The Cupid War Read online

Fallon fell backward through Susan, Owen tackling him around the waist. They both passed through the bathroom wall and out the side of the house, plummeting to the ground. Fallon landed hard in the backyard, taking the brunt of the impact. Owen, cushioned by Fallon’s body, rolled off him and climbed shakily to his feet.

  “I’m starting to really dislike you,” Owen said.

  Fallon might have responded that the feeling was mutual, but before he could, he took Owen’s foot in the guts.

  “I don’t know how you got out of Limbo,” Owen added, “and I don’t much care. You’ve crossed the line, big time.”

  Fallon was uncomfortably aware that, while he could shield himself from energy attacks, physical punishment was another matter. He tried to get up, and made it as far as his hands and knees before Owen kicked him down again.

  “Stop this!” Trina yelled, running from the side of the house and placing herself in front of Fallon. “Leave him alone.”

  Owen laughed and kicked through her, catching Fallon under the chin.

  “Get lost, sweetie,” Owen said. “There’s nothing you can … hey! Cut that out!”

  Fallon saw Trina waving both hands in and out of Owen’s face. It couldn’t hurt him at all, but it was obviously distracting. Fallon clambered back to his feet and was about to launch himself at Owen when someone slammed into him from behind. Two sets of hands grabbed his arms and pulled him to his feet. Fallon recognized them—Walt and Joe, the ones who’d thrown him into Limbo.

  “What is this?” he asked.

  “You just close your mouth,” said Louis, emerging through the backyard hedge. Trina saw him, and had just enough time to register fear on her face before Louis blasted her in the chest.

  “No!” Fallon shouted, struggling hard against his captors as Louis let Trina have it. She screamed but he didn’t stop; the deadly bolts kept coming. Louis’s face remained neutral, as if he were merely watching the news instead of instigating torture.

  Fallon remembered his shield abilities and projected a field around Trina. Louis stopped his barrage, leaving Trina panting on the ground.

  “Look what he’s doing,” Fallon said. “He’s attacking a teenage girl! Don’t any of you think that’s wrong?”

  “Boy needs some softening up,” Louis said.

  “Yes, sir!” Owen replied, walking over to Fallon with a look of pure evil pleasure. He threw a fist hard into Fallon’s face; Fallon fell to one knee, his head reeling. Walt and Joe laughed and hauled him up again, and Owen threw another punch.

  Fallon staggered against his captors but didn’t pass out; it seemed his body wasn’t able to. It also didn’t seem inclined to break. His head absorbed the impacts, but it wasn’t damaged much by them. The pain was as intense as Fallon expected, however. And if his body couldn’t break or lose consciousness, Owen could take shots at him for as long as he wanted.

  Source, Fallon thought, if you can help me, now would be a really good time …

  “I think he gets the message,” Louis said, then blasted Trina once more.

  Fallon tried to project a shield but couldn’t, and then a kick to his stomach made him forget everything else but his pain. He fell to his knees, and Owen reared back his leg for another punt.

  “Stop!”

  Fallon looked up and saw Jada rushing up to him. Louis pointed and fired a bolt at her, but then Caleb appeared and put himself in front of the discharge.

  “Stop this,” Caleb said as the shock waves coursed all over him. Louis stopped, but he did not lower his hand.

  “Get out of here,” Louis said. “This isn’t your business.”

  “Louis … ” Caleb said dangerously.

  “That’s an order!” Louis snapped.

  “Stop this,” Caleb said.

  “I’m not warning you again,” Louis said, his hand aimed at Caleb’s chest.

  “Neither will I,” Caleb replied, and he charged. Louis fired, but the blast barely slowed the bigger man down. Caleb barreled into Louis, and the two hit the ground and rolled into the house.

  “Owen, let Fallon go,” Jada said.

  “No!” Owen replied. “This is what he deserves, Jada. I caught him trying to kill a girl.”

  “Like Louis was doing?” Jada said, pointing down at Trina.

  “She’d been helping him,” Owen said simply.

  Jada looked over at Fallon, and her face wrinkled. Fallon guessed that, even though he couldn’t break, he obviously didn’t look at all pretty.

  “Owen, what are you doing?” she said. “I never knew you could be so … ”

  “Get lost, Jada,” Owen said. “I’m not done.”

  Owen reared back his leg for another kick. Jada stood in front of him and said, “No. Don’t do this.”

  Owen put his foot back down. Then he grabbed Jada by the shoulders and threw her to the side.

  “Oh, you did not!” Jada said, climbing back up. “You did not just … ”

  “I said get lost!” Owen said, trying to shove her again.

  Jada deflected him with her left hand and drove her right hand fingers-first into Owen’s left eye. “Uh uh,” she said, as he screamed and reeled backward. “One shot at me’s all you get.”

  She followed up with a side kick so fast that Fallon barely saw her move. The blow knocked Owen off his feet, and he landed clutching his face. Jada gave him no time to recover; she walked over and grabbed one of his arms and twisted, then planted a foot on his back to keep him from moving.

  “Not much fun being on the receiving end, is it?” she said. Owen swore at her, so Jada twisted his arm even harder.

  “Havin’ a little trouble with the lady, Owen?” Joe asked, and Walt snorted with laughter.

  Great, Fallon thought. Not only are they brutal and evil, they’re sexist, too.

  “Should we help him out?” Walt asked.

  “You boys think you can … ” Jada said to them, then looked over their shoulders at something.

  “Aw, don’t fall for it,” said Joe.

  And that was the last thing he ever said. He and Walt suddenly went slack, all their muscles failing. Fallon fell from their grip; he crawled forward, then turned over to see what was going on.

  Susan Sides stood behind them, her hands in Walt and Joe’s backs. Her face was one of ecstasy, as if she were having the biggest orgasm of her life.

  Walt and Joe slumped to the ground. Susan followed them down, her hands never leaving their hearts.

  Fallon looked over at Jada and Owen, who stared at the sight with equal parts shock and horror. Fallon knew for certain that Jada had never really believed him about Susan. She did now, though. The evidence was staring her in the face.

  “Let me up! Let me up!” Owen begged, and Fallon actually thought Owen might run to his friends’ aid. Instead, the second Jada released him, he scrambled to his feet and ran off in the other direction. Jada shouted after him, then turned back to the situation.

  “Fallon, what is she?” she asked, her voice on the edge of hysteria. Walt and Joe had lost their physical forms now, just like the Suicide that Fallon and Caleb had stopped. Their souls appeared, shining brightly—until Susan grabbed them. Their lights dimmed and greyed over, taking on the Suicide’s astral aspect.

  “She’s a living Suicide, like I told you,” Fallon said as he crawled toward her. “Killed herself and became a Suicide. She was revived in a hospital.”

  “How do we stop her?” Jada cried, firing Love bolts that had no effect at all on Susan. “How do we stop her?”

  Fallon had no idea. He knew they should run—they’d be next, otherwise—but then he saw Trina lying facedown in the dirt. If he ran, she’d be Susan’s next victim.

  Susan opened her eyes and her hands, and the two souls drifted aimlessly. At the same time, Caleb f
lew out through the wall of the house, blasted by one of Louis’s bolts. He collapsed next to Trina, groaning. He did not look good.

  Susan stood back up, looked at all of them, and smiled.

  “This … is … awesome,” she said.

  Source, please get us out of this, Fallon thought, as Susan started toward them.

  24

  Jada, come here,” Fallon said, crawling backward across the yard toward Trina and Caleb. “Do it now!” he added when she stared blankly at him.

  Susan Sides was walking toward him—slowly, confidently. It was a bitter irony, Fallon thought, that she was finally showing confidence now.

  “Shouldn’t we run?” Jada asked as she arrived at his side.

  “I need your help,” Fallon said, taking her hand. “Project Love into me. I need your strength.”

  Jada nodded in understanding and linked her fingers with his.

  Susan moved in, her hands outstretched.

  Fallon projected his Love shield. Jada projected Love into him, adding her power to his. The shield spread to encompass Caleb and Trina, and knocked Susan backward into the hedge five meters away.

  Fallon smiled at that. It hurt to do so after Owen’s punches, but he smiled anyway. Susan had just murdered two Cupids in cold blood; if he didn’t try to smile, he would go insane.

  “How did you figure out … this?” Jada said, waving at the shield with her free hand.

  “The Source,” Fallon replied. “I asked for help, and then I just knew what to do.”

  “Whoa,” Jada said. “I never knew we could do stuff like this.”

  “There’s a lot you haven’t been told,” Fallon said. “Isn’t that right, Louis?”

  Jada’s head snapped around in time to see Louis emerging through the wall of Ryan’s house. He looked haggard, beat … the same way he looked after I kicked his ass, Fallon thought.

  “Will this shield protect us from him?” Jada asked.

  “No, it won’t,” Fallon replied. “The shield that blocks him comes from a different source.”

  “Then shouldn’t you … ”

  “He’d have shocked us already if he could have,” Fallon said. “Beating Caleb wiped him out. Didn’t it, Louis?”

  “Not lookin’ so hot yourself,” Louis replied, raising an arm. “I got enough left for you.”

  “Do you?” Fallon asked. He was risking a lot; he didn’t think he could block both Louis and Susan in his current condition.

  Luckily, he was right. Louis fired off a bolt so weak it barely got half a meter from his fingertips before petering out.

  “Told you so,” Fallon said. “Now talk. Why’d you come here? Why”—he turned to look at Susan, who was picking herself out of the hedge—“are you helping her?”

  “I don’t owe you an explanation,” Louis replied. “What I do, I do, and that’s the end of it. You got no business asking me anything.”

  “But I do.”

  Everyone turned again. Bud the Soul Reaper had emerged through the wall of the backyard shed, and he did not look happy. I’ve never actually seen him happy, Fallon thought, but this time he looks really honked off.

  Fallon looked back at Louis. The man looked afraid, and seemed at a loss for what to do. He’d been caught; should he run, or throw himself at Bud’s mercy?

  Susan didn’t hesitate. She ran.

  Bud paid no attention to her. He approached the drifting souls of Walt and Joe and took them in his hands.

  “I came here for these,” he said, “but I will send someone for you, Louis. It’s clear you’re in up to your neck here. This does not look good for you, not at all.”

  The look on Louis’s face changed, the fear giving way to misery.

  “You don’t understand,” he said, but Bud was already fading away.

  “What’re you going to do about Susan?” Fallon called after him.

  “Not my problem,” Bud replied, just before he vanished.

  “You don’t understand!” Louis repeated, falling to his knees. “You guys just don’t get it … ”

  “It’s about Sandra, isn’t it?” Caleb asked, rolling onto his side so he could face Louis.

  “His daughter?” Jada said, and Louis slowly nodded.

  “They threatened her, didn’t they?” Caleb said. “What have you done, Louis?”

  Louis gave Caleb a dirty look, but had no words.

  “Wait a minute,” Jada said. “Five years ago when Owen and I got jumped by those Suicides … is that what this is about?”

  “I just know there’s a story here,” Fallon said.

  “A group of Suicides surrounded Jada and Owen, and took Owen prisoner,” Caleb said. “Which they’d never done before, at least not as long as I’ve been a Cupid.”

  “They told me to go get Louis,” Jada added. “Told me to tell him if he didn’t come, they would destroy Owen.”

  “So Louis went, and returned with Owen,” Caleb said. “And you never did talk about it, did you?”

  “They told me they’d hurt Sandra,” Louis said. “You think you just got it bad?” He turned to Fallon. “You got no idea what a Suicide is capable of. They would’ve hurt her, my daughter, nonstop … ”

  “You made a deal with them,” Fallon said, understanding. “The Suicides realized Susan could be the greatest ever—all their powers but still a living being, immune to the powers of a Cupid, as far as anyone knew. They didn’t want Susan Sides discovered by the other Cupids, so they made a deal with you, didn’t they? To leave your daughter alone if you left Susan alone?”

  Louis nodded. “They told me they’ll give Sandra back to me.”

  “And you believed them?” Caleb said.

  “And this isn’t the first time, is it?” Fallon asked. “Alexander told me how to connect to the Source. That’s how I learned to make shields. You forbade the Cupids from meditating. Was that one of the Suicides’ demands, too?”

  Louis looked down, sighed, and nodded.

  “Oh, Louis, you fool,” Caleb said. “You poor, poor fool. They will never release her to you. And you’ve put lives—human and Cupid—in danger. How many like Fallon, Louis? How many like Walter and Joseph? How many have to die for your daughter?”

  “As many as it takes,” Louis answered simply.

  “You don’t mean that, old friend,” Caleb said. “You can’t.”

  “But I do,” Louis said, looking up again. “I know what they’ll do to her. And after all she went through in life … ”

  “Sandra chose to end her life,” Caleb said, “and for that, there are consequences. It is out of your hands, Louis. It always has been. Give it up now, before you make things worse.”

  “No,” Louis said, and he shot to his feet. “No, there’s still something I can do.” And he turned and ran off through the house.

  “Goodbye, old friend,” Caleb said sadly.

  Fallon wanted to say “good riddance,” but he had enough tact to stay quiet. He looked away from Caleb and Jada and focused his attention on Trina. He touched a hand to her heart and felt her soul; she was still alive and appeared physically healthy, but Fallon felt damage that was more than just internal.

  Source, he asked, what can I do to save her?

  And then, he knew.

  “Fallon,” Caleb said, “what are you doing?”

  Fallon didn’t answer. He kept his hand inside Trina and poured in his life force. It was a risk that could cost him his existence—he had so very little life left to give—but it was the only thing that could heal the scars Louis had given her. Trina Porten didn’t deserve to die.

  Of course, he didn’t either. But he would gladly sacrifice all that he was to give her the chance to keep going.

  Fortunately, he didn’t have to. Trina inhaled sha
rply and opened her eyes, then smiled weakly at the Cupids gathered around her.

  “You’re a trooper,” Fallon said.

  “Ryan,” Trina said. “Is he … ?”

  “I’ll check,” Fallon said. He stood up, then promptly fell down.

  “I’ll go,” Caleb said, and he started to rise to his feet.

  “You’re not going anywhere, Fallon,” Jada said. “Neither are you, Caleb,” she added, pushing the larger man gently but firmly back down. “You both look like hell. I’ll go.”

  “Very well,” Caleb said, amused, as she walked toward the house.

  “Can she help him?” Trina asked, pushing herself up into a sitting position. “Susan got him pretty good.”

  “Only time, patience, and self-love can heal the depression a Suicide can cause,” Caleb said. “We must find a way to keep Susan from him, so she can do him no further harm. And he must be watched, guarded. Depressed people attract Suicides like a moth to a flame … ” He broke off, suddenly very worried.

  “Oh no,” Fallon said, catching on.

  Trina would have asked, but just then Jada screamed. All three of them clambered to their feet in time to see her fall out of the house with three Suicides clinging to her.

  25

  Fallon and Caleb stepped in front of Trina and fired Love. Both were shaky on their feet, and neither’s aim was perfect, but they did succeed in grabbing the Suicides’ attention.

  The three Suicides leapt from the fallen Jada and attacked. One came straight at the Cupids; Fallon and Caleb easily blasted it back. The other two darted to the side, then came at them from each direction. The two Cupids couldn’t react fast enough; the Suicides latched onto them, and they fell.

  Fallon tried to put up a fight, but he had no strength left. Looking to his right, he saw that Caleb was faring no better.

  “What can I do?” Trina cried, but Fallon had no answer for her. If help didn’t arrive immediately, they were finished.

  Fortunately, help came. A blast of Love knocked the Suicide off of Fallon, and a similar blast saved Caleb. The Suicides ran, unwilling to take their chances with this new threat.