Soul Snatcher (17 page)

When Baden
knew she had fallen asleep he came out of the shadows of Annie’s
room where he had moved to when she had tried to kiss him. He went
and stood by her bed, just watching her as she slept. He had wanted
to kiss her tonight but he couldn’t, he couldn’t do anything until
he was sure. He just hoped that he would be sure before the things
he did pushed her away.

CHAPTER
14

A
s soon as Annie ate
in the morning she sought after Eli. Not surprisingly, she found
him in the library reading a book peacefully. She walked into the
room and noticed there was a space cleared on the carpet for them
to practice. The furniture was pushed back so it lined the book
shelves and made an outline for their practice space on the
carpet.

“
Good morning,” Eli said as Annie walked in. He glanced
at the clock on the wall then back to her. “Just.” He smiled
playfully.

“
It is rather late,” Annie agreed, missing the joke
entirely.

“
Do not be ridiculous, I was having fun with you. Now
we must do something about those clothes before we begin.” He
placed his book down and walked over to his desk. She noticed some
clothes folded neatly, sitting on top of it.

“
What are they?” She asked as she approached the
desk.

“
These are some old clothes I wore when I was twelve. I
found them so you would not have to wear a dress.” He held the
clothes out for her, pleased with how thrilled she looked. She took
them smiling thinking of how fun this would be.

Annie hurried
excitedly to her room and changed as quickly as she could. The
black pants fit well enough but were a little tighter than
expected, as they had been made for a young boy rather than a
shapely woman. The white shirt was far too tight and the buttons
were strained to their limits around her bust. She squeezed into
the grey vest and was glad for it as it helped to cover her more
appropriately, though the buttons on that were also working hard to
contain her. Seeing that she had no other option for her attire at
the moment she decided not to care. It was only Eli that would see
her anyway and that didn’t bother her. She was too eager for her
lesson to give it much thought.

Annie ran
enthusiastically downstairs and into the library. Eli was waiting
for her in the space he had cleared, looking up as she burst
through the door and into the room. He was dressed in loose, tan
pants that were rolled to his knees and a comfortable, white
slip-shirt.

“
I think you must have had a growth spurt after
twelve,” she commented as she inspected her clothing. When Eli
failed to respond she looked up concerned that she had offended
him. She found that he was also inspecting her clothes. When he
realised she had noticed he busied himself with rolling up his
sleeves.

“
Yes, well. Sorry that I did not have time to organise
more comfortable attire but this shall do for now. We will arrange
an appointment with Antoinette.” He finished with his sleeves and
walked over to his desk to get something. “You may want to tie your
hair back,” he suggested.

Without
warning h
e flicked a hair tie
over to her that he grabbed from the top draw and she only just
managed to catch it. As she tied her hair in a ponytail he walked
over and started throwing cushions on the floor where they were
about to practice.

“
From the look of your groundwork things may get
rough,” Annie said as if to prepare herself.

“
Do not fret, I shall be as gentle as I possibly can,”
he promised. “Now, I just want to see your natural instinct. So
come at me,” he directed.

To
b
race himself he stood with
his legs shoulder width apart and his arms out in front of him. All
of a sudden she felt nervous and she had to swallow hard to try and
push the feeling away.

“
Just run?”
She asked shyly, barely able to find her voice.

“
Do not worry, you will not hurt me.” He grinned
cheekily. “Give me your best,” he dared. His challenge made
something inside her rise to the occasion and she ran at him
without warning.

When she was
a young girl she h
ad always
played rough with the boys from school in the field, favouring that
rather than spending time with the other girls. She drew on that
experience and lunged herself at Eli. He didn’t expect her to do
that, so as she collided with him he fell backwards and she landed
on top of him.

“I am
sorry
. Are you hurt?” She
asked panicking as she lay on top of him. To her relief he started
laughing.

“
I am fine,” he assured through his laughter. “Did you
hurt yourself?”

“
Not at all,” she said with a smile.

“
Great, again.” He jumped up and took her with him,
placing her on her feet. “Now attack me.”

This time she
got nowhere before he had her restricted from behind, though he was
careful not to hurt her.

“
You will not have strength against them so you will
have to use creativeness. You have what they want and they will be
distracted by it,” he explained whilst still holding her. He tried
to put the fact out of his mind that she could be attacked again,
as it concerned him to distraction.

“
Right.” She took in what he was saying.

“So if you do
not get a chance to stop them before they reach you then you may
get your chance if they try to bite you or…hurt you.” He faltered
before he used the word kill.

She knew it
was a true possibility, and he was only teaching her, but that
didn’t stop the chills it gave her
to think of herself in that situation. She suspected that
the training really wouldn’t do anything if she was confronted by a
snatcher but she thought it was probably better than
nothing.

“
So what do I do if they have hold of me?” She asked
trying to move out of his hold but failing.

“
If you have a dagger with you then you will have more
of a chance. If you can drive it into any part of their skin it
will distract them. Though that may mean you lose your dagger. In
that case you will need a backup,” he explained, sounding as if he
was thinking aloud.

He finally
released her and walked over to the day bed. He lifted the hidden
lid and pulled out half of the velvet lining holding five of the
daggers. It was stiff and easily moved and acted as a cover for a
lower section. She walked over and looked at what he was
doing.

Underneath
were assorted chromium pendants, tipped with polished bone. They
ranged from crosses to decorative trees with sharp ends, to smaller
plain looking daggers. Some were even disguised to suit as a
necklace or possibly a brooch.

“
What are they?” Annie asked as he knelt down beside
him and searched through the box.

“
These are daggers you can carry on you without anyone
realising.” He chose a cross that had an irregularly large lower
part and was looped onto a leather piece of cord. It was long
enough that it would sit below her bust and be covered by any dress
she wore. He knelt down next to her and placed it around her neck.
She took the cross in her hand and inspected it closer.

“
So, this is my back up?” She asked.

“
And…” He pulled out another ornament. This had the
same handle as the larger daggers, except smaller and thinner, and
the blade was a little shorter.

“
Where will this go?” She asked as she took it from
him, letting the necklace drop.

“
In your hair,” he said with a smile. She looked at him
in surprise then realised the ingeniousness of it.

She pulled
the hair tie out
of her hair
and threw it on the ground. She twisted her hair around the bone
until it felt tight enough before spearing it through her hair so
it ran vertically along her head. It sat tightly against her head
but could easily be removed if it was needed. The bone was hidden
by her hair and the handle looked like an adornment designed
specifically for hairstyling. She felt a little uncomfortable with
the fact it was bone but she tried to put that out of her mind. Eli
raised his eyebrows to show his approval.

“
When I played as a little girl my hair tie would often
break. I would find the nearest twig and manage it to hold my hair
back,” she explained the origin of her hairdo.

One of
the boys she used to play along with
as a child came to mind, his name was Nathaniel Eddon. He had shown
her how to tie her hair back with a stick, knowing how to because
he had seen his sisters do the same thing. Every now and then she
wondered where he ended up in life.

“
I must say, I am thoroughly impressed,” he said,
distracting her from her thoughts. He was pleased that she would be
well armed if it ever came down to it, not that he ever intended to
let that happen.

“
May I ask…why do you use bone for the dagger blade?”
She wondered. He picked up one of the usual size daggers and held
it solemnly.

“The only
bone that will
kill a
snatcher is a bone that has been removed from one of us…” he said
as he looked at the dagger. When she didn’t comment he looked up to
see the disgusted look on her face. “That is how I felt when I
first heard it.”

“Wh
at do you
mean…‘us’…as in trackers?” Annie pulled the small dagger out of her
hair and stared at it, horrified that she had even touched it. Eli
held back his laughter at her reaction.

“We do not
fully develop into our potential
as a tracker until the age of twenty, which is when we have
reached our physical peak. Once we have reached that age we have a
rib that crosses over our heart removed and fashioned into a
dagger,” he explained. “The particular rib used actually grows
thicker and stronger than the rest of our bones, specifically for
its purpose.”

Annie thought
about the sacrifice that the trackers made to try and keep
unknowing humans safe. Even though trackers were known to heal
quickly she imagined that it would be an excruciating process. She
didn’t like the thought that Eli had to go through something like
that.
Suddenly she thought
about what he said,
one
rib is
removed.

“But why do
you have so many daggers?” She looked at the daggers lying across
the seat
with horror written
across her face.

“There are of
course casualties in my line of work and we do not let daggers
previously made go to waste if we can avoid it.” He tried to say it
as tactfully as he could but it didn’t change what they were. Those
were the bones of dead trackers. Annie thought she was going to be
sick, she looked at the one in her hand and placed it down with the
others. Then she took the one from around her neck, careful to
ensure it did not touch her, and placed it with the other
ones.

“I know it
seems altogether horrendous but they
could save your life,” he reasoned.

“Yes…I
understand that…” she looked at him to try and think of the words.
“Just let me get used to the idea for a moment.” He nodded,
understanding her reservations. After a moment of thinking about
all of it she spoke. “So a snatcher’s skin is penetrable then?” She
wondered. She thought mythical creatures would be indestructible or
something.

“
Well…yes,”
Eli answered. “They still have their human shells but when they are
injured their bane heals them quickly.”

“
Can they…perish?” She was surprised at how normal it
felt to be talking about these things called snatchers.

“Yes, by using the dagger
to stab them through the heart.” He flicked the dagger in his hand
and caught it easily, he almost looked proud of the
instrument.

“Why do you
have to
stab them through the
heart with it?” She asked feeling completely fascinated by it
all.

“Because the
heart is known as the origin of love and the myth tells us that the
men that were sacrificed had truly loved her. When the demon made
her he had to ensure that the new creations would have a weakness
as nature requires a balance. Since her victim’s hearts were what
made them vulnerable it is said that the demon made snatcher’s
hearts vulnerable in a different way,” he recited the information
as if he said it a million time before.

“
And how do
you know all of this?” She thought it was curious because
apparently trackers didn’t have much to do with
snatchers.

“
The first
tracker,” he answered easily.

“
I see…and
how does he know all of that?” She was skeptical of this ‘first
tracker’ that seemed to be so knowledgeable. Eli paused, obviously
he had never thought to ask the question before. He shrugged his
shoulders.