The Soul Eaters (The Thin Hex Line Book 1) by Gwyndolyn Russell (e reader txt) 📕

laughed, still captivated by her presence.

She and Reaper both coughed, with Reaper nearly spitting his drink out.

“Let’s catch up some time. Good luck.” He patted Reaper on the back and headed back to the table.

Reaper looked back to Spectre, unable to keep eye contact. When he went to say something, he caught the glare piercing right through him from Phantom.

TWENTY-FOUR

Something fuzzy tickled my nose. Hard to open my eyes, I rolled over onto my back. Rubbed one. Warm, cozy, I sure as hell did not want to get up. I wasn't too sure where I was yet. Everything was blurred and slowly coming to focus. My head throbbed something awful. My knuckles hurt.

I did not remember much from last night. After seeing Spectre I sat down with the others who were busy talking about Reaper and the tatted up lady. They were happy to hear that it was in fact Spectre, but Sparrow was confused how someone like that could be into the Captain.

You don't get a girl like that. Simple as that.

Ianisse was first to head home. With Sparrow and Ruby deciding to head to the late night market.

That left me with the two biggest guys on the team and Mjolnir had the great idea to get as shitfaced as we could handle. We started a drinking game, flipping a coin into an empty glass. If you made it in, everyone else took a drink. If you missed, you drank.

I had to quit in the end. Reached my limit. Those two went on for a whole extra hour.

After that, everything else was black. I remembered it in flashes. More games. Wrestling. Rough housing.

I sat up with a deep breath. Stretched.

Oh, this was my room.

A couch was flipped over. Flipped over. It should have been bolted to the ground. Table, too. Empty bottles were scattered everywhere. Most being that ardrizian ale and that red drink from Fenris.

With a groan, I laid back down, not even questioning the fluffy mass I had been against the whole time. I rubbed my mouth, catching a glimpse of dried blood on my knuckles.

Christ, I hoped I didn't fight. Such a bad habit. Waking up with no memory, sore as a motherfucker and wounds all over.

As my senses focused, a foul smell hit my nose. The smell of alcohol almost took my attention away, but the stench of rotten flesh was just too close to not smell.

The phone rang. A series of annoying beeps in the worst kind of rhythm.

With a groan I jumped up and hurried to the kitchen to cease the beeping.

I picked the phone up, nothing more than a black colored screen. I didn't bother looking to see who it was.

"What do you want?" I grumbled.

"Good morning, sleeping beauty." I could hear Reaper grinning on the other side.

"I'd rather be sleeping." I reached for a bottle on the counter. Empty. I tossed it aside and looked for one that had anything left in it.

"After last night, I bet. You boys kept the whole ship up."

"I don't even remember…." A rub of my arm made me realize I had no shirt on. No pants either. Great, now I had to find clothes!

"You ever get tired of that?"

Finding a bottle, I poured it out into my mouth. My room was an absolute wreck. Worse than how it looked when I first woke up. Most of the action was in the living room and it was there I spied what I must have been sleeping on all night.

A giant, black wolf softly curled into itself, head resting on its paws. Familiar cracks for eyes which had no lights on. Part of its cloak was curved around. It felt like I had pushed it off when I woke up.

"No. Can't say I do…." I was at a loss for words. How crazy did last night get? We didn't do anything unthinkable did we? I looked myself over.

Just briefs on. Little cuts and bruises here and there, but nothing to be concerned about. I was just grateful that I wasn't naked.

Those cracks lit up. The wolf's head lifted. He looked around before seeing me.

"Right." Reaper said. "Mind swinging by my office before you go anywhere? Need to talk to you about something."

I smiled and gave a wave to Fenris. "Roger. See you in a minute."

I hung the phone up and tossed it onto the counter.

Fenris stretched out and rolled onto his back.

The bedroom was the cleanest room surprisingly. My clothes were thrown across the bed. Sheets messed up, half on the floor. One empty bottle of beer. At least the bathroom was untouched.

After a quick shower to hopefully scrub off that stench, I got dressed and headed back to the kitchen.

Fenris was still laying there on the floor.

"Reaper wants a chat." I said, digging through the cabinets for the pain killers. "We either broke a law, or something good happened with Spec. I hope it's good. Tired of seeing him mope around."

I headed out, fetching a cup of coffee on the way. Reaper was in his office, scrolling through files on the computer. His knee bounced under the desk, an audible thump each time.

"Spectre already left?"

"She never stayed." He grumbled.

I took a seat.

"Oh."

"Anyway," he waved the idea off. "She had some new stories."

"Be nice if she were here to tell them."

"I'm worried about her. She doesn't seem well."

"She seemed fine to me and I mean really fine."

"She wouldn't tell me what she was up to. I wanna figure it out. Maybe we could help her. Besides, she gave me some info last night."

"About what?"

"Fenris."

"No way." I leaned against the desk. "What the hell would she know?"

"According to her, Apex in its younger years named all of their technology after mythological creatures. Nordic and Roman were the top used."

"So, Apex is in charge of...what? That can't be right."

"She said she saw files mentioning valkyries. She thinks they're anti-alpha hunter soldiers."

"Like that Alpha Killer guy?"

"No." He leaned back, crossing his arms over his chest. "That guy is actually