Reaper: A raven paranormal romance (Crookshollow ravens Book 2) (12 page)

“Cole, keep your voice down. Someone might hear you.”

“We were just talking about trust … just two minutes ago … After everything that last boyfriend of yours put you through, and after everything I told you about myself, I didn’t think you would betray me—”

“I didn’t betray you. Tony kissed
me
. He got his signals confused. It meant nothing, Cole. I swear. But how do you know this? Who is Libby?”

“I don’t have time to explain that now. Who is this guy you weren’t kissing?” He still looked angry, but he’d lowered his voice.

“Tony is a prisoner here, too. He was a student in Victor’s laboratory, but he owes Victor a lot of money, so Victor has him trapped here in the castle. He’s the one who discovered the truth about the birds—”

The door flew open. Victor stood in the hall, a black bathrobe wrapped around his skinny frame. His face twisted in anger when he saw Cole by the window. “What’s going on in here?” He bellowed.

Cole leapt at him, his fingers curled like talons. He growled low in his throat as he grabbed Victor by the neck and yanked him off his feet. Victor’s face contorted as he struggled for air. He kicked at Cole’s naked torso, but Cole didn’t seem to feel a thing as he slammed Victor’s body against the wall, holding him up high while he pressed his fingers into Victor’s throat.

“You took her,” he snarled at his old master. “That was a mistake. This is the last time you ever threaten me or the people I love.”

Victor’s eyes bugged out. He tried to speak, but all that came out was a strangled sob. The skin around his face grew pale. Cole’s eyes blazed with fury. He was going to kill Victor, right there.

“Cole, no!” I grabbed his arms and tried to pull him back. “Don’t do this! Don’t kill him.”

Cole growled again, and flung his shoulder back, sending me reeling. I flew across the room and landed in a heap at the foot of the bed.

“I’m sorry, Belinda.” He snarled through gritted teeth. “I didn’t mean to push you. But I’m not letting him get away with hurting anyone else, ever again.”

“Cole, don’t do it.” I sobbed, picking myself up. “If you kill him now, that makes you a murderer, just like him. Please Cole, just let him go, and we’ll get the authorities in here. I have a friend on the police force who will storm down the doors the minute he hears what Morchard has been up to. Let them deal out the justice, not you.”

“Belinda …” Cole growled, his eyes still locked on Victor, whose legs had stopped twitching. His skin had turned a pale blue. “I’m sorry. I have to do this.”

“You don’t.” Tears pooled in my eyes. Cole had been so broken by Victor, but I didn’t want him to become a monster. “I know what that man has put you through, but you have a chance now at a real life. But not if you kill him. You’ll go to jail, you’ll be locked up forever. Is that what you really want, to escape one prison only to enter another?”

The vein on Cole’s temple twitched. He bared his teeth and cried out in frustration, tearing his arms from Victor’s neck. The man crumpled to the floor, clutching his neck and gasping for air.

Cole kicked him in the ribs, and Victor rolled onto his side, tears streaming down his blotchy face. “Fuck him,” Cole raced for me and scooped me off the floor. “You’re right, Nightingale, he’s not worth it. Let’s go.”

Footsteps clattered down the hall. Cole grabbed my arm and yanked me towards the window, but it was too late. A figure burst into the room.

“What’s going on?” It was Tony. He was dressed in cargo pants and no shirt. On his right pec I noticed an elaborate tattoo of a crest. His eyes darted to the figure of Victor crumpled on the floor.

“Hee … ack …” Victor clutched his throat and tried to speak, but nothing came out. Tony reached down and felt his pulse, his eyes wide with concern. “Shit. His pulse is low.”

“Step away from him, right
now.
” Cole growled, his muscles tensing.

Tony looked from me to Cole and back at Victor, his face twisting in an unreadable expression. “Belinda, what’s going on?”

“Tony, I’m so glad you’re here. This is Cole. He’s come to rescue us—”

“You.”
Cole spat, staring daggers at Tony. “You’re supposed to be dead.”

What? Did Cole know Tony? But how—

And what did he mean by, “You’re supposed to be dead”?

Tony took a step into the room, closing the door behind him. “I came back.” He said, as if that was any explanation.

“Tony, what’s going on?” I whipped my gaze from one guy to the other.

“Belinda, his name isn’t Tony. This is Harry Morchard, Victor’s son.”

“But that’s impossible. Victor’s son is—”

“—dead. Yes, he is.” Cole advanced towards Tony, pushing me behind his wide body. Every muscle rippled with tension, ready to uncoil and take flight. “I know, because I gatecrashed his funeral. So how is it that he’s now walking around the castle, kissing my girlfriend?”

I thought back to the strange way Victor acted around Tony. They had taken down all the pictures of their son, all the memories of him. But was that because they didn’t want to remember, or because they didn’t want me to recognise him?

“Yes,” Tony/Harry hissed. “You’re starting to get it.”

But … it couldn’t be. It was like the plot of a bad horror film. There was no way Tony could be Harry Morchard. No way ...

As I stared at him in disbelief, Tony’s face crumpled, his mouth turning up at the sides, revealing a line of straight, white teeth.
His incisors.
I remembered how I’d felt something sharp when he’d kissed me. I thought he was just clumsy, but now I could see that he was completely nonhuman.

Vampire.

Tony hissed as he lunged towards me, his fingers reaching towards my throat. Cole stepped sideways, driving his shoulder into Tony’s chest. Tony fell back against the bed, but he was up in a flash, his hands grasping at Cole’s throat. Cole grabbed Tony under the arms and slammed him against the wall.

“You … hurt … my … father.” Tony hissed, digging his fingers into the skin of Cole’s neck.

“You … Belinda.” Cole choked out, sweat running down his face as he struggled to hold Tony up.

“No, stop!” I screamed. They were going to kill each other. I grabbed Tony’s hands and tried to prise them off Cole’s neck. His nails dug deep into Cole’s skin, and blood ran down Cole’s torso in little rivers. His neck veins pulsed as he struggled to press him fingers into Tony’s pressure points.

Cole wrenched Tony’s body around, and with all his strength, threw him at the wall. Tony’s body hit hard and collapsed on the ground, crumpled in a heap next to his father. I turned back to the window, but then something barrelled into my side, knocking me to the floor.

Tony’s long fingers raked at my face, his mouth hung open above me. He laughed maniacally as those fangs, those horrific, terrifying fangs, loomed closer. He snapped his lips against each other, lunging at my throat.

I wrenched my head to the side just as he snapped his teeth. I yelped as his teeth grazed my neck. Had he bitten me? I didn’t know. Out of the corner of my eye I saw the crumpled figure of Cole, lying across the floor.
No.
I tried to swing my leg up and knee Tony between the legs, but he jammed my legs with his knee.

“Tony, why—”

“My name isn’t Tony,” he hissed, his eyes gleaming. “It’s Harry. Don’t worry, Belinda. I’m not going to kill you. This won’t hurt a bit.”

“You’re hurting me!” Tony pinned my arms with one hand. He had some kind of super strength. He loomed closer, grazing his tongue over my neck. I flung my body against his, trying to wiggle free, but there was no hope.

“Father approves of you,” he whispered in my ear, as his fingers stroked the nape of my neck. “That’s why he introduced us. He knows that now I can’t go back to school, but I must have a wife. I must continue his legacy. He thinks you will make a wonderful addition to our family. Our children will inherit all of this.”

He was going to turn me into a vampire.
Fear froze me in place.

Harry brushed his lips across my neck. His breath smelled of dead, rotting meat. I squeezed my eyes shut, bracing myself for the pain I knew would come.

But no pain came.

Instead, I heard a low, angry
croak
, and Harry cried out. He dropped my arms, his mouth moving away from my neck. Another low croak, and the whoosh of wind across my face, and Tony was screaming. The weight of his body moved off me. Now the only thing holding me in place was my paralysing terror.

I dared to open one eye.

The fear that held me frozen in place dissipated, and I moved my limbs, slowly, like moving through treacle. I turned towards the source of all the noise.

Cole.
He was caught halfway through his shift, his body covered in the thick, black feathers that poked through his skin, his head partially contorted with the features of the raven. He lowered his sharp beak over Tony’s face, and jabbed at him. Tony screamed, and grabbed handfuls of Cole’s feathers, tearing them from his skin.

“Belinda,” Cole squawked, raking his half-formed talons across Tony’s face. “Find a weapon!”

I pulled myself to my feet and searched the room for something I could use. The legs of the French side tables were too thin and flimsy, and I’d never be able to break one off. The lamp was a possibility, but… If only I’d lit the fire—

The fire.

I raced across the room and grabbed the poker from the fire set, and returned to Cole. “Here.” I tossed it to him. He lifted one foot and caught it in his talons, and before I could cry out, he jammed it directly through Tony’s chest.

“No!” Tony gasped, his hands flying to the shaft. But Cole’s blow had been so forceful he’d pierced it straight through Tony’s body, and nailed him to the floor. I wanted to turn away but I was frozen in place.

Tony’s eyes rolled back in his head. He opened his mouth in a silent scream, and thick, viscous black fluid bubbled out. He gurgled, his hands flailing wildly for some purchase, but there was none. Cole scrambled across the floor, shifting back into his human form. He wrapped his arms around me.

“Come on,” He dragged me towards the window. “It might take him some time to die. You don’t want to see it.”

“But Tony—”

“He’s a vampire, and I’ve staked him through the heart. He was dead already, I just made sure he stayed that way. He won’t be bothering you ever again.”

A shiver ran through my body that had nothing to do with the cold. I’d wanted Cole to avoid becoming a murderer, but then I’d helped him kill Tony. But there wasn’t any time to contemplate what we’d done. Cole pushed the window open as far as it would go. “You should fit through here,” he said, motioning for me to get up on the sill.

“And we’re back to this again. We’re three storeys up. I can’t jump out this window. I’ll break my neck.”

Cole grabbed my shoulders, wrenching my head towards him, his eyes burning into mine. “This is important, Belinda. We have to move quickly. Do you still trust me?”

I had a split second to consider it. I was still reeling from seeing him kill for me, and from his mistrust about Tony, which had turned out to be completely founded. Here he was, and he didn’t have fangs. He wasn’t trying to drink my blood. “Yes.”

“Then jump out the window.”

I heard footsteps running down the hall, people shouting. All the shouting and fighting must have woken others up. Victor’s two remaining Bran might even be on their way, and I didn’t want us to meet them. Legs shaking, I pulled myself up onto the sill, wincing as I cut my finger on the sharp edges of the glass. I ducked my head through, and looked down. I saw a strange shape wobbling below me, like a large waterbed. Beside it was Alex. She flicked the light of her mobile phone up at me and gave me the thumbs up.

I took a deep breath, pushing my mind through its unwillingness, and jumped.

The wind rushed up around me. I screamed as I fell through emptiness. Then, I hit something, and bounced high in the air. I gasped as I hit again, and flopped on to my stomach. I was lying on a huge inflated bounce pad, like the kind used in stunt shoots on movies.

A hand reached out and pulled me towards the edge. “Quickly,” Alex gripped me under the arms while I steadied myself. I wanted to ask where on earth she’d got that huge bouncy mat from, and how she’d got it into the courtyard without one of the ravens poking a hole in it with its sharp beak But there wasn’t time. She dragged me towards the gate. “Before they come back.”

“Where’s Cole?” I glanced back behind me, just in time to see a black raven soar from the window and fly over our heads. It was heading for the aviary.

“He’ll take care of himself,” Alex dragged me out the open gate of the courtyard. We met no resistance. The raven guards were nowhere to be seen.

Alex and I raced along the side of the castle, as security lights flickered on all around us. Behind us I heard the flapping of wings. I turned. Two birds swooped around the side of the tower, heading straight for us, their beady eyes gleaming in the moonlight. I caught the glint of a ring around the first bird’s inner wing.

Pax and Poe.

“Duck!” I forced Alex’s head down just as they swooped over us, talons thrust forward. The wind of their wings sent shivers across my skin. They spun around in the air and swooped for us again. I grabbed Alex’s arm and dived behind a flower bed.

“Simon is waiting out there.” She pointed to the north gate. But how would he get there without being skewered by a Bran? The birds arced through the air on their return journey, and Alex and I dived for the shelter of the next flower bed.

Raaaarrrrrrraooooow!

Just as the birds soared past us, two cats leapt out of the roses and pounced. A calico cat swiped at one bird and it flew off, squawking in protest. The fat tortoiseshell hit the other bird square in the chest, knocking them both to the ground.

Chairman Meow!

It really was him, tumbling with that raven, howling with rage as he swiped at it with all claws drawn.

Before my eyes, he began to shift, his cat paws growing long. He held the Bran’s black ring between his two fingers and yanked it hard. The Bran squawked in terror, and beat its wings furiously, trying to escape.