I grip Jack's hand. One thing I struggle with is the fact I’m weaker than people now. Jack teased me, said I should learn a martial art, and I’m seriously thinking about the idea. At just over five feet tall, I’m not much of a match for anyone. The blonder-haired guy next to the first nudges him, and the brown-haired guy’s thin mouth transforms into a smile. I return the smile, and we keep walking. Few cars drive by, and we don’t pass anybody else.

  Jack doesn’t give the guys a second glance and moves his arm to hug my shoulders. “Next week we move into the house. That’ll be better than squashing into a single bed in my room at the halls.”

  “Definitely.”

  Jack stops and spins me round, squeezing me in a familiar hold, which knocks my breath out every time. His face is an open book. I never thought anyone would look at me as if I meant the world to them. “I can’t explain how much I love you, Dahlia. I’ll love you always, and then forever, and until the stars you came from stop shining in the sky and…”

  I loosen Jack’s arms from my waist, then stand on tiptoes so I can reach his mouth. He places his cool lips on mine, sighing into a kiss. Again, the weird feeling of Jack as my missing half passes between us in our embrace. With his lips on mine, arms engulfing me, it’s clear that whatever strange force brought the soul hunter and human together now ties us.

  We stand at the edge of the path, close to the park, wrapped in each other, and don’t hear the running footsteps. I'm only aware of other people when Jack is knocked from our embrace, and he lands heavily on the ground a few metres away. I'm shocked into silence, as two tall figures bend over him.

  I never had the chance to respond to Jack’s words.

  “Leave him alone! What do you want?” I scream, once I find my voice.

  Muggers? They can take the money, anything, as long as they leave Jack alone. Everything spins out of control as Jack groans and turns onto his side. Forgetting I’m human now, I charge towards one of the guys and try to knock him away. He reaches out an arm and swats me like an annoying insect. Falling to the ground, I stare up at him, into his vacant eyes. The man moves towards me and bends down, face close to mine, and dark hair falls across his face. In the dim light, his translucent skin shines, impossibly smooth. A sickening fear dizzies me.

  Vampire.

  I do something I’ve never done in my life—scream. The scream pierces the silence around until the vampire clamps his ice-cold hand over my mouth.

  “Shut up, or we'll kill you too.”

  Kill me too. His words tear my heart from my chest, and I glance over at Jack who's struggling to escape the other vampire.

  The vampire holding me down laughs at my panic and pushes my head into the gravelled pavement. I can't move against the grip he has. If I were still a soul hunter, I'd have the strength to retaliate. Human Dahlia has no chance.

  More footsteps approach, just one set, and I close my eyes, knowing we're lost now. I s
truggle to hold on as the ordinary evening fades into a nightmare. The vampire said he'd kill me too, which means either Jack's dead or they’ll kill him. I stare up at the starlit sky, willing myself away from here, hoping this really is a nightmare and I’ll wake soon. How did I think my past would disappear completely? The demons will always know what I was and revenge was always a heartbeat away.

  The vampire holding me is flung backwards, skidding across the ground on his back. A different man stands over him. He's taller than Jack, brown hair curling across his forehead. The vampire studies the newcomer and is distracted from me.

  I scramble to my feet and charge at the vampire holding Jack. My actions are useless. I have no force to use against a demon. Pushed away again, my knees skin as I slide across the gravel. I don't notice the pain or the blood because nearby lies a motionless Jack with blood pouring from a wound in his neck. Dragging my fingers through my hair, I try to scream but nothing comes.

  “Help him,” I rasp at the stranger, “He's hurt.”

  The guy turns towards me and his bright blue eyes shine in the dark. Shit. As if things couldn't be any worse, now there’s a Nephilim here. I scoot backwards on the pavement, as he scrutinises me. Weirdly, I think I know him, but how can I? I've never met a Nephilim. Have I? I close my eyes, and there's a memory in here somewhere, but I'm too caught up in survival to dig it out.

  The guy turns back and deftly snaps the neck of the vampire who attacked me. I gape at him—he killed a demon? Next he charges towards the other vampire who’s pulling Jack's lifeless body over his shoulder. Before the Nephilim reaches him, the vampire disappears, his figure blending into the trees at the side of the road with preternatural speed. The guy hesitates and glances back to me.

  “Help him!” I yell, but the words are hoarse.

  “It's too late.”

  “No, no it isn't!” I stagger to my feet and lurch in the direction the vampire took Jack.