Page 42 of A Soul’s Curse (Fallen Souls #1)

Goosebumps prickled my skin. It wasn’t raining, not yet, but the air was damp and thick with the weight of an incoming storm.

The evening sun was setting, hiding itself behind the low-hanging clouds that swallowed everything in a gray, muted light.

I warmed myself up with a few stretches, then took off jogging down the street.

My sister’s neighborhood was dense, with rows of tightly packed houses lining narrow streets, the trees casting faint shadows over the sidewalks.

The hum of traffic from the main road nearby blended with the occasional chirp of a bird or the distant sound of a car door slamming shut as someone returned home from work for the evening.

I felt it almost instantly, that unsettling feeling of someone watching me, but I ignored it and kept running, picking up speed the more anxious I got.

I ran at a steady pace for about twenty minutes straight, and I was surprised my invisible shadow could keep up with me.

I ended the first half of my run at a park, the playground eerily empty of laughing kids since the sky was about to open up at any moment.

I sat down on a swing, huffing to catch my breath.

The tip of my sneaker dug into the sand, slowly swaying myself as I gripped the chains.

The unsettling feeling grew more intense the longer I stuck around.

It started as a flicker at the edge of my senses, but now it consumed me, a constant pressure in my chest that made every breath feel heavier.

“I know you’re there, Ren,” I called out softly, my voice breaking the silence. “You can stop hiding.”

An iridescent shimmer rippled before me, Ren’s invisibility fading away as his presence became known. “I just … wanted to make sure you were okay,” he whispered.

A tightness twisted in my gut, spreading to my chest and choking the air from my lungs.

Ren looked awful. His face was pale, his eyes dull and clouded with pain.

He moved like every breath was an effort, like his body was seconds away from giving out.

Even his usual sharpness, that restless edge he wore like armor, had dulled to a tired, broken shell of itself.

“I’m fine. What do you want?” I asked, my voice flat and sharp, but it was laced with something deeper, something I couldn’t hide. Guilt, perhaps. Or maybe just an overwhelming need to fix this. To fix him . As angry as I was, I hated seeing him so broken and exposed.

Ren took a step forward, his legs wobbling beneath him like he might collapse at any moment. When he was about three feet away, his knees did give out and he dropped to the ground.

“Ren?” I gasped, resisting the urge to jump up and rush to his side. His knees dug into the loose sand as he bowed his head, taking a moment to steady himself before looking up at me. His eyes held a silent plea, a desperation that spoke louder than words ever could.

Ren’s voice trembled, raw with emotion. “Please, just let me explain. After that, I promise I’ll go away and I’ll be gone from your life forever.

You’ll never have to see me again.” His gaze locked onto mine, torn between the agony of what he was enduring and the fear of what might happen when the truth was laid bare.

My sister’s words echoed in my head: Did you let him explain?

“I’m listening,” I said, my voice steady despite the storm of emotions inside me. I stopped rocking myself on the swing, waiting for Ren to tell his story.

He inhaled deeply, his breath shaking as he tried to gather his thoughts before proceeding.

“What Caspian said was … partly true, but it’s not the entire story.

I was seventeen when I left home, coming here to find the Syndicate and rescue my brother.

I had no job, I was homeless, and I had no idea what I was doing.

Nick found me, gave me a place to stay, and suggested I speak to your mom to help me adapt.

She visited Emberheart Place a few days a week, and I met with her almost every single time. ”

My limbs froze and my heart sank. “I didn’t know that. I knew my mom volunteered her time, but I never made the connection that you might have known her.”

Ren averted his gaze, clenching his jeans with tight fists. The formidable demon always played a tough guy, and to see him so vulnerable, his usual confidence crumbling, was unsettling.

“Keep going,” I said softly, urging him to continue. It had taken me years to accept what happened to my family, and hearing this from Ren, what he had done to us all those years ago, felt like ripping open an old wound, one I had been avoiding but knew I had to face. “Did talking to her help?”

“Of course.” He nodded. “Your father helped, too, actually. It was hard enough for a demon to find a job, let alone a teenage demon with no work history. He got me a cleaning job at his law firm.”

“I see. So … what happened?” The question hung in the air, thick with unspoken tension.

Ren’s body went rigid, as if every muscle fought to keep him grounded, but his eyes betrayed him. They were sharp, always guarded, but now, they were uncertain. A storm raged behind them, something fractured and barely contained.

His voice wavered as he continued. “I accidentally overheard your father talking about the Syndicate one night at the office. He said something about connections, about deals being made in the shadows, and my mind just … spiraled. It was the first lead I had on the Syndicate in a year, and I thought I finally found something. Then he mentioned Thomas and I thought—no, I just somehow knew —that your parents had something to do with the disappearance of my brother. He knew things I never told him, and I convinced myself that your parents were deceiving me, using me, because certainly no one would be that nice to a demon like me without some ulterior motive.”

The rain started to fall, gentle at first, but steadily growing stronger until fat droplets splashed against my face.

Ren’s knuckles were bone-white, his fingers twitching as if itching to do something …

to run, fight, break something. But he just kneeled there, shaking, his entire frame vibrating with the force of emotions he was trying, and failing, to contain.

Then his eyes met mine. And that was when I saw it.

The sheer, unbearable agony. The kind that sinks into your bones, the kind that never really leaves.

It was raw, naked, a storm of grief, rage, and something else, something too broken to name.

As he dropped his gaze, his shoulders caved in, and I knew he was losing the fight against himself.

Without a word, I left the swing and kneeled in front of Ren, wrapping my arms around him and pulling him close as he broke down in my arms.

“It’s okay, Ren,” I whispered, gently running my fingers through his thick auburn hair. “I’m still listening.”

“I was angry, confused. So stupid . I just snapped.” His voice cracked, and I held him tighter.

“The first thing I did was run to your mom. I saw the three of you through the window laughing and enjoying yourselves and I just thought … she didn’t deserve that.

She didn’t deserve that kind of happiness after she dared deny me mine.

I told her everything about my family. And if she was keeping information from me about what happened to Thomas?

I swear, Theo …” He choked on his words, struggling to breathe.

I gently patted his back, his neck, stroking my hand over his hair to soothe him.

“I swear I didn’t mean to do what I did.

But I was so angry , so jealous of your damn perfect family.

I stormed in there, so full of rage that I couldn’t control my own magic.

Your mom … she didn’t fall, I ripped her soul from her body, but I didn’t want to give her the satisfaction of dying.

I wanted her to suffer, to be able to do nothing as her family, her own happiness was taken away from her like mine was taken from me.

When your sister screamed and you burst out of the closet, I acted without thinking.

I just wanted her to shut up, but I truly didn’t mean to take her hearing.

You don’t have to believe me, but I promise you it’s true. ”

“I do believe you.” I continued clutching him like he might dissolve in my arms if I let him go. “But why don’t I remember any of this? Why don’t I remember you ?”

“That’s because …” Ren finally pushed me away and looked up at me, his maroon eyes shadowed with fear. “That’s because I tried to take your soul, too. But I couldn’t.”

Ren’s hands refused to touch me, his voice raw with frustration and something dangerously close to shame. “I don’t know why. I don’t know how . But when I reached for it, when I tried to force it away from you, something snapped me out of my trance and stopped me.”

His gaze locked onto mine, pleading, desperate.

“You might not have known you had magic at that point, but it was there, and it pushed me back. And that’s when I realized …

you’re different, Theo. You’ve always been different.

I used my magic to make sure you remembered nothing about that night, but I never really left you.

I’ve been … keeping an eye on you—not just because you're a reminder of what I did that night.” He exhaled sharply, shaking his head.

“I’ve always wanted to make it up to you, but deep down I knew there was nothing that change how you felt about what I did. ”

It suddenly started to all make sense, why I had been so drawn to this demon.

That lingering loneliness, that quiet, aching void in my chest that I could never fill …

was it because of what he did to me that night?

Had Ren created this emptiness the moment he tried to steal something that wasn’t his to take?

Was I so drawn to him because I was desperate for him to fill it?

“Shit. Ren …” My hands cupped his cheeks, my thumb running over the metal barbell piercing in his eyebrow.

Tears streamed down his face, mixing with the pouring rain until I couldn’t tell where the sorrow ended and the storm began.

“You know, you’re making it really hard for me to hate you right now. ”

“I’m sorry, Theo. I really am. I found out later your parents were genuinely trying to help me find Thomas, and I …

I punished them for it. I punished you and your family for no fucking reason other than my own selfishness.

I’ve had to live with that regret every day of my life since.

In the end, I don’t know if I was watching over you to make sure you were okay …

or because I feared what you’d do if you ever found out.

I just wanted you to be happy despite the pain I’ve caused you.

And I truly want to help you get your friend back and keep you from falling into the Syndicate’s hands. ”

I had thought little about my father since he walked out on me and my sister about a year after the incident.

We kept in touch for a while, but eventually he remarried and moved on.

I wanted to know what happened to him, if Ren had sought him out after the fact, but that was a question for another time.

“Ren,” I said. “Thank you for telling me this. And I’m sorry too.”

“Why are you apologizing?” Ren barked a wry laugh. “I’m the one who ruined your life.”

“I’ll shoulder some of that blame, because I’ve caused you pain too, haven’t I?

” I tilted his head up toward me and he looked at me with disbelieving eyes, like he didn’t truly believe I had figured it out.

“The oath I made with Leon said that the person who cared about me the most would suffer. That’s you , isn’t it?

Even though I just met you, you’ve had this unwavering devotion toward me for the past ten years.

I remember having that unsettling feeling of someone watching me every time I walked home from school, every time I was alone crying in my room.

Now I know that was you. Always there to protect me and keep me safe even if I couldn’t see you.

And then I pushed you away … broke the oath with Leon by asking for Caspian’s help.

I did this to you. I made you suffer and I’m sorry. ”

“After everything I’ve done, I deserve to suffer. You shouldn’t be offering me your kindness.”

I huffed, sliding my hand around the back of Ren’s neck and kissing his forehead. “If my kindness is going to get me killed one day, then I hope to God it’s because I chose to be kind to you.”

“Damn it, Theo.” Ren could no longer resist, pulling me in for a hug of his own, tangling his long fingers in my blond hair.

“I can’t forgive you, Ren. Not yet, anyway. I want to, but it’s going to take some time. However, I do know that we’re both hurting right now. We’ve both been stupid idiots who made stupid mistakes. And, if you’re up to it, I’d still like you to help me get Ellie back and stop Leon. You in?”

The stormy sadness in his eyes became a beacon of sunshine. “Yes, Theo. I will always be there for you.”

I didn’t know why that felt so good to hear, but it warmed my insides as butterflies fluttered around in my stomach.

“Good. Now get up. We have work to do.” I stood up, the warmth of Ren’s body fleeing and the cold rain eliciting a shiver down my spine. I held out my hand. He hesitated, but accepted it.

“Where are we going?” he asked, his voice still uncertain.

“To get ice cream, obviously. I’m not sure if I’m in the mood for Silence Swirl, but I could go for a Syndicate Smasher Sundae.”