Read Soul Sucker for Free Online

drunk and alone in a new apartment with all her memories sucked out?
    By the time she’d finished her chicken, the light was beginning to fade, so she headed for the shower and a change of clothes. She knew Dianna, Tom’s gran, would be delighted if she stopped by to spend the evening playing video games with her boisterous grandson. In her backpack along with her usual stuff, she put the latest in grandma-approved Pokémon games, and one that was first-person shooter and aimed at teens. That one was definitely not approved, but much more fun, especially for keeping her shooting skills sharp.
    She locked up and took the shortcut over the fence to the back of Tom’s house. She could see Tom and Dianna sitting at the kitchen table, so she tapped lightly on the glass paneled door. When Dianna looked up, Ella waved.
    “Hey guys, what’s up?” Ella came in and took a seat opposite Tom. She tossed the video game out on the table. “I’ve come to extract revenge from your grandson.” She stared at Tom. “Are you up for it?”
    Dianna laughed and hugged her grandson. “She looks like she means business.”
    Ella patted Tom on the back. “Come on, buddy. I hope your bedroom’s clean enough to receive visitors.”
    “It’s okay,” Tom said as he shoved his chair away from the table. “Gran makes me clean up way too much.”
    “I’ll bring you up some snacks later,” Dianna called.
    Ella paused to look back at her. “I brought some chicken. I hope that’s okay?”
    “Sure, that boy will eat anything.” Dianna chuckled. “I’ll bring some iced tea up then.”
    “That would be awesome.”
    Ella followed Tom up the stairs to his second floor bedroom, which had been converted out of two small attics. Exposed beams painted a soft cream crossed the ceiling and the triangular-shaped windows faced out over the bay and back at the steep hillside behind the house. When she was a kid, Ella would have died for a room like this. She’d had to share a room with three other kids at school where she’d been dumped, kicking and screaming, at the age of five. She’d been allowed to personalize her space, but it wasn’t the same.
    While Tom set up the video game, she glanced around the room. The bed was against the interior wall and faced the door. The windows were on either side along with a double fitted closet. She gauged the distance between the bed and the various escape routes and considered where best to bait her trap.
    “Tom, can you think of anything you do that makes the thing under the bed appear?”
    “I don’t do anything.” He hunched a defensive shoulder and refused to look at her.
    “I meant is there a particular time when the thing turns up?”
    “When I get into bed.”
    “Have you usually turned the lights out at that point?”
    “I used to, but not anymore.”
    She hated the vulnerability in his voice and understood it far too well. “So it doesn’t wait for it to be dark, then.”
    “Not anymore.”
    She hunkered down beside him on the rug. “We’ll play some games, wait until your gran checks in on you, and then we’ll set a trap, okay?”
    He finally turned to look at her, his expression intent. “Do you really think we’re going to catch it?”
    “Sure I do.” She hesitated. “Don’t tell anyone, but it’s my job to catch stuff like this. That’s why I was glad when you told me what was going on, because I knew I could help.”
    “Your job?”
    She had his full attention now and she really didn’t want it. “Yeah, I can see the monsters. Because I know where they come from, I can send them back. It’s a secret, right? You can’t tell anyone, not even your family.”
    If it came down to it, she could wipe the memory from him quite easily, but, considering what he might be, that wouldn’t be her first choice. If he was an empath, he needed to understand his world and start to protect himself from it. She would help him build his shields without him even realizing it, because