Lost Souls (Soul Charmer Book 3)

by Chelsea Mueller

  She tapped his name. The line rang once and then he answered, “Thank God.”

  “Is Mom okay? Did something happen?”

  “Yes.” His breath crackled against the mouthpiece.

  “Yes to which one?” The light turned green and she hit the gas too hard. She flew through the intersection. The back end of the car bumped against the high hill in the center of the cross street. Callie pulled the car to the side of the road, and slammed it into park. She was less concerned about fucking up Beck’s beastly car, and a whole lot more concerned that she was driving the wrong direction if her family needed her.

  “Mom is fine.” He coughed, and his voice became clearer. “Something happened at work.”

  “Something?” She dangled the lure because asking why his work issues required a phone call would come across as hostile.

  Fabric rustled. That didn’t tell her shit. “Josh? What’s going on?”

  “He’s here.” The hollow whisper was one Josh used for secrets. He must have his hand cupped around his mouth.

  Anxiety pooled static at her waist. The potential bite waiting for more information. “Who?”

  “Nate.” The name a filthy word forced out in the front pew of Sunday Mass.

  The static shifted to sharp spikes poised to pierce the skin. “Has he seen you yet? What’s he doing?”

  “I didn’t think it was a big deal, Callie. Adam’s such a good dude. He showed up with sandwiches for the crew at lunch. He asked about Mom, and I wasn’t thinking…”

  Prick prick prick at her belly. “Are you safe?”

  His words were strangled. “I don’t know, sis. I told him Mom was in the hospital, and didn’t think about how he knew she was injured. I didn’t miss work or tell any of the guys here yet. We don’t talk about that kind of shit at the job site.”

  “Is he still there?” Callie put the car back into drive, and pulled out from the curb.

  “He’s been in the boss’s trailer with Adam for a while.”

  The Charmer’s troubles would have to wait. The soul dealer would have to wait. Family came first, and Nate had already endangered her mother. Callie wasn’t about to let him get his hands on her brother again. The Delgados were done with these goddamn gangsters. “I’m on my way. Are you at the same job you told me about a couple weeks ago?”

  Josh confirmed the address. “It might not be safe to come here,” he added.

  Safe was a long-lost relic in her life. She wasn’t about to find the arc of the covenant either. “I’ll be there in a few minutes. Just focus on working until then.”

  Josh’s sharp inhalation worried her, but he didn’t argue.

  Callie disconnected the call, and immediately placed a fresh one to Derek.

  “Callie?” He used her name. At least she didn’t have to tell him to be on high alert.

  How much could she say on the phone? If he knew she were heading to meet Nate, he’d probably beat her to the job site. It wasn’t safe to leave the Charmer’s place unmanned, though.

  “I’m going to be a little late back to the shop.” Not a lie.

  “What’s wrong?”

  So much. “Josh called. I need to make a quick pit stop.”

  “Zara?”

  “Thankfully no. Adam showed at his work, and I’m going to make sure Josh understands why he needs to avoid that asshole.” Enough truth to keep her from going full dirtbag. Building trust was arduous, and slipping was not an option.

  “Where is his job again?”

  Callie gave him the address. Because honesty.

  “That’s not too far.” He was probably mentally mapping the best path to get there.

  “I don’t think I’ll be long. Beck should be back any second, and he’s bringing a present.”

  Derek’s short grunt kicked her chest. He could read her so well. “If you’re not back in thirty minutes, I’m coming for you.”

  “I figured.” He couldn’t see her smile, but she was fairly certain he could hear it.

  “Be safe.”

  The construction company Josh worked for had been hired to renovate one of the lush resort hotels downtown. The building had once been a Cortean monastery. Why people paid hundreds of dollars to stay in a cramped room made for a person with no earthly possessions was beyond her. They did, though, and now Josh was helping replace support beams and update bathrooms. He might have been able to convince her it was honest work if the trailer parked out front wasn’t holding Gem City’s new crime king and his lackey—and if those men hadn’t recently mutilated her mother.

  The workmen were working on updating the gazebos off the patio. Wood peeked from the edge of tarps. Callie edged past the trailer, and hurried beyond the stacks of lumber. Josh was off to the edge of the patio. He was far from the clamped lamps, but his long, lean frame was unmistakable. At least to his baby sister.

  He lifted his chin. The bro move was a welcome and a warning. She didn’t continue winding back toward the shadows, but instead paused near one of the heaping blue tarps. Josh met her there. He tugged her around the edge of the lumber pallet. His hand was surprisingly strong on her arm. At least he had to be eating again to be regaining strength. The wildness in his eyes, though, suggested his internal reserves of strength were waning. The flood lamps cast his cheek in sharp relief, but let her only catch the wide halos of the whites of his eyes.

  “Who drove you here?” his whisper snapped.

  “What does that matter? You had an emergency and I hauled ass.”

  His steel-toed boots tapped a tiny trill on the brick, but he only stared at her.

  Fine. “I drove myself.”

  He stopped the drilling glare and started surveying the construction site. “You get a new car?”

  Josh had a way of avoiding his problems, even now after he’d called her in a panic. She couldn’t let him toe into this problem.

  “No. Circumstances required me to borrow a friend’s to get here.” He’d better not ask about who her friend was. Now was not the time to explain the Soul Charmer’s staffing issues or why she’d be spending time with another guy from there. That would lead to talking about Derek, and Josh had yet to be on board with the whole boyfriend thing. Funny the stereotypical big brother impulses he had even when she was here to help him clean up messes. Easier to deflect than to own his shit.

  She needed him focused. “I don’t have time to talk about the car, Josh. What happened? Is Nate still here?”

  “He’s still here.” Her brother’s body shook, but his voice held steady. The Delgado fake-it-till-you-make-it gene in action.

  “Okay,” she said like she actually had a grip on what the fuck was happening. “What exactly did Adam say to you?”

  “That’s the thing. He was really chill about it. He showed up with hoagies and brought me one. Told me he heard I was doing good here—which is true, sis.”

  Lord. Now was not the time to dredge up his rehab. Her boss was missing, and she had a rival’s employee waiting for questioning back at the shop. She was not living her best life, and shit kept sliding down from above to splat squarely on her shoulders. “I’m glad to hear it’s going well,” she said because she had to. “But what did Adam say?”

  “I was getting to that.” The more riled he got, the less the twitching was noticeable. Progress? “So he asked how my mom was doing. I told him she was hanging in there, which is true, but not the whole story.”

  Yes, she knew that part. She nodded, and he continued.

  “He said he knew Zara. Said she was cool.”

  Callie couldn’t stop the snort from slipping. Anyone who hadn’t been close with her or Josh growing up thought Zara had been the mom they’d always wanted. Like hitting the casinos on the regular was the kind of party life that was perfect for a single mom. Like kids would love to spend hours in the car outside said casino. Idiots.

  “Yeah, well, he said he’d heard she was in the hospital and was hoping she was healing up.”

  “Did you ask w
ho he heard that from?”

  “No, Callie. Why would I do that? We were eating sandwiches and he was checking in on my mom.”

  Her cheeks heated and it had nothing to do with the slap of the wintry air. “Because your mother was just kidnapped and tortured and who the fuck would be talking about that other than the people involved?”

  “I called you, remember? You don’t have to get all preachy princess to me. We come from the same place.”

  “I know that. That’s why you should know better than to trust these people.” Whisper yelling was still yelling, and a couple of the workmen shot dirty looks in their direction. Callie sucked in a big breath of thin, frigid air, and then coughed it back out.

  “Well, do you want to know what happened or do you want to bitch at me?”

  She didn’t have time to placate him. “Just fucking tell me.”

  He huffed, and white smoke rose from his mouth. Her beanpole of a brother transformed into a snow dragon. “After I told him she was out of intensive care, he left for a while. He came back with Nate, and that’s when I called you.”

  Josh wasn’t about to say that’s when he realized he’d screwed up. Admitting guilt wasn’t something the Delgados did. They stockpiled their guilt around their organs until their liver kicked back or their stomach burned. It was unhealthy, and knowing that didn’t change anything.

  “Did Nate see you?” Maybe this wasn’t as bad as she’d originally feared.

  Josh looked toward the singlewide trailer at the edge of the building. Callie followed his gaze. The windows glowed with the warm yellow of agave in bloom. There was nothing ominous about the office, but her brother hollowed when he looked at it. His shoulders sagged and his jaw slackened. The white in his eyes—so vivid a moment ago—disappeared to darkness. She’d seen Josh’s skin sallow and pocked, and she’d been the one with a warm cloth wiping vomit from his chin and cheeks. This was different than his drug desperation. This was knowledge biting him. This was being near those same people who sold him drugs with a clear head, and the realization that those same people who had tossed him a free taste here and there were the people who had stolen his mother for days, who had taken her fingers, who had terrorized his sister, and who were ready to treat him with the same vile callousness.

  It was a lot for anyone. Fuck knew Callie hadn’t handled her cannonball jump into this world well. It was more for Josh. He’d been trusting. He’d been the party guy. He’d been addled and avoiding. Now he had to confront it, and Callie worried the only thing keeping him from scoring meth now was the realization he’d have to go to those very people to get it. The thought soured her stomach and the sharp tang of regret filled her mouth.

  “Josh?” This time it was she who grabbed his arm. Where his touch had been firm, hers was gentle. The tattered pieces of his soul called to her magic, but she shoved back against the plea. She didn’t have time for the ice to lock her hands. She coddled his soul without thinking, and the ice failed to form on her fingers.

  The contact was enough to reel him back from the memories haunting him, if only for the moment.

  “Nate offered to hook me up.” His reedy rasp was going to break her.

  Callie tightened her grip. “He—”

  “Not meth. He offered be a taste of a soul.” Josh’s lips barely moved.

  Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.

  There were not enough curse words in the world for this moment. Was this a ploy to mess with her? Had Nate brought along the bonus souls he’d demanded of Callie? Was he foisting souls she stole from the Soul Charmer back onto her own family to make her life even worse? Or was this something else? Something more? Her grip on her soul magic wobbled. Frost slapped her hard enough that it should have left an imprint.

  “Callie?” It was Josh’s turn to look worried. If she weren’t being assailed by ice, she might have cracked a joke about their taking turns breaking down these days.

  The trailer’s door slammed open. Callie staggered back into the shadows. Josh followed her. Nate lingered in the doorway. Either the white bomber jacket or the ocher glow behind him made Nate look bigger. No. Callie wouldn’t let herself go there. Up close he’d be the same acne-scarred weasel as before. He’d asked too much then, and he’d ask too much now. Her knuckles ached to move, but the web of ice was woven too tightly to allow her to stretch her fingers.

  What was Nate doing here? If he’d only been here to screw with Josh, then why the long meeting inside the singlewide? Ford’s family owned slaughterhouses and land throughout Gem City. Was Nate actually taking up a role in the Ford mob business, and not just slinging dope? Callie once would have said Nate wasn’t smart enough to run a business, much less a surreptitious one. Then she’d found him with the journal of St. Petro, a holy book with a whole lot of details about soul magic. He’d been studying. She’d taken his soul, and put herself in this whole goddamn mess.

  Nate hopped down the two steps to the curb. A tall woman followed him out. She had a wide nose and broad shoulders, and was very clearly a woman you did not want to get into a fight with. Nate gave the woman his least creepy leering smile. To her credit, the woman didn’t blanch. Callie had been on the other end of that look before, and it stained. Nate extended a hand. The brilliant glow from the open office door didn’t allow for secrets. Pinched between his first two fingers and his thumb Nate held a shiny black card. Even from her frozen hiding place, Callie couldn’t have missed it. That slick material and the promises it made were etched in her mind.

  Anonymous Souls.

  Nate was involved in Anonymous Souls.

  Of course he fucking was.

  The woman accepted the card, and gave Nate a curt nod. Adam rushed out of the office to join Nate, and the two walked in the opposite direction of the job site. Whatever they were here for, they’d accomplished it.

  The woman returned to the office, closing the door. The construction workers continued bustling back and forth. No one else had seen the exchange. No one else would have had the sense to be scared. That was the burden of knowledge. Innocent moves like handshakes and card exchanges took on another light when you understood the real business being brokered.

  Callie stepped out from the darkened hiding spot. The flood lamps hit her, illuminated her, and blanched her skin. No hiding. She couldn’t let Nate keep coming at her family. Messing with her one was thing. She deserved it for what she’d done, but we own our own shit. Zara and Josh hadn’t stolen Nate’s soul. They hadn’t denied his advances. They hadn’t done shit to him. The urge to sprint after him, to remind him of how the world worked hit her. If he had a problem with her, then come after her. This tormenting of her loved ones was weak.

  She only made it a couple steps before the realization hit her: She couldn’t go after Nate now. He knew what hospital Zara was in. He knew where Josh worked. He knew she’d given him souls that didn’t belong to him—and was, she realized, not so dumb as to ignore the obvious dotted line that she’d stolen them. He had Adam with him, and back up like that carried weapons. She couldn’t very well pull Josh into that fight. She curled her fingers into a fist and squeezed until her nails dug into the meat of her palm.

  “I work here, you know.” The uneasy tremble made Josh’s attempted joke fall flat.

  “I know,” she whispered, still watching where Nate and Adam had stood moments earlier. “You going to be okay?”

  “Kind of feel like I should be asking you that, sis. You good?”

  Far from it. “If you can avoid them for awhile, I will be.”

  That might have been a lie. She’d be closer to good if she didn’t have to worry about him. She needed time to regroup, to figure out what was happening, to make a plan. Once again, she found herself missing the Soul Charmer. He’d have shoved her into this sand pit, too, but at least he would have handled all the machinations. He’d have had some strategy. He could have frightened people into compliance. Until then, she needed to find out what the Anonymous Souls dealer knew about Nat
e and his operations. She also was going to have to tell Derek about this, because if there was any hope of forcing Nate to back down it was going to require some leather-clad teamwork.

  “He’s got nothing for me anymore.” Josh’s earnestness hurt.

  Callie extended her magic out to protect his soul again. It was cold and crying and she somehow understood her brother better in that moment. The jagged scars from growing up too fast were stippled across the whole of his soul. The ragged edges missed who he once was—before the drugs, before Zara had become self-involved, before adulthood—and there wasn’t a plea for a home or for a rented soul to mask the pain. Deep down, her brother’s soul wanted only to heal. A shimmer of hope fluttered in Callie’s chest. Unfamiliar, but welcome. She let her magic coil around his soul. It kept the chill from assaulting her, but also gave him a moment of peace. His lips parted on a slow breath. Callie stepped forward and hugged him. He smelled like home and hope. Tears pricked hot at her eyelids. She sniffled once, released him, and steadied herself.

  “Aunt Lily is staying with Mom at the hospital. I’ll go by after work.” Josh’s rasp was gone.

  “Visiting hours will be over,” she said automatically.

  “Since when do we care about visiting hours?” Mischief sparkled around Josh. The good kind.

  Delight percolated beneath her diaphragm for a moment, and Callie almost laughed. “Since never. Give Aunt Lily a hug from me.”

  “I’ve got them. You do what you need to, sis.” This was the Josh she remembered from when she was fourteen and hungry.

  Callie wished she could cradle his soul a little longer. After this was over, she’d have to find out if there was a way to repair broken souls. She gave him another quick hug. “Thanks.”

  She took two steps away before reeling her magic back in. She pretended she didn’t hear his harsh gasp, and kept walking until she was back inside Beck’s car.