—— CHAPTER SIXTEEN ——
“That dipshit from the other night is parked outside.” Derek’s first words upon arriving that afternoon were far from sweet nothings.
Callie sighed. “I know. He’s been out there for hours.” Derek reached for the door he’d closed moments ago, but paused when she added, “I think he’s trying to remind me of my obligations to Ford.”
“I don’t like it.” The hard set of his lips rivaled the cut of his jaw in severity.
“I’m not particularly pleased about it, either, but he has my brother. So chill.”
“It’s not just that. They shouldn’t be using you for anything.”
She’d had the same thought. Repeatedly. Coming from someone else, though, it was irritating. She’d already spent most of the day being told what she should and shouldn’t do. Derek’s remark, no matter how well intentioned, wasn’t needed or welcomed. “Am I not capable?” she snapped.
“Whoa.” He took a step backward. “You’re fucking smart. You know I think you’re an asset.”
“An asset? You out to use me, too?”
“No. Fuck no.” Derek’s voice rose with each word. “It isn’t like that, and you know it.”
Her mental armor was thin and dented. “Do I? What is it like then?”
“You can’t expect me to be okay with Ford forcing you to interact with that guy.”
The urge to ask for his reasoning burned, but going down that road required a towering emotional stockpile. Hers was depleted. “Okay.”
“Okay?” He didn’t trust her quickly deflating anger. She couldn’t blame him.
Callie shook her head to dislodge her ire instead of making another fear martini. “If you’re really just worried about me, then yeah. Okay.”
“I am.” He nodded. “Are you going to tell me what you’re doing for him?”
“For whom?” She wasn’t supposed to answer, but her fuse was nearly burnt out. Talking could help. Confiding secrets to one mostly trusted person was different than exposing the truth to daylight.
His pacing was going to wear a small circle into the carpet near the window. “Ford.”
At least he was playing along. Callie certainly wouldn’t have been up for this kind of bullshit. “Don’t you want to talk about what you learned this morning instead?” The reply a clear sign to back off.
He inclined his head toward her. The miniscule movement put her under scrutiny enough to make her arms itch. “More souls gone MIA, not really any big news. And I wouldn’t have asked about Ford if I didn’t want to know.”
Her forearm was red and angry where she’d scratched too hard. Distractions were failing her, and deep down, she wanted to tell him everything. “Knowing about Ford complicates everything,” she said, and it was the truth.
“Do I look like I’m scared of a little drama?” His arms hung loosely at his sides and earnestness wrinkled between his brows.
She dropped onto the couch and beckoned him to join her. “It’s more than drama. This is bigger than catty coworkers talking behind each other’s backs. There are big consequences involved if I fuck up.”
“He’s got your brother, yeah?” His nostrils flared in the same way they had before he’d broken a guy’s nose.
She sucked her bottom lip to avoid giving voice to the quaking feelings hungry to escape. The cushion beneath her dipped to the left when Derek sat next to her. Oddly that off-kilter motion made her steady enough to nod.
Derek curled his fingers into fists and released them a few times. Silence packed with truth and fear stretched between them. “I’m not going to let him hurt you or yours. Got me?”
“But why? You haven’t known me very long.” What was wrong with her? Insecurity was bad enough, but caring for Derek made her strip it bare.
“I want to know you more, and that’s enough. I don’t connect with people often. You and me? We connect. I like that.”
“My brother, though. You can’t know about it. Or about Ford or—”
Derek cut off her babbling. “Your brother isn’t the first person he’s taken. Won’t be the last. We’ll get him back, though. He’s important to you, though, and that makes him important to me.”
She liked it, too. “You could—”
“I could do a lot of things, Callie,” he said, cutting her off. “What I want to do is spend time with you that doesn’t require your damn hands turning into torches or you being scared to tell me why you’re on the verge of tears, all because of a jackoff like Ford.”
“I don’t think I’m supposed to agree out loud with you calling him a jackoff.”
“See? I’m therapeutic, too. I can call him all the names you’re not ready to. I know him, remember? And I’m not scared.”
Callie grabbed his hand and squeezed hard. “You should be, though. Don’t you know what he does to people?” The word butcher pinged against the sides of her skull, but releasing it would mean stepping over a line she couldn’t walk back from.
“You forget I work for the man who can take people’s souls—and that’s the part he openly advertises. Ford knows better than to poke at me, which is why I’m concerned about his guy staking a claim outside your place when he knows I’m involved.”
Did Derek want to stake a claim? She’d let him sleep here. Did that count? Continuing whatever they had was appealing. No question. But she wasn’t a possession people could call dibs on. “No one is going to dictate my choices.”
He rolled his eyes. “Not trying to take over, but from the little you’ve told me, Ford’s holding your family over your head. Is it so bad that I want to help?”
“No,” Callie muttered, refusing to look at him. It was easier to be sullen when she avoided his earnest face.
She still held his hand, and he gave her a light squeeze. “Good. Now what’s Ford asking of you?”
“Asking makes it sound so polite.” She sighed, and went to retrieve the envelope Nate had given her. “I was specifically told you are not allowed to help me on the job.”
“Well, did he say I couldn’t aid in preparations?”
“You think semantics are going to cover our asses?”
“Ford might work dirty, but he’s a smart fucker. As long as the job gets done to specs, he won’t care.”
Maybe it was Derek’s confidence, or the way he kept protecting her, or maybe she was just sick of having to do this all alone. She’d have to do the job for Ford by herself, but at this point she’d take whatever help Derek could give her beforehand. “I’m sure you already know the police are working to get past the DNA muddling that soul renting creates.”
He let out a loud huff of a laugh. “You could say that.”
“Apparently Gem City PD is making progress, putting together some solid investigative work that could be used to pass new laws around soul magic. Ford thinks that’s bad news for him.”
“It’s bad news all around, but they’ll have enough proof to outlaw soul magic in the next few years either way.” Times like this it was hard to forget how immersed in this world Derek was, and how small Callie’s involvement really had been.
“Right. Well, Ford wants their research.”
“Not saying the cops are rocket scientists, but they’ve got to be backing that shit up. It’s not like you can shred some papers and it all goes away.”
“They do, but they aren’t allowed to use remote servers because of some state law intended to protect government information. So their back-up servers are in some room at the forensics lab.”
“The satellite building off I-5?” He relaxed into the couch, but his lips tightened. His mind was going a mile a minute, she could tell, but sprinting alongside him wouldn’t be good for Callie’s health.
“Yes, but I can see you’re getting ideas. You don’t need to be getting ideas. I have a whole pile of where to go and what to do from Ford.”
“My ideas might be better than his.” He winked.
“This isn’t a game, Derek. Yes, your ideas are probably a thousand times better than Ford’s, but if I don’t do what he wants, I get my brother returned in tiny, bloody packages. If you think I have issues now, imagine me after opening a box with my sibling’s severed foot.”
Derek’s hands were gentle as he pulled her against him. “Sorry. Bad time to try and lighten the mood. Don’t let Ford’s reputation wreck you. We’ll get your brother back. In one piece. Let me help you get out of this.”
She nodded against his chest, praying she could hold back the tears.
“What do they need you to do this for? His crew is aces at B&E.”
She shrugged. It didn’t matter why. “My face isn’t on a wanted poster.”
He arched a brow, but didn’t push the subject. “What about the people who did the research? They aren’t going to up and forget their projects.”
Callie blinked back tears. “I’m trying not to think about that part, but Ford’s crew is ‘handling’ that part.”
“He’ll probably just scare them.” Derek couldn’t even make the lie sound believable.
Callie played along anyway. “Yeah. Sure.”
“Which night do you they want you to do this?”
“Friday.” Her answer was muffled against his worn shirt.
She’d crumpled against a guy, and he wasn’t judging her. Her uneven breaths were obvious, but Derek carried on as though it was a normal conversation and the woman he held against his chest wasn’t fighting to not lose her shit. At least one person today was worthy of her trust. “That’s good. I’ve got an informant who’s a paper pusher for Gem City police. He works Fridays.”
She left the safety of his chest. “Why do we need him? Ford gave me all these documents—” she pointed to the papers on the table “—and they detail schedules and locks and where to be when.”
“Schedules are good. Having a guy on the inside to make sure people don’t change their schedules is better.”
It sounded good on its face, but panic lanced her chest regardless. “What if Ford finds out what we’re doing?”
“Ricky’s never going to meet you. He’s not going to know you exist. He’s not going to know what you’re after. I can incentivize him plenty without him knowing anything specific.”
“Are you going to threaten him?” Not that she should care.
“Nah. You forget about my charm a lot.”
“I know you’re charming.” Her smile faltered.
“Plus he likes cash, doll, and I have plenty of that available.”
If she had money, Callie would have paid Josh’s debt instead of tying herself to the Soul Charmer. “I can’t afford that.”
“No one asked you to.” He began rubbing her back in small, soothing circles. “I like taking care of you. Let me do it.”
Ten even, deep breaths didn’t slow Callie’s mind any, but at least she’d curtailed the fear free fall. If only she’d met Derek earlier, when it was still possible to buy Josh out. It was too late now. It was this, or nothing. “Maybe.”
He kissed her forehead, and followed it with a second light one on her temple. She tilted her face toward his and met his lips with her own. The soft touch was sweet and caring and conveyed all that protective talk Derek loved to share. Callie liked it, but the day had left her raw. Acting gently was out for her. She curved her palm around the nape of his neck and pulled him toward her. Hard. He jerked forward and, surprised by her aggression, firmed his lips. He recovered quickly, though, and soon he parted them to let her deepen the kiss. She’d expected him to match her fervor, to push back, but he accepted the onslaught. He met her energy, but let her maintain control.
Callie’s hands were shaking—whether from excitement or overload, she wasn’t certain—but she brought her mouth to his neck. The heady scent of leather lingered on his skin, the perfect complement to the touch of salt against her tongue. He groaned and she licked the same spot again.
When their lips met the next time, his body had gone rigid with tension. She wasn’t the only one shaking. They had big problems to solve and a whole lot to talk through, but she needed an emotional outlet beforehand. He offered an escape, even if just for a half hour.
“Bedroom?” she asked between panting breaths.
His response was fast and firm and what she needed.
An hour later they were both slicked with sweat, stretched out on Callie’s bed with only a thin sheet covering them. It was good to be whole again. Or as complete as she could be. Revelations from Zara, Tess, and Joey had shaken her, but Derek had proven reliable.
Thinking about her mom brought more questions to her mind, ones that hammered at her post-coital bliss. Who in their right mind thinks about their mother while lying naked next to a man who looked like Derek? Soul magic wasn’t necessary to push her over the edge; she was already certifiable.
“I can hear you thinking.” Derek’s bemusement would fade if he knew the direction her thoughts had taken. His affection was more than she’d earned.
Callie smiled at the ceiling in a fleeting moment of normalcy. “A lot happened between when you left this morning and now.”
“More than what we’ve talked about?”
“Significantly.” This is why she never bothered with snuggling. Vulnerability coupled with honesty transformed her into the ultimate mood killer.
“I believe we’ve established my good listening abilities. What happened?”
Her mirthless laugh didn’t scare him off. It should have, but if he was brave enough to stay, she was bold enough to divulge. He’d discover her next-level fucked-up qualities soon enough. “My hands went icy at my mom’s place, for starters.”
The black plastic blades of the ceiling fan spun slowly enough she could track each one’s rotation. Focusing on inanimate objects was a key to blocking emotions during confession. She locked onto those blades the same way she’d counted beads while confessing at church. If she focused hard enough, she could almost pretend she was alone.
Derek swallowed. “Anyone else there?”
The poor guy was trying to give her an out. It was too late for that.
“Just me and her. She wanted to talk about Josh, and I wanted to know why she’d used souls. Neither of us were satisfied.”
The bed shook as he propped himself up on one arm. He reached for her, lightly stroking her upper arm, and despite her nerves she leaned into his touch. He’d cracked her walls, and now she couldn’t repair her defenses fast enough.
“It could have been a long time ago. The effects never go fully away.”
His attempts to soften the blow weren’t working, but the effort was still appreciated. Zara was a shitty liar—one of her few admirable traits. Her reaction had told Callie all she needed to know. She knew she hadn’t called her mom out on old behavior. This wasn’t akin to a thirty-year-old acid flashback. “It was recent.”
“Are you sure?”
The awe in his voice tripped a wire in Callie, one of those gut responses borne out of years of mistrust. The resulting internal explosion sharpened the barbs Callie threw. “My hands don’t provide a timestamp on magic, Derek. That’s not a skill I’m going to build over time, right?”
His hand stilled on her arm above her elbow. “What?”
“I had a second encounter today. Tess found me. She knows all sorts of shit about me and my life and my deal with the Charmer.”
Her emotional shrapnel was filling the growing void between them. Derek was infuriatingly quiet.
“She informed me this little bit of magical infusion in my fingertips isn’t going away. Ever.” She was tempted to wiggle her fingers at him, but she needed to hold what remained of mind together.
“She’s full of shit.” God, he sounded so sure.
“How do you know?”
“The Charmer wouldn’t give up his magic permanently.”
It always circled back to the Soul Charmer. He’d been a part of her life for less than two weeks, and yet his insidious presence had woven itself into everything she touched: her mom, her lover, and even her goddamn skin. He was everywhere. She was right to fear him and whatever he had planned for the future.
“He’s still got plenty of magic.” Did she sound afraid, or too far gone? She couldn’t tell anymore.
Derek’s lips curled into a vicious sneer. “Yeah, but he actually put part of it in you. You don’t know him like I do. He will want every bit he’s given you back.”
She wanted to believe him. “How can you be sure?”
“The Charmer isn’t much for sharing, and he will want his power back. Always has.”
Callie’s mind yanked the reins hard. “Has he done this before?”
“This? No, but I’ve seen him work with others before. I can’t explain it, but he never let anyone keep his magic.”
Callie could tell he meant the words, but she hadn’t forgotten the glint in the Soul Charmer’s eyes when she’d last visited.
Derek continued. “I am not going to let him control you.” The possessive tinge was inherently sexual. Their mutual nudity didn’t help matters.
“I trust that.” He didn’t want to share her, and perhaps that could save her. There was just one other problem. “Though, I need to know if you knew about my mom.”
“No.” His fierceness rocked the bed. The sheet slipped to her waist, but his gaze remained fixed on Callie’s eyes.
Even the single squeak of a bedspring wouldn’t deter her. “You’ve never seen her in the shop?”
He hesitated. “What’s her name?”
“Zara.”
He shook his head slowly. “I don’t know her. I can’t promise you she never bought from the Charmer. If she was good about paying her debts and returning the goods, I might have never seen her. But I swear, Callie, I would not have kept this from you.”
Biting the inside of her cheek didn’t clarify anything. The pain was barely a distraction. “Do you think he knew?”
“The Charmer?”
She nodded.
“I can’t say, doll.” He tucked a few loose strands of her hair behind her ear. “He might have, but I doubt it’s why he hired you.”
That shouldn’t have calmed her, but it did enough that she didn’t get hung up on his use of the word “hired” instead of “blackmailed.” She rolled on her side to face him. His eyes were lighter now, a rich sky blue. “What was, then?” The need for insight clawed past her insecurities.
“It could have been a lot of things.” Could he tell how badly she needed this? Perhaps, because he continued, “I think he knew you could handle the magic. I told you before, it’s not exactly a common deal. The wrong person with that magic would go manic.”
“And you still think he’s going to take it back?” She almost said “let me go.” Where had that come from? Callie’s barter with the Soul Charmer had clear terms. She worked for him for fourteen days, and that’s it.
“If he doesn’t on his own, I’ll convince him.” Flashes of Derek pinning marks and punching men rushed to the forefront of her mind. His muscles seized. His pecs flexed a hair’s breadth from her face, presenting the gift of a loaded weapon at her disposal. The violent streak still stirred unease in her gut, but the potential safety it promised simultaneously lured her in. A double-edged sword could be mighty shiny.
“Okay,” Callie said, hoping the sense of finality she’d imbued the word with would actually help her let the issue go.
“Okay. Good. Now, can we talk about Tess?” At least he had the good sense to wince.
“We probably should,” she admitted, “but we need to talk about Joey first.”
“Joey?” He angled closer to her, as if hearing another man’s name while lying in bed with her stirred some natural territorial instinct.
Smiling was out of the question, but it was oh so tempting. “The boring guy we retrieved a soul from the other night. The one who was freaked his wife would see us.”
“I know Joey.” His shoulders relaxed. “What about him?”
“Tess stripped him of another soul.” That was the nice way to put it. Derek sputtered for a moment, but eventually let her explain the encounter.
“And there were cuts on his chest?” His questions were focused. He knew what to ask, but didn’t explain why.
“Yes.”
“Did Joey give her the soul?”
“He said he refused to give her permission, but she took the rented one he had inside him anyway. How is that possible? To straight up rob someone of a soul?”
“It’s possible, but not good.”
“Obviously. Joey looked like one of those corner tweakers, ready to start rocking.”
“There’s that, but the cuts and the theft sure sounds like she’s pulling the souls into her body instead of collecting them safely.” Oh, fuck. So what Tess had done wasn’t weird because of the whole stealing business, but because she didn’t put it in a goddamn jar in the process?
Her incredulity couldn’t be contained. “So it’s cool she robbed him?”
He flopped on to his back, shaking the bed. “Of course not. It’s just when you extract a soul without tools—like your flask—it’s dangerous.”
She imagined the Charmer’s creepy claws at her neck, ready to snatch her soul, and she shuddered.
“We’ll take care of this. Of Tess. She’s probably batshit because of all the souls she’s holding in her body, but if she doesn’t have the power to create her own tools, it means she’s weaker than we originally anticipated. The Charmer can take her out. Easy.”
She’d believed all but that last word. There was nothing easy about this. Tess knew too much about Callie and her relationship to the Soul Charmer already. “Tess is on to him.” She winced as she spoke.
She didn’t scrimp on the details of her awkward meeting with Tess, though she left out the size of the pie slice she’d devoured. It wasn’t the time to talk frivolity, or coconut.
When she was done, Derek raked his fingers through his hair and rolled onto his back again. “She wants you to work for her?”
“That’s what she was after. Though, I’d trust her about as far as I could throw her.”
“You believed her about the magic thing, though?” Perhaps it was easier to insert his foot in his mouth when he wasn’t wearing his boots.
“I believed—and still do—that the Charmer is a liar.”
He pursed his lips before agreeing. “Fair enough.”
“She puts on a better face than he does, but she still made my skin crawl. There’s something not right about her.”
“Feeding off souls will do that to a person.” No matter how causally he said it, the truth rang clear and hollow.
“Feeding off souls?”
“She’s doing more than siphoning energy at this point. It’s like she’s hoarding souls to create an internal armor. The more souls squished in a single body, the crazier the person becomes.”
“She talked about saving the city. Pretty sure the lady has a god complex, and enough information to freak people out with what she knows.” Callie totally meant herself.
“She has power. That’s normal. She wanted to meet you, though, and that means we know where to find her.”
“I really don’t want to see her again.” Especially now that it was clear to Callie the soul vampire business was an everyday thing for that lady. “But I know you’re right. The longer she’s out there, the bigger threat she’s going to become.”
“Agreed. The sooner we bring her to the Charmer, the sooner you’re done with both of them.”
“Do you think we can talk him into going himself? Like give him the information, and let him handle the rest? What else could you or I possibly do at this point?”
“You were in the same meeting I was. He wants this done by us. That’s not going to change.”
“That was before we knew she could nullify her magic around me.”
Derek’s sullen smile made Callie’s stomach sink. “He probably knows. I bet with the right motivation you’ll still be able to bring the heat, though.”
Motivation? She had more than enough threats and life-or-death balance shit in her life. “I think I’m full up on motivation.”
“Well, then, it’ll go fine.”
“You’re bad at this pep talk thing.”
He kissed her. “Nah, you just haven’t been properly pepped before. It can be hard to recognize. You’ll do fine once we’re there.”