Southwest Nights (Semiautomatic Sorceress Book 1) Kal Aaron (best book club books for discussion txt) 📖

releasing it?” Lee asked. “It won’t believe it’s a gun spirit forever. You might not be able to escape.”

“I’ll do what it takes to protect people.” Lyssa glared at him “I’d feed myself to Jofi if that’s what it would take. That’s what it means to be a Torch.”

“There are ways to enforce that oath.”

“Screw you.” Lyssa sneered. “There’s no way I’m letting one of you freaks control me with a spell, and besides, you’re the one who told me it would risk messing with the seal and Jofi’s connection to me.”

Lee stared at her for an uncomfortably long time. Lyssa stomped on all the sarcastic replies floating to the tip of her tongue. She didn’t like the man, but she could understand his concerns. The problem was he needed to show her the same respect.

“I get it.” Lyssa sighed. “You’re all in paranoia-land because of what happened a few days ago.”

“All Sorcerers should worry when our gifts are misused by criminal Shadows.”

“Did you miss the part on the news where I raided their hideout and took them out?” Lyssa raised her brow in challenge. “And the EAA took all the shards into custody?”

“Serendipity is a curious thing. What are the chances of a Torch being in the same city as a group of criminals with such items? How often have you been sent to your home city during your career as a Torch?”

“Technically, I live one city over from the house I raided.” Lyssa rolled her eyes. “You’ve got a complicated theory there, but I heard an idiot on the news lately that put me in the right headspace to interpret. Let’s see. I’m supplying gangsters with specific shards that somehow have powers well outside the scope of my essence, then I’m waiting for the Society to call me and tell me to take them out. That about sum it up?”

She didn’t feel the need to give Lee any ammo by suggesting any of her other paranoid theories about what might have happened. He might accuse her of being mentally unstable. He had in the past.

“According to news reports, it was hoped you’d take the leader alive,” Lee said. “His death was convenient if one was attempting to cover up where he’d acquired his shards.”

Lyssa flipped him off. “That’s what I’ve got for you, Lee. This is ridiculous.” She stomped toward her bike. “I’m a Torch. I blow things up and kill people when the Society needs me to. This time that happened to be in my backyard, but I’m not going to stand here and let you accuse me of anything.”

“We’re not finished,” he spat.

Lyssa slammed on her helmet, straddled her bike, and pushed up the kickstand. “Yeah, I think we pretty much are because you’re being an ass, and I’m not sure you haven’t been corrupted by the Grand Spirit of Asses. You might want to talk to the others and get that checked.”

Lee bared his teeth. “If the seal ever breaks, it’ll be too late, Miss Corti. You realize that, don’t you? Others will die, but so will you. Unlike what you’re doing now, souls will be at risk, not only lives.”

She started her Panigale, the mild rumble of the engine soothing. “Don’t worry. I won’t take it personally if you all come and kill me when I’m a soulless shell for a corrupt spirit abomination. Before then, let’s not waste my time, okay?”

“We’ll always be watching.” Lee gave her a cool look. “You understand that?”

“It’s good to have hobbies. I don’t judge.” Lyssa pulled forward and spun her bike around. “Just stay out of my way until it’s time to kill me.”

Chapter Ten

Lyssa took off her helmet and hung it on a hook in the garage. She didn’t bother to put the necklace away yet. It was invisible to Jofi, an artifact of the sealing, but she didn’t normally have it out because she didn’t want someone else to see it and accidentally remark on it.

The meeting with Lee had left her unsettled. After six years, she’d hoped their meetings would have become routine, but somehow the man always managed to get under her skin with his accusations and dirty looks.

No, that wasn’t it. He’d always been a suspicious ass, and she hadn’t gotten offended. She was on edge because of the shards and the anniversary.

A familiar presence pushed at the corners of her mind, Jofi. His omnipresence normally made it easy to tune out, like living next to a waterfall and forgetting about the sound. It was only after she was gone for a while that it stood out upon her return, unnerving and comforting at the same time.

“Was your meal unusually delicious?” Jofi asked.

Lyssa stepped through the door. “Huh? Why would you ask that?”

“You were gone a long time. I assume that means your meal was delicious. You don’t tend to drink during the day, though I did consider the possibility, given your current stress levels.”

She needed a better cover story next time. The anniversary had put her off her game.

“Yeah, I’m not that much of a lush.” Lyssa closed the door. “But that whole idea is strange to you, isn’t it? I don’t think about it enough. You can hear and see in your way, but I always forget you can’t smell, touch, or taste. Delicious food is an abstraction to you.”

“Understanding the experience isn’t necessary to understand you enjoy it on some occasions and dislike it on others.”

Always the same calm, even tone. That was what she needed and wanted. That was what Lee and the others he represented wanted. A relaxed Jofi would stay in the guns, thinking he was a gun spirit. A relaxed Jofi would never question anything.

That didn’t make Lyssa feel better about it. They were partners of sorts. Lee insisted he was nothing more than a spirit, but not being human wasn’t the same thing as being mindless. The truth wouldn’t set him free, though. It would obliterate the Jofi she knew and replace him