“A deal? With fear demons? Demons don’t do deals.”
“They do with us. While you Eros dogs have been lounging in your arrogant decadence, we have been building alliances and an empire on Earth. We help to provide the demons with human souls, and in return they leave us alone.”
“You are more deluded than I thought if you believe that. The demons will turn on you and devour your asses whenever they choose.”
“You underestimate Anteros. Have you ever seen anything like that outside—cupids riding on trained demons? No, you haven’t. While you have been messing around with your potions and gizmos, we’ve been working on a master plan. Only we know how to keep Heaven from crashing down. Once we are in power, we will rebalance Heaven and Earth. We will do away with love and replace it with the fear of Anteros. There will be no more freewill—just submission to Anteros, the greatest love of all.”
“Beautiful,” Volk said. “I can hardly wait. One more question. If Hamanaeus identified the Swerver, why not eliminate her yourselves? Why involve the Academy and risk that we’d find out who she was?”
“A trap perfectly sprung,” said the soldier. “It was always lose-lose for your Captain Cyrus. Now with the Academy’s top cupid commando out of the way, there is nothing to stop us.”
“Right,” Volk said. “So then why the ambush? With both the Swerver and Captain Cyrus already out of the picture, why bother trying to take me out too?”
“It wasn’t part of the original plan. We figured that you’d have been smart enough to learn from Cyrus’s mistake, be a good little cupid soldier, and butt out. When we spotted you snooping around we decided that we had better not take any chances.”
“Kohai,” Volk ordered, “cuff him.”
“Yes, Sir.”
I jogged over and withdrew two pairs of roped handcuffs from my utility belt. I secured the Anteros soldier’s hands and ankles, and dragged him to the side of the room. I set him against the wall. He spat in my face.
“Oh, man,” I said, wiping my face with my sleeve. “That was really uncalled for.”
The soldier smirked. “Your time is coming, punk. You’re mine.”
“We’ll see about that,” I said.
“Kohai,” Volk commanded. “Whirl on home. I’ll be right behind you.”
“Yes, Sir.” I went into orbit mode and spun away.
“Whoa,” the soldier said. “How the hell did he do that? I know you don’t learn that at your stinking Academy.”
“You’re right,” Volk said. “And at yours, you don’t learn manners.”
“What are you talking about?”
“You spat on my cadet—an angel of God—and threatened his life.”
The soldier snorted. “An angel? Yeah, right. What am I, chopped liver?”
Volk grinned. “Not yet.”
“Huh? You gave your word that you’d let me live if I talked. I know you won’t go back on it.”
“I’ll let you live as promised,” Volk said, walking over to the young man with the Mocking Yetzer. He held his hand over the head of the student, revealing the snoring beast within.
“Hey,” the soldier said nervously, “w-what are you doing?”
Volk poked the yetzer in the eye, waking the monster to a roar. He pulled a slingshot from his utility belt, loaded an egg-like projectile into its pocket, and fired it at the Anteros soldier. The egg smashed into the soldier’s forehead, splattering him with yellow, foul-smelling goo.
“What is this stuff? It stinks!”
“A demon delicacy. You’re alive. I kept my word. Good luck explaining to the demons about the chummy deal Hamanaeus made with them.”
Volk whirled off.
The Mocking Yetzer, followed by dozens of other ravenous yetzers, bounded from their hosts and charged at the shrieking soldier.
The End of Book 1
(Shooting Eros - The Emuna Chronicles continues in Book 2: Heaven-sent. You don’t want to miss it!)
A Message from Benjamin Laskin
Thank you for reading Book 1 of the 3-part Shooting Eros series. I hope you enjoyed it. I really appreciate that you gave one of my books a chance. Books 2 and 3 are available on Amazon.com in both paperback and e-book editions.
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Benjamin Laskin
Other Novels by Benjamin Laskin
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Novels by Benjamin Laskin
Stormer’s Pass
Say Uncle
The Will
Shooting Eros - The Emuna Chronicles (3-book Series)
Murphy’s Luck
The Amazing Adventures of 4¢ Ned (Coinworld Series)
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About the Author
Benjamin Laskin grew up in Phoenix, Arizona. He has traveled extensively and lived in a number of countries, including many years in Hamamatsu, Japan. He can now be found sauntering through the maze of narrow, stony alleyways in the ancient and legend-rich town of Safed, in Israel’s upper Galilee. He is currently at work on his next novel.
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Shooting Eros - The Emuna Chronicles: Book 1: Hell-bent (Shooting Eros Series) Page 32