by J A Hinchey
They’d left me alone in this room for over an hour. I knew they watched me, probably looking for telltale signs of stress or guilt or whatever silly little human mind games they thought they were playing. I let them have their games if it’d help me get to the bottom of who was stealing souls.
Finally, Jared returned. He sat opposite me and simply looked at me. I looked back. He really did have the most delicious brown eyes, like a swirling mixture of melted chocolate with a gleam of gold. He looked tired, his hair disheveled where he’d run his fingers through it.
“I have a question for you, Detective.”
He sat back in surprise.
“What?”
“What brought you to the cemetery tonight?”
“The friends of the girl who died called the police. Someone attacked them at the cemetery.”
“Attacked them? Did they say what?”
“Don’t you mean who?”
“Humans can’t steal souls, Detective. What you’ve got here is a soul stealer. My question is, how did he get to this dimension?”
“I can’t believe what I’m hearing.”
“I think you do, Detective. You’ve got yourself one supernatural problem on your hands, and I’m betting this isn’t your first brush with the paranormal. What were the girls doing at the cemetery?”
“What impressionable teenage girls do on Halloween. Having a séance. They took a Ouija board out there and were trying to call the spirit of Ruby Bland, a girl who’d died about a hundred years ago and is said to haunt the area.”
“It’s Halloween? Cool. I love All Hallows’ Eve. Are we having a party?”
“What?”
“You’re right. No time for that now. How many girls were at the séance?” I couldn’t afford to get distracted. Get in, get the job done, get out.
“Three. Including our victim,” he answered automatically.
“Where are the other two?”
“I sent them home with their families. They were distraught. They’re coming to the station tomorrow to give statements.”
“It’s risky.”
“What’s risky?”
“Well, I’m putting two and two together here and hope I’m getting four. Without talking to the girls I can’t confirm, but I’d say they summoned our soul stealer from a pocket-dimension. Not easy to do, but considering it's Halloween, the veil is thin, they just might have fluked it. So they call him forth, and he steps through. Immediately he needs sustenance to survive on this plane. Victim one. That’ll hold him for a while. But if he wants to stay here permanently, he has to consume the souls of all who called him.”
“All three girls.”
“Exactly!” I smiled my approval that he was following along.
“You’re telling me the two surviving girls are at risk?”
“Yes.” I nodded.
“How can I believe anything you’ve just told me? It sounds like some far-fetched fairy tale. You were at the scene. Your hands were on the body. How do I know you didn’t kill her?”
“I’m not a reaper, Detective. I’m Lucifer. I make sure you’re punished for the sins you commit on Earth. I don’t take souls—but I can mark them, so they’re tagged for Hell.”
“Tagged for Hell? What does that even mean?”
“You’re not as disbelieving as you make out, Detective. You’re a smart guy, work it out. We’re wasting time, our next step should be interviewing those girls and finding out exactly what it is that they saw tonight.”
“What you mean is I should be interviewing the girls,” he corrected me.
I shrugged. One way or another I’d be talking to those girls.
The door opened and Detective Nicole James walked in, back straight, hostility rolling off her. Okay, that was unprovoked, but I get it—people respond to me in different ways. This was obviously hers. Hate at first sight.
“I’ve heard enough of this bullshit.” She eyed me up and down like I was dog shit on her shoe. “Jared, she needs a mental health assessment.”
Jared rose from his chair and frowned at her. “Hang on a second, Nic. I’m not done here. Don’t be jumping to conclusions.” His voice was low as if he didn’t want me to hear, which was impossible since I was seated two feet away. I bit back a laugh.
“No, Jared.” She almost, almost, stamped her foot. My lips twitched and I looked away in case my laughter accidentally escaped.
“She’s a person of interest in a homicide. She has no ID and the story she’s been telling indicates that she’s in need of a mental health assessment. I’m holding her.”
“Pft. Nothing can hold me, Detective,” I piped up with a smirk.
“You’re going to have to drop that whole ‘I’m Lucifer from Hell’ act,” she growled.
“Ah, Detective, your mind is closed. If you would just let yourself, for one second, believe. How the world would open up for you.” With a shake of my wrists, the cuffs fell open onto the tabletop. Her mouth dropped open. Even Jared looked surprised.
“How did you do that?” they asked in unison.
“One of my little Lucifer tricks, you know, being an angel and all.”
“Quit the bullshit!” Nicole shouted her face flushing red.
“Calm down, Nic,” Jared warned. Clasping a hand around her wrist, he dragged her out of the room, the door banging closed behind them.
“Okaaaay.” I arched a perfectly manicured brow and watched the door. Minutes later he was back. Alone.
“Tell me about tonight. Why were you at the cemetery?”
“I already told you. I was in Hell, doing hellish things, when beep, beep, beep, off goes the alarm that someone is up to something nefarious here on Earth. That alarm only goes off when it’s B.A.D. World-changing, life-ending bad. So I popped up to see what the fuss is about and found the girl. She was already dead when I got there.”
“Did you touch anything?”
“I checked the girl's pulse. She was already dead.”
“What about a weapon? Did you see anything that could have been used to kill her?”
“I didn’t see anything like that. But then I wasn’t looking for it. I was more interested in examining the damage done to her soul.”
“We’re back to her soul?” He shook his head, but I knew he didn’t totally disbelieve my story.
“It was torn from her body, Detective. Ripped away with great violence. There was a lot of damage.”
“You’re telling me she died because her soul was stolen? And that…what? Brought on a cardiac arrest?”
“You won’t find any physical injuries if that’s what you’re getting at. I’m talking about what your eyes couldn’t see. That is what’s called me to Earth. A soul stealer has found its way into your dimension. It feeds on souls, destroying them, rendering that soul incapable of ascending to Heaven or Hell.”
“So this ‘soul stealer’ killed her and then stole her soul?” Disbelief clouded his voice.
“He didn’t kill her. The violence of having her soul ripped from her caused her to die. It was that act that caused her death. He didn’t kill her first, then steal her soul.”
“A soul stealer. Jesus, I can’t believe I’m saying shit like this,” he mumbled, running a weary hand over his face.
“Either way, you have a bad guy to catch, Detective.” Smiling brightly I rose to my feet, dusting imaginary dust off the back of my black leather pants. I watched as the detective's eyes ran up my body. I knew I looked good. Come on now, I’m an archangel crafted by God’s own hands, I’m stunning. Everyone thought so. Men and women alike. My hair was jet black and swung to my waist in effortless waves. My skin was smooth as silk and tinted the perfect shade of peach. My body had curves in all the right places. But it was my eyes everyone loved the most. They were the color of sapphires, a dazzling blue. You could drown in them. I wasn’t being conceited. Just stating a fact. I was an archangel and my beauty was beyond compare.
Unfortunately, it was the same story for my idio
t brothers, Michael and Gabriel. All made by God’s hand as archangels. We didn’t look the same, but whereas I was stunningly beautiful, they were devastatingly handsome. And I might add, conceited assholes.
I digress. We had a killer to catch, and the key to finding the soul stealer was finding the humans who mistakenly thought it was a good idea to summon one in the first place.
“Shall we go talk to the girls, Detective?” I suggested, already moving toward the door. His hand wrapped around my upper arm in a tight grip, halting my progress.
“Oh no, you don’t. It’s three thirty in the morning. The girls are traumatized but hopefully asleep by now. You’ll be spending the night in the cells and tomorrow I will interview the girls.”
“You really do like your restraints, don’t you?” I purred, winking at him as I allowed him to lead me through the station to the cells at the rear of the building. He opened the door of one and ushered me inside. No point in riling him by resisting, I sauntered inside, turning to watch as he locked the door behind me.
“Someone will be by to check on you in the morning. I suggest you spend some time thinking about telling the truth.”
I couldn’t stop the snort of laughter that followed. “I speak nothing but the truth, Detective. You choose not to believe me.”
“Enough already,” I heard him mutter beneath his breath, then his footsteps receding, a door closing, a lock turning.
“Ahhhh, humans, how I’ve missed you. I forgot how funny you can be.” With a smile I extended my wings, dematerializing from the cell and appearing at the cemetery less than a second later.
3
In the predawn darkness, I could see the restless spirits roaming among the headstones, trekking the path where the now demolished church-cum-rectory used to stand, disappearing then reappearing to do it all over again.
Initially, they ignored my presence, but then they began to feel my energy and were drawn to it. Soon I had a dozen spirits following me across the cemetery to the trees in the corner.
“Which one of you is Ruby Bland?” I asked them.
“I am.” A frizzy-haired young woman stepped forward, her grey hospital gown stained with blood.
“Did you see the girls here tonight? The ones trying to communicate with you?”
“I did.” Ruby nodded, moving closer, her bare feet making no sound on the ground.
“Did you hurt them?” I didn’t think she had, but I had to ask, just to be sure.
“It wasn’t I.” She shook her head.
“But you saw what happened?”
“I did.”
“Tell me.”
“He appeared, as if by magic, right in front of the blonde one. He wore a black cloak that covered him from head to toe. He grabbed the blonde’s head and kissed her hard, so hard he sucked the very life out of her. As he drew back you could see it floating like a mist between their mouths. Is he the Grim Reaper?”
“No. No, he’s not. He’s something much worse. A soul stealer. He feeds on the living.”
“When is the reaper coming for me?” she asked, her voice forlorn.
“Has he not been and you denied him?” I did find it odd that there were so many spirits here.
“No. I wanted to pass. I was ready to go. I want to go now. Can you take me?”
“I’m sorry, Ruby, your soul can’t pass through me. I’m not a reaper. But I can send one your way.”
“That would be wonderful. I’m bored here.”
“I bet. Do you want to tell me how you died?” I offered, knowing Ruby hadn’t spoken with anyone in years.
“I had bad pains. In my stomach. They took me to the hospital, I was there for days and then they did an operation to fix me, but they couldn’t stop the bleeding. I died.” She indicated the blood on her gown. “I hear the stories of what people think happened to me, how they think Father Martin killed me, that I had a baby. I didn’t have a baby, and he didn’t kill me. But he used to hurt me. He hurt all the girls. Can I go now?” She looked miserable and tired. And who could blame her, left behind on this plane to wander a creepy old cemetery for over a hundred years?
“Sure.” I smiled at her, before briefly closing my eyes and summoning a reaper. When I opened them again a man in ripped blue jeans and white T-shirt stood before us, his blonde hair teased artfully, his lips curled up in a grin.
“You rang?” He did a slight bow to me.
“I’ve got a customer for you. In fact…” Glancing around the graveyard, I saw several ghosts turn our way as if sensing the reaper’s presence and knowing this was their chance to move on. “I think you’ve got a few misplaced souls here.”
“Step right up, folks!” the Reaper joked, spreading his arms wide. “Sorry for the wait.”
Ruby shuffled closer, unsure. The reaper turned to her, his soft smile gentle.
“Are you ready, beautiful?” he asked. She nodded. “Then take my hand.” He glanced my way. “Is she one of yours?”
“No. I think she’s suffered enough. This one is heaven bound.”
“Gotcha.” With a wink, he clasped Ruby’s hand in his. She gasped, her eyes grew huge, and a wide smile spread across her face. Then she was gone.
The reaper dusted his hands on his jeans and looked at the dozen ghosts who were now crowding around us in a circle.
“Anyone else?” The ghosts moved forward en masse, all eager to leave this world. I stepped back out of the way and let the reaper do his thing. Not all the ghosts crossed. Some were stuck, probably always would be, their unfinished business destined to remain unfinished, their minds destroyed by the weight of their loss.
“Care to tell me why you hadn’t come to help these guys out before now?” I asked.
The reaper shrugged. “Super busy these days. There are only six of us and we never get a moment's respite what with all the war and terrorism happening. Sadly a lot of souls get left behind. We need more resources to do a sweep of the spirit world. I can feel there are a hell of a lot more still waiting in this town alone.”
“Have you put in a request to God? Surely he’d be amicable to assisting the reapers?”
“We’ve put in several requests. Can’t get past the gatekeepers.”
“The gatekeepers?”
“Michael and Gabriel. They keep a tight rein on who gets access to God. So far as I know, it’s only them. No one has seen him in eons. All requests come back denied.” He glanced off in the distance for a moment before dragging his gaze back to mine. “Gotta go. There’s been a bombing in Paris.” Before I had a chance to tell him about our soul stealer problem he’d vanished.
I walked amongst the headstones, tried talking a time or two with the ghosts that remained, but it was as if they were oblivious to my presence, their eyes unseeing, focused on things I couldn’t see, trapped in a never-ending cycle of…whatever it was that held them here. It was sad.
I wondered why God wasn’t helping them. Surely this wasn’t what he’d intended, that people would become trapped, unable to move on. As far as I knew the plan had been that when a person died, their soul moved to Heaven or Hell. That’s it. Those were your choices. Not this limbo of being trapped in a physical realm. And why wasn’t he sending help for the reapers? Not to mention all this war that the reaper had mentioned. He was right: the amount of violence across the globe had escalated. It needed to be stopped. Why didn’t God visit, guide his creations back onto the right path? Or was he done with them, letting them slowly drive themselves into extinction? It puzzled me and I made a mental note to take the time to visit him, maybe invite him to Hell, show him firsthand what I’d achieved.
I sank down onto a bench at the side of the cemetery and watched as pink and orange streaks of dawn broke across the sky, pondering what could possibly be happening in Heaven that kept God away. I stayed a long time after the sun rose, enjoying the warmth of it on my skin, but eventually, I roused myself. Better return to the police station I suppose. I was just getting ready to leave when I felt it,
the ripple in time as an angel appeared behind me.
I spun, expecting to see Michael or Gabriel and berate them for taking so long to get here. Instead, it was Dacian, my best friend who’d trained with me in the dawn of time. We’d spent hours together talking and playing. We’d been the four amigos, Dacian, Michael, Gabriel and me. Although Dacian wasn’t an archangel, God had taken a shine to him and welcomed him into the fold.
“Dacian!” I launched myself into his arms, wrapping him tight in an embrace. “It’s so good to see you. It’s been ages. How are you? And where are Michael and Gabriel? They should be here to help.”
Dacian stood stiffly in my embrace, arms by his sides. I pulled back, frowning. What was wrong with him?
“Dacian? What’s wrong?” He jerked out of my arms and took a step back, his dark brows pulled together in a frown. God, he looked good, just as hot as I remembered, his dark hair tousled like he’d just rolled out of bed, a light dusting of stubble across his jaw, his blue eyes sparkling. Correction. His blue eyes weren’t so much sparkling as glowering. What the hell?
“How do you know my name?” he demanded.
“What do you mean ‘how do I know your name’? We used to hang out together. In Heaven. Don’t you remember?”
“We”—he indicated the two of us—“did no such thing.”
“Sure we did. You, me, Michael and Gabriel. We used to play in the Garden of Eden, hang out with Adam and Eve. You taught me how to spar.” He was shaking his head.
“No. You were not there. It was me, Michael and Gabriel who did these things. You must have been spying on them, even then.”
“What? Spying? Don’t be ridiculous. I’m an archangel, along with my brothers.”
“You lie. Gabriel and Michael are the only archangels. You are Lucifer, fallen angel, creator of evil and ruler of Hell.”
My eyes sparked flames for an instant. Fallen angel my ass. It was bad enough having the humans think me an evil demon, but my own kind? Excuse the cliché but what the hell was going on?
