by annie nadine
Soul Snatcher
Title Page
PROLOGUE
CHAPTER 1
CHAPTER 2
CHAPTER 3
CHAPTER 4
CHAPTER 5
CHAPTER 6
CHAPTER 7
CHAPTER 8
CHAPTER 9
CHAPTER 10
CHAPTER 11
CHAPTER 12
CHAPTER 13
CHAPTER 14
CHAPTER 15
CHAPTER 16
CHAPTER 17
CHAPTER 18
CHAPTER 19
CHAPTER 20
CHAPTER 21
CHAPTER 22
CHAPTER 23
CHAPTER 24
CHAPTER 25
CHAPTER 26
CHAPTER 27
CHAPTER 28
CHAPTER 29
CHAPTER 30
CHAPTER 31
CHAPTER 32
CHAPTER 33
CHAPTER 34
CHAPTER 35
CHAPTER 36
CHAPTER 37
CHAPTER 38
CHAPTER 39
CHAPTER 40
EPILOGUE
Soul Snatcher
By Annie Nadine
This book was self-published by the author Annie Nadine Davis.
Copyright © Annie Nadine 2012
All rights reserved.
The right for Annie Nadine Davis to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by her under the Copyright Amendment (Moral Rights) Act 2000.
The moral right of the author has been asserted.
This work is copyright. Apart from any use as permitted under the Copyright Act 1968, no part may be reproduced, copied, scanned, stored in a retrieval system, recorded or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without prior written permission of the publisher.
Davis, Annie.
Soul Snatcher / Annie Nadine.
Cover artwork done by Timothy Ayres.
Cover images © Timothy Ayres 2012.
Copyleft © 2008-2012 BCD/MFA for heading font metal macabre, free to download and use from: http://www.boltcutterdesign.com.
To Heather and Jeff
Thank you
PROLOGUE
ITALY
1803
On a cold and lonely night in a rundown inn, two seemingly normal men sat at the bar on stools stained with blood and liquor. The rickety, old establishment fell by the wayside and well off the beaten path. It was run down but well-liked by the local drunks. The place was surrounded by trees because this part of town hadn’t been developed yet and it was well hidden, allowing the patrons a certain amount of privacy. The customers were particularly rowdy and most of the rooms in the brothel upstairs were full.
Badenoch sat at the bar with a drink in his hand. The glass was dirty, just like the place itself and the people in it. He preferred to go by his nickname, Baden and he had worked very hard so no one knew his actual name. He hated his given name, it just reminded him of his past back in England.
His hair appeared coal black but if you looked closer it shimmered midnight blue. He kept it shorter than most men because he didn’t want to resemble the people around him in any way. His eyes were the clearest azure, a striking contrast compared to his dark hair. His skin was flawless and pale, his face rough but perfect and his body was strong and sturdy. He was dressed in simple black trousers, a ragged grey coat and a white peasant shirt, not tucked of course because he didn’t care what anyone thought of him. He wanted to be nothing but a lingering nightmare that haunted anyone who came across him. His towering height made him all the more imposing and helped to accomplish his tormenting wake.
Baden didn’t like to draw attention to himself more than he had to, he preferred his solitude above all things. Which is why he felt uncomfortable as he sat silently next to his companion, Oliver.
Oliver was someone who loved attention and would do almost anything to get it. He scoped the room full of outcasts and the unwanted, looking for an easy target. He was indolent that way, he was strong enough to choose anyone but he would always pick the weakling. But anyone was lucky if they caught his attention opposed to Baden’s. Baden was not someone you wanted noticing you, no matter how tempting he was.
Anyone who saw them together would think the two men were bothers because of the similarities in hair colour and mannerisms, Baden hated that. But they were far from it, the only thing they had in common was what they were.
A young, drunken woman, who worked at the brothel, had just finished with her last client and stumbled up to Baden in hopes that he would be her next. Her dress had a plunging neckline that accentuated her abundant assets, helping to assist in her particular occupation. She fell against him suggestively as he sipped his drink but he ignored her efforts. He could smell her soul and it was nothing but decay and desire wrapped in self-loathing and it made him feel sick. He hated the stench of people’s souls and being able to sense them only strengthened his resolve to dispose of the ones he despised the most.
You see, Baden and Oliver were different to many around them. But Baden, he was special even among his own kind. He was renowned by others like him and all they wanted to know was, why was he so different? But no one had the answer, not even Baden. He was an outcast from every other and he didn’t even know who to blame for it. So the blame fell on everyone just as his hatred did, fuelling his degraded opinion of the human race further.
“Get away from me,” he said quietly without looking at the lady of the night.
“But Sir…” She said trying to sound appealing as her accent rolled around the words. But all he could smell was her soul and it was almost smothering him. She walked her two fingers up his arm towards his collar but he grabbed her hand before it made it to its destination. He calmly turned his head and looked at her with those cold, blue eyes. Eyes that had not shown any emotion other than hate in two years.
“Do…not…touch…me,” he growled, enunciating each word.
The bar was loud around him and no one noticed his treatment of her, not that anyone would care if they had. He started to grip her hand tighter and she couldn’t keep the pain from playing across her face. Her eyes brimmed with tears but she knew better than to make a sound, if she was caught up in any trouble she would be fired. When he could sense the fear in her he shoved her hand back towards her and she took a few steps back as she cradled her hand to her chest. He had broken one of her fingers but he didn’t care, in fact he was almost glad. He stared at her until she went running back upstairs to her room.
“Baden,” his friend scolded. Oliver placed a hand on Baden’s shoulder but he shoved it off, walking out into the night without saying a word. Oliver rolled his eyes, he was used to his brooding friend’s moods and wasn’t concerned in the slightest.
Baden stood outside regarding his surroundings, seeing nothing but trees. Now that he had finally decided to leave he just had to choose where to go. He was especially tense on this particularly cold night. It had been exactly two years since he had seen anyone from his past, since he had been changed. He pulled his collar high around his neck and dug his hands deep into his pockets, chilled by the memories that plagued. Even though he had been changed into an eternal creature he still felt human in ways. Most of the sensations of humanity were still there in creatures like him. Feeling cold or hot, smell and taste…pain. But it was all intensified in his changed form. Others like him could still be injured, and even killed by certain methods, but he was different to even them. His life had been altered in one moment of stupidity and now he made others pay the price for that.
He took in a deep breath of the cold air to sense what was around him, nothing but forest and the subtle odor of the city in the distance that w
as crawling with humans. The wind blew eerily through the trees but it did not make him feel uneasy because he was the one everyone should be afraid of.
“Baden!” Oliver called out in fun as he stumbled from the inn. Oliver draped himself over his friend’s shoulders playfully but Baden didn’t move, he stood looking at this fiend he had picked up along his travels with distaste written all over his face.
“You drink yourself stupid every night like the other miscreants here,” Baden said as he pushed Oliver away from him.
“And you are such a rotten sport,” Oliver slurred, not offended in the slightest. He paused for a moment and looked around, only just realising that it was cold outside. “Give me your coat!” He demanded in a silly, drunken fashion. Baden stared at him with his usual hatred and Oliver knew not to push him. “What is your problem?” He asked.
They stood for a moment in silence, hearing nothing but the breeze. Baden didn’t want to bring up his past, he never let himself be vulnerable to anyone. When his story had been found out it spread like wildfire but when he started killing anyone who spoke of it around him everyone soon got the idea to shut their mouths, in front of him at least. But Oliver was never one to use good sense, so after remembering the date and putting all the pieces together he blurted out his suspicions.
“Oh…I see…” Oliver nodded his head in realisation as he folded his arms across his chest to fend off the cold. “You are sulking about what happened back in England…all those years ago.”
“I suggest you and I go our separate ways, Oliver,” Baden said watching the trees off in the distance. Oliver stood there completely taken aback by his words.
“Stop being absurd,” Oliver brushed it off as nothing, refusing to believe it. Baden finally looked at him to show how serious he was.
“You are just like every other person I hate.” Baden kept his voice low and controlled. He could feel Oliver’s anger mounting but he wasn’t afraid. When the silence grew between them Baden decided there was nothing left to say so he turned to leave.
Oliver stood there seething. He wasn’t just going to let him walk away, after everything he had done for Baden. He ran after him, brutally grabbing him from behind. He shoved him into the closest tree to restrain him and the whole tree shuddered from the impact, causing a sea of leaves to drift down on the icy breeze. Oliver grabbed him around the neck with one hand and used his body to hold Baden against the tree.
“I made you everything you are today,” Oliver hissed. “Your name is known because of me and you are not just walking away from everything I have made.” Baden could feel Oliver’s desire for recognition and fame. Oliver resented Baden because he had the power and reputation that he had always wanted for himself.
But Oliver’s protest was useless. Baden was faster and stronger than Oliver, he was stronger than everyone he had come across, and he had had enough. He grabbed Oliver’s arm and broke it in two places before Oliver even realised what was happening. He didn’t have enough time to gather himself together before Baden shoved his chest to push him away then kicked his legs out from under him. He had pushed him so hard that two of Oliver’s ribs were broken from the violent outburst.
“I am sick of being your pet, Oliver,” Baden said as he stood over him. Oliver looked up from where he lay on the ground and tried to move his arm, waiting for it to heal. His ribs were stinging but they were well on their way to being restored. “If you try to find me again you will be in a far worse state than you are now,” Baden threatened before he turned and started walking away.
“I know who made you like this,” Oliver called out. He was trying to desperately bargain back his control, knowing that Baden had been trying to find who had changed him. “She told you her name was Mary but she has another name…”
Even though Baden could sense truth in Oliver’s words he still didn’t believe him. Anyone can believe their own lies, this was just another way that he was trying to force Baden to stay. So he walked away into the cold night, the light from the tavern passing over him as he walked by. The commotion of the inn quickly faded into the darkness as he left. He heard Oliver reluctantly rejoin the crowd and Baden couldn’t help the relief that he felt, knowing that he would never have to see Oliver again.
Baden wandered through the night aimlessly. He wasn’t sure where to go but as his hatred festered he was beginning to form a plan in his mind. Before he could come to any solid ideas a fierce wind picked up suddenly, blowing his coat and hair out of control. Before he could take cover, it vanished just as quickly as it had appeared. He paused when he realised someone else was now present.
“Baden,” a woman’s voice said harshly through the night.
He turned around to see a woman standing amongst the trees close by. Her hair was so blonde it was not only close to white but it looked as if it was glowing. Her skin was pale, almost like ice and had a slight silver shimmer to it. Her features were sharp and commanding, her eyes so blue they looked close to ice-white. The stern set of the stranger’s jaw was unnerving and for a moment he felt as if he was inferior, like she was judging him. There was something he didn’t like about her…she reminded him of his cantankerous aunt who used to reprimand him as a child. He had never liked her and he was already starting to feel quite the same about this woman.
She wore what looked like a long, shapeless coat with the sleeves falling loosely to her wrists and the length flowing all the way to her feet. The colour was silver but had a white lining running along the seams and it was almost as if it was made from the stars itself.
It looked like she came from a different place than humans altogether. It didn’t seem like she had a soul, it was as if she was a soul that was shaped like a human. There was no good or bad part of her from what he could see, she just existed and nothing more. She certainly wasn’t human but he had no idea what she was and he could sense straight up that she wasn’t impressed with him in the slightest. In fact, it almost felt as if she despised him already. The feeling was mutual.
“Who are you?” He asked, thinking this woman was already starting to annoy him. He could tell she was aged though her face was ageless.
“I am known as, Aliyah,” she answered. She spoke with no emotion and she gave off the feeling that she was in control but entirely uncomfortable with being there. Most of all, Baden could tell she wasn’t afraid of him. “And I have come to strike a bargain with you.”
“And what type of bargain is that?” Baden wasn’t in the mood for this. She stood there emitting her aversion to him and he did the same to her. As far as he was concerned she could just join the queue of people who found him abhorrent.
“It has come to our attention that you are creating quite a disturbance here and we are required to arbitrate…” she began to say but was cut off.
“Who is ‘we’?” He asked bitterly. He wasn’t impressed with the idea of being watched.
“That is none of your concern!” She snapped at him. She didn’t like Baden in the slightest but she was chosen to be the one to confront him because she was part of the few who created him. But something had gone wrong and now it was her job to fix it. “There is much you do not know and I am here to negotiate your assistance.” Baden almost laughed at her.
“And why would I help you?” He sneered.
“There are many reasons to help someone…” She paused as she looked at him, almost as if she was disgusted. “But from what I can tell of you, you are someone who thinks only of himself.” Even though it was true Baden was still offended. “So name your price…” He looked at her for a moment and could sense that she had the ability to do more than just give him money, which he didn’t need. She had the power that he could use for his revenge.
“Kill the one who made me,” he asked.
“That is out of my control,” she shot back instantly.
“Kill the one who betrayed me,” he threw at her. She abruptly tilted her head to one side, as if she was trying to understand his strangeness.<
br />
“I can offer more than revenge, Baden…I can offer you redemption,” she countered. This time he did laugh.
“Listen Aliyah,” he said her name with disdain. “I may not know what you are but I can sense enough to tell that you would be able to see my soul,” he reasoned. “And I would wager there is nothing in there that makes you believe that I would want anything other than revenge.”
Aliyah took a breath, trying to hold back her anger. She hated dealing with beings in this realm and this was adding to her many reasons why. She had been told he would refuse to change his ways and that is exactly the reason why they had already put a different plan in motion. A plan that would change Baden entirely, whether he liked it or not. The only reason she had attempted to intervene was to abide by the laws she was bound by.
“If this is what you choose then you have just made your life more difficult than it needs to be,” she said through gritted teeth.
Before he could say anything else the wind picked up again, blowing dirt into his eyes. He closed them abruptly, brushing his eyes free of the dirt as quickly as he could. When he looked up again she was gone.
