Fallen Souls

by Linda Foster

  US copyright ©2014 by Linda Foster

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any informational storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher, except for inclusion of brief quotations in a review.

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  Published in the United States by Glass House Press, LLC, 2014. GLASS HOUSE PRESS and colophon are trademarks of Glass House Press, LLC.

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  ISBN 978-0-9749096-5-3

  Library Of Congress Cataloguing-in-Publication is on file with the publisher.

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  Cover by White Rabbit Designs and Creations

  Book Design by Inkstain Interior Book Designing

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  First Edition

  “Ash!” a girl shouted from across the room. He heard her, but barely; the music was louder than ever, and there were at least one hundred people crowded into the house, screaming and laughing. She had seemed stifled and far away, but he turned to the sound of her voice, searching for her. He was sure it had been his sister. Ducking and weaving through the crowd, he finally found her, meeting her eyes through the sea of classmates. Grace grinned and waved, and began shoving through the people, trying to get to him.

  He watched his sister approach, laughing. By the time she got there, she was flushed and pink, her chest heaving. Her eyes were also glossy, he noticed disapprovingly, her walk more of a stumble than anything else. She’d spilled most of the drink in her hand with her inability to walk straight, and arrived by falling into him.

  He caught her by the arm to steady her, but quickly buckled under the added weight, and they fell into the couch together, laughing. Ash looked around, breathless, wondering if anyone else had seen that exhibition of drunken stumbling. He loved his sister, but her drinking was getting seriously out of control. He scanned the room, seeing the usual group of jocks and cheerleaders, laughing, joking, and flirting, and all unabashedly intoxicated. Suddenly, his eyes stopped and drifted slowly back to a face that didn’t belong.

  There … the man at the top of the stairs. He’d seen him only seconds earlier, he was sure, though he hadn’t paid much attention to him. Now, however, the man was staring at Grace with a smile on his face. A smile that Ash didn’t like.

  Ash glanced around, wondering if anyone else saw the man, or if his sister had caught sight of him. Something about the man made him uncomfortable, and he definitely didn’t like the way he was looking at Grace, like she was his next midnight snack. He felt the urge to go and say something to him, but didn’t want to go making trouble on his own. If anyone else had seen the stranger, maybe he could find an ally. Unfortunately, everyone else appeared to be either drunk or busy, and when he glanced back, the man was gone. Ash shrugged and let it go, chalking it up to his imagination or the double vision from the beer in his hand. Now that he thought about it, he wasn’t sure if he’d even be able to describe the guy. He looked down at the drink in his hand and put it carefully to the side. If he couldn’t remember the face of someone he’d seen two seconds earlier, he’d obviously had enough to drink.

  Grace, on the other hand was still drinking and giggling hysterically at his side. He turned to her, trying to put the man out of his mind for a moment.

  “What is it, Grace?” he mumbled, his eyes running around the room.

  “How did it go with Stacey?” she asked raising an eyebrow.

  He grinned self-consciously, and all thoughts of the creepy man scattered. Stacey, the cute girl his sister had introduced him to earlier, was on the cheerleading squad with Grace. She had short strawberry blonde hair, cut just above her chin, and brown eyes that turned to gold in the sunshine. Her smile took his breath away. He’d had a crush on her for months, and when Grace found out, she’d brought him to his party to introduce him.

  He knew he was lucky to have a sister like Grace. She was a typical cheerleader: beautiful, with long blonde hair and a brilliant smile. And of course, she was popular. She’d always claimed that she had a deeper side, though, and drew the line at dating guys who didn’t also appreciate her mind. Ash had lived with her long enough to know that she was just as smart as she was beautiful, and went far deeper than most people realized, though she didn’t always show it. Ash, on the other hand, had always been a bit more socially – how to put it? – challenged. It wasn’t that he didn’t have friends, or that he’d never had a girlfriend. He was just pickier about who he let into his life. But he’d started coming into his own popularity, courtesy of making the JV lacrosse team this year, and was building a wider group of friends, much to his sister’s delight. Some of the seniors on the varsity team had even invited him to coffee the day before – which meant he’d practically made it. Still, he would never have been invited to big parties like this without his prom-queen sister dragging him along. And he’d certainly never get to meet girls like Stacey.

  He ran his eyes over the crowd again, wondering about the girl in question, and nearly jumped out of his skin when he saw the creepy guy he’d been looking for. He was standing on the other side of the room now, still in a position to stare at Grace. The crowd seemed to have opened up before him, giving him a direct line of sight toward the sofa where they sat. He was still staring at Grace like he was going to eat her for dinner. Or worse.

  Suddenly the man peeled his eyes away from her and turned them in Ash’s direction. Ash shivered, but stood his ground, doing everything he could to take in more of the guy’s features this time. He didn’t know what it was, but something told him that he needed to remember this man’s face. He was tall, and thin … almost too thin, actually. He looked sick. He had a black beard and mustache, which matched his jet black hair. Classic bad guy features. His eyes had a faint glow to them, and looked almost … red. In fact, he looked like he was dressed for a Halloween party more than anything else, in dress pants, a red vest, and a black shirt underneath.

  Ash knew that he’d had more than enough to drink at the party, but the man’s creepiness was quickly erasing his buzz. What on earth was someone like that doing at a high school jock’s party? He wasn’t a jock, and he sure wasn’t a popular kid at school.

  When Ash blinked, the man disappeared again.

  He turned and poked Grace in the shoulder, hoping she’d been paying attention. “Did you see that guy?” he asked in a whisper, motioning to where the man had stood. This time he couldn’t shake the presence off. There was something very wrong about the guy. And whatever he’d been doing there, it was all about Grace.

  “Is this your way of saying you don’t approve of my choice of date for this evening?” Grace asked incredulously. “I’m not so desperate that you need to point out guys for me. I can find them on my own, thank you!”

  “No, seriously,” Ash mumbled. “There was just a guy standing there and now he’s gone. There was something seriously weird about him.” Leave it to Grace to be drunk when he had something important to tell her.

  “Okay,” Grace replied sarcastically. “No more drinkies for you.”

  “Grace I’m being serious. Could you try to sober up for half a second?” he asked, his eyes still scanning the room. Grace snorted and ignored him. “Grace,” he muttered, grabbing her arm and turning her to face him. “There was this strange guy and he was staring at you.” He wished she’d listen to him for once, but a part of him realized that it was a lost cause; Grace was his best friend, only two years older than him, but she tended to blow off important things like personal safety. He’d spent much of his young life getting her out of scrapes and pulling her out of the road before she got hit
by a car. It was a wonder that she’d survived this long.

  “Oh Ash, stop being so dramatic,” she laughed. “I don’t know who you’re talking about, but I haven’t seen him.”

  He glared at her. He knew he was being overprotective, but he also knew that he was absolutely right to feel that way. She was his only sister, and he didn’t want her hurt. Besides, if anyone did anything to her, he’d have to kick their ass, and considering how much bigger the disturbing guy was than him – not to mention older – that would probably end badly. Very badly.

  “Grace,” he continued, feeling like he was trying to reason with a brick wall. “You haven’t been talking to any strangers have you?” Frustration crept into his tone, despite his efforts to stay calm. Alienating her wouldn’t do any good, after all. She’d always been too stubborn for her own good.

  Unfortunately, it seemed he’d already crossed that line. She stopped laughing and all the humor vanished from her face. “Excuse me?” she asked, raising one eyebrow in anger. “What are you, an after school special?”

  Ash sighed. No help there, then, and if she was angry enough, she’d get up and desert him, going off on her own – probably straight into the arms of the guy he’d seen. Suddenly, the whole party seemed like a horrible idea. The more he thought about it, the more convinced he was that the guy meant Grace some harm. He wanted to get out of there, get his sister home to safety. The question was how to do it? Grace was already mad at him, and wasn’t going to leave willingly. He’d have to try and outwit her.

  Suddenly he saw a flicker of something out of the corner of his eye; bright red, laughing eyes. He could swear it. Eyes that promised terrible things, and mocked his inability to do anything about it. Heat and fear spread over him and his own eyes shot around the room, searching out the owner. Eyes couldn’t appear without a face – and body – to go with them, which meant that the guy must be standing right next to them. The man was nowhere to be seen, but the image of those red eyes wouldn’t leave him. It was as if they’d branded themselves onto his brain. He couldn’t shake the feeling that he was being watched, along with his sister.

  They had to get away.

  “Can we get out of here?” he asked abruptly, turning toward his sister. He didn’t care if he was being rude. Dread was setting in, and if she said no he thought he’d probably drag her out anyway. The man with the red eyes had him on edge, and he couldn’t ignore it.

  She glanced at him with an incredulous look on her face, confirming his fear that she’d say no. After she stared at him for a moment though, her features softened. Maybe she could see the fear on his eyes. He was her little brother, after all.

  “Sure.” She yawned. “This party is getting boring, and I need to lie down.”

  Ash almost whooped with relief. He scooped her off the couch, set her on her feet, and carved his way through the crowd, holding her hand tightly for fear that she might be snatched away from him at any moment. He registered the looks from some of the other guests, and knew that they’d be talking about them leaving so early, but none of that mattered now. All that mattered was that he needed to get her out of there. Now that they were leaving, the pressure that had been building in his head was getting worse. They had to get out of the house before that guy found them, or something bad was going to happen; he was sure of it.

  They stumbled out the door and down the driveway, tripping over each other in his hurry. Grace had picked up on his nervousness, and now seemed just as keen to leave as Ash. They’d both had too much to drink, though, and he wondered how they were going to get home. He drew to a stop by the car, and looked around nervously. There was nothing for it – the risk of them dying in a car accident seemed less than the darkness that was threatening. When Grace went for the driver’s seat, though, he was quick to grab her hand and take the keys.

  “Hey,” she mumbled, “give those back!”

  “Nope,” he told her sternly. He was swaying where he stood, a slight buzz still racing through his bloodstream, but he was positive that he’d be a safer driver than Grace. She was barely able to stand up on her own. Neither of them should drive, but they’d be better off with him behind the wheel.

  “Ash, stop it,” she slurred. She held her hand out expectantly, waiting for him to drop the keys and give up the fight. “It’s my car. You aren’t driving it.”

  He slanted his eyes to the right, stalling to give himself more time, and gasped. There, reflected in the car’s window, were the red eyes, highlighted against the outline of a tall, thin man. The shadow moved, and then he saw the flash of teeth.

  He spun around. To either side of the house was forest, and nothing else. No one was there, nothing moved. It could have been an animal, he told himself. Then he saw glints of red in the forest, where there’d been only darkness. He turned quickly, grabbed Grace, and, throwing open the driver’s side door, shoved her in. He jumped in after her, pushing her into the other seat through some superhuman feat of strength, and slammed the door behind him. Slammed the locks down.

  “Ash, what’s wrong?” Grace asked, her eyes wide and frightened.

  He glanced in the rearview mirror, his breath so ragged that he couldn’t answer. There, leaning casually against one of the parked cars, was the man, his burning eyes focused intently on them. The man smiled slowly, as if he knew what Ash was doing, and knew that it wouldn’t work.

  Panic shot through him. He threw the car into first gear and slammed on the gas.

  “We’ve got to get out of here, Grace,” he muttered. “Hold on!”

  As he pulled out onto the road, he kept most of his attention on the rearview mirror, watching to see whether the man followed them. Some deep, more rational part of his mind told him that he was over-reacting and being fairly ridiculous, but he shut that voice down. Something was seriously wrong with that man, and he didn’t care what anyone said. He had stepped out of the pages of a horror novel and Ash knew that if he caught them, terrible things would happen. The car travelled forward into the darkness, but Ash kept his eyes on the road behind them. If the man followed them, he wanted to know about it.

  When a set of headlights appeared in the mirror, his stomach dropped. This was a well-used road, and that could be anyone behind them, but the image of those eyes wouldn’t leave him. He didn’t think that was any human behind them.

  “Ash look out!” Grace screamed.

  His eyes shot to the road in front of them. He’d been so focused on what was happening behind them that he hadn’t noticed when he started to swerve. Now he saw, to his horror, that he was on the wrong side of the road. The lights of a semi-truck shone right in front of them, and the horn blared out in warning. Ash tried to swerve the car out of the way, but he was going too fast.

  His last memory was the sound of his sister’s scream and the crushing of metal.

  The cold night air swept through Ash’s hair and across his face, tugging him awake. His head pounded, and his thoughts were foggy. They started to come together slowly, but not enough to recall anything tangible. There was something he needed to remember, he was sure. Something important. But his head hurt and he was cold, making it harder to think. He wasn’t even sure where he was.

  He tried to blink, but couldn’t get his eyes to open at all. There was a ringing in his ears, and a terrible pounding at his temples. I must be hung over, he thought, though this was far worse than any hangover he’d ever had. He groaned and tried to move, but a horrible pain shot through his head and down the entire right side of his body. He’d barely managed to open one eye when he saw him.

  Red eyes stared at him, glowing like embers. Below them, a wide grin stretched across a gaunt face. Ash gasped. He knew this man, but the recognition slipped through his mind like a shadow. There was a solid thought there, but every time he attempted to pull it to the front, it vanished. He tried to sit up, desperate to get away from the man and his never-ending gaze, but his arm gave out and he ended up slamming right back down onto the … pavement?
His mind grew fuzzy again at the thought, but he tried to focus, to take in his surroundings. Bright lights appeared, highlighting the landscape around him, and he gasped. The forest. The road.

  He looked up, wiping an unidentifiable liquid from his eyes, and found that the man was now standing right over him. He leaned down, his breath falling on Ash’s face.

  Before the man could speak, though, something distracted him and his head snapped to the side. Ash turned his head and saw the vague outline of a girl with honey-colored hair and eyes that glowed a warm hazel. She made him feel safe and warm, and he smiled. The man, on the other hand, seemed to find her distasteful. He hissed and disappeared. After a moment, the girl smiled sadly and disappeared as well, into a soft white light. Ash lifted his head, looking for her, and saw instead the flashing of blue and red lights in the distance. There were voices too, coming quickly toward him.

  “Don’t move. You’re going to be alright,” someone said. Whoever it was turned and yelled something to someone else, and then turned back. Ash gasped, convinced that the man with the red eyes had returned for him, but when he looked up he saw a policeman above him. A man with normal eyes. The man pushed him down and stared at him, concern written all over his face. “Can you hear me? Can you speak?”

  The man turned around again, motioning for someone to come to him. Then a medic came into view and the policeman moved away, saying something along the lines of “This doesn’t look good.”

  Ash desperately wanted to ask him what the hell he was talking about, but wasn’t able to get his lips to form the words. He didn’t even know if his voice would work – if anything would work again. The medic put his hand against Ash’s cheek and moved a flashlight in front of his eyes. The light burned. He tried to bat the man’s hand away, but his body wasn’t responding to his commands. He was having trouble thinking at all.

  “Get him to the hospital. Quickly,” the medic said. “Make sure you call ahead. The girl is starting to go into shock. She’s going to need to go straight into surgery to try and stop the blood loss.”