The Somnibus: Book I - Finding the Mark (A Paranormal Thriller) by Craig McGray

chair and lifted his shirt.
My jaw hung open. From his sternum to his waist, a solid bruise, a palette of
purple hues.
    “Holy shit! What the hell is that?”
    He pulled his shirt down and went back to his
coffee.
    “When I took hold of Mallen and brought him into
my body, he resisted a little.” He smirked. “He attempted to beat his way out
from inside my chest. I held him until I needed to let him go in order keep
myself alive.”
    “So can he come back?”
    “Yeah, he can come back, but it will be awhile.
He’s going to need some time to bounce back from that beating. I’ve had a few
scuffles with him, but that one’s going to leave a mark. He may even leave us
alone after that.”
    “Is there any way to get rid of him for good? I
mean , is it possible, or do they just live forever?”
    “They can be destroyed, but it comes at a price.”
    Mort lowered his chin into his cup.
    “What’s that?” I asked, half knowing the answer.
    “I could have destroyed him last night, but that
would have been an end game event.” He tilted the mug to his lips.
    It took a second for the statement to hit me.
After I processed his words, I wanted to hear it. I wanted to be clear on what
that meant.
    “Meaning?”
    “If I had not released him, he would have been destroyed.
I would have been reduced to an ashy stain on your carpet, but he would have
been gone.” Mort stood and set his cup down on the table before he walked out
of the room and headed upstairs.
    “I’m going to take a nap. I’ll see you later.”
    He had once again dropped a verbal bomb and walked
out of the room, leaving my mind to deal with the fallout, reaching for the
swirling pieces of information floating around my head.
    Why would Mort put
himself in danger for me, and why hadn’t he ever answered me as to how he had
not aged? I headed upstairs to take a nap myself.
    I wondered if I still had to lock myself up before
I went to sleep. Mort said it would be awhile before Mallen tried to come back,
if he tried at all.
    I decided to be on the safe side. I secured the
harness around my waist and laid back, allowing my eyes to give in to their
weight. My mind drifted off to sleep as my body relaxed.
    A prickling on the back of my neck nudged me
awake. A figure stood over me in the dark. I sat up, my ears pounding. Mort
stood at the side of my bed in his underwear with no shirt, his hands draped at
his sides. I noticed his body was no longer a purple mosaic.
    “Mort, what are you doing?”
    His mouth gaped open, and the siren of the
Somnibus escaped his throat, invading my ears. The smell of stale blood and
metal filled the air as I struggled against the lock to free myself. My hands
shook with adrenaline and fear as the dial just spun in my fingers.
    “5-6-1-2. 5-6-1-2!” I repeated, hoping that just saying the numbers aloud
would somehow release the lock.
    Mort climbed onto my bed and sprawled over the top
of me with his face hanging low in toward mine. He had one leg on either side
of me, his hands clasping my shoulders in place. A strand of drool hung from
the corner of his mouth as he hovered closer to my face. I lay there,
motionless, waiting for something to happen. His head faced the ceiling while
his arms and legs released their support, and he lowered himself onto me. His
full weight pressed me deeper into the mattress.
    He went rigid and fell to the side of the bed. My
fingers jumped to the dial on the lock and I once again tried to release
myself. Mort stood from the floor and leaned over me, grabbed the lock, and
released it from my harness. I jumped from the bed and fell back into the wall.
Mort leaned over the bed and snared me with his eyes.
    He spoke in a smooth tone, his words clear. “Get
out. You have to get out of the house now. I can’t hold him much longer. I will
take care of Mallen, and you take care of yourself. Remember everything I’ve
told you. Now go. Take your trace and run!”
    His demeanor told me this was not the time