Page 17 of Soul Sucker

“Then you’ve got to do what you’ve got to do. I just hope the male they find for you is hot, well-paid and fucks like a god.”

Laney gave a watery chuckle. “I sure hope so. I deserve some kind of god, don’t I?”

Ella hung up the phone and tossed the plastic bag in the microwave. The fragrant smells of cheese and meat filled her apartment and her stomach grumbled. Laney’s defection hurt more than she had expected. Who was she going to share a padded cell with now? She’d always imagined them going down together. But who was wrong? Laney for wanting to live, or Ella for preferring to die without being beholden to Otherworld for a crummy mate. While she waited she flipped through her mail and right at the bottom she found one of the characteristic brown windowed envelopes from Otherworld.

She opened it and found a typed sheet of paper and a blue tri-fold brochure. The letter looked as if it had been copied many times.

Dear Empath,

Congratulations on almost reaching your twenty-seventh birthday.

Enclosed is some further information as to what to expect in the coming months, and how you might avoid your inevitable descent into madness.

Yours sincerely,

Otherworld Community Outreach Services (OCOS)

Ella pickedup the enclosed blue leaflet and started to read.

ARE YOU AN EMPATH?

Are you worried about your future?

There were no glossy pictures, just the same blurred print, and a pen and ink drawing of some poor person, presumably an empath, with his or her head in their hands. She opened up the first fold.

FACT: 95% of empaths will experience some form of deterioration in their mental health by the end of their twenty-seventh year.

“No shit.” She hadn’t told anyone, but she’d already felt the first warning signs herself. Recovering from the extraction of a memory was becoming exhausting, leaving her with a terrible headache and the urge to curl up and sleep forever.

FACT: 95% of empaths will be unable to function as gatekeepers to Otherworld or replace memories by the end of their twenty-seventh year.

And that was what really scared the authorities on both sides of the divide, the prospect of losing their gatekeepers. Discovering that empaths could detect those who weren’t quite human on a psychic level had both frightened and intrigued the human government. That empaths could take away the memory of a human/Otherworld interaction had been an incredible bonus. Even Otherworld liked that, as it enabled them to control the wilder elements of their society and know when they had transgressed in the human world. When it came down to it, no one was concerned about her at all, just what she could do for them.

FACT: 50% of empaths will attempt suicide before the end of their twenty-seventh year.

She whistled. Wow, that one was a kicker. She hadn’t realized the rate was so high. She turned to the center page.

WHAT CAN YOU DO ABOUT THIS?

“Fuck all.”

99% of empaths who enter the Otherworld FAM (Find a Mate) program go on to live happy and fruitful lives.

Ella stared at that statistic until her vision started to blur. Ninety-nine percent? That was high, but then who believed Otherworld statistics? Only desperate people like her and Laney. She flipped the leaflet over, and saw another drawing of a happy grinning couple with their arms around each other. Wow, just wow. Did they really think she’d fall for that load of crap?

She dropped the envelope and its contents in the trash, and returned to scraping the lasagna out of the bag and onto a paper plate. A bottle of beer and a fork completed her preparations and she took everything through to her small leather couch in front of the TV. She put the local news on and stared at the screen. Ninety-nine percent of empaths who took a mate survived… Was she tough enough not to cave to that promise? Her personal interactions with other humans had taught her not to trust or rely on anyone except herself, so the concept of a mate seemed repugnant. The prospect of having to thank the government for the continuation of her life rankled even more. But if Laney was reconsidering her options, should she be rethinking her own?

5

Ella sippedher coffee and made her way through the cubicles to Feehan’s office at the far end of her floor. There was a buzz of interest in the air that resonated through her senses like a toothache. Whatever was going on, she couldn’t wait to make it stop. She was hoping it had something to do with the potential serial killer case, but she’d learned not to get too excited. Things changed rapidly at the SBLE and it could be something totally different.

She stopped at the door to Feehan’s office and studied the unknown male Fae seated at the table. He had long pale hair that was drawn into a braid at the back of his neck and he wore a dark blue suit. She wasn’t that smart before the caffeine kicked in, but she was guessing this gorgeous guy had something to do with the other guy in the suit she’d met at the vending machine. Didn’t they always come in pairs?

“Hey.” She took the seat opposite the Fae. “I’m Ella.”

He rose to his feet and bowed. “Good morning, my name is Alexei.”

“And you’re from Russia, right?”

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