Page 35 of Tortured Soul (Soulless #1)

Lola

“ W hat’s wrong?” Ann asked from her armchair as I cursed at the computer.

No matter what I did, that damn thing was unresponsive.

“This day is getting worse by the second.” I groaned, throwing my back against my chair.

Ann dropped her empty cup on the coffee table before it vanished. She murmured a thank you , and placed her elbows on her thighs, resting her head on her fists.

“I feel like I need to explain what happened there,” she said, nibbling on her bottom lip. “It is standard protocol to place a tracking device under our scouts' skin. It has been for about six months.”

The room was quiet around us, Margaret gone somewhere to do who knew what.

To say that I wasn’t at least a little bit upset about what happened in that room would be a lie.

But, was I mad at Ann? No. She was obviously there to oversee the medical side of the shitshow, only following Jeremiah’s and Arc’s orders.

“We’ve lost so many people over the years that we needed to do something to ensure that we could find them, even when it’s too late.

You have no idea how many dead Earthwalkers we found months after they disappeared.

With these chips, we can find them right away and bring them back.

Sometimes, we’re quick enough so that we can save a few.

“Arc’s insistence was only out of concern. The couple of scouts who refused to get the tracker after it was implemented were asked to resign and find something else to do. Marcus has one. Francesca and Savi too. Wouldn’t you be upset if Dimitri were to disappear?”

The idea of Dimitri vanishing without a trace or ending up hurt made my chest feel too tight. His absence the last few decades had been a nightmare, only made better by the few times I felt him around, like he couldn’t help himself from checking up on me once in a while.

But I had to be realistic.

Dimitri would never be overpowered by anything or anyone. He’d never get hurt by some random humans.

No, he was too smart and cunning for that.

“Of course I’d be upset. But it will never happen,” I said, focusing back on my useless computer. “Dimitri is powerful. Way more than any other Immortals I’ve ever met.”

She forced a smile.

“Probably not as powerful as Arc. And yes, what happened in the tower was impressive but—”

“It was nothing, Ann,” I countered, clicking on the mouse repeatedly like a lunatic. “Dimitri said ‘ party trick ’, but I’ve seen him do worse to the furniture during sex.”

Her eyes widened before she giggled, hiding her face behind her hands.

“Oh dear, too much information, Lola.”

I grinned, but yelped as my chair was pulled back from my desk, rolling until it stopped inches away from a shelf.

“What—”

The computer turned off and weird sounds echoed in the large room, like someone was slapping on it repeatedly.

The room shook before it all went quiet.

Ann and I exchanged a wide eyed glance.

I jumped as the computer turned back on again with its usual welcome tone.

“—the fuck?” Ann whisper yelled, looking around.

I shrieked again when my chair was pushed back to the desk. The keyboard clicked without my hands touching it and little dots appeared on the password bar.

The familiar background appeared on the screen as the “enter” key was pressed and the room went back to total silence.

“Hum…” I clicked on the database icon. It opened. Okay… “Thank you, Maggie?”

A cup appeared on the desk next to my hand and rattled against its saucer, the milk foam covered by a heart made of cocoa powder .

“I swear I’d be freaked out if she wasn’t so frigging nice,” Ann breathed out, casting wary glances around the room and she jumped too when a plate of cookies materialized on the coffee table in front of her.

Where did Maggie find all this? I preferred not to think about it. Best case scenario, she stole them from Aymeric’s bakery. Worst one? Yeah…I wasn’t sure what ghosts used to create pastries and coffee.

“Thank you,” I repeated softly.

We resumed our conversation like nothing happened, ignoring the fact that Maggie, our friendly archives ghost, just beat up the computer and offered us beverages and snacks before going back to do whatever she was occupying herself with like it was a normal day.

How I would hate to be Carter. She could be terrifying.

“We’re the Guardians,” Ann resumed. “Our role is to ensure everyone is safe. I’m surprised Arc let it go so easily.”

I wouldn’t qualify what happened by “letting it go easily.” I was certain that I’d get an earful about this whole mess the second we set foot in his house.

Because, yes; Marcus had sent me a text saying I had to come pick up my stuff as his body revolted at the mere thought of walking in front of my room.

I guess the stone was effective, then. But it also meant that I wouldn’t be sleeping there tonight.

Damn binding promise.

“Arc knows Dimitri is powerful,” I answered, choosing not to talk about the tracker they found in the cabins and tried this morning. “And Dimitri wouldn’t have budged anyway. So it’s a good thing Arc caved.”

Ann opened her mouth to talk but the door rattled as someone tried to open it and failed. Repeatedly.

Arc’s voice in my memories made me flinch.

“If someone comes here with malevolent intent, the archives will deny them access.”

When I recognized Carter on the other side, my anxiety didn’t lessen.

“For fuck’s sake. Let me in, you damn ghost!”

But Maggie didn’t. What was he doing here? It was the first time I’d seen him being refused entrance.

Was he planning on doing some damage to the archives? To hurt me ?

Ann and I kept looking at the door, afraid to make any sound, until it finally stopped a few minutes after it started.

I let out a long exhale, trying to force my muscles to relax.

But the door opened.

And Carter walked in, frowning like a child who didn’t get invited to his friend’s birthday party, followed by a grunting Marcus still in uniform, his helmet under his arm.

“Why is the spell keeping Carter out?” he asked, strolling toward us as Carter bolted toward far away shelves.

Ann rolled her eyes as Marcus sat ungraciously next to her, leaning over the table to grab a cookie. His hand was slapped away by an invisible force, and he groaned.

“I mean Margaret ,” he corrected himself, looking around the empty space. Waiting a couple of seconds before trying again, this time uninterrupted, he mumbled, “I can’t believe she likes that nickname you all started to call her with.”

“If you don’t start treating her with the respect that she’s owed, you’ll be locked out too,” Ann said, snatching the cookie from his hand to bring it to her lips. Marcus made another guttural sound as he grabbed one for himself.

“And it’s obviously because she’s punishing him for the ruckus he caused last night,” Ann explained.

Marcus fell back in the armchair, leaving his scary looking helmet on his knees.

“Ruckus? What happened?” He turned his face to me. “Wait, what happened ? I was watching you guys at the bar when he crushed the bottle before you disappeared. Did he bring you here?”

I shrugged, grabbing my fresh cup of coffee and taking a sip.

“The guy has unresolved anger issues”.

They both stared at me, waiting for me to explain.

Ann obviously knew Carter was the one responsible for the archives being closed this morning, but Arc may not have told anyone about the actual fight.

What a shame, since I actually handed his ass to him.

Who cared that he didn’t really put up a fight and turned out to be more bark than bite? Maybe he got a kink of hitting me when I was defenseless, and it wasn’t as fun for him when I actually fought back. He ended up bleeding while I got out without a single scratch .

“We fought a little, and he may or may not have caused a few boxes of files and books to fall down their shelves. Maggie wasn’t happy.”

Marcus’ brows pulled down.

“Does Arc know about this?”

“Of course he knows.” Ann swat at his arm. “Kai said Arc and the Nephilim broke their tumble.”

I arched my brow. She heard of it from Kai ? How did he know? He wasn’t there…

“Tumble?” Marcus asked, his voice suddenly higher.

“He also said Carter was covered in his own blood when he saw him leave the archives to get changed before coming back to officiate the binding ceremony.”

“Wait,” I said, inching to the side to focus on them, forgetting about the file I was looking for on the database. “I understand how he could have seen Carter covered in blood, but how does he know about what actually happened?”

Ann’s eyes widened and she bit into her cookie, obviously deflecting. Marcus and I both stared at her expectantly until she finally cracked.

“ Fine .” She leaned over the coffee table, lowering her voice. “Carter told him. He was pretty ashamed.”

Yeah, I bet he was .

“Don’t worry,” she added quickly. “No one knows, and if this gossip doesn’t say anything,” she turned to frown at Marcus, “no one will.”

“I’m not a—”

“Oh, yes you are! You can’t keep your damn mouth shut when you’ve had a few.”

“Yeah, like you can—”

“If you’re done feeding the rumor mill, I need to check out this file,” Carter said, pulling my focus to him with a sharp turn of my neck.

“Oh, we weren’t—”

“Please.”

The room fell silent.

It wasn’t the simple word that snapped my mouth closed. It wasn’t the fact that he actually handed me the file and didn’t throw it on my desk or at my face either like he usually did.

No, it was the fact that the word was actually said and not sneered . It was the fact that his usual scent was covered by an herb I recognized, but couldn’t remember the name of .

My throat bobbed and my eyes fell on the stapled documents in front of my face.

“Sure,” I said, taking them carefully.

He didn’t say anything else while I was processing his request. Didn’t tap his foot on the ground. Didn’t sigh in annoyance or cast me murderous glances. And, as soon as I handed it back to him, he nodded a thank you and left without any comment.

Marcus and Ann both stared at me, their jaws dropping.

“Well, you either managed to knock some sense into his stupid head, or Carter was replaced with someone else,” Ann said.

Marcus scoffed. “Please, I’ve been suggesting they replace him with some shapeshifter or robot for years now. If it was that, they would have done it way sooner.”