Reaper Mine: A Reaper Novel (24 page)

“It was a surprise,” Victor admitted.

Dante’s eyes were furious. “Is that supposed to make me feel better?” He roared.

“Of course not.” Victor nodded.

“Have you figured out how the Tribunal is involved?” Dante demanded. “Or have you spent your time bedding the demi-god whore?”

“Not yet,” Victor admitted grinding his teeth and swallowing past the insult he had leveled over Elle’s character.

Dante slammed his hand against the arm rest of his throne causing it to crumble beneath his attack.

“Because of the female,” he spat.

Victor kept his mouth closed. “What exactly is she to you?” he demanded. Victor continued to keep his mouth closed. “Obviously a distraction. Do I need to have her killed?”

“She can’t be killed,” Christian offered.

“You are banned from the mortal plane,” Dante dictated.

Victor blanched. “No.” He stepped forward, making a stand. For the first time, he held his father’s gaze.

Dante glared at him. A collective gasp rose from his siblings.

“I will not walk away from her.” Victor spoke the words, unsure what he was doing or how Dante would react to outright mutiny. Dante could destroy Victor if he wanted. Send him to Hell, or place him in a Pandora’s Box for all of eternity. But Victor wouldn’t walk away from Elle. He would fight for her. Do whatever it took to keep her. Even stand up to Dante.

“I have made my decision, she is a distraction. One apparently you cannot handle. One of your brothers will handle the situation. You are banned from entering the mortal plane,” Dante said again. Victor felt the subtle shiver pass through him that would make it impossible for him to move out of the Infernos. Fury like nothing he had ever felt, replaced everything. All the pain and fear in him.

He had feared Dante his entire existence. But this fear? This fear of losing Elle? Of being taken away from her? This fury? It eclipsed all of that. He would fight his father for the right to protect her, to be with her.

Victor took a step up the dais. “I will not allow you to keep me from her. I have made a promise to keep her safe and I plan to follow through on the promise,” Victor repeated.

Dante stood and walked toward Victor, his bare feet making no sounds on the plush carpet. He was a slight figure when it came to the muscular builds of the Reapers. But, what Dante lacked in build, he made up for in different ways. And you never under estimated the ruler of the Infernos. If you did, it was usually the last thing you did.

Dante stood nose to nose with Victor. For several minutes, neither one spoke. Then Dante’s head tilted to the side, as if in thought. “How many millennia have you ruled in Violence, Victor?” he asked so quietly Victor would have missed it had Dante not been so close.

Victor considered the question. “I’ve lost count,” he said honestly.

“Yes…” Dante said thoughtfully. “I have as well,” he said backing up and moving back to his chair. “So long, I had forgotten the flaw,” he said with disgust. “That you and your brothers were spawned from the Angels.” He emphasized the last word with disgust.

Victor flinched at his father’s revulsion. “Is she worth it?” Dante asked.

Victor closed his eyes wanting to scream in anger and pound his father in the face. Had it been so long, Dante had forgotten once he had been an angel? That he had stepped from that lofty perch, to rule the Infernos? He had searched the levels of Infernos, for an Angel who would spawn the Reapers. An Angel, he had once loved and coveted beyond all others. In the end, even she had turned on him. Like those early Reapers. Like so many others in the Infernos. He would do everything in his significant power, to keep his sons from living through the kind of pain, love ultimately caused.

Victor opened his eyes, glaring at his father. “Yes. She is worth it.”

“She will turn on you eventually.” Dante explained.

Victor flinched. “No, she won’t.”

“You are prepared to pay the price?” Dante demanded.

Victor didn’t even hesitate. “Yes.”

“A pound of flesh then,” Dante said motioning to Victor’s brothers who stood behind him.

Victor nodded and moved to the pillars where he would be chained for the punishment. Christian held up the chains, and Victor allowed his brother to slip them on his wrists.

“Are you sure about this?” Christian asked.

Victor only nodded.

Christian shook his head. “No woman, much less a demi-goddess is worth this,” he swore. Before moving to the other side.

Celeste moved over to him, tears glistened in her eyes. Marcus stood at her side. “Please go to Elle and stay with her until I can make it back there. A Daughter of Eve, Tabitha, is there with her. Do not let this woman move to action, before I am well enough to come back. And whatever you do, do not tell Elle about what happened here.”

Marcus nodded and tried to drag Celeste away but not before Celeste threw her arms around her brother. “You heal everyone else. Who is going to heal you?”

Victor said nothing but nodded to Marcus who pried his sister away from him. They Flashed away, and Victor was glad they were gone before the punishment started.

His other brothers circled around him, and he stood proud as they nodded to him. They would stand with him in this. They didn’t agree with what Dante was doing. By standing so they could make eye contact with him, instead of on Dante’s side they were showing whose side they were on. That alone brought a tear to his eye.

“Is that the way of it then?” Dante snarled from behind him.

Christian nodded, taking the lead for the brothers.

“It makes me proud, to see you stand together,” Dante said, laughing. “I ask again, Victor. Is she really worth a pound of flesh?”

“Yes,” Victor said again without hesitation. He stared at his brothers but his mind was back in that room kissing Elle, the taste of her on his tongue. The smell of her skin surrounded him.

“She better be,” Dante said just as the sound of the whip cracking tore through the air.

Elle groaned she could hear the arguing from where she was hiding in the library. The very last thing she wanted to deal with was another fight between… She listened carefully; Tabitha and Celeste. Those two really were a matched pair when it came to a fight. And they knew it, so when they were bored, irritated, frustrated…basically when they were awake. They looked for each other to pick a fight.

So here Elle was, hiding in the one place, Celeste and Tabitha wouldn’t come looking for her. Marcus or Falcon might come looking for her here but Celeste and Tabitha wouldn’t. So here she hid from the two.

Elle laid her head against the door trying to pull up a picture of Victor hoping it would calm her. And hating him for leaving her. But she couldn’t get the look Victor had given her right before he had disappeared. His look of pure pain, she knew he hadn’t wanted to go. And she kept telling herself he hadn’t wanted to go. It was the only thing that bolstered her enough to open the door and go break up another fight between Tabitha and Celeste.

“We can’t stay here,” Tabitha said for what seemed like the millionth time.

“We aren’t going anywhere. So shut up or I’ll shut you up.” Celeste got right into Tabitha’s face. Their noses almost touched. The two had come to blows several times in the last week. And Elle was tired of pulling them apart. Let them kick each other’s asses again; they truly seemed to enjoy it.

For the moment, Elle was tired of sitting and waiting. Tabitha had a good plan. And frankly, she was tired of the Daughter of Eve keeping her up at night with her insistent plan which she would go over and over with, Elle. Besides, it was actually a good plan. And as much as she wanted to be with Victor, they couldn’t continue to sit here waiting. It was bad enough the Freaks were trying to kill them, they didn’t need the infighting.

“I agree with Tabitha. Victor will find us. The attacks are getting out of control. We need to leave as soon as possible,” Elle said. Leaving the group, she headed to her room to get her things ready. She didn’t fully understand why Victor had left and not returned she only knew he had to leave. And Celeste had refused to tell her anything about what had happened with Victor after he had left. Christian and Garrett had shown up two days ago both grim and refusing to say a damn thing either. Damn them, and their closed mouthed ways.

She heard fighting start up behind her, as she stomped down the hallway, but she didn’t care. Victor had left and she was barely holding onto what little sanity she had left. Emotions were pulling at her, slowing driving her mad. If she could get a few minutes of quiet she could think in peace. But, she wasn’t going to get that, without Victor. And her mind was constantly working on blocking out everyone’s emotions. Elle was exhausted and wished for the umpteenth time for Victor to return. Then wondered when had she become so dependent on him? Then damned him straight back to the Infernos for making her want and need him so madly.

“Are you sure about this?” Falcon asked, jogging to catch up to her. Of everyone in the house, he was the most meticulous, and his emotions rarely bled over. For that reason, Elle enjoyed his company the most. She admitted, she had been terrified of the man at first. But, once a person got past the rough exterior, Falcon was a nice guy who controlled his emotions remarkable well. It left Elle wondering what had happened to the Tracker to leave him so in control all the time. When all this was over, she wanted to sit down and find out what had happened to him.

Elle slowed her steps and turned to Falcon. “The Freaks are getting past the wards, and that is too close, we can’t maintain our position. Someone is going to get hurt, if not killed. If we leave today we can separate into groups. Maybe confuse them, sitting here and fighting them by playing a defensive fight isn’t getting us anywhere.”

“What about Victor?” Celeste asked coming down the hall.

Elle turned to the woman. “Are you going to tell me where he is? Are you going to tell me if he is going to come back?” Celeste just gave her one of her blank stares. Making Elle want to scream and cry and pound Celeste into the ground.

“What about him?” Elle demanded. “He isn’t here. I’m sure he’ll catch up where ever we end up. I’m not going to sit on my thumbs waiting for him. We are sitting ducks here. We need to move.” She was glad her voice didn’t crack when she spoke. Because it took everything she had to make sure it didn’t.

“About damn time.” Tabitha said, pushing through the small group and took a defensive position next to Elle. “Let’s get the hell out of here.”

Elle felt the hostility and irritation roll off Tabitha. She tried to block the emotions. But they were so strong. They bled through her defenses as if they didn’t exist. She gritted her teeth trying not to let them become her own, but it was impossible.

“Let’s get this fucking plan on the move, I’m feeling the need to kill something.” Elle snapped at the group making everyone stop and look at her as if she had sprouted horns. She rolled her head on her shoulders listening to it pop and crack, she just needed to relieve some of her tension.

“Can we just do something, already? All this inactivity is killing me.” She muttered, not caring if they thought she had lost her mind. It was time to get moving. She turned and walked away from the group. None of them understood her. They didn’t know the frustration that plagued her. The emotions that clawed at her, how they were affecting her. And that was just from the individuals in the house.

If she went anywhere near the Freaks, she could feel the soullessness sucking at her; like a black hole trying to suck her down. More than that was the rage the Freaks felt that boiled just below the surface. It took everything she had to not let it consume her. She had given in to it once and the backlash had been horrible, she wasn’t interested in giving into it again.

Everyone was getting to her, and all she wanted was Victor. To drown in the calmness he offered so she could think with a clear mind for a few minutes. She was going to kick his ass when she saw him again. The bastard. He had promised to never leave her. The very morning, he had disappeared, he had whispered those words against her skin.

Now he was in the Infernos and gods only knew when he would come back to her. How many times had she been abandoned like that? The pain lanced through her like a knife. What she wouldn’t give to have an ounce of her demi-god powers so she could look into the Infernos just to see if he was okay. His infallible siblings wouldn’t even tell her if he was okay or not. She didn’t know if he was harmed, and the only thing she had to go on was the scream of pain and the way he had left.

“Please come back.” She whispered.

She shivered remembering how Victor had left her. Then he had stumbled away from her and Flashed away. She knew from his broken words it hadn’t been his choice, that Dante had demanded an audience, he had cried out in pain the seconds before he had left.

“Damn you, Victor.” She kicked her bedroom door for good measure. “When are you coming back?” she asked the door. Tears choked her, tears she refused to let fall. Elle balled her fist and pressed them into her eyes, she was not going to cry.

Maybe if she repeated it over and over it would be true.