Shattered glass and chunks of concrete littered the abandoned warehouse. Three demons stood over two dead bodies while a fourth tormented a young man cowering on the ground. Solus briefly looked down at the ashen remains of a Guardian before turning his attention once more on the last surviving Soul Protector. He no longer needed to be in demon form, so he morphed into his human form, enjoying the brief moment of fear and disgust in her eyes.
She held up her talisman to perform one last spell. Solus drew out his own aura and flung his energy at her, sending her broken body into the wall. Amazingly still breathing, he walked toward her, towering over her bloodied form. With a wicked smile, he reached down and held his hand just over her chest. With a flick of his fingers, he began to draw out her soul.
The act of Taking a soul could be difficult, especially if the human did not want her soul taken. But she was near death, and he needed only to pluck the last strands of life before her soul rose into his palm. Her now empty body took one last shuddering breath before going limp.
Solus held the ball of bright light that was the woman’s soul and pondered its frailty. Then in one motion, he squeezed the soul in his fist and with a burst of energy, the light within disintegrated. Now, there was nothing left of the woman but an empty shell.
“Aw, now why didn’t you just devour it? At least then you would’ve gotten a little pick-me-up!” Jeroth stood behind him, picking through the bodies littering the abandoned warehouse. He had himself just finished devouring the soul of one of the dead. The other soul managed to disappear while the two Destroyers were fighting over who would eat it.
“Unlike you, I don’t need to supplement my strength,” Solus growled back. He always detested the thought of eating a living being’s soul, and he detested Jeroth even more. He was Francesca’s Voyager, and his strength lay in his cunning ability to fight dirty. Solus didn’t trust him anymore than a Guardian.
“Well, Mr. High-and-Mighty, if you weren’t gonna eat it, you could’ve shared,” he mumbled as he stood over a second Guardian’s ashen remains.
Solus glanced at his handiwork around him. It took seven of them to take the two Guardians and three Soul Protectors down, but it was worth it – and they only lost one Destroyer. The rage that powered him continued to flow through his body. He wanted to kill more of them.
“Solus, what would you like to do about the human?” the other Avenger, a young one on his first mission, held up a frightened young man that he was tormenting by the shirt collar.
Solus stepped up to the man. He looked to be a little older than Solus had been when he died, and the thought made him angry. This human got to enjoy life while he lived in hell. Literally. The man smelled of terror and urine, a dark blot of wetness covered the crotch of his pants. Anger turned to disgust and with one motion, Solus separated the man’s soul from his body.
“If any of you want to parade about in this one’s skin for a while, be my guest.” And while he said it, he threw the soul in the air and willed it into Dis. The remaining Destroyers started arguing over whose turn it was to possess a human body.
Faint stirrings of guilt began to float through Solus’s mind. The manwas probably just some smitten college kid who didn’t know the object of his affections was a Soul Protector. In anger, Solus killed him by taking his soul. He didn’t really have a choice, the guy would have been fodder for the other demons otherwise. But there was no hint of any darkness within the man’s soul, and as such, Solus sentenced him to eternity wandering Limbus.
Frustrated, he stalked out of the demolished building and into the warm autumn California air. The industrial complex was deserted; the only life left was on the nearby docks across the harbor. He took in the smell of salt, fish, and pollution from the city. The last of the sun’s rays danced through the haze hanging in the air.
Jeroth emerged from the warehouse, followed by the newly reanimated body of the young man. Solus growled quietly in disgust.
“The others have returned to Dis. We should probably follow suit,” Jeroth suggested. “It was a bit of luck we were able to listen in on the Protectors’ conversation before the Guardians showed up and discovered our presence. Lord Andras will be happy to hear that we are close to finding the Child.”
“Tell Francesca that I will follow up on the lead this group gave us. They never mentioned a person by name, but the location seemed very important to them.”
“Yeah, sure, but our instructions were to quietly find the location of the Child of Light. In the last two months you have managed to alert every Guardian and Soul Protector in North America.” Jeroth looked him in the eyes. “Quietly was the operative word, and you were definitely not quiet. How do you expect to find the Child if all of our enemies are on high alert?”
Without answering, Solus Shifted away from the harbor and reappeared atop the busy Los Angeles Union Station. He had been all along the East Coast of the United States, and travelled to New Orleans, Las Vegas, and even Jackson Hole. He also knew most of the major cities in California, so Shifting to these places was easy. But he had never yet been to the Pacific Northwest, and so couldn’t Shift directly there. But he discovered a helpful cheat that allowed him to Shift to places he had never been to. By physically touching a human and reaching in to the person’s subconscious, he could pick at their memories and see the places they had been. Once he had an image in mind, it was as if they were his own memories of a place and he could Shift to that location at will. It was not a long process, and the most his victim would feel is a momentary loss of memory or confusion.
He had a few hours to wait before the Coast Starlight train from Seattle arrived, when he would find a person to get an image from, so he sat down on the red tile of the mission-style roof and watched the city go by. He looked down at the humans bustling along on the sidewalk below, their bodies hiding the aura of their souls within. Once in a while, he would see a human with a faint white or dull yellow aura. These were the humans he had to watch out for. Most of them were humans who were Sensitives, people who could detect paranormal beings. These were the ones the Guardians recruited to be Soul Protectors. As long as he contained his own aura, these Sensitives would not detect his presence. As long as there wasn’t any indication of Guardians nearby, he was fine. But if he felt the presence of a Guardian, then that meant they could feel him as well.
He thought about Rhyder and Belgard. They were supposed to locate the Child of Light and report her whereabouts to Andras. They did find her, a twelve-year-old girl, but they were discovered by the enemy and wiped out. Solus did not understand why this Child was important, only that Andras wanted her found and the Great Lord was not supposed to know this time. And when his master chose him for this task, he accepted it willfully. For every Guardian he defeated, he pretended they were the very ones who took his wife away and destroyed his friends.
He felt the familiar call in his head, and reluctantly opened his mind to answer. His master was looking for him and had come to the Human Realm himself – not a good sign for Solus. He quickly stood up and within seconds, Andras appeared next to him.
“You have been busy, my Avenger,” Andras greeted Solus. “I have not seen you in many days. I grow worried that you are overworking yourself.”
“Forgive me, Master,” Solus bowed low, “I had no intention of causing you worry.”
“Intended or not, I am concerned that you are overextending your limits. I have told you before never to actively seek out the Guardians. You are immortal, but not invincible, and it won’t be long before the enemy finds a way to defeat you.” He paused, then added, “I also believe that you are putting aside your task to play out your own ends, you put revenge above orders.”
Solus was instantly afraid. “I am sorry master, perhaps you are right and I have thoughtlessly put my mission in danger.”
A sigh escaped his master’s lips. “Perhaps it was my fault for rushing you into this world without adequate training. I fed revenge to you until it was the only thing powering you. And then I thrust you into this world without self-discipline and expected you to keep away from Guardians.” There was another pause. “Well, tell me what you have found.”
“Yes, my lord,” Solus straightened. “Our last encounter gave us information that the Child is possibly in the Seattle area. I will go there at once and resume my search. I believe she may have a powerful Guardian watching over her, so if I can locate his aura I will be more certain she would be close by.”
“Be aware that if you get too close he will find you, too. I have no intention of losing the Child again. Nor do I want to lose my best demon.”
“Of course, my lord. I will be careful not to alert them of my presence.”
“Good, and remember, the Great Lord and his minions must not know what you are doing. After the last attempt, Samil has been against my plans to take back the Upper Realm. He is weak and afraid. You must be successful, Solus, so that he may see that what I do is right.”
“Yes, my lord.”
With that, Andras shimmered out of sight.
By now, it was 8:30 and the train was scheduled to arrive in a half hour. He Shifted off the roof and into a rarely-used space that was occasionally reserved for private functions. He gave his attire a cursory look – black jeans, black thick-soled shoes, a dark blue buttoned shirt, and a black leather jacket with three steel buckles in the front and one on the back. He touched his zippered breast pocket for his cell phone that he hardly ever used, and listened for people. Then he Shifted to the other side of the door.
The few people who were around didn’t notice a stranger appearing out of thin air. He wrapped his aura around him and sent it out to those nearby, implanting the suggestion that he had been there the whole time. He hurried toward the terminals to wait for the train.
When the Coast Starlight rolled in, Solus waited for a good candidate. A family of four stepped off the train, the young son was wearing a Seattle Seahawks hat and the mother had a shopping bag with “Made in Washington” written on it. Three of them stood in front of the train where they had just exited and the father took out his camera.
“Say “cheese!” the father said and the rest complied. What cheese had to do with taking pictures, Solus still couldn’t comprehend, but he sidled up behind the father pretending to look for someone. He bumped the man gently in the shoulder.
“I’m sorry, sir, wasn’t looking where I was going!” Solus smiled apologetically.
“Quite alright,” the man smiled back.
Solus looked at the camera and then at his waiting family. “Would you like to be in the picture as well?”
“Oh, if it wouldn’t be much trouble,” the man replied hopefully.
Solus put out his hand to take the camera. The man gratefully handed it over, but not before Solus had a chance to touch the man’s skin and establish a link with him. It was a few seconds, and the man had a slightly flustered look. Then shook his head. “Uh, sorry, felt a little dizzy for a moment.”
“Are you okay, darling?” his wife called to him.
“I’m fine!” he smiled and hurried over to join them.
“Alright, everyone look here!” Solus called out. “Say cheese!” he felt absolutely idiotic saying that out loud to strangers, but the entire family shouted back “Cheese!” and he snapped the picture. He looked into the viewfinder at the family. The picture was perfect: everyone looking and smiling. The family he would never have.
“Thank you very much, mister,” the little boy looked up at him with wide brown eyes.
Solus choked back the anger and forced a smile. “No problem kid,” he handed the camera back to the father. “Hope you enjoyed your vacation!” with a wink, he set off.
The father had given him a variety of images to use so he could Shift to Seattle. He continued down the platform as if still searching for someone, until he came to the stairway leading to the East Portal. Making sure there were no cameras in view, he gathered his aura around him and sent out the suggestion to those nearby that they did not see him. He could get a live person to believe he wasn’t there, but not a camera. He then picked an image and Shifted.
And found himself at the foot of the iconic Space Needle. By now it was nearly ten and the weather had a slight chill. He breathed in the fresher city air and with a sardonic smile, he used his power to locate any auras nearby. Now, it was time to hunt.