All In - Soul Seductors Part I - An alpha bad boy paranormal romance - XXL Teaser (2 page)

“So what have you
lovely
folk been talking about?” My question is directed
to Zorn more than it is to Maria Maria.

He’s the one to answer, “well, Maria Maria feels like a
prostitute,” he says sharply, stroking his long dark
beard.

I laugh, slap my hand down on her knee and just fucking rip
with laughter.

“
I feel like a prostitute!” she says sternly and that fucking
attitude in her voice shuts me the fuck up.

There’s something about this damn girl that demands
respect. And something about her that also makes me feel protective
as hell. The protective aspect I understand. The first time I saw
her she was drenched in tears and blood, shaking and screaming like
some kind of fucking kid in a tantrum. She reminded me of me - a
long ass time ago. A memory of myself that’s so backed up in my
mind that I don’t know how it even managed to resurface. We
succeeded in calming her down, taught her about what happened to
her. But two weeks into this whole fucking mess she’s still not
understanding that there’s only one way out.

I guess now’s not a good time to mention what I was up to
earlier.

“
Are you close to your quota?”

She shakes her head, the badass attitude dissipating bit by
bit. “I just can’t bring myself to do it, Hawke.”

Zorn chips in, “women have it so fucking easy and they just
don’t know it.”

“What part of this is easy?”
she snaps, her eyes glossing over and holy
fucking hell, she’s about to cry.

I touch my hand to her back and she tenses again, so I drop
it. “Listen. Zorn and me, we’re here to help you. It’s a fucked up
situation for all of us and…well, more for you and Zorn because I
don’t know what the hell it’s like to be normal. But there’s only
one way out. We all get our number of years and once that time’s
done, we’re back to being whoever the hell we were sent on this
earth to be.”

She actually cries now. Tears stream down her fucking face
and my chest tightens. I look at Zorn, hoping he’ll do something
but he looks fucking shell-shocked. We don’t know how to deal with
any of this shit. Before her, we were just a bunch of guys. All
testosterone. We’d knock back drinks, joke, laugh, bloody our
knuckles, fuck our cocks sore and seduce the souls out of every
horny whore that was dumb enough to slip their panties past their
thighs. This whole oestrogen shit, it’s new to us.

“Listen, what if I find the people for you. I’ll get the
best souls possible - ones that… I dunno…will take away at least
five from your quota. Would that make you feel better?”

“I’d still have to do the same things to them. I’m not cut
out for this!”

I think of a million and one different routes to take but end
up turning to tough fucking love. “Listen,” I take her hands into
mine, “this is your life now. This is it. This is what you fucking
get and you can whine about it or you can do what the fuck needs to
be done. In this world, it’s every man for his goddamn self. You’re
a good person, Maria Maria. This shouldn’t be the hand that you’re
dealt and so fucking what if you need to shit on somebody else just
to get ahead. It’s what the fuck you need to do. Choose you before
you choose them.”

“
I…” she struggles to form her words.

“You
will
do this. I want to see you free. I never wanted you in this
shitty ass spot to begin with. But Kraze did what he did and God
wasn’t there to help you.”

“Hawke is right,” Zorn adds. “I’m on a different path than
you though. I think I might just be okay with what I’m doing so,
yeah, there’s a little bit of evil in me but some days I wake up
and wonder how on earth this could be worth it. Some days I see the
owners of all the souls I’ve taken…” he pauses, sucks in a long
breath and continues, “and then I drive my ass to the cemetery and
realize that I’m not ready to have some fucker step on my grave.
Not just yet!”

“So you get your encouragement from dead people,” she
snorts.

“I get my encouragement from being able to fucking live,”
he shoots back. “You look at all the people you’ve ruined and you
can think they’re better than you. Hell, some of them might be. But
put yourself in their spot. If they had to do the same shit as you
to be free, they would…and they’d do it to you without batting a
fucking eyelid.”

“
That’s comforting,” she wipes away the last of her tears with
the back of her hand. “I mean, look at the both of you…”

“
What about us?” Zorn asks.

“
You’re like…badass looking,” she sniffles.

“
The both of us,” I laugh, slamming my hand against the table
in protest. “I look handsome as hell. Check out this smile,” I wink
at her. “It’s Zorn over there that looks like he just stepped out
of the Hell’s angels.”

Zorn runs a hand over his beard, his face lighting up at
my
reference. He’d never admit that it’s the look he was going
for but even a blind man can see it.

Finally, Maria Maria lets out a small laugh.

“You work with what you have,” Zorn says. “Plus, you’re not
the one to talk, for a girl you sure rival me when it
comes to tattoos.
Last time I saw you, you only had the illuminati shit on your hand
and maybe that one on your neck. Heck, the first fucking time I saw
you, your skin was as white as Hawke’s bare ass.”

“
It’s better than the scars,” she says, stretching her arms in
front of her.

I’ve got nothing to say to that.

Zorn decides not to make it awkward and
stretches his arm in Maria
Maria’s direction. They’re both decked out in tattoos. If we’re
talking numbers, Zorn’s got one up on Mari Maria but the bitch is
on a roll.

Me, I’m more of a natural skin kind of guy. I live in fucking
Miami, so heck, the sun’s all the tattooing I need.

“
So,” I interject, “now that the mood’s a little bit
lighter…”

“
Oh Jesus!” Zorn laughs, “What kind of crazy ass proposal do
you have now.”

I wrap an arm around Maria Maria’s shoulder and this time she
doesn’t shrug me away.

“
You’re my sister, right?”

“
Umm…” she smiles, biting her lip.

“Well, soon enough you’ll consider yourself family. But
back to what I was saying. You’re my sister and a brother’s gotta
help a sister out. Right?” She gives me a half smile. “See, I’ve
been thinking about some of the best ways for you to get what you
need without having to go on some kind of Mt. Everest guilt trip
about it.”

“
Yeah,” she nods.

“
Do you judge a man by his past?”

“
Yeah… I mean, no,” she stutters.

Zorn takes another sip of his beer and adjusts his legs on
the couch. He’s watching intently and I know he’s just waiting for
me to say some shit that will have him cackling like pig in a
fire.

I continue
, “Some people do bad shit and then they change. Let’s say,
for example - would you feel bad for a guy who murdered a baby and
then covered it up?”

She shakes her head fervently, disgust drawing her face
taught. “Heck no.”

“
What if he turned his life around? Gave his heart mind and
soul to the Lord.”

Her face relaxes slightly but her words are still harsh when
she says, “he killed a child!”

“Hmmm… But now he’s saved many lives. Started charities.
Lives pay check to pay check because he’s always giving the shirt
off his back.”

“
That’s a hard call,” she admits.

“Don’t forgive him,” I say sternly, placing a business card
in front of her.

“
Well, why not?”

“
Because he killed a child!” Zorn exaggerates her earlier
sentiment.

“
On purpose?” she draws the card from the table and examines
it.

“Point is, I’m gonna help you to not feel bad about what
you’re doing. As a soul seductor, you can’t take rotten souls,
they’re on their way to hell anyways. Thing is, we’ve got a pretty
forgiving God, so, the more good you do, the less rotten the soul.
But what do you think would happen to that guy if the right people
found out what he did?”

“
He’d go to jail,” she admits.

“
And he deserves to go to hell too,” I add. “This here, is a
business card for Pastor Joe Torrino. Send his ass to hell for
killing that little girl.”

“
Thank you,” she says, in understanding but not in
excitement.

“
I know it’s not the alternative you’re looking for,” I admit,
“but it’s the best I could think of.”

“
This really does help, Hawke,” she says, patting the top of
my hand.

A few drinks later and a hell of a better mood, we drive
Maria Maria to the dear old pastor’s humble abode. It’s a decently
sized house
,
three bedrooms two bathrooms, not many neighbours and only ten
minutes away from the church where I found Ju
liette. Makes sense, right,
it’s her father’s church after all.

So we’re at the house and Maria Maria’s chanting “Kiddie
killer, kiddie killer,” in the backseat.

“Don’t go saying all that to him when you get inside,” Zorn
laughs, inhaling a neat powdery line from the dashboard.

“You get your encouragement from that shit,” Maria Maria
points to the cocaine. “And I get mine from this. So… Kiddie
killer. Kiddie killer. Kiddie killer.”

“
Encouragement,” Zorn laughs. “This is recreation
baby.”

Maria Maria opens the car door. “I guess this is as ready
as I’ll ever be. Wish me luck guys and please…be here when I get
back.”

Zorn and I both laugh but watch attentively as she heads to
the front door.

“
The bitch has us wrapped around her fucking finger already,”
Zorn says after a while.

“What happened to her…” I shake my head, “…it’s fucked up
as hell. Can’t help but feel like it’s my duty to protect
her.”

Zorn sits up, adjusts his seat behind him. “Why you think he
did it?”

“
Who the fuck knows, man? All I know is that the devil’s a
fucking idiot for wanting Kraze as a soul seductor.”

“
He’s met quota all this time.”

I turn the key in the ignition. “Yeah, surprises me every
month.
But I
swear to God, if he as much as looks at Maria Maria sideways, I’ll
shove my damn ruler down his throat.”

Zorn reaches over, lifts my shirt a few inches. “What the
hell’s the deal with you and that ruler? Can’t tell me it’s
comfortable to walk around with a piece of fucking metal attached
to your side.”

“Can’t tell me it’s comfortable to have a fucking bird nest
attached to your chin,” I say, tugging at a strand of his
beard.

He punches my hand away.

“
Not the same fucking thing.”

“The ruler’s a story for another day,” I smile. “So, where
we headed?”

Zorn presses his lips together and combs his fingers through
his beard. “We’re staying here.”

“For what? You wanna hear how loud she makes him
groan…”

He laughs, “you’re a fucking pervert.”

“
The fuck you wanna stay in front of the man’s house
for?”

“
My fists are itching.”

“
Zorn,” I narrow my gaze on him.

“I ain’t gon’ hurt him too bad but fuck…
Kiddie killer.
Kiddie killer. Kiddie killer.“
He imitates
Maria Maria’s voice, bouncing up and down in the car like a fucking
kid.

Crazy motherfucker. Kraze isn’t the only one who has an
appetite for blood. Zorn’s never hesitant to throw fists
- though he usually
never bashes a bastards head in for no reason.

Whatever, I leave him be
, thinking he’s just fucking with me. He
said it himself, he’s protective of the girl. So yeah, if the dear
old pastor doesn’t act appropriately, I might just have to chip in
and kick his ass, too.

It’s about an hour later until Maria Maria exits the house.
I stay the fuck in place as Zorn opens the door.

I’m thinking that the fucker’s just going to greet her but
he’s
massaging his damn fist in his hand and I know exactly what
that means.

“Zorn, you’re not fucking serious, are you?”

“
Kinda am,” he nods.

“
For what?”

“Told you, I walk around looking like this,” he brings his
fist to my face to show me that they have no scratches “people
might think I’m a pussy.”

“
So you need to bruise ‘em up.”

“Precisely,” he nods, stepping one foot out the
door.

“
Punch a fucking wall, man.”

“Doesn’t feel the same,” he winks, leaving the
car.

Zorn
holds a hand up to Maria Maria and she gives him a high
five. She’s confused as fuck, I can see it written all over her
face. But she doesn’t turn around. Doesn’t ask Zorn what the fuck
he’s doing or why the hell he’s ringing the fucking pastor’s
doorbell.