—— CHAPTER SEVENTEEN ——
The desert had a way of swallowing construction. During the day, the Desert Outlet Mall stood out like a shimmering mirage amid the sand and rogue juniper bushes. At night, though, without sunlight to cast the squat adobe buildings’ shadows, the entrance to the frontage road leading to the shopping cluster was practically invisible. On the third try, Derek managed to spot the cutover. “Would a streetlight kill them?”
Callie shrugged. “Just because it’s outside the city doesn’t mean they don’t have the same light pollution ordinances.”
Riding as a passenger in her own car was weird. The vehicle took on new tones from the other seat. The rattle of the muffler wasn’t as bad here. The gouges in the dash Josh had sworn were there before he’d last borrowed the car weren’t nearly as deep.
“It makes even less sense out here.”
“I would have thought you’d like it.”
“Why? Is all this dark and mysterious doing it for you?” He waggled his eyebrows. He’d been playful most of the afternoon and evening. It had to be a guise to calm her nerves, but it had worked, for the most part. He’d even agreed taking the motorcycle to a meeting with Tess was a bad decision. The only problem was, that left her riding bitch in her own car.
She cast him a side eye glare, but softened it with a sweet smile. “No, but isn’t it easier to do business in the dark?”
Derek stiffened his spine. The comment wasn’t meant as a jab, but she’d put him on high alert. Needling at unknown touchy issues shouldn’t count against her, right?
“I didn’t mean—” she started to apologize.
“Oh, no, that’s fine. Though you do keep forgetting I do a lot of my job by talking to people. I’m starting to get the impression you think I’m far more nasty than I actually am.” He grinned at her before she could get self-conscious over that comment, too. Her neuroses placated, he continued. “Tess was smart to pick this place. Yeah, it’s dark like everywhere else, but these buildings have a lot more space between them. More alleys mean more hiding places.”
“Hiding places work for your half of the plan.” Callie injected as much enthusiasm into her words as she could muster.
“We could have waited until tomorrow,” he muttered. An extra twenty-four hours worth of planning might have been nice, if Derek was right, but Callie couldn’t handle another day of worry. He eventually acquiesced, and anyway, his mere presence had been enough to calm the tense situations they’d been in so far. Callie didn’t have that same talent. Being fast and hiding her emotions were basically her top skills. And neither was particularly useful in this situation.
What she really needed was a healthy dose of fake confidence, but Tess had knocked Callie off her game. Placing all bets without knowing the odds was just asking for someone to take your cash. Derek’s money was on mental agility. He thrived there. She’d witnessed the way he could assess a room and leverage his lethal grace. She didn’t pack a stash of secret weapons.
“No need to wait,” she finally told him. Fear of the unknown shadowed her words.
He nodded. “You know the plan.”
Ah. The plan. “Yeah, but it’s too simple. How do you know it will work?”
“Just don’t let her touch you first.” The plan—if they had to call it such—consisted of keeping Callie’s magic in play until Derek could take action. But she’d demanded to rush the timeline, which meant they were mostly banking on luck.
“What am I going to do if she dampens my magic again? If I need to defend myself, I’ll be screwed.”
“Kick her in the bits.”
Derek laughed at her you’ve-got-to-be-kidding-me stare.
“You’ve never been kicked there,” he added. It wasn’t a question.
“You’re aware I don’t have balls to crush, right?”
“Intimately. Still, if you’d been kicked there, you’d know: it’s a fucking vicious thing, regardless of your parts.”
“I’ll trust you on that one.” She’d rather not find out if he was telling the truth.
Derek parked the car outside of a furniture store. Before he cut the engine he asked, “You’re sure the tarot spot is on the other side?”
“Positive.” After racking her brain as to why the address Tess had given her seemed so familiar, she finally realized: her boss Louisa actually frequented the place. Her stomach tightened until a pang forced her jaw to clench. Lou’d had a rough life, and Callie wouldn’t accept Tess mooching energy from her friend.
She unlocked her phone. Five minutes past midnight. Hell. This was happening. Forcing herself out of the car was so much harder than she wanted to admit. Walking into the Soul Charmer’s shop nearly two weeks ago and bartering for use of a soul had been the lowest she thought she’d ever sink. She couldn’t say the same anymore. The steel in her spine had held resilient that day because, in the end, she was there to protect her brother. “Family first” carried her through nearly every shit situation. The guiding forces of guilt and loyalty kept her moving forward even when she’d been petrified. Pretending seeing Tess was the same thing as stepping through the Soul Charmer’s door the first time was such a bitter lie she couldn’t accept it. God knew she wanted to.
The walk across the cracked concrete toward the neon TAROT sign with its burned-out T would have been a hell of a lot easier if it were for the greater good. If the final act would absolve her of past sins. If it were about keeping her brother whole. If it could make her mother give a shit about her. Meeting with Tess again wouldn’t do any of those things. It pleased the Soul Charmer, but he was going to give her that soul tomorrow regardless of whether she helped capture Tess.
The disgusting truth was she was meeting with Tess for herself. It made Derek’s life easier, and she wanted to help him. She hadn’t wanted to help anyone this deeply who wasn’t family. Ever. It could have been the magic, or maybe the joint journey through darkness. She didn’t know and, frankly, didn’t care. Whatever fucked up thing bound her and Derek together, she would respect it. At least he’d never held her biggest mistake over her head like Josh had. That already put Derek ahead in the loyalty ledger.
Her resolve to see this thing through steeled, Callie opened the door and stepped inside North Side Tarot.
Bells jingled as the door closed behind her. Small lamps sat on every flat space around the cozy room’s perimeter. The shades—each a tone of purple or black—were lit with soft twenty-watt bulbs. Their illumination was swallowed by the dark rugs layered atop one another, and the plush chairs stacked with velvet pillows wedged in the remaining space. For otherworldly ambiance, it wasn’t half bad. The floor was clean and dry, which already put it twelve steps ahead of the Soul Charmer’s place.
A woman in a pale purple maxi dress sauntered into the room from the rear entrance. “How may I assist you tonight?” she crooned, the tone all too reminiscent of the voice Callie’s mother used when she spoke to the neighbors.
Fresh irritation helped keep her steady. “I’m here to meet Tess.”
She dropped the pretense with a shrug. “Oh. Sure. I’ll let her know you’re here.”
Did this woman know why she was here? Had Tess told her she’d be in tonight? Psyching herself out was not helping. Customers might come here to see Tess. Callie hadn’t considered the fact she probably looked like any regular person coming in and seeking emotional relief through magic and massage; the truth was she fit the profile as well as anyone else.
A wingback chair upholstered in black leather was wedged in the far corner of the room. It didn’t quite fit with the tarot shop’s velvety vibe. So, naturally, Callie took a seat there. It reminded her that however calculated Tess’s façade might have seemed, nothing was ever perfect. Not even when you could wield magic.
“I expected you’d need more time to think.” The melodic overtone couldn’t disguise Tess’s wariness.
Callie wanted to relish in the thought that she’d put Tess on her heels, but she wasn’t an idiot. If she knew anything, it was that emotions were easy to fake, given the right motivation. “It was a long day of bad shit.”
She swaddled herself in as much honesty as her mind could manage. A good lie was ninety percent truth, after all.
“Talking with your former—” she paused letting the question dangle for a breath “—employer could ruin anyone’s day.”
Callie nodded. The Charmer was a ninja-level day ruiner. He just hadn’t been the primary source of today’s frustrations. And, well, she hadn’t actually talked to him. Tess didn’t need to know that though.
“Did he confirm what I told you?” Tess’s hard-on for the Soul Charmer kicked Callie’s heart rate up a notch.
“Does it matter?” Playing disgusted with the Charmer was easy when Tess’s need to feel superior to the man was so plain.
Tess barreled right on through the trapdoor. “He’s quite conniving. I’m glad you were able to look past his lies. We can’t purify anything with his deviation blocking the path.”
Communicating with these soul magic wielders became more difficult the longer she was involved. Tess sounded like she should be screaming on a street corner and clutching an end-of-days sign. Parsing out what was insanity and what was part of this complicated, magical world was way out of Callie’s pay grade.
She did, however, need to move things along. As part of their plan, Derek would be in the back room by now, but he’d still have to sneak past the other woman who worked there. Keeping Tess distracted was Callie’s job. Fuck it. She could indulge the crazy a little longer. “How does the Charm—”
“Don’t say his name in here!” Tess spat. Would she react the same to Ford’s name? Best not to go there.
“Sorry. How does he stop you from purifying the city?” The bitter aftertaste of talking purification clung to her tongue like an accidental swig of week-old milk.
“His slime blocks the path.”
O-kay. Tess might actually be legit crazy. “What do we need to do to clear the path?” Lord, forgive her, she sounded like a member of a cult.
Tess held her forehead and closed her eyes, as though wearied by the mere thought of answering Callie’s basic question. Callie shot a glance toward the door to the store’s back room. Derek needed to speed the hell up, because placating a cult leader wasn’t really a skill in her stockpile.
With a heavy sigh, Tess finally answered. “Additional souls can do wondrous acts in the right body. He has access to a wealth of good, but insists on handing them out to any person who comes in off the street. Those people aren’t using them like they should be, to change the world. They’re using them to break from their celestial contracts. That was never the intention of our magic. He knows better.”
Callie had to admit, Tess had a point about the trivial way society viewed rented souls like get-out-of-hell-free cards, and avoided talking about the bigger picture questions about using them, like where the souls they were borrowing had come from. Kind of like hot dogs. “What’s the real intention of soul magic then?”
“The magic itself doesn’t have intent, child.”
Stalling was harder than people gave it credit, especially when the person you were trying to stall was speaking in riddles and could probably kill you with her mind. “Right, but what’s its purpose?”
“To elevate us.” The incredulity in her tone implied the answer should have been obvious to her.
“That sounds an awful lot like raising our souls to heaven.” Callie couldn’t resist quoting her mother’s favorite line of scripture.
“If you’re suggesting what that man is doing with souls is God’s will, you can leave.”
“No!” She answered too quickly. After a moment she tried again. “Not at all. I recognize you’re doing something more important and valuable.”
She scoffed, but was clearly flattered by the remark. “Saving society is vital. We can’t let him corrupt them all.”
Callie played along. “So you’re saying we need to get his souls?”
“‘We’? So quickly you’ve come aboard.” Tess beamed, but Callie couldn’t tell if it was genuine.
Callie held up her hands as though they were living grenades with the pins pulled. “I don’t want this magic.”
“I can’t make it disappear. I was clear about that.” Why couldn’t she? Because she wanted to use Callie, too?
“Are you willing to help me, though? Control it at least?”
Tess took a step toward her and the first inklings of warmth buzzed at Callie’s fingertips. When her hands began to glow, she asked, “Can you stay back for now? Trying to avoid flame mode.” Like avoiding carbs, though, it was futile.
“I can’t teach you anything if you don’t accept the magic.” Tess closed in, leaning over the chair where Callie sat.
She held her hands below her face in the space between them. They lit like Roman candles, ready to start firing shots of riotous color through the room. Callie turned her palms away from Tess, hoping it would cool the blaze. The desire to touch Tess welled in Callie’s chest. Where was that coming from? It wasn’t her normal fight-or-flight response. It was darker. The magic inside her—her magic—wanted to be fed. Callie just wanted to protect herself, but would touching Tess burn her, or further ignite the power roiling within Callie’s open hands? This job was officially too damn dangerous.
“How do I accept it?” The question came out as a sob.
Tess’s nails sank into Callie’s right shoulder. The sharp pain was rapidly replaced by a swell of flame, as the fire in her hands began to lick its way up her arm. “You need to feel it.”
Burn victims often passed out from the pain of the heat, but the fire didn’t actually injure Callie. Her head swam, regardless. “It’s too much—”
“It’s because you fight it. Accept the purity of the magic. Pull it in. Embrace it, and the pressure will subside.”
Pressure. Shit. That was the word. Flames licked at her skin, but beneath the surface her muscles throbbed, as though the magic was treating her like a dollar-store water balloon. She was going to pop. “I can’t keep it.” It was too much. Too scary. Too wrong.
“Not a choice. Accept it and ascend—”
“You Tess?” Derek’s growl raked over sandpaper.
Tess jerked her head in his direction, but he’d already shot. She grabbed weakly at the dart protruding from her shoulder. “You … ”
Her body fell on the floor in a heap. Derek shot her again, this time in the chest.
“Was the second one really necessary?” Callie asked.
“Too many surprises today.” Blood smeared his neck and the back of his right hand.
“Agreed.” Callie slumped in the chair as the fire within her quieted to a simmer. She ignored the niggling thoughts of embracing magic. “Are you okay?”
“Fine,” he said. Liar.
“The other lady?” Callie swiped a hand across her shoulder. Blood marred her fingers, but the flames had cauterized her wound. There was probably a bright side buried in all this, but she couldn’t spare the energy to searching for it.
“Snoozing. We need to book.” Derek hefted Tess’s limp form over his shoulder. If they hadn’t just tranquilized the woman, Callie might have fantasized she was dating a firefighter instead of a debt collector for one of the bad guys.
Their paper-thin plan was working, but that didn’t mean they were solid. “Are you going to walk across the shopping complex with her like that?”
“It’s dark. Didn’t you say that was beneficial to my kind of work?” He waggled his eyebrows at her, but she still saw the strain in his neck. Something more than the deadweight on his shoulder was hurting him.
“Let’s not screw this up. I’ll bring the car over.” They should have done that in the first place. Shitty plan.
Derek attempted a shrug. “She’s not dead. So technically everything’s going according to plan.”
Tess sure looked corpse-like. Was it getting to her? Probably. “You sure?” She was going to quit agreeing to poorly constructed plans … starting next week.
“Stay behind me, and get the car’s back door open when we get there. I’ll handle the rest.”
The two of them and their unconscious prize held to the shadows. Callie’s hands were just visible as they worked their way through the alleys to the darkened lot they’d parked in. Tess didn’t need to be awake for her surplus of souls to have an impact, even if it was a small one. Callie decided the dim glow and the edge of heat were worth it to stay within arm’s reach of Derek.
The moonlight highlighted the drops of blood he left as they moved. The mounting pressure of the magic threatened to fell her, but now wasn’t the time to wuss out. If she had any real control over the magic, she’d offer to cauterize his wounds, too, but burning the guy you were screwing seemed like a recipe for failure.
The proof of their presence was scattered in a DNA trail behind them. The good part of working with criminals, though, is they weren’t likely to call the cops. Unfortunately, she still needed to get Tess to the Soul Charmer without further incident, and the man with the plan was bleeding too much.