Altercation - Episode 4 (Lost Souls) Read online

  LOST SOULS

  “Altercation”

  Episode 4

  Laurel O’Donnell

  Copyright © 2013 by Laurel O’Donnell

  www.laurel-odonnell.com

  Published by ODONNELL BOOKS

  ISBN# 978-1-940118-00-0

  www.odonnell-books.com

  Please note: This is the fourth episode in the Lost Souls series by Laurel O’Donnell. The first episode is Lost Souls: Resurrection, the second episode is Lost Souls: Imperfection and the third episode is Lost Souls: Deception, all of which are available on Amazon.

  Cover design by Hot Damn Designs!

  www.hotdamndesigns.com

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means including information storage and retrieval systems – except in the case of brief quotations in critical articles or reviews – without permission in writing from its author, Laurel O’Donnell.

  The characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious or are used fictitiously. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental and not intended by the author.

  The World of Lost Souls

  Souls who refuse to pass into the afterlife become wandering spirits, trapped between the world of the living and the dead. These are the Lost Souls. Some of these Lost Souls have banded together, uniting to fight against an evil endangering both their existence and the safety of the human world they once inhabited. This evil has taken shape in unholy creatures called the Changed, beings who were once Lost Souls but who are now dark, dangerous and disturbed monsters. The Changed feed on the energy of the Lost Souls, growing stronger with each Lost Soul they drain. The ultimate goal of the Changed is to harness enough energy to return to the land of the living by possessing the body of a human. The mission of the Lost Souls is to stop them…

  The Characters of Lost Souls

  SAMANTHA aka SAM – Sam is a fierce warrior, wielding an iron sword with ferocious precision. She is hot headed, loyal and smart. She has been a Soul for six hundred years with her brother Ben. It is becoming increasingly difficult for her to control her anger.

  BEN – Ben is a trained fighter. He is more level-headed than his fiery-tempered sister and is often the one trying to keep everyone calm. Family means everything to him. He has vowed to find his other sister, Cora, who has recently turned into a Changed, yet he hesitates to leave Sam’s side fearing her path is the same as Cora’s.

  CHRISTIAN – Known by Ben and Sam as a “freshie” – Christian is a recently deceased man, new to the world of the Lost Souls. He struggles to find his place as he learns his new abilities, such as the power to faze from one place instantly to another. He is stubborn and often knocks heads with Sam.

  DAMIEN – Damien was once a Lost Soul, but has succumbed to his anger and is now one of the Changed, a being that has embraced the darker side of their ethereal world. He is Samantha’s dead husband.

  CORA – Cora is Sam and Ben’s younger sister. She has recently turned into a Changed. Sam and Ben are searching for her.

  EUGENE – A good friend of Sam and Ben’s. Eugene is a master at creating devices and machines that can be used in their ethereal world. He secretly loves Sam and would do anything to protect her.

  DANIEL – The leader of the original group of Lost Souls. He is furious with Sam and Ben for blatantly defying his orders.

  ERIC SCALA – A demented Changed with a sick fascination for Sam. He enjoys torturing and killing women, be they human or Soul. Sam and Ben locked him away in an iron cage in the 1500’s, but he somehow escaped.

  Previously on Lost Souls

  (SPOILER ALERT: If you have not read the previous Lost Souls episodes, the following reveals some major plot points in past episodes. If you have read the prior episodes, or if you just want to get up to speed in the Lost Souls series, then this will give you a quick recap of the world of the Lost Souls.)

  ~ ~ ~

  “Then let me start at the beginning,” Daniel said. “When you die, when a human dies, they are supposed to pass on. To the next world or heaven or whatever it is.” He waved his hand in the air. “But what happened to us, to you, is that there was something binding us to this life. Whether it was a person –”

  “Aurora,” Christian gasped.

  Daniel nodded. “Or unfinished business. When the door opens to the next life and you don’t accept the invitation, the door closes. For good. You don’t get a second invitation.”

  ~ ~ ~

  Ben gasped and Sam glanced at him. He was looking past Claire, past her body into the corner of the room. Sam followed his gaze and froze. An agonizing longing filled her as she saw the woman there. Her golden hair waved in an invisible breeze. Her white dress shimmered around her body.

  Claire followed their gaze and looked at the woman, too. She stepped away from her, closer to Sam.

  No, Sam thought. No. She stepped up to Claire’s side. “Go with her,” she urged.

  “I want to stay with you,” Claire said.

  Sam shook her head. She would not be the cause of someone else’s inability to pass. Not again. “She’s come for you. She’ll take you…” Sam looked at the beautiful woman. “…somewhere wonderful.”

  ~ ~ ~

  “That stunt you pulled with the Changed. It’s all over the airwaves,” Eugene said. “All the Souls are talking about it. Did you really do it? Did you blast the crap out of it?”

  Sam nodded. “Remember? I was telling you my theory about the Changed being pure energy. They are at their peek when they make the jump. So, what would happen if you pumped them full of more energy?”

  ~ ~ ~

  “Sam,” Ben called sternly.

  Sam tore her gaze from Claire and pushed all her power forward. The son of a bitch.

  Scala’s eyes turned white. His mouth formed an ‘o’ as the energy slammed into him, through him, filling him.

  Sam grit her teeth and forced every last drop forward, into the killer, into the Changed. She wanted Scala to explode. She wanted him gone. Forever.

  Scala stiffened. White light shot from his ears, his mouth, his eyes.

  Suddenly, Damien appeared beside Scala.

  Sam opened her mouth.

  Damien plunged a knife into Scala’s chest, killing coach Fredericks, killing the man whose body Scala had possessed when he made the Jump from his Changed state back into the world of the living.

  A giant explosion of power and electricity threw them all back.

  ~ ~ ~

  That was it, then. The reason he hadn’t told her about Damien. The reason he had remained silent all these years. And now she knew why. Eugene thought he was in love with her. Damien, and her feelings for Damien, would only get in his way. “You’ve never had me to lose. I can’t work with you anymore, Eugene,” Sam told him. “After we finish with Scala, don’t call me again.”

  ~ ~ ~

  “That Scala Changed guy drained him?” Christian wondered.

  Sam nodded. “Completely. Even Souls can die.”

  “Do you remember when the Changed was draining you?” Ben asked, referring to the first time Christian had met Sam and Ben. “That pale haired woman was sucking out your energy. Gaining power. If it takes all of a Soul’s energy, that Soul dies.”

  “We’re already dead,” Christian corrected.

  “We’re creatures of energy. If we lose that energy, we disappear. We die… for good.”

  ~ ~ ~

  Damien straightened, his hands dropping to his sides. His jaw clenched and his black eyes narrowed. “I’m not here to talk about Sam. I’m here to warn you. Stay away from Cora. She is not what she seem
s.”

  “And you are? You’re exactly the same as Cora.”

  “Who better to know her so well?” Damien walked in an arc to the kitchen. He touched the iron skillet on the counter.

  “She’s not like you,” Ben argued. She couldn’t be. He wouldn’t let her be.

  Damien looked at Ben. “You can’t save her.”

  Ben pulled out his dagger and lunged at Damien. He landed hard on the floor. But it wasn’t his inability to grab Damien that surprised him; it was the speed at which Damien moved. One moment, Damien had been before him, the next he was across the room near the window. Damien hadn’t fazed. It had been too fast to be fazing.

  ~ ~ ~

  “You have to stop him, Sam,” Damien whispered, drawing close to her.

  Stop him? Their noses were so close they almost touched. Was he talking about himself? She didn’t want to stop him. Her mind scattered at the closeness of him. Her husband. A Changed. How could she not resist him? How could her mind be so muddled, so confused? How could her fingers be touching his shoulder, pulling him close? It was so obvious. He was a fiend. A horrible, evil, Changed.

  She lifted up on the tips of her toes and pressed her lips to his.

  ~ ~ ~

  “I heard you were feeding Cora,” Sam said.

  An immobilizing anxiety shot through Ben. Sam knew.

  “Feeding?” Christian echoed.

  “Giving a Changed his energy.” Christian’s head snapped to Ben as Sam continued. “I wasn’t told the name of the Changed, but it wasn’t hard to figure out. Our sister is the only Changed you would sacrifice yourself for.”

  Ben shook his head. She didn’t understand. He was helping her! He was doing nothing wrong.

  “Allowing her to drain you. Regenerating. And then returning.”

  ~ ~ ~

  Complete and utter dread filled Ben. What had he done? What kind of power had he given her? “Cora, think about what you’re saying.”

  She smiled. “I’m saying that I don’t want to die. I want to live like a human. I want to be a human like I was before the fire.”

  “No.”

  “I’m disappointed, Ben. I thought you wanted me to be happy.”

  “Not by taking over someone else’s life. That’s not right.”

  “I don’t think you’re one to talk about what’s right.”

  Ben looked at her with disbelief. He had made a mistake. A huge mistake.

  ~ ~ ~

  There were too many of them. They surrounded Christian in the net and a couple of them disappeared to come after Sam.

  She needed help.

  “Get her! Brett, Michael, stay with Christian!” Daniel ordered.

  Around her, some of the other Souls began to appear.

  There was nothing she could do. Sam locked gazes with Christian.

  “Go!” he screamed, struggling beneath the net. “GO!”

  ~ ~ ~

  The jolt was like lightning as the Changed behind her shoved his fist into her back. Sam’s body stiffened as pain ripped through her. Her energy was sucked out of her body in waves of dizzying agony. She fell to her knees.

  With the last ounce of her strength, she stabbed her foot back into the Changed behind her. It disintegrated. The pain stopped, leaving her breathless. She fell to her hands. She still gripped her sword. Through the polished silver, she saw the first Changed step up to her.

  Two working together. That had only happened one other time. They usually worked alone. What was going on? He stopped just out of reach of her weapon. Smart.

  Sam’s fingers flexed around the hilt.

  Reflected in the polished part of her blade, another Changed joined the first. Sam lifted her head to stare at them. Two. Grins spread across their faces. And then she saw a movement behind her. Three?!

  “Damn it,” Sam whispered.

  ~ ~ ~

  Chills of foreboding raced through Ben. He hadn’t been there for Sam. And now he couldn’t find her. He had put Cora first. He had forsaken his sister for a Changed.

  He bent down to the object as he snapped his phone shut and put it in his pocket.

  Sam’s sword.

  He reached down to run his finger over the polished metal. Sam never went anywhere without her sword. Never.

  ~ ~ ~

  “Let’s get something straight. I am tolerating you for Sam. That’s it. What you did with Cora is unforgivable. You will help me find Sam, but after that I will kill you if I find you, understand?” Damien asked.

  Ben gaped at him for a moment. Then he nodded his head. He understood. Sam was in trouble.

  Lost Souls: Altercation

  Prologue

  Pain. Bright spots of white hotness flashed before her closed eyes. Then blackness. Complete blackness. She wasn’t supposed to feel so much pain. She no longer had human flesh. Sam opened her eyes. It was still dark. How could there still be such blackness? Souls could see in the dark. But this was a black like she had never encountered before. A cold, death-like black. Maybe something was blocking her vision. She turned her head slightly.

  Her body came alive. Her hands were stretched above her head. She tried to move them, and found she could only move her fingers, something was holding her wrists down. A feeling of dread began to well up inside her, knotting her stomach. She attempted to move her legs, but found her ankles were also bound.

  God, no, she pleaded as images came rushing back to her of another time, another place. Her muscles ached in that same familiar way. She had been here before. Exactly like this.

  Helpless. Defenseless.

  Her stomach twisted tight and panic gnawed at the corners of her sanity. No! No! It couldn’t be. He was dead! They had killed him. Damien had…

  Tears sprang to life in her eyes. She twisted her hands, desperately trying to free herself, but no matter how hard she pulled, her bindings held her with an unrelenting bite.

  Calm yourself, she mentally said. This won’t help you. Think! She willed herself still. She willed the tears away. She willed the panic back. She was trembling, but she had to focus. She swallowed the fear that threatened her calm.

  She could feel the straps of leather across her wrists. They must have been made of iron or she would have been able to free herself. There must also be straps around her ankles. She couldn’t faze. The iron kept her bound and incapable of fazing to a different location. She could feel her leather boots on her feet, so she was still armored. She couldn’t feel her sword at her back. No, she had dropped that in the alley where she had battled the Changed. Yes! The Changed. A small sigh of relief escaped her lips. It was only Changed. She was a prisoner of the Changed. Not his prisoner. The thought of being a captive of the Changed should have alarmed her, but that was much better than the alternative.

  Okay. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. What else? What had happened to her?

  She had been in an alley with her silver Audi. Four Changed had overcome her. Then why was she still alive? They had not drained her completely. What did they want?

  She heard a creaking. She heard something else being scraped across a floor. Something heavy.

  Her questions were about to be answered.

  Whatever had been blocking her vision was removed from her head, abruptly pulled off. It was a black bag of some sort. A lock of her black hair fell over her lips. She blinked and squinted as the room came into focus. Cathedral ceilings towered above her. To her right on the wall was a large cross. She turned her head, looking around. Statues stared down at her from high above, as if casting judgment with unseeing eyes. She turned her head the other way. Rows of pews lined an aisle. She was in a church.

  “Ahh!” A Changed leaned into her view. His brown hair was long and wild, falling about his face like a curtain. His grin was malevolent and anxious.

  Sam remembered him from the alley. He was the one who had stood next to the leader.

  “So glad you’re awake for this.” He leaned in closer, his hair brushing her face. �
�It makes it all the more exciting.”

  Sam stared at him with impassive eyes. Don’t let him know you’re afraid. She tugged at her wrists. “Why don’t you unstrap me. I’ll show you how exciting it can really be.”

  The Changed smiled and looked her up and down. “You’re one of the prettiest Souls I’ve ever seen. I’m going to enjoy this.”

  She cringed inwardly. “I can make it even more enjoyable.” With one of my boots to your ass.

  He wiped the strand of hair from her cheek, running his finger over her lips before she could pull away from his touch. “I bet you’re just like fire, aren’t you?”

  She did her best not to squirm with disgust. “It’s hard to be so hot when you’re tied up.”

  He hopped up onto the stone altar she was strapped to, his legs straddling her hips. He leaned close so his lips almost touched hers. “I can’t wait to stick my fist into you, baby.”

  Sam turned away from him, grimacing, her teeth clenched tight. She was going to kick his ass but good when she got out. “I hope my energy burns your sick and demented soul.”

  The Changed chuckled softly, his body rumbling on top of hers. “You are just one hot little –”

  “Off.”

  The Changed sat up and looked toward the door at the side of the church.

  Another Changed stood there. He was lean and confident, his hands at his side. His short dark hair was peppered with gray. Sam thought of a slick businessman when she looked at him. She had seen him before. The leader in the alley. What the hell was this? Some sort of great big group draining? Great. Just great. How the hell was she going to get out of this?