Borrowed Souls (Soul Charmer #1)(44)

“My edges are better sharp.” Understatement of the year. If she was going to continue mingling with the likes of him and the Soul Charmer, she needed to be a goddamn honed human dagger.

He laughed and slid the drug back in his pocket. “Maybe they are.” The metal groaned as he pushed off Callie’s car, but thankfully it remained in one piece. “You change your mind, call me. Otherwise, I’ll be in touch once you’ve gotten that soul.”

Sure. As creepy as the Soul Charmer was, he was better to work for than Ford. The Charmer had turned her into a magic tool without her consent. Shitty, yes. But Ford was blackmailing her into using soul magic to break into a police lab. He wouldn’t shell out the cash she needed to rent the soul, but he had no problem giving her free narcotics. At least with the Charmer, he didn’t hide the fact that he was a scary, shady fuck. Ford, flitting from friend to fiend, cut deeper, and he did it harder and faster. He’d bleed you before you even noticed the bloodied knife in his hand.


Callie hadn’t gone into work on her day off since her hospital days. She’d learned quickly that a medical assistant dropping a book off to a friend could get volunteered for an extra shift pretty easily. Her current job was less likely to be short-staffed, but the risk of extra hours without extra pay was still real. However, her morning chat with Ford scared her into the employee entrance of Cedar Retirement Home.

The sooner she completed his task, the better. The masseuse she met the other day did chakra balancing. That had to be close enough to Tess’s siphoning of souls—sucking chi, Derek had called it—for her to know the other woman. Tracking down Tess was now her best option. Either she’d snag a soul from her and knock Ford’s task out early, or she’d turn Tess over to the Soul Charmer in exchange for expediting her soul rental. Both were nasty options, but another run-in with Ford or one of his goons was much nastier.

“Callie? What are you doing here? Did I goof the schedule?” Louisa’s eyes widened as she entered the kitchen, but she didn’t miss a beat chopping cilantro and swiping it into a large pot on the stove.

“No, I’m not working today.” Her smile was wan, but Louisa pretended not to notice.

“That’s good, because I don’t think my scrubs would fit you.” She pulled a tray out from the oven. The lemon and basil notes of her marinade wafted across the room. Callie’s stomach rumbled.

“You know if any of the massage girls are here today?”

“A few of them.” She glanced at the clock. “Should still be down at the reception station. Most start work at nine.”

“Thanks, Lou.”

“You need me to pray for you?” The laughter in her words was false. Louisa would pray for her regardless.

“Couldn’t hurt.”

Prayers were necessary by the time Callie reached the reception desk. Two of the masseuses were there. Their faces were familiar, but neither were the woman she’d talked to outside the ward. If only asking favors came as naturally to her as it did to Josh. She opened with a “Hey,” and it went downhill from there. Her palms grew warmer with each step she took toward them, for starters.

The women replied with rote greetings and returned to their own conversation. Their chatter dimmed when they realized Callie hadn’t moved along, but at least Callie’s hands hadn’t gone inferno again.

“I’m trying to find a woman who specializes in chakra balancing,” she interjected. It was as close to the truth as she dared.

One of the women, petite with dirty blonde hair tucked into a loose ponytail, shrugged and said, “I can do that.”

“Thanks, but I’m actually looking for a specific woman. She was here the other day, but I didn’t catch her name.” After enduring a pair of blank stares, she added, “She offered to help me.”

The taller massage therapist scoffed. Her thick eyebrows were two shades darker than her brown locks. “That was then. We heard what you did to Bianca.”

“B-B-Bianca?” What. The. Hell.

“Small world. You burned our friend.”

They knew. People miles away knew what she’d done. Her hands didn’t burn now, but the memory scalded her. “I don’t know what—”

“Yes you do.”

The fight-or-flight instinct reared inside her, but instead of incinerating shirts and skin, Callie ran her mouth. “In that case, I need to talk to Tess. Do you know her?”

The short one piped up again. “Sure. You apparently don’t though. She’s the chakra balancer you said you knew.”

Those simple words packed quite a punch. Callie’s solar plexus vibrated as the wind rushed from her. Not only had she already met Tess, but the same woman who was stealing from the Soul Charmer of Gem City also knew Ford. All the bad guys wanted a piece of Callie, it seemed. Couldn’t they put their battles aside until after she rescued her brother?

“Can you put me in touch with her?” she asked, ignoring the women’s scathing tones.

“If she wanted to talk with you, she’d find you. Right now she’s busy taking care of Bianca,” the short one said.

“I’d worry about yourself for now,” the other tacked on.

If only it were so easy. Returning to Plan A was a whole lot harder after you’d pissed off someone who controlled souls. Tess might not be as powerful as the Charmer, but magic was scary. So was the unknown. Tess was both, and Callie and Derek needed to find her fast before the situation went from awful to unbearable.