Page 26 of A Soul’s Curse (Fallen Souls #1)

With a silent command from 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, because that is 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 hospital was 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.”

“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 fucking thanking him, Sly.

” I pointed toward Ren behind me. “That should have been me on that couch, but he sacrificed himself. So, no. I am not leaving. And neither are my friends. I … I think you need to leave.”

Sly snorted. “You want me to 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 my backpack, 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 protect me. Why the hell would he do that?”