Rise (Reaper's Redemption Book 3)

by Thea Atkinson

  "Give her back you awful creature," she yelled at him.

  "I didn't want to take her," he said. Then he levelled his gaze at me again. "You had your chance, Ayla," he said.

  "I should have killed you when I had that chance," I ground out, as his fingers bit into my skin. I wasn't equipped to do any such thing. I hadn't been then and I wasn't now.

  "Be that as it may," Warren said. "You didn't. More's the pity." A strange expression rode his features, but if I had to put a definition to it, I'd have to say it was a cross between disappointment and fear. I couldn't quite place it, but it made me feel as though I had missed an opportunity.

  "You can't bully me into killing you," I said and Sarah snorted from where she was struggling to break free of the web.

  "I told you," Warren said. "It's too late for that. I don't need you anymore."

  "Then why are you here?" I tried to twist in his grip and found that it only made my teeth grit together in pain.

  Warren swung his gaze to Sarah. "I'm here for you, actually," he said.

  Sarah froze. "Me? You don't need to bully me into killing you either," she said. "I'll be happy to do it."

  He gave a sad little smile. "I already told you: It's too late to consider killing me. I have a message for you from the master."

  I winced beneath his grip. "You have a master? Strange for such an old guy."

  He seemed to ignore that as well as me altogether. His only interest in me, in fact, seemed to be in keeping me from raking his eyes out.

  "You need to know that my master says I must pull her teeth, and very painfully, unless the necromancer goes to him." His tone was the same as that of a child repeating a history lesson.

  I think Sarah was as shocked as I was because nothing but pure silence came from her side of the room.

  "He's waiting," he said, giving her a very pointed look. "It will be very painful. I assure you."

  I felt the blood drain from my face. "You would hurt a small child for no reason?" I said.

  He gave me a long look and then pushed me backward so that I staggered free of his hold and bumped into Sarah. We hung together, shoulder to shoulder.

  "You think hurting children gives me pleasure?" he said. "I told you before. Teeth are power. A tooth fairy's power and source."

  "If you touch her," I said. "I will kill you. And I will make sure oblivion comes for you very painfully."

  He gave me a sad smile. "You're a slow learner, Ayla," he said. "I told you I'm already dying. I don't need your help anymore."

  I clutched at my stomach because it had started to hurt and noticed my hands were trembling. Whatever chance I'd had to prevent this was gone. Evaporated with my refusal to kill him, and now Nicki was somewhere strange. I tried not to imagine her crying, afraid, lonely without her owl. I tried not to think of whether or not someone was hurting her right then.

  I tried to say something, a protest, a pleading. Nothing would come out of my tight throat. It was Sarah who found her voice, and it was cold and firm.

  "This master of yours," Sarah said and pushed out from the wall to stand directly in front of him. "What does he want from me?"

  He tilted his head at her. "Haven't you figured it out yet?" he said. "I'm called each night by a master and forced to do his bidding. I'd rather go to oblivion but you took that choice from me." He sighed low and long. "Now it seems I'll be doing both."

  I heard Sarah's sharp intake of breath. "A fae mancer," she said with a touch of awe in her voice. "You're being controlled."

  Warren put his finger to the tip of his nose and pointed at her with the knife holding the blade.

  I had never heard of a fae mancer, and I didn't care how impressed Sarah was at the idea of facing one. I only knew one thing: whatever he called himself, it was no more than a likely excuse to wreak some truly ugly kind of payback and I wasn't going for it.

  "Please, Warren," I said. "You're going to tell us you can't help what you're doing? What about the begging me to kill you? What about the threats to hurt me if I didn't?" I would have lunged for him if he didn't have such a clenched grip on the knife.

  "If I could help myself," he said. "Don't you think I would? I'm the tooth fairy for Oberon's sake. I'm older than your Bible. I don't find being controlled by a fresh young fae mancer pleasant whatsoever."

  In light of how impressed Sarah seemed at his vocation, I almost thought she was going to be sympathetic when she spoke, but instead her voice turned cold and hard.

  "You know what I am, right?" she said. "You know I can raise you a dozen times if you so much as hurt one hair on her head. And I will. I swear I will raise and kill you a dozen painfully agonizing times if you so much as look at one of those little nubby teeth."

  Her voice choked on the last and I could tell how upset she was.

  "Bring her back," I said. "Just bring her to us and no one will hurt you, Warren."

  He swung rheumy eyes to me. "I told you, I can't. I begged you, Ayla. Begged. You could have avoided all this." His shoulders sagged and he sighed. "Doesn't matter anymore," he said. "I am his whether I like it or not. He will take the last of my essence and then oblivion will have the husk that's left. Then my guilt over all of this will be gone."

  Sarah pulled at her black braid as though she wanted to be yanking viscera from his belly. "You're wrong," she said. "This suffering of yours will never be over. I promise you."

  He hung his head. "I'll deserve it."

  If it was a ruse, he was playing it out to the letter. Something nagged at me. If Warren was telling the truth and he wasn't in control, then this master of his wanted something bad enough to try using Nicki as bait. He obviously had no idea what the toddler was capable of. Which meant he thought Sarah was the only one with power.

  "What does he want from her?" I said.

  He sighed. "He is young and inexperienced but he is what he is and he has found me. And now he uses me." He looked panicked all of a sudden. "Time is running out. You have to go to him. It's the only thing that will keep me from doing his bidding. If you want her unharmed you need to go now."

  "So if Sarah goes with you," I said. "You won't hurt Nicki."

  He neither nodded nor shook his head. He just waited.

  "It's no use asking him certain things," Sarah said. "He won't be able to answer them." She turned her gaze to him. "What is it that your master wants?"

  "You," Warren said. "Go to the crypts. You'll find him there."

  "And what then?" I asked. Dread was already creeping up my spine, making the back of my neck feel clammy. This wasn't right. Not one piece of it.

  He shrugged. "All I can tell you is that he needs her."

  I noticed he stressed the word tell as though it was important, as though I should realize it was. He gave me a sly smile, one that seemed secretive and urgent. He ran his index finger along his bottom teeth, tugging on the first two and waggled his eyebrows at me.

  "Teeth are a tooth fairy's source and power," he said, repeating the phrase from before but stressing each word this time.

  "You said that already," I said, frustrated. "Tell me what he wants."

  "I think he's trying to tell us, Ayla," Sarah said, uncrossing her arms and leaning forward to peer at him. He opened his mouth wide then closed it with a click.

  I remembered the feel of his fingers against my cheek as I'd been sleeping. I'd been losing my teeth in the dream. Had he been trying to send me a message?

  "Drop the knife," I said to him and it fell instantly with a thud to the carpet. Its handle knocked against my instep as it came to rest.

  "You want my teeth?" I said. I wasn't sure what I would do if he said yes. Hadn't he just said it would be painful.

  "Do it," Sarah urged. "For Nicki."

  That swept away all my hesitation. I swallowed down the liquid in my mouth and opened wide. His fingers tasted like chocolate and raspberries. At first I ran my tongue along his index finger to lap up the flavor, but then he had both hands in my mouth, the
thumbs and index fingers gripping the bottom of my dentures, and I was nearly gagging on his grip. I panicked. I slapped at his hands and gagged as I tried to yank his hands away. In the next second, my teeth felt like transmitters running wires and energy up to my brain. There were no images that flooded through the cortex, only emotions and words. Whether it took moments or hours, I couldn't be sure, all I knew was that when he let me go I looked at him through a blur of tears.

  "You need to go," I said to Sarah.

  She gave me a questioning look, but I just shook my head at her. I wasn't sure I could put into words all of the things that I had gathered from the connection between myself and the fairy. All I knew was that I needed to get her out of there because I was going to grant his wish and if things went wrong and I wasn't able to reap him before his master called him home again, then Nicki would be in a terrible amount of pain. Every moment we wasted was one more that put Nicki at risk.

  "Go," I said again. "I'll follow you. I'll text Callum and will follow you."

  I hoped she read in the words that I wasn't about to let anything happen to her either not by a long shot. But for now, we needed to maximize our opportunities.

  "We won't leave you to face him alone," I said. I gave her a thin smile that I hoped she would take it as encouragement. I also hope she couldn't read in my expression the fear that was running along my spine. "We just need to buy some time."

  She licked her lips, uncertain and hesitant. She gave a long and pointed look toward Warren. I knew she wasn't hesitating because she was afraid to go. In fact, I knew she was on fire to help Nicki, but she wanted Warren to pay. I gave her a brief nod, encouraging. She needn't worry about that score.

  "Go before Warren is called and I don't have a chance to finish this," I said and the next second she was running from the room. The sound of her footsteps pounding against the stair treads only paused long enough to push on some shoes and probably a coat. The door slammed on the way out. I thought I heard my scooter rev to life.

  I turned to Warren. "How do you want me to do this?"

  CHAPTER 11

  Warren gave me a contented smile. "Quick," he said. "So he doesn't know what's happening. He already knows what you are. You can't wait."

  "Are you sure he can't see what's happening to you right now?"

  I knew who his master was. In the seconds, I had been joined to Warren, his magic and power had pulsed through my teeth and sent me a host of images. I'd recognized the face the bond showed me immediately. Rory. A distant cousin of Sarah's through her maternal great-grandmother. A man born with the ability to steal magic from the fae and control them, enough that he'd already lived what should have been two lifetimes. No wonder Sarah hadn't recognized him.

  Through Warren's magic, I had seen into the connection he'd shared with the fae mancer. Through his power, I experienced everything Warren did, felt the things he did. None of it was good, most painful.

  Knowing it, I was wary about his master seeing what I was planned to do now because Rory needed the fairy and would not be pleased if he knew what was about to happen. He might even call Warren back before I had the chance to intervene in his suffering.

  It was true when he said that Rory was young and inexperienced. Compared to Warren, he was young and with the benefit of age and centuries of power, Warren had been able to use the intimacy of the connection Rory forced on him to understand was happening.

  Even as the agony of having his magic siphoned through a thready link that sizzled between Rory's fingertips and his temples, Warren had stared into those sky blue eyes and read all his intent. I had felt that agony. It was more than just pain; it was the soul-hollowing feel of losing yourself. There was grief, yes and pain, but there was also an incredible sense of desolation. He had come begging me to put an end to his suffering because he could see no other way to stop the inevitable.

  Warren now knelt on the floor in front of me and lifted his face to mine as he clung to my legs with meaty hands. Hands that I now knew were puffy with sickness not fat.

  "You know, then?" he said. "I had enough magic left to transfer it?"

  I choked on the words. "Yes. I know."

  "And you know that he's been siphoning my kind for decades?"

  I nodded. "I also know what it is he's really after."

  Warren shuddered and crossed his arms over his barrel -sized chest. "A creature with that sort of power gaining true immortality. I can't be responsible for that happening."

  I knelt down in front of him so I was on the same level as him. He was slightly taller than me in his human form so I had to lift my chin to look him in the eyes. Taking in that face, I could tell that what I had earlier mistaken for pudgy fat was really nothing more than swelling. The fact that he was bald now when he had sported a sparse comb-over before was just another manifestation of his true power being siphoned away.

  I found myself wondering what he must've looked like before Rory got hold of him. I could tell that beneath that swollen façade and drooping eyelids was a being of intellect. Perhaps not truly benevolent, but certainly not evil. He deserved a quick death, I knew. It would be the merciful thing to do. And yet I hesitated.

  "You can do it, Ayla," he whispered. "I won't struggle. In my human form I'm more vulnerable, and now without most of my magic..."

  Everything in his body sagged as he let that thought trail off. I knew that of all the things that happened to him, losing his power was the worst.

  "What about the spell?" I said. "Can he manage it?"

  Before I took this ultimate step, I wanted to be sure that it was truly going to interfere with Rory's plans. Not because I wasn't going to put Warren out of his misery; quite the opposite. I fully intended to relieve him of his suffering, but at present he was the only connection I had to Sarah's family and their plans.

  "I do. His family has wanted immortality for centuries. But it's not such an easy thing to acquire. Even supernaturals like me can only grow very, very old but not live forever."

  I nodded. I knew that from Sarah. Some lived regular human lives, like she would. And some lived for centuries. None of them were truly immortal.

  "They needed a necromancer's magic," Warren said, his tone urging but not rushed. He wanted me to understand it all, it seemed. Grasp exactly what was at stake. "Only one other was born into their line but she's been dead for centuries."

  He cupped my face with his palm and I only realized that he was doing it to distract me when I felt him press the knife in my hand. He gave me an encouraging nod.

  "They have a necromancer now," he said. "And they've always known the ingredients for the spell to harness death."

  My fingers clenched on the handle. I thought of the ingredients to the spell that I had gleaned from Warren while his grip had been tight on my molars. The bone of a soul who has cheated death. The life-blood of a raised necromancer. The flames from an angel's disgrace. All very complex and enigmatic in nature.

  I thought of Sarah hopping on my scooter and racing all the way to the crypt after she had refused to leave the property for weeks out of fear. Now she was Hell-bent on saving Nicki. I wonder if she also knew the immortality spell but had kept it to herself because she understood the consequences of immortality or of someone having that much power. No wonder she had run all those years ago. No wonder she was hiding with us now. Doing so was robbing her family of what they needed and taking herself out of an equation.

  Sarah had told me before that they planned to sacrifice her to use her blood to raise her family's greatest necromancer, the only one in generations. She had told me plenty of times that spells are very particular. Life-blood defied the very specific condition of raised. How could they both be true?

  "They mean to use Sarah to raise the nun," I said. "Use her life-blood to raise another necromancer, but that's only one part to the spell."

  "Why do you think they let her stay missing for so long?" he said with a wry smile. "Those other two ingredients always posed a bit
of a problem, but not anymore."

  I didn't miss the way he stressed not anymore. "So you're saying he has the rest."

  "You know it as well as I do and you didn't need my magic to tell you so. He came to find the bones of the nun, but when he discovered Sarah here... And then found your little raised demigod... that opened up new possibilities. Two thirds of the spell were suddenly within reach."

  "A bone of someone who has cheated death," I said out loud piecing together as I spoke.

  "Teeth are bone at their barest element," he said. "And you must agree that your infant demigod cheated death. It provided him a wonderful opportunity."

  I thought of the moment I had faced off with Azrael in the other world, declaring to him that Nicki would never be a casualty for the top of his cane. In my defiance, I had told Sarah to raise her and then begged the goddess to take possession of her so that we could fix two problems at once. So, yes, little Nicki, our own demigod had cheated death.

  My stomach might have sank as I realized that Sarah, who never went anywhere without that bone she had stolen from the crypt, was walking into a trap. Rory didn't plan to release her or Nicki at all. Instead he planned to use them both to power up the spell. But only if he had Warren and Sarah.

  "Hurry," Warren said. He looked over his shoulder as though he thought someone was behind him. "It's nearly time. I can feel him calling me."

  I looked him in the eye, telling myself that letting him see a friendly gaze was the least I could do. I took his hand with my free one and I squeezed his fingers. "I'm sorry," I said.

  A lingering smile of contentment threaded itself onto his mouth. "Don't be," he said. "It's a mercy."