by Hayden, Sean
“You’re such a dork. My dork. Don’t forget it.”
“Sheesh. Like you’d let me,” I said with a wink.
The people ahead of us got their tickets and headed toward the theater door. We moved up to the window. “Two for Zombie Paradise, please,” Jessie said and pulled out a credit card.
“I got it, Jess.”
“No. Daddy does. His treat he said.”
I nodded appreciatively. “Tell him I said thank you.”
“I will, when I start speaking to him again.” She signed for the tickets, grabbed them and my hand, and we went inside.
“Okay. Spill it. You’re mad at him, fighting with him, and yet he still pays for us to go out,” I said as we got in line for snacks.
“I said I don’t want to talk about it–”
I silenced her with a kiss. “Okay. But at least tell me if it’s bad. Should I be worried?”
“Oh. No. Not at all. He’s just annoying me.”
I laughed. “Well, remind me never to do that.”
“Stay away from Shannon and all will be right with the world.”
“I don’t think you have to worry about that,” I said and looked over at her with a smile, noticing the topic of our conversation standing at the entrance to theater three, the shoot-em-up movie I wanted to see. Thank you for picking zombies. Thank you for picking zombies. Shannon gave me a wink. I quickly looked back at Jess, hoping she wouldn’t turn to see Shannon standing there. She started turning.
I panicked. “Will you marry me?”
“What?” She stopped turning, which was good, and smiled at me, which was not so good. It meant she was thinking about it.
“I suppose I should have said would. Would you marry me if we were older, not living with our parents, had good jobs, and a means to support ourselves?”
“Maybe,” she said and ordered our popcorn, drinks, boxes of snowcaps, gummy bears, and cookie dough bits.
“Hungry?”
“Shut up,” she said, giggling as she paid for everything.
Mr. James was rich compared to most people in Cedar Hills. I just hoped our trip to the movies didn’t force him to mortgage his house. “Your dad is gonna kill us.”
“I consider it penance for annoying me. Do you want a new car?”
“Jeez, when did you get so…evil?”
“Do you like it?”
I gave her my best “mad scientist” laugh. “Absolutely! It means my plan worked and I have corrupted the innocent!”
“You’re such a dork.”
“Yup. Yours. We already covered that.”
“I’m going to pee quick,” she said and left me to carry the pile of food she bought. I stuffed the boxes of candy in my hoodie pocket, tucked one drink in my arm, and grabbed the other drink and the tub of popcorn in my hands. I saw her duck into the women’s restroom on the way to our theater.
I wandered over and hung out by the entrance, waiting for her. As I stood there, Shannon came out of the theater. The sounds of the movie playing blasted out the door as it closed behind her, only to be muffled again.
“Hi, Connor,” she said and blew me a kiss as she headed toward the women’s room.
“Hi…” I sighed and waited for the fireworks.
Jess opened the door, took one look at Shannon, glanced over at me, and slammed the door behind her instead of holding it open for Shannon.
“Wow. Bitch much?”
Here it comes…
But Jess ignored it. Or so I thought.
“Oh, Shannon,” she said without turning around as she kept walking toward me.
“What?” Shannon turned, holding the now open door.
“You haven’t even begun to see my bitchy side,” she replied as she grabbed my face with both her hands and locked her lips to mine. I was grateful for the heaviness of the candy in my hoodie. It pulled it down well past my hips as I felt Jessie’s tongue slip into my mouth. She didn’t stop kissing me until she heard the bathroom door slam shut. “Ready?”
I nodded dumbly as I glanced down to make sure I hadn’t dropped any soda or popcorn. “Yeah.”
As hot as the kiss was…and as good as it felt… I felt a little used. I started to frown at Jessie, but then my little brain took over the thought processes from my big brain, and I gave Jessie a lopsided grin.
Jessie walked to the entrance to our theater, opened the door, and held it for me. “Sorry,” she whispered as I passed.
“Don’t be. I enjoyed that thoroughly.”
“I figured you would. Is that a box of snowcaps in your pocket, or are you happy to see me?”
“Both actually.”
Jessie laughed as she let the door close behind us, plunging us into darkness.
Chapter 11
My cell phone rang, waking me up from a very pleasant dream I was in the middle of. I reached over to my nightstand and grabbed it, unplugging the charger as I glanced at the screen.
It was two in the morning and it was my sister calling me. What the hell?
“Hello?”
“Connor! Come to the park, now!”
My sister’s voice sounded panicked. “What’s wrong? Are you okay?”
“No. Get here now. I need you,” she said and hung up.
I jumped off the bed and slipped my cell into the pocket of the jeans I had fallen asleep in. I slipped my feet into my converse and grabbed a T-shirt on my way out of my room. I didn’t even take the time to sneak down the stairs. Caelyn was in trouble. Getting to her was the only thought in my head.
Instead of taking my scooter, I leapt into the air and called my wings. The park was only a few streets over, and I could fly faster than I could drive.
The playground and surrounding fields were completely dark. That was unusual. The city usually left it well illuminated at night so passing patrol cars could keep an eye out for kids doing things they shouldn’t be doing. A sense of dread filled me as I plummeted from the sky right near the swings. “Cae!”
I heard a muffled, “Over here,” from the edge of the woods surrounding the playground. I headed that way, building speed with every step. I saw Cae first. She was crouched down on the ground holding something in her lap. When I got closer, I noticed it was Jenny. Elizabeth stood over them both in disbelief.
“What happened?” I crouched down to get a closer look.
Jenny seemed unhurt, but unmoving. “We were attacked,” Caelyn said, muffling a sob.
“Is she okay?” I reached down and touched Jenny’s wrist to search for a pulse.
“She’s gone,” Elizabeth spoke. She said it in a matter-of-fact tone that sent shivers down my spine.
“Tell me exactly what happened,” I told Caelyn, not wanting to hear the deadness of Elizabeth’s voice again.
“We were hanging out by the swings when the lights went out. We figured it wasn’t a big deal and that they were on a timer or something. We could still see, so it didn’t matter. All of a sudden, something landed behind us. I stood up, thinking it was you trying to scare us. I even yelled your name and told you to knock it off.” Caelyn started sobbing and lowered her head until hers touched Jenny’s.
“What happened, Cae? What happened to Jenny?”
Elizabeth spoke, continuing where my sister left off. “It had wings like you, but it wasn’t you. I couldn’t see it, even with my vampire sight. It was wrapped in darkness. I only know it had wings, because they stretched upward above it.”
I nodded in understanding, waiting for her to continue.
“It went right for your sister. It grabbed her in both its hands and tried to fly away. Caelyn started screaming and kicking at it, but Jenny leapt onto its back, keeping it on the ground. The thing was strong. Stronger than us. It reached over its head and grabbed Jenny by the hair and flung her over its head. She landed about ten feet away.”
Caelyn looked up and stared at me. “It was one of you.”
“What happened after that?”
“I attacked it,” Elizab
eth continued. “Your sister broke free and ran for Jenny. She picked her up and took off for the woods, screaming at me to come on. I tried as hard as I could to get away, but the thing was just too damn fast,” she said and started crying. It was one of those cries that you know won’t stop until there were no more tears left. She couldn’t breathe between the choking sobs. I walked over to her and took her into my arms, holding her tight. Caelyn kept talking.
“The thing started to do something to Elizabeth. I knew I had to help her, so I put Jenny down and ran back. I hit the thing as hard as I could, but it didn’t even seem to faze it. That’s when it touched Elizabeth’s face with its hand. Connor, I saw it pulling her spirit…soul…whatever, right out her body. I did the only thing I could think of. I bit it. I bit it, started gnawing, and sucking its blood as fast as I could.”
“What happened?”
“It let Elizabeth go. I grabbed her and ran the opposite way from Jenny, hoping it would chase us.”
“Did it?”
“No. When I realized, we turned around and ran back. It was standing over Jenny and let a little blue sphere go before vanishing in the woods…”
I nodded, knowing exactly what had happened. I knew because I had done the exact same thing to Brett. “She is gone then.”
Caelyn nodded. “I know. I can always feel when Jenny and Elizabeth are around. I think it’s got something to do with me being able to feed on them. When we came back and I knelt down… I knew she was gone.”
I kept one arm around Elizabeth and reached into my pocket, pulling out my cell. I dialed Clarisse. She answered on the fourth ring. “Clarisse, come to the park. We have a problem.”
She hung up without answering and after a short while, landed not far from where I had. I called softly to her, knowing she would be able to hear me. She jogged to where we stood, looked down at Jenny and then back at me. “What happened?”
“She was attacked, by a Fallen. Her soul was taken.”
“What did she do?”
Elizabeth straightened in my arms, and whirled on Clarisse. I could feel the anger radiating off her. “Nothing!”
“Why would they send a Reaper after her if she hadn’t broken any laws?”
“It wasn’t after her. It was after me,” Caelyn whispered, fear in her voice.
“You don’t know that,” I said, but she shook her head.
“I do. It marched right through Elizabeth and Jenny to get to me. Why? What did I do?”
“I can’t see why, you’re not bound by the laws. Elizabeth and Jenny were. They promised their souls to become vampires and were bound by them. I don’t get it either,” Clarisse said, just as confused as everyone.
“What do we do now?” I nodded toward Jenny’s body so only Clarisse could see.
“We need to call Darius. He needs to know what happened. The Reapers are his. He will also deal with…other arrangements.”
I nodded. “How do we call him?”
“It’s like opening a portal, but instead of… Nevermind. I’ll do it,” she said and walked back to the middle of the park. She looked up to the sky and I felt her call Darius. Quickly the sky turned to green and clouds began to swirl, forming a vortex above us. Darius fell from the blackness beyond and landed next to Clarisse. They spoke for a few minutes and he turned, looking in our direction. He paused momentarily before walking over to us.
“None of you saw who was responsible? None saw a face?” He sounded more worried than remorseful.
“No,” Caelyn said.
He sighed. “I am sorry for your loss. We will find who did this. Connor, take your sister and her friend home. Clarisse and I will finish here.”
“Finish?” Elizabeth stopped sobbing and looked at him in disbelief. “You mean clean up your mess. Our friend is dead and all your worried about is cleaning up?”
“Watch your tone, youngling. I regret deeply what has happened here. A promise was made to your friend that was broken by someone. We will find out whom. Until then, we must move on.”
“Who? I’ll tell you who it was. It was one of you. It had wings. That is what we saw.”
I silently willed Elizabeth to calm down. The last person she wanted to enrage was Darius.
“We are not the only winged ones capable of doing something like this. Be careful not to place blame where it does not belong.”
That bit of information surprised me. I had never even considered the Chosen having the same abilities as the Fallen, but it made sense. They were the same once, after all. “You think it was–”
He held his hand up for silence. His eyes said not now. I nodded in response. “Come on, Cae. Let’s get Elizabeth home.”
“I told mom I was staying over at her house tonight. I don’t think she should be alone.”
“Please,” Elizabeth added.
“Okay.”
* * *
I met Darius and Clarisse back at the park. They stood over where Jenny’s body used to be. It was gone. “Where is she?”
“Her mortal coil has left this world, just as her soul has. She is no more. I will ensure that her parents’ memories are altered.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means her parents will wake up and have to face another day, knowing that their daughter ran away and they will most likely never see her again,” Clarisse clarified.
“Wouldn’t a little closure be better?”
“Finding their dead daughter’s body would help?”
“I see your point. At least they can hope she is still alive.”
“Fear not, Connor,” Darius spoke again. “We will find her soul and it will have a place of honor among us. We owe her a debt.”
“You can do that?”
“Her soul was promised to us. It should have found its way to one of our realms as it was released. Do not worry, we will find her. On that, you have my word.”
“Do you think she’ll know who did it?”
“You have never visited with the souls who come to our realm, have you?”
“No. The other day was the first time I had been there.”
“You need to come home more. Find me when you return. You will have a place there for you should you need to leave this realm for a while.”
“What do you mean?”
“He means you’ll have your own apartment-like thingy. All of the Fallen have quarters in one of the realms,” Clarisse interpreted for me.
“You have your own place?” I turned to her.
“Correction, I have two of my own places. One in Shade City and another one here.”
“Most of the time I forget that you don’t have parents and live by yourself. Doesn’t that get lonely?”
“Sometimes,” she said. I could tell by her face it was more often than sometimes. I fought the urge to give her a hug. It probably would have ended with her fist in my face, anyway. I turned to Darius instead.
“So, what were you saying about the souls?”
“That they usually have little to no recollection of their previous life. They also never remember their death. Often it is too painful a memory to bear.”
“That makes sense. It would be on my top ten list of things to forget, anyway.”
He nodded. “It is time for me to depart. If you have need, call me.” He strode back to the center of the park and flew upwards once again, disappearing into the green vortex that appeared in the night sky.
“I can’t believe nobody is going to call the cops about green swirling clouds above the park.”
“Humans can’t see it. Most of them anyway. The ones that can are usually already labeled by your society as different or insane. It’s quite convenient.”
“You and I have different ideas about convenience.” The events of the night finally caught up to me and I swayed a little on my feet.
“Are you okay?” Clarisse reached out and steadied me on my feet.
“Yeah, Just tired. Want to sit with me a minute?”
“In the par
k?”
“Sure.”
“We might want to get rid of our wings first. In case someone happens to drive by.”
It was nearly four in the morning in Cedar Hills. Nobody would be driving by, but it is always better to be safe than sorry. I did as she suggested and followed her over to the swings that had already collected dew in the cool night air. I decided I didn’t care about having a wet butt nearly as much as I cared about not falling on it.
I could feel it seeping into my jeans, chilling my backside even more that it already was. The cold no longer bothered me, but the wetness was a little uncomfortable.
“Feel better?” Clarisse wiped off her swing seat with her hand. She always was a little smarter than I was.
“Feels good to sit.”
“Not what I meant, but I’m glad.”
“What did you mean then?”
“About Jenny’s soul. Death for humans is never permanent. For us on the other hand…”
“It is?”
“No one knows. When we die, we disappear. We hope it’s to rejoin with the Creator, but that’s just one of many theories by the Sages.”
“Sages?”
“Yeah. I told you this before. We have many callings. Seekers and Reapers. You met Darius. Warriors, are the responsibility of Jun, whom you also met.”
“And Agravius is in charge of the Sages?”
“Yes.”
“What is a Sage though?”
“Wise one. They are our scholars.”
“That makes sense. Who is in charge, charge of all the Fallen though?”
“No one person. It’s the Triad. Three members so there is never a tie on any decision.”
“And who do they report to?”
“I suppose the Creator, but he left these realms.”
“He gave up on us?” I had a little trouble believing that.
“No! He is the Creator. He Creates. He doesn’t oversee, or govern. He creates and lets his people thrive, or fail. But he loves us all the same.”
“With that mentality, why the huge fight over free will? Couldn’t it be considered the Creator’s intention?”
“That is our argument, but the Chosen interject with the theory that the Creator made us to rule.”
