Reaper Dreaming: A Reaper Novel

by Christie Palmer

  Lailah finally released him, and Eric stood up from the small chair, “Yeah, well glad it helped.” Eric said obviously uncomfortable with the praise. Then walked away quickly. Lailah took a couple of centering breaths and closed her eyes pulling up the image of Hunter’s smiling face. It did the same thing it had minutes before, calming her.

  “We are going to get you back,” She promised him. Now she was feeling more in control she headed back to the group.

  She got there just in time, Falcon was coming through the back door. And he didn’t look happy.

  “What did you find?” Lailah asked.

  “Banner is definitely in the warehouse. He has cells in the basement. It doesn’t look good. But we should be able to get in without too much trouble.” Falcon looked over at Skylar. “But there is some unforeseen complications.”

  “When aren’t there?” Skylar asked.

  “Elle?” Falcon asked.

  Falcon ran a hand through his hair, and Lailah felt the air shift in the room. Something was going wrong and she sudden wished she could do something to change it.

  “I don’t know how or why, but Banner has Tabitha and several other Daughters of Eve,” Falcon told the demi-god.

  “No,” Elle said shaking her head. Pulling out a cell phone she started to dial. “That isn’t possible I spoke to her two weeks ago.” Elle turned to Victor. “Take me to her,” Elle demanded.

  Victor looked at Falcon, “Are you certain?”

  Falcon pulled a tablet from his jacket. As Elle shook her phone, “It went to voicemail.” She turned to Victor. “Take me now.” She practically screamed.

  “Elle, sweetheart. Let’s see what proof Falcon has before we run off,” Victor said taking Elle’s hand and leading her forward.

  “Who is Tabitha?” Lailah asked Eric. From the knowledge she had gained from her transition, she knew who the Daughters of Eve were. But she had no idea who this Tabatha was.

  “Elle’s best friend and protector and a Daughter of Eve,” Eric explained. Everyone moved so they were leaning around Falcon’s tablet.

  “We sent in a remote control bug. It went in through the sewer. And sent back this video.” Falcon looked around the room making eye contact with everyone. “Please be aware the video is pretty gruesome.”

  Once everyone had nodded he hit play. At first, the images where grainy, and dark. It was just of the duct work, but then it zoomed in on a cell. And a man hanging from a set of chains.

  “Hunter,” Lailah whispered her hand coming to cover her mouth in shock. He looked like he had been worked over ruthlessly, Lailah wanted to reach inside the screen and comfort him. Then the screen panned out, there were several woman huddled on the floor.

  “Oh my god,” Elle cried pushing through the small group so she could get closer to the screen. “How in the name of the gods is that possible?”

  Then Banner entered the cell, words were exchanged. A tall blonde woman stood in front of several woman on the floor. Hunter said something and then Banner pulled a gun out and shot one of the helpless women on the floor.

  Everyone watching gasped in shock. Falcon reached for the tablet and turned it off.

  “Wait,” Elle and Lailah both shrieked.

  Falcon shook his head. “He lets them live. But trust me you don’t want to see what happens next.”

  Elle turned and threw herself into Victor’s arms sobbing.

  “We need to move fast, I’m not sure how much longer the females have,” Falcon said.

  Lailah looked at the men in the room, “What are we going to do?” she asked them. There were murmurs but none of them had any suggestions. Then Lailah realized something. “Wait? What happened to Skylar?”

  Falcon swore and pulled his phone out of his pocket. “Bowen you were right. He’s gone rouge.”

  Elle pulled away from Victor, “Shit…shit…shit!”

  Chapter 8

  “Can you hear that?” Tabitha whispered without looking up at Hunter.

  Hunter did, in fact, hear it. It was the sound of gunfire. He thought it was about bloody time. Unfortunately, the gun shots were staccato, giving Hunter some misinformation. He couldn’t tell if it was a rescue party or something else. Either this wasn’t a rescue or, whoever was causing the ruckus had come alone. Whichever it was, it wasn’t a good thing. Hunter tested the chains hoping beyond hope they would have grown lose in the last several hours, or he would have healed enough to break lose. But they were tight as ever and his test only tightened the damn enchanted chains.

  “This is a good thing right?” Tabitha asked. But the look Hunter gave her must have spoken volumes because she immediately went to the women on the floor who had been looking like they were finally going to be rescued from this hell hole. Tabitha ushered the woman into the corner. Taking care to move the deceased female to the side of the cell.

  “What do you think is going on?” Tabitha asked when she was done. “Should we be prepared to fight?”

  Hunter had no idea and said as much. “Let’s just be prepared for anything.” Hunter closed his eyes and concentrated on the sounds of the fighting going on above them. Which made sense, he had thought they were in some kind of basement. Every few minutes several rounds of gunshots would go off then silence.

  After what felt like thirty or forty minutes of this Tabitha looked like she was going to jump out of her skin pacing back and forth in front of the door of the cell. “How much longer will this go on?”

  “I don’t think it’s our rescue party, otherwise, someone would have come down by now,” Hunter explained.

  The women in the corner sniffled and Hunter bit his tongue thinking he might have wanted to keep that information to himself. They needed hope to keep them going and he had just dashed there hope to death.

  “Then who is it?” Tabitha asked peeking through the bars she looked both ways, Tabitha obviously didn’t see anything. Because she slapped her hands against the bars and then started to pace again.

  Hunter snorted, “I can only imagine how many enemies Banner has amassed in his time as an Inquisitor for the Tribunal.”

  Tabitha nodded. “You have a very good point.”

  Hunter had to admit to himself the gunshots had not gotten any closer, nor were there any kind of excitement associated with them. Hunter closed his eyes and willed himself to heal, even though he knew the chains he wore were stopping it from happening. When it didn’t work he willed his breathing to slow and calm himself. Taking several deep breaths, he envisioned Lailah on the first night he had seen her. Her features in complete repose her white blonde curls spread out on the pillow. Then a vision of her the last night they had been together came to his mind, the way her face looked when she was in the throes of passion.

  Hunter sighed to himself. What he wouldn’t give to just have one more moment with her. He clenched the chains he was bound to. She was his slice of heaven and he prayed to whatever gods were listening he could have one more moment with her if just to tell her what a fool he was to have not told her his feelings, to have held off telling her for so long. Hunter should have gone to her long before, should had given them the passion and love they deserved. So many wasted hours they could have had together. Lailah might be transitioning into an Angel but it didn’t matter Hunter would spend the rest of his existence doing everything in his power to be worthy of her.

  “Hunter?” Tabitha said. “Can you hear me?”

  “What?” Hunter opened his eyes.

  “I’ve been saying your name for over a minute,” Tabitha said. “I thought you may have passed out.”

  Hunter concentrated on the sounds above them, the gunshots had stopped. “When did it stop?” he asked.

  “Several minutes ago,” Tabitha said.

  They both stopped talking when the door opened at the end of the corridor. Tabitha stretched to see, then she stepped back and shook her head for Hunter.

  Hunter growled and swore under his breath.

  Banner was the first
one to reach their cell, he wore a cocky smile. Two goons were behind him and they carried someone between them. Hunter could smell blood, but other than that he could hear a faint heartbeat. Whoever it was, he was still alive.

  “Your stupid friend tried a rescue attempt. And from the looks of it, it was a solo attempt,” Banner said with a shake of his head. “I don’t expect him to make it through the night.”

  Banner unlocked the cell and the goons tossed the man in. The body rolled in like a sack of potatoes, landing face first. Hunter shook his chains he wanted to go to him but they weren’t long enough to go to the unconscious man.

  Tabitha waited until Banner locked the door then kneeled down and turned the man over. She sucked in a shocked breath.

  “Oh, Skylar,” Tabitha said. Brushing a lock of dark hair off his brow.

  Hunter swore and tried again to reach out to his friend. He needed to get to him, had to get him out of there before he died.

  “How many times has he been shot?” Hunter asked.

  Tabitha looked up at Hunter like she had forgotten he was there. “What?” she asked breathless, Hunter was stunned to see real pain in Tabitha’s face.

  “You need to find out how many times he has been shot. And stop the bleeding if possible,” Hunter told her.

  Tabitha nodded and then turned back to Skylar, with shaky hands she lifted his shirt and sucked in a shocked breath when she exposed three different gunshot wounds. She turned back to Hunter, “Now what?”

  She looked like she was about to lose her shit, and Hunter needed to keep her from going into shock if at all possible. “Tabitha you need to roll him over and see if any of the shots went through.”

  Tabitha nodded and turned back to Skylar. It took some doing but she rolled Skylar over and then she turned back to Hunter. “One went through, it looks like two are still in him.”

  Hunter nodded, “Trackers are immortal but he was still shot and he needs to be taken care of. He will pull through this,” Hunter said. And Tabitha nodded, but it didn’t look like she believed him.

  “Then why did Banner say he was going to die?” Tabitha said, her voice was now just as shaky as her hands had been.

  “Because they shot him three times. And he looks pretty bad. You need to clean him up and stop the bleeding and make him comfortable. If he gets an infection it could complicate things,” Hunter told her.

  “You mean he could die,” Tabitha said she looked up at Hunter with wild eyes.

  Hunter nodded he wasn’t going to lie to her. “Yes, it’s possible. We don’t know if the bullets hit anything critical. But the fact his heart is still beating and he is still breathing is a good sign. Remember Trackers are immortal, but getting shot up and taking vital organ shots on top of getting an infection can kill. So his body needs to expel the bullets. Once it does he will start to heal and I’ll be happier.”

  “And when will that be?” Tabitha asked.

  Hunter had no idea, and the look he gave her obviously said as much. “Let’s just get the bleeding to stop.”

  Tabitha nodded. She used her teeth and ripped the t-shirt off of Skylar and then tore it into strips and bandaged him up. When that was done she sat back on her heels. “That’s the best I can do.”

  Hunter nodded to her, “You did well.”

  Tabitha gave Hunter a watered down smile, “Thanks.” Then her eyes went to the women still in the corner. “We had said our goodbyes, and our prayers to the goddess. We were prepared to die. I was ready, I had nothing to be ashamed of. But now…” she looked at Skylar. “I don’t—,”

  “You don’t have to explain.” Hunter told her.

  “I hate him,” Tabitha burst out.

  Hunter said nothing and looked away as she dashed tears away from her eyes. Hunter saw out of the corner of his eyes as Tabitha pressed a hand to Skylar’s chest. “I don’t care if he is immortal I should kill him myself for putting himself in such danger.”

  * * *

  “What do you mean you couldn’t stop him? What the fuck were you doing here, you were supposed to stop him from going in solo,” Falcon thundered.

  Lailah wanted to jump in front of the smaller Tracker, but Bowen didn’t look like he needed her protection, Bowen flipped Falcon the bird, “Do you have any idea how Skylar came barreling in here? Not like a carefully planned out Tracker. No Skylar came barreling in here with guns blasting. He went through four clips in three minutes dude.”

  Falcon threw his hands in the air, “And then what?” Falcon demanded. They were standing in the street. Bowen was sitting in the back of a black van surrounded by several monitors. It was the quintessential stake out van from every movie Lailah had ever seen and if she wasn’t worried sick about all the people Banner was amassing she would have climbed in and slid a pair of headphones on and asked Bowen to show her how everything worked.

  “And then for the next hour, he laid siege to the warehouse,” Bowen said. “And he did a really good job too. I attempted to move in to help him. But Skylar moved around the complex I assumed he was trying to find a weakness. I’m not sure what he found out because he was shot and Banner took him.”

  Falcon went still, “Shot? How many times?”

  Bowen shook his head, “Three times. Looked like shoulder and chest.”

  “Mother of the gods above and below.” Falcon swore and Falcon looked like he was about to start swinging. Lailah laid a hand on his shoulder.

  “We are going to get him and Hunter out of there,” Lailah said trying for a calm she didn’t necessarily feel.

  “It’s not that,” Falcon said turning to the group. “Banner has something else down there with him. I didn’t show it to you before because I didn’t want to upset the woman.”

  Falcon looked at Lailah, Elle, and Celeste who had joined them. “What?” Lailah asked.

  Falcon moved from the opening of the van and shoved a hand through his hair, “It didn’t seem important then. But if Skylar—” Falcon stammered.

  “He isn’t dead, were fucking immortal,” Bowen said. “He didn’t take a head shot. He didn’t bleed out. I refuse to believe Skylar is dead. He isn’t,” the computer junky said it with such conviction Lailah had to give him a soft smile.

  “I believe you, Bowen,” Lailah said and Bowen gave Lailah a small nod.

  Falcon gave the group a hard look, “Banner has some kind of creature, something collection souls.” Falcon announced, “Show it to them.” Falcon told Bowen.

  Bowen started to hit keys on one of the keyboards, “I don’t know why, Skylar is alive. It’s a non-issue if you ask me.” Bowen finally pulled up the video and turned a monitor so everyone standing outside of the van could watch. It was after the shooting of the female and there was a man standing over the body. Hunter was backed up away from the man. The video was black and white, but they could all tell the man was drawing the soul out of the female. When he held the soul in his hands he turned to Hunter and said something then he opened his mouth impossibly large and swallowed the soul.

  Victor and Celeste stepped forward and squinted at the screen, “Something is not right about that man,” Victor swore. “But the video is too grainy and being black and white I can’t tell what it is.”

  “It’s unholy I know that much,” Celeste said with a shiver.

  “We have bigger problems than Banner,” Marcus said. “That thing can’t be released on the mortal plane.”

  Lailah nodded, “That thing is bad news.” Everything in her said it needed to be destroyed.

  “If Skylar passed,” Falcon choked on the words. “That thing has swallowed him, and I want his soul back.” Falcon demanded stabbing his finger on the monitor.

  “So now we have possible an even larger problem on our hands?” Lailah asked.

  Everyone in the group turned to her, Falcon grunted which she took as a yes.

  “We going in guns blazing? Or are we taking a more subtle approach?” Bowen asked.

  “Guns blazing did nothing for Sk
ylar, let’s do something new,” Victor said climbing into the van. “Show me everything you have on the warehouse.”

  * * *

  It was taking forever to come up with a plan and Lailah wanted to ring all their necks she just wanted to get in there and get Hunter out already.

  Elle finally pulled her aside, “I don’t have to be an emotional to read you, Lailah. What are you thinking?”

  Lailah pulled her around the side of the van, the men were busy making plans and didn’t notice, “What kind of powers do you have?”

  Elle laughed softly, “I don’t have powers, I’m not a superhero. I’m a demi-god. But what I can do is turn people’s emotions against them. But I…” Elle hesitated for a moment. “I don’t like to use them, I— using them against mortals is just a bad idea. I used them a long time ago and it backfired.”

  “But if you used them against individuals you knew were doing bad things, even horrible things. Doesn’t that make it okay?” Lailah asked. “Banner and his men or torturing Hunter and your friend, threatening to kill them. You can use your demi-god abilities to help them can’t you?”

  Elle was quiet for a moment and then she nodded. “To help Tabitha and Hunter yes, I can use my demi-god abilities to help free them.”

  Lailah wrapped her arms around Elle and hugged her. “Thank god. These men are going to plan themselves into a hole.”

  Elle looked over her shoulder then looked at Lailah, “Tabitha is going to love you, but if we go without them Victor is going to go batshit crazy.”

  “I’m sure they will forgive us. We are immortal, right?” Lailah asked.

  Elle gave her a weak smile. “Yes but I don’t think I want to die today. In fact, I don’t want to die any day for that matter. I’ve died more times than I want to count and it isn’t any fun.”

  “That is definitely a story I would like to hear but another time.” Lailah said and grabbed her hand. “Ready?”

  Elle shook her head. “Are you even aware of what you are capable of? You just barely completed your Transition.”