Soul Killer by Richard Lee Byers

Author:Richard Lee Byers [Byers, Richard Lee]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Richard Lee Byers
Published: 2011-12-22T23:02:40+00:00

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Chapter 13

The shabby, white wooden house looked as if the pounding rain was likely to wash the rest of its peeling paint away. By now, the front yard inside the barbed-wire fence was one big black puddle, the surface of which reflected the lightning flickering overhead. The water stank of the saturated septic tank and drain field buried beneath it. A long aluminum boat equipped with an outboard motor sat on the front porch steps, ready for use in case, as seemed increasingly likely, the Mississippi broke its bonds and raged across the city.

Rogue had spent the last few hours trying to escape into the countryside, where there should be fewer potential victims to tempt her. Unfortunately, she kept blacking out, and when she came to herself, she invariably found that she’d reversed course and flown right back to Natchez. Now the hunger wrenched at her insides, agonizing, unbearable, and she plummeted toward the home beneath her, her tattered clothing flapping.

She splashed down beside a lighted window, then peeked through the gap between the curtains. On the other side was a living room, where a black family—a beefy man in overalls, a thin woman with corn-rowed hair tinted the color of a new penny, and a young boy and girl—sat watching a news broadcast on television. The father looked worried, and the mother, exasperated, as if the problems afflicting Natchez were a personal affront. The kids, on the other hand, were happily dividing their attention between the television and the Chutes and Ladders game laid out on the floor between them. They probably didn’t really understand that if a flood came, it could wash their home away.

Of course, thought Rogue, smirking, if they were already lying dead when the river came calling, it wouldn’t matter. The water could carry them away along with their possessions and give them a burial at sea. The idea seemed hilarious. She floated off the ground, poising herself to smash through the window and attack.

Then a spasm of horror wracked her. Sobbing, momentarily losing control of her power of flight, she fell into mud and filthy water, then struggled to crawl away from the enticing prey so conveniently at hand.

Crimson light flowered above her. Lifting her head, she beheld the transparent vision which had appeared to her repeatedly over the course of the day. Adoration, hope, and hatred all welled up inside her simultaneously, the grinding of her contradictory emotions almost as excruciating as her thirst for the vitality of others. “Master?” she croaked. “Angel?” “Yes, my child,” the swordsman said, “that’s right. Are you ready to come to me and let me take the pain away?” “Yes,” she said. “I mean, no! You’re not my friend! I know you’re not my friend!”

The figure in the cloak and tunic regarded her gravely. Even through the veil of blur that obscured his features, she could feel the pity in his eyes. “I am your friend, and if your mind were your own, you’d know it. It’s

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