Borrowed Souls (Soul Charmer #1)(63)

She nodded and then waved over the waitress. “A slice of the coconut cream.” Tess paused, and inclined her head toward Callie. “Do you want another piece?”

Patronization must be a bonus skill when you gain the ability to snatch and sell people’s souls.

Callie shook her head no, not trusting her voice to conceal her fear. She’d wanted to meet Tess before the Charmer’s magic had turned her into a weapon. Doing so without Derek had even held appeal before she’d seared the skin on Bianca. Bartering with the other soul magician in town—the one who didn’t look like a reanimated reptile—had seemed smart. Only now she knew too much about this world. The sweet, forty-something-year-old woman next to her was a front. She’d ripped a soul from Joey—a dope, but a fairly harmless one—and left him in a well of regret and need. Anyone who secretly snatched bits of people’s souls to fuel themselves was shady with a capital S. The Charmer was heavy handed and creepy as fuck, but there was no secret what you were getting with him. He didn’t hide his power.

Callie looked at her hands. She was next to another person who could wield soul magic, steal it, and yet her hands weren’t going inferno. They weren’t doing anything.

Tess’s laugh was like wind chimes. Unreal. “Don’t worry, I dampened my magic. No need to have you burning down your favorite restaurant.”

For a woman who was supposed to be livid with her for lighting up her underling, Tess was being oddly chill. That—combined with her knowledge of Callie’s habits and haunts—only served to make her scarier by the second. This would have been the ideal time for Derek to stride in and do his save-the-day thing.

He didn’t.

“Thanks,” was all she could think of to say. Being polite was Callie’s default when she was uncomfortable, and Tess had thrown her too far out of her realm. She searched her insides for reserves of confidence, but they eluded her. Standing near the Soul Charmer had skyrocketed Callie’s magic, not the other way around. Was Tess more powerful or was the Charmer able to do the same thing, but hadn’t because he was an asshole? Fuck if it were both.

“Of course. I’m not much for fiery dramatics.” Was she dismissing Bianca’s injuries? Were they cool just like that?

Trusting this woman wasn’t going to happen, but Callie sensed a truce. Good pie could do that. “What can I do for you?”

Tess’s smile revealed she had all her teeth. One up on the Charmer there. Not that it stopped the sensation of creatures skittering over her skin. “Oh, no. My goal is to help others, and I’m here to help you, child.”

“Help me?” Callie had heard a lot of pitches in her life for assistance. Three different priests, her aunts, her case worker from CPS. Ninety-eight of every one hundred were self-serving. Any woman the Charmer called competition and who colluded with Ford wasn’t out for Callie’s best interest. Nothing helped Callie tap into her fake strength like being underestimated.

“Well, I doubt your recent decision to work with certain people was out of anything other than necessity. You must have been in quite a tight spot.”

Callie bit her lip. She could spot a too-good-to-be-true flag from fifty paces. “It’s a temporary gig.”

“I highly doubt that.”

“You don’t know me well.” Bitch. Stalking didn’t count.

“Perhaps, but nothing to do with souls is temporary, and you don’t know the man you’re working for very well either. Do you honestly expect that the changes to your … hands will go away?”

Yes, she had. The Charmer would want his magic back, right? She was only his indentured servant for a couple more days. She’d be done then, wouldn’t she? “That’s the deal,” she said, as though her confidence hadn’t just been rocked by C4.

“It doesn’t really work that way.” Tess patted Callie’s forearm.

She didn’t need mothering. That ship sailed long ago, and if she did want a new maternal figure, it wasn’t going to be anyone teeming with magic and sowing seeds of sedition. “Can you see the future?”

“No.” Her chiming voice cut hard.

“Then you don’t know he won’t take it back.”

Tess zapped Callie’s arm. Sparks skated up and down, the skin singeing and smoldering in their wake. The desire to slap at the pain and yelp reared, but the room was too full. She corralled the sensation and hissed in agony. Great. Not only could Tess snipe souls, she could also shock people. It edged her up a level on the villain scale.

Tess heaved in a breath, the action full of drama. She knew she was being watched. The sparks dissipated. She exhaled, and then when she spoke her voice was full of charm again.

“Talk to him. When you’re ready to help—and I will take care of you, Callie—come find me.”

She couldn’t help herself. “Where would I do that?”

A cheshire grin on a woman like Tess was terrifying. “There’s a tarot reading shop north of the city near the Desert Outlets. You know it?”

“I know the Outlets.” Callie shrugged.

“I’ll be there at midnight for the next week.”

Why was she even entertaining this? Oh, of course, because sinking deeper into danger was the Delgado way. She’d had a lifetime to learn it was smart to always keep your options open. “What if it takes longer?”