Reaper Dreaming: A Reaper Novel

by Christie Palmer

  “What the hell is Jimmy into?” Lailah whispered trying to wrap her scattered thoughts together around and through the pain and fear.

  “He owes some very important people some very vital information.” Banner said still holding her over the counter.

  “How am I going to get you this vital information?” Lailah asked. As she tried to pull her tattered thoughts together.

  “It’s rather simple really, you will deliver Jimmy to me,” Banner demanded. “I think you can handle that, don’t you?”

  Lailah shook her head, “YOU don’t understand. I have no idea where Jimmy is.”

  Banner leaned over so his face nearly touched Lailah’s. “No YOU don’t understand, Lailah, you are going to find Jimmy. You will look under ever rock he likes to hide under. Every little hovel he holes up in. Every nook and cranny he likes to run to when he doesn’t want to be found. That shouldn’t be hard for you. You know him better than anyone. You should find him in no time. And until he is found you will answer to me, and me alone.” To emphasize his point he squeezed her hand, and with the still burning sensation there he made Lailah scream in pain.

  “Okay, okay, okay,” Lailah babbled she would have promised him anything if he would just release her for god’s sake.

  Banner nodded and finally released her. Lailah sagged down on her side of the counter. “You have no idea how important the debt Jimmy owes. You would be well played to remember that.”

  Lailah nodded, “Whatever.” She agreed again and swallowed hard. The moment she found Jimmy she would kick his ass six ways from Sunday. There wasn’t going to be enough left of him for Banner. Lailah grasped her palm. “What is this?”

  “Insurance,” Banner said.

  Lailah glared at Banner, and then back at her horribly disfigured palm. “It looks like a goddamn brand.” She growled between her teeth.

  “Like I said, insurance,” Banner said.

  “How?” Lailah shook her head trying to wrap her mind around the possibilities. What it would take to brand her? The implications of this brand she now carried? “What are you?” Lailah demanded.

  “That isn’t important,” Banner said to her. His eyes still black and Lailah wondered if he was a type of demon. Lailah had never come across a demon before, but right now? If she had to describe a demon? Lailah would say it looked a lot like Banner. “What is important, is with that little beauty you now belong to me.”

  Lailah belonged to no man, and wanted to launch herself across the counter and slap the bastard across the face. But stopped herself from doing just that, she also controlled herself from flipping the jerk off.

  “Bring me Jimmy,” Banner demanded.

  “Anything else?” Lailah asked she tried to keep the sarcasm out of her voice but failed.

  “His charge,” Banner said. “We want that too.”

  Lailah glared at him, “I don’t even know what that is,”

  Banner’s head tilted to the side thoughtfully and then he smiled. “Interesting.”

  Lailah had had just about enough of the detective, “Anything else?”

  “No that should be about enough,” Banner said.

  “Good now get the fuck out,” Lailah said pointing to the door with her good hand. She was out of warm and fuzzy, and was close to throwing books at Banners head.

  Banner ground his teeth together and his nose flared. “Look, Lailah you’re really not in the position to be making the demands here.”

  “This time I do,” Lailah said with more force. She really had had enough. “Get. Out.”

  Banner reached forward grabbing her again by the branded hand. He jerked her forward again, “You belong to me, remember that.” Lailah let out a yelp of pain. She was about to tell him where to get off when the front door of the bookstore blew in.

  * * *

  That was just how Hunter found her. Growling, he barreled his way through the glass doors of the small shop toward the bastard who had Lailah pulled prostrate over the counter.

  Lailah squeaked an objection as her arm was jerked awkwardly because Banner hadn’t release her arm as Hunter grabbed him and swung him toward him. Her body cleared the counter as she flew through the air tumbling into a bookcase she hit the floor with a thud. Hunter cringed in pain for her.

  Hunter turned to Banner, he was large, muscular man in blue jeans and a button down shirt. Hunter could smell Other on him but couldn’t place it. But there was no doubt he was mortal, it didn’t bode well, “Who are you, Banner? What are you?” Hunter growled.

  Banners teeth pulled back, in a feral snarl. “Reaper, what is your involvement with this female?”

  “I should ask you the same damn thing.” Hunter asked. “I smell Other on you why is that? A Detective in the Chicago PD shouldn’t reek of Other. What preternatural games are you playing at detective?”

  “You Reapers, you think you know everything. You think you’re so special. Because you are a blessed Reaper you are somehow better than everyone else. But you have your heads stuck in the sand, you don’t really know what is happening here on the mortal plane. You don’t really have all the information, and it’s going to get you all killed,” Banner sneered right before he attacked.

  Hunter wasn’t expecting it, it just wasn’t something a mortal would do. A mortal verses a Reaper? The odds weren’t in the mortals favor, it was laughable. Both physically and mentally as a Reaper, Hunter had Banner outwitted and outplayed. It shouldn’t have even been a contest. Hunter was stunned by Banners attack. And it gave Banner the momentary advantage.

  With a superman punch, Banner caught Hunter sending him to the floor. Hunter slid across the glossy hardwood knocking over a bookshelf and a small table as he went. and he skidded up next to Lailah who was just coming to. Hunter shook off the punch and jumped to his feet, “You’re not going to get a lucky second punch,” Hunter said as he spat out some blood.

  Banner gave a humorless laugh, “I don’t need luck,” and pulled out a gun from an ankle holster he pointed it directly at Lailah, Hunter immediately took a defensive position in front of her. Banner smiled and fired a couple shots hitting Hunter in the shoulder and chest. As he moved toward the door, Hunter took the bullets flinching from the shots, he hovered over Lailah protecting her from the gunfire. Once Banner was at the door he fired one last shot catching Hunter in the stomach, Hunter grunted and doubled over.

  “Try all you like Reaper but this game you are playing? I will be the victor,” Banner taunted as he backed out the door and took off. As Banner moved he knocked over shelves and kicked at small stands, putting anything he could between him and Hunter. But Hunter just let him go, with bullets flying toward Lailah and into him he was in no condition to go after him He didn’t even give a shit at this point. All he cared about was whether or not Lailah would be okay. He turned back to her running his hands over her body, to reassure himself she wasn’t harmed. But it took everything he had left, and by the time he was done he was coughing up a lot of blood. The six bullets he had taken were doing a lot of damage, and his breathing was erratic, one of them must have entered one of his lungs. Might have actually gotten his heart, he would have laughed if he could have.

  “Victor,” Hunter whispered. As he sank to his knees, Hunter wasn’t sure how long it would take for Victor to get there and he was fading fast. Now on all fours, in a puddle of his own blood, Hunter knew he wouldn’t die but shit, it didn’t feel good either. If he had the energy, he would have Flashed to the Infernos but he was spent.

  Hunter turned back to Lailah, she still lay on the floor, those bright green eyes staring up at him. Just like every other time they kicked him in the stomach like a Mack truck.

  “Am I dreaming again?” Lailah whispered.

  “Sorry, babe,” Hunter whispered back, then started to cough again and then he was spewing blood everywhere. “More like a bloody nightmare,” He wished he could have reassured her that everything would be okay. That he had scared off the bad guy for now. But the darkn
ess swirled around him and Hunter knew he wouldn’t have time to do anything but reach out for her. Hunter thought she had been reaching back as the floor came up to swallow him.

  * * *

  Lailah let out a little gasp, as her dream guy collapsed next to her in a bloody heap. Lailah scrambled out of the way, her head pounding like she had a drum solo being played inside it. She shook her head, trying to clear it, the man she had been dreaming about for the last month was bleeding to death next to her. Lailah reached for him only to jerk back in pain. Looking down at her left hand she saw the raised brand on her palm. And everything came rushing back to her.

  “Oh my god. OH. MY. GOD.” Lailah jumped up and then had to grab the bookshelf as she was swamped with dizziness, when it passed she looked around the now wrecked bookshop. It looked like a small bomb had gone off in there.

  “Sally?” Lailah called out but didn’t get an answer. How the hell was that possible? Hadn’t she just been in the back room? How long had she been out?

  Lailah needed to find Sally, and then she was tripping over dream guy. Who was still bleeding out on the floor?

  “Shit. Shit. Shit.” Lailah wrung her hands. What the hell was she supposed to do? How had her life gotten so fucked up?

  Lailah felt horrible, he had obviously tried to save her from Banner, and the bastard had shot him. With her right hand, she reached out to him and lifted up his shirt. Maybe she could heal his wounds. It was the least she could do. After all he had scared off Banner for her. But she had never healed anything like this before. Lailah laughed hysterically, then bit her lip. Lailah needed to get control of herself if she was going to do anything, losing her shit wouldn’t be a good idea. No, she needed to stay calm. And maybe saying that a million more times would make it so. Then she reminded herself she had fixed paper cuts, and small wounds. Not, she counted, then recounted, and for shits and giggles, counted again. SHIT, six, SIX, gun shots wounds. And one was a sucking wound.

  SHIT. SHIT. SHIT. Lailah needed to fix this, she couldn’t just let him die. He was her dream guy right? And how the hell was that possible? Dream guys were supposed to stay in your dreams, not become real, right? She was losing her mind. That was all there was to it. At some point in the last couple of days she had died and none of this was real.

  Lailah pinched herself, “Ouch.”

  Now she wasn’t sure if she was going to laugh hysterically or burst into tears.

  A rational person would call the cops. But, Banner works for the cops! Lailah told herself. Yeah calling the cops was a bad idea. So then what the hell was she supposed to do?

  But then she heard the cop sirens in the distance, “Oh crap! Is that a good thing or bad thing?” she asked the unconscious man. When there was no answer not even a flinch. Lailah opted for freaking out just a little, “SALLY!” Lailah bellowed, she couldn’t do this, she needed help. There was just know way this was happening. She couldn’t do this on her own. When Sally didn’t come running from the back room Lailah looked down at the bleeding dream man.

  “Okay I can do this,” She steeled herself, bleeding guy first.” Lailah muttered and lifted his shirt as far as she could get it, the first wound she came to was a hole in his stomach, it was oozing blood and Lailah placed her unbranded hand over it. She imagined the bullet and pulling it out nice and slow, correcting all the damage as she went. After what felt like an eternity, Lailah felt the bullet brush her palm. She was immensely proud of her self and held it up with a smile. “Gotcha you slimy bastard.”

  Lailah threw the bullet over her shoulder and was about to move to the next bullet hole when there was a brilliant flash of fire and a gorgeous blonde guy appeared in front of her.

  Lailah couldn’t help it maybe it was a combination of everything else that had happened that day but she screamed. What else was she supposed to do? How often do gorgeous blonde guys appear in a ball of fire?

  For his part, the blonde guy didn’t look upset or moved by her reaction to him.

  “What the fuck happened to my brother?” he asked rushing over to the man on the floor.

  “He tried to save me,” Lailah stammered. Moving away from the man on the floor. “I was trying to help, but I’m very slow.”

  The guy nodded, then wrapped the man on the floor in his arms. They glowed with fire for a minute. If the situation hadn’t been so surreal Lailah was sure she would have thought it beautiful the orange and blue of the fire surrounding the two men. But instead she just sat there with her mouth hanging open like a fish out of water. She was sure she was impressing the man, whoever he was.

  Lailah knew about the Other world. Knew she was special, new something different was just out of reach. But this level of other was way beyond her, and honestly she was just a little afraid, and seeing it this up close and personal left her speechless. When the blonde finally released Lailah’s dream guy gently placing him back on the floor. Lailah checked him, his wounds were all closed and his breathing was back to normal.

  “That’s amazing. Did you just heal him?” Lailah asked.

  “Yes. Now who did this.” the blond demanded.

  “A detective by the name of Lincoln Banner, he went nuts and…” Lailah didn’t know how to explain what he had done. And then she remembered Sally. Jumping to her feet, she swayed again, and the blonde had to stop her from toppling over.

  “You okay?” he asked.

  “Yes just not feeling well. I think I might have hit my head in the struggle.” Her fingers went to the back of her head, and came again sticky with blood.

  “Yup,” he nodded, “You probably have a concussion.”

  “I need to find Sally,” Lailah said. Using the bookcases as leverage, Lailah made her way to the back of the store and the storeroom where she had left Sally. Sally was tied to a chair and slumped over. Lailah reached for her with shaky hands, but then she pulled them back scared her boss and friend might be dead. So many people she knew had been hurt, Lailah couldn’t live with herself if something bad happened to Sally because of her.

  “She isn’t dead,” the blonde said next to her.

  “How do you know?” Lailah asked.

  “Victor,” He held a hand out. “Reaper over Violence and I can hear her heartbeat.”

  Lailah turned to him with her mouth hanging open, “Reaper? Like Grim Reaper? Like Death?” She stared at the hand he was offering and then back up to his dark eyes, “Shut up!”

  He gave her a big smile, “I appeared in a ball of fire. That alone should have given me away.”

  Lailah shook her head, “How does showing up in a ball of fire give you away as a Reaper?”

  Victor snorted, “Do you know of any other creatures that show up in a ball of fire?”

  “I don’t know any other Others, so no.” Lailah told him honestly. Then turned back to Sally

  “She seems to be okay.” Lailah reached to untie her.

  “You should probably just leave her tied up,” Victor said.

  “I can’t just leave her tied up like this,” Lailah implored. “It’s barbaric.”

  “And untying her and laying her on the dirty floor is better?” Victor asked.

  Lailah looked around, he had a point. “Can you maybe carry her up to the apartment upstairs?” she asked.

  “Okay, first of all what are you going to tell your friend her about what happened out there?” Victor asked stepping over to Sally.

  Again something Lailah didn’t know the answer to. “I can’t just leave her tied to a chair in the stock room,” Lailah snapped. “She didn’t do anything wrong. She is innocent here.”

  Victor sighed, “Of course she is, however, let’s get our ducks in a row before deciding what to do with her.”

  “We need to get her out of here,” dream guy said coming into the room, he suddenly took up all the extra space in the little stock room, and Lailah felt like she was really small. Lailah wanted to jump up and run her hands all over him to make sure he was okay. After all the last time she had
seen him he had been unconscious in a puddle of his own blood.

  “You okay?” Victor asked him.

  “I’ve had better days,” dream guy said running a hand over his short hair. Victor snorted with laughter.

  “Yeah I saw that when I showed up.” Victor quipped.

  Then dream guy turned back to her and she was struck again by how large he was, how strong he looked even though he was covered in his own blood. He looked bigger than life itself, but she was also kneeling on the floor. Lailah jumped to her feet, and then she was swaying again and had to catch herself on the table.

  “She’ll be safest in the Infernos,” Lailah heard them saying. When the world stopped spinning and the pounding in her ears eased.

  “Interesting plan, however, you will need to have Dante’s permission. And therefore you will need to inform him of her are you ready to do that?” Victor asked.

  “Excuse me, are you talking about me?” Lailah asked.

  The two men turned to her, Victor gave her a smile the other man just continued to glare. “You are in danger here. The mortal plane is not safe for you right now.”

  “I am not in danger here. This is all Jimmy’s fault if I could just find the little bastard I could straighten this entire situation out,” Lailah explained she wasn’t sure about the new brand she now wore, but she hid her hand behind her thigh. She would have to think about the brand, but until then the Reapers didn’t need to know about it.

  “What happened to the Fallen watching her?” Victor asked.

  “Wait what?” Lailah asked. “Fallen, what’s that?”

  “He was half the damn problem,” the other man said.

  “Okay, who are you?” Lailah finally asked her dream guy. Because being her dream guy only got him so far. His leeway had ended about thirty seconds ago. These two were getting on her nerves having this conversation about her right in front of her without consulting her.

  “I don’t appreciate you two talking about me like I’m not here. So start explaining yourself. And you can start by telling me who the hell you are?” Lailah tried for a glare but she knew because he was so good looking her glare was more like a squishy I’ll like you if you like me back sorta glare.