Ruin's Lot

by ID Johnson

  Rider had been hopping from one subconscious to another, attempting to pinpoint the location of the Reaper. He knew there was one nearby, but hunting in NYC was never easy. So many minds in such a compact area made it tough to find anyone.

  He’d just left a small boy dreaming about a day at the zoo with his parents when he got the sense a Reaper was in the same building. Jumping out of the dream, but staying in his spirit form, Rider felt with his mind. She was definitely close by, and she was no stranger.

  Following his instinct, Rider propelled himself into the mind of a woman on the third floor. Her sleep was not purely natural, as the empty bottles next to the bed would confess, and once he wound his way through thick layers of black, inky tendrils of depression and alcohol induced stupor, he landed in a dream that looked very much like the room she slept in.

  The woman, an African American lady who appeared to be in her mid-to-late-thirties, wearing sweats and a dirty T-shirt, stood next to her sofa, the same discarded bottles of booze precarious on the floor near her feet. A few feet in front of her, a cloaked figure stood, holding her scythe in one hand, beckoning with the other. Rider had yet to fully reveal himself to the other two occupants of the vision, so she continued to coax in her sugary sweet, vomit-inducing lilt. “Come along, Deena. You’ve nothing to fear.”

  Deena, oblivious to the danger in front of her, took a step forward, though she did hesitate. “Who are you?” she asked, her voice wavering a bit as if she wasn’t sure she could trust a being dressed all in black carrying a weapon. Go figure, Rider thought. Yet, Reapers almost always met their goal with the unmarked once they were able to wind their way this far into their subconscious and set up a vision this powerful.

  “I am a friend,” she replied, and then, reaching up and dropping the hood of her cloak, she revealed a beautiful face framed by long, black, feather-like hair, and green eyes that dazzled like emeralds.

  “Raven,” Rider muttered to himself. He’d been looking for her for a long time. It was time to make himself known.

  Deena stared in awe at the beautiful face and took another step toward that welcoming hand. Rider circled behind Raven, hoping he could take her by surprise, and materialized behind her. Deena knew he was there before the Reaper, and she froze mid-step, gasping, which caused Raven to turn around.

  “You!” she said, taking a step away from him. “What are you doing here?”

  “Did you miss me, darlin’?” he asked, flashing her a dazzling smile. “It’s been a while.”

  Raven continued to back away, the unmarked soul forgotten. “I wasn’t doing anything unsanctioned,” she protested. “This one is due.”

  “No, no, she’s not,” Rider argued, slowly approaching her. “And I think you know that.”

  “I was just following orders.” Her excuses were getting more and more lame.

  “As am I.”

  “You won’t send me back. I won’t go back there.”

  “Well, then, sweetheart, you best out run me,” Rider replied. Once the words were out, Raven wasted no time. She made a mental leap, likely hoping to either rematerialize in her own realm, where her physical body awaited her and Rider wouldn’t easily be able to follow, or into another stream of consciousness. Rider lunged for her just as she began to dissipate. If he could stay close enough to her, eventually he would catch up, and if he was lucky, he could grab ahold of her long enough to say the incantation that would send her to Hell.

  Rider rematerialized atop a large building and saw Raven in the distance. She’d dropped her cloak, and as she began to run, he chased after her. She still had her scythe in her hand, though she’d collapsed it into the size of a magic wand, and now that she wore a black cat suit, instead of the bulky cloak, she was much more agile. She couldn’t outrun him, though. She had to know that. What was she trying to do?

  Raven leapt from one rooftop to the next, and with each stride, Rider drew closer. As he approached the gap between the two buildings, which was at least twenty feet across, he quickened his pace and pushed off, gliding easily to the next roof, nearing his mark. As he closed to within about five feet of her, Raven looked back and smiled before disappearing again.

  Leaping with her into the next stream of consciousness, Rider found himself on a beach. Waves crashed against the shore, spraying the bottoms of his jeans as he continued to run, not knowing exactly where he was headed at first. Once he glimpsed around and got his bearings, he saw Raven ahead of him, cresting a sand dune. The smell of the salt air seemed very real, and he wondered whose mind they were in. Whoever it was, they had a vivid memory of the beach or quite the imagination. No doubt they’d left the person in their wake as they sprinted past, likely unnoticed.

  He had a feeling he knew what Raven was doing. In order to transition back into her human form quickly, she was trying to leap closer to wherever she had left her body. If she was far away, it would take her longer to leave the vision, and if it took her too long, Rider would be able to get ahold of her, which meant she would be captured. Wherever she was headed, it seemed out of the city. He wondered if she might also have recently relocated to Reaper’s Hollow. Was Raven working with Nat these days?

  Once she reached the top of the sand dune, Raven ran across a busy road, not caring for the honking horns as she stepped right across the hoods of moving vehicles. Rider did the same, catching up to her on the other side of the road. He almost had her, once again, when she disappeared. He was close enough to follow.

  They were in a dark wooded area, a fine mist surrounding them. She was off in the distance winding through the trees as if she knew exactly where she was headed. Rider had to be more careful. More than once, he stumbled over a craggy tree root and almost tumbled to the marshy ground. Raven began to put some distance between them, and in the dim light, he could hardly see her any more. Eventually, mist rolled in between them, and even though he lost sight of her, he continued to sprint in the direction where she had disappeared for several minutes.

  Exasperated, he came to a stop and looked around. The air was still. “Damn it,” Rider muttered. She was gone. Either she’d leapt again or this was her destination. There was something about this location that seemed familiar to him, though he couldn’t quite put his finger on it. He spun around for a few moments, trying to remember if he had ever been here before. It looked like something out of a nightmare, and he imagined, if there was another soul nearby, if this was a dream or a vision, whoever had invented this place in their mind would probably wake up frightened shortly. At least he had scared Raven off so that everyone would wake up in the morning, including Deena. Even if he hadn’t caught the Reaper this time, she hadn’t managed to capture the soul she’d been after.

  Something about these woods was both unsettling and frighteningly familiar. In a way, it reminded him of the forest that surrounded Angel Grove, though in the context of this vision, it seemed darker, more ominous. He continued to look around for a moment, trying to embed the scene in his mind so that, if he ever encountered this place again, he’d recognize it.

  After a few minutes, he decided he would never forget a place like this. Disappointed that he hadn’t caught Raven, Rider decided it was time to go back. It was still the middle of the night, and at least he would be able to get a few hours of rest for his weary soul. Closing his eyes, he concentrated on reaching for his body and began to move in the direction in which he was pulled. A few moments later, he opened his eyes and found himself sitting on his bed in the room he’d occupied for the last few months, the one he’d moved into when they’d learned the missing Keeper might be nearby.

  Rider looked at the clock on his nightstand. It was just past 4:00 in the morning. He ran a hand through his blond hair and let out a sigh. He hated being so close and missing his opportunity to nab a Reaper.

  He stood and pulled his T-shirt over his head, dropping it to the floor before he unbuttoned his jeans and slid out of them. In his boxer briefs, he returned to the bed, worn out from
a long night of hunting and frustrated at the end results. Next time, he wouldn’t toy with Raven. Next time, he’d grab her before she even had a chance to know what hit her.

  Nat stood before a wide window, staring out at a rocky mountain range illuminated by a red and orange sky. In the distance, two dragons chased each other through the air, bursts of fire punctuating their attempts to char each other beyond recognition. Occasionally, one of the lumbering beasts would collide with the mountainside, sending a boulder or two tumbling into the valley below. While the red dragon seemed to have the upper hand at the moment, its elongated neck and sharp, black talons formidable, the smaller, more agile black dragon was able to thwart his foe by darting around behind him. Nat was secretly cheering for the black dragon as he could identify with its underdog position, but he also wouldn’t have cared if they both turned each other into piles of ash.

  None of it was real, of course. He could visualize whatever he liked out of this window since, in this realm, he could control matter much more easily than in the human world. Sometimes, he imagined great big, lumbering dinosaurs. Other times, it was a vampire invasion or a zombie apocalypse. Tonight, he felt particularly destructive, so he had selected flaming monsters.

  He took another sip of his wine and continued to contemplate his discussion with Ms. Ronobes. She seemed to have an idea who she was now, though he hadn’t had a chance to probe her thoughts deeply enough to establish precisely how. Clearly, Cutter had something to do with it. The fact that he was able to arrive so quickly made him think Mr. Michaels was spending more time at Ru’s house than he should’ve been. This was a problem Nat would have to solve quickly if he was to convince the hybrid that his side was the only reputable choice.

  Noise behind him interrupted his thoughts, and he turned to find Raven entering the room, breathless, as if she’d been running. He knew she’d gone out earlier to retrieve a mark but had no idea what would cause her to return in such a state unless she’d been caught. “Raven? What’s happened?” he asked, setting his goblet on the windowsill and spinning to face her.

  She doubled over, her hands on her thighs, trying to catch her breath. “Rider,” she managed. “Almost. Got me.” She finally drew up to her full height, though her hand went to her side, her breathing still labored.

  “He didn’t see where you went, did he?” Nat asked, afraid she might’ve revealed their location. This particular portal had been guarded from the Keepers for centuries; surely, she hadn’t managed to ruin all of that, had she?

  “No,” she reassured him, shaking her head, her hair flying about like the bird she identified with. “I had to leap a few times, but I eventually lost him. It was close.”

  Nat crossed his arms and leaned back against the window, not sure he trusted her. In the past, her carelessness had almost cost him another hiding spot, one almost as sacred as this one. “You’re certain? Where were you when he lost your trail?”

  Raven’s green eyes flickered for a moment, an indication to Nat that she was about to attempt to deceive him, though why she would do so was beyond him. Surely, she knew it couldn’t be done. “In the woods. But far away from here.”

  “Damn it!” Nat spat, thrusting his fist back against the wall. “You should’ve never come here knowing he was still following! You could’ve jeopardized everything!”

  “I didn’t,” she reassured him. “He was nowhere near the tree when I made my final leap. He was still back in the fog. He didn’t even recognize where he was.”

  “You cannot be certain of that, Raven! You were careless. Now, he may very well know the location of the tree, which means he could show up at any time with an army of Keepers.”

  “He won’t,” she replied, though her voice wavered a bit, another indication of her unsureness. “He didn’t see where I went. I’m positive.”

  “You know the importance of guarding this location above all else.” He took a step toward her, his fists clenching and unclenching with a rage that began to pulse through his whole body. “If it were to be discovered….”

  “It won’t be. It was just Rider. He’s an arrogant fool. He won’t figure it out.”

  “He’s Cutter’s cousin!” Nat reminded her. “If he has gained enough clues in the mind of the strongest Keeper alive to reconstruct these woods, there is a good possibility all will be lost!” With his final words, he grabbed her by the shoulders and began to shake. Raven cried out in pain.

  “I’m sorry, Thanatos. I promise, I’ll be more cautious next time!” Her words were punctuated with grimaces and shrieks of pain as his grip tightened. “Please!”

  Nat pushed her across the room, and Raven careened into a chair as she crumpled to the ground. She groaned, rubbing her upper arms and then her head as she attempted to regain her footing. “Leave, now!” he shouted. She managed to pull herself up, heading for the door. “And do not leave this realm again without my express permission!”

  “Yes, sir,” she said, finally giving him the respect he deserved. Raven disappeared out the door, and Nat turned, focusing his gaze back out the window where a storm of fire and brimstone rained down on the same mountainside where the dragons had fought only minutes before.

  Two piles of ash lay at the foot of the mountains. Neither of them had made it out alive. Nat raised a fist to his face and bit into his finger hard enough to cause a thin stream of blood to begin to drip down, splashing against the windowsill. If he wasn’t able to secure the Keeper, and he ended up giving up the location of this portal to the enemy, his father would have his head—literally. Raven’s indiscretion could have cost them dearly, which made him want to pluck every feathery hair from her head and then crush every bone in her idiotic, pathetic body. Nat could envision everything slipping out of his hands, which caused the rage inside of him to boil up, and as he watched, the landscape before him burst into flames, so did his soul.

  “Rune Ronobes, I will make you mine. One way or another. I’m coming for you.”

  Chapter 14

  Ru awoke to the sound of her cell phone ringing. She glanced at the clock and saw it was past 10:00. Wiping sleep from her eyes, she picked up the annoying device and saw Candice’s face smiling up at her. With a deep breath, she answered. “Hello?”

  “Hey there, sunshine! Whatcha up to?”

  Ru wondered how someone who likely drank half her weight in tequila shots the night before could sound so chipper. “Nothing,” she replied, pulling herself up into a half-sitting, half-slouched position. “What are you up to?”

  “Did I wake you?” Candice exclaimed. “You’re almost always up with the rooster. What’s going on?”

  “Nothing. I just… had a rough night.” Thoughts of her dream, and the aftermath, filled her mind, and Ru looked down at her free hand. Had she really created a glowing blue light there a few hours ago, or was that all a figment of her imagination?

  “Oh, no,” Candice sympathized. “Was it your mother again? Or Cutter? It wasn’t Jane, was it? Did she say something mean to you yesterday that you didn’t tell me about.”

  “No, it wasn’t anything like that,” Ru assured her. She certainly couldn’t try to explain any of this to her friend right now. “It’s nothing. I just didn’t sleep well. I had a strange dream.” That much was definitely true.

  “I’m sorry. Do you want to talk about it?”

  “No, I really don’t.” If Ru was going to relive what she’d gone through the night before, she was only going to do it once, and it needed to be with someone who might understand—which wasn’t Candice.

  “Well, I need to find some new shoes to wear with my Halloween costume, and I was hoping you’d go with me. What do you say, a little retail therapy to make you feel better?”

  “Halloween?” Ru echoed. “It’s barely even October.”

  “Yeah, well, I like to make sure I look my best on my favorite holiday. It might take me a while to find the right ones to match my naughty vampire outfit.”

  “Is there such a thing
as a nice vampire?” Ru wondered aloud.

  “I don’t know, but are definitely less slutty ones,” Candice replied with a giggle. “So what do you say? Lunch on me?”

  “I’m sorry, Candice. I can’t. I have a stack of papers to grade, and I’ve got to get caught up on my lesson planning.” While both of those things were true, she really didn’t feel like going shopping under the circumstances. And she really needed to talk to Cutter.

  “Come on, Ru! You can’t let being a teacher run your whole life. You can grade papers tomorrow. And lesson planning? Who needs it?”

  “Candice…”

  “Ru! You know, what we really need to do is find you a man, someone who can get your mind off of Cutter. How long has it been since you’ve gotten any? You’re sexually frustrated!”

  “You’re… nosey!” Ru shouted back, hardly believing her friend’s gall, although she honestly wasn’t as shocked as she could’ve been. “I’m not sexually frustrated. I’m just busy.”

  “You’re always busy,” Candice grumbled. “Fine. Well, if you change your mind, I’m leaving around noon. And if you wanna go out tonight, we’re going to that lounge in Sleepy Hollow. Should be fun.”

  “That will fit your affinity for Halloween nicely,” Ru mused. “All right. Don’t count on it, though.”

  “Have fun grading papers,” Candice practically groaned before disconnecting the call.

  Ru studied her phone for a second. She wanted to call Cutter. She needed to call Cutter. But she was afraid to call Cutter. Wasn’t she opening a huge can of worms if she did? Deciding she wasn’t doing anything until after she’d showered, she headed for the bathroom and turned the water on as she took care of other necessities. Once she stood beneath the heated flow and the room began to fog up, she let her mind wander back to her dream. It had seemed so real. If she’d reached out and touched Thanatos’s hand—or Cutter’s—would it have felt like real flesh beneath her fingertips?