Reaper (Dragon Prophecies Book 1)

by Hickory Mack

  “It is, but I don’t even want to have to come back for that if I can avoid it. Let’s treat the pocket dimension as the go-bag for now, okay?” she suggested.

  “If it makes you feel better,” he agreed, picking out a black t-shirt and khaki shorts to wear. Elsie pulled her clothes on quickly, acknowledging how close they were to getting back into the bed. She was hyper aware of him, always knowing exactly where he was and what he was doing, catching every expression in his beautiful eyes.

  “What if those two witches aren’t the pair we’re looking for?” Elsie asked.

  “Then they aren’t,” he replied, pulling the shirt over his head. “We’ll find them. And when we do, we’re getting the fuck out of here.”

  “Where do you want to go when we get past all of this?” Elsie asked, taking her hairbrush from the bedside table and running it through her hair.

  “It doesn’t matter to me. Wherever you go is where I want to be,” he answered easily.

  “But what do you prefer? Travel? Staying still? A little shack in the woods or a house in a town somewhere? You have to have some opinion,” she persisted, raising an eyebrow at him.

  “We’ll have to revisit this conversation when I’ve had time to think about it. I’ve spent the last four years desperately trying to avoid thinking about anything,” Saint said quietly. Elsie chewed the inside of her lip as guilt hit her. They hadn’t really discussed what he’d been doing in their time apart, and it hurt to think of how miserable he’d been. He opened his arms, and she walked into them, laying her head on his chest.

  “I’m sorry. I wasn’t thinking. Do you want to tell me about it?” she asked.

  “Not yet.”

  “What can I do to help make you feel better?”

  “Just be here with me,” he answered. “And don’t ask me to make too many decisions right now. I’d rather follow your lead. So long as I’m with you, I’m happy. Nothing else is important to me.”

  “I can do that. You can let me be the one to take care of you,” she told him. “Please don’t hesitate to tell me things like this in the future. I don’t want to inadvertently do something that hurts you. Tell me everything you want and need, when you want and need it. I’ll do my very best to help you heal.”

  The front door beeped as Cross let himself in, but Elsie didn’t move. Saint needed her right now, and she wasn’t going to let him down. She had no intention of ignoring Cross to make her demon feel better, but she certainly wasn’t going to abandon him as soon as the witch walked in.

  “You’re back earlier than expected,” she said when he came into view. He didn’t enter the bedroom, just leaned against the doorframe, a guarded expression on his face.

  “Rand wasn’t able to see me, so I sent him a note instead. He can’t blame me if he gets pissed.” Cross shrugged. Frida came over and rubbed against his leg until he picked her up, and Elsie made a rude noise.

  “Traitor,” she scoffed. Frida chirped and looked away from her, the cat taking her show of aloofness a bit too far. “I was planning to take you to the demon town with us, but if you’re still too mad at me, I guess you’ll have to stay behind. Don’t worry, I’m sure we can find someone to feed you while we’re gone since Cross will be with me.”

  Frida looked at her, her tail twitching. Elsie had called her bluff, and there was nothing she could do about it. The alebrije jumped out of Cross’ arms and sauntered over to sit at Elsie’s feet, purring.

  “Heh.” Elsie opened a doorway and walked through with her mates, wolf, and cat. Frost gave a soft ‘woof’ and sprinted away as she closed up the connection point.

  “Is it safe to let him do that?” Cross asked, watching the wolf disappear into the distance.

  “Sure it is. He can take care of himself,” Elsie said.

  “I mean, is it safe for the creatures he might decide to eat?” Cross clarified, and she snorted.

  “If he’s decided to eat something, I couldn’t stop him even if I wanted to. It’s best to leave him to his own decisions.” She rotated the cuff on her wrist. “What would be the point in trying to police him? He’ll be making his own choices as soon as this is broken anyway. Wren said he’s part of a pantheon. I think that means he’s some kind of god, doesn’t it? I’m just a demigoddess. Who am I to tell him what to do?”

  “An argument could be made that since he’s at least minimally fond of you, you’re at a distinct advantage. You could persuade him to make more moral choices.”

  “By whose standard of ethics?”

  Saint shook his head and took her hand, tugging her toward the town. He’d already had enough of listening to them bicker. Personally, he didn’t give a fuck what the wolf did, so long as it didn’t put Elsie at risk. Cross was quiet for a moment, reflecting on what had been said, then decided to change the subject.

  “What do these witches look like?” he asked, and Elsie described the man with bright red hair, white horns, and pointed ears before giving a less detailed description of the girl with dark hair.

  Saint’s eyes caught hers, and she quickly looked away. Of course she’d noticed more about the man; he was a freaking incubus after all. It was only natural to find him intriguing. Even though his magic couldn’t affect her, it didn’t mean she’d gone blind. He’d been exceptionally sexy.

  She cleared her throat and described what she could of the others with them, noticing she remembered a lot about the last male. The one she hadn’t been able to figure out. Elsie didn’t know what kind of magical creature he was, and he continued to stand out in her mind.

  “So we’re looking for a large group of heavily armed, attractive people, with a lot of power,” Cross summed up. “That shouldn’t be too hard. If they were that noticeable to you, I’m sure others took note of them as well. Did he get their scent? It’d be a lot easier to find them that way.”

  ‘No, he did not get their scent,’ Saint told Elsie.

  “There were a lot of people in the street. He didn’t catch their scent,” she said aloud for Cross’ benefit.

  “What about you? Did you catch sight of their magic trail?” he asked. Saint looked at her as well. It was a good question. She’d be able to recognize the remnants of magic they left behind, and it would be far more obvious than a scent mixing with all the others who’d been there.

  “No, I was distracted,” she admitted, frowning to herself. She’d been too busy studying the teenage boy to look at their trails. It wasn’t like her at all, and she was starting to feel like a creep. “I’ll make sure to memorize it next time we see any of them.”

  ‘We’ll find them,’ Saint assured her as they entered the streets of the town. It was starting to get dark, and demons and spirits of every kind were out, looking to have dinner or find a good time.

  “The pleasure houses certainly get a lot of business,” Cross remarked. “Perhaps we can check those out? Maybe some of them would have wandered into one.”

  ‘Send him inside. We don’t need to give anyone else the opportunity to form a bond with you,’ Saint remarked, and she snickered.

  “We can check them out,” she agreed with Cross. “Even if none of them show up, it’s still a great place to ask questions. You can even flirt with some pretty women if it helps get answers.”

  “You’d seriously be okay with that?” Cross asked in surprise while Saint scowled.

  “How else are you going to get them to talk? Don’t you think it’d be too suspicious if we all went into a pleasure house together but none of us wanted their services? It’ll be an obvious fishing expedition, and we’d be found out,” she reasoned.

  “If you think it’s so easy, you go in there and sit on some stranger's lap,” Cross snorted. “I don’t want anyone else touching me.”

  “Oho,” Elsie laughed. “I thought you’d want that job in case I end up picking up a new mate. I can swallow my distaste and play with some of the ladies. It’ll be easier than watching them touch you.”

  Cross wasn’t pleased wit
h the plan either way, but he didn’t have an answer for that.

  “Let’s go have some drinks first,” she suggested. “It’ll take the edge off, and we can observe some more.”

  Frida chirped at her, looking up at the three of them, then continued walking down the street. “Hey!” Elsie yelped, chasing after the cat, but Frida ran even faster, dashing around people’s legs as they exclaimed in alarm.

  At first, Saint and Cross had stayed where they were, expecting that Elsie would catch the alebrije quickly. When she kept running, Saint sprinted after her, Cross hot on his heels. Nothing could cause more trouble than a gods damned cat.

  Frida led Elsie to the very end of the block and then slowed down, slinking her way over to a stranger who was sitting on a bench, watching the crowd. The cat jumped into his lap, and Elsie saw her chance to catch the little rogue. The stranger petted Frida without a care as if this kind of thing happened to him all the time. He wasn’t alarmed at all, not until one of the two women who were practically draped over him stood up.

  “Jeez, she’s so naughty. Please hold on to my cat,” Elsie called, and the stranger’s eyes met hers, widening in surprise. He didn’t seem to be surprised by Elsie, but rather the woman who was so very suddenly clinging to her side. “Oh, oh god.”

  Elsie shivered. The woman was sexy and sultry and so. Fucking. Dead. The women were puppets, meaning the man was a necromancer. His dark eyes studied her as he leaned back in his seat for a moment, looking confused but amused.

  Elsie couldn’t take her eyes off of him. He had a smooth face with a square jaw that looked far too young for the profusion of silver streaks running through his black hair and beard. He was covered in tattoos and had this air of confidence about him that was staggering. She doubted there was anything that could actually take this guy off guard. He was sexy as hell.

  Elsie mentally shook herself free of whatever spell her mind thought it was under. What the fuck was wrong with her lately? Getting distracted by a teenager one minute and an older guy the next? She chewed on the inside of her lip. Was she being hormonal because of sealing her bond with Saint?

  “Excuse me,” she said after getting over the shock of what she was seeing. She shrugged out of the puppet’s grasp, peeling herself away as the undead creature continually tried to get closer. “That’s my cat. Sorry we interrupted you.”

  “I never would have guessed that I’ve been looking for a person all this time,” the man said, tilting his head to one side and giving her a gorgeous lopsided smile. The mask lifted from her face, and Elsie jerked away to see the puppet woman holding it to her own, a whispery giggle coming from her lips.

  “Hey!”

  In half a second, he was at her side, taking the mask out of his puppet’s hand and giving it back to her. “My apologies, we really must work on her manners. I’m Mouro Pascal. Most people call me Pascal, but you, my dear, may call me Mouro,” he said, wrapping an arm around Elsie’s shoulders.

  “What do you think you’re—”

  His magic slipped around her, and he jumped them several miles away before she could properly react.

  “Hey!” she shouted for a second time, slapping his face as hard as she could and pushing her way free. He smiled and let out a laugh. “You can’t just leave those spirits wandering around the town like that! They’ll cause problems. And you can’t just kidnap people!”

  “Kidnapping comes second on your list of priorities?” he asked, motioning to their left. The two spirits were there, holding close to each other like koala bears. Like they needed something they could cling to in this world.

  “Where’s my cat?” she demanded.

  “Oh, I guess I did forget something,” he sighed.

  “Why the hell did you bring me here?” Elsie snapped, holding her staff between them. He barely even looked at the weapon, and for the first time, she noticed that she felt no magic coming off of him. Not an ounce. He felt completely human, but clearly that was impossible. Maybe he was a void? That couldn’t be it either. Those were incredibly rare, and he had to be using magic to control the puppets.

  “Dolls,” Pascal corrected. “A lot of people make that mistake. They’re dolls. My girls have full autonomy.”

  Elsie blinked in surprise, and he gave her another smile. “Sorry, love, you’re projecting so loudly, I thought you wanted me to hear it.”

  “I am not your love.”

  “Are you not?” he questioned as though he was completely mystified. “Why did I come all the way here for you then? Did you summon me? I hear witches do that kind of thing sometimes when they want a specific familiar. I’m flattered, really.”

  “What the hell are you talking about?” Elsie shook her head, and he squinted at her.

  “No, that doesn’t seem right. You’re only half a witch. Do half-breeds take familiars? Do you have enough magic to control one? Oh!” He snapped his finger confidently. “The cat is your familiar!”

  “She’s my spirit guide.”

  “Spirit guide? Never heard of them.” He walked a circle around her, picking up a bit of her hair and twirling it around a finger. “At any rate, it seemed to like me a fair bit more than you do.”

  “You didn’t kidnap her,” Elsie growled. “I’m leaving now.”

  “But why?” he asked, looking genuinely surprised. “I’ve traveled over a thousand miles to be here with you.”

  “What a bunch of utter butllshit.”

  She shoved him away, but before she could open a portal back to her mates, he grabbed her wrist and pulled her back in. Elsie bumped her nose on his chest, but that wasn’t what had her crying out. Pressure on the top of her head tingled over her consciousness, and with a snap, she was tied to this jerk.

  “What the fuck?” Elsie shrieked, and he let her go in surprise. “Why does this keep happening to me? I am getting so sick of men!”

  With a grin, Pascal watched her tilt her head back and scream at the stars. Cute. It took him a minute to figure out what the hell was going on, but once he did, he wasn’t sure if he should be insulted by her reaction or not.

  “Am I really so disagreeable as a mate?” he asked, perplexed. He’d never really thought he’d mate with anyone. He didn’t think of himself as the kind of guy who could be tied down by a single woman. Yet here he was, bound to a screeching ball of rage, and all he could think was how adorable she was.

  “I already have mates, and I love them!” she shouted at him, shoving him away. This time, he let her, and she hated him even more for the stupid smirk on his face. “I have enough going on in my life. I don’t need you! I don’t want you! This is absolutely ridiculous. You shouldn’t have come here!”

  She kicked the ground angrily, desperately wanting to hit something. The worst part was how interested he was in everything she was doing. Nothing she said had seemed to faze him. He just kept looking at her with those dark eyes, curious and quite possibly amused. Pascal waited patiently until she was done kicking rocks and dirt and her cursing came to an end.

  “That was cute, really cute,” he said, and Elsie scowled at him. He didn’t sound like he was being sarcastic. He said it like he was being truthful, and that was even more irritating.

  “I wasn’t trying to be cute!” She opened a portal and walked through it, leaving him behind. It wasn’t until she was on the other side that she realized she’d opened it without using the Staff of Sanaia. Elsie had been so angry she’d bypassed using the staff to focus her magic. Slamming it closed, she scooped up Frida and threw herself into Saint’s arms, grabbing Cross’ hand and yanking him closer.

  She needed both of their comfort this time.

  ‘Did you kill him?’ Saint asked, the only logical outcome.

  “We’re going to have to come back and look for the witches later. We need to go somewhere and talk,” Elsie said, her voice measured and careful.

  “Can we talk about the witches as well? I’m curious.”

  Elsie glared at Pascal, who stood so fucking
casually nearby. He’d easily jumped back when she left him behind. At least his dolls were nowhere to be seen. Her grip tightened on Saint as he started to growl and tried to pull away from her. She didn’t need him starting something while they were surrounded by so many demons. Some of them might be Pascal’s friends who would step in to defend him.

  “We may as well take him with us,” Elsie muttered, leaning her forehead against Saint’s chest. “Apparently, I have another mate.”

  Cross and Saint were both momentarily stunned into silence. She expected Saint to overreact, so she was surprised when it was Cross who shook her off and threw a fist. Pascal didn’t appear to move, but Cross missed entirely. The demon was so fast, none of them had seen him get out of the way.

  Interesting. He’d let her smack him, but he didn’t give the witch the same opportunity.

  “These are your other mates?” Pascal asked, holding out her mask. Elsie grabbed it from him and fitted it over her face, hiding her identity from the demons of the town. Already, several had stopped to stare at them.

  “Ugh, I don’t have the energy for this! We’re causing a spectacle,” Elsie pointed out. “Let’s go talk outside of town.”

  Pascal shrugged, willing enough to follow her lead, no matter how pissed off the other two guys looked. Truth be told, he wasn’t overly excited at the idea of having a mate either. If she wanted to reject their bond, he’d survive without losing himself to grief. There were plenty of women to keep him company back home. He wouldn’t beg her to give him a chance. That said, he’d stick around for now. She was fun to tease, and besides that, he was curious about her.

  Once they crossed the barrier and chose a spot, Pascal sank to the ground, sitting with his legs crossed. He’d listen and be a good boy for now. At least until he had an idea of what was going on around here. If these people were going to cause too much drama in his life, he’d just pack up and return to his people. He’d been gone long enough on this endeavor.

  She told the other two men what had happened from her point of view, and while he had a differing opinion of events, he kept his mouth shut. He managed to figure out the witch’s name, but not the silent one. The same one that kept looking at him like he was going to tear him to pieces.