A Demonic Bundle by Angie Fox, Lexi George Kathy Love Page B

okay,” she said, kissing his cheek, his lips. He returned the kiss, before smiling down at her.
    “I’m fine.”
    “What took you so long? I was starting to get worried.”
    “Well, it took a while for them to explain what my job would be,” he said slowly.
    Ava frowned, confused. She couldn’t imagine it would be that hard to explain what a staff photographer’s duties were.
    “It seems there’s a lot involved when capturing demons.”
    Ava didn’t react for a moment, then repeated, “Capturing demons?”
    He nodded, then pulled out a picture and handed it to her. “And saving the humans who sold their souls for their dreams.”
    Ava looked at the picture, realizing it was of her, sleeping in Charlie’s bed. That first night they were together. All around her sleeping form was a yellow light, a halo.
    “Is this how you see me?” she asked.
    “Sometimes. I see auras around those who have sold their souls. With the demons I see the real features that they keep hidden behind the masks of human faces.”
    She watched him for a moment. “You seem to be taking this pretty well.”
    He considered her, then nodded. “Well, it is true, isn’t it?”
    Ava nodded. “Yes, it is.”
    “Then we need to get your soul back, and apparently I can help do that. So I have no choice but to accept the assignment.”
    She smiled at him, leaning in to press her lips tenderly against his. She lingered for a moment, then pulled back to regard him, her eyes filled with unshed tears.
    He started to speak, to comfort her, she was sure, but she pressed her fingers lightly to his lips to stop him. She needed to explain how she’d ended up in this situation. She wanted him to understand how she’d gotten mixed up with Finola White.
    “I honestly didn’t understand what I was doing,” she said and he didn’t need to ask what she referred to; he knew. “I grew up with just my mother. My father left us when I was less than a year old, so I don’t remember him. And my mother had no help from her family; she really struggled to keep us going. She wasn’t a bad mother; she took care of me and made sure I had what I needed, but I always knew she resented being stuck with a child. She’d dreamed of being a model or an actress herself. And having me, well, she saw that as holding her back.
    “So at a very young age I started to imagine what it would be like if I could be a model or actress, so my mother would be proud of me and not regret having me. I would fulfill her dreams and make her realize she’d done the right thing to have me.”
    Charlie took her hand, running his thumb soothingly over her skin.
    She continued, “Right out of high school, I came here to try and get a modeling contract. Maybe some acting roles. But I quickly realized I wasn’t going to cut it. Not in a city like this. Then by sheer chance, or at least I thought it was chance, I met Finola at a play where I was ushering—that was the closest I ever came to the stage. She must have sensed some sort of desperation in me, because she told me I was stunning. That she could see me in front of the camera. That I could be the next Cindy Crawford.”
    “And what girl doesn’t want to hear that,” Charlie said, offering her an understanding smile.
    She forced a tremulous smile back, still ashamed she’d so willingly sold her soul. Even though she knew Charlie understood.
    “So I signed on the dotted line, giving her myself and as it turned out, my soul. And she did make me a star.”
    “But—” Charlie prompted when she fell quiet for a moment.
    “But,” she sighed. “That didn’t actually give me what I wanted. I made it big, buying my mother a beautiful new house, a new car. Trying to give her everything she imagined she would have in her youthful dreams, but none of that mattered. She’s still distant, still resentful, because now not only did I ruin her dreams, I stole them.”
    Charlie pulled her into his arms, hugging her tight, holding her