Reaver of Souls

by Stephanie Burke

  By now, Sable was pointing at the door and bellowing, her eyes narrowed as she stared at the man who professed to be Torn’s daddy.

  “If my door doesn’t get fixed soon, there are going to be some serious consequences and repercussions.”

  Finished, she stared at Terror, making sure her point was taken, even if he didn’t understand a thing she said. Anger was making her chest heave and her face fill with bright color.

  She never realized what a pretty picture she made in her anger.

  “Magnificent,” Terror breathed, giving his son an all too male smile. “Absolutely breathtaking. You have managed to find a jewel in this strange place.”

  “Thank you, Father.”

  “Now please tell me you understand what she just said.”

  “I do. The language here is kind of like Dervish, but with a bit of Knishtol.”

  “Very good, son. But I don’t have your talent for languages, so can you please tell me what that was about? I understand that she is angry with me about something, but I am not quite sure what that something is.”

  “Her entrance door.”

  “Yes?”

  “You broke it.”

  “I did.”

  “She is angry about that.”

  “So have her workmen fix it. There has to be some laborers in this manor.”

  “Things don’t work that way here. She has to pay someone to do the work.”

  “Odd.”

  “A lot of things here are odd. And the men are so small, I feel like a giant.”

  “I saw,” Terror sighed, then turned his attention to the woman again. “Tell her I will make recompense for her door. I will send laborers to repair it as well. It is the least I can do for having inconvenienced her. And it would be a fitting gift for having her protect you until I could find you and bring you back home again.”

  “Home?”

  “Yes, Torn. I have come to take you back home with me. I have wasted so much of my time with you feeling guilty that I will spend the rest of my days making it up to you. So go and gather what you need, and we will be off.”

  “But Father…”

  “And I am sure that your mother would love to give her, this Sable, her thanks as well.”

  “But Father…”

  “So hurry, explain to the female so we can be off.”

  Feeling his distress, Sable stepped in front of Torn and glared at the man. She had no idea what his father was saying, but it was causing Torn discomfort, and that she wouldn’t put up with. If only she could speak that damn language!

  “But Father,” Torn said again, stepping forward and staring straight into his father’s eyes. “I am not going back. I am staying here, with Sable.”

  Chapter Thirty-Four

  “Fal, there is something wrong with my son. Please come here and examine him.”

  Torn blinked at his father’s steady words, and then shook his head, amusement in every line of his body.

  Turning to Sable, he whispered, “Please, beloved, clothing?”

  Sable looked down at her half-exposed body, then nodded, rushing off to get something on. But she was not going for beauty queen. She was going to grab the first pair of sweats and get back out there. Something told her that she didn’t want to leave Torn alone for long with his people.

  As she left the room, the assistant glared after the red-haired woman.

  What was so special about that skinny harlot? What did Torn even see in her? The strange one was just a weak imitation of her, Zultha thought as she watched the small one exit the room.

  “Fal,” Terror called again, and the Healer motioned for his assistant to advance with him.

  “Father, there is nothing wrong with me.” Torn sighed as he rolled his eyes, a Jill move that he found effective and telling.

  “After Fal checks you for magical spells, we will discuss this.”

  “No!”

  At his refusal, everyone stopped dead and turned shocked eyes to the heir. No one, absolutely no one, told Terror no.

  “What did you say to me, Torn?”

  “I said no, Father. No, I am not leaving Sable, and no, I will not submit to any magical examination. No.”

  “You tell me no?”

  “I tell you no.”

  Then Terror became angry. “What has this place done to you, my son? What has this place, these people, that woman, turned you into?”

  “They have done nothing to me, Father,” Torn said as he shook his head at the father who refused to try to understand.

  “They must have done something and I want Fal to discover what it is.”

  “There is nothing wrong with me!” Now Torn was getting angry. “There is nothing wrong with me, there are no spells being cast to keep me here! I want to stay here. I want to stay with Sable.”

  “So it is the witch!”

  “Watch your tone, Father,” Torn growled, his voice deepening, taking on the multi- hued tones of the Reaver. “That is the woman I love.”

  As soon as the words crossed his lips, he felt a smile take hold and he couldn’t stop it. He loved Sable. He was capable of love! If he felt that emotion, then he was safe from the pit. He had something to live for.

  He realized that this was what his inner voice, the voice of the Reaver and his conscience, was telling him.

  He loved Sable. And she loved him back. Maybe he was worthy of that love after all.

  “You take that tone with me?” his father growled back, for once not concerned with the beast that dwelled within his son’s body.

  “I take that tone with anyone who interferes in my life! I love that woman and I will stay here to protect her!”

  “Gentlemen,” Fal stepped forward, trying to ease the tension between the father and the son. “We all need to calm down.”

  “I am calm!” Terror shouted as he glared at his ungrateful brat of a child.

  “So am I!” Torn smirked back. “And I am not leaving her, period!”

  At this point Zultha was fuming. Torn had never spoken of her like that. He had never shown any type of backbone whatsoever.

  He even talked his father into their mating, instead of standing up and arguing him down, defending her as he defended that washed-out weak version of herself!

  Sable, he called her. He risked much to be with this Sable.

  And seeing him here and unharmed let her know that it would not be as easy to trap this Torn as it was to trap the milksop Torn that lived back in their realm.

  But she wanted him to hurt, her mind screamed at her.

  She wanted him in pain!

  She wanted him to suffer!

  Here, he had too many people, too many powerful people protecting him. And Nello was soon to follow.

  Her time was running short, she realized. Nello alone would prevent her from seeking her justice. She would protect her son, and Zultha was not up to the physical standards to take on a full-grown warrior like Terror in his prime.

  Then there was Torn himself. With this new attitude, there would be no way to find a weakness in him to exploit.

  Or was there?

  There was such passion in his eyes when he spoke of the little washed-out copy, such passion. He openly admitted he loved that thing, and he was going against his father’s wishes to be with her.

  Even now, she thought as she watched him step right up to his father and make his demands, he showed his passion for that thing.

  “It will kill me to leave her!” Torn bellowed at his father, ignoring Fal’s restraining hand.

  The weakness, she decided, a sinister smirk spreading across her face.

  As the men argued, Zultha took the opportunity to follow the redheaded thing back where she disappeared deeper into the house.

  She paused at every closed door, leaning against it slightly to listen for sounds of movement.

  The pendant around her neck gave off no warning of magic being worked, so she knew that the female was not a witch and that Nello was nowhere nearby.
She still had time to alter her plans and make Torn hurt.

  As she paused at one door to the rear of the manor, she smiled as the means made themselves known.

  “Stupid men breaking my door and upsetting my Torn,” Sable muttered as she sat on her bed to yank on thick sweat socks and her runners. She wanted to be totally covered when she confronted the invasion party, as she thought of Torn’s people, and find out what the hell they were doing to her man.

  She shot to her feet, anxious to get back out into the living room, she jerked to a halt, a shriek of fright caught in her throat.

  That hooded person was standing in her bedroom door, towering over her.

  “What…?”

  “Hello means,” Zultha purred in her tongue as she slipped the hood of her robe back and revealed her grinning superior countenance.

  * * * * *

  “Where is she?”

  “Nello!” Terror turned as his mate burst into the room, with five men, three of his guard and two he had never seen.

  “The assistant! Where is she?”

  The men turned to watch each other, confusion written plainly on their faces as they halted their heated discussion and looked around the room.

  “The assistant?”

  Before Terror could utter another word, there was a loud feminine shriek and the sound of a body hitting the ground. Then there was a crash of breaking furniture.

  En masse, they all turned and raced towards the hallway that led deeper into the house, tangling up with each other as Terror and Torn got stuck trying to move their bulk through the hall at the same time.

  “Move!” Jack bellowed, slamming into them, knocking them to the ground, but it solved the human blockage holding up progress.

  There was another scream and it spurred them all to untangle and move faster.

  Torn was the first to enter the room, followed by Jack and Terror with Nello pushing her way through.

  “Sable!” Torn bellowed as he stared at the mess of what was once a very neat and tidy bedroom.

  Then turning to his father, he fisted his hands in his father’s vest, dragging the shocked man closer to him as his eyes began to swirl and change into a glowing demonic red.

  “What did you bring to my house?”

  * * * * *

  “What do you want?” Sable snapped as she stared at the Amazon blocking her way.

  She did not like the unsavory look on that woman’s face. In fact, her whole demeanor was downright frightening. It seemed that this chick was surrounded by an aura of madness.

  She recalled her days of volunteering at hospitals, helping some psych patients on the mental ward play in the bright primary colors. There had been one woman there who the doctors swore could be rehabilitated. She didn’t know why, but she was always disturbed by the mere presence of the woman.

  One day, the Scary One, as she referred to her, walked over to her and whispered in her ear, “You are fated to die.”

  “What?” she asked, not believing what the woman was calmly saying.

  “You are going to die screaming,” she added in a singsong voice. “I have seen it. They told me last night that you would die. And that they would eat your soul and drink your screams, and bathe in your blood and misery.”

  She stopped volunteering soon after that, but she never forgot the feeling of madness that surrounded that woman. She still had nightmares about it.

  And now, it was the same vibe that she was getting off the Amazon who blocked her bedroom door.

  The woman didn’t say anything, but her smile got wider as she stepped into the room, spreading her arms out, preventing a quick escape.

  “What is this?” Sable growled as she stalked up to the woman, intent on pushing her away and getting back to Torn. She didn’t have time for foolish games of superiority, and this woman was getting on her nerves, going where she was not invited.

  But as she stepped closer, the woman shot out one hand and slapped her soundly across the face.

  “Oh, no, you don’t!” Sable snarled as she stared into the woman’s smirking face.

  That’s why it was so easy to ball up her fist and let it fly straight at the Amazon’s stomach, doubling her over to Sable-height and bringing her into the perfect position to slam that same fist across the right side of her face.

  The woman let out a little shriek as she toppled to the ground.

  “You don’t come in my house and pull some shit like that!” Sable growled as she drew back her foot to kick the woman out of the doorway.

  But the woman, snarling in her rage, reached out and caught Sable’s foot, jerking her heel up and taking her off balance.

  Sable tumbled to the floor on her butt, but rolled to the side as the woman used her grip to try and pull her in closer.

  “I don’t think so!” Sable bellowed as she reached out her hand and caught the leg of an accent table.

  She yanked the small wood table to her, sending a small statue of a metal dragon falling to the floor. She brought it over her head and sent it crashing down on the crazy one’s back.

  Shrieking, the woman let her go and they both rolled to their feet.

  “Now, it’s on.” Sable growled as the woman glared at her, how dare you strike your better, written all over her face.

  Then before she could move, the woman reached into the folds of her cloak and tossed some powder into Sable’s face.

  “Poison!” Sable gasped as fire burned her eyes and nose, as her lungs began to seize.

  Stumbling away from her murderer, she tripped to her picture window, struggling to get it open when all her arms wanted to do was grab her throat and make the burning stop.

  She forced one hand away, pounding at the glass, slamming it with all her strength until the pane shattered, slicing her hand and arm, but letting in the precious air.

  But it was not enough. She saw the blackness at the edge of her vision closing in and struggled to stay aware, but to no avail.

  As the powder overcame her, she heard the hissing laughter of the crazed one and the sound of her window being utterly shattered, then knew that all was lost.

  * * * * *

  “Torn!” Nello snapped as she walked over and slapped her son on the arm and drawing his attention. “Now is not the time! We have to save that young woman.”

  “Who?” Torn roared, releasing his father and turning to his mother. “Who has taken my Sable?”

  “Zultha.”

  Chapter Thirty-Five

  “The witch is dead!” Torn roared as he looked wildly around the room, trying to catch some sense of where the witch had gone.

  “I can find her,” Nello said, trying to calm her son.

  “Who are all these people?” Jack asked, fear and anger evident in his voice.

  “Where the hell is Sable?” Jill added, his eyes going to the woman. “You said you could protect her!”

  “Who are these men, Nello, and what are they saying?” Terror demanded, eyeing Jack and Jill with suspicion.

  “What do you mean, Zultha?” Fal demanded. “What has happened to my assistant?”

  “Enough!” Nello roared, glaring at the men in the room who growled and demanded, but were acting like a bunch of children.

  Without thinking, she lifted her hands and two white balls of power struck Terror and the Healer, gifting them with the knowledge of the language. She lifted her hands to Torn, but he shook his head. He understood enough to express himself and understand what was going on around him.

  Terror blinked as a thousand sounds filled his head, then settled to a low hum. Then he jerked his head toward the taller of the two new men. He could understand his words clearly.

  “What happened to Sable?”

  So the wench’s name was Sable.

  “Zultha happened. That is why I was in such a rush to get here.”

  “Impossible!” Fal stated, shaking his head. “I saw my assistant hours before we were to travel to this realm, and it was my assistant who carried my bel
ongings.”

  “Fal, I believe I found your assistant dead in my library,” Nello added kindly.

  “What?” Disbelief was in his voice, his heart saddened by the loss.

  “Someone strangled her, but in her hands, she clutched lengths of long red hair. I believe she knew she was going to die and left a message for me. She had to be one of Zultha’s people.”

  “But I’ve known my assistant for years, Nello. I can’t believe she would betray the realm!”

  “Has she been acting funny?”

  “She disappears for hours, but that is normal behavior for her. I never suspected…”

  “We waste time!” Torn snarled as he walked over to the window, his presence growing with every step, his anger mounting with every second passed. “I must find her!”

  “We will,” Nello soothed, walking over and placing her hand on her son’s arm again. “We will bring her home.”

  “Damn right you will,” Jack growled, and the guards placed hands on their weapons. “You promised she would be safe.”

  “I will do everything I can do to make her safe.”

  “Then do something!” Jill yelled. “We are standing here arguing and holding out limp dicks while that bitch, whoever she is, makes off with Sable! We have to do something.”

  “Zultha is protected by my father’s amulet.”

  “Your father?” Jack yelped, incredulous. “Your father gave her the means to hurt your son through Sable?”

  Jack was no fool. He knew that the only reason anyone had to take Sable was to get to Torn. It was something he feared for the longest.

  “Nice family,” Jill added, still waiting anxiously for some kind of good news. “So your daddy gave her some jewelry. What good is that going to do us?”

  “I can track it,” Nello said calmly, watching the faces of the men.

  “Well, then what are you waiting for? Get to tracking!”

  “We will retrieve the woman,” Terror said as he glared at the men. “Then we will take Torn and go.”

  “I am staying, Father.” Torn said, still concentrating on not turning around and tearing up what was left of the room. His anger was growing and it needed release.