Justice Kane considers himself lucky. The year is 3517. Most of the world has been destroyed. Food is scarce. Families are suffering. Parents are often forced to sell one child to ensure the survival of the rest. This is how Justice ends up inside Darkest Pleasures, a perverted brothel owned by an evil woman named Olemjessa. His life looks bleak until he finds a savior in Michael Santos, a bounty hunter. Michael takes him under his wing, teaches him to follow in his path, which includes fighting against demons who want to take over their world.
Two weeks shy of her eighteenth birthday, Cassie is placed in a special cell beneath their barn. Itâs only then she learns her parents have made a deal with a demon. In return for raising her, they will receive protection from the elements and the desperate people who live outside their walls. All looks bleak until a handsome young man opens a seam in reality, holding his hand out to her, promising safety.
Justice Kane considers himself lucky. The year is 3517. Most of the world has been destroyed. Food is scarce. Families are suffering. Parents are often forced to sell one child to ensure the survival of the rest. This is how Justice ends up inside Darkest Pleasures, a perverted brothel owned by an evil woman named Olemjessa. His life looks bleak until he finds a savior in Michael Santos, a bounty hunter. Michael takes him under his wing, teaches him to follow in his path, which includes fighting against demons who want to take over their world.
Two weeks shy of her eighteenth birthday, Cassie is placed in a special cell beneath their barn. Itâs only then she learns her parents have made a deal with a demon. In return for raising her, they will receive protection from the elements and the desperate people who live outside their walls. All looks bleak until a handsome young man opens a seam in reality, holding his hand out to her, promising safety.
Justice Kane scowled as he took in the entrance to Darkest Pleasures, one of the more expensive whorehouses found near Las Vegas. It didnât look like much during the daylight hours, but at night a light show and video feed came on to help tempt those with a more exotic sexual appetite. Those with kinks who struggled to find what they craved elsewhere.
Darkest Pleasures wasnât an especially large business, not like the House of Pain found in Philantha. There were only four levels. The ground floor was set in a horseshoe design with the center courtyard kept open to the night sky. Elaborate live shows were put on in this area throughout the night, shows meant to wet the tastebuds of their many guests. The upper two levels were guest rooms with balconies opening toward the entertainment area. Patrons could watch from above, stroll freely through the courtyard, or even participate in the shows for an extra price. The lower levels were known as the dungeons. This was where they broke in and trained the new sex slaves, some of them only sixteen years old. The laws were fucked up as far as Justice was concerned. A sixteen-year-old could not legally be sold for sex, but they could begin training, as long as they were a willing participant. Considering their options if they said no, most were more than willing.
Justice should know. Heâd been one of the trainees when he first came to work for Olemjessa. That lying bitch. Lucky for him, Michael Santos, his current boss, had learned about his impressive tracking skills and got him released from the dungeons before too much damage had been inflicted. Heâd purchased Justiceâs contract from Olemjessa, then set him free before offering him a position as an apprentice. After five years working directly under Mike, Justice had moved onto a small farm outside of town, only riding into town when called for a job. Heâd been working with Mike for about ten years now, a job he enjoyed, mostly.
Mike had sent word late last night that heâd be needed on a difficult tracking assignment today. Justice hoped it wouldnât involve the House of Pain this time. Their last job had very nearly got them all killed. He didnât mind dealing with humans, even the most perverted of the lot, but he detested demons, tricky bastards, every last one of them. Any human who thought to outsmart one was an idiot. And there were a lot of idiots in the world who thought they could make a deal with one.
He sat on his sorrel mountain pony a few minutes longer, wondering if heâd ever be able to break completely away from this evil place. Frankly, Justice couldnât figure out why Mike stuck around, his mentor as sickened by what went on here as he was.
Shaking his head, he nudged his pony into a walk. Heâd meet Mike inside after he fed and watered his exhausted horse. Olemjessa would provide fresh ponies if they needed to leave right away.
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âHey, Mike,â Justice said when Michael opened the door to his personal apartment. âCame as fast as I could. Whatâs up?â Usually itâd be some runaway slave, one Olemjessa had recently purchased who hadnât accepted their lot in life. Those who willingly signed a contract with her didnât usually bother to try to escape. Most were desperate when they arrived. They had nowhere else to go. Or sometimes stressed-out parents rented out their kids, like what had happened to him. Rent, he thought. What a joke. Once you got trapped inside those doors, you rarely got free again, not until you were old, or all used up.
âTake a seat, Kane,â Mike said, motioning toward the living area of his small apartment. He waited until Justice had made himself comfortable on the couch, stretching his long legs out in front of him, to continue. âGot a job last night. Probably gonna be dangerous, so if you decide to say no, I wonât hold it against you.â
Okay, that got his attention. Most jobs were simple matters of tracking down a clueless slave. Hardly dangerous, or difficult. Except for the last one. Itâd only been a year or so since they lost Magdalena, Olemjessaâs halfbreed succubus. A wonder they hadnât all lost some hide over that mess. Justice took off his stained baseball cap and set it on the couch beside him. âAll right, I consider myself warned. Whatâs goinâ on?â
âWe gotta track down another one of those halfbreed bitches and bring her back to Darkest Pleasures.â
Justice took a deep breath, releasing it slowly. âShit, Mike. I take it Maggieâs dad musta finally showed up, huh?â
âYep, and heâs pissed off, naturally.â
âYeah, heâd probably be really pissed off if he learned Maggieââ
Mike held up his hand, shaking his head. âThe demon wants Olemjessa to provide him with an alternate, another halfbreed whoâs about the same age as Maggie. We gotta find her and bring her back or the incubus is gonna suck Olemjessa dry.â
Justice pressed his lips together, not sure that would be a bad thing. âWhereâs she at, this girl?â
âThatâs gonna be the tricky part. The best we can pin down her location, sheâs somewhere in the Pacific Northwest, near the ocean.â
âThatâs quite a stretch of beach there, Mike.â
Mike rubbed at his jaw as he took a seat across from Justice, looking a little tired. Outwardly, his mentor was an average man in every way, about forty-five years old, five-foot-ten, a hundred and sixty or seventy pounds. He had clear blue eyes and short, light brown hair, pleasant features, though nothing youâd remember five minutes after you met him. But thatâs why he could slip through unnoticed where others failed. Michael might look like a weak nobody on the outside, but few men were considered deadlier. Justice tried to blend in, but at six-foot-three and two hundred twenty pounds of solid muscle, he tended to stand out. He wore his dark brown hair cut military short, but his intense brown eyes made a lasting impression.
âFinding the bitch is only half the problem,â Mike finally said. âIâm sure her sire has set up safeguards to confuse the Witches. Itâs why weâve never heard of this one. Sheâll also be guarded well, better than Olemjessa did with Maggie.â
âAnother whorehouse?â
âI donât think so, not this time.â Mike rubbed thoughtfully above his top lip with a finger. âWe woulda heard about another succubus before now. My guess is this oneâll be with a private family, most likely one with money and power. There arenât too many like that. Might make finding her a little easier.â
âHow would she feed?â Justice had always kept his distance from the halfbreed demon, not planning to be food for any demon, even a beautiful succubus.
âNot my problem. All we gotta do is find her and bring her back.â
âYou really want to do that, Mike? Maybe we shââ
Again, Mike shook his head in warning. âHad my way, Iâd kill âem all, son. Theyâre evil sombitches, even the halfbreeds. But thatâs not our job. The incubus controls Olemjessa, and he wants the hybrid for a bride. Olemjessa pays our wage, so we go get her for them. At least the sick bastard isnât gonna fuck his own daughter.â
Yeah, thatâs what Justice had heard too, that Maggieâs father had wanted her to bear him a child. Guess they didnât care too much about incest issues. âSo whatâs your plan?â
Mikeâs cold blue eyes stared hard into his own. âWe have to go in light. Take too many men and theyâll know trouble is headed their way. I contacted a Witch whoâll be meeting us at the border to Oregon. She should be able to help us lock on the hybridâs position. Itâll just be the three of us on this hunt. You in?â
Justice nodded. âWhen do we leave?â
âAbout an hour before sundown. Weâll travel at night until we get farther north, try to stay out of the sun. It wonât be quite so bad once we get over the pass. You might want to get a couple hours of sleep. Go ahead and crash in my spare bedroom. Iâll get our ponies and supplies lined up.â
Wrath of justice gives readers insight into a post apocalyptic world where hunger and starvation are rampant. It begs the question- what would you do if you were desperate enough?
The human realm has been infiltrated by demons and the only thing keeping them at bay are bounty hunters and witches.
The story has a sub plot that continues from the first book where humans are used by powerful demons as conduits for portals via mating.
The catch is that these select humans must be âpureâ and reside in the mortal realm.
The main character Justice has a subtle streak of innocence that I liked despite his hard past and jaded thoughts on life. Were some of his reactions to situations unheard of and slightly unrealistic - yes. Did I fall for him anyway because of his Noble ways and respect for women- you betcha !
The female lead Cassie is the epitome of âcluelessâ and sheltered. Sheâs grown up without any knowledge of who she is or of the outside world and her reactions and behavior reflect this.
The other two characters who intrigued me are Mike and Ali and I must confess they are still both enigmas to me. Having not read the previous book I canât fully comprehend their bone of contention but can see thereâs a begrudging respect for each otherâs profession and their opinions.
Overall I think Justice of Wrath was a good spin on demons and enjoyed the characters and their development.
Thank you to the author and Reedsy Discovery for providing me with an arc in exchange for a review.