My Soul to Keep - By Sean Hayden Page 0,71

and gathered in Darius’ palm. The more light that escaped, the more it took on characteristics of Brett. It looked like a pale life-sized blue ghost of himself.

The ghostlike version smiled hideously and wrenched itself from the Fallen’s hand.

Darius looked at his palm in surprise as Bret slashed him across the throat. Darius fell clutching his wound.

“No!” Clarisse’s scream brought me to my senses.

I'd only started to move when Brett smashed the wooden end-table next to the couch, grabbed one of the splintered legs, and drove it through Darius’ chest.

“Stupid demon,” he said and kicked the dying Fallen. “Where were we? Oh, yes. I was about to kill you, your friend, your sister, who is quite tasty by the way, and your parents.”

He struck Clarisse in the face. She hit the wall and slid down. I still hadn’t seen him move. One minute he stood on one side of the room, the next he had attacked. We were seriously screwed.

“Brett, please stop.”

“No,” he said and threw a couch at me. I ducked, but not fast enough. I hit the wall and began to search for loose change in the cushions. With my face.

I pushed the couch off of me and pulled myself out of the wall separating the living room and the kitchen. Pieces of drywall and 2x4 were stuck in my back. I could feel the blood dripping down. It felt like a Mack Truck had plowed me into the wall instead of a 1970’s couch.

That’s enough of that shit.

“Let’s see you deal with the real me,” I said. I called my true form. Maybe then I would be strong enough and fast enough to kick his undead ass.

“Bring it, bitch,” Brett said.

“You have serious anger management issues, I hope you know that.”

“That’s what my therapist said. Right before I killed her.”

My body grew taller, my wings longer, and everything became sharper and clearer. I could see the rhythmic rise and fall of Caelyn’s chest as she struggled to breathe. I could hear my parent’s heartbeats from upstairs. At least I knew they were still alive. I could even hear Clarisse breathing behind me. Darius, not so much. I needed to end this now. I called back my blades.

They came to my hands sporting red and black flames along the blades. I held them out to my sides, tried not to bang my head on the ceiling, and beckoned Brett on. He smiled and charged.

I could see his movements now. He closed the distance between us and clawed my stomach before I could get a blade up to defend myself. I did, however, manage to slice his back as he retreated. He howled in pain when he reached the other side of the room.

“You’re a little better, but still not good enough, Connor.”

“We’ll see. Let’s finish this. I have a date tomorrow.”

“With destiny.”

“No, Jessie. I stopped dating Destiny in the third grade. She was a nice girl though.”

Brett looked at me confusedly. Apparently being undead screwed with your sense of humor. Or maybe he was just a douche to begin with. Either way, I would be kicking his ass. I gave him a feral smile.

He gave me a kick to the jaw I didn’t see coming. I swung down with the blade in my left hand as a reflex, peeling his jeans and the skin on his shin back. I saw bone glistening through the hole in his jeans. Sweet.

He must have felt the pain in his leg because he looked down in disbelief. He snarled and reached down and pulled the flesh back up on his leg. He held it there for a moment and when he let go, he had completely healed. Damn. That sucks.

He must have hit his breaking point, too. “Enough games, this ends now. Just know that once you are dead, so is everybody else you love,” he said and full on, arms flailing, mouth snarling, attacked me.

I tried to use my blades, but he was still faster than me and slapped them away before I could score a hit on him. He slapped one blade completely from my hand and it disappeared instead of clattering to the floor. He got three more strikes to my face, neck, and chest before he slapped the other one away, too. He closed in for the kill and wrapped his arms around me as he prepared to fully bite my throat out. In one final act of desperation, I called back my blades and drove them straight