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    Porter's Reaper
    Porter's Reaper
    Porter's Reaper
    Ebook146 pages2 hours

    Porter's Reaper

    By Amber Kell

    4.5/5

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    About this ebook

    Death is a minor inconvenience in the path to true love.
    When the God of the Underworld sends Alstair back to the Academy to help pick out a new headmaster, he doesn’t mention he’s put Alstair in for the job. Angered but willing to keep his word, Alstair discovers the headmaster position comes with more knots of deception than a sailor’s rope.

    Porter Exton had a crush on Alstair. He’d watched Alstair train Elijah through the window and had spent more than one night dreaming of the Reaper. However, dreams were set aside in order to discover the truth about Porter’s death and if the man who killed him is responsible for the other deaths at the school.

    Two men with different backgrounds need to discover what they have in common if they hope to save themselves from plotting gods, egomaniacs, and possible killers.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherAmber Kell
    Release dateJan 11, 2017
    ISBN9781370488421
    Porter's Reaper
    Author

    Amber Kell

    Amber Kell is a dreamer who has been writing stories in her head for as long as she could remember.She lives in Seattle with her husband, two sons, three cats and one very stupid dog. To learn more about her current books or works in progress, check out her blog at http://amberkell.wordpress.com.Her fans can also reach her at amberkellwrites@gmail.com.

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    Book preview

    Porter's Reaper - Amber Kell

    Chapter 1

    I need you to go to a conference.

    Alstair Gorman looked up from where he was sharpening his scythe to face his boss—Hades, God of the Underworld. He tried to reassemble Hades’ words to form some discernible pattern, but no matter how he reshaped or twisted them around, they still didn’t make any sense.

    I’m sorry, did you say a conference?

    What kind of conference could Hades go to that he thought Alstair would make a logical substitution? Alstair didn’t have the same powers as a god and last time he checked, he wasn’t a shoo-in for a slot at Mount Olympus or any other godly realm.

    I’m serious. I need a representative and I’ve chosen you. You are the best man for the job. Hades’ tone didn’t indicate any wiggle room in changing his mind. Crap, Alstair wasn’t going to able to weasel out of this.

    Reapers didn’t go to stupid conferences.

    However, if Hades needed a representative, Alstair would probably be the best choice out of Hades’ options. He wasn’t just one of Hades’ elite reapers—he was the Reaper. The first reaper ever marked as the god’s own and granted a scythe.

    Sighing, he flicked the switch to activate the folding spell. An ancient magic allowed his scythe to collapse like a pocketknife. Even after centuries of use, Alstair still enjoyed watching the process. Once it had shrunk, he tucked the tiny weapon into the leather holster mounted on his belt. Most people thought it was one of those multi-tools. He just nodded and agreed whenever they asked.

    Alstair sighed again to emphasize what a pain he considered the assignment. Might as well give in—it wasn’t like Hades would change his mind. He never did. Where am I going?

    To a meeting of leaders at the Mayell Wizard Academy. Hades’ eyes flamed bright red, indicating strong emotion.

    Alstair groaned. Out of any possible conference he could attend, one between stuffy academics sounded the worst. Maybe one day he’d find the perfect combination of words to hold off Hades’ persuasive ways. Unfortunately that wasn’t today. Still, Alstair gave it one more try.

    Why can’t you go? He’d served Hades too many years to be intimidated by a little thing like hellfire, and he refused to go down without a fight. Giving in right away put him in a weak position. Hades wouldn’t respect him if he folded like a scythe.

    Because Persephone is coming this week and I promised to take her on a picnic. A goofy smile crossed Hades’ face. Defeat swung like a cell door clanging shut and sealing off all of Alstair’s avenues of escape.

    He groaned. Nope, no way could he win against that argument. After all these years, the Queen of the Underworld still led Hades around by his cock. Hades let her do whatever she wanted and if the god had promised his bride a picnic, nothing would stop that from happening.

    Why does anyone need to go at all? See him be reasonable. They both won if they skipped the event entirely. Conferences were like weeds—another was always springing up. Why would it matter if they missed one or even a dozen?

    Because they will be choosing a new headmaster for the Academy and the spirits are telling me there is a great deal of unrest. I need someone to be my voice, and I’m trusting you’ll know my will. Besides, we don’t want another incident like Elijah. The Academy staff doesn’t have the skill to spot a future necromancer, and I can’t risk them missing the signs of power. Elijah had necromancer energy all but pouring off of him and they labeled him a low-level magic user. Who knows how many other students they missed over the years? It might not be that necromancy is so rare; maybe they are just incompetent at noticing the signs.

    Hope was a dangerous emotion. If there were untapped and unacknowledged necromancers swarming the world, Hades wouldn’t be content until every one of them had been located.

    Alstair frowned. Do you think it might be on purpose? Someone who doesn’t want you to be properly staffed? For all their powers, the gods were always messing with each other, sometimes maliciously and sometimes just for fun. The two often intertwined. By not giving Hades enough people to keep up with the deaths in the world, that added more pressure on the people he had. If a Reaper didn’t get to a soul on time, the ghost might decide to stick around and cause havoc among the living. More unhappy ghosts were nothing they wanted unleashed among the humans. Right now, only 10 percent of the dead remained as ghosts for any length of time and generally allowed Hades to pull them to the Underworld within the first year of their passing.

    Hades stroked his chin, pulling at the beard he’d grown since last night. I don’t know if it’s on purpose, but it wouldn’t hurt to go through some records of recent graduates and see if you can spot any anomalies. Anyone who is flagged as low magic and doesn’t have a specialty would be a good find. I can arrange a task force later to follow up on your leads.

    Will do. Now it sounded like an interesting assignment. Finding lost lambs would be way more fun than attending an academic borefest.

    Speaking of necromancers…

    What about Elijah? Did you try him? He would know of any current students with his powers or that he might suspect has similar skills. Elijah still attended the Academy and would be in the perfect position to ask around. He might be able to point Alstair in the right direction.

    Hades shook his head and caused a ball of fire to form on his right index finger. He tossed it from hand to hand as he spoke. I tried to get hold of him, but something is blocking my communication. I would’ve thought it some sort of protection spell to stop magic from invading campus, but it has a sense of wrongness about it. I hate to sound like a worrier, but I suspect something is wrong at the Academy. If I send a representative to the meeting, no one will think anything about it if you start poking around. Besides, you have the best instincts of all my Reapers. I trust you implicitly.

    Alstair puffed up with pride. Sure, he knew Hades used praise to manipulate him, but Alstair also knew the god truly respected his skills.

    To help you snoop around, I’m going to send a companion with you. Someone familiar with the campus.

    I have been there before, Alstair reminded him. When I taught Elijah and when I took a few classes. He’d taken some night courses in the latest magical discoveries. Alstair liked to stay at the top of his game.

    Yes, but you didn’t live there. You stayed at a place off campus.

    True. I still prefer to do things alone, Alstair said, not quite willing to give up the argument. He kept his tone respectful. If Hades got too frustrated with him, the results were never good. Alstair didn’t want to spend another century processing incoming souls. The thought of the paperwork alone made him want to die all over again.

    Be nice to him, Hades warned. He’s shy.

    Who is it? There were many creatures in the Underworld, most of whom Alstair didn’t think needed to see the light of day. Starting a riot at the campus probably wouldn’t make them open to any of Hades’ suggestions.

    Porter! Hades shouted. The god’s voice echoed, and Alstair fought the urge to clap his hands over his ears. If he weren’t a god, Alstair would wonder if Hades had hearing problems. The god never seemed to notice when people winced over the volume of his voice.

    A slim man with blond hair, a scruffy face, and worried eyes ran up to them. He came to a sliding stop and bowed low to Hades.

    He flashed Alstair a questioning look before returning his attention to Hades. What can I do for you, Sir?

    Sir? The kid was adorable. If Hades’ grin was anything to go by, the God of the Underworld shared Alstair’s assessment. Damn, he was going to be stuck with a newbie. The gleam in Hades’ smile didn’t promise anything but hardship.

    Since you used to attend Mayell, I’m sending you with Alstair. You can let him know if anything seems odd to you. Alstair, this is Porter. He used to be Elijah’s roommate. Porter, this is Alstair—he trained Elijah for a while. Now enough with the introductions—you will both report back to me when you are able to contact Elijah. If there is any problem, protect Elijah first. He’s vulnerable while he’s still training.

    He has his mate and his mate’s family looking out for him, Porter pointed out. He’s probably one of the best guarded students on campus.

    Alstair agreed. The triplets, along with Jaynell and his mate’s wolf pack, would all watch out for the necromancer. Alstair doubted he could improve on their job. He just nodded so Hades knew he’d been heard. If Alstair didn’t know Persephone would rip off the god’s balls for cheating, Alstair would wonder if Elijah were Hades’ offspring. Random necromancers didn’t tend to have the powerful vision Elijah did without connections to a god. Hades rarely singled out necromancers for personal protection. If they couldn’t survive on their own, he deemed them unfit for his Reaper Corps. The fact that he cared about Elijah’s safety meant the god either needed staff more badly than Alstair suspected, or he had a soft spot for the necromancer.

    Alstair turned his attention to Porter. Nice to meet you, Porter. I guess we’re going to be travel companions.

    Porter flashed him a shy smile at odds with his rough exterior. Nice to meet you too. Elijah always said good things about your tutoring.

    Good. I like having happy clients even if he wasn’t the one who paid me. Elijah’s father was a class-A bastard, and Alstair would’ve turned down the job if it had been teaching someone with less ability.

    Do we have a plan other than to represent and snoop around? Is there a candidate you prefer as headmaster? Alstair might not be afraid of Hades but he knew better than to fail a mission, and this job sounded like it had more than one objective to get right. He’d never let the god down, and he didn’t plan to start. Disappointing

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