Her Soul to Take (Souls Trilogy)

by Harley Laroux

  She smirked as I moved to clean the other bar. I had her sitting at the edge of the large tub, her shirt off, a pair of oversized pajamas on her lower half. “Disgusting things, huh? Like what?” Her dark eyes glittered in that mischievous way that set my brain on fire. That playful curiosity drove me wild, just like it had the first time she’d ever snapped back at me.

  I was fucked for this girl. Well and truly fucked.

  I knew what that feeling was when she’d slept against me last night, limp and exhausted — the ache in my chest, the pain of it so bitterly sweet as I held her. I couldn’t say many things terrified me, but that did. The way I felt when I saw my metal in her, shining on those luxuriously soft, irresistible breasts, terrified me so deeply it almost stopped my breath.

  I wasn’t supposed to feel anything for a human. But here I was, willing to risk life and limb for this little hellfire of a woman.

  I set aside the saltwater solution and cotton swabs and kissed her left breast, then the right; then her neck, warm and pulsing with blood; then her face, soft and blushing as she giggled. Her laughter made me growl, it ignited an immediate desire to pin her down and play with her until her giggles turned to screams of pleasure.

  “Ah, careful, they’re sore!”

  It took every scrap of self-control I had to let her up from the edge of the bathtub, then watch her finish undressing and step into the shower. “Keep the curtain open,” I said, leaning back against the sink. “I want to see you.”

  My self-control didn’t hold on much longer. I stripped down, and while the soap was still slick on her skin I fucked her against the wall until she breathlessly cried my name, and damn, my name sounded so good when it came from her mouth. She was bent over with her hands against the tile wall, and I reached around to squeeze her face and demanded, “Say my name again, baby girl. Cry for me.”

  She did, and fuck, that was heaven.

  I ordered her too much food again, but I liked the way her face lit up when she saw all the breakfast plates delivered. She was midway through a plate of thick Belgian waffles piled with peaches when her phone rang, and her eyes narrowed in concern as she looked at the screen.

  She glanced up at me, uncertainty on her face. “It’s Victoria.”

  I got up from the bed, glaring at her phone as if I could ascertain the Hadleigh woman’s intentions just by looking at it. It rang until it went to voicemail, paused...then began ringing again.

  “See what she wants,” I said softly. I wasn’t entirely sure what technologies the Hadleighs had at their disposal — like if they could ascertain our location from a phone call — but it was time to be moving our location anyway. Better to know what lies they were going to attempt to spin now, than to remain in the dark.

  Rae managed to put on a shockingly friendly tone as she answered, “Hey, girl! What’s —”

  Her face paled, and I could hear Victoria’s voice clearly on the line. “Daddy is dead. It’s done, okay? It’s fucking done.”

  “Victoria, what are talking about?” Rae’s eyes were wide as she looked up at me, mouthing, What the fuck? My mind was spinning. Of all the stories I’d expected to hear, this wasn’t it.

  “My dad is dead, Raelynn!” Victoria’s voice was choked, breathless; frightened. Why was she frightened? “God, and I’m not even sad about it. What kind of fucking daughter am I?” Then, softly, “What kind of father would kill his child?” A sob, then a bitter laugh. By her cadence and rapid breath, she was walking quickly, nearly running. “It doesn’t matter. None of it fucking matters anymore. I’m not even sorry, Rae, I did what I had to do. We both did.” There was a pause. She was holding her breath.

  She was hiding.

  “Victoria, I’m so sorry about your dad —”

  “Don’t play stupid.” The emotion had gone out of her voice. “You’re not sorry. Neither am I. But it’s done. You and that demon did what you had to do too, didn’t you? Maybe I should thank you.” Another bitter laugh. “Bye, Rae. Honestly, congrats. You survived.”

  She hung up. Raelynn stared at the phone in her hand, blinking slowly, processing. What the hell had just happened? By her tone, Victoria wasn’t lying. She wasn’t faking. She was terrified.

  “Kent Hadleigh is dead.” Raelynn stared up at me, something like a smile daring to pull at her lips. “He’s...he’s dead. Oh my God. Did you… Was it you?”

  “I goddamn wish it was.” I began to pace as I thought. Kent was dead. The Libiri would be in chaos, scrambling for a leader. Vulnerable. And to judge by her words, Victoria thought I was the killer too. They were in the dark; they didn’t even know who was attacking them. “I told you, Kent kept himself protected. It would be difficult for any demon to cause him harm. But Juniper...Juniper could have killed him.”

  “Of course! She was at the party.” She grinned, suddenly bouncing out of her chair. “It’s fucking done, Leon! He’s dead!” She threw her arms around me and I flinched, but so did she when her enthusiasm caused her to press her tender piercings against me. Even that didn’t dissuade her. She was smiling, moving her shoulders in that silly dance she did when she was excited.

  I wished I could share her enthusiasm.

  “I can go back!” She stretched her arms above her head, sighing all the tension out. “I’ve only missed a day of class, I can actually get through this semester and pass!”

  But this seemed too easy, too...convenient. I did believe Kent was dead, but I didn’t believe this ended with him.

  This wasn’t over. But I didn’t know what was coming next. I didn’t know where the danger lay now.

  Who was going to take Kent’s place?

  “I’ll call Inaya and tell her I’ll pick up Cheesecake tonight,” Rae said excitedly. I didn’t stop her as she made the call, but taking her back to Abelaum felt too dangerous. It felt too soon. The Libiri couldn’t possibly give up this easily. The Hadleighs were just one family, but they weren’t the only family who put their loyalty in the Deep One.

  Or maybe I really didn’t like the idea of Rae no longer needing my protection from them. Maybe I didn’t like the idea of going back to that town that held so many bad memories for me. Maybe I just wanted to take my girl anywhere else in the world but there, and watch her hunt ghosts to her heart’s content, and never have to think about the Libiri again.

  Yeah. That was probably fucking it.

  “Leon?”

  She’d hung up the phone, and was sitting in front of her half-eaten waffles looking suddenly sobered. “Is it...I mean...do you think it’s safe to go back?”

  I rubbed a hand over my face. I knew why she wanted to go back. I knew humans got attached to places and things, and that leaving all the sights and smells that had grown comfortable for her was hard. I knew she thought finishing school was important, and I knew she loved that cat. I knew humans did best when they had some semblance of normalcy. Of home. Of safety.

  I knew whisking her away and forcing her to leave everything behind wouldn’t work, or that perpetually moving her from hotel to hotel was going to stress her out.

  “I don’t know.” That was the most honest answer I could give. “I don’t know what the Libiri will do now that Kent is gone. And with or without the Libiri, the God still wants you.” Fear flickered over her face, and was swallowed down with a heavy gulp. “Its servants will still come after you. The monsters will still stalk you.”

  The way her face fell and the way all that tense hope went out of her, felt similar to a hammer crashing against my ribs. I sat down at the edge of the bed, motioning her over. She stood in front of me, the new metal in her nipples pressed against her shirt, her fingers fiddling with her pajama pants. I brushed my fingers over her lips, her cheek, through the soft strands of her hair. I wasn’t good at being gentle; it made my fingers twitchy. But it was worth the self-restraint to feel her lean her face against my hand.

  “Do you want to go back?”

  She nodded. “I’m not really any safer here, am I? The mon
sters don’t care about city limits. It’s not like I can go out after dark here, or walk around by myself.” She sighed. “I mean, I...I still...I need you with me.”

  “You’re mine,” I said simply. “I’m not leaving.”

  “I think about it every day, you know.” She bit her lip, eyes staring off so she wouldn’t have to meet mine. “The deal you offered. I think about it. It’s just…” She tried to turn away, but I kept a grip on the nape of her neck. I wanted to see her face, her eyes. I didn’t want her hiding her fears from me. “It’s a big decision, Leon.”

  The way I ached for her soul was nearly unbearable. It was a constant pressure on the back of my mind, an itch I couldn’t reach. The need to possess her, wholly. We demons had the power to take nearly anything we wanted, but a human soul?

  That had to be given willingly.

  It was fucking torture.

  I got up from the bed, kissing her forehead as I tugged her head back to look up at me. “I know. I’m waiting, Rae. I’m not going anywhere. You’ll give it to me eventually.” I smirked, and shrugged, as nonplussed as I could manage to fake. “Pack up, baby girl. Let’s get you home.”

  Even at midday, thick fog obscured Abelaum. The streetlights were still on, glowing pale yellow, and cars drove slowly along the narrow suburban streets. The town lay blanketed in the damp, as if it had gathered the fog close and held it there, like a cloak to hide its secrets.

  I’d hoped to feel some kind of weight lift, but my unease was growing; partially because Leon was clearly on high alert. He was rigid in his seat as he drove the truck down Main Street, his eyes flickering along the sidewalks, watching every passerby, narrowing at every car.

  Kent’s death didn’t hit the state news, but it got a spread in the town’s tiny newspaper. HEAD OF LOCAL HISTORICAL SOCIETY DEAD IN AN APPARENT SUICIDE was the headline on their website. Suicide.

  “No,” Leon said firmly, when I read the headline aloud. “That man was too self-righteous to ever end it himself. His killers just knew how to cover their tracks.”

  We stopped at Inaya’s apartment first to pick up Cheesecake. He purred in my arms, rubbing against my chin as Inaya leaned against her doorframe and said worriedly, “I haven’t been able to get a hold of Victoria at all. Jeremiah said she went to stay with her grandparents, and I know I should just give her time, but…” She chewed at a pink-polished nail. “It’s just so awful, Rae. I never thought Kent was struggling like that. His poor family.”

  My natural inclination was to agree with her. But Kent being dead meant he wasn’t trying to kill me. So while I put on a sympathetic face as I hugged her good-bye, all I could really think was, Thank God he’s dead — thank whatever God is on my side.

  The cabin was cold when we walked in. After just a few days without a human inhabiting it, the place already felt a little less friendly. It was strange, after spending so much time in old abandoned places, I knew the feel of them, the scent of them, the way the air felt stiller in them. It hadn’t taken long at all for the cabin to start feeling like that.

  I turned on all the lights, despite the gloomy daylight outside, lit a few candles, and watered my window of neglected succulent plants. Leon sat on the couch with Cheesecake — who couldn’t seem to leave him alone — scratching the kitty’s head as his brows knit tighter and tighter with some unspoken question growing in his mind.

  “It still doesn’t feel right, does it?” I said, having run out of useless tasks to keep me occupied.

  He shook his head. “The danger isn’t over, Rae. Kent was an obvious threat, but the God still lives. It still has its servants. This isn’t over.”

  My hands knotted at the edge of my sweater, my nails digging into my palms even through the fabric. “Let’s go to the store. I need stress snacks.”

  The grocery market was just off Main Street, its flickering neon Food Mart sign dwarfed by the pines around it. Leon parked near the door, and gripped my arm before I could hop out of the truck, taking a long, slow look around the parking lot. Satisfied, he released his grip and said, “I’ll keep an eye on the door. You’ll be safe.”

  His protectiveness made the fear knotted in my gut begin to unravel. I leaned across the seat, knotting my fingers into his blond hair as I kissed him — his lips first soft with surprise, then vicious as he dragged me over to him, his tongue pressing into my mouth with possessive hunger. The tender piercings he’d given me pressed against his chest and I whimpered into his mouth, his grip tightening and his claws digging into me at my noise.

  “Don’t tempt me to bend you over the truck bed and fuck you,” he growled, smirking at me as I caught my breath.

  “I’m already tempting you,” I said, a chill of excitement going up my back when his eyes flashed gold.

  “You’d better get your ass in there,” he growled. “Or the only snack you’re getting is my cum down your throat.”

  As much as I wanted that, I did really want snacks too. He smacked my ass as I crawled over him and out of the truck, and I was still smiling as I walked inside, the bells on the glass door jingling behind me.

  “Welcome to Food Mart,” the checker called, boredom on his face as he glanced up briefly from his phone. I think I shared a class with him, but I probably shared a class with most twenty-somethings in this town. I grabbed a basket and headed straight for the chip aisle, grabbing Fritos and a can of bean dip before heading to the cookies. Chocolate chip or peanut butter...chocolate chip or…

  In my peripheral vision, I could see that someone was standing at the far end of the aisle. Not walking closer, not talking with anyone, just...standing there.

  I glanced up, right as he finally walked away. A young guy, yet another person I probably shared class with. Our eyes met as he headed to the next aisle, but his phone was in his hand and he’d probably just been standing there to answer a text.

  I was way too paranoid. Leon was right outside in the truck. I didn’t have anything to fear. I grabbed the peanut butter cookies, then headed back toward the freezers for ice cream. So many options, how the hell was I supposed to choose? I opened the freezer door, the glass fogging immediately.

  It was only after a minute of standing there with the cold air blasting me, that I realized someone was standing on the other side of the fogged glass door.

  I glanced down, my hand tightening on the freezer handle. I could see clean white sneakers beneath the door, standing close, facing me.

  I let the door close, taking a quick step back. Jeremiah stood there, hands in the pockets of his letterman jacket, smiling.

  “Hey, Rae.” He smiled cheerfully. “Missed you at school on Monday, and at the Halloween party too. Did you bail out early on me?”

  I gulped. Surely, Leon would have seen him come in here. Surely. “Oh, uh...yeah...yeah I left early. Didn’t feel good.”

  He nodded. “I’d imagine not after that little treat I slipped in your drink. We could’ve had so much fun.” He took a step forward, and I took a quick step back, which made him laugh. Was he serious? He was going to admit to drugging me that easily? “But instead of a night wrecking your drugged-out ass, I ended up in police interviews for six hours, trying to explain everything I know about why dear old Dad killed himself.” He put big air quotes around that last bit. Shit. This was bad. My eyes darted toward the door at the far end of the market, ready to make a run for it.

  But the guy I’d seen staring at me from the end of the aisle stepped into my path.

  Shit. Shit, shit, shit.

  “I suppose I should thank you and that traitorous demon of yours,” Jeremiah said. “For finally getting my father out of the way. Spending every waking moment trying to convince your own dad not to choose you as his human sacrifice will really fuck with your head.” He shrugged. “But in the end, Rae, I have to admit that I’m still pretty pissed off about it. All the fucking condolences and the I’m-so-sorry-for-your-loss bullshit. It gets so old pretending I’m in mourning.”

  He thought Le
on had killed Kent. He thought I was somehow responsible for his father’s death. I darted forward, trying to dodge around them, but Jeremiah and his buddy blocked me easily.

  “Aw, Rae, not trying to run away from me again, are you?” Jeremiah chuckled, circling me. My back was to the freezers, and I still had hope that I could slip around them. Until Jeremiah yelled, “Lock it up, Tommy!”

  I threw my basket toward him and bolted for the door. A loud metallic clattering jolted adrenaline through my chest, but I couldn’t stop, I had to make it to the door.

  The metal security gate had been rolled down over the entrance. I stopped, panting, my heart beating painfully hard as the checker — whose name tag said Thomas — grinned as he locked the security gate into place.

  “I don’t think my father made the reality of the situation clear to you, Raelynn, so let me elaborate.” I whirled around as Jeremiah sauntered up, his other friend close behind. “Abelaum belongs to the Libiri. It always has, and always will. Sure, you’ll find some poor naive souls like Inaya.” He rolled his eyes. “But your classmates” — Thomas grinned at me — “your neighbors, the sweet old couple you walk by on the street, they’re ours.” Jeremiah paused, and chuckled softly. “Or, I should say, they’re mine. They’re all mine, Rae. And so are you.”

  “No.” My voice came out as a whisper, weak with terror. Leon had to have seen them lock this place down. He would come. Any second now, he would come.

  Glass shattered behind me, followed by a roaring and a sound like stone colliding with metal. Jeremiah didn’t look surprised, but his friends’ faces fell, their eyes widening as they stared at the monster trying to break in behind me.

  My monster. The only monster I belonged to.

  “I thought Nick and Will were supposed to distract him, J,” Thomas said, his eyes flickering nervously to Jeremiah as another bang came behind me. I didn’t dare turn my back to them, but the screeching sounds of ripping metal told me that Leon was almost through.