Authors: Vera West
Tags: #romance, #scifi, #dystopian, #suspense action, #scifi action adventure, #dimension crossing
Soul(s)
S
o
u
l
(
s
)
a
novel by
VERA WEST
S
Oul
(
s
)
(ARC COPY
DISCLOUSURE)
This version of Soul(s) is
an advance reader copy and is subject to change as the author sees
fit and will remain free and will be available for an estimated
time frame of a month from the initial publication date. If you
find any errors please get in touch with the author. Thank you for
reading.
Copyright 2013 Vera West
Published by Vera West at
Smashwords
Smashwords Edition License
Notes
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TABLE OF
CONTENTS
For myself and my own soul
mate.
I will take you
heart.
I will take your soul out of your body
as though I were God.
I will not be satisfied
with the touch of your hand
nor the sweet of your lips alone.
I will take your heart for mine.
I will take your soul.
I will be God when it comes to you.
To Artina
,
By Langston Hughes (1902-1967)
PROLOGUE
The air was damp; I breathed it in raggedly
as my feet hit the cold pavement in a fierce rhythm. I’d lost my
flats somewhere back down the road, but I was glad. I was faster
barefoot. I could feel it, I had a chance. If only I could get far
enough ahead of them. I was so close. The door to the apartment
lobby was right there, but everything slowed.
My body crashed into the door. I look at my
hands—dripping crimson. I reached towards the buttons but I
couldn’t push any of them, my hands kept sliding. My legs slumped
beneath me and blood smeared against the door frame. My heart
ticked like a clock as life slipped out my body like pouring sand.
Wouldn’t anyone see me? Wouldn’t anyone help me?
I feel my legs unfold beneath me as I fall.
My head skids down the pavement, bumping to the beat of my
draggers’ stride as he pulls me away. My gaze cabooses behind me
and I can see the red smudges of my blood sparkling like liquid
rubies on the door.
My vision is suddenly
shadowed out by a figure. It grasps my neck, squeezing so tightly
my mouth reflexes open. I reached forward but find nothing. My body
tenses fighting against giving up but it’s not enough. I
wonder
what
I’ll
miss rather than
who
will miss me.
PART ONE:
SECOND-PLANE
01: SARIAH
My body jerked alive and my eyes shot open.
My hands slapped hard against my thighs as I sat up. The first
thing I noticed was being naked. The second was that it didn’t
bother me. At least, not in a shamed kind of way—I was a little bit
cold though.
Cement against my feet. Red wet numbered
buttons of an apartment door buzzer. Fear.
Images flood back to me, just fragments of
concepts that I couldn’t categorize or order. I felt disoriented
and confused, like I was on the cusp of remembering a dream I’d
just had.
I wasn’t alone in the
dark. I felt it, but I couldn’t see it. My senses were different. I
could feel energy; seeing without seeing. I focused: there was
something dark and hungry lurking near—actually a
few somethings
. I was
afraid,
I turned my head from side to side, trying
to get more than just this sixth sense of my surroundings, but I
still couldn’t see them. Desperately to know what’s nearing me, I
go back to focusing. It takes a moment but then I can almost
pinpoint each one. There are four maybe five. They’re waiting as
they prowl around me.
I looked forward and up. I saw a moon above
me and my eyes finally caught the glimpse of a shadow. I strained
and could just barely make out an elevated ridge through the dark.
There is something on it. I concentrated, trying to see what it
was, and somehow I connect with it. I can see myself through its
eyes. I’m sitting there on the ground with the others’ circling my
physical body. I begin to feel its thoughts.
Not yet,
it beckons to them,
not
yet.
This one is different. This one might
be too strong.
But its minions aren’t listening.
Now. Now. Now. Now. Now. Now. Now. Now.
They are too young and too hungry. She can’t
reason with them because they aren’t as logical or smart as she is.
They’re from a lower cast.
If you
disobey
, she warns them,
I will not to save you.
I click back into my own mind. There’s not
much time before I will have to fight. They’re ready to devour me.
I know I should brace myself for their attack, but I’m so
overwhelmed by my new awareness, I can’t move. I just sit here. I
can feel so much that I can’t feel just one thing. I can’t bring
myself to tune them all out, so I can tune myself in.
I breathe in deep, steadying myself, trying
to control this power, but then I feel something else. Something
stronger than any of them is coming and it’s headed right to
me.
02:
KEEGAN
In every moment, when I feel I can’t run any
faster, my body keeps accelerating. I have to get to her. That’s
all I know. I don’t know where I am, or who I am, or even why she
is so important to me. But I have to get to her.
I haven’t been running
long, or at least through my own conception of time I haven’t been.
It’s dark but I can see everything. I see her about a half mile
ahead of me and
them
looming around her. They’re like these twisted versions of
humans. They are crouching low and moving in a crawling-spider like
motion. They are hungry and are overcome by their own desire to
feed. Their mouths drip in anticipation; their bodies are ridged
with excitement. Another second and they’ll pounce. I won’t let
them have her.
My senses heighten and I can analyze their
movements before they finish their motion.
I grab some natural debris from the ground
as I move and throw it at the first beast that’s about to strike.
It hits him with such force that it impales him through the middle.
He spirals back, snarling loudly as he falls. The sound is a mix of
pain and surprise. They didn’t know I was coming but they know I’m
here now.
Even so, I’m faster than them and I’m in
front of her before the next one attacks. The only thing I can
think to do is shield her. I don’t have any weapons.
Our eyes lock and there’s an instant
recognition, even in all this chaos, something stirs within me. Her
eyes flit to my right, looking behind me. I look over my shoulder
in time to see another beast lunging, but it stops only a foot or
so from us and then its body crinkles as if simultaneously many
bones have been broken. It wails as it slumps and then a ball of
light floats out of its carcass.
That energy escaping its body caused the
remaining two monsters to slink backwards and away. I look further
behind us and see a larger figure standing on a ridge. It raises
its hand and the energy ball from the fallen beast zips to it.
There’s a flash before it absorbs into its being, then it too turns
and leaves. We’ve won, for now.
I turn back to the woman.
“
Are you alright?” I
ask.
I instinctively reach out to her. Even
though my whole being is sure this is the right thing to do, I
don’t want to frighten her. I trail just my thumb down the side of
her cheek. That small touch of affection sends energy through my
whole body. I’m startled and suddenly aware for the first time that
we’re both naked.
“
Thank you,” she says to
me. I can’t see her blush but I can feel her body’s response. She’s
just as overwhelmed by this intense physical connection between us.
I let my hand fall away from her and face back to my
thigh.
“
I’m Keegan,” I tell
her.
“
Sariah,” she responds
back smiling and I implode.
“
It’s lovely.”
“
Do you know where we
are?”
“
No, but I can see a
building a few yards off, let’s go there,” I tell her.
“
How can you see in this
dark?” Sariah asks next.
“
I’m not sure, but I bet
it’s connected to how you were able to kill that
thing
without touching
it.”
She brought her knees to her chest and
covered her face with her palms. “I could feel its pain when I did
that,” she whispered.
"It was right, even if it didn’t feel like
it. Here,” I said offering my hand to her, “let me help you
up.”
03: SARIAH
Keegan was holding his hand out to me. I was
hesitant to take it. The way my body reacted to him was frightening
and all he’d done was lightly touch the side of my face. I knew I
wasn’t ready for more contact. I looked up at him, when our eyes
met I saw the confidence give way to another emotion. Maybe he was
just as thrown by our connection as I was.
“
I’m fine,” I told him,
getting up easily. I actually wasn’t hurt. I expected him to look
offended by me not taking his hand, but he just
shrugged.
“
The building is just up
ahead we can make it there in no time if we jog.”