Monsters and Invisible Men (Lost Souls Book 1)

by Amy Barrett

Nick exhaled. For a horrible second he thought they wanted him to decide whether he was going to be friends with Ivan after the talk he and Zerachiel had just had, or worse they were asking him to come up with a plan to defeat Mephistopheles on the spot. He was so used to people asking things like this of him that Ivan’s simple question seemed absurd.

  Abyzou had made it to the chair with Ciara and dumped her into it. “Nick doesn’t watch tv. He is too busy saving mankind.”

  “You mean wolfkind,” Ciara said.

  Ivan giggled like a little girl. This in turn made Zerachiel laugh. Abyzou held her face in intense lines for the first few seconds but it melted away when Nick also smiled. They laughed more than most people would have at the joke. Nick supposed they all needed to laugh so badly that they threw themselves at the chance. Ciara chuckled, holding her wound whenever she moved.

  Nick watched them and wondered why the wolves never seemed to laugh anymore. If they ever did, it was unnerving. Nick had never felt as light as he did now. He could have laughed for hours. It wasn’t that the joke was funny, but the laughter was contagious. It was as if a damn had been broken inside him.

  Ivan calmed himself down. “You lost control mate,” he said to Nick, “I think if you laugh anymore then you might piss yourself.”

  “Not comedies then.” Ciara was wiping tears from under her eyes.

  Ivan sighed in contentment and laid his head down on Zerachiel again. “Apparently not.”

  Nick shrugged. “Horror?”

  “Surely it would take a lot to scare a guy who can be as horrific as you?” Ivan started playing with the zip on Zerachiel’s jacket, twisting it between his fingers idly.

  Nick nearly exploded at the blatant insult. His face tensed up and he felt the beast inside growl in support.

  Yet, watching Ivan mess with the zip, leaned on the lap of an angel, put things into perspective for him. If the zip could entertain this guy, then why bother getting mad when he came out with an actually entertaining joke. Nick took a calming breath and let it go.

  Zerachiel flicked Ivan’s ear. “Don’t be so cheeky. We will watch something funny.”

  Ivan sprang up and held the offended ear. He nursed the skin as if he had been mortally wounded.

  Abyzou folded onto the floor in front of the sofa. “That’s a good idea. I don’t get scared by anything.”

  Zerachiel smiled and settled himself into the sofa. The cushions bulged out from behind his broad shoulders and he rested his hands lightly on his lap.

  Ivan claimed the other end. He pulled his legs up onto the seat beside him and draped his body over the arm of the sofa.

  Ciara was in the seat and Abyzou on the floor. Nick had the other seat, the one closer to the door. It was a small room and not a body more would have fitted.

  Ivan picked one of the movies from Ciara’s shelf. He decided on “Bride Wars”, as reapers played an important role in war and he wanted to see a reaper do his job, he reasoned.

  The room was made dull when Zerachiel got up and drew the curtains. The dim enveloped them. Nick drifted into a calm sleep while the events of the film played out.

  His dream was a familiar one. It was a few years after the demon attack on the wolves’ town. Most of the wolves had died. This included his father and his mother. His sister, Mia, didn’t speak much now.

  Nick and Dan had led the remaining wolves into the woods. Within a few days they had stumbled into society and intergrated themselves into a new home. There was little else that they could have done. Of course, it was certain that the demons would come and find them again. Until then, they lived their lives like anyone else. The axe looming over their heads just added a bit of spice to life. Nick was twenty-one and the wolves still saw him as the next Jesus Christ.

  All except for one of the elders. Jackie was seated in a swing on the porch of her house. The house was clean and newly built. Some of the locals had thrown curses at the ragged old lady who got one of the newest houses in the block. They felt she should have been left to whither in an aging house.

  She was cleaning some blood off her hunting knife with a delicate handkerchief of embroidered silk. The cream fabic soaked up the blood like a starving vampire. Nick marched up the steps. The emerging moon cast a shimmer onto the varnish on the house. It looked like it had been sprinkled with water.

  Jackie looked up and acknowledged him with a nod. “Hello Nick.”

  Nick waved and came to sit beside her. Her flower trousers caught under his thigh and he had to shuffle to release them. “Hey Jackie.”

  They sat in silence for some time. Nick distracted himself with his hands. There was a smudge of blood on one of his knuckles.

  Jackie didn’t look away from her knife. “Who did you get this time?”

  Nick stopped breathing.

  The elder wolf laughed. “Relax, boy. I am not mad. They musta deserved it, no?”

  Nick rubbed his knuckle against the palm of his other hand. “He tried to talk to Mia.” In the street, someone was singing and someone else told them to shut it.

  Jackie spoke quietly. “Can’t have that can we.”

  Nick wasn’t sure if she meant that or not. He licked his thumb and used it to wipe away the blood.

  Crickets were chanting in the grass to the left of Jackie and she hummed along with them. Setting the hankerchief down, she started admiring the blade in the moonlight. “That girl will have to join the pack at some stage. She is of age now.”

  Nick nodded. “I know. But she has been through so much. I don’t wanna push her.”

  Jackie stopped moving the blade. It held the light in a way that it reflected off the surface and obscured her face. “You have been through quite a bit. You will need her help if you are going to convince all of these wolves that you are just another member of the pack. They need to train to defeat the demons, not just rely on you.”

  Nick knew she was right. By having his normal sister by his side, he in turn seemed more normal. There was just one problem with this. Mia had adopted a room in Nick’s house. It had become her nest. Now the mere mention of her name made Nick see that flea filled living chair in the middle of an otherwise empty room. The thin curtains tossed infront of the window and streams of light breaking in through holes in the fabric. She would be huddled on that chair, knees up to her chin, with bags under her eyes.

  “You aren’t God. You can’t change her mind with your will.” Nick hadn’t noticed but the old woman’s eyes were trained keenly on him. As she spoke, she placed her soft hand onto the top of his. The touch was a comfort that reminded him of his mother.

  He started to respond but was stopped by a scream which ripped open the night. People were running and crying, and Nick stood to watch down the street to see where the terror was coming from.

  He heard a howl. It was too loud to be an ordinary wolf. Humans ran from the source, mowing each other down in what was a calm street just a few seconds ago.

  Nick looked to Jackie. She wasn’t scared but simply resumed rubbing the knife. “Go. Figure out what it is.”

  Nick started to jog and she shot a warning after him. “Be careful though.”

  The people would have taken him down and flattened him to the pavement if he had been human. As it was he was strong enough to shove past them and made his way towards the howl. There, at the corner of the street where the playground was, a wolf reared its head back and called out to the moon. It had blonde fur and luminous eyes. Its huge paws left prints on the pavement. Nick knew this wolf well and his breath stopped in his throat. It was a crescent moon, so she should not be turning. The chilly wind smashed into Nick’s face and sent a chill all over his body. He started to shake, and his stomach did a flip. It was Mia. In wolf form she had little control. However, this was worse. Her eyes were not her own, but wild and crazed. They bounced around in their sockets and focused on nothing for too long. Nick had heard that there were demons powerful enough to force a wolf to change. He had never seen a forced change b
efore. His throat burned as bile rushed up it. He couldn’t think straight. If only it had been anyone but his sister.

  He didn’t care about finding the powerful demon. He needed to calm his sister and somehow remove the unnatural demon magic from her mind.

  He approached her and held up his hands in an effort to show he meant no harm. As he got closer, Mia’s breath wafted into his face. It smelt like blood. She turned to look at him and sniffed the air. Nick pleaded with his eyes. She would see it was him and would come back to herself. He would make her turn back; he would save her like he was meant to.

  He locked eyes with her and willed her to think and recognize his face.

  Snarling, she raced at him. He tumbled and narrowly avoided getting his body torn in half. She skidded to a stop. Her tail lashed out and knocked a fleeing man off his feet. His face hit the ground and snapped back into his skull. He stopped moving immediately.

  Nick was standing up from the ground, when she ran at him again. Like a bull, she bashed her head into him. Luckily for Nick, her teeth did not make contact with him. However, her skull snapped the bone in the bottom of his left leg. Burning agony erupted from his injury and he howled. The pain gave the gargoyle and opening. Its claws replaced Nick’s fingernails. He took many calming breaths to force them to recede.

  Nick watched his sister and held his breath. She was thrashing her head about and foam slipped out from between her teeth.

  “Come on Mia. Don’t let it take over.” His voice was made deeper and more like a growl by the nearness of the gargoyle state. Mia took this as a threat and dug her nails into the earth. They scrapped across the concrete, making a highpitched wailing sound.

  Nick could feel the gargoyle iching to finish this. He knew that if he didn’t turn, there was the distinct possibility that Mia would kill him.

  Mia snarled and stalked towards him. Nick pleaded with his eyes. “Come on little sister. Snap out of it.”

  The humans had all run by now and a crowd of the wolves had gathered to watch. Their whispers were not helping to calm Mia. Her ears spun around listening to all and she jumped at the littlest sound.

  Mia halted. One paw hovered in the air, the nails on it tipped the ground. Nick saw his chance. He moved in closer and reached a shaking hand out to her. She breathed gale force winds and they brushed his hair back off his forehead over and over. Nick just needed to touch her. She would see that he wasn’t a threat and she would remember who he was. She was his sister and he wasn’t going to give up on her.

  “She wont stop.” A voice boomed through the crowd in a sinister tone. “She can’t.” Nick felt his heart speed up when he heard it. Nick didn’t dare look away from his sister. If he broke eye contact the spell may wear off. Then he wasn’t sure what would happen.

  The same black-haired demon from before, the one who had killed Nick’s village, stepped out of the crowd. He pushed his way past the gathered pack. Wherever he touched, it left flakes of skin that fell from his fingers in his wake. When he reached the front of the group, he stood in place to watch the exchange between Nick and Mia. He plucked rotted skin off one of his fingers, flicking it into the wind.

  While the rest were distracted with the arrival of their enemy, Nick only watched his sister. Her paw was trembling now. She saw the demon and tensed. Her massive shoulder blades rolled in preparation for the attack.

  The demon saw this, and his dark eyes narrowed as he sneered at the wolf.

  “Don’t look at him.” Nick waved his hand to get Mia’s attention. “Look at me.”

  The demon cackled and began stepping back. “Careful what you wish for.” He was moving too fast and he startled Mia. She began twitching and thrashing again.

  Nick waved and drew her attention to him. Mad yellow eyes bore into his and he searched them for some scrap of his sister.

  He saw only his own reflection in their fathomless depths.

  Suddenly, the wolf looked away again. Nick could not find the demon in the group when he searched. The pack stood in their lines and smiled encouragingly at Mia. They would never think of one of their own as dangerous.

  Her muscles contracted with crushing force. Nick could see it. She was crouched and prepared for an attack on the pack. In a moment, her teeth would cut them open and blood would slither around the bottoms of Nick’s trainers.

  The pack had started to notice a change in her, but it was too late. As a group, they could not move fast enough to avoid her. Nick knew that in a few seconds, his sister would strike them down. He knew he had to act, had to choose between her and the pack. He started to cry and shake. It wasn’t fair that he had to do this. The entire world got to be normal, but he had to kill his own sister. He had to save everyone but himself. His thoughts were spinning out of control and the further he slipped into panic, the more ground the gargoyle gained inside him.

  He let himself drift into the mind of a senseless animal. No fear was felt by the gargoyle as it took the wheel. It happened easily, as the beast was already vying for control. The patchy fur spread like a rash and soon the thing which stood before them was not Nick anymore. The only sign of the man within, were the tears that rested on the monster’s face.

  The gargoyle was free from the weak emotions that had saved the young wolf from her brother’s attack. He sprang at the wolf only half successfully as a searing pain in his leg reminded him of his injury.

  Mia spun and her jaws clamped onto the gargoyle’s wrist. The wolf’s tongue pressed against the large vein in his wrist and she growled.

  Mia pushed, trying to knock him off his feet. The gargoyle cursed his human form for sustaining the damage to his leg and used all his might to push back. The colossal beasts shoved one another in a fight of strength. For a while it was even but soon the wolf’s paws started to slip backwards.

  The pack was dispersing and disappearing down side streets. Some stayed back and watched with open months. They were soon dragged away by more sensible friends.

  With a roar, the wolf went down. She fell on her back and her spine cracked against the ground. The impact made her jaws fall open and release the monster’s wrist. The gargoyle moved over her and pulled back his paw, preparing for a lethal slash. Mia got to her feet in an instant. She threw her body weight sideways against the ribs of the gargoyle. This knocked the creature off balance and the raised hand fell harmlessly.

  The gargoyle righted himself and thrashed at the side of her skull, puncturing it with curved claws. The gargoyle drew back, bringing the inserted claws out of the body of the wolf. A bridge of blood was briefly created between the skull of the wolf and offending sharp edges on the monster’s paw. The bridge fell and soon after so did the wolf.

  Although the monster had won, its body ached, and the broken leg shook as it slowly tried to heal. The gargoyle stumbled towards the crowd of the pack. They had stopped running just a few metres away and gawked at the dead wolf before them.

  The gargoyle smelt the flesh of their bodies and his stomach rumbled.

  Before he could act, the demons returned. The leader from before was first among them. He led the rotten army through the middle of the pack. They cut down and attacked wolves as they moved.

  The gargoyle bellowed into the air and the sound made the pack transform into their wolf forms.

  The demon stopped and raked his fingers through his hair. “That’s an impressive trick,” he said, glancing around at the wolves and demons now fighting a full-on battle. “Kind of like something a demon could do.”

  The gargoyle spat his indignation from between his teeth. He took to the sky, taking his weight off his broken leg.

  The demon looked up and sighed. “This again.”

  The gargoyle rocketed towards him and hit the demon like a shooting star. Both were smashed into the earth. The gargoyle was predicting victory. When it stood, the demon would be so weak that all it would take would be one swipe to end this thorn in his side. The creature rose up to finish the job. As he stood, the demon
shot onto his feet and stabbed his knife into the thin stretched skin of the gargoyle’s wing. The gargoyle kicked the demon away from himself and tried to fly but the injury made such a flight impossible.

  The gargoyles vision was starting to blur, and something burned in his blood. He clawed at his own skin to try and remove the sensation.

  “You didn’t think you were the only one who had learnt a thing or two?” The demon got up like a puppet with the strings barely attached. His body was slowly mending the damage done by the impact and the gargoyle’s vision just kept getting worse. The pain angered him, and he hissed at the demon. He threw about his claws and missed every shot.

  The demon paced around the creature and smirked. “Do you like it? My poison?”

  The gargoyle was almost totally blind now.

  The demon produced hells chains from seemingly nowhere. He let them hit the ground with a clunk. “It is made from angel’s blood. Angels are tricky things. See they can’t be poisoned at all. Strange twist that their blood makes one of the most potent poisions I have ever seen. It only works on demons, so it was a gamble to give it a try on you.” The demon came too close and the gargoyle clawed him in the face. The cut reached from the top of his forehead to the corner of his mouth. Soon half of the demon’s face was totally covered in blood that was clumps of purple and blue as the oxygen in the air failed to reach all of it in enough time to make it red.

  The demon licked up some of the blood as it met the corner of his lips. “That was a mistake. See this is why I save my only supply of angel blood for you.” He began to swing the chains above his head like a lasso. They whipped through the air impossibly fast.

  “The poision will not kill you, but I will.” He lashed the chains around the gargoyle’s middle and pulled them tight. The monster couldn’t inflate his lungs and his skin was on fire wherever the metal touched. Both the monster and Nick started to panic as they thrashed for freedom. Whimpers replaced roars of rage and soon he lay on the ground without moving. His solid skin rose and fell with each waning breath. He knew he had been beaten and it made him furious.