Page 1 of Tortured Soul
Prologue
Lola
Imight have fucked up, I thought, staring at my reflection in the mirror; the blood splattered on my face, my knuckles, and so much of it matted in my hair. And to make things worse, the two dead bodies lying haphazardly in the rundown motel room behind me were now flooding the dirty carpeted floor with more crimson.
I exhaled in frustration.
Why the Hell couldn’t I get five minutes of peace and quiet in this damned world?
“Are you sure it’s what you want?” Lucifer had asked me, sitting behind his large, luxurious dark wooden desk, his hands crossed in front of him, Lilith sitting quietly on its edge. “I guess you did earn your freedom, yes, but you’ll lose the protection you’ve enjoyed so far. In a time like this, it seems…unwise.”
Unwise.
Well, yeah, obviously. It seemed that even though my life has never felt seriously threatened by humans before, it might not only have been pure luck. Maybe the Archdemons—as useless as some of these assholes might have been—were actually doing something more than fuck over their faithful employees and lazing around all day.
Fuck…I was in desperate need of a shower. No amount of shifting power could clean the blood and grime off my whole dumb self.
Although, taking care of the bodies first would be the smart move—there were no lower demons to do the dirty work for me anymore—my shit was my own to clean and fix.
Yay free-me.
I splashed some water on my face, trying to clear the mess that my head was in, and released a long, deep—not quite calming enough—breath.
My back straightened up, my eyes closed and I let my power do its work, bracing myself on the lip of the sink. Prickles of my magic ran under my skin, changing my bone structure, tingling my scalp, transforming my clothes and making them brush against my skin in a different way. My head buzzed like I was tipsy for a short moment. Good. Only a couple of seconds meant that I was in no need to hunt for my next prey for a little while. It also meant that my pheromones wouldn’t be out of control just yet.
Which, in my current situation, would be disastrous. The last thing I needed right now was random horny Immortals tracking my ass for a good time.
My eyes opened and I smiled, testing what had been my traveling face for the last twenty-four hours; an average paunchy and balding middle-aged man. My tipped ears were the last—unfortunately unchangeable—remnant of who I was.
A demon. Servitor of Hell. One of the few Succubi still alive, and the first of my kind. To my demise, pointy ears came with the curse of being the first of a Hellriser species, allowing other Immortals—and some educated humans—to recognize me on the spot.
And now I was free. Free, but not sure I was ready for the threats that awaited me out there. Humans, hunting us brainlessly. Immortals, turning against one another.
Those two men, though…They had a plan. They were not trying to kill me—no matter how pointless it would have been—but catch me. I couldn’t help but wonder why? And how did they find me? I always hid my ears, no matter what form I wore, changing it quite often while traveling to blend in with the crowds, so I didn’t know how they caught my trace. But the blinking, tracking device they pointed at me must have helped them a lot…
Maybe I should have asked how and where they got itbeforeI started smashing their skulls with a bedside lamp.
But I was free.
And even though I’d have to watch my own back, I couldn’t help but feel it deep inside my bones: the damned freedom I’ve worked so long for. The freedom I’veearned.
“Alright, I guess your mind is set,” Lucifer had said with a sad smile, leaning back into his chair. “I won’t stop you. If you find yourself looking for a safe place, you won’t be able to come here freely anymore. But knowthat there are protected camps scattered around the world, where other Immortals have dwelled. I’ll ask my assistant to give you a couple of their locations.”
Now, I just needed to stay alive on my own long enough to reach one of those places. No matter how kind Lucifer and Lilith had been to me for centuries, giving me those locations yesterday was all they could do to help me.
I turned around to face the mess I was standing in. The red stains everywhere, the broken motel furniture, thecorpses.
I could clean and get rid of the bodies. But the broken stuff everywhere? The damn blood on thecarpet? I was not a witch for Hell’s sake.
I definitely wouldn’t get my deposit back.
Chapter 1
Lola
Iturned off the engine of my bike and looked around.
That couldn’t be here. There was nothing. Just a wide plane of cracked dry land, surrounded by an old forest turned to stone.
