Unreap My Heart (The Reaper Series) (15 page)

To the Ogre he said, “You better keep up. If they catch you, I am not coming back for you.” To Arianne he added, “Am I making myself clear?” When he saw them nod, he pointed at the Ogre. “Can you carry her?”

Without another word, Uluru picked up Arianne and placed her on its shoulder. “Hold on,” it grumbled at her.

Arianne hugged its neck tight. Satisfied she wouldn’t fall off, Balthazar bolted in the opposite direction of the coming group of ghouls. Heavy stomping steps followed. A pine or two toppled. He would have liked a less noisy getaway, but when an Ogre was involved, nothing muffled its movement.

Getting them out of there as fast as he could became Balthazar’s priority.

They hadn’t been running long when the ghouls’ laughter—a series of
yip, yip, yips
—surrounded them. Balthazar skidded to a stop at the foot of the mountain when a group of five ghouls blocked his way. He turned around but another group blocked the way they came. Their green eyes glowed in the dark like two pinpoints. The Ogre growled, baring its teeth. But the ghouls—with their sharp claws, numerous teeth, and crumpled faces—weren’t intimidated in the least. They only laughed all the more, their tattered clothing hanging on rail thin bodies. The weird thing about ghouls was that no matter how much they ate, they never gained an ounce. That made them doubly eager to keep eating. They were like the hyenas of the Underverse. Vicious. They didn’t stop until they captured their prey.

Balthazar didn’t wait for the ghouls to make the first move. He struck out with his scythe, cutting down three of the five in front of him. The other two dodged his attack and hissed. Quick as bullets, the ghouls shot out of the night and came at them in all directions. Balthazar prepared to attack and create a hole for them to get through when Arianne was suddenly thrust into his arms.

“Go!” the Ogre bellowed.

“No!” Arianne reached for him.

But Balthazar didn’t wait. He jumped as high as he could to clear the closing in ghouls, leaving the Ogre to fend for itself.

“Balthazar! No!” Arianne screamed in his ear. “We have to go back. We have to help Uluru. They’re going to kill him.”

And as if to prove her point, the Ogre let out a gurgled cry. But Ogres were resilient creatures. No matter how young, the Ogre would last against the ghouls for quite a while.

Balthazar jumped from one pine to the next. “My bargain is with you,” he said. “To protect you. I’m doing that right now.”

“Forget the bargain,” Arianne begged, tears clearly in her voice. “We need to help him. We need to go back! We can’t just leave him!”

With each sentence, Arianne grew more and more hysterical. Balthazar ignored her and kept going. He knew of a cave they could hide in for the rest of the night. It would keep them safe until morning. An Ogre would provide the ghouls with enough distraction. Ghouls didn’t have very long memories. In minutes, all their attention would be on the Ogre and they’d forget about the other two running away from them.

When the Ogre’s growls and grunts seemed farther away, Balthazar said to a now limp Arianne, “You can’t let his sacrifice be in vain, Arianne.”

In the saddest voice he’d ever heard, Arianne said, “I hate you.”

Chapter 16

IMHO

I
N
A C
AVE
, miles away from where they’d left Uluru, Arianne cried. It started as sobs, then after what seemed like hours, settled into hics and huffs. She lay on Balthazar’s coat with her back to him while he stood watch at the cave’s entrance. She didn’t know why she cried. She’d only met Uluru tonight, but something about the Ogre had touched her. Now seemed like as good a time as any to mourn everyone she’d lost. She had nothing better to do until morning when she and Balthazar continued their journey. Right now, she cried. For Carrie. For Ben. For Uluru, who must be dead too.

In the morning—or at least she thought it must be morning when Balthazar woke her—Arianne asked him for water so she could wash out her sore eyes. He nodded and left. Minutes later he came back with a clear plastic bag filled halfway. Balthazar pinched a corner until the water trickled out. Arianne cupped her hands over the stream and splashed her face with what she collected. The coolness felt good on her hot eyes.

Balthazar didn’t meet her gaze when she looked at him. Was that guilt on his face? She couldn’t be sure because he kept his expression pretty blank.

Arianne breathed in deep and let the cool air in the cave wake her up. She still had a long way to go mourning her best friend and sister, but after last night, she could make it through the rest of the trip. She could always fall apart again when she returned to her body. By then she’d have Niko back.

“What next?” she asked as Balthazar dumped the rest of the water outside the cave.

He snorted. “You talking to me again?”

“Don’t be such a baby.” Arianne stood up from where she spent the night and rolled out the cricks in her neck and back. “I’m pissed that you left—”

“In case you’re forgetting, you’re the one I’m supposed to protect.”

She ignored his interruption. “You left Uluru to die. I’m still pissed at you for doing that. You could have taken all those ghouls.”

“How can you be so sure?” he challenged.

“You want to be the next Death. Isn’t that why you’re helping out? If you weren’t strong enough to take on the current Death then you’d be stupid to challenge him. But something tells me you’re not stupid. So, yeah, forgive me for thinking you are strong enough to wipe the forest floor with those ghouls.”

The guilt left his eyes, replaced by his usual seriousness. “You done whimpering?”

“Is there a way we could—”

“No.” Balthazar knew she wanted to search for Uluru. Their connection and all that.

“Come on!”

“Don’t make me command you to come with me.” He pointed at the tattoo on his wrist.

Arianne’s eyes widened. “You wouldn’t.”

“Granmare Baba said so long as I have this that you’re my slave.” He grinned. “Slaves do what their masters tell them to.”

“I’ll see you try. Slaves revolt.”

“This isn’t a negotiation, Arianne. We don’t have time to run around the Underverse in search of an Ogre.” He tilted his head toward the ring on her finger.

Arianne watched the pulse. Definitely weaker now. She closed her hand into a fist. “Then I want to make a grave for him.”

“You’ve got to be kidding me.”

Done arguing, Arianne stomped out of the cave and gathered as many rocks as she could. When her arms were full, she dumped her load at one side of the cave entrance. Balthazar, his coat back on, joined her. He stood at the other side of the entrance and crossed his arms.

“You might as well make yourself useful and grab more rocks,” she said over her shoulder.

Rocks floated to join the ones she arranged into a small mound. She glanced over her shoulder at a bored looking Balthazar. He had his eyes on the sky, seeming not to pay attention to her at all.

“Neat trick.”

He grimaced. “Just hurry it up. I want to get to the Voyeur before nightfall.”

Arianne continued her rock arrangement. “Something tells me you’re not as bad as you make yourself out to be.”

Another one of those nasally snorts. “You on the Angel’s tears again?”

“I’m serious.” Arianne grabbed the rocks that floated toward her and added them to the mound. “If you’re Mr. Bad Guy, why are you helping me with Uluru’s grave?”

“You said you wanted me to be useful,” Balthazar said. “So I’ll be useful if it’s going to speed things up.”

Arianne used a small smile to banish the coming sadness again and focused on her work. Then something Uluru said to her made sense. “Were you the one who killed Uluru’s parents?”

The long pause confirmed her suspicions.

“It’s eat or be eaten here,” he grumbled.

“That’s not an answer to my question.” Arianne wanted to hear Balthazar say it.

“I needed the life force. I wasn’t going to see the Voyeur at less than full strength.”

“Still not an answer.”

“All right!” Balthazar snapped. “I killed the Ogre’s—”

“Uluru.”

He sighed. “I killed Uluru’s parents for their life force. There, you happy?”

“No.” Arianne stood up when she finished putting the mound together. Her heart felt heavy. What did she think? That Balthazar could be more than who she thought he was? A sinking feeling told her it might be foolish to hope he had some real kindness in him.

Just when the last of her hope drained away, a bright pink flower floated her way. Arianne stared at Balthazar a long time. He still had his eyes on the sky. She moved her gaze from him to the flower then back again. Forget where he found the pretty thing, the fact that it floated to her gave her hope some life.

“What’s wrong?” Balthazar looked at her then, no emotion on his face or eyes, but Arianne knew better. She felt the embarrassment in his thoughts. “Don’t they put flowers on graves where you come from? Stupid practice if you ask me. They just die anyway.”

Letting the last of what he said go, Arianne plucked the flower out of the air and placed it on top of the mound she’d made for Uluru. She said a silent prayer not only for the Ogre but also for everyone she’d lost. For Carrie, that she might be happy wherever she found herself. For Ben, that he would find his way back to Carrie, knowing how much he loved her sister. And lastly, she thanked Uluru for sacrificing himself without really knowing the big picture. Balthazar was right. She shouldn’t let the Ogre’s sacrifice be in vain.

She wiped away the last of her tears and faced Balthazar. He stood a few feet from her. He had the same serious look in his eyes.

“What’s the plan?” she asked.

He blinked. “I got some information last night that leads me to believe the Ghoul Woods are chaotic right now. If we’re careful, I think we might make it through without any problems.”

Arianne raised an eyebrow at him. “And where did you get this information from exactly?”

Balthazar grinned, showing her some fang. “Let’s just say I ran into more than just the Ogres.”

She frowned.

“Too soon?”

She waited until Balthazar continued.

“Look, it seems the Ghoul Woods have become Voyeur territory. She killed the king and took the prince for her lover.”

“Ghouls aren’t very organized. Even with the monarchy.” Arianne dug through the information in her head. Ghouls had kings and queens only because they needed someone to lead them. The process of choosing who led them was a brutal and bloody one—often the winners ate the losers. May the strongest ghoul win, basically. She swallowed.

“With their prince shacking up with the Voyeur, it means they’re more disorganized than usual. We might just have a chance.”

Arianne shivered. “After seeing them last night, why would anyone…
you know
.”

A corner of Balthazar’s lips twitched. “You’d be surprised. The ghouls you saw last night were the bottom feeders. Not all of them look like they stepped out of a
Walking Dead
set.”

“You know that show?”

“Arianne—” he grinned fully now “—there’s so much about me you don’t know.”

“That’s what I’m afraid of.”

Balthazar turned away from her and walked to the edge of the entrance of the cave. She was so preoccupied with her grief and the need to honor Uluru’s sacrifice that she hadn’t noticed that the cave opened out to a cliff face high above the ground. In the distance spread the tall top-heavy trees of the Ghoul Woods. The shiver that rattled down her back didn’t come from the prospect of walking into the place the ghouls called home but what Balthazar said next.

“You should be afraid, little girl.”

Chapter 17

SH

C
ONFUSION
P
LAGUED
B
ALTHAZAR
. For every tear Arianne shed last night, he felt a knife go through his chest. Very irritating, if you asked him. With each hour she sobbed, he wanted to run away. To find a place where he couldn’t hear her hiccups and hitches. But he stayed at the mouth of the cave all night, keeping guard. He endured her pain. He’d caused it. He should have been happy about it, but he wasn’t. Still disturbed that he wasn’t, actually.

He shouldn’t be feeling all torn up over some tears and puffy eyes. But he couldn’t help himself. Had he gone soft? He shuddered.
Oh hell no!

At the entrance to the Ghoul Woods, Balthazar stopped.

“What is it?” was the first thing Arianne had asked him all day. He had to admit—only to himself—that having her quiet unnerved him more than when she yammered. A quiet chick was a chick stewing. In his experience, nothing good came from a stewing chick.

The silence within the woods raised Balthazar’s guard. Normally, smaller creatures, mostly wood nymphs and several species of birds, created enough background noise. Today, the woods were dead still.