Reaper (25 page)

“Not anymore,” William spat bitterly.

“Kids?”

“My wife left me. Took the kids with her to Texas.”

“Pets?”

“No, why are you asking me this?”

I shrugged. Really, I wanted to make sure it would be ok if he didn’t go home for a few days. “What about friends? Would anyone notice if you went missing?” I asked ominously.

“Please don’t kill me!” he begged.

“I’m not going to kill you!” I insisted, shocked he’d even think so. I didn’t think we gave off the I’ll-kill-you vibe. But then again…I did tie him to a chair and make several threats.

“Who are you?” The tremble in his voice was back.

I stared intently into his eyes. “You really have no idea?”

“No, I promise.” He held my gaze for a few seconds before looking at the floor. “You look like a normal, pretty young girl. I’m sorry I tried to take your dog.” His voice faltered. “My daughters would be devastated if someone kidnapped Mojo.”

“Then why did you agree to it?”

He shook his head and a leaf fell from his sandy blonde hair. “Easy money,” he admitted shyly. The fear began to ease out of him and disappointment took its place. He wasn’t proud of agreeing to do this.

 
The chinking sound of ice against glass became gradually louder as René entered the room.

“Thirsty?” she asked, extending the glass to Will.

“What is this?” He eyed the drink suspiciously.

“I believe they call it water.” René raised her eyebrows.

“And it’s not poisoned, if that’s what you’re thinking,” I added. “Watch.” I took the glass from René and took a sip. “Sorry if you don’t like sharing, but at least you know it’s safe.” I handed the glass back to René.

Confusion muddled William’s face. But before he could voice it, Ethan rushed into the house. He came to a halt behind me, looking daggers at Will. And if I thought William looked scared before, I was wrong. Standing over six feet and very well built, Ethan could easily put on the intimidator air.

“I’m so glad you’re here,” I told Ethan, feeling a lot better.
 

“Everything ok?” he asked again.

“Yes.” I put my hand on his waist. “Well, I guess.”

Ethan cleared his throat. “You have no idea how lucky you are that you didn’t hurt her.”

William tensed. “I-I that-never-I…that wasn’t the plan!” he tripped over every word.

Ethan circled Will. “You did a good job tying him, though the colored ropes…” He chuckled to himself. “I’ll get you some better ropes, ya know, for next time.”

“Thanks.” I smiled, understanding Ethan’s sense of humor. William watched Ethan the way a cornered mouse watches a cat. In a conscious move, Ethan crossed his arms, ‘accidentally’ pushing his jacket over to reveal his gun. With fear stained eyes William looked us all over. René, having set the glass down, held the shotgun casually at her side. The dagger was resting comfortably in my hand, Ethan had his gun and Hunter and two rows of very sharp teeth. William had reason to be nervous.

“Please let me go!” he whimpered, his bottom lip quivering slightly.

“Why, so you can run to your master and beg for forgiveness?” Ethan said coldly.

“Please! I don’t know what you’re talking about!”

Ethan rolled his eyes. “Like I haven’t heard that before.” He leaned close into Will’s face. “I should warn you, I hate liars.”

“I’m not lying!” William was on the verge of tears.

“Who sent you?” Ethan demanded.

“The l-lady.”

“Didn’t I just say I hate liars?” Ethan’s words pierced the air.

 
“All this talk about spells and masters and Guardians…I don’t know anything. You all are crazy!”

A nerve snapped. “Call me crazy one more time,” I warned, springing to my feet.

“Sorry, I’m sorry! I
promise
I don’t know anything!” He shook his head. A tear ran down his cheek. “One minute you’re threatening me, and then you’re offering me something to drink; now you’re threatening me again. I don’t know what you want!” he cried shrilly.

“You offered him a drink?” Ethan asked in disbelief.

I shrugged innocently. “Yeah, I thought maybe he was thirsty.”

Ethan looked disapprovingly at me for a whole two seconds. With a sigh, he waved René and me to follow him to the base of the stairs. “Ok, have you gotten any information from him?”

“Not really,” René whispered. “He insists that some lady he met at a bar offered him a thousand bucks to bring her Hunter.”

“Ethan,” I began. “He came after Hunter with a homemade grab stick. If he knew what a Guardian really was, then I think he’d have brought something else.” Hunter pressed his cold nose into my hand. An image transferred into my brain. “Hunter says he was scared of him the whole time.”

Ethan nodded. “Ok, let’s say this guy—”

“His name is Will,” I interrupted.

“Will then, let’s say he really doesn’t know anything. But the lady at the bar would have to,” Ethan said.

“That’s what we thought.” René smiled.

“Yeah.” I looked at William for a millisecond, trying to suppress the guilt. “He said the lady was gonna meet him this Tuesday night. So, I thought maybe we could keep him here until then, and let him ‘take’ Hunter to the bar. Then we can get to this mysterious woman.”

Ethan looked at me unblinking. “You want to hold a possibly innocent human hostage until Tuesday?” I nodded and he smiled. “Fine with me.”

“But how?” René asked what I was thinking. “He can’t stay tied up and I don’t think he’d stay willingly.”

“True, and I don’t really want him here,” Ethan said.

“It would be kinda weird,” I agreed.

“The barn?” Ethan suggested.

“I don’t trust him with my horses!”

“The old barn then.”

“Ok,” I agreed with Ethan. “And it’s not too cold so he might be kinda comfy. I can give him a book to read, too.”

Ethan and René both shot me a quizzical stare.

“Never mind,” I said and waved my hand. “Let’s get back in there.”

Ethan led the way back to our hostage. “Here’s the deal. For now, we’re gonna go with believing your story.” William relaxed considerably. “But you have to tell me everything about this lady.”

“She was at the bar when I got there. She was beautiful, like a young Pam Anderson, but classy. Guys were offering to buy her drinks all night, but she turned them down. Then, she caught my eye. We got to talking,
she
bought
me
a drink, and suggested we go for a walk.” He smiled, remembering the moment. “I thought she wanted to…” he winked at Ethan. Ethan smiled back; René and I both rolled our eyes. “Anyway,” William continued. “She brought up the dog. Said he was real special and would offer a reward for him.”

“Wait,” I said. “You offered to get him, didn’t you?”

William began to sweat. “Well, kinda I uh, uh, asked if I could help out.”

Hunter growled. I ran my hand over his head. “Continue,” I instructed.

“Well, s-she said, yes, I could help. And then she gave me the address and offered the money. Said she’d give me a few weeks to figure out how to get him. Then she gave me the date of when to meet her again.”

“And she never told you her name?” I asked.

“Yes.” William shook his head. “Though I doubted it was her real name then, and even more now. She said it was Mindy.”

Ethan narrowed his eyes. “Other than the obvious fact that she wanted you to kidnap a random dog, did anything else about her seem strange to you?”

“Yes,” William said rather quickly. “It was cold, cold enough to see your breath, and she was wearing a short, skin tight black dress. She never once shivered. I even offered my jacket, but she didn’t want it.”

Ethan pulled me aside; René followed. “Does that mean something?” I asked.

“Maybe,” Ethan spoke in a hushed voice. “You know that demons can appear in human form. But a lot of times they don’t act human.”

“Like wearing a coat when it’s cold,” René suggested.

 
Ethan nodded. “And if it is a demon, Will’s in trouble.”

And just like that, William went from our hostage to our accomplice.

Chapter 10 - Now I’m Here

After two hours of pointless attempts of convincing, we gave up and I cast the agree spell on Will, forcing him to heed our advice. He checked himself in to a hotel across town, spent Friday resting and watching movies, Saturday at the hotel’s spa, and Sunday attending cooking classes. René and I placed Devil’s Shoestring in every crevice of the hotel room.

Ethan was worried that William would find a way to contact Mindy and tell her about our plan of ambush. I had faith in my spell and trusted that William wouldn’t be able to break through what he agreed to do. I was also sure that if Mindy
did
know that three people plus a Guardian were waiting for her, there was no chance in hell she’d show up.

Since I had used up my vervain, I ordered a few bags off of a site I found on the internet. Thanks to priority shipping, it arrived Monday afternoon.

“This isn’t vervain,” I complained after I ripped open the bag.

“What?” René asked, looking up from her French book. “They sent you the wrong stuff?”

“No,” I said and turned to her. “It’s marked ‘vervain’, but it’s just cut up sticks!”

“Are you serious?”

“Yes!” I exclaimed. “Maybe
most
people who order stuff like this can’t tell basil from bay, but I need this! I need the real thing!”

“Maybe try another site?” René suggested.

“I need it by tomorrow.”

“Next day air?”

“Maybe,” I mused.
 
“But if it’s crap again, we’re screwed.”

“Don’t say the ‘S’ word,” Ethan called as he joined up in the family room. “Not before tomorrow,” he joked.

“Well, we kinda are,” I muttered and threw the fake vervain back into the box. “This stuff isn’t real.” I closed my eyes. “I don’t have time for this! It isn’t helping my headache.”

Ethan stepped over and pressed his hand to my forehead. “You still feel hot. I think you have a fever,” he told me for the second time today.

I shook my head “I don’t have time for a fever. Our plan to get Mindy is tomorrow.”

“I’m not sure if it’s still there,” Ethan started. “It’s worth a try, I suppose.” He shook his head before explaining. “There was a supply store—a
hunter
supply store—near where I used to live in Chicago. They might have vervain.”

“Alright, let’s go,” I said.

“Annie, you’re sick,” Ethan said as if that would stop me.

“I know, it sucks, but what I am gonna do? I’ll be fine until Wednesday. Then it’s ok to be sick.”

“You’re awfully stubborn,” René mentioned casually. She glanced at Ethan. “We’re kinda relying on you tomorrow—not to put pressure on you or anything,” she added with a slight smile. “If you’re sick and not functioning at your best, it could put us all in danger.”

“Good point,” Ethan agreed.

“Guys,” I interjected.
 
“I’m not dying. I
might
have a slight fever. If I hadn’t nearly drowned, I wouldn’t have gotten that cough and I’d be fine.”

“You’re not helping your case,” René teased. “You
just
stopped coughing.”

“And I feel better,” I pressed. “I can handle a car ride to Chicago.”

“Just stay home,” Ethan suggested. “Lie down and get some rest. If I leave now I’ll be back not too long after dark.”

“I can stay,” René offered.

“No,” I told her. “You have a French test at four. You’re not skipping.”

“I can make one test up,” she assured me as if it wasn’t a big deal. “That way you don’t have to be alone.”

“Hunter will be with her,” Ethan said. “So she won’t be. You really shouldn’t skip a test.”

René made a face and closed her text book. “I don’t think I’m gonna do too well on it anyway. I haven’t studied much.”

“I’m not worried about being alone,” I said slowly and ran my hands through my hair. “Ever since I reversed the spell I’ve been wondering what’s gonna happen next. I don’t know if this Mindy person is gonna target me or someone else…” I trailed off, shaking my head.

“You think she’s gonna target us,” Ethan finished.

“Yeah, I do. Obviously this person knows me and knows who I care about. It would make sense; you know as well as I do that the best way to get to me is through my friends.”

“If I see anything weird, I’ll call you,” René promised.

“Good,” I responded. I let out a deep breath. “Feeling like you’re living in a psychological thriller isn’t fun. At all. And I’m used to seeing things that aren’t technically there. Guys, it would
kill
me if anything bad happened to you and the insane guilt would probably drive me mad—for real this time. You’re worried about me being careful. Until this is over, we
all
need to be careful.”