Page 17 of Tortured Soul (Soulless #1)

Lola

I ’ve learned quite a few things in the last week I’ve been living here.

First, Kai was a mind reader. Not too deeply as it seemed he could only see and hear things on a surface level, but it still made me wary of him. Especially since he—as he told me himself—knew already a lot about me. After all, he did spend centuries trying to recruit me into his tied group…

Second, Ann was part of his binded group, along with a witch, a Fallen, and another demon. They didn’t mention who was the core, but I had the pleasure of studying them one night as they were all eating in a small but packed restaurant near the park and I was convinced it was her.

Third, Carter was probably not allowed to be alone with me in the Archives, as Ann's presence right now—and a few other times before—suggested.

“What’re you looking for, exactly?” I asked her, tapping my fingers in a random rhythm on the wooden desk.

She roamed the shelves unconvincingly. Only the ones closest to where I was patiently waiting, my head resting on my hand.

“Not sure,” she mused, in a singing voice. “I’ll know when I find it.”

I stared at her, leaning back in my chair and crossing my arms over my chest.

“I could help you, you know? After all, that’s what I was hired for.”

She bit her lips nervously, avoiding looking in my direction, and trying really hard to appear focused on her task.

“Don’t worry about it. I know it’s here, somewhere.”

Carter grunted in the distance, cursing under his breath. It echoed unnaturally and he cursed again.

Both Ann and I exchange a glance, chuckling. Margaret didn’t waste any time.

“You know, I’m pretty sure I’m safe from him here. Margaret won’t let the poor man breathe too close to me.”

Ann released a sigh, pinching her eyes closed.

“Am I that obvious?”

“You are.” I grinned.

She stopped pretending altogether and let herself fall on the velvety armchair on the other side of my desk.

“Margaret can only do so much,” she said. “At least if I’m here, he’ll know someone will report back if he behaves poorly.”

I waved her concerns off. “I’m fine. He’s more bark than bite now.”

Her smile was strained when she answered. “You’re probably right. But Arc doesn’t trust him yet.”

Which was odd. From what I’ve gathered, Carter had been here, with the Guardians, from the beginning. Helping build this entire place from the ground up.

“For fuck’s sakes, leave me alone you creepy ghost!”

We tried our best to muffle the giggles.

“He’s not so bad,” Ann finally said, relaxing in her chair. “I know he can be kind. He’s simply…”

She interrupted herself and tensed when his footsteps echoed around us, getting closer. We both avoided looking at him when he strode to my desk and abruptly stopped next to me.

“I need to check out this file.” The small folder was dropped on my keyboard. His nostrils flared and he turned his face away, grinding his teeth in disgust.

What an arrogant piece of shit , I thought as I lifted it to inspect the cover, examining the numbers.

As I started to type it in the system, Ann remained quiet, the sound of his foot tapping on the floor in annoyance echoing around us.

“I don’t have all—”

He stumbled to the side with another colorful curse toward our friendly ghostly host.

“What the—damn that hateful shrew.”

“Maybe if you were nicer, Margaret would do what you say and leave you alone,” Ann suggested, faking a sudden interest in her painted nails.

To prove a point, two cups of deliciously steaming coffee appeared on the desk, clattering on their little saucers. Ann squealed in excitement.

“Thank you, Maggie! You’re a peach, as always.”

Carter groaned as I hid a smile, clicking away on my computer.

Two pastries appeared next to the cup.

I leaned back in my chair, handing the file back to Carter. “Like Ann said. An absolute peach .”

Carter didn’t wait another second to rip the file from my hands and storm out of the Archives, slamming the wooden door behind him.

“I take it back,” Ann said. “He’s an ass.”

I should have bought more clothes. Marcus—the diva that he was—had been monopolizing the laundry machine for the last two days, forcing me to depend on my shifting powers to create more while the only ones I had were dirty.

I ignored the buzzing of my phone in my made up jean’s back pocket. Probably Aymeric politely wondering if I was still meeting them home for dinner, or Marcus rudely asking where the hell I was again.

But I knew from a reliable source—Ann—that Kai wanted to talk to me.

And I didn’t want to.

Because if he asked me about our little deal and then saw the memory…

Nope. I was not ready to face Kai nor Arc.

Arc and I have been successfully avoiding each other for the last week, and I’ve only thought about what happened in Carrie’s office twice today, which was a wide improvement.

The energy I took from Darren was quickly depleting—not surprising given the…low quality of our encounter.

One, all of our clothes were still on, reducing the amount of skin contact.

Two, he came before we could actually really touch each other.

Three, I didn’t.

The fact that he was a virgin would have given me three good weeks worth of energy, if things had been done properly.

But the transfer could only truly happen through actual contact. At least his hands and mouth were on me when he came in his damned pants, otherwise I would’ve had to hunt someone else the very next day.

Once again, my power was stretching too thin, and I was risking exposing more people to my pheromones.

The second I managed to escape the City Hall without being noticed by anyone of importance, I released a charged breath. But there was no way I would go home like this. Not when my own pheromones were intoxicating me.

Ignoring the suffocating heat, I summoned a thin but dark jacket and pulled the hood over my head to hide myself with shaky hands. Most people were surrounding the park, scattered at the bar and restaurant’s tables.

It seemed safer to avoid the crowds, so I kept to the little streets, walking close to the walls, taking small strides so my combat boots wouldn’t make any noise on the ground.

I was so focused on my destination and objective that I didn’t feel the demon following me. Not until my back was slammed to the rough stone and his booze breath was hitting my face.

“What do we have here?” he crooned, pushing his whole forearm against my throat. His eyes were closed as he leaned toward me, inhaling deeply. “Fuck, you’re a tasty treat, aren’t you?”

“Let go of me.” I coughed, struggling to breathe.

I tried to push him away in vain, my arms too weak. He grabbed them easily in his free hand, pressing harder into me, grinding his pelvis against my stomach. Bile rose to my throat.

He tsked, shaking his head. “You smell like you’d look really good bouncing up and down on my—”

He hissed as my nails grew long and sharp enough to pierce the skin of his chest through his shirt. That slightest shift caused my head to throb, my vision blurring for a second. Long enough for him to turn me around and pin me back against the hard wall.

I muffled a scream as my face collided with the rough stone.

“There’s no one here; you don’t need to pretend that you don’t want it. Unless it’s your move? Putting up a fight? Want me to tie you up real nice?” he rasped in my ear, grinding himself some more against my back side.

“I want you to let me go,” I gritted my teeth, but he only pressed harder. My spine stiffened as it worked another shift, my head swirling again. Don’t fucking faint, I thought to myself. Don’t you fucking faint you useless weakling.

He screamed in agony as long spikes erupted from my back and speared his chest. Air filled my lungs, and I turned around sharply, shifting on my feet, ready to attack him. Gouge out his eyes or rip out his cock with my freshly grown claws.

“You slut,” he hissed, looking down at himself, the dark blood pouring from the deep holes lining from his sternum to the bulge in his pants.

“Oops,” I said in a ragged breath, shrugging. I nodded toward the black stain on his crotch. “Looks like you won’t be able to use that for the time being. Rain check?”

The spikes in my back retracted of their own accord. Damn it. I was too weak to hold anything, there was no way I could fight him for long. I strained to keep my nails as long as possible, beads of sweat dotting my forehead from the effort.

The holes on his chest were slowly starting to close, new skin weaving itself. He grinned, his face looking wicked.

“You’re done fighting? Be a good girl and spread those legs for me.”

I frowned, jumping to the side as he took a step forward. Why was he not deterred? Why was he not aiming for a fight instead of a fuck? Why…Why was…

I stumbled, my vision blurring. Come on .

He took another step and I slashed my hand forward, scratching his face, leaving four deep streaks. He halted and his hand reached for the wounds, coating his fingers with more dark blood. As he stared at it, his smile grew more sinister.

“That’s how you want to do it, then? Fine by me.”

“Step back!” I yelled, my voice raw, weak. “Don’t fucking touch me. ”

But he wasn’t listening. Slowly stepping toward me. My retreat was wobbly. He knew. He fucking knew I was too weak to fight him off. He knew I couldn’t run away.

One week. That was how long I’d been able to last here without any incident. One fucking week.

Pathetic , the old voice in my head said. Look what you’ve traded your life for.

“Stop. Please,” I sobbed, taking another stumbling step backward. “I don’t— no . I don’t want to.”

My pleas went unheard and my back collided with another wall.

My attacker's eyes widened. His face paled. The wall groaned in irritation.

Slowly, I turned my face.

“Look dude, it’s not what it looks like,” my attacker said, lifting his hands up in surrender. “We were just messing around.”

My eyes met a straining bicep. A gray T-shirt.

“I’m—I was not—”

Squared jaw. Faint stubbled. Angry blue eyes. Blond, messy hair.

Carter wasn’t looking at me and not moving. His arms were tensed at his sides, hands turned to fist, eyes stormy on the wounded demon. My eyes snapped back to my attacker just as he exploded into ashes. Dark flecks flying around, dispersing in the burning wind.

I blinked, unable to breathe. Unable to move. A blurry, masculine form was standing in his place. His aura confusing but so familiar in the weirdest way.

The last thing I saw before my vision went dark and my legs stopped supporting my weight, were two mismatched eyes.

“Fuck, blondie…Why do you smell like this?...Fucking do something Carter…”

“I’m not touching her.”

“…asshole…can’t leave her here…”

“If you do this I’m out…no…fucking Succ ubus…she’s nothing…”

“…don’t care…leave if you want…”

“…made your choice, then…”

Footsteps were retreating. I was lifted from the ground, plastered against a chest. A sigh escaped my lips.

“Hold on, blondie.”

Everything sounded like an echo around me.

I opened my mouth to talk, but no sound came out. Then, wind whipped at my face, and a cold darkness surrounded me.