by Hickory Mack
The next room was the center of the building. It was a perfect circle, with a cast iron wood stove in the middle. The weather was warm enough that no fire burned within, but the scent of previous fires still permeated the space. Around it was a circular table that had chairs on all sides, with four chairs at the compass points raised above the rest.
Clover kept walking, too used to the sight to be impressed. The next room was smaller, more intimate. There were only a few chairs available, and rugs were laid out on the floor, making it more homey.
“Please make yourself comfortable. Someone will bring you some food, and I will get word to Riven that you’re here. It may take some time to locate her,” Clover warned. “I don’t even know if she’s in the village today, or if she’s out foraging or even training.”
“I understand,” Elsie said. “It was kind of you to bring us here.”
Clover shrugged her words off. “It’s not like I could leave a reaper wandering around our territory unattended.” She turned and left, leaving Elsie and Frost alone for the first time in several days.
Elsie dropped her bag onto the floor and collapsed into the largest, softest looking chair, tucking her feet up against the side. Finding it every bit as plush as advertised, she groaned and wrapped her arms around her knees. It felt like it had been so long since she’d last sat on something so comfortable.
Frost stood in the middle of the room, making it seem much smaller than it was. His ears moved as he listened to the activity in rooms around them, and his eyes followed the movement of shadows against the outside wall. He wasn’t about to let his guard down here, among these people. It made sense. The demon had no reason to trust mages after what they’d done to him.
It was too bad Wren and Frida hadn’t been allowed in. The cat would be in heaven, and she imagined the spirit would have enjoyed the luxury of the thick rugs on the floor. For the first time in nearly a week and a half, Elsie felt safe, comfortable, and warm. Her eyes drooped as she grew inexplicably tired. She wanted to drift off, but when her eyes closed, Frost turned back toward the door they’d come through, a growl in his throat.
A man came in without announcing himself, carrying a tray in front of him. Elsie sat up quickly, and he gave her an uneasy smile. From what Clover had said, his hesitance was understandable. They weren’t accustomed to having strangers in their village. Plus, she’d brought a wolf inside, which was against their doctrines. She could only imagine what he must think of her.
He set the tray down on an end table next to her chair, then gave a little bow before backing out without a word. Elsie smirked. It was amusing to be treated with such deference, and she had no delusions as to why. Reapers creeped people out.The scythe charm on her wrist tinkled gently as she lifted the lid on the tray.
They’d sent her a simple meal, but nothing had ever smelled so amazing. The scent of the thick vegetable soup with a tomato based broth wetted her appetite. It came with a slice of bread and a large cup of icy cold water.
Elsie dipped her bread into the broth without hesitation, moaning with pleasure when she took a bite. The bread was slightly sweet, mixing perfectly with the salty, acidic soup broth. Frost sniffed at her, and she shook her head firmly.
“No way, wolfie, this is mine,” she said, curling up defensively with the bowl in her lap. He rolled his eyes and went back to monitoring the people outside. The food was gone faster than she’d hoped, though she tried eating it slowly to draw out the experience. Elsie set the bowl back on the tray with a pout then made herself comfortable once more.
“It’s been hours, Frost,” Elsie told him. He pressed the unmistakable feeling of a question on her mind, and for once, he did it gently.
“Since the last attack,” she explained. “Do you think Wren put something in those vegetables she didn’t tell me about?”
In a flash, she was back on the edge of the cliff, watching Wren cook, but through a different set of eyes. The spirit was muttering as she cooked, and with Frost’s keen ears she caught bits and pieces of the ancient language. The sneaky spirit had enchanted the food without saying anything while the sneakier wolf had been watching them from the woods.
Frost took away the vision, leaving her back in the chair. “She’s amazing,” she muttered, wishing the spirit was there with her just then so she could thank her. “I really don’t think we would have made it here without her.”
Frost snorted at her, and the feeling of fur between her fingers and the musky scent of wolf invaded her senses. She opened her eyes and saw the world between a pair of huge black ears. Looking down she gasped in shock before being slammed back into reality.
“Yeah right, you big liar,” she scoffed. If she’d had anything in her hand just then, she’d have thrown it at him. “I don’t believe for a second that you would have let me ride on your back.”
He sneezed at her then curled up his lips to show her his teeth before letting his tongue loll out in a wolfie smile. It disappeared quickly when the same man from earlier reentered.
He gave another small bow. “I’m to relay to you that Riven has been located and will join you soon,” he said. Quickly gathering the tray, he turned and left before Elsie could say a word. She blinked and glanced at Frost, who looked every bit as mystified as she felt. The man hadn’t even glanced toward the wolf, as though avoiding eye contact with the demon meant he wasn’t really there.
“That was weird,” she muttered. While they waited, Frost circled the room several times, sniffing at the floor curiously. “What?”
He sent her an image of a magic trail and impressed a question on her. She sat up, looking around quickly. She hadn’t even noticed until he’d brought it up, but she hadn’t seen a single magic trail since entering the village. There was no way for her to know who was coming and going around her. It was probably caused by an anti-tracking spell or something similar. Whatever the reason, it didn’t sit right with Elsie.
“I don’t like it,” she said, then fell forward with a gasp. Wren had bought her some time, but apparently that time was up. Elsie gasped for air; the pain on the right side of her chest was the worst she’d felt so far. Every breath felt like someone was stabbing her with fiery hot, rusty spoons. Her fucking lung had collapsed.
She coughed, and a spurt of blood filled her mouth. In seconds, Frost stood over the top of her protectively, the hair on the back of his neck bristling. Elsie whimpered, desperate for air—she couldn’t cry out. Everything inside of her hurt as she struggled to breathe.
Frost whined, his feet stamping in place. It was clear that the wolf didn’t know what to do. Elsie felt an exchange of air as the door opened, but any relief she would have felt was immediately torn away when Frost lunged forward, a terrifying snarl coming out of his mouth. She couldn’t see who had come in, but it was clear the wolf saw them as an enemy.
A flash of light filled the room, so bright it was blinding even with her eyes closed . “Go to sleep, you fucking mutt,” a man’s voice demanded, and Frost was forced back into the cuff on her wrist.
“Some people just have no manners. Don’t you know how insulting it is to bring a demon into a place like this, Commander Chantraine?” The voice was familiar, and so damned hated.
Elsie groaned. Curled up on the ground and clutching her chest, she was useless to defend herself. They’d gotten lucky, arriving when she was at her weakest point. Though the fact that they’d made her wait so long was suddenly suspect. They’d been waiting for her to falter. A pair of Hunter Clan-issued boots stopped inches from her face, and she forced herself to look up into the smiling face of Callum.
Chapter 14
“You have got to be the single most stubborn bitch on Earth,” Callum said in a cheery tone. “Where the hell have you been all this time, Chantraine? Do you have any idea how much trouble your little disappearing act caused for us? Commander Grant was not happy.”
Elsie was too busy struggling to breathe to be capable of answering him. Not that she would anyw
ay. She didn’t care what kind of trouble they’d been in; it wasn’t her problem. She was pissed to be caught like this, and underneath the terror of her lung dying, her mind raged at the situation. That fucking fire mage had brought her here knowing there were decidedly hostile people waiting for her.
“I’d guessed you’d be coming here. Did you really think Riven would help you?” Marley asked with a sardonic laugh. She crouched nearby, watching Elsie with a clinical look to her eyes. “How are you still alive?”
Elsie hadn’t known if Riven would help or not. She’d come here on a hope, knowing that the mage had been her best bet at the time. It hadn’t struck her that they’d anticipate her coming here, and that had been a mistake. Of course Marley would have known her connection with Riven. She should have been two steps ahead of those pursuing her at all times, but they’d outsmarted her.
The mage they’d brought into her apartment was with them once more. His face was calm, but he refused to look at her, instead staring at a space on the far wall. Elsie wanted to spit at him. He could release the wolf from the tether in seconds, but he’d been the one to force Frost back into the cuff.
The next throb of pain in her chest was so bad that she rolled onto her back, arching upward with her mouth gaping open, gasping for breath in a way that only made the agony that much worse. Tears rolled down her face and into her hair, but she refused to start sobbing. She wouldn’t give them the satisfaction of watching her completely fall apart.
“It’s pretty bad, huh? You can’t say I didn’t warn you. The demons we tested this curse on didn’t last nearly as long as you,” Marley said, her voice cold.
Elsie hated them even more after hearing that. It wasn’t bad enough that they’d done this to her, but they’d used demons as their guinea pigs in the process, and the research teams weren’t exactly known for being kind to their test subjects. They were no better than the humans of old, testing on pretty much every animal in existence.
Marley scowled. “Oh, don’t give me that look, you damned demon lover. You’re in no position to judge anyone. We had to make sure the curse was strong enough to take you down. If we screwed up and it was too weak, we risked incurring the wrath of the only reaper who has ever truly been one of us.”
Elsie bared her teeth at her in a grim smile, grunting in pain. Other than her rank, Callum didn’t know exactly how dangerous Elsie had become in her time as the first field commander, but Marley did. Elsie hadn’t been an ordinary hunter. She’d been a tracker, the shadow they sent out to assassinate a hunter gone wrong. It was a classified job, so no one but the tracker and their squad was allowed to know of their existence under pain of death.
Elsie had been the boogie man, the hunters’ worst nightmares. They’d never know where she was or who she was tracking. They only knew that someone was out there, keeping rogues in line, and if they fucked up, they’d be next on the kill list. Back then, it had amused her. Now she wondered why she’d ever decided to keep the secret for them.
“Now that you know you can’t get the help you were looking for, I’m sure you’re ready to take our offer, yeah?” Callum was gloating. She couldn’t get enough air in to tell him to fuck off, so she settled for glaring at him and raising a single finger to get the message across.
“The vial we gave you was only supposed to last for at most half a day. How have you endured it for this long?” Marley questioned again. The healer was far more interested in how Elsie had managed to survive than making sure she took their offer. She’d become quite the little data collector in their time apart.
“All you have to do is nod your head, Chantraine,” Callum told her, holding out a larger vial of the blue liquid. It was enticing, and he knew it was the perfect tool for bribery. “As soon as you comply, I’ll give you this.”
Elsie stared at the vial greedily, but she wasn’t ready to give in just yet. Until this point, taking the elixir she already had meant that her time was almost up, so she’d held out as long as she could. But now, she could drink it and steal theirs.
She couldn’t handle it anymore. The pain was too great, and she couldn’t leave herself in such a vulnerable condition in front of them any longer. Reaching into her pocket, she took out her own vial, less than half the size of the one Callum was holding. His face darkened dangerously as she yanked the cork out with her teeth and swallowed it.
“How the Hell have you survived this long without taking that?!” Marley demanded, yanking the vial out of Elsie’s hand and inspecting it to make sure it was the same one she’d given her.
Elsie waited, expecting to spring back to health with renewed vigor, but nothing happened. The elixir’s effects weren’t immediate. She groaned and closed her eyes, continuing to breathe in short, shallow gasps. This wasn’t looking good. Marley forcibly grabbed her face, pinching her cheeks into her teeth until blood filled her mouth. The healer’s rage had reached a boiling point.
“You fucking look at me and answer my question,” Marley commanded. Elsie took as deep a breath as she dared then sprayed the blood in Marley’s face. The healer jumped back, a look of pure hatred in her eyes, before hauling back her leg and kicked the reaper in the ribs. “Look at you, Elsie! You’re fucking dying. Do you really think you have the option to refuse us?”
“Marley, don’t make things worse. Exercise some restraint. She’ll remember this, and you’re going to have to work in the same facility as her. Why is the elixir taking so long?” Callum asked, sounding worried. Elsie didn’t kid herself into thinking it was for her benefit. Knowing his tendencies toward insubordination, he was probably trying to earn himself some redemption by bringing her back alive.
“It’s working the way it’s supposed to. It’s her own damned fault. She pushed herself too long. At that dosage, the elixir is not a cure. It’s a preventative,” Marley growled. “That dose isn’t enough to make you feel better; it’s just enough to hit pause for a little while. All the effects of the curse will remain. She’d need a full dose to heal.”
Elsie heard everything they were saying, but it refused to penetrate her brain. She nearly started crying in despair. Why wasn’t the damned thing working?!
“How long are you able to keep that beast inside of the cuff for?” Callum asked suddenly, and all three of them looked at it. The runes etched into the metal were glowing blue as the wolf attempted to force his way out. Marley scrambled back several steps, remembering her encounter with the creature a little over a month ago all too well. The mage frowned and muttered a few words.
It took several minutes, but the cuff eventually stopped glowing. Marley straightened herself, going so far as to straighten her clothes. A field agent acting so cowardly over a demon was an embarrassment, especially one so far up on the rankings list. She cleared her throat and stole looks at the men with her, making sure they hadn’t noticed her momentary weakness.
The pressure on her chest eased, and Elsie sobbed in relief, dragging in a painful but full breath. She coughed, and more blood splattered across the floor. Callum’s brows were knit together as he crouched down, though he kept a respectful distance between them. Her breath came in a wheezing whistle, but the worst of the pain was over, the feeling of imminent death easing.
“It looks like the theory of Commander Chantraine entering a dimension with a different time factor than Earth seems to be the only logical reasoning for why she’s survived this long,” he said, casting a glance back at the mage, who nodded his agreement.
Elsie struggled into a sitting position, her head swimming dangerously. She cradled it in her hands, breathing steadily and waiting for her strength to return. Until then, she just needed to keep the hunters occupied.
“You look like shit, Elsie,” a new voice said with amusement. Elsie dragged her gaze up to see Riven standing over her, a grin on her face. So, she really was here after all. At least Clover hadn’t lied about that one single detail. “I’m surprised you came all the way here. After so many years had passed, if I’d w
anted to see you, don’t you think I would have done so?”
Elsie said nothing, but she didn’t need to. It didn’t seem like that’s what Riven was looking for. “I hated my time with your people. The only reason I stayed as long as I did was for the training. Do you have any idea how arrogant the lot of you are? And now, thanks to you, they’ve invaded my home. I really can’t say I’m happy to see you, Commander.”
Back then, Riven had unironically called her by her first name. She’d asked her entire squad to do so, but not all of them had. “We were close. I thought we were friends,” she croaked out, but Riven tossed her head back and laughed.
“Oh, come on! You expect me to believe that? Not once did you try to stop me from leaving. Would a friend let go of another so easily?” Riven scoffed. “We were never friends.”
“What kind of bullshit logic is that? I didn’t try to stop you because I was your friend. Why would someone who cares about you try to keep you from doing what makes you happy? It hurt to let you go, but you were so excited to go home, I signed your release papers instead of holding you back,” she protested.
“Right, like you’d ever be so selfless,” Marley interrupted, rolling her eyes.
Elsie looked over at her, tilting her whole head to be capable. She held her gaze without a word until the healer looked away, her lips pressed together. There was a time that Elsie would have done anything for any member of her squad. She’d cared for each and every one of them like they were family—closer than family. Before Saint had been thrust into their lives, they’d been inseparable.
“I wish I could say it’s been fun seeing you all again, but I’d be lying, and you know how I feel about liars. You guys have what you came for. You’re going to leave now, right?” Riven asked.
Callum tipped his head toward Elsie. “That’s up to her. We’d really like for you to come with us voluntarily, Chantraine. You’ve seen what this curse is capable of. Even you aren’t stupid enough to keep this up, right? If you don’t come back with us, you will die. Are you ready to accept our offer?” he questioned.