Page 16 of Tortured Soul (Soulless #1)

Lola

“ Y ou’re not supposed to be outside the camp so shortly after you arrived,” Carrie scolded, her voice cold. “Even less so in the middle of the night.”

She seemed relaxed behind her desk, barely lifting her gaze to address me directly. Francesca was sitting in the chair next to mine while a doctor was checking her.

“If you needed to leave, you should have come to me and we would have arranged an escort.”

I scoffed, the sound making her lift her head to stare me down.

“Sure, nothing better than a whole team watching me jumping on a cock out of necessity…What am I, some sort of prisoner?”

The air became colder than it already was. The doctor and Francesca stopped moving.

“You’re not,” she argued calmly although her eyes looked furious.

“It’s dangerous outside, and you’re not familiar with this place yet.

And, as we all learned yesterday, Arc takes your safety really seriously.

If something happened to you when none of us knew you were even out, my guards would have borne the brunt of his wrath. ”

Her guards. The ones who stood and watched as Carter was beating me up. Not sure it was such a bad thing…

“Francesca,” she said, her voice softening as she turned to the silent vampire next to me. “Savi has been admitted to the medical wing. Ann should be looking after her right now. You girls will be off for the next few days to recover. Go find her.”

It was a clear dismissal and Francesca was out of the room without casting me a second glance.

As I started to stand up, Carrie’s cold voice froze me on the spot.

“Why were you out?” She leaned back in her chair, crossing her hands over her stomach.

“You’ve been here for barely over a day, what did you need to do outside?

” She paused, glaring at me with narrowed eyes.

“Are you spying on us and reporting to someone? I did find the whole situation strange, to be fair. Arc having a vision about you and mistaking you for a Divine. Carter being almost pleasant for an astonishing forty-eight hours when he believed it. You, turning out to be a Succubus of all…What’s your angle, exactly? ”

My stomach felt heavy and throat too tight.

“I don’t understand anything that you’re saying, but I’m not a spy.” I chuckled dryly, before straightening up to grab the folded papers in the back pocket of my leather pants. “At least, I’m not spying on you.”

I dropped the documents on her desk and stood to lean forward, placing my palm on the stack.

“I was out to fuck some human. Because there’s something wrong with the barrier of this camp and my power is acting up. And since you’ve apparently not forgotten about what I am, that’s something you should know. That I’m a Succubus, and I syphon energy and power from fucking people.

“But contrary to what people seem to think, I’m not a mindless slut who’s out to betray everyone.

I don’t know what those documents are since I was a little distracted by Savi and Francesca fighting to get free just outside, but on the front page were the names of the Guardians.

If I was some kind of spy, do you really think that my first thought would have been to bring these papers to one of you? ”

I took a couple of steps back. Her eyes were inscrutable and glued to the front page where the names were written in bold.

“Also, there’s a weak unconscious guard in the cabin closest to where Savi got hurt. Maybe you should get him and question the bastard while you have the chance, instead of throwing pointless accusations my way.”

I didn’t wait for her to dismiss or authorize me to leave.

There was no time to wonder how to find my way back outside when I collided with someone the second I turned away from the closed door.

“Wha—”

“Are you hurt?” Arc’s deep, frantic voice probed, grabbing my arms to inspect me, lifting my limbs one after the other before turning me to check if there was anything on my back. When he was satisfied that I was unharmed, he made me pivot back to face him. “What the hell were you doing outside?”

His tone was harsh, face tight, eyes angry.

“I’m fine!” I said, trying to back away, only to bump directly into the door.

He took a step forward, caging me with his arms, and turned a wary face to the side. Footsteps halted. Voices hushed. Both resumed, going back from where they came from.

“Shit,” he breathed. His hands turned to fists on each side of my head. “I saw you. There were screams and you were kneeling in a pool of blood.”

He saw —What?

“What’re you talking about? I was— Oh. Right, visions.”

“ Right . Explain.”

A chuckle managed to escape my throat. When my gaze met his mismatched eyes, he didn’t seem amused.

“I’m fine . Savi’s the one who got hurt. Didn’t you see the color of the blood? I’m a demon, my blood runs dark. Vampires have golden blood, like their Divine creators.” I pointed at the stains on my clothes and skin. “Your visions seem to lack accuracy, if you ask me…”

“What. Were. You. Doing—”

“Outside, yeah.” I rolled my eyes. “Did your vision not show you?”

He grit his teeth. “No.”

“My energy was getting low. Fast .” I paused, watching the information slowly hitting him. “I needed to recharge.”

The silence stretched. His eyes didn’t soften as he understood what it meant. I was expecting him to look away, embarrassed, just like when he left after the archives incident. Instead, his gaze dipped to my lips for a brief second before going back to my eyes.

“You’re an Original. Can’t you get your power from other Immortals? Why risk going out?”

I averted my gaze, clenching my teeth in annoyance. He was too close, his breath fanning over my cheekbone.

“The fact that I can doesn’t mean that I want to.”

He jolted back slightly but not enough for me to have the space to leave. I kept my focus on the side, the corridor partially hidden by his arm caging me between the door and his body.

“It would be safest,” he said, but there was an edge to his voice, something I couldn’t decipher.

Safest . No it wouldn’t. As old as I was, there were only two Immortals I had sex with who never made me feel threatened in some way. Two who did not take me for granted because of what I was. The others? Most of the time, they felt entitled. Felt like I somehow owed it to them.

Being a Succubus was hard. Dating as one, nearly impossible.

I gave him a dry scoff. “It’s not.”

My voice felt raw. My throat, clogged. The last time I felt truly safe and happy was in my short break of freedom in the early 2000s. It was only a few years and they ended badly, but I was happy back then. With him . Was it so bad that I thought it would be the same now that I was free?

“Why are you risking your life so carelessly? Humans—”

“Can not force themselves on me. It makes it my decision and just that simple fact makes them safer.”

The implications behind my words hit him hard. Hard enough that he physically jolted back, giving me some much needed space.

But it was short-lived.

Before I could even think of slipping under his arm and bolting away from here, he was back in my face.

“What do you mean force themselves? Did someone—”

I exhaled sharply, interrupting him again.

“What do you think?” I spat. “I’m a Succubus, right? Nothing but Lucifer’s bitch , as Carter kindly said. Why wouldn’t other Immortals take advantage of me? After all, that’s what I sold my soul for.”

Anger flashed in his mismatched eyes. Lips tight. Jaw twitching. A shiver ran down my spine when both his hands turned to fists on the door, right next to my head.

“If anyone here—”

“No.” I shook my head, turning my gaze away. “Not here. Not yet .”

“Not ever ,” he countered through gritted teeth.

“You can’t—”

The door suddenly opened and I fell backward with a shriek, only saved from meeting the hard floor by Arc’s arm circling my waist, catching me .

Both our eyes were wide, noses touching, breath mingling. His free hand was holding onto the door frame, preventing both of us from falling flat on the ground.

Warm cinnamon. So much of it that it felt like I was swimming in it.

Embers. Glowing and flaming.

My face felt hot. My head, dizzy. Why was I aroused?

“You’re kind of glowing,” he mused, the anger in his voice now gone. “Is it because you… fed ?”

My cheeks were probably crimson with awkward embarrassment.

I struggled to swallow through the knot in my throat and nearly groaned in frustration when my attempt at discreetly clenching my thighs was stopped by one of his legs between them.

He noticed and his eyes flared.

My whole body burned in shame.

He inhaled sharply and opened his mouth to talk but was cut short.

“When you two are done fondling each other in my office, I’d like to talk to you, Arc.”

That was it. If I could die, I would have died right then. Combusted. Turned to dust.

Something passed in Arc’s eyes as he straightened and helped me get stable on my feet again.

“Marcus is waiting for you downstairs,” he whispered absentmindedly. “He’ll escort you back home.”

I sighed and rolled my eyes, but as I started to walk away he grabbed my arm, his grip surprisingly gentle.

“Please, don’t leave the camp without telling anyone. If you put yourself in danger like this again, I’ll have to make sure you’re always monitored, and I don’t think you would want that.”