Curse of Soulmate--The Complete Series Read online

  Curse of Soulmate

  D.N. Leo

  Narrative Land Publishing

  Contents

  I. Psychic

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  II. Path

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  Chapter 35

  Chapter 36

  Chapter 37

  Chapter 38

  Chapter 39

  Chapter 40

  Chapter 41

  Chapter 42

  III. Mortal

  Chapter 43

  Chapter 44

  Chapter 45

  Chapter 46

  Chapter 47

  Chapter 48

  Chapter 49

  Chapter 50

  Chapter 51

  Chapter 52

  Chapter 53

  Chapter 54

  Chapter 55

  Chapter 56

  Chapter 57

  Chapter 58

  Chapter 59

  Chapter 60

  IV. Spirit

  Chapter 61

  Chapter 62

  Chapter 63

  Chapter 64

  Chapter 65

  Chapter 66

  Chapter 67

  Chapter 68

  Chapter 69

  Chapter 70

  Chapter 71

  Chapter 72

  V. Elusive

  Chapter 73

  Chapter 74

  Chapter 75

  Chapter 76

  Chapter 77

  Chapter 78

  Chapter 79

  Chapter 80

  Chapter 81

  Chapter 82

  Chapter 83

  Chapter 84

  Chapter 85

  Chapter 86

  Chapter 87

  Chapter 88

  Chapter 89

  Chapter 90

  Chapter 91

  Chapter 92

  Chapter 93

  Chapter 94

  Chapter 95

  Chapter 96

  Chapter 97

  Chapter 98

  Chapter 99

  Chapter 100

  Chapter 101

  Chapter 102

  Chapter 103

  Chapter 104

  Chapter 105

  VI. Divine

  Prologue

  Chapter 106

  Chapter 107

  Chapter 108

  Chapter 109

  Chapter 110

  Chapter 111

  Chapter 112

  Chapter 113

  Chapter 114

  Chapter 115

  Chapter 116

  Chapter 117

  Chapter 118

  Chapter 119

  Chapter 120

  Chapter 121

  Chapter 122

  Chapter 123

  Chapter 124

  Chapter 125

  Chapter 126

  Chapter 127

  Chapter 128

  Chapter 129

  Chapter 130

  Chapter 131

  Chapter 132

  Chapter 133

  Chapter 134

  Chapter 135

  Chapter 136

  Chapter 137

  Chapter 138

  Chapter 139

  Chapter 140

  Chapter 141

  Chapter 142

  Chapter 143

  Chapter 144

  Chapter 145

  WHAT ’S NEXT

  KISS OF MAYHEM SAMPLE

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Kiss of Mayhem Bonus

  Also by D.N. Leo

  Afterword

  Part I

  Psychic

  Chapter 1

  Hate leaves ugly scars, love leaves beautiful ones.

  Mignon McLaughlin, The Second Neurotic’s Notebook, 1966

  She stared at the last three seconds of her life.

  A red double-decker full of passengers was racing straight at her, and she couldn’t do anything but stare at it.

  Like the traffic and everything else surrounding it, the bus seemed to move in slow motion, but Madeline was more than certain that it was zooming in full speed in reality.

  The bus was going to crush her the same way the kidnap and ransom ordeal had cut short Jo’s life.

  Jo was like her sister. They had grown up together, but they might not grow old together.

  Madeline kept staring at the bus. It was real. It was enormous. And her psychic ability didn’t seem to help at all—if she did have such ability.

  Five seconds ago, Madeline had seen it—the haunting blue dot hovering in the air, giving her guidance. She couldn’t believe her eyes. She was a psychic after all. The blue dot glared at her and blinked. That’s unusual, she had thought. It had been three days that she’d stalked this place, and now her psychic ability had finally decided to kick in. About damn time!

  She could save Jo now, and her life would be back to the way it was. Not that her life had been spectacular, but it was much better than her current situation.

  The second blue dot appeared, blinking at her. She gazed at the dots, and then they were no longer blinking. They weren’t blue, either, but a bright yellow.

  And they came with sound.

  Honking.

  Shouting.

  She blinked. They weren’t her psychic blue dots but the headlights of a double-decker racing at her in full speed.

  She glanced around. In a blur of motion, she realized she had just stepped out in front of ongoing traffic in the middle of a busy road in the center of London.

  She now stood in her reality and froze.

  Chapter 2

  Someone grabbed Madeline’s arm and pulled her back onto the sidewalk. The double-decker zoomed past, and the other cars kept moving. If it had been New York, she would have stirred up a hideous bout of road rage. Madeline was still dazed. She turned around and looked at the man who had just saved her life.

  “Are you okay?”

  “Thank you,” she automatically said and immediately realized that those words she kept in her vocabulary inventory didn’t exactly answer the man’s question.

  Then Madeline shook her head. Focus. Stay strong. You’re Jo’s only hope, she scolded herself. She turned toward the man, who was still looking at her with concern.

  “I’m fine. Thank you. I’m sorry. The jetlag is killing me. And apparently, I was looking the wrong way.” She gestured toward the traffic and
smiled. “Madeline. I’m from New York.” She reached her hand out for a handshake.

  “Peter. I’m from . . . here . . . apparently.” He fumbled with his briefcase, swapping it to his left hand so that he could respond to Madeline’s greeting.

  Madeline pointed at the building across the road. “I’m looking for LeBlanc Pharmaceuticals. But I think I’ve got the wrong address. That building looks more like military barracks than business headquarters.”

  Peter arched an eyebrow, looking Madeline up and down.

  “I’m a journalist. I’m writing a business column about one of their new products. Is there a problem?” Madeline asked.

  “Oh, no. No problem at all. Nobody has any problem with the LeBlancs.”

  Madeline smiled and waited for the next part of Peter’s speech, but it never came. Instead, he shrugged. “Well, to be honest, even the locals know almost nothing about them. I’m sorry I can’t help you. But I can certainly show you around if it does any good. And the I around the corner is one of London’s hot spots. I’m sure it will help cure your jet lag.”

  Madeline smiled but cursed on the inside. Peter was a decent-looking man. She hadn’t been in a serious relationship for a while—not that no one was interested in her, but her situation was too complicated to let anyone into her life. Still, it was nice to be hit on occasionally.

  She was tall, slim, and attractive enough, but Madeline didn’t consider herself pretty. She had a slightly long, oval face, big brown eyes, a generous mouth with full lips, and a dimple on her left cheek. A sea of brunette curls wrapped around her shoulders.

  A hot cup of coffee was tempting, but now was not a good time. “I’m sorry. I’ve got to get this done, or my boss will be very unhappy. Thanks for the offer, Peter. Maybe next time.” Madeline waved her gloveless hand goodbye and scurried away, shivering in the winter chill.

  She glanced at the reflection on the shop window and saw that the smile on Peter’s face had been replaced by a strange look.

  She wouldn’t be mistaken. She had seen that look several times. It was the look of a predator who had just lost his prey.

  Instead of going straight home, she turned to the opposite direction and headed toward a crowed shopping center.

  Chapter 3

  Hours later, throwing her light backpack over her shoulders, Madeline headed toward a small apartment on a back street in Knightsbridge. Rows of terrace houses that curved along a tree-lined street looked invitingly at her. The black gothic-styled light poles and street fences accentuated the beautiful blend of modern and classic London.

  She normally adored and admired the architecture. But right now, Madeline was cursing the amount of money she had to pay to stay in Knightsbridge on such short notice.

  There—she saw those blue dots again.

  It had been a secret she’d only told Jo, and Jo called it her psychic ability. After the incident in the bush that both Madeline and Jo didn’t want to remember, Madeline had appeared to be able to see people’s minds—or at least she thought that’s what it was.

  Sometimes it came from those she had been in contact with. That was how Jo speculated she was able to track down a missing person. Sometimes it randomly came from a stranger when they directed their thoughts at her. Other times, she had absolutely no explanation of where the dots came from. She wasn’t a mind reader—she didn’t know what the thoughts were about. She just saw them as the blue dots.

  Ironically, her randomly found ability only worked when she didn’t need it, like when it had led her in front of a fast approaching bus.

  The dots hovered in front of her and then moved toward the alley leading to Hyde Park. After the near-fatal encounter with the bus, Madeline didn’t think it was wise to follow the psychic specks anymore. She ignored them and headed home.

  Her cell phone buzzed as soon as she entered her apartment. She picked up the phone and kicked the door closed.

  “Madeline,” she answered while searching for the light switch on the wall.

  At the other end of the line, a male voice croaked, “I miss you. It’s been a few days. What have you got for me?”

  “Zen, I almost got hit by a bus trying to get to the door of LeBlanc Pharmaceuticals. Their premises are guarded like a military barracks. Seriously, I’d have a better chance of running through the gates of Buckingham Palace to the Queen’s private chamber than breaking into the front yard of that building.”

  “That’s why I sent you there, honey. We can’t compete with the LeBlancs using weapons, money, or manpower. Your little gift is just what we need.”

  Madeline finally found the light switch. She flicked it on and strode toward the fireplace. Her teeth were never going to stop chattering if she didn’t get a fire going.

  “I don’t have any gift, Zen. You know I can barely operate a computer let alone hunt down a computer geek and ask him questions about an avatar.”

  “I saw the games you played with Jo, Madeline. Don’t bluff with me.”

  Madeline closed her eyes. Damn. Jo made her play guessing games just to prove that Madeline’s psychic ability was real. Jo believed in it more than she did. Since Jo was doing research on a new simulation game, Madeline thought it would be fun to help out. Now those games were biting her in the backside.

  “Look, Zen, it’s been days, and I haven’t been able to get inside. You have to give me more information than just ‘look for a White Knight.’”

  “But that’s all I have!” Zen screamed though the phone. She could hear his heavy breathing and his swallow to suppress his anger.

  She lowered her voice. “If you let me talk to Jo, we could figure something out.”

  “You want to talk to her? Okay.” Zen turned on the video phone. He grabbed Jo’s hair and smashed her face onto the screen of the phone. “Do you see her now? Talk away. You girls can figure things out, right?”

  Madeline caught a glimpse of Zen’s face, which was burning red with fury. Jo’s eyes were dazed, and her forehead was bruised. Jo bit her lips and looked into the screen. Madeline knew Jo wouldn’t cry.

  “You hurt her, you bastard. You told me you wouldn’t hurt her if I found your stupid avatar!” Madeline roared.

  “But you found nothing!” Zen screamed.

  Chapter 4

  “He didn’t hurt me, Madeline. I tried to run and fell down the stairs. Should have taken my stupid heels off.” Jo smiled weakly.

  A tear rolled down Madeline’s cheek. Jo was barely five foot two, and she always wore those impossibly high heels. Madeline couldn’t understand why she was so conscious about her height. Jo was gorgeous. She was a brilliant computer game designer, but no one could peg her as a nerd. Madeline wiped her tear and smiled back.

  “You sure you’re okay?”

  “I’m fine. You take care of yourself, Madeline.”

  “I can’t get the blue dots to work, Jo. Can you tell me what the game is about? What am I looking for?”

  Jo was about to say something, but Zen yanked her off the phone. “All you have to do is to find out who plays with Jo using the name White Knight. You’ve seen the game—and the player. You should be able to tell who the guy is in real life. I told you he works for the LeBlancs and has been playing from that building. You don’t have to go in. Just wait him out.”

  “Do you understand that LeBlanc Pharmaceuticals is a global company that employs millions of people?”

  “But I gave you the precise location!”

  “I told you, it’s like a military barrack. I used my journalist credentials to ask for an interview with their PR department . . .”

  “And?”

  “The waiting list is a month.”