Witches' Bane (The Soul Eater Book 2) Read Free Page A

Osiris”—I yanked on my cuffs, rolled my shoulders, and took a few more steps back—“make damn sure you have the magical balls to back it up.”
    “You don’t frighten us, Nameless One,” Nervous Guy replied.
    I snorted. “All that means is that the god whose feet you lick hasn’t told you the truth.”
    The lean guy to my right started whispering, low and deadly. His magic, what little he was building, fluttered around him.
    I snatched the baseball bat from the batter gawking at all this from the sidelines and launched it with a right-arm flick. The bat glanced off the chanting priest’s cheek, whirling him around on the spot. By the time the other two priests noticed, I was in the face of the lean one, having passed right through his tickling cloud of magic. I pressed a finger to his mouth, pushing his lips into his teeth. “Stop, or I’ll rip your tongue out, grind it into dust, and sprinkle it in my coffee.”
    His eyes—now locked on mine—widened, and I felt his soul squirm under my gaze before I deliberately blinked away, freeing him of what could’ve gotten personal real fast.
    These idiots should be grateful I’d overpowered them without going to the deadly lengths I was capable of. If they’d put up a fight, I would’ve killed them all to retrieve the tablet. Priests or not.
    The pitcher was on his cell, talking to the cops and trying to be discreet as he relayed my description. My time was up.
    “Who do you worship?” I asked.
    They gave me a strict, steely-eyed stare. They weren’t about to give up their god anytime soon.
    “Next time, pick a minor god to steal from.” I saluted them with the tablet. “You’ll live longer.”
    I’d made it a few feet away before the breeze carried someone’s whisper to my ear. “Godkiller.”
    My stride tripped, and the vast well of darkness in me twisted, demanding I turn around and show them exactly how much of a killer I could be. But I, not the curse and not Osiris, had control. And I wasn’t a monster. I wasn’t even the monster the world thought me to be. I hadn’t earned the name Godkiller , but I’d yet to figure out how to shake it off, so it followed me, hanging over my head like an executioner’s axe.
    My steps grew heavy as I kept right on walking, but instead of unleashing my wrath, I flipped up my middle finger. These priests would live to make mistakes another day—hopefully one day soon. And I’d be right there, scaring them half to death.
    I tucked the tablet under my jacket, and its magic seeped through my shirt, feeling me up to get the measure of me. After a few strides, it recoiled and its sweet musical hum faded. It had found its answer.
    I smiled. Two priests down and two pissing their pinstriped pants. Just like old times. “Still got it.”

Chapter 2
    “ Y ou’re late ,” Shukra growled while blocking the main office door. She must’ve heard me trudging up the stairs and sprung into position before I could take refuge in my office and slam the door on her. “The landlord wanted us both here at nine.” She tapped her wrist, even though she’d never worn a watch. “Where were you?”
    It was 10:00 a.m. and none of her business.
    She wore a spotless cream pantsuit, as if the color might compensate for that black soul of hers. It did, however, contrast nicely with her dark skin and darker hair, currently plaited so tightly that it smoothed out the fine lines around her eyes and made her look ten years younger. Of course, she looked in her mid-twenties going on at least five hundred: the number of centuries we’d been spent in each other’s company since Osiris bound us together.
    I waved Osiris’s tablet at her, hoping it might buy me entry into my office.
    She spread her stance, arms crossed and face set like a temple guard. At five feet and a few inches, she would’ve made a short temple guard, but what she lacked in height she compensated for through her terrifying ability to utter a few words that could