Realms of Our Own: Soul Thief Read online

  "Shapeshifter!" spat Molon. "You stole her soul!"

  "I had to," said Azor, once more calm and boring. "Team One had a breakthrough on their AI project. It's passed every test they can throw at it and it's nothing but a machine. But by using a human soul, my AI far surpasses theirs."

  Indal pointed at the computer. "Listen to her! Anybody can tell she's not a computer! How do you expect to get away with this?"

  "Oh, it's only until we can present our projects to the board of directors," said Azor with a bland smile. "I'll dispose of the soul afterward. As long as our team gets the grant, we can beat Team One."

  Molon's self control snapped at last. He sprang at Azor with his jaws open and claws outstretched.

  Azor's body changed shapes like water flowing, and he became Molon's duplicate--a wolf-man in baggy pants and gray hoodie. The wolves clashed, snarling, biting and tearing at each other with dagger-like claws.

  In the corner, Grayson cowered away from them and covered his face.

  "No!" Indal fired lightning from both hands and struck Molon and his double.

  They froze in mid-bite.

  "You're not doing this here!" Indal yelled. "Natasha's life is at stake and you two are going all primal? Molon, control yourself!" He pulled out his cellphone and dialed a number with one hand, keeping the lightning crackling over the pair with the other. "Is this the Sanchez residence? Jesse, this is Indal Tay, one of the detectives who was there yesterday. Can you, Sophia and Cathair please come to Southvista Software? Right now? Thanks."

  Molon rolled a pleading eye from his frozen position.

  Indal bent two fingers and snuffed the time-lightning holding him.

  Molon sank to all fours and shook himself. "Why'd you call them?"

  "Because I don't know how to get a soul out of a computer."

  * * *

  When Sophia, Cathair, and Jesse arrived, only Jesse could enter the room. Sophia took one look at Azor, screamed and ducked out of sight. Cathair stared at Azor, turned a pasty gray and retreated alongside his sister.

  Jesse's wings burned into sight, and he pulled off a pair of sunglasses to gaze at Azor, still frozen in midair in wolf-man shape. Molon himself sat on the floor beside Grayson, ready to protect him. Grayson sat curled in a ball, and flinched every time Molon moved.

  By this time, Indal was dripping sweat from maintaining the time freeze for the hour it'd taken for help to arrive. "Shall I take the spell off?"

  "Yes." Jesse flexed one hand, and a transparent golden sword appeared in it.

  Indal released his time lightning.

  Azor shifted back to his original, bland human form, and brushed off his shirt as if the spell had been a minor inconvenience. He never took his eyes off Jesse. "An angelus? Really?"

  "Yes," said Jesse. "And I know what you are, demon. It's time you left this plane."

  Azor's face contorted in a snarl. His whole body twisted into a tangle of gristle, teeth and claws. Eyes blinked from indiscriminate spots. He zigzagged around the room with too much speed for his size, feinting at Jesse. The stench of latex and fish filled the room like a cloud.

  Jesse blocked the demon's blows with a grim smile, sword moving too fast for the eye to follow.

  One of Azor's claws grasped Jesse's left wing, which crumpled and smoked. Jesse yelled and flailed, and his sword sliced through the demon's appendage. But his guard had fallen. Azor knocked him down, and his numerous claws and jaws dug into the angelus's upper body, seeking soft organs.

  "Oh man," Indal groaned. "This is gonna taste horrible." He pulled off his silver bracelets and let them clink to the floor.

  "No! Don't!" barked Molon. "You've not fed him!"

  But it was too late.

  Indal's human body swapped into subspace, and his garwaf body appeared in reality. A hulking lycanthrope wolf-thing, it stood head and shoulders over Molon, its gray coat ragged with unshed fur. It hurled itself at the demon.

  An arm shot out of the demon and caught the garwaf in the chest, but the garwaf bit the arm in half with a snap, chewed it twice, and swallowed it. Then the garwaf waded into the demon, trying to bite off more pieces.

  The demon released Jesse and boiled forward to attack the garwaf. For a moment, chaos reigned--flying fur, lashing claws and rolling eyeballs. Computer monitors smashed off the desks, which buckled and collapsed as warring monsters fell onto them.

  Molon shielded Grayson with his body.

  Jesse dragged himself to his feet, golden light blazing from his wounds. He held out his sword in both hands and yelled, "Demon!"

  The demon whipped toward the angelus and impaled itself on the out-flung sword. Its appendages and claws wrapped around the blade in agony. Then the entire body dissolved into foul black smoke.

  The garwaf crouched on all fours, head down, body heaving with deep breaths, eyes burning ferocious yellow. He licked his bloody jaws and focused on the angelus. Jesse raised his sword.

  "No!" exclaimed Molon, leaping forward. "If you kill it, you'll kill Indal!"

  The garwaf's muscles bunched, ready to spring.

  Molon dropped to all fours and lifted his head in a posture of authority. "Stand down, Indal." He bared his teeth.

  The garwaf snarled back. Neither creature moved for a tense moment. Then slowly the garwaf lowered its head in submission, and whined.

  "Indal, come back," Molon growled.

  The garwaf shuddered. Then it rolled sideways, and Indal reappeared in its place, on all fours and gasping for breath. He stood up and shook Molon's hand. "Thanks. My wolf was going to kill everyone in the room."

  Molon handed Indal the silver bracelets. "Anytime. And feed your pets more often."

  Jesse's sword disappeared, as well as his wounds. He dusted off his hands and put his sunglasses back on. "Monster disposed of. What was the other problem?"

  Grayson slunk back to his computer. He set his monitor on a chair, and retrieved his keyboard and mouse from under the broken desk.

  The abandoned AI sensed activity and said, "Please, someone help me!"

  Sophia and Cathair peered into the room, wide-eyed.

  Jesse stepped to the computer and stared at the screen. "Is that the woman?"

  "Her soul." Molon's shoulders slumped. "We can't extract her."

  Jesse laid a hand on Grayson's shoulder. "We remove her the same way they put her in."

  Grayson ducked his head and opened a text window. "Azor took her out, not me. He made me lie. He said there had to be an investigation about Natasha or people would wonder where the AI came from. She's in a vessel in the server farm downstairs. I'll unlock the doors from here."

  * * *

  The vessel was a small bronze jar with powerful artifact magic worked into the metal. It sat atop a particular server rack that hosted the AI programming. Indal picked it up, and he and Molon sped to the hospital.

  No sooner had they stepped into the room with Natasha's body then the lid blew off the metal jar. White smoke billowed out of it, swirled across the room and into Natasha's nostrils.

  Her eyes opened, and brainwaves spiked across the monitor.

  The nurse who'd let them in stared at Natasha with her mouth open. "Oh my gosh! Doctor!"

  Molon and Indal exchanged satisfied grins.

  * * *

  The following day, Indal and Molon were back in their office. Molon was painstakingly filling out paperwork, with a pen gripped in his claws. Indal was writing a case report for the police--without any mention of souls, demons or angels--when the phone rang.

  Molon picked it up. "Molon Hawkins." He listened for a moment, then smiled. "You're welcome, Natasha. Payment? Our usual fee is fine. I'll send you the bill."

  He hung up. "She's invited us to tour Southvista Software."

  Indal raised an eyebrow. "If it's all the same to you, I've seen enough of the place to last me a while."

  Molon ran out his tongue in a grin. "Me too."

  The end

  Curious to
read more about Indal, the chronomancer werewolf? His origin story takes place in Storm Chase, book 1 of the Spacetime Legacy, and continues in Chronocrime, book 2 of the Spacetime Legacy.

  Realms of our Own – Author Bios

  Kessie Carroll, contributor of Indal - Kessie Carroll is happily married and lives in Arizona. She's been writing since high school, where she started out in fanfiction and branched out into original fiction. She's busy collaborating with her husband on an urban fantasy series, and getting published is secondary to hearing her husband laugh. Someday she'll write books for her kids, too. Find her online at netraptor.org/blog

  Twitter: @netraptor01

  Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kmcarrollauthor

  Michael Carney, contributor of Jesse - Michael Carney began his writing career at 17, straight from high school, writing radio advertisements for a bright and shiny new radio station in the glorious South Island of New Zealand (only a few hours’ drive from that wonderful scenery made famous by Sir Peter Jackson in ‘Lord of the Rings’ and, latterly, ‘The Hobbit’).

  In the decades since, Michael has carved out a career in advertising and marketing. These days he writes and administers online training courses covering a range of Social Media Marketing and eCommerce topics at https://NetmarketingCourses.com.

  In his spare time, Michael has also written (and mostly directed) a number of stage plays, some aimed at children and young adults, others produced for Christian audiences.

  Michael has been planning out the exploits of his OUTCAST ANGELS for many years. His story “Endtime” features one of the leading Outcast Angels, Jesse, and gives readers a glimpse of the Outcast Angels’ world. 

  If you’d like to know more about the Outcast Angels series and the first novel in the series, Outcast Angels: The 13th Chronicle, please visit https://OutcastAngels.com.

  Like Outcast Angels on Facebook at https://facebook.com/OutcastAngels

  Circle Outcast Angels on Google Plus at https://gplus.to/OutcastAngels

  Follow Outcast Angels on Twitter at https://twitter.com/OutcastAngels

  Catch Outcast Angels concept art on Pinterest at https://pinterest.com/OutcastAngels

  Jeremy Bullard, contributor of Grayson Floyd - Jeremy Bullard has been writing in various forms and formats for most of his adult life. An aspiring singer, he wrote mainly songs and poetry in his teen years, venturing off into short stories as an adult. His influences tend to be speculative fiction, science fiction, and fantasy, though he has made attempts at Bible based fictions and non-fiction studies regarding Bible prophecy. In 2003, he embarked on an epic journey to create a fictional world from the ground up. His project, “Facets of Reality”, is still a work in progress, that incomplete epic occasionally generating completed short stories as time and ideas allow. When he's not slaving away at his keyboard, he's thoroughly enjoying life as a saint of God, a dutiful husband, and a devoted father (though the other parties in these relationships may have something to say about his performance!).

  Mr Bullard can be reached at the following...

  Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/jeremy.bullard.37

  Email – [email protected]

  David G. Johnson, contributor of Molon Hawkins - David G. Johnson is an author and teacher with a BA in Asian Studies and a MDiv in Biblical Languages who currently resides overseas with his family serving as teachers and living witnesses of their faith. David has been an avid Fantasy and Science-Fiction fan for over thirty years and has now turned his cross-cultural experience to the task of blending speculative fiction with a biblical worldview.

  He is the author of the Chadash Chronicles series from Tate Publishing. Book One, Fool’s Errand and Book Two, Mystic’s Mayhem will be available by January, 2014, with the third book, Paryn’s Gold due out soon.

  David has an author page on facebook with links and news concerning his other works which can be found at: https://www.facebook.com/DavidGlennJohnson . His Amazon author page can be found at: https://www.amazon.com/author/davidgjohnson

  Lemuel, contributor of Weebles - The Lemuel is a rare, secretive creature. He can be found lurking in shadows pondering questions of reality: What is reality? Why is it here? Which reality is more real? What is the question of 42? Lemuel survives on the dew of a single ginkgo leaf and the energy of the universe...with just a touch of Paprika.

  Zerubbabel ben Emunah, contributor of Karyn Littleton - I have been in the ministry for nearly my entire adult life. Of course, being in the ministry, one writes, a lot! I can well remember, as a child, my paternal grandmother writing. She was a published writer; and I suppose writing is in my blood. It is the one constant desire I have had from childhood – to write!

  My ministry is not really what one might call a part of mainstream Christianity, but rather, is focused upon Scripture from a Hebrew perspective in an attempt to restore the contextual meaning of what is written in Scripture. The particular focus of my ministry is to help others have a deeper and closer relationship with our Master.

  This story is my first genuine attempt at writing fiction. My original thought for the character sketch I developed for this project, was laid aside as a result of the other character sketches. I couldn’t seem to get that particular storyline to work. I would like to write that story as well, but it will have to be at a later time. I suppose I have caught the bug of writing fiction and will pursue it further. A good friend of mine recently wrote that a person should write what he knows. What I know best is Scripture. Therefore, that is what I shall write, Scripturally sound fiction.

  Website: www.onetorahforall.com

  Facebook ministry page: https://www.facebook.com/pages/One-Torah-For-All/260181927427626

  Stanley Dixon, contributor of Sophia Sanchez - Born June 15, 1968, Stanley Dixon is a writer from eastern North Carolina. He has always loved the written word and decided to marry his love for writing with his faith in hopes of producing entertaining stories with a positive message for his readers.

  Mark Malcolm, contributor of Azor - Mark Malcolm is a 47 year old husband of thirteen years, and father of two who lives in the Kennesaw, Georgia area. When not trapped inside a world of his own making he works as an event manager for RH Events and Promotions, a corporate event management company. As a child of God he serves East Cobb United Methodist church in any capacity they require including leading Bible study, as a Lay Speaker, or leading Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University.

  Mark grew to love science fiction by watching Captain James T. Kirk and the crew of the Starship Enterprise boldly going where no man had gone before as he grew up. When Star Wars opened he was there and it has been a roller coaster ride of escapism ever since. These days Mark is trying to combine his love of God's word and his love of Science Fiction stories into a harmonious balance through a series of novels and a web serial. You can find out more about both by visiting Mark's Facebook page at www.facebook.com/firstchevalierbooks.

  Parker J. Cole, contributor of Natasha Genesis - Just as C. S. Lewis believed writing is a tool a used by God, Parker J. Cole mirrors his opinion. Parker J. Cole is the author of eMedia's Campaign 2013 Best of Srping award for her debut book Dark Cherub. She is the host of the weekly radio show Write Stuff, a show geared toward Christian/inspirational authors to showcase their work. The show also highlights tips, tools, techniques, and resources to help aspiring and established writers hone their craft. She makes her home in Michigan with her husband and their beloved dog, Sarah. For more information, visit her website, www.parkerjcole.com

  Othniel Emunah, contributor of Cathair

  Othniel Emunah is my name

  Missouri is where I dwell

  Of games and pages I tell

  The thrill of discovery fell

  Upon my young mind, intrigue laid claim

  To a desire more than fame

  To seek awe of nature. 

  https://thirdmindseye.blogspot.com/

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