Soul Thief (Dark Souls) (7 page)

Angie.
He dropped the suggestion into the receptionist’s mind the way one drops a survey card into a box.

Patricia’s eyes instantly clouded, a crease forming between her brows. “Actually, I think I’ll get Angie to do the honors this time. No one knows their way around the place better. She’s scheduled to conduct a counseling session in about an hour. Maybe you can sit in.”

He hitched his shoulder, gave her an innocent grin. “Sounds great.”

Within seconds, Patricia had Angie on the line. “Could you come down to reception? I’ve got a new volunteer I’d like you to train.”

Angie shuffled into the reception area, trying not to let her bewilderment or nervousness show. She’d never trained anyone before. Why Patricia was asking her to do so now, with Lydia only a door away, was another one of life’s great mysteries.

When she saw the man she’d met yesterday standing at the heart of the room, looking relaxed and too damn handsome for his own good, the butterflies in her stomach multiplied.

No, not him. Anyone but him.

She wasn’t sure why his presence unsettled her so, why she had the nagging feeling that they’d met before. The sight of him brought back all the disturbing images she’d seen in her dream the other night and made her lips hum with the memory of an illicit kiss.

Biting her lower lip to quell the odd sensation, she approached him warily. “You came back.” Her voice sounded foreign to her, husky and a touch winded.

“I told you I would.”

“You two know each other?” Patricia asked, surprised.

“We met yesterday,” Angie explained. “I gave him an application to fill out.” Tamping down all her ridiculous jitters, she turned to Adrian. “Are you ready to get started?”

“You bet. The sooner the better.” He gave her a lopsided grin, and the butterflies went wild. She hadn’t noticed yesterday, but when he smiled his left cheek dimpled in the most appealing manner.

“Good. Follow me.” She guided him down the corridor, stopping briefly to explain things to him along the way. “This is Lydia’s office.” She indicated the door on their left. “She has a degree in psychology, so she’s the most qualified person here. If there’s anything you need to know, Lydia’s the person to ask.”

The hotline room was located at the end of the hall. Through the large glass doors, several desks squatted in even rows. At the moment, only two volunteers sat manning the phones. “This is the hotline room,” she told Adrian. “Sooner or later you’ll be asked to take calls. The best thing you can do is listen. Many of these kids just need to talk to someone who doesn’t know them and won’t judge them.”

Adrian stood at the door, staring through the glass, his expression unreadable, his thoughts closed off to her.

“Do you have any questions?” He hadn’t said a word since they’d begun their tour.

“Nope. Just taking it all in.”

Angie drew a deep breath and continued. “I’ll take you to the halfway house later. That’s where we feed and board our charges.”

“Charges?”

Apprehension fisted in her gut. “Exactly how much do you know about Reach?”

“Enough.” His answer was way too vague to be convincing.

“So you’re aware that Reach is part of a special program catering to troubled youth, designed to smooth the transition from juvenile hall to life outside?”

The blank stare Adrian gave her was all the answer she needed. “I’m not talking about kids convicted of violent crimes,” she clarified, “nothing incorrigible like rape or murder. Every candidate is carefully screened before being admitted into the program. Most of the kids you’ll find at the halfway house are guilty of petty theft or fraud.”

“So what exactly happens when a candidate is admitted?”

Finally, a question. Angie was starting to feel this was a one-way conversation. “We house him, feed him, counsel him, and when Lydia feels he’s ready, we either find him a more permanent home or help him find work.”
 

She shook her head regretfully. “You’d be amazed how many of these kids have nowhere to go after they get out of juvie. The ones we admit into the program often have no families to speak of, and once they reach eighteen, the foster system won’t have them. They’re on their own, with no money, no real skills to speak of and no hope of turning their lives around. Without Reach, they’d be back to stealing cars or picking pockets within weeks of being released from jail.”

“That’s how things usually go. The road to redemption isn’t exactly paved in gold.” The caustic note she caught in his voice perplexed her. Most Reach volunteers possessed an almost utopian sense of optimism.

Adrian didn’t sound like an optimist. He sounded like a cynic. So what was he doing volunteering for an outreach program?

“Can I ask you a question?”

His gaze captured hers, and something hot and frantic fluttered in her chest. “Go ahead.”

She almost forgot what she wanted to ask him. Her thoughts felt scrambled, like the pieces of a jigsaw puzzle struggling to come together. “Why are you here? Really?”

His stare was so focused, so penetrating, it was as though he could see straight into her soul. His eyes caressed her, traced the curve of her cheek to finally settle on her mouth. Her traitorous lips began to thrum again, and she wet them in automatic response.

Silence stretched between them, so deep Angie didn’t expect him to answer her question. But he did. “Because somebody really special once told me I had the power to change the world.”

His role was only to observe. Angie had made that, if nothing else, clear. More than happy to comply, Adrian sat in a quiet corner of the sun-dappled room, watching Angie moderate a counseling session.

The whole setup reminded him of an AA meeting, not that he’d ever attended one. It was physically impossible for him to become addicted to any of the substances humans were so susceptible to. Adrian had one and only one vice. He craved souls.

He was tempted to stand up and say, “Hi, my name is Adrian and I’m a soul thief,” but he fought the urge. He wasn’t here to have his misplaced conscience soothed. He was here to protect it.

One after another, the attendees confessed their crimes, gushing unendingly about their misguided childhoods. They blamed their parents, the lousy neighborhoods they grew up in, the shady company they kept. Funnily enough, not a single one of these guys had the guts to blame himself.

Why was it so difficult for humans to accept responsibility for their actions? Why did they always feel the need to string together a medley of pathetic excuses? If he had to listen to another miserable account of how society had let one of these losers down, he’d be compelled to hit something.

When the next guy stood up to speak, Adrian decided to give him a friendly nudge.

Drop the pretense. Say what’s really on your mind.

The kid was stocky, nearly six-feet tall with the shoulders of a quarterback, thick, muscular arms and hands that looked strong enough to snap a baseball bat in two. “My name’s Eddie, and I’m not sure why I do the things I do.” The burly youth spoke without hesitation. “There’s this darkness inside me, this ugly power. People can’t see it, but somehow they sense it, and they hate me for it.”

Adrian realized the mistake he’d just made. He’d never assumed one of these thugs would turn out to be a Hybrid. He should’ve anticipated it, though. Most Hybrids led troubled lives before they turned. It wasn’t inconceivable that one would show up here. More surprising was how easily the kid had responded to Adrian’s mental nudge. Hybrids often proved harder to influence due to the dark energy coursing through their veins. Maybe deep down Eddie had wanted to confess. A secret like this could grow heavy over the years.

Angie’s eyes glowed with interest and a glimmer of concern. “This darkness, can you describe it?”

“It’s like this deep, black hole. It screams for violence. Death. I’m not sure how much longer I can fight it.”

She faltered, and a pregnant pause followed. It was obvious she had no clue how to handle this. Angie was used to counseling small-time crooks. She knew nothing of the darkness that plagued Adrian’s kind or the type of damage it could wreak on an unsuspecting world.

“The only way to fight it is to hold on to your humanity.” All eyes swiveled Adrian’s way, but he ignored the sudden attention. “Your conscience is the only thing that can keep the darkness at bay.”

Like his uncle, Adrian had the ability to see a Hybrid’s connection to his soul. It was particularly easy to see Eddie’s because the boy’s soul had yet to leave his body. It wrestled within him, a pulsing light that was in a state of constant battle.

Understanding flickered in Eddie’s chocolate-brown eyes. “You know.” Wonder thinned the kid’s voice. “You know how it is.”

Angie watched him expectantly, and Adrian feared he’d already revealed too much of himself, but he couldn’t seem to stop himself. “It won’t be easy. The darkness can be really stubborn, but you’ve got a definite ace up your sleeve.”

Doubt stole the luster from Eddie’s gaze. “And what’s that?”

“Your conscience. As far as I can tell, it’s pretty damn strong.”

The kid wanted to believe him; it was obvious in the tempered hope that fought to claim his features. “You really think so?”

In that moment, looking at Eddie’s conflicted face, seeing firsthand how desperately the kid yearned for redemption, something shifted within Adrian. It was as though his own darkness receded, and an unfamiliar feeling quietly edged in to take its place. That feeling was hope.

Was it possible? Could monsters be redeemed? Could a creature born in darkness ever walk in the light? Cal had managed to harness black energy and turn it into something good. Adrian’s father was a living, breathing example of that. Maybe there was a way to help this kid and all the others like him. A way that didn’t require him to fight a war he didn’t believe in or sign his name in blood.

“Yeah, I do.”

Chapter Twelve

The counseling session came to an end, and one by one the kids filed out of the room. Adrian stood, but Angie grabbed him by the arm to stop him from leaving. “What was that all about?”

His incisive gaze fastened on to hers, and she fought not to be intimidated by it. Adrian had a way of sucking the air from a room and leaving her feeling weak-kneed and breathless.

“I thought you understood that you were only here to observe,” she persisted. “No one jumps in with both feet on their first day.” These kids were volatile, sometimes emotionally unstable. One wrong word could push them over the edge. She’d seen fights break out in counseling sessions. Sometimes blood was even shed. Granted, those occurrences were rare, but they did happen.

“Just trying to help.”

She released his arm, her anxiety going down a notch. The truth was, he’d known exactly what to say to Eddie when she herself had been at a complete loss for words. A sigh trickled from her lungs, and the muscles in her back and shoulders relaxed. “I know. But you need to be careful. It takes time to get a handle on this whole counseling thing.”

He studied her, his features softening. “Exactly how long have you been doing this?”

“Nearly five years.” Ever since she’d inherited the reins from her dad.

“And why would a young, attractive woman choose to spend her days courting danger?”

A part of her wanted to be offended by the remark, but another part of her rejoiced that he thought of her as attractive. “I’m not courting danger. I’m making a difference.”

Adrian didn’t look convinced, and his next words confirmed it. “Don’t you ever worry that you’ll end up getting hurt? That someone will follow you home? That you’ll be skulking around the subway one of these days looking to save some thug who doesn’t deserve it, only to find yourself pinned to the wall with a blade to your throat?”

A shiver danced along her spine. The dream she’d had the other night lurched to life in her mind. For a second she wondered if he’d read her thoughts. “That’s not going to happen.”

“Are you sure?” The certainty with which he spoke disconcerted her.

He sounded like her mother. Tina would’ve gladly locked Angie in a tower if it meant keeping her safe, but Angie would have none of it. She had one life to live, however short, and she refused to live it in fear.

“We can’t waste our life hiding.” Her voice dropped to a silky whisper. “Even if we do, death still finds us.”

Angie had a pounding headache. She felt as if some sharp-toothed creature had become trapped in her skull and was trying to chew its way out. All she wanted was to take an aspirin or two, followed by a long, hot bath. Spending the day training Adrian had depleted her.

Not that being around him was in any way a hardship. Tall, dark and dangerous was usually right up her alley. The problem was, something about him nagged at her. Why did he seem so familiar? Why did the mere sight of him make her mind throb? But more importantly, why did everything inside her hum whenever he was near?

She turned the key and entered the penthouse, aching for that bath, desperate to chase all thoughts of Adrian from her mind.