Soul’s Hunt (A Twisted Fate #2)

Chapter 1 Soul

Soul

The flowers by the Lake smelled funny. The vines crept from the edge of the still water and into the forest in a burst of blue color that had never existed in Death’s lands before.

They smelled… soft. Sweet.

Warm.

Like the world above, where Death sometimes sent me to hunt for wayward souls.

The little blue petals belonged to that world instead of existing in the eternal twilight… but they stayed blooming here for some reason.

“Strange, isn’t it?” Death’s voice behind me drew my head up from the water’s edge. “Those flowers weren’t here before…” He trailed off, a snarl crossing his features and exposing the sharp points of his teeth. “Something’s escaped from the Lake.”

I tilted my head, scenting the air.

All I could smell were the flowers. Whatever soul had escaped was masked by that soft, sweet smell.

“Soul…” Death kneeled in front of me, his long, pale fingers stretching out to gently rub between my ears. “Can you find it for me?”

Of course I could. It’s what I was made for.

It’s all I was made for.

I lifted my head to howl for my brothers, but Death dropped his hand to my neck to cut me off. “They’re busy. Just follow the flowers. It shouldn’t take you long to sniff out the wayward soul.”

He wanted me to go alone?

It was rare we were sent on our own for anything, but it made sense. This wasn’t in the mortal world.

This was here.

In my home.

And the scent of the flowers as I whuffed in response made my nose twitch, my senses burn. Maybe he could tell they were bothering me.

Maybe he knew I’d noticed them in the world above, that they’d caught my attention when I was hunting… that I hadn’t quite been able to forget about them since.

His fingers stroked through the smoky fur atop my head one more time before he stood and turned back to the Lake. I didn’t need to be told twice. I set off at a run, following the trail of blue as it led off into the dark trees of the endlessness.

It was strange, the way I could see the color—the way I noticed it more than I’d noticed any color here. There was usually only the grays, the soft twilight. Sometimes I truly felt colorblind to anything but black and white.

The blue called me forward when nothing else had, and I realized I’d never actually taken much time to explore these woods before. When I had, I’d always been with my pack, with my brothers.

How long had it been since I was anywhere alone?

My pace slowed before I finally came to a stop, my nose lifting to scent the air, the loud whuff of my inhale the only sound I could hear.

I could still smell it—that sweetness. I’d caught it once before, when we were hunting the wayward reaper Sephtis and his little human mate.

The red thread between them had been obvious, though I was the only one of my pack who could see it, and biting into the man’s shoulder had made my teeth burn.

I’d noticed the flowers while his blood scalded my tongue. Soft and blue. So sweet-smelling they’d almost made me let my quarry go—had distracted me from tearing him apart.

The scent lingered in my nose the same way the sting of the almost-human’s blood lingered in my mouth.

There was something wrong with both of them.

And now I was here. Trailing the flowers.

Trailing a scent that was almost like the human’s I’d bitten earlier… but not quite the same.

Sephtis’s mate had smelled warm, like summer.

This scent was different—leaves just starting to fall, air going cool. The gentle death of the world as fall stole away the heat.

The mortal seasons, shifting from one to another as summer faded.

Hm. Since when did I think about the goings-on of the mortal world?

And like I’d conjured it up with the thought, the flowers climbed up the trunk of a tree and disappeared.

No… they hadn’t just disappeared. I could almost smell the edges of it, where they’d breached the veil between Fate and Death. Whatever had made the petals had escaped Death’s realm.

Which… shouldn’t have been possible for a soul. Once they crossed over—ferried or dragged—there shouldn’t have been a path for them to find their way back.

It shouldn’t have been possible, and yet…

I growled, soft and low in my chest. I wasn’t used to going to the mortal world without my pack, but I’d had this soul assigned to me.

Just to me—given with purpose, with intention.

I didn’t want to disappoint my master… and if I was being honest…

Well, if I was being honest, I was curious about what type of soul could do something like this.

What soul was capable of the impossible?

What was it about this soul that was so different from every other I’d encountered before?

I inhaled, the scent burning along my lungs and drawing me forward when I should probably have gone home, should have told Death that my quarry had somehow escaped back to the mortal world and I needed my brothers to hunt it down.

I should have done anything but close my eyes and will myself to the mortal realm.

I was in the graveyard where I’d last been. When I lifted my nose to the air, I could still smell the flowers from before. Now that I was paying attention, I could tell there was something off about them. They weren’t just petals from the mortal world.

They were little pieces of that soul, somehow bringing the flowers into existence in a place they never should have been.

They were pure emotion.

They were…

Love.

I sneezed, the sound loud enough to send a few birds bursting into the air in a flurry of feathers and angry screeches.

Where had that human gone? The one I’d been tasked to catch the first time? The scent of the flowers lingered all over him in invisible touches that I was certain he probably hadn’t realized were there.

Even Sephtis hadn’t noticed.

But I could tell—it had burned in my nose when I’d caught him by his shoulder… protected him when I’d had him between my teeth.

And now…

“What are you doing here, beast?” A voice from the edge of the cemetery caught my attention.

My head turned, and another low growl ripped from my chest. I took a few steps toward the man with dirty-blond hair who was watching me with his arms crossed over his chest…

and felt my snout rock up against something solid enough that I let out a low whine of pain at the shock of it.

Power poured through me, harsh enough that I reeled back, pawing at my face while that crackling sensation danced against my nerves.

The man laughed, looking me up and down in amusement. “Whatever you’re looking for, you aren’t going to find it here.”

His hands swept over the line of the barrier that I could sense now that I knew where it was…

but it wasn’t the barrier I locked onto.

My vision narrowed to the symbol burned on his palm—invisible to most, but obvious to anyone who had the same design on their flesh.

Mine was beneath my fur, curling across my shoulder and to my paws.

Death’s mark.

Maybe this man would have answers… which meant I had to do something I was loath to do.

My brothers didn’t mind dropping their form when necessary, but I hated it.

Once upon a time, Death had sculpted us from a human soul plucked fresh from living flesh, but that was so long ago it felt foreign to me. Another life—not mine.

I took a step away from the barrier, unwilling to change so close to it, and sat back.

The sensation of the smoky fur on my body slowly dissolving was uncomfortable, and the feel of bones popping and realigning as I shifted from beast to man was painful.

It was never like this when I took my true form, almost as though my body could sense my reluctance to take the shape of a human and fought it.

When I was finished, I rose, shaking strands of white hair from my eyes and clearing my throat.

It had been so long that I’d almost forgotten how to speak. My voice was gravel, more growl than anything, when the words came out. “Where did they go?”

The man in front of me looked up… and up. He wasn’t short, but I knew I towered over most mortals by at least a foot, even in this form.

“Wow. Neat trick, Rover.”

I snorted, running clawed fingers over my face, down along my body. At least I’d thought to manifest clothes when I spilled into this form—a simple black tank top and black pants. Boots. It was a mirror of what the man in front of me had on, minus the jacket he wore.

It was better than nothing.

“The human and Reaper who were here. Where did they go? Death demands answers.”

The man paused for a moment, his eyes flicking down to the palm of his hand, and then he laughed again.

“Listen here, Fido. I don’t have a master.

” Even as he said it, I saw the concern flash in his eyes.

No one entered lightly into a deal with Death, and it wasn’t something you could simply ignore.

When he called, you answered. There was nothing else for it, except meeting him in another, far more permanent way—frequently at the end of my teeth.

But my words weren’t Death’s call, and I couldn’t force obedience through the mark.

“He’s looking for them.” Not exactly a lie. They had something to do with the flowers.

“They aren’t here,” he said, and took a step back. “They left after your Master did. So… maybe try barking up another tree, hm? You should be good at that.”

“I—”

“I’m not helping you, Toto,” he cut me off, turning on his heels and walking away like what I had to say wasn’t important. I let out a low growl of frustration as I watched him go.

Useless.

I’d have to tell Death when I returned that his new recruit was unwilling to help.

Until then, I wasn’t completely without options. Even though I had no idea where the wayward Reaper had gone, the flowers by the Lake were here too. I was certain that to the mortal eye, the blue color was completely normal. Beautiful and delicate.

It was easy for my kind to see the difference now that I knew what I was looking for—the color slightly drifted, soft particles in the air that told me something had manipulated the very essence of the world around them to bring the blossoms into existence.

Something had used the raw power of a soul and willed them into life.

There were only a few creatures capable of doing such a thing.

Fate, of course, could do whatever he desired. Any of his kind would be more than capable of such creation. I’d never met his so-called brothers, but I had a feeling they wouldn’t care enough about a wayward soul to be involved.

There were creatures made of broken souls and Vitality—shadows and shapeshifters.

They could manipulate the world, but more often than not, what they brought to life was the manifestation of a mortal’s wishes and desires.

There were so many creatures that fed from humans and their feelings—the Enmity from their hate, the shadow beasts from their wishes.

There were those that fed on raw emotion, whatever kind they could get their greedy claws on, taking any shape necessary to get their fill.

But… these blossoms were none of those. They were made from a pure soul, one strong enough that it could use its very will to shape the world and leave a message, though I wondered if it realized what it was doing by the way the blossoms were going to lead me straight to it.

I stepped forward, plucking a flower with fingers that felt clumsy. I didn’t like being in a mortal form, but I wasn’t sure if I would need to speak to anyone else on my hunt. If I found Sephtis, I’d have to question him. For the moment, I’d keep it.

I turned, walking into the nearby tree line, following the curve of the vines as they trailed and crept along the ground. As I moved, I absentmindedly brought the flowers to my face, inhaling the sweet scent.

It was… saccharine.

Without thinking, I plucked a petal and dropped it onto my tongue, swallowing that sweetness… and somehow, I felt it all the way down.

It made something in my chest twinge, something in my stomach clench.

I shuddered and felt my fingers spasm, crushing the delicate flower as I let out a low groan.

Something was… wrong.

My body shuddered, my legs suddenly feeling weak.

Being in this form wasn’t supposed to be like this.

Nothing had ever been like this before. And yet I couldn’t stop myself from swaying, from falling to the ground.

Even the crunch of dead leaves beneath me couldn’t erase the sweet scent infiltrating my lungs, curling through me like vines that constricted, that burned.

That changed.

It was automatic, my attempt to try shifting back to my usual form… but when I did, that pain ripped through me, tearing a low shout from my chest that echoed through the empty trees.

I couldn’t do it.

I couldn’t shift back. It was the petal I’d swallowed, anchored somewhere in the midst of my human-shaped ribs, that kept them from turning back.

Help me.

I thought the word, but I didn’t say it aloud. I couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t think.

I… felt the softest sensation—cool, sweet relief so sudden I moaned, drawing in breath that tasted like wet fall leaves on my tongue.

Wet leaves and… sweetness.

The flowers.

My lids fluttered open, instantly searching for the source. A man kneeled beside me, his fingertips pressed to the center of my chest.

Soft. That cool, sweet scent enveloped me. The relief I felt was coming from him.

“Hello.”

His voice was strange. It made my head feel odd… like gossamer threads drifting through my senses and wrapping me in silk, stretching down to weave around my ribcage with the roots from the petal I’d swallowed.

It was something I’d never felt before.

Something I’d never experienced before.

It was…

Strange.

Human.

And…

My eyes lifted to meet the face of the man I’d set my teeth into when I was in the mortal world not that long ago… but no.

There was something different about him.

His eyes weren’t the same color.

They were blue. Like the human sky.

No, not like the sky…

Like the flowers by the Lake.