Soul Snatcher (38 page)

When Baden
reached the door he slowly turned the handle. Eli used the noise to
cover his movements as he pulled the dagger from his coat. His hand
was shaking and as much as he willed it to stop it wouldn’t. The
door swung open and there was nothing but blackness inside. Baden
could easily see through the shadows but there was nothing
there.

After
assessing the situation Baden stepped inside the long forgotten
home. As soon as he was over the threshold Eli raised his hand that
held the dagger. After a moment of hesitation he saw a figure move
in the shadows and there was no more time. He had to do it now or
the imprisoned soul snatcher would expose him.

“
Baden,” Eli called from behind before he could take a
step away from the door. As Baden turned to him Eli thrust the
dagger into his chest.

With regret
in his heart and guilt in his soul, Eli betrayed his only brother
once again.

Baden
staggered back a few steps, not from the force of it but from the
unexpectedness. He looked down and held onto the dagger with both
hands. Now realising where he was and what had happened, he looked
up at Eli with utter hatred burning in his fiery, blue eyes. Why
had he not read Eli’s soul more closely? He would have felt the
deceit more clearly.

Eli quickly
moved away from the threshold back outside, keeping his eyes on
Baden the whole time. Their eyes locked whilst Baden slowly pulled
the
dagger from his chest. In
a movement faster than even Eli could see, Baden threw the dagger
and it sliced through Eli’s skin into his shoulder. Eli fell to the
ground from the velocity of the throw and the pain was
instant.

Baden stepped
up to the doorway and stood behind his invisible partition. Eli
looked up to him and all he could see on Baden’s face was sheer
detestation. Nothing would ever remove the odium of what had just
happened. They would never reconcile and it would always be Eli who
threw the dagger first.

“
I could have killed you but I did not for one simple
reason, you will find Annie and ensure she is not in harm’s way.
You will come back and inform me that she is safe. Do you
understand?” Baden growled the words through gritted
teeth.

“
Do
you
not understand? This was all a plan
to do this to you. She is safe!” Eli said as he started to pull the
dagger out of his shoulder. Pain drenched his voice. It had gone so
far in that it was difficult to pull out.

“
No, you do not understand! Micah will stop at nothing
to get what he wants and he wants Annie. You are a fool for
trusting him to be part of this,” Baden yelled. Eli pulled the
dagger out and could barely contain a scream. Why hadn’t Baden been
hurt as much? Eli staggered to his feet and gripped the bloody
dagger in his hand.

“
Why would I come back here and tell you?” Eli asked
feeling weak from his wound.

“
I have heard a few whispers along my travels and it is
said that there is a way to be freed from the restriction on this
place. It is my promise to you that if you do not ensure Annie’s
safety, and inform me of it, then I will kill you the day I can
step out of here,” Baden threatened and his words were like
nightmares. “You know that I can kill you but you however cannot
kill me…think about how that fight would end.”

“
And if what you heard of escape is merely rumour?” Eli
asked bluffing. Who knew if anything anyone heard anymore was
true?

“
Then I will find another way to get at you until you
wish you were never born.” Baden was fed up with the time wasting
and if he hadn’t been restricted by the house Eli would have been
dead by now.

“
How did you find out that you could not be killed?”
Eli asked. “I did not find out until after you were turned and you
were long gone by then.”

“
Sorry to break it to you but information that the
trackers believe is purely between them is not. In fact, most of it
is common knowledge in the snatcher world. You are far behind,”
Baden said impatiently. “Now go,” he ordered.

Eli looked at
him for a moment longer before slowly moving away from the house.
As he walked, his wound started to heal so he started to run. He
just had to get to Annie now, to make sure she was safe. The more
he thought of Annie the faster he ran. How far away was the house?
Had she really gotten there safe or was there something he
overlooked in his plan?

All these
questions swam through his head as he made his way to her,
hopefully to find that she was well.

Baden turned
to find Stewart standing at the end of the hall. He was shorter
than Baden and a little stocky but still muscular. His hair was
wild and golden brown. He stood with his arms folded and Baden
could tell he had just witnessed the encounter with Eli.

“
Stewart,” Baden addressed him as if they had already
met.

“
So you are Baden Brighton?” He asked which confused
Baden. Stewart must have realised what he was thinking because he
answered Baden’s unspoken question. “There are those who know my
location and they tend to share news of the world’s events. Word
spreads quickly about you when you are noted as the strongest
snatcher ever to exist.”

“
Apparently it does,” Baden commented. Ironically, for
someone so strong he was feeling completely defeated.

“
You have not truly heard of a way to escape from this
place have you?” Stewart asked though he already knew the answer.
Baden sighed before he answered.

“
No, have you or any of your visitors?” Baden asked
feeling hopeless. Stewart shrugged.

“
What has been rumoured to work has been tried and has
failed. There are those who still seek the answer but so far there
is none,” Stewart said and this time he actually looked a little
defeated himself. He dropped his hands to his side and relaxed his
stance.

“
Then I suppose you and I should become better
acquainted,” Baden offered feeling uncomfortable with the
situation.

It seemed
that it would turn out to be a rather long existence for Baden
after all, longer than he had anticipated.

CHAPTER
37

Eli ran up to
the Westwood house and burst through the door where Annie was
planned to be. Garrick ran to the entry with a
dagger ready but dropped it as soon as he saw it
was Eli.

“What is it,
Sir?” Garrick asked confused. He looked to Eli’s shoulder and saw
the wound.

“
It has healed,” Eli assured him before he could become
alarmed. “Is Annie here?” He asked looking past Garrick to search
the rooms he could see within his view.

“
Yes. Where else would she be?” Garrick thought Eli
wasn’t making any sense.

“
Baden told me to check on her. He believes Micah
cannot be trusted,” Eli explained looking back to him.

“
Baden?” Annie asked as she stepped out of one of the
rooms close by. Garrick and Eli both turned to her, surprised by
her sudden appearance. “Where is Baden?” She asked. Eli and Garrick
looked to each other but remained silent.

Annie walked
up to both of them and stood between them, facing Eli. She had her
arms crossed and looked at him with the fiercest look she could
muster.

“
Tell me, Eli. Where is your brother?” She asked.
Garrick took a step back to remove himself from the situation. Eli
looked at her and found he could not say anything. What was he
going to say? How was he going to justify what he had
done?

“
Annie, it is better…” but she didn’t give him time to
finish.

“
Tell me!” She yelled not caring that Garrick was
there. Eli became irritated that she was being so defensive of
Baden and didn’t think before he spoke.

“
I will tell you where he is,” he said as he took a
step closer to her. “He is exactly where he should be, trapped for
eternity with Stewart, where he can no longer hurt anyone.” Eli’s
voice was filled with loathing. Annie’s eyes widened with his words
and she slapped him across the face. His head lashed to the side,
not from the force of her hand but from the surprise of it. With
his head still turned she closed the small distance between them
and spoke.

“
I will be leaving here as of tomorrow and you will
never see me again,” she said the words viciously. She turned to
walk away but he grabbed her arm and stopped her from moving. She
tried to push him away but he gripped her other arm so she couldn’t
move.

“
Do not go. You will not be safe,” Eli pleaded seeing
that he had caused her reaction. All of this was his fault and he
would do anything to change it.

“
I do not care because you are not someone I trust any
longer, I am not sure if I ever could. I do not want to be in your
life, I want nothing to do with you ever again!” She yelled as she
struggled to get away from him.

“
Please, I will release him if you just stay,” Eli
bargained. His words were lies but he could not let her leave
unprotected. She settled herself and stared up at him through the
strands of hair that had fallen onto her face.

“
Will you take me to him?” She asked hopeful to see
Baden.

“
No, it is too dangerous. I will have him released then
he can go where he pleases.” He disappointed her with his
words.

“
How will you have him released?” She doubted his
truthfulness.

“
I have heard whispers of ways to free him,” he said
using Baden’s words as his lie. Annie looked at him skeptically
before she gave in.

“
Very well, do that and there may be a chance that I
choose to remain in your life.” And this time she lied. She doubted
that she would ever be in Eli’s future because he would never
accept her relationship with Baden. Slowly, he let her go and she
stepped away from him.

“
Now let us settle for the night,” Eli
suggested.

“
I would rather be alone,” Annie said not looking at
him. She knew he would protest with the argument of protection so
she beat him to it. “No one else knows where I am and as long as I
stay within the house no snatcher will be able to harm me. I am
completely safe and will not require any guardians tonight.” Before
he could respond she walked to the back room and
disappeared.

Eli looked at
Garrick who shrugged his shoulders. Eli’s lips tightened in
frustration. Seeing no use for it Eli waved Garrick over,
indicating they were leaving. They headed out the door and left as
requested. Garrick mounted his horse and trotted alongside Eli as
he walked.

“
Tell me, are you going to release Baden?” Garrick
asked when he thought they were out of earshot.

“
Even if I knew how to, I would not,” Eli said
truthfully. “I just need to keep her safe because at the moment she
cannot see what is good for her.” Garrick nodded and thought
nothing of Eli’s lies.

Annie had
snuck up to the front window when they had started walking away and
she heard Eli’s words. She knew he had been lying to her and
decided then and there never to trust him again. She decided not to
leave just at the moment, she wasn’t stupid. She knew that she
wasn’t safe but when Eli had dealt with the dangers in her life,
she would leave and never see him again. She also needed to find
where Baden was and the only way to find out was from Eli. She had
to stay around, at least long enough to do that. Some might say it
was using him but he had deceived her. They were no longer friends
and now all seemed fair in love and war.

The day had
grown long and Annie had searched the limited books in the house
for anything that might point her in the direction of Baden. When
she came up short she threw a book across the room and let defeat
live in her for just a moment. She refused to cry because if she
did, that would mean that she believed there was no way to get
Baden freed. But from her own life experiences she knew that there
was usually a way for everything, you just had to look in the right
places.

Giving
herself a break she walked to the front room to watch the sun set.
She enjoyed watching the lovely colours play across the sky as the
sun went to bring light to another part of the world. Who knew,
maybe Baden was watching the same scene? Wherever he might
be.

Just before
night had settled and the sun was winking its last, a figure came
walking towards the house. It was hard to see but after Annie’s
eyes adjusted she could make out that it was Rosemary. Confused,
she ran to the door and swung it open but stopped before she
stepped out. She wasn’t meant to leave the house. Suddenly Rosemary
stumbled and fell onto the ground clutching her stomach. In the
last moment of light Annie could see blood dripping from where
Rosemary was holding.