Reaping Willow

by D. N. Hoxa

  “Don’t look like it,” the big guy said, his voice low and deep, like he’d just woken up. He was standing. Why was he still standing? I’d stabbed him in the gut, and it had looked really bad from all the blood.

  “So what, we just wait now?” he said again, and I thought I noticed a little pain in his voice, but it could have been a figment of my imagination.

  “He’ll be here any second,” said the other, confirming my suspicions. The demon, whoever had ordered them to capture me, was on his way.

  “He ain’t gonna be happy, you know,” said big guy.

  Uh…what? The demon wasn’t going to be happy that they’d captured me?

  “He’ll just have to suck it up and deal,” said the other angrily, throwing me even more off. What the hell were they talking about?

  But more importantly, how could I get the hell out of there before the demon found us?

  The ropes around my wrists were too tight. My fingers were already numb, so there was no way I was going to untie myself. My knives were not on my person, even if I could have used them. So what the hell was I going to do?

  Think, think, think, I urged myself, so desperate for a solution that I didn’t think of it until it smacked me right in the face.

  I’d ruined things before. Entire rooms, in fact, and I’d done it by…well, I don’t know how exactly, but I knew I’d been angry. I’d lost control and the ground had shook, breaking everything around me. I could do that now, too. I was angry, wasn’t I?

  Very angry—for a lot of reasons. For the demons. For my father and how he’d chosen to leave me. For Cirko, for Adrian, but most of all for myself. I thought just saying I wasn’t going to be caught off guard was going to do it. As it turns out, I had to actually pay attention to my surroundings for that to work, and I was still learning that the hard way, tied to a chair in a motel room I’d paid for. If I could just use that anger to make everything in this room break, then maybe I’d catch them off guard for a change and I could make it out of there in one piece.

  My eyes were already closed. I breathed as deeply as I could without making a sound. I focused all of my energy into my feelings. I imagined the floor beneath my feet shaking like it wanted to make a volcano erupt.

  “What the hell is taking him so long?!” the smaller guy suddenly shouted. It took all of my willpower not to jump in place and tell them that I was already awake.

  “He’ll be here,” said the other in a whisper. “Just…just try not to be a dick, okay?”

  “Not making any promises,” he replied.

  “Man, this is fucked up,” Big Guy said.

  “Just keep your head in the game, Doc. Remember what we’re doing this for.”

  Their conversation was making no sense to me whatsoever, but I chose to focus on myself and the ground again.

  Why wasn’t it working? Why couldn’t I just destroy this entire motel with a thought? What good was something like that if you couldn’t summon it at will?

  Goddamn it. I couldn’t focus on the anger because the panic was overwhelming. I was going to die soon, that was clear as day.

  And soon came sooner than I’d hoped.

  This time, I heard the footsteps loud and clear. It was impossible to pretend that I was unconscious for any longer. I had to look up and see the face of whoever was going to kill me. So ignoring the two men sticking by my sides like they were my fucking guards, I raised my head and looked at the door.

  “Here goes nothin’,” said the big guy to my left, and the door opened.

  Laughter bubbled up my throat like an unstoppable force. I couldn’t control it. Here I thought the demons had caught me, that they were going to pay me back for every one of their kind I’d killed, but no. The man in front of me was not a demon.

  In front of me was Adrian Ward.

  Trip’s face, his cold beauty and empty eyes came in front of me. The guy you’re seeing is going to kill you. It had occurred to me that it was Adrian. I just wished I’d believed it. To think that I’d actually had a minor crush on this guy. My God, what a fool. He’d followed me before, why wouldn’t he do it again?

  He didn’t look surprised when he walked in and saw the men at my sides. On the contrary—he had a baseball bat in his hand, and he looked at them, ignoring me and my laughter completely. I knew something was wrong with that guy—I knew it. He was a demon. But why the hell did he not feel like one to me?

  “So this is what it’s come to,” said Adrian as my laughter died. He was still looking at the men. My eyes filled with tears because I was angry. So, so mad. I thought I knew what I was doing, what to expect from the life I lived, but no. I’d had no fucking clue.

  “You always knew it would,” said the man standing by my right side.

  “Let her go, Alan,” Adrian said, and it actually sounded like a warning. I blinked the tears away as fast as I could.

  But Alan, the smaller guy, sighed. “Don’t be stupid, boy. You know I can’t do that.”

  “This was a mistake—all of it,” said Doc. “We shouldn’t have given you time. We shouldn’t have let you get close. Now look what’s happening!” His voice rose as he waved his hand at Adrian. “What do you think you’re doing with that thing? Are you really going to fight us?”

  Adrian’s skin glistened with sweat. He swallowed hard and nodded. “If I have to,” he said, then turned to Alan. “Don’t make me do this, Alan. Let her go.”

  “We can’t!” Alan shouted, making me jump. “You know we can’t! We got an order, and we’re going to see it through just like we promised we would.”

  “We never promised to kill an innocent woman! God, would you listen to yourself! We’re not murderers!” Adrian shouted next.

  So… he wasn’t a demon, or was I reading this whole thing wrong?

  “We are what we need to be,” Doc said through gritted teeth.

  But Adrian shook his head. “I can’t let you hurt her. I won’t.”

  Well…fuck me.

  Doc stepped forward, the wound in his gut apparently healed. “Have you forgotten why we agreed to this in the first place? If we don’t do what he says, what’s going to happen to him, huh, Adrian? What do you think is going to happen to Pops?”

  The view in front of me went dark for a second. Pops? These guys were Adrian’s brothers?

  Adrian moved closer to us, too, and raised his bat. “Let her go. Don’t make me do this.”

  “We didn’t make you do anything, ya fucking twat!” Alan shouted. “You chose to make the deal, too! Don’t you dare put that on us.”

  Suddenly, everything was crystal clear. Adrian was not a demon.

  Adrian was so much worse than a demon.

  The question was, why the hell hadn’t I felt it? How could I not have known that Adrian—and his brothers, apparently—had made a deal with the devil, and now he’d sent them after me? Trip had been right, but…was I supposed to believe that Trip was a good guy now?

  Nothing at all made sense. The devil had sent his minions to kill me. Not that I wondered why, or that I was surprised that much, but it sucked to be in that situation anyway. Adrian was smaller than his brothers, so there was no way he would win a fight against them. They were going to knock him out then be done with me, just like they said they would. My only chance was to do what I’d done three times already but couldn’t seem to do now.

  “You can say no, damn it,” Adrian said, but I tried to tune him out and closed my eyes.

  Please, please, please, I said to whoever would hear me. Please work.

  “I don’t want to say no,” said Doc. “I’m not a selfish bastard, like you.”

  “If I can do it, so can you. It hurts like hell, but I’m telling you, you can say no!” Adrian said. He sounded desperate now, almost like he was crying.

  But what he was saying was absurd. Once you signed your soul over to the devil, you couldn’t just say no to his orders. Dad said it was impossible because the devil already had control over your body, being in po
ssession of your soul.

  “Enough,” said Alan with a tired sigh. “That’s it. You either leave and let us do our job, or we’ll make you.”

  Silence reigned in the room for a second. It was impossible to keep my eyes closed, and when I opened them, I found Adrian looking right at me.

  “I’m sorry, Willow,” he whispered, and I felt his words all the way to my bones.

  Then, he charged his brother Doc.

  I knew it was useless. I’d fought these guys before, and Adrian didn’t stand a chance. I actually felt bad for him before I closed my eyes again and tried to focus. A loud crack was my first distraction, but I didn’t give in.

  I tried to make the ground shake while they fought, hoping for time. Just a little more time.

  But no matter how much time I had, it wasn’t going to work. Adrenaline rushed through my body, taking away half my focus, half my anger, half my will. My body itched to get up and fight, but those damn ropes wouldn’t give no matter how hard I pulled. It was already done. I was going to die today—it was only a matter of time.

  A frustrated scream left my lips, but when I opened my eyes and saw Alan on the floor in front of my feet, it was like a slap to my face.

  Doc was still standing, fighting Adrian who no longer had the bat but was fighting against his brother with his hands.

  And he was winning.

  At first, it didn’t make any sense. No way in hell could that be possible.

  But then Alan moved. He was getting back up from the floor, but he was moving slowly. So slowly it drove me nuts just to watch him. Then, I noticed Doc, too. He was a big guy, but he was suddenly slow, too. Were my eyes playing tricks on me or what? Because I’d just fought those guys, and Doc had actually impressed me with how fast he moved.

  Something was wrong. Adrian’s lip was torn and blood was coming out his nose, and he still had the bruise on his cheek from when I’d punched him the night before, but he looked fine otherwise. He slammed his fists on Doc’s face three times before his brother raised his arms to defend himself. And when Alan was on his knees, Adrian simply kicked him in the jaw and he fell back down again.

  I could hardly believe my eyes. It looked like something was stopping his brothers. Like something was making them move like they were under water. Were they doing it on purpose?

  No, they wanted to fight. I could see it in Doc’s eyes. The fire was there, but he couldn’t. And when Adrian pushed him against the wall, he fell like a sack of potatoes. He didn’t resist—couldn’t resist.

  And then Adrian was in front of me, one of my bone knives in his hand. He cut the rope around my right wrist and put the knife in my hand before he turned to block Alan from punching him in the face. I forgot about the how’s and what the hell’s, and I cut through that thick rope in record time.

  Finally, I was free.

  Alan came at me, his hands reaching for my neck, but I easily ducked to the side and stabbed him on the shoulder. I just didn’t get it, but I didn’t need to.

  “Let’s go!” Adrian grabbed me by the hand and pulled me toward the door, but I jerked free. Yes, I was eager to leave, too, but I needed my things, and they were on the bed. Throwing everything in the bag proved to be much more difficult than I thought when my hands were still shaking so badly. By the time I pulled the zipper, Doc had stood up again and was trying to stop Adrian from going for the door.

  I wanted to leave, I really did. Just run past them and be gone.

  But I couldn’t.

  Dropping my bag on the floor, I ran behind Doc’s back and punched him on the sides of his waist six times before he even managed to turn around.

  “Move!” said Adrian, and I stepped to the side just as he pushed his brother forward. Alan was trying to get up again, but he was slow, and I had no intention of waiting around for him to make it, even though I wanted to end their lives very much. I wanted to get out of there more.

  Without a look back, I grabbed my bag and ran out the door and down the stairs of the motel in the blink of an eye. It was already dark outside, which was going to help keep me hidden. I had no idea what to do—keep running until my legs gave up on me, go back to the bus station, or call a fucking Uber?

  “Over here,” Adrian said breathlessly, and the headlights of a navy blue Mustang in the parking lot blinked.

  He had a car. Of course he had a car, and he was already by the driver’s door, looking at me.

  “Willow, come on!”

  I didn’t want to go with him. He’d made a deal with the freaking devil, for God’s sake. He was the very definition of bad company, but Alan and Doc were already out of my motel room, coming for us. I could outrun them but for how long?

  “Fuck!” I shouted to the darkening sky and ran to Adrian’s car.

  I was going to regret this, I already knew that. I just didn’t know exactly how much.

  Chapter Eight

  Half an hour later, we stopped at a gas station for fuel. I had no idea where we were. I hadn’t bothered to even check the signs. All I’d done was try to calm down and think rationally, but the fact that I was in a car with Adrian Ward didn’t let me.

  He didn’t say a single word to me, either, but it took him a while to catch his breath. His brothers hadn’t followed us, not that we’d seen, but we were going to keep driving until we made absolutely sure of that.

  I needed to use the restroom so badly, but I didn’t dare leave the car. We’d already stopped long enough. What the hell was taking so long?

  Adrian opened the door and sat down in the driver’s seat with a loud sigh. Finally. I couldn’t wait to be on the road again.

  “Let’s go,” I urged him when he didn’t start the car right away.

  “Are you okay?” he asked instead.

  I rolled my eyes. “Are you serious?” Of course I wasn’t okay. He wasn’t okay, either, and that was fine. We were still alive.

  “Do you want to get something to eat?”

  “No!” I said in panic. “Adrian, they could be right behind us.”

  But he shook his head. “I won’t make it for long if I don’t eat something.” And he stepped out of the car again.

  “Then I’ll drive!” I called, but he didn’t hear me. He was running to the store because he couldn’t deal with a little hunger. Slamming my fist on the door handle wasn’t going to make any difference, but it relieved some of the stress. It didn’t relieve my need to pee, though. Cursing under my breath, I left the car with my bag in hand.

  The toilet was a mess. Whoever had used it before me seemed to have intentionally missed the fucking seat. The smell was enough to make me want to turn away, but if I didn’t do my business here, I’d need to stop again later, and I didn’t want that. So I caved.

  Afterward I couldn’t wash my hands enough times in the sink that had seen much better days. Even the mirror was rusted but not enough to hide my reflection. My eyes were wide, pupils dilated, and my skin was paler than I’d ever seen it before. My blonde hair was a mess and my lips were completely dry, but the purple color on my left cheek was what really made me look like a ghost. Doc had hit me real hard. My good looks hadn’t fooled him, it seemed.

  “Sucks to be wrong, doesn’t it,” I whispered to myself like a lunatic. My father was dead—he couldn’t hear me. But I still talked to him like that sometimes. He used to tell me that the way I looked was important. Very important.

  “Your beauty is your weapon, Willow. Use it.”

  He was somehow convinced that all men would find me irresistible.

  I’d never agreed. My body was my weapon, and I used it every chance I got. Good thing, too, because the way I looked now was completely different from the girl my father knew. If he saw me now, he’d have no choice but to agree with me for a change.

  Taking in a deep breath, I tied my hair, washed my hands again, and finally left the toilets. Adrian was in the car, eating a sandwich that didn’t look that tasty. Or fresh. I needed strength, too, but I wasn’t going to
eat anything for fear I’d just spit it up again.

  “Can you eat faster?” Every second we stayed there was a second too long. “And where are we going?”

  “Away,” he said with a shrug.

  “New York,” I corrected. “I need to go back to New York.” I’d memorized the address of Trappers Inc., and that was exactly where I needed to be.

  “Are you sure that’s safe?” Adrian looked at me, but I couldn’t bring myself to return the favor. I just kept my eyes on the windshield.

  “Yes, I’m sure. That’s where I need to go.” And the second he took me there, I was going to leave and we were never going to see each other again. I’d make sure of it.

  Adrian didn’t argue. He simply turned the ignition on and drove with one hand while he ate. Not very safe, but there were worse things to worry about.

  “I’m very sorry you had to go through that, Willow,” he said when he was done eating and drove a little faster.

  He almost made me laugh. “You’re sorry?”

  “I know what you’re thinking, but it wasn’t their fault.”

  “So you beat your own brothers just an hour ago, but now you’re defending them?”

  His knuckles turned white as he squeezed the hell out of his steering wheel. “It wasn’t their fault,” he insisted.

  “Of course it was!” His brother had said it, too. They’d chosen to make that deal. All three of them, but…how was Adrian there with me, driving away from them?

  In fact, how had he been able to even fight against them?

  Now, I looked at him. Really looked at him, like this was the first time I was seeing him. He still looked the same, a face almost too handsome, lips made out of cotton candy, frozen eyes, and a sense of confusion about him. He also looked like he was still in pain.

  “I’m going to tell you something, and you’re going to think I’m crazy, but I need you to hear me out, okay?” he said.