(Here's the second chapter.)

Chapter 2
Operation Gunslinger



Anni Oakly was nineteen and an experienced Soul Mystic. She was tall, slender, buxom and had long blond hair, though her black eyes often gave her the look of slight disinterest in where she was and what she was doing Like most of her family she had joined after her powers had been refined and she had helped her parents take down a Ghul that had tried attacking them. Although what type of Idol she had been able to create had been unexpected, they hadn’t tried to keep it from her, and she was very found of it. Her Idol was a pendant of tiny, bronzed guns that, when activated, could become actual guns that could fire spiritual energy. She considered her Idol an extension of not only herself, but of her Texan heritage and family background, since there had been many gunmen in her family. Anni’s attire for her work at SMHQ was a red cowgirl top, brown zippered vest, and ratty-looking gray jeans and brown cowgirl boots.
Another thing about Anni was that she worked solo. She didn’t have a partner, and didn’t want one. A partner would just get in her way. And Anni wasn’t much of a people person, anyway. She had received the nickname “The Lone Soul Mystic” around HQ.
She entered the Soul Mystic building after school with Arti and Brian behind her as she had given them their usual ride to work after school had let out and stepped into the elevator with them. Arti hadn’t yet changed out of her usual white shirt, bleached blazer and tan street pants into her work clothes, but Brian always wore his jacket and pants whether he were at school or on a mission. Anni wore a brown windbreaker with a white sweater that flattered her figure and showed her mid-drift, but at the same time followed the dress code of school, and white sneakers in place of her cowgirl boots.
“You really should try to come up with some sort of outfit for when you come here,” Arti was telling Brian as the three of them rode the elevator to the top floor so they could get their assignments for that day. “I mean, look at Anni and me.”
“Okay.” Brian looked at Anni’s back long and hard.
“That’s not what I meant,” Arti growled. “What I mean is we both have clothes that makes it hard for anyone to really identify us. You were the same jacket day in and day out. I’m surprised it hasn’t started to smell yet.”
“I thought hiding a person’s identity was what masks were for,” Brian said.
“You’ve never seen Superman or The Green Lantern or Wonder Woman wearing masks, have you?” Arti asked.
“I’ve seen a few Green Lanterns wear masks,” Brian countered. “And I’m not sure if I can think of a reason Wonder Woman would need one.”
Everyday the same thing, Anni thought morosely. These two bicker and fight over the dumbest stuff like an old married couple. Glad I’m not sixteen anymore. Though, she had to admit, it was a pain when half the guys at school interested in her where four years younger or half her age, while most the guys at school her age were either taken or…“uninterested”, shall we say?
The elevator finally stopped on the top floor and the three of them stepped out. After Anni had changed into her work attire, there was a knock on the locker room.
“Ms. Oakly. Ms. Pristine. We have your next mission set. Please report to Mr. Shin’s office.”
Dressed and ready, Anni stood in Mr. Shin’s office with Ms. Pristine taking her custom place by his desk and holding an envelope.
“We have your next mission, Anni,” Mr. Shin told her, the back of his chair facing her. “It’s in the middle of your home state. Your target is the Ghul Bart “Black Bullets” Barker. Ms. Pristine.”
Ms. Pristine walked forward and handed Anni the envelope.
Anni opened it to see the picture of a burly man dressed in the stereotypical “western bad guy” attire; black hat, black vest, black boots, mustache, and black bandana. He only lacked a shirt to go with the outfit. His bio stated he was 98 years of age, but the photo depicted him in his mid thirties.
“This sicko has been eating other people’s souls that long?” Anni asked.
“He’s proved to be very hard to track,” Mr. Shin told her. “And, as with all Ghuls, for every soul he’s eaten, the remainder of his victim’s lifespan is added to his own.”
Anni glared down at the face glaring up at her. “What’s his special skill?”
“Gunnery,” Ms. Pristine told her. “That’s why we thought we’d assign this mission to you.”
“Let’s just back this up a step,” Anni said. “Say we face off, shoot at each other, he hits and kills me and eats my soul. That’s it. Game over.”
“If such were the case, you’d have been dead the first time you used your Idol,” Mr. Shin said. “But, when you first got it, you used it with surprising skill and accuracy. You shouldn’t have any trouble. He’s been located here,” he added as the TV screen switched on and showed a red section of Texas, far from where prying eyes could suspect something strange. “We have two Soul Mystics stationed here. You should find their residence on the map in the folder you’re holding. That’s all. Good luck.”
Anni’s main means of transportation was a black motor bike with a sidecar and horse figurehead on the front bars. Anni called it “Widower Bill” based on her favorite story from her childhood, and felt it was as much a part of her as her Idol. With the map she’d been provided in a side bag, she settled on the seat of her bike and took off, of course teleporting herself to Texas—bike and all—before she actually left the parking garage.
Anni landed right where she had seen the location on the screen and the roar of her motor was clear in the blue sky above her. She drove across a wide stretch of desert and soon came upon a simple little town. Now, even though Anni was Texan and had a decent tan from being in the sun so much, she had distaste for Texan and western stereotypes. And this town was as much an affront to her as she could imagine. It looked almost as if she had gone back in time with all the old-fashioned buildings and old-fashioned dressed people on both sides of her. Anni wondered vaguely whether or not Mr. Shin had also given her this mission so he could mess with her a bit. She stopped in the middle of the town, regardless of the staring townsfolk, and took out her Soul Compass to find where she could locate Barker. The needed was pointing to her left to a saloon just four shops down. She parked Widower Bill in front of the saloon and entered.
It was quite a filthy place. Anni had the feeling it hadn’t been cleaned in months. The saloon was also as stereotypical as anything Anni had seen or even hoped to see. Saloon girls, drunk cowboys and cowboys either watching the cheesy Can-Can routine going on onstage or playing card games.
Anni knew that being inconspicuous was part of being a successful Soul Mystic. If she stated right off that she was looking for a wanted criminal, every lowlife in the place would probably pounce and turn her into Swiss cheese. She walked up to the bar and seated herself on the only stool in the place that looked clean enough.
“What’s yer poison?” the bartender asked her.
“Root beer float, if ya can make it,” Anni replied. She’d need her wits and reason.
The bartender and others at the bar looked at her a bit suspiciously. Maybe they weren’t as dated as they looked, if they could sense she was of legal drinking age. However, the bartender complied with her order and Anni took several gulps of the drink. On the surface it may have looked like she was just there for something to “wet her whistle”, but in reality her ears were alive, seeking out the mere mention of the name Bart Barker.
“I don’t think I’ve seen ya ‘round here before,” a cowboy with a thick brown beard said to Anni as he came up behind her. “Where ya from?”
“Out of town,” she said simply.
“Obviously,” said a black-haired cowboy with thick black hair and a thin mustache. “But where did you come from.”
“Puddintane. Ask me again and I’ll tell you the same,” Anni told him.
The black-haired cowboy turned to the one with the brown beard. “I think she’s funnin’ us, Wild.”
“I reckon you’re right, Zeke,” Wild replied.
Anni felt her teeth grit. “Zeke”? “Wild”? What stupid, stupid names! She activated her Idol and swung around with her guns in her hands, causing Wild and Zeke to back up a few steps. “First son of a dog to lay a hand on me gets to know what it’s like to be like Adolph!” She wasn’t kidding. Around school she had gotten the nickname “Ms. Buster” when boys just wouldn’t take the hint, though she had put too much force into getting that title. She aimed her pistols between the legs of both men.
Wild and Zeke seemed to realize she wasn’t kidding around.
“Easy, gal, easy,” Wild said in an obviously nervous voice.
Anni sighed. Well, so much for being inconspicuous. “I’m looking for Bart “Black Bullets” Barker,” she said loud enough for the entire place to hear her.
There was an obviously fearful silence. A crowd parted and several men ran from a poker table at the farthest most left wall of the saloon. Barker turned slowly around.
“And what’s a little mare like you want with me?” He spoke in the most disgustingly stereotypical western/Mexican accent Anni had ever heard. It made her skin crawl with revulsion.
“Mass murder of 98 people,” Anni told him. “You’re not to receive trial. My orders are to eliminate you on the spot.”
Barker took out his guns. “Just try it, senorita.” He fired.
She fired.
Her bullets of white spiritual energy collided with his bullets of dark energy. There was a fizzle and crackle of the two opposing forces and an explosion. People were screaming and crying for the sheriff and scrambling to escape the gun play that was sure to come.
Darn it! Can’t fire in here. Too risky. Anni waited until the last person had left…only to find herself standing alone in the saloon. Bart Barker had escaped.
“Oh, CURSE IT ALL!” Anni pulled out her compass to find him again. It seemed to be pointing….She took out her map. A feeling of dread came over her. Did he know? No time to waste. Anni rushed out of the saloon, leaped onto Widower Bill and drove off in the direction she had memorized on the map.
The Smiths were a Mystic Soul family that lived a little ways from the town in a humble house that looked exactly like the house from Little House on the Prairie. Anni saw a jeep that was now heavily damaged and a black horse by what she presumed was the front door.
Good lord, no!
Anni screeched to a halt near the ruined jeep and leaped through the only window on the side of the house.
“BARKER!” Her eyes were wild with rage that he would dare do such a thing.
Barker looked up at her, let the woman he held drop to the floor and round after round at her. Anni dodged the bulled and fired back, catching him in the right shoulder. The Ghul howled in anger and pain and retreated. The sound of a horse crying and galloping away told Anni he had gotten away again.
“Damn him!” Anni cursed. Her Idol reverted to being a mere pendant and she noticed the two prone figures on the floor.
Mr. and Mrs. Smith.
Mr. Smith was a tall and fairly well-built man. Perhaps Barker had taken them by surprise and chose to take out the one he felt was the more serious threat. He had thick black hair and manageable stubble up to his noise. As Anni examined him, she noted that his Idol was a silver bullet.
Mrs. Smith was a head shorter and had gorgeous blond hair. Her Idol was a miniature white horse.
Anni checked both their pulses. They were both dead. And she could not sense their wavelengths, either. That could only mean that Barker had eaten their souls, making them his 100th victims.
“Damn it,” Anni cursed again. “Lousy coward must have ambushed them. I can’t see two adult Soul Mystics being defeated so quickly and easily in a face to face battle.”
There was the creak of a door to Anni’s left and she turned to see a girl standing there. She was at least fifteen. The girl had blond hair like her mother in two small pigtails and wore a hot-pink tank top, blue short jeans that barely covered her ankles and black shoes that looked like slip-on sneakers since the top of her feet were visible. Her pink eyes seemed to be taking in the whole room. Then they settled on Anni.
“Who are you?” the girl asked in a light voice.
“Anni Oakly, Soul Mystic,” Anni replied. “You?”
“Debra Smith,” she answered. “But everyone calls me Sunny.” Debra looked at her parents. “What happened? A mean-looking guy came into the house and said he was going to get rid of all the Soul Mystics in this county and my mom told me to go to my room and not come out. Then I heard shooting.”
“Then I guess you don’t need to wonder what happened after that,” Anni told her sorrowfully. “I’m sorry, but the Ghul got them.”
A look of fear and sorrow flashed across Debra’s face.
Anni took out her cell phone and called up HQ on speed dial. “This is Anni. I’m here in the House of the Smiths. I regret to report that the Ghul ate the souls of Mr. and Mrs. Smith. Their daughter is here with me. Can we get some people out here so we can give the parents a decent burial and take care of the child?”
“I’m not a child!” Debra objected. “And I’m not going anywhere.”
Anni looked at Debra. “Be serious kid,” she said. “I’m going to go after a very dangerous person. I can’t put a kid in that kind of danger.”
“I’ve bee surrounded by coyotes and rattlesnakes and bobcats since I was born,” Debra objected, with an oddly cheerful expression on her face. “One stupid Ghul isn’t going to scare me.”
“Listen,” Anni argued, “Ghuls are people who eat the souls of others to extend their life spans. To them, every other non-Ghul is food. Nothing more, nothing less. And I’m uncomfortably sure that after eating the souls of two adult Soul Mystics, the soul of a pre-Soul Mystic would be a very tasty dessert.” She squatted down on her knees so she was level with Debra. “You’re…not…coming. End of discuss-aaaahh!”
Debra had grabbed Anni by the nose.
“Leggo! Leggo! Leggo!” Anni demanded.
“Not unless you say I can come,” Debra told her.
“No way in…..Aaaaaaaaahhhh! What are you, part lobster!?” Anni felt as though her nose had been put in a vice.
“Can I come?” Debra asked.
“Okay, okay,” Anni conceded. She picked up her cell phone which she had dropped after Debra had grabbed her. “You still there?” she asked after Debra released her nose. “Cancel ‘taking care of the kid’. She’s insistent on coming with me.”
“Make sure nothing happens,” the person on the other end told her.
“I’ll try to do that,” Anni replied and hung up. She looked at Debra. “Come on, kid.”
Debra held the Soul Compass as she sat in the sidecar as Anni drove Widower Bill. She was good at giving directions and seemed completely happy to be getting such a ride. Anni guessed she had never been taken for a ride on a motor bike before. It was actually rather cute. For a moment Anni felt something like a glow of pride that mothers and big sisters get. But then she shook it off. She couldn’t get attached to this kid. Especially not if things took a turn for the worse.
The compass had been directing them south-west and soon they were approaching a large cave. Barker’s horse was tethered to a rock at the mouth of the cave. A well aimed bulled caused the strap that kept the horse in place to snap and the horse ran off, frightened by the gunfire and roar of Widower Bill’s engine.
Anni looked into the interior of the cave and saw that the floor was as smooth as marble, leading her to think that this was a manmade cave rather than one born of nature.
She took out her cell phone and hit speed dial again. “This is Anni Oakly. I’ve found Barker’s hideout. It’s a cave two miles and seventy yards from the Smiths’ residence. I’m going in and leaving Debra at the entrance so you can find her.”
“What!?” Debra seemed shocked and looked up at her as Anni hung up.
“Sorry, kid,” Anni said as she took the compass from Debra and hoisted her out of the sidecar. “But this is where you and I part ways. Stay hidden in the mouth of the cave and don’t come out no matter what. Make sure Barker won’t be able to find you.”
“But I want to come!” Debra argued.
“Tough bachi balls,” Anni argued back. “It’s too dangerous for a kid your age. Now stay here.” And she rode off on her bike into the cave.
Anni kept Widower Bill’s motor low so it would not alert Barker to her presence and kept her eyes on the compass which she held in her left hand. It was pointing straight forward. Soon it was flashing a soft, white light, signaling that she was getting closer. She cut the engine and put up the kickstand for her bike, choosing to go further onward by foot. It was perhaps lucky that her boots did not have spurs. Anni walked for what felt like a mile and soon found herself in a clearing in the cave that had an opening like a volcano in the roof. She checked the compass as she walked into the light. According to the read out, Barker was….
…..Right on top of her.
“Crap!” Anni dodged the first fire and activated her Idol, aiming them both in the direction and fired off four times.
“So, senorita,” Barker’s voice came echoing from every corner of the darkness that surrounded her, “You are a persistent one, yes? Miny, miny Soul Mystics have come hunting me. Wot nun of thim realized was that while they were hunting me, I wuz also hunting thim. Their souls were de-li-ci-ous!”
“You’re a sick son of a dog,” Anni shot at him. “They were human, same as you. Don’t you have any regrets?”
“Of course I do!” he answered. “I regret I didn’t find the Smiths sooner. When you have eaten as many souls as me, you develop a geeft to tell who is a Soul Mystic and who is an average person. I knew what you were the minute you stepped into the saloon. I couldn’t wait to eat you.”
Anni felt fury mount in her heart and mind. “Shame on you.”
There was now a volley of bullets from Anni’s left. If she hadn’t heard them, she’d have been dead before she it the ground. She rolled out of the line of fire and sent a barrage of her own in reply. There was no cry indicating if she had gotten him. That unnerved Anni. If only it weren’t so dark. Anni cursed herself. She guessed she should have expected this. If she couldn’t tell where Barker was, it would be harder for her to set up an effective counter strike, and even harder to strike a finishing blow.
“Are you a bat that needs to hide and delay your defeat by hiding in the shadows and psyching your victims out with cheap tricks?” Anni called out to him, keeping her ears and eyes on as full alert as she could. “You’re nothing but a lousy beast in mans’ clothing. Sneaking around in the dark like the Bogeyman.”
“Words are a crutch, senorita,” Barker’s voice shot at her. “It is you who is trying to delay her defeet. You cannot see me, so you cannot figger out where to shoot. I am ze one with ze advontige here.”
“Your grammar really stinks, pal!” Anni growled. “It’s starting to P.O. me.”
“Well then, allow me to fix that problem.”
Bullets came from everywhere and Anni had to dodge and duck and roll as much and as fast as she could to keep from being hit. How was this guy doing this!? It frightened Anni and she felt that she was seriously outmatched. She could not keep this up forever. Finally she aimed to the south-east of the cave and fired. There was a scream of pain.
Anni smirked. “So there you are.” Then it was her turn to cry in pain as a bullet grazed her left wrist and she dropped the gun, falling to her knees.
Barker came out of the shadows in front of her, a gun in his right hand. “Score one for you, senorita,” he said coldly. “But I am ze win-air of zis little gom.”
Take an English class, will you!? You’re not even Latino or Spanish! “How?” Anni asked.
“How did I manage to be everywhere at once?” Barker guessed. “I have the ability to merge with shadows. I knew you had found me the moment you stepped inside ze cave. I also know where that Smith brat is hiding. You will both become a part of me and I will leave forever! No one will be able to stop me! Not my fellow Ghul, not a magick-wielder, and definitely not a Soul Mystic.
Anni smiled despite herself. “Well, it pains me to admit it, but you’re definitely not the typical western bad guy. It also pains me to wish you were.”
“If being in my presence pains you so much, senorita,” Barker said, “allow me to poot you out of your misery.” He aimed his gun at her forehead. “Adios, senorita.”
Just as he was about to pull the trigger and Anni about to accept her fate, they heard a strange sound. It sounded like…no, that was impossible. There was no way that they could be hearing what they were hearing. Their ears must surely be playing tricks on them. What they were hearing….was the sound of roller skate wheels on the ground.
As Barker turned, he cried as he was struck full in the face by something pink and made of hard plastic. It was fortunate for Anni that when he had been hit Barker had dropped his gun.
As for what had struck him…or rather, who…
Debra stood before the stunned Ghul. Her pants had been replaced by plastic bottoms with hot pink boots that had white wheels on the soles and matching armguards. She delivered her punch with a kick and knocked Barker down.
“Don’t you touch her!” Debra screamed harshly, then rolled over Barker’s fallen gun, crushing it so it would be unusable.
Anni was in stunned amazement. How had Debra arrived so quickly? Had she followed Anni? And where had she gotten that gear? Then it hit her. Debra’s Soul Mystic powers must have awakened pre-maturely. She had gotten her Idol.
“Don’t let him get near the darkness!” Anni cried when she saw Barker was trying to flee into the shadows. “That’s how he got me!”
Debra moved with such swiftness that it was startling. Like a flash she was on Barker, pummeling him about the face and neck with the armguards, moving too quickly for him to grab her. She was screaming so incoherently that it was hard to tell what were real karate cries and what was just gibberish. Debra was battering Barker towards the center of the light. Then she kicked him where it truly hurt the most before bringing an armguard down on his head and causing him to fall face first to the floor.
Anni was staring at Debra. “How…Debra…your Idol…how did you get it?”
“I wanted to help,” Debra told her. “I wanted to help really bad and wanted to make sure the guy who took my parents away from me was punished. Then this weird white glow just started over my heart and this little white wheel came out. I can’t explain it, but somehow I knew how to activate it, and here I am.”
As she spoke, Barker grabbed her legs and caused her to fall back. He stood up glaring down at her with pure hatred in his eyes and heart. How dare this little nothing beat him. It would be her last mistake. He raised a foot over her windpipe as Debra lay on her back helplessly. “Say adios, la cucaracha!”
There was a bang that echoed throughout the cave.
Barker looked in horror over his left shoulder to see that Anni had aimed her gun right where his heart was from behind with her unharmed right hand.
“Adios, la cucaracha,” Anni said coldly.
Debra moved before Barker fell forward, his frightened staring eyes looking at nothing.
She looked at Anni. “You saved me.”
“You saved me first,” Anni told her.
It was a day later when Mr. Shin called Anni into his office again.
“Thanks to you, one of the worst Ghuls has been destroyed and the deaths of Mr. and Mrs. Smith avenged,” he told her, of course, the back of his chair to her.
“And…Sunny?” Anni asked hesitantly.
“Ah, yes,” he said. “I know a few people who know of us who would be glad to adopt her. But it all depends on her.”
Anni gulped, her face going a bit crimson. “Sir…I…I’d like….to a-adopt her. If…that’s okay.”
There was no response.
“It’s just,” Anni went on, “that…she saved me when Barker was a hair’s breath from finishing me off. And she did give him a pretty good pounding. She….she’s also…just starting out. I’d…I’d like to mentor her.”
“Interesting,” Mr. Shin said after a while. “So, you’d be willing to give up being ‘The Lone Soul Mystic’ and take Ms. Smith as your partner?”
“Yes sir.” Anni answered.
There was another pause.
“Consider it done,” said Mr. Shin. “She’ll be moved into your apartment next door and become your new partner. I hope you can handle it.”
“Thank you, sir.” Anni smiled softly. “So do I.”