Unnatural Souls by Linda Foster Read Free Book Online

been … tracking me?” I suddenly
forgot how to breathe again. Did that mean they knew where I lived?
Where I went to school? Why were they tracking me?
    “ Why are demons after me?”
I asked in a high-pitched voice. As much as my powers sucked, they
hadn’t really put anyone in any actual danger up to that point. But
demons—this was much worse than powers that I couldn’t control. I’d
thought my life was a mess before … but finding out that demons
were hunting me was, well, worse.
    Maybe Ash should have just let me
die.
    “ I don’t know,” he said,
shaking his head. “I promise you, though, that I will find out.”
His eyes, which I’d feared before because of their hard edges, now
swore pain to any who stood in his way. And suddenly they gave me
comfort. This was not a man who would fail on a promise, and I
nodded slowly, accepting that he would find out.
    Hopefully before any more
demons found me. Because I still didn’t know what they could
actually want .
    “ In the meantime, I will
help you learn how to control your powers,” he told me. “However,
you will help me in return—as payment.”
    “ With what?” I asked, not
sure I wanted to know the answer. “And why me?”
    “ You will help me because
without my assistance, you will be stuck as you are, and in
terrible danger. How long do you think you will survive with
monsters after you? If I hadn’t helped today, you would have
perished. And with your soul stuck between Heaven and Hell, you
would be left to roam Earth for all eternity as a spirit. You’ve
seen those, haven’t you? You don’t want that fate. I can teach you
to control your powers while you are still on Earth, protect you
from the demons who are after you until you are capable of
protecting yourself, and, when the time comes, allow your soul back
into Heaven. Without me, you will be doomed.”
    Well, that changed things.
And not in a fair way. He was going to leave me for nine months to
fend for myself, then suddenly show up—by accident!—save my life,
and then demand that I help him, with a really insane list of
repercussions if I didn’t? When it really seemed to me that he —and his sort—were the
ones who had made the mistake in the first place?
    Michael, being my only interaction
with an angel, definitely wasn’t what I’d expected. Not that I had
put much thought into it, but they were always depicted as loving
creatures, protective of humans. He seemed to have moments of
passion and empathy, but he also seemed—an instant later—to be
rather cold.
    And looking into his eyes, I could
tell there was no question that he was demanding, not requesting,
my help. It made me uneasy, to say the least.
    I hadn’t thought it was possible, but
it felt like things had gone from bad to worse. And I was having
trouble processing the things he’d just listed.
    But in the end, did I really have a
choice?
    He was right—that demon would have
ended my life, and I hadn’t exactly been proving myself capable of
fighting it. I’d have been dead meat if Michael hadn’t shown up.
And I was willing to bet that the next demon was going to be just
as bad. Maybe even worse.
    If demons were truly hunting me, for
whatever reason, more would come. And there was no question that
I’d be dead before the end of the week. Before I could save
Ash.

 

     
     
     
     
    BUT IF MICHAEL was willing to teach me how to use my powers …
and I became strong enough … then I could learn how to kill a
demon. I’d be able to stay alive long enough to find a way to save
Ash, and save myself in the process.
    And with that, my mind was made up.
Three months. I had three months to get along with this Michael,
figure out how to use my powers, and find a way to rescue my
brother from his fate. I just had to survive the demon assassins
currently hunting me. And help Michael with whatever it was he
needed me for.
    Three months. It wasn’t a lot of time.
But it was all I had. It was better than