Threatening Souls (FREE PREVIEW)

PROLOGUE

Henri: Roseway, Washington

June 14, 1860

The girl was a nuisance, the typical example of a needy, self-centered human who didn't seem to care that much about the background of her chosen father figure. Everything was always about her: her identities, her small family, and of course every new bruise that mottled her skin from her biological father's hand. Each day, Henri Anderson listened to her patiently, though he could care less about the girl's miserable life. Yet, he needed her as much as she needed him, for she was ultimately the gateway for him to unleash his full power. The mortal magic users were growing too comfortable in their communities, their world, and he hated them for it. Of course, they knew who he was, the immortal warlock who had quickly risen to be the immortal ruler shortly after he was made. Yet, they didn't fear him, not like they should. They had suppressed the immortals for far too long.

The girl sat at the edge of the property line of a gated mansion. For the past few months, she insisted that they come here, since the owner of the house had passed away weeks before. The girl told Henri that the owner had a son who was to inherit the mansion, but he had not made it out to Roseway yet. Klein, she said the last name was, but Henri had no interest in the family. If his plan worked the way it should, the son would arrive at a literal ghost town, and not soon afterwards, he would become fodder to the hungry spirits who descended upon him.

Today, the girl had a fresh, bloodied gash across her right cheek. She had been talking for a while, Henri knew, but he was hardly listening. Soon, this town would be his; he could almost hear the screams of the villagers as their flesh literally melted off their bodies, could almost sense the victory over the mortals that was within his grasp. Today was the day he and the girl had set, and much to his amusement, the girl was excited. He had promised her immortality, though the girl failed to realize that she would never be truly immortal. He told her that the town would be hers.

The girl looked up at him just then with huge, questioning eyes. Her long, dark-brown hair framed her pale face, and a few unlucky strands caught themselves in the dried blood that was already starting to clot. "You think so?" she questioned placidly, obviously to a question that he had not heard the beginning of.

"Mmhmm," he hummed, reaching out with delicate fingers to brush the strands of her hair away from the drying blood. It was then that he got a good look at the gash, a mangled mess of flesh and tissue that looked as if someone had carelessly swiped a razor across her cheek.

The girl's expression soon turned dark. "He did it." Henri did not need an explanation to know that the girl was referring to her father. "Ava was the one who broke the window, but he would never lay a hand on his favorite."

Ava. The girl's twin sister. Henri had never met her in person but had heard enough stories to know that she was slightly older.

Without saying anything else, Henri let his magic gently caress her cheek, knitting her skin back together and clearing her complexion of any lingering blood. It wasn't the first time that he healed her; he did so in order to further gain her trust. And each time he did so, the girl looked appreciative and muttered her thanks, not once mentioning how her family reacted to a wound that was there mere hours before completely disappearing.

This time, the girl quickly turned away from him. "I'm sorry," she said solemnly. "I know I shouldn't rely on you as much as I do, but—"

"Rebecca," Henri began, using the girl's Christian name, but he never finished his sentence. For a moment, the two of them stared at each other in silent understanding. The girl was special. She was one of the special humans who could see and communicate with spirits, an Innocent, the only one in her family. Even her twin sister, who was technically born a day before, did not have the same ability. The girl knew that she was special through Henri's reassurances, and it was that fact alone that made him seek her out. It was the first time, to his knowledge, that an immortal being made an alliance with one of the special humans without the use of torture, though manipulation was evidently inevitable.

Rebecca hugged his side, her form barely reaching his chest. Henri wrapped a gentle arm around her shoulders, inviting her closer, a tender gesture that furthered her trust in him. The girl closed her eyes, a silent stream of tears erupting from them.

The first of the rain fell just then as greenish clouds suddenly covered the sky. On his command, an invisible dome was planted over the town on the dot of the twelfth hour, the time that the two of them had agreed upon. As the first drop of rain landed on Rebecca's skin, emitting a slow sizzling sound, her tear-stained face buried deeply into his side. The rain did not affect Henri, since it was ultimately his magic that allowed it to surface.

All throughout the town and around them, people were screaming with half-melted faces and red, blistering skin, calling at each other for help. Those who were inside quickly ran outside as if to see what the commotion was, only to find that their doors suddenly sealed them outside. Soon, the entire town fell victim to the rain, screaming and running around in pain and agony.

All except for Henri and Rebecca.

She continued to cling to him even after bits of her flesh fell away, revealing raw muscle and bone. In her last moments as a living entity, she stayed in his embrace until her soul departed from her body. Only when Henri's arm was the last thing supporting her failing body did he finally let it drop to the ground in a mangled pile of burning, blistering flesh.

The rain continued to fall until every single citizen of Roseway fell into the same heaping pile of burning flesh that Rebecca did.

Soon, the spirits of the dead citizens began to rise, each looking in horror at what used to be their living bodies.

The spirit of Rebecca smiled at him and nodded, as if beckoning him to finally reveal himself as the town's savior.

And so he did, stepping over the heaping piles of human flesh as he commanded the rain to stop. The dome remained over the town.

All eyes turned to glance at him.

And in turn, he glanced at each and every one of them, donning a new name for himself. From this point forward, he was formally known as the Master.

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AUTHOR'S NOTE: Thank you so much for reading! As many of you may or may not know, this is the new, post-Polyethnic version of Threatening Souls that I plan to re-release October of 2020. Therefore, some of the stuff in this version will be different than the previously published versions. I hope you all enjoyed the new prologue, and don't forget to vote if you did and drop me a comment!