Accidentally in Love With a God (2012) by Mimi Jean Pamfiloff Read Free Book Online Page B

name, but she wasn’t normal. She was…”
    “What?” Votan reached for a machete from the leather bundle on his back.
    “Like you! I mean—her eyes.”
    Votan was startled. One of his own sisters? Dear gods, what next? First Petén’s story of women being taken by one of his brothers and now this?
    “She paid upfront and promised us more money—a lot of money. She wants the jars,” he said frantically. “She also told us to take out as many of those dreadlocked demons as we needed to make them confirm the location of the other jars, but they wouldn’t talk.”
    Jars? While hiding in the hold, Votan had seen dark gray jars inside the crates, but didn’t think much of them. Humans often collected useless objects. His priority was finding out who’d been schooling the Maaskab in the art of manipulating dark energy.
    “How did you trap and kill so many priests with only sixty men?”
    “We stunned them with teargas,” Captain Pizzaro replied. “They never saw us coming.”
    Ah, yes. Humans were busy inventing all sorts of new weapons and using them in their new war against that nasty Hitler man. Why couldn’t Votan have been lucky enough to draw the short straw when that guy’s name came up? But, nooo. Instead, he got the malodorous, pesky, fanatical Maaskab to deal with.
    But this journey led me to the child, Gabriela, he thought. I cannot forget the importance of fate.
    “Did you at least kill them all?”
    Pizzaro stared at the floor. “Some got away.”
    “Dammit all to hell!” Votan screamed. It could take him months to track them down, including the missing leader, and finish them off.
    “What’s in the jars?” Votan asked.
    “I don’t know.” He panted. “She made us promise not to open them. She said the jars would kill us.”
    Idiots. What could possibly be inside that could do that? Killer bees?
    “Okay,” Votan resisted laughing. He didn’t want the captain to think this was some kind of joke. Next Pizzaro told him about the map she’d given them that showed the location of more jars. Dozens of them scattered across the globe. They were told to find them and bring them back to Port Rota, Spain, where the woman was waiting.
    “Aren’t you the least bit concerned about your ship getting blown out of the water by a U-boat or bloody navy ship?”
    Pizzaro shook his head no. “She told us to stick to the routes she charted on the map. So far, so good.”
    Votan’s mind was a jumble of frustration and anger. None of this made any sense. “What did the woman look like?”
    “Flaming red hair, bright turquoise eyes, and a glare to make you wish you were never born. Like yours, actually.”
    Cimil? No. It simply cannot be. She had been behaving oddly lately, but then again, they all had. The world was gradually spinning out of control. Violence. There was so much uncontrolled violence everywhere now. It wasn’t supposed to be that way. In fact, once he returned, there was to be a meeting to discuss what to do.
    “I’ve told you everything I know.” Pizarro stared at Votan. “So?”
    “So, what?” Votan pulled out another machete.
    “You’re still going to kill me?” Pizzaro said with arrogant disbelief. It almost made Votan like the man.
    “Of course. You do not deserve the light inside you. You are a cold-blooded killer.”
    “I could say the same of you,” Pizarro said.
    “Cold-blooded? Me? Hardly. I’m the ultimate purveyor of justice—an executioner with a flawless track record and crystal clear conscience.”
    There was a startling knock at the door causing Votan to glance away. Before he blinked, the captain produced a knife and lunged.
    The blade struck Votan’s arm. “Hey! That hurt.”
    A squatty bald man pushed open the door and went slack-jawed at the sight of Votan. He quickly gathered himself and yelled for help as he turned up the stairs toward the deck.
    Votan jerked the knife away from Pizzaro and rubbed the spot, watching the wound close instantly. He