Seeking Souls

:// Chapter 21 //:

Alright, so it was more of a dagger than a knife, but that didn't stop it from hurting any less with the sharp end pierced his skin and deeply embedded itself in his shoulder. A mixture of Basil's surprise and the sheer force behind the weapon knocked him off his feet and into the wall behind him.

Now that the blade was several inches in his skin, he could see that it resembled something similar to a Japanese shuriken more than an actually dagger. Basil was in complete shock for the few seconds that it took him to realize that he should be screaming, but it was too late for that.

The intruder was already in front of him, with a pistol's silencer pressed against his head. "Scream, and I'll kill you."

Basil didn't recognize the voice, nobody could. The stranger was wearing a black ski-mask that seemed to have some sort of voice box sewn in. It was hard enough to understand the monstrous growl let alone put a face to it.

"W-What do you want?" Basil shoulder was already spilling various amounts of blood. The red color staining his shirt was quickly spreading to cover the front of his chest.

The intruder didn't answer. Instead, he ripped the blade out of Basil's arm. The quick motion tore through the skin, and the stranger immediately covered Basil's mouth afterward so he wouldn't scream from the pain. "Get up." Basil was whimpering as he was pulled to his feet by his now bad arm and dragged down stairs with the cold silencer still pressing on the back of his head.

Basil was led through of motions of being restrained downstairs in a silent panic. He was desperately looking for a way out, or how to get help without being shot. But the stranger was very meticulous about his movements so before long his hands were tied behind his back with his ankles bound together.

"Zakariah, please help me!" Basil was desperately praying in his head. "Please, I'm scared. Dustin has guns-why was the intruder in Corin's room-Zakariah get up!" His mind was a mess of fearful ramblings as the stranger opened a giant duffel bag on the kitchen counter.

Basil didn't recognize the bag, so it must be the strangers. That notion was confirmed when he pulled out a bulkier looking weapon, and headed towards the stairs.

Meanwhile back in the guest room, Zakariah couldn't stay asleep. His body seemed to be tensing on it's own as if some sort of sixth sense had taken over him, which made it difficult to relax.

"Zakariah!"

The Reaper's eyes flipped open just in time to see someone twist the knob of the bedroom door. Basil wasn't in the room, and soon as the door moved he could see something shiny and metallic pointed in his direction.

On pure instinct Zakariah rolled over onto to the floor just in time to see a strangely shaped bullet pierce the bed sheets. It had a needle for a point and was painted with strange coloring. Zakariah's seen such things used by human hunters before on bigger game. "Tranquilizers."

The intruder, with his first shot missed, quickly adopted another angle. With a running start he bounded back downstairs. Zakariah followed him, hoping to catch him before he could escape, but once he reached the bottom of the stairs he came to a dead stop.

Basil was bound and helpless in the strangers arms with a switchblade pressed against his soul's throat. Zakariah couldn't so much as move or that blade probably would too.

Once the stranger knew they had a mutual standing, he fired his gun three times. All three tranquilizers hit their target and started working within the next few seconds. He dropped Basil and sauntered over the Reaper, who dropped to one knee. Then, he fired two more into his back, just to be sure, and the Reaper fell flat against the floor.