The Reaping (The Reapers Book 1) (9 page)

With a sigh, I looked over my piles and got back to work. I was so focused on what I was doing that I jumped and shrieked when a voice near my right shoulder said, “Sweetheart, you work way too hard.”

I turned to see Reid standing in the doorway to the office with a crooked smile on his face, his eyes red and his pants cuffs dirty. My heart began to race as I stood and backed away from him. “You shouldn’t be here,” I said, my voice shaky. “How did you even get in? The door was locked.”

“This place has terrible locks. It was easy to break in. It’s not like I hadn’t done it a million times before when I forgot my keys.”

“I think you should leave.”

He took a couple of steps toward me. “Truth is, Kelsey, I couldn’t care less what you think. I’m starting to get tired of waiting. If I can’t get inside your body, maybe I can still get inside you, if you know what I mean. Amuse myself.”

I quickly considered my options, and lunged for the phone.

Reid knocked the phone out of my reach and shook his head. “I don’t think so, Ice Princess. Why don’t you just go ahead and have a seat while I perform a little demonstration for you?”

I sat down, because my legs were shaking so badly I didn’t think they would hold me up much longer.

“Watch closely, Ice Princess.” A moment passed and I saw a wisp of white drift out of Reid’s right ear and materialize next to him.

Landon’s ghost. It was really Landon’s ghost.

Luckily, Landon wasn’t looking at me but at Reid, waiting to see what he would do on his own. Landon didn’t know I could see him, and that might be an advantage for me.

Reid swayed slightly in the doorway. “What the…where am I…” His eyes focused on me. “You again. What the hell is going on?”

“Blah blah blah blah. What happened? Where am I?” Landon had re-entered Reid and was again speaking for him. “No wonder this guy drinks so much. He is a simpering fool.”

I have never been good at thinking on my feet and I had no idea what to do. I didn’t want to make Landon mad, but I also felt certain that I shouldn’t let him know I believed his story. At least not until I had figured out what to do.

“Reid, are you having some sort of episode? Or is this your idea of a sick joke? Either way, you need to leave right now.”

“Are you fucking kidding me?” He shouted and threw his hands up. “Of all the idiots in the world, I get stuck trying to reap the biggest idiot in the universe!”

He sounded like a five year old, and I almost laughed until he started moving toward me. I backed into the corner, the desk between us, planning to run, when he got to my side of the desk.

“I’m tired of waiting and I want you to feel a little bit of my pain.” He seethed. “Maybe a daily beat down will be more effective than the conversations we’ve been having.”

He was getting closer, and I rose to my tiptoes, preparing to run. Suddenly, he shoved the desk hard against the wall, blocking my escape route. He advanced on me, fists raised. The first punch knocked my head back into the wall and set my ears ringing. I slid down to the floor in an instinctive maneuver to escape, but he only laughed and punched me in the stomach. I curled into a ball, waiting for the next assault, but it didn’t come. Instead, a familiar voice said, “I just called the cops, so you might want to stop struggling before you get yourself two assault charges.”

Slowly, I uncurled and looked up to see Caleb and Jed with Reid. Jed was holding Reid in a headlock that was turning Reid’s face slightly purple. Caleb knelt down and helped me up. “Are you okay?”

“I…I think so,” I said, but my ears were still ringing and I couldn’t stop the shaking in my voice.

Caleb pulled out a chair and helped me into it. “Did he touch you?”

Tears welled unbidden. I swallowed hard and managed not to collapse into a complete sobbing mess. “Other than punching me in the face and stomach? No.”

Caleb’s expression hardened and he stood, turned, and punched Reid so hard in the gut that both Reid and Jed stumbled back a bit.

“Thanks for the warning, asshole,” Jed mumbled.

Caleb turned back to me. “We need to get you to the hospital.”

“What? No, I’m fine. I don’t need…no.”

Caleb studied me carefully. “You’re going to the hospital. Jed, have you got this?”

Caleb turned and moved out of my line of sight so that I could see both Jed and Reid. Reid had apparently passed out, whether from alcohol or Jed’s choke hold, I didn’t know. I could hear him snoring, faintly, so I knew he wasn’t dead.

“Caleb, you should stay here. You’re better at talking to the cops, and they are more likely to believe that
you
knocked him out in self defense,” Jed said, looking at me.

“Jed, I really think that I should—” Caleb started.

“Yeah,” Jed said gently. “I understand, but trust me when I say it’s better this way.” Jed stepped over to me and picked me up like I was a baby.

“He didn’t break my legs,” I said, although the room was spinning and my legs felt like jello.

He smiled at me. “I know, but I didn’t make it to the gym today, and I could use the workout.”

I laughed and relaxed in his arms. I was never going to admit it, but I was relieved not to have to walk.

“The cops are going to want to talk to her, too,” Caleb said.

“They can find her at the hospital,” Jed said as he carried me out of the office and down the stairs.

Jed’s car was parked down the street, so he sat me down on the sidewalk while he sprinted to get it. He bundled me in the back seat like I was some sort of invalid, although it did feel good to lie down.

“How did you know?” I finally thought to ask as he drove.

“I didn’t. Caleb ran into Angelica. She told him that some guy named Reid had been harassing you—”

“She what?” I sat up in the back seat so fast that my head started spinning again.

Jed chuckled. “Yeah, she said you’d probably be pissed about her telling Caleb. But…”

I felt like I might be sick. “What exactly did she tell him?”

“Not much, according to Caleb. Just that some guy, a cop named Reid, had been giving you a hard time, trying to scare you, and it was scaring her. She said she wanted his advice, but Caleb thinks she wanted us to keep an eye on you.” Jed met my gaze in the rearview mirror and laughed. “Don’t worry. I don’t know anyone who hasn’t gone out with at least one crazy person.”

“Went out? I never…” I stopped myself. Maybe it would be better if Jed believed Reid was an ex-lover rather than a person possessed by the ghost of my dead boss. “I feel like an idiot.”

Jed frowned and returned his attention to the road. “He’s the idiot. You make sure you get a restraining order on him, okay?”

“That’s a good idea,” I said, but I wondered if I really wanted to draw more attention to the situation. More attention might be better than another beating, I decided. “You still haven’t explained how you were there to rescue me.”

“I wish we had been there five minutes earlier,” he said. “Caleb told me the story over dinner, and we decided to stop in and see you on our way home and make sure you knew you could call us the next time Reid bothered you. Angelica told Caleb you were working late when she bumped into him.”

“Lucky for me,” I said, my teeth starting to chatter. “I was…so damn scared. I don’t think I’ve ever been…” I stopped before I started crying again.

Jed didn’t say anything; he just kept driving, his knuckles white on the steering wheel.

In the movies, hospitals are a favorite hangout for ghosts, but I’d never met anyone who chose to stay in the hospital longer than necessary. Especially not if they’d died there. I didn’t have to worry about being bothered or eavesdropped on by a ghost and I could pretend, for just a little while, that I was normal. If I blocked out the reason I was at the hospital, anyway.

Jed sat with me in the emergency room waiting area for three hours, and we talked the entire time. I was feeling a tad like I’d had too much to drink and a bit high from having been nearly killed, or badly beaten, or whatever Landon had done to me, so I just babbled on about everything from my favorite color—yellow—to my mom’s chronic bad luck with men. Luckily, I was in good enough shape to avoid telling Jed about my dad’s disappearance or my ability to see ghosts, but I’m pretty sure my incessant babbling effectively ended any chance he might ever want to hang out with me again. He was good-natured and smiled at me as I talked. He even threw in a few tidbits about himself. His favorite color is orange, he loves to snowboard and play the guitar, his parents are still happily married after thirty years, and he is addicted to reality TV. He didn’t ask me any questions about my dad or my childhood or anything too personal. We laughed so much my cheeks ached. I was almost sorry when the nurse finally called my name.

When I left the hospital, with a mild concussion and a stomach rumbling with hunger, it was snowing, blanketing the roads in white, and I found it difficult to tell where the sky ended and the earth began. I’d called Angelica to pick me up, since Jed had left when I’d been called back, and she had the car waiting at the entrance to the hospital.

Alice, the ghost from my childhood, was also there. I walked over to Alice first, but she wouldn’t look up and meet my eyes. I shivered in the chilly air and wished I could go to Angelica’s warm car and ignore the child before me. Angelica leapt out of the car and jogged quickly over to me. “What are you doing? It’s freezing out here.”

I looked at Angelica, her face creased with worry, eyes darkened by sleepless circles. I looked at my best friend and I made a decision that terrified and elated me. I took her hand and pulled her close to me. I wrapped an arm around her shoulders and gave her a quick squeeze. “Can you wait for me in the car? There’s someone here I need to talk to.”

She pulled away from me, confused. “But there’s no one…” Slowly, understanding dawned on her face. Her eyes widened and she took a single step away from me. That one step froze me more than the cold air, and I found it suddenly hard to breathe. But she smiled at me, wearily. “It’s not Landon, is it?”

“No.” I forced out with a sigh of relief. “It’s a friend. A dear friend,” I said, looking at Alice, who raised her head a tiny fraction of an inch.

“Okay, I’ll be in the car. Take your time.” And Angelica trotted back to the car, as though me talking to thin air was the most normal thing in the world.

“What’s up, Alice?” I asked when Angelica was gone.

“I’m sorry, Kelsey,” she said in a voice barely above a whisper. “I saw what happened, but there was nothing I could do.”

“Of course there wasn’t anything you could do. How could you have stopped someone you can’t even touch?”

“Not Reid. Landon.” She finally met my eyes. “I should have stopped Landon. I never should have let him take Reid into the store, but I was so afraid and I did not…I could not…I am not a fighter. I don’t wish to be a fighter. When Reid started hitting you, Landon took off. There was nothing I could do to stop Reid.”

“I was afraid, too, Alice. I’m not a fighter, either.” I wished I could hug the little girl. “Have you ever seen another ghost take over a living person like that?”

She nodded. “Many times. I have never done it, and I do not show myself to those who do.”

“What do you know about them?”

“They are dark, desperate, and I fear them. I don’t know how they could hurt me, but I know that they could hurt me if they chose to.”

“Are you in danger here, now, talking to me?”

“They are not paying attention to you or me right now. They do not know what you can do, and it is better that way.”

“How can I protect myself?”

She shook her head. “If they want you, they will get you. I have heard of only one or two among the living who were truly safe from them and you do not have that gift. Stay sober, stay calm, and stay focused, and it will be more difficult for them to get to you.”

I shivered. My teeth were chattering and it hurt to breathe. “But you say that no matter what, I will eventually lose.”

She nodded. “I spend most of my time watching you, so I have not seen much of what the guardians can truly do, but I have heard the stories and they always end badly. Unless…”

“The guardians?”

“That is what they call themselves. There are those among the living who are aware of the guardians and have found ways to battle them. If you find members of that group, they might be able to help you.”

“Do you know how I can find them?”

She shook her head. “I will try to find out, but in my world, asking questions is dangerous. I do not want to draw attention to myself or you.”

I nodded as she started to fade. “Thank you.” And I hurried to the car where Angelica was waiting.

The car was warm, and I sank into the passenger seat with a sigh of contentment. At that moment, I didn’t have the energy to be afraid or ponder what Alice had told me. I just wanted to enjoy a few moments of perfect warmth with my best friend. Angelica seemed to understand and we rode back to the apartment in silence.

Back home, she tucked me into bed and curled up next to me. “Jed told me what happened when he called to ask me to pick you up. I’m so glad he was there to help you.”

“Me, too,” I mumbled, feeling drowsy.

“He said that Reid punched you a couple of times. Was it really Reid?”

“I’m not sure. Landon was the one who started Reid hitting me, but Alice says he didn’t stick around after the first punch. I guess neither one of them like me very much. The police promised me that if Reid comes near me again, they will fire him.”

“So, it’s true, then. Landon can control Reid’s body.”

“Yeah. I saw him leave and enter Reid.”

“It’s good that the police are going to punish Reid, but that’s not going to stop Landon. He doesn’t care if Reid gets fired.”

“Don’t know,” I said around a yawn. “As a cop, Reid is powerful. Landon won’t want to give up that power easily.”

“Maybe. You’re exhausted. I’ll leave you alone, so you can sleep. I’ll have to wake you up in four hours to make sure you’re okay, though.”

“Don’t go,” I said as my eyes started to close.