Page 43 of Tortured Soul (Soulless #1)

Lola

I woke up with a gasp, drenched in sweat, my heart thumping loudly in my ears.

Oh, I was definitely mad at Maggie.

No matter why she made that book fall and turned the pages for me to see that particular entry, it awakened some memories I had spent a lot of time burying in the depths of my mind.

And I was not happy about that.

Good thing I didn’t see my reflection in the memory; it would’ve been too painful to remember how I used to look like.

My brother’s face had been enough to make me feel like someone was stabbing me in the guts, and no matter how happy I had come to be about meeting Dimitri, that first encounter had been laced with worry and fear because of the situation I was stuck in.

Fucking Dragons.

I turned my head to the side only to notice the bed was empty, and I could hear the shower running in the bathroom.

Perfect opportunity to leave.

I wouldn’t let him get into my head like he did yesterday.

I stood up and didn’t bother rummaging through his drawers for clothes.

Within a couple of seconds, I was entirely dressed with a short black sundress, a belt accentuating my waist, and some combat boots.

My hair was styled in a half updo, effectively hiding the tips of my ears, my precious ring hidden in my cleavage.

I silently stepped out of the room and made my way to the entrance.

I might have decided not to escape with Dimitri for now— maybe —but Arc confused me to my fucking core. Why taunt me constantly if he had no intention of taking things further?

Now I understood what Kai meant .

He was keeping his Hellriser side on a leash, letting the Divine part of him take the lead, and I was somehow challenging that. Calling to his inner demon, enticing him to take over.

But Arc didn’t want that. Was he scared of his own powers? About what he could do , if he let himself be whole? What if Kai—

“Good morning.”

I startled, turning around sharply and grabbing the throat of the person who had snuck up behind me, ready to attack if—

“Carter?” I frowned.

He lifted a brow, frozen on the spot, a large cup of coffee in his hand between us. Some had spilled on his fingers at my sharp movement.

“I know I’m not your favorite person on earth, but even I find this reaction a little extreme.”

I snapped my hand back like I’d been burned and retreated a few steps.

“I-I’m sorry. I didn’t hear you coming.”

“Lost in your own mind?” he asked, and I couldn’t prevent my brows from scrunching further down. “I made you a coffee.”

I looked at the cup in his hand like he was handing me a mug filled with bleach and arsenic. Wouldn’t kill me, but I probably wouldn’t be enjoying my day afterward.

“I’m good,” I clipped.

He tilted his head to the side. “You, a notorious coffee addict, are refusing the one I’m offering?”

My throat bobbed.

Yeah, I guess I couldn’t have been more obvious in my blatant distrust.

He took a long sip from it, not letting go of my gaze. His eyes looked strange…a bit red, but somehow their blue was brighter.

“See? Not poisoned. And black, no sugar, no milk. Just like you asked when I retrieved you at the barrier.”

My heart made a strange loop in my chest at the faint gleam in his eyes. Was that a peace offering, or was this, once again, going to escalate and turn into a fight?

I weighed my words in my head before I ultimately answered, “Thank you, but I’m good. I’m supposed to meet Marcus for coffee.” What a liar .

Although, it would give me the opportunity to finally get the very few items that I had left there.

His coffee handing hand lowered slightly as he nodded. I didn’t wait for him to say anything else as I turned around and left, walking as fast as I could to escape the house and the two men living in it.

I’d have plenty of time in the future to be stuck with them, I might as well enjoy a little air now.

I didn’t know why I was so surprised to see that the key still opened the door. Was I expecting them to change the locks or something? Maybe.

I placed it in the bowl on the console before taking off my shoes and walked up to the kitchen.

Marcus lifted his eyes from his cereal box and his jaw dropped before he grinned.

“Fancy seeing you here,” he said and I rolled my eyes.

“Amazing what just a couple of weeks can do to your attitude,” I crooned.

He shrugged. “You grew on me. I kind of miss your brat energy around here now.”

I chuckled, going to the coffee machine to pour myself one, only for him to stand up and gently push me away, pressing on my shoulders to sit me at my usual spot.

“You know I know how to use it, right? Also, I’ve only been away for like…three nights.”

He gave me a playful look. “You’re a guest now, and you’ve been through enough since you got here. You can at least let other people take care of your coffee when they offer. After all, we all know coffee is the way to your heart.”

My throat bobbed, struggling to swallow through the dryness. Maybe I should have accepted Carter’s peace offering …

“And second,” he continued, “the apartment has been too quiet these last three nights. ”

“Come on,” I groaned. “We always argued at least once every evening only to end up scrolling our phones in silence on opposite sides of the couch while the TV played in the background.”

He sighed, pressing the button to pour the coffee. “Ah, I miss the good old days. Now I’m scrolling on my phone alone, and no one chuckles or scoffs next to me to the point that I’m getting irritated. It feels sad.”

I turned my head just enough to meet his eyes, a playful expression plastered on his face.

“You’re full of shit.” I laughed.

He placed the cup in front of me before sitting back on his seat, plunging his whole arm into the cereal box.

“So, how’s life with your two… mates ?” He winced the word. “Sorry, I’ve known from the start, but it’s still hard to picture them getting along with a woman who’s not Carrie or Ann.”

A groan escaped me as I took the first sip of the burning drink.

“We’re not getting along, so you can stop trying to picture it. And I’d rather not talk about it. Carter and I fought again, and I had to spend most of my evening plucking shards of glass out of his back and wings.”

He choked on his cereal, coughing, and sending some flying across the island.

“Ew, Marcus ! Gross,” I said, backing up on my stool to avoid the projectiles.

It took him a good minute and a full glass of apple juice before he could talk again.

“What the Hell, you can’t tell me shit like this while I’m eating! You plucked glass out of his—how violent are your fights?”

Violent enough for us to threaten to fry each other out. Violent enough that I used a power I’ve been forbidden to use on other Immortals… Well, if Lilith could see me now.

But I didn’t tell him that and took another sip of coffee with a shrug. “A bottle of whiskey got in our way.”

“Well, at least it’s not books . Maggie has been pissed since you guys fought in there. She’s been moving books around a lot.”

Yeah, if only she was just moving them .

“Maybe Arc will start moving his bottles in protest too,” I mused. “But anyway. If you miss me that much, I could come back here…But apparently, Arc and I are a package deal now.”

“Yeah, no thank you. If Carter decides he wants to join too, I’m not sure I’d survive the awkward tension.”

I bet he wouldn’t.

We stayed quiet for a few minutes, enjoying the comfortable silence. Marcus and I might have had a rocky start, but I found that he was actually really kind under the thick layer of grumpiness. It pained me that I was forced to leave right when we started to get along.

I really missed our occasional pizza nights, where I would come back late enough that Aymeric was already in bed, the girls out, and Marcus chilling in the living room.

He always complained about me showing up right when he was about to order and that it left him no choice but to order one for me too.

In reality, I knew he was waiting for me to call them. He was just too proud to admit it.

“So,” I said, placing my empty cup back on the island in front of me. “How’s work? Any interesting or concerning updates?”

He shook his head, and pushed the cereal box to the side.

“Not really. We haven’t lost another scout for a whole week, so that’s a good thing.

Although Arc stopped sending them to search for the prison.

” His voice changed slightly, sadness pulling at his face.

“But I’ve heard they made a lot of progress in that direction since you brought back some documents from the cabin. Now they’re raiding other ones.”

“Yeah, I know.” I nodded.

“Maybe they’ll send another team soon.”

They probably wouldn’t. If Dimitri was successful, they wouldn’t need to send anyone there ever again unless for the potential rescue mission.

“I wish they’d send me,” he whispered, rubbing at his head with both his palms.

I tilted my head to the side in question. “Why you? Aren’t you assigned to the camp security?”

He nibbled on his bottom lip, eyes seemingly lost in front of him.

“I used to lead scouts until— well , until I lost most of my team. I feel like the new ones doing the searches lack motivation to find our missing people. ”

I realized that I didn’t know much about him. Sure, I knew the quick story of how he ended up here, but he told me it was about ten years ago. What had happened since then? He did seem particularly sensitive about the disappearances and searches from the beginning. Did he lose someone like this?

“Aren’t you scared you’ll end up missing like the ones before?” I asked.

“I’m a demon. They can’t kill me. Plus, with the chips we’re all wearing, it’ll only send Arc and Carrie the location of where they’ll lock me in, if they even catch me.”

“But what if—”

I paused, replaying his sentence in my head. My brows pulled down in confusion.

“Wait, chips? Plural ?”

Marcus’ eyebrow lifted up. “Well, yeah. A few months ago, Ann and Jeremiah developed a tracking chip, but they couldn’t figure out a way to keep it from dissolving because of the toxicity of our blood, so Arc said to sew them in the waistband of our pants.

” He shifted back, sliding his finger over the side to show where it’s been sewed in.

“It took them about another month to find a combination strong enough to resist our blood then place it under our skin.” He showed a spot on the backside of his bicep.

“They didn’t bother taking off the ones they gave us before, so now we have two. ”

Oh, those— motherfucking assholes.

That was why Arc and Jeremiah relented and didn’t push Dimitri further. Because they already got him to wear the damn guards uniform.

Did they tell him about the tracking chip inside it? I doubted that.

“They still have to replace it every six weeks or so,” he continued, oblivious to my inner turmoil. “They used titanium to make the chip and embedded it in a crystal capsule. It takes longer for our blood to fully attack it.”

Crystal.

Of course.

The bottle of whiskey was not made of glass but Crystal, that’s why Carter’s blood wasn't able to melt it off immediately.

It would have, eventually. After a few days or weeks.

“Did they chip every uniform?” I asked. “Even the spare ones?”

He nodded. “ If a guard was to damage theirs, they would be given a new one. It would be a pain for everyone if they had to wait for the chip to be sewn in on the spot.”

“But it doesn’t matter now, since you guys all have the one under your skin,” I pointed out.

“Yeah, but they didn’t know it would ever be possible, so as a precaution, they’ve chipped all uniforms from the start and—are you alright?” Was I? “You look a little pale. Did I say something? I swear the coffee wasn’t poisoned, you—”

“I’m fine,” I blurted out. “Coffee was great, and you only brought light to the fact that Arc is a duplicitous bastard, and that maybe I shouldn’t trust Ann because—”

“Oh, wow, wow, slow down. What?”

I took a deep breath, trying to calm my racing heart down. Was Ann aware of this? The fact that they still used the chipped uniforms?

“They sent Dimitri to look for the Prison,” I explained and his jaw dropped slightly.

“He agreed to wear the uniform, but since he has some sensory issues because of the madness, he was reluctant about it. They told him it was to ensure that other scouts wouldn’t think he was an enemy, and I’m pretty sure they didn’t mention the fact that there was a tracking device in it.

He wouldn’t have agreed to it otherwise. ”

The confusion was readable on his face as I paused. “Why? If it’s for his safety, then—”

“No,” I interrupted him, shaking my head.

“He doesn’t trust other Immortals easily, and he would never have agreed to be tracked by one.

I knew it was strange that Arc and Jeremiah didn’t push him further when he refused to get the tracker under his skin.

They didn’t tell him, nor me , that he already had one in his fucking clothes. ”

He brought a hand to his hair and pulled the strands out of his face nervously.

“Look, I don’t want to get in trouble with Arc for telling you all this…I agree it’s fucked up but—”

“I won’t tell him that you told me.” I rolled my eyes, getting up from my stool. “But I will inspect the damn pants when Dimitri comes back and throw it at Arc’s face if I do find a chip. And Ann will have some serious explanations to do.”