Page 45 of A Soul’s Curse (Fallen Souls #1)

“Get me Theo! Theo, I need you!” She grunted through her heavy, strained breathing as she tried to work through the cramps.

I knew what she was doing and appreciated the gesture.

Helping to bring a healthy baby demon into this world would win me some favors among the crowd, but Emily’s pulse was slowly fading, and my magic wasn’t exactly meant for helping a mother give birth, not that I even knew how to deliver a child to begin with.

“Ivy, can you summon Jacob to take her to a hospital? Hopefully Doctor Brooks is around.”

“Yes, but, I … what if she isn’t? What do I tell them? Who do I ask for?” Ivy was panicking, unraveling at the seams. There was too much happening at once, too many voices, too many threats, and she didn’t know what to do.

“I’ll go with her.” Stella grabbed her hand. “We got this, Theo. You and Ren finish things here.”

With that, they were off to welcome a new life into this world while I battled to save the one in front of me.

I concentrated for a few seconds before shrieks and gasps erupted from the crowd and disrupted my focus.

“I said get your hands off me!” Henry shoved Ren when he tried to grab his arm, but then went flying across the floor in retaliation. Ren was there standing over him, fist ready to deal another punch.

"Oh, you’ll pay for that." The lizard man's scales shimmered, hardening into razor-sharp glass.

With a swift motion, he flung a flurry of crystalline blades toward Ren.

Too slow to react, Ren flinched as he felt the searing sting as some slashed across his skin while others embedded themselves deep.

“Ren, stop!” With Ivy and Stella gone, and Nick having stepped out, I was on my own. “Look at what you’re doing! You’re making everything worse!”

Someone in the crowd dashed forward and tackled me, and Ren looked over in horror as the raging lizard man barreled into him.

“The guy said not to touch his daughter!” My attacker took one of my wrists, someone else grabbing my other, and dragged me away from the unconscious girl.

“Perhaps I can be of help here?” The shadow of a man with pale skin settled over me, wisps of hair slipping free from his man-bun as he gazed down at me with a slippery smile. He was the other reason for my visit, the real reason I had hoped would stay hidden from Ren.

“The girl … She’s going to suffocate from a fucking allergic reaction and they won’t let me help her!”

Caspian took in the battlefield in front of him, shaking his head as he tsked at my attackers. “You two idiots, let Theo go. Whether or not you like it, this boy’s magic can save her. I’ll watch him and make sure he doesn't try anything sneaky. If he does, I’ll kill him myself.”

There was a genuine threat to Caspian’s words, but hopefully he knew me well enough to realize I wouldn’t do something so stupid as to harm a child just to make sure someone learned a lesson.

The two men reluctantly dropped their hold on me, and I scrambled to my feet, rushing back over to Emily. Ren was still fighting off Henry, blood was being shed, and if this kept up much longer, I’d have two more patients to deal with after this.

I held up a hand to my chest, closing it into a fist as I dragged it down to my stomach.

I cast the restraint spell out to both Ren and Henry, both of them freezing in place and knees dropping to the floor like someone had just bound a piece of rope around their bodies and yanked on it.

They both stiffened, their gazes snapping toward me in alarm.

“You two are being immature adults. Sit there and sulk all you want, but when the spell wears off, get the fuck out of here and stop disturbing me!”

Henry tried to wiggle out of the restraints. Ren accepted defeat, learning his lesson.

Meanwhile, Caspian was examining Emily, humming in thought as he slightly lifted her shirt to check her stomach, pulled up her sleeves to look at her arms, and rolled up her pants to peek at her legs.

“Moron,” Caspian spat at the father. “You think Theo did this? Perhaps you should be a more mindful parent and ask where your child ran off to after school yesterday. These rashes have been forming for a while. And this bump here on her lower leg?” Caspian pointed to a raised, swollen area of red skin.

“My guess? She was sneaking around the forest where she shouldn’t have been, disturbed a nest of nasty spiders, got bitten for her trouble, and in her frantic escape, ran straight through a patch of poison ivy.

This had absolutely nothing to do with anything Theo did.

In fact, that candy she ate is actually helping.

You should be thankful he was here to neutralize it because she’d never make it to a hospital at this point. ”

Patrick’s face drained of color, and he gulped nervously, his hands shaking slightly as he fidgeted with the edge of his sleeve. Even the people around him looked guilty.

“Thank you,” he grumbled, risking eye contact with me for only a second as he watched my magic flow into his daughter, the red rashes disappearing and the swollen bumps receding. Emily’s breathing slowly stabilized, and her eyes fluttered open.

“You’re welcome. I’m just glad your daughter is okay.”

Caspian started to walk away. When I didn’t follow, he turned around and said, “You coming or what? We have business to conduct.”