She’d just finished sliding the two items into her bag and zipping it closed when she heard the front door open and close downstairs, followed by the sound of footsteps. Slipping the backpack on quickly she un-tucked her gun from the waistband at the back of her jeans and released the safety. As she crept silently down the stairs the house was quiet, except for the noises coming from the library. Whoever it was in the house they weren’t taking the trouble to make themselves quiet.
Veronica bent down scanning one of the lower shelves, looking for a particular book she remembered seeing previously. Skimming along the spines she picked out the one she wanted plus an extra couple that looked promising. She straightened up and as she did so a movement in the doorway caught her eye. Her heart jolted and she let out a yelp of shock. The books tumbled harmlessly from her hands as she found herself staring down the barrel of a gun. For a moment she froze in fear until her eyes began to process the person in front of her. She took in the long icy blonde hair which tumbled free over one shoulder and rested against a leather jacket. Cool pale blue eyes regarded her carefully and as recognition dawned her heart once again began to settle.
‘God’ she breathed, ‘you just took ten years off my life.’
‘Sorry,’ Danae shrugged as she relaxed her aim and re-set the safety, tucking her weapon into her jeans at the small of her back.
She didn’t seem too sorry Roni noted in irritation.
‘Took you guys long enough to get here, we’ve been trying to reach you for weeks,’ Roni frowned. ‘Where’s Charles and Davis?’
‘Not here.’
‘What? Where are they?’
‘Taking care of something else’ Danae replied, ‘I’m here to help you.’
‘You?’ Roni repeated, ‘just you?’
‘Yeah, just me princess,’ she repeated dryly.
‘Sorry,’ Roni shook her head, ‘that came out rude.’
‘You think?’
Roni rolled her eyes and bent down to retrieve the books she’d dropped. ‘How much do you know?’
‘Jake’s been leaving me messages,’ Danae hooked her thumbs casually in her pockets. ‘I know you’ve got the Soul Collector on the loose and that he’s stolen a shit load of souls.’
‘I don’t suppose you know how to kill him?’ her brows rose questioningly.
‘I got a few ideas I’m working on, there are some things you can do to protect yourselves from him but they’re all short term.’
‘Well its better than what we’ve got at the moment, which is a big fat Zero.’
‘You know, I remember seeing files on a spate of unexplained deaths back in the thirties, records weren’t quite as good then but there were police reports. Eyewitnesses reported a tall man in black with white hair and a strange black hat at the scene of each attack.’
‘You think it was him back then?’
Danae nodded. ‘I remember stumbling across the files by accident when I first joined the Mercy Police department. It all gels with what’s happening now. A few of the younger stronger vics ended up in comas but they didn’t survive for long. Back then we didn’t have the same life support capabilities we do now.’
‘So why did he go quiet for the last eighty years? We just assumed that because the first recorded attacks took place around the same time the gate was opened, that he came through with all the others.’
‘He did.’
‘I’m sorry I’m lost,’ Roni shook her head in confusion.
‘There was some evidence to suggest someone banished him from this world around ‘34 and trapped him on the other side.’
‘Who?’
‘That I was never able to figure out’ she replied. ‘The original attacks took place in the same towns as this time around, again he seemed to stick in and around Eastern Massachusetts. These seem to be his preferred hunting grounds.’
‘I wonder why?’
‘Probably the same reason so many others are attracted to Mercy and the surrounding areas, because there is magic here, running just under the surface. It calls to those with supernatural origins or abilities.’
Maybe we can figure out who banished him the first time around and recreate whatever spell or ritual they used?’
‘Maybe,’ Danae nodded. ‘I was going to pull the police files and go back over them.
‘I guess it’s a start,’ Roni sighed.
‘What are you doing?’ Danae’s eyes narrowed and her head tilted as she tried to read the titles on the spines of the books Roni had in her hands.
‘I’m trying to figure out what he’s doing with these souls. I don’t suppose you know?’
‘I’ve heard rumors,’ she shook her head, ‘but nothing concrete. Information on him is sketchy at best.’
‘Well what do you know?’ Roni perched herself comfortably on the arm of the sofa.
‘Charun, often mistaken for our boy Charon. He’s a demon and used to run with the female demon Vanth. Story goes they parted ways a couple dozen centuries back, don’t know why but she continued to guide souls to the afterlife whereas Charun went serious dark side.’
‘Why?’
‘I couldn’t say exactly,’ she replied carefully.
‘But you have an idea don’t you?’ Roni’s eyes narrowed on Danae’s face suspiciously. ‘So if he’s not guiding souls to their afterlives what is he doing with them?’
‘I’ve heard stories…’ she answered reluctantly, ‘but I don’t think you’re going to like the answer.’
‘I can handle it.’
‘From what I understand he keeps them and he feeds off them.’
‘What?’ Roni’s face paled.
‘Told you, you wouldn’t like it.’
‘How long does he keep them for’ she asked quietly, ‘I mean before he…’ she swallowed convulsively, trying to hold back the bile threatening to choke her.
‘I don’t know the mechanics of it.’
‘But some of them may still be alive?’
‘Alive?’
‘I don’t know…trapped somehow?’ Roni bit her lip thoughtfully. ‘We have video footage of him and he is putting the souls into glass bottles of some sort.’
‘I guess it’s possible’ Danae mused. ‘If he doesn’t consume them straight away and somehow stores them, then yes… maybe some of them are still alive, if that’s what you want to call it.’
‘Fiona seems to think that if we can find them and free them, the ones who still have their bodies hooked up to life support could, I don’t know…’
She mimed two halves joining with her hands.
‘The theory is sound, but we’d need to find them first.’
‘I wonder how he’s choosing his victims?’ Roni murmured absently.
‘What?’
‘How he’s choosing them?’ I’ve looked through the files, the victims are all different ages, genders, ethnic backgrounds, there’s no clear pattern.’
‘Emotions.’
‘Emotions?’ she repeated slowly, ‘I don’t follow.’
‘He’s a demon’ Danae began, ‘he doesn’t need to consume human souls to survive. At first he was content to just do as he was supposed to.’
‘Guiding the souls, like Vanth,’ Roni replied.
‘Yeah, but somewhere along the line I’m guessing they became irresistible to him. You hear in all forms of religions, faiths and mythologies about the blinding radiance of the human soul. We as humans are capable of incredibly intense and complex emotions and when we feel those intense emotions they show in our auras. After all an aura is nothing but an extension of the soul, kind of like an echo of what we’re feeling inside. The stronger the emotion the brighter the aura and the more appealing the soul.’
‘So it’s the intense emotions of the soul he’s feeding off, not the souls themselves.’
‘Yeah, like a junkie looking for his next fix. He’ll continue to drain the soul until its nothing but dust.’
/> ‘So he chooses people who are experiencing intense emotion at the time.’
‘It’s not just that’ she clarified, ‘going on what I read in the original police files, some of the victims’ relatives reported that the vics themselves had been complaining of someone following them, stalking them even, some for days, some for weeks before they were finally attacked. It’s like if he’s desperate, if he’s jonesing for a hit, he’ll take them quickly but in other cases he’d taken his time. It’s like he enjoys the hunt as much as the feeding.’
Roni’s eyes widened and her face suddenly drained of color.
‘What is it?’
‘In the woods the other night, Jake and I…we were…it was following us but it didn’t attack.’
‘What were you were doing at the time?’
‘We were kissing’ Roni swallowed uncomfortably.
‘I’m guessing by the look on your face there was some intense emotion going on there.’
Roni nodded.
‘Damn it,’ Danae hissed, ‘where is Jake now?’
‘He was heading back to my apartment after his shift to feed Beau.’
Danae grabbed her phone from the pocket of her leather jacket.
‘Let’s go,’ she turned and headed towards the door as she punched in Jake’s number and hit connect.
They both rushed down the porch steps to where Roni’s car was parked.
‘Shit, he’s not picking up, give me the keys.’
Roni grabbed them out of her pocket and tossed them to Danae.
They jumped into the car and tore down the driveway in a loud hiss of churning gravel.
‘Keep trying him,’ Danae urged as she hit the main road and floored it.
Roni pulled her own phone out and scrolled through to Jake’s number and hit connect. Another two goes and he finally picked up as they headed close to the outskirts of town.
‘JAKE!’ Roni almost cried in relief when he finally answered.
‘Roni?’ he seemed to sense her panic, ‘what’s happened? What’s wrong?’
‘Give me the phone,’ Danae demanded snatching it out of Roni’s fingers, ‘Jake?’
‘Helga?’
She let that one go. ‘Yeah it’s me, where are you exactly?’
‘I’m just across the street from Roni’s apartment, why the hell are you with Roni? Is she okay? What’s going on?’
‘She’s fine for the moment but you’re not.’
‘What the hell are you talking about?’
‘Look I need you to listen to me very carefully. The other night in the woods when you and Roni felt the Soul Collector following you….’
‘Yeah?’
‘…it’s got your scent Jake, it’s hunting you. It’s probably been tracking you for days.’
‘Are you shitting me?’
‘No, it’s not going to stop once it’s got you in its sights.’
‘What about Roni? Is she a target?’
‘I’d probably say that’s a big fat yes but as long as she’s with me she’s safe. You’re vulnerable out there on your own in the dark.’
‘What do we do?’
‘You need to get to consecrated ground.’
‘Seriously?’
‘Use your head Jake, no matter how far off the reservation its gone it’s still a demon, it can’t cross hallowed ground.’
‘Fuck,’ Jake swore, ‘St Josephine’s on Ashmore is the nearest.’
‘Head there now, run! don’t stop for any reason. We’ll meet you there.’
Jake crossed the street and stepped up onto the sidewalk and as he did he suddenly caught the pungent scent of lilies and a shiver ran the length of his spine. He turned slowly as his eyes widened and his heart began to pound like a bass drum. The tall dark figure raised its face and scented the air, almost as if it could smell his fear and adrenalin.
‘Jake!’ Danae shouted, ‘Jake! Can you hear me?’
He took a deep steadying breath. ‘Protect Roni,’ he whispered as he dropped the phone and pulled his gun free.
He put five bullets into its chest as he backed up but it didn’t even knock it back a pace. The Soul Collector simply paused and looked down at his chest and the slightly steaming holes in his long dark overcoat, before looking up and fixing his shiny black beetle-like eyes on Jake once again.
Jake took one look at him and turned and ran.
‘Jake!’ Danae shouted into the phone. She heard the gunshots and then the line went dead. ‘Damn it,’ she threw the phone into Roni’s lap and floored it, tearing around the corner in a squeal of tires and burning rubber.
Jake’s lungs were burning as he tore down the street. He ducked down an alley he knew let out onto Ashmore, from there he only had to make it fifty yards to the old church. It was darker down the alley than he realized and he stumbled as he clipped a dumpster but kept going. He flew out into the street, into the blare of horns and a set of headlights as a car swerved, narrowly avoiding him.
He spun around getting his bearings, his eyes landing on the huge stone building down the street with huge wide steps leading up to a large set of old wooden doors. He felt a rush of icy air brush past him and he pushed himself further, faster, his legs burning with the effort as his nose and mouth flooded with the ominous scent of lilies. The church was so close he could almost reach out and touch it.
A sudden rush of black smoke swirled in front of him and as he skidded to a halt he found the Soul Collector baring his way. His chest rose and fell with harsh breaths as he tried to drag air into his lungs. So it was going to end this way after all.
He took one last deep breath and raised his weapon in defiance. He let loose one shot, hitting dead center of its forehead. The Soul Collector didn’t even flinch, his jaw moved slightly and then he spat the bullet out, watching as it clattered harmlessly to the ground. His hand shot out and as Jake gasped in pain he looked down to see its arm sticking out of his chest, he could feel his heart slamming hard and his breath came out in a labored wheeze. His skin turned grey and his lips pale as he felt a great wrenching tear deep inside him. Charun withdrew his hand and his eyes widened at the blazing white ball of energy beating and pulsing in his palm. He opened his mouth and sucked in a deep breath, his dark eyes rolling back in pleasure. He removed a bottle from the folds of his heavy coat and tipped Jake’s soul into it, before stoppering it tightly and tucking it back into his clothes.
Roni watched through the windshield in horror as Jake’s body dropped lifelessly to the ground. Her door was open and she was running towards the tall dark figure before the car had even rolled to a stop.
‘Roni NO!’ Danae flew out of the car but she was too late, Roni was far ahead of her and launching herself at Charun in absolute rage.
Roni couldn’t even think, couldn’t breathe, all she knew was she had to get Jake’s soul back before the Soul Collector disappeared again. She launched herself at him, clawing and kicking. He turned to her and if he was at all surprised his expression gave nothing away. He brushed her aside as if he were swatting away an annoying insect. He grabbed her by the throat, studying her intently for a moment before his mouth opened in a disgusting smile, revealing brown rotten teeth.
His hand pressed against her chest as she struggled and kicked. Suddenly he paused, pressing against her chest again. Unlike the others he was not able to penetrate her chest cavity to retrieve her soul. He looked down in shock, his beetle like eyes narrowing when he caught the glint of something shiny at her throat. He ripped open the collar of her jacket and hissed. Pressed against the warmth of her skin and glowing brightly was a small crescent moon. It was the amulet Jake had given her the night they had closed the gateway. The same amulet that had come from the Goddess Diana herself.
Charun’s head suddenly snapped back and a thin line of dark blood appeared on his cheek. He threw Roni to the ground in rage and turned to see Danae standing in front of him, a glowing whip made up of pure mag
ic dangling from her hand. He growled and started towards her but she flicked it with an expert snap, opening a wound along his chest. He clutched it with his hand as blood spurted through his fingers. He brought them up to his face almost as if he couldn’t believe he was injured. He looked up at her with hate-filled eyes and bared his teeth, growling as he turned in a swirl of his dark coat and disappeared.
Roni had hit the stone steps with a sickening crunch. Her arm and shoulder hurt and her head that rung like a bell. She could hear a high pitched whine in her ears and as she reached up to touch her temple she felt the wet stickiness of her own blood. She looked over to Jake lying motionless on the floor and crawled over to him. Rolling him over onto his back she pressed her fingers to his throat and leaned close to his mouth to check his breathing.
There was no pulse.
‘Oh no you don’t Jake,’ she muttered as she started chest compressions, ‘you’re not getting off that easy.’
She leaned over and breathed into his mouth.
‘Call 911,’ she screamed at Danae breathlessly.
She vaguely heard Danae speaking urgently on her phone but she paid no attention. Her head was throbbing and her arm and shoulder were screaming like an abscessed tooth but still she kept going, she had to keep him alive long enough for them to get him on life support.
It seemed like an eternity later when the ambulance finally screeched to a halt beside her, lights flashing as two paramedics rushed out to help her.
‘Deputy Hanson,’ one of them recognized Danae as he crouched down next to Veronica.
Danae nodded as her eyes drifted to the ground and the shallow pool of blood that looked so dark it was almost black. Her eyes narrowed thoughtfully.
‘Hey Owen,’ she called out to the paramedic, ‘you got a spare syringe?’
The Guardians Complete Series 1 Box Set: Contains Mercy, The Ferryman, Crossroads, Witchfinder, Infernum Page 106
