The embers grew brighter as I inhaled the final drag from my cigarette and then flicked it to the ground, stomping on it as if it were a spider.
My time was running out and if I failed, well I couldn’t think of the consequences right now
I needed to find a motor vehicle. But with the city, in the throes of St. Vitus Day, everyone would be busy getting ready for the day’s festivities—taxi drivers included.
I kicked the curb and let out a curse. I needed to keep my mind clear, but that was become difficult when I could feel the anger and frustration boiling inside. Why in the hell would he do this to me? I thought. Normally, I wouldn’t dream of questioning the boss’s judgment and in all fairness this was probably the best he could have done on such short notice. But from where I stood, it didn’t feel very fair. I mean he did stick me in the residential area of the city instead of the town’s center, which, by the way, is nowhere near my mission location not to mention there isn’t a soul in sight.

My plan for now was to just start walking. Surely I would eventually run into someone that could give me directions and maybe a lift to the center of town. But when the sweat starts rolling down my back like a sticky sheet, I realized no one in their right mind would be out for a casual stroll in 104 degree weather. Hell, I didn’t particularly want to be out in this inferno.
I shielded my eyes as I peered down the street. Almost a mile ahead, I could just make out the outline of a small neighborhood park. The park entrance seemed like an inviting oasis of cool green shade from the handful of trees that dotted the sprawling lawn area. But one tree in particular caught my interest; a massive weeping willow tree with deep branches sat perched front and center. If I ran, it would only take a minute to reach the tree and its cocoon like respite. I glanced around to see if anyone was watching me and with no one in sight, I ran.
Once I reached the tree, I eagerly knelt under the massive branches and crawled inside. The wispy green leaves chimed and danced in the cool air like delicate bells. The sound sent soft shivers down my arm and made me yearn for home. I leaned my back up against the tree trunk for support. “Ugh.” I said in disgust as I feel the sweat press out of my shirt and drip on the parched soil.
I looked down at my clothing and laughed. I think I could have gone without the traditional black today.
I pulled out a leather band from my shirt pocket and groped my water logged tresses in one hand while I tied the whole soggy mess back off my face. I laughed again, hysteria on the tip of my tongue, as I began to realize how bad my situation had become.
I took a deep breath of the cool air, just like we were taught back at the academy, and concentrated on my last conversation I had with the boss. I closed my eyes and drifted back in my memory.

I knocked softly on the boss’s office door and waited for his invitation. When no response came, I pushed the door open and stood nervously in the doorway.
Even after a year here at the academy, I still felt as nervous and unsure as I did when I first walked in here.
“Come in Pindara,” the boss responded as if he were whispering. His warm baritone voice usually comforted me, but something seemed off today.
“You needed to see me?” I asked my voice weak and unsure. We don’t often meet with the boss alone.
“Yes, thank you for coming so quickly.” He motioned to the chair across from him. “Please sit. We have little time for pleasantries today I’m afraid,” he informed me while he scrutinized the books and papers that littered his desk.
Now I felt certain he had bad news. Naturally, I wanted to avoid the unpleasant report. I walked slowly towards his desk allowing myself time to soak up the calming rich colors from the art and tapestries that filled his office. I was stalling—obviously. But when the steps ran out, I finally had to take my place opposite his large captain’s desk. The boss’s office, decorated with some of the finest antiques from England, is calm and pleasant; too bad most of our business here was anything but.
I could taste the anticipation in the air while I watched my boss push around his paperwork and organized them into stacks, sort his pens and pencils and search through one of the stacks on his desk until he found an oversized yellow envelope. He carefully pulled the envelope from the stacks and slowly pushed it towards me. “Pindara, I’m sending you to Sarajevo tomorrow.” His eyes barely meet mine as he gave his orders.
I pulled back abruptly. I watched as the envelope slipped from my numb fingers and fell on the desk top with a thud. My eyebrows knitted together, expressing the question I could not articulate. What gives? A day wasn’t much notice to prepare for a mission, and he knew it. Dumfounded, I shook my head, hoping to clear my brain of the troubling thoughts. “What’s wrong in Sarajevo sir?” I finally asked once I managed to swallow the lump in my throat.
“There are some damn foolish things happening in the Balkans,” he replied as he got up from his desk. He wrung his hands together as he walked over to the wall mounted maps and pulled down a map of Eastern Europe. “Otherkin assassins have been dispatched and their target is the Archduke Ferdinand,” he continued as he pointed to the city of Bosnia. “I’m sending you to stop it. If they succeed in their assassination, their actions will trigger and great war, one in which we could see millions perish.” He turned away from the map. His face looked seriously grim.
I squirmed in my seat as I let out an incredulous huff. At times the boss could be a bit overly dramatic, but most of the time his theatrics were justified.
The boss continued his briefing as if he hadn’t noticed my nervous outburst. I tried to follow along as I pulled out a large map from my assignment envelope and unfolded it across my lap. My eyes were instantly drawn to a thick red line that traced a main route through the city. I traced my finger along the path, pausing on six red Xs and stopping on the large D over the town hall. It would appear that the final destination would be the town hall, but I didn’t understand what the six Xs represented. “Sir,” I interrupted him as I turned the map toward him, “what are the Xs for?”
“Based on the motorcade’s route and the surrounding terrain, those are the most likely locations for the Otherkin assassins,” he stated dryly as he returned to his desk, reached into his tobacco box and pulled out his pipe.
“Six. Otherkin. Assassins.” I spluttered. I found it hard to believe that the demons could gather six Otherkins. “That can’t be.” But I know it could be, it just wouldn’t be easy. “Why?” I ask even though I know why a demon would want to use Otherkins to do their bidding. A demon can’t just walk unnoticed in a crowd. And although Otherkins didn’t look human to soul trackers, they were still human enough that they could walk undetected amongst humans.
But Otherkins are volatile and problematic. If the demons went through the effort to gather six Otherkins then they had begun a monumental undertaking.
“Pindara, I shouldn’t have to tell you this, but you must do everything within your power to stop this. You cannot allow the loss of so many good souls. A loss of that magnitude would herald in a power shift, one we cannot afford to offer the demons.” He let his words sink in as he picked up his pipe and lit the tobacco. He took a few small puffs to get the embers going, took a deep drag and slowly exhaled. The smoke rose and encircled his head as if it were a halo. Amused by the symbolism, I couldn’t help but smile.
My smile quickly faded as I realized the boss had only referred to me in this mission. Surely he wouldn’t be sending me alone. Sir, may I ask whom you are sending me with?”
“You will be alone… ” I attempted to interject, but before I could launch my protest, he held his hand up to silence me. “Pindara, this is not the only plot we have in the making right now. I’ve already dispatched the other soul trackers to the field and there is no time to retrieve them. It is possible that Gustav will send one of his trackers from Germany, but we all have our hands full at the moment.”
Panic hit me like a tidal wave. Having only just turned eighteen, my soul tracker powers were still new to me. There were others at the academy that would be better suited for something of this magnitude. I stood up abruptly and instantly regretted it; my head began to swim in its own panic-stricken thoughts. My legs buckled beneath me and I managed to sit down again before I fell on the floor.
Still clutching the map, I clumsily folded it and returned it to the envelope. I gently placed my assignment back on the desk and pushed it across the desk top back to my boss. “No, I can’t do it. It’s too big. It’s nothing but a death sentence to these humans,” I protested weakly. I looked at my boss and pleaded with my eyes for some sense of rational. “You must send someone else.” I told him as I held his gaze and waited for him to concede. But when did not respond, I threw my arms up in frustration. “I’m not going to take¬¬¬¬¬—you can’t be seriously thinking that I—I can’t!” I blurted. My breath had become ragged and unsteady and my body began to shake. I felt awful for losing control, it’s not what soul tracker’s do and I knew better. I looked down at my lap, shamed from my outburst.
The boss let out a loud sigh. Had I angered him? I braved a look at his face. I expected to see, frustration and even disappointment in his eyes, but I didn’t. I saw nothing that led me to believe I had upset him in anyway. “Pindara, it must be you. You will not let me down. I’m sure of it.” His voice was firm and resolute. He held my gaze and offered a supportive smile. I knew he was trying to instill confidence in me, but confidence is something I didn’t have in myself, so it failed to have its intended effect.
“How can I stop a great war? I’m not ready for something this big. Please, you must send someone else,” I pleaded, my breath still ragged as I struggled to keep my composure. “I can’t have the loss of all those souls on my hands.” I felt utterly helpless as doubt and fear began to take over.
My boss, dropping his smile, reached over his desk, picked up my assignment and held it out to me. “Start reading Pindara,” He placed the envelope back in my hands. “You don’t have much time; I’m sending you tomorrow.”

That was three days ago and I still couldn’t comprehend the boss’s decision to send me here, alone.
I glanced at my watch; one hour until the assassination attempt. At that thought panic swelled inside me. But panicking wouldn’t help the situation. I took a few calming breaths, found my center and focused on the contents of my assignment package. I visualized the map and I chided myself for not brining it. Think! Picture the map, the route. Where do you need to be?
A clear vision of the map unfolded in my mind. The route lay out before me as if I were watching a moving picture. The road to the town hall, the path to save the

Archduke, I could see it all in my head and I knew where to go. But if my calculations were correct I had a big problem; the town hall is at least fifteen miles away. I wouldn’t make it in time if I walked at a normal human pace. I need to borrow, okay maybe I needed to steal, a motor vehicle if I had any hope of reaching my target in time.
I crawled out from the comforting shade, stood up tall and took a good look around while I decided my next move. The sound of a vehicle coming to a stop caught my attention. A few blocks down the street, a vehicle had pulled up along a row of stately townhomes. A young couple and three small children emerged from the vehicle. The children instantly started a game of cat and mouse with their mother on the sidewalk. She did her best to corral them but it appeared to be an impossible job. No sooner would she catch one when another would break away and begin the chase again. The man fared no better. He could hardly see his own feet over the tall stack of parcels he held. It was all he could do to not trip over his own children. I felt glad not to be in their shoes. Demons are easy, children, not so much.
Serendipity. I thought to myself as a smug smile formed on my face.
I approached the family from across the street. Clearing my throat to announce my presence, I attempted to recall my best Serbian. “Excuse me sir? Can you tell me how to reach the town hall?”
The man and his wife eyed me suspiciously. I tried not to look nervous; my Serbian was pretty lousy and I hoped I had actually asked for the town hall and not the town bar. The woman gave me a look of disgust. I’ve seen that look before. She obviously regarded me as riff-raff. Not that I could blame her, a soul tracker’s uniform—drab and black—did nothing to denote one’s station in life. And my big black bag I had to carry didn’t help the look either. No to mention, most women simply do not go out in pants.
The man final spoke up after his wife turned her attention back to the children. “You need to go north about fifteen miles. You should see the sign for Appel Quay Road, turn right there. The town hall is just past the Latin Bridge.”
“Thank you, um... that’s very nice of you...” I stammered slowly as I tried to stall for my next move.
An ear-splitting scream interrupted my scheming. The smallest child, attempting to keep up with her siblings, had run up the stairs of their home and fell. She lay there in a heap on the stairs as her brother and sister denied any wrong doing. The man dropped his packages to the street and ran over to the hurt child, quickly scooping her up into his arms.
Behind him, his wife began to collect the discarded packages as she ordered the other children inside.
I glanced back to the vehicle and could see that it had not been closed up. With no time to hesitate, I bolted into the car. Without as much as a glance around, I slammed my foot on the accelerator and took off. Behind me I could hear them yelling but what was a little auto theft in comparison to saving the lives of millions?

I found Appel Quay Road, and just as the man said, the Latin Bridge. The area was already congested with people vying for a good spot. I knew I couldn’t reach the town hall in my borrowed vehicle; I would have to park and reach it on foot. I drove down a few more blocks until I found a parking space. Once parked, I immediately got out of the car and took a very deep breath, closed my eyes and waited for some personal divine intervention to come to me-it didn’t. Well that figures, I think all the while feeling a bit let down, alone and helpless. My senses were all that I had.
I slowly opened my eyes and took in my surroundings. With this large of a crowd, it would be impossible to detect a single aura, even the ones that were black as pitch. I used my sense of smell. The air, stagnate from the heat and humidity, would concentrate the scents in the air. I took in a deep breath of thick air and chocked. Sulfur—I could smell it, taste it hanging in the thick air. They were already here. Times up, I thought, get moving.
Security is pretty tight around the parade route; unfortunately the police don’t have the weapons to fight demons and Otherkins. Guns and normal bullets can sometime kill a lesser demon and it will kill an Otherkin, but that helps no one. You have to capture the Otherkin’s soul, or the demons win.
Only a soul trackers arsenal could take care of this job. And so, as stealthy as possible, I gather my black bag of weapons from the stolen vehicle and begin to arm up.
I slid my holster on first and adjust the straps tightly. Reaching back inside my bag I felt around for my iron rod—the only tool we had to collect bad souls. The rod had to be packed in a dismantled state due to its long length. Putting the rod together now would be easier than after I found the Otherkins so I screwed the two pieces of the rod together, then fastened the chalice on the top. I slid the rod into the criss-cross of my gun holster and patted my leg for my knife, just where I always kept it. Pulling out my long black duster, I gave it a shake before I slipped it on, making a mental note to petition a change of uniforms from black to white. I grabbed my two handguns and slid them into the holsters under my jacket. Lastly, I grabbed a handful of salt brackish to store any damaged souls in, if in fact I did have to kill someone. God, please don’t make me kill anyone today, I prayed silently as I reached inside my shirt, pulled out my cross and gave it a gentle kiss.
Once I stepped into the large crowd, I knew I’d spot the Otherkins eventually. Their rotting souls held no auras, just a tumultuous black smudge that pulled at their bodies and beckoned them to join the demons in hell. And if the human could see what we see, they would see that their flesh was actually rotting away from their bones. Rot, that’s what they looked like and that’s how they smelled, like the decay of man.
Knowing what a bad soul looks like is part of the deal when you’re a tracker. I’ve seen hundreds in my first year alone. I’m so accustom to them now that I can spot them from blocks away, but that didn’t prepare me for what lay before me—hundreds. I felt the bile creep up into my mouth. I spited out the yellow film from my mouth while I debated how the demons could have managed to gather so many Otherkins—much more than we had suspected. But I couldn’t even recall another time the demons had gathered so many and for what, the assassination of one man?
I needed to keep my head on straight and think logically. I didn’t need to take them all on; I would only need to find one, the assassin that would have the best advantage to kill the Archduke. But that seemed an impossible task given the situation. I wouldn’t be able to move around freely much longer; the police would cut off access around the street once the Archduke’s motorcade made it to the parade route.
Keeping my head low, I pushed forward into the crowd determined to find the one I needed. Spine chilling shivers ran down my body every time I walked past an Otherkin. My nerves were raw and I had to bite down on my lip to squelch the screams that threatened to escape.
I kept going until the small bridge lay before me and still no one appeared to be the obvious choice. At this point I had only one option left; I would just have to stop the Archdukes’ vehicle from crossing the bridge. Once the vehicle made it to the other side, there would be too many places to lose them. And then it dawned on me, the Otherkins wouldn’t want the vehicle to reach the other side either; there were too many places for the envoy to hide. The assassin would need to be close; he had to be by the bridge, by me.
I just needed a distraction, something to keep the vehicle from driving over that bridge. If I inserted a bullet inside one of my salt crystals, I could lay it on the road and when the first car of the motorcade drove over it, as small explosion would go off. That would give me the time I needed to take down the assassins.
I moved away from the bridge and back into the crowd all the while, holding back the urge to run away screaming anytime I dared to look up into the faces of the Otherkins that surrounded me. I knew it would be a matter of time before they discovered me and being out numbered, would kill me before I could stop them.
But to my amazement, I managed to keep my wits and not panic and the Otherkins took no notice of me. I grew more confident as I passed each Otherkin, looking for the one that would become my target. From my vantage I could see six Otherkins that could make the kill, but my money was on the assassin by the bridge. He was well hidden in the trees and brush that surrounded the bridge and he was far enough outside the crowd that he could run away after the panic ensued. It would be him, I knew it.
I made my way through the crowd and returned the street. Grabbing a salt crystal and a bullet from my coat pocket I quickly assembled my bomb, dropped it on the ground and turned to hunt down the assassin. Determined to complete my mission, I marched forward, wrapping my hands around the pistol under my coat and pulled both guns out as I approached the Otherkin.
From behind me, I could hear a vehicle approaching. I turned and saw the Otherkins targets—the Ferdinand’s.
With my fears fading, I confidently cocked the trigger on my guns, held my target in sight and stretched out my arms to take the kill shot. The sight of my arm hairs standing on end made me stop in my tracks. Suddenly I felt as though I had been plunged into an icy lake. The pain stopped me in my tracks. Terror surged though me as I found myself unable to shoot and unable to move. And at that moment I knew, the demons were here.

Instincts took over as adrenalin coursed through my blood. I stumbled into the crowd as I tried to blink away the ice crystals that were forming in my eyes. With my sight impaired, I let the cold spot guide me to where I needed to be.
A few feet from me, I could sense a menacing presence. A dark shadow stood before the bridge. It must have sensed me as well because it began to move at a neck breaking speed as it advanced towards me. I prepared to fire my gun at the shadow just as his face became clear. But it wasn’t a human face or even the rotting face of an Otherkin; it was the mask of pure evil unlike anything I had seen before. Shocked, I recoiled, stumbled back and lost my footing. I fell to the ground in a swift and hard crash.

The wall of smothering ice penetrated deeper, forming ice crystals in my throat and lungs. The air in my lungs left my body with a force so hard, so sudden, that it was as if I had taken a hard hit to the stomach. I couldn’t breathe, couldn’t think, and couldn’t move. Dark spots danced around my vision, slowly taking my sight completely. My heart struggled to force my blood through my body and the sound from the effort was deafening.
The demon stood over me and reached his clawed hand out towards my neck. I knew he would kill me without a second thought. While I still could, I raised my gun and fired. The sound seemed much louder than I had expected, as if several guns had been fired at once.
Slowly, mercifully, the cold began to fade. My sight slowly returned, but my vision was still blurry. Just to the side of me, only inches away from my body, laid the bleeding body of the demon. I’d mortally wounded him.
I thought that would make me feel better, make me feel like I could get up and hunt down the Otherkin assassin, but I still couldn’t move. The pounding of my blood pulsing through my body was almost inaudible now. But I could hear the terrified screams of the panic stricken humans around me.
I managed to incline my head just enough to get a better view of the calamity around me. My body lay on the road, in a pool of blood, in the midst of mass chaos. Just past my body I could see the Archdukes vehicle. A man franticly pulled the lifeless body of the Archduke from the vehicle. And then, I knew the reality of the moment—I failed. The Archduke Franz Ferdinand had been assassinated. Because of me, millions of people would soon perish and their souls would be lost to us.
Suddenly, my body convulsed uncontrollable and I collapsed back to the ground and began to vomit on myself. If I had to choose this feeling or the one from the demon, I would have been happy to spend an eternity with the demon.
A high-pitched ringing bore into my ears and I felt a searing pain, like a hot poker being shoved in my ear. I reached up to cover my ears from the pain, only to feel a hot sticky substance oozing from my ears. Shocked, I jerked my hands away and held them up for inspection. My stomach retched again. My hands were covered with creamy-grey flesh and blood.
As I laid there on the ground in a mixture of my blood and the blood of the demon, I realized I was dying. But worse than that, I had failed. With that realization, I began to cry hot tears of despair. I wanted to die and leave this god forsaken planet; I wanted to return home, return to Him.
The images of this world quickly bleed together as I felt my soul slip away from my body. But even a soul feels and my soul felt as if I were falling to into a blustery abyss. Suddenly, several disembodied arms and hands began to grab me, pulling me further down into nothingness while the wind screamed my name accusingly. I tried to pull away in protest, but my actions only made the bodiless hands and arms increase their fervor.
Before the dark consumed me completely, I realized what would be done to me. I had no hope of finding peace and returning home, not yet. The world would have their retribution; I would experience the death of a million souls.

Impressum

Texte: photo by Marta Dahlig
Tag der Veröffentlichung: 07.04.2010

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