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  Chasing a dark soul has been her focus for years, and now, she is being offered the training to do it.

  Leadra’s family was murdered in front of her and her brother did it, or did he? A dark soul possessed her brother, and it mocked her, after her brother took his own life, from the mouth of the next person it possessed. On Resicor, seeing souls was a punishable offense, and she was locked in the dome for three years until the uprising.

  Now free, Leadra has been offered training to hunt the soul that killed her family. Just one problem, she doesn’t know how to fly a shuttle.

  N’ran offered to act as her pilot. His skills include his own sense of humour and the ability to fly anything. He knew who she was before she arrived and was interested in seeing her progress. A woman of power starting from nothing was quite the sight to see.

  Krix is the youngest member of Fixit’s family, and he is destined to be the companion of a woman who can pull souls from bodies. She needs his help and he needs adventure. A Yaluthu with an urge to see the universe needs a little help.

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  Hunting a Soul

  Copyright © 2014 Viola Grace

  ISBN: 978-1-4874-0104-7

  Cover art by Carmen Waters

  All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, is forbidden without the written permission of the publisher.

  Published by eXtasy Books Inc or

  Devine Destinies, an imprint of eXtasy Books Inc

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  Hunting a Soul

  Tales of the Citadel 37

  By

  Viola Grace

  Chapter One

  Leadra watched her brother fall to his death. Nine people were dead at his hand, and he had killed himself. There was only one horrifying fact—he hadn’t been the only soul in his body.

  She watched the two souls separate and go their separate ways.

  The shadowy darkness that had started the horror cruised upward and entered one of the security officers standing nearby.

  Leadra ran at him and screamed, “You killed him!”

  She could see the original soul clawing to be free, but the shadow wrapped him tightly. He struck her and whispered in her ear. “It is too bad about Frelmer. He was a fun host. I suppose I will just have to make do.”

  She fought him until she was beaten unconscious, and when she woke, she was in the assessment centre with electrodes on her head.

  A voice came out of a speaker on the wall. “Miss Brikar, you have been accused of being a telekinetic, a pusher and a psycho. How do you plead?”

  She was confused but she shook her head. “Not guilty?”

  “Are you asking me?”

  “I don’t know where you are? Where is the officer I was fighting? He can explain things.”

  “He already made his statement, and then, he committed suicide, citing your confrontation with him as the final straw. He said he felt your influence and that you had urged him to die. That is punishable by death.”

  She snorted. “Right.”

  “However, in light of the devastating catastrophe of your family’s demise at your brother’s hands, we are willing to give you an altered sentence. You will be sent to the dome where you will live out your life with other uncontrollable talents.”

  She tried to deny her ability to see souls, but one walked through her cell. Her mother came forward and took her hand in both of her own. Do it. Go to the dome; you will be able to learn what you need to learn if you just go to the dome.

  Her mother disappeared a second later, before Leadra could reply.

  “We have just observed talented activity, so we will alter your plea to guilty of being a talent and your entry to the dome will be carried out immediately.”

  Leadra had nothing more to say.

  Three years went by before Leadra faced the woman in glowing white. She stepped forward to volunteer to fight and was swept into the air with the other twenty-four members of the dome-banishment club.

  She had learned a little about hand-to-hand combat in the dome and gotten her body into fighting shape. When Trala asked for help fighting, Leadra could only nod quietly and agree to try.

  She looked for a purpose and did what she was told. Fighting for her world’s freedom might be the pathway that her mother had mentioned, though the conversation had dimmed with time.

  Helping wake up the sleepers gave her a chance to scan them for the soul shadow she was looking for. There was no sign of it, but she needed to find it. Death and destruction followed in its wake. She needed to kill it, but she didn’t know how. Strengthening her body was the first step. She needed to find out what happened next.

  “You seem confused.” A woman, in flowing robes with a raptor on her shoulder, put a hand on her shoulder.

  Warmth and compassion flowed out of that small contact, and the first voluntary touch in three years sent a shockwave through Leadra that had her bawling in the strange woman’s arms.

  The bird on the woman’s shoulder chirped and rubbed his head against Leadra’s. Warmth and strength flowed from him as well. That made Leadra jerk upright.

  She stared at the animal, and he looked back at her with patient eyes.

  “His name is Fixit. He is a Yaluthu. He is part of a designed species mutated from a much smaller creature, and he is self-propagating. That was a disturbing few weeks.” The woman smiled at her. “He would like to know if he can ride on your shoulder. You are hurt and he wants to help.”

  Leadra blinked and blushed. “I am not hurt.”

  “Your soul is. Can he come on board?”

  She gave in to the inevitable and let the creature walk onto her shoulder. The moment he was settled, she felt a lightening of the weight on her emotions.

  “My name is Veera. My partner, Stanik, is around here somewhere. Look for a large black creature with fangs.”

  Leadra leaned away. “You hang around with a lot of creatures?”

  “Stanik is a shifter. This is his go-to shape. I have to tell you, it makes the Resicoran peacekeepers run like crazy.”

  Veera sat with her as the others ran around to wake the last of the sleepers.

  “What is your talent, Veera?”

  “I am a broad-spectrum telepath. I can pick a thought out of a mind from half a world away.” Veera leaned forward and looked at her hands.

  “Can you teach me that?”

  Veera sat up in surprise. “What?”

  “Can you teach me to look for one mind? I can see him if he is in front of me, but I can’t catch him, and I think if I could use telepathy, I might have a better chance.”

  “I think you might need to go back to the beginning. What are you looking for?”

  Leadra stroked Fixit on her shoulder, and he made a soothing, chortling noise. “I am looking for the soul that jumped into my brother’s body, slaughtered our f
amily and several bystanders before jumping off a bridge. When my brother died, I saw two souls leave and one entered the nearby officer. I tried to engage him and I attacked him, but he beat me and I ended up in the dome for three years.”

  “So you can see the dark soul when it is in someone.”

  “I can. And it needs to kill its host to move on.”

  Veera nodded. “Interesting. We might be able to get the archive to do a search. There might be other recorded issues like this on Resicor, and if they only started recently, there would be a landing craft record and one dead alien.”

  “You will help me?”

  “Anyone in the Citadel would take this seriously, and we will all help you. Look for anyone in these robes and ask for me. I will get the message right away. Or just ask Fixit if he is still with you. He and I have a direct connection.”

  “If you are a telepath, why didn’t you just go through my mind?”

  “It is your mind, not mine. I don’t need to feed on your grief to feel it. I don’t need to rip back the curtain to know you are in pain. You are hunting a serial killer. That takes nerve and I am going to put all of my resources into helping you. First, you have to find out a way to kill it after you catch it, and for that, you need research. For that, we need the archive, and for that, we need to take down your government.”

  Leadra nodded. “Right. I will pick up a weapon and do what I can.”

  “You don’t have to do that, just be here and your positive thoughts and energy will power Resicor and therefore power Trala. The stronger she is, the faster this will go.”

  Leadra was feeling less depressed and stronger. Her plan of revenge had a purpose and there were those who would help her achieve it. Things were definitely looking up.

  Fixit chirped in confirmation and sent her an image of something that was small, fluffy and purple.

  Veera looked up in surprise. “Really?”

  He made a confirming noise.

  Leadra looked from one to the other in confusion. “What is going on?”

  “Fixit wants you to take his youngest as your companion.”

  “It didn’t look like him.”

  “They start out cuddly and fluffy, and when you are ready, they nest and breed.”

  Leadra looked around. “Where is it?”

  “It is at home. We left him where he was safe, with a babysitter. It means you will have to head to Balen when this is all over, and we will be happy to have you.”

  “How do you know?”

  “Because I run the Citadel on Balen. We have trainers who can help you and information access bar none. You will be able to move forward or, at least, expand to your fullest potential.”

  Leadra cocked her head. “Are you serious?”

  Fixit chirped and rubbed his head along hers.

  “I am serious. I don’t often leave the Citadel anymore, but I made an exception for this event. Setting Resicor free is definitely worth the effort.” Veera smiled.

  A huge creature ran up to Veera, and she placed her arm around his neck. “Well, we are on the move.”

  Leadra blinked. “We are?”

  “On the way to the capitol. Are you coming?”

  The tents were emptying and there was no choice. “Of course I am. I am going to enter the Citadel after all.”

  Veera grinned and Fixit flapped his wings excitedly. They had a world to free.

  Chapter Two

  Leadra remained near Veera, Stanik and Fixit. Contact with the trio made her feel better, protected.

  She made it through the freeing of the capitol and signed up to return to Citadel Balen with Veera and Stanik.

  On the day they left, Trala met them at their ship and kissed Leadra on the forehead, giving her a small stone in a pendant setting. “It is one of the tears of Resicor. It will light your way in any darkness and burn away the shadows.”

  Leadra put the necklace around her throat and tucked it into the baggy suit that Veera had provided her. “Thank you. There is no place for me here now, but I hope that one day I would be welcome.”

  Trala stroked her cheek, light streamed from her. “Forever and always. Do what you must and come home when you can. We will be here and you will be free.”

  Fixit let out a long, low cry as Leadra nodded and settled in the ship. Veera wiped tears from her cheeks, and she settled in the pilot’s seat. When Stanik strapped into the nav station and Fixit moved into an alcove with a perch, they moved slowly from their parking spot and shifted into launch position.

  “Resicor is still your home, Leadra. Your people will always be here.” Stanik smiled.

  She looked at the distant coastline where her life and her family had ended in two bloody days. “My people are gone, but my history is here. That is something I will remember.”

  They didn’t say anything, and a few minutes later, they left the atmosphere above Resicor and headed to the nearest jump point. Leadra had never flow before, let alone in space, but she was willing to hold her panic in until she got where she needed to be.

  She needed training, she needed skills and she needed tools. Veera had promised her all of the above, and she was going to hold her to it.

  Pale, shaking and exhausted, Leadra reclined in the medical centre of Citadel Balen. “I am feeling much better.”

  Healing instructor Canevor smiled and his third eye winked. “You haven’t eaten for two days; your personal chemistry is insane, even for a Resicoran. You are staying here until we have you stable.”

  She leaned further back in the bed and scowled. “Fine.”

  A chirp in the doorway brought Canevor to attention. “You didn’t mention you had a Yaluthu.”

  A small purple creature with bright golden eyes and a black beak hopped over to her and jumped up and down at the side of her bed.

  “I don’t. The only one I have met is Fixit. He calmed me down.” That was an understatement. By the time they arrived at Balen, Fixit had been exhausted and Leadra was barely hanging on. It had taken its toll on both of them.

  “Well, this one wants to be with you. Can I lift him before he hurts himself?”

  The little beast was hopping up and down frantically.

  “Um, sure.” Leadra watched the little creature bound up the bed, and she oofed when it smacked into her chest. “Hello, short stuff.”

  It chuckled and rubbed against her, cuddling with determination.

  Canevor chuckled. “Another few hundred years and healers will be obsolete. Well, on Balen, anyway.”

  The easing of pressure on her soul was what was helping Leadra. She stroked the purple fur and let the creature share the pain that had haunted her every day for the last three years.

  He took her pain and simply went around it, burrowing against her until she smiled. “Thanks, Krix. I accept your offer of companionship.”

  His little heart was pounding against his ribs, and she pressed her forehead to his. Her breathing slowed and her stress level faded.

  Canevor checked her vitals and smiled, “It seems that a meal will conclude his work. I will have my assistant get you something. We have a few Resicorans here, and the enzyme treatments will open your options when it comes to eating.”

  She nodded and scooted until she was sitting upright in the bed. Krix was pouring a lot of energy into her and she wanted to make sure that she took it seriously. It took a few minutes, but he finally curled up in the crook of her arm and fell asleep.

  Her food arrived, but it was Veera carrying it. Leadra smiled in welcome. “Hello again.”

  “You are looking better. Fixit is still all tuckered out. His youngest seems to have found you; have you determined his name?”

  “Krix. His name is Krix.” Leadra ran one finger across his fluffy head.

  “It’s a solid name. I included some seeds on the tray, just in case.”

  Veera settled the tray on Leadra’s lap.

  Leadra stroked Krix’s chin an
d when he opened sleepy eyes, she held seeds to him and let him nibble them off her fingers.

  Veera sighed in relief. “You picked a good one, Krix.”

  He blinked sleepy eyes and kept eating until all the seeds were gone.

  Leadra held the water cup to him, and once he was tucked and dozing again, she ate her own meal.

  “Having a Yaluthu is a serious matter. He will literally kill himself to save you, draining his body and mind to keep you safe. I am relieved beyond words that you fed him first.”

  Leadra nodded. “I understand. He is trying to impress upon me that while my goal is honourable, he wants me to make a plan for afterward. That hasn’t occurred to me before.”

  Veera winced. “I have made an effort to stay out of your mind, but I would like you to see a counsellor.”

  Leadra nodded. “It might not be a bad idea. Krix is helping, but it is a lot to ask of a purple fluff ball.”

  “Well, your first tutor is on her way. Zeyan is a Soul Keeper and her talents seem to be in line with yours. She will help you work on your skills and determine what you can and cannot do.”

  “When will she arrive?”

  “In two days. That will give you the chance to recover from your situation and have your first meeting with Nedo, the counsellor who is the best match for you. He is over at the Guard base, so you will have to travel to and from for your appointments.”

  “I don’t know how to drive any of the vehicles around here.”

  “I have assigned you a transporter. Don’t worry, he is very safe.” Veera smiled.

  “Oh, good. I would hate to be out with a dangerous one.” She curled her lips.

  “You have no idea how delighted I am to see sarcasm emerging. It seems your own soul is waking up, just a little.”

  Leadra took a personal inventory and knew that Veera was right. Misery fed and piled onto itself, but Krix had begun to chip away at it. She had a companion who accepted her broken and damaged. It was enough to bring tears to her eyes.