A Name Like Justice Read online

  A Name Like Justice

  The Secret Gods Series: Book Two

  G. Bailey

  Contents

  Join Bailey’s Pack

  Description

  Prologue

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Epilogue

  A Name Like Revenge

  Afterword

  Stay in Touch

  About the Author

  More by G. Bailey…

  A Name Like Justice © 2019 G. Bailey

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental. All Rights Reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or used in any manner without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review. This eBook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This eBook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient.

  Edits by Polished Perfection

  Cover Design by Amanda Rose

  Stock Photo by Bewitchingbookstock

  Created with Vellum

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  Dedication

  For all those who are promised a little bit of Karma.

  Good or bad.

  Description

  My name is Karma, and I will do anything to save my family and my gods…even from myself.

  Karma isn't just my name, it's also my job

  Only, my job got me into a lot of trouble, which ended up with me in prison, and now no one can save me.

  Turns out, there are a few secrets that I didn’t know…

  Now all the secrets are out, and the world as I know it is changed forever.

  The higher gods take me as their prisoner, and it’s not just me they take to play games with.

  My family, my best friend, and my gods are all on the line. I’ve already lost one friend; I won’t lose another.

  If I don’t win the games, everyone I love dies.

  So I will not lose.

  My name is Karma Maria Kismet, and I am going to destroy the higher gods.

  I am going to get justice…no matter what it takes.

  18+ RH

  Prologue

  Neritous

  The skies are dark as I lay her down on the dust covered ground, her fiery red hair spilling across the stone, her pale skin such a contrast. She looks just like her mother. Beautiful, innocent and a deadly threat.

  “Karma must not know the truth. She must not know that it was me who saved her from the prison. No one must know, because I want to see who she is. If she is more a Kismet than anything else, it is pointless to keep her alive,” I state, pulling my gaze from her. Until she embraces her true power, she is nothing to me.

  “Of course,” he replies. I walk away, only for him to say one sentence to stop me in my tracks. “If she takes our family traits, she might be able to kill us.”

  “Then find a way to make sure she can’t. Break her, or find me someone that can.” I pull my hood up as I carry on walking, leaving my family alone to do what they do best. Destroy every part of Karma Kismet’s soul.

  Until then, I have a world to destroy and a new order to establish. I squeeze the girl’s charm necklace in my hand, but there is only one charm on it that matters. I stare at it as I walk away, lifting the charm into the moonlight. It’s time the world knew about the gods who rule it…

  Chapter One

  Something cold brushes against my cheek as I crack my eyes open and slowly stare up at the endless night sky above me. It’s an endless range of stars, with a few clouds floating their way past. It’s so beautiful, and I instantly remember how I really missed this. I could stare at the night sky for hours, counting every little star and wishing I could remember them all forever. Though it used to bring me peace, the night sky is now a cold reminder of the past. Of everything that happened to get me to this moment. My gods, my family, and my best friend need me. I can’t lie here and give up. I’m a Kismet, and we don’t give up.

  Every little inch of my body hurts as I try to sit up, forcing myself to be strong. I push past the pain long enough to stand and look around at the courtyard I am in the middle of. It’s a ruin, with parts of the walls broken and fallen down. Nature has taken some of it, covering it with vines, and some parts even have little flowers growing there now. The air is warm as it blows against my skin and pushes my dress around my legs, but as I look down, I see the blood on my dress. I see the blood on my hands as they shake.

  Jade is dead. She sacrificed her life to save the justice twins, and I couldn’t save her. The twins might be dead, too, for all I know. I never saw them get up, and I’m worried. Jade’s dead body just keeps flickering in my mind like a nasty picture. Even if the twins aren’t dead, they are trapped in that prison while I am stuck out here.

  “Are you going to play nice this time, little mouse?” someone says behind me, their voice sounding like the creepy murderer in a horror movie who tells the victim not to run. You never run if you hear that voice. It’s best to hide. I never did understand the victims’ logic in those movies though. I quickly turn around, eyeing the hooded figure standing very still in the courtyard. It’s the same arsehole that killed Jade, I know it, and he possibly killed the justice twins before knocking me out.

  I look down at my hands as green lightning flickers out of them. I turn my hands around, watching how the lightning moves like a wave but doesn’t hurt me. I have no feckin’ idea how to control it, but it might help me get out of this. I just need to find my family and disappear. I can then make a plan to get Storm and the twins out of prison somehow. My necklace full of charms might be able to help me.

  “That would be a massive nope, you feckin’ gobshite!” I starkly reply, crossing my arms and feeling for my charms, which are missing. Dammit. Plan B it is then. Except I don’t have a plan B, and I didn’t really have a solid plan A to start with. I still have that cool lightning, but he was too quick at throwing that back at me, so it clearly doesn’t work on him at all. I step back, digging my feet into the dirt as the wind blows my hair into my face. I knock it away, wanting to keep my eye on this guy. I don’t know who he is, but I suspect he isn’t my friend.

  “That kind of language does not suit your heritage, and it will not be allowed in my presence without punishment. Now—”

  I stop listening to him, deciding that running away is my best chance of survival. If you can’t fight it, run. That’s what my brother always told me, and it’s always my solid plan C. I turn and run straight towards the ruined part of the building nearest to me and the gap in the middle of it. That is until two women walk out the gap, standing together. I know who they are, and it stops me in my tracks. I skid to a stop, dirt puffing up like a cloud around my feet as I stare at them. My heart beats so loudly that it makes my ears ring as I watch the higher gods, the female twins that Storm told me a
bout.

  They look just like they did in the painting he has. They wear matching red cloaks with red dresses under them by the look of it. Their skin is pale but in a smooth, picture-perfect way. They have thick black eyelashes, white eyes with tints of black in them and red lips. The only thing that is different about them is their hair. One has long black hair and the other’s hair is as white as snow.

  “Ah, sisters, you took your time,” the hooded man says, passing me and stopping in the middle of the twins. They look to him, and for a second, the black haired god looks my way and smiles, revealing sharp teeth that are pointed and stained with blood. I gulp because that is feckin’ creepy. Maybe I should just focus on the guy instead. He is clearly the boss man and less disgusting to look at. His black cloak is such a contrast to the red ones his sisters wear, and I can see now why everyone is frightened of them. Even when they don’t say a word, there is something about them that is downright terrifying.

  I know he is going to kill me; why else would I be here? I accidentally killed his brother, and now I’m going to pay for it. I just wish I got to say goodbye to Storm and the twins. I wish I got to say goodbye to my family and Mads while I’m at it. Maybe even Michael, but perhaps not Kit. I might get bitten for that. I’m sure the poor fecker is starving by now and biting Storm. The thought makes me smile.

  “It was an accident, you know that?” I say because, hell, I might as well try to talk my way out of this.

  “What was?” the man asks, tilting his head to the side.

  “Killing your brother,” I nervously answer, crossing my arms. Finally, the last higher god lowers his hood so I can get a good look at him and what I expected to see. Red hair, red eyes, and man, is he creepier than even Storm described him as. It’s like I can sense something is very feckin’ wrong with him somehow. He looks just like his brother I killed, but there is a cut on his eyebrow that stands out, mainly because it looks like a horn shape. If I drew two ball shapes at the end, it would look a lot like something else, and that is not a shape you want on your forehead.

  “I know you didn’t mean to kill your father on purpose. That isn’t in your nature, from what your family and friend have told me,” he replies, and so much about that one statement makes me step back, my hands dropping down. My family and I’m guessing Mads are here, which puts them in just as much danger as I am. Wait, did he say the dude I killed was my father? What crap is this higher god snorting?

  “I think you have the wrong person. He wasn’t my father,” I tell him, lifting my head and locking my eyes on his. The red is so much darker when you really look into his eyes. It’s endless, like a sea of blood. I imagine he has spilt enough blood in his lifetime that he could easily fill a sea. The higher gods aren’t as all powerful and knowing as they think they are; instead, they are cruel, and they are monsters that happen to rule. I wish Storm was out here with me. He could put them in their place.

  “Yes, he was. See, your powers can’t hurt me because I learnt long ago how to protect myself from my brother’s powers. Your powers come from him, so they are the same in some respect,” the creepy god tells me, his voice slow and almost like a purr of satisfaction.

  “You’re crazy,” I laugh. “A crazy feckin’ eegit.”

  “Oh, you poor little mouse, you really didn’t know?” he asks, tilting his head to the side and smiling, though his words suggest sympathy. His sisters laugh like this is all some big joke as I take a step back, shaking my head. Could it be true? Everything he said? Did I kill my father without even knowing it was him? My mother wouldn’t have cheated on my dad. No way. This must be all lies. Some part of my heart hurts though as my eyes water with tears. A deep part of me thinks it is true, no matter how much I try to hush that part. Memories come rushing back to me of times I’ve overheard my parents arguing, saying that mum had to tell me something because I was getting older. I always brushed it off as them arguing who was going to give me the sex talk or something. I never thought it was serious…at least most of me didn’t. Not until this moment. “Oh, you really didn’t have a clue, did you? How very sad to live a life not knowing where and who you came from.”

  “I’m not who you think I am. My mother is—”

  “Is dead. Your aunt brought you up as hers, hiding you away like a little pet. I suppose she must have always wanted a girl with that many boys,” he replies, his answer cold and cruel. I’m not a pet to my mum. She loves me; that I don’t doubt. If what he is saying is true, one of my dead aunts is my mother. Which one? I don’t know hardly anything about them. Maybe that is why mum never wanted to talk about the past and my aunts, because it hurt too much.

  “No,” I mutter, shaking my head and taking another step back. Tears fall from my eyes this time, and they make everything so real. The warm wind blowing against me, the night sky with the millions of stars that watch us all, knowing the truth. The salty air I can almost taste with every breath, and the distant sound of waves, washing against the sand. I don’t know the truth or who to believe. I hate that a deep part of me believes him straightaway and desperately wants to know more.

  “Yes. My brother had a thing for Irish women, and I believe I met your mother once. She was actually in love with him, while he never loved anyone that wasn’t his family,” the light haired twin softly says, her voice sounding like what I’d imagine angels sound like. Though I imagine she is an angel of death, and her voice is only sweet to lull poor victims into her trap.

  “I don’t understand,” I mumble.

  “You are a child of a higher god, the only one still alive, I believe. Neritous went on a killing spree after a seer god told him his child would murder his family and rewrite the world as we know it. You can see how we wouldn’t want that; we do like to rule,” the man says with a frown. “Honestly, I think he was overdramatic. I’ve never known a seer to be right.”

  “So you are going to kill me? Not that I believe a single word you are saying,” I spit out, feeling more than frustrated as I shake with anger and shock. It can’t be friggin’ true. “I know who my parents are, and I’m not a child of a higher god.”

  “The only way a higher god can be killed is with the power of the higher gods. You couldn’t have killed him if what I’ve told you were a lie,” he tells me.

  “Then what do you want?” I ask, and I wipe the tears on my cheeks away. I’m not sure what they are falling for. The truth, Jade being gone, or the fact they are going to kill me. I won’t ever get to see Storm or the justice twins again, and that really hurts. I’ve grown attached to the assholes. I will never get to see my family or Mads again. Or hell, even Michael or Kit.

  “We lost a brother, and we need a replacement. Welcome to the family, Karma Maria Cyncus.”

  Chapter Two

  “I-I don’t believe you,” I stutter, shaking my head as his words roll around my mind and won’t leave. Karma Maria Cyncus. A child of a higher god. My family lied to me if this is true, and my mum is no liar. Neither is my dad...but something about this rings true deep down in my soul, and I friggin’ hate that. My head drops as I stare at the ground, my tears dropping from my cheeks onto the sand, and I do nothing but count each one as I try to process everything. The power I had in the prison was like nothing I’ve ever experienced in my life. It was strong and overwhelming...and it was me. There was no charm, and karma gods don’t have those kind of powers. My breath hitches when I remember what Jade said as she died. The charm boosts power, it doesn’t create it. It was all me.

  I look up, and I feckin’ hate the smirk he has on his face. Twins one and two are emotionless, but they keep watch. I have no doubt if I attacked him, then I’d be facing all three of them. I don’t have anyone to back me up. The only men that might have done are locked up. My family can’t help me fight the higher gods. They don’t have that kind of power.

  “You do believe me, my pretty little niece. My name is Xur, and I promise you are welcome in our family if you wish it. Now come here,” he says and holds a h
and out for me to take. In this moment, I know I will never accept his hand. I don’t know who my parents are that gave me life, but I sure as heck know who brought me up. I know who my family is. These are the higher gods and if—a big if—I’m related to them, then it would be nothing other than an embarrassment. They are murderers and coldhearted bastards. I don’t want anything to do with their family or their offer to let me join.

  “I have a family, so thanks but no thanks. If you’re not going to kill me, I have things to do,” I sarcastically reply, crossing my arms and lifting my head high. My hair falls around me, and the red curly waves just remind me of my Irish heritage. Everything I am is from who brought me up. I am nothing like them.

  “Are you rejecting me?” Xur growls, and my eyes widen as I watch him. Red lightning flickers around his arms and chest, burning parts of the cloak. Why is his lightning red and not green anymore? I step back as Xur is suddenly right in front of me, and before I can move, he grabs my arm. I scream from the pain as he cuts my arm with his nail, dragging a long line down my wrist, and blood pours out. My new powers flicker green lightning all around me, but it only bounces off Xur like it’s nothing more than an annoyance, though it burns his cloak and arm in places. I struggle to pull my arm away from him just before he does something utterly crazy and pulls my arm to his mouth. He only touches the cut to his lips for a second before dropping me to the floor. I instantly grab my arm as I lean up, glaring up at him as I try to stop the bleeding and pain. Xur mutters words I don’t understand under his breath before he glows red for just a moment. When he opens his eyes, he crosses his arms and steps back into the gap between his sisters.