Misery Happens Read Online Free

hadn’t too. Honestly, I wish it had because every part of me felt broken. My tongue tasted blood. How could I not be dead? How could I be thinking semi-clearly?
    I shifted my legs, and though my muscles shrieked, they moved. Whimpering to control the pain, I pulled my arms toward my chest, trying to maneuver into a position so I could sit. My head swam and so did the parking lot, and I managed to remove my helmet though I almost vomited from the intensity of the pain.
    Yet through it all, my heart continued to beat. My lungs continued to fill. And the magic connecting me to Raj continued to override every other concern. The ground vibrated with the hum of his bike’s engine, confirming he was as close as I sensed him. Bastard. I might be bleeding to death internally, but as long as I could move, I could take him with me.
    I tossed my helmet aside and discovered my hands were covered in blood. No matter. If I could twitch a finger, I could press a trigger. But the gun turned out to be far more uncomfortable to hold than my helmet, requiring a far greater range of motion to grip. I inhaled sharply, causing additional searing pain in my rib cage.
    Raj approached, a pair of kickass boots in my peripheral vision. My arm shook as I attempted to raise the gun, but I had no chance of shooting anything except his ankles. Even as I tried, I realized he must have been watching me struggle for a while. To confirm it, he snatched the gun from my hand, and I couldn’t stop from screaming as the action further abraded my palm.
    Raj kneeled next to me, and I hissed as he used the gun barrel to push hair out of my face. “You are something, soul swapper. Just look at you. Still fighting. Someone obviously covered you in some impressive charms for you to be moving and breathing, but being able to move is not half as fascinating as willing yourself to do it. There’s so much anger in you that it must power you nearly as strongly as it does me.” He made his point by inhaling deeply with an expression of disturbingly erotic satisfaction.
    “Go to hell.” My words were mushy. Shit. How many teeth had I lost?
    Raj chuckled. “No need for that. We’ve brought hell to us. With your assistance, of course.” He sighed theatrically. “I did warn you back in France that if you came with me, you’d be well treated, but if you refused, we’d get you one way or another and not as friendly-like. It’s simply unfortunate that I can’t take you with me this time. In your condition, throwing you over the back of my bike might kill you regardless of the charms holding you together, and if I wait for assistance, your friends might get here first. I have more important things to deal with than them.”
    Raj tossed my gun aside and to my surprise, pulled a handkerchief from his inner jacket pocket. While I tried scooting away unsuccessfully, he wiped blood from my face. It was almost gentle, but I understood why he did it, and it wasn’t out of concern for me. The only reason Raj wanted to take me with him was for the unique magical properties I contained, some of which were in my blood.
    He stuffed the handkerchief away and stood. “It’ll be interesting to analyze this and see what it’s useful for. Heal well, soul swapper. I know there are two others biologically similar to you, but there’s no one half as fun. It’d be a shame if you died.”
    I considered cursing him again, but it took far too much energy to form words. All I could do was sit there, trembling with rage and sweating in agony, and let him walk away. Watch him climb on his damn Harley and listen to the engine roar before he disappeared.
    A swarm of imps that had been dancing around a nearby streetlamp flew my way, attracted by the magic in my blood. Just what I needed on top of everything else—an imp attack. But the anti-imp charms I had, courtesy of Lucen, forced them to keep their distance. Finally, one small positive for the night. And yet as they hovered in an