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

by Martina McAtee

  Kai flailed his hands, “Oh my God, just spit it out. Your inability to talk to me is literally killing me. Just open your mouth and speak.”

  “How much longer are we going to let this go on?” Rhys asked, voice low but vehement. He parked himself against the porch rail, far enough away from Kai for distance but not so far he had to speak loudly. Everything about him so calculating.

  “What do you mean?”

  His eyebrows shot up. “What do I mean? We have to tell them about her. We have to tell them everything.”

  “Why? I don’t get why you think that we have to tell them everything. They know she’s dangerous, they know she can really mess things up. Why do we need to tell them that she was a homicidal preschooler? I’ve seen the way you’ve been looking at her since we got back. All you see is the girl responsible for killing our parents.”

  Rhys huffed. “That’s not true.”

  Kai arched an eyebrow, crossing his arms.

  Rhys glanced at a spot over Kai’s shoulder. “Look, I know it’s not something she could help. I look at her like she’s dangerous, because she is dangerous. She is far more dangerous than anybody in there knows because we are lying to them. We’re lying to her. Even she doesn’t know what she’s capable of.”

  Rhys huffed as if he was trying to gather up the courage to keep going. “If you had raised an army of zombies wouldn’t you want to know? If you’d inadvertently hurt people with the very magic you now can’t control, wouldn’t you want to know it? How do you think she’s going to feel if she hurts somebody? Killing somebody is not quite as easy to shake off as bumping over headstones and knocking a couple of pictures off the wall.”

  “You are such a drama queen,” Kai told him.

  His words lacked any real fire but Rhys punched the wall next to his head, startling him, “Am I? We have a sluagh in our house babysitting our reanimator. Do you get that? Do you know what those things do? They feed on the souls of innocent people without remorse. Hell didn’t want him. Do you see where he falls on the spectrum of bad guy to sphincter-clenchingly evil? We’ve let two deadly creatures into our home. We’ve let them near our family and we are leaving them defenseless because we are lying to them.”

  Kai’s stomach did a weird flip-flop thing at Rhys’ use of the word ‘our’. He didn’t really know anything about sluagh except what Quinn had explained since the cemetery. There was no real solid research on these creatures. None they could get their hands on anyway.

  “Quinn said it’s a legend; a Celtic ghost story Irish grannies told their kids to get them to behave. Like Keyser Soze in The Usual Suspects,” Kai said.

  Rhys rolled his eyes but otherwise failed to acknowledge his movie reference, “That’s exactly what the humans say about us in the outside world.”

  Rhys moved to the porch railing again and Kai relented, “Fine, okay. She’s dangerous. He’s dangerous. They are both weapons of mass destruction. Why don’t you say what you really mean, Rhys?”

  “Which is what?”

  “That this is my fault, that I should have just left her to die. That if I had just collected her and moved on none of this would be happening right now.”

  Rhys met his gaze, “I’m not saying that.”

  “Actually you did say that. The night I brought her here, remember?”

  Rhys’ cheeks flushed, “I was mad. I was concerned.” Kai could see him getting frustrated. He waited, trying to be patient. “It’s my job to take care of y-of the pack,” he said. “It is hard enough protecting us from vampires and trolls and the things we do know about. I can’t protect us if I don’t know what we’re dealing with.” He growled, “Why do you make everything so difficult?”

  Kai said nothing, watching the expressions play across his face, letting him get it all out. “Do you get what is happening right now? Do you really get it? We know that twelve years ago there was a witch here so powerful they forced a coven to cast a spell on an entire town, a witch that bound a girl’s powers for years. We have a girl who can control the dead and our only failsafe is a soul-eating demon.”

  Kai shook his head, gesturing helplessly, “Dude, our whole lives are dangerous. We fight monsters. We’ve almost died so many times. We always figure it out and we always survive. We are good at this.”

  “No,” he balled his fists. “We are lucky. We are just lucky. This is why you frustrate me…because you just don’t get it.”

  “Then why don’t you explain it to me. I’m right here.”

  “I-” he turned away looking out over the yard suddenly super interested in the yellowing grass.

  Kai couldn’t resist his own growl of frustration. “Oh, that’s right. You don’t talk about your feelings. You just grunt and shove and act perpetually pissed off. You think I don’t get what we do is dangerous? Our parents are dead. All of our parents are dead and they were good at this. They fought with all the information and they still died but I can’t focus on that. If I did I’d spend all my time broody and miserable like you.”

  Rhys looked over his shoulder at Kai, expression unreadable. He was quiet for a long time before he asked, “Have you thought at all about what is going to happen to you if they find out what you’ve done?”

  He could play stupid, but he knew what Rhys meant. He hadn’t thought about it. He’d actively been not thinking about it because thinking about it made him feel sick to the point of vomiting. Rhys was being kind by saying ‘if’ they found out. It was only a matter of time before the Grove realized what he’d done and they came to punish him. He spent every night trying to think of anything but what that punishment would be.

  “What good is thinking about it? It’s not going to change anything. Whatever they are going to do to me won’t change by my freaking out about it.”

  He was sure that the wolf could smell the fear on him but he didn’t acknowledge it.

  “We can’t lose you.” Rhys told him, quickly adding, “We can’t lose any more people.”

  “Whether you guys lose me or not, you can’t let it stop you from living your life.”

  Rhys looked at him like he was crazy, “Your sister would never get over it. Isa would be devastated. Quinn would try to find a way to get you back. The pack would fall apart. Why aren’t you more afraid? You have to want to stay alive.”

  “Yeah? I can wish myself alive now?” Kai asked, gut twisting at the thought. Why was he so hell bent on talking about this? What did he hope to accomplish? “Do you think telling me this is helpful? Do you think telling me my imminent death will ruin the lives of everybody I love is in some way going to help the situation? Do you think making me feel guilty will somehow change what’s going to happen?” He pushed forward, for once getting in Rhys’ face. “Okay, let’s play this game. Yeah, sure, why not. Tell me. How is Wren going to feel? Donovan? Neoma? Oh, I know, how are you going to feel?”

  Kai knew he was being a jerk but he couldn’t stop, panic gripped him like a hand around his throat and he wanted to hurt Rhys for this, for making him think about this. “Come on, tell me. How are you going to feel when I’m not around to shove into walls anymore?” Rhys was silent. “Come on, man. You wanted to play this game. Tell me. Will you be happy to be rid of me once and for all? Will you admit how you feel about me when I’m long gone?” He was so close he could feel Rhys’ panting breath on his face. “Will you regret not kissing me when you had the chance?”

  Rhys’ eyes flashed green and they stood there, breathing in each other’s space, neither willing to concede, “I-” Rhys swallowed, head dipping ever so slightly but enough for Kai’s heart rate to rocket alarmingly.

  The back door to the porch opened and shut. “Hey, where’d you two losers take off too?” Quinn called out.

  Rhys blinked, looking to Quinn before pushing Kai gently out of the way and walking back into the house.

  Quinn looked startled and the
n contrite. “Sorry, man. Didn’t mean to, uh, interrupt.”

  “Can’t interrupt something that was never going to happen.” Kai shrugged, swallowing hard past the lump in his throat and dropping to the steps. He rubbed the palms of his hands against his eyes.

  Quinn dropped down next to him, clapping him on the shoulder. “Friendly advice, man?”

  “Sure.”

  “I think it’s time you moved on.”

  Kai scoffed, “Like you and my sister?”

  “Oh, I’m not saying give up entirely. I’m just saying maybe you should show him that you are a strong independent reaper who don’t need no wolf.” Quinn finished his statement with a head bob and a pointed finger.

  Kai’s eyebrows flew up and gave a startled laugh.

  “You’re ridiculous, man, but I love you.”

  “I love you too, buddy.”

  32

  MACE

  Mace was rattled. He was an idiot. Ember glowered at him from the other side of the sofa. The others had cleared out, leaving them to stare awkwardly at each other. It gave the illusion of privacy, but he knew that in a house full of wolves nothing went unheard. He should be trying to make nice with the little reanimator, but instead he just sat carefully contemplating his dilemma.

  It was his own fault. It truly never occurred to him she could be a reaper, not with her cousins both possessing powers. In hindsight, it was the exact reason it should have occurred to him. It was now obvious why she was so valuable.

  Except it wasn’t.

  There were other reanimators, they were rare but they existed. So why was she so valuable? If she were simply a magical collector’s item, they’d want to collect all three of them as a set or the rarest of the three. When it came to exceptional magic, there was no way to beat out the banshee. He’d never heard rumors of a banshee still in existence, much less one as young as Ember’s cousin. She was the rarity.

  He had to be missing something. Reanimators’ powers were impressive but finite. They could reanimate and control corpses. The very advanced reanimators could return a soul to corporeal form but only for a short period. The longest he’d ever seen a soul cling to this side was twelve hours. Reanimators could call the soul, but they didn’t possess the ability to anchor it to a body. They didn’t possess the ability to control an immortal…and yet she had.

  Ember had been controlling him almost from the moment they met. Her magic had reached for him in the cemetery, it had forced his name from his lips, forced him to halt when he’d tried to come closer. At the time, he’d blown it off but moments ago, when he’d meant to leave, her magic hadn’t allowed it. Every step he’d taken was agony as if tethered to her by a million razor sharp hooks.

  He was missing something, he felt like it was there, just out of reach, waiting for him to put a name to it. In the cemetery, something had taken control of Ember’s body. Somehow, Ember had been able to channel somebody else’s magic. Whatever that something was had stupidly convinced him to tether himself to Ember to keep her out of danger.

  Reanimators couldn’t channel the dead. There was no creature in the world who possessed the abilities Ember seemed to have. There was a very good reason for that. If a creature existed who could do these things they would be more powerful than any magical being in existence.

  It would certainly make her a target. If word got out there was a creature with the ability to control all soulless beings there would be no place safe enough for her. Every demon, vampire, sluagh and fury would make it their mission to eradicate the threat. She would be a walking target. No, he corrected, they would be a walking target because he’d bound himself to this girl and she now pulled his strings. He was a puppet, a walking, talking extension of her will.

  Just like that, the word he’d been looking for, the only creature who could possibly possess all the qualities Ember did, came rushing back to him so quickly it almost made him dizzy. He risked a glance in her direction. She sat, legs crossed, arms folded, scowl locked in place, body language screaming do not cross.

  It seemed impossible to believe. There was no way for it to be true but as soon as he looked at her face, he knew it was. Nobody else could know. She couldn’t know. The last thing he needed was her realizing she had the ability to control him. He had to be extremely delicate about this.

  It wasn’t until she turned to look at him he realized he’d been staring. As soon as they made eye contact, he felt her magic flare. It tugged at him, even as she tucked her hands in closer. She felt it too. She was in control again, her eyes laser focused on him. She didn’t trust him. She certainly didn’t like him. But her magic had decided he was useful.

  There had to be a way to work this to his advantage. She had to think she still needed him. They all had to think she needed him. His current employer would probably give him anything in the world if he could deliver on this. Somebody like her. Power like hers. He could name his price. She was sweet and pretty but he was immortal. He couldn’t spend the next seventy years a slave.

  How did somebody go about wooing a girl in this decade? More importantly how did one charm a girl into forgetting that he’d threatened to kill her? It wasn’t like he’d intended to harm her. He’d just wanted to rile her up a bit. Granted, it wasn’t the most conventional way to flirt but he wasn’t a conventional guy. He supposed that maybe he could have found a better way to introduce himself. It was too late to worry about that now.

  He opened his mouth to say something but she held up her palm, “Let’s just get one thing straight. Just because my magic likes yours, don’t think the same goes for me. I may have to tolerate you but I don’t have to like you and I don’t have to interact with you.”

  He fixed a lazy grin on his face, “Now, Luv, I’m not trying to start an argument here, but if I’m to help you, you may have to interact with me just a bit.”

  She looked murderous.

  “Is this about the killing thing?” Her mouth fell open, trying to slaughter him with a look. “So, that’s a yes. Okay, it’s about the killing thing. It’s perfectly understandable that you would be angry, even hold a grudge, but would it make you feel better if I told you that your life had never really been in danger?”

  “Really? You were kidding. You threatened to kill me as, what, an icebreaker?”

  He winced, “In all fairness, you were the one who asked if this was the part where I tried to kill you. I thought that maybe you wanted a bit of role-playing. You were out in the cemetery in the dead of night.”

  She lunged at him and he caught her wrists easily. “Careful, Luv. Let’s try to keep your magic happy, shall we?” He entwined their fingers. Her eyes skated downward. Her whole body trembled. It may have been her magic but he hoped just a little of it was her.

  “Truthfully, I just wanted to see what would happen. You can tell a lot about people by how they respond during stressful situations. You responded by making an excellent argument for my not killing you. Had it actually been a legitimate threat I probably would have let you go.”

  She blinked at him as if he were a crazy person, “You’re lying.”

  “I’m not. I was merely in the right place at the right time. I saw you in distress at your father’s funeral and I helped. I just happened to still be there when you came back. I thought I should introduce myself.” The lie was a gamble but he was in damage control mode.

  “By threatening to kill me,” she told him, flabbergasted.

  “Again, you were the one who brought up the killing. I was just trying to chat you up. It was dark, the moon was full. I saw a pretty girl and I wanted to talk to you. My magic fancied yours…I just thought I’d see what happened. Perhaps my approach was unconventional, but I assure you, it was never my intention to hurt you.”

  “Do you know how my cousins found me?”

  “What?” he asked, confused by the sudden change in conversation.


  “Do you know how they found me?” she asked again, slower like he was stupid.

  “Google?”

  She scowled at him. “My name appeared on his list.”

  “His list?” Ah yes, the collector, “Oh, the list. Really?”

  Interesting. She wouldn’t have died by his hand. Was there another threat that night? Had he deterred another attacker or had she been fated to die in a natural way? Could her powers have killed her that night? She’d been pretty out of control in the cemetery. Had he prevented her death?

  “Is your name still there?”

  “No.”

  “So that means someone or something prevented your death.”

  “My cousins prevented my death.”

  Mace grimaced, “Let’s hope that’s not the case.”

  “What? Why would you say that?”

  “Do you know what happens when a reaper keeps his charge from dying?”

  She shook her head, face white.

  “They upset the balance. It’s the butterfly effect. It creates a ripple in the universe and that is a capital offense in our world.”

  “What happens to people who do that?”

  “I don’t know, Luv. As far as I know, nobody has ever been stupid enough to try.”

  “Never?”

  “Not to my knowledge.” Her fingers began to work over his hands, thumbs massaging across his left palm, kneading him like a cat. She wasn’t even aware she was doing it. “One thing at a time, Ember. Let’s try to get your magic under control and then we worry about saving your cousin. It won’t matter if none of you are alive to face the consequences.”

  She nodded, her hands rubbing over his skin harder. “What’s a soul eater?”

  He couldn’t even begin to know how to explain that in a positive light. “We are like reapers,” he told her vaguely.

  “They help people cross over to the other side?”

  “Sort of, but not exactly.”