Chapter Twenty-Four
Twenty-Four
Pythor
Codie was warm and soft against me, his body pressed to mine as closely as physically possible as the hot water rained down on us.
Since he didn't seem like he planned to move, I grabbed the loofah and poured some body wash on it, making it all soapy before running it down his back in long, careful strokes. Once his back was soaped up, I moved lower, taking the same care as I washed his ass and the backs of his upper thighs.
He took a step back, giving me access to his front, and I scrubbed his shoulder, then his neck where the bastard had touched him, before moving lower.
When I reached his abdomen, I took special care with his scar, even though it was long since healed.
I hated that he'd been hurt so badly, that he'd come so close to dying before I ever had a chance to meet him.
He took another step back, his eyes soft as he watched me, and I went to my knees, soaping up his groin, his thighs, his knees, and then his shins and feet.
Nudging him to turn, I washed the backs of his legs as well before standing up again.
Putting the loofah away, I grabbed his shampoo, rubbing it in my palms until it was all foamy before starting on his hair.
His curls were bouncy, even wet, and I smiled as I made sure every inch of them was shampooed, scrubbing my nails against his scalp as he hummed in pleasure.
Once that was done, I pulled him under the spray of water, carefully washing off the shampoo and soap as I stroked my palm down his back and then his front.
Free of soap, he blinked his eyes open, giving me a squinty-eyed smile that I returned as I turned off the water to put some conditioner in his hair.
As we waited for it to set, I dropped some kisses on his neck, and he bit his lip, knowing exactly what I was doing.
"He will never touch you again."
"I know. You made sure of that," he said, a warm smile lighting up his face.
While the conditioner took its sweet time, I quickly washed up too, then rinsed it from his hair before turning the water off.
He seemed content to let me take care of him, so I wrapped a towel around his shoulders before using another one to dry his hair.
Then I toweled him dry before magicking up some sweatpants and a t-shirt from his closet.
He decided to dress himself, and I magicked up some clothes on me while he did that, then took his hand, leading him to the living room as I got us some lunch.
We sat down on the couch with our sides pressed together, as if Codie couldn't bear to be apart for even a second, and while the possessive side of me loved it, I hoped he wouldn't lose all the progress he'd made.
We were quiet as we ate, both lost in our own thoughts while Hella napped at our feet now that the 'excitement' was over, and I was just finishing when my phone started buzzing.
Seeing Arnick's name on the screen, I frowned before answering it.
"Hey, Arnick. What's up?"
"Did you sense any dark souls today?" he asked, making me go on alert.
"No, I didn't," I said, though I worried I'd been too distracted to notice. "Did something happen?"
"Not exactly. We were out shopping, and I could swear I sensed something, but it was only for a few minutes. I tried tracking it, but they weren't in town. Whoever it was, they were in your direction, and I thought maybe they were closer to you, and you might've sensed something."
"Can't say I did, but I wasn't really looking," I murmured, glancing over at Codie, who was watching me with a worried expression on his face.
"Think you could look around and find out? I would, but I'm kinda busy."
I winced, not wanting to shirk my duties but also not wanting to leave Codie alone.
"I don't think I can today," I said, but Codie tapped my hand, shaking his head.
"You should go," he insisted, and I frowned.
"Is that your mate? The neighbor?" Arnick asked, instantly curious, and I sighed.
"Yes, he is. No, you can't talk to him. I'll—I'll look around, and I'll text you if there's anything."
"Need backup? I can call someone."
"Nope, I'm good. I have Hella."
"Cool. Text me if you find something."
"I will," I said, then ended the call.
"What happened?" Codie asked, telling me he hadn't caught the whole conversation.
"Arnick thinks he sensed a dark soul somewhere between his place and mine, so he was asking if I sensed anything."
"And you didn't... because of me."
"Not because of you," I corrected, turning to face him. "I didn't notice because I was busy protecting my mate. No one will blame me for that, all right?"
"But—"
I shook my head, pressing a kiss on his cheek. "Codie, I know things are different for humans, but among the supernatural, nothing gets more priority than a supe's mate, not even the whole fucking world. Got it?"
Codie looked a little stunned by my proclamation, but he nodded after a moment, a pleased glimmer in his eyes.
"You should go. I'll be fine."
I hesitated, then nodded. "Hella will stay with you."
Codie frowned. "You told your friend you'd take her as backup."
"I don't need backup."
"If you won't take Hella, call a friend," he said, and I opened my mouth to protest, but he cut me off before I could get a word out. "Or I'm going with you."
Yeah, that would never happen.
"I'll call a friend," I promised him, and he crossed his arms, giving me a look that said I should call them now.
Sighing, I looked through my contacts before stopping at Xin's name. They were the closest, and they'd most likely be free.
They answered almost instantly, their voice warm as they said, "Hey, Pythor. What's up?"
"Need backup. Possible dark soul sighting," I said, and Codie rolled his eyes, probably at my impeccable small-talk skills.
"Be there in two." The call ended with a beep, and I pulled my phone away from my ear, giving Codie a smile.
"There. They'll be here in a bit."
"I'm guessing it's one person since you made a single call. So they're enby?"
"Yep. Xin's pangender. They prefer they/them pronouns because they find the others too limiting."
Codie nodded, then jumped as Xin appeared beside me. Shit, I should've asked them to arrive outside the door.
Xin wasn't a small person. They were the same height as me, but the long black braid they piled up on their head in a bun added a few extra inches to their height. Their angular pale brown eyes were sharp but softened as they slid from me to Codie.
"You must be... wait, you didn't tell us his name," they said, turning to me.
"Codie, this is Xin. Xin, this is Codie, my mate."
Codie got to his feet, and Xin gave him a hug, startling him as he shot me a wide-eyed look.
I mouthed, "Sorry," as he shook his head and returned Xin's hug. When they stepped back, they patted his cheek.
"You're cute. I never thought this grump would find such a cute mate."
"Hey!"
Codie snickered, and I huffed. "Come on—let's get this over with."
"Codie..."
"I'll be fine," he assured me, and I nodded, before taking Xin's elbow and teleporting halfway out of the city.
I sensed the darkness instantly, though it felt a little diluted, like they were no longer there. We shared a glance before deciding to move closer on foot so we didn't stumble into anything unprepared.
As we walked, I told Xin—in not too many details—why I hadn't been paying attention, and they turned to give me a wide-eyed look.
"Consort Artemus really gave you permission?"
I nodded, and they whistled softly.
"I didn't think that would ever happen. And here I was worried I'd be reprimanded for hacking and stealing from humans. Then again, the humans I steal from usually deserve it so."
"I still don't get why you don't just use your magic," I said with a shake of my head, and they shot me an amused look.
"Now where would be the fun in that?"
We went quiet as we neared the place the dark aura seemed to be emanating from, going incorporeal before walking through the wall of a normal-looking bungalow.
I could sense the remnants of a spell on the walls, as if someone had broken through the barrier that'd existed there before.
We found the creators of the spell in the large living room, sitting around a spell circle on the floor.
I didn't know much about witchcraft, but I knew enough to know that the spell drawn on the floor in blood—not theirs, from what I could see—was a bad one. These were dark witches, and someone had killed them before they finished. What the hell?
"Look." Xin pointed, and I followed their gaze to an X-frame, the kind people used to keep an open book on display. It was empty, but there was darkness clinging to the stand, as if whatever had been kept there had been chock full of dark magic.
Xin reached out, brushing their fingers through the darkness, and hissed. "Mammon was here."
"Mammon killed... dark witches?" I asked in confusion. If he was doing something wrong or planning to destroy the world, wouldn't these witches be on his side?
"Looks like it. I'll call Maximus."
I nodded, walking around the room as they made the call.
There were five witches, three women and two men, all in their late thirties. If not for the dark magic still clinging to their bodies, I'd have thought they were just normal upper-middle-class humans.
Maximus and Malik arrived a few moments later, a few teammates I wasn't familiar with.
The other soul collectors started moving around the room, scanning for more dark magic and grabbing the souls of the witches that had still stuck around.
We must've arrived pretty soon after it happened for the souls to still be here.
Most souls only lingered for a few hours before getting pulled toward the closest 'collection point' so the soul collectors could easily take them to Otherworld.
"What happened?" Maximus asked, coming over to me since this city was my responsibility.
I winced. "I'm... not sure. It looks like Mammon wanted a book they had, and he killed them, then took off with it."
"And the dark souls?"
"No trace of them," Xin said, making a face. "We must've sensed the souls of these dead witches."
I nodded because that made sense, and Maximus frowned.
"You didn't sense Mammon?" he asked me, and I shook my head, feeling guilty. Maybe because I knew that even if I'd known Mammon would be here today, I didn't think I would've acted any differently.
Well, I would've probably texted Xin or Arnick to look into it.
"We need to find out what book this was," he murmured, and I nodded.
"It has a very dark signature. Maybe we could sense it, if it was close enough," I said, and Maximus hummed.
"Let's hope so."
"The book also has leather binding, a dark brown front with a wicked-looking star on it, and may or may not have pages made from human skin," Xin said, making me look up in shock.
"What? How could you possibly know that?"
"They took pictures," they said, waving a phone at me.
Maximus and I hurried over to them, peering at the screen over each of their shoulders.
"It looks like she sent the pictures to someone to authenticate it or try to find out how old it was, which is lucky for us because maybe Harlan or Wren could figure out what these spells do," Maximus mused as we stared at the jumble of symbols, Latin words, and macabre drawings.
While I hadn't met them yet, I knew Harlan and Wren were both warlocks in their human lives and two of the few Otherworlders who'd somehow retained their human-world powers.
"I'll take this to them," Maximus said as Xin handed over the phone, then gave us a nod. "You can both leave now. We'll probably call a meeting once we know what was in the book. Stay safe, until then."
I nodded, taking a step back, eager to head home.
"And Pythor?"
"Yeah?" I asked, trying to tamp down my impatience.
Maximus smiled. "Congratulations on finding your mate."
"Thank you," I murmured, and he gave me a nod before heading over to Malik, who was talking to one of the soul collectors.
Bidding Xin goodbye—they planned to head home directly—I released a breath, and went home.