Reaper (The Reaper Chronicles Book 1)

by Apryl Baker

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  The nurse takes Ella’s vitals and then hands the ice cream back with a wink. “Try to get some sleep, honey.”

  As soon as she’s out of the room, I take the container from Ella.

  “Hey, I want that!”

  “No, I’ll get you a new one.”

  “Why not this one?”

  “Because I heard something downstairs.” Keeping the truth from her isn’t going to protect her. “The guy who hit you is down there with a friend. One of them said they have a girlfriend here who’s a nurse. I don’t know that woman, Ella, and I’m not trusting she didn’t lace this with something to hurt you.”

  Ella’s green eyes go wide. “I…”

  “Don’t panic. The sheriff’s on his way, and your dad’s outside. No one’s getting in here to hurt you.”

  “That’s where you’re wrong, kid.”

  A guy the size of the biggest wide receiver in football is standing in the doorway. I don’t know him, but I recognize the voice from downstairs. It’s the guy who hit her.

  “Her dad’s not outside, and there’s no one at the nurse’s station. No one to know I’m here.” He pulls out a gun complete with silencer.

  Well, this just went from bad to worse.

  Now what?

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  Ella

  I hate guns. Daddy taught us to shoot at an early age so we wouldn’t be curious. He taught us to fear guns too. He also said guns don’t kill people, people kill people. Guns are just a tool in the dance of death.

  Surely, if he fires a gun, they’ll hear him.

  “Who are you?” I ask, trying to distract him. Dad always said to try to get them to talk to you until you can find a way to get away, but that’s not possible. I have a broken leg. I can’t get up and walk away. And there’s Eli to think of. He saved me once, and he’ll try to again. I can’t have his death on my hands. I owe him enough already.

  “Someone who means to send your father a message.”

  “My dad?” I play dumb. I may be a quiet bookworm, but I read enough to understand that I can’t let him know I know the truth about this place or that I’m like him now.

  “He’s here to hurt us, and we’re going to show him that we don’t abide by that.”

  “Hurt you? My dad’s stationed here at a military base. He’s not here to hurt anyone.”

  The man sneers and swings the gun toward me. “You think I’m stupid?”

  “Nobody thinks you’re stupid,” Eli says easily, and his voice brings the gun back to him. “You’re the one with the gun.”

  “That’s right. Now, get out of the way, boy. I have business to take care of.”

  “Can’t do that.” Eli steps between me and the gun. “I promised her dad I’d look after her while he was busy. You’re going to have to go through me to get to her.”

  “That, I can do.”

  The soft whoosh of air is all the warning I have that a shot has been fired. Right into Eli. The bullet passes through him and hits me. My chest burns on contact.

  There’s a grunt, and then the sounds of a struggle reach me as I watch blood bloom across my chest. It’s fascinating. Until the burning sensation gives way to pain and I can’t breathe.

  More shouts and grunts erupt, and I look up to see Eli in hand-to-hand combat with the guy who’s three times his size. He’s bleeding. There’s blood all over the back of his white t-shirt.

  That snaps me out of my shock, and I scream. I scream as loudly as my hoarse voice will let me.

  Within seconds, people flood the room, including my dad, who wrestles with the man who shot us. He’s down in just a few moves. Doctors and nurses swarm Eli and me. We’re rushed to the OR, and before I can even focus on what happened, they’re shooting something in my IV and promising everything will be okay.

  And it all goes dark.

  ***

  “Again, Ella Grace Banks?”

  That voice…I know that voice.

  “How are you going to be a reaper if you keep almost dying? Eli is going to have his hands full.”

  A woman, not much older than I am, appears. There’s this glow around her, but I see something else. Something darker too. It doesn’t scare me, though, because she’s so kind.

  Even if she’s snarky.

  She lays a hand on my chest, and the pain stops. The weight lifts off my chest, and I can breathe again.

  “Take care of yourself, Ella Grace Banks, and take care of Eli. He deserves a friend who will be loyal to him. I think that’s you. Be there for him when I can’t be.”

  And with that, the dream fades, and darkness pulls me back under.

  ***

  This time when I open my eyes, the room is dark. Someone’s snoring. My mom. She’s passed out in a cot beside my bed. Why is she in my room?

  The beeping of the hospital machines reminds me I’m not home. I’m in the hospital where…I got shot?

  I look down, and sure enough, there are fresh bandages on my chest.

  Someone shot me.

  Because of Daddy’s new job!

  This is so not fair. I’ve been hit and run over by a car, and now I’ve been shot. These people are crazy.

  “Hey.”

  Eli’s soft words yank me back to reality. He’s sitting in a wheelchair, an IV hooked to it, right by my bed. He has his own bandages. The guy shot him, too. The bullet went through him and into me.

  “You got shot.”

  “Twice.” He leans forward when my breathing speeds up. “Calm down, Ella, you’re fine. The guy is in jail, and Ethan has a watchdog outside. No one’s getting the jump on us again. You’re safe. I promise.”

  My eyes widen. “I’m so sorry.”

  “Why?”

  “You got shot because of me, and I’m so, so sorry.”

  “Don’t be. I kept him from killing you, and that’s all that matters. A few bullet holes don’t mean a thing. They’re scars I’ll wear proudly.”

  “You saved me. Again.”

  “Well, you still got shot.”

  He sounds surly. Not that I blame him. I’m a little surly myself about getting shot.

  “But I’m alive, and that’s because of you. If you hadn’t been here, I’d be dead, Eli. That man came for me, and Dad left me alone.”

  “I know. I should have gotten here sooner, but I wanted to bring you something you could eat.”

  “You really mean it when you say you’re going to be here, don’t you?”

  “You’re stuck with me, Shortcake.”

  “I really don’t like that nickname.”

  “Well, you’re short and you have strawberry blonde hair, so you remind me of strawberry shortcake. It fits.”

  “I’m not really the nickname kind of girl. I usually have my nose buried in my Kindle, and I’m way too quiet.”

  “Don’t worry, I’m loud enough for both of us, and I get into way too much trouble. Maybe I can pull you into some of my shenanigans, and you can keep me from landing in jail at least once a week.”

  “You go to jail?”

  He laughs, and the sound is pure. “I’m trouble, Shortcake. Deal with it, because you’re stuck with this friend for life.”

  “Friends?”

  He nods and holds out his IV-free hand, but the grimace on his face tells me how hard it is for him to do. “We’ll shake on it. We’ll be BFFs from now until we both die.”

  “BFFs,” I repeat and shake his hand. “But maybe let’s try not to get shot again.”

  “Yeah, being shot sort of sucks, huh?”

  “You think?” I snort and slap a hand over my mouth. Eli just laughs.

  “Go to sleep, Shortcake. I’m here, and no one’s going to hurt you on my watch. Well, at least no one’s going to kill you.”

  Smiling, I close my eyes.

  Scared.

  Terrified of the future, really.

  But calm, too.

  Eli calms me. I could use a friend.

  I coul
d use a friend to pull me into some trouble so I don’t die a boring old lady with a gazillion cats.

  And I think Eli fits that bill.

  God knows what kind of hijinks and misdemeanors he’s going to drag me into, but I’m willing to find out where this friendship will go.

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  So who am I? Well, I’m the crazy girl with an imagination that never shuts up. I LOVE scary movies. My friends laugh at me when I scare myself watching them and tell me to stop watching them, but who doesn’t love to get scared? I grew up in a small town nestled in the southern mountains of West Virginia where I spent days roaming around in the woods, climbing trees, and causing general mayhem. Nights I would stay up reading Nancy Drew by flashlight under the covers until my parents yelled at me to go to sleep.

  Growing up in a small town, I learned a lot of values and morals, I also learned parents have spies everywhere and there’s always someone to tell your mama you were seen kissing a particular boy on a particular day just a little too long. So when you get grounded, what is there left to do? Read! My Aunt Jo gave me my first real romance novel. It was a romance titled “Lord Margrave’s Deception.” I remember it fondly. But I also learned I had a deep and abiding love of mysteries and anything paranormal. As I grew up, I started to write just that and would entertain my friends with stories featuring them as main characters.

  Now, I live Huntersville, NC where I entertain my niece and nephew and watch the cats get teased by the birds and laugh myself silly when they swoop down and then dive back up just out of reach. The cats start yelling something fierce…lol.

  I love books, I love writing books, and I love entertaining people with my silly stories.

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