Gods and Mortals: Fourteen Free Urban Fantasy & Paranormal Novels Featuring Thor, Loki, Greek Gods, Native American Spirits, Vampires, Werewolves, & More (259 page)

“Wow, pretty good for a rookie. But then again, your teacher lacks discipline…any rookie could beat him,” he laughed as he turned and encouraged the crowd to laugh as well. He turned his handsome face and eyeballed Kara.

“Care to test your skills on me? Unless of course,
your
Petty Officer is afraid I’ll make him look bad in front of his peers?”

He flashed his gleaming white teeth at David. A few GAs snickered.

David pursed his lips. Kara saw hatred in his eyes as he stepped up to the angel. “Don’t you have a hair appointment or something, Benson? Stop wasting our time, douche bag,” he said, as he shifted his sword between his hands menacingly. He looked at Kara momentarily and gave her a wink.

A second later, Benson pulled out a gleaming silver sword. “Always a wise-ass.”

The crowd around him dispersed. His face twisted up in concentration. He bared his teeth in a snarl with his eyes glued on David.

“What is this, a testosterone fight in Horizon?” Kara took a step towards them, lifting her hands in the air with her palms facing outwards. “Okay, boys, let’s not do anything stupid. We’re in a
happy
place, right? There’s no need for this.”

Benson turned his attention to Kara. His tawny eyes glittered as he stared her down. He studied her with a strange look in his eyes. “I see why you’ve picked this one…she’s
pretty
. We all know what you do to the pretty ones.”

Kara frowned and watched David’s reaction. She couldn’t read his face under all the angry wrinkles.

“I’d mind my own business if I were you,” David growled.

“It is my business. She was my
friend
. I knew what you were doing to her!”

“What?” said Kara. “David…what is he talking about?” A sudden feeling of jealously welled inside her. She tried to shake it off, but somehow it was getting worse.

And without warning, Benson charged forward and kicked David hard in the stomach. Kara watched in horror as David stumbled backwards. He regained his balance quickly and stepped back into the fighting circle, his blade grasped tightly in his hand.

Benson’s face cracked into a sly smile. “I’m surprised the Legion even gave you a rookie, after what happened to Sarah. I always said you were going to get one of us killed! What you did to her was unforgivable. You broke our most
sacred
law!”

He turned his head and read the puzzlement on Kara’s face.

“Oh? So she doesn’t know? You’re better off looking for another Petty Officer, Rookie.
Love
affairs are forbidden in Horizon.”

Kara looked at David and saw a flash of fury in his eyes as he threw himself at Benson.

“ANGELS!” an oracle bellowed, “What is going on here?” Kara watched the oracle roll over towards them. She had never seen an oracle look so outraged.

“Nothing, oracle,” answered Benson, with the face of an angel. “We’re practicing combat maneuvers…that’s all.”

The oracle’s blue eyes went from Benson to Kara to David, before going back to Benson. The oracle pursed his lips and cocked an eyebrow. “It didn’t look like practice from where I was…and I’ve
seen
it many times before! A bit
harsh
, don’t you think? You are not savages…you are angels! It’s time you behave like them.”

“We need to be able to defend ourselves…in extreme conditions…” said Benson. “Nothing we can’t handle.”

“You
can’t
handle anything.” David met Benson’s glare.

“
Your
methods are not safe! They’re insane!
Your rookie will
die
because of you!” spat Benson as he clasped his sword. His knuckles turned white.

“That’s enough!” yelled the oracle.

The ground shook. The light from inside his crystal ball seemed to darken.

The oracle twirled his beard around his fingers. “Everyone out! You have jobs to do and souls to save. Let’s go!” Immediately, the crowd dispersed.

Benson threw a finger in David’s direction. “You’ll
pay
for her death! Filth like you doesn’t belong in the Legion.” Kara watched in silence as Benson marched out of the tent and out of sight. A few of his minion GAs tagged along behind him like sad little puppies.

“It really upsets me to see you angels not getting along,” said the oracle. “And as for the two of you,” he said as he pointed a skinny finger, “you have a bus to catch.” Then he steered his glass sphere around and rolled away.

David stared at his feet. His expression changed like clouds before a storm. Kara wanted to ask David who had died, but something told her now was not the time. Instead, she settled for the obvious. She bent her body sideways and searched David’s face. “Why does Benson hate you so much?”

“Because I’m better looking,” he answered, as he met her eyes and winked.

“You’re so full of crap. You know that?”

David’s face cracked into a smile. “And that’s why you
love
me.”

“Oh,
please
. Did he hit you on the head or something? I think you’re suffering from a bit of brain fart.”

“Maybe,” laughed David. “Okay, I think that’s enough training for a while. You’re more than ready for your next assignment.”

They walked in silence through the red desert. Kara’s mind filled with unanswered questions. But some in particular kept coming back. Who the heck is this Sarah? And what happened to her?

D
avid led
Kara down a little slope into the heart of the desert. They made their way towards a large white tent resting in the midst of a sandy red ocean. A large powerful man with short black hair sat in a chair.

“Is that another Archangel?” asked Kara.

“Yup.”

“Thought so. They’re all, like, really…
big
.”

“Big men with bigger egos.”

The Archangel’s dark brown skin contrasted against his white linen top and trousers. Her eyes moved to his face. It was beautiful, as if some higher power had sculpted it to perfection. She forced herself to look away.

In the light wind, sheets of paper fluttered across the top of a great wooden table that ran the length of the tent. Kara counted ten oracles rolling on their glass globes, rummaging through files along the table. A line of about fifty guardian angels waited patiently on the other side. Some angels stood at the front of the table. They each conversed with an oracle. After a moment one of the oracles gave an angel a file, then the angel nodded and marched out of the tent. He walked down a gully and headed towards the pool area. A few minutes later, the guardian angel climbed up a metal staircase and jumped in without hesitating.

A loud
tick tock
sound found its way to Kara’s ears. A large brass grandfather clock stood in the background…it read two o’clock.

She followed David to the end of the line and looked up at him. His face cracked into a grin. She rolled her eyes and turned her head towards the pools. Silhouettes of GAs jumped into the waters of their next assignments. Kara and David stood in silence for a while. The waiting was driving her mad.

“So…what’s the next assignment?” Kara asked.

“Don’t know yet. We’ll know what it is once the oracle gives us the job file.”

Kara sighed. “Right …do you think it’ll be easier or harder this time?”

David shook his head slowly. “I’m not sure.”

“Hmm.”

Kara’s mind flashed to the mysterious Sarah. She couldn’t get her out of her head. Who was she? Did David break the sacred Horizon laws and had an affair with her? Could angels fall in love? She fought the strange jealous feelings creeping inside her. When Kara looked towards the grand table, they were finally at the head of the line and David addressed the Archangel.

“Hey…what’s up, Gabe?” David bared his teeth.

There was a long pause before the Archangel lifted his eyes from his paper and gazed upon David. Kara saw him fully. Tall and powerful, with fierce black eyes that seemed to pierce through you. His face was dark and commanding; a magnificent beast of a man and as dangerous as a grizzly bear. His face was twisted in a scowl. “It’s
Gabriel
,” growled the Archangel as his mood darkened. “Ah, and here is our
famous
delinquent.” The Archangel Gabriel towered over them, narrowing his eyes.

Kara bit the inside of her cheek. Does anybody like David in Horizon?

“Ha, ha, ha…very funny, Gabe,” David said and turned to give Kara his trademark wink. He rolled his head back to Gabriel. “So …got anything good for us?”

Gabriel’s dark brown eyes flashed with resentment. “That depends on what you mean by
good
. But something has come up which might suit you, and your
particular
way of doing your job.”

Kara felt a poke at her side. David raised his eyebrows. With a goofy smile painted across his face, he gave her two thumbs up. She smiled back and nodded. While David shifted with excitement, Kara studied Gabriel. He got up from his chair and walked over to an oracle to his right. They exchanged words, and after a moment Gabriel came back with a file clutched in his hand. He glanced at Kara for the first time, for about two seconds, and then he glared back at David.

“This assignment should agree with your rookie,” boomed the Archangel, “as it is simple and should not have any
complications
.” Kara noticed the emphasis on the word
complication
. Gabriel stepped forward and thrust the file at David.

“Seems simple enough,” said David after a moment, a slight lifting at the corners of his mouth. “And right up our alley.” He closed the file.

Gabriel’s hands turned into fists. “Remember our last conversation, David.”

Kara realized that wasn’t a question.

“No fooling around, you understand? I’m tired of covering up your messes. If you don’t smarten up and take your job seriously, you’ll be stricken from your GA post.” He pointed a large finger at David. “This is your
last
warning!”

David kept smiling. “It’s all good, Gabe.”

“I’m
dead
serious, David!”

David rolled his eyes. “Ha, you’re already
dead
!” He placed his right hand on his chest. “Don’t worry, Gabe. I’ll be a good little soldier—I promise.”

“David, stop it! You’re going to get us in trouble,”
whispered Kara.

“Don’t worry…Gabe loves me,” whispered David through his teeth.

“You’re so full of crap! Oh no…”

The Archangel turned his attention to Kara. His dark eyes focused on her unnaturally, as though trying to break into her mind. He blinked and looked back to David. “After this
simple
assignment, I want you and your rookie to report back to me. Understand? She still needs more combat training.”

Kara followed Gabriel’s gaze over to the closest blue tent, where two guardian angels fought one another with swords. Their feet moved quickly in the sand, kicking up little clouds of red dust. Their weapons collided with loud clatters.

The oracle’s voice woke her from her trance. “What are you waiting for? Get to it!” he yelled and clapped his grubby little hands together. “No time to waste! There are
lives
to be saved!” He turned around and looked at the clock. “Quickly now, you have less than an hour!” He waved his short arms in the air as he urged them on.

David turned and faced Kara. “Let’s go.” He walked out of the red tent with Kara at his heels.

“DAVID!” bellowed Gabriel. “Remember what we discussed!”

“Sure thing, Gabe,” answered David as he turned back around. He grabbed Kara by the elbow and steered her out from the tent.

Kara glanced back and met Gabriel’s eyes, and saw a flash of suspicion in them. She quickly looked away.

After they replenished themselves with weapons in the weapons tent, Kara followed David down a slight slope to one of the many pools. Loud
plops
could be heard in every direction as hundreds of guardian angels plunged into them. Kara grimaced. A splash of salt water hit her face. She heard a motor running and turned to see a contraption that looked like giant vacuum cleaner. It rolled up to a neighboring pool and spit out the salt from its belly into the water.

“This place just gets on weirder by the minute,” Kara said.

David placed himself behind a short line of guardian angels and waited to climb up to the pool’s deck. “You ready?”

An old man five pools down pressed his hands together in front of himself, squatted, and with great effort he leaped into the air and belly-flopped into the water with a huge smile on his face.

“I’m not sure,” said Kara. Water spilled out and around the edges of the pool. “What happens if I fail again?” Now Kara watched an Asian couple holding hands as they jumped into the pool together yelling, “Woo hee!”

“You won’t. Trust me.” David nudged Kara on the arm with his fist.

But somehow she wasn’t convinced. She had a premonition that this new job wasn’t as easy as she first imagined it to be, and a lot more dangerous.

David searched Kara’s face for a moment, and then pulled himself up the metal staircase attached to the pool. “You’ll see, it’s going to get better, I promise. Stick with me and I’ll show you a great time.” He knelt down and passed his hand in the water. “Come on in, the water’s great!” He beamed.

Kara sighed and climbed the staircase. She stepped onto the ledge and settled herself beside David. She opened her mouth to speak, but closed it as soon as her lips parted.

Benson stood on the edge of the neighboring pool. He stared at David with an expression of disgust, as though he had just bitten into a sour fruit. He stood there, his body hard and motionless, like a statue. Only his eyes moved as they looked David up and down. And then David noticed Benson. To Kara’s surprise, he regarded him with disgust as well. Both men stared at each other down from a distance, as in a western pistol duel. But Kara saw pure hatred in David’s eyes as he glared at Benson. He turned his head away and looked at Kara. “Okay, you ready?”

“Uh—what was
that
about?” Kara said, still staring at Benson. “You guys look as if you want to rip out each other’s throats.” She turned and looked at David.

He met her eyes. “Nothing worth mentioning. Benson’s a douche bag.”

Within seconds, Benson pinched his nose, bent his knees, and jumped into the water. His body lingered for a moment through the moving waters, and then he started to spin horizontally. Seconds later, his entire body sparkled in brilliant white light. And then Benson vanished. No sooner had he performed his disappearing act than another guardian angel stepped up to the ledge and took the plunge. It was like watching a line of falling dominoes—angels kept jumping into the pools one after the other.

“We really should go,” said David. He edged forward, ready to dive in. “We have to jump in at the same time. We can hold hands if you want…?”

“No thanks. I’m good. Can you stop smiling please?” Kara stuck her hands at her sides and bit her bottom lip. “We’ll jump in at the same time.”

“Okay then. On the count of three.”

Kara nodded. She stared at the reflections on the water’s surface. The water was a sheet of diamonds, sparkling in the sun light.

“One …” said David.

One
, echoed Kara in her head as she tried to suppress her nerves.

“Two …”

Kara felt tiny electric shocks move around in her body—her nonexistent nervous system acting up.

“Three!”

David and Kara leaped into the air and plunged into the pool at the same time. Water splashed all around as they sank to the bottom. Kara opened her eyes and turned her head to the right. David was covered in light. A muffled sound escaped his mouth as his lips flapped together. He lifted his left hand and flipped his thumb up. Then Kara’s vision blurred as she felt her body starting to spin. She kept her eyes open. Whitish bubbles floated in front of her and white light illuminated her body. Brilliant particles detached themselves one by one from her body—and then everything around her vanished.

Kara opened her eyes moments later. She sat in the back seat of a parked car. Cracked brown leather covered the seats. The only light came from the windows, which were nearly completely covered with grey grime. She crinkled her nose. It smelled like dirty old shoes and cigarettes. She blinked. Her vision adjusted itself to her new surroundings. David sat comfortably in the front seat. The leather seat screeched as he turned around to face her.

“How you feeling?” he asked, his face worried. “You okay?” He was almost angelic in that soft light, not at all the cocky soldier she was getting to know, but a beautiful creature from the heavens. She wished he’d stop being so concerned.

Kara pursed her lips and nodded. “I will be after the spinning stops.”

She took a moment to get used to the dizziness. “That’s weird.” She said after a moment. “The dizziness is gone…I’m not spinning anymore. What the…?” She moved her hands. “I feel in more control of this body than I did the first time. It’s still weird—super weird—but much better this time. A lot better.” Her lips curled into a smile.

“That’s great. The dizziness goes away after you’ve done about five Vega—after that, piece of cake. You won’t feel a thing.” David smiled at her, teeth bared.

Kara rubbed her forearm and pressed her hand against her mortal flesh. “Wow, this is still so weird!”
She passed her hand gently on her skin. “It feels synthetic. Like there’s a layer of saran wrap on top. Creepy,” she laughed. She let go of her arm and looked around the car. “So … where are we?” She strained her eyes to see outside the car windows.

“Let’s find out.” David grabbed the file from inside his leather jacket. He flipped it open on his knees. “Okay,” he said after a moment, and looked outside his passenger window. “I think we’re on Saint Hubert Street…yeah, I see it! We need to be on the corner of Notre Dame and Gosford Street in…” David glanced at his watch, “…in about forty minutes.”

Kara looked out the window. “I know where we are. We’re in Old Montreal! Most of my art classes were in this area. All the best art galleries in the city are here.” She pressed her nose against the dirty glass.

“You were an artist? Before the…”

“Yup. Well … more like a wannabe artist.” Kara turned and met David’s eyes. “I was on my way to a really important competition…when I got squished by the bus.”

“Ouch…that’s pretty nasty.” David looked away. “Was your boyfriend waiting for you…at that competition?”

Kara’s mouth opened but nothing came out. She composed herself. “Uh…no, I didn’t have a boyfriend. My best friend Mat was waiting for me, actually.” She noticed David had a strange expression on his face.

“Were you guys close?”

“Close? Well, yeah. He was practically the only real friend I had. Whenever I brought new friends to my house they usually ran away screaming.”

“Because of your mom and her demons?”

“Yeah, but that wasn’t the only reason. I don’t know how to explain it—and you’ll probably think I’m crazy—but sometimes my mother would
disappear
before my eyes and reappear seconds later…somewhere else. Like one minute she’s in the kitchen, and then the next, she’s in the bathroom. And I can see by the look in your eye that you think I’m nuts.”

David shook his head. “No. I’m trying to understand what you’re saying. Your mother would just … disappear?”

“Yup. The only explanation that makes sense was that I probably suffered from recurring blackouts. You know, like loss of time? I’m pretty sure my brain was protecting itself from my mother’s insane behavior. At the time I didn’t know anything about Sensitives. This whole demon thing was probably too much for me.”