Chronicles of the Underworld - Soul Eater

13 - Soul Eater

David felt the demonic rage next to him ebbing down like a generator running out of juice.

Lucie stepped back. "Done."

"He's going to pay."

"I know." She looked at the body one last time. "Do what you have to do."

"Will you wait for me?"

"Always."

"I feel like we both need your demom to cheer us up. It's depressing."

"What is not that is related to Mortimer?"

"You're right."

He aimed the muzzle of his gun at the vampire's forehead.

-

The witch twitched as if someone had shot her. Then she stopped breathing.

Her eyes had been empty before.

-

"I certainly did not expect you here."

Alexandria knew the voice. That was the worst.

Her breathing wanted to make her lungs burst. She was longing for air.

"You mustn't be afraid. It will be fast. There's no hurt. You'll be gone within the blink of an eye."

She heard him make a funny sound, almost a laughter. From the place the noise came, he must be standing at the wall, between the entrance to the living room and the kitchen. Right behind her.

She clutched her sword and swallowed the rising panic in her throat.

"Now... Don't do anything stupid, elf. One thing is certain: you're going to die here. However, you can choose how it is going to happen. If you take off that blindfold and turn around, it will be painless. If you keep holding on to that sword and muttering spells, it will be painful, because I will do it."

She was thinking about Lisbon. The language of her mother, of the Light elves.

The body at the floor twitched and she whimpered.

"Looks like they've ended it.", he said. "All gone. Wiped out."

Alexandria thought of the palace, the light, the sea, the flowers, the Blooming City. The elves used a spell to bring flowers from another dimension to theirs. They made them physical and preserved them forever.

"Your sword is a physical weapon, you dumb girl. There's no spell in this world that can transform it into a weapon against another dimension. It will cut through the creature as through thin air."

She felt tears streaming down her face, light blooming in her heart. She raised her head.

"So you've chosen.", he said.

She could feel him stepping behind her, the swift movement in the air. His fingers almost touched her hair. The blindfold sank to the ground.

Alexandria was trembling.

He moved away and she could hear him breathing out. The soul eater, sensing her weakness, moved in.

"Now, let me think... What am I going to do to you?"

She felt it coming. Her heart beat in her chest as if it was going to explode and she kept her lids pressed together until she saw colourful lightning dancing behind them.

"I will..."

She could smell it. There were centimetres separating them, its antennas almost touched her hair and that was when, in the midst of the scream releasing all her suffering into the world, she turned and rammed the blade into what she felt was in front of her.

Immediately she met resistance.

She kept her eyes closed and did not let go of the weapon, held on tight until she felt the thing sinking to the ground and only when she was sure it was dead, she pulled out the blade. She breathed.

"You were the one who didn't understand.", Alexandria said. "I did not make the sword able to cut through another dimension. I made the creature physical."

-

Aurel was hunting.

He had cleared out the hall and moved to the roof, killed off everything that moved. He looked across the bodies until he found what he had been searching for.

There it was.

A portal had been opened on top of the building. It was a circle emitting a pale, violet light. The air around it smelled of lightning and he moved closer, looked at the candles holding the circle together. A canine head appeared and he remained motionless until the rest of the body had followed. Then he gave one of the candles a slight push with his boot.

The light died.

"Don't move.", he said to the wolf. "A gun is pointed at your head. I've killed your pack and I'll kill you if you don't do what I ask of you. Turn around. Transform."

The wolf turned to him on his hind legs. It was a hideous creature, they all were.

Slowly he watched the fur merging with human skin and hair, the body becoming human.

He was a man with dark hair and dark eyes.

"Who are you?", he asked. His teeth were yellow and rotten. "I'm looking for a witch."

"I'm asking the questions. Who sent you?"

"King Damian, of course. As was asked for by Mortimer."

"I see."

"It was a pact. I only do as I'm told, I swear!"

Aurel nodded. "I understand. You're free to go."

He could feel the darkness raging in him. The pain and hatred taking the form of a black wolf throwing himself against his ribcage.

"Thank you!", the werewolf uttered and turned around.

Aurel lifted Columbia's gun.