Page 65 of Tethered Souls

I must have turned right before he cut me. Thrown off his aim. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have been able to make it to the warehouse… Maybe it’s a lung that’s the issue. Maybe…

More screams, this time men, familiar voices of those I work with. I’m back in the warehouse, stumbling forward, my feet heavy. I couldn’t have been stabbed that far away. There were no sirens. No one saw me on the way back and called the police…

I’m back on the street, but I can’t pinpoint where I am. I’m too fatigued. Too dizzy from the loss of blood –

No.

No, that’s not it.

All the signs…

They are a blur. All the recognizable features too. The blade must have been coated in something to stop me from remembering. Or maybe it was his magic.

Familiar soap.

I know that smell…

I know…

I gasp as I come to, lying on a sheet in a room I don’t recognize. Sweat coats my skin, replacing the blood of my memories. A warmth flows through me, spreading across my back.

“Varius,” Khalid says, and I latch onto his voice, using him to draw me out of my head.

I look up at him, but I don’t tell him anything that I have learned. I trusted Louise to heal me after my brother stabbed me. I don’t trust her with any information. I nod, and he stands up, still naked. Turning my head, I look to the door, to where I left my clothes and weapons. My phone.

Dragging a shaky breath into my chest, checking my lungs now work, I push myself to my feet. Louise stands with her face to the wall, her hands behind her back, in view so we know she isn’t weaving any spell.Smart girl.

Donning my clothes and gear, I open the door and let her out before turning to my brother. He pulls the shadows to him once more, this time depositing the taken furniture back where it belongs. The sheet with my blood, however, gets swallowed into the Plane of Monsters to never be seen again.

As he does all this, I pull out my phone. My fingers hover over the screen as I debate sending what I want to send. It isn’t wise to let her get close. It isn’t right when I’m hiding so much from her.

But after being on the brink of death…

And recalling the hurt in her eyes when I dismissed her earlier…

My skin tight, I tap out,Will you dance with me.

A small smile curls my lips as I slip the mobile back into my pocket. A silence ward snaps into place inside the room, and my smile falls, back to business. “There was a woman killed where I was attacked. Find out everything you can about her.”

The reaper nods sharply. There was never any mention of another death. No blood to find. Neither mine or someone else’s. Everything in the area was pristine, the killer having cleaned up after himself with magic. But even though there wasn’t a body, there might be a missing person’s report. Or perhaps her body was found somewhere else at a later date. “She had dark-blonde hair, nearly brown,” I say. “Oval face. Mole on the left side of her chin. Malnourished. Caucasian. Hazel eyes.”

They flash in front of me, wide and afraid, already taken by death.

“So you didn’t see who it was?” the reaper asks.

“No.”

“So we’re still grabbing Lincoln tonight?”

I nod. “And Vinny.”

One of them knows something, and tonight, I will find out what.

Twenty-Two

HER

I lean against the sink with the dumbest fucking grin on my face. My legs are shattered. My pussy is soaking wet. I can smell myself all over my fingers even though my hand is nowhere near my face, and I don’t know if I should wash them or not, wanting Varius to lick them clean.