I stood frozen. I stared at the carnage in front of me.It was all so surreal I couldn't believe what had happened. There was no way, in my mind, that I could have just killed someone. A person, a human, was dead, by my hand. That was impossible. The door next to me opened and Ms. Suzy edged out followed shortly by a babbling Bianca. I still couldn't move; I was stuck in the same position staring down at the bloodshed in front of me that my own hand caused. Suddenly a hand came around in front of my vision and set on the top of my gun. "It's okay, Vicki," said a voice softly repeated in my ear. I let out a shaky breath slowly and willed my tremble hand to let go of the gun. Once my frozen hand finally thawed the gun was pried out of it and I heard Ms. Suzy give a huge sigh of relief. My knees collapsed out from underneath me as if the gun had been the only thing holding me upright and without its weight, I could not stay on my feet. Vaguely I could hear conversations, but I coul
My attempts, though terrible, did work much to my surprise. "What the hell just happened?" Craig said being the first to speak. "Seriously?" Benjamin spouted off turning to him in disbelief. "That's your question?" "What? Like you have a better idea!" Craig defended. "Better than you apparently," he came back. "Oh, shut up," Craig stated. "Boys! Don't make me send you to your rooms," I popped off. This very odd exchange seemed to have worked to calm everyone, but I still felt as if someone was staring daggers at my back. I turned to face the culprit only to find the last person in the world I would have thought I would see today. She looked pissed; very, very pissed. "Avamarie," I breathed. Everyone turned to see what I was looking at. "Who is that?" Craig asked. "That is Avamarie. She's the woman that is helping me," I told him. "She's a ghost," Benjamin chimed in. "The one I saw the other day.""Well, you were right she is very good looking," Craig said in appreciation. "
I looked around at everyone that was gathered in this little dinky dark hallway that I really hoped I would never see again. There were more people around than I had thought and they were all looking to me, leaving me feeling distinctly uncomfortable. "The plan now is that we need to get going and head south," I said to them. Craig and Benjamin looked at each other and it seemed as if they were holding a silent conversation right before they both nodded in agreement. "Alright, let's get going," Craig said. "Yeah," Benjamin agreed. "Okay, I'll meet you guys at the truck in an hour," I said to them. I knew they needed time to take care of a few things before we left, not to mention I had a few things to take care of myself. I left them to their own devices and went back up to the room I had been staying in to look for anything I had missed. As I walked by the nursery, I took a moment to look in on the babies. Baby Tommy was doing great his skin finally had a good amount of
Her declaration didn't sit well with me. "What do you mean?" "I mean, that something isn't right. I got the feeling there's more to this than what it seems." I leaned back next to her and allowed her words to run through my head. I could hear the honest worry in her voice, but I couldn't figure out what she had seen or heard to have caused it. "I have no idea what is right or wrong now. I guess it's a good time to make a leap of faith, don't you?" She stared off into the distance deep in thought before she finally let out a deep sigh and nodded."I guess at this point we don't have a choice," she said and pushed away from the truck to turn to me. "Just promise me you'll be safe."I gave her a sarcastic look. "Do you honestly think I'll go out and look for trouble? I mean, you haven't known me for very long, but what have I done to make you think that I'd go looking for trouble?"She raised an eyebrow at me. "Do I need to list it?"I just laughed and hugged her. I didn't want to adm
Beginning of Book 2: Journey for the Souls-Soul Eaters.That's what she had called them. They would suck out your soul and leave you a hollowed shell, doomed to walk the earth preying on the living. Hungering for another soul to fill the empty void you had become. They were after everything that moved or breathed. Incredibly fast and inhumanly strong they would run us down. Fear and anger seemed to feed them until they were ravenous. Once crazed, they were a monster that could not be stopped, would not be stopped until they had their prey. But they had to be stopped and I was afraid I wouldn't be strong enough to do it. I did know that I would walk through hell and back for my family. I had a feeling by the time this was over that is just what I would have to do. -My ears were clogged with the deafening pound of my heart. Even if they had used clogs and dragged a set of chains, I wouldn't have heard them coming. After a half a mile jog, the blood slamming through my veins and my r
Both men looked at me with confusion. "What?" asked Gerard. "I'm not going to threaten to kill you," I said with a wicked chuckle."You're not?""No. I'm just going to tell you that I don't care where you came from or what you did. Because right now we are all that's left and we need to help each other in order to save this world," I told them truthfully. As a look of relief passed over their faces, I knew it was time to strike. I wanted my words to make an even bigger impact. I stepped closer and fondled my gun in adoration."On that same note if you do betray us just remember one thing. Out of everyone here, I have the most to lose and the most to fight for. So, my retribution will be harsh and slow." I continued to stare them down and I felt a sick satisfaction at the look of fear that began to form in Gerard's azure eyes. Tom's stayed blank and I wondered if he had any emotion beyond anger. But I dismissed him not willing to worry about that right at this moment."I won't kill
He had gotten his payback; the Eater had lost sight of me and had taken him instead. By the time I was able to drag myself to the door, the Eater was done and had come back for dessert. I was the dessert. Benjamin strolled up, looking like the adolescent version of a badass and shot the creature right between the eyes with his crossbow. Unfortunately, his cool card was revoked when he almost fainted at the sight of blood. As soon as the blade was removed, he raced to the nearest garbage can and vomited up the entire contents of his stomach. However, he earned the cool card back later when he threw himself down a laundry chute to tackle a kidnapper that had stolen Marcus from us and was threatening to kill him. In reality the man had shot me, or rather grazed my temple, but in the chaos, I had managed to get Marcus out of there. Benny had more than proven himself in my eyes. I had originally wanted him to stay back and take care of his sister. She had autism and needed him to pr
Nobody moved as we stared at this little deer that seemed to think he owned the clearing. I don't know if any of us actually believed it was a deer and not an Eater in a tan fur disguise. Gerard was the first one to slowly lower his gun and let out a few little breathy, shaky, chuckles. Craig and I followed suite letting our guard relax slightly. Tom was the only one still glued into the area as if he was waiting for something more to come through the brush.Paranoid was the first word that came to my mind at that point. But when the animalistic roar came from behind the trees, I understood his paranoia. Out of the depths several creatures burst forward into view leaving an explosion of limbs and leaves in their wake. They stopped in their tracks and began making odd clicking noises with their mouths then let out a loud high-pitched scream signaling to every creature in the area that they had found the prey to whet their appetites. Their clothing was tattered as if they had hit every
The sunlight shined through the gossamer curtains and hit my face. I awoke gently, blinking several times as my eyes tried to adjust to the light. As the window became clearer and clearer, I couldn't place it. I sat up trying to remember where I was. "Vicki?" said a deep voice from behind me. I turned and behind me were the sleep hazed eyes of my husband. Everything hit me at once and I began to shake. He wrapped me in his arms as he had done every morning since our return. We got back to that tiny shore side town to find Craig, Erin and Marcus had been waiting for us at the edge of the pier. They had greeted us like heroes, and I hadn't been able to stop holding Marcus or checking him over to make sure he was okay. Other than the rope burns he seemed physically okay. There was a haunting look in his eyes, but he refused to talk about what had happened while he had been an Eater. I had been forced to let it go after a while, but not before I made him promise to talk to me when
I laid the ruby on the ground and brought the solid rock down on it as hard as I could. The ruby shattered instantly and the shockwave from the power being released hurled me back to the ground again. A bolt of light shot to the sky and little lights sped out of it so fast that it looked like one light if you weren't as close to it as I was. Souls. I thought. Souls were being freed. They streamed at light speed towards the sky and as soon as they touched the storm they shot off in all directions. So many souls that the sky began to light up like it was noon instead of almost midnight. The roar of the souls leaving their prison was so loud you could hear it for miles. A loud scream from the circle snapped me out of the hypnotic state that the light show had put me in. She was beating against the field still, but this time it wasn't it anger it was in fear. "Let me out! Let me out! She's gonna kill me! Help! Help!" she screamed frantically. I jumped up to go help her, but Jenevive
Avamarie gradually stood up and wiped the blood off her mouth as she chuckled weakly. "You're right, Mother. You did teach me to duel, and I never did defeat you," she said softly. I watched her closely my gut telling me she was up to something. My gaze flew between the two women trying to figure out what was happening. Avamarie couldn't be giving up that easily. Jenevive was indeed enormously powerful, but it was becoming obvious that Avamarie was truly quite powerful in her own right. Movement behind Jenevive caught my eye. A large boulder that had come out of the ground began to quiver then slowly float up. I glanced over at Avamarie trying to see how she was doing it. One finger was lifting, but the hand was pressed so tightly to her side that from where Jenevive stood she wouldn't be able to see. "Look out!" I screamed. Jenevive spun around just in time to be plowed over by this boulder. She flew across the clearing until she landed brutally on the ground, bouncing once
"You had everything inside you to make it here. And look you did," she finished with glee.Her reasoning's were horrifyingly simple, terrifyingly easy. She used me plain and true, and I had made it so easy for her to manipulate me."If you hadn't meant for me to save the world, then why did you give me this stone that would save me and keep me safe?" I asked angrily throwing the shards from the stone at her feet.She bent over slowly and picked them up petting them tenderly as if they were the sweetest flower, she had ever seen. She looked down at them with a strange curiosity that held a tinge of regret in her eyes."I gave it to you so that you could bring it back here. I knew Mother would never give me this stone and it was the last piece I needed to complete the spell. A pure soul for sacrifice," she said softly. Then fury boiled up as she turned it on me. "But you! You, selfish bitch! You couldn't help yourself. You had to use it on every bleeding soul that you came across, didn'
In anger and disbelief, I confronted her. "NO! You're lying! It is you! You killed your own daughter! You sacrificed her to seal your pact with the Daemon!" I yelled at her. She dropped her head and I nodded at the acknowledgement of her guilt. "You're right. I killed my own daughter," she admitted despondently. I straighten my shoulders feeling justified in my anger. She was trying to mess with me to keep me from my goals. Well, she would have to try harder than that. By the end of the night, I was going to have my children back. "But not for the reason you think," she interrupted my thoughts. "And you have no reason to trust me, but I sacrificed her in hopes that I could save her before she finalized the pact with the Daemon. What I didn't know was that in doing so I, myself finished it. Because I took the last piece of good that was in her and sealed it in a stone known as the Black Star Sapphire." She pulled a necklace from under her dress and showed me a stone that was
The dusk was approaching harsh and rapidly when I dropped in front of a tree wasted. Panting, thirsty and starving. I was lost and had long ago ran out of will power to keep going. My body itself was refusing to keep walking. I had been coaching the exhausted lump of skin for the last few hours just trying to keep going and now my feet finally gave out on me leaving me sitting against the tree. The little nudge inside of me had grown into a constant tightness of the gut. I knew I was getting close and didn't want to give up. Looking around I tried to spot something anything that looked familiar to me. I pulled up the image that Avamarie had given me in my dream trying to find a clue. The cabin was desolate and run down. The area looked like a million other areas that were in the forest. The only thing that stood out was a few odd wooden wind chimes.Wait… wind chimes. Immediately I closed my eyes and tried to slow my breath so that my pounding heart didn't override every other soun
We waited until we were far away from the shore before beginning to bombard Gerard with questions. "How did you find us?" Was mine. "Why did you come back?" Benny asked viciously. Gerard raised an eyebrow at him. "You're welcome," he replied sarcastically. "Something told me that you guys needed me. So, I found the nearest non-crushed rig and following the carnage. You guys left a lot of banged up rigs behind." He gave a short chuckle as if he could see the image of the wreckage in his head. "Where is everyone else?" he asked changing the subject abruptly. Benjamin and I looked at each other hoping the other would tell the story not wanting to verbally rehash it. I couldn't think of Marcus laying tied to that bed thrashing around reaching for someone to try an ease the hunger inside of him. Just the thought of not wanting to think of it brought the image to mind and my breath left my body in a whoosh as if I had been struck in the gut. "I left him," I whispered heartbrokenl
The Eaters let out a scream rocking the walls then went straight for Craig and me. I tucked my head down around Marcus' shoulder waiting for the hands to grab me. Two loud thuds then nothing. My ears were ringing making it hard to hear anything more than the pounding of my heart over them. An eerie silence reached me when my ears finally opened again. Glancing over my shoulder into the room I found Benny standing there staring at us with a smoking gun in his hand. Erin stood next to him gripping his arm tightly and horror darkened both of their gazes. Marcus was making clicking noises in my ear and then I heard a response in my other ear. Panic consumed me as I struggled to get free realizing that Craig had been turned as well. Something slammed into the front door before any of us could make a move to free me. It slammed over and over again until we could all hear the wood on the door splintering. "Get him off her," Benjamin order Erin before booking it out of the room. Erin
"Let me take Marcus," Craig offered. I gave him a grateful look and traded him. Johnny jumped on me wrapping his little arms around my neck with a strangled grip and I felt the wet rain of his tears. My own silent answer fell from my face as I walked behind Craig watching him carry my screeching Soul Eater son in his arms. I felt like a failure, worse than I had when I thought I had lost the world to this epidemic. I had failed to keep my son's safe and now one had been turned. Benjamin opened the door as he saw us approaching. "Oh shit," he whispered. Erin popped out the door with a smile of greeting until she saw Marcus. "Oh, God! No!" she cried racing towards us. "Stop!" Benjamin demanded grabbing her to keep her away from us. She spun in his arms and hid her face against his chest sobbing. Craig pushed passed them and took Marcus to a little room in the back of the house. "What happened?" Benny demanded. I had to swallow several times before I could speak and even