The moment Hunter released her, the feeling went away. “What the hell?” she gasped. “What was that?”
“Interesting,” Hunter said calmly. Like they had been discussing the weather.
Tabitha pulled a knife from a boot and held it to the Reapers throat. “What the fuck was that, what did you do to her?”
“I did nothing to her,” Hunter said. “I apologize, Elle. I had no idea my touch would affect you so.”
Elle shook her head and grabbed Tabitha. “It felt…” She tried to put it into words.
“Like lies, betrayal, treachery perhaps?” Hunter asked leaning forward just a little. His eyes if possible turned a shade darker than before. Elle saw shades of black shift in his eyes, like clouds passing over the moon. It was breathtaking and Elle wasn’t sure if she should be terrified or mesmerized.
Elle caught her breath and looked up at him. “Yes,” she gasped.
“Again I apologize. Some of us…” He motioned to his brothers and sighed. “…are a little closer to our work than the others. We are more Reaper than man, mortal or beast. Or at least that is the case with Nathaniel and me.”
Both Reapers stepped back and shadows seemed to blur their edges making them seem more ethereal then real. And Elle had to shake her head to bring them back into focus. Hunter stepped forward again and smiled. “However, these Freaks and the uniqueness of the situation, Elle…”
The way he said her name sent chills down her spine, and she would have stepped back, should have stepped back but dammit she couldn’t have moved if her life depended on it.
He quirked one eyebrow at her and smiled. “…require our intervention.”
Elle gave him her full wattage smile. “Well thank you very much. I’m very grateful for both of your unique gifts. And if you see Victor would you mind telling him to get his ass back here?”
Nathaniel and Hunter both burst out laughing, and Elle finally felt like the rope which had held her in place snapped and she stepped back and looked at Celeste who was shaking her head at Elle.
Celeste took ahold of Elle. “Told you they don’t get out much. But they wanted to help.”
“Why?” Elle asked never taking her eyes off the two Reapers. Her feelings immediately went to Victor. “Is Victor okay? Where is he?” she demanded for the hundredth time.
“He will be here when he can,” Celeste said but the way she said it gave Elle the chills. It was more the way she said it. And Elle recognized Victor couldn’t come to her. What had happened to him?
She jerked her arm free and glared at the smaller woman. “You are going to tell me right now where the hell Victor is.”
“He is in the Infernos,” Celeste told her without blinking.
“Dammit.” Elle wanted to shake her. “But why can’t he be here.”
Marcus stepped around his mate and gave Elle a reassuring smile. “Elle please don’t ask any more questions. We are all walking a very tight line. Victor would be here if he could. In his absence, he has sent his brothers and sister to protect you. Those he trust beyond any other. He will explain and has asked that we say nothing because he wants to be the one to explain. That is all we can tell you.”
It was more information than anyone had given her in the last week. They still weren’t the answers she was looking for, “It’s not enough Marcus.”
He gave her a reassuring smile, before continuing. “We have all agreed moving out of Louisiana is the best course of action. Let’s concentrate on doing that right now.”
“I want some answers,” Elle snapped.
“And you will have them as soon as you are safe,” Marcus said taking her by the elbow he led her toward the front door. Celeste at his side, Tabitha on her other.
Elle wanted to fight him, but everyone had a sudden sense of urgency she hadn’t sensed before.
“Gods something is going one,” she said as the front door was thrown open.
“One of my vampire spies said there is a movement of Freaks down by the river an hour ago,” Marcus said quietly, pushing her through the door. “Something has them moving and all riled up.”
“But they have never attacked during the day,” Elle said swinging her pack over her shoulder.
“Never say never,” Celeste said, scanning the open space between the door and the cars lined up on the dirt path about twenty five yards from the house. “I never liked this house. It’s just too out in the open.”
“That’s what makes it great, no neighbors for five miles,” Skylar said jogging toward the SUV.
“He means no witnesses.” Marcus tried for a smile but nobody laughed. They had wards up and it had kept the Freaks out but they weren’t holding and a couple had gotten through last night. It had kept them all on edge and nobody had slept.
They climbed into the SUV with Marcus behind the wheel. “It’s about a four hour drive. I don’t want to get pulled over so get comfortable. We all love the speed limit.”
“It would be faster if we could just use portals,” Sky grumbled.
“Don’t be a dumbass,” Celeste said rolling her eyes she slapped him upside the head.
Sky rubbed his head and mumbled an apology to Elle who just shrugged. “You didn’t have to come with us.”
Sky laughed. “You would miss me horrible, if I didn’t come with you, sweetheart. I couldn’t hurt you like that. Having you cry yourself to sleep every night pining for me just wouldn’t be right.”
“Do you ever get tired of hearing your own voice?” Tabatha asked.
Sky gave her a blinding smile. “Nope.” He folded his arms over his chest and settled back in his seat he looked ready to argue with Tabitha the entire ride to Houston.
“Don’t make me pull this car over children,” Marcus warned from the driver’s seat.
Elle narrowed her eyes at Skylar who winked at her. She just knew the Tracker wouldn’t be able to keep his smart mouth closed.
“She started it,” Skylar said with the best pouting voice.
“Just shut up,” Tabitha snapped at Skylar.
“Sweetheart, it’s going to take you and an army of Daughters of Eve to do it.” He shrugged dragging his eyes over Tabitha. “But you can try.”
Tabitha launched herself over a row of seats to attack him. “I’m truly going to kill you this time,” she snarled. Elle climbed into the cargo area as Marcus maneuvered the SUV to the side of the road. The two fought on, never noticing as Celeste and Marcus attempted to pull them apart.
They hadn’t even made it an hour into the trip. It was pitiful really. Soon Celeste was swinging at Skylar and Tabitha, swearing like a sailor at them both.
“Really?” Marcus shouted at the trio. Which Elle was pretty sure none of them heard. The fight spilled out onto the road. Since they were just using their fists, Elle was sure they were more blowing off steam and frustration then actually trying to hurt each other. As she watched, she had to admit, it was almost entertaining.
Well except for Tabitha she might in reality want to hurt Skylar. But most people wanted to hurt Skylar. But since she hadn’t pulled out a knife or a gun, Elle was pretty sure the Tracker was safe for the moment.
Marcus stuck his head into the car. “You okay?”
Elle smiled. “Yeah.”
He laughed his green eyes sparkling; when he looked like this she could see the Angel in him. “I’m going to pull Celeste out of this and then we’ll be on our way.”
Elle laughed. “What about the other two?”
“Oh they’ll have to find their own way back to us,” he said also laughing. He pulled out of the SUV and slammed the door. Elle climbed into one of the seats and watched as Marcus wrapped his arms around the waist of his small mate physically extracting her from the fight.
He turned so her flailing arms and legs were swinging at air. She immediately stopped and her head dropped back to rest on Marcus’s shoulder and her eyes closed. She said something which made Marcus smile and kiss her cheek.
Elle felt somet
hing close to her heart tense, what would it be like to have a love match like that? They had a love that wrapped around them and was so intense it was visible with the naked eye. Well it was visible to her anyway.
“Touching, isn’t it?” Elle squeaked and whipped around.
Aldon sat in the driver’s seat, but was turned and looking at the scene. She still didn’t feel him. “How…” she gurgled in shock.
“Ah…” he leaned over and dragged a finger over Elle’s cheek sending shock waves of revulsion through Elle. “You can thank Chaos for this.” He whipped around and started the SUV slamming on the gas.
Elle reached for the door, but the locks clicked into place. At the same time, Freaks popped into place outside surrounded the group. Elle let out a blood curdling scream, she didn’t think anyone heard, as Aldon left her companions in a spray of gravel as he speed away.
Elle sat in shock for three minutes and just stared at the back of Aldon’s head.
“This isn’t happening,” she finally said, looking around for a weapon. She didn’t even have a gun on her.
Aldon smiled in the rearview mirror. “Oh it’s happening alright. And it was frighteningly easy.” He smiled. “I’ll have you bedded by nightfall.”
“The hell you will,” Elle said. “I would rather die.”
Aldon laughed. “We both know that could be arranged and when you wake then I will bed you. I expect you to die many times in my handling that is why it can only be you, Elle. So it doesn’t matter now does it?”
She blanched. “What?”
He was insane, it was the only answer. And if he was insane she didn’t have any options, she would rather kill them both. At least she would come back. Throwing caution to the wind she jumped forward and covered his eyes with her hands. Then wondered what the hell she was going to do next?
The SUV immediately started to swerve when his hands left the steering wheel. She slapped at his hands and tried for the locks. A book sat on the console and she grabbed it slamming it into the side of his head he grunted in pain and she was able to get the doors unlocked. Luckily the SUV had slowed down leaning back in her chair she took both legs and kicked the chair with everything she had.
The chair slammed into the steering wheel his face and head making contact with the windshield blood splattering and making a horrible crunching noise. He grunted, and his hands went limp. His head was tilted at an odd angle, an angle totally wrong to support life.
When she released her legs Aldon crumpled over the console in a heap as the car slowed and rolled to a halt at the side of the road.
“Oh shit,” Elle breathed. She had done it, she had killed the bastard. She scrambled for the door throwing it open and stumbling out she fell to her knees and vomited. Was it over? Could it possibly be done? She couldn’t wait to tell Victor.
She pushed herself to her feet and let the SUV support her as she started to walk then run back to where they had left her friends. Elle wasn’t sure how far she had gone when Tabitha appeared.
Elle fell into the Tabitha’s arms. “Oh Gods Elle, I thought for sure he had taken you. But you had an energy trail,” the woman screamed at her and then shook her. “When I found the SUV, there was blood everywhere. I thought for sure…” Then she shook her a second time. “Don’t ever do that to me again…”
“What? Kick Aldon’s ass and kill him?” Elle said pushing away from Tabitha.
“What?” Tabitha barked. “What are you talking about? Do you have a head injury?” Tabitha started to run her hands over Elle’s head.
“Where is everyone else?” Elle asked.
“I have no idea. As soon as I could, I came after you,” Tabitha admitted.
Elle wanted to slap her. “You left them to fight the Freaks?” Elle turned and continued down the road.
Tabitha grabbed her. “It would be faster to go back to the SUV and then drive to them.”
Elle shuddered “What about the body?”
“What body?” Tabitha asked.
Elle went cold. “Aldon’s body,” she whispered.
“Elle” Tabitha said just as quietly and looked around. “I created a portal to you and the SUV the moment I could get away from those Freaks. It led me to the SUV, when I got there the SUV was running, there was a great deal of blood but no body.”
Elle grabbed Tabitha. “I thought I killed him.”
“How?” Tabitha asked.
Elle explained what had happened. “But you didn’t check the body?”
“He was slumped over, not moving. His neck was broken, it had to be broken. The way it looked I assumed… I didn’t think I needed to…” Elle said ringing her hands.
Tabitha looked at her like she wanted to ring her neck. Then grabbed her by the arm and started to drag her back toward where she had left the SUV. “Always check the body, Elle. And if possible burn the fucker.”
****
“Is that my t-shirt?” Sky asked when he opened the door.
“I had to clean up the blood,” Tabitha said with a shrug.
“And the only thing you could find was my t-shirt?” Skylar asked.
“Yep.” Tabitha said with a smile.
“I see,” Skylar said. Reaching in, he grabbed the garment and threw it into the dirt. Sky climbed into the farthest back seat, and he stretched out, using his duffel bag as a pillow. He curled up as much as a man over six feet tall could and closed his eyes.
“What happened?” Marcus asked as he and Celeste climbed in.
Tabitha let him know.
“I see,” he said. Marcus pulled out his cell phone, and made a call. “Time for plan ‘B’.” Was the first thing he said. She ignored everything else he said. Elle just sat in the passenger seat trying to look as small as possible. When Marcus hung up the phone he asked Tabitha to change direction.
“Why?” She demanded.
“Because the others were attacked too. We can’t stay out on the roads. We’re going to fly.”
****
They flew for over two weeks. Handing Elle and Tabitha off to different people she didn’t remain on the ground for more than an hour. And the flights ranged from two hours to fourteen hours. She hadn’t been on a plane in years, before then, and she had loved the chance to take the different planes. From luxury private planes to cargo planes and jets, and a couple commercial flights.
She saw glimpses of the Eiffel Tower, The Great Wall of China from the air of course the expansive desserts of Africa, the ice caps over the North Pole. The Aura Borealis, the great plains of Australia, the expansive Pacific Ocean. One pilot had skimmed down so she could see pods of wales in the Baring Sea. A helicopter pilot took her and Tabitha through the Grand Canyon on her way down through the coast of Mexico, she saw dolphins playing in the ocean. She had been in a boat plane that landed in an amazing cove in Iceland. She slept in a beautiful king size bed on an amazing jet, and had also barely slept in the cargo bay of an army plane. She flew over the time exchange so many times she didn’t know where she was or what time it was.
But after a week of it, the shine had worn off, for her and Tabitha. After the sixth day Tabitha had stopped talking to her, now she was a silent and extremely grumpy partner.
But everyone recognized keeping Elle on the ground meant exposing everyone to unnecessary fights with Freaks and exposure they couldn’t handle. Nobody knew what to do, or how to fight them off. And Aldon had appeared several times just as she had taken off, she was exposed anywhere she landed and so were the people she was with.
She didn’t know what everyone was waiting for. Was it Victor? Was it information? Nobody said anything to her or Tabitha. It rankled Tabitha so much, she was sure Tabitha was about to start killing people. And she didn’t blame her. But when Tabitha had stopped talking to her, Elle had grown worried. She wasn’t sure if Tabitha was planning something or if the woman was slipping into a depression. She prayed Tabitha was planning something, because Elle was so tired from all the plane hopping and time zone jumpin
g she was too exhausted to figure out a way to escape their current hell.
So when she woke to a hand covering her mouth, Elle opened her eyes to Tabitha with mixed feelings. “Don’t say a word,” Tabitha whispered.
Elle nodded, happy Tabitha had finally figured a way to get out of their current predicament, and happy she was finally speaking to her. “We need to move now. Do you understand me?” Elle nodded again. Tabitha handed Elle her duffel bag.
Slinging her bag over her shoulder Elle swung her legs over her side of the bunk she was sleeping in. Today they were in a make shift jumbo jet which had been outfitted for soldiers, it sounded like it was about to land. It was dark and the entire jet was shaking. Elle had to grip the metal posts to keep from falling over and landing flat on her face.
“What about Bowen and Garrett?” Elle whispered to Tabitha. They were sleeping in bunks closer to the cockpit.
Tabitha put one finger to her lips her green eyes telling her to keep quiet. Elle wasn’t sure this was a good idea. For the moment, she was going to follow Tabitha. At least, for now. Because it was a better option than getting on another flight bound for gods only knew where. Anything was better than the last two weeks of running.
Tabitha dropped to her hands and knees, and Elle followed, as someone on watch passed by. The jet bumped as it descended. They remained on all fours, until Elle felt the jet slid unto the tarmac. At which point, Tabitha looked over her shoulder and signaled her to follow.
Elle moved to a crouch and wondered again if this was a good idea, she was pretty sure Tabitha was making a run for it and not really forcing Elle to come with her but… This was the point Elle had to make the choice.
Tabitha, or the Reapers and Victor? Victor, who she had known less than a week. Elle looked back to Bowen and Garrett, Elle felt something close to her heart pull and she knew her heart was breaking. She loved that stupid Reaper. But he had been gone for almost a month. He had promised to never leave her but then he had. Just like her siblings, she had come to count on him. Then he had left. She needed him so bad, it was painful. Where was he? Tears welled up in her chest. And she whispered his name.
Reaper Mine: A Reaper Novel Page 19
