Reap & Reveal (The Reaper Series Book 3)

by Lisa Medley

  “You can’t take Ruth, Camael.”

  “I already have. Or are you blind as well as stupid?”

  “She’s not the one you want.”

  “You’re right about that. It’s the soul inside her. Her child is the one I want.”

  “No. You’ve miscalculated. I’ve seen both possible paths, Camael. You won’t win.”

  “I already have. Your premonitions are useless as always. You’re just too dense to know when to give up.”

  “She’s still alive, Camael.”

  Camael stilled, the words pinning him to the ground as sure as shackles.

  He knew to whom Rashnu was referring, of course, but it was a trick. The angel would say anything to stall him until help arrived. He was trapped within the circle of protection and couldn’t do anything until he was freed.

  Camael turned to leave, refusing to acknowledge the statement.

  “And the child is your grandchild.”

  “Liar.”

  “Have I ever lied to you, Camael?”

  “You’ve done worse than lie to me, brother.”

  “You brought all of this upon yourself. None of us wanted for this to happen. The moment you lay with the reaper woman, you sealed your fate.”

  “As have you. Stay on Earth a while. You can watch the show.”

  “It doesn’t have to end this way. You can still change course. You can be redeemed. Maybe even…reinstated.”

  Camael laughed, his chest aching with the effort. “Reinstated? Is that your best offer? I seriously doubt you have enough authority to make that happen. Besides, as I mentioned before, I know you to be a liar.”

  Camael turned away and walked toward the driveway. He was finished with Rashnu and his ridiculous claims. Grandchild, indeed. The mere thought of it was preposterous, but it was a button Rashnu would know to push.

  These were tactics used by his new boss, too. Tricks he’d used himself.

  Still, the angel’s words had their intended effect and burned a torturous hole through his gut all the way back to the cemetery.

  Liars.

  Chapter Thirty

  Ruth sat in a middle seat of the bus as it pulled onto the highway. The pitching and bouncing along the long gravel road left her nauseous. Her thin nightgown wasn’t enough relief against the cold. Curling her legs and feet up underneath her body, she wrapped her arms around herself, shivering from the temperature as much as the unknown.

  One of the men noticed her and removed his prison issued sweatshirt, offering it to her. She took it.

  “Thank you.”

  “Sure.”

  “Where are we going?”

  “Ma’am, you know as much as I do. An hour ago I was behind bars doing time. Now I’m here. Ain’t that a deal?”

  “Are you a demon?”

  “I’ve been called a lotta things, but never no demon. Nah. Is that what he is? That dude back there?”

  “He’s an angel.”

  “Damn. I thought they was the good guys.”

  “Shut up.” Little Stevie made his way to them and motioned for the friendly man to move to the front of the bus. Once he was gone, Little Stevie took his seat.

  He stared straight ahead, ignoring her. She took notice of her surroundings. The padded bus seats and tiny half windows didn’t offer much in the way of potential weapons or escape routes. Allowing one’s self to be moved to a secondary location during a kidnapping was the worst possible scenario. Few people survived the abduction from that point onward.

  And she had the hours and hours of true crime television she’d watched in the past few months to thank for that nugget of info.

  She didn’t even have decent shoes for God’s sake. Leaning against the side of the bus, she rearranged herself so her arms were wrapped around her knees and her feet were angled against the seat. If the best weapon she had was kicking, she’d use it if need be. So far everyone was keeping their distance.

  A few of the men were recounting their victory in the front of the bus. The men in the rear seemed more subdued. Ruth got the feeling that none of them knew what they were in for, herself included.

  She prayed. Hard.

  How she wished that she’d never sent Temperance away. She regretted taking her protection for granted, but she was determined to survive. Whatever Camael planned, she knew that the full force of the Authority was about to come down on his ass. And sitting helpless inside the bus while Rashnu appeared next to Bo? She didn’t even know what to think of that.

  A tear leaked from her eye.

  Poor Bo. Such a good hellhound.

  Nate would be heartbroken. Ruth reached up, surreptitiously wiping away the tear. No way was she crying in front of these assholes. The only thought that consoled her was that most of these men weren’t possessed.

  Yet.

  ***

  The city was in chaos.

  There were so many wanders and escapees running the streets that the citizens quickly fell into vigilante or victim mode. The State Penitentiary had held fifteen hundred prisoners at capacity, and now it was empty of life. Sirens wailed across the city and alarms pierced the night.

  Even now, from Maple Park Cemetery, Nate could hear storefront glass breaking as looters took advantage of the bedlam. Maeve stood beside him and he resisted the urge to take her hand. Her presence was a comfort even if her demeanor was fierce. Maeve was pissed. She’d passed from mildly shell-shocked to full-on attack mode the second they got back to the cemetery, and now she was rocking on her heels in agitation, waiting to spring into action. Clearly there were still some unresolved emotional issues she needed to work through because she was a ticking time bomb when she was like this. That sort of all-consuming anger distorted a person’s judgment.

  Like he was one to talk.

  Judge not others lest you be judged? Wasn’t that the verse in the Bible?

  Of course, it was easy to see fault in others.

  He took her hand and let her pull his light into her. When she turned to him, the fire in her eyes lessened to a slow burn. It pleased him that he could ease her mind, if only slightly.

  And that she didn’t pull away.

  Lost in the feel of Maeve’s hand in his, he was surprised when his protection sigils began to twitch and dance in warning. Something was happening at the reaper compound. The boundaries were being tested. Repeatedly.

  Deacon walked around the bodies, examining them as best he could while the Authority reapers arrived one by one through the consecrated subway. The reaper’s souls had been reaped already or, more likely, stolen.

  “Ouriel, take their bodies to Purgatory. There’s nothing we can do for them.” He faced his team. “Samkiel, when did you last see Ragu? Where was he working?”

  “I talked to him three hours ago, and he was on the east side. Near the abandoned hospital. Do you think that freakin’ angel got him, too?”

  “Deacon,” Nate interrupted. “Something’s challenging the boundaries of the circle of protection at the compound.”

  “Of course, it is. Nate and Maeve, go home. Make sure everything is okay and stay with Ruth. Kylen, make sure Olivia stays at the homeless kitchen tonight. It would be better for her not to walk into whatever may or may not be going on at home. We’re going to need everyone to try to settle things down. Dare, Oreo, Zak, Leo, Sam…we’ll start at the prison and clear everything block by block until things are under control. Hopefully, we’ll find Ragu kicking some ass along the way. We’ll stay in visible range of one another, and we’ll regroup in Purgatory if things go south. Nate, call me as soon as you get home and tell me everything is all right. Got it?”

  “And if we don’t find Ragu?” Samkiel asked.

  “Not an option. Let’s go.”

  Nate held Maeve’s hand in his and concentrated on home.

  ***

  Ruth’s heart rate kicked into high gear as the bus pulled into a cemetery. Not only because it was a cemetery, but because the iron arch above the gate read Bolt
on Cemetery.

  Her mind reeled.

  The one place she wanted to go more than anywhere an hour ago and now she was here.

  Be careful what you ask for was the sentiment of unusual wisdom.

  The bus parked outside the gates, but Ruth stayed put. Despite her raging curiosity, the bus was the safest place for her for the time being. If they wanted her to leave it, they’d have to carry her off, kicking and screaming.

  She looked out the window into the darkness. Traffic cruised by at regular intervals along the highway that ran through the narrow valley below the cemetery. With the slope and curve of the highway and the elevation of the cemetery, the car lights never angled up to the hillside enough to illuminate what was happening there. No one would see them on this outer road, sitting outside a rural cemetery in the middle of the night even though they were in a big, white prison bus.

  Rashnu and Bo had been the only witnesses to her abduction, and she was fairly sure at least one of them was dead by now. She’d been praying incessantly for Temperance’s return, but either she hadn’t yet hit on the magical combination of words or no one was listening. What she wouldn’t give to see those wings spread on her behalf again.

  Stupid girl.

  She couldn’t even imagine what would come next.

  Unfortunately, she wasn’t going to have to wait much longer.

  Chapter Thirty-One

  Nate and Maeve landed in the yard of the Authority compound. They headed to Ruth’s trailer but were sidetracked by the sound of Bo whining. Drawing his short sword, Nate eased between the trailers toward the sound, Maeve on his heels. Bo’s pitiful cries were interrupted by soothing words delivered in a familiar voice.

  Passing Ruth’s trailer, Nate saw Bo lying on his side in a pool of fresh blood. A naked Rashnu had his palms pressed to the dog. They were bathed in a green glow and Rashnu’s wings were wrapped around them both.

  Nate’s brain tried to process what his eyes were seeing, but couldn’t make sense of it. Bo moaned again and Nate kicked into gear.

  “What are you doing to my dog?”

  “Healing him. And you will address me with respect,” Rashnu said, his voice booming through the darkness.

  Nate gripped the stainless steel handle of the short sword and did a quick mental walkthrough of the most obvious reasons why he shouldn’t slice the angel’s head from his shoulders. The list was short. He’d had more than enough nonsense from this bastard.

  Bo lifted his giant head and cried out in discomfort. Nate kneeled beside the dog and placed his own hands on him, winding his fingers through his thick fur and stroking him in long passes.

  “Bo.” The dog relaxed and began to pull Nate’s energy into his body, as well.

  “What happened to him? Is Ruth okay?” For the first time, Nate noticed the yard was littered with bodies. Most of them torn to shreds. “What the hell happened here? Maeve, go check on Ruth, now!”

  “Don’t bother.” Rashnu rocked back on his heels and rose to his feet. “She’s gone. I couldn’t escape your supernatural prison to save her. Bo was injured protecting her.”

  Nate staggered. “Gone? As in…”

  “No. Not dead. Not yet anyway. Taken.” Rashnu continued to stare at the hellhound, watching the dog’s wounds knit together before their eyes.

  “You just let her go?”

  “Of course not.”

  “It was Camael, wasn’t it?”

  “Yes.”

  “Goddammit, if you can’t—”

  Rashnu spread his wings to their full expanse and lit up like a Yule bonfire. His green eyes shone with white light. “You will not take the Lord’s name in vain.”

  Nate stepped back, and Bo rose to his feet and growled at the angel.

  “Ungrateful wretch.” With effort, Rashnu toned down his display and returned his wings to their folded position behind his back. Once his aura had faded, the wings disappeared completely. “I require clothing.”

  “Where did Camael take her? And how did he get past the circle of protection when you can’t even leave it? In fact, how did you get here in the first place?”

  “While I’m more than happy to recount the night’s activities, it is rather cold, however, and I’m underdressed.”

  “I noticed,” Maeve said with a smirk, retreating to Nate’s trailer for clothing.

  “Talk, angel. Where’s Ruth?”

  “Camael sent in humans to take Ruth and drag her through the circle. From there, they took her on a bus. Camael left on foot.”

  “Where would he take her? On a bus of all things?”

  “He has reason to know that she can’t travel through the consecrated subway in her condition. He mustn’t be taking her far away, but I don’t know where they’re going.”

  Maeve returned with a bundle of clothing and boots, tossing them at Rashnu’s feet for him to retrieve.

  Rashnu nodded at her. “You’re too kind.”

  “Tell us more, Rashnu. I’m at the end of my rope here,” Nate said.

  “Careful, reaper. My powers in this realm are not as limited as you may think.” Rashnu pulled on the jeans Maeve brought him, then slipped on the shirt. He picked up the light jacket, slid it on and zipped it shut.

  “I’m not a reaper.”

  “As unceremonious as this announcement is…yes, you are quite obviously now a reaper. Although, it’s also apparent that you are much, much more than that. Which, I think, you already know.”

  Nate ignored his comments. Two could play this game. “How did you get here? And who’s minding Purgatory?”

  Rashnu looked to the sky as if for answers or perhaps patience, which he was clearly lacking. “I’ve resided in the hound for some time, trying to keep an eye on the progress down here. When you didn’t take Bo with you outside the circle when you left, I became trapped inside him. I couldn’t depart until he left the circle of protection or, as it happened, nearly died. And now you know as much as I do.”

  “Oh, I doubt that very much. Why won’t you just tell me what the hell is going on so I can stop it?” Nate asked.

  “This is your battle to win or lose, Nate, but I can occasionally point you in the right direction.”

  “Now would be a fine time for some of that pointing.”

  Rashnu looked from Maeve to Nate, then back again. “You’ll find your answers, Nate. But they may not be what you expect.”

  “For the love of all that’s holy in—” Nate balled his fists in frustration and began to advance on Rashnu. He was fed up with this asshole and his puzzles.

  “Nate, stop!” Maeve stepped between him and the angel, pushing him back with one hand. “As annoying as Rashnu is, he’s not our enemy. We need to tell Deacon what happened, and we need to find her. Now.”

  Energy flickered between them where Maeve’s hand was pressed against his chest and he immediately calmed down. “Better?” she asked.

  Nate lowered his fists. “Yes.” Bo protested beside him. “And you? Are you all right?” He bent to examine him.

  “He’s fine. Better than new. He would have healed on his own in a few hours even without my help,” Rashnu said. “There’s only one way to kill a hellhound and disembowelment isn’t it.”

  “And that would be?”

  “Well, I can’t tell you all of the secrets of the universe, now can I?”

  The vein along Nate’s temple pulsed. “Angel, you’re coming with us. If you have any worthwhile mojo up here, now’s the time to use it.”

  Rashnu’s brows rose, but Maeve didn’t give him time to argue. She grabbed his hand and Nate’s, and the four of them flashed to the east side of Meridian.

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  Ruth was ashamed of her weakness, but the cold had taken most of the fight out of her. That, along with the crushing fatigue that weighed down on her, was more worrisome than the men on the bus who ignored her, carrying on with their own rowdy banter. All but Little Stevie. He’d cast more than a few questioning glances her w
ay, his mouth set in a grim line.

  A flutter rolled through her belly again, almost as if her unborn child were as frightened as she was. She couldn’t let that happen. She needed to control her emotions. Now.

  Trying to conjure a calming aura, she closed her eyes and drew in a deep breath, just like the Lamaze breaths she’d been practicing with the help of YouTube videos.

  “What are you doing?” Little Stevie’s eyes grew large and she could see his fear.

  “Trying to relax. Is it bothering you?”

  “You’re…glowing.”

  How could he possibly see her manufactured aura? Humans often pretended to see them, but it was almost always a ruse. There was no way he could know what she was doing, let alone see it. She stopped immediately.

  “Bring her out. Carefully.” Camael’s voice boomed from outside the bus.

  Little Stevie stood and reached for her, then pulled his hand back. “We can do this the hard way or the easy way. Your choice.”

  Ruth could tell he didn’t want to touch her after her aura display, which was just fine with her. She didn’t want him to. Her plan to start kicking and screaming was quickly falling to the wayside in favor of self-preservation. If Camael wanted her off this bus, any one of these men would be capable of achieving that goal. She wasn’t much of a match for them without her weapons and full reaper faculties.

  Rising from the seat, she tugged the sweatshirt down over her stomach and hips as low as it would go, and then shuffled into the aisle. The prisoners filed out before her and she couldn’t help but feel she was marching to her death.

  Still, Ruth shuffled down the stairs and onto the frozen grass, where the moisture from the ground soaked through her thin sleep socks. She tried to see the layout of the cemetery, but the sliver moon didn’t cast enough light for her to make much out.

  Bolton Cemetery.

  Even under the circumstances, the thought rose unbidden: My mother was here!

  She was so close to finding her. Actually meeting her. And if Nate could reinsoul Elaina like he’d done with Maeve? She might even get some of the answers she’d always wanted. It was too much to wish for…but she did.