Soul Snatcher

by annie nadine

  Annie was so stunned by his words that her mouth fell open. Baden took a small step forward and she remained where she was.

  “I know you have your doubts. I know it seems that I may be doing all of this just to steal your soul and no matter how much I assure you, it does not mean anything. I am here to return the book you intended to read before I took it from you. After you have read what it has to say then you may decide what to believe,” he offered. She glanced and saw the book laying on her pillow, she had missed it when she first came in. It was ‘Methods of the Soul Snatcher’. She looked back to him.

  “And what if I refused you, what would you do then?” She asked trying not to let her emotions carry her away.

  “Then I will not bother your life any longer.” Even though there was pain in his voice he masked most of it. She deserved to be able to decide without his emotions being a factor. He wanted her to choose what was best for her life.

  “How is it that you have kissed me and I am still alive?” She asked him feeling like she was about to give in already.

  “There are a few different possibilities and then there is the reason. I will tell you what it could have been and then I will tell you what it I think it was…if you would like,” he offered.

  “That sounds fair,” she reasoned knowing that anything he said could either be a lie or bias.

  “Option one: soul snatchers have the option whether or not to take a soul from someone who loves them, so I could have merely decided not to take it at that point or failed to,” he explained.

  “I see,” she said processing that option.

  “Option two: it could be that you did not love me.” She highly doubted that was the case.

  “Continue,” she advised trying not to sound like she was skipping the option entirely, even though she was. Baden couldn’t help the hope that rose within him at the prospect that she might love him.

  “Option three: it could have been me setting you up to make you believe I would not steal your soul and use you for a time before I took it.” He paused after the list of possibilities to give her some time to think about them.

  “So that leaves what you believe the reason is.” She was nervous about what his reason might be. He took an audible breath in and slightly tilted his head to one side as if the answer was ridiculously obvious.

  “The reason I did not steal your soul is because I love you.” It was the truest thing he had ever said. “I love you, Annie.” He repeated himself to make sure she understood. He walked towards her and stopped when they were toe to toe. She looked up into his face and searched for any lies she might find there but she could not see any.

  He placed his hands on either side of her face and just looked at her for a moment. He had to hold himself back from kissing her because she might be scared. She swallowed hard, preparing herself for the kiss she thought was to come.

  “I will not kiss you tonight, even though I want to.” He let out a breath as if to say, ‘that was an understatement’. “I will kiss you when you have decided that you are not afraid of me.”

  And before she could say anything he leaned in and kissed her forehead. She reached up and clasped her hands around his wrists as he kissed her because she just had to touch him. He pulled back and looked down to her face, enjoying her touch.

  “I will be back when you have finished the book,” he said.

  “How will you know when I am done?” She asked. She wished that he would stay but she knew this was the best way to sort through the mess.

  “I will know and I will not be a moment longer,” he promised.

  “Then I shall see you when I am done,” she said to reassure herself.

  “Until next time,” Baden whispered and with one last kiss on Annie’s cheek he left. He had to before he was too tempted to kiss her lips.

  Annie stood there a moment by the fire and let a little hope wash over her that he might actually love her. This brought a joy to her heart that lit up her soul.

  “Until next time,” she mimicked his words to the empty room.

  Though Baden was already in the trees, where he would be until Annie finished the book, he heard her words and they made him smile. He heard her run to the bed, grab the book and settle into the mattress to start reading. She turned to the first page of the book where he had placed the bookmark. Now it was only a matter of time.

  CHAPTER 30

  When Annie had made it partway through the book, she was starting to wonder why Baden had wanted her to read it. So far all it did was explain the reasons why they stole souls and how they did it. She sat and read until she fell asleep in the early hours of the morning. She had been hoping to finish but her will power gave way when her body protested.

  Annie woke the next morning to a knock at her door. She sat up startled from the noise and the book fell from its place against her chest, into her lap. She looked around the room expecting to be someplace else and it took a moment to take in her surroundings. To her disappointment she wasn’t with Baden.

  The person at the door knocked again.

  “Come in,” she called out. She placed her hands on the bed behind her and leaned back, waiting for the person to enter. She was still in her dress from the night before and her hair was tangled in a curly mess. She was surprised to see Micah come through the door.

  “Micah, what are you doing here?” She asked, not realising her desire for him to leave was obvious in her voice. He closed the door and masked the disappointment that he felt from her objection to him. He looked to her with a ready smile.

  “Eli has been called away to a trackers council and I thought I would entertain you in his absence,” Micah declared. Annie couldn’t help but feel put out. She wondered why Eli had not told her himself.

  “Well,” she said as she looked down to her book then around the room.

  “Why have you not changed from last night?” Micah interrupted her thoughts. She looked back to him then down at her dress. She didn’t know why but he seemed annoyed.

  “I started reading then fell asleep without realising,” she explained. Not that it was any of his business. Micah looked across to the open window then back to her as if it was an accusation in itself.

  “I thought it may have been the result of a late night rendezvous.” As he spoke one of his eyebrows lifted in an accusatory manner.

  “Just what are you inferring, Micah?” She spoke more harshly than she expected to.

  “Nothing, it just seems coincidental that Baden’s miraculous appearance corresponds with the break in your usual habit of changing before bed.” Annie was annoyed by Micah’s intrusion on her personal life. They were not an item and they never would be, so why did he think he had the right to say anything?

  “I think that it is really none of your business. I am sorry but I am busy today and will not be able to give you my company,” she informed curtly, not giving him an opportunity to speak.

  “Please, Annie,” he said pleadingly as he stepped forward. He gave her a look that she had never been able to say no to in the past.

  “Micah.” Her tone sounded as if she was about to refuse him but he didn’t give her the chance.

  “Annie, I miss how it was before any of this happened. When it was just you and me and there was nothing and no one else in the way.” He sounded sad and he looked almost as if he were in pain. She felt awful about how she had neglected their friendship, when he used to be someone she relied on and cared for deeply for so many years.

  “I will change,” she said, rolling her eyes and giving in. “Meet me downstairs in ten minutes.”

  With a triumphant smile Micah turned and left, closing the door behind him. He was down stairs before Annie had even stepped off the bed. He waited anxiously for her at the bottom of the staircase.

  “If you leave with her from this house you will die,” Baden threatened from behind him. His entry had been quieter than silence and he actually managed to surprise Micah. He turned to Baden with a challengi
ng look. “Stay in this house with her and you will die also,” Baden furthered his warning.

  “What happened to the reformed Baden?” Micah asked condescendingly as he leaned against the balustrade.

  “He does not care too kindly for the fiend that lurks only when Annie is alone,” Baden answered barely containing his malice.

  Something else that set Baden apart from other snatchers was that he could not only read human souls but he could also read snatcher’s souls. He could sense that Micah had feelings for Annie but there was something that he was struggling to identify, something that was hidden deep inside that Micah didn’t want exposed.

  “Are Eli and Garrick away?” Micah asked innocently, knowing that Baden knew his act. “She is not yours Baden. She has decided to grant me the pleasure of her company so you have no right in the matter. I think it best if you leave,” he advised. “Besides, I think you may want to focus your attention on what Eli is up to with the other trackers,” he hinted. Baden didn’t care about anything else except for Annie.

  “Leave or die,” Baden threatened, he wasn’t backing down.

  Micah’s lips tightened and he was about to do something he would regret but he managed to restrain in his anger. Before he had time to answer, Annie opened her door and Baden left. She came down to find Micah in a more noticeably foul mood.

  “I am sorry, Annie.” He paused to try and calm himself some more. “But we will have to postpone our outing today.” Her brow furrowed as she looked at him, waiting for further explanation. When he said nothing, frustration covered her face as she looked around the room in confusion before looking back to him.

  “Then I shall see you some other time,” she said exasperatedly as she lifted her hands away from her sides slightly then let them drop against her. She hadn’t wanted to go with him in the first place and now, after disturbing her and practically demanding she came with him, he told her it was cancelled. She turned and went back up the stairs and closed her door a little more forcefully than she usually would.

  Micah stood at the bottom of the stairs for a moment before he left. He was sick of Baden and his possessiveness of Annie. Something had to be done. He left the manor in a fury of dust and speed. Baden watched as Micah left then went back to the trees outside Annie’s room, waiting for the moment when she finished the book.

  Annie had changed into a light yellow, day dress so she would be comfortable whilst she read. And she read all day and into the night. She was approaching the last chapter and so far nothing had come up that she felt would be merit enough to change her mind, that’s if she hadn’t already decided. She turned to the next page and came to a chapter titled: The Soul Snatcher and Love. Her heart beat faster and she knew that this was the chapter that could change everything.

  As she read it revealed a story about one soul snatcher that had left a journal that was found many years after his demise. It was a personal journal that had never been intended to be read but the trackers had come across it. It recounted his life as a snatcher and the countless times he had stolen a soul with ease. Then one day the journal entries had taken a different tone, one of love.

  However, the snatcher would not mend his ways and he tried to steal the soul of the woman he had fallen in love with. He had stopped writing after an entry revealing his tortured confession of what he was going to do, for he could not tame his need. After that day another hand took the page, it was that of the woman he had loved. She recounted the night he had tried to steal her soul. It said when he had tried to steal it, to his surprise he could not do so. Instead his efforts robbed him of his own soul and he died because he had tried to steal the soul of the one he had loved.

  After the recount of the journal entries the chapter went on to explain that a soul snatcher that had truly fallen in love, did not have the capability to steal the soul of the one they loved.

  Annie stopped reading and sat on her bed in shock. She closed the book before she was finished and placed it in her lap to give herself a moment. In a few pages she would be done reading the book and Baden would be there. She had no idea where the encounter would take them and she wanted to give herself time to prepare for it.

  As she sat there she wondered who had written the book. She picked it up and flicked around the first few pages to try and find out. As she did she came across a note that was written in the front. She had missed it at first because there had already been a book mark placed at the first page of writing which skipped the note. It read:

  Dear Eli,

  Enjoy your read.

  Baden.

  Annie’s heart froze before it jumped into a sprint. Baden had written the note in the most elegant script she had ever seen and she had seen it somewhere before. Just as she realised the truth, she heard Eli and Garrick come in the door. She closed the book in anger and tried to control herself. She left the book in her room and went down to confront Eli. Luckily Garrick had already lit lamps throughout the house or she would have stumbled in her haste. When she found the front foyer empty she went to the library.

  Without knocking she burst in to find him sitting behind his desk, Garrick nowhere to be seen. She slammed the door behind her which caused him to look up from whatever he had been looking at on his desk.

  “Where have you been?” Annie asked in a blaze of fury, storming towards him. Even though she was not angry because of his absence she let her anger coat all of her words.

  “I had a meeting I needed to attend. I left you a note, did you not find it?” Eli asked, standing and coming around the desk in response to her urgency. They both stopped walking when they were close to each other.

  “No I did not. Is there anything else you would like to tell me that you have kept to yourself?” She asked as she stood in front of him, her arms folded and her head leaning to one side, waiting for his response. Her expression was barely controlled ire.

  Eli looked at her in complete confusion, he had no idea why she was upset. He reached out to touch her arm and try to calm her but she pulled away. She was livid, how could he have not told her something this huge? His face looked pained that she had pulled away from him.

  “Annie, what is the matter?” He asked, his voice covered in concern.

  “Tell me, were you ever going to reveal that Baden is your brother?” Annie sneered. Eli took a step back from her, his face a mask of horror that she had found out the disgrace he had tried so hard to keep hidden.

  Now he had no choice, he had to confess that Baden was his brother. The worst soul snatcher ever known to exist.

  CHAPTER 31

  “He was my brother,” Eli said the words as if they tasted bad in his mouth. He turned away from her and went back to his desk, standing in front of his chair instead of sitting. He gripped the chair with both hands, trying to hold back the anger he felt. Annie stormed up to the other side of the desk, arms marching beside her. She was ready to confront him about what he was so obviously trying to avoid.

  “He is still your brother whether you like it or not!” Her voice was louder than usual.

  “No he is not! How did you find out anyway?” Eli’s voice was cold and stern but he maintained his composure more than Annie managed to.

  “I found the note from him at the front of the soul snatcher book and the script matched the writing on correspondence from your bother,” she explained folding her arms again. “How can you disown him?”

  “He has done things that make me wish he was never born.” He sounded repulsed.

  “I would wager everything I own that you and your group of trackers never gave him a chance,” she yelled. She didn’t care who heard. “I have been told many stories since knowing you that demonstrate to me that trackers do not give many chances in the way of soul snatchers,” she raged. “And I know they do horrible things but have you ever thought if you gave them a chance they may not be the way they are? What of humans who murder? You are not killing them!”

  She was in no way trying to give snatchers a s
afe passage to a killing spree, she was merely trying to make him see that there could be hope for some of them. Namely, his brother.

  “Humans have police to patrol them and soul snatchers have trackers. They are all the same!” Eli yelled not caring who heard either. “My brother being turned has been the most painful thing I have ever been through, including the death of my parents. But at least I can remember them fondly and who they were remains unmarred. They would turn in their graves to know what their son had become. I wish I had the privilege of knowing Baden was dead!” Eli spat the words. They were so foul to Annie that she took a step back. She dropped her arms to her sides and let her disgust of his attitude show on her face.