Avenger by Su Halfwerk Read Free Book Online Page B

vowed to help Pru regain her body even if it killed him. Again.
    “Actually, they developed an interest in me. Only a moron rejects that kind of selfless affections. Cats rub by me, dogs drag their owners to reach me, even squirrels abandon their hidey-holes to sit by my side. Don’t laugh at this, but sometimes I think they can understand me.”
    Luke smiled, glad he’d found a topic that relaxed her. “What about predators?”
    “I haven’t tried my luck there.” Her response was terse and dry.
    “Calm down, I wasn’t making fun of you. I’ve heard of horse whisperers, but not the-whole-kingdom’s whisperers. A man is entitled to a bit of curiosity.”
    She shrugged. “I guess.”
    “Which concert were you going to?”
    She smiled shyly. “The Slam. You remember Carmen? Well, we’re still very close and she had tickets to the concert, so she and her boyfriend invited us to join them.”
    Something slammed into his heart, the fool couldn’t beat right. “Us?”
    “Jason tagged along. He’s my colleague at the shelter.”
    The way that name rolled off her tongue and out of her smiling mouth hinted that Jason was more than just a colleague. Somehow, Pru having a boyfriend didn’t feel right. In his eyes, she was still that eleven years old tomboy digging for trouble and finding it most of the time. Okay , a very curvaceous tomboy now.
    “Jason rode with them?” he asked.
    “By the time I arrived at Carmen’s place, she and Sylvester were already wasted. Jason offered to drive their car since they lived in the same neighborhood while I live some distance away.” She chewed on her lip. “It made sense. An accident in their compromised state would lead to litigations and whatnot.”
    Yet she was the one who winded up messed up and alone. “I’m surprised by two things. None of your belongings were with you and Carmen, your best friend, hasn’t visited you.”
    She frowned and ignored him, choosing to study the intricate design of his workout bench. Every time he questioned the disappearance of her friends, she became defensive.
    Luke softened his voice and changed tactics. “How did the accident happen?”
    She pursed her lips and semi-settled on the workout bench. “It’s all very foggy but I remember being few cars behind Carmen’s. They slipped through a green traffic light, but the red one got me. When it changed, I drove…I remember being in the middle of the crossing when lights grew rapidly in size on my left side. There was a loud bang, I went upside down, and then nothing. I didn’t even feel pain though I found out later that my shoulder got dislocated. Next time I woke, the ER staff were reviving me.”
    “What about the paramedics who came for you?”
    “They were in the back of the emergency room. I clearly remember the African American one.”
    He frowned. “What was so special about him?”
    “He was good looking, hair smoothed back with gel, nails done nicely, but his speech ruined the whole classy image. He had this unforgettable heavy ghetto drawl. He didn’t fit my impression of how medics should be.”

Chapter Nine
    It was judgment time in the Laymour.
    Six High Domines stood in a semicircle surrounding a wailing spirit. While three recited the bad deeds, the other three countered with the good ones.
    Celestine mused over the changes in the Laymour. The judgment involved the locking up of the High Domines, along with the spirits to be judged, in a chamber away from the Dome for a full Laymour lunation. That was the case until at one time, when the Domines were needed the most, they couldn’t be reached. Now the judgment took place within the Dome, close by the Pit. Naiten, the Pit Keeper, didn’t participate in it but observed the proceedings from the Watching Point overlooking the Pit’s turbid-liquid surface.
    “Jameson O’Brian,” Keigan said, “You stole your father’s savings when he was on death bed.” An impassive statement of facts.
    The spirit of