I exhaled, cracking open one eye. “Can you heal these people?”
“Uh… no,” he mused, shooing his hands in the air. “Continue.”
Closing my eye again, I focused on the task. It never took long, but what it did take was bits and pieces of my energy.
Somebody whistled. “Pretty cool.” It was Sebastian again.
“Next place,” said Barron.
Suddenly, something ominous passed over me. Was it just me or did everyone sense it? I couldn’t even tell you what it was, but my mind automatically went to Maureen at home alone. I opened my eyes, searching around almost frantically before I noticed the chill on my arms. I didn’t like this feeling. Something wasn’t right.
“Hold on,” was all I could think to say as I ported to her house.
It was there that I found her exactly where I left her. The uneasiness never really passed, but what did happen was the warmth inside my chest at the sight of her peacefulness. I brushed my hand down the side of her face. She stirred and rubbed her cheek against it. I smiled and ported back to the brothers.
“What was that about?” Sebastian asked.
“Just checking on Maureen.” I rubbed my neck, then my stomach again. I wasn’t used to the mark. It felt like it wanted its presence known. It wasn’t bad. I rather enjoyed it, but it would take getting used to.
Then I sensed it again.
“Let’s head to King Kong,” Sebastian chirped.
“Hong Kong,” Barron corrected him. “Stop acting like an idiot before I send you to a temporary grave.”
“See,” Sebastian went on, “those threats aren’t much.”
“I think… I need to go check on Maureen again.” Even my voice was slightly off-kilter. It sounded bizarre like an out-of-body experience.
Something wasn’t right.
“What is it?” August waited.
“I don’t know. I just don’t feel right…” I remembered feeling off like this when the vampire kidnapped Maureen. The need to go to her was suddenly trumping everything else.
“Wait,” August hissed. “Shit!”
“New York! New York, Jack! That’s where we’re going!” Sebastian yelled right before they all faded out.
Something did happen. Was this what I felt? I followed behind them. The moment I cleared the portal I was knocked down by someone. I skidded across asphalt before I managed to grip the werewolf above me by the neck. What made it difficult was the cloak dangling around his wolf form. I crushed his windpipe, blood splattering on my face. It was a red robe he wore. I pushed him off me and got to my feet.
These were the same demons from the anti-Reaper group. I recognized the matching robes they all wore.
I scanned the buildings. They were everywhere. Red cloaks. White masks. Their cloaks floated around them with the wind as they stood on the tops of buildings. They were in the road, cars passing through their ghost-like bodies. I also took in the three brothers splitting up to take them on. August and Sebastian were in the sky, rebounding off the buildings as they sent chains whipping through the sky after some cloaked figures. Barron was on the ground with me, killing them with his hands.
“Jackal.” I cocked my head around to see the cloaked one behind me. I could tell that he was a male. A warlock. The very one that wanted Maureen back in The Den. I recognized his scent. My skin rippled with the desire to shift into a new form—any form as long as I could sink teeth into him. “I’m going to need those hearts now. You wanted the witch’s curse gone, right? Well, I am your cure.” He stretched his arms out wide like he was a savior.
“Whatever this is about, I don’t care.” I stalked toward him. “I’m going to kill you just for gawking at her the way you did that night.”
He pulled off his mask and smirked. “I’ve been watching her a lot longer than you have.” He tossed the mask to the concrete. “I don’t like being cut. You should have gotten in line.”
“I don’t know what the hell you’re talking about.” I jumped, shifted into the animal I most preferred—a wolf—and landed on all fours.
“She’ll come to me, you know.”
I never ceased at his words. I went at him like the shapeshifting plague that I was. He hit me with a shot of magic, but I let disease roll off my tongue as he hit me. He managed to throw me back momentarily, but it did nothing at all to me other than slow me down.
He staggered with my infestation’s immediate impact and coughed. “Wow, that’s some stout ailment. What did you hit me with? The plague? Swine flu?” He wiped his mouth. “I’m sure I’ll have a hard time finding a spell to cure me.” He held his hand out. “Don’t attack just yet. Wait, a second! You don’t really belong on their side, you know? The Reapers are destined to fall. I’ll admit that I’m a corrupt warlock that’s only been playing docile. No one wants to get hounded by the Reapers, and I happened to have a mild crush on one of them that’s developed into a terrible infatuation. You can understand a warlock for wanting to impress a lady, right? By playing her nice and easygoing friend? Well, now the tables have turned, and soon I’ll be the only thing that can keep her alive when she’s meant to perish.”
I shifted back into a man and growled. “Maureen’s not going anywhere. Brave talk for a warlock with one life.”
“I’m not too worried about you. You’ll be taking this soon.” He held a vial with purple liquid in his hands.
“What is that?” I frowned.
“Your cure. Time to go back to who you were, Jackal.”
I could never go back to who I was. Everything I did, I could never do those things again!
I needed these hearts. I needed them to understand everything I didn’t before. I needed it to love Maureen. Love. That was it, wasn’t it? That was what it always was when it came to her. “I’d like to see you come and make me take that.” My voice was a guttural hiss I was so furious.
“Wait,” he said again.
“No more waiting. I’ll kill you and be done with it.” I began to shift again.
“I’m trying to tell you something. Shapeshifter.” He sighed, tossing his hands up in the air. “Always more animal than anything else. You won’t take the vial even for sweet, prideful Maureen’s life?”
I halted. “What did you do?”
Chapter 27
Maureen
Explosions. Death. Thousands of lives lost. New York.
My Reaper brain fed me glimpses of the future. The hiccups that weren’t meant to happen. All of those lives about to perish under Harvest’s attack weren’t meant to happen. Just like with the unnatural tornadoes and climate changes. This was one of those moments.
I had to get there. Everyone was fed the same images.
This wasn’t even about the end. This group, the Harvesters, was being cruel just to spite what we did. I climbed out of bed naked and froze as I caught the white mask standing next to my bed. There was a moment where we cocked our head at one another before I moved into action. I materialized Ben and Jerry but was already thrown back against a wall with the wave of a tiny gloved hand.
“What the hell?” I muttered.
I assumed it was a woman because she was slender and a few inches shorter than me, but I couldn’t read who she was beneath the cloak. Her hand was still outstretched as I pushed off the wall. She scooped up my sheet in her other hand.
I confirmed it was a woman when she spoke. She only had to say one word, and everything blew to pieces.
“Boom.”
Chapter 28
Jackal
The warlock spat out blood but still managed to keep me a safe distance away with his magic. “Could you stop hitting me with that shit?” He coughed up more blood. “At this rate I really will die long before I’ll get a chance to save Maureen. You know that, right?”
Maureen didn’t need his help. I planned to work my body to exhaustion every single day if it meant delaying the end—even if only for one more day—so that they’d find a way to stop it before it came. I’d help her
every way that I could. Any way I knew how. She was mine to keep. Mine to protect and cherish. If she should perish, I’d go with her. She was the reason I craved life after all. But there was no way that would happen. I didn’t receive the curse to feel and know love only to have it snatched away.
“You stand in the human world she wishes to protect planning something I’m sure we’re about to see, and yet you dare say you want to protect her?” I seethed as I battled the constant need to shift between wolf and human forms. I was a man again, but barely since there was so much rage, and the need to be a wolf shimmered beneath my skin.
“Ah, there you are.” He coughed again, his lips curling upward, revealing bloody teeth to someone behind me. Someone walked by me without hurry in the same cloak. Only it was what was in their hand that caught my eye. The lavender scent permeated from it.
I lunged for the cloaked figure. “Where is she?” I could still smell Maureen on the sheet the cloaked figure carried.
The small figure twisted around so quickly I lost sight of her. For something so little, I was on my knees in seconds. “Here, make him take this.” He tossed the vial at the one behind me. She caught it. I gripped the hood and tossed her on the ground in front of me. She sent me flying back with a flick of her hand. It was hard to dodge attacks from magic users or spellcasters. I didn’t have time for this either.
“Where did you leave her?” the warlock asked.
“In pieces,” came the quiet hush of her tone.
I ran and shifted toward her in a fit of rage, but I froze in mid-air and crashed to the ground. I couldn’t move, but I tossed my disease in the air for her to inhale. No response either. Some sort of barrier around her, repelled my pestilence.
“Why the hell did you blow her up?” the warlock hissed.
“You wanted me to keep her in one spot. Well, it will take a while for her to regenerate.”
“Heal me quickly before one of the Reapers take notice,” he urged her. I watched as she waved a hand over his face. He was healed instantly. Rage filled me as my diseases died out in his body.
“Don’t you dare go to her!” I started working against the magic holding my body down. Tiny cracks developed until, seconds later, I was free from the spell.
“You better hurry. Even the collar you made didn’t last long with him, and he’s too fucking animalistic. He won’t stop until he kills me,” the warlock exclaimed to his companion and then smirked at me. “I forgot to tell you about the cure. It also comes with a memory swipe. I don’t trust you not to feel the same way you do now when the curse is gone, so I’ll erase those memories completely.” He strode away from me. “Then blow everything up when you’re finished. The Reapers are killing our people.” He was talking to his companion now.
“No!” I was on my knees, and the warlock was gone. The woman took a step toward me and then another. I was on my feet now. She held out her palm and slammed me onto the concrete again. The pavement cracked under the force of her magic.
“Don’t you dare! Stop!” I roared until my throat bled with fear for Maureen.
Had to get to her!
Had to kill the warlock!
I fucking hated magic users.
The Harvester bent down on her knees. I snapped at her hands as she picked up my chin. “Hey, what do you think you’re doing short stuff?” I recognized August’s voice.
There was no forcing the liquid down my neck. She cracked open my mouth with more strength than I thought possible for a witch and shoved the entire tube into my mouth.
“Hey!”
She continued to ignore August shouting. I saw his chain wrap around her waist.
I sputtered and choked as she shoved it further in until she was forcing it down my neck. She gripped my throat through her glove and I felt every painful second when the vial exploded, leaking its contents into my stomach.
I won’t forget! I won’t forget what I feel. I won’t forget her. I won’t—
Chapter 29
August
There were bad men and bad demons. Then they were the malevolent ones. I always considered myself the former, but I’d been told I was cruel, callous, and greedy. True. But I was never uncaring.
I had my own reputation that tarnished a lot of things. One of those things was my father’s revered reputation. People feared the Grim Reaper, but as soon as I was old enough to venture the City of the Dead’s streets, I set out to make people aware of me. Although I had a penchant toward wrongdoing, I never let any soul think my parents hadn’t taught me right from wrong.
And I did do good about fifty percent of the time. Maybe more. Probably less.
I didn’t see Superman parading around in his cape when his senses went all to hell with danger. There weren’t comic book heroes out to save the day. There were only Reapers hiding in the shadows and protecting humans.
Didn’t matter. The only thing that did matter was that my mom used to be a human which was reason enough to keep them protected. I didn’t hate them nor like them. I simply protected them.
And that was all we ever wanted to do for New York City.
I advanced on the small cloaked figure while her hands—I said her since she was small and typically when it came to women I was right—held Jack’s windpipe. She restrained me with a type of magic I’d never encountered before. By the time I faded and re-faded behind her whatever she had done to Jack was done. He gurgled and face-slumped to the concrete. I didn’t worry about him. He was immortal, but what I did find unsettling was the fact that Maureen wasn’t here with the rest of us. Again. That knowledge had me wanting to end this group before they truly set off the explosion I’d seen in the images of what was to come.
The witch—if she was indeed a girl—stood and blocked my blade with her hand. Again, her magic was foreign to me. I’d never felt such power. This hand waving shit was getting on my last nerve.
“What did you do to him?” I asked, but got no reply.
She pushed me back with a wave of her hand. I faded out and moved over her in the air. She never bothered to lift her head, but you bet my sweet ass she countered my blade again. Bored with this tactic, I let my right arm lose all its tendons, muscles, and flesh as I reached through her barrier of magic and grabbed her by the neck. A scared peep escaped her lips. I guess she didn’t think I could touch her.
“I was wondering if you were a girl,” I said, sizing her up even though I couldn’t see or make out anything beyond the red cloak. “Or woman? Hard to tell with your small size.”
I could feel her pressing me hard with whatever magic she wielded. She was strong. The longer I stood here with her pushing it against me, the more flesh she tore from me. Thank fuck I was a son of Grim Reaper. I didn’t need flesh.
“How about you tell me which of these cloaks plan to blow up the city? Or did you guys plant a bomb? I know even all of you together wouldn’t be strong enough to wipe out this city like I saw—”
“Boom.”
There was nothing else. One soft fluttering word from her lips and everything was lost. For miles and miles, she took every life. It was so sudden, so riveting, there was no way any of us could have figured they only needed one to do what they came here to do.
There were no saving lives that day. We were too busy getting blown to pieces along with them. Did she kill her own people? I didn’t notice.
Chapter 30
Maureen
Holy mother of—
I groaned against the ground, at least I thought it was the ground. I hadn’t opened my eyes yet. Too busy feeling around with my recently rejuvenated hands—every bone, every organ and muscle, every single hair restored. I’d never been blown to pieces and had to regrow everything. It was crazy, and I was in no hurry to repeat it. Ever.
Who was the witch?
“Oh, you’re awake?” No matter how tender and sore every part of me was—even my brain—I opened my eyes and lifted my head when I heard Newt’s voice.
I wasn’t home, not t
hat I even had a home now that the random figure had blown me to bits. If we were still in the Underworld, where the hell were we? Touching my temple, I winced. My brain pounded like it was split in half. I was naked and the sheet beneath me felt like sandpaper against my skin which was still pink as it healed.
I reached over the edge of the bed and peeled back the sheet to drape it over my new skin.
“She was very thorough in blowing you up,” Newt said as he got out of the chair he sat in and crossed the room to the bed. “It was only because I managed to find a leg that I was able to bring you here,” he mused as the bed dipped with his weight. I could barely even manage a glare let alone trying to work my new tongue. “Interesting process, watching your body regrow.”
“I’m sure.” My tongue was heavy, voice too raspy to sound completely normal yet.
It was easy to see my predicament. I’d been taken again. I refused to say kidnapped on account of pride burning a hole in my stomach. “What...” Little late for that, the moment my fingers lingered to my neck and discovered the new collar he placed on me. “I can’t believe it!” My curse couldn’t either. I felt the recoil in my stomach, the burning fury of my pride.
“I am your friend, although I wish to be more—”
“What are you doing?”
“—That can come in time,” he finished. “I’m afraid you’re going to be mad for a while but that’s okay.”
“I’m furious, you—”
Their deaths swept over me like a dark cloud stealing my words. I felt a pang of grief so strong that it was staggering. My lungs had to remember how to breathe in and out, only to remember all the ones that could never breathe again—I’d been kidnapped. Again. I hadn’t been there to help them, help my family.
I screamed as my curse assaulted my stomach, my mind, all reason. I clutched my abdomen and would have vomited if I had anything in my gut, but I didn’t so I was left dry-heaving as the spasms coursed through me.
Jackal's Pride (Seven Deadly Book 2) Page 23
