Read Online Wicked Souls by Misty Evans - Free Book Online

Keisha asked
when we sat down to take a break.
    Not sure which big guy she was referring to,
I gave her an update on all of them. “Angelzilla paid me another
visit last night and hinted he’s now controlling my freewill. My
personal demon bodyguard, who owns the other half of my soul, has
done a disappearing act. And the innocent guy stuck between them is
pretty sure I’m sleeping with the Devil and lying to him about
it.”
    Keisha sipped her soda and nodded her head,
as if this were an everyday occurrence. Which, come to think of it,
it kind of was. “Any lead on the witch who’s grounded Gabriel?”
    Reaching in my apron pocket, I snagged the
white feather and laid it on the table between us.
    There’s nothing a voodoo priestess likes
better than a physical piece of a person’s body. A lock of hair. Fingernail clippings. Even blood is a necessary ingredient in many
hexes and spells. Keisha’s entire face lit up at the sight of the
feather. “Is that what I think is?”
    It was certainly too big, too satiny, to be
a chicken feather. “Think you can get a magical imprint off of
it?”
    She picked it up and turned it over with the
appropriate amount of reverence, considering who it belonged to. “Won’t know until we try.”
    We went to my office to try.
    While I cleared off the top of the desk,
Keisha broke out the stash of her supplies she kept at the shop for
emergencies. As she prayed and chanted over a pot of water filled
with various herbs, animal bones and something that smelled like
she’d stepped on a skunk’s tale, I tried once again to get my foot
between the steel door in my head and the door frame closing off
logical thoughts about Adam, Luc, and myself. Nothing seemed to
work, though, and eventually it dawned on me why I’d been able to
do it earlier that morning.
    Luc.
    Even though Gabriel continued to manipulate
my thoughts, Luc had pushed back, using the half of my soul he
commanded to allow my own will and logic to surface and gain ground
over my brain function. Luc didn’t seem to like his angelic brother
any more than I did, and he certainly wasn’t going to let Gabe get
the upper hand in a fight over control of my soul or my will. If I
was going to figure out how to defeat Gabriel and get his half of
my soul back, Luc’s help would give me the upper hand.
    The skunk smell overtook my office and drove
me out to the alley behind the building. The air was damp enough,
it landed as mist on my face. A cool wind blew through the alley,
rattling the rubber lid on a nearby dumpster.
    I squeezed my eyes shut for a second,
wondering if I really wanted to do this. While he was always more
than happy to oblige, I hated asking Luc for help. I’d always been
independent to a fault, and yet I had no trouble turning to my
friends for help when I really needed something. Dealing with the
Devil was a different demon entirely, though. He owned my soul. Half at least. And what was up with that anyway? When I traded my
soul to be his lover, why hadn’t he taken the whole thing?
    Another gust of wind raised goose bumps on
my arms. Giving them a brisk rub, I made up my mind. “Luc?” I
called out loud since the alley was deserted. “We need to
talk.”
    The air around me warmed and I opened my
eyes to find him standing a few feet away, a frown creasing his
forehead, his gaze darting all around me, fists clenched as if
someone were about to take a swing at him. “Where?”
    Seeing him, my magic purred inside, but my
heart gave a little spurt of fear at his fighting stance. I glanced
over my shoulder, down the alley, bawling my fists too. “Where
what?”
    “Where is Gabriel?”
    “Oh.” Duh. I relaxed my hands, relieved that
he had simply jumped to the wrong conclusion. “He’s not here. I
called you to talk.”
    Luc’s focus landed on me and his shoulders
relaxed. The fists disappeared. Still, he tapped a thumb on the
side of his leg, as if he were impatient, in a hurry. Or was he
nervous? “I