Damien pulled his fist from Ringer’s chest slowly and the Soul slumped to the ground, clutching his chest. Damien snarled like a wild animal, his muscles clenching and releasing beneath his black t-shirt. He spun and glared at Ben for a long moment before suddenly disappearing.
“Damn it,” Ben growled. He glanced at Ringer, met his eyes for a moment and then fazed. He stopped at the door to the Crypt to get Eugene’s machine. He had to pull hard to get it off the black screen. The door to the Crypt began to close. Ben fazed Christian to Eugene’s lab.
~ ~ ~
The surge of energy from Ringer only added to Damien’s hunger, his rage. He fazed to Sam’s car, the only physical thing he had left of hers. He ran his hand over the silver Audi, stroking it gently. Where are you, Sam? Rage mixed with despair inside him. He knew a keen sense of loss. His misery was so sharp it was a physical pain. He allowed his mind to think of her, allowed himself one moment to dwell on his need of her. She was lovely. Black long hair framing her heart shaped face. Her pert little nose, her large blue eyes. And lips… when she had kissed him after the long years of loneliness, it was as if a dam of need had opened inside of him. He wanted to hold her again, wanted…
To make the Jump. The need to be out of this world, the need to be in the human world and feel and live again was strong inside him. Sam wasn’t here to keep him grounded, to keep his mind occupied.
His fist clenched over the smooth car. He was not going to make the Jump until he found her. One thought scared him most of all: what if someone had harmed her? What if someone had…killed her? No! He would not let that happen. In their human lives he had not been there to protect her, had not been there to save her. He would never let that happen again. Someone was holding her against her will. Someone had her. He would find her. He had to.
Daniel didn’t have her. He should have known from the beginning it wasn’t that buffoon. She was too smart to be caught by him and his little tricks. No. It was someone stronger.
“Damien.”
Damien whirled to find Curtis smiling at him. He grimaced. Curtis had always been an overconfident ass. Even as a Soul, Damien had not liked him. He had been a know-it-all, over-confident braggart. As a Changed, he was even worse, telling tales of the Souls he had drained. Damien’s gaze swept him. A cocky grin quirked his lips.
“I’ve been looking for you.”
Curtis had always tried to outdo him with his feats as a Changed. Whether it was how fast he moved, or how quickly he could drain. But Damien found his tales repugnant and boring.
“Nice car,” Curtis said, approaching. As he neared, he stretched out a hand to touch it. “Where’d you get it?”
Damien grabbed his wrist. The thought of him touching anything that was Sam’s ignited a primeval rage deep inside Damien. “What do you want, Curtis?”
Curtis pulled his hand free and rubbed his wrist. He shrugged. “You’d never guess where I have been.”
Damien loathed these games that Curtis seemed so fond of. He had no intention of guessing. So, he waited, knowing Curtis would tell him.
“This entire world is about to change. We’re going to be the ones on top. Those pompous Souls will be nothing but food for us. They’ll be kneeling to us.” Curtis chuckled.
He sounded like a raving lunatic. More so than usual. “When did you get delusions of otherworldly rule?”
“Oh, it’s not me.” He leaned close. “Haven’t you heard them?”
Damien stiffened in dread.
“Haven’t you seen them?”
“Who?” He knew it would be better if he feigned ignorance with Curtis and denied everything.
“The other ones. They’re like us, but altered somehow. And they have no love for the Souls.”
Damien narrowed his eyes. He hadn’t seen or heard them lately. And Curtis wasn’t powerful enough to see or hear them. Not on his own. “Where did you see them?”
“They’re everywhere. And nowhere.” He smiled.
“What did they say?”
“He said if we banded together, us and them, we could destroy the Souls and rule the humans. He said we’re more powerful than they are.”
“He?”
“The main one. He’s a man. Scala is his name.”
Scala. It was Damien’s fear confirmed. He had escaped. He had been one of the two shapes swirling around like mists in the sky. “And how do we take over?”
Curtis grinned. “I shouldn’t be telling you this. Maybe he doesn’t want you to know.”
Damien hated these games. Curtis was relishing the fact that he knew more than Damien did. He was stringing him along. Damien had enough of Curtis and his games. He shrugged. “Then don’t.” It always worked when he feigned disinterest.
“Come on, Damien. We’ve always been buddies. He said if the Changed worked together, we could take over this world. We could use the Souls as food and make the Jump at our whim.”
“And if we chose not to work together…?”
“He said those that resist will be destroyed.”
Damien nodded and looked down. Then he glanced up and shoved his fist into Curtis’s chest. “The problem with that is I don’t like the idea of being destroyed.”
Curtis’s eyes darkened and he grasped at Damien’s arm.
Damien began drawing out his energy, pulling it out of his body through his fist. The energy raced up his arm and into his body. It charged him, filling him with power and…
…Damien froze. This energy. It was familiar to him, very familiar. He recognized its potency, its strength, its match to his. He looked down at his arm to see tingles of blue electricity snapping. His jaw clenched and his rage exploded through him.
It was Sam’s energy! Curtis had drained Sam!
Furious, Damien’s fist tightened in Curtis’s chest and he pulled the power from Curtis, drawing it out of his body and into his own. Curtis had touched Sam! He dared to lay his hands on her! His rage was white hot, charring the borders of his control.
Curtis grew pale before him. His form grew lighter and lighter until it was almost transparent.
He had drained Sam! It was all Damien could think of. The vision of Curtis’s fist in her beautiful body sent a renewed bolt of white hot fury through him. He was going to kill this cretin. And he was going to like it.
Chapter Three
“He just disappeared,” Ben said, helping Christian from the regeneration table in Eugene’s lab.
“I told you he was unreliable,” Eugene said from the doorway where he held the machine Ben had brought back from the Crypt. He stroked the cold metal carefully, proudly, lovingly.
“Thanks for coming to get me,” Christian said meaningfully.
Ben slapped Christian on the back and nodded to him. “Any time.”
“What did they ask you?” Eugene wondered.
Christian shrugged. “They wanted to know where Sam and Ben were. Daniel was pretty focused on finding you.” He jerked a chin at Ben.
“What kind of devices did they use on you?” Eugene wondered.
“Eugene,” Ben objected. He knew Daniel would use whatever means he had at his disposal to have his questions answered. He didn’t think Christian would want to be reminded.
“It’s okay,” Christian said. “Some sort of gun that drained my energy like a Changed does. I hate that thing.” He straightened, remembering. “Rose! Did you find Rose?”
“Rose?” Ben repeated, exchanging confused glances with Eugene.
“Daniel took her. But I didn’t see her.”
Ben shook his head. “We never saw her.”
Suddenly, alarms rang out all over the lab.
Eugene placed his machine on a table and raced across the room. He pressed a button on the wall near his laptop. The white wall parted, sliding open to reveal eight screens.
“What’s going on?” Ben asked as he and Christian followed Eugene into the main room.
Eugene’s gaze swept the screens. The screens held images of the ou
tside of Eugene’s lab on them, each screen positioned at a different angle, monitoring the perimeter. “There!” He finally said, pointing to the screen in the corner right. Damien’s image was on the screen, leaning close to the screen. He was speaking, but no sound came out. Eugene pressed another button on the bottom corner of the screen. The sound turned on.
“Open the door, Eugene. I know you’re in there.”
“I told you not to bring him here!” Eugene shouted, turning an accusing glare on Ben.
“Isn’t that the Changed who was in the Crypt?” Christian asked.
“Damien,” Ben answered, nodding. “You might as well let him in, Eugene. He’s working with us, remember?”
“Eugene. I don’t have all day,” Damien said. “I brought you a present. Open the door.”
Eugene turned to the screen, scowling. “What has he brought?”
Ben shrugged.
Eugene fazed across the room, took a deep breath and pressed a button. The door slid open.
Damien entered, dragging a transparent Soul with him. He tossed him to the middle of the floor. “You don’t have much time. Hook him up or read his mind or something. He knows where Sam is.”
“You’re going to make the Jump!” Christian called, pointing at Damien.
Blue electricity danced around him, snapping and hissing. “Not yet.” He pulled a dagger from the back of his pants. He stretched his arm out before him and rammed the dagger deep into his chest. He disintegrated.
Christian sputtered. “What the hell --?! He’s nuts!”
Eugene bent beside the man on the floor.
Ben leaned over him. “Who is he?”
The man tossed his head, his brown hair flopping with the movement. He opened his eyes slightly, groaning.
Eugene jumped back. “A Changed! He’s a Changed!”
Damien appeared again, putting the dagger behind his back in the waist of his jeans. The blue electricity was gone.
Eugene whirled on him. “You brought a Changed here?! To my laboratory!”
Damien pushed past him, grabbed the Changed by his shirt collar and hauled him to his feet. “You got iron wire? We have to secure him.”
Eugene waved his hands in the air. “That’s enough! You take your buddy and get out!”
“He’s no buddy of mine,” Damien murmured.
“You can’t bring your Changed friends here!” He shook his head, beginning to pace and mumbling to himself.
Things were getting out of control quickly. Ben held up his hands before Eugene. “It’s okay, Eugene,” he said, trying to calm him down.
Eugene scowled and stepped past Ben, continuing to pace, shaking his head. “All my work. In danger!”
Damien shook the Changed like a rag doll. “I’ll drain him completely when we’re done, if that will make you happy.”
All of them turned to Damien, silent.
“He knows where Sam is,” Damien stated in a restrained, almost desperate tightness in his voice. “Do you have something that will restrain him?”
Eugene nodded once and disappeared through another door.
“He’s not going to give up the location easily. It might get messy.”
“What do you have in mind?” Ben asked carefully.
Eugene returned with a rope in his hands. He tossed it to Damien.
Damien caught it in one hand. He dropped the Changed to the ground and proceeded to tie the rope around his wrists, binding them together. Then he squatted to wrap the rope around the Changed’s ankles. “I’m going to find out where Sam is. Any way I can.”
Christian stepped forward. “You can’t just…torture him. He used to be a Soul.”
“He’s not a Soul anymore,” Ben said.
Damien slowly lifted his head to pin Christian to the spot. His eyes burned hot; his teeth were clenched. “Curtis is a low life Soul drainer. When I drained him, I recognized the energy he had inside of him as Sam’s. That means, for you Freshies who don’t know, that Curtis drained Sam. Do you know what happens when a Changed drains a Soul? They have to slowly insert their clenched fist into their victim. In this case, Sam. He put his fist into her. It’s very painful for the Soul.”
Christian nodded. “I’ve been drained. I know.”
Damien slowly rose. There was an explosive power in his movements. “Here’s something I bet you don’t know. For some perverted Changed it’s very sexual and they get off on draining. They actually cum when they suck the energy from the Soul. Curtis is this type of Changed. How do I know?” Damien’s fists clenched tight at his sides. “Because he told me so. And the fact that he shoved his fist into my wife and then came when he was inside of her…” His body shook and a small blue glow surrounded him.
His voice, his demeanor, was becoming threatening, dangerous. Anger rolled off of him in thick waves. “Damien,” Ben called, trying to distract him, trying to soothe him. “We’ll take care of him. Right now –”
“No one will touch him except for me.”
The entire room was silent.
Ben wasn’t really sure if that was a good idea, but he didn’t see how he could stop it.
Damien glanced at Eugene. “I came to you because I thought you might have some mind reading machine. Or something like a lie detector. He’s going to lie. And he’s going to make up stories. I need to know what is the truth.”
Eugene sucked in his lips, thoughtfully. He nodded. “A polygraph for Souls. We can hook him up. It will decipher mood, any changes in mood, and energy level. The theory is if the Soul lies, the energy inside them will fluctuate. It hasn’t been tested, but right now it’s all I have.”
“Where is it?” Damien asked.
~ ~ ~
Damien stared down at Curtis, waiting for him to wake. Curtis was tied tight, his arms stretched apart over his head, each wrist bound securely with the iron rope Eugene had given Damien. Curtis’s legs were slightly spread, each ankle tied securely with the ropes. Straps around his chest, wrists and ankles had wires connecting him to the machine near the wall. Damien didn’t pretend to know anything about it, nor did he care. As long as it recognized the truth in his deceitful words, that would be good enough for him.
Damien sat on a stool near the wall. He looked down at his hand resting on his leg. He had noticed the blue glow around him. He could see it over his skin, through his clothing. It was like a layer of light blue all around him. He had wanted to investigate it further, but more important matters kept him distracted. He wiggled his fingers and the blue glow followed his movement like a shadow. He flipped his hand over, clenching his fist. When he opened it, he found he had captured some of the blue glow in his hand. It was a small blue ball, the size of a pea.
The machine hummed to life and Damien lifted his eyes to Curtis, releasing the small ball of energy. It disintegrated in the air.
Curtis tossed his head and moaned, his eyes slowly opening.
Damien stood and crossed the room to his side.
“What the hell…?” Curtis demanded. He looked frantically around, pulling at his wrists, twisting his ankles. “What’s going on?”
“What is your name?” Damien asked.
Curtis scowled. “You know what the hell my name is!” He tugged hard on the straps. “What is all this?”
“Answer the question. What is your name.”
His fierce gaze snapped up to Damien. “Why am I chained down?”
Damien lifted his hand to study the blue outline around it. He clenched his fist. “You have something I want. And you’re going to tell me where she is.”
“Is that what all this is about? You should have just asked. I would have taken you to her.”
The machine beeped softly.
Damien paid it no heed. He knew that answer was a lie. He could feel the bubbling of a dangerous chaos begin in the pit of his stomach. “Did you know who she was?”
Silence for a long moment. “Not at first. Scala told me.” He smiled a wide grin. “She’s really magnificent.
”
Rage slammed through Damien. He looked down at his clenched fist again, opening his hand. The blue light shimmered around his limb. “Yes. She is. I’m disappointed that you hurt my wife. I want to know where she is.”
Curtis shook his head. “I thought we were friends.”
Damien slapped his palms down on the table and leaned close to him, snarling. “We were never friends. That’s why you hurt Sam. You wanted to hurt me. You wanted to have what I have.”
Curtis shook his head. “You’re out of your mind.”
Damien pulled back from him, trying to get his emotions under control. “Really? Then why did you do it? Why did you drain Sam?”
“I never drained her.”
The machine beeped softly.
Damien didn’t need the damned machine to tell him that was a lie. “Her energy is inside of you. I felt it. I felt her.” Curtis looked confused and shocked, but Damien continued, “Where is she?”
“I can’t. I can’t tell you. Scala would kill me.”
“Scala is not the one you should fear right now. Where is she?”
“Damien… Come on, man. I just…”
“You touched her. You drained her,” Damien’s voice was tight and angry. He clenched his fist again, marveling at the blue halo around his palm.
“Yeah, but… I mean… I didn’t…” he stammered.
“Your one chance to live is to tell me where she is.”
Curtis’s jaw clenched. He stared at him for a long moment. Fear and then frantic resolution filled his eyes. “Fuck you!” he exploded. “You’re going to kill me anyway. Yeah, I drained her. And man, she was good. So soft, so fucking hot! I stuck my hand all the way into her. She screamed and I pulled her sweet, sweet fucking energy right into me. Scala had us tie her up so her body was all stretched out for us to use as we wanted and –”
Damien’s fist exploded across Curtis’s face. Once, twice. It wasn’t until the third blow that Damien realized the energy around his fist, that blue shimmering, was ripping energy right from Curtis’s face, leaving something that looked monstrous and full of white holes.
Altercation - Episode 4 (Lost Souls) Page 5
