Retriever of the Lost Souls (Retriever Series Book 1)

by Brian

  “Yes, as a matter of fact, I do love you, Ms. Isabella, so THERE BACK AT YOU!”

  They arranged to meet at the Palace Station Hotel-Casino at 7:00 PM, and even though the flight from Sky Harbor airport was only about forty minutes or so, they were still hungry and tired by the time they got to their room. Eoin was growing more nervous by the second, and Isabella knew she had to do or say something to calm him down.

  Wrapping her arms around him, she said, “Calm down! You’re making ME nervous!”

  Taking a deep breath, he made a valiant attempt to remain calm. With Isabella, he had never been so happy with anyone else as he was with her.

  Eoin took a deep breath, and together they walked to the room next door where Alicia and her husband, Kyle, were staying. His heart was nearly beating out of his chest as the door slowly opened. The past twenty-five years melted away in an instant when Alicia ran into his arms, almost knocking him down. They laughed, hugged and kissed each other repeatedly.

  Neither Eoin nor Alicia could stop smiling as they talked about their time together and the time that had passed since they last saw each other. They each spoke lovingly of each of their partners and their children. During dinner at a Mexican restaurant, they had several margaritas, mixed drinks and plenty of beer, they continued talking, catching up, not realizing how much time had passed. Before long, it was two in the morning and they were all quite soused. Both couples drunkenly headed to their rooms.

  Once Eoin and Isabella were back in their room, they quickly readied themselves for bed, and soon were making love. Suddenly, Eoin heard Isabella utter something in Spanish.

  “Ay papito…que lindo…me gusta!”

  Eoin just looked at Isabella, unsure what she had said.

  “What did you say?”

  “Mmmmmm……nada…. nothing...” she trailed off.

  Eoin realized with trepidation that it wasn’t Isabella, although he had not noticed anyone come in. Since it wasn’t Isabella, he quickly got up and stared at her.

  “Who are you? What are you doing here? You aren’t supposed to be here!”

  “Calm down, honey. I just stopped in for a little fun!” She chuckled as she tried to kiss him.

  “Alaya, just stay away from us!”

  “Who is Alaya? Que pasa? You are a strange man. I’ll leave then.”

  “WAIT! If you’re not Alaya, who are you? What do you want?”

  “I was passing through, and I saw the light. Why are you so nervous? I just wanted a little fun. You do like the warmth of a woman, si?”

  “Who are you? How did you find us? Are you from below?”

  “I told you, I was passing through, saw the light and here I am. I am not from below. I am from the middle. My name is Amaryl. Who are you?”

  Eoin relaxed.

  Then, she leaned in closer to him.

  “Right now, I want you on top of me,” she said, enticing him.

  A short while later after Amaryl left, Isabella came back and was confused as to what had happened. At first, he tried to deny it, but again Isabella said quite angrily “I told you, the body knows.”

  Eoin, stuttering, tried to explain as best he could. He didn’t know how to tell her how hard it was to avoid the seduction that came his way with these other spirits. Isabella was still upset. “I told you that I will not put up with you sleeping with so many others. I am so sick of it! Why don’t you go sleep on the couch? I really don’t want to be near you right now.”

  Eoin fought back and refused to move off the bed, hoping that Isabella would get over her anger.

  “You really want me to not be angry? We never have a moment’s peace, and you are acting like a man whore. I am not only angry, I am livid with you! If you don’t get off the bed, then I will go to the couch. She picked up a pillow and one of the blankets on the bed and marched over to the couch where she lay down and turned away from him.

  He implored her to come back to bed, but she would not even answer him, finally he gave up and went to sleep.

  The next day, both couples met for breakfast at the buffet that was located upstairs from the main casino floor, there was still much tension between Eoin and Isabella, and breakfast was quieter than it should have been. After eating, they took the tram, which ran between several of the casinos on the Las Vegas Strip. Alicia and Eoin frequently walked arm in arm through the casinos on The Strip. Neither Kyle nor Isabella minded, as they enjoyed coming to get to know one another as well as getting a break from each other.

  Eoin wanted to show Isabella the Excalibur hotel, he finally took her aside and apologized and told her it would not happen again. Isabella tired of being angry, told him she could forgive but not forget, and if it happened again they would be through. He agreed. At this point they were able to walk hand in hand as they walked to the Excalibur Hotel. They were several steps ahead when Isabella nodded, then stopped. Eoin recognized Talitha, and after hugging, they continued walking to catch up to Alicia and Kyle. Talitha was looking around taking in the sights of the casino when her eyes fell on a kiosk advertising one of the musical acts in the hotel. She froze in her tracks as she stared at the picture of two men and a woman.

  “I know her,” she said at long last.

  “You know who?”

  “Her,” she said, pointing to the girl in the picture.

  Eoin studied the picture carefully. The three had medieval costumes, and the girl had very dark hair with a band around her forehead resembling a tiara. She had flowing veils and large dark eyes.

  “Who is she?”

  Turning, she faced Eoin. Most of her face had lost its color.

  “She is Alaya,” Talitha said.

  “Here? Is she here now? What is she doing here?”

  “She is looking for you. They are trying desperately to find you. They know you are gone and are looking in certain places for you. She does not know you are here.”

  Shaking, Eoin was scared. He started to ask her more questions when they saw Alicia and Kyle coming back toward them.

  “I must go.”

  Isabella returned quicker than usual, and when the other couple joined them they were looking at the picture.

  “Oh, sorry about that!” he said. “Isabella was telling me that she knows the girl in this picture. Small world isn’t it?”

  “Wow! That’s cool! Maybe we can go listen to them and get free passes!” Kyle said jokingly. All four of them laughed as they set out together to the casino floor.

  Several hours later they retired for the evening, and Eoin finally had a chance to tell Isabella what Talitha had told him. She was terrified, but after Eoin reminded her about the ring of protection, they agreed it was only a coincidence.

  The next couple of days were much fun for Eoin, as he renewed his friendship with Alicia, and realized just how much he had missed her. Being connected to Isabella, Talitha, able to visit Eoin even through the ring of protection, often visited. She was in awe of the “shiny lights “and loved the music, but she didn’t like the overall din or smell of the casino. Eoin wanted to take her to the Pirates of the Caribbean show, but the loud noises were too much for her ears and left so that Isabella could enjoy the show.

  The weekend was over too soon, and it was time to return to reality. Eoin didn’t want to go home and face the fighting again but knew he must, so before he could change his mind, he and Isabella got on the plane and flew back to Phoenix.

  After arriving at the airport, they gathered their luggage from baggage claim and headed toward their car. Just after they left the airport, Isabella took in the usual deep breath followed by the now familiar greeting.

  “Hey Baby. You’ve been hiding from me! Don’t you love me anymore?” She laughed heartily. “Don’t you know you can’t stay away from me for long, baby?”

  “I have never loved you, and I never will. Why do you persist in bothering me?”

  Alaya narrowed her eyes and stared at him with hatred. Pretending he didn’t see this look, Eoin continued d
riving home.

  “What is that password!” she hissed once more.

  Eoin was tired of this question and wished that she would drop it and get over the fact that he didn’t know what she was talking about a password.

  Flick.

  They were on the freeway when Eoin heard that sound. It was the unmistakable sound of the door handle.

  Flick.

  Eoin’s hands gripped the steering wheel tighter as he felt himself begin to sweat.

  “What are you doing?” He said with as much calm as he could muster.

  “I could open this door right now and jump,” she said coldly. “I could jump right now, and you’d lose your precious Isabella.”

  “You wouldn’t dare do that,” Eoin said.

  “Oh? And why wouldn’t I? What’s to stop me?”

  Suddenly, the dome light came on, along with the chime indicating an open door. Eoin hadn’t thought she would open the door while they were on the freeway. Without thinking, Eoin reached across the SUV with his right arm and was able to close the door.

  “What the HELL do you think you’re doing?” He yelled.

  Laughing, she said, “Next time, I think I’ll jump.”

  Eoin decided to call her bluff.

  “You wouldn’t do that,” he said.

  “Why not? I have absolutely nothing to lose,” she said.

  “You do,” Eoin continued.

  “Why do you say that? I’m already dead you know.”

  “Alaya, you are correct, and Isabella would be severely hurt, or even killed if you jump. However, consider this. If she dies, you wouldn’t be able to annoy me anymore because she wouldn’t be here.”

  She was silent as she considered her words, and he was sure he saw her pouting like a small child.

  “Yeah, that’s what I thought,” he said.

  She left as she had many times before, but this time didn’t say anything. When Isabella came back, she told him that her head was hurting more than usual – a nasty little surprise courtesy of Alaya.

  Chapter 48

  One night after a particularly intense fight, it was Talitha who informed Eoin that the fighting was over for the night. She also told him of changes happening in her part of the coven.

  “The coven is falling apart, my room has broken, I am able to move about the coven.”

  Eoin was elated and prayed that he could find a way to get Talitha out of the coven. He had seen enough to know that through prayer, anything was possible.

  A few nights later, they were talking about ways to rescue Talitha. Then, at that moment, the phone rang, and when Eoin answered it, Isabella quickly made a decision that would change all their lives forever.

  Since Eoin was distracted, Isabella descended below and followed the footsteps Talitha had taken so many years before. Arriving through the First Door, she didn’t hesitate to go through. It was as night and day. Before entering the first door, it had been a warm sunny day, now it was gray and cold. Arriving at the Second Door, however, Isabella paused. She could feel the air becoming colder and a putrid stench hung in the air. Did she want to do this? She decided that helping to bring someone home to God was worth whatever risk she was taking.

  Talitha saw what was happening and quickly jumped into Isabella’s mind to speak to her, “You must stop this. You are in danger, go back!” she implored. Isabella responded, “I’m coming to get you Talitha, be ready to go!” she then continued her journey. Talitha then chose to appeal to Eoin, she knew he would do something.

  “You must stop her! She is about to cross the Third Door. If they push her into the Fourth door, she will die. You have to stop her!” She screamed.

  Eoin tried to wake Isabella, but her body was unresponsive. Unable to bring her back, he stood by, ready to do anything necessary to rescue them both.

  Isabella went through the Third Door, She was now freezing, the air was swirling as if she were in the eye of a tornado, the smell was making her gag, it was the worse odor she had ever smelled, she paused again knowing that the next step would be a stunning victory or a resounding defeat for those above, making her decision she continued along her journey to find the Fourth Door. Suddenly it stood before her, daunting. There was a railing of sorts surrounding this door, and many demons were encouraging her to go through the door which was standing wide open. The demons were imposing and terrifying in their appearance, which kept those trapped behind the fourth door from trying to leave. Keeping track of where Isabella was, Talitha made her way to the front of the Fourth Door, yelling at Isabella to go back. Isabella, however, didn’t listen and instead came closer. Talitha began to plead with Isabella “You must stop this, go back before it’s too late. You will die and be trapped here forever if don’t go back!” Still Isabella inched her way forward. Again, Talitha Implored Eoin to stop her.

  “I can’t do anything now her body is not responding.”

  Isabella continued until she saw Talitha. Taking hold of the railing, Isabella inched closer to the door when she suddenly felt a push from behind. Isabella was frightened but held tightly to the rails by wrapping her long legs around them to give her more leverage. Reaching out with one hand, she yelled at Talitha to take her hand. Talitha refused, afraid of the demons at the door, she screamed back at Isabella that it was much too dangerous. Isabella heard a voice in her head telling her that the demons although scary, were not dangerous enough to hurt her. This allowed her to reach past them again with her hands, the demons still trying to pull her and those behind were trying to push her in. She started begging Talitha to take them, still she refused. She yelled at Talitha that the demons would not hurt her, Talitha looked at them still afraid to reach out.

  Isabella frantically spoke to Eoin. “She must take my hands, Eoin! Tell her to take my hands NOW!”

  “Talitha! Take Isabella’s hands. You must take her hands NOW! She is risking her life for you. The least you can do is take them!”

  Isabella saw Talitha reach toward her, and as each woman grabbed the other’s wrists, the demons tried desperately to push Isabella through the door. Every inch of Isabella’s body was fully stretched out now, with both of her arms extended as far as they would go. Eoin saw her hands clasp what appeared to be another’s wrists. Once again, he heard Isabella’s voice.

  “Help me!” she cried.

  “What can I do?” he asked fervently.

  “Pull me!”

  Eoin could see Isabella’s hands readjust and close tightly over the invisible pair of hands. Without thinking, he put both hands on Isabella’s shoulders, and with a mighty shove, he pushed her the opposite way. Isabella’s body suddenly rolled across the bed and landed on the floor with a thud. An unnatural calm followed, broken only by his heavy breathing.

  “Isabella? Isabella!” he cried. “Are you ok? Please talk to me!”

  She lay very still on the floor, barely breathing. As Eoin scrambled across the bed, he noticed she had fallen into the gap between the bed and the wall, which was only about a foot wide.

  He pulled as much as he could, considering she was a tall, full figured woman it felt like an impossible task. He continued to pray and pull at the same time and suddenly with a burst of strength he was slowly able to pull her body up her on the bed.

  Are you ok Isabella? Please answer me. Suddenly she spoke “I’m ok, I hope she is.”

  “Did you get her? Isabella, please talk to me!”

  Pausing for a moment, so she could check if she could hear Talitha’s voice, she then whispered in a very hoarse sounding voice “She is with me! I have her!”

  Sitting up slowly, feeling the pain in her body, Isabella looked at Eoin and exclaimed tiredly yet joyfully she answered “I got her! She’s her! I have her!”

  Eoin could hardly believe what he had just heard.

  “You--” he stopped. “You got her?”

  “Yes. She is here with me now, it feels so very different Eoin, it feels like a freedom I’ve never felt before”

  �
��Praise God!” he exclaimed!

  Crying with unimagined joy, he asked to speak to Talitha, but Isabella explained that they both had no energy left, so he cradled them and held them both as they slept. Eoin kept vigil and prayed, giving thanks, many times over, before eventually falling asleep, joining Talitha and Isabella in a peaceful slumber.

  The next morning dawned bright, and when he woke, Eoin looked around the room, wondering if it had all been a very intense dream. Isabella was already awake and had a huge smile on her face. He knew at that moment that it had not been a dream.

  “I can’t believe it! It feels like a dream. I know it’s not, I know that God allowed this to happen, but it feels surreal.”

  “I know; neither can I. It’s almost as if it was part of our imagination.”

  Eoin then looked at her, frowning.

  “Promise me you will never do something that dangerous again, without talking to me first. You could have been killed or trapped down there. That was a stupid thing to do. What if I couldn’t have helped you? What if they had managed to push you into the fourth door?” He teared up “I could have lost you. I never want to feel that afraid for your life again. Promise me you won’t ever do that again!” He reiterated again.

  Isabella blushed and smiled shyly.

  “I don’t know what came over me. One minute you were on the phone and the next minute, I had this idea in my head to go down and save her. I knew if I didn’t go at that time, you would talk me out of doing it.”

  “All I can say is that it happened the way God wanted it to happen, without Him, we would have failed.”

  “That’s true,” Isabella agreed.

  “So, where is she?” Eoin hesitantly asked.

  “She is here,” she said pointing at her head. “She wishes to speak to you.”

  Eoin found himself watching the transformation of Isabella to Talitha.

  “Eoin! My Eoin! Thank you so much for what you have done! I cannot believe that I am finally free of the coven! You must understand that they won’t let me go without a fight, for no coven has EVER lost anyone before.”

  “I know that they will fight for you, but I won’t ever let you go. You are too important to me, and I’ll fight until I can fight no more,” Eoin said with conviction in his voice. “But one thing you must also understand. It wasn’t me who saved you – it was God. He just used Isabella and me to do His work.”