Page 54 of Soul Redeemed

“It’s a mind trick. I’ve, um … done it before.”

Soothed him before? She glanced toward Calix then back toward the other cell. “To him?”

“Yes. He came to me, looking for some relief.”

Who the hell was this woman? Ava wanted just a peek of her, to put that soft spoken voice to a face. “What kind of relief?”

“A fantasy. Of a female. I made his pain go away.”

“Ava! Don’t!” Twisted into himself, Calix hung over the edge of the bed with his arms trussed over his head.

“Calix, if she can help … ”

“She can’t!” The pleading in his voice left her in conflict, and Ava remained glued to the floor, trying to decide what the hell to do.

“I can. I have before. Let me go, and I’ll show you.”

Could be a trap. She didn’t know the female enough to unlock her without some consideration that she might try to escape.

From what, though?

Why did Xander have her down there, anyway? Was she his sex slave? Ava’d heard that he liked the darker side of sex, and perhaps she fulfilled some prison sex fantasy, or something.

“Bullshit. Do your mind trick from where you are.”

“Doesn’t work that way. I have to have the subject in front of me. I have to feel his pain. See his pain.”

Xander’s threat from earlier drifted through her mind. Last thing she wanted to do was piss off another male in the house. “No. Forget it.”

“Then, he’ll suffer. And if you go to him, he’ll attack you. He’ll drain you.”

Ava padded down the hallway until she arrived at the cell that held the female, who lay wearing a T-shirt and men’s boxers. Definitely one of Xander’s playthings.

She lifted her head from the cot, eyes wide. “You’re her. The one from his fantasy.”

“He … went to you. So you’d pretend to be me?”

“I didn’t touch him. I projected what was in his mind, is all.” She shook her head, and something in her silvery eyes told Ava she was being honest.

“Me.”

“You’re very beautiful. I can see why he’s pained at the sight of you. I can ease that pain.”

Ugh. Ease. Soothe. All words that didn’t seem to fit in Ava’s vocabulary anymore. “This trick. You don’t have to … you and he don’t …”

“Not at all. It’ll be all you.”

Ava stared down at the key in her hands and flinched at another outcry from Calix’s cell. “I may not be Fallen, but I have some tricks of my own. If you try to escape, you’ll regret it.”

“Understood.”

Slipping the key into the lock, Ava gave one reluctant turn and opened the bars, stepping inside. She crossed the room with haste, and instead of removing the chains from the female’s hands, she disconnected them from the wall.

“You’ll remain tethered. Anything tricky, and I’ll wrap the chain around your throat and sever your head from your body.”

“You don’t fuck around.” A half-cocked smile kicked her cheek up.

“I don’t.”