The Curse Keepers Collection (141 page)

“I know you’re pissed, Ellie, but we need this phone.”

I leaned over my knees, my heart cracking into pieces as I finally let myself break down. What had they done to him? What more hell would he have to go through because of me? I struggled to catch my breath. No, the fucking Guardians were the ones who had beat the shit out of him. I needed to blame them. I choked on a sob again, remembering how his sweet face had looked in the video—bloody and bruised. My threat to Miriam wasn’t a bluff, and her video only made me hate her more. I stood up straight, my chest heaving as I fought to regain control. “
Pissed?
You think I’m only
pissed
?”

“Ellie.” He grabbed my shoulders and stared into my eyes. “I swear to you, I’ll do everything in my power to get him back. This is not done.”

My control broke again and tears clogged my throat. “I begged you to save him when I went after her. You told me you would and you didn’t . . . you came after me instead. Why should I believe you now?”

His hand cupped my cheek, his thumb brushing away my tears. “Because you’ll always come first. Above everyone and everything. Every fucking time, you’ll always come first.”

I shook my head and sagged into his chest and sobbed, some of the fight draining out of me.

His hand moved to the back of my head as his other arm wrapped around my back, holding me gently against him. “He was already gone by the time I got out back, Ellie. There wasn’t anything I could do. I’ll help you save him.”

His words filled me with hope. But I suddenly realized that I was back to where I was when all of this began—blindly following Collin. Well, I was no longer that naïve, stupid girl who’d followed him like a lost puppy. I was stronger now, and I knew things he didn’t. I jerked out of his grasp. Nothing good ever came from letting Collin take control. “Then you’ll have to tag along with me, because I’m going after him myself.”

Resignation filled his eyes and he took a step back. I reached over and grabbed my sword off the table and strode toward the door.

“Ellie, hold up.”

I spun at the waist and stared at him, my gaze cold. “Are you coming with me or not?”

“Hey, I’m all for going on a recovery mission, and you seem hell-bent on taking over,” he said, his tone light as he held his hands out at his sides. “And fine, I’ll let you. But what’s your plan?”

Asshole. I didn’t have one and he knew it.

He took a cautious step toward me. “Can I just make a suggestion?”

“
What?
”

“Before we leave, let’s look for clues.” He took my nonresponse as a sign to continue. “If they moved the collection out, they would have needed a big truck. Maybe someone noticed.”

I put my hands on my hips. “Who? This building is completely unoccupied except for this section. And the back faces a field. Who would have seen anything?”

A wry grin lifted his mouth. “Someone most people would ignore.”

C
HAPTER
T
WENTY
-O
NE

“Come on.” He brushed past me as he moved to the back door, unlocked it, and then pushed it open.

I followed him out and down the steps next to the loading dock. A puddle of water sat in the middle section of the drive.

“I noticed this earlier, but it’s directly under an overhang and it rained last night. But now I think it’s condensation from a car or truck’s air conditioner.” He pointed to it. “This was how they took David.”

Fear rushed through my bloodstream, making me light-headed.
Get it together, Ellie
. “And it was gone when you got back here?”

“Yeah, I suspect they didn’t waste any time before starting their interrogation, and then they hauled him off before anyone could investigate. If they are really watching you—or me—then they probably even knew we were here.”

I put my left hand on my stomach to ground myself. “So what do we do with that?”

“Come here.”

I followed him down the stairs and around the corner, telling myself that following him didn’t mean I was giving him control. “Where are we going?”

“To talk to someone I noticed earlier.” His gaze drifted to my sword and he scowled. “You might want to keep that hidden. It doesn’t exactly make us look friendly.” Without waiting for an answer, Collin walked toward the end of the building and stopped next to a sunken doorway. An older man in dirty jeans and a faded army fatigue jacket lay on his side, curled into a fetal position on a piece of cardboard. He wore a stocking cap even though it was already at least eighty-five degrees.

I kept to the side and put the hand that was holding the blade behind my back. But I was carrying a three-foot sword—if the guy paid any attention to me, he would see it. I’d make it work, because there was no way Collin was questioning the guy on his own, and I wasn’t about to put the sword down.

Collin looked down at him. “I need your help.”

The man blinked, his clear blue eyes focusing on Collin. “I ain’t got time to help you. Can’t you see I’m sleepin’?” Then he closed his eyes again, curling up tighter.

Collin reached into his pocket and pulled out his wallet. “I’ll make it worth your while.”

The homeless man cracked one eye open.

Squatting next to him, Collin set a five-dollar bill on the concrete stoop. “Have you noticed anything unusual here in the last few weeks?”

The man pushed himself up into a sitting position and grabbed the money in his fist. “I keep to myself. It works better that way. That’s why I hang out back here.”

“I need to know if a big truck has been back here this week.”

The man eyed Collin’s wallet, his fingers fidgeting.

Collin put a ten on the pavement.

The man snatched it up. “Yeah, it was here last night. Big white truck with no words on the side. I had to hide in the corner because they’ve kicked me out before and I was comfortable in this spot.”

“So they’ve been here for a while?”

“Yeah, for about three weeks. The big truck came in and they unloaded lots of silver boxes. But last night another big truck came and took all the boxes away.”

Collin pulled another bill from his wallet and placed it in front of the man. “Tell me what you know, not what you think I want to hear.”

The man nodded and snagged the bill, bolder this time.

“Do you remember any defining characteristics about the people who came and went? Anything different about any of them?”

“The guys movin’ it all were just regular guys, but the cars were fancy, usually two of them. Two different men would come, both dressed in suits. Once there was a woman, all hoity-toity.”

“Was she older? Did she have white hair?” Collin asked. “A long stick up her ass?”

The man cracked a smile. “Yeah, that was her.”

“Did you hear anything they said?”

The old man shook his head. “Nope. I kept out of the way.”

“What about this morning?” Collin asked, shifting his weight and glancing toward the loading dock. “Did you see any activity back here?”

“Yeah, I saw a silver car leave just a bit ago. Didn’t see it come earlier, but like I said, I was sleepin’.”

The cry of a bird came from overhead. A shiver ran down my spine, but I took comfort in the fact that it was late morning and the sun was beating down on the pavement. My imagination was getting carried away.

Collin rested his forearms on his knees, balancing on the balls of his feet. “Did you see who got in it?”

When the man hesitated, Collin started to pull out more money.

Another bird cawed, joined by a third. Anxious, I spun around, the sword still in my hand, and moved into the center of the street.

Collin stood and narrowed his eyes. “Ellie?”

Screaming filled the air and three large, black birds started to circle over our heads. “Raven Mockers. What are they doing here?” I asked, shading my eyes to look at them.

“That’s impossible. Raven Mockers don’t come out in the daylight. They’re nocturnal.”

“Well, someone forgot to tell them that . . . that and everything else they’re not supposed to be doing.”

Two of the birds swooped down, landing in the middle of the road before they transformed into an old man and woman—the same woman who had killed Allison.

The old woman tilted her head to the side and studied Collin with a sly grin.

A shiver settled at the base of my neck and I lifted my sword, ready to defend him. My action caught her eye and she laughed, her eyes sparkling. “Curse Keeper, we meet again.”

“What do you want, Raven Mocker?” I asked.

“What I always want. To eat.” Her gaze was drawn back to Collin, while the male stood behind her. “Son of the earth,” she said with a smile. “I’ve been curious about you.”

Collin glanced from me to the Raven Mocker, clenching his fists at his sides. “Ellie is protected by Okeus. You can’t harm her.”

The Raven Mocker laughed and then lunged toward me, but she was purposely slow, as though she was taunting me. I jumped out of the reach of her claws, raising my sword.

Collin moved closer to me as she retreated.

The woman and man split apart, the man moving toward the building and the woman toward the field. We all stood about fifteen feet apart, facing each other.

“Okeus wants her protected,” Collin snarled.

“Okeus wants her
alive
,” she said. “And we don’t care what Okeus wants. We answer to another.”

The homeless man had climbed to his feet, though he was still in the sunken doorway. “Who are you talking to?”

The male Raven Mocker rushed toward the homeless man, sinking his claws into his shoulder, dragging down. The man screamed in pain and fright as blood soaked through his jacket.

Not again. I couldn’t watch them kill someone again.

The homeless man shrank back into the corner, grabbing his arm while he moaned. The male Raven Mocker paced back and forth in front of him, taking swipes at his face and arms, leaving surface wounds.

I started to rush to his aid, but Collin grabbed my arm, his fingers digging deep. “Ellie, stop.”

My mouth dropped open in shock and horror. “You’ll let them kill him?”

He didn’t answer, his face pale.

Disgust washed through me in hot waves. “Maybe you can stand back and watch him suffer, but I can’t.”

I jerked out of his hold and lifted my sword as I took several steps toward them. I needed to get between the Raven Mockers and the homeless man.

The bird overhead still circled and cawed.

The old woman lunged as I passed, purposely missing again. She laughed when I jumped out of her way and wielded my sword in a defensive position.

“Ellie. Goddamn it!
Stop this!
You’re going to get yourself killed!” Collin shouted.

The male Raven Mocker released a loud caw and the black bird overhead joined in, as though they were chanting a taunt.

The old woman grinned, her lips pulling back to reveal her yellowed razor-sharp teeth. She stood six feet away but she reached her hand toward me, rolling her fingers as if she wanted to dig them into my skin. “You are slow today, Curse Keeper. I think the Great One is wrong about you after all.”

“Okeus?” I asked, sliding closer to the doorway, and the old woman moved with me. Tsagasi had already said it wasn’t, but it didn’t hurt to get confirmation from one of the Raven Mockers.

She spat on the ground as she matched my movement, keeping her sharp eyes on me. “Someone more cunning than Okeus.”

“Ahone,” Collin grunted as he positioned himself closer to the male Raven Mocker.

“A thousand curses on Ahone’s head.” She spat again.

A glob of spit landed on the homeless man’s arm and sizzled. Smoke rose from the spot and he screamed.

Her eyes narrowed with hatred. “Soon he will pay for his transgressions.”

So if they weren’t working for either of the gods, who
were
they working for and why were they here now?

The only way to defeat them was to take the offensive. I stood at the corner of the doorway, the homeless man shrieking in pain behind me. He grabbed at the hem of my shirt, pulling me backward.

“Help me!” he screamed.