Your Soul to Take (Rise of the Fallen) Read online

  YOUR SOUL TO TAKE

  All Rights Reserved

  Copyright © 2014 by Sean Hayden

  Cover Design © 2014 by Sean Hayden

  Cover Photo © 2014 by Nejron Photo

  All rights Reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  Names, characters, places, and incidents are the products of the author’s imagination and or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  Published by Untold Press LLC

  114 NE Estia Lane

  Port St Lucie, FL 34983

  www.untoldpress.com

  PRODUCED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

  Dedication

  For the stars of this book, Connor and Caelyn. And I’m not talking about the Sullivan siblings. This book is for my own Connor and Caelyn Hayden. They are the true stars. I love you with all my heart.

  Acknowledgements

  Special thanks to Dayanara Nijhove-Anthonissen for her help with the cover design!

  I would also like to thank my awesome proofreaders: Lynn, Dori, Rayna, Liz, and Angela (even though she took forever!)

  Prologue

  Be careful what you wish for. We’ve heard it a million times. Hell, I’m only fifteen and I’ve heard it my whole life. The problem is nobody sits you down and tells you why you should be careful. If they had, my life and the lives of those around me might have turned out completely different.

  One minute I was doing homework and minding my own business. The next, I’m writing a promise in my own blood to give my soul to whoever grants my fondest wish. I even remember laughing at the stupidity of it…until I lit that promise in the flame of a black candle and demons showed up to take me up on my offer.

  Then all hell broke loose.

  See what I did there?

  There were three million things I should have wished for. I probably should have just let them take my soul right then and there. Not only would I have been better off, but so would everyone else. I should have wished to be rich, lived a long normal life without any financial concerns, and then spent an eternity in hell’s mailroom. But no. I had to try and be clever and save my soul. In a moment of panic, I wished to be one of the demons.

  As it turns out, the demons, or Fallen as they prefer to be called, aren’t that bad. In fact, they’re the good guys. The angels on the other hand, like to be called the Chosen and are a bunch of self-righteous pricks. Go figure. At least I picked the cool side.

  Being a demon wouldn’t be half bad either, if I could have been a normal, tempt you into selling your soul, winged and horny type. I couldn’t even get that right. They had to accidentally turn me into some sort of super demon who reminds all the other angels and demons of…you guessed it…The Usurper. That’s their fancy name for the big bad guy himself, Lucifer. Turns out he wasn’t as bad as everyone thinks. He was just fighting for humanity’s free will. The angels don’t like that. They want earth to be a utopian society under their rule. Told you they were a bunch of pricks.

  What about God?

  As it turns out, he is very much real, but has taken a “don’t interfere” stance. Looking back through history, I don’t blame him. Humans can be quite thick-headed and stubborn. Every time he tried to interfere…it didn’t end so well. Just ask Noah.

  So where does that leave humanity?

  In the same place it’s been since the Usurper tricked Eve into taking a bite. On their own. On their own to live and learn, love and hate, and make their own triumphs and failures. I think it’s kind of like sending your kid to college. They’re either going to pass out doing keg-stands, flunk out, or muddle through with a C average and get a mediocre job, or blow their GPA through the roof and run for some sort of office.

  I mentioned I was a freak among demons, but I didn’t say why. I started out low man on the totem pole. I was what you would call a Seeker. Basically, I find people who were like me, willing to sell their soul for the lure of anything they wanted. I did my job and I did it well. Too well. There was a teenager named Brett who wanted to be a vampire more than anything in the world. I granted his wish. I turned him into a freak, too. He was more powerful than a locomotive and could throw people over tall buildings with a single arm. He was way stronger than he should have been. He kicked my ass several times, and was even too powerful for Darius, the leader of the Reapers, to take his soul.

  If that weren’t enough for a young teenage boy turned demon to deal with, fate decided to throw me a curveball. A five-foot-two-inch curveball with red hair, freckles, and green eyes. My little demon heart didn’t stand a chance. I was hooked instantly.

  What’s the problem?

  Know the sworn enemies of us demons? The Chosen I mentioned earlier? As it turned out, her father was one. Too good to be true doesn’t begin to cover it.

  But wait, there’s more. See Jessie quickly took a liking to me, too. It’s almost as if we were destined to be together despite the very serious differences in our lineage. But as it turns out, Jessie was only half Chosen. Her mother was human. Bad things happen when Fallen and Chosen mate with humans. Very bad things. Their children are doomed to suffer as humans for their very short lives. At the time of their death, they are either strong enough to become fully Chosen, or their souls are banished to the otherworld. That’s the mailroom in hell I mentioned earlier. Never been there, but I’m sure it’s lovely this time of year.

  To top it all off, my girlfriend was kidnapped by the vampire I created, I had to ask her father to help me rescue her (let’s just say he wasn’t too happy with me), and I had to defeat the vampire all on my own.

  I did it, but at a horrible price.

  The life of my sister.

  Chapter 1

  I must have cried myself out. The tears stopped falling and I breathed in through my nose. I stood up and looked down at my baby sister lying there. I kissed my fingertips and touched her forehead.

  “Goodbye, brat,” I whispered.

  “Stop calling me brat.”

  Caelyn’s eyes opened. Her irises were blood red. She gave me an impish smile and bared her fangs.

  Little sisters suck.

  I should have felt five million things, relief that my sister was still alive, sort of, being the foremost. The only thing I could really think about was how to tell my parents. Um…Mom, Dad, your daughter’s a vampire…Yeah, that probably wouldn’t go over too well. As awkward as it was, I reached down and hugged her for all that she was worth.

  “Are you insane? Get off me!” She squirmed in my hug and got her hands on my chest. When she tried to gently push me away, she ended up throwing me halfway across the room. I skidded to a stop on the linoleum floor without crashing into anything. Caelyn sat up on the morgue table with a horrified look on her face. “What just happened?”

  She looked around and knew. She knew where she was and why she was there. She stared down at her hands. Sure enough, she’d grown talons just like Brett had when he became a vampire. Caelyn knew exactly what she was, but the look she gave me begged for me to tell her something different, that she was wrong.

  I couldn’t. I gave her a slow nod, confirming her fears and completely destroying the last bit of hope she might have had.

  My sister and I hadn’t gotten along since she was two. Giving her horrible news had always been one of my favorite recreational sports. Hey, Cae, Mom found that test you were trying to hide. Hey, Sis, Dad found out you kissed Chuck. That sort of thing had given me more satisfaction than my PS3 eve
r had. Unexpectedly, that one simple nod, telling my sister her worst fears were true and that she was a vampire, made me feel a little sick to my stomach. “Cae, I…”

  Her face crumpled into a mask of anguish. I heard the first tear hit the metal table beneath her before the first sob escaped her lips. I was back across the room before the second one fell. The first hug I had given my sister was awkward. She didn’t want me hugging her. This time she collapsed in my arms and accepted it. Maybe even needed it.

  “What happened?”

  Her question kind of threw me off guard. “We thought you were dead,” I said, thinking she meant how she ended up in the morgue.

  “I swear, Mom and Dad dropped you when you were a child. I know why I’m here. I meant why am I alive? Why do I have talons? Am I a vampire like that asshole who broke into the house? Am I going to stay this way? What am I going to do now? More importantly, what the hell are you? I saw you! You had wings? Connor…”

  “Wait! Slow down,” I said and pulled away. I leaned against the table and she tightened the sheet around her. “I don’t know how you became a vampire. I’ll be honest. It’s not supposed to happen that way, but I’m glad it did. I’d rather have a fangy sister than no sister.” I gave her a little smile and she rolled her eyes. Typical Caelyn.

  “What do you mean it’s not supposed to happen that way?”

  “Vampires. What happened wasn’t how it was supposed to happen. Somebody can wish to become a vampire, but they can’t make anybody else a vampire against their will. It doesn’t work like that.”

  “What doesn’t work like that? What the hell are you talking about and more importantly, what the hell did they turn you into?”

  Dad’s cough from outside the door stopped our conversation.

  “Listen, Cae. I promise to tell you everything as soon as we get out of here and I figure out what to tell Mom and Dad.”

  She nodded and wiped the tears rolling down her cheeks with the back of her hand. “Okay.”

  I needed help. “Stay right here. Play dead,” I added with a small, sad smile that actually made her give a short bark of laughter.

  “I think I can manage.”

  I nodded and made my way to the morgue room doors. I glanced through the window and saw Dad standing in the hallway looking like… Well, looking like his daughter had just died. I pushed the door open and he looked up from the floor. “You ready to go, Connor?”

  “Dad,” I said and looked him right in the eye. “You need to wait here for a moment. Do not go into the morgue.” I used my power just like Clarisse had taught me to. He would obey. He didn’t have a choice. His eyes glazed over and he stared straight ahead.

  I ran through the halls of the hospital to the waiting room where I’d left Clarisse and my mom sitting and crying. Clarisse saw me–or felt me–as soon as I entered the room. I gave her a panicked smile and whispered, “I need you,” as quietly as possible. I knew she would be able to hear me. She gave a small, almost imperceptible nod and patted Mom’s leg.

  “I’ll be right back, Mrs. Sullivan. I need to use the restroom.”

  I slipped back out into the hall before my mom could see me and waited for her.

  “What’s going on?” She sounded halfway between hopeful and worried.

  “You’re not going to believe this. Follow me.”

  “Believe what?”

  “Don’t ask. Just follow me,” I said and led her back to the morgue.

  Clarisse barely gave my father a glance as we entered. Caelyn was lying back on the cold metal table completely unmoving. She looked dead again.

  “Connor. I already said goodbye…”

  Cae’s eyes opened and she let out a little, “Boo!”

  “Well, shit,” Clarisse said deadpan.

  “What do we do now?” I couldn’t help but ask her. She had far more experience than I did in situations like this. At least I hope she did.

  “How did you do it?”

  “Me? I didn’t. I was all bawling and crying over her dead body when she woke up. I’ve done a lot of stupid things in my life, but turning my sister into a vampire isn’t one of them,” I replied, kind of hurt.

  “We’ll figure out the how later, though that bothers me more than what to do next.”

  “So you have a plan?”

  “I always have a plan, worm. Wait here. I’m going out to my car to get an orb. We need to make her look human so we can get her out of here. Plus we don’t want her going up like a match when we get her out into the sunlight.”

  “Yeah. That would be bad,” my sister added from the table.

  “You. Get out of bed and get dressed,” Clarisse told her. “I’ll find you something to wear.”

  “But, Mom, I don’t wanna…”

  “Connor. Go get your Mom. Bring her to your Dad and tell her to wait there. Good job with the mind trick, by the way.”

  Shit had just gotten serious. Clarisse never paid me compliments. I didn’t make a big deal out of it and did as she asked while she went to her car.

  By the time I got Mom and Dad situated in the hall and went back into the morgue, Clarisse returned with a glass orb in her hand and hospital scrubs under her arm. Without even a demonstration, she touched the orb to my sister’s wrist. It melted and reformed into a thick gold bracelet. I turned around so she could get dressed.

  “So. Are you like him?” Caelyn’s question caught Clarisse a little off-guard.

  “No. He’s like me,” she said after a moment of thought. I smiled at her response.

  “She’s dressed,” Clarisse said.

  I turned around and watched the orb worked its magic on my sister. Color returned to her skin visible outside of the hospital scrubs Clarisse had stolen for her, her talons were replaced by her normal fingernails, and her fangs disappeared completely. I gave a little sigh of relief. So did my sister.

  “Go get your parents, Connor. We’ll start with them.”

  I nodded and opened the door. “Mom, Dad, Caelyn is fine. Come on in.”

  “Oh, thank God!” They replied in unison and rushed into the room. I expected more drama and way more questions.

  “How are you feeling, baby?” Mom wrapped her arms around her as she asked. “You gave us such a scare.”

  “Um… I’m fine?”

  “Good. Now no more parties for you, missy. And consider yourself grounded for the next millennium!” Dad sounded angry, yet relieved.

  Cae mouthed the letters, “WTF,” over Mom’s shoulder, begging me to explain.

  I winked at her but shot a questioning look at Clarisse, who whispered, “I stopped in the hall and did a little mind magic of my own before I came in.”

  I nodded and whispered, “Thank you,” back.

  “Well, you guys head on home. I’ll find Caelyn’s doctor and thank him for fixing her up and all that,” Clarisse said cryptically.

  Mom and Dad’s eyes glazed over once again and I felt the magic in Clarisse’s voice. Caelyn must have felt it, too. She gave a little giggle and took Mom and Dad by the hand and herded them toward the door. Hopefully this would be the last trip we would ever have to take to the city morgue.

  Chapter 2

  My eyes opened. I screamed and slid up against the backboard of my bed. My sister perched at my feet like some sort of evil gargoyle.

  “Jesus, Cae… Are you trying to give me a heart attack?”

  “No. I’m bored.”

  “Go back to bed. What time is it?”

  “Five in the morning.”

  “You do know it’s Saturday, right?”

  She nodded. “Yeah, but I’ve been up all night.”

  I gave a quick glance at her wrist. Sure enough, the gold bracelet was missing. “Where’s your orb?”

  “I took it off before going to bed. I wanted to check out my vampy self and I didn’t put it back on. Why?”

  “Well gee, Einstein. You’re a vampire without it. Don’t you think that might be why you’re having trouble sleeping? At
night? Being all nocturnal and stuff?”

  I could actually see the moment of realization process itself in her normally focused on fashion and cosmetics brain. “Oh.”

  “Yeah. Make sure it’s on when you go to bed. That will severely screw with your sleeping schedule. Don’t need you passing out in the middle of Algebra from sleep exhaustion.”

  “It’s going to take a while, isn’t it?”

  “For what?”

  “To get used to everything. To get used to being mostly dead. To get used to being a vampire.”

  I nodded and got off my bed. It only took a few steps until I wrapped her in a hug. It was as unnatural as needing blood to survive, but it was a Hallmark moment. She didn’t cry, but she took the hug and even scrunched my arm in hers. “I’ll help, kiddo. You know that.”

  I felt her nod against my chest. “So. Explanation time?”

  “Might as well. I’ll tell you what I know, but I’m warning you. It’s not as much as I would like.”

  “I wouldn’t expect more. The universe might blow up if your head was full of knowledge.”

  I laughed and let her go. “Come on. Let’s go somewhere for this. That way I can use visual aids.”

  “Huh?”

  “I can show you my wings and stuff.”

  “Ahhh. Gotcha. Cool.”

  “That way we won’t wake Mom and Dad up, too.”

  “I’ll go get dressed.”

  “I’ll leave a note for them. Tell them we went for a jog or something.”

  “Yeah. I’m sure they’ll believe that.”

  “We went for donuts. They’ll believe that.” Caelyn nodded her agreement. “Don’t forget your orb. The sun should be up soon.”

  * * *

  My scooter pulled into the clearing Clarisse and I used for training. It was difficult traversing the dirt road with Caelyn riding on the back, but I managed to do it without wrecking.