Borrowed Souls (Soul Charmer #1)(77)

Talking to a crazy lady was about as much fun as scraping your shins on a brick road. “So while you’re stuck down here, the poor people of Gem City are generally fucked? That’s what you’re saying?”

“The purification will happen regardless.”

Callie placed her hands on Tess’s thighs, and leaned forward. She needed this answer for Derek. “Are you working with someone else?”

The smell of burning fabric hit her before she recognized the fire beneath her palms. Her frustration with Tess had overridden the pressure of the magic. Derek had been right about motivation. She should have let go. She wasn’t the kind of person who would torture someone, but her emotions were flowing through the flames. Her breathing eased with every second she let the twin torches flare. It wasn’t right. It wasn’t fair. She needed to care about that.

Tess cried out. Callie tried to pull back, but something was stopping her. Her desire to save Derek and herself from the Charmer had screwed with her magic. She needed to let go. It was the right thing to do, and yet her hands didn’t budge.

“There are others,” Tess screamed between gasping breaths.

Callie finally won the struggle and jerked her hands away. She took all seven layers of Tess’s skin with her. She didn’t have enough space in her torso for the ball of guilt and horror that formed at the sight of the exposed muscle and tissue underneath. This is what magic did. It turned people into crazy, awful beings. The Charmer and Tess were both power hungry. They used twisted justifications to avoid accepting they were slaves to the rush. Callie couldn’t let herself become that.

Her voice wavered as she asked the next question. “Who are they? Names.”

The metal chair ground against the concrete floor at the force of Tess’s shaking body. Callie couldn’t ever swear a medical oath again. She no longer had that right. “I don’t know who will be here. I wasn’t the only one recruited.”

Recruited? Come the fuck on. “Who recruited you?”

“Fire won’t get that one out of me, little bird.” A wry grin spread on her face. She had to be in shock. The pain had somehow blanked from her brain.

“Give me names.” Would Ford be on her list?

“Your mother will be able to find one.” She laughed.

“What?”

“Zara is always in need of a fix. She’ll find another of mine.”





—— CHAPTER NINETEEN ——

Blaming a lack of sleep on Derek’s injuries was what a weak woman would do. Callie wasn’t weak. She had given the Soul Charmer the information he wanted. His henchman had told him about Tess’s injuries. Callie had winced, but the salacious way he licked his lips at the news had been replaying in her mind for hours. She’d ignored the Charmer as he laid out his plans for his new prisoner, and had held steady long enough to claim Derek.

She had rescued him from that den of depravity, and then tucked him into her bed. Now her battered brain flitted between worry for the man she cared for and dread that he’d reject her once he knew what she’d done to collect him.

Trading one worry for a lesser one wasn’t healthy, but she wasn’t about to become a yogi anyway. Digging into her task for Ford should have been terrifying, but her nerves were fried. The blueprints Ford had provided seemed straightforward. At least something was. Callie pinched the bridge of her nose. Easy plans didn’t exist. Their extraction of Tess proved that.

She headed to the bedroom at the sound of a muffled groan. Derek was sprawled across her bed. She’d stripped him of his jacket and shirt when they’d returned from the Charmer’s. He’d curled into a ball and fallen asleep quickly. Now, though, he’d opted for a starfish position. She sat in one of the two open spaces on the bed, her hip next to his.

“How are you feeling?” She hadn’t soothed anyone in a long time. Was she doing it right?

“Like someone stabbed me in the chest.” His road-rashed voice made her wince.

“At least you weren’t shot?” Probably not the right thing to say.

He gave a single laugh, but the force made him cough. Tears welled in the corners of his eyes. Callie didn’t wipe them away. Tucking him into bed and offering him pain killers was one thing, but drying tears was another.

She glanced toward the bathroom. The fact that he was conscious meant the pills were wearing off. “Sorry.”

“No need, doll,” he croaked.

“You want another Vicodin?” He hadn’t asked why she had a stash. It was nice not to be questioned.

“In a few. I’ll be functional tomorrow.”

She shook her head. “Blood loss is warping your sense of time. It was a deep cut, too. You’ll be out of commission for a bit.”

“Charmer’s stuff works fast.”

His blackmail sure got her into that basement lickety split. She stowed her guilt. “Says the man groaning in bed.”

“You like when I groan in bed.” Even injured, he could get her blood pumping. Like sex was a good idea right now.

“I only like it if I’m the one making you groan. Now, seriously, you need rest.”

Derek grabbed her hand as she started to stand. “I’ll be on my feet in the morning. Don’t worry about the shit with Ford. I’ll still be there to help.”