Page 34 of A Soul's Curse
Talis,I thought. Ivy’s shadow assassin. Rodger tossed a dense ball of molten red magical energy that looked like lava. It passed right through the black mist surrounding Talis and just … fizzled out. While Talis occupied the bodyguard, I took the opportunity to snatch the grimoire so we could bounce and get the hell out of here before one of us got seriously hurt.
The door being kicked down by the second bodyguard meant I wouldn't be allowed that time. I dashed over toward the small dining room table, where the book still laid. My feet crunched under flower petals and glass as I dodged splats of lava, a barrage of acid-spitting flowers that hovered in the air, and whatever creepy mist Talis was leaving behind.
I didn’t make it. There was a crack of a whip, followed by leather and barbs coiling around my ankle. My jeans saved me from the worst, but I was yanked off my feet and dragged toward the second bodyguard who had just entered the room. The side of my head bounced against the floor, the thin rug burning my flesh as my shirt and hoodie rode up my body. I clawed at the ground, but there was nothing to hold on to.
I only had a moment to take in the tall figure. He wasn’t as muscular as the other bodyguard, but his dark, tactical outfit, lined with who knew what dangerous magical objects and weapons, radiated an unsettling sense of preparedness. He straddled me on the floor, one hand squeezing against my neck to cut off my breathing as the other reached for a small dagger lining a lower pocket. His cold gray gaze sent a shiver down my spine.
My hands instinctively shot forward, slapping the guy on either side of his face. Magic seeped out of my pores, eating away at the skin of my attacker and creating two handprints of decaying flesh.
He roared, dropping the dagger and pushing himself off me. There was no time for me to heal myself, so I moved my hand up and down in a wavelike motion and attached the spell to the man about to kill me. His body started to float in the air, and like a balloon caught in the wind, he had no control over where he was going. Had the situation been any different, I would have been laughing my ass off as he swatted his arms and kicked his legs like a helpless kitten. A man of his weight, the spell wouldn’t last long, but it bought me enough time to grab the book as I had originally intended.
I had it in my hands, the cold leather rough under my fingertips, when I realized there was someone strangely absent from this fight—the blond-haired man. James … possibly Ren. Did he make a run for it? The thought immediately vanished when Stella’s warning had my heart rate spiking.
“Theo!” I turned around to see a bruised and bloodied Stella looking up toward me from the floor across the room, and Tara aiming her gloved finger at me like a gun. Arcs of orange and yellow lightning crackled around her hand.
“Bang.” Like a speeding bullet, a dense ball of magical energy shot out from her glove toward me. There was nothing I could do, no time to dodge it, and it would shatter any shield I tried to use. I closed my eyes, holding up the book as if one of its powerful spells might decide to manifest itself to save me.
Even with my eyes closed, I could feel a dark presence settling over me. Protective arms wrapped around my head, pulling my face against a solid chest, burying it in the softness of fabric. Agonized cries ripped from the man’s throat but he didn’t let me go.
“Ren?” The man’s features flickered back and forth between that of a newspaper reporter and grumpy demon, until finally his glamour completely dissolved and he dropped to the floor. His body jerked violently, back arching as if trying to escape the surge of energy coursing through him. His skin sizzled, the smell of burnt flesh hanging heavy in the air, and his eyes widened with the shock of it, momentarily losing all focus.
“Shit! Ren!Ren!” I dropped to my knees, readying my magic to help ease his pain, to stop the electrifying magic from consuming him.
“Ren?” Tara questioned with a curious pitch. When I looked up, I saw Stella still breathing, but sprawled out on the floor barely able to move. Ivy’s summoned help must have retreated, because I didn’t see Talis in the room either. One bodyguard was unconscious, the other whirling around in circles as he held on to a ceiling fan. It was just me and Tara left, and from the swollen eye and fat, bloodied lip, Stella had done a number on her.
“Ren. So you’renotJames Whitfield? Oh, the Syndicate is going to have a field day with this information.” Having put her clothing back on, she peered down at the both of us on the floor and cackled like a vicious hyena. “Who would have thought a demon was hiding among the Syndicate! Forget the grimoire, this new information will fetch a much higher price with the Syndicate.”
“Stay back! I … I have death magic! I’ll kill you!” I stood up and leaned toward her, which made her take a step back from Ren. I pulled in the magical energy around me, purple wisps forming a necrotic bolt in my palm.
She flicked her hand at me. “I have no interest in killing you or this demon. What use would it be selling the information of a traitor if he’s dead? I don’t know why you want it, but enjoy the grimoire while you can. I suspect it won’t be long.”
With that, she grabbed the rest of her belongings, leaving her two bodyguards behind, and limped out the entrance of the hotel room.
14
Withasilentcommandfrom Ivy, Jacob reappeared in the hotel room, gasping at the carnage left behind from the attack: broken furniture, blood, and a barely conscious demon on the rug. The floating bodyguard had since deflated, and while Stella wanted to punish him, the man promised he wouldn’t cross our paths again and was thankful that, even if none of us believed him, we let him go along with his partner.
“Take me back to my apartment. Ren needs help.Now,” I demanded as Jacob made a concerned look at Ren.
White haze surrounded us, and that same tugging sensation as before took over. A minute later, I was back at home in my living room. I wasted no time running to the pantry in the kitchen. “Stella and Ivy, can you get Ren on the couch?” I started digging through all my magical potions and powders on the shelves. The worst I had ever healed was a blistered grease burn, but this? I would have had better luck trying to reattach a severed arm with duct tape and sheer optimism.
I grabbed everything I needed and rushed back to the couch. Stella, barely able to stand herself, did her best to help Ivy place Ren face down on the couch to expose his back. With a pair of scissors, I cut off what remained of his collared shirt, which had practically melted to his skin. He was barely conscious and breathing shallowly.
“What kind of magic did that crazy bitch have?” Stella pondered as she grimaced at the burns on his back. “She must feed her magic off arousal or something and keep it stored for later use, becausethatis some nasty shit.”
I gagged at the sight, forcing down the rising wave of disgust that clawed at my throat. The tattoo I had been curious to see was nearly unrecognizable—the dark ink lost beneath blistered, raw flesh—but the eight coiling arms of an octopus that glided down his arms and chest saw the least damage. His muscles twitched with lingering electricity that refused to fade. I didn’t know where to begin. I wasn’t even sure starting would make any difference.
“Hang in there, Ren.” While I didn’t think his injuries were severe enough that he was in danger of actually dying, the pain must have had him teetering on the edge of feeling like it.
I tried to think back to nursing school and what the protocol was for severe burns.Go to the hospitalwas usually the preferred option, but would a hospital be safe? Ren’s cover was blown. It’d be the perfect opportunity for the Syndicate to attack him. I could’ve called my sister, but unless she’d suddenly turned her linen closet into an ER, there wouldn’t be much she could do either.
I placed my hands near my chest, one hand above the other and gently moved my top hand in a small, slow, circular motion over the bottom hand. The spell was meant to soothe Ren, to keep him calm while I did whatever I could to tend to his injury.
“Let me try something,” Stella shoved me aside and started rubbing her palms together. A gold, glittery dust appeared, and she blew it over Ren’s back. “The pollen from this plant has a special property that accelerates magic. Maybe it’ll make yours work faster?” She pointed to her black eye, the swelling already subsiding.
As I pumped every last ounce of magic I had into Ren, it didn’t look like it was doing much, but there was very subtle progress. The swelling minimally decreased, the blisters barely shrunk, and the outer edges of the burn started peeling like melted plastic.
Panic gripped my throat for a different reason when I heard footsteps pounding down the stairs. “What the fuck is all that noise? What’s going on here?” Sly stared at Ren on the couch along with the pile of bloodied washcloths beside me. “Oh,fuck, no, Theo. Absolutely not. You did not just bring a half-dead demon into my house. Get him off my fucking couch right now.”
