Reaper Mine: A Reaper Novel

by Palmer, Christie

  “He picked this place for a reason man.” Bowen’s voice crackled over the earpiece. They were spread out over a ten mile radius of hills and valleys. Victor was pretty sure most mortals thought this is what hell felt like. When full dark hit they wouldn’t be able to see their hands in front of their faces. “Thermal is shit here.”

  “I need to send out a drone. But the moment I let something fly over, the bastard is going to know we’re here.” Bowen swore, and Victor could hear the Tracker pounding away on a keyboard. “Satellite images says he has underground levels. Victor, your team is hitting the heaviest side. Falcon’s team has the lightest…”

  “What the fuck dude?” Falcon snapped obviously mad he got the lightest hits.

  “Shut up, Falcon. I need you to go in and hit the tower. Get me into any surveillance the place has. Otherwise, none of the other teams have shit of a chance. Everyone else, cool your heels.” Bowen pounded away. Victor laid in the desert dirt, itching to end this fight.

  Celeste crawled up to sit next to Victor. “You okay?”

  Victor nodded.

  “Because you’ve been a little weird,” Celeste added.

  “You do realize, everyone can hear you right?” Victor asked not wanting to have this conversation with his sister. Not just because everyone could hear, either. He wanted to beat his head against the hard dirt for the way he was treating Elle. After she had told him she loved him, his entire world had re-focused. It was like with the words out in the world everything had changed.

  He felt the same, and he needed to say the words. Elle deserved the words but it wasn’t the right time. And every time he opened his mouth he felt like a bastard for not telling her he loved her back when she had told him.

  Now he was microphoned in, and they were headed into a fight.

  “Shit’s just happening… So fast and not fast enough.” Victor had to admit.

  “Oh my god, is this and episode of Dr. Phil, or a fucking mission?” Skylar asked with a snort of laugher.

  Celeste raised an eyebrow and shook her head. Letting him know she totally understood. “By the way, have you ever seen Elle use a gun?”

  It was exactly what he needed to hear, because his brain refocused. Victor swore and turned to take the gun away from Elle when gunshots rang out from the compound. “What the hell?” Victor shouted. “Falcon?”

  Bowen was shouting as well, but the gunshots continued. And Falcon was screaming. “Freaks are everywhere, element of surprise totally gone.”

  More gun shots.

  “I’m going in.” This was from Lykar.

  “Wait wait wait!” Bowen was screaming but then Victor could hear gun shots to the south where Ryder’s team was stationed.

  “Bowen, we are all moving in,” Victor shouted.

  “Of course you are, because why the fuck would we want to stick to a god damn plan.” Victor ignored Bowen, motioned to Tabitha who nodded and made some hand signals to the Daughters and they all blended into the darkness, Celeste and Marcus Flashed out, leaving Skylar and Victor. “Ready?”

  Skylar smiled. “Shit, man. I’m always ready.” He took off at a lope.

  Victor turned to Elle. “Stay at my back. Do you understand?”

  She nodded and smiled. Christian and Garrett Flashed in. Both taking a defensive stand on either side of Elle, they all took off.

  Elle had to admit, she kinda felt like GI Jane in her desert camo. Tucked between three Reapers though, she was pretty sure she wasn’t going to see any action.

  But the closer they got to the compound, the worse the fighting got. First, it was just Freaks. The kind they had already had contact with. But, as they entered the impressive walls of the compound, the Freaks changed, too. These Freaks were different, some were larger. Most were mutilated in some way. Elle stumbled along in disbelief at what they came across, Freaks with missing limbs, or deformed limbs, malformed skulls, hunched backs. Slavering beasts with crazed eyes that barely resembled a mortal form.

  "Victor!" Elle grabbed onto him, stalling his “I know, Elle. We need to keep moving.” Elle stumbled on behind him, Tabitha met up with them.

  “This place is unholy,” she spat out. Elle had to agree. She actually wished she had stayed back in the van. Whatever Aldon was doing here, was sick and unholy. If she had any illusions before she was sure now, she wanted nothing whatsoever to do with Aldon and his crazed creations.

  They all staggered to a halt when an explosion rocked them all. Victor grabbed Elle, protecting her as rubble rained down around them.

  “Gods. Find out what the hell that was.” Victor shouted to Garrett and Christian, both men nodded and took off.

  Tabitha ran off in a different direction as another explosion shook them nearly off their feet. Victor took Elle’s hand and they raced toward the nearest building he pressed her against the wall for protection. The building swayed, and they both looked up as something streaked across the sky.

  “Oh, my god!” Elle watched in morbid fascination. Thank god, Victor reacted, as the missile aimed for the building they were leaned against, rocketed for them. He grabbed her and dove out of the way.

  “What the hell?” Victor shouted. “Bowen where the hell did the missiles come from?”

  “Good fucking question!” Bowen screamed over the earpiece. “We have incoming!”

  Elle looked up as another missile hurtled through the early night. “Victor!” she screamed, crawling toward Victor..

  But in the midst of the chaos Aldon appeared.

  “VICTOR!” Elle screamed. “Bowen, we need to get the hell out of here.” She back peddled on all fours away from Aldon and the missiles, trying to put as much distance between them as possible.

  But he stalked through the smoke and fire like he was untouchable, more missiles flew in through the dark night but he didn’t even flinch. Rubble sliced into the palms of Elle’s hands but she didn’t care. The only thing on her mind was putting as much distance between herself and Aldon.

  “You aren’t getting away from me, this time, Elle. “ Aldon leapt, landing on top of her. Elle grunted as the air was pushed from her. Still she fought to push him off of her.

  Then he was pulled off of her, and tossed aside. Victor looked down at her “Are you okay?” Elle nodded and waved him off. “Get out of here,” he snarled and then went after Aldon.

  “Like hell.” Elle sucked in air and pulled herself to her feet she stumbled to where Victor and Aldon had disappeared into the dust and rubble. Missiles whistled overhead, and the ground shook. She wasn’t going anywhere, until she knew Victor was okay. And Aldon, the bastard, was gone for good. Elle climbed over rubble as she screamed for Victor, she reached out with her senses he had to be close, she thought, as she tried to pinpoint just where but couldn’t. Cursing she rubbed dirt from her face as another bomb went off sending her back to her hands and knees.

  Bowen was screaming for his brothers to check in. Trackers, Daughters of Eve and other voices were talking so rapidly in her ear she couldn’t concentrate. Clawing the device from her ear, she flung it into the recesses of the ruined building.

  “God dammit Victor! Where the hell are you?” She ground out, as she squeezed herself under a beam she assumed had held up part of the roof at one point. When she found Victor she was going to kill him herself. How dare he run off and leave her alone, what the hell had he been thinking?

  She stopped when a hand reached out from underneath a beam. It scared her so bad Elle wasn’t even able to scream. In shock she stared at the hand for a moment not moving.

  “Elle.” Her name was whispered.

  “Lykar?” Elle flattened herself on the floor. Lykar looked to be pinned under a beam.

  “My brothers?” the Tracker asked. Elle shook her head.

  “I don’t know about them.” She looked around, swearing a blue streak, for taking off her earpiece. “Lykar do you have your earpiece?” she asked, leaning down so she could look at the Tracker again?

  She c
ould tell he was in pain, it was written plain in his blue eyes and he lay in a pool of blood. “No.” She didn’t know how much time he had.

  “I’m going to get help,” she said, but he didn’t release her hand.

  “Marlee.” He moaned the Lycan’s name Elle had met only a hand full of times.

  Elle panicked a little. “Where is she?”

  Lykar looked like he would pass out any second. “She was ahead of me when the missile came in, don’t know now.” Elle sat up and looked around, and didn’t see anything. But didn’t know if she had the heart to tell Lykar that. She flattened herself back on the floor and patted his hand, “I’m going to find her, and get help Lykar.”

  The Tracker nodded and closed his eyes. “Brothers.” He coughed and blood splattered out. Elle knew she didn’t have a lot of time.

  “Oh. My. God. Oh my god. Ohmygod!”

  Elle chanted as she climbed back over the beam and headed back the way she came. She spent a fruitless ten minutes searching for the ear piece she had tossed into the rubble and cursed herself for throwing it away.

  When she reached the courtyard she looked around but it was eerily quiet. The bombings had stopped and nothing moved but the fires and smoke.

  Elle ran in the shadows, whispering for Tabitha or the other Trackers. She really didn’t need to because she took a corner and came face to face with the barrel of a very very large gun. She skidded to a halt.

  “Shit, shit, shit.” Large hands grabbed her by her upper arms and drug her forward. Elle squeaked and tried to jerk away.

  Victor was suddenly there, pulling her toward him. “Touch her and die.”

  “Victor.” Elle threw her arms around him.

  “Why do you never listen to me?” he snarled into her hair.

  She thought about that for a moment. Then shook it off and looked around. They were in the middle of the compound, and everyone was there, the Reapers and Trackers. They were surrounded by what looked like an army of men, the Trackers were all kneeling in the middle with their arms on their heads. The Reapers were at the side of the group, the Daughters looked as if they were holding court with the men at the side.

  Elle looked around. “What the hell is going on?” she asked.

  “Looks like the Sons of Adam have intervened?” Victor snarled.

  Elle got her first good look at Victor. And he didn’t look happy at all. She wanted to clean him up, but was stopped when a group of armed men brought in a large group of Freaks about thirty of them.

  Elle stepped back, a man separated from Tabitha and went to the group that held the Freaks, conversed with the leader holding the Freaks.

  When he was done the leader of the Freaks and his men turned and led the group away. Elle wondered what they were going to do with them. And knew it couldn’t be good.

  Then she remembered Lykar, Elle started to run over to the Trackers but had a gun shoved in her face again.

  “I have to talk to the Trackers.” She tried to get past the man again.

  “I don’t think so, sweetheart.” The gun toting thug said shoving her back.

  Victor pushed the idiot back. “Don’t talk to her like that. Does she actually look like she is going to do any harm?”

  Elle didn’t like the sound of that, but she was going to let that one go for now because Lykar needed help.

  “I don’t give a shit, Reaper. She doesn’t go anywhere near them until we decide what to do with them,” the thug said.

  “You don’t understand, their brother needs medical attention,” Elle explained loud enough for the Trackers to hear.

  The Trackers had, to this point, been quiet calm. Threaten one of their own and they would go bat shit crazy. Something Elle knew, just not on what level.

  “Where is he?” Falcon asked.

  “The large building to the east. He’s stuck under the main beam. Marilee is there as well, but I couldn’t find her,” Elle said.

  Elle was surprised they didn’t move except for Falcon’s question. However, Victor looked at the Reapers and then stepped back holding Elle.

  The thug narrowed his eyes at the group. And Victor shook his head. “We want Aldon,” Victor told him.

  The leader stepped forward. “We don’t condone what he is doing nor do we want a seat on the Tribunal,” he said.

  “Good to know.” Victor nodded. “A Tracker is trapped,” Victor said. “And one of ours is still missing in the rubble.”

  The leader looked from the Trackers back to the Reapers. “I’m sorry, but we still have not located Aldon. We cannot allow people to wander through the complex until it has been swept clean. You triggered his missiles, I need the complex intact. You and your team almost destroyed it. So until I say so, nobody moves.”

  “No you don’t understand, Lykar is trapped. You can’t just leave him there.” Elle argued.

  “Not my problem darl’n.” The man said to Elle. Who bristled at his words.

  “I’m not your darl’n.” Elle muttered. “And you can’t just leave one of our men out there.

  “That is unfortunate,” Victor said. “My enemy’s enemy and all.”

  “What is that supposed to mean?” The leader asked.

  Elle wondered the same thing herself.

  Then the Trackers and Reapers were moving, and all her questions were answered.

  The three Trackers moved so quickly they were a blur, but it was Ryder who moved so fast he was practically invisible. Kyra became several Kyra’s disarming men so quickly they really didn’t know what hit them. At the same time the Reapers struck, in seconds the Sons of Adam stood or lay unconscious and unarmed.

  Victor had moved only to pull Elle next to him and disarm the man in front of him. “We cannot leave one of our own injured and another missing, and possible injured. We will collect them and be on our way. Bowen, bring in the van.”

  The leader crossed his arms and smiled at Victor. “How did we get the upper hand in the first place?”

  “Surprise does a lot of things, plus we did want to know who else was interested in Aldon,” Victor said conversationally.

  The leader held out his hand. “Well played Reaper, if you ever get tired of your gig with Dante you can come and train with the brotherhood. By the way the name is Devon.”

  Victor took his hand and Elle wanted to slap them both, instead she pinched Victor’s shoulder. “Are we really playing nice with this jackass?” she whispered.

  Devon looked around Victor at Elle. “You must be the demi-god causing all the problems.”

  Well she definitely didn’t like the sound of that. “Umm, if I understand it correctly. Aldon is the asshat causing all the problems. Not me.”

  Devon threw his head back and laughed. “Asshat?” he asked.

  Victor narrowed his eyes and laughed. “Aldon is many things. And asshat seems like a good moniker for him.”

  “Yeah. So glad you approve,” she said and turned to Victor. “What happened to said asshat?”

  Victor shrugged. “One minute he was there and the next he was gone.”

  “We believe he has an underground fortress.” They both turned back to Devon. “I have my men searching for the entrance. He is probably watching us right now. That is why I can’t allow anyone to wander around the compound. Aldon has set the place with various booby traps. As you have found out with his missiles. Which are his failsafe; if his compound is taken, the missiles would destroy the compound. Luckily my men were capable of disabling the majority of them before the entire compound was destroyed. If we’re lucky we’ll be able to find the entrance.”

  It made Elle’s skin crawl.

  “Let’s burn the place to the ground,” the thug from earlier said. “Smoke the bastard out.”

  Elle rolled her eyes. “Not all that original. And how do we know it will even work?”

  Tabitha walked over. “How long can he stay down there?”

  Devon shook his head. “We have no idea. Probably a life time.”

 
“What does that mean? A life time?” Elle asked. The skin crawl had changed to a sick feeling and she felt like she wanted to empty her stomach all over the dirt.

  “Ahh.” Devon gave her a sad smile. “Aldon hasn’t shared his dirty little secret with you has he.” Devon looked around the clearing and raised his voice. “I would have thought you would tell her Aldon. You should have shared this information with the woman you wanted to carry your soulless bastards.”

  Elle reached out and Victor took her hand. Elle gripped it hoping it was enough to keep her on her feet.

  Devon turned back to her, but didn’t drop his voice. “I’m giving you the chance to come clean Aldon,” he screamed as he spoke. “Don’t you think it appropriate to come from your lips; don’t you think you should follow even a few of the codes of the brotherhood?”

  Devon finally broke eye contract with Elle and looked around again. “Law 3: Let the words of truth always be spoken. As a Son of Adam I shall hold the chalice of truth and bear the weight of god’s great wrath when lies sprout and take root in my soul and choke out the light.”

  Devon ended his words as any great sermon would on a high note with a fist raised to the heavens. Several of his soldiers nodded and pounded on their chests in agreement. Even the Daughters of Eve seemed to agree. By raising their own weapons.

  “Let the honesty start now, let the light come back into the darkness,” Devon shouted. When he stopped talking the silence was deafening.

  Devon shook his head, and he turned to Elle. “It would seem Aldon has truly given up on the beliefs of the Sons of Adam.”

  “I am the only one who truly believes in the Sons of Adam. It is you who have strayed.” Aldon’s voice boomed from the darkness.

  “How am I a prevaricator?” Devon asked smiling as if he thought being called so was amusing to him.

  “We are the fathers of mortals. We should rule them. As a Son of Adam you shall hold sacred the brotherhood and the sons produced of the brotherhood,” Aldon screamed making the speakers crackly and buzz. “You are burning my sons in mass graves, should I go to your estate’s Devon and burn your sons?”