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Vengeance Served Hot: An Urban Fantasy Action Adventure (Rewriting Justice Book 2)
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Vengeance Served Hot
Rewriting Justice Book Two
Martha Carr
Michael Anderle
Vengeance Served Hot (this book) is a work of fiction.
All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Sometimes both.
Copyright © 2018 Martha Carr and Michael Anderle
Cover copyright © LMBPN Publishing
LMBPN Publishing supports the right to free expression and the value of copyright. The purpose of copyright is to encourage writers and artists to produce the creative works that enrich our culture.
The distribution of this book without permission is a theft of the author’s intellectual property. If you would like permission to use material from the book (other than for review purposes), please contact [email protected]. Thank you for your support of the author’s rights.
LMBPN Publishing
PMB 196, 2540 South Maryland Pkwy
Las Vegas, NV 89109
First US edition, June 2018
The Oriceran Universe (and what happens within / characters / situations / worlds) are Copyright (c) 2017-18 by Martha Carr and LMBPN Publishing.
Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Author Notes - Martha Carr
Author Notes - Michael Anderle
Other Revelation of Oriceran Universe Books
Other Books by Michael Anderle
Connect with Michael Anderle
Vengeance Served Hot Team
Thanks to the JIT Readers
John Ashmore
Peter Manis
James Caplan
Daniel Weigert
Kelly Bowerman
Kim Boyer
Joshua Ahles
Larry Omans
Micky Cocker
If I’ve missed anyone, please let me know!
Editor
Lynne Stiegler
From Martha
To everyone who still believes in magic
and all the possibilities that holds.
To all the readers who make this
entire ride so much fun.
And to my son, Louie and so many wonderful friends who remind me all the time of what
really matters and how wonderful
life can be in any given moment.
From Michael
To Family, Friends and
Those Who Love
To Read.
May We All Enjoy Grace
To Live The Life We Are
Called.
1
Sometimes I really love my job, other times I crave donuts and Austin. Leira crouched outside an old apartment complex on the outskirts of Alphabet City in the Lower East Side of Manhattan. Yesterday she’d been called into the senator’s boardroom and offered a gig.
Take down a wizard, bring him back to the government if possible. It was the “if possible” part that had made her take the job. She knew this man wouldn’t come without a fight, and the boredom of waiting for an assignment had finally gotten to her.
The perp was a relatively powerful wizard and drug kingpin in the city. He’d managed to get hold of an artifact from the destroyed Silver Griffins vault in Chicago—one of the powerful ones that enabled its wielder to hear not only through blocking spells but also from a distance. A long distance. No one would have even known he possessed it if he hadn’t decided to get greedy. Instead of an artifact falling into the wrong hands and being used to infiltrate the government or mess with the light magic on Earth, this idiot had used it to help him take down his competition—in a very public show of magic and gunfire no less.
The chopper pilot who had been sent to help her approached and beamed his spotlight in the wrong place—on purpose, of course.
Since she hoped to thwart any escape attempts Leira had purposefully lied to the pilot, knowing the target would be listening. That was just the beginning.
She still had to reach and capture him without him knowing she was there. She knew exactly where he was hiding, but prancing through the front doors wouldn’t work—especially if someone opened their mouth and said anything to her. He would hear it and create a portal to pop through.
Going to have to be smart about this one.
She had to enter his residence without speaking or using any type of magic until she was standing in front of him. She looked at the fire escape that went to the top of the building. Luckily for Leira, it was one of the smaller buildings in the area, which meant climbing nine floors instead of a hundred and fifty-two. Still, managing it without magic or noise was going to be interesting. She rubbed her hands together, ready for some old-fashioned elbow grease. Just like the old days. Maybe I’ll even use my zip-ties and handcuff him old-school.
She slowly pulled the ladder down and leaned against the building afterward for a moment to make sure no one had heard her. After a couple of seconds she started to climb, stepping carefully on the edge of each step and platform to keep the creaks and groans of the old rusty metal to a minimum.
A window opened above her when she’d reached the sixth floor. She flattened herself against the wall and peered through the spaces in the landing above as one of the wizard’s men looked around the alley. When he moved away from the window, she started up the last two flights.
Leira inched along the wall to the cracked window, listening to the wizard talk inside.
“I know they’re after me, but the idiots are looking on the other side of the park.” He laughed, clapping his hands together. “I wasn’t even that sneaky about it. Goes to show you I chose the right side. Now, where are we on the shipment for next week? The spell we put on the last batch made it fly off the shelves to those junkies. More money, more work, but hell—it’s worth it.”
Leira slowly raised her hand, drawing just enough energy to not attract attention. A small orb of light lifted from her palm and skittered over the building as a faint glow appeared down her arms.
She read the symbols that were flipping across her skin. This not-so-smart wizard drug lord had neglected to put any protections on his place, but she was going to have to move quickly to keep him from escaping through a portal.
Leira took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and drew more light through her body. The landing began to shake, clinking and clacking beneath her. In the background, she could hear the wizard and his men questioning the commotion, and as soon as the guard lifted the window Leira kicked him square in the jaw, dove through the window, and rolled over him. When she saw the wizard lift his wand she hurled a large white orb of light, which struck him in the chest and knocked him to the ground. He groaned as he waved his wand from his prone position to try to open a portal, but Leira held him to the ground.
“Oh, hell no, you don’t.”
Leira went back through the window and looked over the edge of the fire escape. The wizard smirked and sent a flare of magic at her face. She leaned back, the shot—barely missing her—hit the bricks above. She chased him down the stairs exchanging magical bursts, and just as she reached the third floor, he hit the alley. She pulled the magic through her palms, jumped off the landing, and held her hands down, shooting out a steady beam of light energy and trusting it to slow her fall. As she hit the ground something slammed against her chest, picked her up, and threw her into the building. She shook her head as her light absorbed the dark magic.
“Ouch, asshole.”
She shuffled to her feet and sprinted after the wizard, who turned left out of the alley onto Tenth.
This is where being a runner pays off.
Leira poured everything she had into her speed, skidding around the corner with one hand gripping the wall. As she turned she had to duck, since he sent another blaze of magic toward her head. She started running after him again and he reached Avenue A—only to be stopped by the traffic racing by.
Leira smiled and ran even faster, keeping her arms low to hide their shimmering. She couldn’t afford a distance shot with so many people out and about. The last thing she wanted to do was hurt someone innocent.
Before she reached the intersection, the wizard glanced over his shoulder and took off into the traffic when he saw her, swirling his wand to stop the cars. Leira jumped off the curb, her eyes widening as he reached the other side and canceled his spell. The cars raced toward her like they had never stopped. Horns honked loudly, and tires screeched as she leapt onto a taxi hood and jumped off the other side. By the time she had made it across the wizard was already at the entrance of Thompkins Square Park.
Leira followed, his speed slowing down as hers increased. She shot several balls of light toward him, and they popped and fizzled when they reached his head, clouding his sight. He growled, swirling his wand in front of his face to knock the magic away.
As he ran, he pointed his wand back toward Leira. Sparks of green and blue shot out, whizzing at her like little torpedoes. She dodged most of them, but a couple looped around and slammed into the backs of her legs. She tripped, causing her magic to explode from her palm and strike the Slocum Memorial Fountain. As water blasted upward the wizard slowed for a moment, surprised by the destruction.
This is my chance. These fireworks are putting too many bystanders in danger. For the moment, the people in the area thought this was performance art or another magician doing his act, but if it carried into the streets, it would be nearly impossible to erase everyone’s memories.
She jumped over the rubble of the fountain and lunged with both hands out in front of her.
The wizard yelled when she tackled him, and they rolled to a stop with Leira above him. She snatched his wand from his hand.
“I don’t usually complain about a woman being on top, but do you mind?” He sneered and reached for his wand.
Leira growled, narrowing her eyes and pressing the solid piece of hickory against his throat. “I would be careful who you talk to like that. I don’t need a wand to send your ass to the next world. They asked me to bring you back, but they didn’t specify whether you had to be breathing for me to collect.”
The helicopter now circled overhead, shining the spotlight on the two of them. Leira shaded her eyes as she glanced up at it and shook her head.
“You gave them the wrong information on purpose,” he hissed. “That’s not playing fairly.”
“Neither was starting a firefight in the streets that killed three innocent people. Apparently, you don’t play by the rules either. I found you, and I didn’t have to say one single word. Maybe your competition was the smarter one.”
“I guess we’ll never know since he is dead, bitch.” He was tired of the games.
“Where is the artifact?”
“I don’t know what you mean.”
Leira pressed the wand more firmly against his neck and lifted her eyebrows. “Don’t dick around. Where is the damn artifact.”
The wizard grimaced at the feeling of magic against his throat. Though Leira seemed to be impeccably trained, he didn’t trust she wouldn’t off him right then and there. “My left coat pocket.”
She smiled and reached into his jacket pocket, pulling out what looked to be a small medieval version of a megaphone. She could feel the tingle of magic, so she knew this had to be it. She nodded and got up, and after turning the wizard over, she cuffed him and helped him to his feet.
“What will happen to me now?”
“Well, a year ago you would have ended up in Trevilsom Prison.” Fear washed over his face like a wave. “But seeing as I am doing a job for the non-magical and not for Oriceran, I suppose I have to drop you with the federal government and let them do what they will with you. May not be Trevilsom’s horrors, but I can promise you the people on this planet have a way of making you go absolutely out of your mind and never break a bone.”
“Great, just what I need—non-magic people deciding my fate.”
“There will be a few magical ones in there too. Don’t you worry, scumbag.”
2
Leira grasped the wizard’s arm and moved him toward the portal she had opened. In her other hand were the shimmering conch shell artifact and his wand. He wasn’t happy being in custody, but he had no choice but to go along. Leira pushed him through the portal into a nondescript building in Alexandria, Virginia. She carefully stepped through behind him, still holding his arm. Several armed guards stood before them, pointing their guns at the wizard.
“Hey, men.” Leira nodded. They all recognized her from her time working for General Anderson. “I have a prisoner to turn over, as well as an artifact and his wand. Keep these far away from him.”
“That’s my wand, you bitch...” Leira shoved his head down, tired and ready to get out of there.
“We’ll do a search and then you can take him back to Intake, end of the hall on your left. Nice catch.”
Leira smiled and pushed the wizard toward the guards. She stood back, dusting the dirt off, careful to keep the artifact in her hand far away from her face. New rule—no activating artifacts.
General Anderson strode out of an office. Being small in stature compared to his aide didn’t detract from his commanding presence.
“I’ll need a briefing room and six of the higher-ups to attend,” the general told his aide. “And for dinner tonight, if you could make a reservation at that French Brasserie I like on Seventh…what’s it called?”
“’Metier,’” his aide replied, making a note on his iPad.
“Yes, that’s it. I’d like to go there, but it will just be me.”
“Yes, sir. Anything else?”
The general stopped when he saw Leira standing in the lobby. ‘No, that will be it, thank you.”
The guards were busy giving the new inmate a good once-over and had pulled all sorts of interesting items from his pockets, including a small velvet bag full of cocaine.
“That’s not mine,” he cried. “She planted it on me.”
The general smiled crookedly. “She has better things to do, and you didn’t need extra charges. Homicide works pretty well.”
“Who the fuck are you?”
“Show some respect.” The guard slapped the wizard on the back of the head.
The general smiled at Leira. “Leira, it’s so good to see you.”
“General.” She smiled back and shook his hand. �
�It’s good to see you as well.”
“I was very happy when I heard you were back working for us.”
“With you,” Leira pointed out. “I work with you, not for you.”
“Ah, yes.” He shook his head. “That’s right, you are a free agent now. Looks like it suits you.”
“I appreciate that, sir. How is everything?”
“It’s been pretty solemn around here after the losses the Silver Griffins sustained, but we carry on because we have to. How about you?”
“Same,” she responded with a sigh. “By the end of the war, there will be a lot more souls lost than there already have been. It’s a shame, but unfortunately, that is where we are.”
“True.”
The guards bagged the wizard’s belongings before handing them to Leira.
“When you turn the artifact in, turn these in too. Intake will point you in the right direction and give you a voucher so you can get paid.”
Leira grabbed the bag and looked at the general. “I better get him checked in and the artifact to your team.”
“Of course, and I have a meeting to get to. It was a pleasure seeing you again, and I hope to see more of you now that you are back.”