Rise of the Fallen 1 - My Soul to Keep (23 page)

“You’re pretty sweet, Connor Sullivan. Anybody ever tell you that?”

“Only you. Everybody else thinks I’m icky.”

“Yeah, right.”

“Seriously, nobody else has ever paid attention to me, let alone told
me I’m sweet.”

“Well, I know for a fact Claire thinks you’re sweet. I think she’s
a little sweet on you, too.”

“Huh?”

“Oh, don’t be such a boy. Claire likes you. A
lot
if you ask
me.”

“Claire can barely stand to be in the same room as me.”

“Whatever you’ve got to tell yourself to sleep at night.”

“Okay, I’m confused. Why would you think she likes me?”

Jess stopped in the middle of the sidewalk and pulled my arm to get
me to stop too. “You think she drives you to school every day because she likes
to make fun of you? Do you think she got her father to rent a limo for you to torment
you? Besides, I can hear it in her voice when she talks to you. I’m not the only
one who’s totally into you.”

I opened my mouth to say something.
Anything.
Nothing came out.
“I…I…”

“You’re a boy. Unless a girl ties a note to a brick and throws it at
your head you’re pretty oblivious to the whole subtle hint thing. It’s not your
fault.”

“You don’t mind?” I tried to keep the suspicion out of my voice.

“Very much. It’s why I’m keeping an eye on her. The question is do
you like her?”

“Honestly, because I promised I’d never lie to you, I do. But not like
you think. Claire has helped me through a lot of problems, but I don’t want to date
her. Claire is the sister I wish I had been born with. She’s really cool, really
helpful, but not for me. Know what I mean?”

“Exactly. I trust you. I trust her to a certain point. We’re good.
Do you think she’s pretty?”

“Very, but nowhere near as beautiful as you.”

“Damn good answer.”

“It’s the only answer.”

That earned me another kiss. We walked the rest of the way to my house
just holding hands. Nothing else needed to be said. Until we reached my door. “I
love you,” I whispered out of the corner of my mouth.

“I love you, too,” she said back without hesitating. I couldn't help
but smile.

That’s when the shiny metal blade exploded through my chest. I looked
down at it, covered in my own blood, and watched the blackness as it filled my vision.
My last thought was trying to concentrate on Jessie’s terror filled scream as someone,
or something, dragged her off.

Chapter 27

“No! He can’t be dead! He can’t be!”

My mom’s voice woke me from a horrible nightmare. I'd been killed and
Jessie…I sat up screaming at the pain in my chest. I saw the blade still sticking
out over twelve inches from my torn skin. I looked up at my mom standing in the
doorway only to see her faint dead away in my father’s arms. He turned white as
a ghost, and my sister started puking on the tacky carpeting in our family room.

“Is this some sort of joke, Connor?”

“Um…” A million things passed through my mind at once. About half of
those were excuses. The other half were ways for me to break the truth to my parents,
coming clean about everything. I opened my mouth to laugh it off. It didn’t work.
“I’ll explain everything later. Dad, I need you to pull the sword out. Please.”

“Th…tha…that’s real?”

“Yes, Dad. And it hurts. Please.”

“What the hell is going on, Connor?”

I didn’t have time for this. I looked my father straight in the eyes
and said, “Pull the sword out of my back, Dad.”

His face went blank and he nodded. He gently set my mother down on
the floor and took one step. I turned. One hand pushed against my shoulder and I
looked down to see the sword tip go back into my chest as he pulled it free with
the other. The noise made me gag.

“There you go, son. Anything else I can do for you?”

“Take care of Mom. I’m going after Jessica.”

“Will do. Come on, honey. Let’s get you upstairs,” he said and bent
down to pick her up.

I took off running, wincing at the pain in my chest. I chose to focus
on that pain, to drive me, and to help me ignore Caelyn’s voice shouting after me.

Before I even hit the street, I called my wings. I leapt into the cold
night and beat them furiously. I held my hand over my chest and thought of Clarisse.
She was at the mall. Working.
Didn’t she ever sleep?

I realized I didn’t even know where she lived. Some friend I was. If
she helped me get Jessie back, I’d buy her something nice.

I sped toward the mall and landed in the parking lot in the darkest
area I could find. Banishing my wings, I strode through the front door. As soon
as I got inside, the people around me all started looking at me either with horror
in their eyes, or concern. I’d forgotten the ripped, blood soaked shirt I had on.
I concentrated very hard on looking normal. People shook their heads, resumed their
conversations, or stopped looking at me altogether.

I practically ran to the lingerie store.

Clarisse looked at me through the front window. I let my façade drop,
for just a moment. Long enough for her to see my blood soaked shirt. She yelled
something at the other girl working and ran out of the store.

“What happened?”

“He’s got Jessica,” I said and tried not to start crying.

“Who? Her father?”

“No, the thing that’s been killing people. He shoved a sword through
my chest and took her. Clarisse, you have to help me find her.”

“Come on!”

She grabbed my hand and led me out the back door of the mall. I'd only
ever been down the corridor once when I had to use the bathroom. It was completely
empty and Clarisse burst through a set of double doors that led straight to a small
employee parking lot. I saw her pink bug, but she started running in the other direction.

“Where are we going?”

“If he didn’t take your head he wants you to find him. We’re going
to the one place where he’d expect you to look.”

“The school?”

“Ding, ding, ding. Give the boy a prize. How much you want to bet that’s
where he has her. I just don’t understand why he didn’t finish you before. I can’t
believe he got the sword through you.”

“Why?”

“Because you’re damn near immortal. Whatever he is, he’s strong.”

“Great. Clarisse, we need to hurry.”

She jumped in the air and I watched her wings as they burst from her
back. Without blinking, she started heading toward the school. I did the same. My
chest hurt a little less and I looked at it while we flew. The wound had mostly
closed and stopped bleeding completely. At least it was healing. Quickly.

It took us only a few minutes to get to our high school. It looked
completely deserted. Clarisse flew around three times before landing right in the
middle of the parking lot where I had been attacked at the dance. I landed right
behind her.

She spun in tight circles, sniffed the air, and listened intently.
I did the same. I could smell blood from the night before, but nothing else out
of the ordinary.

“He’s not here, Clarisse.”

“I know. Damn it! I had a gut feeling he would be. Maybe he’s inside
the school?”

I turned and listened.
Maybe the gym?

I moved as fast and quietly as I could. I got to the entrance to the
gym and lightly opened the door. It surprised me it wasn't locked. The gym was creepy
on a good day. With all of the Halloween decorations still hanging and no lights
on, even I was scared.

“Hello?” I figured it was worth a shot. Nobody replied. I still walked
through the gym and found nothing.

“Nothing?” I turned and saw Clarisse standing in the doorway.

“Not a damn thing. Where could they have gone?”

“I don’t know. I don’t even know how to find her.”

“Too bad her dad didn’t buy her a cell phone. She might not be able
to pick up, but at least the cops could track it by GPS.”

“Her father!”

“What about him?”

“Just like you can feel me, he should be able to feel her! Let’s get
to her house. You’re talking to him though.”

“I’ll mow his grass for a year if he helps.”

“You know he will. It’s his daughter. He might not include you in her
rescue, but he’ll save her.”

“That’s good enough for me,” I said and meant it.

* * *

I reached up and lightly rapped on the door. I looked back at Clarisse
and she looked almost as uncomfortable as I felt.
Please don’t be a prick. Please
don’t be a prick. Please…

The door opened.

Mr. James gave me a distasteful look. He glanced behind me and saw
Clarisse. At least he looked at her worse. Then he noticed the blood on my shirt
and that Jessie wasn’t with me. He grabbed me by the throat and had me pinned to
the ground in less than a second.

“What did you do to her?” He spit with every word.

“She…was…taken,” I managed to croak out through my crushed windpipe.
“Please…need…your…help.”

“If anything happened to her…”

“I’d kill myself,” I said. He must have loosened his grip.

I looked into his glowing blue eyes. He stared at me for a moment with
his emotions clearly fighting each other.

“We’re wasting time,” he finally said and stood up. He didn’t offer
me a hand either.

I turned to Clarisse. She shrugged her shoulders. “Thanks for your
help,” I said sarcastically.

“Hey, he didn’t kill you. You did better than I expected.”

Mr. James stepped out onto the porch. With a rush of wind his wings
expanded in all their glory. I’ll admit it. My bat-like wings were cool, but his
were awesome. I caught myself before I reached out to touch them. He closed his
eyes. I assumed he was thinking about Jess. He took off flying back toward my house.
Clarisse and I exploded into the air after him.

“She’s alive, but in pain and afraid. Very afraid. We need to hurry,”
Mr. James called back to us.

I gave everything I had into flying. I caught him easily and kept next
to him. I kept looking back to see a struggling Clarisse.

We flew past my house and further into town. The village square was
north of us. At least we weren’t headed into a populated area. This was going to
get ugly. Without warning, Mr. James plummeted from the sky and landed in the middle
of the street. A familiar street. A very familiar street…

“No. Please, God, no.”

“You know this place?” I turned and looked at a confused Mr. James.

Clarisse landed right behind us. “Hey isn’t that–

“Brett’s house,” I finished for her.

“Who’s Brett?”

I looked at Jess’ father.
How do I tell him this is all my fault?

“He was a human who became more. He was Connor’s first Called.”

“I see. You and I will have a score to settle after this is over,”
he said to me. I didn’t blame him. I wanted to kick my own ass.

“We have to call the Reapers.”

“There’s no time,” Mr. James and I said at the same time.

“You two, find him. I’ll call for backup.”

Mr. James nodded as I started for the house. If the Reapers were lucky,
there would be pieces left for them to clean up. I walked to the front door and
kicked it open. The odor made me gag. It smelled like somebody had stuffed a dead
raccoon with shrimp and cottage cheese. It smelled like…Brett’s dead parents.

His father had his head torn off still sitting on the couch holding
the television remote. His mother was dead on the floor holding a plate of cookies.
And her heart. I tossed my cookies
on the floor inside the door.
Real
smooth, Connor. At least you didn’t get any on Mr. James’ shoes.

“He killed his own parents. He must be destroyed.”

“You’re not going to get any argument from me. The dude is a serious
prick.”

“Do you know the house?”

“No, I’ve only ever been in his garage. That’s where he was when I
turned him.”

Mr. James nodded and walked through the empty house to the door at
the back of the kitchen. He glanced around the empty room and turned to leave.

The vampire dropped from the ceiling to attack him.

I ran to help. The vampire on his back had long blonde hair. It wasn’t
Brett attacking Mr. James. It looked like…

“Kelly Richards?”

The vampire turned and grinned at me. Sure enough. It was Jeremy’s
date to the dance. Brett had turned her into a vampire.

Mr. James spun and delivered a bone crunching elbow to her face sending
her to the tile at his feet. I let out a little cheer and then covered my mouth.