Page 38 of Soul Redeemed

“You’re hungry.” Calix’s voice reached her ears like balm on a festering wound, and she opened her eyes to his staring back at her. “Gods, I’m sorry. You’ve been craving it all this time.”

“I’m okay, Calix.”

“You’re not. I can see you’re not. I’ll be right back.” Before she could protest, he pushed out of bed, giving her a brief glimpse of his muscled ass before it disappeared behind a pair of track pants.

As he left the room, Ava couldn’t help but ponder what the hell he saw that gave him the impression she was starved, so she slid out of bed and made her way to the bathroom. A flip of the lights allowed her reflection to swallow her composure.

Dark circles rimmed the bottom of her eyes, eyes so red with hunger, she didn’t even look human. The gaunt tone of her skin left her wanting to crawl into herself and die. She hadn’t recalled looking like that before bed. In fact, she felt as if she’d begun to fill out a bit and reclaimed the happy glow since staying with the Wraths. How could that happen in a matter of hours?

Sensing a presence at the door, she turned toward Calix, standing with two clear bags filled with blood.

“I’ve got pedophile and rapist. Take your pick.”

She crinkled her nose at him. “What’s this?”

“Calla needed blood, like you. So Logan spent a good couple weeks hunting some down and stocked up for her. Eventually, she no longer required it.” He shook both bags and tipped his head. “So, what’s it going to be?”

“Neither sounds appetizing.”

“Beggars can’t be choosy.”

She huffed and swung her attention back toward the mirror. “I wish I didn’t have to beg. I don’t understand how this happened so quickly?”

“From what I gather …” Calix held the bag up to his mouth and bit into the plastic, allowing a small fountain of blood to spurt up before falling into the sink. “The Sang virus works pretty quickly. If you’ve not been getting injections of ichor, your body might be repairing itself. Flushing out the ichor. Which means the cravings hit pretty fast.”

Keeping the bag over the sink, he held it out to her. “I know it’s not the most appetizing, but it’ll help. Of course, you’ll crave more. There’s about a week’s supply in the kitchen. We’ll get more.”

Ava held the bag to her mouth with a grimace, but the moment that coppery scent reached her nose, she bit into the place Calix had started for her and sucked it down as if it’d disappear at any second. Gulp after gulp, she polished off every last drop of the delicious blood. “Logan killed to get this blood.”

“Logan selectively rid the world of assholes who’d have fed off the innocent with as much remorse as the blood-sucking Sang.”

Ava inwardly flinched at the visuals of the angel still haunting her thoughts. “I tasted it. In his blood. His sins left a bitter taste.” Staring back at the blood stained across her lips in the mirror’s reflection, she frowned. “Calix, promise me you won’t ever let me take innocent life. Promise me you’ll never let me become a monster.”

He stood behind her, and pushing a strand of hair away from her neck, he kissed her nape. “I promise,” he whispered.

20

Denya’s hands slipped against the rope, the burn on her palms like fire, but she kept her footing. If she slipped, she’d undoubtedly break her neck and all would have been for naught.

For six days, they’d been left at the bottom of the well. Sure, they’d been given supplies—boxed food and bottles of water, moistened cloths for bathing, and mouthwash, but she’d surely never get that piss smell out of her nose. In fact, she doubted she’d ever be able to take a piss herself, without wanting to puke.

As she climbed the rope that’d been fed down into the well, Denya thought about what she’d say to her captors. How to broach the topic of Safina was a stress that plagued the entire climb. They never bothered to investigate the missing girls, didn’t even question if any of the girls had seen anything, on the few occasions it’d happened. As if they didn’t want to talk about it, at all. And Denya hadn’t bothered to care, until the girl she’d sworn to look after had gone missing.

As she approached the mouth of the well, her arms turned to jelly for a brief second, and she slipped again, squinting at the flames that scorched her skin, before catching herself. A couple of months ago, she could’ve made the climb in record time, a true athlete, but she’d since grown weak. Softer than she cared to admit.

While the other girls stood around the open hole, with the two males keeping watch behind them, the succubus captor reached out. Clutching to Denya’s arm, she pulled her onto the grassy hill that welcomed her with the scent of fresh primulaj—a bright and cheery flower of the underworld, and a welcomed contrast to the putrid smells to which she’d begun to grow accustomed.

Once upright, Denya rubbed her hands together, as the female and two males gathered up packs scattered on the ground as if preparing to start moving.

Always moving.

“They took her,” Denya said. “I saw who took her.”

“It doesn’t matter.” The succubus’s dismissive tone grated on Denya’s nerve, as she tossed a pack filled with their supplies, which Denya swiped from the air.

“It does matter. Someone took her. I saw who did it.” Denya followed behind the female, determined to make her listen. “I can tell you where she lives.”

“That’s nice. If it mattered, I might ask.”