Page 25 of A Soul’s Curse (Fallen Souls #1)

I felt Katherine’s magic disperse as she left us to fend for ourselves.

Ivy and Stella, crouching on the stairs behind me, gestured for me to move so they could slip past onto the landing and check out the scene.

The curtain covered most of the view inside, but the woman was closer to the window now, her voice muffled but audible, although I still couldn’t see the man.

After placing the book on the table, Tara leaned over him, removing his cap to reveal messy dirty-blond hair.

With the gloves still on, she raked her fingertips through his waves.

She then lifted his chin for a teasing kiss.

She grabbed his hand and placed it on her breast, encouraging him to fondle her through the plunging top that exposed her skin.

Her moan was loud enough that I could clearly hear it from outside.

“Um, what’s going on?” Ivy gasped, her hand clutching her shirt as she tried to control her panicked breathing.

“Isn’t it obvious?” Stella huffed. “We’re interrupting a sex deal. I bet that woman’s a succubus. She’s gonna ride that guy the entire night and make him scream until he has no magic left in him—”

“Stella!” I hissed, just as Jacob returned from scouting the inside. “Do you have a filter? Too much information!”

“Big problem, guys.” We all looked over toward him.

“Those two are not alone in there. There’s a guy hiding out in the bedroom, another one waiting out in the hallway pretending to be a staff member.

My guess is, as kinky as this looks, the ropes and other weapons they have on them aren’t for pleasure. ”

“Are the guards with the man or woman?” I asked.

Jacob shrugged. “I can’t be certain, but the woman seems to hold all the power.

She has something the man wants, but she isn't dumb. She must know what that grimoire can do. She’s probably going to get what she wants and dispose of her client so she can keep the book and do the same thing to some other poor sap. ”

I sat hunched on the landing, my hands rubbing against my face.

We had to do something to get that grimoire.

I might not get another chance to meet with Caspian, and the longer we stayed outside on the first escape, the more likely someone would catch us.

Waiting around until Tara left could mean hours, along with possibly a dead body, but barging into the room meant dealing with four unknown enemies.

Tara let out a blissful cry, loud enough that it startled the three of us and we instinctively peeked over the window ledge to see what had happened.

It shouldn’t have come as a shock what we saw, but it still did. Tara was naked from the waist up, her breasts right in the man’s face as she straddled him in the chair, guiding his hand as it roamed her body.

“Are we really going to just sit here and watch this?” Stella sneered behind me. “They’re both exposed. Now’s a good time to attack.”

Tara’s lustful sounds became a symphony of pleasure, growing louder with each breath. “Mmm. Yes. Yes, James! Right there.”

James? Oh God. There was no way. He couldn’t be … what were the odds there was another James with blond hair who was a member of the Syndicate?

“They’re heading to the bedroom, Theo.” Stella dared to peek further above the windowsill. As she moved, her foot slipped off the landing, sending a loud creak through the aged metal as it groaned under the weight of three people. We all froze, but it was too late.

“Who’s there?” There was no hiding Tara’s enraged voice as it filtered through the window, the sound barrier put in place no longer concealing anything.

She grabbed her coat from the couch to cover herself.

“Show yourselves. I can see shadows outside the window.” She then directed her anger toward James.

“Did you bring people here with you? Did you plan to swindle me out of our deal?”

“It’s now or never,” Stella said, her eyes steely with determination. “If you want that grimoire, we need to go in and take it. Now. ”

“Stay here,” I told a trembling Ivy. “You don’t have to go in there with us.” I then nodded to Stella, assuming she had a plan to get us inside given the mischievous grin that was plastered to her face.

“I … I’ll summon Talis! He’s a shadow assassin. He will help you,” Ivy promised.

Rose petals floated gently in the floral-scented air around us, their rich, red hue glowing with a faint, ethereal aura.

With each breath Stella took they swirled gracefully, as if moved by an invisible current.

Her hands, delicate and precise, guided their dance, fingers tracing intricate patterns in the air that made the petals follow in perfect harmony.

“Shield your eyes.” The petals surged forward with a burst of energy. With a sound like thunder, they collided with the window, shattering it into thousands of glittering fragments that caught Tara off guard.

She yelped as jagged edges of broken glass and petals sharpened like blades bit into her skin.

Stella placed a hand on the ledge, magic blossoming as soft, lush greenery spread across it like a natural, padded cover.

Then, like some crazy fucking ninja, she bounded through the window and punched Tara in the face.

A storm of black petals fluttered before her like a swarm of butterflies, obscuring Tara’s view as she attempted to counter Stella with a strike of her own.

“Rodger! Where the fuck are you?” Tara screamed, and the hulking man Jacob had found hiding in the bedroom appeared in the living room. I imagined the second bodyguard out in the hallway wouldn’t be too far behind.

With much less grace, I lifted one leg over the window ledge and hopped inside, magic tingling at my fingertips.

Stella’s petals took on the shape of objects—a knife, a shield, a vine that restricted Tara’s limbs.

Tara, on the other hand, snapped her fingers.

Her gloves sparked with electricity, releasing a bolt of her stored up magic that shot off like a bullet, barely missing Stella’s arm.

Panic rushed through me when I looked over my shoulder to realize Rodger barreling toward me.

Ready to embrace the tackle, I was prepared to wrap my arms around him and give him the world’s worst stomachache.

But instead, a black blur whizzed by me, like a shadow dancing in remnants of a tattered cloak.

A faint mist clung to him, dissipating as he moved.

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’re not James 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.