Page 16 of Tortured Soul
Aymeric shook his head. “We already ate. At leastIdid. Marcus ate a whole bag of barbecue flavored chips when he got back an hour ago.”
“And I enjoyed every second of it.”
As they bickered, I focused on them for a little while. On their energy. On what it could tell me about them.
Aymeric wasn’t that old—at least in Immortal years. He was probably turned into an angel during or after the war between forty and fifty years ago. He felt calm. Appeasing. His deep blue eyes contrasted with his dark skin and darker freckles dotted his nose and cheeks.
Marcus was probably fresh into his first century. He felt like most of the demons I knew in my different tied groups. Before getting here, he was probably collecting souls or cleaning up after other Immortals’ mess-ups. I wondered how such a young demon ended up here, among other free beings.
Steps sounded on the stairs and they stopped arguing to welcome Kai at our table. He sat next to me.
“Alright, I’m counting on you to show her around. No one is to get into her room, alright?”
“Why would we get into her room?” Aymeric asked.
“Here we go again,” Marcus grumbled.
“You’re fine now, but either of you might get tempted. Succubus pheromones are…potent, to say the least.”
Aymeric’s brow lifted as he turned his face toward me briefly. Marcus rolled his eyes.
“I’m not joking, Marcus,” Kai scolded.
“And I’m not in the habit of forcing anyoneor—”
“I know that, and I trust both of you. But I’ve seen what happened a couple of times with unbinded Succubi, and your reactions might not be your own. Be careful, alright?”
Marcus didn’t insist, just squinted at me in confusion. Maybe Kai being the one warning him made him finally understand my earlier reservations.
“The lock is installed,” Kai said, to me. “I count on you to place the stone as soon as you get into your room.”
“I will.”
“Good. Because as I told you, you’re safe here. And if someone or something threatens this safety, I wouldn’t want to be them when Arc learns about it.”
Chapter 6
Lola
I’ve had the best night of sleep in a long while.
It helped not being on the run anymore. Turns out, the Hell’s opal Kai gave me made me feel safer. The second I stepped foot into this room—barely furnished but surprisingly comfortable—I took my trusted, small hidden dagger out of my boot and cut a slice into my palm.
As Kai suggested, I let the blood drip on it until it was completely soaked, only stopping when the wound closed itself after about a minute.
Needless to say, I liked that stone better when it was covered in red and I didn’t have to look at the dreadful color that reminded me of a time I’d rather forget.
Apart from Kai’s words, I wasn’t even sure if the small rock worked or if it was some kind of placebo effect. But so far, no one climbed my window and I didn’t hear nor feel Marcus or Aymeric walk near my door.
I took it as a win—all about small victories here.
I stretched and turned to peer at the window. The sun was up behind the thick curtains, and I could faintly hear people starting to walk in the street.
I sat up with a yawn, sliding my hands along the braid to untie my hair. The heat had made me throw off the thick cover in the middle of the night, as I had been completely drenched in sweat.
I closed my eyes, searching inside myself for my well of energy as I fumbled with the usually hidden ring hanging loosely around my neck. I was fine, but it was depleting quicker than it had the day before. I would need to buy some clothes soon if I wanted to avoid using it to create a change of clothes everyday.
There was a door leading to a small personal bathroom and the shower I took was quick but felt rejuvenating after the week I’ve had.
