Page 35 of A Soul's Curse
“I’m kinda in the middle of something right now, Sly. He needs my help.” I didn’t move from Ren’s side.
“Then get him to a fucking hospital! My living room is not a clinic!” He marched over toward Ren and yanked the pillow out from under his head. Ren hissed in response. “All of you, get the fuck out of my house!”
“No.” I released my magic from Ren, standing up to get into Sly’s face. My fists trembled at my sides, breath ragged, eyes stinging—not from tears, but from everything I’d swallowed down for too long; and now, with my heart pounding like a war drum, I knew I couldn’t keep quiet anymore. “This demon saved my life tonight, and I’ll be damned if I’m not going to save his. You should be fuckingthankinghim, Sly.” I pointed toward Ren behind me. “That should have beenmeon that couch, but he sacrificed himself. So, no. I am not leaving. And neither are my friends. I … I thinkyouneed to leave.”
Sly snorted. “You wantmeto leave? Are you trying to break up with me? Because I don’t think I need to remind you who actually pays for you to live here.” He chucked the pillow at me and headed toward the front door. “I’ll tell you what. I’m heading out to see my friends. I’ll give you the night to get your shit and get out of my house. Anything you leave behind, including your stupid plants, will be tossed in the garbage by morning. We’re done, Theo. I can’t deal with your shit anymore. I hope your little hero gig was worth our relationship.”
The front door slammed behind him. “It damn well was,” I muttered even though he never heard me.
I turned around to find Ivy replacing the pillow under Ren’s head and Stella doing something with yellow petals that floated around Ren. I ran a hand through my hair, gripping tightly at the ends.
“What do we do now?” Ivy asked, her voice low and worried. “We could probably all cram into my apartment, but—”
“My … place.” Ren’s hoarse voice was followed by a painful grunt. I rushed over and offered him some water.
“Ivy, I know I’ve been asking a lot from you, but do you think you could ask Jacob to transport the four of us to Ren’s place?”
Ivy blinked a few times, pushing her tangled black hair out of her face. “I don’t know where Ren lives. Jacob can only go to places either he or I have been to before.”
I took a damp cloth and dabbed it across the side of Ren’s head. He had stirred awake and was blinking, but hadn’t dared to move yet. “Could Jacob … possess me?” If I had a connection to ghosts, then why not also their magic? I had never tried it, but I was fairly confident it would work. “If his magic possesses my body, I think I could use it to transport us myself.”
“We could try.”
White haze filled the room, and after a brief explanation to Jacob he agreed to give it a try. I shoved some things into mybackpack, since I wasn’t sure if I’d be able to come back and get anything else, then let his magic wiggle into my body.
Ren groaned as he insisted on standing up, and I offered my body for support. He placed his arm around my neck and I put my hands delicately around his hips to avoid aggravating the burn on his back.
I thought about the bedroom I had woken up in, and sure enough, Jacob delivered. The room was dark, not even the moonlight shining through the window, but when Ivy turned on the overhead lights, it looked exactly the same way I had last left it—a bed in the center, desk against the wall, and a dresser which I now knew was full of Ren’s clothes.
“Dr. Brooks should be here at any moment.” My brow crinkled at Ivy’s words, but she smiled in return. “We exchanged numbers at Emberheart Place. I called her when we first got to your apartment, and just let her know we switched locations. She was actually pretty close to here when I called.” Right on cue, someone started pounding on the front door and ringing the doorbell. Ivy left to let the doctor in.
“I’m gonna shower and go find a bed to crash on,” Stella hooked a thumb over her shoulder and pointed toward the hallway. “Let me know if you need me for anything, but I’m drained.”
Even though we came away with the grimoire, tonight was an epic disaster. Stella had been beaten up pretty badly. The fact she stayed quiet about her own pain just because Ren was struggling more hit me harder than I expected.
“Shit, I’m sorry, Stella. Thanks for helping Ren. I should have been more considerate—”
Stella flapped her hand at me. “I’ll be fine, Theo. Most of the blood isn’t even mine and I used a numbing magic to help dull the pain for now. It actually felt good to get out there and kick some ass. I just need some rest.”
I nodded, and she left just as Dr. Brooks entered. She was carrying a black medical bag with her, but didn’t bother with the formalities. She was probably pulled out of bed, seeing as she was wearing a pair of sweatpants and moccasins. Her frizzy, light blonde hair was braided halfway down her back and her tired blue eyes had subtle bags under them.
“What happened?” She approached Ren, dropped her bag, and started examining him.
“Burned,” I supplied. “There was this succubus woman, I think. She fed off his energy and used it to like … shoot off some kind of electrical gunshot from her fingertips or something? It burned half the skin off his back. Stella and I stabilized him, but I think we’ve done all we can do.”
“You two did good.” She opened her bag and dug around for something. I stood off to the side, chewing on my bottom lip and scratching my arm as I stared at Ren. He had passed out, but at least it looked like his breathing was returning to normal. “Theo? Something wrong?”
I shook the thoughts from my head. “That attack was meant for me. He jumped in front of it to protectme.Why the hell would he do that?”
“You wouldn’t have done the same for him?” she asked as she squirted some oily substance into her palms. “Regardless, you’re lucky he did, Theo. The burn is localized to his back. It’ll be painful but it’s not life threatening. But Ren is taller than you. Had it hit you, it wouldn’t have hit your back. It would have hit yourhead.”
My mouth was dry when I swallowed. I hadn’t thought about that.
I watched as Dr. Brooks continued to examine Ren, the bright glow of her white aura penetrating Ren’s skin to heal the worst of the damage. She then addressed the few minor cuts and scrapes I had. She wasn’t a miracle worker, though. Dr. Brooksmight have been anactualhealer, meaning she had a lot more magical capabilities than just my ability to eat away death, but sometimes the damage was beyond anything magic or science could fix.
“Okay, I patched him up the best I could. He’ll need your help re-dressing the bandages though, probably once a day for the next week or so. I don’t recommend showering or getting it wet but I’m sure he will anyway, so just make sure to thoroughly dry it and apply this ointment on it when he’s done.” She handed me a brown bottle. “Any of the pain meds you hand out at Emberheart Place will work fine, but here’s something stronger if he needs it. If anything happens, give me a call. Otherwise, I’ll just put it on his tab.”
I blinked. “His tab? You’ve treated him before?”
