Wicked Souls by Misty Evans

add.”
    Dammit. Could he really smell supernatural
sex on me? Surreptitiously, I sniffed the air over my shoulders. I
couldn’t smell a thing. Magic always leaves a trace, though. Everyone knew that. Even angels.
    I’m a horrible liar, so I just don’t lie. Even with so much riding on my ability to make Gabriel see the
truth, I couldn’t lie about what happened earlier.
    Checking to make sure Adam was still
sleeping, I ignored the pain and pressure building in my brain and
confessed. “It was an accident, and it happened, like, a few hours
ago. Before that, I was truly magic free. And what happened between
me and Luc has nothing to do with the spell that’s been cast on
you.” I scanned his disheveled appearance. “What kind of spell is
on you? Are you sure it’s from a witch?”
    “You know I am earthbound and you know how
to release me.” Gabriel narrowed his eyes at me. “I own half your
soul. You will do as I say. Lift the spell.”
    The hollow place inside my chest contracted
as if he’d reached in and squeezed it. The pain in my head soared
as if my brain had turned into a space shuttle heading for Mars. “Half?” I gasped. “I thought it was just a piece. A small,
insignificant piece.”
    He chuckled, but there was no humor in it. Only self indulgence. “Lucifer merely took half your soul when you
gave it to him. He was a fool to leave you with that amount of
freewill. Now the other half belongs to me…as I’ve already
demonstrated.”
    One side of his mouth quirked up in a
mischievous and equally hateful grin.
    The pain in my head evaporated as if on cue. Massaging my temples, I sighed at the relief before crawling off
the bed to face him. “What are you talking about?”
    His eyes were the color of a crystal blue
sky, almost white. They flashed as he studied my face, seeming to
calculate his next words. “Perhaps what happened earlier today
between you and my brother was no accident, hmm?”
    His words sunk in, and my stomach dropped. He’d been controlling me. Controlling my magic. Making me break my
oath. “Why you sneaky son-of-a-bitch. You overloaded my emotions
and set my magic free. You’ve been messing with my mind all day
long.”
    His look turned smug. “Your mind is of
little interest to me, but I must say, it’s relatively easy to mess
with, as you describe it, in your current state.”
    My current state boiled with fine-tuned
fury, a fishing line taut and razor sharp. When this was all over I
was going to need anger management classes. If I survived.
    Getting rid of the angel riding my shoulder,
however, was my first priority. I took a step toward Gabriel, my
hands balling into fists. Reading my mind or my intent, Gabriel
pointed a finger at Adam, lying innocently in my bed, completely
oblivious and said, “Try anything, and I’ll send him back to
Heaven.”
    Over Gabriel’s shoulder, in the shadowy
recesses of my closet, Lucifer’s glowing eyes appeared. He was
watching, waiting, listening to Gabriel’s admission, his eyes
turning red with the same anger juicing my emotions.
    The rest of his body shimmered into being as
he emerged from the closet, but I shook my head at him. This was my
fight. “You can’t even get yourself back to Heaven at the moment,”
I said evenly to Gabriel. “I doubt very much that you can send Adam
back there.”
    Infuriated, he spread his wings open to
their full extent, brushing the walls and ceiling of my room,
leaning over me in the process. My heart kicked with fear. Even the
Buffy inside me coward slightly. “You dare mock me, witch?”
    “Ex-witch.” I took another step toward him,
refusing to back down and trying to figure out his weakest spot. “An ex-witch, by the way, who can help you, if you stop
being such an ass. Together we can figure out the real source
behind the spell and break it. But only if you stop threatening me
and mine.”
    This time his chuckle was menacing. His
wings rippled with perilous intent and the cavity in