Reap & Reveal (The Reaper Series Book 3) (23 page)

“Shit.”

Ruth reached for the doorknob and pushed out and into the yard.

“Shit, shit, shit, shit.” She chanted as she crossed the frozen lawn in her gown and fuzzy slipper socks to Nate’s trailer. So much for planning ahead.

Maeve opened the door, scythe drawn. She likely felt the shift in power before Ruth even arrived at the trailer.

“What happened? Are we under attack?”

“Not exactly.”

“Are you injured? Is it the baby? Did Temperance hurt you?” Maeve searched the yard left then right. “Where is Temperance?”

“I—um—sent her away.”

“You what?”

“Nate! Come out, please!” Ruth grasped the handrail and began to hoist herself up the trailer steps and past Maeve.

“He’s already gone. He thinks the replacement reapers are in trouble. He left to help them. I’ve got to leave right now. I need to let Deacon know what’s going on so he can bring backup.”

“Dane and Carlos? How does he know?”

“He checked that phone app thing, and they dropped off of it while he was watching it.”

“What do you mean they dropped off of it?”

“Hey, I’m not Steve Jobs here, but he said it was highly unlikely that they would both lose their phones at the exact same time.”

“Maybe they flashed into the consecrated subway.”

“They weren’t anywhere near consecrated ground.”

“Right.”

“You’d better get back to your trailer. I’ll help you.” Maeve stepped down the stairs and waited to escort Ruth back.

“No. I’m going to go find my mother.”

“Nate told you to stay here, Ruth. We don’t have time for your drama. You’re putting yourself in danger. You’re not thinking clearly. I know I’ve been out of commission for a few months, but I still know that you’re supposed to be on bed rest. If you think I’m going to incur the wrath of Nate and Deacon to let you do something this crazy, you are nuts. Now go to bed.” Maeve took Ruth’s elbow in her hand and tugged her toward the trailer.

Ruth jerked free of her hold. “I can go without you.”

“You could. But where are you even going to go? Nate and I took the consecrated subway. You don’t even know where to aim. And you
can’t
use the subway.”

“I’ll go to the Bolton cemetery and…and…”

“Are you listening to yourself? Seriously, which one of us is mentally damaged here? You’re talking crazy! No, no, no. Stay. Nate will take you as soon as things settle down. I’m sure of it. For the love of God, stay!”

Ruth looked down at her hands and dropped her shoulders in defeat. Maeve was right, of course. So was Nate. She’d just have to stay here and wait. More.

“I hate leaving you here alone now. You shouldn’t have sent Temperance away.”

“Bo is still here. I locked him in the communal room. I’ll take him with me to my trailer.” She turned to walk back.

“One more thing before you go.”

“What?” Ruth asked, hope flaring in her eyes.

“I need you to walk me out of the circle.”

“Oh.”

Ruth escorted Maeve to the edge of the lawn and reached for her hand before crossing outside of the circle of protection. Maeve passed into the tall grass where she would be able to flash.

“Thanks.”

“Sure.” Ruth turned and made her way silently back to her trailer.

The slump of Ruth’s defeated shoulders tugged at Maeve’s heart and she called out to her. “Don’t worry. We’ll all be back soon. The circle is strong.”

“Right.”

Chapter Twenty-Nine

The best thing about the prison plan was that detained criminals were very compliant when the carrot of freedom was dangled before them. At least in the short-term. Without even knowing what they were signing up for, the prisoners had filed onto a bus headed his way. Of course, the alternative—staying in the prison—must have appeared less than attractive since they had watched their cellmates and guards lose their souls to demon attackers. After that, getting on a bus had to seem like a lesser evil.

Neither Camael nor his hellish minions could penetrate the reaper compound because of the magical shield created by their witch. There was nothing Camael hated more than magic. Okay, maybe reapers. Magic was certainly a close second.

But magic could only keep out the supernatural.

Not humans. Even their witch couldn’t conjure that defense.

His display in the cemetery would soon draw all of the Authority reapers to investigate. He had no doubt. In the meantime, he would collect his missing piece while the Authority was otherwise engaged, and on Christmas Eve he would open the final portal. With the sacrifice, the portal could be kept open permanently and all of Hell’s demons would be unleashed to reap his—their—harvest.

No more dicking around.

He waited and watched from his concealed position near the compound. Luckily, there was very little activity, which indicated that the distractions he’d set up in town had funneled the Authority resources there, just as he’d hoped. Movement caught his eye and he gasped when Maeve stepped out of one of the traveling tin-cans-on-wheels to talk to Ruth, who stood unprotected on its steps.

Clearly, he had been remiss in not confirming her demise, but he’d pulled her soul free on his way out. He’d felt it, seen it. That alone should have been enough to render her useless. He’d taken no care in shielding his thoughts from her while he occupied her body because he had planned to destroy her once she was no longer beneficial to him.

And now she was not only alive, but lucid and dressed for combat?

Frustration mounted inside him. This was one more in a long list of disappointments.

At this point, Maeve was a distraction he couldn’t afford to pursue. Whatever the Authority might have gleaned from her was of no concern to him now. The wheels had been set into motion and no amount of interference would stop the momentum of what was about to happen. In a few more hours, his work would be done.

Relief filled him when Maeve flashed, leaving Ruth alone at the compound. He’d thought about capturing them both the moment Ruth stepped out of the circle of protection, but he needed to keep his own vessel intact and a physical method of transportation to get Ruth to the final portal. He couldn’t afford any damage to his vessel to achieve his goals. He had a plan. He just needed to work it. The one question that he still pondered as he waited for his reinforcements to arrive was whether to kill the rest of the reapers before or after opening the final portal.

It would be so much sweeter to wait, forcing them to witness the full glory of their failure. Then again, killing them first would be equally satisfying. After all, the reason he had signed up for this mission in the first place was to revenge himself on reapers.…

Well, they would die either way. He just needed to choose whether it would be quickly or slowly.

Decisions. Decisions.

Perhaps he’d flip a coin to decide.

As soon as he had what he needed safe and secure, he’d make his choice.

For now, he was content to watch the reaper compound from the edge of the circle of protection, careful not to get near enough to set off any alarms. It would take at least another half an hour before the demons brought his human minions by prison bus. Mechanical transportation was a pathetic, albeit necessary, limitation of being human.

Camael could smell the hellhound inside from where he stood, but he didn’t see it on the grounds. Surely they hadn’t made a pet of the thing and allowed it inside.

Savages.

Killing it would almost be more enjoyable than dispatching those two reapers tonight. He hoped he would get the opportunity. Even with the circle of protection, he could sense four souls inside the structures: the great betraying beast, Ruth and his quarry, and someone else. The fourth seemed somehow familiar, but who…or what could it be?

It wouldn’t be much longer now.

***

Nate landed at the last known location of the replacement reapers and found a whole lot of nothing except for two crushed phones. The reapers had definitely been abducted. Sweeping his eyes over the street, he looked for any possible clues as to where they might have been taken. Nothing stood out. He was no detective. And without Bo, he had no idea how to start tracking them. Why hadn’t he brought the dog along?

He wasn’t thinking clearly. With everything that had been happening, he was beyond fried. This was just the sort of bullshit cowboy stuff that got a guy killed. The shitty thing was that he knew it. Would have kicked his friends’ asses for it. And here he was doing the same damned thing. His emotions had made him weak.

And this reaper and angel and demon nonsense? What happened to the good old days when he’d thought all the bad guys were humans? Drunk drivers and serial killers.

He really wished he could forget the shit he’d learned over this past year. And after the latest revelations, that list of wishful unknowing was getting longer by the hour. Maeve might not be so lucky to have her memory back after all.

He needed to get to Deacon. So much was going down that he was completely unaware of, and now this diversion.

He checked his phone again. Deacon was less than four blocks away. The remaining reapers were scattered across neighboring streets. As Nate watched the screen, Maeve appeared on the radar, too, popping up in Maple Park Cemetery, probably out of sheer force of habit. The Authority reapers were still getting used to the fact that they no longer needed to use consecrated ground for flashing. She would be heading toward Deacon next. Nate slid back into the consecrated subway, relieved that he would be with both of them soon.

It was as good a place to start as any.

***

Bo growled beside the bed as Ruth beat her pillow into submission. She couldn’t believe she was finally alone and she couldn’t even enjoy it. Guilt racked her. Temperance had only been trying to help. Deep down she realized it, but dang it! She’d finally broken free of her self-imposed chains only to be imprisoned by new ones. Even if they were
for her own good
, it didn’t make it any more palatable.

Bitter medicine was bitter medicine no matter how much bubblegum flavoring you poured into it.

While it had surprised her that she’d actually managed to send Temperance away, for the first time in a long time she was afraid. Ruth had no doubt that the circle of protection would hold, but something felt off. A flutter brought her hand to her rounded belly. It was way too early to feel a kick, but something was definitely going on in there. A wave of fear flooded through her. What if in all her hysterics she had hurt the baby after all? She was so stupid. Selfish. Stubborn.

Maybe she was genetically inclined to put her child in danger. If what Nate said was true and her mother Elaina had traveled the consecrated subway while nine months pregnant? Maybe the apple really didn’t fall far from the tree.

Another twinge amped up her panic as the skin across her stomach grew tight for a few seconds then relaxed.

False labor? No, way too early for that.

She should never have read that stupid
What to Expect When You’re Expecting
book.

Still, she knew something was agitating her unborn baby…and Bo.

She refused to act like a B-movie victim and go searching for trouble in the dark. She would, however, happily hold the sawed-off shotgun across her lap, aiming it at the trailer door. Deacon had given her quite an education on the gun. With the plug removed, it now held six shells. While he hadn’t actually let her fire it, it seemed like a very effective weapon that required little finesse.

Pump. Shoot. Pump. Shoot. Repeat.

It was the next best thing to a hellhound…and a guardian angel.

As she grabbed the gun and rested the barrel across her stomach, she almost let herself believe that.

***

When Nate reached Deacon, his friend was busy dispatching yet another demon. He watched as the reaper surrounded the demon in an orange glow of energy before drawing it into his body. Deacon was the last stop for demons. The Authority reapers had taken to dropping the hosts in various secluded locations downtown, then clearing them in groups. It wasn’t ideal, but it saved them dozens of trips to Purgatory every night to dispose of the bodies that would otherwise be littering the streets.

The non-Authority replacement reapers, the ones he searched for now, didn’t have the special powers of the others, so the fact they’d vanished into thin air didn’t bode well at all. Deacon could probably find them with his enhanced Powers sensitivities, but given all the craziness that was going down, he’d been a little busy.

Nate felt a twinge of guilt. It had been selfish of him to do nothing but search for and then take care of Maeve, but he’d been consumed.

Deacon noticed him as he approached and the relief on the dude’s face was visible. Nate wouldn’t let him down again.

“Thank God. You ever pull that disappearing shit on me again, I’m going to kick your ass six ways to Sunday. How’s Maeve?”

“She’s good. She’ll be here any minute. We have a problem.”

“Well of course we do. What now? Other than the obvious?”