by ID Johnson
“I was crying to trick you, Ru!” he exclaimed, putting his hands on his hips. “I could care less about Deena Jones and the family she slaughtered. I wanted you to think there was good in me so maybe you would join us. Nothing I’ve tried has worked on you, however, and my father realizes this, too. That’s why he’s ordered me to assassinate you. Which I have to do.”
Ru was stunned. It had never crossed her mind that the tears were fake. They had seemed genuine. “Maybe this is all a trick, too,” she muttered. “You trying to make me think you have feelings for me so that I’ll change my mind.” His expression didn’t alter, but she saw the light in his eyes flicker just a bit, as if it were beginning to fade, and she knew in her heart that wasn’t really the case. He did have feelings for her, though he’d never admit it again, not after she shot him down.
“Look, Ru, I just came here to warn you. In hopes you’d change your mind and either decide not to close the portals or join our side. If you make the wrong choice, rest assured I won’t. I will take you.”
“And when the moment comes, Nat, rest assured I will also do what I need to do.” Despite her tough words, she still knew she wouldn’t be able to destroy him. But she wouldn’t stand in the way of her teammates either.
“All right then,” he said exhaling loudly. “Now that we’ve both been duly warned, it is time for me to get back to planning your demise.”
“And I have portals to find. You wouldn’t happen to want to give up their locations, would you?”
“No,” he said quickly, taking a step back. “But something tells me you’ll find them. And when you do, I’ll see you there.”
“Great. Be sure to bring a coffin. You’ll be needing it.”
Once again, Nat was laughing at her. “To collect your dead corpse!”
Ru shook her head. “That was a good one.” He lingered, and she knew why. She didn’t really want him to go now, either. But she had made her choice and knew that it was the right one. “Goodbye, Thanatos.”
“Goodbye, Rune. See you on the battlefield.” There was no discharge of black smoke this time or leaping off through realms. He simply disappeared.
Ru breathed in deeply, the fragrant scent of the flower petals filling her lungs. It was such a beautiful place. She was glad she’d invented it. If only she had someone truly deserving to share it with. A thought crossed her mind, and Ru closed her eyes, sending out a secret wish of a message.
“You called?”
Opening her eyes, she saw Cutter standing under a nearby tree, the red petals contrasting sharply against the white shirt he wore and his blond hair. “That was quick.”
Shrugging, he said, “I didn’t have far to go.” He headed toward her, and Ru quickly closed the gap between them.
The feel of Cutter’s strong arms wrapped around her made Ru feel capable of anything while also completely vulnerable. She slipped her arms between his so that she could rest her head on his shoulder, her arms encircling his chest. His hand slid up and rubbed her back. “I’m so glad you’re here,” she said quietly.
“Me, too,” he whispered. “You look so beautiful in that dress.”
Ru had to remember what she was wearing. The red, flowing gown. She wondered if she’d picked it out or if Nat had. She decided since this was her dream, she must’ve. “Thank you.” Thinking of Nat made her consider telling Cutter everything Nat had just told her, about his confession, his invitation, and his proclamation—that he had to kill her. But it didn’t seem to make any difference now, none of it. She was where she belonged, and she knew Cutter would protect her, not that she needed protecting. She could take care of herself. And it shouldn’t come to a surprise to anyone that a Reaper wanted to kill her. They all did.
“Ru, there’s something I want to tell you,” Cutter said, gently taking her arms and pressing her out so she could look into his eyes. “This seems like the most magical place to do it.”
“Okay…” she said, smiling up at him. It really was enchanting. She’d done a nice job. “What do you want to say?”
A light pink color began to spread up his neck, tinting his cheeks, as a crooked smile formed on his perfect face. “I, uh, I just wanted you to know that… well… what happened between us—back there—in your bed—where we still are….”
“You mean sex, Cutter?” she asked, trying to keep the amusement out of her voice, though it was hard.
“Yes, but not just that. I mean, that’s what I’m trying to say. It wasn’t just sex, Ru. Not to me. And I don’t think it was to you either. Was it?”
Unable to contain her smile, Ru shook her head.
“What I’m trying to say, Ru, is… I love you. I fell in love with you that day in the copy room, when you were vulnerable and desperate and had no idea who you were or what you were capable of. And now that you are aware of how amazing you are, now that you are a confident, powerful, fierce force to be reckoned with, somehow, I love you even more. I hope that isn’t too weird for you, especially since we have a lot of work ahead of us… but I just wanted you to know. I love you, Ru. I do.”
“Cutter?” she asked, peering into his blue eyes.
“Yes?”
“Are you done?”
“I think so….”
“Good. Then shut up and kiss me. Because I love you, too.”
The look of glee on his face was reflected in her heart as he followed her instructions and kissed her beneath the floating floral petals.
Chapter 10
Requesting her mother send screenshots of the spells had actually led to a FaceTime discussion of correct pronunciations, which was difficult since Ru wasn’t intending to cloak herself and certainly didn’t want to do anything to diminish her own Reaper powers since she knew they might be important to her overall strength. Eventually, she was fairly sure she had the wording right, and they’d moved on to a conversation about life in general. Ru had gotten to see Piper, who pawed at the phone frantically trying to get to Ru, which made Ru miss her even more. Ru had just finished telling her mom about her new relationship with Cutter when Lyric knocked on the door and shouted, “We’re ready!”
“I’ve got to go, Mom,” Ru said, wishing she didn’t have to. But they needed to press on while they still had the element of surprise.
“Be careful, Rune. I know you won’t take any unnecessary risks, but don’t underestimate anyone or anything that comes to block you.”
“I won’t, Mom,” she promised. “And… if I see Dad, I’ll do what I can.”
“I doubt you’ll see him at the portal, honey, but there is a good chance he will come to you as soon as he can. Take care, darling. I love you.”
“I love you, too, Mom.” Ru disconnected and brushed a few tears off of her cheeks. She never thought she’d have a chance to hear that phrase from her mom or say it in return. If Liddy Brown had ever said those words to her, Ru didn’t remember hearing it, and she doubted her former parent was even capable of uttering the phrase.
Slipping her phone into her pocket, Ru headed downstairs. The team had been working on logistics for the attack of the portal in Kayakoy, which they’d decided would be the easiest for them to sneak into, and they all needed to bring each other up to speed before entering their spirit forms and attempting to blow the portal to Hell back to where it came from.
Everyone was in their usual seat when she entered the parlor, and Rider didn’t bother to tell her she couldn’t sit so close to Cutter as she took her place right next to him. He looked as sexy as usual in a light blue shirt and jeans, and she wanted to do things to him but did her best to put those thoughts out of her mind as they concentrated on their mission. “All right. Who’s first?” she asked, smiling and looking around at her friends.
Ivy giggled and dropped her eyes. “You two are so cute,” she mumbled. “All smiley and happy. I’m jealous. I want a dude.”
“Yeah, me, too,” Lyric replied, not quite as amused. “But that’ll have to wait.”
“I’m rig
ht here, ladies,” Rider offered.
“Like I said, that’ll have to wait.” Lyric cleared her throat and then laughed, and Rider made a wounded kitten expression. “Okay—so from what I can gather from the coordinates, the portal is actually located in an abandoned church.”
“Really?” Ru asked, surprised to hear that. “How is that possible?”
“Well, Kayakoy was actually a densely populated town until World War I. At one time, there were about 20,000 residents. But then, after the war, there was a lot of instability in the region. Another war, the Greco-Turkish war in the 1920s, resulted in land grabs between the factions, and the only way they could solve it was through a population exchange. The Greek Orthodox population went to Greece, leaving everything behind.”
“That’s so sad,” Ivy said quietly, shaking her head.
“And I assume the Reapers took advantage of all of this?” Rider asked.
“I’m sure they did. If I had a guess, I’d say they did their best to take as many unmarked souls in the region as they could. As it is, the portal gives them easier access to most of Europe and the Middle East than, say, the one here,” Lyric agreed.
“Or the one in Japan,” Cutter added.
“Exactly.” Lyric clicked a few buttons on her laptop. “Anyway, the portal is in the church, by my calculations. So we’ll just need to get in, find it, and get it closed before the bad guys figure out we’re there.”
“Sounds easy enough,” Ru said, hoping her tone wasn’t too sarcastic. This had been her idea, after all.
“Sky is going to give us another twenty Keepers. They’ll meet us there and set up a perimeter. Hopefully, they won’t be necessary, but if we happen to draw too much attention, that will be handy.”
“And I’ll give the signal to fall back if it’s impossible,” Ivy stated. “After all, I am the most level headed.” She winked in Ru’s direction, though she didn’t know for sure if it was directed at her or Cutter, but they all chuckled. It was true.
“As far as operations are concerned,” Rider said, “the perimeter will help. It’ll be about midnight there when we start, so it’ll be dark, and we really need to keep the lights off so that we can try to stay undetected.”
“So, we’ll be blind, have no idea what we’re up against, and have backup that we’ve never worked with before?” Cutter asked. “What can possibly go wrong?”
“Nothing is going to go wrong,” Ru replied, even though she knew he was being facetious. “Don’t worry guys. Everything will work out just fine. I have a feeling about this.”
“I hope so,” Rider said, speaking for all of them. “But if it doesn’t, we’ll fall back and try something else. It’s not worth anyone getting hurt or locked out.”
“What’s that?” Ru asked. She’d never heard that last term before.
“Locked out. Of your body,” he clarified. But she still didn’t have any idea what he was talking about. She looked at Cutter.
“It just means a Reaper claims you when you’re not in your body.” He said it like it wasn’t a big deal, but Ru thought it sounded like a big deal. “It’s not quite like dying.”
“But it may as well be.” Rider seemed a bit more cautious.
“Right. Let’s avoid that.” Ru was still confident, but she didn’t want to take any chances. She just needed to get in and get out before the Reapers knew it. “And what will happen if I knock us all out again?”
“That should blow us right back to our bodies,” Cutter replied. “Since we’ll be in our spirit form this time.”
That seemed simple enough. “But what if it doesn’t? Will we just lie on the ground in Turkey for several hours?”
“I’ll contact Sky and make sure she knows to send someone once the portal is closed to make sure we are safe. But I really don’t think that will be a problem. I think we’ll wake up at home.” Cutter sounded pretty confident in his response, and Ru wanted to trust him. The idea of lying out there in a foreign country as a spirit seemed potentially dangerous to her, though, especially now that she knew about lock outs. She wondered why the Reapers had just left last time if they’d really woken up first, but then she knew Nat was occupied because he was talking to her. Maybe they were too banged up to handle messing with them, especially since the Keepers were in their human forms. Everything was so complicated.
“Are we all ready then?” Rider asked, looking at each of them until he got a nod. “Okay. Then, let’s get to our bedrooms. And no dark room this time!” Rider pointed at Cutter and then Ru, making them both laugh.
“Good luck, everyone,” Cutter said, as each of them sounded off in agreement. “See you in Turkey.”
The other three took off up the stairs, and Ru followed, taking deep breaths and trying to calm herself. This would be tricky, whether the Reapers were there waiting for her or not.
“Are you all right?” Cutter asked, placing his hand on the small of her back as she climbed the stairs in front of him.
“I’m okay,” she said, forcing a smile. “I’m just nervous.” Once again, she was tempted to tell him about Nat’s warning but didn’t see the point. If Cutter didn’t think Nat wanted to kill her, that would be weird. While she was apprehensive about going into combat for really only the fourth time, and the first time, in what was allegedly Ira’s bedroom, had come completely as a surprise, she didn’t feel as if she were in her final moments. Closing the portal was her responsibility, though, and she felt the weight of it on her shoulders.
“It’s going to go great,” Cutter assured her as he stopped in front of his bedroom door. “We’ll get in there quickly before anyone can detect us, and you’ll get it closed.”
He made it seem so simple. “Right,” she nodded, her hand on her doorknob.
“You sure you don’t want me to come with you?” he asked, and she knew he meant into her bedroom.
“No, thanks,” she replied, thinking it might be too much of a distraction. She needed to make sure her leap was spot on so she didn’t have to search for the church or the portal. While she wasn’t used to leaping without him, she was sure she could do it. “I’ll see you in a few minutes.”
With a crooked smile, he said, “See you, beautiful,” sending shivers down her spine as her face flushed. She opened the bedroom door and ducked in before he saw her reaction.
Ru settled onto her bed, crossing her legs and leaning back against her pillows, propped against the headboard. She knew there was little chance that Nat knew what they were up to. There would be other Reapers and demons there, no doubt, but his forces wouldn’t be close by, and it seemed like there shouldn’t be any chance of him knowing they’d chosen now. With some solid, deep breaths, Ru closed her eyes and tried to picture the church she’d seen in the pictures Lyric had shown her.
Opening her eyes, she looked up to see she was standing outside of a large structure, and even in the dark, there was enough light from a thousand stars to tell her the place was abandoned. It appeared to be almost three stories high, with plenty of windows in arched dormers above the superstructure of what clearly appeared to be an abandoned church. The color looked to be the tannish-brown Ru had expected to see, even though it was hard to tell without the light of the sun.
Looking around, Ru saw absolutely no one, and she thought perhaps she had leapt to the wrong abandoned church, and everyone else was in Turkey wondering where she was. This definitely looked like a ghost town, though. Other structures, off in the distance, and those nearby, also appeared not to have had any living dwellers for almost a century, though Ru had no doubt this would be a nice place for the otherworldly to congregate.
Despite the fact that she couldn’t see any of her teammates or the promised reinforcements, Ru began to walk toward the church. Something inside of her was pulling her in that direction. She was hopeful it was the portal and not her Reaper blood dragging her into a fight she wasn’t sure she could handle on her own.
Inside, the church was impressive, even if it was gutted.
The flying buttresses arched high, with a loft area Ru imagined might’ve been occupied by a choir at one time. There was a dais from which sermons would’ve been delivered. She didn’t know much about the Greek Orthodox religion, but she thought this must’ve been quite a gorgeous place to worship once, before everyone left, forced to leave their lives behind because of their religious beliefs.
“Pretty isn’t it?”
Ru turned to see Lyric standing behind her and breathed a sigh of relief.
“Yes,” she whispered. “Where’s everyone else?”
“Here and there,” she shrugged. “Any idea where the portal is?”
“Not really,” Ru admitted, “although my gut is telling me to walk that way.” She pointed toward the front of the church. She didn’t see any doors or openings in that direction, but she had a feeling she needed to go there.
“Then let’s go for it,” Lyric said. “I think we’d better hurry.”
Ru was walking already and Lyric’s words didn’t cause her to pause, but she did raise an eyebrow before asking, “Why is that?”
“Just a feeling.”
Before Ru could comment, there was a scurrying sound up in the loft area. Ru stopped and looked up. Across the ceiling, a black shadow began to creep. The form reminded her of a large lizard, but this one had two heads. “What the hell is that?”
“That… is a Creeper,” Lyric replied, stepping up beside her. “And where there’s one, there’s a thousand.”
Though she wanted to know what a Creeper was, Ru didn’t get the question out before the sound of a thousand fingernails scritching across chalkboards filled her ears and the shadows multiplied, the form of the Creeper suddenly lost in a stampede of similar shaped creatures who filled the spaces alongside it and began to scurry down the walls, their inky black shadow selves causing the darkness to blacken.