Reaper (28 page)

“Makes sense,” Keith agreed. “But why the curse? If she wanted to hurt you, there are so many simpler ways. I could think of a ton right now.”

“Thanks,” I told him with a half smile.

“No, seriously, Anora. I think she wants to use you for something.”

“I do too,” I admitted. I sat heavily on the couch. “The more I think about it, the less it makes sense.” I leaned back and stared at the ceiling. “Ugh! I wish I knew who she really was!”

“Is there anyone who is mad at you?” he tried.

“Oh, I’m sure there are plenty of people, with my own mother being at the top of that list.”

“Ohmigod!” René exclaimed. “You really think your mom would curse you?”

I almost laughed. “My mom isn’t a witch. And no, she never would. The people who might be mad at me aren’t capable of cursing me. Other than you guys, I don’t know anyone else who is into magic.”

“Sam!” René suggested. “She hates you
and
she knows all about magic.”

The thought was like a punch to the gut. “No, she wouldn’t. Well, she probably
would
, but she would never do that to Ethan. I honestly believe that.”

 
Keith took a dramatic deep breath. “What about one of Ethan’s jealous ex-girlfriends.”

I bit my bottom lip and shook my head. “Ethan doesn’t have any ex-girlfriends.” When he looked at me in disbelief I explained, “I mean he wasn’t the long term relationship type until he met me.” Because of the Order, he wasn’t able to date anyone. I was secretly happy about that for some reason.

“Every time we get closer to figuring this out, I’m forced to take a step back,” I grunted.
 
“We
had
her. Literally! Ugh! Ethan should have dragged her into the car. We could have brought her here and tied her up for questioning!”

“Damn those guys for showing up,” René spat.

“I should have put a sleep spell on them and left them in the parking lot to rot!”

“Isn’t that a little dramatic?” Keith accused.

“Yes!” I said through clenched teeth. “And I bet she’s
pissed
now.”

“Or maybe scared,” René suggested. “I mean, we did catch her. She was lucky those guys showed up. Maybe it will keep her away for a while.”

“Or maybe she’ll come back with reinforcements,” Keith said grimly. René swatted his arm. “I’m just being honest,” he told her.

“He’s right,” I agreed. “I have to be ready next time. I…I just don’t know what to be ready for.”

“She’ll slip up,” Keith assured me.

I nodded. “Ethan thinks so too. The more desperate she gets, the less likely she’s gonna be to cover her tracks.”

“We can only hope,” René said.

Hunter looked up; Harrison was back. Great. I closed my eyes and let go of the anger. I put on a fake smile just in time.

“Hey sis,” Harrison called. “I brought you popcorn.”

“Thanks,” I said genuinely; it was nice for Harrison to remember my obsession with movie theater popcorn. I stood. “These are my friends, René and Keith,” I introduced. “And this is my brother Harrison, Luke, Ashley, and Kaylin.” Everyone muttered a ‘hello’.

“Whatcha guys doing?” Harrison asked and handed me the bucket of popcorn. I sat back down and took a handful.

“Nothing, really. Just got home,” I told him. “How was the movie?”

“Slowly bleeding to death would have been more enjoyable.”

Kaylin frowned at Harrison. “It was a great romantic movie,” she protested.

I wrinkled my nose. “Yep, I’d go with the bleeding to death.”

“You don’t like romantic movies?” Keith asked, taken aback.

I shook my head. “Not at all. Romantic comedies…
maybe
. But full on romance just isn’t my thing. I actually prefer action or horror movies.”

Luke chuckled. “A girl after my own heart.”

Ashley crossed her arms. “That’s weird. Girls are supposed to like romantic movies.”

Hunter rose from the floor and growled. René laughed, I smiled, and Ashley shrieked.

“It’s ok, sweetie,” I told Hunter, mentally thanking him. “He hears coyotes and gets upset.”

“Well,” Harrison said. “I don’t know about you, but I’m tired.” He put his arm around Kaylin. It was a little after ten-thirty; there was no way my brother was tired.

“Yeah, me too,” Luke said, taking his lead.

“It was nice meeting you,” Harrison said to René and Keith. I put my head in my hands and waited for them to move along upstairs.

“They seem like lovely people,” Keith joked.

“You don’t know the half of it,” I sighed. “I love my brother, but he has the worst timing
and
choice in friends.”

“It’s sweet,” Keith said. “My brother would never visit me if I moved away.”

“He got grounded from going to Mexico and was only allowed to come here or my grandparents’.
 
I’m glad he’s here,” I noted. “But I could do without the friends.”

“Yeah, talk about tension,” he laughed. “I should get going, too. I have class in the morning.” He made a face and stood. “Promise you will call me if
any
thing happens, right?”

“Cross my heart,” I responded. “Have fun in school tomorrow.”

“I will have a blast. Yay for statistics.”

René and I walked him to the door, said goodbye, and went upstairs and out onto the turret to talk. We wrapped blankets around ourselves and huddled next to Hunter, who gave off heat. I told her about Ashley’s friendship with Marie, which forced me to explain the whole falling out I went through last year. When Ethan pulled in the driveway, René said she should call it a night. I walked her to her car, hugged her goodbye, and walked back in with Ethan.

We quickly locked up the house and went to our room for bed. I changed into horse pajama pants and a skimpy tank top and snuggled up next to Ethan, who rarely slept in anything more than boxers. His arms found their place around me any I rested my head comfortably on his chest.

“How long before things get crazy again?” I asked sleepily.

“A day. Maybe two,” Ethan only half joked. He gently moved my bangs out of my face.
 
“She could retaliate. She doesn’t seem to know what she’s doing, though, so it might have been enough to scare her off for good.”

“I know. It’s just so frustrating. We had her cornered, literally, and still don’t know who she really is.”

“We know a little more,” Ethan reminded me. “She’s working for someone.”

“You think?”

“Yeah, I doubt Hunter is a present for her favorite child.”

“True,” I agreed. “Who could she be working for?”

“Most likely a demon.”

That woke me up. “What? Really?”

“Yes. Some demons are smart. If it is a demon, then I’m guessing this one wanted to get rid of your Guardian to get to you. He sent a human to collect, probably knowing that you wouldn’t hurt a human. It’s insurance basically, and it’s done all the time. Send the human to protect their ass, and incase the plan doesn’t pan out…well, to them it’s just one measly human life.”

“Like to test me.”

“Right.”

“Why would anyone want to work for a demon?”

“Demons can promise the world,” Ethan explained. “They won’t give it to you of course, but they’re very convincing.”

“Oh,” I said, thinking too deeply into that and freaking myself out. “If the demon wanted Hunter out of the way, why didn’t he just tell Mindy to kill him? Why take him?”

“I don’t know,” he sighed “It’s a good question. Maybe he knew it would be too hard to actually kill a Guardian.”

I nodded, thinking about what Ethan said. He started running his fingers through my hair, which almost instantly makes me sleepy. I closed my eyes and listened to the steady beating of Ethan’s heart.

“Leverage,” I said suddenly and sat up.

“Huh?” he asked, somewhat startled.

“Last year, Asaroth took the four people I cared most about. She did it to force me into a trade. Oh, God! René and Keith! I exposed them; now Mindy knows who they are! They-they could be in danger!”

“Annie,” Ethan said and sat up. “Calm down.” He put his hand on my waist. “The only way to keep people you’re close to away from demons is to not be close to them. Even if you live a completely double life, the fact that they are involved in your life at all puts them in danger.”

“What are you getting at?”

“I don’t really know,” he admitted. “I’ve seen hunters cut off ties with everyone. It’s not normal or healthy. The solitary life drives them mad. You know as well as I do that people—humans—need to be around others.”

“I have you.”

He smiled. “You are everything to me and I don’t want to go one day in my life without you.”

I smiled and put my hand on his. “Ditto,” I told him.

“But,” he started. “You really don’t want to live the rest of your life only seeing me. You need friends, other friends.”

“Since when did you get so wise?” I teased.

He shrugged. “I’m just good at everything,” he joked.
 
“Don’t worry about it though; we don’t know for sure yet. Just get some sleep.”

“Right. Worrying won’t change anything.”

“Now you’re the wise one. Love you.”

“Love you too.”

I couldn’t fall asleep. I couldn’t stop thinking about what a demon would want with Hunter. Was he just in their way?
 
Would he be a trade to get to me agree to whatever Thomas mentioned? Or did they want something more with him? But what? Could Guardians be used for evil? I just knew that even if he was kidnapped, Hunter would
never
do anything evil. And if the demon did want Hunter out of the way, what did he want with me? The possibilities were endless, and my pulse began to rise as different schemes played in my mind. I forced myself to do a relaxation technique I learned from my psychic self defense book.

Imagine a ball of white light above you, the book had instructed. I concentrated on controlling my breathing. Imagine the ball of white light growing brighter and brighter, bathing you in its protective glow was the next step. I envisioned the glowing ball, feeling calmer with every breath.

“Please tell me you’re doing that.” Ethan’s voice came from the darkness, startling me a tad.

“Doing what?” I asked with my eyes still closed.

“That,” he said.

I opened my eyes. “Holy…” The glowing ball of light wasn’t imagined; it was hovering a foot from my face. I carefully sat up and the ball moved with me. I tipped my head to look at it further. It was beautiful, made up of a million tiny little strings of white energy. Hunter and Ethan looked at it curiously. I held my hand up to it, feeling the hairs prick up from the static. Something buzzed from the closet.

“What the…” Ethan jumped out of bed and emerged with an EMF meter. He held it close to the ball and I watched the needled push as hard as it could against the high side of the gauge.

“It’s made of electromagnetic energy,” I said out loud. It was small, like the size of a large gumball, but it was so bright. Without thinking, I tapped it with one finger. “Ow!” I yanked my hand back. It was like touching the electric fence.

“How did you do it?” Ethan asked as he took the batteries out of the EMF meter, the ball radiating energy so high it apparently made the thing turn on by itself. He set it on the dresser and got back into bed.

“I was trying to relax. In one of my books it says to imaging a ball of safe, white energy protecting you…I guess I just did more than imagine.” I began to feel depleted, the same feeling my arms get after holding up something heavy for a long time, but this feeling wasn’t just physical; it was as if my entire being was tired.
 
The light dimmed slowly, until there was nothing left. I stared into the darkness.

“Anora…” Ethan began, but didn’t know what to say.

I didn’t either until I blurted out, “I’ll call it an orb.”

“Huh?”

“An orb. Real orbs, like the ones you see in pictures, are made of electromagnetic energy. It’s kinda the same thing, except I made it instead of it being a trace of a ghost.” When Ethan didn’t respond, I asked, “Do you think it’s weird?”

“No,” he said honestly. “I think it’s cool.”

“Good.” I flopped back down next to him. “That was draining.”

“You’ll get used to it,” he told me as he resituated his arms around me. Even after six months, I still couldn’t believe how lucky I was to have such an accepting boyfriend.

Chapter
 
11 - Fight Fire with Fire

It was out of character for Harrison to be up so early. And even more so for him to volunteer helping me with the morning barn chores.

“How did things go last night?” he asked, revealing the real reason why he accompanied me outside.

I shook my head. “No one got hurt, but I didn’t get the answers I was looking for.”

“And that means…?”

I recapped the events while filling up water buckets.