Page 4 of Tethered Souls
The stories surrounding him twist my stomach, and I’m a fucking Black. My Family are the ones boogiemen call when someone has wronged them. The assassins who kill without question or hesitation regardless of the target.
Peeking through the blinds, I peer out at the park across the street. I aim the man’s arm at the playground full of children, getting the angle of the projection right so when the police checks for gunshot residue later, it will match the line of fire. We don’t always bring along someone to frame for our kills, but the police won’t ignore multiple deaths at a public park, especially not on this side of town where heavy wallets have weight. Best to give them a case-closed suspect to keep them digging too deeply.
With my other hand, I draw a sigil in the air, pulling on one of the tattooed runes beneath my shirt. Using innate power doesn’t require focus, but anything else is a constant fight to use. Magic is dangerous and needs a firm hand to sharpen it into usable energy. My runic tattoo buzzing with power, I force the air around his body into a bubble to stop the sound and the bullet from escaping.
“He still out?” I ask without looking up, concentrating on my magic.
“Yes.”
“Then fire.”
Drawing on his own innate magic, he sends an electric spasm through our patsy’s brain. His finger twitches. The gun fires, throwing residue on his hand and clothes.
Three more shots ring out in utter silence.
The man groans. His eyes flutter, and I remove the gun from his hand. Placing it back in the bag, I pull out a vial of red liquid. Dayne tilts the man’s head back, and I pour a few drops of the potion down his throat. His eyes shut.
Pocketing the vial, I help Dayne lower him to the ground. “If I showed up with a body tonight, would you help me hide it?” I ask. He’s helped me hide many bodies at many hours of the night, and I have done the same in my pajamas without question. But this is Varius Shadow I’m not so subtly not talking about, and although he doesn’t have any magic, he does have power.
Vast power – his empire enormous and his reach even bigger than that.
Plus, he has that bodyguard he takes with him for all his meetings. Nowthatguy has magic, terrifying magic that can kill from anywhere in the world. Khalid is literally the reason I first started shaving my head twelve years ago. Leaving hair at a crime scene is amateurish in our line of work. Leaving DNA for Khalid to collect and use in his soul dolls, magical creations that make your body and soul his bitch, is stab-yourself-in-the-face stupid.
Dayne raises a brow as we stand. “Starting familicide early, huh? Perhaps you should marry Khalid, really cement this deal between your two families, you know?”
I look at him dryly. Khalid is a reaper – the one tasked with killing members of his Family who turn traitor, and there have been alotof them over the years. Varius’ lack of power is an ember to a fire that will never go out. All it’ll take is one little blow, and another uprising will rage across the Shadow Family. A Family my little sister is marrying into.
“Seriously, though, Lou can’t marry him. He’ll break her.”
“She’s not fragile, Micha. She can handle herself.”
“Um, hello? Have you met her? She’s utterly useless.” If she picks up a sword, she is definitely the one getting cut. If she tries to shoot a gun, that bullet is going into her fucking foot. Whatever Varius or his family wants to do to her is going to happen. Worry eating at me, my eyebrows draw together. “Seriously, Dayne. I need your help.”
Sighing he asks, “How are you planning on bringing this ‘body’ to me?”
I chew my lip for a bit, then glance to the left, knowing he’s not going to like this. He never likes my plans. “Dead,” I say slowly.
“Micha,” he says dryly. “We’ve been over this. That’s not a fucking plan.”
“But planning’s just a waste of time!Nothingever goes to plan.” Seeing he’s about to start the same argument we always have, I jump in first. “Just yesterday, youplannedto kill that SCU agent who shall not be named forreasons.” Reasons being her partner is godlike, so can probably listen in whenever her name is spoken or some other bullshit thing like that. “You wanted us to sneak into her house and kill her while she slept. And what happened?
“Oh yeah,” I say, not waiting for him to answer. “You didn’t realize her dog was a fuckinghellhoundon loan from Hades –”
“That’s a bit of an exaggeration.”
“And she is mated to a fuckingarchangel!”
Luckily, said archangel wasn’t in her house when we broke in. Otherwise, we’d both be very much dead, our souls never to reincarnate. Probably. Not a lot is known about what happens when you get offed by an archangel because it so rarely happens. And not because they aren’t super badass and incapable of killing people. Oh no. But because all their time is spentpolicing the gods.
Which we are most certainly not.
We’re witches. Aka:mortal.
“No, she isn’t.” Dayne rolls his eyes, having said this a thousand times since yesterday. “Archangels were created before souls were split. They don’t have lifemates.”
I cross my arms. “Well, penguins didn’t have their souls split by the gods just for kicks, and they still have mates.”
He rolls his eyes. “It’s not the same thing.”
