Page 21 of A Soul's Curse
“Sometimes?” I mumbled. Then realized he was heading right for the kitchen. “Sly, wait!”
She almost made it. Ivy was halfway out the door when Sly turned to me and in all his drunken rage, growled, “Ademon, Theo? You brought afucking demoninto my home?”
“It’s my home too, you know.” Even if my portion of the rent wasn’t even enough to keep the lights on.
“You know how I feel about your little demon-loving side business or whatever it is. I don’t interfere with it, but I strictly told you myone rulewas to keep it away from me!” He was drunk and fuming, steadying himself against a chair to prevent himself from falling over. He raised his hand, and while he had never hit me before—never even attempted it—for a split second a part of me feared today might have been the day.
Thankfully, he didn’t. His hand came swinging down onto the dining room table, so forceful it knocked over the salt and pepper shaker in the center and rattled the three plates with half eaten eggs. Sly was just a normal human, supposedly withoutmagic, but I sometimes wondered if maybe his special power was channeling an abundance of rage into strength and didn’t even know it.
“That’s no way to treat a houseguest, you shithead.” Sly’s attention then caught on Stella. She leaned forward on the kitchen counter, the top of the apron giving a glimpse of everything she wasn’t wearing underneath. The distraction gave Ivy the chance she needed to slip out the back.
It was unnatural how easily Sly’s anger switched into flirtation mode. “Well, Theo, you dirty dog! There is a naked fairy standing in my kitchen, and she’s wearing your apron. I told you if you ever wanted a threesome you just had to ask. She’s not who I would have picked but … she’s beautiful in her own way, I suppose. Well, what are you two waiting for? Let’s go upstairs.”
“Ew, you disgusting perv! The garbage coming out of your mouth is enough to make me nauseous. I would never let your slimy hands touch me. And I’m not afraid to stab you if you try.” Stella threw a butter knife at him from across the room. Completely amused by her display of repulsion, Sly chuckled as it missed and bounced on the wall. He seemed to think she was teasing, but if he hadn't been drunk, it would have been extremely clear she was dead serious.
“Okay, hun, why don’t you go upstairs and clean up. I’ll grab you some of that special hangover tea, and Stella and I will be there in a minute. We need to get ourselves ready too.” I gave him a sexy wink. I wasn’t a master of seduction like Sly was, but he was too drunk to notice or care.
“There is no way in hell—” I turned and gave Stella a wide-eyed look, warning her to shut up.
“Mmm, I can’t wait. The things I’ll do to the both of you …” He gave me one last passionate kiss, then stumbled toward the stairs, another photo falling off a bookshelf as he did. Whenhe was gone, I fell backwards onto the sofa and sank into the cushion with a long sigh.
“He’ll be out cold in like five minutes,” I told Stella. “Don’t worry. I promise I have absolutely no intention of ever letting that happen between the three of us.”
“If you want to keep your life, you better hope that he also forgets about it when he wakes up.” Stella inhaled a deep breath, exhaling slowly through her nose. A sweet, floral scent enveloped her and filtered through the living room. Shimmery red ribbons materialized from her magic, flower petals circling around her—red rose petals intertwined with leaves from a spidery vine. When her magic disappeared, she was suddenly wearing a pair of dark jeans, a fishnet top covering her arms, and an embroidered corset cinched at her waist. Even the dark makeup on her face looked freshly applied.
“Seriously?You couldn’t have done that fifteen minutes ago?”
Stella shrugged, sitting back down at the dining room table to finish her meal. “No one came looking for me? The name Stella Weatherby doesn’t sound familiar to you?” There was a sadness to her voice, a low haunting timbre that lingered in the air like the echo of a distant, mournful melody.
“I didn’t know that was your name. I tried to find your owner, not realizing you were actually a human trapped in there. But … it was probably for the best that I didn't find anyone. I would have likely handed you right back to whoever did this to you in the first place. Which, by the way, you never answered my question from earlier.”
Stella stopped eating, avoiding eye contact as she busied herself by gathering the dishes and bringing them to the sink. “No. I don’t remember what happened.”
“But you must remember something if you knew it wasn’t the Syndicate, right?” I urged. “What do you know about them?”
“I really don’t want to talk about it.” She turned on the faucet and started cleaning the dishes. I had a feeling she probably knew exactly what happened, but if she wasn’t ready to share, I wouldn’t push her to.
“You’re not like most other fae.” I offered her a cheery smile as I walked over toward her.
“What’sthatsupposed to mean?” She threw out her hand, splatters of hot water splashing me in the face—nothing serious enough to hurt.
“Relax. I meant it as a compliment.” I finished my glass of orange juice and put it in the sink. “I’m just saying, fae and demons are like mortal enemies. Fae are the super-sexy idols who everyone drools over and who can do no wrong. Demons are ugly and evil and are responsible for every bad thing that ever happens. No offense, but most fae I’ve met think pretty highly of themselves and couldn’t care less about anyone they deem beneath them. But don’t think I didn’t see what you did back there. You distracted Sly so Ivy could escape. Which makes me inclined to think you’re a good person, and whoever trapped you in a bird’s body is an asshole.”
“You have no idea the shit I’ve gone through.” She angrily wiped down a dish. “The last year was utter torture for me. I tried to speak, but the only words I could force myself to say were curses because I was just so angry with the world. I was thankful I found you, but then your stupid boyfriend showed up and started tormenting me for his stupid online videos.”
I flinched at her words. “Wait, what? What did he do? I swear, Stella, I didn’t—” She cut me off with a raised hand.
“Whatever. He didn’t physically abuse me, just humiliated me in front of the world when he streamed, poking at me to say funny things for his audience. I’m over it. Moving on. Not like anyone knew it was me, anyway.”
Stella dried her hands with the towel next to the sink. She did it for an abnormally long time, chewing on her lip as she thought.
“Something on your mind?” I asked.
Stella tossed the towel aside, leaning back against the counter beside the sink as she turned her gaze toward me. “I’m gonna regret asking you this, but are you in trouble with the Syndicate? You mentioned them a few times now.”
“Actually, yeah. Kinda. I released a demon from a really strong sealing ruin similar to yours. Now I think they want to exploit my magic, and they took a good friend of mine, Ellie, because I said no. This guy Leon ripped the magic right from her body, and now she’s fracturing at the seams. She’ll die unless her magic is put back into place. Do you know anything about them? Anything that might help me?” Hope blossomed in my chest.
Stella closed her eyes, and a quiet tiredness was etched in her expression as her shoulders relaxed. “I might be able to help you, but I need you to promise to stop asking me questions about my past.”
