Page 12 of A Soul’s Curse (Fallen Souls #1)

Thomas left to get changed while Ren started digging through the drawers, aggressively tossing me an old t-shirt that was two sizes too big for me, along with a black hoodie that looked exactly like the one he was currently wearing.

He then left the room so I could clean up and get changed.

When I was done, I grabbed my phone from the nightstand, smiling at the fact Ren had been thoughtful enough to plug it in and charge it last night.

When I entered the hallway, the first thing I thought was that Ren’s home had history and character.

The house was narrow, not uncommon for a lot of older homes in Massachusetts since space was limited in most parts of the city, and there were three floors from what I could tell.

As I walked down the creaking staircase, gleaming oak floors reflected the natural light that poured in through the arched windows.

I glanced outside, glimpsing a red brick driveway and a black sedan parked in it.

A row of stately-lined trees served as a fence to give some privacy.

It even looked like there might have been a small backyard with a patio and some grass.

I found myself at the bottom of the stairs, intrigued by the built-in bookcase in the living room and the shelves filled with textbooks on law and philosophy along with a few random children’s books thrown in.

In the center of the room was a large sectional, an artsy-looking chandelier hanging above it from the high ceiling.

The colored glass reflected onto the stone fireplace with a massive television on the wall above it.

On the mantle were several family photos, although it didn’t look like Ren or his brother were actually in any of them.

I ended up following the sounds of chatter into the kitchen, which mirrored the sophisticated style of the rest of his home, blending the classic design with modern luxury.

Pendant lights hung over a breakfast bar with four stools.

The sleek countertops were light gray veined with soft gold.

The cabinets were a creamy white with shiny silver handles.

I took a seat at a round wooden table beside the breakfast bar, staring at the china cabinet off to the side which housed an assortment of expensive-looking glasses and serving plates.

“Thomas! Use a damn glass!” Ren snapped as his brother took a swig of juice right from the container.

I smiled at the playful way Thomas antagonized his younger brother.

I envied their friendliness, wishing I could have had that with my sister.

Sure, we were close, but our lives revolved around work and taking care of our mother.

Any time we spent together was helping her or others at Emberheart Place.

We never just … hung out together. There was no laughing, no smiling, no having fun.

We both had to grow up quickly after the incident with my mom, and it left us without much of a childhood during our teens.

My thoughts drifted off and a familiar heaviness settled in my chest. I dragged my hands down my face and sighed.

I was tired and exhausted and … utterly defeated.

I often thought about what I was doing with my life.

I was a pizza delivery guy who never went to college, instead choosing to help my sister get her degree and to do what I could to take care of our mom.

I had always thought that maybe one day I would open up a shop to sell my magical items, but officially setting up a business took money, along with a skill to manage that I most definitely didn’t have.

“Here.” Ren appeared beside me holding a red cardboard box and a carton of milk. He unceremoniously pushed them across the table. “It’s all I got.”

Thomas plopped down at the kitchen table across from me with a stack of bowls, salivating over the kid’s cereal.

“The cereal I knew was kind of bland before that urn became my prison. This is like eating sugar cubes!” Thomas drowned his corn puffs and marshmallows with milk, shoving the sweet cereal into his mouth with a satisfying crunch.

“You two seem close.” A pleasant smile stretched across my face, the darkness from earlier vanishing, replaced with the facade I always kept on display for everyone else.

“As close as we can be for having just been introduced less than twenty-four hours ago!” Thomas leaned over and ruffled Ren’s hair. Ren looked about ready to break every finger in his brother’s hand.

“Wait, you’ve never met?” I looked over at Ren, then back at Thomas. I supposed it made sense. Thomas had said he had been trapped for a hundred years. “How old are you, exactly?”

“I’m …” Thomas looked up at the ceiling as he counted in his head. “I’m two hundred and seven years old, if you include all that time I was sealed away even though I didn’t age and time essentially stood still for me.”

Milk burned my nostrils as I snorted. “ What? ”

He flashed a smile. “My mother was an elf. They’re known for their extremely long lifespans.

Our father is also a pure- blood demon, meaning his bloodline still retains all the perks of ancient demons with tremendous power, strength, and lifespan.

My baby brother here, though, is only twenty-seven.

” Thomas pouted. “Same demon father. Different mothers. Ren’s mom appears to have been human and it looks like he inherited most of her traits, so he missed out on the whole ‘super powerful magic and living for centuries’ perk. ”

“So you risked your own life to save someone you've never even met? Why?” I shoveled some corn puffs into my mouth as I looked at Ren.

“He’s still family.” Ren piped up. “The Arcane Syndicate has been around since even before Thomas got trapped. They’re a secret society, but secret only in that no one can locate them.

Almost everyone has heard of the Syndicate.

I figured you knew what you were getting yourself into when you showed up.

They have people in their network everywhere, casually integrated into society and in some very powerful, influential roles.

They’re a network of master manipulators—fae, witches, vampires, shifters, and even some demons—working together to create what they believe is a perfect magical society.

While their primary target is demons, it’s really anyone with some kind of dark, unnatural, unknown type of magic. ”

“My magic is dark and unnatural. But Leon said there was something pure about it. Is that why they were after me?” Heat crept up my neck. For all the work I did with demons, I felt embarrassed never having heard about this organization and the threat they posed to them.

Ren shrugged. “I’ve only been undercover for about a year, but your name always floated into conversations.

True, you have a very … unique magic. But you also were very close to demons, including a high value target of theirs, the New Jersey Devil himself.

They were always looking for a way they could take advantage of you. ”

I gulped. Faaaantastic.

Ren angrily stabbed at his cereal like I imagined he had probably stabbed James.

“Our father never got over losing Thomas. I spent ten years tracking down that damn urn, and when I finally found out a demon-hating reporter had it displayed like a trophy on his fireplace mantle, I killed him and took his identity.”

It shouldn’t have surprised me that he had killed James.

How else would he have been able to take his identity without anyone knowing?

My stomach churned at the thought, but I reminded myself to breathe and to see things from his perspective.

I might not have agreed with what he did, but I could at least listen to his story before casting judgment.

“Okay. So … you found your brother but realized you had no idea how to undo the spell on the urn to let him out. Then I’m guessing you took James’s identity to infiltrate the organization to see if you could figure it out. How did Thomas end up trapped in the first place?”

Thomas’s features softened, his shoulders sagging.

“I fell madly in love with a witch named James Whitfield some hundred years ago. I should have known it was all a ruse. He drugged me one night and called in the Syndicate. They came with the urn, forced me to sign a contract that sealed my magic, and used some very powerful people to make sure I’d be trapped inside that urn for all of eternity.

They paid James for his cooperation by rewarding him with my elven lifespan, which is how he stayed alive all those years.

Without it, I’ll age like a normal human now thanks to those shitheads. ”

It pained me to hear that, even a hundred years ago, demons were going through the same shit. “Sorry for being blunt, but … why didn’t they just kill you?”

Ren pushed away his bowl. He had barely eaten any of his cereal.

“The same reason they didn’t kill you or Ellie.

They used Thomas as a bargaining chip, going to our father by saying they'd release him if he cooperated with whatever dirty scheme they were running. Our father … he … said no. From then on out, he dedicated his life to bringing down the Syndicate and getting Thomas back himself, but he never could. It really took a toll on him. He never forgave himself for choosing his pride over his son.”

“I’m … sorry.” I didn’t really know what else to say. This family had gone through so much. It might have seemed like a luxury to live for centuries, but the longer one lived, the more heartache they were destined to endure.

Ren shrugged it off like he didn’t care, although the frown on his face and the sadness in his eyes told me otherwise.

“When I learned about your friend Ellie and her ability, I anonymously sent it to her, thinking she might be able to use her abilities to learn about what happened in the past and free Thomas. But then you showed up … and just … you so easily dissolved the seal.”