My Soul to Keep

CHAPTER 11



I set the cordless phone down on my nightstand for the sixteenth time. I'd actually dialed six of Jessie’s seven numbers at least nine of my sixteen attempts. I don’t know what I was afraid of. I know she wanted to talk to me, but I just couldn’t do it. I wasn’t just stupid, I was a stupid chicken.

I flicked off the light and rolled over in my bed. Closing my eyes seemed pointless. I didn’t feel like sleeping, but I didn’t feel like playing video games either. I sighed and finally closed them.

It hit me right then, in the stomach.

Brett, the boy from the mall, sat behind the garage of his parent’s house, not too far from my own. He'd just lit the black candle with gold flecks in it and unfurled the paper with the words written in his own blood.

I smiled. I could feel the pull. I knew I had to go. I had planted the seed in Brett's mind, and only I could grant his wish. I could see the whole scene unfurling in my mind as I dressed and opened my bedroom window.

He spoke the first line and I stepped through the window onto the roof of the garage.

He spoke the second line and my wings snapped out behind me.

He spoke the third line and I leapt into the air, letting my wings unfurl.

He spoke the final line and the universe exploded in colors I'd never seen before.

I beat downward with my wings and turned toward the source of the call. I glanced over the dimly lit houses below as they passed by with frightening speed. Below me, a single headlight illuminated the road, and the rumble of the Harley Davidson picked up tempo matching my speed and direction. Clarisse must have heard it, too.

The motorcycle screeched to a halt below me just in front of Brett’s house. I closed my wings and dropped like a stone to the pavement next to her. I did the classic “land on one knee with my fist on the pavement” just like every superhero in every comic book I'd ever read.

“Nice entrance, worm. I told you, you would hear the call. Come on, we’ve got work to do.”

“Good evening to you too, Clarisse.”

“Shut up. Do you still have your orb?”

“Yeah. Why?”

“You don’t need it anymore. I doubt it would even work anymore. Your own magic is growing too strong for the orb to mask. Take it off. We’ll give it to the newbie.”

Nodding, I pulled my wallet out of my back pocket. Lately, I’d made a habit of sticking it in there disguised as a library card. I pulled it out and it morphed back into the crystal sphere I'd first seen when Clarisse had given it to me.

“Here it is.”

“Hang on to it. You’re running the show tonight. From now on you’re on your own.”

I nodded and we walked around the side of the house along the driveway. The garage sat offset from the house in the back. Almost tripping on the garbage cans caused Clarisse to roll her eyes and Brett to peek around the back of the garage at the two strangers in his yard. “W…w…who are you?”

“Brett Johnson?” I made his name a question. He nodded. “We haven’t got all night, what’s your wish?”

He looked confused. I probably looked the same way when Clarisse asked me what my wish was. “Excuse me?” He stepped fully around the corner and glanced at the house to make sure we were alone.

“One wish, one soul, that’s the deal. What is it you want?” I sounded just like Clarisse. I glanced over at her and she seemed impressed by how I was handling the situation.

“Anything?”

“Anything, Brett. Let me guess, you want to be a vampire?” I already knew the answer. I could feel it in his head.

“Really? I can be a vampire? Won’t I like get caught or burned at school?” Bret was a smart cookie.

“We have things to protect you. Is that your wish? Do you want to be a vampire? We can even make you the sparkly kind…”

“No! Real vampires don’t sparkle. I want to be a real vampire. I want to drink blood, be pale, and live forever. Can you make me handsome?”

“Yes,” Clarisse answered for me.

“Then yes. I want to be a vampire!”

I didn’t even have to ask Clarisse what to do. I didn’t even have to ask Brett for clarification as to what the word vampire meant to him. I pulled the image and the abilities straight from his mind and felt the magic around us gather.

Instead of pulling it into me and guiding it into Brett, I pulled it out of the air and flung it at him like he was the target in a game of dodge-ball. I even saw it strike his chest in a shower of blue sparks.

He cried out when it hit him and fell to the ground, quite dead.

“Jeez, Connor. What the hell did you do?” Clarisse ran past me and knelt at Brett’s side.

I didn’t get what she meant, so I walked over to his prone form. I saw his skin turn pale and every blemish visible on his face melted away. His skin became like porcelain and his greasy, short hair grew longer and almost glowed under the light of the garage floodlights. His nails grew longer and the chewed edges smoothed into neat ovals. His mouth opened exposing glistening fangs. I raised my eyebrows in appreciation at what I'd done. Brett was now a perfect vampire.

“He seems okay to me,” I said to the top of Clarisse’s head as she studied the changes happening to Brett.

“It should have taken days. How the hell did you do that?”

“Do what?”

“Hurl the magic at him like a weapon. No Seeker has ever been able to do that before. We usually just touch them with the magic and it does all the work over time.”

“You’re asking the wrong guy. I’m the noob, remember?”

“Well, be more careful in the future.” She stood up and stayed there until Brett coughed and sat up. Immediately he noticed his hands and skin color and smiled like he'd gotten a puppy for Christmas.

“Thank you!”

“Don’t thank him yet,” Clarisse started. “First of all, to your parents and friends you must remain normal. Worm, give him the orb.”

I reached in my pocket and pulled out the sphere. I brought it down to Brett’s wrist and set it there, watching it as it turned into a broad, somewhat heavy metal looking watch with a black band and a skull on the face. As soon as it wrapped itself around his wrist, his skin took on a healthier color and his normal, grungy look returned.

“Cool,” Brett said as soon as he noticed.

“It is. Keep it with you at all times. It not only makes you look human, it actually stops the sun from burning you into a charcoal briquette. Savvy?”

“Completely, ma’am.” That earned him an eye roll from Clarisse.

“You need to feed, but you can’t kill any humans! That’s rule numero uno and trust me, you don’t want to break rule number one. Ever.”

Even I shuddered at Clarisse’s speech. She hadn’t given it to me and I briefly wondered why. I probably didn’t want to know the answer anyway.

Brett nodded and gulped more than a little. “When do you get my soul?” Maybe he was even smarter than I gave him credit for.

“Don’t end up dead, and don’t break rule number one,” she called over her shoulder as she walked down the driveway.

I gave Brett a quick wave and followed Clarisse. “You want a ride home, worm?”

“Sure.”

We walked past the house. Her Harley had vanished, but her bug sat out in the street. She needed to show me how to do that.

“Get in.”

“Is it locked?” I couldn’t help myself. I had to ask. She gave me the bird and I lifted the handle, letting myself in before she did. I looked at her and her eyes were glowing as she slid into her seat.

“Good work back there. Not bad for a newbie.”

“Thanks,” I said and closed the door.

We rode in silence back to le chateau du Sullivan. When she pulled up to the driveway all I got was a heartfelt and enthusiastic, “Get out.”

“Is everything okay, Clarisse?”

“Peachy keen, now get the hell out of my car. Tomorrow is Saturday. Expect to train most of the day. Sunday, too.”

“I can’t Sunday, I have a date.”

I heard her head snap as she finally turned to look at me. Before I could even register the impact of her fist against my face, it blasted me out of the opened door of the little pink Bug.

Lying on the side of the road, I watched in confusion as she drove away.