Phil crossed his arms over his muscular chest, “Charlie’s been lying with dogs,” he informed her crassly. “He musta really enjoyed it, cause he’s got nothing to say about it.”
Feeling the hot flush of anger working its way up his neck to his face, Charlie growled, “You should watch what you say, Phil. Karma an’ I are gettin’ t’ be pretty good friends.”
“Like you’re the first, or the only one for that matter,” Phil shot back. “Karma’s like a door knob around here; we all get our turn.”
“Eww,” Lorren squealed, putting a glass on the counter and filling it with milk. “Men are disgusting; and you wouldn’t get in near as much trouble if you learned to shut up once in a while,” the girl informed him.
Bringing his plate to the table in the same manner he had placed it in the microwave, Charlie sat down and stabbed a few bites of the leftover roast. Taking the seat at the end, the girl studied him, her eyes clouded with confusion. “I can’t reach you,” she finally admitted softly.
“Yeah,” Charlie agreed. “Karma made me a deal. As long as I’m a good boy, you guys can’t read my thoughts or feelings or any of that shit,” he spat. “I’m not too keen on people being in my head, if you get what I mean.”
“Is that why you joined her? To protect yourself?” Phil stood up straighter, “Well, I got news for you. It’s not going to, and even better news; if you thought taking Karma’s side would get you out of trouble with Keeper, you’re dead wrong.” Stomping out of the room and up the stairs, he left the two young people to enjoy their midnight snack in peace.
Staring after him between bites, Charlie’s mind raced. Finally, he said aloud, “I wonder what he meant by that. I thought Karma and Keeper were on th’ same side; the one that keeps mankind in check, with the dark and light, an’ all that stuff.”
Shaking her head slowly, Lorren whispered, “Don’t think too much about it, Charlie. It’ll drive you crazy if you do. You picked Karma, and you can’t go back on that now, so don’t worry about Keeper.”
“So they’re not on the same side?” he replied gruffly.
“I don’t really know,” she shivered.
“So tell me about drowning,” he scowled, recalling that Clarisse had drowned twice, more or less.
“I was five,” she replied, running her fingers over her glass to collect the moisture forming there. “But, I was rescued, after I had been dead for about ten minutes. Everyone was so happy; my parents… everyone. But after that, I heard voices,” she sniffled. “When my parents realized that they were hearing me inside their heads, they had me committed. Karma killed them, and rescued me from the hospital.”
Frozen in mid-bite, Charlie stared at her. “She killed your parents?”
“She had to,” the girl informed him softly. “It’s against the rules for outsiders to know about us; any of us. I don’t blame her for protecting her world; there’s a lot at stake here, and you’ll understand when you learn more about it.”
Doubtful, Charlie ate for a few minutes, then continued, “So what is it that we do for Karma, exactly?” When she only stared at him, he pushed, “Come on; I’m going to find out soon enough anyways. She’s going to start training me to be her minion.”
Swallowing, the girl’s eyes grew wide. “When Karma decides someone needs to be dealt with, good or bad, she gives the assignment to one of us. We go, and see that justice is served.”
“Hmm,” he took a swig of his tea to wash down the last of his meal. “The Forgotten Angels settle the score.”
“Forgotten Angels?” she queried.
“That’s us,” he grinned, “Karma said she liked that name; I made it up after I met Phil last year.”
“Charlie, you are pretty weird; I’m not sure that you realize that,” she giggled.
“How so?” he leaned back in his chair and patted his full belly.
“You just have a different air about you, almost like you’re happy with all of this and the way things are turning out,” her words cut a deep frown into his features. “I don’t mean to hurt your feelings, but you really do seem to be enjoying yourself.”
“Well, since you can’t read my thoughts, that’s just your opinion,” he floated his plate over to the sink with a nonchalant wave of his hand. “Besides, I’ve known a few people who deserved to be punished,” Charlie’s mind flashed Brent Nelson for a moment, and the justice he had dispensed upon him the summer before put a genuine smile on his face. “I kinda like the idea, to be honest.”
“I think you and Dante are going to be really good friends,” she replied, getting to her feet; “If he doesn’t kill you.”
“Who’s Dante?” he shot back.
“Dante was Karma’s favorite minion. They used to spend a lot of time together in her little pleasure palace, if you get what I mean. And, she always sends him on the big assignments.” Rinsing her glass, she laid it beside his plate in the basin and scooted towards the stairs. “If you’re really getting that thick with her, it could spell trouble.”
“Naw, I was just giving Phil a hard time. Karma an’ I aren’t really a thing. I’m gonna get my girl back, and Dante can keep bein’ her main squeeze,” he chuckled. When the girl disappeared up the stairs without a reply, he sat tapping the table before him for a few minutes, lost in thought. Eventually, he cleared the rest of the leftovers and returned them to the fridge. “Silly girl,” he mumbled aloud. As if Karma could ever really be interested in me; and I’m sure as hell not gonna get caught up on her.
Karma’s Revenge
A Summer Spirit Novella
Volume 5
Samantha Jacobey
Lavish Publishing, LLC ~ Midland, Texas
Copyright
This book is a work of fiction. The characters, incidents, and dialogue are drawn from the author’s imagination and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
KARMA’S REVENGE. Copyright 2016 ©
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of Lavish Publishing, LLC.
First Edition
Book 5 of a Summer Spirit Novella
All Rights Reserved
Published in the United States by Lavish Publishing, LLC, Midland, Texas
www.LavishPublishing.com
Table of Contents
Prologue
A Little Payback
Calling Home
Dante's Nemesis
Red-Headed Stepchild
Karma’s Good Side
All in a Day's Work
Date with an Angel
The Price We Pay
The Way We Were
Father's Promise
Fighting Fire
Set Things Straight
Prologue
“Charlie,” Phil spat, announcing himself as he strutted into his room.
“Yeah,” the younger man’s gaze remained on the morning sun outside. Relaxed in one of the two chairs that faced the window, his feet propped on the ledge below it, he appeared unmoved by Phil’s arrival.
“Karma’s sending you out with me today.” Phil’s arms crossed his chest, his displeasure at spending time with the new trainee obvious.
“Mmk,” Charlie got to his feet. “I guess I’m providing the transportation?” he smirked.
Phil grunted, “Sure.” He had been angry to discover that Karma taught Charlie more than she had the others, providing him with more than the single talent each member in the rest of the group possessed. Having him act as his transporter only rubbed s
alt in the wound.
“Fine; where are we headed?” Charlie changed his shirt casually.
“Syracuse, New York. I have a few rewards to bestow.”
Charlie half grinned, aware that Phil preferred the cushier assignments. “Ok,” he nodded, transporting them to a crowded mall. Spreading his hands, he teased, “How’s this?”
“Funny,” Phil shot back, telepathically amending his directions, again disgruntled that he could send signals to Charlie, but could not read anything from him unless the boy allowed it. Karma was playing favorites in Purgatory, and it did nothing to improve his attitude about being forced to serve her. “You know you’re not supposed to drop us in populated locations. Someone might notice.”
“Relax,” Charlie teased. “Humans ignore what they don’t understand; they don’t see our magic.” Picking up on their true destination, he reluctantly made the adjustment and landed them in the hallway of an office building. Looking in through the door of one of the compartments, a heavy man sat behind the desk, the piles of paper attesting to his disorganization. “I’ll wait,” he whispered to his companion.
Knocking on the frame, Phil made his way inside the cubical and introduced himself. Charlie turned his back, not really interested in what the other man could be up to. Some shmuck rescued a kitten, or something, he mentally joked. He had been out with Phil a few times and had discovered that the man never handed down punishments; only rewards for good deeds.
Inside, he could hear the pair of them talking about some guy named Gary, and gathered that Phil wanted the fat man to give him something. Figures, he scoffed, wandering down the hall. The man’s an empath and could do anything he wanted with that talent; what a waste of resources. Charlie had found it cool a few weeks ago, when he first realized he could transport people and objects, the same as Kari; but having to hang out with Phil had put a definite damper on the experience.
Phones rang periodically in the offices that flanked him, and he peered into the rooms one by one. He had slowly come to realize he was no longer part of their world, and felt more like an outsider than he ever had before. Passing a few of the workers, he smiled and nodded, pretending he knew where he was going. If anyone questioned his being there, none of them mentioned it.
I’m ready to leave, Phil’s voice interrupted his thoughts. Turning around, he could see his partner at the other end of the narrow passage, outside the office. Picking up on their next stop. Charlie sighed as he transported the both of them to a park on the other side of town. Choosing to heed the other man’s advice, he placed them discreetly amongst a group of trees.
Moving to the edge of the foliage, they observed a couple with a young boy. The girl laughing loudly, she gathered the boy in her arms and swung him around, then tumbled to the ground.
“That’s my target,” Phil indicated the man with them.
Charlie observed that his partner wore a smile, perhaps the first genuine one he had ever seen on him. “What’s he being rewarded for?”
“He’s a fireman; saved lots of lives over the years. This last Christmas, he saved that little boy, and then he took them and her mother into his home,” Phil beamed.
“Ohhh,” Charlie moaned knowingly.
“Not like that,” Phil cut him off. “Gerald Ford is an upstanding kind of man. Only, Candy there won’t go any further because his job is dangerous. They both deserve to be happy.”
“So, how are you going to fix that?” Charlie shook his head in disbelief. “You can’t make her change her mind.”
“Oh, I think she will. I arranged for Gary to get a promotion,” he indicated the call his target had just answered. Looking as if he might explode, Phillip Parson didn’t enjoy being part of Karma’s minions very often, and therefore he savored the moments when he did. “Nice,” he leaned against the tree next to him and sighed. “That’s his boss. This very second, he’s informing him that he’ll be given a desk job as an investigator. It’s what he’s been hoping for, and she can’t refuse to date him any longer.”
The man before them ended the call, taking a knee next to his sweetheart. A moment later, she flung herself into his arms, knocking him over and squealing loudly. “Looks like she’s pleased,” Charlie conceded.
“Yeah; it’s times like this that make all the crap Karma gives us worthwhile.”
Shooting his superior a smirk, Charlie boasted, “It’s still more fun to punish them.”
“Says you,” Phil righted himself, implying their upcoming destination. “Either way, we can get on with the next deserving soul.”
A Little Payback
“Just relax,” Karma’s voice soothed, her soft laugh hanging in the air; “That’s it, hun.”
Inhaling deeply, Charlie dropped his head back and blew noisily at the ceiling above him. The exterior door into the kitchen opened unexpectedly, and he jerked his gaze towards it; “Hey, Lorren.”
The girl did not reply, and instead marched across the room to the counter that held the coffee pot. Spinning around with her filled cup, she headed to the basement, passing through his body without hesitation.
“Holy shit!” he gasped.
“We’re in the other plane,” Karma grinned at him. “You have passed your final test.”
Staring at his hands, as if they should be invisible, he stated cautiously, “I can’t believe this’s real.”
“Believe it, baby,” she chortled.
“Naw, you don’t understand. Clarisse said that th’ planes were divided; no one goes between them. I mean, I did what you said, an’ obviously it worked,” he looked up at her squarely, “I jus’ don’ understand why.”
“Because you’re special, Charlie,” she flashed him her best smile. “The planes are divided, as they have been since Keeper and I first arrived here. There are only a handful of people who are not bound by that magic. Those who are strong enough to bend the rules.”
Charlie had learned a great deal in his months at Purgatory. He had risen in the hierarchy, and only one other Forgotten Angel ranked above him. No wonder Phil’s jealous of me, he mused, recalling their most recent venture to hand out rewards to do-gooders. He could see the pride in her eyes and had no doubt he would one day soon be her number one minion.
Turning his back on her and bouncing down the stairs, he made his way to the cubicles below. A large open area occupied the majority of the basement; a grid of sixteen small spaces that held a desk, chair, and computer in each of them, all divided by a honeycomb of short walls. At the far end stood Karma’s lavish office, and his stall just before it.
Arriving at his space, he opened a drawer and pulled out his journal, where he had been keeping notes about his discoveries. Flipping through the pages to the first blank one, he noted the date, and then wrote in large block letters: CROSSED THE PLANE.
Clenching his jaw, he focused on the division, and could almost see it, as if it were a thin veil that hung over him for a moment, before it was snatched off of him with a whiff. Coughing, he noted the few other heads that occupied the room, watching them over the top of their chest-high dividers to gauge their reactions. When no one moved, he called loudly, “Hey, Lorren!” to the girl who occupied the stall directly across from him.
“Hey yourself,” she retorted, not bothering to look up from her screen. She only had two hours of internet time per week, and she wasn’t about to waste any of it messing with him.
Karma had casually followed him down and opened her office, her hips swaying as she moved. Leaving the door ajar, she waited for him to join her. “I think you’re ready for a few assignments,” she informed him when he did.
“Ok,” his Adam’s apple bobbed as he swallowed, “I guess you mean on my own?” He’d been partnering with others in the group of Forgotten Angels for the three months that he had been in Purgatory, but had never gone alone.
“Yeah,” she smiled, nodding slightly. Dropping a manila folder on her desk, she opened it. “This is my special case file. Close the door, baby.”
>
Obediently swinging the portal shut, he then moved around to stand beside her. Telepathically opening the set of red velvet curtains that covered her viewing screen, she began, “I have someone who needs a little payback.” Indicating the young man, they observed as he strolled along the street, his hands in his pockets as he bopped along to some unheard music.
“What’s he done?” Charlie folded an arm across his chest and put the other hand under his chin.
“He’s a dealer,” she shrugged, “One of many, I guess you know. But, he’s taken up with a girl, and been giving some of his product to her kid.”
“What a dick,” his hands dropped, flying to his hips. “What do you want done with him?”
“I don’t know,” she grinned slyly, “You know I like it rough… go pay him a visit and see what you come up with.”
“Yeah,” Charlie snorted, anger boiling in his gut… we like it rough.
Calling Home
Three days later, Charlie leaned back in his chair, the phone pressed against his ear firmly, “Everything’s fine, mom.” He couldn’t see over the tops of the walls from that position, but he knew most of the cubicles were empty, save Lorren directly across the aisle. Pushing his fingers roughly through his hair, he waited.
“You don’ sound like yourself,” the woman on the other end insisted.
“I know, I’m just…” he hesitated, glancing through the narrow openings to see that his neighbor had stopped moving to listen. “I have to go.”
“What do you mean you have t’ go?” his mother screamed over the line.
“Mom, I told you. I’m not allowed t’ talk about this place. All I can tell you is, I’m fine. I’m better than fine, actually,” he grinned to himself. “I’m doin’ meaningful work, an’ I’m really glad that I came here.”
The Karma Set - Summer Spirit Novellas 4 - 6 Page 6