22. Violence Is Good for the Soul
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
VIOLENCE IS GOOD FOR THE SOUL
AURORA
N o.
No, no, no.
Ryan stood in the doorway, blocking our exit.
Our escape.
Like in my vision, he looked tense and disheveled. His suit was rumbled, but his face softened the instant he saw me. “Sweetheart. I’ve been looking everywhere for you. We need to go.”
“What’s it look like we’re trying to do?” Juno asked. “If you’d get out of our way.”
“Aurora, come here. I’ll protect you like always.”
“You’re not supposed to still be in Salem.” It was the only reason I hadn’t pinched Deke the moment I’d found out where we were. I mentally recalled the tour list in the email. “You should be in Providence right now.”
Shock coated his handsome features at my spoken words before they softened. “And leave you? No. Never. I’ve been looking everywhere for you.”
“I left when you were in Maine.”
“But he had a feeling you’d be here.” He grinned, but it was… off. “And he was right, of course.”
“Th-that guy,” I stammered out. “The angry one from Beacon.”
“Not a concern. I won’t let him get you. I won’t let anyone get you,” he vowed.
“Okay, who the hell is this dude?” Denny asked. I could see her head tilt out of the corner of my eye, but I couldn’t tear my gaze away from Ryan.
My Ryan.
“Her fiancé,” he answered. “She shouldn’t be talking to you. Or anyone. She was in an accident, and she’s not fully there, you know? What she says shouldn’t be trusted.”
Memories of Pastor Gideon’s screaming echoed through my head. Spittle spraying from his mouth as he called me a liar. A sinner. A heathen who couldn’t be trusted because my curse was trying to take down the righteous.
“She needs me,” Ryan continued, so earnest and convincing. “So, if you don’t mind, I’m taking her home with me where she belongs.”
“Not happening.” In my peripheral, I saw Juno wiggle her fingers by her side in preparation.
But my gaze stayed locked with Ryan’s, and he gave me the same smile he used to. The one that said he knew what was best for me. That I needed to trust him. That he would take care of me.
“We need to get you away from them. They’re leading your sinner’s soul astray. Your curse is worse, isn’t it? Hitting you harder?” His hand went to his chest. “I was worried about this. As soon as the leaders from Beacon said that these monsters were trying to weaponize you by claiming you were mates with one of them, I knew I had to get to you.”
“It’s a lie?”
“I’m sorry, sweetheart, but yes. They’re using you.”
I followed the pull that drew me to him, shaking off the women’s attempts to hold me back.
Once I stood in front of the man I’d shared a life with for six years, I stopped. I let the hurt saturate my voice. “Juno, do you know how that makes me feel?”
“He’s lying,” she seethed. “Holy shit, he’s not even good at it. He’s like a smarmy used car salesman, a fuckboy, and a finance bro all rolled into one douchey package. He’ll try to sell you crypto while he roofies your drink.”
“Do you know how that makes me feel?” I repeated.
Ryan reached for me, and it wasn’t scary.
It was terrifying .
Juno’s voice was pissed. “No because?—”
“It makes me wish I was seeing red,” I rushed out as his hand wrapped around my wrist.
“It also makes me fucking see re—Oh. Ohhhhh .”
Before he could get a secure grip, gauzy magicks quickly blanketed his body.
A slimy fish caught in her net.
He didn’t even realize something was amiss until I dropped the docile kitten act and glared up at him.
“What’re you doing?” He wiggled but didn’t get far. “Hey. Why can’t I move? Aurora. What’s going on?”
“They’re using me?” I snapped once I knew he couldn’t hurt me—I was angry, not stupid. “You mean how you did? You used my visions to make it seem like you had a connection to God, all while shaming me. Scaring me. Making me believe I was a sinner doomed to Hell. You kept me isolated. You locked me in a closet when you deemed me a failure. I only failed because you were drugging me, you asshole. You knew.” My voice grew thick, and I had to clear my throat. “You knew what I’d been through, and you capitalized on that pain to benefit yourself.”
“I was helping your soul,” he tried.
If I had a dagger, I would’ve used it like the men in the kitchen because I also wasn’t a fan of stolen glory.
“My soul is just fine. It always was. You preyed on me and my insecurities, taking credit for what I could do while forcing me into the silent shadows. It was never about saving souls or reaching others with your faith. It was about the big house. The prestige. The payday and the praise.” I sneered at him. “They say pride cometh before the fall, but I would have no idea. You never made me cometh at all.”
“Oh shit,” Lilith whispered from behind me.
Having my back.
They all did.
Lifetime special or not, it was the truth.
I patted his pockets and found the pills stashed there so he could drug me. Dull me.
Force me back into the obedient daze.
My fingertips skimmed upward, and I ignored the repulsive—and unimpressive—bulge that pressed against his slacks. The pull I felt was to an area farther north.
Mouth twisting in disgust, I muttered, “It’s gone.”
“What is?” he asked, arousal flaring in his eyes.
It was more than I’d seen from him in years. The meaner I was, the more he seemed to get off on it.
Gross.
“Your soul. You’re empty.”
Like Deke, I could feel it. Under my fingertips, there was a noxious void in his chest, like a corrosive disease that was slowly spreading.
Poisoning him.
“A small price to pay for what matters.” Unlike the man downstairs, there was doubt in his pinched expression and shaky voice. “A sacrifice for the greater good.”
“The greater good? You sacrificed your afterlife for duplicity.”
“No. No way. Steve Jones is a prophet. He was moved by my streamed service. He knew that no one could speak like that unless they were special. I’m special, Aurora. But you’re the one with the visions. Your knowledge and my words… We need both to fight the battle of good and evil. It’s the end of days.” He looked pleadingly at me. “He really does speak to God. You have to believe me. He knew about the girls. What I’ve done. My sins .”
“Or he followed a two-minute tutorial to infect your electronics with spyware to learn everything,” Denny said before rearing back. “Wait, did you say girls ? Not women. Girls ? Oh, it’s time. Tell me it’s time.”
Years. I’d spent years following that man.
Loving him—or what I thought was love, at least.
Ignoring the red flags he threw around like confetti.
Letting him tear me down, hurt me, betray me, all while he made me feel responsible for it.
Like a failure.
He’d dulled my world.
Thanks to his missing soul, we would end his.
“One last thing.” I glanced over my shoulder at Juno and flicked my finger back and forth. “Please spread his legs.”
“Yes, ma’am,” she said with a sassy mock salute, her red magicks forcing him to stand with his legs apart.
Once there was enough space between them, I hauled my leg back. “You ruined my life.”
I kicked.
Hard .
I hadn’t learned much during training, but I had learned that effective move.
“Fuck,” he wheezed, turning green.
But I wasn’t done.
“And used me.”
Another kick.
“And made me feel like a failure at everything.”
Another kick.
“And made me scared for my soul.”
A harder kick.
Inhaling, I thought I was done.
I thought wrong.
My harsh, clipped words were each accompanied with a fierce kick. “I. Fucking. Hate. Frittatas.”
Breathing hard, I backed away and felt better than I ever had. There was long-overdue vengeance and violence in my heart, but peace in my soul.
My bright one.
No, my golden one.
“Denny,” I said without a second’s doubt or remorse. Ryan had brought it on himself the moment he’d bartered his soul for his secrets.
“Yippee.” She put her hand to his forehead.
In an instant, none of his body remained, yet the dust—far lighter than the other man’s—almost formed the shape of one.
Right until Lilith sneezed. Then it scattered to mix with the actual dust that coated the disgusting house.
“Oops, sorry. Sorry.”
“No dust off my ass,” I said just as a tremor went through me. Not a bad one, but a powerful one.
I glanced behind us to see the rodents and bugs hovering nearby. Looking forward, I saw birds.
A lot of birds.
Too many fucking birds.
Another shudder. “We need to leave.”
“You don’t have to tell me twice.” Juno bolted out the door, her magicks creating a protective tunnel for us, but it didn’t seem necessary. The birds weren’t interested.
Once we were a safe distance from the rickety house in the secluded area, she grabbed my arm and Lilith grabbed Denny’s.
“I hate this part,” Denny groaned.
“Not me,” I got out before we were suddenly in Denny’s living room.
“Where the fuck have you four been?”
If anyone was going to yell, I would’ve put money on it being Nate, but it wasn’t his booming voice.
It was Stellan’s.
No longer calm and stoic, his normally tidy hair was sticking up like he’d been running his hands through it. His eyes were distraught as he rubbed his chest and scanned his mate.
The other two men had matching looks, moving quickly to close the distance and reassure themselves their women were okay.
“You cut your last day short,” Lilith said to Lennon.
“Snuck out before the going-away fuss I did not want. Are you okay?”
Guilt that they’d been in danger because of me swirled in my churning stomach. Gratitude that they’d been there battled with it.
And grief at Deke’s continued absence.
That was what I selfishly felt most of all.
“I asked you a question, pixie,” Stellan said. “Victoria scratched a hole in your front door to get down to the stores. She wouldn’t stop barking until Lea called me. None of us could feel or get messages through to you all. So again, where were you?”
Victoria did all that?
That dog deserves the fanciest of feasts.
Or is that just a cat food?
“House party in a warded basement,” Juno answered. “Very exclusive. Just us, a few dozen rats, a thousand roaches, and like a million birds. Plus, a few soulless bastards.”
“Training in the back room. That’s what you said you were doing. I was good to go to work because you’d be training in the back room.”
“And that was the plan. But on our walk in there, Aurora froze, and an Absolve bastard grabbed her.”
His gaze tore away from his mate long enough to give me a clinical scan to check for injury or trauma. “She froze?”
“I thought she’d seen the asshole, and it was just her four-Fs response to being scared.” At everyone’s confused faces, Juno lifted a hand to count off. “Fight. Flight. Freeze. Or… mate. The four Fs.”
“How did he overpower all of you?”
“By the time we realized what was happening, he had her. So I jumped in the van, too.”
“You—” He took a deep breath and lowered his voice. “You jumped in the van? Willingly?”
“Yeah.” The duh went unsaid but was heavily implied.
“And you?” Nate asked.
Denny shrugged. “Juno was my ride, sooo…”
Juno put her hands on her hips and leveled Stellan with a fierce look. “If you think I’m the kind of woman who doesn’t take ovaries-before-broveries as gospel, then you don’t know me at all, Detective. I am their ride. Their ride or die.”
“It’s the die part that’s giving me grays and reflux.” His shoulders relaxed slightly, and a hint of a smile played at his lips. “I’m well aware of your stubborn loyalty. I’m asking why you didn’t use magicks to stop him, oh powerful one.”
“I love when you talk dirty to me, and flattery will get you out of trouble for raising your voice.” I wasn’t sure if it was the adrenaline draining or the concern on Stellan’s face, but Juno dropped the jokes and turned somber. “I wasn’t sure if he was warded. There were people out shopping. Customers in the store. And by the time we realized what was up, he had her.”
“What happened?”
Juno quickly recapped us fighting the scrawny Absolve guy. “Then Aurora’s fiancé showed up and tried to force her to go with him.”
I opened my mouth to correct her, but I didn’t get the chance.
“Her what ?”