Fallen Souls by Linda Foster Page B

trying to reason with a brick wall. “You
haven’t been talking to any strangers have you?” Frustration crept
into his tone, despite his efforts to stay calm. Alienating her
wouldn’t do any good, after all. She’d always been too stubborn for
her own good.
    Unfortunately, it seemed he’d already
crossed that line. She stopped laughing and all the humor vanished
from her face. “Excuse me?” she asked, raising one eyebrow in
anger. “What are you, an after school special?”
    Ash sighed. No help there, then, and
if she was angry enough, she’d get up and desert him, going off on
her own – probably straight into the arms of the guy he’d seen.
Suddenly, the whole party seemed like a horrible idea. The more he
thought about it, the more convinced he was that the guy meant
Grace some harm. He wanted to get out of there, get his sister home
to safety. The question was how to do it? Grace was already mad at
him, and wasn’t going to leave willingly. He’d have to try and
outwit her.
    Suddenly he saw a flicker of something
out of the corner of his eye; bright red, laughing eyes. He could
swear it. Eyes that promised terrible things, and mocked his
inability to do anything about it. Heat and fear spread over him
and his own eyes shot around the room, searching out the owner.
Eyes couldn’t appear without a face – and body – to go with them,
which meant that the guy must be standing right next to them. The
man was nowhere to be seen, but the image of those red eyes
wouldn’t leave him. It was as if they’d branded themselves onto his
brain. He couldn’t shake the feeling that he was being watched,
along with his sister.
    They had to get away.
    “ Can we get out of here?”
he asked abruptly, turning toward his sister. He didn’t care if he
was being rude. Dread was setting in, and if she said no he thought
he’d probably drag her out anyway. The man with the red eyes had
him on edge, and he couldn’t ignore it.
    She glanced at him with an incredulous
look on her face, confirming his fear that she’d say no. After she
stared at him for a moment though, her features softened. Maybe she
could see the fear on his eyes. He was her little brother, after
all.
    “ Sure.” She yawned. “This
party is getting boring, and I need to lie down.”
    Ash almost whooped with relief. He
scooped her off the couch, set her on her feet, and carved his way
through the crowd, holding her hand tightly for fear that she might
be snatched away from him at any moment. He registered the looks
from some of the other guests, and knew that they’d be talking
about them leaving so early, but none of that mattered now. All
that mattered was that he needed to get her out of there. Now that
they were leaving, the pressure that had been building in his head
was getting worse. They had to get out of the house before that guy
found them, or something bad was going to happen; he was sure of
it.
    They stumbled out the door and down
the driveway, tripping over each other in his hurry. Grace had
picked up on his nervousness, and now seemed just as keen to leave
as Ash. They’d both had too much to drink, though, and he wondered
how they were going to get home. He drew to a stop by the car, and
looked around nervously. There was nothing for it – the risk of
them dying in a car accident seemed less than the darkness that was
threatening. When Grace went for the driver’s seat, though, he was
quick to grab her hand and take the keys.
    “ Hey,” she mumbled, “give
those back!”
    “ Nope,” he told her
sternly. He was swaying where he stood, a slight buzz still racing
through his bloodstream, but he was positive that he’d be a safer
driver than Grace. She was barely able to stand up on her own.
Neither of them should drive, but they’d be better off with him behind the
wheel.
    “ Ash, stop it,” she
slurred. She held her hand out expectantly, waiting for him to drop
the keys and give up the fight. “It’s my car. You aren’t