“I can’t keep him hidden forever Elliot, even you said there is nothing I can do to get him to safety. One slip up, just one, and suddenly he’s in the grasp of the Sins. I’m not doing this just for me…” My voice softened as I spoke. I could never ask Elliot and Teresa to join me with this, it’s too risky. Looking out at them now, everything that has happened had been in direct contact with me. I had gotten Elliot locked up in Wrath, I had persuaded Teresa and Elliot to join me in Lust’s realm and now I’m about to start a rebellion against all Hunters.
“This is probably going to be goodbye… I cannot ask either of you to risk yourselves, especially seeing how much you’ve risked already. I don’t know what their deal is, but I’m not going to let the Hunters and Royals pull strings on us like puppets.”
“But Jordon-“
“Okay…”
In unison we glanced over at Teresa. She was smiling so gently that her lips barely lifted, but I could see it in the way her eyes softened. “Okay, I’ll join you.”
“Teresa?” Elliot whispered as she struggled to lift her shoulders up from the bed.
“I’ve had enough of reaping day in and day out, plus I’m already associated with you two so even if I just sit in the corner and twiddle my thumbs I’m still just as guilty, I may as well stick with you through this as well.”
I glanced over at Elliot, “This is bigger than we are Elliot. I am going to tear down the system, free the Reapers and save the banished spirits.”
“Do you even have a plan?” He slumped down on the couch exhaustion.
“The lanterns.” I walked around the counter before placing my hands on the bench, “Without the lanterns they have no control over us.”
“Great, Lanterns and how do you expect to even get to the lanterns? They are up with the Royals, the other way you’ll even get in there…”
“Is on a leash right?”
Elliot stood up abruptly, “You plan on getting yourself caught? They’ll destroy you right there and then.”
“I’ll get the Hunter Gargoyle to help me. He’ll get me in, he’ll get me out.”
“He won’t let you take the lanterns!”
“I’m not there to take the lanterns; I’m there to figure out where they are and how to destroy them. Listen, Elliot you’re my best-friend, and there’s not a lot of people who I can depend on so I need you. If not for me and all Reapers than do this for Melissa. We’ll never have to worry about them sending Banished in the realms ever again.”
There was a long silence as Elliot cast his eyes down in consideration and by the slightest inclination of his head I felt my shoulders relax. I wasn’t sure how this was going to end but the swell of tingling anxiety within me kept my head level. As planned, first thing first, I need to see exactly how many Reapers are willing to help towards our course. Even as the seconds ticked on I could feel a target sign pressing into my forehead.
Word spread faster than I had expected, and the next thing I knew I was being approached by different Reapers expressing their desires to help. I didn’t have to do much campaigning as I allowed the gossip to circle and catch the interest of the reaping spirits.
Every Reaper that passed me by on the streets nodded gently before scurrying away. I had gone to secret locations, all hidden on the living plane and usually tucked away down in basements and attics. I had kept my head low, my mouth shut and away from the Drop Off despite Raix’s whining. He was restless, nipping at my heels like a starving mutt begging for scraps. Kyle had taken a habit of following me, which wasn’t such an issue until he started boasting to his friends about who he was hanging out with. I had made sure not to discuss anything with him though, and a few times I had to remind him to keep his mouth shut. All the while I was keeping my eye out for Betrayal and Evan, as well as Gargoyle. I had a group of Reapers keeping an eye out for me as well, reporting whenever the lone Hunter was spotted.
It was almost two months later when I had been contacted by a strange letter. It was addressed to the Wolf and posted without a stamp, implying the letter had been dropped off into Elliot’s letter box by hand. Elliot had found me down at our new base, an old wine cellar filled to the walls with musky barrels and bottles pigeon-holed along the racks.
“This came for you.” He dropped the letter onto the table where I promptly scooped it up. The hand writing was rushed and unfamiliar, almost like the person wrote it in a panic. When I opened the letter, it only said four simple things.
“Where dead cats lie…”
“What does it mean?” Elliot was looking over my shoulder as I read the note aloud.
“I’m not sure…” I flipped it over but the back was blank. Mauling over the words, the only possible answer was back at Whitehaven in my back yard. The only other person who was aware of Mrs Flitch’s dead pet, was Betrayal and Lucy.
“It’s from her…”
“Her?”
“Betrayal, it must be from her. I need to get to Whitehaven.”
Elliot took me by the shoulder, “This time I’m coming with you.”
“Be my guest lover boy-” I teased before moving the hood over my head and commanding Raix to take me through to Whitehaven. The sun was sitting on the boarder of the horizon as I arrived back home, stepping out from under the trees by the entrance of the drive way. Within moments Elliot appeared in a silent step beside me, cautiously glancing around himself before up onto the house. Waiting for us was Lucy’s familiar face, except she had looked sick and drained of colour. Her eyes were lifeless but her smile could send chills down my spine.
“Betrayal-” I started as she abruptly turned on her heel.
“You’ve brought another Reaper…” She was glaring at Elliot like he was some dangerous animal incapable of self-control.
“This is Elliot, he is a friend remember?” Elliot only bowed his head.
“Oh, he is that Reaper.” She spoke aloof, “Fine, but I really wanted to speak to you in private. It’s about you brother…”
“Is something wrong?”
“No. I left you without warning, and I feel you deserve more than some obscured note. We’ve been travelling a lot together, learning things about the Hunters and spirits, but we have a lot of questions too. Follow me.”
“Of course.”
We walked the Whitehaven streets like we held secrets. Being on the radar, I remained beneath my hood so the sunlight couldn’t detect my movements through the material. Direct skin contact that is all they require to spot you. Eventually she stopped at a bus station just off the main road before stepping behind the shelter and into the local playground and park. It was a busy night that had the space crawling with teenagers, most of them breathing into cigarettes or swigging down booze. Though I was never one to experiment in these popular poisons, I had understood the danger that they carried with every consumption. Now, bearing the Reaper’s death clock in my right eye and breathing death in like oxygen, I could literally watch their health plummet at the hands of these dangerous habits. I had half a mind to go up to every single one of them and slap it out of their hands, but of course, I couldn’t lay a hand on them. One touch I would curse them to see Reapers in their true form, and that meant execution from Hunters.
“Before I take you any closer, I need this other Reaper to back off.” Lucy spoke from over her shoulder. Elliot clenched his jaw tightly, noticing the cold welcome from his long lost lover.
“Why not trust me?” He had asked under a bittered voice.
“Elliot-” I stepped forward but he held his hand out to stop me.
“I’ve done everything for you, why do you not trust me?”
“Because I know that look-” Lucy stopped walking and tilted her hips to the side, looking Elliot from the ground up as if he were some repellent dog covered in mud.
“What look?”
“A look of lust. That dreadful demon had seen through those pathetic puppy dog eyes just as I can, mistake Love for Lust and you’re just a walking fool.”
/> “I did everything for you-”
“To satisfy your own sense of guilt. Don’t try to act like some noble hero set out to rescue the damsel in distress because you are not wanted here. Go back to your den, dog…”
Not that I was expected to intervene, I still felt pressure to try and savage whatever was left of their friendship. In a madden huff, Elliot stepped back into the shadows without a word more, and once he was gone Lucy only snorted in annoyance.
“That’s what I thought-”
“You were a bit harsh on him; he really did just want to help.”
“If I wanted another spirit ogling at me I would’ve stayed in the pits with the rest. For future reference, don’t bring other Reapers with you. I am not about to reveal my host to strangers.”
“Okay, fine I agree, from now on only I will come.”
“Good. I trust you Jordon and I don’t trust so easily.”
She continued walking further away from the main park before taking a flight of stairs down into an old underground subway tunnel. The once white tile walls were graffiti with obscured spray paint signatures and gang tags. The community had been promised the subway would be open and operating within the summer, well that was three summers ago. It now belongs to the alcoholics sleeping off their drinks and young pre-teen gangs trying to look tough. Though it was quiet this night. Lucy sat on the spare plastic seats pressed against the walls where she patted the seat next to her for me to take. The porcelain light that’s reflected from the tiles was blinding as I glanced around myself. There were only three other people here with us, a couple on the other side of the platform taking a snooze and a rugged up homeless guy curled up on the floor just down the platform from me.
With the safety of cover, Betrayal finally emerged from within Lucy before landing her ghostly feet down onto the floor. At her appearance even the bright lights felt weaker, their globes flickering before the bulb directly above her blinked off. Lucy slumped over in the seat motionlessly and dazed.
“Betrayal- there’s people” I tensed.
“Do not worry; unattached humans cannot see us. Our presences act like a medium screen for the hosts to see into the spirit world, without us all spirits are invisible.” Betrayal brushed off. It had been a long time since I had last seen her; I had nearly forgotten the heated touch of her gaze.
“There has been word going around about a Wolf Reaper building an army and starting a rebellion against the Royal, and considering what that pet of yours looks like, I had figured the rumour was about you. You had told me that you were trying to free the banished but now you’re looking after the Reapers instead…?”
“You have to look at the big picture. At this point, I have as much freedom as you do with your host. We are chained down by the Hunters; they use part of our souls to command us. I have to get the souls back before I can help you.”
“Is there any way that I can help?” I was taken aback by her offer; I had expected Betrayal to demand I focus more on her problems.
“All I can ask is to keep him safe. Give him hope and purpose I guess. I had been vaguely informed about a great power that can set all Banish free. I am going to steal it and bring it to you.”
“Wait… are you talking about the legendary staff? Banished used to whisper about such a thing in the pits, about a great instrument that can set us free from damnation and into a Third Realm. A place where Miira cannot touch us. No one has ever seen the Staff; do you know what it looks like? Have you seen it?”
“I haven’t, I really don’t know much about it, but I’m sure it’s there. It has to be.”
“We’ll search for it too!”
“Don’t, it’s too dangerous.” My voice rose with authority.
“Everything is dangerous when you’re a banished.” She smiled back.
“I need you to stay safe, no matter what.” In a gentler tone I stood up so I could look down into Betrayal’s eye. Her eyebrows were pinched like a thought was worrying her.
“You love him so much…” She had softly whispered that I had doubted that I heard correctly. Of course, he was my brother. Is my brother! Is! “He is a lucky guy to have someone like you to look after him.”
“He has you too now…” I mumbled.
“Yeah… I guess he does.” Lucy coughed in her hand before leaning over to bury her head into her arms. She looked terrible; her once toasted skin was pale with her veins pressed to the surface and under her eyes was dark and heavy.
Betrayal caught me looking, “Don’t feel sorry for her. I’m not the monster here!”
“No- I didn’t mean… it’s just you never told me Betrayal about what happened”.
“What is there to tell? I lived, I died and now I’m tainted. Not really the happily ever after ending now is it?”
I tilted my head, “Is it that you can’t remember your life or do you just refuse to remember?” When she refused to speak I softened my voice, “I was also murdered by a class mate, even though he wasn’t a friend of mine I still couldn’t believe that he could actually do something like that to me. I was hit by a car then beaten with a rock, which you could say isn’t a happily ever after ending either. Even though I’m now this… Reaper thing, it doesn’t change me from the person I was when I was alive.”
Betrayal opened her mouth and let out a quivering breath, “I have nothing left but these awful memories and I wished so desperately for nothing more than just to forget them. Day by day I am remembering less about myself. I can’t remember my name, I can’t remember my parents’ faces or their smell or voice and I thought that I wanted this, but when I see the way you look at your brother it makes me think about the people I left behind. When I was alive I couldn’t see any way out of that nightmare, so I thought in death I could escape. That’s not the case at all; death only took away the love in me and left the ugliness behind.”
“I see the love in you,” I spoke in a sudden a reflex. Betrayal stared at me for a few moments, shock across her flushed eye.
“Then maybe I should look through your eyes instead…” She smiled briefly but as she kept her eyes fastened onto my face, I could see her eyebrows lower and her face became strict. “I don’t want to say this, but I don’t think it’s wise for us to meet up again after this.”
She glanced out across her shoulder as if she didn’t want to say the words. She was right of course, as word spreads every Hunter would be sweeping the spirit world looking for my face. Even now, standing in the subway looking down upon Betrayal was putting her at risk of peaking a Hunter’s attention.
“No, you’re right. I’ll contact you if it’s absolutely necessary, but otherwise I will keep my distance from now on.” My solemn words had a taste of bitter on them. Betrayal sighed before stepping aside, unblocking my view of the platform behind her.
She spoke in a tender whisper, “He is right over there… if you wish to see him.”
Instinctively my eyes shot upwards onto the homeless man, who was now leaning on his knees and speaking to a boy who lingered in front. They were too far away for me to see clearly, but the crisp school uniform and distinct dark aroma gave Evan away immediately. He was weary of me, casting glances over his shoulder but remained close to the man, who I recognised as George but under a quilt.
To speak to Evan once more before I disappeared from his life again, I don’t know if I could bring that type of pain even upon myself. He was tainted in their dark masks, eyes illuminated with a ferocious green that could melt the skin from my face. But what stopped me mainly was because he wouldn’t know who I was. I was a disconnected piece of the puzzle and the Reaper curse had smudged my identity into a blurred stranger. Jordon his brother was dead, it was just the Wolf Reaper left behind. And a Reaper was his rival… I couldn’t bear to see his eyes scorn me like an enemy.
“No…” I whispered before I turned away. “It would be unwise.”
“Good choice.” Betrayal crossed her arms, “I have spoken to him, he is not who you think he i
s. The truth would have just hurt you more.”
“He will always be Evan no matter what-”
“No!” She quickly said, “Not Evan anymore. He is stronger now, faster now. He has the banished name of Lock. I think it suits him perfectly.”
Fighting the urge to look back at him, I quickly shifted under the brim of my hood. “Please don’t tell him about me yet, I don’t want him knowing his brother is a Reaper.”
“I promise. So… I guess this is goodbye Wolf Reaper?”
I nodded my head, “Thank you Betrayal.”
“No,” She lifted her hand to her heart, “Thank you. I know this may sound strange, but I don’t know what I would have done without you Jordon. You saved me… I can never really repay you for that.”
As she evaporated back into Lucy I knew I wasn’t going to see her for a very long time. Despite the bitterness, I felt happy to watch her disappear from my life if it meant keeping her and Evan safe.
Chapter Twenty-One:
I had been in a daze, caught up in a storm of different thoughts that I hadn’t acknowledged stepping back into the wine cellar. It was quiet, empty no doubt as Elliot and Teresa must have taken the evening out for patrols. Or so I had thought, until the scent of red wine hit my nostrils. I glanced over my shoulder to follow the smell when a clenched fist took me down. The hit was fast and direct, clipping my chin that my balance was thrown off. My head had hit the light that dangled from the ceiling, causing the room is flicker as the blub swang to and fro on it thin wired neck. As I scrambled back on the floor, Elliot was towering over me with a bottle of wine in his hands. He held onto the neck of the bottle almost like it was a weapon.
“You bastard!” He was clearly drunk, “Why her? Why do this to me?”
“What the hell Elliot?”
“She absolutely adores you, she trusts you! You’ve seduced her and turned her against me.”
“You’re drunk and upset; just stop and listen for a moment. I did not seduce Betrayal; she was helping me with my brother and that is all. I promise.”
My Demonic Ghost Book two (The Reapers 2) Page 19
