Organ Reapers

by West, Shay

  Eli blinked slowly, wondering what sort of trick this was.

  “No, I mean it. If you honestly think that what you’re doing is right, then by all means, blow up the room.” Kelhar grinned. “But you’ll be taking all of us with you.”

  CHAPTER 41

  ELI HELD THE SHOTGUN pointed at Kelhar. He glanced over at Ava, but her face was unreadable. The tension in the room climbed as everyone waited to see what he would do.

  Suddenly, Kelhar laughed, his voice deepening into something that sounded inhuman. Eli stepped back, his arms prickling in goose pimples. What the hell crazy shit is this?

  “You have no idea what you’re dealing with, boy.” Kelhar’s voice managed to sound animalistic and insulting at the same time.

  Can’t argue with him there.

  The man—is he really a man?—grinned, and to Eli it looked like he had far too many teeth in his mouth. My God, are they pointy?

  “You cannot stand against the gods, boy.”

  There’s that word again. “I can damn sure try,” Eli said with a grin of his own. “Besides, if I set off the bombs, you’ll be dead. Then who’s going to rebuild your precious machines?”

  The Harvesters, Enforcer, and his two attendants backed away from the man they had once called priest. It was clear even to them that the man was off his rocker.

  “You don’t think the gods will protect me?”

  “Buddy, I think your benevolent gods left you long ago.”

  Kelhar laughed again, the sound echoing in the room. “Oh, you’re right about that. I never said which gods I was referring to.” He winked.

  Suddenly, the sound of a pistol rang out in the chamber. Eli turned to Ava, wondering if she was the one who did the shooting, but she only held the shotgun.

  Master Kelhar’s mouth opened and a small dribble of blood leaked from one corner. His expression was surprised at first, then his face contorted in pain. His knees buckled and he fell forward, wheezing. Eli’s eyes widened. Keena.

  She stepped into the room, training her gun on the Enforcer who had been holding Tani. The man simply stared at Master Kelhar lying on the floor, choking to death on his own blood.

  “You’ve killed him, you’ve killed him!” the Enforcer said.

  Eli dropped the shotgun as Tani flew at him, fists flying at his chest. If the kid had been any bigger, the blows would have sent Eli to his knees. He held Tani’s hands, his heart breaking as Tani struggled until he finally hit his knees, sobbing against Eli’s legs.

  He looked at the Harvesters still sitting on the steps leading to the gateway platform.

  “Can you still use the organs?” he asked.

  The man shook his head. “Only Master Kelhar can perform the surgery to save the boy.”

  Tani turned to Keena, still standing in the doorway. “Why?”

  She shook her head, lowering the pistol. “I don’t know, I didn’t think. I just saw him there and after hearing what he said, how he laughed, it sounded so evil...and...I don’t know. Shooting him was the only thing I could think of.” She looked at Tani helplessly.

  “You could have waited! He could have saved Meevo.” Tani buried his face in his hands.

  Eli knelt next to the distraught boy. “I’m sorry, Tani, more than you can ever know, but let me ask you this: would you have sacrificed your brother to save the little boy back on my world? He had a family too, people who loved him, and he’s dead now. Was it fair to take his life just so your brother can live?” he finished softly.

  Tani snarled and pushed Eli’s hand away. “I don’t care about that other child, I didn’t know him.” He glanced up with a sad smile on his face. “Meevo was kind and gentle. He refused to even kill a bug.”

  “You don’t mean that. You didn’t want to be a Harvester anymore because Kelhar wanted you to kill a child. You are angry and sad and I understand that, but Keena didn’t have any choice. Besides, you heard Kelhar at the end. Do you really want a man who’s in league with evil gods or whatever you have here on your world doing anything to your brother?”

  Tani sniffed, but refused to stand up or look at any of them. Keena stood in the doorway looking scared and resolute at the same time.

  “Eli, we still have a job to do,” Ava said, visibly shaken.

  He sighed. “Everyone needs to leave this room.”

  “What are you going to do?” one of the Harvesters asked.

  “We’re going to destroy this machinery.” Eli stood and offered a hand to Tani.

  Tani, with anger still in his eyes, took Eli’s proffered hand. “I will never forgive you for this.” He looked at Keena dully. “Either of you.”

  The words stung. Eli motioned the Harvesters to exit the room. They complied, leaving the chest with the useless kidneys inside. Tani followed, defeat evident in the drooping of his shoulders. The Enforcer knelt next to Kelhar’s body, wheezing and choking no longer.

  “Unless you want his body burned, I suggest you take it with you when you leave,” Eli said.

  The Enforcer stood and shook his head, moving his hands in the strange shapes to ward off evil spirits. Little late for that. The man left the room, leaving the corpse on the floor.

  Keena turned and looked back at Eli and Ava. “Don’t worry about Tani. I’ll look after him.”

  Eli nodded, wishing there was something he could say to make things better. Keena will help him through the grieving process. He wished there was some way they could communicate so he would know the pair were all right. He didn’t think they would be in danger now that Master Kelhar was dead. There had been other witnesses to his strange little demonic outburst, so that should go a long way to getting the two cleared of any wrong-doing. Then again, their rules aren’t our rules.

  “Let’s get this over with. I want to go home.”

  He looked at Ava and nodded. Eli wished they had more time to examine the machine, to see how it worked. Who cares, as long as it gets you back home! Besides, if it’s associated with evil mojo, then you don’t want nothing to do with it. Eli hit the gold button Tani had pointed out earlier.

  The pair jogged up the steps of the platform and stood in the center. The floor vibrated as the brightness intensified. Eli closed his eyes and hoped they wouldn’t end up on some other wacked out world.

  CHAPTER 42

  ELI HIT HIS KNEES, choking and gasping, trying to shake the afterimages masking his vision. He heard Ava next to him cursing in Spanish. Are we home?

  It certainly sounded like home. The sound of heavy traffic reached his ears, as did the cacophony of honking horns. He wiped his eyes trying to get a better view. Wherever they were, it wasn’t the vacant lot they had left from.

  “Where the hell are we?” Ava asked.

  “Beats me. I’ll let you know when I can see again.”

  Eli stood on wobbly legs and blinked, his vision slowly returning. He spun in a slow circle, trying to get his bearings. The buildings looked like they hadn’t been lived in for years. The sidewalks had weeds and grass growing between the myriad of cracks. He didn’t recognize any of the buildings and the street signs were too far away to make out. Most of the streetlights were dark, lending to the eerie landscape.

  “I think I know where we are. Looks like the east side of town.” Ava shrugged. “I did a drug bust here once.”

  “Well, we can’t go wandering around with our guns.” Eli grabbed his cell phone out of his pocket and dialed Sherry’s number. “Hey, I need a huge favor.”

  ***

  “I can’t believe you won’t tell me what you two were doing nearly twenty miles from where you left your car,” Sherry said.

  Eli shoved the two shotguns in the trunk and closed it. “You wouldn’t believe me even if I told you.”

  “You don’t think I’ve seen some pretty weird shit in my line of work?”

  He shook his head. “Not like this.”

  “Fine, have it your way. But next time you need rescuing, I might not be so inclined to drop everything an
d come running in the middle of the night.”

  “We really owe you one, Sherry,” Ava said.

  “Yeah, yeah.” The coroner got into her car and drove away.

  Eli unlocked the door and climbed into the driver’s seat. He put the key in the ignition, but hesitated before turning the key. He sat back against the seat, breath leaving in a gasp.

  “Hey, you okay?”

  He looked at Ava and shook his head. “Tani’s brother is going to die.”

  Ava’s eyes were filled with sympathy. “It wasn’t your fault.”

  “I know, but the kid still hates me.”

  “He’ll get over it.”

  “I wish we could check up on them or something, you know? I hate not knowing if they’ll really open a restaurant and get married and have kids.” He threw up his hands helplessly.

  “At least we solved the case. Well, sort of. That’s something anyway.”

  Yeah, something.

  He started the car and pulled out of the abandoned lot, heading for home.

  ***

  Eli blinked, willing the sun to take a hike and come back in a few hours. When it continued to cheerfully blaze through his window, he threw the blankets off and headed for the shower. The hot water did little to help him shake off the exhaustion. Nor did it help to wash away the memories of the past night.

  As he drove to the office, he wondered what he was going to tell the captain. Eli didn’t want to leave Platt in the dark, but without proof, the captain would never believe the truth. But if he didn’t tell the man what really happened, he would be plagued with the case going cold and wondering if the killers would resurface. It would mean a lot of sleepless nights.

  Telling him the truth will cause those too.

  As usual, Ava was already at her desk, looking as good as he felt. Her skin was pale and she had dark circles under his eyes. Even her normally thick and shiny hair lay dull and limp against her skin.

  She had her computer window open as though she was hard at work following up a lead, but she stared at the screen with her eyes glazed over.

  “Morning,” he said as he sat down.

  “I wish it wasn’t. I could have slept about ten more hours today.”

  He nodded as he rubbed his face. He noted absently that he had forgotten to shave that morning. Eli dreaded speaking to Captain Platt. The man hadn’t been happy that Eli had invited Tani and Keena to stay at his house, but he’d be even more pissed when he found out the two were gone and wouldn’t be coming back.

  The Feds ain’t gonna be happy either.

  “Have you thought about what you’re gonna tell Platt?” Ava asked.

  Eli gave her a small smile. “No, but I’ll think of something.”

  ***

  Tani held Meevo’s hand, tears running down his cheeks no matter how hard he tried to stop them. His brother looked so tiny in his bed, like the quilt covering his failing body was eating him alive.

  His father came in and rested a hand on his shoulder, giving a small squeeze of comfort.

  “It’s all my fault, Papa. If I hadn’t refused to do my duty, Meevo would be alive.”

  “My son, you know how your little brother loved all living things. Do you think he could live with knowing that his life was only possible because someone else lost theirs?”

  Tani gazed into his father’s sorrowful eyes and shook his head. It hurt to admit the truth. He wanted to hate Keena for shooting Master Kelhar and he wanted to hate Eli and Ava for destroying the machines. But as he looked at his brother, kind and gentle Meevo, the hate drained slowly away, like the water after a heavy rain, leaving behind an emptiness that would take time to heal.

  The household stayed in mourning long after Meevo’s passing, each one feeling his absence and the loneliness that comes with it. Tani helped around the house, mainly just to keep from thinking about his brother.

  But as the days passed, he missed Keena. She had returned home, her father and mother willing to take her back after word spread about Master Kelhar’s connection to something dark and dangerous. Most didn’t want to believe their beloved priest would actually be connected to the dark gods.

  That also made it easier to say good-bye to his brother. The dark arts were forbidden, but most especially to priests. The monastery had changed since the explosion and the talk from the Enforcer and two Harvesters who had witnessed Kelhar’s downfall. The surgery room had been cleared of all the equipment and the Harvesters sent home.

  One day Tani awoke to the sun shining on his face. For the first time in a long time he smiled, eager for what the day would bring. As he worked in the fields, his thoughts turned to Keena and the treasure he carried in his knapsack. He hadn’t even told his family about the priceless gift from Eli and Ava. The more he thought about it, the more excited he became at the thought of opening a restaurant.

  When he came in from work that day, he brought his family together.

  “I have something to tell you,” he said as he pulled the spices from his pack.

  EPILOGUE

  “WHAT DO YOU THINK?”

  Tani glanced up at the sign and smiled. “’Meevo’s.” He pulled Keena close and rubbed her growing belly. “It’s perfect.”

  “Do you think he would like it?”

  “He is looking down right now and smiling.”

  Keena pulled away. “You finish with the tables and chairs. I need to finish sewing the curtains or we’ll never be ready for our grand opening.”

  He watched her waddle away, thinking she looked more beautiful than the day he had first laid eyes on her. She disappeared inside the building that would soon be their new restaurant. As he sanded the piece of wood that would be a table top, several passers-by stopped to say hello or to welcome them to the area. Tani shook many a hand and tipped his hat to many a lady. He couldn’t wait to see their faces when they tasted the recipes with spices that they’d never had before.

  Keena waved from the window as she placed a large pot full of tiny green herbs grown from the seeds Eli and Ava had given them on the windowsill.

  Tani smiled as he turned back to his work.

  Many thanks, my friends.

  OTHER WORKS BY SHAY WEST

  Novels

  Portals of Destiny Series

  The Chosen (Book One)

  Shattered Destiny (Book Two)

  Resigned Fate (Book Three)

  The Mad Lord Lucian (Novella)

  Adventures of Alexis Davenport Series

  Dangerous Reflections (Book One)

  Twisted Reflections (Book Two)

  Desperate Reflections (Book Three)

  Anthologies

  Orange Karen: Tribute to a Warrior

  Horror in Bloom

  Battlespace

  Ancient New

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