by Cree Walker
Is it a bad thing that that turned me on?
“Robert, let’s worry about that later. Remember we've got an engagement party to plan?”
On the way home we worked out our plan. Outright murder wasn't allowed even in our society even for reasons we'd both deemed as justified but who'd put the judges themselves on trial? We decided we needed an alibi to protect us. We would have a huge party and at some point in the evening he would leave and I would only leave upon his return. We knew all along that Gage was in with the bad guys, but we hadn't planned on Donna as well. They would both be taken care of by Robert while the Council would be my responsibility with the help of the Reaper. As suspicious as all nine of them dying was, especially on the same night they would all die of natural causes. The Reaper assured me that each of them would die as they would have naturally, by the weakest point in their bodies. A bad heart, a stroke, or an undetected embolism; the point was that they all died tonight. They needed to be wiped out in one fell swoop before they had a chance to name their replacements. Not one of them could live because of the chance that they would poison the next members of Council to replace them.
The Elders themselves didn't live far from the lake. In fact the lake in many respects was their hub, which was why our pack and territory was so important to them.
I called Sarah and Kyle in for pack support. Sarah was more than happy to delegate who did what in the party planning. Some girls were set up texting faster than the speed of sound in one corner, sending last minute invites, and despite the distances most of the neighboring packs would be attending. It was easy when you dangled the fact that our pack of mostly unmated females would now be available because the Alpha had finally chosen his Mate.
Some of the other girls were outside decorating the back yard and deck with tiki torches and inflatable palm trees. I knew that this was just a cover but I couldn’t help thinking that I would have never chosen “Hawaiian Luau,” for my engagement party.
Robert had gone downtown for supplies and he returned with Kyle carrying the biggest boxes of hard liquor I had ever seen. He kissed me as he set his box down on the table, and I swear it creaked under the weight of it.
“That's a lot of alcohol.” I said looking into the box.
“I don't want people to remember anything about tonight, much less our leaving.” He whispered into my ear before kissing me again. He looked out onto the back porch and winced. “A luau huh?”
I shrugged, “We already had the palm trees and tiki torches.”
He wiggled his eyebrows, “What about the grass skirts and coconut bikinis?”
I narrowed my eyes at him. “Not on your life pal.” It was twilight when I helped Britney string white Christmas lights around the large perimeter of the yard and back deck. Jersey led the band to a far corner of the deck to get set up.
“Sugar,” Sarah called from the patio doors.
I handed the end of the lights to Brian and went inside.
Some of the guests had arrived and I watched as they resolutely dropped their car keys into a bowl of water next to the door. Sarah smiled, “My idea. When everyone's here I'll put it in the freezer so no one can leave. It's much more effective than a designated driver.” She leaned in, “And this way everyone will get snookered.” She patted my arm. “Now you go upstairs and get ready.”
I figured it was a pretty casual party, which was good since I didn't plan on tramping around the lake wearing a dress like some sort of angel of death. I rummaged through my clothes and my bedroom door closed behind me. My muscles stiffened as the heavy footfalls came towards me.
“Do you think we've got time for a shower?”
I smiled and relaxed but didn't turn around. “Maybe if we share it.”
His hands came around my waist and he lowered his mouth to my ear and chuckled softly sending a chill over my skin.
“We’re going to be alright aren’t we?” I asked after another long moment. I could hear the tears enter my voice as I thought more about it.
He turned me around slowly and hugged me to him. “We’re the good guys, remember?”
“This isn’t a movie Robert, and there is no script that says we’re going to win just because we deserve it.”
He tried to look at my face but I hugged him tighter. “Sugar, what happened to you and your family and then Jack… that was awful and unfair but no matter what happens tonight, the Council will fall and our future generations will be safe.”
“How do you know that?” I growled into his chest.
“Because despite what you may think, the world is still a good place and good wins over evil most of the time. We’ve got each other and we’ve got the pack and tonight we’ll get revenge as well.”
I laughed at that and looked up at him finally. “Do you always know what to say to make a girl take a shower with you?”
He flashed me a brilliant smile, “I’m glad it worked; I was running out of material.”
Chapter Twenty-Nine
After our shower and getting dressed we went downstairs together to greet our quickly growing crowd of guests. We joined small groups and received congratulations for nearly an hour before Robert started eying the back woods for his escape.
My grip on his hand tightened and he looked down on me reassuringly, squeezing my hand gently in return. “I’ll be right back.”
I narrowed my eyes at him. Hadn’t he ever watched a horror movie? You never say, “I’ll be right back.” That’s just inviting the killer to prove you wrong.
He gave me a wink that turned my stomach to goo and I dropped his hand reluctantly. I didn’t know how he could be so self-assured all the time. Quite frankly it was getting annoying at this point.
I looked down at the ground refusing to watch him leave. I knew if he didn’t come back that would haunt me forever, but I didn’t want to draw attention to him as he slipped into the shadows of the woods.
Exactly five minutes passed before someone asked me, “Where’s Robert?” My answer was always different. Going to the bathroom, making me a drink inside, he had to change his shirt, he’s on the phone in our room, he got hungry and went to make a sandwich… and the list goes on.
I walked into the house sometime around two thirty, my skin and blood heated with fear and anger. It had been well over two hours and my patience had finally run dry. I tried the door to his bedroom and it was locked. “Robert?” I murmured through the thick wood.
The door opened and I walked in before he closed it and locked it behind me. The room was dark but I could still smell the metallic stink of blood in the air. I flicked on the light and waited for my eyes to adjust. He stood next to his bed, every muscle in his body shaking. Both of his hands were coated in blood and I wasn’t sure where it all was coming from.
“Baby, are you okay?” I didn’t move towards him because of the wild look in his eyes. I wasn’t sure yet if he even knew who I was.
“Sugar, can you help me into a bath?”
I moved into the bathroom leading him gently behind me. I ran the tub water as hot as it would go, if he was in shock I needed to keep him warm. Finally I turned back to him and started stripping off his clothes one piece at a time until he was totally naked. My eyes darted over his bare skin with nothing but concern. I would never have thought I’d ever see him naked and not instantly want to render him useless. After another few minutes of searching over him I realized none of the blood was his.
I helped him into the tub and scrubbed the drying blood from his hair and skin. Most of it was on his face and I took my time washing him free of it. Once he was clean I stood him up and put him under the hot water of the shower. Slowly the fog lifted and his eyes took on a more human note. He was coming back to me. I knew now why he had been so adamant to tell the Elders to stuff it when they asked him to be there new hit man, he couldn’t do it. Yes he was very capable of killing when it needed to be done, but unlike Jack he felt something when he did it and I was afraid a little of him died when t
hey did.
There was a knock on the door as I stood guard over Robert as he slowly climbed into our bed.
“Sugar it’s me.” Sarah’s voice muffled through the door.
I ripped it open and pulled her inside. “I have to go.”
She watched me for what felt like forever. “I’ll watch him.”
Though Sarah hadn’t been privy to the plan of attack she knew what had happened the minute she opened the bedroom door. Her pause was only her fear of me leaving and not coming back again. I hugged her and kissed Robert quickly before rushing out the door.
I only stood in the moonlight for maybe a minute before the Reaper’s white hair shown from the shadows. “I’ve been waiting.”
“Sorry,” I said automatically.
He shrugged it off seeming very human. “I’m better at waiting than most.”
I was pretty sure he’d just made a joke but I was in no mood for humor.
“You do not need to come with me if you would rather stay.” He opened the car door for me. “The choice is yours.”
“So Death has sympathy after all?” I said climbing in.
“For the living.” He smirked again and closed the door quietly.
Great; of all the Grim Reapers, I had to get the one with a sense of humor. “Will Robert end up like Jack, you know – just because he killed for his family?”
His grip on the steering wheel tightened. “I'm not the one who judges such things.” He looked over at me then continued. “There is a place and time for everything and when one must kill for one's family I think the rules change somewhat.”
I watched him as he drove. He seemed more human somehow than the last time I had seen him. He was handsome though the blonde hair threw me off some.
Suddenly he smiled and looked over at me and I realized I’d forgotten that he could hear my thoughts. My head whipped around and I faced forward singing Sunshine on my Shoulders on repeat in my mind.
“Do you have a name?” I asked.
I half expected him to say, “I am known by many names,” but he didn’t.
“I’m Ash.”
We pulled into the first driveway and I assumed it was the first of the Elders. Every light in the house was on and I paused before getting out of the car. I stood beside him as a beautiful black Doberman trotted out of the forest to stand beside his master, not even looking at me. “Does he remember me?” I asked.
“No Sugar, I did him that kindness.” The Reaper absently ran his hand over the wolf’s head. “After you.”
“Does he know we’re coming?” I asked as I looked at the house glowing out from the darkness.
“Yes, instinct tells you when Death is coming.” He placed a gentle hand on my lower back urging me forward. “The night is ending soon.”
As I entered the first home, one of the Elders sat resolutely in a leather chair that stank of years of pipe smoke. He looked up as I entered the room with a Reaper and Hellhound standing to my back. His wrinkled hands clutched weakly at the leather and shook in fear.
“Do you know why I’m here Elder?”
“Revenge.” He spat angrily his milky eyes shimmering with unshed tears.
I felt my reserve disappear with his look of venomous hate. I knew then that there was no way to move forward with any of them living, my hands were tied and I had no choice. “Yes, I’d say revenge is a perfect reason.”
I stepped forward and leaned over him putting one hand on either side of his balding liver spotted head and whispered, “I bet it pisses you off that I’m the one to bring it though… doesn’t it?”
The Reaper stepped up next to me and laid his hand on the trembling hand of the Elder until his shaking stopped. I turned and left the house as quietly as I had entered to wait for my Reaper. Every Elder met me with that same look of regal resolve and hatred. As if I were too filthy to even end their lives. All except Elder Coon.
She waited for me sitting at a huge granite island bar in the center of a shimmering kitchen. She didn’t even glance in the direction of the Reaper as we entered her home. “I see you’ve saved me for last.” She looked to the late time on the kitchen clock before returning her gaze to me.
I didn’t answer her; I just took the bar stool across from her and placed my hands on the cool polished rock.
“I suppose it’s too late for an apology?” She sipped at her warm milk as if that would settle her nerves enough for sleep at this point.
“Nothing you say will ever stop me,” I answered. “What you and the others have done in the face of political correctness is a molestation of your rank and place of power.”
She put down her mug of milk and straightened in her stool. “Well at least you didn’t get him.” She met my gaze with cold hate.
She was being honest now. It seems her goal was simply to keep me out of the bloodline. Her family had taken pure lines a little too seriously, but I had one last surprise for her.
“I’m pregnant.”
She sighed and shrugged. “It was bound to happen. I couldn’t kill you, so you defy me by breeding.”
“I’m carrying twins,” I said softly. That caught her attention. It was unheard of, but that wasn’t my surprise to her.
“Aren’t you going to congratulate me?” I asked sarcastically.
She scoffed but her thin lips seemed to disappear into a tight line of rage.
“One of my daughters isn’t Robert’s.” I said finally.
She was quick on the uptake, “Impossible; he’s dead.” She spat out.
I looked over my shoulder at the Reaper then back at her. “We made a deal.”
Tears spilled over and she swiped at them angrily. “No; you lie.”
“Her name will be Jacqueline.” I said just as softly as before.
She rose up and swiped at me over the top of the huge island but I snatched her flying hand and crushed it in my grip ripping the ruby wedding ring off her finger. “This,” I snarled viciously. “This is mine.” I yanked her over the top of the stone barrier and onto the floor.
She tried crab crawling back away from me. I kicked her feet out from under her and bent grabbing them and dragging her to me before straddling her and wrapping my hands around her throat.
A cold hand touched my shoulder. I had forgotten I wasn’t alone. I looked up at the white haired Reaper and he shook his head gently. Part of me wanted to snarl at him over my kill, but part of me knew he was doing me a favor. He wasn’t supposed to intervene in anything but he was warning me that if I killed this woman… I would be the next wolf on the end of a golden chain.
I stood wiping tears from my own cheeks. The old woman backed away but stopped cold at the sound of a blood-curdling growl. The wolf strained at the end of his chain and the Reaper simply let go. It was quick, and violent. Jack’s eyes met mine as he returned to the Reaper’s side. For me it would have been damnation, but for Jack it was just one more kill. I looked to the dead woman and hoped she realized the irony of dying at the very hand of the monster she created.
It was over, and like in most books and movies revenge is never satisfying. I had never felt more repulsive. I had only been a key to saving the race from extinction but I was only able to protect one of my daughter’s futures. For the other, I wasn’t sure if she were protected or not. But I knew her freedom had been the cost of ours. I may have been a willing sacrifice but I didn’t know what our independence had cost her. I knew her soul was safe, but like a fairytale storybook villain, one night Death would come for her and she would pay the price for our deal and I would never see my daughter again. He didn’t want me, but he might as well have taken my soul as trade.
Ash stood over me and held out his hand to help me up. “It’s over, now it’s up to you and your Mate to make this right again.”
I looked at him for a long time, wanting to beg him to take me rather than my daughter, but he had held up his end of the bargain and I had nothing that he wanted.
The Hellhound looked at me with blank
curiosity, the way a bird might watch a human being whistling. I recognized the look after a moment, it was as if he recognized me but couldn't quite place me.
“What could you possibly want from my daughter?” I asked the Reaper aloud when he refused to answer my thoughts.
“My reasons are my own Alpha. I can assure you she will be cared for. I don't intend on hurting her at all.”
“But she belongs with her kind. She will die without her pack.”
“She will be strong like her mother.” The Reaper reached out and held my cheek gently in his hand. “On the evening of her twenty-first birthday I will come for her.”
Pride forgotten I slapped his hand away earning a warning growl from the Hellhound at his feet. “You can't have her.” I screamed as if volume alone would make it true.
“I've done my part and without me, Alpha, none of your children would have seen the light of life.” His tone remained quiet but it held a hint of anger.
“Not my baby.” I begged falling quietly to my knees and dropping my head into my hands.
I stayed there like that until the sun started to rise. I knew the Reaper was gone and I knew our deal was unbroken, like a curse.
When I opened my eyes again I looked down on ebony paws. I wasn't surprised in the least that now that Jack was out of the picture my natural instinct to change into a wolf when threatened was unhindered. I spared one final glance at the rotting corpse I had shared the last of my night with before leaving the great Elder Coon's mansion. It wouldn't take long for the bodies to start surfacing and I knew I had been away too long already but with any luck Sarah had been able to cover for me.
I trotted out the door, bouncing a little with each strong step into the cold morning air. Warm fog curled up from my muzzle into the frosty sunshine that lit the valley before me and in a mixture of relief, pain and triumph I tilled my chin into the air and called out to my Mate and pack. My call was quickly met by one of Robert. I knew it was him; my very being recognized it as easily as I would his beautiful face. I darted off the main porch of the mansion and into the surrounding woods, making a direct line for my home, family and our uncertain future. I decided I had done the best I could and given more than I had to give. If our race died at this point I knew that Nature, in her cruel, childish ways had won, but at least we didn't go down without a fight.
