twice cursed mage 05 - claimed Read Online Free PDF

swear, if you make a single Toxic Avenger joke, I’m going to leave you here to try to escape on your own,” she said, switching on a flashlight and illuminating a path through the slime in front of us. “Do you have any idea how hard it is to get Ramon to do anything?” She shivered like whatever she’d done had given her nightmares.
    “Why are you helping me, really, Maya?” I asked, watching her traipse through the muck and mire in her hot pink rain boots. Something about the way she’d shown up, combined with her comments, seemed off, especially for her.
    “I told you,” she said, glancing at me over my shoulder. “I’ve got some wise guys trying to move in on my turf.” I’ll be honest, I was surprised at how much she sounded like James Gandolfini.
    “Yeah, I heard your excuse.” I waved my hand dismissively. “I’m just trying to figure out if you’re leading me into a trap. Admittedly, I don’t think it’s likely because you healed me, but maybe it’s just a really good trick.”
    She stopped and took a long, slow breath. “I’m hoping you can kill the council of seven.” Her words were so quiet, I almost didn’t hear them. “If you can’t, I don’t think anyone can, and they really need to die.”
    “Why?” I asked, and as I did, she leaned against one wall and shook her head angrily.
    “Why do you care, Mac?” She slashed across my body with the flashlight. “Just do your ‘kill the bad guys’ thing. ‘Kay?”
    “No.” I crossed my arms over my chest. Something about this was off, way off. Maya didn’t seem like the type to care about anything beyond her next payday, but looking at her told me one thing. She definitely wanted these council fuckers dead. “Look, I know how people like you operate, but you’re not operating in a way I’d expect.” I gestured around the sewer. “You mean to tell me you’d step foot in this godforsaken place and deal with Toxie? No, it stinks. I might buy you’d help me because Ricky was paying you, but you’d have just said that if it was true, and anyway, she’s trapped in some sort of fight club from Hell. She’d be paying you to rescue her, if anything.” I leveled my gaze on her. “There’s another reason.”
    “It’s personal, but trust me when I say I’m on your side, Mac.” She took a deep breath and stepped so close to me her breasts pressed against my ribs. “Just let this drop. If you do, I’ll give you a nice shiny gun, okay?”
    I let out a slow breath. I still didn’t trust this. “Ricky didn’t send Ramon to help me, huh? You just told him to say that didn’t you. You’ve set the whole thing up.”
    Maya punched me hard in the arm. “Fuck you, Mac.” Her voice broke partway through. “You’re not supposed to be smart. You’re just supposed to go in like The Rock and lay the smackdown on some candy ass jabronis.”
    “I’m more of a Stone Cold Steve Austin guy myself,” I said, watching her wipe her eyes with the back of her hand. I decided not to push the issue. She seemed genuine in wanting to help me, and for the moment that was fine. Hell, at least now I was certain she was on my side, and as I’d seen thus far, while she might be a big-breasted, tiny-waisted Asian girl, she was a hell of an ally. She had so many magical tricks up her sleeve, it almost made me think of her like a supernatural Inspector Gadget. “So, where’s Ricky?”
    “She’s trapped in the gauntlet. She doesn’t know you’re alive. In fact, I think she thinks you’re dead.” Maya looked at me, and as she did, she reached up behind her back and pulled something from beneath her Beetlejuice T-shirt. “Why don’t you go rescue her?” She shoved a MAC-10 into my hands. “That’s loaded with silver, by the way.”
    “And why do I need silver bullets?” I asked, taking the gun from her and hefting it. I wasn’t super fond of MAC-10s, especially when they didn’t have a stock. They were so inaccurate, the only way you