Free Unborn by Amber Lynn Natusch

couldn’t quite tell. I told him to let the girl go, and it seemed like he really wanted to.”
    “But?”
    “But . . . it was like he really couldn’t. Like it was somehow out of his control.”
    “They all claim that when they overstep,” Casey argued. “The greedy little fuckers have it coming.”
    “No,” Kierson bit out harshly. “I’m telling you, this was different. You should have seen the look in his eyes. He was afraid and confused.”
    “If he was so afraid, then why didn’t he listen to you?” Drew asked, confusion overtaking his expression.
    “I don’t know. That’s why it’s so weird. I really think he would have, but then Khara came around the corner, and it seemed to spook him. He went all crazy and made a play for her. I took him out instantly.” None of the brothers responded to his tale. Instead, they all stood silently, staring at him. “So while I checked the body to be sure he’d been properly disposed of, Khara went over to the girl to see if she was okay. When I came over to join her, I realized what had happened. She was gone. Way gone.”
    “This just doesn’t make any sense,” Drew said, sitting down on the couch. “How long has it been since one of them has gone that far?”
    “Too long for this to have happened without provocation,” Pierson offered.
    “Exactly.”
    “But I’m telling you the truth,” Kierson declared in defense of his actions.
    “I’m not saying you aren’t; I’m just trying to sort this all out. When I saw Khara the other day, it took me a moment to realize that she might have been an Empty because it had been so long since I’d taken one out. I couldn’t be sure right away.”
    “Turns out you were wrong anyway, Drew,” Casey purred while he took a seat across from him.
    “Obviously I was, Casey. I’m just trying to reiterate the point that we have not had issues with the Soul Breathers for an exceedingly long time. Why now? Why would one of them go that far now? Especially when they know that death is imminent if they do. It’s suicide.”
    “Perhaps that soul was particularly tasty.” Casey’s lazy grin was starting to visibly rile Drew. Pierson stepped in to offer his intellectual assessment of the situation in an attempt to stop the fight that was brewing.
    “There are too many unknown variables for us to make any sort of conclusion at the moment. What we need to do is better track the Breathers so that we do not have any repeats of tonight. We need intel. That should be our top priority at the moment.”
    “Agreed,” Kierson said, coming to stand beside his twin. “I do not want to have to do that again. I don’t like killing humans.”
    “I’ll do it for you if you’re too soft,” Casey offered, repeatedly wiping his blade across his leather pants in a rhythmic motion.
    “Must you?” I asked, my voice seeming to startle them all as though they had forgotten I was there altogether. “Kill them, I mean—the Empties. Must they die?”
    “Yes. If they are not taken out, they will only take the soul of another to fill the void left in them. They have to. The very thought consumes their being, unrelenting until it is sated,” Drew explained. “If they are permitted to do this, a nasty domino effect is set in motion that will eventually infect the city, a rampant plague of soulless beings overtaking the human population. They will leave nothing in their wake. Our job is to keep the balance and police the supernatural. In doing that job, we must keep the humans from knowing that otherworldly beings exist or from falling victim to them. If an entire city were to be robbed of their existence because the Stealers could not be contained, it would not go unnoticed. Once done, there would be no way to easily undo it without extensive collateral damage.”
    His explanation was thorough and compelling, but I was still confused.
    “Stealers?” My look of confusion must have tipped Drew off to the fact that Kierson had