Page 38 of A Soul’s Awakening

Ren rubbed his hands over his leather jacket, the fabric not thick enough to keep out the frightful Massachusetts winter. “Can we officially never go to a club again?” He chuckled, trying to lighten the mood. “We’re oh for two when it comes to clubs. I don’t want to know what’ll happen a third time.”

“I guess I can agree to that.” I nudged him with an elbow before my teasing turned serious. “Thank you, Ren, for sticking up for me.”

“I may have been half out of it, but I heard what you said to Sly that night you two broke up, when you took me back to your apartment to treat me after I was attacked. You stood up for me and it was because of me you two broke up.” Ren’s eyes locked onto mine, fierce and unwavering.

“If you’re feeling guilty, don’t. He was more than just an asshole who treated me like trash. He used me and cheated on me. If anything, you did me a favor. And for what it’s worth, I’m much happier now.” I reached up to kiss him on the cheek, my warm lips pressing against his cold skin. “But … you saw the ring on his hand, didn’t you? The Syndicate is up to something. Sly definitely isn’t a rift warden. They must have given it to him knowing he’d try to use it against us. We have to watch out for him … and maybe others. If they’re giving out those rings to random people …”

My thought trailed off when movement at the corner of the street caught my eye. A group of kids had spray cans in their hands, spraying the edge of a building with ‌graffiti.

“Hey, assholes, that’s someone’s business you’re defacing …” I yelled, magic crackling at my fingertips. The vandals took one look at me, dropped their spray cans, and bolted.

I stepped closer to inspect their handiwork. At first glance, it looked like little more than a chaotic mess of bright colors and abstract shapes. The longer I stared, however, the more a figure emerged from the paint. Red skin. Dark red eyes. Auburn hair.

My gaze narrowed. The strange part, or perhaps not-so-strange part, was that the demon didn't have horns.

I glanced at Ren, then back at the mural. “Ren … is it just me, or does this painting kind of look like you?”

“You know, with all the phantom attacks going on around Salem, you two really shouldn’t be walking around alone so late at night.” I jumped in my skin, turning around to see Sly standing in the shadow of a streetlamp, his two companions on either side of him.

“And why is that?” I dared to ask.

He spun the black ring on his index finger as he replied, “Because half the Syndicate wants you dead, the other half wants to dissect you, and the rift wardens would love an excuse to arrest your demon boyfriend. Good thing I got here first.”

Sly’s hand shot forward, the black ring on his finger vibrating with magic. Silver chains writhed like living tendrils through the air. I dodged them, magic burning in my palm as I leapt toward Sly and crushed my hand around his neck.

“You should have left us the fuck alone!” Magic poured out of my fingertips, the darkness of death mingling with the sentient power inside me. Sly choked, poison infiltrating his veins as he struggled to breathe. I couldn’t stop, the anger taking over me and driving my actions. He was choking, struggling to breathe, his face turning blue.

“Theo!” Ren cried out, but the dryad had already acted. Before Ren could reach me, leafy-green magic shot through the air and exploded across the pavement in a tangle of twisting vines. They burst from cracks in the sidewalk, snaking around Ren’s ankles and calves. It was enough to distract me and give Sly the upper hand.

“I can’t predict his magic.” The mysterious man had slipped off his glasses, and his pale eyes flared an unnatural vibrant green. “It’s best to cut it off.”

I hadn’t registered what that meant until silver chains shot out of Sly’s raised hand. In an instant, my bloodlust to kill Sly vanished along with access to my magic. My knees hit the cold sidewalk as I collapsed, bound and unable to move my limbs.

“Look … over there!” someone nearby cried out. The street wasn’t very busy, but a crowd of people exiting the club had gathered around us. “What’s going on? Should we do something?”

One look at the demon in chains and the silver bindings wrapped around the other victim was all it took. They decided we were the problem, not the victims.

“Eric, what are you reading?” Sly asked as he regained his composure. “What the hell was that?”

Eric’s magic slid over me like a second skin, invasive and intimate. Not painful, but deeply wrong. The sensation wormed its way beneath my defenses, probing at the edges of my magic as if searching for something hidden inside.

“I don’t know,” he answered. “But you probably don’t want to mess with it.”

Back in control, Sly started once again teasing to get a rise out of us. He wanted us to put on a show in front of these spectators, but for what reason, I had no idea. The Syndicate might have given him that ring, but surely they hadn’t given him, a lowly arrogant prick without magic, orders to attack us. Whatever this was, it was personal.

“To be honest, Theo, your magic always made me cringe.” Sly’s shadow loomed over me on the pavement. “In the end, I stuck around as long as I did because you were a convenient fuck and buying those high quality magic spells of yours would have cost a fortune otherwise. But now that that’s behind us, there’s no need for me to put up with your crap anymore. Because now that I have power, I can finally do something about it.”

The silver chains squeezed tighter, my magic desperately trying to reach the surface. With the alcohol still coursing through my veins, my thoughts were hazy and my movements unsteady.

“That ring!” My words slurred as I wriggled on the ground, trying to free myself from the chains. “Sly, you have to get rid of it. That ring—”

“Is exactly what I need to protect myself from dangerous magic like yours. You just tried to kill me! He said the last part loud enough so that the onlookers would know exactly what I had done, and even bared his bruised neck to prove it.

“It’s not what you think, Sly!” The links hummed as they squeezed around my chest and crushed my ribs. “That magic … it’s poison!”

“For you, maybe. I’m just fine.” Sly clenched his fists together, my joints nearly separating from their sockets. Tiny veins of silver traveled up my arms. “What do you say we play a game for our audience. Truth or dare?”

“What the fuck are you trying to prove?” Ren grunted. Sly knew demons were a proud race. Most refused to rely on others for help or acknowledge that they were inferior to someone else. Ren, however … Ren was different. Ren already thought of himself as inferior to others. In fact, I was willing to bet that deep down, Ren probably agreed with Sly, that he was a magical freak that deserved to be humiliated.