Soul Taker (10 page)

"I'm over here," Isabella called, giving away
her location. "Hurry, it's Johanna. Something's happened to
her."

Harrison ran over to them, fear slamming into
him making his gut clench. He hunkered down on the other side of
Johanna and leaned in close. His gaze swept over her features,
taking in her death-like pallor. Her flowery scent that he adored
was nearly non-existent, but she appeared unharmed. No punctured
wounds at her neck or on her wrists. The blood he'd picked up
wasn't hers.

"I'm fine," Johanna murmured as she tried to
sit up by herself. "I'm just exhausted."

"We have to get you to the hospital."
Isabella glanced at Harrison, worry creasing her brow.

"No." Johanna sat up straighter, forcing her
eyes opened. "I'm fine. Please, just help me back to the hotel. I
need some sleep that's all." She stood and stumbled forward.

Isabella grabbed her arm and looped it around
her neck supporting her weight. Harrison took the other side.

"Are you sure you're okay?" Harrison
asked.

"I'm fine," Johanna insisted again. "I
haven't slept well and it's caught up with me." Johanna shrugged
away from Harrison and Isabella. "Really, you're both making more
out of this than need be."

"Making more out of this?" Isabella's voice
rose. "Johanna, you said your boyfriend was here. Why would he
leave you to take a nap in a cemetery?"

"I said he was here?" Her brows furrowed then
she shook her head. "I must have been dreaming. He's out of town.
I…"

"You're going to the hospital," Isabella
insisted.

"No, I said. I won't go." Her voice spoke of
determination.

Harrison didn't see the sense in arguing with
Johanna in her frame of mind. It would only prove to agitate her
more. Instead, he scooped her up into his arms. A squeal escaped
her lips and she threw her arms around his neck in reflex. Her face
flamed a nice shade of red, making her cheeks stand out like
bloodstains against her sheet-like pallor. "If you won't go to the
hospital, you're going to let me carry you back to the hotel." He
gave no room for negotiation.

"Uh…" She glanced at Isabella who nodded that
she should accept. Her gaze shifted back at Harrison. "It seems I
have little choice since I'm already in your arms."

He chuckled, surprised at her witty sense of
humor. "So you are." He marched with ease through the graveyard,
heading toward the street. He knew Isabella followed behind him. He
could hear her soft sure steps. "Why don't you rest your head on my
shoulder?" He glanced at Johanna, hoping she'd take him up on the
invitation.

"I don't—"

"You can trust me." He lowered his voice for
her ears only. "I would never harm you, Johanna. You mean too much
to me." He cleared his throat, wondering why that declaration flew
from his mouth. "I care about you," he clarified. "So does
Isabella."

"You care about me?" She sounded surprised.
He couldn't blame her. Their conversations consisted of a few words
before she bolted as if he would devour her. A chuckled escaped him
as the vision of nibbling the tender flesh near her ear came to
mind.

"Are you laughing at me?" Johanna's brows
drew together over the bridge of her nose.

"No. Never," he vowed. "I was only thinking
now I have you captive and you can't run away from me."

"I don't run away from you," she defended
herself.

"Really?" Doubt rang in the one word and she
sighed, clearly knowing he spoke the truth.

"Okay, maybe I do."

"Why?" He wanted to understand her fear of
him. Maybe if he understood what she was afraid of, he could
rectify it.

"The way you look at me. It's like you're the
Big Bad Wolf
and I'm
Little Red Riding Hood
."

He chuckled. How close she was to the truth.
"Ah. I'm must work on my flirting then. I had not meant to frighten
you."

"Flirting? With me?" her voice squeaked. "I…
have a boyfriend."

"Last I checked, you didn't have a ring on
your finger." Moon shifters didn't exchange rings when they bonded,
but he knew humans did.

They had reached the hotel all too soon. He
wasn't ready to relinquish his burden.

"But what about Isabella?" Johanna asked.

"Isabella?" His brows drew together in
confusion.

"Well, I thought… I thought you had a thing
for her."

He shook his head. "She's a friend, no more,
Little Red Riding Hood
."

"The room is on the second floor. I'll
just…uh…go up ahead." Isabella swept by them after she held the
door open for them. He had forgotten for the moment Isabella was
with them. The rest of this conversation would have to wait.

Chapter Fifteen

The hotel suite had two rooms. There was a
pullout sofa in the sitting room and kitchenette off to the side
separated by a partition wall. The other room was a bedroom with a
full size bed. Harrison waited until Isabella tucked Johanna into
bed so he could speak with her. Isabella emerged from the bedroom,
shutting the door behind her.

"How is she?" Harrison asked, eyeing Isabella
closely.

Isabella's eyebrows furrowed. Not a good
sign. "I don't know."

"I think you do," he encouraged her.

She frowned at his words then nodded. "She's
not well."

He wanted to question her further, but if he
did, Isabella would want answers too. "I'll be around if you need
me," he told Isabella. "Let me add my number to your mobile
phone."

She fished her phone out of the back pocket
of her jeans and handed it to him.

"I mean it, Isabella. If anything seems
strange, or if Johanna's condition worsens, ring me." Once he had
his number listed, he handed her the phone.

She stared at him for a long moment. "May I
ask you something?"

"Anything," he said and meant it.

"You won't hurt Johanna, will you?"

"Hurt her? No, of course not. Why would you
say that to me?" Then it dawned on him, she overheard some of
Johanna and his conversation on the walk over.

"Johanna doesn't need her heart broken," she
told him. "Not that I'm saying you would, but… You really do like
her, don't you?"

"Aye." He nodded. More than he should. "I
like her and I have no intentions of hurting her. Perhaps you
should have more care over
my
heart." He gave her a whisper
of a smile.

"Yours?" Surprise lit her features.

"I'm unattached and standing in the
sidelines. She's the one with the boyfriend. Remember?"

"Hmm." She pursed her lips together, making
him curious.

"Don't you like her boyfriend?"

"I don't know him. I've never met him. I
don't even know his name. It's like… Well, like she wants to keep
him a secret." Her slender shoulders lifted in a shrug.

Odd, Harrison thought. Johanna and Isabella
were best friends. Why hadn't Johanna introduced her boyfriend to
her?

"Harrison, when you met up with us at the
cemetery, did you… did you see anyone else there?" Isabella asked
him, pulling him out of his thoughts.

"No. Why, did you?"

"I thought someone was with Johanna, but when
I came closer she was alone."

"It was foggy. Sometimes low clouds can play
tricks on your eyesight."

Isabella brushed a dark curl away from her
face and tucked it behind her ear. "I know, but Johanna told me her
boyfriend had been with her." She shook her head. "But that doesn't
make sense." She pinched the bridge of her nose. "Maybe she was
only disoriented and I imagined the figure over her. Like you said,
it was foggy."

Neither of them believed the flimsy
explanation for a moment. Someone had been out there. If it were
Johanna's boyfriend, it proved an odd behavior for someone who
supposedly cared about her. Harrison feared it wasn't Johanna's
boyfriend, but the
Soul Taker
and they had interrupted his
attempt to extract Johanna's soul.

Isabella's hand touched his forearm, drawing
his attention. "Tell me I shouldn't worry."

"I wish I could." He didn't want to keep
Isabella in the dark. She needed to keep watch over Johanna. "Will
you do me a favor?"

Her gaze swept over his features. "On one
condition."

"Name it."

"We'll have a
real
chat
—you and me—and you'll tell me what is going on. No
sidestepping. I want the truth."

He nodded. "I'll be home tomorrow. We'll make
plans then."

"Good. Now what's your favor?"

"Don't open the door to anyone tonight." He
didn't want to scare her, but he also didn't want to leave both
women unprotected. If he could park himself here, he would, but he
had to find Garran. It would be light in a few hours and the
vampire needed to find shelter before the sun fried his arse.
"Johanna needs her rest and even if that boyfriend is hanging
around, he's the last person you need to
invite
in. Do you
understand? Don't invite
anyone
in." He
didn't want to take a chance that the
Soul
Taker
might fool them into opening the door.

Chapter Sixteen

Isabella opened the bedroom door to check on
Johanna. She rested comfortably, her chest rising and falling as if
on command. Johanna's colors flickered around her like sprites that
were too drunk to fly straight. It didn't scream
I'm sick
,
but her aura wasn't right.

What was going on with her best friend? Why
did she plop down in a graveyard to take a catnap? Was it her
boyfriend who left her, or was it someone else? The serial killer
Harrison hunted? A passerby who became spooked because he found a
woman resting against a gravestone in the cemetery?

None of the prospects made her feel better.
Her hand grasped the doorknob and she pulled the bedroom door
closed.

Her gaze took in the hotel room with its 18th
century style reproductions, reflecting New England's charm and
character. It should have left her with a cozy feeling, but it
didn't even come close.

She hugged her arms against her chest. She
didn't feel safe.

Isabella glanced at the window adorned with
floor length curtains. Taking the steps toward it, her hand moved
the heavy fabric aside to gaze outside. A chill brushed her as if
someone watched her from afar. It was the same creepy feeling she
experienced at Marcy's wake. Her hand fell away and the curtain
swayed into place, blocking the outside from view.

Spotting her purse on the end table, she
grabbed it, checking the inside pocket. She felt reassured when her
fingers grazed over the cool metal of the Glock. Her brother
wouldn't be pleased if he knew she'd taken it out of their home
safe. He hated guns. He had argued with their Uncle Sebastian that
they didn't need one. Nick even refused to learn how to shoot it.
She was glad she had. Her hand touched the box filled with
bullets—silver, iron, and other based metals.

Her Uncle Sebastian, her mother's brother,
was supposed to tell her why she'd need each type of bullet, but
once Nicholas turned eighteen and petitioned to be her legal
guardian—as her parents' will indicated as their wishes—Nicholas
warned their uncle to stay away.

Nicholas hadn't revealed where he kept the
Glock. He danced around her inquiry each time she brought it up,
but it didn't take much for her to realize the only logical place
it could be was in the safe they had at home. She'd only opened it
once before when Nicholas gave her a deposit for the restaurant and
he'd forgotten to run by the bank. She never paid attention to what
was inside that night she had tossed the money pouch in there for
safekeeping, but now, since she was looking for the Glock, her
curiosity took over and she investigated what else her brother kept
locked away.

The deed to the restaurant and other
important documents were housed in the safe, including their
passports, birth certificates, and social security cards. She also
found a few other items of interest she hadn't realized they
possessed. Tucked way in the back, on purpose or by chance, she
found her mother's journal. She'd jotted down her experiences as a
Necromancer. What worked and what did not. Not exactly bedtime
material, but to her, it was a tangible link to her mother, a
glimpse of who she truly was,
what
she was, too. She should
have asked Nicholas about it, but in the end vetoed the idea,
fearing he would discourage her from looking through the book.
Instead, she helped herself, taking the Glock and the book for
safekeeping. Once she looked the journal over, she promised herself
she would return it back to the safe.

She brought the journal with her in hopes of
reading some of it before she returned home. If she were to stay up
all night, she'd have plenty of time to go over it in more detail
than the quick skim through she'd done.

She plopped down onto the chair and reached
over to turn on the floor lamp. Opening the journal to the first
page,
Otherworldly Creatures
, jumped off the pages and she
stopped to read what her mother had written about the subject.

"The Undead." She scanned the page. "Their
souls were called away to the veil, but then yanked back and
tethered once the tainted blood transformed the human body and
house the fiendlike existence."

Isabella frowned. Surely her mother did not
believe in… "Vampires." She read on. "But the strings of
immortality can be severed." She skimmed further passed the details
of the creature. At the end of the page, there were symbols and an
incantation that would send the fiend's soul back into the veil.
"This is as effective as removing their head. A wooden stake will
only paralyze them," her mother had written.

Her mother's writings about fiends—no matter
how ludicrous it seemed— only heightened her unease after tonight's
turn of events. At the end of the post, her mother had scrawled and
underlined:
Not all of the undead are evil
.