Reap & Repent (19 page)

His face contorted in the dim light of her glow. She hoped it was causing him pain. Concentrating harder, she thrust the energy into him. His face softened ever so slighty and his hold loosened. Confused, he backed away, his eyes searching the walls of the tunnel before settling upon her face. Recognition washed over his features as his eyes lit up.
Normal blue eyes.
He shook her hard.

“Ruth, I don’t have long.”

She continued to push energy into him, her only defense in the darkness of the tunnel. If she could somehow draw Rashnu’s attention, maybe …

“His name is Orithidon! Tell Deacon! Hurry! I can’t hold him back much longer. Ruth…run!”

He released her suddenly, and she slid down the wall, crumpling into a spineless heap. The blue light faded out, leaving her feeling drained and hopeless,
and for a moment she considered giving up. Then instinct took over and she scrambled to her feet. As Kylen backed away, allowing her to escape, she ran.

Or at least, she wanted to run…her body wasn’t cooperating. She pushed herself off the wall, and then shuffled toward what she thought was the entrance, praying she was headed the right way. She didn’t want to know what was at the other end of the tunnel.

Terrified, she made her way back into the busy terminal. No one seemed to notice the blood soaking through the back of her shirt from her fresh wounds as she made her way to the stone marker. It was too bad she couldn’t just click some ruby slippers. Grabbing hold of the marker with both hands, she envisioned Nate’s living room. The pull had started to work its way through her body when a searing pain pierced both of her thighs. She screamed as she spun out of control, the demon’s talons holding her fast, penetrating her skin.

Chapter Twenty-Two

She heard and felt the snap of her leg as Kylen crashed onto her. Consecrated subway travel was obviously not meant to be taken with unintended passengers. They had landed in the middle of a cemetery on the edge of a town that she hoped was Meridian. Somehow Kylen had overridden her intended destination, detouring her here.

Against my will.

She wanted to zap herself back to Nate’s without delay, but Kylen had a firm grip on her. He was sneering, obviously quite pleased with his success, but then he got a look at the improbable angle of her injured leg.

Kylen cursed. Or she assumed he cursed. While she didn’t understand the language, it generated a lot of spittle and the universal body language of a Class-A curse.

Great, she’d managed to piss off a demon.

He looked down at her leg again in disgust. She wasn’t sorry to disappoint him or foil whatever plan he had, but she did wish it could have happened in some less painful way.

“Get up!”

“I can’t,” she whimpered.

She thought again about trying to snap back through the subway, but she didn’t think she was strong enough. She also worried how effective the very human Nate would be against the demon, considering how poorly Deacon had
fared. Ruth figured her one hope was to bide her time and wait for a chance to escape.

She had no idea what Kylen had planned to do with her, but her injury had put an obvious wrench in his agenda.

“Fuck!” he growled again. Now that one, she understood.

“Humans are so fucking fragile. Your shell is worthless this way.”

She resisted the urge to apologize. Unless he was planning to kill her right off, she was hopeful that he wouldn’t be able to watch her or stay attached to her 24/7.

A strangled scream escaped her as her vision tunneled down to a thin black line.

God help me.

She was about to pass out in the middle of a cemetery with a demon.

And then she did.

* * *

When she awoke, she had no idea what time it was or how long she’d been out. Taking a few moments to assess the situation and her immediate surroundings, she determined she was inside a warehouse of some sort. It was silent—not even traffic noises were filtering in.

Not good.

She lay there for a moment longer, taking inventory, before realizing one more very important thing. She still had her underwear on, but her jeans were missing.

Great.

Opening her eyes hesitantly, she stared down at her naked legs. On the bright side, her broken leg wasn’t crooked anymore. It was, however, hot, swollen and tight as a sausage in a casing. It had been reset, but it was still much too painful to move. She couldn’t imagine any situation in which she could ever walk again on her own accord.

Lying on her back on an army-style cot, she turned her head from side to side to get a good look at the small, barren room. The one door was closed. A desk with a shadeless lamp sat against the wall to her right, a chair pushed up to it. The single bulb was the only thing illuminating the room. There were no windows and no other furniture. It appeared to be an unused office of some sort. At least she was alone. The demon Kylen was nowhere in sight.

Movement seemed impossible, but she needed to find a way out, and soon. She hoped beyond hope that the place was consecrated. If she had to make it out of here on foot, she wasn’t going anywhere. How long before Kylen would return? Or was he outside the door even now?

It’s now or never.

Ruth screwed up her courage and braced herself for another hard landing. She concentrated on Nate’s place, focusing what little energy she had left on getting herself there. The tingling sensations began to fill her. She felt the pull as the door to the office ripped open, and Kylen crashed into the room. She flashed into Nate’s living room alone, and in the nick of time.

* * *

Her escape would have seemed too easy to her except for the landing, which nearly brought her out of her skin. Nate and Deacon immediately descended on her like two mother hens.

Deacon took one look at Ruth, half-naked and in pain, and she didn’t have to imagine what was going through his mind. His face said it all. The pain rendered her mute, so an explanation would have to wait. Neither of them tried to move her, for which she would be eternally grateful. She half wished she could pass out again.

Deacon and Nate exchanged a look, and then Nate backed away. Ruth heard him chanting as he fortified the circle of protection.

Ruth could see the glow from Deacon before she felt it. His entire body lit up, and he placed a warm hand over her forehead and another across her stomach. As his hands hovered over her body, a warm gush of green energy flowed through her entire body before settling inside her injured leg.

Deacon’s light radiated so bright and clear that it stung her eyes to look at him. A tear slid down her cheek.

In an instant, the pain began to fade. A mantra played through her mind:
Thank God, thank God, thank God.

Deacon held her in his light energy for what seemed like hours, letting it massage its way through her. It was so blissful and intimate that she didn’t want it to end. Her leg began to itch and cool, and when she opened her eyes and glanced down at it, the swelling had dissipated and the color was back to normal.

Tentatively, she wiggled her toes then moved her ankle in a small circle. She bent her knee a bit and stretched it back out. There was no pain, and it felt just like her other leg. It was a miracle.

Deacon slumped beside her, while Nate watched them in awe from across the room. Ruth could only imagine what he was thinking, but since he wasn’t flipping out, she assumed that Deacon must have gotten him up to speed on the whole reaper thing.

“I suppose this means I’m going to have to go on another food run,” Nate said, shaking his head. “They’re going to think I’m a freak for eating so much.”

“Thanks, Nate. We owe you,” Deacon said, caressing her leg.

“Yeah, you do… I’ll be back.”

Nate grabbed his wallet and walked out the door, leaving Deacon and Ruth alone on the floor. She lay motionless, feeling completely and utterly relaxed. The healing energy was much more powerful than anything else she’d experienced from Deacon. Not only had it healed her, it had soothed her down to her very soul.

Deacon stroked her hair in long strokes, grounding her. The green energy had made her nerve endings alight and hyper-sensitive. She could imagine a lot of other good uses for it …

“You scared the shit out of me,” he said, pulling her close.

“Well, I wasn’t too happy about the situation either.”

“What the hell happened to you? You were gone for more than twelve hours. I expected you to be back in an hour tops.”

“Things got complicated,” she said, snuggling against him. “Kylen grabbed me and followed me out. When my leg was broken in the landing, I guess he abandoned his plan, whatever it was. I don’t know why, except that I think I may have become more of a burden for him than he wanted.”

“Tell me everything.”

“I will, as soon as I can,” she promised, her eyelids drooping. She let him hold her tighter, her head on his lap. He leaned down and kissed her sweetly. All Ruth wanted was to curl up next to him like a cat and sleep the rest of her troubles away. This reaper business was exhausting. She’d been on the job an entirety of twenty-four hours, and in that time, more had happened to her than in the rest of her life combined.

How would she get through another day at this rate? She had carried a stranger’s soul into Purgatory, been bullied by an angel, and battered and kidnapped by a demon. If this was reaper hazing, they could count her out.

Chapter Twenty-Three

Deacon filled her in on what had transpired between him and Nate while she was gone, and she did her best to concentrate. While she thought she got the gist of it, she wouldn’t be ready for a quiz anytime soon. Her stomach growled, demanding attention. She needed more calories. Many, many more calories.

Not all of her cylinders were firing yet. Deacon dragged her up against his chest, and she relaxed back into him, managing to doze for a few minutes before Nate got back. She felt the shift in the energy of the circle before she even heard his key slide into the lock. Her sensitivity to the flow of energy was already growing stronger.

Nate pushed through the door, loaded down with fast-food bags…again. Deacon had better be right about all this calorie intake business, or she was going to be four hundred pounds by next month. Nate and Deacon both unwrapped burgers and dumped out fries into one big, easily accessible pile. Deacon handed her a milkshake to suck down while they worked at the second impromptu floor picnic in Nate’s living room in a day.

Deacon downed a double burger, while Nate did a cursory exam of Ruth, paying special attention to her leg. Having one friend who could fill her with magic healing go-go juice and another who could heal her the old-fashioned way, while spinning magic circles of protection around her, was not a bad deal. Not bad at all.

Nate ran his hands up and down her bare leg, kneading, bending and twisting it to his will. All the while he quizzed her about her pain level. Her answer was unvarying. She was suffering from no pain at all. She had gotten over her embarrassment about the whole pantless thing. Almost. Neither of the men had commented on it.

Smart boys.

After thoroughly examining her leg, Nate stood up and shook his head in amazement.

“There’s no way that leg should be ambulatory at all, let alone healed.” He stared hard at Ruth, like maybe she was keeping a secret from him.

“Do you want to try to stand on it?” he asked.

“Sure.”

He extended his hand and pulled her up, drawing her in against his chest to steady her. He held her for perhaps a second too long. Standing up in a heartbeat, Deacon wrapped his arms around her and drew her out of Nate’s embrace.

This is new.

“I’ve got her,” Deacon said, his voice a low rumble.

“Sure.” Still, Nate didn’t let go.

“I’ve got her,” Deacon repeated. Reluctantly, Nate released her and Deacon pulled her back against him.

Ruth felt like some sort of chew toy with a German shepherd on one end and a pit bull on the other.

“How does your leg feel?” Deacon asked, caressing her shoulders possessively.

“Good as new.”

Now that the milkshake and burgers were doing their job, she felt almost human again. She chuckled to herself—
almost human.

“What?” Deacon asked.

“Nothing.” She smiled and the two men exchanged a look, raised eyebrows all around. They didn’t need to know about every little thing that went on in her head.

A girl has a right to a few private thoughts, right?

Deacon led her over to the couch, and Nate tossed them another sack of burgers and fries before plopping down into his wing chair. Deacon eased down next to Ruth, placing a proprietary arm around her. She wasn’t sure what all she had missed, but she really, really wanted to get some pants on.

“I hate to trouble you, Nate, but do you have some shorts or something I could wear?” Somewhere along her adventures that day, she had lost her backpack, as well.

Not too surprising.

Nate jumped up and headed to his bedroom. When he was out of sight, Deacon ran a warm hand up her thigh, giving it a little squeeze as he whispered in her ear.

“Good idea. I wasn’t going to be able to ignore this situation much longer.”

Nate returned with sweatpants that looked way too huge for her, but they at least had a drawstring in the waist instead of elastic. She slipped them on, cinching the string and knotting it to keep them from falling down. The tension in the room dropped several notches once she was clothed again.

Relaxing into his chair and sighing, Nate exchanged another loaded glance with Deacon. Something was going on between those two. She wasn’t sure how much or what it might have to do with her.

“Okay, Ruth, you’re up to speed on our end of things, so tell us what happened when you got to Purgatory,” Deacon said.

When she looked at Deacon for confirmation that he wanted her to tell the whole story, unedited, he nodded. She spilled out the details to the best of her memory.

Deacon got excited when she mentioned the electric-blue energy she’d generated, the Kylen breakthrough and the whole demon name thing. She knew it was important, and was thankful something potentially useful had come of her horrifying day.