Souls Stories
Page 2
Flutter - A Souls Side Story
Lucy awoke, she looked around, clutching the glowing rosary around her neck. The room was dark, and the only noise she could hear was the rain outside, and the sound of Danny sleeping nearby.
This had been the 4th night in a row that Lucy was startled awake. Ever since she prayed and swore she saw her friends in trouble, each night had brought a new terror or sound that kept blissful sleep away.
She walked to the small kitchen, and began to make herself some tea. It had become a nightly ritual and everything was basically ready for when she would awaken. The apartment was small, but it was enough for the two of them. They were getting settled in, thanks to some funding from the Papillon institute.
She remembered those first few days with Eli, making sure everything was okay, that they were getting settled in. She always thought of him as a hard man, but his demeanor and eyes, she could tell he was genuinely worried for her and Danny, Dan as he decided he wanted to be called now.
There was a sense of boundless kindness in his eyes, and some sadness she remembered. She didn’t know why, but there something about Eli, she missed him being around.
"Don’t get noticed; don’t go out if you don’t have to. Pay attention to your surroundings." There were a lot of rules that Eli had laid down for them to follow. He also taught them what to do for a couple scenarios, but he always stressed rule number one. "If you think you’re in danger, don’t hesitate, run."
She sat down at the table, stopping the tea kettle before the whistle blew, she didn’t want to wake Dan; he had enough trouble falling asleep as it is. She pulled out a small notebook and began trying to remember her dream. She knew these were no random dreams, they had meaning, and she had to make sure to remember as much detail as she could.
She closed her eyes, and concentrated. Her rosary grew warm and she instinctively grabbed at it. Her control over the past few days had grown considerably, she was surprised at the strength she had, and the strength she could draw from it. She wondered if maybe this was some maternal instinct, being with Dan, wanting to make sure he was okay.
She heard fluttering. That’s right, there was fluttering in her dream, but the sound wasn’t right. It wasn’t the fluttering of small birds; she focused, trying to remember. Fluttering, loud long flaps of wings, that was the noise she heard. She stood, not in darkness, but not in light, in grey, a sort of fog. Light was diluted around her, a strange not quite white, not quite blue glow. The flutter was far, but getting closer, drowned out by a different sound.
Rain, there was rain around her, heavy rain, that’s why she couldn’t see, that’s what diluted the light. But the rain was getting quieter, she could hear the flap clearly now.
She looked around, for some sign of where the noise was coming from. There was more, there had to be more. She concentrated, trying her best to remember. A glow, a warm, orange glow. No, it should have been warm but it wasn’t, it chilled her. Off in the distance she looked, there was the glow, bright but far. There was another noise, hidden in the rain and flap.
She willed those noises away, focused so much that hew hand hurt as she clutched the rosary around her neck. The sound of rain drops fell away, the flaps, slowed, in between the noises she listened and watched. She strained her ears, her eyes, the glow, the orange glow, it crackled. Fire, it was fire, but unlike any fire she knew, it crackled, it roared slightly, it shone. It was fire that burn and did not burn as it sheathed the true danger… a sword.
Her phone rang and she jumped. Less that a few seconds had passed. The phone rang again and she answered; only Eli had this number.
"Eli? Is something wrong?" There was only silence, then, she held her breath. Long flaps, long slow flaps that got louder. She closed her phone and stood up. It must have been maternal instinct, she would have frozen afraid. Now she gathered her things, changing as she woke Dan up.
"Don’t talk, just get what you need and get dressed." He looked at her wide eyed, but obeyed. He had changed to she realized.
Her phone buzzed a text message. She ignored it.
It buzzed again; she was not going to be distracted.
It buzzed and buzzed, but the room was empty.
It buzzed, as the window broke.
It buzzed as the fire burned.
It buzzed as the rain drowned the fire.
It buzzed, to the surprise of a young fireman, searching the debris several days later.
It buzzed, and he opened it. A single word over and over again.
"Run."
A Grieving Father
He watched as one of the candles suddenly went out. "Impressive" he thought as he took the black candle from its place and proceeded to begin carving it. "She was one of my best, perhaps I played my hand too soon."
The others watched as he methodically carved away at the candle, a master artisan.
"What’s the fall out?" he asked, not even acknowledging their presence.
"We lost the book." A young woman spoke up, a total lack of emotion of inflection missing from her voice, "as well as 6 of our agents, and Sarah of course."
He continued to carve, making no gesture to them that he was listening.
"We also lost access to the crypts, it had to be sealed due to the rogue elements within."
"There are some good news" a young man from amongst the 7 said, his voice carrying with it a sort of painful weight, as if he could make you break by simply speaking to you. "We tracked one of our cars, and recovered the GPS on the vehicle. Seems they departed very quickly after their encounter at the church. Not long afterwards, one of Gabriel’s planes landed and departed from the nearby airport."
He continues carving, adding finishing touches to the intricate figure he had worked so diligently on.
"There is more interesting news," an older man spoke, his voice, like nails on a chalkboard. "It seems, Abraham was also on the move, he pulled some pretty big favors and used the military to move something from the same area around the same time."
"So the question is," the young woman spoke "who has the book?"
"That’s no longer important" the man finally spoke. He held the small black figurine in his hands, admiring the detail in the low glow. "Things are now in motion, even the abominations hold the key, they will never find the boy in time."
He looked at the wall of candles and figurines, hundreds of figurines he saw, and barely any lit candles anymore. He gently placed the figurine where her candle once stood.
"What is our next step?" one of the others asked. They had never seen their master so calm.
He stood silently, staring intently at all his lost children. Millennia’s worth of failed offspring, at failed attempts to make life amongst the humans remotely bearable. To find some sort of false light, something to make the cold less, even by a little. He ran his hands across the wall, snuffing all the rest of the candles out. The others gasped, they knew what had just happened.
"Find the boy, bring him to me."
"Why the boy?"
"Because the boy is the key to it all, I will make sure that when he dies, he takes all these husks, and the abominations to hell with him."
"And the others? The abominations, the souled ones?"
He finally turned and faced them.
"Kill them. Kill them all."
