Devour my Soul

There had been rumours, a long time ago, about the notorious Evan Phillips. Following my first encounter with the Soul Reaper, I’d soon become addicted to the news and articles of my one and only. It was true that I’d seen him before, the sight of his picture sparking my interest despite my determination not to care. Before I’d seen him standing across the street in front of my very eyes, I had thought nothing of it. I had never suspected who he might be to me.

It was difficult to believe that the very same man stood beside me, all but confessing his undying love and devotion, and I was rendered speechless. His scent, so distinguishable in the air, floated around me in a cloud of love. Wrapping me in the warmth of his safety, despite our current predicament.

“How quaint of you to join the party.”

Muttley’s commented chuckled darkly through my bubble, bursting it open in a crashing wave of noise. “If you’d called first, I would have had snacks prepared,” he added.

Evan’s small smile left his face as he carefully stepped back, his hold over my shoulders never leaving. I could see now, that Jack had moved forward, standing guard before us as his friend moved to keep a close eye on Lauren who now cradled the body of her fallen soul mate. My fist clenched Evan’s jacket tightly at the sight of Lauren’s grief-stricken state, and her words to me earlier that day.

“I’m not here to play tea party, Dooley,” Evan snapped me from my daydream, and I glanced up to look at his face. Coldness shivered through my body as his eyes burned with intense hatred at Muttley. I hadn’t expected such a reaction from him, with the way he held me gently. “My instructions were simple,” my soul mate continued. “You stay out of my way, and I’ll stay out of yours. Now this –” He paused, pulling me closer. “This is not following orders. In fact, this is pissing on my garden and calling it rain.”

I’d already put two and two together. Muttley was the man that Evan had mentioned in his office, and the man he’d sent Delaney’s body to, for reasons completely unknown to me. I’d heard of Dooley before. Another Soul Reaper, albeit holding quite a few souls short of Evan’s. The man was notoriously power-hungry, and owned most of the city. Unfortunately that meant he was untouchable. No charges could ever be held against him. But Evan worked behind the laws.

“I set the rules here, kid,” Dooley growled, folding his leg comfortably across his knee. A steady rhythm tapped from his fingers as he matched Evan’s glare. “I’ve been in the game a lot longer than you, so you’d best watch your tongue.”

Clicking his fingers, the two puppets from Lauren’s previous capture hesitantly stepped forward. Fear laced their eyes now, even as they stood as straight as they could muster. The blood of their friend still caked the deck, which I supposed was what had them on edge at that moment. It didn’t take much to see that they considered themselves lucky compared to the remains of their fellow body guard. Still, they obeyed their boss, taking point against Evan’s own guards.

“You know, old man, common sense would tell you that times have changed,” Evan answered snidely. “Stone ages are over; it’s time to douse that torch you’re trying so hard to keep alight.”

“And it’s time you’re taught the consequences of your actions,” Dooley snapped back. “I’ve waited a long time for this moment. To look into the eyes of your one true love, and watch as the life slowly drained out of them. This is the moment I have lived my life for.”

Confusion settled on Evan’s brow, mixed with a deeper feeling of anger and worry. His hand on my shoulder tightened painfully, and I squeaked quietly, but he seemed to have heard and loosened his grip. “Leave Selena out of it,” Evan warned in a low voice. “Whatever problem you have with me, will be dealt between us. She has nothing to do with this.”

Dooley’s words floated back to me as his laugh resonated with the sea breeze. The air was getting chilly now as the sun sunk in the sky, but it wasn’t quite evening yet. Darkness wouldn’t devour us for another few hours. Dooley was laughing incredulously now as his fingers gripped the armrests of his chair. His laughter was racking his body now, unable to reply to Evan without growling in utter fury.

“You don’t understand,” I explained quickly, watching as Dooley’s insanity began to unfold. I couldn’t help but think of Lauren as Dooley smacked his palm furiously against his chair. “You killed his soul mate, and killing me is his revenge.”

Evan only looked more confused, his brows furrowing deeper as lines creased his forehead. Stifling the urge to press my thumb into the lines and smooth them out, I pursed my lips and turned worriedly to the anger fuelled man.

“You killed my Sophie,” Dooley raged, flinging himself from his lounge. “Her name is engraved on your filthy skin. Give her back to me!”

Rather than tense at the furious man, Evan seemed to relax, rolling his shoulders back as he breathed a huff of frustration. His brows rose into his hairline, his lips pressing together, obviously unsure of what or how to say what was clearly on his mind. Ruffling the back of his hair, Evan breathed in deeply, peering at me as if I had the answer he needed. Sadness filled his beautiful sea green eyes, lightening them with his gentle guilt.

“Dooley, you fool,” he muttered, not taking his eyes off of me. “I didn’t kill Sophie.”

There was a moment of silence. A single second as Evan’s words floated through Dooley’s ears. The man’s already red face deepened a shade, as if he could get any angrier than he already was. At that moment, his hair seemed whiter and his age showed clearly on his face.

“Don’t lie to me!” Dooley snarled. “You’ll pay for what you did to her.”

Evan’s attempt at reasoning with Dooley only seemed to make the man angrier. Slowly, but steadily, the older man was edging closer with threats pouring from his mouth. My mind was far from him though I tried to remain focused on the situation. A memory scratched at the back of my head, begging to float to the surface. Shaking my head, I growled at the flashes of Evan’s bare back that Antheon planted in my thoughts, before suddenly it clicked.

“He didn’t do anything,” I blurted out aimlessly, feeling the penetrating gaze of all eyes on me, a questioning look on all of their faces. Even Dooley had stopped. “Evan didn’t kill Sophie,” I continued quietly, unsteady under the spotlight. “Her name isn’t on his back.”

Relief shuddered through Evan as he gazed down at me with gratitude, sending a blush creeping along my cheeks at his obvious adoration. Not a single ounce of disgust laced my words. He must have realised that his markings didn’t bother me.

“She’s right,” Evan agreed, turning back to the older man. “I didn’t kill Sophie, Dooley. You did.”

“No!” Dooley responded immediately, but I could see the doubt in his mind.

Rashly leaping forward, Dooley aimed a fist for Evan. It was a stupid move, and weakly planned. He was metres away when his had brought his arm back and war-cried his way to Evan’s position. Releasing me, Evan gently pushed me back and blocked Dooley’s view of me. I doubted I even registered on the man’s radar at the moment, though, since he seemed fixed on Evan. Still, I backed away from the battle that was sure to ensue.

I could barely see what happened. The battle was over so quickly, and I knew it had to do with Dooley’s rash behaviour. He was a strong player, with a lot of power hidden beneath his belt, but his emotions overrode his instinct to fight.

Without hesitation, Evan was at Dooley’s side, landing a blow to the man’s stomach. I could only imagine the pain that would be migrating through every inch of his body at the moment. Evan held strength that exceeded that of a normal man, and he had shown it earlier on. The blow should have killed Dooley with its single hit.

But it didn’t, and Dooley was responding with a blow of his own, throwing his power with misdirection. It didn’t help that the guards were now at each other’s throats. I knew that half of Evan’s attention was on me. Making sure I remained safe.

Dooley had grown weak within minutes of the battle. His face was pale with exhaustion; realising too late that he had stupidly thrown his energy into useless attacks that had now gotten him killed. His eyes bulged from his sockets as Evan stood metres to the right of him. Dooley sunk to his knees, clutching desperately at his throat, scratching and huffing as if he was at a loss for air.

My gaze fell on Evan. A defeated look crossed his face as he dropped his head, his blonde locks falling over his eyes. An arm stretched out towards Dooley, his hand starting out flat before he slowly closed it into a fist. By the time his hand was perfectly curled, Dooley was dead, and I was left speechless and spluttering over what I’d just seen.

I barely noticed Evan as he neared me. My mind was so focused on the day that had passed, wondering if this was what my life would be like from now on. I’d seen so many dead bodies. Killed in so many different ways.

“Are you alright?” Evan asked kneeling in front of me, and cupping my cheek the way he always seemed to do after these disturbingly frequent battles.

I nodded, smiling into his touch in pure comfort but I still wanted answers and I had to ask them now. Beginning with the most obvious, I sighed and looked at Evan seriously. “What happened?” I asked quietly, watching Evan’s lips curl into a sad smile.

“Sophie was like you,” he explained simply. “She knew about Dooley. That he was her soul mate, and also a Soul Reaper. And, like you, she walked away from him. Because Dooley was power driven. And that was something she never wanted.”

I pursed my lips, dissatisfied with the short answer. There was more to it, like the fact that Evan had been blamed for Sophie’s death. Questions rolled through my mind as I watched Jack creep carefully towards Lauren, amazed at the fact that he had sunk his shadow through the floor of the deck so that Lauren couldn’t touch it. Smart kid.

“Why did he think you killed her?” I asked, still watching Jack.

Evan sighed, rubbing his eyes tiredly and I knew he had drained a lot of his power. Though I didn’t know which it was that he had originally possessed, it certainly didn’t hold the regenerating properties that Antheon held.

“Sophie came to me to tell me something important,” Evan answered wearily. “She was a seer. She’d get flashes of what was going to happen in the future. She asked for my help to hide her from Dooley. She never gave me the details, but I assumed he wanted to reap her. It wasn’t until after Dooley killed her accidentally that I realised they were soul mates.”

Saddened by the thought that Dooley had killed his own soul mate, I allowed the water gathering in my eyes to fall freely down my cheeks. I smiled gratefully at Evan as he brushed his thumb over my tears, drying my face as best as he could.

“What did she come to tell you?” I asked, swallowing the lump in my throat.

Pulling away, Evan frowned thoughtfully. “She told me to remember her,” he answered, staring sightlessly into the distance. “To remember what she did.”

“Why?”

Evan looked at me, a blush creeping into his cheeks, and making me laugh lightly at the sight. Cocky, womaniser Evan Phillips was afraid to show his emotions. He was nervous to speak to a girl. The thought tugged a smile to my lips.

“Because of you,” he whispered, leaning closer as he peered his sea green eyes into mine. “Because she wanted us to have the happiness that she couldn’t. To have the love that we were meant to have.” He paused, taking my hands gently in his and rubbing his thumb over my skin soothingly. “Five years ago, I saw you standing across the street, and I fell in love,” he continued. “You shone with such a magnificent beauty, that I was almost blinded, and it took a while for me to rid the filth from my body so I could see you.”

“I stopped reaping,” he continued. “The moment I saw you, I remembered Sophie, and I knew what I had to do. I had to become the man you would want me to be.”

Blushing at his words, I squeezed my hands into fists. Since first seeing him, I had wondered whether Evan had seen me. Whether I had impacted his life as much as he had impacted mine. All this time I thought that he hadn’t. He had spent his life in his normality, without the sudden glitch that mine had held. My question was why he hadn’t shown it.

“You barely acknowledged me,” I noted, holding back the disappointment from my tone. “For five years. All those girls, and not a single word from you until the restaurant.”

He wasn’t the only one in the wrong. I knew that. I had been the one to walk away. I had had the choice to pursue him. To reach out and talk to him, but I hadn’t. Even so, Evan seemed to feel the guilt. Sadness was etched into his features.

“You must understand, Ellie,” he replied, almost pleading as if I might run at any moment. “Everything I’ve done has been for you. I cleaned myself up for you, but that didn’t mean you were safe. Those girls were for show, so no one would realise that you existed until I could guarantee your safety. But when I saw you at that restaurant, with that man, I just couldn’t stay away.” He stopped, laughing lightly at the memory. “I didn’t realise you were involved with him,” he commented wryly. “I actually thought he was gay.”

Cracking a smile, I blushed deeply, raising a brow. “You have a way with your words, Mr Phillips,” I stated with a smirk. My heart beat erratically as I paused a second. “And for the record, I fell in love with you too.”

My face reddened even more as Evan gave me a slightly playful smile, hinting at a joke I didn’t know until my eyes fell on something I never thought I’d see.

Peeking out from the collar of his shirt, Evan’s soul peered at me with wide eyes. She was small, her head poking out far enough for me to see while remaining hidden to the rest of the world. Fat, long ears stretched over her head, flopping slightly in comfort. Sinking my teeth into my bottom lip, I smiled at the bunny, knowing exactly what she was thinking because Antheon was thinking it too.

Finally.