Soul Snatcher (35 page)

“
I love you,” she said.

Baden darted
his eyes towards her in spite of his efforts. He was sure of the
words she had said but he was unsure of how she laid there looking
at him with any measure of affection, let alone love.

The tears
that had been welling spilled onto his face and she used her hand
in his to wipe them away as best she could. His tears ran onto both
of their hands as the surprise induced silence drew out longer.
After blinking away the tears, he gave up trying to understand her
and how she was the way she was. Leaning down he kissed her,
letting his gratefulness and care spill into her and before it was
enough she pulled away and smiled. She wanted to see his
face.

“
Why are you smiling?” He asked curiously, his tears
starting to dry.

“
Because of you,” she answered. Somehow she had become
the strong, sure one and he was left vulnerable and under her
influence.

“
I am sorry,” he said and she knew he was talking about
his past actions. She just nodded in understanding. “I love you,”
he said and it brought another smile to her face but again she just
nodded.

“
Tell me more,” she asked feeling like there was
nothing else he could say that would turn her away. Before he could
say anything she remembered what Micah had told her about Baden.
Looking at their clasping hands she asked the only other question
that might change everything. “Micah told me you have stolen a soul
before.”

The small
amount of peace that had started to grow in his soul was soon
snuffed out with the realisation that he was going to have to tell
her about that. Something he had tried so hard to forget because
even when he was at his worst he thought it was one of the most
disgraceful things he had ever done. Somehow he knew this would be
the thing that made the difference and he hated Micah with a
passion. But most of all he hated himself.

“
I have stolen…one.” He paused then found no use in
drawing it out. “She was seventeen and flighty. She was a little
plain compared to most and she knew it so it was easy to make her
fall in love with me and with the first kiss…it was over,” he said
watching Annie’s face. “I have never done it before or after that.”
She was still looking away from him but she knew he was watching
her, reading her.

He didn’t
tell her how horrible it was to steal a soul.
After you kill someone the sound of the soul
rings out and then there is nothing. When you steal their soul,
though the person’s body is left lifeless instantly, their soul
lingers inside of you. It is a constant echo within you. It knows
what you have done, that you have taken what was not yours and it
tears away at your own soul. It fills you with an everlasting
burden of remorse for what you have taken and it becomes a burden,
heavier than guilt. Their soul is a constant torment that gnaws at
you and reduces you to a hollow shell for as long as it remains
within you.

“
Why did you do it? You do not need anything to live,”
she asked as evenly as she could.

“
I wanted to see if I could,” he answered, disgusted
with himself. “I tried to return it to her but it did nothing but
leave me and she still died.” He told her, not because he wanted to
sound more humane but because he had truly regretted it and had
never confessed to anyone how it pained him. He didn’t know how
anyone could stand the feeling of someone else’s soul burdening
their own inside of them. Not even he could take it and he was
deemed the worst of the worst.

Annie
remembered
from the book she
had read, that a snatcher had the choice to expel a soul from them
once it was taken but it was not known if they could return it. I
guess now they knew.

“
Have you ever…been…intimate with…anyone?” She let the
sentence trail off. She supposed after everything it wasn’t the
worst thing he could have done but she still wanted to
know.

“
I could not look at any human without being filled
with hate. They all reminded me of vermin and I did all I could to
keep them away from me,” he said. She looked at him to see the
honesty on his face. A simple no would have sufficed as the answer
but despite the detail, she felt relieved. Silly really,
considering the circumstance.

When he was
young, his mother had taught him to be careful who he chose as he
had the responsibility as a tracker to find a suitable companion to
have children with. When he was turned it didn’t matter anymore but
choosing to abstain made him feel as if he wasn’t as bad as he
could be, even though it seemed small in comparison to what he had
done. He had been more preoccupied with revenge anyway, compared to
anything else. Mankind was despicable to him and his hatred towards
people filled any space for urges. After seeing their filthy soul
the thought of touching one in such a way had made him sick to his
stomach.

Baden wanted
to ask her if she had but he felt it would be an insult to ask
someone as lovely as Annie.

“Well…” she said
sheepishly. “
I have not,” she
confessed as if she had been reading his thoughts. The tension
between them changed from cautious to desire and it was hard to
practice self-control but Annie wanted to know more. She needed to
before she could give that to him. So before the situation got out
of hand, like it had last night, she spoke. “Why did you come back
here?”

“
I came here to confront Eli. I had been taunting him
with correspondence for years and thought it was time to deal with
the situation,” he said with a little angst in his
voice.

“
What happened?” She tried to hide her worry of his
reason for returning but he felt it.

“
When I first arrived I was walking into town through
one of the back fields when I sensed something peculiar. I followed
the scent because it was unlike anything else I had ever felt and I
was not entirely sure what it was. It consumed all of my senses and
I thought it would drive me insane if I did not find the source. It
turned out to be your soul drifting along the wind to me, in all
its loveliness. I found you speaking with Eli at the markets but
you became a little distracting and I was soon side tracked from my
intent.” A small smile came across his face at his
understatement.

For a moment
she was left without words, she could barely even breathe! No one
had ever described her in such a way and it made her heart do
things it never had before. If she could have formed words she
would have tried to express how she felt about him but she was
momentarily mute. In the silence she remembered back to when he
said he found her in the graveyard on his way to leave
town.

“Then you ran
away from me?” She asked finally finding her words, trying to make
sense of it. If it was her in his situation she would have run
straight to someone who made her feel like that. He laughed a
little at her understandable confusion.

“When I saw
you it felt like I was turned inside out,” he explained. “I had
come to kill my brother but then I found you. As hard as I looked I
could not see anything but beauty within you and I started to
question what I had done to others. I could not take the
confrontation within myself and so…yes, I ran away.” His face
turned solemn unexpectedly. “I was quite a way out of town when I
heard you in the cemetery. As soon as I realised there was a
snatcher there I ran back as fast as I could.” The fear of the
moment still plagued him as he thought back. His words made her
think of the snatcher that tried to kill her.

“
What did you do to the snatcher that attacked me?” She
asked finding it hard to remember anything about the night other
than Baden.

“
I killed him, he was about to kill you,” he reasoned
thinking this was obvious and justifiable.

“
So you stabbed him in the cemetery?” She
clarified.

“
No, I killed him,” he said. She felt more confused
than before. Reading the look on her face he answered her unspoken
question. “I am assuming that Eli did not tell you that a
tracker-turned-snatcher does not need any utensil to take the life
of another snatcher...or anyone for that matter?”

“
No, he seems to have missed a few details in some of
his stories,” she said a little disgruntled. What else had Eli been
keeping from her? She thought of Micah who had revealed some of the
details about Baden to her. “Tell me, how do you know Micah?”
Baden’s face dropped at his name and he had to contain his
anger.

“
I had spent some time with him for a small period but
it ended on unpleasant terms,” Baden explained vaguely. He had
never liked Micah in the slightest. Micah had always posed as if he
was trying to help Baden but it was obvious he had some ulterior
motive behind it, he just couldn’t figure out what it
was.

“
He said he would see you during the night,” she
prompted him to continue.

“
Yes, I refused to come back to town so he ventured to
me. On our first encounter I had met him randomly but somehow I
think he sought me out,” Baden mused aloud.

Annie began
to think
of Baden’s life and
it made her wonder more about the story of how he had been created.
Before she could ask about it a look of frustration came over his
face.

“
What is it?” She asked concerned.

“
Eli is coming,” he said with disdain. He saw the
disappointment in Annie’s eyes and felt comforted that she felt the
same. “I will return tonight,” he promised with a kiss to her
forehead.

“
Where will you go?” She wondered as he stood to leave.
Keeping hold of her hand he carefully pulled her off the bed with
him.

“
Where I have been since knowing of you.” He walked her
over to the window and pointed to the cluster of trees below her
room.

She smiled
knowing that he would be so close. Suddenly she realised that he
probably had heard everything that went on in the house, including
her and Eli’s close friendship. She looked beside her to him and he
gave a knowing smile, trying to hide his unease at Eli and Annie’s
closeness. Before another word was said Eli knocked at the
door.

“
Coming,” she called as she kept her eyes on Baden. He
bent down and whispered in her ear.

“
Until next time.” He brushed his lips against hers
then he was gone. She touched her lips softly where his had been
and looked down to the trees to try and spot him. She had
completely forgotten that Eli was waiting for her, so when he
knocked again she jumped out of her revelry and ran to answer the
door.

She opened it
to find a stern looking Eli standing there. Did he know about her
and Baden? It looked like she was about to find out.

CHAPTER
33

“Eli,” Annie
said breathlessly. He stood there with his hands clasped behind his
back in a formal manner. He kept his face even but it looked as if
he was trying to hold back anger.

“
Annie, sorry to disturb you but I have a guest
arriving shortly and I would prefer if you were away from the manor
for the meeting.” He spoke as if he was talking to someone he felt
uncomfortable with.

“
Where will I go?” She asked feeling out of place and
awkward. She wondered who might be coming but she knew better than
to ask.

“
I have arranged for a carriage to take you in town for
a few hours. It will leave in thirty minutes.” Eli abruptly walked
away without saying anything else and Annie was left dumbfound by
what just happened.

She stepped
slightly out of the room and watched him move away. Before she had
time to call to him he was out of sight. She debated whether she
should go after him but if there was something he didn’t want to
talk about then there was no use in pushing him.

Instead,
Annie got dressed for her trip in town. She wore a light day dress,
for the day was warm and welcoming. The colour was a soft mauve and
it looked lovely against her fair skin. She braided her hair then
twisted it into a bun so it sat at the back of her head. When she
was ready she made her way down stairs to find Garrick waiting at
the door for her. When he saw her coming he opened the door to a
sunny, blue day.

“
Good morning Miss Belle,” he greeted, bowing his head
respectfully.

“
Yes, it does seem to be a wonderful morning. Shall we
go to the markets then?” She said happily as she moved to leave the
manor, pulling a glove over one of her hands. If she was being sent
away then she was going to make sure she made the most of
it.

“
I am afraid I will not be joining you but one of Eli’s
personal coachmen will accompany you,” he explained. Annie stopped
midway out the door and looked at him in surprise. Only one of her
hands was placed in a glove, the other glove hung limp in her
grasp. She saw something close to dismay in Garrick’s
eyes.