The Revolt (The Reapers: Book Two) (34 page)

Tucker followed Len and I looked at Thad.
“You have any idea what they’re talking about?”

He looked out the windshield for a long
moment before he met my gaze, with sadness in his eyes.
“Caleb.”

He opened his door and got out, shutting it
gently behind him. I followed him in time to hear him say, “We’re
in place.” His earpiece would transmit his words to the rest of the
team in the woods.

I suppressed the urge to race to the house to
destroy Caleb myself, and focused on what I needed to do at that
moment – save Angelica and free Briarton. I chanted the words like
a life line. It felt like the world around me was slipping away
into chaos and darkness.

The woods were quiet, the aspens blowing
gently in the breeze, and the snow sparkled where moonlight made it
through the branches to the ground. The only sounds were those of
the trees creaking in the breeze, like even the forest animals were
holding their collective breath, waiting to see who would win the
fight.

The dirt driveway was covered in a layer of
snow, hardpacked enough to be icy and slippery. I was glad to be
wearing a pair of boots with good tread, but I still walked
gingerly. I didn’t want to miss the fight because I fell and broke
a wrist.

We’d barely made it 50 feet from the car when
two of Varius’s men, both in full combat gear, flanked me. They
shoved Thad ahead of us to get on either side of me. I didn’t
recognize them, and they were both taller and wider than me and
Thad put side by side. They walked next to me without a word.

“Hey,” I said. “What’s going on?”

When neither of my bookends spoke, Thad
filled the silence. “They’re protecting you. Varius doesn’t want to
lose its investment.”

Well, shit. I suddenly wished I’d negotiated
more terms. Like protection for Thad and a promise that everything
possible would be done to get Angelica and Bruce out of that house
safely.

“You two going to let me help out when it’s
time to fight,” I asked.

Again, Thad answered for them. “I seriously
doubt it, Kelsey. It’s probably better this way, you don’t have
enough training.” He said the last with a mocking lilt.

“Screw you.” My words came out more of a
whimper than a growl and I realized I was thoroughly nervous about
what we were walking into.

“I’d love to, baby, but we’d miss the fight,”
he said, with a leer and a wink.

I laughed and it felt really good. A little
fear and tension faded away, and Thad shot me a smile that lit up
his face and reminded me how good-looking he was. As if I needed a
reminder. I stopped walking and grabbed his arm gently to get him
to stop and look at me.

“You don’t have to do this,” I said. “This
isn’t really your fight.”

He shook his head. “This is what I’m trained
to do, Kelsey, and I’m not going to go sit in the car like a
five-year-old. What use is a super hero if he doesn’t fight?”

He turned and started walking again. I
followed him into what looked like my worst nightmare.

About ten living people were fighting Varius
guards on the porch. There were screams and gunshots and writhing
masses of fighting people, looking completely out of place around
that fancy log cabin. There were motionless bodies from both sides
on the porch and on the ground around the house. Above it all,
about thirty more reapers were fighting on the roof, and their
fights were the worst, because the loser lost their soul.

“You’re needed inside, ma’am,” one of my
bodyguards said, revealing a thick southern accent.

They shuffled me in without another word,
Thad leading the way. A burly man in camo stepped in front of the
door and blocked our path. I might have mistaken him for a Varius
guy, except that all of the Varius team were dressed in black. He
smiled, revealing a missing front tooth, and Thad punched him. The
man reeled, but didn’t move out of the doorway, so Thad ducked
under the man’s return punch and rammed his head into his gut,
barreling him through the door and out of our way.

We followed Thad and the doorman inside. They
were fighting, but it looked like the doorman was getting the worst
of it, so I followed my bodyguards into the back of the house.

I had expected to see more fighting on the
inside, but the interior of the house was surprisingly quiet and
empty. I guessed that the orders from at least one of the teams was
to keep the fighting outside, but I figured it had to be Rose’s
team who made that request, so they could complete the
ceremony.

The kitchen was large and modern, with
stainless steel appliances and a sunny yellow backsplash. The
center island was being used like an altar, and Bruce was lying on
top of it. His wrists and ankles were bound and linked to the
ceiling by chains, and his skin, around the bindings, was bloody
and raw, like he’d fought against the restraints. He turned his
head to look at me when I walked in, but gave no sign of
recognition.

Behind him stood a woman I’d never seen
before, and Rose. Rose smiled at me when I walked in. “And here’s
the cause of all our trouble.”

“Kelsey, you have to help him.” I turned and
saw Angelica seated at the kitchen table, and next to her was a man
with a gun pointed at her temple.

Yvonne and Caleb were on the other side of
the room, and Yvonne smiled like she was at a dinner party. Caleb
frowned at me and looked away.

My bodyguards had moved to the hall between
the kitchen and the living room. The two of them together were wide
enough to make it impossible for anyone to squeeze past.

“Kelsey,” Yvonne said carefully. “Please tell
Caleb what you told me. You’ve chosen to join Varius, because you
want to be with him.”

“Yvonne, stop leading her,” Caleb said. There
was anger in his voice, but when he looked at me, I saw hurt and
betrayal in his eyes. “She’s here to save her friends.”

Shit. I hated being put on the spot. I was
never one for thinking on my feet. “Please, let Angelica and Bruce
go. They don’t have anything to do with this.”

Caleb’s face twisted in anger. Yvonne patted
his shoulder, but her gaze was on me. She flicked her eyes to
Angelica in a very definite gesture. “We understand your attachment
to your friends, Kelsey, and I can assure you we will do everything
we can to save them.” She looked toward Angelica again. “As I told
you before, you and Caleb will be able to be together only if he
rejoins Varius.”

I had no idea what Yvonne was up to, but I
suspected my words could save or kill Angelica. “This isn’t right,
Caleb. I know you were willing to settle in Briarton for me, but…
you have so much to offer, that I know you’ll never be happy
here.”

“I’d be happy anywhere if I was with you,” he
said. Yvonne smiled and nodded at me over his shoulder.

“I don’t want you to have to give up your
family and your job. I know how much they mean to you. So I went to
Varius and I signed a three year contract. Please…” Yvonne frowned
and Caleb’s eyes went wide.

“You signed a contract with them before you
knew if I’d go back. What if I decided to stay here?”

I pushed down my rising panic and tried to
imagine that I did love Caleb, that I would do anything to be with
him. What would he have done in my place? “It’s like when you
wanted to work with Len, and you promised us to him as a package
deal. I want to work for Varius and really make the most of my
powers. I want you to join me there and I know you will, because I
know you love me.”

Caleb’s expression hardened. “Have you ever
said anything to me that wasn’t a lie? You aren’t who I thought you
were, Kelsey. You don’t have any imagination or ambition. You’re
just selfish, and cruel, and self-righteous like the rest of them.”
There was real pain on his face, but I didn’t feel bad for hurting
him. All of my emotion was reserved for Angelica and Bruce. Caleb
looked at Yvonne. “And what do you want?”

Yvonne didn’t flinch or look dismayed. “We
want Briarton and I understand you can get it for us.”

Caleb nodded and folded his arms across his
chest. “And you’ll destroy me if I don’t.”

Rose screeched and leapt across the table.
She knocked Yvonne to the ground, straddled her, and punched her in
the face. “I’ve done all of the groundwork here. This town is mine.
You said I could have it.”

Yvonne rolled her head to the side and spit.
“I’m beginning to rethink our deal, Rose.” She said the name like
it was a bad word. “Maybe you’re too stupid to work for me.”

Rose looked up to see both of my bodyguards
looming over her, guns trained on her head. She smiled, a hollow
angry gritting of teeth, and stood slowly. “I’m sorry. I let my
emotions get the better of me. It won’t happen again.”

I watched her walk over to her spot behind
Bruce, and a leaden ball of sadness and horror dropped into my
stomach. Yvonne wasn’t going to stop the ceremony, she was going to
make sure she controlled the well of power. I knew with certainty
that by signing that contract, I’d sold my soul to the devil. And
the devil was Yvonne.

“Just do it, Caleb. We don’t have time to
make you feel good about it,” Yvonne said as she stood and brushed
herself off. A dark bruise was beginning to blossom on one cheek.
Unfortunately, she didn’t have a broken nose and she wasn’t missing
any teeth. “Do it and I’ll let you come back to Varius and give you
a body.”

I hoped she was lying to him. If I had to
work with Caleb… It didn’t matter, all that mattered was saving
Angelica and Bruce. Caleb paused and looked at me like he hoped…
but his expression quickly shifted to one of disgust.

“Do it now, Caleb, or I will destroy you,”
Yvonne gestured and a reaper stepped up and wrapped a hand around
Caleb’s arm.

He nodded and walked over to Bruce on the
counter. He started chanting over Bruce’s body, and the woman
standing across from him picked up a knife and chanted with him.
Their voices grew louder, but I didn’t feel anything. I hoped the
ritual would require the knife only as a symbol. Then the woman
with the perfect hair raised the knife over Bruce’s chest. His eyes
grew wide and Angelica’s scream ripped through the room. As soon as
the knife was raised, I started toward the counter, but when
Angelica screamed, I looked her way. She was struggling against the
man with the gun, trying to get to Bruce.

“Shoot her,” Yvonne said. Her voice was calm,
like she was asking someone to turn off the light.

I had to make a choice and I had no time to
think it through. Maybe, if I’d had more time, if I’d known how
everything was going to play out… But I didn’t. I leapt toward
Angelica with everything I had and knocked her to the ground as a
loud bang echoed through the room and pain lashed into me. I
couldn’t move or see anything other than bright stars. Overriding
the pulsing pain that coursed through my entire upper body,
darkness tried to take me under. I fought against it and the pain.
I ignored the sensation of hot blood pulsing out over my arm and
looked up to the counter. I couldn’t see what they’d done to Bruce,
but I could see his spirit rise above his body. The curly- haired
reaper who wanted Bruce, the one who’d cursed his family for
generations, rose with him and grabbed him.

I left behind my physical body and the pain.
I rose up and pushed the reaper off Bruce. He looked stunned, like
he didn’t know where he was or why someone was grabbing him. He
probably didn’t even realize he was dead.

“You have to fight—” I managed to get out
before the reaper hit me in the head hard enough to send me to the
ground. My life force was weakened by the gunshot wound and my head
was ringing. It took everything I had to roll out of the way of a
kick.

Bruce finally moved, but he didn’t fight
back. He dodged, his reaction time too slow, and tried to get away.
I studied his opponent and realized it was the ghost girl I’d seen
with him before. From my place on the ground, I swept my legs into
hers and knocked her to my level. “Bruce, run!” I yelled as she
fell.

He looked at me and then through the curtain
to Angelica, who still lay on the ground beneath my living body.
Thad stood over both of us with a gun pointed at the man who’d been
holding Angelica. There were five guns on Thad, but he smiled at me
and gave me the thumbs up with his free hand. I could see the
longing in Bruce’s eyes, and I knew he didn’t want to leave.

“Bruce,” I said between grunts as I rolled
myself onto the girl, straddled her, and started punching. My
punches were weak, but they kept her too occupied to buck me off
immediately. “You need to get away so I can go back and help her.”
Ghost girl growled at me and swatted me off like I was a fly.

Bruce started running and I grabbed ghost
girl’s ankle and pulled hard before she could take off after
him.

“He is mine,” she said, as she twisted easily
out of my grip and leapt to her feet.

I pushed myself up, feeling like I was moving
through tar, gathered every bit of energy I could into myself, and
ran after her. She was either a slow runner or I was just lucky,
because I managed to catch her and tackle her to the ground. “It’s
his choice to make,” I said.

“No, he belongs to me. He told me he loves me
and if you hadn’t chased him away—”

“If you want to live, Kelsey, you’ll let
Abigail go,” Yvonne said.

I loosened my grip enough to look up and
around for Bruce, but I didn’t see him anywhere. Hopefully, he had
gone into the light or wherever ghosts went when they left our
world. A burly male reaper appeared and grinned wickedly. “Let me
go, before it’s too late,” Abigail begged with a gasp in her voice
that sounded like desperation.

I let her go, because I was too tired and
weak to hold on any longer, and she fled. I returned to my body and
the pain hit me like a freight train. It took everything I had to
fight through the darkness and see Angelica. She screamed with a
despair that twisted something inside me, but no one was trying to
kill her, which seemed like a good thing. I forced myself to my
feet and the room spun. Suddenly, Thad was in front of me, his face
drifting in and out of focus.