Soulless

S O U L L E S S: CHAPTER 34

This couldn't be real.

What they were talking about? A culling. They wanted to murder innocent humans, like savages, and then sacrifice their souls to the Downworld. All in the name of power and greed. This was apparently the way in which the wraiths would prove their loyalty...their worth.

Through brutality, and pride. Something that wasn't even new, how often did it even happen?

"You're looking a little pale there, little one." Ingrid commented trailing a finger along the line of my jaw. I shook off her hand, and inhaled deeply, "Don't tell me you've never killed before?"

Ingrid's tone, it was like she was asking me if I had never tried peanut butter before! I could hear the familiar squawk in the distance, relief flooded through me at the inch of similarity. I suddenly felt as if I were being pulled under, this was too much for me, I had to leave but I needed to know first.

"Who is that woman?" I questioned Ingrid, ignoring her own curiosities.

Her dramatically winged eyes followed my gaze to the woman with the storm in her eyes, "Katerina. One of the best." Ingrid sighed admirably, and I didn't bother asking what Katerina was best at.

Somethings are best being left unknown.

Katerina's gaze swept across the sea of faces with an acute glaze of disinterest. I'm not sure why I wanted to avoid her gaze so much, but I did, until it was too late. When our eyes did meet, it lasted a fraction of a second longer than every other she had held.

The flicker of interest in her gaze made me feel queasy, as Katerina shifted her body slightly. Glancing at the otherwise occupied Athalia, who was still preaching about how good idea it was to kill innocent human beings.

Feeling my heart begin to race, I glanced upwards to see if Corvin had grown any closer. It was hard to tell, when he wasn't the only bird above us; there were birds of all species. Watchers came in literally every form of animal, I never expected to nearly trip over an alligator ever in my life, but it happened.

Heat blossomed under my skin, like an unwanted bonfire that threatened to absorb my every rational thought; I hated when it got this hot. What was worse, was that it was the kind of heat that was almost impossible to cool down from. The smothering kind, that made me feel disorientated and frustrated.

"-The power gifted to you all for your sacrifices will be more than you can ever imagine, our ancestors lie in these grounds. Died in this world; their power will be ours!" Athalia continued in her declaration of power hunger, "You think what the lands gives you now is divine? You haven't even tasted it yet."

Just then the ground rumbled beneath our feet, making us stumble from the impact but it was like the fear was evacuated from the Downworld. No one even looked mildly concerned that there could be an earthquake on the horizon...but then it maybe wasn't one to begin with.

"Power is a dangerous game, my people." Athalia continued, her voice was like wine. Rich on your tongue, and impossible not to swallow, "Taking it, we will ascend to greater power. We are Wraith's, we take what is provided. You don't believe me? Taste what we already have."

I felt it immediately.

Rolling through my body in thick waves, like honey being drizzled down my throat. Something new, something entirely enthralling. It was like someone had just injected a new drug, and now it charged through me like an electric current.

The sheer force of it alone weighed me down, but the power? It made me lightheaded. It was like being awaken in the middle of a storm. Winds forcing away the sleep, and arousing me with a wakefulness that made me aware of everything around me.