My Reaper's Daughter (21 page)

His hand shot down between them and he fumbled at the buttons that kept his fly closed. All

he could think of was freeing his rod and slamming into her soft, wet, hot sheath. He ached to

grab her legs, bend them against her chest and enter her to the depths of her being, to touch her

womb, to plant himself firmly inside her silken flesh.

“I love you,” she said softly, and the hands in his hair smoothed over his head, no longer

attempting to keep him from suckling her.

The mist in which they lay peeled back like a curtain to reveal soft green grass and bright

pink wildflowers, crimson clover and yellow daffodils. The sulfuric stench evaporated to be

replaced with the enticing clean scent of honeysuckle and jasmine. A soft breeze chased the

remaining wisps of black fog away and the darkness vanished to become a bright and sunny

afternoon with no sound of tormented souls in the background but rather the strains of a

babbling brook accentuating the peacefulness of the meadow.

He pushed away from her and stared down into her lovely face, into eyes that held his with

such devotion and caring it brought tears to his cheeks. When she put a soft, gently hand to his

cheek, a sob caught in his throat.

“Look what I almost did,” he whimpered, ashamed of the lust that had nearly destroyed the

fragile, budding relationship he hoped to build.

“Love me, Glynnie,” she said, and her arms went around his neck to pull him down to her,

his lips to hers.

The leather disappeared from his long legs. The black silk shirt vanished. He lay atop her—

naked body to naked body—and felt the cradle of her arms around him. He tasted the sweetness

of her mouth. He looked into the tranquility of her chocolate gaze.

And felt at peace.

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Gently, reverently, he slid the heated rigidity of his shaft into the silky, warm recesses of her

beautiful body and worshipped her for what she truly was—the redemption of his very soul.

He sat up, shoving a hand through his hair. Dreams, he thought, were telling and

the one he’d just endured had spoken volumes to him. He understood—as he had not

before—the reasons he had stayed away from commitment to a mate in the past.

Subconsciously, he realized he believed himself unworthy of a good woman’s love but

he knew that was not the case. If a woman such as Mystery could look at him with

respect, could invite his touch, he could learn respect for himself. Perhaps he was not

the demon he thought himself to be.

“Can’t sleep?” Kasid asked softly so as not to wake the Carvers.

Glyn scrubbed at his face. “I was dreaming.”

Jaborn nodded sagely. “I do that as well. They say dreams are your conscience

talking to you.”

“Aye, well, this one was an eye-opener,” Glyn told him. He sighed deeply. “I’m not

going to get any more sleep. What do you say we head on out?”

“I’ve had all the rest I need,” Kasid replied, and sat up as well.

As quietly as they could, the Reapers strapped on their guns and gathered their

belongings together. They each left a twenty-dollar gold piece on the table for their

hosts before leaving. After saddling their mounts, they rode out into a bitter rain that

seemed to have no end.

“I’ve never seen it rain this long and hard,” Glyn said loudly when they were well

away from the Carver farm. His slicker was doing little to ward off the barrage. He had

tugged the brim of his hat low to keep the slanting water from blinding him for they

were riding into a deluge where the rain was coming at them sideways.

“The roads will soon be impassable at this rate,” Kasid responded.

Though the men were hungry, they were comfortable enough. Before setting out,

they’d injected themselves with tenerse and had finished up the last of the Sustenance

they had in their saddlebags. It would be necessary to find another source before the

following morning.

The creeks over which they passed were swollen almost all the way to the

undersides of their bridges. One bridge had washed away completely and they’d been

forced to go several miles out of their way to find a way to cross the tumbling, roaring

waterway. Mud ran in thick slides down banks and went swirling away in the rapid

currents. The only good thing was the lightning and thunder had dwindled down to an

occasional burst of light in the distance and a brief, rumbling echo.

Still it looked to be another day or two of miserable riding before they reached their

destination.

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Charlotte Boyett-Compo

Chapter Ten

Vircars Territory

Three days later

“Lord Jaborn?”

Kasid sawed on the reins of his mount. “Aye, Lord Kheelan?” he answered aloud,

casting a look to see Glyn, who reined in his own horse.

“There was a threat in the Oklaks Territory that has been remedied but my fellow

Shadowlords and I believe you and Kullen should hear of it.”
There was a momentary pause.

“He is not hearing us, is he?”

“No, Your Grace, he is not,” Kasid answered.

“We thought not. How is he feeling?”

Kasid asked.

“Tell them I feel feverish but otherwise I’m okay. All I’m hearing is this infernal

clicking between my ears,” Glyn replied.

Kasid relayed the information to Lord Kheelan.

“Can he use his powers?”

“He killed a moccasin with his whip about an hour ago,” Kasid reported. He gave

Glyn a shrug. “As to his ability to change…”

Glyn sighed heavily and handed his reins to Kasid. He closed his eyes and before

another breath could be taken, shape-shifted into a black hawk and soared into the

heavens.

“He doesn’t seem to have a problem with that,” Kasid told his master. He kept his

gaze on Glyn until his fellow Reaper landed on the ground and resumed his human

shape with ease. He sent a mental message to Glyn but Kullen didn’t appear to hear.

“It’s the telepathy he’s having trouble with.”

“Lord Kiel as well apparently,”
Lord Kheelan said
. “We have still not been able to raise

him or the goddess.”

“Ask him how Owen is,” Glyn bid Kasid.

“How is Tohre, Your Grace?”

“As well as can be expected. We will be giving him his first dose of tenerse next week so that

should help to relieve Kullen’s mind.”

When Kasid told him what the Shadowlord said, Glyn asked after Rachel’s health

and that of her twin sons.

“She is well but growing anxious,”
came the amused reply from the Citadel.

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Glyn nodded at the news and vaulted into his saddle. “Tell him I have a headache

too, but nothing I can’t handle.”

“And what of you, Lord Jaborn?”
Lord Kheelan inquired when given that information
.

“Do you have a headache also? Do you feel overly warm?”

“Aye, Your Grace, but it’s not so bad.”

“It seems this headache and fever is a Reaper-wide phenomenon,”
Lord Kheelan reported
.

“Cree, Belial, Coure and your Prime Reaper are suffering the same symptoms. We believe it is

due to the threat that was discovered in Gehdrin’s territory.”

“What kind of threat, Your Grace?” Kasid asked.

“It seems before the Ceannus left us in Calizonia, they put into place several sleeper cells of

cybots programmed to go online at a given time. When that time was or how many of these

creations are out there, we don’t know. Those we were able to detect via heat signature in the

Oklaks Territory have been eliminated via drone as the ghoret threat was terminated. It will be

necessary to send the drones over all the territories so we can locate and eradicate ‘bots that may

be already operational and discover others as they come online. In and of themselves, the ’bots do

not pose that great a threat. It is what those creations are capable of doing that has us greatly

concerned.”

Kasid repeated to Glyn what the High Lord was saying.

“You believe they’ve found a way to cause us harm?” Glyn had Kasid ask.

“We don’t believe the inability to hear us or the Transitioning out of cycle is something the

’bots can cause, Lord Kullen. That, we believe, may be coming from Raphian in some new form

we have yet to understand or be able to stop.”

A chill went down Glyn’s spine when Kasid gave him that bit of disconcerting

news. To know the Destroyer of Men’s Souls could somehow reach out and touch the

Reapers was unsettling.

“And that He can may be because we have not been able to contact the goddess,”
Lord

Kheelan suggested.
“It is not like Her not to answer us, to ignore our entreaties.”

“You don’t think Raphian has found a way to neutralize Her, do you?” Glyn asked

when given that response.

“We hope not, but we honestly don’t know what to think,”
Lord Kheelan answered.
“We

are working on it and for now, all we can do is take every precaution with your safety and do our

best to find and destroy the creatures the ’bots are fashioning so they do not or will not pose a

threat to your mission.”

“What creatures?” Glyn asked, feeling another trill of unease wiggle down his

spine.

“Out in the Oklaks Territory, citizens were coming up missing and when their bodies were

found, they were absent vital organs. The ’bots were harvesting these organs and transplanting

them into a new form of cybot—a plastiform body that is so real-looking, so human-like, it is

impossible to detect with the naked eye the difference between it and an actual human. If one of

these creatures walked right by you, you would not know it was a cybot. It would be so

nondescript, so unremarkable you wouldn’t give it a second look. You would hear it breathe,

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Charlotte Boyett-Compo

detect a heartbeat, even hear the peristalsis as its ingested food traveled through its digestive

tract. But in order to maintain the illusion of a living being, the organs the ’bots harvested had to

be hard-wired into the new plastiforms and because those organs were being preserved by some

kind of preservative fluid instead of blood, the drone was able to zero in on them even easier than

having to extract DNA samples. All the drone has to do is look for beings whose bodies are not

pulsing with heated blood as yours and ours are.”

“And I always thought Lord Kheelan was a cold blooded S.O.B.,” Glyn observed

when Kasid gave him that explanation.

“Another mistake the Ceannus made was in reusing the facial features of its ordinary-

looking victims when they fashioned their plastiforms. Their laziness in reusing a dead man’s

looks aided your fellow Reapers in finding the plastiforms.”

“So you believe this same thing may be happening here in Vircars?” Glyn

questioned.

“It seems likely and we are recalibrating the drone and sending it that way,”
Lord Kheelan

replied to Kasid’s repeat of the question
. “As soon as you get in touch with Lord Kiel, we

want to be contacted. Is that clear?”

“As a bell,” Glyn agreed.

“To get a leg up on this, get photographs or drawings of the missing and dead and start

looking for people who look like them. We’ll take it from there.”

“What if we lose contact with you?” Glyn had Kasid ask.

There was no answer for a long moment then a muscle in Kasid’s jaw tightened.

“Acknowledged, Your Grace,” he said.

“What did he say?” Glyn prodded.

Kasid squared his shoulders. “He said if that were to happen, we would be on our

own and for us to do as we saw fit. He said if he did not hear from us within twentyfour hours, our teammates would be sent to our aid.”

“Let’s just hope you can stay in contact with them,” Glyn declared.

* * * * *

Because the weather continued to throw miserable conditions at the inhabitants of

Charlestown, the schools were temporarily closed and the children kept at home.

Leaking roofs, impassable roads, downed trees and flooding were major concerns. The

swamps were beginning to overflow and the threat of disease all too likely. Adding to

that the disappearances that continued to plague the populace, and conditions were

beginning to rub nerves raw.

Concern for his people sent Anthony Simmons out to the cabins of his plantation’s

workers to make sure the elderly and infirm were being cared for and had plenty of

food and medicine. He took along his personal healer just in case the man was needed.

When he arrived at Mystery’s door, he was soaked through but smiling cheerfully.

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“Mr. Simmons!” Mystery exclaimed, stepping back to let the drenched man into her

dwelling. “What on earth are you doing out in the storm?”

“I came to see if you needed anything,” Anthony said. He had removed his hat at

the door and was now clutching it against his leg with one hand while he reached