The Revolt (The Reapers: Book Two) (17 page)

“I have faith, Kelsey. Meeting you was a
moment of destiny, and I know we’re meant to be together.”

“Want to try that again, without the cheesy
clichés?” I didn’t think before I spoke, and I winced. It was
something I would have said to him before he’d tried to kill
me.

“You always could see right through my
bullshit.” He started walking again and I fell into step beside
him. “There’s a debt that must be paid, to me and to mine. You are
what I deserve, and you are what I will have. You and this
town.”

“What debt?”

He tsked. “You don’t want to be touched, and
I don’t want to answer too many questions until you’re in my arms
again. I moved too quickly last time. I’ll try to give you the
space and time you need.”

“Thank you,” I said, at a complete loss for
anything else to say.

“I’m pretty sure the term batshit crazy was
invented for this dude,” Tucker said, by my elbow. I tried not to
jump visibly or laugh out loud.

“What was your childhood like?” Caleb asked.
He claimed he was trying to get to know me better, and had hit me
with a barrage of questions since we’d sat down in the loud,
brightly lit Sylvie’s Deli. He’d let me pick the restaurant, and
I’d picked the least romantic one I could think of. He’d showed no
sign of annoyance, but he picked a table in a quiet back corner
where I’d had to submit to questions about my favorite foods,
colors, animals, and time of year. We moved to the location and
cause of all my scars over soup and salad.

Sitting across from him and having such a
normal conversation should have relaxed me, but it just made me
more nervous. I couldn’t figure out what he really wanted and it
bothered me. I felt like an idiot for ever believing he was a good
guy, for ever letting myself like him. All I really wanted was to
go back to the condo and hit the bag until I could breathe easily
again, but I tried to focus on the purpose of my date. I needed to
find out what he and the reapers were up to, and I needed to do it
subtly so that he didn’t get suspicious. Subtle was so not my area
of expertise.

“I’ve answered enough questions for one
night,” I said. “Why don’t you tell me more about your decision to
come back to Briarton?”

He waved a finger at me and shook his head.
“Not yet.”

“Okay, then tell me about your
childhood.”

His smile vanished. “There’s nothing to
tell.”

“This is supposed to be my chance to get to
know you, too, right? There must be a funny story from your
childhood.”

He forced a smile. “Of course, there is.
Everyone has funny stories, right? I want to hear some of
yours.”

I was trying to get him talking about
himself, and I figured the past was a safe place to start, but I
was wrong. “Okay, then, how about we compromise and you tell me why
you chose Briarton? You don’t have to tell me anything about your
brilliant plans, just tell me why this town appeals to you.”

He gave me a slow, lazy smile and leaned
forward. “I didn’t choose it, but this is where you’d like to live
isn’t it?”

“Well, yes, but I’m sure it’s not the only
town in the country I would like. Don’t you like it, too?” I was
dying to ask what he meant when he said he didn’t choose it, but I
didn’t want to push my luck.

His mouth twisted a bit before he schooled it
back into a smile. “I like this town very much, and I know you love
it. It’s the town we are fated to have, the town chosen for me by
my ancestors.”

“By your ancestors?” I was beginning to doubt
the validity of my plan to pump Caleb for info. He might just be
too crazy and delusional to be useful.

He leaned back in his chair. “I come from a
long line of people who’ve done little and amounted to nothing, but
every one of them has understood the importance of… family and of
retribution. Their commitment has allowed me… us the opportunity to
be royalty. To rule this town.”

“Wow, that’s amazing. Your ancestors sound
like pretty tenacious people. I’d love to hear their story.”

“Their story is unimportant, Kelsey. What
matters is what their persistence has given us and what we’ll gain
from it. In just a couple of weeks—”

A grunt and a thud from across the restaurant
stopped my next question. I turned and found myself face-to-face
with Tucker. “We have a problem. Several problems. Tell psycho boy
you need to leave. Now.”

Tucker vanished and I looked across the room
to where Holly was sitting. She stood next to her table staring
down two living men. They were arguing quietly, but one of the men
had a firm grip on Holly’s arm.

Caleb followed my gaze and frowned. “I see
you brought a friend with you. I didn’t know Holly was in
town.”

“We need to help her.”

“I’m not finished with my dinner.” He lifted
a bite of sandwich. “I’m not willing to risk you or myself to help
Holly Daye. I’ve never liked her very much.”

I turned again and saw Holly wrench free of
the man holding her by the arm. When the other man gave her a small
shove, she walked out of the restaurant with them. They kept the
encounter quiet and had smiles pasted on their faces. To the casual
observer, it probably looked like they were teasing and happy to
see each other. I stood to run after Holly, but Caleb grabbed my
wrist and pulled me back down into my seat.

“She can’t have been in town long,” he said.
“Certainly, not long enough for you to be willing to risk your life
to save hers. I can promise you she wouldn’t if she were in our
place.”

I wasn’t sure I liked her either, but she was
there because of me and I wasn’t going to let anyone else die on my
watch. I nodded at Caleb, and picked up my fork to spear a pickle.
“You’re probably right,” I said. Then I twisted and stabbed the
fork into the hand Caleb was using to hold me down. He yelped and
released me. “But I’m not her.” I jumped up, and ran to follow
Holly and the men out of the restaurant.

No one was on the street.

“Tucker, where are they?” I said.

He popped up in front of me. “Uh-uh, you’re
not going anywhere but home.”

“I need to help her.”

“She can handle herself.”

I heard an “oomph” from the alley next to the
restaurant and I ran toward it, fork still in my hand.

Holly had managed to break free and was
holding her own against one of the men. He was lanky and stringy,
with a pock marked face and greasy, shoulder-length hair. The other
man was on the ground, but started to move when I stepped into the
alley. He popped to his feet and wrapped his arms around Holly’s
shoulders. “Tell us,” he said, as the other man wound up to punch
her. “There’s no way Harvest One isn’t playing an angle here. Tell
us how to get in on the game.”

I ran up and stabbed him in the back of the
neck. He yelled, but he didn’t loosen his grip on Holly, and the
other man, the string bean, wound up to punch her again. I stabbed
the man who held Holly in the cheek, and he roared and let go of
her. Holly threw a solid front kick that brought the string bean to
his knees.

She turned and saw me. “Get the hell out of
here.”

“Not without you,” I said.

The man I’d stabbed grabbed me and laughed.
“Lookie what we have here,” he said.

String Bean punched Holly in the stomach, and
she doubled over. “Alex, man, we’re not supposed to touch her,”
String Bean said.

Alex wrapped his arm around my neck and
squeezed. Starbursts exploded in my eyes and pain ignited from my
neck to my shoulders. I gasped for air as I kicked and flailed
futilely against him. I tried to pull his arms from my neck and
twist away from his grip, but he held me tight and I couldn’t get
enough leverage. “I’m not sure I care,” he said.

Holly recovered amazingly quickly and
barreled into the string bean’s gut head- first. I watched her
knock him to the ground and land on top of him, pinning his arms to
his sides with her thighs. My vision was starting to go black, but
I watched her pick up the string bean’s head and slam it twice
against the pavement through tunnel vision. She turned, and I saw
the anger on her face. I realized it was the first time I’d seen
any sort of strong emotion disturb her perfect features and I
understood the emotion was for me. She was angry that I’d
interfered and that the man holding me was going to kill me. I felt
an immense sadness overwhelm me as I realized I was going to
die.

Holly started toward us, but String Bean
hopped up like he wasn’t hurt at all and pulled her back toward him
by the hair. I twisted and struggled to get free but to no avail.
My vision went completely black and I knew it was over. A sense of
sorrow and relief washed over me, and I lost myself to the
dark.

Suddenly, I was on the ground, gasping,
trying to get air into my lungs. Alex was also on the ground,
clutching his knee and swearing. Holly kicked him once, hard, in
the head and joined me.

“Kelsey, I know you aren’t in any shape for
this, but I need you to run.”

My feet felt like lead and my legs like
spaghetti, but it felt good to be alive and I decided I wanted to
stay that way.

“Run as fast as you can. I’ll be right behind
you,” she said.

My pace wasn’t much faster than a walk, but I
kept moving my feet and my legs. Eventually adrenaline kicked in, I
got my breath back, and I began to run in earnest. I checked back
every few steps to make sure Holly was still back there, until she
growled at me to “just fucking run.”

“What happened? Are you okay?” Jed asked,
when we stumbled into the condo, panting and bruised.

I collapsed onto the couch and started to
shake. We’d made it back and everything that had been holding me
together left me. I’d almost died. My throat tightened, and I
fought back tears. I wasn’t going to cry in front of everyone.

Holly took the armchair. “Got hit by two
goons working for the reapers.”

“Where the hell is Caleb?” Jed asked.

“Right here, dear brother.” Caleb walked
through the still-open door and closed it behind him. He dropped my
coat, gloves, hat, and scarf on the couch next to me. The hand I’d
stabbed was covered by a glove and hung loose at his side. “I made
sure Kelsey didn’t get hurt. Holly’s not my problem.”

Holly gave Caleb the finger, but he ignored
her. I wasn’t sure how he’d been protecting me, when he hadn’t been
with me at the fight, but pointing that out wouldn’t help anything.
Besides I was shaking so badly, I couldn’t have spoken if I’d
wanted to.

“You should leave,” Jed said to Caleb. Jed
was trembling with what I was sure was just barely controlled
rage.

“My date was interrupted through no fault of
my own. I want to finish it,” Caleb said.

“Please.” That’s all I could say. My teeth
were starting to chatter, and my body was rebelling against the
idea of doing anything more than curling up in the fetal position
and bawling. Plus, my throat throbbed, and speaking felt like
swallowing glass.

Jed looked at me for the first time since
we’d walked in, and his eyes widened. His sympathy and worry just
made me want to cry even more.

“Kelsey’s hurt, Caleb. Why don’t you two try
again in a couple of days?”

Caleb nodded, but his mouth was a tight, firm
line. “Lunch, tomorrow.” He let himself out of the condo and Holly
locked the door behind him. Tucker gave us a bow and followed Caleb
out. To do a little spying I assumed.

“I get so used to the wards protecting us
from reapers, I forget about closing and locking the door to
protect us from the living assholes,” Holly said.

Jed sat down and put a hand on my shoulder.
He leaned in and looked at my neck, taking my chin in his hand and
turning my head from side to side. “Are you okay? What
happened?”

“They almost killed her,” Holly said. I shot
her a look, but she ignored me. “That asshole almost strangled her
to death. Caleb appeared, hit the goon with something, and
disappeared. She’d be dead if it weren’t for him. You need to cry,
Kelsey, you go ahead and do it. We all cry the first time we get
close to death.”

Her words and her tone pushed back my tears
better than any of my own efforts. I couldn’t stop shaking, though.
“I’m fine.”

Jed released me, his eyes searching my face.
He must have seen what he needed, because he nodded, stood, and
returned with a glass of water. He looked at Holly. “You want to
tell me how you almost let her get killed? You were supposed to be
watching her.”

Holly didn’t move, but fire lit her eyes for
a moment and her frown deepened. “I was the one who got attacked,
and Kelsey decided to come to my rescue. None of this is my
fault.”

“What happened?”

She shrugged. “These two living dudes showed
up and started threatening me. They said I shouldn’t be in their
town and suggested we go outside. I wanted a scene less than they
did, so I followed.” She rolled her eyes. “I don’t think they were
being held by reapers. I didn’t see any of the usual signs and they
responded to pain like an ordinary person.”

“Did they look like the guys who attacked us
before?” Jed asked.

I shook my head.

“Shit.” He whistled. “Motherfucker. If
they’re organized enough to have a contingent of regular people
working for them…”

“Who knows how long they’ve been planning
this?” Holly said. “They might have armies of regular people
working for them.”

“How?” I croaked, my voice raspy and raw. I
could talk, but it hurt like hell.

“You sure she’s okay?” Jed asked. “We should
take her to the hospital.”

“She’s still breathing, right? She’s
fine.”

“But there could be internal damage—”

“No hospital,” I said. I hated hospitals, and
I didn’t want to go anywhere but to bed.