Unraveled: A Soul Shifters Prequel (2 page)

Izzy wasn't just anyone though. She was like a rose bush, beautiful, enthralling, and dangerous. Silky soft petals only covered up the thorny center. If he wasn't careful, she could rip his heart to shreds.

Who was he kidding? He'd already done that to himself.

It was time to man up. To claim what was his and to make right all the wrongs of his past. He was ready. He was the man he thought Izzy deserved now. Well... maybe not entirely, but dammit, he was going to try.

He dropped off his bags at home, took a quick shower and changed into civilian clothes. It was time to get his woman back. 

A
woman screamed. She struggled against her captor, fighting against the rusted chains that held her to the warehouse floor. He twisted her arm behind her, wrenching it upwards with a sickening crack. Her scream pierced the air again.

"Stop it!" Another woman cried from her cage, "Leave her alone! I'll do what you want!"

Preston released the woman and approached Alina, a menacing smile spreading his thin lips.

"Find me another," he commanded.

Alina hung her head, the shadows hid most of her bruises. Her wrists were scarred and shiny from years of being chained, her auburn hair was matted and tangled, but that never stopped him. Nothing could stop him.

"I can't, I told you. I can't anymore."

Preston's fist slammed into the cage making Alina jump back, startled.

"Lies!" He stalked over to the other woman and in the blink of an eye, he snapped her neck.

"No!" Alina screamed, lunging to the side of her cage, trying to turn back time through sheer force of will.

"Her blood is on your hands. Find me another, or I will."

Alina knew what that meant. Preston was determined to become a Traveler. He'd found a way to sap the magical energy from Evokers, but he hadn't found a way to harness it yet. Once he did, Alina shuddered to think what he would do.

She had the unique ability of being able to locate other Evokers. Without her help, Preston would keep randomly kidnapping women until he happened to find one with the ability. As much as she despised the man, if she didn't find him what he wanted, he was going to do a lot more damage.

She wished she could talk to her aunt. She wished her aunt was still alive. There were so many things that Poppy could have taught her. So much knowledge that was lost forever. And it was all because of Preston Waters.

“P
lease Aunt Poppy? Please please pleeeeeeeease?” A thirteen year-old Alina begged after dinner.

Her aunt chuckled, her wavy brown hair pulled into a loose bun, only the faintest streaks of gray giving away her age. Without that, Poppy could have passed for twenty-five. There wasn't a wrinkle on the middle-aged woman's face, despite decades of smiles and laughter.

“You know I can't tell you the secrets until you've found your Traveler,” she said, ruffling her niece's hair.

“But that's going to take
forever
,” Alina whined.

Her Uncle George sat in front of the TV, smoking a corn cob pipe even though it had been out of fashion since before he was born.

“Come on, Pops, have some pity on the girl,” he called from the living room.

"Yes! Pity! Just one secret?"

Poppy flashed an exasperated look at her husband.

"All right," she said, finishing wiping off the kitchen table before she sat back down, "just
one
secret. What do you want to know about?"

Alina was nearly bouncing out of her seat. She couldn't believe her aunt agreed to tell her a secret! Poppy was the keeper of Traveler history. She held all of the knowledge that had been passed down through generations. One day, it would be Alina's turn to learn the secrets, but not until she was bonded.

"How do we defeat the Darkness?" she asked solemnly.

The Darkness killed her parents. It still terrorized their kind; the Soul Shifters were fighting a losing battle. Uncle George was the Alpha of this region; the Darkness' presence weighed on him heavily and Alina saw how her aunt constantly kept a watchful eye over her shoulder.

Poppy sighed and gave George an 'I told you so' look. George shrugged, leaving the difficult task to his wife.

"We don't," she said finally.

"What?" Alina cried, jumping up from her seat.

"What do you mean we don't? You're just going to give up? How could you do that?!"

George came over and put a heavy hand on Alina's shoulder, "Sit down," he commanded.

She knew better than to disobey her uncle. He seemed jovial and friendly – and he was – but he didn't get to be Alpha by rolling over.

Poppy and George held hands across the table and Alina got a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach.

"There's no beating the Darkness, Alina, only keeping it at bay," he explained.

"But it's getting stronger! We have to destroy it."

"No one has ever been powerful enough. The best we can do is hurt it and keep it away from people," Poppy said with a grim look – she suddenly looked every one of her forty-three years.

"I want to help," the teenager said resolutely.

"You can help us by staying safe," her uncle said with a pinch of her cheeks.

She rolled her eyes.

"I mean it! I'm getting better at controlling my ability; I can help find more people to fight!"

"Alina! You know you shouldn't be using your abilities before you're bonded. You could compromise ever finding your Traveler," her aunt scolded.

She looked down at her hands, ashamed of herself.

"I just want to help," she muttered.

"Leave the worrying to us," her uncle said.

A
lina picked at her dirty fingernails in the present, wishing for simpler times. The Darkness came for them. Her aunt and uncle fought it off, but the Darkness never relented. Once Preston learned how to control it, the Darkness was unstoppable.

She remembered the night all too well.

“A
lina, hide in the closet. Don't come out for anything,” her aunt said with a bruising grip on her shoulders. She was fifteen now and they'd been on the run for over a year. Uncle George was constantly trying to relocate Soul Shifters away from the ever-present danger of the Darkness. It kept spreading, growing and destroying everything it came in contact with.

"Aunt Poppy... please let me help!" she cried.

The front door imploded into the kitchen sending shrapnel and splinters down the main hallway.

Alina screamed, but Poppy shoved her into the closet.

A shimmering white light bounded down the hallway toward the intrusion: just like the man himself, George's animal transport was large, hairy, and intimidating. The glowing grizzly attacked the Darkness with everything he had. Claws, teeth and brute strength ripped gaping holes in the wall of darkness that flooded in, but more and more shadows poured into their home, diffusing the light, suffocating the bear.

Alina watched through the slatted closet door, silent tears streaming down her face. The bear began to fade as a tendril wrapped around its neck like a boa constrictor.

A young man walked in, the shadows parting to clear him a path.

Aunt Poppy desperately tried to feed energy into her dying husband – his human form laid on the couch, while his soul traveled into the bear. If the bear died, so would he. If his connection to the bear was severed, he may lose his soul. Poppy didn't have any other choice but to try to feed the bear as best she could. Her abilities couldn't hurt anyone, they were designed to help.

Shadowy tendrils wrapped about Poppy's arms with a sizzle. She cried out in pain and the smell of burning flesh made Alina want to gag. Her heart beat wildly in her chest. They were going to die! She had to help. She couldn't just keep hiding in a closet.

"Stop!" she cried, bursting through the door.

The young man turned his attention to her – he couldn't have been more than five or six years older than her, what had happened in his life to make him turn to the Darkness?

He sneered at her and flicked his wrist in her direction. The shadows slithered toward her, flowing across the floor like tar, bubbling ominously.

"Alina, no!" Poppy shouted, turning her attention away from her dying husband.

"She can help you! Don't kill her!" Poppy screamed.

Preston paused then, tilting his head to one side with a sly smile spreading across his face.

"I'm listening."

"She... she can find others like us," Poppy panted, her face pale and haggard from the effort of keeping them alive.

"No, I won't help him! You'd better just kill me," Alina said, bracing herself for her inevitable demise.

"No, I don't think I will," Preston said cheerfully.

“You’re our best hope, Alina,” her aunt rasped, struggling to breathe as the shadows engulfed her.

He caught the teen off-guard and knocked her out before she had a chance to say goodbye to her aunt and uncle.

When she later awoke, she was bound, caged, and alone.