Obsidian Souls (Soul Series)

by Donna Augustine

  He helped me stand again and stood in front of me sliding the sweater down my arms. It was taking a little longer than it should have, and I looked up at him unconsciously wetting my lips. His hands were resting on my arms, standing not even an inch away. I just stared at him frozen, waiting. He leaned down ever so slightly and I tilted my head back watching close that last couple of inches, then stepped away and broke the contact completely.

  He reached into my closet and pulling out a robe. He helped me into it from behind and it seemed like he was now avoiding touching my skin at all. Once it was on my shoulders he made a quick exit from my room, making me wonder if I had even read the situation correctly.

  What a day. I was exhausted. My head hit the pillow and I was just falling into that wonderful limbo between consciousness and dreaming when I felt a hand graze my hurt ribs.

  “Caden?” I turned, thinking it was him checking up on me. Instead, I was looking into a pair of gleaming black eyes. Black hair flowed down from a gorgeous face that looked to be about forty. I instantly thought it was one of Carl’s group and I screamed as loud as I could and he smiled and disappeared.

  “What! What happened?” I looked up at Caden standing in my door scanning my room.

  “There was a man right here.” I pointed with shaky hands to the side of my bed.

  “Where did he go?”

  “He just vanished in front of my eyes. I was looking right at him and then he was gone.”

  Caden was the one that seemed to collapse this time, right onto my bed as if all the strength had completely left him and his normally bronze skin had an ashen appearance all of a sudden.

  “What did he look like?”

  “He was about forty with long black hair and black eyes, attractive.”

  He was shaking his head, scowling his forehead.

  “Well? Who or what was it?” I asked impatiently.

  “There is only a few that could get in here. What did he say?”

  “Nothing. I was half-asleep when I felt a hand on my side. I looked, thinking it was going to be you, and he was there bending over me.”

  “Where did he touch you? Show me the spot.”

  There was urgency in his voice that made me nauseous with anxiety.

  “Do you think he did something bad to me?”

  “It’s possible. I’ll know as soon as I see.”

  “Here,” I said as I lifted my shirt over where he had touched. “He touched the same spot Carl’s guy got me.”

  Caden reached over and gently ran his fingers across the area.

  “Wasn’t there a bruise here before?”

  “There is. It’s a huge, big black and purple mess. How do you not see it?”

  He said nothing. I got up and looked in the mirror and saw it was gone. I tentatively took a deep breath to see what would happen waiting for the stabbing pain, but nothing came.

  “Am I okay? Did he do something?” I asked in a panic.

  “You’re fine. I don’t feel anything coming off of it. A full demon can cause a rotting disease with their touch if they choose. He didn’t do that. I would’ve picked up on the vibration of it. It also would leave an instant mark. The rotting starts almost instantaneously. The receiver only has about a week left after that.”

  “My lungs don’t hurt anymore,” I said as I took another deep breathe still slightly disbelieving. You don’t appreciate the ability of being able to take a nice deep breath until you can’t anymore. “Do you know who it was?”

  “Not sure.”

  “Do you know any of them? Do you know your demon parent?”

  “I know quite a few demons. Most Drauths don’t. Some demons find Drauths an interesting novelty, but most don’t really care that they’ve created a child. It’s a fluke when they create one, and I don’t believe intentional at all when it happens. Compared to them, a Drauth’s lifespan and abilities are nothing. A Drauth’s lifespan is a blink of an eye in a demons timeline.”

  “How do you know the full blooded demons?”

  “I’ve been around for a long time.”

  “How long will I live? Do you know?”

  “I’m not even completely sure what you are. How long you’ll live or what you’ll be able to do is a mystery to me.”

  “How old are you?”

  “Very old.”

  I didn’t press. If he didn’t want to tell me, it wasn’t any of my business anyway.

  “Can you do stuff? You know, like….weird stuff?”

  “Yes. Every one of us is different with different potential and capabilities.”

  He didn’t expand and I realized he wasn’t going to. I guess Drauths liked to keep their demon stuff secret.

  “Caden, do you think he’ll come back tonight?”

  “You can have my bed if you want. I was just looking over some documents; I’ll stay in there with you. I’m done sleeping.”

  “When did you sleep?”

  “I don’t need much.”

  Hmmm, well that was something to look forward to because right now I needed a solid nine and a half hours a night. There were going to be some perks to this lifestyle, I decided. Plus, looking at Caden and his men, I’d hopefully age very well. No Botox for this girl.

  “I don’t think you need to worry. Whoever came tonight might have just been curious. If he had meant to harm you, he would have done it and easily.”

  “Was that supposed to reassure me?”

  “Yes, didn’t it?” He looked to me questioningly.

  “You’re really not very good at this.” I just shook my head as I followed him into his room and crawled into his massive bed alone. How could you be as old as he was not have learned some of these basic people skills?

  “I don’t normally have to do it. My guys are pretty tough.”

  I hated when he answered questions I didn’t ask out loud.

  “I’m going out to a friend’s place tomorrow. I’d like you to come. He might be able to give us some answers.”

  “I’m in. Any knowledge is good knowledge in my book.”

  “Tomorrow it is then.”

  Chapter Fourteen

  He swerved to avoid the ditches as we pulled up the dirt road which led to our destination. We’d been driving for about an hour, and my thoughts were spinning so quickly I didn’t even notice the time.

  “Charles likes everything wild and unfettered, including his thirty acres. It’s a surprise we could even make it up the hill to the cabin today. It’s why we took the Hummer. Every time I come here, I’m always a bit in shock at how large a cabin can be. It wasn’t Charles that had wanted a super sized five bedroom cabin, but his late wife Greta. She had refused to live in the middle of the wilderness in a one-room cabin. ‘Barbaric,’ she’d say all the time. She would carry on about how lucky Charles was that she had saved him from becoming a complete rustic. It’s tough on him now.”

  “Was she part demon?”

  “No, she was completely human. There aren’t any female Drauths.”

  “How is that possible if I’m one?”

  “That’s one of the biggest questions I have.”

  “And Charles’s wife, she was comfortable? With the whole demon thing that is?”

  “Sometimes things just happen.”

  “Margie his housekeeper stays here with him now. She’s been with him for twenty-five years.”

  “And does she know?”

  “Very few people who aren’t directly involved know, but yes, she does.”

  We parked in front of the massive cabin, and I tried not to get stuck in all the mud created form the melting snow. Caden lifted his hand to rap on the door but before his hand even hit the wood a voice from inside called him in by name.

  Caden smiled. “The old man still has it.”

  “What’s old by your standards?” I asked. This should be interesting I thought.

  “I’m in the den Caden, and tell your friend there I’ll be 7562 years old next month.”

  Wow, tha
t was old. I now knew what old meant in their world.

  Stepping into the room, I saw this gruff looking old man who was whittling some wood by the fireplace. He had ridiculously thick white hair with an almost equally full beard. He looked like Santa! What kind of twisted joke made Santa part demon? “Been expecting you.” He looked up and smiled at us, complete with a twinkle in his eye. “Lexie?”

  “Yes, nice to meet you.”

  “Have a seat! Get comfortable!”

  I sat on the padded bench across from him by the fireplace.

  “So this is the little gal,” Charles said in a friendly way. “Yeah, you’ve got something unusual going on, that’s for sure.” He nodded his head in my direction.

  “Any idea what?” Caden asked.

  “I’ve never sensed this type of energy before. I can’t say for certain what it is, but I can tell you it’s strong. Once you change you’re going to be a force.”

  “Are you sure she will? There have been cases where the energy was there but never materialized. Plus she’s a female. It’s unheard of.”

  “As far as this happening with a female, it’s a complete anomaly. But, I can’t imagine at the levels she is throwing off that it’s possible for it to stay latent. T’s practically bursting out of her.”

  “Dave can barely sense the energy, but I feel it more intensely than any other Drauth I’ve ever met.”

  “Dave’s stubborn. He only sees what he wants. Been like that since a child. She’s different. Definitely different, but potent.”

  “Carl wants her bad,” Caden said.

  “Which means the others do too, I’m sure.”

  I knew they wanted me, but hearing it just gave me goose bumps all up and down my body. I tried not to shiver but it was hard to hold back.

  Charles looked me dead in the eye and spoke solemnly. “You should be scared. Whatever you think of us, you must have already realized that we aren’t all bad, but Carl and his kind, they’re ruthless. They’ll take whatever they can from you and leave just a shell of a person behind. Carl wasn’t always like this.” He shook his head as if he were discussing some normal kid that had gone wrong. “It is what it is. He likes who he is now, and he has a legion of others who like it too. He’s dangerous. And he’s not even the worst.”

  “There’s worse?” I said and looked accusingly at Caden.

  “I didn’t think it would serve any purpose telling you,” Caden replied.

  “There was a man that came to my room last night. He healed my ribs,” I asked Charlie.

  “What did he look like?” he asked.

  I explained every detail as best I could to him, and I didn’t like his facial expression as I did.

  “You’re different in a way that I don’t understand. Demons like different. They might want to play with you. Just because they heal you today, that doesn’t mean anything. They can be very fickle creatures, and they don’t respect human life.”

  Charlie paused and I could see a look pass between him and Caden.

  “No, I don’t think I know him,” Charlie said but I didn’t believe him. He had a guess and Caden had shut him up. I knew it in my gut.

  He went from deathly serious to laughing in a heartbeat. “Thank god I’m too old for this shit now. It’s a bit liberating to know you’ve lived a full life and you just don’t give a shit anymore!” He punctuated this with another hearty laugh as he lit up a fat cigar.

  “Margie lets you smoke in the house?”

  “Course not, I’ll hear an earful from her as soon as she catches a whiff.”

  “Charles I need a favor from you.”

  “I know. You don’t have to ask. I’ll try to put an ear to the ground and see if I hear any of the rumblings. It was just a matter of time before this exploded though, Lexie or not. I’ll try to find out where the lines are being drawn. Some of them are Carl fans. They’ll want her with them. It strengthens them. He’s burned some bridges over the years with some of the further removed, but it’s hard to say who they will stand with them if they get involved. I know many of the old timers like me are tired of fighting. It jeopardizes everyone. We only want peace.”

  “I’ve tried to keep the peace for so long but I’m getting awfully tired of trying. I’ve often wonder why I’m bothering anymore. They’re out of control,” Caden said.

  “Charles! Are you smoking in there? I can smell it!” an older woman’s voice was yelling from the other room.

  “I told her the den is mine. She gets the whole rest of the house, it’s only fair. Doesn’t matter, she’ll be so happy to see you that she won’t be able to stay mad. Come on, you guys have to stay for lunch now. You’re the only thing standing between me and an afternoon of scolding.”

  When were driving home from there, several hours later, I was still stuck on what Caden had stopped him from saying.

  “What are you keeping from me?” I confronted him.

  “Nothing.”

  “I don’t believe you.”

  “At least we are keeping to form,” he replied.

  He reached forward toward the radio and started blasting “Black Parade” by My Chemical Romance, clearly indicating the end of the conversation.

  Chapter Fifteen

  It was several days later when I decided I couldn’t drag my feet a moment longer, I’d have to get my dreaded phone calls over with. Caden had insisted I take it easy, making sure my ribs were okay. I hadn’t talked to anyone, and I knew they must be starting to wonder where I was. Sitting around gave me nothing but time to dwell upon exactly what I didn’t want to tell them. I hated lying to my family, but I wasn’t going to tell them what was going on. I couldn’t. The more I thought about it, the more I was afraid to tell even my friends. I wasn’t sure what Amanda would repeat to her husband Mark, who might repeat something to Carl. I couldn’t be sure Gilly wouldn’t say anything to Amanda. After thinking about how any information could circulate, I decided just to make a quick call to my family. I’d wait on everybody else.

  “Hi Ted.” I tried to infuse as much cheerfulness in my voice as I could muster up when my brother answered the phone. I probably should have practiced the voice as I did with my boss. Correction, my old boss, I thought with another pang of sadness hitting me square in the gut.

  “Hey Lex! Where’ve you been?”

  The excitement in his voice at hearing from me was heartbreaking.

  “I’m sorry I haven’t called.”

  “I was getting worried. Your phone’s going right to voice mail and your work voicemail’s full. What’s going on? Are you okay?”

  I was struggling to get any words out past the constriction in my throat. Hearing his voice made this real again. I realized, right then and there, I had started to almost float through this in a sort of denial stage. I’d taken it all in, and then filed it away to cope with later. Talking to Ted brought home the reality that my life had been turned upside down, and maybe there wouldn’t be a later.

  “Yes, I’m fine,” I finally managed to squeak out, hoping he couldn’t hear the tears in my voice. “I’ve just got a touch of the flu. How’s everything there going? How are the kids?” It worked as he started to ramble on about what was going on about Timmy’s hockey game and Sharon’s boss giving her grief. I let him talk on until some minor emergency or another seemed to pop up as it always did there. This time, the kids had let go of their dog, and it had chased the neighbor’s cat up a tree. I told him to say hi to Sharon for me and to let Mom and Dad know I was okay, just busy, and I hung up the phone.

  I couldn’t face my parents right now. How could I tell them that their daughter was a monster, or at bare minimum, a freak? That my mother had unknowingly, at least I hoped, had sex with a demon? They had been wonderful parents.

  And my mother, had she known? There were too many questions and too much raw emotion. I wasn’t ready to open up that can of worms yet. Maybe jumping from the frying pan into the fire might be a better-suited metaphor to my new position in life.<
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  I felt a strong surge of self-pity approaching, and I looked around to make sure I was alone before I let it swallow me whole. Caden and his “you need to toughen up,” lectures made me want to kick him in his Drauth mouth. I found the most melancholy movie I could find on TV, which happened to be “Terms of Endearment”, and tried to drown myself in wallowing, to the fullest extent I could. I cried at the end of this movie on a good day. This time might be a real whopper.

  Lying in the dimmed lights with my sad sack feelings and my sad sack movie, I wasn’t even in the slightest mood to deal with perpetual optimist Mike when he walked over and was standing at the end of the couch, looking down, shaking his head at me.

  “How are your ribs?” he asked.

  “Healed,” I replied in my most monotone, don’t give me shit, depressed voice.

  “What are you doing?”

  Looks like he wasn’t taking the hint. “What does it look like? I’m embracing my emotional pain Mike. Now move, you’re blocking the screen. They’re just about to tell her she’s dying. I can’t miss this part. It’s the crescendo of my day.” I tried leaning to look around him. The jerk moved with me.

  “Lex, you need embrace the brighter points of this. Sometimes life has a way of shedding the frivolities from your soul. That doesn’t mean you give up. It’s what makes you who you are.”

  “Mike, I don’t like who I am. I’m at least part demon. You do realize we are considered pariahs in the normal day to day way of life, right?” I looked back at him raising my eyebrows, wondering if he was completely comprehending the situation.

  “You’re a beautiful woman, and now you’ll stay that way for a really long time. Doesn’t that make you happy?”

  “Yes, I’m sure my new boyfriend will have no issue with the fact that part of my family tree might have horns.”

  He scrunched up his face as if how could I think that.

  “Nobody has horns! That’s so old school. Now come on, we are going to go work out. That’s going to make you feel a hundred percent better.” He reached a hand out to me, trying to urge me into an upward position.