Hero's Curse Read Online Free PDF Page B

I’d wondered if my mom and dad were alive. If they were dead, they might have loved me. If they were alive, I knew they didn’t. I grew up wanting them dead. I’m no longer a child but you never heal from these kinds of wounds. I was tempted to ask B if he knew who my parents were or what happened to them; I didn’t. I would give or do anything to know more about my family, but I wasn’t about to let anyone know this, especially B.
    “…as it is, on your own, you’ve grown up to be a right bastard. If you didn’t have so much potential, you would have been harvested as soon as you came up on the radar. A new archangel is a big deal. It’s a long story, but anyhoo, I’m on the Big Guy’s shit list. Normally, there’d be no way I’d be assigned an easy gig like this, but I’ve done well with souls like yours in the past. I get along with ‘bad’ boys.” He waved his hand theatrically and flashed a grin full of perfect white teeth. “So, here I am.”
    B was telling me there was an afterlife. There was a possibility I could meet my parents even if they were dead. I forced myself to stop thinking about my family. Until I knew more, this line of thought would lead me nowhere. I had to focus on me and the immediate here and now. I was being promised a place in heaven. My self-proclaimed guardian angel was describing a paradise where my nuts would be cut off, and if I didn’t play nice, I’d be assigned suicide missions. It wasn’t my first choice of where I would spend eternity.
    B was too powerful and knew too much not to have magical powers. Did I buy he was an archangel? I didn’t have enough info to make a decision. For now, it made sense to act like he was telling the truth.
    I’ve always liked to read, and as a kid in the orphanage I got extra goodies from the nuns if I quoted scripture from memory. Even back then, I thought the bad guys were interesting. I still remember the line from Jude 1:6, “And the angels also who did not preserve their original state, but forsook their abode, he has kept in everlasting chains under darkness for the judgment of the great day.” [1] Angels had rebelled in the past. There was a chance I could do the same.
    I needed to find an independent source of information about God and heaven. It was best to stick with the safe questions for B. “So, why am I stuck in Salt Lake City?”
    “Good question Vic, but we’re running out of time. It’s 7:30 now and in about an hour-and-a-half it will be sunset. If you aren’t in a home that has a threshold by sundown, the troll’s friends will find you and rip you to shreds. I’ll be there to collect your soul, but that’d be a sad end to what could be a beautiful friendship.”
    “What’s a threshold?”
    “Human emotions have power. You know that expression ‘home is where the heart is’? Well, it’s true. Homes that hold people’s hearts are protected. The strongest protections are in homes that have been passed down from one generation to another. Demons can’t enter them and they can’t find people who are inside them. A hotel room or an apartment doesn’t cut the yellow condiment. Only real homes have thresholds.
    “Here’s the deal, just like countries, gods have their own versions of hot and cold wars. Jehovah is in a cold war with the Norse gods. The current treaty says only low level operatives are allowed to duke it out; guys at my level can only observe, otherwise it turns into a hot war. Neither Jehovah nor Odin wants that to happen. The Norse took out the Salt Lake City paladin about a year ago. When you drove into town, the job passed on to you. That’s why you can’t leave Salt Lake City. You have to take care of the Norse threat before you can leave for any reason. Even then, you won’t be able to leave town for long, and if there are any problems, you’ll have to come back fast.
    B motioned for the waiter. “I know you have more questions but you’re running out of time. Start looking on