Robert Crane - Soulless

He wore a satisfied leer, and the darkness and shadows made him look demonic. “You could have just had me inside—”

Something hit James in the side of the head with devastating force and he flopped off, unconscious. I was breathing deep, panting, and a gloved hand reached down, offering me help. “I wouldn’t worry about it,” Charlie said, looking at the little bit of blood running down my belly where he’d stabbed me. “I’ve been with him; you’re not missing anything.”

“Charlie,” I said, breathing the word like it was the sweetest thing I’d ever said. She helped pull me to my feet. “Please tell me you’re not with Omega too.”

She laughed. “I’m not with Omega. I’m not with anybody.”

I found the strength and balance to stand on my own, and she let me go. She was wearing a man’s jacket, which she had kept between us while she was helping me up. I saw a watch on her wrist, a shining, gold one that looked like it was at least a couple sizes too big. As I stared closer at it, I realized it was a man’s watch. She caught me looking and glanced down. “Oh, yeah, this? From that guy in the bar last night.”

“Oh?” I didn’t really care. My head was still spinning. “That was nice of him.” I looked around and saw a small control panel a few feet away, built into the railing, almost nondescript. “I thought you were gonna stay in Eau Claire?”

She shrugged. “I did, until I got bored. Then I just looked you up through your phone’s GPS and headed this way. Things got a little dicey when I found your flamed-out vehicle, but the guards were all pretty distracted by something going on over on the other side of the building. Sounded like a tornado or something.”

I hobbled to the nearest railing and leaned against it. “Sounds like Reed. How long ago was that?”

She shrugged again, uncaring. “I dunno. Ten minutes? I came in through one of the unguarded doors while it was going down. Looked around the building until I stumbled in here. Looks like my timing was good. What are you doing here?”

I wondered how long I had been down here. I looked at the panel again, sliding down the railing toward it. “Omega attacked the Directorate. We came to find out what they were hiding here.”

“Oh?” She made her way over to me, leaving James unmoving in a pile on the platform. “So what is it?”

“Something called Andromeda.”

“Huh,” she said, disinterested, as she looked over the edge of the platform. “Sounds boring. And old.”

“I don’t know what it is, honestly.” I stared down at the panel, trying to make sense of it. There was only one button lit up, and it was an option to unlock something, a thought which made me uneasy. I took a deep breath and thought it over. I was here to find out what they were doing, but what if it was a monster of some sort? Between Wolfe, Henderschott and James, Omega certainly loved their monsters. I stared at the unlock button until a finger came down from behind me and pushed it.

I turned and Charlie was there, smiling at me, impish. “No guts, no glory, kiddo.”

A slight rumble ran through the room and lights came on, casting it in blue and orange light. There were four different catwalk bridges that led to the central platform we were standing on. Below us, there had to be at least a hundred chemical tanks surrounding an oversized apparatus that was circular, and lined up perfectly so that something could be raised from the top of it into the center circle of the platform.

The control panel lit up, giving me a host of options. I stared at it, trying to take it all in. Charlie peered over my shoulder, her breath heavy and kinda sour. “What’s this one do?” She pushed a big red button, and I heard a rumbling from below us as machinery sprang to life. The circular grate in the middle of our platform squeaked and retracted to the side, leaving a hole in the middle of the floor.

“Stop,” I said.

“Soooo cautious,” she said. “Boring, boring, boring. You need a little metal in your life, kid, a little action.”

I felt the result of all the action I’d experienced today in my bones, in the pains, the aches and blood that still ran freely from different places on my anatomy. “Actually, I could do with a little less action at this point.”

“Boooring,” she said again. “Why must all you people lead such mundane little lives? I thought maybe you were different than the rest. I thought you were like me.”

“Umm.” I tried to focus on the panel, tuning out her prattle, ignoring the fact that she sounded almost offended. “I don’t know what to tell you. I have a job to do, and it’s pretty serious—”

She grabbed me by the shoulders and spun me around, causing my head to wobble, as she slammed my back against the railing. “Hey, kid! Wake the hell up!” She slapped me for good measure, not hard, but enough that I felt it and it pissed me off. I stared back at her, at the intensity in her eyes as she glared at me. “We’re at the top of the food chain, darling. Ain’t nobody can stop us: not Omega, not the Directorate, nobody. Women want to look like us and men want to grind up against us. You can have anything you want, take what you want, and nobody can stop you, and you’re killing time with these white hat Directorate wankers.” She let out a sigh of disgust. “Stop wasting your time doing all this crap when you could be having fun.”

She slackened her grip on me and started to back off, but I grasped the watch on her wrist and held it tight in front of her. “Ow! What are you doing?”

“What happened to the man who had this on last night?” I twisted her arm to put it right in front of her face. “Where is he now?”

“Who cares?” She said, ripping it out of my grasp. “They’re all interchangeable, men. They only last a very short time,” she got a wicked grin that I found damned unsettling, “so you have to use them wisely – and I do mean use . I keep looking for a man who can last longer, but even he couldn’t—” She waved at James. “Though obviously for different reasons, in his case.”

I felt a pit of disgust in my stomach. “You’re like…you’re a serial killer.”

“You’re so immature.” She made a noise of disgust, waving her hand as though she were dismissing me. “We’re succubi, Sienna; draining men’s souls is what we do. They’re there for us; it’s why we have the thrall, the dreamwalking, all of it. The world of men is our cup: we’re supposed to drink it, and you’re afraid to even take a sip.” Her face twisted into a humorless smile. “Just like your mom.” Her dark hair fell around her shoulders, framing her face in a different light than I’d seen before; she looked almost cronelike, emaciated. “Well, I’ll drink enough for all three of us, I don’t care. I’m not scared. I’m ready for all of it.”

I leaned on the railing for support, trying to edge away from her. “Why?”

“You know. Haven’t you ever felt the rush?” She looked at me in disbelief. “I know you’ve taken souls; haven’t you felt it? When you take them, how they scream and rattle in your head at first, how it spins you around? It’s the greatest high you’ll ever feel, trust me, way better than anything else. I mean, I know it’s tough the first few times, like losing your virginity, but it gets so good, so powerful, it feels so right.” She let out a little sigh and had her eyes closed. “You have no idea.” Her eyes opened and she focused on me.

“I don’t want to have any idea what you’re talking about,” I said. “I’m not a murderer.”

“Don’t play games with me,” Charlie said, a smile on her lips. “I know you’ve killed.”

“Twice,” I said. “Once to save my own life with Wolfe and once to save the city of Minneapolis from Gavrikov.”