“Okay. You,” was all she said, and swiftly the soul pierced the veil and slipped inside the flask.
Two souls trapped. Two souls to trade. Two souls that weren’t hers.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Callie couldn’t get out of the Cortean Catholic soul well fast enough. The fresh souls stowed in her flask shouldn’t have prickled her senses, but every fine hair on her forearms was at attention. The thick layer of magic coating the top of the stairwell didn’t choke her this time. Maybe it tried, but the flask controlled her attention. The sensation wasn’t entirely new. The same pressing awareness rode her the first dozen times she’d stuffed Hostess products in her cargo pants at fourteen. A girl had to eat. She hadn’t cared about nutrition at that point, just a full belly. She hadn’t stolen these souls officially. She’d been given access. Father Giles and the Soul Charmer had forced those fucking vows on her to tend the well and maintain the balance. They’d told her to take souls from the well. Said it needed to happen. Neither of them knew she was here, though, or what she’d done. She needed to keep it that way. Lying had a way of making above-board moves feel a whole lot like stealing. Doing so beneath a house of God did not help.
Callie thrust the confessional door open, and it thunked into Father Henry. His oof was high enough to unveil his unease, but his baritone was enough like Derek’s to make her do a double take.
“Callie. You’re back. Everything done?” He didn’t glance around the empty hall, but he’d dropped his weight into his heels. Father Henry had been in fights, and his body remembered.
His tone was too close to a narc to allow her to say much. She wasn’t his parishioner. “Thanks for your help.”
Callie didn’t wait for more small talk. She didn’t have time, and honestly didn’t think any of the conversation with her boyfriend’s brother was going to improve her current situation. Henry stepped forward, his face drawn tight.
“Yeah?” She didn’t bother to hide her discomfort. She was done pretending she was fine.
“Is he…just….” Father Henry let out a long sigh. “Try to keep Derek safe, okay? He needs more good influences.”
Callie wasn’t about to touch that. She was not a good influence. Some days she wasn’t sure she was good. Good people didn’t steal others’ souls. Good people didn’t know mobsters. Good people didn’t get people kidnapped or killed. She couldn’t lie to a priest, though. No matter her issues with the church or her faith. So she said the one true thing she could: “We keep each other safe.”
Her wrist prickled. The hawk mark fizzled, and black ink seeped over the white lines. By the time she returned to Derek in the vestibule it looked like any other tattoo. Any physical touch of what she’d done, of where she’d been, had disappeared. Could anyone tell what she’d done? Derek gave her that same steady gaze she’d seen all day. He took her hand in his, and led her back to the car.
She couldn’t resist touching her wrist again. The skin was smooth. The line work a crisp black. No longer a raised, white brand. Still her nighthawk, though. Still from magic. She wouldn’t—couldn’t—forget.
The heater in Derek’s sedan worked well enough Callie could ditch her gloves within minutes. She peeked at herself in the side mirror. She didn’t look any different. Hopefully the Charmer wouldn’t think so either. Whatever had him fired up couldn’t be the well, which was about as bright side as she could get right now.
“Do you think he knows?” Callie asked.
Derek didn’t take his eyes off the road. “Knows?”
Callie paused for a minute. What did she really want to know? Was this about her? Them? Were they safe? Derek wouldn’t have those answers, but he did understand the way the Charmer’s mind worked.
“About Nate’s soul. About the others I gave him?” The truth of those questions was almost too much. She had gotten good at sharing with Derek, but this exposure terrified her. Her lower torso began to squeeze and slowly the tightness gripped its way up the rest of her stomach and chest until her organs were sure to asphyxiate her.
“I doubt it. He has a lot of eyes and ears throughout Gem City, but he wouldn’t call us all in for that. He would have demanded to see you. Hell, he wouldn’t have wanted me there. I’ve made my stance on you crystal fucking clear.”
A bubble of lightness rose in Callie’s chest. “Thanks for being on my side.”
“Where you go, I go. That’s the deal, doll.” The emphatic nature of his words only further underscored the safety in sharing her secrets with him. It might not get easy, but at least it was starting to feel less wrong.
She leaned over the center console, and rested her head on his upper arm. The dark rumble from low in his throat said he didn’t mind. The plastic partition between them bit at her hip, but she embraced the mild pain.
“You know, I love you,” she whispered.
“I’ve heard that.”
She glanced up, and his smile was broad and genuine. The road beneath them began to jostle the car. Brick paving meant they weren’t far from the Charmer’s. Once again their boss killed the joy in the room.
Callie watched the dashboard clock click over to 1:13. The day was both moving too fast and too slow. “Have you ever seen the Soul Charmer like this?” A moment ago it might have been a brave question to ask. Before she’d reminded him she loved him. Before she let him know
