Soulless (Book #2 of Hunted)

Josnic Monstru

I'm not sure how long he laid there staring up at the ceiling but after a while something must have happened to make him come back to the real world. He sat up and tilted his head to the side as if he were hearing something.

"Hey Keegan! You in here?" I recognized Zane's voice from somewhere near the front door, or more accurately, Anton's voice. Keegan's body blurred and suddenly he was standing by his mother's body. He reached down and brushed her graying hair off of her neck. He wound the sturdy leather cord between his fingers and pulled it over her head. He held it up and studied the pendant at the end. It was a shiny steel coin with a pentagram carved on its surface and a sun-stone bound to the center. He turned the coin over in his fingers and read the inscription on the back.

The Lord of the Sun shall not punish

His child as long as he serves the Lady of the Moon.

Walk in the Light and never lose faith.

He smoothed his thumb across the letters and slipped the cord over his head. He turned to the sound of Anton laughing. 

"What are you doing?" he asked, leaving the conservatory and his mother. Anton laughed even harder.

"Playing with your sister," he replied, his accent ten times as strong as I'd ever heard it. I followed Keegan as he walked down the hallway to where Anton crouched over the dead body of Keegan's little sister Cara. He had crossed her arms over her chest and rolled up her blood stained night shift past her knees to reveal the pale skin of her thighs. Keegan looked down at Anton prodding and fondling his dead sister's body and no emotion crossed his face. No disgust at how Anton was disgracing Cara, no grief, no regret. He looked like he barely recognized the girl on the floor.

Anton leaned over her and opened her eyes with a flick of his left forefinger. He put his flushed and blood smeared face inches from her and stared into her big brown eyes that had already glazed over with death. Keegan sighed and poked Anton in the shoulder.

"What are you doing now?" he asked sounding a little bored. Anton put his face even closer to hers until their noses were touching.

"These eyes always looked right into me. She saw everything. She saw my heart..." he trailed off and rested his left hand on the side of her face. "She saw the stains on it. She saw it. She saw it." Anton pulled his face away and then jammed his first two fingers right into Cara's right eyeball. He managed to do the same thing to the left eye before Keegan reached down, grabbed Anton by the arm, and pulled him onto his feet. Anton struggled against Keegan's grip and hollered, "She saw it! I know the bitch saw it!" Keegan held Anton at arm's length, squeezing his upper arms tightly.

"She saw it, Keegan. She saw my heart. She saw the stains all over it," Anton said, nodding and staring at Keegan with wide eyes his face seeming innocent and insane at the same time.

"I know, it's alright," Keegan whispered. Anton's gaze fell back to Cara, now blinded in death, her eyes just gaping red holes. His lips curled in a snarl.

"She told you but you already knew. And if she told you she told everyone. You saw how they looked at me when we left. They hated me because they could see my heart. They could see how ugly it was, how josnic. Da, josnic fiara. Josnic monstru. Mincinos. Josnic mincinos. Dumnezeu, salva mea. Dumnezeu salva mea josnic viata. Salva mea josnic sufletul. Va rog. Dumnezeu, va rog...Ucide mea. Josnic," he took a breath, "Josnic. Josnic. Josnic. Josnic. Josnic. Josnic. Josnic. Jos-" 

Keegan shook Anton violently. "Get a hold of yourself and speak English. I can't keep up with you," Keegan said. Anton shook his head and glared at Cara. 

"But what if she told them? What if all of them can see the stains? I can't live with that, Keegan." A sick grin spread across Keegan's face.

"Then we'll just have to make sure no one in this town has eyes in the morning. Can't see with no eyes, huh?" he said. A similarly disturbed grin took up residence on Anton's face.

"No eyes, no mouth, no nose, no ears. Jesus Christ, Keegan. No blood. Tell me we'll take the blood, I'm starving. God, I'm so hungry," Anton groaned, rolling his eyes skyward. Keegan laughed exuberantly.

"Of course we'll take the blood. We'll be drunk for weeks." Anton nodded jerkily and then his eyes fell to the talisman dangling from Keegan's neck.

"What is that necklace thing?" he asked. Keegan let go of Anton's arms and tucked the pendant under his shirt.

"I found it on me mam," he replied. Anton edged around Keegan and peered down the hallway into the conservatory.

"Are there any other trinkets for me?" he asked. Keegan slung an arm around Anton's shoulders and steered him towards the door.

"Not really but we can raid the town later, after we feast," he said as they walked out the door and into the night. Anton giggled. 

"Are we tigani now?" he asked. Keegan laughed.

"Sure. You've got enough gypsy blood in your family for the both of us."

"That reminds me, tomorrow night I want to go find some Roma girls. Pretty ones. I want to make them dance for us. I love when Roma girls dance," Anton said wistfully. Keegan chuckled devilishly.

"I bet they taste good too."