Reaping Willow

by D. N. Hoxa

  The address the shifter had written on the napkin for me was in Harlem, so I had to take the bus. I’d be early—it was still a little past nine, but I wanted to check the place out, see where I could take the shifter to kill him in peace. And this time, I was prepared for whatever was coming.

  He kicked the door of the bar open, dragging me out with him. He said his name was Cirko, but he wouldn’t give me his real name no matter how many times I asked. He laughed like he’d never seen anything funnier in his life, and I had to admit, I thought the way I broke that guy’s nose in the bar was damn funny, too.

  We’d been in there for more than two hours because getting Cirko to leave turned out to be much harder than I thought. No, Cirko loved to play pool, didn’t like nature except the beach, and he loved to drink alcohol. I learned this and much more while I sat and listened to him speak like he had no idea what was going to happen when the night was over.

  Oh, wait. He really didn’t know.

  When I realized that I wasn’t going to get him to come outside for at least another hour, I improvised. I pretended to go to the ladies room, and on my way I picked a fight with a guy at the bar, accusing him of grabbing my ass. I didn’t want to break his nose, but how else was I going to get thrown out of the bar? Guess he just had to take one for the greater good.

  “So where’s your place, Cirko?” I asked while he still laughed his heart out.

  If he hadn’t been a demon, I’d have thought he was a decent guy. A funny guy. I could even imagine myself being friends with him. A couple of his jokes had really made me laugh. Too bad he had to die.

  “My place? It’s barely midnight!” he complained, drunk, but not nearly drunk enough, considering how many beers he’d had.

  I rolled my eyes. I was offering him sex for God’s sake, and he kept refusing. What a fucking guy.

  “I’m tired and I have to work tomorrow. If we don’t leave now, I’m going home,” I said, feeling like a little girl. I should have worn that red lipstick. Maybe then he’d have given in easier.

  “Okay, okay, one more drink. I want to introduce you to my best friend, and he’s just a couple blocks away, okay? Come on, you’ll love Vin, I promise.”

  Oh, a best friend. I was willing to bet a good dollar that the best friend was a demon, too. Which was why I couldn’t let Cirko drag me to him. One demon was a handful. I had yet to try my luck with two at once.

  But Cirko wasn’t going to give up, and I’d already checked the neighborhood—no place to kill him in peace close to the bar. I had to take my chances and hope there would be an alley dark enough on the way to his friend Vin.

  “Okay, fine,” I said with a sigh. “But just one drink.”

  He threw his hands in the air. “Hallelujah!”

  Uh…what the hell?

  He came at me so fast, I had no chance of stopping him before his lips pressed against my cheek.

  What the actual hell?

  Then he grabbed my arm, laced it with his, and pulled me to the left.

  Something was wrong. What kind of a demon screamed Hallelujah and kissed your cheek? I looked at him through the corner of my eye and allowed myself to feel him again. Yep, definitely still a demon. Maybe the end of the world was near because I had no idea what his deal was. He behaved like an ordinary guy, and demons just didn’t do that. They were demons.

  It doesn’t matter, I told myself. All of this could be an act, a game to get me exactly where he wanted me, and I was going to be prepared. He was probably going to take me to his friend so they could both finish me off, do whatever it was they did with their victims. Well, he was in for the surprise of his life.

  “What? What’s wrong?” Cirko asked. He’d noticed my shift in mood, which wasn’t something shape-shifters could do. Vampires, yes, but I doubted Cirko could hear the beating of my heart.

  “Nothing’s wrong.” I forced myself to smile, hoping he’d buy it. “How far is this friend of yours?”

  Just as I said that, I noticed an alley across the street. It looked dark enough and quiet enough for me to finally finish the job.

  “Just a few more—”

  I didn’t let him finish. “Did you see that?” I pointed across the street. Granted, it was a very immature move, but I believed I could count on Cirko’s cluelessness.

  “What is it?” he asked, but I was already running across the street. A car almost ran me over, but I made it to the sidewalk safely. I didn’t check to see if Cirko was following—I had to trust my gut feeling that he was.

  The alley wasn’t as dark as it had looked from afar. A light shone on the second floor, and whoever was in there could see us if they looked, but the way the night had gone, I didn’t really care. Like I said, even if somebody reported me to the police, there would be no body. No evidence to put me away.

  The foul smell of the alley assaulted my senses, but I didn’t pay it much attention. There were two dumpsters to the sides, and several pieces of cardboard covered with a bunch of dirty blankets lay on the ground next to them, which meant somebody slept there. I had to make this quick. Real quick.

  “Willow?”

  Just as I suspected, Cirko had followed me. He was still in the street, looking into the alley. Demons could see much better than I could in the dark, so I was hiding behind the second dumpster, right by the back door to the building on my right. Praying now that nobody would come out of there was useless, so I didn’t. I just took out two of my knives and closed my eyes to calm down.

  “Hey! Willow!” Cirko called again, and I heard his footsteps as he slowly approached me. The fact that he hadn’t figured out what was happening yet told me that he was going to be an easy kill, for which I was thankful. I’d promised Mom I’d be home by midnight, but one a.m. was better than two.

  When Cirko’s footsteps came close enough to the dumpster, I took in a deep breath and stepped out of the shadow. My knives were pretty visible, but he actually smiled when he saw me. For some reason, he didn’t look at my hands.

  “There you are,” he said, his grin unassuming. It was a struggle to keep from rolling my eyes.

  “Come closer.” I raised my hands just a bit, and Lord Almighty, he finally looked at them.

  His smile froze. I don’t know if he could see what my knives were made of or if he even knew that they could kill him. After all, I’d never met a demon like Cirko before, but now he definitely knew something was wrong.

  “Willow, what are you doing?” he asked, slowly raising his hands.

  “What the hell does it look like I’m doing?” I grinned and stepped closer to him. Even if he tried to run from me now, I’d still catch him before he made it out of the alley.

  “So what, you’re going to rob me or something? I thought we were friends.”

  Somebody slap the shit out of me, he actually sounded hurt.

  “Friends?” I laughed. “You thought I was your friend when you literally just met me today?”

  “This is Manhattan!” he said with an exaggerated shrug. He still seemed to think I was there to rob him. For God’s sake.

  “Whatever. You’re going back to hell right where you came from, asshole,” I said and jumped him. I recognized the surprise in his eyes right before I reached him and made a clean cut on his chest. The stab would have killed him on the spot if he hadn’t moved to the side so fucking fast. He stepped back and looked at me with a new light now, finally figuring out what was really going on.

  “So you’re one of them.” He slowly stepped to the side, making us move in a circle.

  “One of who?” I doubted this guy had met my father. If he had, he wouldn’t have been here right now.

  “Trappers, was it?” he said, throwing me off guard. No demon I’d ever killed had known the term. Only my father had ever used it. “Trappers, Inc.?”

  What the hell was he talking about? I opened my mouth to ask him, but at the last second I decided it wasn’t worth it. It didn’t matter what he said, he needed to die so I could
get home before my mother freaked out even more. With my knives in hand, I jumped him again, but he wasn’t as hopeless as I’d thought. He slammed his fist on my forearm before I could stab him and knocked the knife out of my hand. I still had the other, and I was going to use it, but then he grabbed my wrist with one hand and my neck with the other.

  Goddamn it, not again. My neck was still sore, and I was tired of wearing turtlenecks.

  “I don’t know what the hell you think I did, but I didn’t. I don’t want to kill you, but I will if you make me,” Cirko said, his eyes glazed over, almost like he was in a panic, which was ridiculous. With my free hand, I grabbed another one of my knives from the back of my waistband. Cirko wasn’t holding me nearly as tightly as his friend, Yellow Tank Top. I could still breathe perfectly, and I was focused. I didn’t even need to kick him between the legs. I aimed for his chest and swung my arm back for maximum impact.

  I never even touched him.

  A loud thud reached my ears, just as Cirko simply slid to the side like he was being pushed by an invisible force. He let go of me and hit the dumpster with his back. Only when he was no longer in front of me, I saw this invisible force for what it was. Or rather, who.

  “Adrian?”

  Was I just seeing things, or was Adrian fucking Ward standing in front of me right now with a long piece of wood in his hand?

  “Willow, run!” he shouted and stepped in front of Cirko, who was already on his feet, ready for the fight.

  “Move, you fool!” I shouted at Adrian and slammed his shoulder with mine before attacking Cirko for what I hoped was the last time.

  It wasn’t. He moved away from me, eyes wide with terror, which didn’t suit him, to be honest. That kind of look didn’t suit any demon, if you asked me. But he was trying to get away, so my options were limited. He ran toward the main street, and I couldn’t let him do that. People would see me.

  Ah, shit. More people would see me. Adrian Ward was still there, probably watching me run after Cirko. He saw me jump on his back like a freaking monkey. With one arm around his neck, I spun the handle of my knife as fast as I could and aimed for his heart.

  I missed, but I only realized it when he moved to the grey wall to our side and slammed me against it with all his strength. It felt like my skull cracked open, and I lost control of my body. I slid to the ground while my mind screamed at me to get up, do what I was there to do, finish him the hell off.

  But I couldn’t even catch my breath.

  Cirko looked down at me, then at himself, and we both saw my knife buried in his gut. Yes, I’d definitely missed the heart—by more than a couple inches. Way to go, Willow.

  The anger must have given me a boost because I could still stand up, though it felt like at least a few bones in my body were broken by how hard he slammed me against the wall. Holding onto it, I made it back to my feet, with only one more bone knife left on my person. I reached for it, determined to end this once and for all, when through the corner of my eye I saw Adrian running with the piece of wood in his hands, aiming it at Cirko’s head.

  “Adrian, no!” I shouted, but by the time I did that, Cirko was already running for the main street, my knife still buried in his gut. He was too far away, and I was too weak to catch him, so I just stood there and watched him run until he disappeared from my sight. This was not happening. Why was this happening to me? Fuck, fuck, fuck!

  All my energy left me, and I slid down to the ground again, holding my head in my heads. I’d screwed up. I did the one thing my father told me to never do: I let a demon escape after he’d seen my face. There was no telling how much damage that was going to do to me, to my life. Cirko knew where I worked. How easy would it be to tell other demons where to find me and finish me off?

  Yes, I’d screwed up, and there was no redo button that I knew of. I’d not only put myself in danger, but my mother, George, even Cece. Demons were vindictive creatures. It was just a guess but an easy one. My life as I knew it was over, and my father’s face stayed in front of my eyes. His golden hair, his light blue eyes, both a copy of mine. His frown, the disappointment etched in every line of his face. I squeezed my eyes shut because I couldn’t stand it. I couldn’t stand that look, and I just wanted it to go away.

  I’d failed, but I could make up for it. I knew the demon’s name; I knew his friend’s name. I would go through every Vin in Manhattan if I had to, to find him. I could make this right. I could make it all go away.

  But…I couldn’t, at least not before the damage was done.

  I heard the dumpsters groaning before I realized that the ground beneath me was shaking at the same rhythm my entire body was. Someone called my name, but I couldn’t bring myself to open my eyes, from fear I’d see my father in the flesh, and I’d see his disappointment was real, not just a figment of my imagination. Then, that someone grabbed me by the shoulders and shook me, even slapped me lightly on my cheek.

  My father would never do that. He’d never do that and not only because he was dead.

  There was someone else standing before me, and his face was very familiar to me by then. I wouldn’t have failed if he hadn’t been there, trying to play the fucking hero, messing with things he had no right to mess with. Cirko would have been dead, turned to black ashes by now if it wasn’t for him. Yes, I’d failed, but it wasn’t my fault. It was Adrian Ward’s fault, and he was standing right in front of me.

  I opened my eyes, and the ground stopped shaking. All my anger seemed to gather in my right hand, around my fist. I slammed it into his face with all my strength. The sound the impact made was very pleasing and watching him fall to the ground on his back filled me with satisfaction. My failure was his fault, and now he was going to pay for it.

  Chapter Four

  “Do you mind telling me what the hell is going on?”

  I leaned against the wall of the building, trying to calm my heart by taking deep breaths. What was done was done. I could beat the shit out of Adrian now, but it was over. Cirko had seen me. Cirko had gotten away, and with one of my bone knives in his gut, no less. My father had to capture four demons and take their bones while they still lived. Do you have any idea how hard that is? Any idea?

  It’s okay, I said to myself, even if it wasn’t. I needed to get out of here, go back home and figure out what to do by morning. Taking in a deep breath, I went back by the dumpster to get the two knives that had fallen from my hand. I took my phone out of my pocket to find the screen cracked, probably from when I’d fallen to the ground on my ass. But the screen still worked for me to order an Uber, so at least there was that.

  “Willow.” Adrian stepped in front of me. He said my name like it was a command, and for a second, I almost felt like he had control over my body. Just the way I stopped moving and looked at him like he had all the answers to the creation of the universe.

  “Are you okay?” he asked, and it almost looked like he meant it.

  “No, Adrian. I’m not okay,” I spit and stepped around him. There was no point in trying to explain any of this when it wouldn’t make any sense anyway.

  “Tell me what that was.” Again, his voice sounded like a fucking command.

  “That was me, trying to kill that guy, but you ruined it. Happy?” I snapped before continuing to walk. The main street didn’t swallow me whole like I expected. It wasn’t lined with demons of all kinds coming to hunt me down, either, which was a relief. Just that I didn’t know how fast Cirko could get the word out about me, and now I had to stand there and wait for my Uber, damn it.

  “Why were you trying to kill that guy?” he demanded, looking at me like I owed him something, when I didn’t.

  “For fuck’s sake, what the hell are you doing? Why are you here? Have you been following me?” Because I didn’t really believe in coincidences. He didn’t just happen to walk by this part of Harlem and see me and Cirko run into that alley.

  “Yes, I was following you,” he said, sweat glistening on his forehead. “Why were you tryin
g to kill that guy, Willow?”

  I grabbed him by the shirt and tried to shake him but couldn’t. He was stronger than he appeared. “Get the hell out of my face,” I said, slowly so he wouldn’t miss a single word.

  “Was that you?” he continued like I hadn’t said a fucking word, pointing back at the alley. “Did you do that?”

  He was talking about the earthquake or whatever the hell it was I’d done.

  “Yes, it was. And I can do worse things than that, so back the hell off.” I didn’t want to look at him because he gave me that feeling again, like he could make me answer him if he asked a question enough times. This whole night had fucked me up in the head, and I was seconds away from breaking his nose. It was my favorite thing to do, and I was good at it, too. He was about to find out soon if he didn’t back off.

  “Not until you tell me what is going on,” he said.

  I stopped for a second and looked at him. His teeth were gritted, and he was sweating even more than before. Fucking hell, he looked like he was in pain, like something was eating him from the inside.

  “What is your deal?” I asked, no longer even angry, just curious. I doubted I was somehow having that effect on him, so what was?

  Squeezing his eyes shut, he wiped his face and let go of a long breath. His chest moved up and down way too fast. I couldn’t figure it out.

  “Can we just go sit somewhere?”

  Was he kidding?

  Just then, my phone vibrated, and a white Nissan pulled up in front of us. My Uber was here. Like Cirko said earlier, Hallelujah! Without another look at Adrian, I opened the back door and hopped in. There was time to think about how I was going to explain what happened with Cirko to him, if at all. Adrian knew where I worked but not where I lived.

  Unless he’d followed me home, too. He hadn’t looked like a stalker, but you just never knew these days.