Soul Dealers Read online

  Zach turned back and saw that Mya had stopped running,

  “Professor Portman, please take Dan. I’ll go back for the girl.”

  She couldn’t let Zach go back. It was too dangerous. His safety was her top priority. He saw her hesitance over saving the girl, but she knew he didn’t understand her situation. He might think she was scared—which would be natural for a human given the occasion but was an insult to Mya. He would judge her, and for some reason unknown even to her, his opinion of her was important. She would have to save the girl, whether dying today was her fate or not. She would have to deal with the consequences of it later.

  “Damn it!” she muttered as she made her way down the corridor. She approached the girl quickly, scooped her up, and ran back the other way.

  Zach and Dan were outside the building, and Mya was nearly at the door when she heard a swoofff. The pressure from the gas explosion pumped through the corridor and shot Mya and the girl outside like a missile.

  They rolled on gravel and cement, Mya trying to cover the girl as much as possible, tasting the saltiness of the blood in her mouth. She knew now what the expression “seeing stars” meant. She felt the cold air biting at her skin through the tears in her clothing, poking heavily at the injuries she hadn’t yet had time to assess. A terrible pain sliced through her mind, and she decided that being human sucked. Then her world went black.

  Lucas threw the bottle of beer at the computer screen and roared in frustration. “Who the fuck is Zach Flynn?”

  Alice hugged him from behind. They had been together for a long time, and she was always there for him when he needed her. Lucas was aware of that. He hadn’t promised her anything, but when it was time to build a family, she was the one he planned to spend the rest of his life with.

  “Shhh, calm down, Lucas. We’ll sort this out.” Her smooth voice always comforted him.

  “How?” He turned and looked at her. “I can’t see a way out. I’ve taken the deposit. We promised to kill Dan. I should never have taken this stupid job. Why can’t I just put a bullet in the guy’s head? Why does it have to be under the girl’s watch? Who is she? I can kill her, too, as a bonus!”

  She pressed a finger to his lips to silence him. “No, you’ll violate your own rules. That’s no good for business, and it’s unprofessional. Never question a client. Remember? Whatever they want, we’ll do it for money. I do have good news, and I hope it lightens your mood.”

  Lucas turned and looked into Alice’s deep brown eyes. “I’d love to hear it.”

  “The dealer said the contractor understands the situation and didn’t ask for his money back. On the contrary, he’ll double the payment if we can take Zach out as well.”

  Lucas grinned. “Why didn’t you say so earlier?”

  Alice smiled. “Gotta let you sweat a bit. Zach Flynn’s interference isn’t our fault. We didn’t have the information.”

  Lucas frowned. “I hate working on cases when we don’t have the full picture.”

  Alice laughed. “I disagree. Unless we’re paid more, I don’t want to know more than we need to know to do the job.”

  “That’s my girl.” Lucas pinched Alice’s cheek lightly, then he kissed her. But the passionate kiss didn’t clear the knot that tangled in his mind about this deal. This wasn’t his first job, but it was the first untidy one. He disliked loose ends because experience had told him they’d come back and bite him in the backside.

  Chapter 7

  Mya woke in a hospital bed, confused and disoriented at first. She looked around, her eyes finally landing on Zach sleeping in a chair in a corner. He had sunk down in the chair with his head tilted in an uncomfortable position. He was going to have a sore neck later. His long legs stretched out on the floor, and Mya could see he was exhausted. His brilliant and witty green eyes were closed now, but she would love to see them smile at her later. His slightly long brown hair was disheveled and had fallen across the front of his forehead.

  She looked at his strong jaw and his unshaven face then moved her eyes to his lips. Something about them made her want to taste them and savor their fullness.

  She shook her head. Stop it, Mya! What if he wakes up to find a deity drooling sinfully over him? You’ll have no dignity left at all.

  It was time for her to take inventory. She shifted and slid down under the blanket so that if Zach woke, he would not see what she was doing. In her deity form, she knew her eyes looked a bit glassy. It might be considered spooky from a human perspective.

  In her deity form, she searched for the little girl’s files.

  “Oh, damn it. I knew this would happen!” she exclaimed. The girl was destined to finish this life. She had been a criminal in her previous life. She’d served a short life this time and was supposed to move on to be born a brilliant scientist in her next life. Because Mya had saved the girl, she’d interfered with God’s plan. This one was going to cause a big ding on Mya’s score card. It had been more than a thousand years, and she still hadn’t learned to look away from people in need.

  “Oh, crap. Shit. Shit. And triple shit,” she cursed boldly underneath her blanket.

  “Professor Portman?”

  Mya heard Zach call out. She flipped the blanket down to reveal her face. “Don’t call me Professor!”

  Zach recoiled at her tone. “I’m sorry, Pro … Mya. How are you feeling? Who would you like me to call?”

  Why did he assume she had someone to call? Why didn’t he just ask if there was someone to call? Not everyone had loving parents, understanding brothers, sisters, in-laws, nieces, nephews, and friends to die for or call for help from at any moment.

  Yes, she had followed him to get the information. In her profession, following him was not considered stalking. Her Goddess had given her a long list this year to protect, and Zach’s name was on it. So effectively, she was his guardian angel. She preferred that job title to deity, but beggars couldn’t be choosers. She had been lucky to hang on to her job after so many centuries where she hadn’t been able to fulfill the tasks Ishtar had given her.

  She never had personal relationships with her subjects. It was a formula for disaster. A few months ago when she was bored out of her skull, she had gone to the club where Zach and his band played every weekend. A fan of his who had been sitting next to Mya threw her bra at him on the stage. There was nothing Mya could do when Zach thought she was the one who had thrown it.

  Later, he had approached her table to thank her for her support. She had no choice but to explain that she wasn’t the one who had tossed him the bra. Of course she followed up with, “Don’t get me wrong, I do love your music. It was just that I wouldn’t express my support the way your other fans do.” She had given him her business card, and the next thing she knew, he turned up at the university asking for her help.

  When he wasn’t playing in the band, Zach gave guitar lessons at a small music school he founded. He wanted to know how he could bring some of his material to courses at the university. She couldn’t help him much in that regard because (a) she was tone deaf and (b) she didn’t have any real friends in the faculty due to her situation. But the interactions between Zach and her had started from there. They weren’t exactly friends—that was obvious from the fact that Zach still called her Professor Portman.

  “No, I don’t know anyone here. If you could check me out of the hospital, though, that would be great,” Mya said and sat up in her bed.

  Zach nodded. “You were really brave, Pro … Mya.” And attractive, and smart, and…

  “Oh no!” Mya shrieked out loud. She had left her deity vision on, thus she could hear Zach’s thoughts. As much as she enjoyed it, it was totally unethical by her heavenly standards. Mya grabbed at her head and closed her eyes. Switched off.

  She opened her eyes and saw Zach sitting on the end of her bed.

  “Are you okay? I don’t think you should check out of the hospital so soon. You were hit really hard. The doctor said you have a mild concussion. Look, if y
ou don’t want to call anyone, I’ll stay until you’re steady. But leaving you alone is not an option.” He bit his lower lip, having more to say but trying not to say it.

  “I’m fine.”

  “No, you’re not.”

  “How are Dan and the kid?”

  “They’re both fine.”

  “I’m hungry.”

  “Huh?”

  She arched an eyebrow. “A girl’s gotta eat.”

  “Oh, right. I’m sorry. What would you like?”

  “Wonton noodle soup with extra wontons and fewer noodles, a wedge of lemon, and some fresh chili with no fried onion.”

  “Ah…noted.” Zach smiled and turned on his heel. As soon as he closed the door, Mya slid down in the bed, dropped her head back against the pillow, and started tallying her balance. She suddenly realized she had lost count of how many cases she was supposed to save to fulfill her original contract with her Goddess.

  Not reading the fine print in the agreement had hurt her for more than a thousand years. She knew now that she wasn’t allowed to kill anyone, including bad guys—a rule that she continually violated. She wasn’t allowed to save those who were supposed to die. And there were a dozen more forbidden actions in the fine print. She wondered if there was an ultimatum clause—she had an odd feeling that there was.

  She concentrated and tried to retrieve her original agreement. But all she had now was a blank document.

  Chapter 8

  The doctor insisted Mya stay in the hospital overnight for further observation. Against her own wishes, she agreed. Dan had been released the previous night, and he was an ordinary human being. She was a deity. How could he recover faster than her? As much as Mya thought it was unfair, she said nothing. Doctors and Gods were those she didn’t argue with.

  Zach was on his way to pick her up from the hospital and take her back to her apartment. He acted as if she couldn’t hail a cab herself. But she couldn’t prevent him from acting on his own will. Not to mention that the idea of being taken care of by Zach pleased her. She had never felt that kind of pleasure before. Her as-long-as-the-eternity life was all about taking care of others. It was nice to be tucked into bed and have someone bring her food and worry about her. And the fact that it was Zach taking care of her made it that much nicer.

  In his music business, Zach was like a God to his fans. He looked like a God, and he performed like one. He could have any girl he wanted, but like her, Zach lived a double life. Despite his rock-star status, he was a well-loved man to his friends and family. During her professional observation, Mya had seen Zach taking care of the people he loved. He never brought his wild music business home. She had seen him visiting his parents often, bringing presents to his nieces and nephews, and being generous and kind to his friends and his students. It was a fair guess that he would be a wonderful father one day. Mya saw that he was a gentleman to his girlfriend, Chloe.

  There was that, Mya thought with a sigh. His stunning childhood sweetheart. Just thinking about it made her heart ache.

  “Stop it!” She smacked herself in the head. “You’re two years his senior. Actually, a thousand years his senior. You’re worse than a cougar. And a good deity does not have hormonal issues.”

  She heard the faint tinkle of a bell, and a hovering image of Leon appeared in the air above her.

  “Wow.” Mya stepped back and stared at him. She bit her tongue discreetly to ensure she said nothing. Something strange was happening. It felt as if a storm was coming her way.

  “Mya, Ishtar has a message for you.” Leon nodded slightly in greeting and spoke in English, a language he’d had no knowledge of as of yesterday.

  “Double wow. Hi there. Since when has your job description changed? Don’t tell me you broke a crystal and are about to be exiled like me?” Mya gasped.

  Leon smiled and said, “I’m now in charge of Ishtar’s communication to deities who work…remotely.”

  Mya rolled her eyes. “Yeah, I can see the position came with language capabilities. If she could give abilities to you so easily, why didn’t she give me a superpower, too, so I could do my job faster?”

  “I’ve been promoted. As you said, you were exiled. There’s a difference in the amount of privileges one can get under those circumstances.”

  Mya’s blood ran cold. This was a different Leon than the one who had blushed when she asked him to take her to his chamber. She shifted her stance, bracing herself for the coming news.

  “What’s the message?”

  “Yesterday, you didn’t make the meeting. Ishtar took a hundred points off your scorecard.”

  “That’s a bit harsh. No, that’s unreasonably harsh.”

  “Well, Ishtar thinks you didn’t respect her time.”

  “I… All right, I’ll make up the points. I don’t even know how many points I have to make up!”

  “Umm…”

  “What?”

  “You have seven days to bring your balance up to zero.”

  “I’m in the negative? How the hell will I ever make it to a thousand? And what the heck with the deadline? I’ve never had a deadline before. Don’t I have to wait for people to be in danger to save them? I can’t control that. And I don’t know how many points I need to get to zero.”

  “Two.”

  Mya stared. “You checked my records? Hell, I don’t even know my balance. What if I can’t save two lives in seven days, Leon? What will happen? How will Ishtar punish me?”

  “I’m not in a position to answer that question.”

  “What’s going on at court, Leon?”

  Leon shook his head, “I can’t tell you, but…Ishtar is…restructuring her council and changing policies. That much I know. You have to be careful.”

  Mya nodded. She mumbled to herself, “Wartime.” They had gone past the period of peace and prosperity, and Ishtar was the Goddess of love and war. Mya looked up and saw that Leon’s image had disappeared.

  Chapter 9

  Lucas’s blood boiled with anger. He had a feeling this luxurious office in the most exclusive high-rise building in the center of the Central Business District wouldn’t have enough space to contain his ego. Especially when said ego was being damaged.

  He slammed the phone down as his girlfriend, Alice, walked into his office.

  “What’s wrong?” she asked.

  He frowned, looking her in the eye. “Have you ever talked to the client directly?”

  “Which one?” Alice dropped down onto a comfortable reading chair.

  “You know which one I’m talking about.”

  The smile faded from her face. “You’re talking about the one who paid us an obscene amount of money to kill two guys? The accountant and the musician?” She arched an eyebrow.

  “Don’t be snide. You know it’s not as easy as it sounds, Alice.”

  “I’m not stupid.”

  “Then answer me. I asked if you had ever talked to the client yourself. How did you find this client?”

  “I went through a broker. Tell me what’s going on, Lucas.” She stood up.

  Lucas looked pensively at the computer. “The client is sending help our way.”

  “Isn’t that good? As long as he doesn’t cut back on the payment.”

  Lucas shook his head. “Money isn’t the issue. The people he’s sending are the issue. We kill for a living. But we have our standards, Alice. The new people—they’re not from here.”

  Alice scowled. “So what country are they coming from? As long as they speak English, it shouldn’t be a problem.”

  Lucas shook his head. “I don’t think they speak at all.”

  Mya’s phone vibrated, and a text message appeared as she checked it. “Dan Chandler is in danger. Death by fire.”

  She furrowed her eyebrows. Didn’t she rescue him just yesterday from a death by fire? It hadn’t counted toward her balance because she had saved a girl she shouldn’t have saved, but this had to be a mistake. She checked the time and date and was sure that thi
s was a new message from her deity network.

  Mya concentrated and switched to her deity vision. She saw Dan walking into a place that looked like an art exhibit of some kind. Around Dan were several paintings and sculptures. Where was he? Mya heard familiar footsteps and shook her head. She could hear and feel Zach now. He was very close by. Mya snapped back to reality and switched off her vision.

  She opened the door of the room as soon as Zach arrived. Zach had his hand in the air as if he was about to knock. He smiled. “Are you a psychic?”

  “What are you thinking about?” she responded.

  Zach grinned. “I’m glad you’re not one of those mind rapists.”

  “Psychic ability is a talent, Zach. I’m sure those with the talent wouldn’t appreciate how you label them.”

  He shook his head and gestured her to follow him. “It’s not a talent. It’s a curse.”

  “Like you’d know.” She snorted and followed him. She saw Zach’s lips form a thin line, and it looked like a thought crossed his mind. But she needed her deity vision on to read his thoughts. Unable to do it now, she sighed and let her curious urges go.

  Zach approached his motorbike parked around the corner, pulled out a spare helmet, and gave it to Mya. She stared at it.

  “I hope you don’t mind. The band is using my car to load new gear for the show tomorrow. I can get a cab if you prefer something that moves on four wheels.”

  Mya shook her head and grabbed the helmet. “No, this is fine.”

  Sitting behind Zach with her body pressed against his would normally be a thrill for Mya, but her mind was too busy now with the possibility that Dan might be burned to death somewhere.

  “How’s Dan this morning?”

  “I just called him. He’s fine. Back to work already.”

  “Where is he?”

  “His company sponsors an art exhibition of some sort. He organizes the event. So he’s at the Melbourne Art Center, doing his business nonsense.”