A Soul Divided (The Blood Fire Trilogy Book 1) (3 page)

“Don’t make me do all the work! You can help a little too,” he said as he pulled the man back up onto the carriage. The two men stood up and faced each other.

“Why did you help me?” the man asked.

“I needed your keys.” Drake said casually as he pulled the key ring off of the other man’s belt, and preceded to, once again, push the big man off the edge of the carriage. “Don’t worry!” Drake yelled as he watched the man fall to the ground. “Even at this speed, I doubt a four foot drop will kill you!” The man screamed a chain of profanity from his landing place in the dirt road as the carriage sped away.

******************************************

Angela bit her lip nervously. She was feeling frantic about what would become of her and the other prisoners in the carriage as she heard the commotion up at the front. She wasn’t sure if she should be comforted or worried when the sounds of fighting finally stopped. She had seen the size of the two men driving the carriage. She doubted Drake’s ability to win that fight; especially since they had the power of the Mystics. Drake would win if he used the bizarre revolver he was carrying, but Angela hadn’t heard a single gunshot the entire time. To her surprise, Drake returned through the back of the carriage throwing the keys onto the bench next to her, barely close enough for her to reach.

“We’re changing drivers!” he announced, “Do what he tells you. I’ll be back for you in a few days!”

“What kind of rescue is this?” Nora asked, worried.

“I have no idea.” Angela responded, “But that guy seems like a complete lunatic.”

Although he is pretty heroic,
she admitted to herself as the carriage sped away from wherever it was they had stopped.

***********************************************

Well that should be a good distraction
, Drake thought as he entered the spaceport,
Most of the soldiers will chase that carriage for a while and leave me alone. It should be smooth sailing from here.

Drake meshed in with the crowd and started making his way toward the security booth.

“What’s your reason for getting off planet?” the old woman at the desk asked as Drake presented his fake passport.

“I’m going to visit my sick mother.”

“Well isn't that nice” the woman responded, but then paused for a moment as she glanced up at a piece of paper hung up nearby. Drake shifted his gaze to view the paper as well, and found a very well-drawn sketch of his face with the word
Wanted
written above it.

“My mother,” Drake said. “You know; the one who is deathly ill, the one I’m on my way to visit. She says I look exactly the same as him. I’m not sure I see it, but I do wish I looked that good. That guy is one handsome devil, am I right?”

“Guards!” the old woman screamed at the top of her lungs.

“Dang it, I really hoped this would be easy,” Drake said under his breath as he whipped out his pistol and sent four large fireballs flying through the air toward the approaching guards. The crowds screamed as Drake broke through the security station and ran toward the boarding platforms. Guards swarmed behind him as he made his way to a large empty platform, stopping to stare off the edge.

“Stop! We have you surrounded!” a man who looked as if he must be the leader of the spaceport security team yelled at him.

“Good work,” Drake said sarcastically, “Make sure you tell your boss how easily you caught me.  You may get a promotion.” He paused as he glanced over the edge again and smiled, “Or maybe you won’t.”   He leapt off of the edge. The guards all ran toward the edge to see what had caused him to jump. They were all knocked over by the thrust of a lifting spaceship as it passed them on its way up.

“Better luck next time on the promotion!” Drake yelled from his perch on the wing of the ship then turned to enter through a hatch on the side of the hull as the ship sped away toward outer space.

Inside the ship, Drake found the familiar sight of his crew, all of them congratulating him on a job well done. The crew's cheers went silent, however, as they noticed a monstrous figure in the doorway. He stood about seven and a half feet tall with a head that looked more like a wolf’s than a man’s. Thick brown hair covered his muscular body, and great leathery wings sprouted from his back. He took a step toward Drake, his clawed feet somehow hitting the ground without making a sound. He dragged his long spike-tipped tail along the ground as he came closer and closer to where Drake was standing.

“Al!” Drake yelled out, recognizing the first officer of his crew, “Did you see how cool that jump was! I think ‘picturesque’ would be a good word to describe it. And I totally nailed the landing! Plus the looks on those guards’ faces were priceless! We should’ve taken a picture.”

“I don’t think you should be so cavalier Captain.  Your life was in serious danger.” Al responded in a surprisingly sophisticated upper class accent; the words formed perfectly, despite him only making slight movements with his wolf-like snout.

“Oh come on, Al. I had it under control. You know, one of these days I’m going to get you to enjoy these heists,” Drake said casually.

“I find that unlikely.” Al replied, “Did you even get what you were after? I can’t help noticing that your hands are empty.”

“My hands maybe, but not my pockets,” Drake replied, with a grin on his face as he removed a folded piece of paper from his front pant pocket and held it up for Al to see.

Chapter 4: Olivia

Olivia woke up confused, and in pain. She tried to get up and look around, but found that despite her best efforts, her arms and legs wouldn’t move.

Where am I?
She thought. A feeling of panic rose in her chest. She glanced down and found that she was bound to a reclining chair by some kind of leather restraint. A needle and tubing protruded from her arm, drawing out her blood and depositing it in a bag that hung on a pole nearby.

Why is my blood being drawn? Am I in some kind of hospital?
She thought frantically as she strained to remember how she had arrived in this place.

The image of her kidnapper’s soulless, blood red, eyes flashed through her mind. She remembered it all; the attack, the soldiers killed by the tip of her kidnapper’s cold, steel sword. After all the death, the attacker had somehow teleported away with her. How had he done that? Olivia had never heard of teleportation being possible. However it was that her attacker had done it, it was painful. Olivia remembered trying to scream from the pain, but being unable, and then, suddenly, finding herself somewhere else. She had passed out before she could figure out exactly where she had been taken to, but now that she was awake, she felt determined to find out.

She was in a small room that looked to be made mostly of metal, with little furnishing aside from the chair she was sitting in. Her eyes widened in panic as they returned to the needle and tubing protruding from her arm.

Why is he taking my blood?
She thought. What if that’s not the only thing he wants from me?

Despite her attempts to hold them back, tears welled up in her eyes as she pondered the terrible things her captor would be capable of doing to her.

“Stop crying,” A voice came from the doorway of the room, “I find it quite irritating.” Olivia turned to find the source of the voice. The tears flowed faster as her worst fears were confirmed. The assailant from the night before stood ominously in the doorway, staring at her with unfeeling red eyes.

“Where am I? What do you want with me?” Olivia choked out between sobs.

“You are on my ship, and all I want is for you to remain silent while I take your blood.” he said in a nonchalant voice.

“My blood? That’s what you took me for? Why would you want my...”

“That’s my business,” the man cut her off mid-sentence, “Now, before you irritate me any further, you should know that murder has never weighed down my conscience the way it does for most; and my temper has been rather short as of late. So staying silent would be in your best interests.”

Something about the way he spoke told Olivia that he really would deliver on his threat; so she remained in silence despite the endless list of questions flying through her head.

“You’ve made the right choice,” her captor said, as he removed the bag containing her drawn blood. He unclipped the restraints that had been holding her down.         

“Don’t try to escape. I’ll bring you food and water twice a day,” he said, showing absolutely no emotion, as he turned to leave the room.

“Thank you...” Olivia said.

“Don’t speak,” he said, cutting her off again. Olivia thought she heard just the slightest bit of hesitation in his voice, but then he snapped back to his harsh tone.

“I still have no reservations about ending you.”

 With that, he left through the large, sliding, metal door at the front of the room. Olivia heard the heavy metal locks click into place as the door closed behind him.

She was alone again.

 His last words to her before leaving had been a threat, but Olivia had not imagined the hesitation in his voice. He didn’t want to hurt her. Maybe he didn’t even want to kidnap her. He’d mentioned an employer. Who could have the means to make this man to do something he didn’t seem to want to do? And what could they want with Olivia’s blood?

Olivia sat waiting, hoping the man would come back and somehow, give her answers to her questions. But he didn’t return and Olivia was left alone to wonder what was going on and just how long she would be stuck here.

Chapter 5: Vahn

There’s no way to find him.
Vahn thought, exasperated with his lack of options. Finding Drake had proven to be a harder task than he had anticipated. If he found Drake it would be his big chance to make himself into someone that really mattered. He would no longer be just a second-class immigrant; he would be an asset to the Empire. All the sergeants who had put him on the worst duties because “his kind couldn’t be trusted,” and all the review boards that had denied him well deserved promotions because of his “questionable origins” would finally see that he was worth just as much as any full Human soldier, if not more. But all of his visions of fair treatment were fading fast as it became more and more apparent that Drake was nowhere to be found.

The screen on Vahn’s desk suddenly blared to life displaying the words “Incoming Call” in bold letters. It was his secretary calling. Vahn still couldn’t believe he had his own secretary to take calls for him. He hadn’t expected to make it to a position like this for at least another ten years.

Vahn hit the accept call button on the screen. Just as he had expected, the brown eyes, and overly makeup-covered face of Erica, his new secretary, appeared on the screen.

“Captain Brooks is here to see you, sir.” She said in an official voice.

Brooks always had a way of calming Vahn down. When they served together on the frontlines they’d seen hundreds of their fellow soldiers fall in battle and somehow still mustered up the strength to go on. Vahn never could have dealt with the stress of war without Brooks there to help him through it. A talk with him right now would go a long way to calm his nerves.

“Send him in.” Vahn replied.

“Right away, sir.” Erica responded. The screen returned to black. Moments later, the doors opened and the familiar figure of Captain Brooks, dressed in his red and white palace guard armor, strode in. By reflex, Vahn snapped to attention and gave Brooks a rigid salute.

“You don’t have to salute me anymore, Vahn.” Brooks said. “You’re on the king’s council now, I should be saluting you. But since you and I both have the title of captain, that’s not going to happen unless a superior officer happens to be looking.”

“Feeling a little bitter, Brooks?” Vahn asked, a smile forming on his face as he slid out of his attentive position and dropped his salute.

“Me? Bitter?” Brooks replied with his usual playful grin, “This way we’ll both get the same captain’s salary, but you’ll do twice as much work. If anybody should be bitter, it should be you.”

“Actually,” Vahn replied as he reached for his desk and picked up a memo he received earlier with the words “Department of Finance” printed at the top of it. “According to this, I actually get a 25% pay raise above captain’s salary for being a council member.”

“Only 25%?” Brooks replied, “For doing twice the work? You’re still getting the short end of that deal. But I should probably give you a beating for trying to rub your big pay check in my face.”

“You would strike a superior officer?” Vahn asked, his grin growing even wider.

“If you make one more comment about you being a superior officer, then I may just have to accept the court martial that would come along with me smashing your smug little face.” Brooks said.

Vahn couldn’t help but laugh. “What brings you by anyway?” he asked.

“Isn’t it obvious?” Brooks said, “I want to know what I can do to help you out. Do you have any idea how you’re going to do...whatever it is the king wants you to do?”

“So you’re saying you came here to pump me for information about what we talked about in the council meeting then?” Vahn replied.

“Can you blame me?” Brooks asked. “I’ve always wanted to know what they talk about in there and now I have a friend that can actually tell me. It’s a perfect opportunity for me.”

Obviously he couldn’t share top secret information; not even with his only close friend. What was Brooks thinking?

Suddenly, his call screen blared to life, once again displaying Erica’s make-up drenched face.

“Captain Ashbell, the king requests your presence at his council meeting immediately.” She said in her usual official tone.

“I’ll leave immediately.” Vahn replied, giving Brooks an apologetic look as he shut off the view screen and walked out of his office. Brooks left the office right behind him and returned to his guard duties while Vahn walked the other way to fulfil his new role as a member of the council.

************************

The generals already seemed accustomed to Vahn’s presence despite this only being the second meeting he had attended.

“Take a seat Captain Ashbell.” King Ryker said curtly as Vahn looked around the room.

“Yes sir!” Vahn replied in the most official military voice he could muster as he took his seat. He was planning on being much more proper in this meeting. He’d spoken out of turn before, but he would not let that happen again. King Ryker promoted him up by four ranks in order for him to attend these meetings, so Vahn would act as if he actually deserved the promotion.

“Let’s begin.” Ryker announced authoritatively. “Given the circumstances, I think we can all agree there’s no need for time wasting, so I’ll get straight to the point.” Nobody else spoke as they all looked at the serious expression on the king’s face. “Euphodine.” the king said. “That’s what I’ve called you here to discuss.”

Every other man in the room sat stone faced and calm, but Vahn felt as if he had missed a very important detail. Why was the king talking about an illegal drug? Euphodine hadn’t even been on the streets for nearly ten years. Was this really an important topic to be discussing in the wake of the palace bombing and kidnapping?

“Euphodine is nearly impossible to manufacture.” The king continued. “Almost all that is currently in existence was manufactured by our own government, and until two days ago was being stored in a warehouse on this very planet.”

The Human Empire manufactured euphodine? That was new information to Vahn, but the generals around the table seemed untroubled by what the king said. Was that because they already knew about it? Or were they all just very talented at hiding their emotions? Maybe it was both. Either way, Vahn decided it would be best if he reacted the same as the rest of them.

“Nearly all known euphodine is currently on a freighter called the Caetus, bound for the planet Niflheim to be destroyed.” The king paused for a moment and looked around the room before continuing. “They made every Anti-luck with a dependency on Euphodine. Without it they’ll die.”

So that’s why the government manufactured a drug. Euphodine was almost impossible to make without an extensive knowledge of chemistry and some incredibly expensive lab equipment. That’s why it had died out as a street drug. Not enough of the dealers were able to figure out how to make more of it, and those who had figured it out made a low quality version. If you wanted to control somebody as powerful as an Anti-Luck through chemical dependency, euphodine was a good way to go, since it would be nearly impossible for them to get it from another source.

“The anti-luck has been getting it from somewhere up until now,” Ryker continued. “Most likely, he has been robbing the warehouse where it was being stored. It’s a safe bet that he’ll be after the Caetus. I want a battle cruiser sent to escort the Caetus back to New Earth immediately. That Euphodine could be the bargaining chip that will ensure the safety of the empire. Gentlemen, I trust you to get this done. You are all dismissed.” The king stood and turned to leave.

“Captain Ashbell,” He said, stopping in the exit doorway. “Come with me.” Vahn stood up and quickly followed the king out into the hallway.

“How is your search going? Any results?” Ryker asked as the door shut behind them.

“None yet sir.” Vahn replied. “I’ve sent out an order to military and police forces to watch for him; but since he’s probably in Mystic Space or even the Neutral Zone at the moment, I don’t know how much good it will do.”

“At least it’s a start.” The king said, “Now I have one more question, and I demand your absolute honesty in answering it.”

“Of course sir.” Vahn replied. “Nothing but the truth.”

“In the first council meeting you attended, you knew what an Anti-luck was before I told you, didn’t you?”

Vahn wasn’t sure what to say. How had the king known? Vahn heard that Ryker had a talent for reading others but he hadn’t expected for him to do it from across the room while under so much stress.

“Yes, sir.” Vahn replied. “I was worried my knowledge on the subject would indicate that I was somehow involved. I apologize for being less than honest.”

“You’re forgiven, Captain.” The king said. “But if you ever presume to hide the truth from me again then I will see to it that you are stripped of your rank and citizenship and left alone at the mercy of the Hostiles. Are we clear?”

“Yes, sir.” Vahn managed to choke out.

Suddenly the king’s expression softened. Something about it somehow put Vahn back at ease. “Your records say you were serving under the command of General Murdock before you were transferred here.”

Vahn served under General Murdock on the front-lines against the Hostiles for a short time before being promoted to the Palace Guard. It was the most terrifying time of his military career.

“That’s correct sir,” Vahn replied.

“Did he show any abnormal behavior during your interactions with him?” Ryker asked.

“He was the single strangest man I have ever met sir.” Vahn replied. “But his methods of repulsing the Hostiles are unparalleled. Why do you ask?”

“My reasons are my own, Captain.” Ryker replied. “After we’re done with this Anti-luck business I may ask you more. For now, just focus on finding your brother. You are dismissed.”

Vahn wanted to ask more questions, but the King was right, his priority was to find Drake. Vahn saluted and then turned away, heading back to his office to continue his search.