Page 84 of Between Soul and Vessel
I had seen and collected hundreds of thousands of soulsbefore, but they had never been shattered apart like this one; they were always whole. Fascinating. Although part of me itched to move the pieces, to complete the puzzle, that was not why I was here.
Returning to the task at hand, I continued to pass by the tables, looking for Soren’s ugly mug.
“He’s not here,” Ryker stated after we’d searched the bodies.
“No,” I growled under my breath, clenching my jaw. A muscle ticked inside of it as if it were trying to squirm away. The beast within me roared in frustration, begging me to grab one of the altars and send it careening into the wall. Knowing that wasn’t going to help, I kept my composure and began to walk around the room, looking for anything that might help us.
A faint whisper of clicking heels sounded, echoing in our direction.
There was no time to move anywhere else, so Ryker and I ducked behind the altars we stood beside.
One of the gray-skinned females that we had seen before, the taller one with the pulled back hair, appeared. She hummed softly as she walked through the rows. A glowing magic swirled behind her, grabbing hold of a stool and plucking it from the ground. As she continued forward, the stool followed. She stopped at the end of an altar—a man rested on top of it.
She placed her clawed fingers on his face, gently turning it from side to side. “Pretty good work, if I say so myself. Now, let’s see about that soul of yours,” she said.
Her magic dropped the stool at the foot of the altar, and she sat down on it. She waved her hand over the stone, and a rectangular black slate appeared. She began to study it, humming softly to herself.
As Ryker was closer, and he had two good arms, I flicked my head toward her.
He nodded. Without a moment’s hesitation, he leapt from his spot and grabbed her, pinning her arms to her sides. He shoved her face forward, right between the man’s two feet.
“How dare you touch me!” she snarled, blue magic shooting out behind her, reaching for the serrated knife a few altars down. Grabbing hold of it, she flung it toward Ryker.
Just before it plunged into his back, I caught it.
I placed the blade against her throat and said in warning, “I wouldn’t try that again.”
She ceased her struggle, turning bone stiff. That told me a great deal. Either she was afraid of pain, or she was afraid to die by the knife. If it was the latter, it meant she was not immortal, which could mean the rest of her kind wasn’t either. I archived that information.
I lowered my face to hers. “There was a human here, missing three fingers. Where has he been sent to?”
Her empty black eyes shifted to a wall before they swiftly flicked back to mine, narrowing. “How should I know? We get plenty of vessels that are missing things—fingers, eyes, heads.” Her gaze flicked to my sling. “Arms.”
I glanced at the wall. “What lies beyond it?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she hissed.
“Oh, I think you do.” I pressed the blade further against her throat. “Now, I will only ask one more time. What lies beyond the wall?”
Her voice was barely more than a whisper. “It is where we store the bodies until they are taken.”
“Show us,” I demanded.
Reluctantly, she did. She used the same magic she had used before, parting the wall and enabling the three of us to step inside.
The room was lit with a dim glow, the air different. In here, there was a steady, lively hum—as if it flowed with life. There were carts, stockpiled with bodies. I peered at the one’s face, and although it didn’t move, I couldfeelit looking back at me.
All of these souls were conscious, but still they were unable to move. It was like there was a disconnect between soul and vessel.
“Which one is he in?” I asked her.
“That one.” She nodded to the one at the end, her movement limited due to the blade I held at her throat. We walked over to it, my eyes darting from face to face, searching.
Finally, I spotted the little fucker, stacked on top of the others.
Ryker climbed up the cart and dragged Soren to the side. Lifting him over the wood wall, he brought him down then placed him on the ground.
I peered into his eyes. Inside, I could see a circular,repetitive movement, like a mindless rodent running on a wheel. Over and over again. But there was no feeling there. Only numbness.
