Children Shouldn't Play with Dead Things (Dead Things Series Book 1)

by Martina McAtee

  The human’s mouth fell open. “Lie,” he said. “No way. They’re extinct. They were wiped out by the Tuatha de Danaan centuries ago.”

  “Not all of us. You can’t kill what’s already dead, mate. It’s true they managed to trap some of us in the in-between but, I assure you, some of us are still very much here.”

  “Uh, what is a sloo-ah?” the reaper asked, looking back and forth between the two.

  “Not what, who,” Quinn said, never taking his eyes off him. “The sluagh were a race of dark fae, part of the Unseelie. Demons who flew in flocks like birds and stole the souls of the dying.”

  “Stole?” the reaper echoed. “He’s a reaper?”

  He scoffed, “He’s a soul eater. In the hierarchy of supernatural psychopaths, it doesn’t get much worse than him.”

  Mace raised a brow, “You’re quite judgey, aren’t you. I have to eat.”

  “A soul eater?” the reaper repeated.

  “Some human scholars thought they were the fallen angels.”

  “Aye, that is true,” Mace nodded.

  “You’re a fallen angel?” the reaper asked, voice dripping with disbelief.

  He smiled, “I didn’t say that. I’m simply agreeing with your mate. That is what they say about us.”

  The human’s eyes closed as if he was trying to recall more information, “The sluagh were once human but their deeds were so vile and repulsive they caught the attention of the Unseelie. The Unseelie took them, creating an army of creatures forced to sustain themselves on the souls of others. Sluagh feed on the weak and the sick before they can receive last rights. They prey on the broken and try to steal the souls of the dead before they can be carried across the veil by…well, by you, dude. They have the ability to steal any living soul and are immortal simply because neither heaven nor hell will have them.”

  Mace laughed, “That’s a neat trick, mate. I bet you are a blast at parties, but I’m afraid most of that is simply propaganda.”

  The reaper bristled at the maligning of his friend, “Get away from my cousin. Actually, just stay away from my cousin.”

  He looked down at Ember with her face turned into this hand and sighed. He moved from beneath her, gently settling her head on the ground and brushing off his jeans.

  The reapers hand floated to the hilt of his knife.

  “Easy, lads. I was just doing as requested.” Neither moved, watching him. For his own amusement, he began to pace. “Now, I could, as you suggested, leave your cousin alone. But ask yourself this,” he came to stop before the two. “What if I hadn’t been here? I don’t know what she is but I’m guessing you do. I think we can all agree she has no control over the amount of energy coursing through her veins.”

  The two looked at each other. He knew they knew he was right. He smirked at them. “So the next time she melts down which of you will stand in and act as filter, hmm?” He looked back and forth between the two, palms up to show them the blisters, “I’ve been around for centuries and it felt a little like she was trying to turn my skin inside out.”

  The reaper blanched at that image, “Why would we ever trust you?”

  “I’ve collected more souls than you will in ten life times.” The human snorted at the term collected but said nothing. “I’m not interested in harming her. I just want to help her.”

  It was the truth. Sort of.

  The human tilted his head, shoving his glasses up the bridge of his nose, “Why? Sluagh have no soul. You don’t feel sorry for her; you can’t care about her, what could possibly be in this for you?”

  “I have my reasons. I’m afraid you’ll just have to trust me.”

  Her cousin balked, “You basically just told us you are one of the world’s most prolific serial killers but you want us to trust you?”

  “I’m certain the term you are looking for is mass murderer but I see your point. So allow me to put it another way?” He grinned at them, “What choice do you have?”

  The reaper bent down and picked up his cousin’s limp form, grunting a bit at the effort, “I will discuss your generous offer with the pack and get back to you.”

  “Yes, do. I’ll be around.”

  30

  EMBER

  Ember bolted upright, crawling towards the back corner of the sofa, heart hammering. She scanned the room, trying to figure out where she was and how she got home. Seven faces stared back, shocked at her violent awakening.

  “Welcome back,” Wren smiled. “How are you feeling?”

  “What? What happened?” She fought to make her brain catch up. Her head hurt, every muscle ached.

  Tristin rolled her eyes, “You passed out…again.”

  Ember pulled a face at her cousin but said nothing. She couldn’t deal with her irrational hatred right now. She looked at each in turn, taking in their grim expressions.

  Her stomach sank, “What did I do? Why do you all look like I killed somebody?”

  Donovan shook his head with a smile, “You didn’t just pass out; you almost took out the entire town. Your magic is, like, out of control.”

  They all stared at him, incredulous.

  It came back to her in a rush; her mother, Mace, the voice…that crazy voice from inside her, the power that seemed to rip through her.

  “How did you find me?”

  “The wolves tracked you for a while but when they lost the scent, Neoma found you.” Isa told her, smiling at the girl.

  Ember looked at the girl painting her nails in the corner, “How?”

  Neoma just shrugged not even bothering to look up from her task.

  “Neoma has her own gifts,” Isa said.

  “I could have killed people,” Ember said, almost to herself. Kai’s gaze skated away from her to Rhys and then to the ground and she felt sick as she realized the truth. “You knew, didn’t you?” she asked Kai. “You knew something like this could happen. Who else knew?”

  Everybody seemed confused by Ember’s sudden outburst, everybody except Kai, Rhys, Isa and Wren. “You knew too, didn’t you?”

  Kai scuffed his converse across the floor, not making eye contact with anybody, “It was my fault. I asked them not to tell you.”

  It shouldn’t have hurt. It wasn’t like she’d been there long enough for them to have any kind of loyalty to her. They didn’t owe her anything. They didn’t know her. They didn’t trust her. Why should they? She tried to ignore the sick feeling in her stomach. She should leave. She bit down on her lip, forcing back tears of frustration. She wouldn’t give them the satisfaction. She just couldn’t trust anybody. It wasn’t like this was a lesson she hadn’t learned years ago. She didn’t cry for people.

  From deep inside, she could feel that power stir, a slow tiny burn just looking for the oxygen it needed to burst free. She tried not to panic. Her legs shook, body trembling from the inside like her organs were shaking loose. She wanted to scream in frustration. She couldn’t live like this.

  Isa knelt down in front of her. Her skin burned as the alpha took Ember’s hands in her own, “Ember, I know you don’t believe this but we thought it was for the best. You are being overwhelmed by your magic. You have no control. It’s not your fault and nobody’s blaming you but you need to try to take some deep breaths. Okay?” Ember swallowed the lump in her throat, her first instinct to tell her to screw off.

  She drew in a few shaky breaths, in through her nose, out through her mouth trying to ignore just how stupid she felt.

  “Why did you go to the cemetery?” Wren asked, once she felt a little more in control.

  She shrugged, hands flailing. “I don’t know. I wasn’t consciously going to the cemetery. I didn’t even know there was a cemetery. I just needed to get out of here. I just needed to leave.”

  “Leave? And go where?” Tristin asked, shooting to her feet and pointing in Ember’s face. “Seriously?
After Kai saved your life, you were just going to take off? You were just going to bolt and leave us to clean up your mess?”

  Ember stared at her cousin, “What?” Leave? She wasn’t moving out of the state, she went for a walk. Isa shot Tristin a nasty look but the other girl was far too gone to heed the warning flash of gold eyes. Ember blinked at her in confusion.

  “You are so selfish. I can’t believe you.”

  Heat prickled along her spine and then she was on her feet lunging for the other girl. Rhys caught her, arm around her shoulders, holding her back as she screamed, “What is your problem with me? What did I ever do to you?”

  Tristin opened her mouth, baring her teeth looking more animal than the animals surrounding her. Whatever she was about to say died with a single meaningful glance from Quinn.

  “Nothing,” she muttered. “Forget it.”

  “Forget it?” Ember shouted. Was she serious? “Seriously? Forget it? You are horrible all the time, you glare at me and roll your eyes and act like I killed your puppy. What did I ever do to you? What? Tell me, please.”

  Tristin dropped her gaze but Ember’s magic pulsed barely contained. Rhys watched her closely, loosening his hold but not releasing her.

  “Ember,” Wren said, voice soothing. “You need to calm down. We need to talk about some things.”

  “Don’t you think if I could calm down, I would have? Don’t you think if I had any control over this, whatsoever, I would do it? I can’t control this. I can’t stop this. What am I supposed to do?”

  That power roared to life under her skin and she opened her mouth to scream at the sudden pain but her voice wouldn’t come, she stared at the others helpless to stop it. Her magic was driving now and she was going to kill them all.

  Everybody in the room froze. The wolves bristling at the energy shift in the room. She didn’t want this but she was a hostage in her own body. Rhys looked to Isa as Ember’s magic sparked from her fingertips. Ember didn’t want this but she was a hostage in her own body.

  “Um, guys?” Neoma called softly from the doorway, moving silently on her bare feet.

  “Little busy, sweetheart,” Wren told her without turning around.

  “I know,” she told them, “I’m pretty sure that’s why he’s here.”

  All eyes swung to the door. Mace sauntered in, taking in Neoma with interest. “Well, aren’t you just the most adorable thing ever? I haven’t seen one of your kind in a long while.”

  Wren and Rhys growled, eyes flashing, teeth elongating.

  “Relax, boys, it wasn’t a proposal of marriage,” his eyes found Ember’s and he tilted his head. “Well, seems that I’ve arrived just in the nick of time.” Ember paled at his presence but her magic purred, reaching out to him, trying to coax him closer.

  “What are you even doing here?” Tristin asked, clearly confused by his arrival. “How do you know where we live?”

  He cleared his throat, grin smug. “Interesting development, mate,” he addressed Kai. “While it appears Ember is unsure of her feelings towards me; her magic is a girl that knows what she wants.”

  Tristin snorted, rolling her eyes.

  “So she…” Quinn prompted.

  “Summoned me? Possibly? I’m not entirely certain but I was just walking along minding my own business and found myself here, at your house. I can only assume she summoned me here.”

  “I did not,” she managed to choke out indignantly, even as she moved closer to him. She held out her hand to him, horrified at her body’s treachery. She didn’t mean to do that. She didn’t want to do that.

  “Oh, come now,” he told her, linking his fingers with hers. Her whole body shuddered, the power inside her licking through her fingertips, circling his fingers. His brows lifted, looking down at their linked hands. He had to feel that. He looked mystified, staring intently, pulling his fingers from hers only to have them drawn back into place, like a magnet. He tried it again and then once more, an amused smile curving his lips.

  She growled as she realized he was enjoying himself. This wasn’t a game. She wanted to kick him but she could only stand there at the mercy of this power coursing through her.

  “Well, that’s…disconcerting.” Quinn said, breaking the strange bubble of silence.

  “I have no idea what I’m even watching right now,” Donovan voiced from his perch on the arm of the sofa.

  “Ember might hate me, but her magic doesn’t.” Mace told them, watching as her hands worked up his forearms, amusement in his tone. “So, I guess that means I’m sticking around.”

  “No way,” Ember said, teeth clenched so hard her jaw ached, willing her hands to stop moving over his arms. “There is no way that he is going to be around here all the time. He’s the bad guy. He doesn’t get to play hero.”

  “Fine, I’ll go,” he pried her hands away from him with a grunt of effort and turned to leave. He paused, a myriad of expressions playing across his face. He took a step, then another, looking progressively more pained with each step.

  “Really?” he turned around. “Don’t be ridiculous. You need me. You all need me. She will take this house down to the rafters and then the town.” He looked at Isa, “You’re the alpha? I can keep her magic under control. I can help her channel it. You have to see I’m better than the alternative.”

  Isa sucked her bottom lip between her teeth and looked to Wren and then Ember.

  “You can’t be considering this after what Quinn told us? We can’t possibly trust him,” Tristin said.

  The walls of the house rattled, causing the pictures to shake. The wolves moved and Kai grabbed Tristin’s hand pulling her out of the way as the chandelier swung precariously over their heads.

  “Maybe he’s doing that himself?” Donovan asked, looking spooked.

  Mace looked equally spooked, “I assure you, I’m not. What exactly would I gain from this?”

  “That’s a great question.” Wren asked, “What exactly are you getting out of this?”

  “A sense of civic pride and a front row ticket to the show.”

  She didn’t believe him and she wasn’t alone. It was Kai who spoke first. “Ember, what choice do we have? For whatever reason, your magic seems tied to his. Without him you could hurt people.”

  Ember looked around, helpless. “Can’t one of you do your wolf thing and tell if he’s lying?”

  “No heartbeat,” Rhys grumbled.

  Ember startled, “N-No heartbeat? He’s dead?”

  Mace looked at her imploringly, “Ember, just let me help you.”

  She hated this. She didn’t want to be around any more people she couldn’t trust. None of this made any sense but Kai was right. What choice did she have, really?

  “Fine,” she said, “but if you try anything-”

  He held his hands up, “Best behavior, Luv. On my honor.”

  Rhys snorted at his words but her magic relented, curling back to sleep in that place deep inside her. She winced at the blisters on his palms. “Did I do that?”

  “Don’t trouble yourself, Luv, I’ll heal.”

  “Gosh, everybody is being so accommodating why don’t you just have Quinn patch him up, since we obviously work with the bad guys now,” Tristin fumed.

  “Tristin, that’s enough,” Isa warned, glowering at Mace. “Sometimes we have to work with people we don’t like…or trust. It goes with the territory.”

  “You are wise for one so young,” Mace told the alpha. He then looked around, face splitting into that smug grin. “So, who’s going to tell me what she really is?” he grinned, triumphant.

  31

  KAI

  Kai slipped into the kitchen, abandoning Ember with a soul eating sluagh, a pack of extremely confused werewolves and his inexplicably hostile banshee sister. All and all, it was turning out to be a typical day. He just needed a minute to clear hi
s head. He had no idea what to do about Ember magically tethering herself to a homicidal maniac. He also had no idea what to do about the fact she might also be a homicidal maniac.

  Her magic could blow up at any moment. What if tying herself to Mace only made her stronger? What if it made the soul eater stronger? Her magic and his together? They could annihilate half the population. He absently rubbed his left arm, where the swirl of inked names wrapped around his bicep. He poked at the spot where Ember’s name should have been. He’d never had a name disappear. He couldn’t even ask what it meant.

  His eyes fell on the plate of cookies on the counter, his stomach growling loudly. The only good thing to come out of this disaster was Isa’s stress baking had gone to a whole other level. Like hall of fame amazing.

  He was reaching for a cookie when a hand gripped his bicep, hauling him out the back door and onto the porch. The sadness he felt over the loss of his cookie was cut short as two hundred plus pounds of werewolf slammed him against the side of the house. You’d think he’d be used to this by now. Rhys seemed to enjoy slamming him into things at every opportunity.

  “Hello to you too.” He rasped, attempting to suck air back into his abused lungs. “You know, you could just ask to talk to me like a normal person. At least try using your words.”

  Rhys just stood there, forearm across his chest, all broody eyebrows and intense eye contact. Kai licked his lower lip, trying to read something in the wolf’s face. What he wouldn’t give to know what was going on in that head of his.

  He swore he did this on purpose. If you looked up enigmatic in the dictionary there was a picture of Rhys.

  Kai hoped the slamming of his heart against his ribcage read more as fear and adrenaline and less oh-god-just-kiss-me-already. Rhys’ gaze dropped to his mouth before sliding away guiltily, like he was reading Kai’s mind. Kai wanted to punch him.

  “So…” Kai said, clearing his throat and tapping Rhys’ forearm. “Air would be good here. You are sort of suppressing my diaphragm.”

  Rhys did his nostril-flaring thing and stepped back. Kai took a deep breath as he returned to full lung capacity. Rhys paced the porch but said nothing.