Death Catchers-Chapter 3

note: This AGAIN is unedited. This also marks the end of my...postworthy chapters to Death Catchers. I have a couple more, but they need some serious work first. Enjoy...

Outside of the motel, it was dark and smoky. The street was littered with garbage and refuse, a dirty bum sleeping in it a few steps away from where Liam and I were hiding in shadow. We blended in well with the local color, our outfits even matching that of the local weirdoes.
I yawned as we leaned against the brick wall of the motel, the weariness of the day settling into my bones. We returned to the castle shortly after collecting Jennifer’s soul. We returned hers and that of the three older people to their respective rooms. Liam had come into the rooms with me, resting his back against the door as I released them and smashed the vials. After releasing them, we ate a quiet dinner and said little to each other. An hour later, here we were, waiting for a Carlos Garcia, a boy of about seventeen.
I hated these collections most. The young people my age. However, it wasn’t just their age that got to me. It was the drugs. It’s a known fact that with certain drugs you can hallucinate or become, “out of your body.” With that happening, we could be seen easily by those under the influence of drugs. I hated that fact that high druggies could see me and I could do nothing about it.
A dirty white van pulled into the parking lot on our right and a group of scraggily teenagers emerged. It was four girls and four boys and I sank farther into the shadows as they passed, assuming at least one of them was already high. After they entered, I count to ten and grabbed Liam’s arm, pulling him behind me into the motel.
The group was at the check in desk. A couple of the girls were sitting in nasty stained armchairs by the elevator. They looked scared to be in this trashy of a place, but one was roaming the room with her eyes. She was making me nervous and I tried to hide behind the partition and watch Carlos at the same time. I felt the hairs rise on the back of my neck and I turned to her. She made eyes contact and her eyes widened. I pulled back behind the partition, hiding Liam and myself from view until I heard the elevator ring and them enter.
“What are we doing back here?” he muttered it softly, so no one would hear are voices and get spooked, although the only other person in the lobby was a very pregnant woman sleeping on an old couch.
“That girl was staring at me, I got creeped out.” I shuddered and I felt his arm slide around me, pulling me into his chest, as an older man walked past us. Breathing him in, he swiveled his head around the partition.
“Don’t worry, this will be done soon and we can go home. Let’s go.” We walked carefully across the tiled floor, making sure our shoes didn’t make too much noise. Slipping the door to the stairs open quietly, we slid into the stairwell silently and pushed it shut. Sighing with relief, we started up the stairs. We climbed slowly, careful to make sure none of them squeaked to give us away. Stopping on the landing to their floor, I felt my stomach flutter. He stood beside me as we took a breather, eyes glinting in the dim light.
“Liam, I’m nervous for some reason.” He raised an eyebrow.
“Why?” I lowered my head.
“Because my gut is telling me something bad is going to happen in there.” I could feel it, in both my stomach and my bones. There was something waiting for us in that room. “I’m going to call the Leadership.”
Reaching into the depths of my cloak, I pulled out my call pad. It was flat, only as thick as a few sheets of paper and 4 inches square. A small screen and a row of buttons were on its surface and I pushed one of them and waited. Liam rested his chin on my shoulder as I waited. In a few seconds, Nathaniel’s face appeared.
“Yes Karolin?” he looked tired.
“Is now a bad time?” He glared at me before softening his face. “Yes, it might be. Carol screwed up, so now we have to deal with the consequences.” On the inside, I was smiling at this.
“What did she do?”
“Oh, just made herself visible in a crowd of humans and freaked out, the usual.” His eyes were tired and seemed angry. “What can I do for you?”
“I have a bad feeling about this collection.” His mouth turned to a frown. He typed something on the pad in front of him and twisted his mouth.
“It’s a boy by the name of Carlos Garcia, correct?”
“Yes.”
“Why do you have a bad feeling?”
“I don’t know, I just do. When we were in the lobby, one of the girls saw us and since then I have been feeling nervous about this.” He nodded and thought about this for a few seconds. Problems happened with collections all the time. If a Death Catcher thought the situation was too dangerous, we let the soul fly up first, and then caught it in flight. It was difficult to do, but certain times merited this. Usually, we only tried to do this if the threat of death to the Catcher was apparent. Yes, we can die again, but if we do, we simply disappear, no soul, nothing. It was not something any of us wished for. And personally, I was not ready to disappear.
“Alright, well, I can’t sense or see anything in the room, so go in.” I started to open my mouth but he held up a hand. “Just go Karolin and don’t dawdle as you usually do.”
His face disappeared and I closed my eyes in frustration. I knew I was putting both Liam and myself in danger, but I would do as I was told. Opening my eyes, Liam stood on front of me.
“Let’s go Liam.” He nodded solemnly, knowing I was pissed off at Nathaniel.
We exited the stairwell and found ourselves in a disgusting hallway. As we stood, orienting ourselves, a rat crossed in front of us and dove behind a door.
“Disgusting…” Liam muttered it very quietly. It was then I remembered that Liam had always hated rats. Shaking that thought from my head, I turned in the direction of the room and walked quietly.
Their door was open and I could see them snorting and swallowing pills. A couple was making out on the dirty bed and another was going at it on the floor. The creepy girl was no where to be seen. Seeing my chance, I dove into a corner just inside the door, shielding myself from this view. Liam was waiting outside, prepared to help if I needed it. All of them were high, and all able to see me collect Carlos’ soul. They were going to attack me, I knew it. I checked my watch, only one more minute before I needed to reveal myself and cross the room.
I could hear more rats scuttling in the wall behind me and I shuddered. This place was disgusting. I don’t know how people could come here. It was then that I saw her, her hollow eyes peering at me from her spot in the corner. She said nothing, but I knew she could see me. She didn’t move, she didn’t twitch. I raised a finger to my lips, making the “shh” motion. She nodded, her stringy blonde hair covering her cheeks, but her hollow eyes till watched. Something was wrong, I could feel it.
One more look at my watch told me it was time and I stepped out of my corner. No one saw me at first as I walked across the room to Carlos’ body, sprawled on the bed. The couple on the floor no longer had clothes on and I stepped gingerly over them. Another girl was glaring at me from her perch next to Carlos. I caught the reflection of Liam in the mirror. He was waiting just inside the door, out of sight of those in the room.
Taking the vial out of a pocket, I uncorked it, and held it to Carlos’ finger just as the brown light poured out. Catching it, I corked it quickly and found myself being held by the girl with the hollow eyes.
“What are you doing to Carlos?” her grip was strong and her bony fingers were digging into me. I shook my head at Liam who was entering the room. No need for him to reveal himself too. Trying to shake her grip, I managed to shove the vial deep in a pocket without her noticing.
Pulling away from her, I tripped and landed on the bed next to Carlos. She hovered over me, hollow eyes boring into me and it was then I realized she didn’t have the red rimmed eyes as the rest of them did. She wasn’t high…but then, how did she see me? Spooked, I stood and started to leave, but she tackled me, forcing me into the middle of the sex on the floor. Suppressing a gag, I tried to force the three people away from me, and I saw Liam in the mirror, doing as I told him and staying hidden, although his eyes were wide with indecision. The girl’s eyes were dark as she appeared above me with a knife.
I screamed and struggled against her grip, but it was to no avail as it plunged into my stomach and she screamed.
“You hurt Carlos you bitch!” Her screams were louder as her friend from the bed tried to wake Carlos but couldn’t. Pain radiated from my stomach and I could feel my blood pouring out of me and onto the floor. Her knife was still in my vision as I struggled to get away, weak and tired. Rolling over, I caught Liam’s hand and he pulled me out into the hallway, the girl holding onto my feet, and blood streaking the carpet behind me. My stomach was on fire and I was screaming along with the girl. Liam looked panicked as he kicked the girl off me, and tried to pick me up as the others in the room came tumbling out.
I could see my blood everywhere as he ran down the hallway with me in his arms. I felt so weak, so detached. Looking over his shoulder, I saw them running after us, rats hurrying to get of the way of their pounding feet. I was dizzy, pain overwhelming me as Liam dove out of the window at the end of the hall, glass shattering in every direction as he flew high into the air.
I could see the city lights begin to blur and feel the wind on my body as I succumbed to the pain.


I awoke to Liam and Shannon hovering over me. I wasn’t in my bed and as I turned my head, I realized I was in a dark room and Carol was in the bed next to me, her cheeks pasty white.
“What the hell is wrong with her?” I lifted my hand and pointed to her.
“She’s milking it after hearing you got stabbed.” Shannon smiled as she said it. “I can see you’re feeling better now, you got your feistiness back.”
“Nothing can keep me down long.” I struggled to sit, but gasped as waves of pain shot through my stomach and traveled throughout my body. “Maybe I should stay lying down.”
Liam’s eyes widened a little as I nodded. His face was covered in a shaggy beard. Pointing at it, he grabbed my hand.
“Where did that thing come from? It’s nasty.” He smiled at my comment, still holding my hand in his.
“I’ve been sitting here for four days waiting for you to wake up.” His eyes were so solemn, the blue misted over.
“Ah. I see.” I fell quiet, my stomach still throbbing from my earlier movement. Shannon was eyeing Liam suspiciously and I could see Carol’s eyes open, watching us, well, watching Liam.
“I need to get going Karolin; you take care of yourself, okay?” Shannon brushed my hair from face as she spoke and left, her cloak swishing around her. Reaching Carol’s bed, she “accidentally” kicked it, sending Carol into obviously fake moans and spasms. Stifling a laugh, I brought my gaze back to Liam and smiled.
“Did you miss me?” I smiled, so he would see the humor.
“No, not at all.” He grinned back and we sat there for a while, whispering and talking. It grew silent and my eyes grew heavy.
“I wanted to tell you, they reassigned me. I’m working with Kellen.”
“Who’s that? I don’t recognize the name.”
“He’s from another Clan, like me. I guess your Leadership figured we could figure out the city together. With you and Carol being hurt, they were short Death Catchers.”
“Oh…so they replaced me, huh?”
“I guess.” His childish smile returned. “Although, Kellen isn’t as feisty and obnoxious as you. Darn, I’m missing out.”
“Not funny Liam.”
We grew quiet again, and the discomfort grew. Why was Liam still here? Sure, we had a tender moment back in the diner, but I didn’t know him, not like I did. Time changes people. How could I expect to keep hold of the relationship we once had.
“Karolin?” I looked up at my name. “We’re different people now, aren’t we?”
“Yes. I’ve changed.”
“I thought it would be so easy once I found you,” He turned his head away as he talked; “I thought you would run into my arms and everything would be the same as it once was. But that’s not going to happen. It takes time.”
“I guess it does.” He returned to my eyes, but he didn’t look sad. And I didn’t feel sad.
“I think we have to start over. As friends, and see if we happen again.” I nodded, not knowing what to say. “We’ll be good friends. I promise.”
“I promise too, but on one condition.”
“What?” I let a grin out.
“You save me a seat at dinner.” He laughed and Carol shot a nasty glance at me. Ignoring her, I said goodbye to Liam and settled deep into the bed. We were friends, nothing more. And maybe as friends, I could forget him being such a distraction and find that girl with the hollow eyes. How had she seen me?