Free Sinful Instincts (Woodland Creek) by J. D. Hollyfield, Woodland Creek

I need answers.” I stand up quickly. “If you’re going to stay locked-lip then you’re on your own, pal. Spill, or I ain’t helping you.”
    I turn but his hand is around my wrist, tugging me back down onto the couch. Without releasing my wrist, he continues. “He killed her, yes. And I will take his life for it. But that’s not it. There are these scrolls, as I’ve mentioned. They contain a very dangerous spell, if you will, and in the wrong hands, it can threaten a lot of human lives.”
    “A spell,” I repeat. God, this just keeps getting better.
    “There was a scroll. That night, I couldn’t take her back to her family. They would convict and hang me for her death. I laid her to rest within the woods of Fallen Crest. With his newfound powers, Zander was able to steal her soul. She lives within him. Knowing that information, I was in search of someone who performed magic. One who could explain how he was gaining his powers and how I might be able to reverse it. In time, I found someone. He was a wizard, and he spoke of an old labyrinth spell.”
    I really wish I put vodka in my coffee.
    “Zander was in search of seven items that would result in immortality. I was to find these items before him and destroy them so he was unable to complete his spell. Then once I found Zander, taking his life would release all the souls he had captured. Including Gabriella’s.”
    Okay, maybe I should have skipped the coffee and gone straight to the vodka.
    “Okay, so… Yeah, you may have lost me at spells and eating souls.” I’m starting to feel like he’s pulling my chain here. I mean, sucking the soul outta huh ?
    Sin says no more, releasing my wrist and tossing my arm away from him. “I don’t need you to believe me. I just need you to help me, which you will.” His voice is thick with fury. I really hate being told what to do, but the scary, beast-like snarl he is giving me tells me maybe I will make an exception just this once.
    “Fine, I get it, and I’m sorry. I’m just trying to wrap my mind around all of this. I mean, come on, it’s not every day I meet a leopard shifter looking for a magical spell to release his dead girlfriend’s soul.” Because right? Have you? I live in a normal world where this stuff happens in books, people! Not real life.
    “I was headed back to the wizard’s home to trade gold for the scroll. Before I was able to return, Zander got to him first. His throat was slit and his insides were eaten clean out. Zander was gone, and so was my copy of the scroll.”
    Ew.
    “Okay, so what now? Does he even know what to do with it when he finds them all?”
    “Yes.”
    Okay, throw me a bone here, man. “ Aaaand ?” I retort.
    “He knows that once he retrieves all the items, he can gain eternal power. It’s like raising the souls of the dead to create an unnatural army of sorts.”
    Army of dead souls, got it. “Okay, so if he knows what to do, why hasn’t he used it yet?”
    “I believe he hasn’t found all the items on this list yet. From the research I have done, legend says there were only a select few who carried these certain items. I was unable to break down the language the wizard wrote in, but I wrote down some of the words I did remember and I had them translated. Some of the items were located in certain regions in which Zander had been located. As time passed, I realized he was slowly finding each item.”
    “Shit,” I mumble.
    “Yes, well, if I am correct, based on the information I have collected, he is on the last item. Hence why it is important that he is stopped before he finds it.”
    “What is it? How will you know if he’s found it or not?” Besides seeing a portal from Hell opening up.
    “I imagine that whatever it is he is looking for, it is located here in Woodland Creek.”
    At that, I laugh. Nothing is here in Woodland Creek. “I highly doubt anything magical is hidden in this town. Trust me. I haven’t been here long, but it’s nothing all that