Unnatural Souls

by Linda Foster

  And before I could move, his blade pierced my chest.

  My lungs felt like they had popped and stopped working right the second his knife sliced into my body. The pain was unbearable. I tried desperately to inhale, but nothing happened. At least it didn’t happen the way it was supposed to. My last full breath, with what little oxygen I had in my lungs, rattled out of my open mouth. Drops of warm liquid—blood, I realized—dripped down my chin, and my chest felt like it had been set ablaze, like it was being ripped open, the pain so intense that I felt a wave of dizziness flood through me. That was my brain was trying to make me pass out, I thought—anything to protect itself from the agony that was overwhelming me. My lungs burned, begging for oxygen that I couldn’t give them, and I struggled to take another breath, barely succeeding.

  Then the demon twisted the knife, and I let out a silent scream as my blades dropped from my hands and disappeared into a soft blue light. Was I dying? Was this how it was going to end? The talisman, Ash’s pendant, heated up around my wrist, now glowing a dull blue, and I stared at it, horrified. Was the angelic magic trying to protect me? No, I needed it to save Ash. This pendant wasn’t for me. It couldn’t save me when it had been designed for him.

  Oh God, I thought, panicked. What if something went wrong? What if Michael had been wrong about each pendant being unique, and this one sucked my soul in when I died, and saved my life instead of his? My legs gave way as the horrendous questions raced through my brain and I crumpled in on myself, my arms flopping out to the sides. My muscles twitched, my brain unable to control them, and I wondered if I was going into shock.

  But I went to the ground with one over-riding thought: I had to get the talisman off so it didn’t save me. It had to be open, or whatever the right terminology was, for Ash. I attempted to grab it, but my fingers were cramping up. And then the monster’s face came into view.

  “I’ll send Ash your best,” he snickered, kneeling down beside me.

  Ash, I thought. I needed to save him. I needed to get the pendant to him. I just didn’t know how I was going to do it. The idea that I might die hadn’t really made its way into my mental narrative before the fight.

  I didn’t have a Plan C.

  As if hearing my thoughts, the demon ripped the talisman off my wrist. I attempted to take it back, putting everything I had left into trying to grab it from him, but my arm only made it an inch or two off the ground before falling back down.

  “Though he will be joining you very soon,” he laughed.

  No he wouldn’t. I hoped. The demon would have to get through Kali to get to my brother—and I didn’t think he’d be able to do that. But then another bout of panic spread through me. Kali might kill that demon … but without the talisman, Ash would be fair game.

  I watched in horror, unable to move, as the demon sent an invisible wave of power into the lockers, shoving them to the side like they were made of paper. He twisted his body toward me for just a moment, threw the talisman in the air, and snapped his fingers. And, with a puff of black smoke, the talisman vanished. Along with any hope of saving Ash.

  He smiled cruelly, his red eyes intensifying in color before he turned his back to me.

  I stared after him as he sauntered down the hallway, until his body once again blurred, turning into a shadow that moved down the long corridor in fits and starts. His figure slipped through the darkness, moving further and further away from me, and closer to where I thought my brother might be—and I was unable to stop him. It wasn’t until his silhouette clouded the entrance to the auditorium that I knew for sure where Kali and Ash must have gone.

  And that the demon was following them.

  I had failed my brother, I realized with a gasp. Even if Kali killed the demon, they didn’t have the talisman. And without it, any other demon could come for him. Even if he was lucky, and managed to live his life without another demon collecting that debt, his soul was still tainted. When he died, it would go to Hell.

  But that didn’t mean I could just lay here, dying, and let it all happen. I had to do something. I had to warn Kali what had transpired. If she killed the monster, maybe she would have enough time to get to Michael and tell him Ash needed a new pendant. Maybe it would still be okay.

  I hoped now that Kali hadn’t teleported out of there—because I would have no chance of finding them if she had.

  I didn’t have to try to draw on my power to know that I was fading quickly. I would only be able to pull off one jump.

  I reached deep down inside myself, though I could already feel my powers diminishing. They were almost impossible to grab onto, and it was like trying to pull up an armful of Jell-O, but I put everything I had left into it … and was able to grasp the power long enough to do what I needed to. I pictured the aisles of the room the last time I’d seen it, and, with the little energy I had left, I teleported into the auditorium … praying they were still in there.

  I FELT DRAINED after the jump. Weak and cold, without any of the warmth that usually came from my powers.

  This was the end, I realized. All my body wanted to do was sleep, but I forced my eyes to open. There were things I had to do in here—including see my brother safe. And I might be dying, but I couldn’t do it yet. I had to save Ash first.

  I had landed in the center aisle of the auditorium, thirty rows away from the front of the room. The seating area was almost completely lost in darkness, the only light in the room coming from the few scattered bulbs that shone on the stage. Ahead of me, Kali, the demon, and Ash were on that stage, as if they were performing some sort of horrible play. Kali was being held about ten feet away from my brother and the demon, fighting against what I had to assume was the same barrier the creature had used to hold me off. She clawed urgently against the air, throwing herself against the wall, her eyes bright red and a snarl on her face. Though she repeatedly slammed her body into the invisible shield, though, she stayed exactly where she was. Leaving the demon standing alone with my brother.

  My slowing heartbeat skipped at the sight. I didn’t know how he’d done it, but the demon had succeeded in getting rid of both me and Kali. Now there was nothing standing in his way as he cornered my brother, ready to collect on his debt and take Ash’s soul straight to Hell.

  No, no, no. This couldn’t be happening. Kali was one of the original seven. She’d been an angel, for God’s sake, and was tougher than any other demon out there. This monster shouldn’t be able to beat her, no matter how strong he was. Surely there was a way for her to get through that barrier, whatever it was. There had to be.

  Fight harder, I mentally urged her. Please don’t let Ash die. If he did, then all of this would be for nothing. I was dying, and if Ash was taken … then I wouldn’t have changed anything. I would have wasted the last year of my life—and Ash’s—without finding any solution.

  I couldn’t stand the thought of it.

  She continued to struggle, though. She backed up and ran full speed into the barrier, but bounced right off it. Leaping right back to her feet, she threw a punch, slamming her fist into it with a dull thud. Her features were pinched, and she was flashing her teeth now as she roundhouse kicked the shield, still with no success.

  On the other side of the barrier, Ash was alone with the demon, and the monster was moving quickly toward my brother, closing the distance between them to grab Ash’s shoulder. Ash tried to back away but the demon drew his arm back, and though Ash put his hands up in defense, the demon’s fist flew forward. Unstoppable. He slammed his hand right into Ash’s chest and my brother gasped, grabbing the demon’s arm with one hand and thrusting the other into the demon’s face, trying to push the monster away.

  The demon didn’t budge, and I watched in horror as his hand disappeared into my brother’s chest.

  Ash’s eyes went wide. He threw a punch at the demon, fighting to get out of his grasp, and then kicked out at him, and finally dug his nails into the demon’s face, the knuckles on the hand that grasped the demon’s arm
going white with pressure. But the demon didn’t release him.

  I wanted to scream at him to keep fighting, but his blows were already becoming slower. Most of them were missing the monster altogether. His grasp on the demon’s arm was loosening as well, two of his fingers slipping off like he was having a hard time keeping hold of anything.

  I wanted to run to him—to help—but my body wouldn’t move. All I could do was watch my brother struggle for his life. Already his body was growing limp, and glowing with a strange redness. Then the crimson color intensified and began to pulse. The monster dug his hand in deeper, part of his arm sinking into my brother’s chest, and the aura around my brother … began to move toward the demon. Began to manifest outside of his body.

  Oh God, it was his soul, I realized. The glowing red light was an almost-transparent version of Ash. The demon was ripping his soul right out of his body. Both of Ash’s arms fell to his sides now, his fingers twitching, and his head flopped listlessly forward. He was dying.

  This wasn’t supposed to happen, I thought, panicked. I had come so close. I’d mastered my abilities, I had won the talisman. It was all supposed to be okay… But I had failed him. My parents would have two dead children because of me, and Ash was going to Hell and I was going to die despite his deal.

  I looked frantically back to Kali, praying that she’d found a way to break through the barrier. If she didn’t do something soon, my brother would be lost. His soul would be sent to Hell, and he would die. She might still have time to end it, though, if she did something right now.

  But she had stopped fighting against the barrier and was standing still, her eyes closed. What was she doing? Ash was going to die and she was just standing there? Then a familiar darkness began to cover her forearms. She was calling her hellfire, I realized. That was it. I’d watched her blast through walls and burn demons into ashes with this power. It was the strongest thing I’d seen any demon do, and if anything could break that barrier, her hellfire could do it.

  A small bit of hope sprang up inside of me. Come on, Kali. Her hellfire began flowing up her hands, then, and the air around her seemed to vibrate. I could see a rippling in front of her, like hot pavement on a sunny day. Could she blast through the shield? It was the only thing keeping that monster alive right now, I knew—and the only reason he was stealing my brother’s soul. If she broke through his barrier, she could dispatch the demon and save Ash.

  The monster’s head whipped to the side, his eyes on Kali, his arm still embedded deep in my brother’s chest. His muscles flexed and he continued to pull as he watched Kali, but it seemed like he was having trouble now. Every part of his body was rigid, and sweat was dripping down his face.

  Maybe Ash was still fighting inside of himself, trying to hold onto his soul.

  Hurry up, I begged, my eyes moving frantically between Kali and my brother. He didn’t look very good, and I worried that his soul would come bursting completely out of his body at any moment, and we’d be too late. The monster was focusing more and more on Kali by the moment, though, and Ash’s soul wasn’t moving anymore. The demon seemed to have loosened his grip on it.

  Kali must be doing something right, because the demon looked furious, and suddenly wrenched his hand out of my brother’s chest, his attention completely turned toward her.

  The moment the demon released his grip, Ash fell to the ground with a thud. His soul followed his body toward the ground and hovered nearby, but didn’t go back into him—if that was even possible. Ash’s arms and legs landed awkwardly, and then … he didn’t move. He hadn’t put a hand out to break his fall. He’d just collapsed. And there was no reaction to having hit the stage that hard. Was he even still breathing?

  I strained to see if his chest was moving, but my sight was becoming unfocused now, to the point that Ash looked pale—almost grayish. It reminded me of the way I’d looked in my hospital bed—for those few minutes when I hovered above myself, staring at my own dying body. Ash’s red soul was hovering over his body, just like mine had. Completely outside of it, now. It was still there, though—that had to be a good sign, right? If the demon had finished detaching his soul from his body it would be in Hell now … right?

  No, he was still hanging on. I had to believe he was still alive and could still be saved … and that Kali might be able to do it. We just needed to get his soul back into his body, and if anyone would know how to do that, surely it would be her. It was difficult to tear my eyes away from my brother, but I forced myself to look up. Kali needed to break through the monster’s barrier, and kill it quickly. She was his only chance.

  The demon walked cautiously toward Kali, as if he wanted to keep his distance, and stopped a few feet from her. His facial expression and body language were tense as he watched her fire building, traveling her arms, over her chest, and down her legs. Soon her entire body was covered in hellfire.

  And at that, the demon’s eyes widened and he began to retreat backwards. For the first time, he seemed truly scared that his shield might not hold.

  Kali took one look at his retreat, grinned horrifically, and released her hellfire, which shot out in a wave larger than anything I had seen her do before. I heard a loud crack, and the sensation of heat reached even me, lying on the ground in the back of the auditorium, and forced me to slam my eyes shut against the brightness of the fire. Had she done it? Had she actually broken through his barrier?

  I opened my eyes only when the heat was gone, and saw that the flames had died down. Her fires had receded back toward to her wrists, and a wicked smile was plastered across her lips. She now faced the demon without the force field in between them—I could see that the shimmering wall was gone—and he’d gone as pale as my brother. Kali was going to win, I thought with a glimmer of hope. The demon didn’t stand a chance against a force of nature like her. Not with his barrier gone.

  And at that, my focus went back to my brother. I wasn’t worried about the demon anymore; he would be dust at Kali’s feet in a few moments. I just hoped Kali could do it in time to save Ash. His skin was completely gray now, his lips blue, and his eyes were barely open. His unruly brown hair hung over his face and his body was limp. If only I could go to him. I didn’t know how I could help, but my heart ached and I wanted to be with him. Maybe I could push his soul back into him, somehow, or at least keep it there until Kali arrived.

  I had no idea how I’d do any of that, but I needed to try something.

  And I might be able to pull it off, I realized. I’d thought my power was tapped out, but I could feel it pulsing faintly under my skin as my desperation grew. The sensation continued to build, until something inside of my body snapped with need. Then warmth flooded through my body … and away from me.

  It was my power and it was flowing out of me.

  I looked to my chest, where I could feel my power pouring out of my body, and was shocked to see a ball of blue light there, in the center of my ribcage. Right where the stab wound was. My vision began to blur, but I could see the ball of light growing until it was brighter than Michael’s sword. It was my power. I could feel the warmth of it. Was it embracing me in the end? Welcoming me to my death?

  All I knew for sure was that it was materializing outside of my body. It had never done that before. Why it was doing so now, I didn’t know. The lack of oxygen was too much, though; the effort of staying awake to fight becoming impossible. And before I could grasp onto that thought, the fatigue took ahold of me, the darkness surrounding me. But the blue light continued to shine. And the pain was disappearing. At least I had that in my final moments.

  I looked back to my brother, just a blurry thing on the ground, right before my eyes closed.

  “Save … Ash…” I gasped out in near silence before everything went dark.

  I SUCKED PAINFUL breath into lungs that felt like they had caught fire, and my hand automatically went to my chest.

  There was a sticky substance where the demon had stabbed me, but something was missing. My s
hirt was wet and tacky for a reason, and I remembered being covered in blood… My blood. I felt a hole in my shirt and I pushed my fingers through it, but the skin was soft, warm, and unbroken. My brain was still foggy, and part of me suddenly wondered if I had been dreaming. I vividly recalled being run through by the monster’s blade, though, and couldn’t believe that I’d imagined that. He had stabbed me, right? There was so much blood, and the pain had been intense. There was no way I could have imagined that … or survived such a wound.

  Even if I had, the hole in my chest wouldn’t have disappeared. That didn’t make any sort of sense.

  Was I dead? I wasn’t even sure I was able to die, not the way most humans did. I was already stuck on Earth. But I wasn’t in pain anymore. I only remembered feeling that way one other time—and that was the night I had died. Could that mean I was a ghost … again?

  I shot straight up and the world jerked to the side, a wave of dizziness overtaking me. It made me nauseous but I fought it, trying to blink away the blurriness of the world around me. I hadn’t felt that way last time I was a ghost, and I wasn’t an expert, but I thought that ruled out being dead as well. That was a reaction from my body, because I’d moved too quickly. And my body sending signals to my brain meant I was still alive. Somehow.

  What had happened after I passed out? Where was everyone? Did Kali kill the demon? Did she save my brother? I turned my eyes toward the only light in the room, where the stage should be, but I couldn’t see clearly. Everything looked like blobs and colors—nothing distinguishable. I felt like I had been run over by a train. I took a few deep, painful breaths to try to fight off the dizziness, and my eyes went to the stage again…