Eclipse of the Soul: The Interdimensional Saga, Book 2 (2 page)

I kept my mouth shut until the commander left the room,
but then I started complaining. “Ugh, it’s too early to be up. We were up all
night last night and an op tonight; shouldn’t we be sleeping all day?”

“No, we sleep when we can and work the rest of the time.
I shouldn’t have let you all talk me into staying up all night.” Lancer looked
at me when he said that.

“Wait, you were just as excited to try out the new games
as the rest of us. Tell him Ash, he even challenged you to a Call of Duty
contest.”

“B’Lana keep me out this. I’m not getting in the middle
of any argument you have with Lancer.”

“Fine, I’ll go shower and meet you all in thirty.” I
grudgingly said as I walked away to my room.

I had a really tough time staying awake that day. I was
sure I missed some important information during the briefing. But I figured
that as long as I followed orders and stayed close to my squad I would be fine.

As dusk settled we were all dressed in our black leather
jackets. The guys preferred to wear black leather pants, while I preferred
black camos. They were more comfortable and all of those pockets were great for
holding extra ammo as well as a map and a flashlight. I even added an extra
pair of socks. You never knew when you were going to have to stomp through a
sewer and get your socks wet and stinky. I learned that one from the first time
I saw the team come out of a sewer. It was disgusting; the smell was so strong
that my eyes watered. I had to back up and get away from them before I got
sick.

My new boots were finally worn in and starting to get
comfortable. I was all ready to go walking all night, as long as I didn’t fall
asleep on the job.

The commander was certain that the rippers regularly
used the alley by Joe’s Taco Shack that we stumbled upon two days ago. His
orders were to take the surveillance van and hang out at Joe’s and see if we
could get any video of rippers coming or going through that alley.

Since we killed all of the rippers that night Central
Command was certain that the enemy didn’t know we found that spot.

“Alright, B’Lana you stay in the van and monitor the
video feeds with Benden. Maliki and Ash you will both go one block west and
keep an eye on the alley as well as the surrounding streets. Radio in if you
see anything.

“Mason, you and I will hang out at Joe’s since it has a
good view of the alley. Let’s stay focused and only use the coms if we see
anything worth reporting.”

The guys all filed out of the van and started making
their way to their designated spots while Benden and I stayed in the van
watching the video feeds.

Benden spent the next hour telling me in excruciating
detail how he played Call of Duty and Star Wars Battlefront last night.
OMG!
If he doesn’t stop talking about video games I’m going to kill him!

“Hey Benden, have you ever been to Disneyland? They have
a lot of rides there that are targeted to Star Wars fans. Have you heard of
Hyperspace Mountain? That is one heck of a ride!”

“No, we have never been to Disneyland. The commander
doesn’t think we should be going to any amusement parks, even on our off days.”

“Since when do you have off days? I have never seen any
of you take a day off.” I had been with them for over a month now and they
worked seven days a week.

“We don’t ne…” Right at that point we heard Ash over the
radio telling us he saw ten rippers come from the alley and were headed towards
our van.

“B’Lana and Benden stay where you are and don’t open the
van for anything. We need you to continue monitoring the feeds and let us know
what is happening with the rippers.” I heard Lancer telling us over the radio.

“Lancer, two of those rippers are coming towards you at
Joe’s. Ash the other six are starting to split up in two’s and going down
different streets. I won’t be able to see them much longer. Should Bender and I
go after two?”

“Negative, I said stay in the van!” Lancer practically
growled his response.

“Geesh, you would think he is my dad or brother or
something the way he is ordering me around.” I looked at Bender but he was
focused on the monitors.

We watched as Lancer followed the two rippers headed this
way and then they went behind Joe’s. Since we did not have any video feeds back
there we couldn’t see what was happening. Occasionally we heard some noise over
the radio when the button would get clicked in the fight so we knew they were
still fighting.

I saw Ash and Maliki follow two rippers down a side
street where we lost them on the video. They had no problem killing the rippers
they followed as they radioed in once both had been dispatched.

Benden called in the cleanup crew and gave them details
and directions to where we were. He hoped the fighting would be done before
they arrived. The cleaners were not fighters. They specialized in transporting
the dead bodies back to Sendryl for either burial or cremation.

Just then, Lancer radioed for help getting Mason back to
the van. They killed their two rippers but in the fight Mason was badly
injured. Benden ran out to help carry Mason back. I made sure to lock the van
door behind him.

I thought they were really quick when I heard a knock on
the van door. So I opened it. We really needed more video cameras and a
password…

I was in shock when I opened the door and saw two
rippers standing there leering at me.

“What’s a human doing working with the Sennafae? I
thought it was against the law to bring in humans to help them?” Stated the
ripper who was wearing a dingy gray jacket with torn blue jeans and a beat up
pair of Vans.

“Isn’t that exactly what you’re doing? Turning humans
into your suicide squads?” I said as I was looking over their heads hoping that
Lancer and Benden were coming over.

“Oh don’t worry about your friends. They are going to be
busy for a while.” Dingy gray jacket guy said between laughs.

Oh stink! This is why I am not to be left
alone. What am I going to do now?
I thought while trying to
come up with a scenario that got me out of there.

I tried closing the van door on the head of the other
ripper as he was trying to get in, but he was too strong and I couldn’t get it
closed. I did have a knife strapped to my side so I took it out quickly and was
able to stab him in the face. I missed his brain, but did enough damage that he
fell backward into the street screaming.

I reached over to call on the radio for backup but
‘dingy’ grabbed me around my waist and pulled me back. I was kicking him and
scratching his hands trying to get away from him. But just as I thought I might
have him, two more rippers showed up. They must have known we were there and
sent out the groups to circle around the block and come back to the van.

“You have a choice, you can come along without any
trouble, or you can be my next meal. Which will it be?” One of the new guys
said. He seemed to care a little bit more about what he was wearing as he had
on clean Skechers, designer jeans, and a black jean jacket. He also had a very
nice watch on, looked like it might be very expensive.
Tag Heuer maybe?

“What are you going to do with me? I won’t fight your
war for you. I would rather die than be a pawn in your games.” And I really
meant that too. I would rather go down fighting then let them take me.

“Don’t worry; we won’t hurt you if you come along
quietly. We have some questions for you.” ‘Tag Heuer’ guy said.

I didn’t want to get any of the humans involved as I
knew they would be no match for four rippers, even if one was injured. So I
went with them, quietly. But I continued to look for a way out of this mess. I
knew that ripper wasn’t telling the truth and I was going to be hurt,
eventually.

I wondered what would happen if they tried turning me.
Since I was already a hybrid fae, could I be a hybrid ripper? Or would the
process kill me?

We crossed the street and went down a different alley
and I knew that I was in trouble. Ash wouldn’t know we went this way. I was
hoping that we would cross his path on our way to the original alley they came
from.

But I kept scanning my surroundings. I saw several trash
cans with lids. As we walked past one I grabbed the lid and hit the guy holding
me over the head with it. And I tried to run. Even though I was fast, I was not
fast enough to run past the ripper who was bringing up the rear.

I did sense one behind me so I turned around and used
that lid to try and sever his head. It wasn’t sharp enough, but I did hit his
carotid artery and he went down. Maybe all of the blood would be enough to let
Ash and Lancer know where I was.

‘Tag Heuer’ guy grabbed me and hit me across the face as
I was trying to get past the rear guard. He hit me so hard I fell on my butt.
“I told you to come quietly and we wouldn’t hurt you. Are you going to try
taking on all of us at once?”

I realized I didn’t have a chance. “No, I’ll come with
you.”

Blood dripped from my nose. And my back side was covered
in dirt and who knew what else from the filthy ground. My blood was spattered
on the wall to my left and a little pool had developed on the ground next to
me. I hoped that worked as a beacon for the fae. I was counting on them to come
find me before it was too late.

They practically dragged me along. I tried to slow them
down to give Lancer or Ash time to find me, but they must have known what I was
up to. The ‘Tag Heuer’ guy stopped and looked at me in a way that made my skin
crawl. “If you can’t keep up I could carry you. In fact, I might just do that
anyway.”

He reached around me and picked me up with an arm under
my knees and one around my back. Then he did the most disgusting thing in the
world, he leaned in and licked the blood off my mouth and nose.

“Oh gross! Don’t touch me again! Put me down and I will
walk with you if you never put your mouth on me again!” I shivered it was so
revolting. He just laughed.

“Mmmm, what a nice little snack.” He looked at me while
he licked his lips and then started looking at my neck. That was when I put my
hand around my neck so he couldn’t get to it.

“Fine, if you don’t play any more games I’ll let you
walk on your own, but you will be staying very close to me.” Tag Heuer said as
he ran his nose along the hand over my neck, trying to get closer to my veins.

He put me down on the ground and grabbed my left arm
with his right hand and we kept walking.

We came up to a manhole cover and ‘dingy’ opened it up.
I looked around and knew my squad wasn’t coming for me.

We all made our way down to the sewer with ‘dingy’
coming last so he could close the entrance.

“Oh gross, you guys live down here? Really? This place
smells so awful! How can you stand it?” My eyes started watering from the
strong, pungent odors.

“You get used to it. Now shut up and keep going. Your
friends will never find you down here so don’t go getting any stupid ideas.”
‘Tag Heuer’ just looked at me and smiled an evil smile that made me think I was
never getting out alive.

◊◊◊

We walked all around the sewer tunnels for at least an
hour before we finally made it to what looked like an old sub-station. The room
was large and round with a domed ceiling. They had several desks and a white
board in one area of the room, and next to that was a couple couches. They
looked very old and ratty, the kind I would not want to sit on.

“Master, I have brought you the human who is working
with the Sennafae. I tasted her blood and she has an odd flavor, it’s really
quite sweet. Not like any humans I’ve had so far, but she isn’t Sennafae
either.”
Oh stink! ‘Tag Heuer’ could taste that I wasn’t fully human any
more. I think I am in a lot more trouble then I realized
.

“And how is it that you tasted her blood? I told you I
wanted her here unharmed.” The master said to the thing holding me.
How did
the master know I was in the van?

“She would not come quietly so I had to hit her to keep
her in line. It wasn’t that hard, just enough to give her a nose bleed. You can
see her face is still pretty.”

The vampire master looked at me with his red beady eyes
and snarled at me. I couldn’t believe he actually snarled.

“And why did you think you could do anything but comply
with my First’s orders? You, a human girl. You have no chance with even one of
my soldiers, let alone four.”

I stood there silent. I was not going to answer him. I
hoped that the longer I stalled the better my chances were for being rescued or
finding a way out of this myself.

“Answer me now, or I will take some of your blood for
myself. And I won’t be kind about it either.” The master said as he sneered at
me with a mouth full of sharp, yellow teeth. I tried very hard not to shiver or
show fear.

“I am human; it’s in my nature to fight back when
attacked. Your… things attacked me for no good reason so of course I fought
back. You really shouldn’t have tried to kidnap me. My friends will find me and
in the process kill all of you.” I was confident that the little clues I left
along the way would help Ash and Lancer to find me. I just hoped they found me
in time.

“Where are they, maybe we should deliver you back to
their headquarters? Would you like to go back to them?” I knew the master was
just toying with me. They only wanted the location of the fae headquarters. And
I wasn’t going to give it to them.

“No need, they will find me here soon. In fact, I am
sure they are already in the tunnels looking for me now.” I decided to put up a
brave front.
Fake it ‘till you make it, is a great motto.

I was trying to use my new ability to read minds, and I
thought it was working too. Because what I was ‘hearing’ was scaring the tar
out of me. All of the rippers smelled my fear. It was like an aphrodisiac to
them and as they started coming closer, I started shaking. My earlier bravado
was all but gone.