Wicked Souls by Misty Evans Page A

from Gabriel’s clutches.” She shrugged again, but the very
effort at nonchalance gave her away. “Your choice.”
    I didn’t trust her, and I wasn’t in the mood
for blackmail. “Get out.”
    After she walked out the door, Keisha and I
stood silent for several seconds. “Think she’s telling the truth
about Luc?” I said.
    “Only one way to find out.” Keisha headed
for the door.
    I followed, chanting, no magic, no
magic , in my head.
     
     

Chapter Eleven:
    In the Name of Love
     
    Keisha and I arrived at Immaculate
Conception fifteen minutes early. Adam wasn’t there yet, but Marcia
was, busying herself with the meeting preparations while standing
at the pulpit as if she were considering a new calling in life. The
very thought made me shudder under my satin jacket.
    Father Leonard was in his study, talking on
the phone. I knocked softly on the door to get his attention and he
waved me in. “ Sei secure ? You’re sure?” He paused, listening
to the reply, and rubbed his eyes as if tired. “ Grazie ,
Dante. Arrivederci .”
    He hung up the phone as I crossed to his
desk. “I didn’t know you spoke Italian.”
    His face was strained, but his eyes shone
with their usual brightness, and he smiled. “There is much about me
you don’t know, Amy.”
    That was true, and in the back of my mind I
remembered how one of these days I was going to insist he tell me
everything about his skill set. “Any progress on my soul
issue?”
    “Afraid not.” He dropped his gaze to the top
of his desk and shuffled some papers. “In fact I just talked to the
Dean of Cardinals in Rome. He assures me your soul is in the most
danger from Lucifer, not Gabriel. He also was adamant that the only
way to extract your soul from either is to offer it to God.”
    “You told the Dean of Cardinals about
me?”
    “Hypothetically, of course.” He found what
he was looking for—a cream sheet of paper with a large coffee ring
on it—and wrote a note on it before glancing up at me. “I could
hardly tell him I’m sponsoring a witch who’s given her soul to
Lucifer and has Gabriel stalking her.”
    “Ex-witch,” I corrected. “Why? Would that,
like, cost you your job?”
    Father Leonard’s eyes sparked with dark
humor. “More like earn me a complete psych evaluation.”
    We shared a laugh, but mine was halfhearted. I considered telling him what Eve had said about the expiration
date on my soul’s stay with Luc, decided to skip it. I didn’t
believe her and I doubted a Catholic priest would like hearing Eve
was the mother of all witchdom and knew far more about Luc than the
Bible let on. “What am I going to do?”
    He rose from his chair, came around the edge
of the desk, and put an arm around my shoulder. “First you’re going
to accept your six month chip and give a speech.” He steered me
toward the door. “We’ll talk about your soul later.”
    So much for getting my soul back before the
ceremony. “I’m supposed to give a speech?”
    He squeezed my arm and a jolt of
encouragement ran up it. “Of course. At the very least, you have to
thank your sponsor.”
     
     
    The double doors of the nave were propped
open, the members of Witches Anonymous gathering inside. At the
pulpit, Marcia spotted Father Leonard and gave him a tiny wave. He
waved back, in a non-flirtatious, but happy-to-see-you manner and
went to join her, and for once I felt less grossed out about them
liking each other. Maybe Marcia had an honest attraction to him,
and maybe he enjoyed her puppy dog eyes and attention. Love was a
funny thing. It didn’t care about rules and policies. Didn’t care
about right and wrong. It happened where and when it wanted to and
nothing—not even the powers of the Universe—could stop it.
    Thinking about love, I scanned the rest of
the group looking for Adam, but he was nowhere to be found. My
heart sank a little, but a part of me knew he wasn’t going to show. Eve was still hanging around and the only reason for