Body and Soul (Body and Soul Trilogy) (21 page)

Chapter 27

Kate was jolted awake when water soaked her shirt and hair. She began to move but realized that she was stuck. She looked down, and saw that she was tied to a metal chair. Rough twine and heavy metal chains cut into her arms, clawing at her skin. The metal was cold against Kate’s bare skin, and she began shivering because of the temperature and the fear that was crawling through her veins. She sat for a moment, confused and afraid, before she thought to look up. Her father sat in front of her, an empty bucket in his hands, a sneer spreading across his features.

Kate looked around. She was in her living room. All of the furniture was pushed against the walls, leaving a huge space in the middle of the
dark, mahogany floor. Her father, no Erik, was circling her like a wild beast closing in on his prey. His smile was that of a maniac’s, his eyes no different than those of a rabid dog.

Kate stared at her father; she was afraid of him. She was afraid of him more than she would ever be of Erik alone. She looked down, afraid of looking him in the eyes, afraid of looking into her father’s eyes, knowing that he wasn’t the one staring back at her, knowing that he would never stare back at her. Kate knew that she had to be brave, though. She knew
that she had to face her father, no Erik, and she had to appear strong and unafraid of him. She couldn’t let him know her weaknesses; she couldn’t let him know how much power he had over her.

Erik began laughing Aaron’s laugh, and Kate looked up into her father’s eyes. She wasn’t certain how she would pull it off, how she would convince him that she was brave, but she couldn’t do it if they didn’t speak at all.

“Erik,” she spat.

“When did you figure it out, Kate? Did your little dreams tell you?”

“I should have known,” she admitted. “You treated my mother so badly. My father would never say those things to her.”

“Darling, your father isn’t here anymore. He’s dying. His body and soul will be useless to me in a couple more days. He’s not as strong as he looks, is he?” Er
ik laughed her father’s laugh again. The sound burned in Kate’s throat and stung her eyes. She felt angry tears threaten to tumble down her cheeks, but she forced them back, knowing that she needed to keep pretending.

“Aren’t you the least bit curiou
s about what I’m doing here?” Erik probed. “I can’t tell you unless you ask, my dear.”

Kate saw no other choice. “Why are you here, Erik?”
she mumbled angrily.

“I am here because you made me angry. You had to send your boyfriend here to check me out. You had to spy on me. Your father annoyed me. I could tell he was c
atching on to my plan. He thought it was weird that I asked you so many questions. Your mother is a much nicer person, my dear. However, it was more fun to take your father’s soul. He was such a fighter, that is, until I broke him.” Erik laughed maniacally. The sound was high pitched and hurt Kate’s ears.

Kate grew angry and defensive. She lifted up her barricades, knowing now that she would never let Erik harm her. He had done this out of anger and revenge. He had done this because he could, because Aaron was just collateral damage; Kern may not be angry at Erik for taking his rage out on Kate’s human father. For all intensive purposes, he was still keeping Kate’s body and soul safe or keeping an eye on Rico and Adriana; whatever his purpose was, Kate was certain that it was not to keep Aaron safe also.
“Who did you have to pay to weaken his body before you got in?” she spat.

Erik
’s eyes blazed, and in a fit of anger he rushed toward Kate and smacked her across her face, hard. Tears stung Kate’s eyes, her right cheek stung, and her mouth burned furiously. She bit down on her tongue when he hit her, making sure that she didn’t scream, didn’t give him the satisfaction of hearing her cry out in pain. She would show no weakness. She would be strong, like her father had been.

“So you did pay someone,” she said smugly. “Even with your dark magic you can’t fight a human fairly? I thought demons were stronger than humans, Erik.”

“You don’t know what you’re talking about. You know nothing about fighting for your life or what it truly means. You don’t know what it’s like being thought of as a parasite. You don’t know anything at all, Kate Warren,” he spat.

“I know a true elder demon should be someone that takes his own souls.”

Erik rushed at her again and lifted his hand in the air. Kate braced herself but felt nothing. She opened her eyes to see that Erik was still leaning over her. Slowly and deliberately, he moved his hands on the chair’s armrest and pressed his weight onto her arms. Kate almost felt the blood circulation cutting off; it was like putting a kink in a water hose, and the pressure building in Kate’s arms was almost unbearable. She watched in amazement as her fingers and arms began to turn purple from lack of blood. Erik was going to weaken Kate’s body as well. Was he going to attempt to take her soul and discard her father’s body? Kate wasn’t certain that he could do that, but she didn’t know the extent of dark magic either. She wasn’t about to assume that Erik’s magic couldn’t make her darkest nightmares come true.

“I am no elder demon, Kate. I am a god. I have powers beyond anything that you’ve ever dreamed of. I am almighty. I am immortal. I am omnipotent. I am a god.”

Kate laughed, and was surprised that it sounded hard and gritty. This man was just a power-hungry child that needed to be spanked into submission. Her voice was just as gritty as she spoke. “You will never be any of those things. To be a god you must be loved. You must be cherished. You will never be admired or special. You will always be just like everyone else. You will never be important.”

This time he did smack her.
Kate’s cheek burned even more this time. Kate knew that it was red, knew that it would bruise, but she didn’t care. She watched as Erik took a step back. He composed himself and walked around in circles, admiring his – Aaron’s – fingernails. He began humming a depressing tune to himself. Kate watched as his neck muscles visibly relaxed. She began to see through his façade; Erik’s pride was a weakness. He hated when people called him names.

“You may think that you’re the important one in the room; you may think that I’m here for you, that I’m here for Kern. You’re wrong. I’m here for myself,” Erik claimed. His
voice was a raspy whisper, almost as if he was convincing himself.

“What do you mean here for yourself?” Kate asked. She couldn’t help her curiosity. She momentarily forgot her plan to anger Erik, and leaned forward, morbidly eager to hear his response.

“You don’t recognize me do you?” Erik sneered proudly. Kate’s father looked awkward making this gesture.

Suddenly, Erik seemed to melt inside himself, and Kate watched in horror as he fought for further control with Aaron. It almost appeared as if Aaron was talking to himself again, and the sight truly scared Kate.  She listened to her father’s kind voice, and Erik’s rough and deep voice fight for control of Aaron’s body. It hit Kate suddenly, knowledge that she should have already known, knowledge that her mind should have connected a long time ago.

Erik was the man that had attacked Kate during her first night in her new town. She should have recognized his deep voice before; she should have remembered his silhouette – the tall dark figure. A fresh wave of fear washed over Kate. Erik had been here all along. He had known Kate this whole time.

“How long have you been watching me?” she whispered.

“I’ve been watching you for a while, Kate. Your whole life has been spent under my shadow. My existence for the past sixteen years has been spent watching you. I know you better than you know yourself.”

“You’ve been watching me and keeping me safe for Kern?”

“Sort of,” Erik admitted. “I only recently found out who you were and why Kern wants your soul, your pure soul, the only pure soul on planet Earth.”

“Why does he want me?” Kate pressed.

“Darling Kate, I will never tell you why. I will let Kern tell you that, when he deals with you. You know, he should be here soon. He’s busy at the moment, finishing the body and soul that he currently claims, but when he is finished with him he will claim yours. You will be his final victim.”

“Final victim? Does he plan on dying?”

“No,” Erik laughed. “He will live forever with your soul, with your body. He will be immortal. He will be pure. You will forever be trapped in his body, trapped in his soul.” Erik’s voice was oddly serious now, and Kate grew weary, afraid.

Erik looked at Kate and laughed hysterically, understanding her fresh discovery, her fear. Kate sat stunned. She would speak no more. Her silence didn’t do much to entertain Erik, and his laughter quickly faded. He watched Kate sift through her tangled feelings, becoming bored within minutes. 

“Let’s see,” he said
suddenly, growing serious. “This little game is getting boring. Let’s get this party started.”

Kate watched as Erik
walked into her parents’ bedroom. She could hear the sounds of metal scraping on wood. She crossed her fingers, hoping against hope that this was no torture device, that Erik wouldn’t inflict physical pain on her any longer. She was wrong again, as always. This kind of pain was much worse.

Chapter 28

Kate stared at Erik while he dragged her mother’s body out of the room. Blaire was tied up like Kate; her head sagged and hung against her lifeless body, resting on her shoulder. Her chestnut curls covered her tired face, and lay tangled in the long chains of her silver earrings. She was still wearing her work clothes.

“I tried to get rid of her, Kate. She came back,” Erik said
sadly. He clucked, almost as if he regretted what he did, what he was about to do. Kate’s heart began to pound. She wasn’t strong enough to say no when her mother was involved.

“How did she come back? I thought you made sure she was gone?”
Kate asked accusingly.

For the first time, Kate saw
a real weakness in Erik. He was upset. He didn’t know what went wrong, and he was still trying to figure it out.

“You can’t control your dark magic,” Kate finally whispered.

“Shut up,” Erik warned.

“Why can’t you control it? What’s it like, Erik?”

Erik lifted his eyes and focused on Kate, ignoring Blaire. Kate sighed in relief. Her plan had worked so far.

“You need to stop talking, Kate,” Erik half-sung. Then his voice changed into a deep, hollow sound, “You need to stop talking now.

“Why?” Kate asked. “Are you going to come over here and slap me again? Are you going to show me how weak you are?”

“Shut up!” Erik screamed. The sound was so loud that Kate swore it shook the entire house. His voice rang like a shrill bell, like a never-ending echo that traveled down a long hallway. It startled Kate, and she saw her mother stir. No, Kate couldn’t lose Erik’s attention now. She was just feeling around,
digging deeper to find Erik’s true weaknesses. She couldn’t stop now; she was so close.

Kate threw out one desperate attempt at holding and keeping Erik’s attention.
“You’re weak,” she whispered. “You need others to weaken your humans. You need others to lead you. You need other bodies to fight your battles. You, alone, are nothing at all. You are a true parasite.”

Erik stared at Kate. She watched as, momentarily, Aaron’s soft eyes lost most of their color. For a moment, Kate stared into Erik’s eyes, pale disks that reflected pure hatred and evil. She flinched, sensing that she had opened something that she would never be able to close.

A dense fog rolled into the room. Kate knew by now that this fog wasn’t real; it was too snakelike, slithering across the wood panels toward her. She thought, almost, that it was its own being, that it was merely commanded by the demon, but shook that idea away, knowing that it sounded insane.

The
smoky fog lay on the floor at Kate’s feet, a dog waiting for an order from its master. Kate could feel the frozen depths wafting from the mist. Her toes grew cold as it stretched toward her, licking her skin. Kate’s eyes grew wide with fear; she couldn’t fight this magic by herself.

Suddenly, Kate sensed a shift in the room. She saw Erik’s strength visibly dissipate. He tried to draw the tendrils of power into him, to reclaim t
hem. The fog ignored him, though, and pushed forward, completing Erik’s first wish by slithering up Kate’s skin. It was going to kill Kate; it was going to destroy her.

Kate grew still. The fog was a slow sensation that crawled up her body. The tendrils wrapped around her, enveloping her in its folds, almost caressing her. It moved slowly, taking it’s time so that Kate froze slowly, so that she suffered.

Kate slowly felt the warmth fade from her body. It felt like water was being pulled through her veins, cooling her skin and muscles. At first, she found it relaxing, even though her mind was terrified. After the warmth faded from her fingers altogether, she screamed.

Kate stood outside her body, her ivory dress blowing in an imaginary wind. She saw herself screaming but heard nothing. She watched as tendrils of warmth left her body through her heart, flowing directly into the mist. The warmth was an orange glow that moved toward her heart, a fire that was slowly fading. When it left Kate’s hands, they turned grey and lifeless.

She saw Erik standing off to the side, clearly afraid of the mist now that he could no longer control it completely. His hands were clenched into fists as his sides, and he muttered unintelligible words. Kate grew angry with him for allowing this to happen to her. She would die because of
Erik’s mistakes. Kate would die because of Erik’s weaknesses. She would suffer because she broke through them.

Kate couldn’t watch anymore. She ran. Something pulled her along the beach toward Adriana’s house. She had to escape there, to protect herself.
She had to find Rico, Adriana, anyone that could help her. Kate had to protect her soul.

The sand was warm and soft, scratching against Kate’s feet, pushing her forward.
It was a welcoming feeling, the warmth that it provided her; only moments ago she felt the warmth being pulled from her body at the hands of Erik’s dark magic. Kate ran quickly, and when she reached the back door, she shoved her way inside. She gripped the metal doorknob and pushed the back door open. She felt the cool tiles against her bare feet, a contradiction to the warm sand just outside. She felt the banister, the carpet on the second floor.

Kate rushed forward into Rico’s room and pushed
her way inside.

Rico sat up immediately, seeing Kate.

“Kate?” he asked. “What are you doing here? I thought you were with your father?”

“He’s not my father anymore,” Kat
e sobbed.

“What?” Rico asked, standing. He moved to Kate but noticed that her presence was ethereal, her skin translucent, sparkling in the light that came in through the window. She was more beautiful than ever
. Her features were more defined somehow; her grey eyes shimmered, her dark lashes long and thick, her soft lips fuller. Kate’s curls were perfect tendrils of glossy chestnut; tiny white flowers were stuck in Kate’s hair, which contained dozens of tiny braids that broke up the monotony of her curls. This was Kate’s soul.

“Erik possessed my father. Rico, my body is in trouble. I need you to save it. Erik is using dark magic on my body right now, stealing its warmth, and taking it for himself.
He tried to pull it back but he’s losing control. The dark magic is too powerful for him, and it’s killing me.
He’s
killing me, Rico.”

Rico didn’t speak. He ran, lightning fast, past Kate. She knew that he was grabbing Adriana and Donovan, eager to have his friends by his side as he destroyed the being that was harming the girl he loved.

Kate felt a tug in her heart, and wasn’t surprised when she was yanked back inside her mortal body. Her mission was complete and it was time to return home.

Kate was shivering now, certain that the warmth was almost gone. How had she done that? How had she projected her soul? How had she used it to rescue her? That wasn’t a normal vision. She had never really felt the things she touched, especially not like she had moments ago, when she was just her soul.

A thought floated through Kate’s
mind, and she knew instantly that it was the truth. Light sent Kate the visions. He protected her soul, making sure that Darkness would find it more difficult to steal it from her. She wasn’t just Darkness’ creation, and she never belonged to him. She was Light’s child, fastened from Darkness’ desires, created because Light allowed it to be so. Kate was no catalyst. She wasn’t going to be used as some sort of portal; she wasn’t going to be a puppet. She wasn’t what held the delicate balance of good and evil. She was just a part of it, a piece in a never-ending puzzle, one in a million. No, the balance of good and evil hung within demons and mankind as a whole. Just like Rico had said the night he told Kate about the world around her, there were good and bad people; there were also good and bad demons. Everyone wanted her for no reason. This was a joke, a trick that Light was playing on Darkness. She had no power in determining the fate of the world; she was just an ordinary girl. Kate might have been the only pure soul in the world, which would be reason enough to come after her, but it wasn’t because of a predetermined notion. It was because Kate had a pure heart. She realized now that the soul wasn’t behind a person’s eyes. It was nestled within a person’s heart. Humans could fight possessions because they were being done improperly.

Kate was torn from her thoughts
suddenly; her strength was waning now. Her legs and arms were nothing anymore. She could feel the warmth stretching throughout her torso, trying to protect her body, trying to keep her soul hidden from Erik.

A
crash woke Kate from her dreamlike state. The fog faded, the warmth trickling back into her body. Adriana rushed up to her with heated blankets, wrapping Kate in them and plugging them all in to a power strip that Donovan was attaching to the wall. The blankets added warmth to Kate’s frigid skin, but she knew that she wouldn’t be healthy enough to move or speak until her own tendrils of warmth melted into her pores and connected with her soul.

Kate looked up and watched Rico breaking most of the things in her house. He was fighting Erik, punching and kicking him, pushing and shoving him. The fight was brutal; both demons took punches and gave them.
The fight was out of control; the demons collided together with a power that shook the foundation of Kate’s small beach house, and the rumbling knocked over most of Kate’s family’s possessions. Kate watched as Rico shoved Erik against the wall, knocking him unconscious. He kicked him a couple more times, ensuring that Erik would be out for a decent amount of time, and then rushed to Kate.

Rico
lowered himself so that he was on his knees, looking up into Kate’s face. She was still shivering, even though the blankets radiated extreme amounts of heat. Rico put his hands on her shoulders and rubbed them, hoping that he wasn’t counteracting the blankets. This sparked a thought, and Rico leaned forward.

He kissed Kate’s cold lips, drawing her to him. He moved his rough lips over hers, begging her to respond. She wouldn’t, so he kissed her harder, more urgently. He took her face into his cold hands and looked into her grey eyes. They were fading fast.

Kate was aware that Rico was pressing his lips against hers, at first slowly and then ardently, angry that he couldn’t bring her back with one kiss.
Life isn’t a fairytale
, she thought grimly. She heard Adriana’s soft tears, could almost feel the way Donovan held Adriana, comforting her. Kate would almost miss Adriana the most.

Kate was standing on the top of the highest building in downtown Tampa. Up here the wind was soft, somehow, like a summer breeze. She stood there, waiting for someone to arrive. Kate looked out over the horizon, admiring the beautiful city.

People were walking through the nearly deserted streets today. Couples held hands and ran across the street, contrary to the street signs. People walked their dogs. Children played in the fountain, and out in the grass of the
park. Kate smiled, knowing that these people were happy with their lives.

“Kate,” a voice said.
It echoed like a beautiful melody.

Kate turned to see a tall, well-built man. He had graying hair and a beautiful smile.
His eyes were the color of a starry night, an endless black that twinkled with the light of the stars. He wore white linen slacks and a creamy button-down that was tucked into the pants. A dark belt sat at the man’s waist, and he wore matching dark shoes. He held his hand out to Kate, and she rushed up to take it. The pair walked toward the edge of the building and sat down on a wooden bench that appeared abruptly. They looked over the edge, enjoying the spectacular view.

“Kate,” the voice said again. “Do you know who I am?”

Kate smiled, knowing immediately. “You’re Light,” she said.

“I am. Do you know why I have come to speak to you, Kate?” he asked kindly.

“No, sir. I don’t.”

“You have given up, Kate. You are on the edge of death. Your soul is on the verge of escaping your body, leaving it an empty vessel. Do you want to leave your life on Earth?”

“I don’t know,” Kate said honestly.

“Why would you want to leave your friends, your family? Are you willing to break their hearts, Kate?”

“No, but I don’t want to spend the rest of my life doing this, running from demons. I almost feel as if it’s no life at all.”

I understand, Kate, but I
am not ready for you to leave. You have not fulfilled your purpose, your destiny.”

“I thought that I wasn’t the catalyst. I thought it was a lie.”

Light laughed, all of the most beautiful sounds blended together into one single sound.

“You are correct, Kate. You are not the catalyst. It does not, however, mean that you are unimportant. You are very much important.”

“What is my purpose, Light?” she asked.

“I cannot tell you what your purpose is, Kate. That is for you to decide for yourself. I can, however, tell you that it is not death. You are not meant to sacrifice your life for humankind. You are not supposed to sacrifice your life to preserve the balance of good and evil. As you already know, people choose their paths for themselves. Demons do the same thing. We all have free will, Kate. We are all able to make our own choices. Even Darkness and I have made unwise choices.”