Borrowed Souls (Soul Charmer #1)(72)

“The magic itself doesn’t have intent, child.”

Stalling was harder than people gave it credit, especially when the person you were trying to stall was speaking in riddles and could probably kill you with her mind. “Right, but what’s its purpose?”

“To elevate us.” The incredulity in her tone implied the answer should have been obvious to her.

“That sounds an awful lot like raising our souls to heaven.” Callie couldn’t resist quoting her mother’s favorite line of scripture.

“If you’re suggesting what that man is doing with souls is God’s will, you can leave.”

“No!” She answered too quickly. After a moment she tried again. “Not at all. I recognize you’re doing something more important and valuable.”

She scoffed, but was clearly flattered by the remark. “Saving society is vital. We can’t let him corrupt them all.”

Callie played along. “So you’re saying we need to get his souls?”

“‘We’? So quickly you’ve come aboard.” Tess beamed, but Callie couldn’t tell if it was genuine.

Callie held up her hands as though they were living grenades with the pins pulled. “I don’t want this magic.”

“I can’t make it disappear. I was clear about that.” Why couldn’t she? Because she wanted to use Callie, too?

“Are you willing to help me, though? Control it at least?”

Tess took a step toward her and the first inklings of warmth buzzed at Callie’s fingertips. When her hands began to glow, she asked, “Can you stay back for now? Trying to avoid flame mode.” Like avoiding carbs, though, it was futile.

“I can’t teach you anything if you don’t accept the magic.” Tess closed in, leaning over the chair where Callie sat.

She held her hands below her face in the space between them. They lit like Roman candles, ready to start firing shots of riotous color through the room. Callie turned her palms away from Tess, hoping it would cool the blaze. The desire to touch Tess welled in Callie’s chest. Where was that coming from? It wasn’t her normal fight-or-flight response. It was darker. The magic inside her—her magic—wanted to be fed. Callie just wanted to protect herself, but would touching Tess burn her, or further ignite the power roiling within Callie’s open hands? This job was officially too damn dangerous.

“How do I accept it?” The question came out as a sob.

Tess’s nails sank into Callie’s right shoulder. The sharp pain was rapidly replaced by a swell of flame, as the fire in her hands began to lick its way up her arm. “You need to feel it.”

Burn victims often passed out from the pain of the heat, but the fire didn’t actually injure Callie. Her head swam, regardless. “It’s too much—”

“It’s because you fight it. Accept the purity of the magic. Pull it in. Embrace it, and the pressure will subside.”

Pressure. Shit. That was the word. Flames licked at her skin, but beneath the surface her muscles throbbed, as though the magic was treating her like a dollar-store water balloon. She was going to pop. “I can’t keep it.” It was too much. Too scary. Too wrong.

“Not a choice. Accept it and ascend—”

“You Tess?” Derek’s growl raked over sandpaper.

Tess jerked her head in his direction, but he’d already shot. She grabbed weakly at the dart protruding from her shoulder. “You … ”

Her body fell on the floor in a heap. Derek shot her again, this time in the chest.

“Was the second one really necessary?” Callie asked.

“Too many surprises today.” Blood smeared his neck and the back of his right hand.

“Agreed.” Callie slumped in the chair as the fire within her quieted to a simmer. She ignored the niggling thoughts of embracing magic. “Are you okay?”

“Fine,” he said. Liar.

“The other lady?” Callie swiped a hand across her shoulder. Blood marred her fingers, but the flames had cauterized her wound. There was probably a bright side buried in all this, but she couldn’t spare the energy to searching for it.

“Snoozing. We need to book.” Derek hefted Tess’s limp form over his shoulder. If they hadn’t just tranquilized the woman, Callie might have fantasized she was dating a firefighter instead of a debt collector for one of the bad guys.

Their paper-thin plan was working, but that didn’t mean they were solid. “Are you going to walk across the shopping complex with her like that?”

“It’s dark. Didn’t you say that was beneficial to my kind of work?” He waggled his eyebrows at her, but she still saw the strain in his neck. Something more than the deadweight on his shoulder was hurting him.

“Let’s not screw this up. I’ll bring the car over.” They should have done that in the first place. Shitty plan.

Derek attempted a shrug. “She’s not dead. So technically everything’s going according to plan.”

Tess sure looked corpse-like. Was it getting to her? Probably. “You sure?” She was going to quit agreeing to poorly constructed plans … starting next week.

“Stay behind me, and get the car’s back door open when we get there. I’ll handle the rest.”

The two of them and their unconscious prize held to the shadows. Callie’s hands were just visible as they worked their way through the alleys to the darkened lot they’d parked in. Tess didn’t need to be awake for her surplus of souls to have an impact, even if it was a small one. Callie decided the dim glow and the edge of heat were worth it to stay within arm’s reach of Derek.