Free Your Soul to Take (Rise of the Fallen) by Sean Hayden Page A

me,
turning the corner and almost getting the VW Bug up on two wheels. I shook my
head. I liked Clarisse a lot, but I didn’t miss riding in her car every day. I
might be immortal, but riding with her was just tempting fate.
    I
felt my cell phone buzz in my jacket pocket. When I hit the first red light, I
pulled it out. It was a text from Clarisse.
    Clearing,
twenty minutes. Don’t be late. Company
    I
had no idea who she could be bringing, but I would find out soon. The clearing
was only ten minutes away. I would even pass Rockin’ Robin’s Convenience Mart
on the way. I was still hungry and had time to pick up a snack.
     
    *
* *
     
    I
pulled into the clearing with half a Twinkie in my mouth and an Ice-nado cherry
beverage precariously perched in my left hand. Driving a scooter, holding a
beverage, and eating a snack-cake was damn near impossible, but I pulled it off
without wrecking.
    Clarisse
wasn’t there yet, so I parked and finished my food, feeling a little more
human…or whatever I was. Two minutes later, she pulled in. She wasn’t alone
either. There was a passenger in her car, and it was difficult to make out any
details with the sun’s reflection almost blinding me off the windshield.
    She
pulled next to me and both doors opened as the engine shut off. Clarisse got
out first and a woman with black hair soon followed. I gulped as she got out of
the car. She wore black jeans and a black T-shirt. She even had black Converse
high-tops on. Wow.
    “Connor,
this is your new instructor, Raven.”
    “Let
me guess, because she wears all black?”
    “No.
Because she’ll claw your eyes out if you do anything stupid. So quit
talking,” Clarisse answered.
    The
new girl didn’t even smile. “Hello,” I said and earned a nod from
her.
    “Raven
is a Reaper like you. She’ll teach you your duties and so forth. She also will
be helping you try to control your magic.”
    “Okay…
I thought you were helping me with that.”
    “Relax.
I’m not going anywhere. I’m still your babysitter for the next century or
so.”
    And
it was at that moment that the true meaning of the word immortal sank
in. I didn’t have to worry about getting married, finding a job, raising a
family, retirement, 401(k)s, nursing homes, or adult diapers. I would be the
way I was for centuries. Maybe even millennia, provided I didn’t get myself
killed to death. “Wow.”
    “What?”
    “Century.
Long time. Immortal moment.”
    “Welcome
to what you wished for,” Raven finally spoke.
    Her
voice sounded like someone had mixed black paint with smoke. She wasn’t raspy,
or even a baritone, it just held an edge of darkness tinged with something that
would be very bad for you. She sounded dangerous.
    I
nodded my agreement. “Just kind of hit me all at once.”
    “I
can imagine. You’re very lucky, human.”
    “Alright.
I’ll leave you two to get to it.”
    “You’re
leaving?”
    “Work.
Remember? I wasn’t kidding when I said they were gearing up for Christmas.
Don’t worry, Raven won’t hurt you. Much.”
    “Okay.
Have fun. Thanks,” I said and tried to muster as much sarcasm into it as
inhumanly possible. Clarisse shot me an evil grin, letting me know I had
succeeded.
    “Center
of the field, now. Let’s see what you’ve got.”
    I
followed her out into the circle of grass that had been cut out of the
surrounding trees. She held out both hands and motioned me to put mine in hers.
I did as she asked and gasped at the coolness of her skin.
    “What?”
    “Your
hands are cold.”
    “I
am pulling with them.”
    “What
does that mean?”
    “I
am told that you have already Reaped a soul. Is that true?”
    “Yes.”
    “Remember
how you pulled the soul from the body of the mortal?”
    I
nodded. “Yes.”
    “That
is what I’m doing now.”
    I
almost yanked my hands from her grip. “Stop!”
    “Relax,
young one. I cannot rip the soul from the body of a Fallen. None can. Our
bodies are not vessels for souls. They are one. It