JINXED: (Karma Series, Book Two) (12 page)

Chapter 19

Domestic Bliss

The blinds were up at the Cape Cod house located at the address on the instructions. It was a nice home on a quiet street. There was a reserve along their backyard, and I hid easily among the trees as I peered inside the large windows.

A couple in their early thirties sat on the couch, watching Lord of the Rings in their den. The guy’s karma wasn’t horrible, but he was a bit dull around the eyes. The girl, also my supposed target, was glowing. It made it all the worse.

It’s not like I was going to kill her; not for good, anyway. But the risk would’ve been easier to handle if she’d been all dark and dingy. What if I didn’t manage to get this worked out, would she end up dead by someone else’s hand later?

I couldn’t worry about it tonight. In approximately twenty minutes, something was going to happen. No clue
what
but something. That would be my opening to push things in the direction Malokin wanted. Hopefully, Fate would show up and undo whatever horrible thing I was about to set into motion.

The clock on the wall ticked along the slowest fifteen minutes of my life as I waited. I knew Fate would come, but where was he? What if he’d read the address wrong? What if he hadn’t read it at all and I’d misinterpreted the entire hallway scene?

Three minutes left on the clock when she reached for the remote and paused the movie. The light turned on in the kitchen as I saw the man open the back door. I ducked further into the shadows.

He shut the back door and walked around to the trashcans for garbage night. She was making popcorn in the kitchen. She was the one in trouble, so I had to keep my eyes on her, but the sound of the loud wheels of the can grinding against the pavement drew my attention back to him.

He pulled them to the corner and turned around. I looked back at the woman standing in the kitchen. She was choking.

He was just about to go inside, and I knew what was supposed to happen. I was supposed to stop him.

She couldn’t breathe. If I stopped him—or even simply delayed him—she’d die. If he went in, he’d save her.

The man’s hand was on the door and Fate still hadn’t arrived.

Kitty’s face in my mind urged me forward and I took a step toward him but froze. I couldn’t do this. Not for anyone. Not if I wanted to be able to live with myself. This was a decision that would define who I was, and I didn’t like the definition attached to the action.

The man walked into the house and I took a step closer. Not to stop him, but to help if he failed to save her.

“Why are you here?” Fate stepped forward to stand beside me. I hadn’t heard him approach, not even with my improved hearing. How long had he been there watching?

“Nothing. Was just in the neighborhood,” I said, for the benefit of whoever might be listening.

When Fate didn’t say anything, I looked at him. I was letting him in on what was happening and he knew. It wasn’t a lot. There wasn’t some great opening up of details and information, but it was acknowledged, and I guess it was enough for him. For now, anyway.

We stood next to each other as we watched the man in the kitchen giving her the Heimlich. Once, twice, then she was breathing. Their panic slowly turned into relief and then the type of elated laughter that’s born from escaping a close call.

As I watched their shared joy of surviving, I couldn’t stop feeling the dread of Kitty’s possible death that might accompany it. I hated that their happiness was causing me such dread.

I started to walk away, and Fate’s hand reached out, grabbing my wrist and stopping me. My eyes immediately shot to where we made contact, as if that were the only part of my body I was aware of anymore. Why did I react so strongly to his simplest touch?

“You touch me a lot,” I said it before I thought better of it. He immediately dropped his hand from me, as if trying to prove he didn’t have to touch me at all.

“No, I don’t.”

But he did. He touched me every time I saw him.

“Should I expect more of these meetings?” Fate asked, changing the subject.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.” I threw my hands up in the air, silently gesturing his guess was as good as mine as I did walk away this time.

There wasn’t a doubt that as soon as I got in my car, my phone in the glove compartment would be ringing. Time to give the devil his pound of flesh, if he hadn’t already taken it himself. 

Chapter 20

Born to Fight

We stood in a different hotel suite, this one a block away from the first. It was equally elegant and the top floor again. Constantly changing things up had distinct advantages for him and made it impossible for me to find them.

“How did Fate know that you’d be there?” Malokin asked from where he stood, facing out the window. He watched my every move in the reflection.

“I can’t imagine.”

“But I think you can.” He turned back to me and walked over, propping a hip on a table, leaning just like Fate did. I rejected the thought immediately. He was nothing like Fate.

“We could have a beautiful relationship. Don’t make this ugly.” He picked up a random pen, letting it drop and bounce off the wooden surface.

“I’m telling you, I have no idea how he ended up there.” What did liars always say? Deny until you die? I might be taking that advice quite literally, today.

His eyes shot to where I had my arms crossed in front of my chest. “Did you wash all the ink off your arm yet?” He took a step forward and yanked my arm away from my body. I let him, without putting up a struggle, while I stared at his neck. He was so close. Could I take him on? Reach over and break it, ridding the world of this monstrosity. Risky or not, I’d try, if it weren’t for Kitty.

“I see you did.” He dropped my arm and I wanted to run in the bathroom and scrub where he’d touched me.

“I do things like this all the time. I’ve got a horrible memory.” I twirled a lock of my hair around my finger, as if implying,
what’s a ditzy girl to do
?

His lips pursed into a thin line. “You
gave
him your location.”

“Prove it.” My hands started shaking in anger, and the words came out before I thought about it. I wasn’t a meek person, ever. Certain pretenses were a real stretch.

“I guess it’s going to be the hard way, then.” He walked away from me toward the door to exit the suite.

He was leaving, and I had no idea what was happening to Kitty. If I asked, it gave him more control, but he had it anyway. I had to know. “What about Kitty?”

I heard him stop somewhere behind me. “We’ll call this your first infraction and leave her out of the repercussions for now.”

“Because the second she’s gone, so am I.”

“Don’t press the issue. You don’t know what I’m capable of.” He was inches away from my back now and I forced myself to remain calm.

“Are we done?” I didn’t bother turning around. I already knew it wouldn’t be this easy.

“I am. You’re not.”

I didn’t breathe right until I heard his steps retreat away from me.

He walked out and several new sets of feet walked in. The door closed. Instead of turning to see them, I kept staring straight ahead. It was an arrogant move—maybe even stupid—but I just didn’t care at the moment. I wouldn’t huddle in fear and I wouldn’t go down easy.

Three of Malokin’s thugs came and stood before me. They were all much taller than I and easily twice my weight. This wasn’t going to be pretty.

But they were human. I could tell by the dull skin and rank odor. That gave me an edge.

“Malokin said no marks on her face,” one guy with light brown hair said to his two companions.

“We allowed to rape her?” the other one asked.

I kept my face stone still, but inside I was in pure panic mode.
Please, don’t let this happen
.

“No.”

“Never get to touch the pretty ones.” The way he looked at me let me know exactly what he wanted to touch, too.

The relief of that being taken off the table made me cockier than I should’ve been.

“You guys are a bit overdressed for a beat down, aren’t you?” And those ties might come in handy for me. Kitty or not, I knew myself. There wasn’t a chance in hell I could do this without instinct kicking in and fighting back. Everyone has a fight or flight instinct in them, but the day I was created, they must have been handing out a double dose of the fight part.

My body went loose and limber without me even thinking about it. It was strange actually. In my mortal form, I would’ve had no idea what to do. Now, it was somehow instinctual. I’d heard that once someone’s mortal skin had been shed, what they truly were released without any constraints. Apparently, deep down, I’d always been a fighter.

I eyed up my opponents, waiting to see who’d be the first to step up. The largest of the three made a move, separating himself from the others and coming just close enough for me to nail him with a roundhouse kick to the side of his head. No one had instructed
me
about leaving their faces unmarked.

The other two didn’t look so smug now that their friend was holding his head, unsteady on his feet. I wasn’t unrealistic. The odds were still stacked against me, but I’d give them some souvenirs before it was over.

“Get her!” The one I’d struck said to the other two, though he wasn’t anxious to come at me again himself.

The guy I’d already hit was still keeping his distance, but the other two spread out slightly, preparing to come at me from different sides and limit my maneuvering room. They were big but slow. It was invigorating to know if it had been a fair fight, I would’ve taken one of them down with ease. As a mortal woman, more often than not, you’re at a physical disadvantage in a fight with a man. Not anymore, though; not in my case.

They inched a bit closer in conjunction. I needed to make a move soon, before they pinned me down. I wouldn’t be able to strike without being within reach of the other if I gave up another foot.

I made a quick move to the right and dropped down low. I leaned against my left hand while kicking out with my right leg. Thug two hit the ground. I quickly jumped to my feet again, like I’d been making that move since before I’d learned to crawl.

“Your turn,” I said in a singsong voice as I turned to thug number three, the only one unscathed so far. There was a chance I might walk out of this place in one piece, after all.

The other two were taking steps away from me as I eyed up my next victim. Hopping back and forth from foot to foot, I slowly inched my way closer to him. Adrenaline pulsed through me, making me feel more alive than I’d ever felt in life. I wasn’t sure if I was getting off on the physical exertion or just being able to kick these guys’ butts. But something felt really good.

Thug three would be expecting a kick to the head or a shot to the legs. The midsection wasn’t as good a target if he had a lot of muscle. It was advantageous that this guy looked the softest.

I moved in quickly, relying on the stronger strength of my legs to deliver the blow but didn’t realize my mistake until it was too late. Leg already extended and in a forward motion, I couldn’t do much when the target’s eyes shifted right above my shoulder, alerting me to the danger too late.

I tried to abort the kick and drop to the ground, planning on rolling to the side but the lamp hit my skull before I could.

My head was reeling but I still tried to get up, pushing on my hands beneath me. Unfortunately, this just made it easier for one of them to kick me in the stomach. The force of it pushed me upward and flipped me over.

I was quickly losing all ability to defend myself, when I heard one of them warn the other to stay away from my face.

“They won’t see the bruise through her hair.” The kick to my skull finished me off.

***

A scratchy cat tongue licked my eyelid, bringing me back in to reality. The tile under my face was cool and sticky with blood. It was also tan, just like the front hallway of my condo. How nice. They drove me home. I’d have to remember to thank them, next time I saw them, right after I kicked in all their teeth.

“I hope you had a better night than I did,” I said to the cat, sitting on her haunches appraising me.

Her “meow” led me to believe it had been so-so.

My right wrist folded under the pressure of my weight as I tried to use it for leverage. Good thing I had a spare. My body creaked in strange places as I pushed to my feet and limped into the kitchen.

Everything seemed to still be functioning, if not quite to the same caliber it had. I grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge to wash away the taste of blood in my mouth and looked down.

Smoke had fed herself, as demonstrated by the two bowls of cat food in the kitchen. In truth, she was more like having a roommate than a pet, especially when she was hogging the bathroom.

Smoke, content I was alive, went over and settled onto the couch to watch her soap operas. I wasn’t sure how much she actually understood, but I had a feeling it was quite a bit. Sometimes I’d hear a tirade of meows being shouted at the screen when they did something she didn’t care for.

Stripping down, I made my way to the shower while the bathroom was still free. I avoided the mirror as I stepped under the hot water.

There had been a price for yesterday, but the scoreboard had a one under the home team. Or were they the home team? I really hoped not. It felt better to think of them as the visitors.

The water started cooling before I would’ve gotten out and forced me into reality again. I made a large pot of coffee to recharge my battery. I was a little worse for wear today, but caffeine and a hot shower could get me pretty far. We’d see who won in the end.

“I’ll see you later,” I yelled to Smoke on my way out the door. The cat raised a paw as I left.