Soul Taker

by Nutt, Karen Michelle

  "Bloody hell." Harrison would shift if he needed to, but he didn't want to scare Johanna senseless with a wolf storming into her midst.

  Johanna lived in a four-home flat. Her porch was decorated with potted plants and colorful flowers, all healthy and thriving from her special care.

  "I can't enter her house." Garran gestured toward the door.

  Harrison didn't bother with knocking. If the Soul Taker had been here, Johanna may not be in a condition to answer. He did the honors of opening the door, not caring he broke the lock with his grip.

  He took a cautious step inside as a crash of wood hitting plaster vibrated the walls.

  "The back door," Garran shouted as he flitted away in pursuit. Harrison would have followed, but his gaze caught sight of Johanna on the floor of her living room. He had a clear view of her face. Dark shadows bruised the tender area beneath her eyes, and her skin had turned an ashen color with her lips only a shade darker.

  "No…No… You did not do this to Johanna." He hurried over to her and dropped to his knees. His heart pounded so loud, he wasn't sure if he would be able to detect if hers beat as well. He lifted her and held her limp body in his arms as he cradled her near. A faint fluttering beneath her chest met his ears, not much of a heartbeat, not nearly enough to make him believe she'd be all right. He stood and walked over to her sofa, a floral print of violets with purple throw pillows to accent it. It seemed so her, feminine and frilly, that a male would look ridiculous sitting upon it. He loved it simply because it reminded him of her. He placed her gently upon the cushions. He then took out his mobile and called for help.

  Ten minutes later, Garran came back around and stood on the porch just outside the door, hovering with anxious energy. His gaze was on Johanna and he knew the vampire was monitoring her vitals for his own assessment of the situation.

  Harrison waited patiently. When Garran met his gaze and shook his head, his hopes were dashed. "Did you—"

  "Lost him," Garran said. His gaze shifted to Johanna. "She's no' goin' to make it."

  "Feck off!" He turned away, not wanting Garran to witness the tears which stung his eyes. He crouched down beside Johanna and brushed her hair away from her face. "Let the doctors determine if she'll make it or not." Her skin felt cold to his touch. He should have been here. He should have protected her.

  "Ye couldn't have done anythin'," Garran told him, as if reading his mind.

  "Aye, and I didn't, did I?" They could already hear the siren in the distance. The ambulance would be here soon. Harrison stood as he took out his mobile again. He dreaded the next call he needed to make, but he had to do it. "Hello, Izzie…"

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Garran looked up at the sky with reverence. Twilight was his favorite time of day, where remnants of the sun's presence still lingered until the darkness consumed it. The night awakened everything dark and foreboding, allowing them to walk among the humans. Garran MacLaurin would be considered such a creature, though with practice he learned to control his unusual appetite to destroy everything in his wake.

  From the shadows, Garran watched Isabella Lucci lock her car, the beep of the alarm echoing in the hospital's carport.

  She wore a tan long-sleeve shirt with jeans, which looked tailored to fit her trim figure, and designer boots. She turned to go toward the hospital entrance, but something caught her attention. Her feet stilled. Her gaze turned toward him and apprehension crossed her delicate features. She took a hesitant step in his direction, clutching her purse like a lifeline. She scanned the parking lot, searching… For what? He stood still and waited. Finally, she turned and continued inside the hospital.

  He would have to be careful. Isabella hadn't seen him, but he knew without a doubt she sensed him. Rare for a human to sense the preternatural world, but then again, if Harrison was correct in his assumptions, Miss Lucci could raise the dead.

  Garran waited a respected few minutes so not to run into Miss Lucci. Then he too, entered the hospital.

  ****

  Isabella still couldn't believe what happened to Johanna. Harrison said there had been no break in. He had gone over to Johanna's to check up on her and ended up finding her passed out on the living room floor. The EMT's said heart failure. Isabella had known Johanna all her life. Johanna didn't have a heart problem and no one would convince her otherwise. Dammit, there was a murderer out there giving women some kind of drug that affected their heart.

  But, if that were true, why wasn't this all over the news?

  Johanna wasn't dead, but she'd slipped into a coma. It was only a matter of time before her body would shut down. She wasn't the only case, either, in the hospital. Isabella had made a point to check. Two other women were brought in with similar symptoms.

  Isabella couldn't prove it, but there was something going on, something strange which made the little hairs on the back of her neck rise. Harrison knew about it, too, but he hinted and danced around telling her the whole truth.

  And tonight… Tonight, she suspected someone followed her. She may not be able to spot him, but she felt his presence. She wanted to call the police, but what could she tell them? They needed facts, not hunches. She convinced herself it was the guy at Marcy's wake, who had stood across the street and watched from afar. His aura hadn't been right and for a moment, she thought she'd seen Marcy's essence attached to him.

  Crazy, she knew, but she couldn't dismiss what she witnessed as nothing.

  Isabella patted her purse, feeling the weight of her gun and the crystals she brought with her.

  Johanna suffered some kind of trauma caused by a man, not a predestined condition that had gone undetected until she finally collapsed. She couldn't explain this to the doctors because there wasn't any physical evidence to support it. Most people tended to think she was a kook when she told them she could see a person's essence as if they had donned it like a sweater.

  Johanna's aura was fractured. There was a break in the usual flow of life, indicating some kind of shock to the system. The doctors claimed heart failure, but Isabella knew what the aura looked like after a person suffered a heart attack. She hung out in hospitals enough to know. They were fluttery, sickly colors around the person, the lighter the colors the more likely the person wouldn't recover.

  Johanna's aura wasn't anything like a person suffering from heart failure. It was as if Johanna's life-energy had been vaporized in sections. Some of it was there – lingering, separated by large gaps of nothing.

  Once inside Johanna's room, she dropped her bag on the end table next to the bed and opened it. Her fingers wrapped around a crystal.

  She inhaled deeply as her gaze took in her best friend lying so still. Wires and breathing tubes were attached to her and the monitors mounted on the wall showed the steady beep of her heart.

  Johanna's father moved to Idaho a few years ago and ran a small grocery store there. Isabella didn't know how to reach her mother. She wasn't sure if Johanna did either, since her mother walked out on the family when Johanna was eight. Her father was scrambling to find someone to take care of the business so he could make the trip to be with his daughter. He hoped to be there in a few days.

  Isabella pulled back the bedcovers. Through the hospital gown, she felt for Johanna's navel. She placed three crystals just below the navel, giving the crystals the look of a downward pointed triangle. With the moonstones, she placed them in an arc directly below the crystals.

  Isabella worried she would unhook the monitors, but she needed to be at Johanna's head to perform the rest of the ritual. Her fingers gripped the guardrail and carefully rolled the bed away from the wall, leaving just enough room for her to squeeze in. As she recited a prayer, her index fingers and her middle fingers rubbed in a circular motion at Johanna's temples.

  She focused on Johanna's aura, willing it to reunite and blend into the signature colors she knew were her friend's, but nothing changed. Her life energy remained stagnant, with barely a spark.

  After a few more tri
es, she patted Johanna's shoulder. "I won't give up on you. Hang in there," she whispered, her voice choking at the end. Maybe Johanna's system needed to be detoxed. She would repeat the procedure again tomorrow, using the amber to correct the imbalances in the nervous system.

  She pushed Johanna's bed back into place and put the crystals away. Isabella stared at her friend, hugging herself as she watched the machines breathe for her. Johanna's aura was once beautiful. It hurt to see it broken and scattered in fragments, as if someone shattered it. She wasn't sure if anything she did would help. It was as if Johanna's life force had been stolen from her.

  Johanna had looked tired when she left her at her doorstep. "Just tired." She angrily swiped a tear away. Johanna was thrilled about the opening of her flower shop, and now her dream was gone.

  And where was Johanna's boyfriend? According to Johanna, he was wonderful. Well, where was Mr. Wonderful now? She had Johanna's phone. She searched for a number, but Johanna didn't have a number for her boyfriend listed in her directory, and he never bothered to call. She checked Johanna's home messages, too. Nada. Not one message.

  Isabella sighed and rubbed her tired eyes. She reached for Johanna's hand and gave it a squeeze. "I'll see you tomorrow." She leaned down and kissed her cheek.

  ****

  Garran waited until Isabella left Johanna Threshold's room and headed toward the elevators. "My turn," he murmured as he entered Johanna's room. He was rather intrigued by Isabella's attempt to revive her friend. Using crystals wasn't any Necromancer ritual he was aware of.

  Garran studied the monitors registering each beat of the woman's heart and each breath she took. Johanna Threshold fared better than the other two victims did, though he was sure she wouldn't survive, either. Too much of her essence was taken. He moved Johanna's hair away from her neck, leaning closer to discern if there were any marks. He opened her mouth and moved the tubing over to one side. He inspected the roof of her mouth, discovering the slight discoloration. He wasn't surprised, but he still wanted to confirm she suffered from the Soul Taker's touch.

  "What are you doing in here?" Isabella demanded.

  Garran stilled. Isabella Lucci had returned and he hadn't heard her footsteps. The human proved intriguing on more levels than he thought.

  "I said, what are you doing in here?" she repeated as if she felt he hadn't heard her threatening tone the first time she demanded an answer.

  He turned to face her. Her scent of fresh fallen rain curled around his senses, making him wonder if her blood would be as sweet. He shifted his attention, his gaze latching onto her beautiful hazel eyes rimmed with gold.

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  The stranger assessed her with a cool indifference. His arrogance not only proved to annoy Isabella, it downright pissed her off. His lips twitched, almost smiling, making her wonder if he read her mind. Well, hopefully, he had because if he didn't say something in the next few seconds, she was going to scream for help.

  "I am…" He glanced at Johanna before returning his gaze back to her. "A friend," he finished giving away his Scottish heritage with slight burr to the 'r' in friend.

  "Friend?" His aura proved a beautiful array, but the arrangement of them was off, not sickly off, but just…off. Her eyes narrowed. "I don't believe I caught your name."

  "It is of no consequences." His broad shoulders lifted in a shrug. He was tall, maybe six-four or five. Dangerous, came to mind when she looked at him, but Isabella strode into the room anyway. She wouldn't leave Johanna until she knew what this so called friend wanted. She placed her purse on the end table before going to stand on the other side of Johanna's bed. Everything looked to be in order. The ventilator was forcing air into her lungs, the monitor was beeping indicating her heart was still beating, and the IVs were still giving her the vital fluids she needed to stay alive. If lying there in a comatose position could be called alive. Johanna wasn't getting any better, but as far as her aura was concerned, she wasn't any worse either.

  She leveled her gaze on the stranger, wondering why he was here. Then it dawned on her who he might be. She took in his lean athletic built covered by jeans and a dark sweater. His hair was a burnished gold, his eyes a startling color of stormy gray. His face was rugged, without being hard, with just a hint of a five o'clock shadow. His mouth was full and definitely flirting with the audacity to smile. He was a looker, arrogance and all. "Are you Johanna's boyfriend?"

  His brows lifted slightly. He didn't have a chance to answer for the nurse came in, pushing a unit that would take Johanna's temperature, blood oxygen levels, and blood pressure.

  "Pardon me," the nurse said with a sympathetic smile.

  Isabella moved out of the way so the nurse could work. When she looked back to where the man had been standing, he was no longer there. She ran to the door, looking down the hall one-way then the other, but he was gone.

  "She's stable," the nurse announced after a moment. "I'll be back later to change the IV."

  "Thank you," Isabella answered, though her thoughts were still on the man who'd been standing over Johanna. Who was he and why did he leave in such a hurry?

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Garran didn't like being caught unaware, but Isabella Lucci had managed to sneak up on him. Interesting prospect. Something about the woman made him want to take a closer look. His brows furrowed, disconcerted at his own curiosity. Sure, she was lovely with dark hair and eyes, but no more beautiful than any other human with proportional attributes. He admired her spunk. The way she stood there in the doorway, challenging him. His lethal stares caused men to tremble in their wake, but she didn't even flinch. If anything, it seemed to make her more determined.

  For half a second, he thought about using his powers of persuasion, but then quickly decided against it. Her human eyes may not have seen him when he followed her here to the hospital, but her other senses felt him. He had a hunch his power of persuasion wouldn't work on her.

  Bravery, beauty, and in-tune to the preternatural realm, all admirable qualities, but it didn't change the fact she was human. Intrigued as he might be, he wouldn't allow himself to become involved with her for curiosity sake. Humans were too fragile and too needy. If he wanted to indulge in a relationship, he'd stick to his kind. If he wanted to hold onto the fantasy of there was the perfect soul mate for him, his soul mate most assuredly would not be a human.

  His lips curved. His thoughts had wandered where he hadn't thought to go. He didn't want to know the woman, let alone strike up a relationship with her.

  Damn Harrison for making him curious. If he hadn't insisted over and over again that Isabella Lucci should join them in their quest to bring down the Soul Taker, he would have never lurked in the shadows to catch a glimpse of her when Harrison had called her to Johanna Threshold's side the night she'd been attacked. It had been his first glimpse of the woman, whom Harrison raved about for the last month and a half.

  Isabella arrived in a flurry of energy as she hurried to be at her friend's side. Isabella resembled her mother in beauty. Louisa Lucci had been indeed a striking woman, but there was something more to Isabella. Her warmth and vitality drew him and he almost strode from where he hid for a closer look at her. Luckily, he had come to his senses in time.

  However, tonight in the hospital room, her scent washed over him like freshly fallen rain and for a blink of time, he lost his composure. Sure, no human would have noticed, but it bothered him all the same. "She's lethal as a siren," he cursed. He would stay away from her and warn Harrison to do the same.

  ****

  Visiting hours ended fifteen minutes ago. Isabella stayed with Johanna, fearing the tall man with the gorgeous eyes would come back. Part of her wanted him to, but another part of her thought she was crazy for even thinking it. The man was probably some weirdo who got off on coma patients.

  "Friend? I don't think so," she murmured. She left Johanna's room and headed toward the elevator. Once the doors opened, she stepped in, turning around to push the
button for the ground floor. A second before the cold steel closed, she caught sight of the tall, mysterious man strolling down the hall. Her hand whipped out, preventing the doors from closing.

  The man's strides were long and determined, never missing a beat, but instead of going into Johanna's room, he continued down the corridor and entered another room, furthering her suspicion that he was indeed a weirdo.

  Isabella couldn't resist. She had to know what he was up to. She hurried after him, halting in front of the room the man had entered. She poked her head in and found him leaning over the patient, a young woman in her late twenties or so. He leaned in so close and it appeared as if he were kissing her.

  He must have sensed her watching him. His body tensed, his jaw muscles pulsed as if he clenched his teeth. Before he could whip around and spot her spying on him, she jumped back, pressing her body against the wall as if she could melt into the plaster and disappear. For a few horrible seconds, she believed he would come around the corner and find her, but she detected no footsteps, only the thud of her heart pounding in her ears.

  She closed her eyes and took slow deliberate breaths to calm her nerves. He hadn't seen her. She pushed away from the wall and chanced another look. Her breath stuck in her throat as she took in the entire room without a hint of the tall stranger. How could he have gotten out? There were no exits, other than the door where she stood. He would have had to walk right past her.

  Just then, the monitor in the woman's room blared to life. Her gaze landed on the screen as she watched in horror. The patient's vitals dropped. Two nurses and a doctor rushed in, pushing a crash cart with them. Isabella watched from the doorway as they tried to bring the young woman back from the brink of death, but Isabella knew it was a hopeless attempt. The woman's aura had ceased to exist.