Children Shouldn't Play with Dead Things (Dead Things Series Book 1) (27 page)

43

MACE

M
ace held his breath with every step he took. He couldn’t remember the last time a simple walk proved this harrowing. Each footstep brought a measure of hesitation, wary of the searing agony to follow should the witch not carry out his promise.

He relaxed in increments as the distance between Ember and himself grew and his skin remained intact. The witch hadn’t lied. He was capable of blocking Ember’s magic, at least temporarily. Mace couldn’t help but smile a little; if the witches could block her magic temporarily, perhaps there was a way to do it permanently. Things were definitely looking up.

He spotted the boy leaning against a tree, fidgeting with his cell phone. Mace shook his head. The human was perpetually restless. He looked up, eyes widening at Mace’s arrival. He pushed himself away from the tree, looking around. He was also a bit paranoid, it seemed. There was little chance of anybody finding them conspiring out here.

Mace met him halfway, noting the dog’s still open grave. They hadn’t bothered to fill it in due to Mace’s assurances that the dog wouldn’t survive the night. Clearly, he’d been wrong. Luckily, none of them seemed to be connecting the dots. That worked in his favor.

“So you managed to sneak away without the banshee or the reaper. I’m impressed. Don’t think I’ve ever seen you alone, actually.”

The human rolled his eyes, “They do have names.”

“Mm, I’m aware, but there’s really no point in learning them.”

He perked up, “Really? Does that mean you’ll be leaving us soon?”

He shook his head, “No, it means, you lot likely won’t survive long enough to make learning your names a priority.”

Mace grunted as two hands hit his chest hard, then he was falling. He hit the bottom of the grave, wincing at the sharp pain twisting along his spine. He had to admit, the hole looked much deeper when looking up from the bottom.

Seems the human wasn’t a complete pushover. Quinn looked down at him from the edge of the grave. Soft dirt showered in on him. He shielded his eyes, blinking up at him, “I’m going to assume that was an accident. That way I don’t have to kill you.”

“You know what they say about assuming things,” the kid laughed, “besides, hard to kill me from the bottom of that really deep hole.”

More dirt showered in on him, “What are you going to do? Bury me? I’ll dig my way out and then I’ll drain you very, very slowly and with pain.”

Quinn regarded him with much less fear than Mace was used to. He found it off putting. His reputation was really all he had. After five minutes he finally asked, “I don’t suppose you are going to help me out of here?” He kept his tone casual.

“No, you’re kind of a dick. I think our talk will go better with you down there.”

“Oh, come on, mate. I didn’t think you were the type to hold a grudge.”

Quinn crossed his arms, giving him a long appraising look and a smug smile, “Yeah, well, you just threatened my fragile human life so I just feel safer with you down there.”

Mace sighed, brushing the dirt off his shirt. It was his favorite, “Fine, I’ll do it myself.”

The hole was just over seven feet or so, but clearing it from the bottom was enough to make Quinn’s smug expression disappear. He placed a palm on the kid’s chest, giving him just enough time to realize what was happening before shoving him backwards. He landed with far less grace and a muttered, “Ow.”

Quinn lay on his back, wheezing as he tried to force air back into his lungs. Mace waited, impatiently. Finally, he heard him say, “See, I told you you’re a dick. I was right.”

Mace chuckled but leaned in offering his hand. Quinn stared at it for a long minute before he sighed, getting to his feet and staring upwards probably trying to accurately calculate the best route to exiting the situation. He sighed, obviously realizing he didn’t have many options. Mace pulled him easily from the pit.

“How did you do that?”

“What? Get out?” Mace raised a brow, “I’m sluagh. I can fly, remember?”

“I do now,” he mumbled.

After a minute, he said, “If you think Tristin and Kai are already done for, why are we driving to Georgia to meet this guy? Do you really think he has information that could help Kai? How do I know this isn’t just a ploy to get me alone so you can kill me?”

Mace looked around the empty cemetery, “Seriously? I thought you were supposed to be the smart one. Perhaps, I should be talking to the banshee. You just shoved me into a hole and yet you still breathe air. If I wanted you dead, you’d still be down there.”

The human paled a bit but continued, “I’m just saying it seems awfully convenient we’ve been looking for a reaper and suddenly one becomes available the same night you go to town.”

“I suppose it depends on your definition of convenient. I find Cael’s appearance this close to Florida rather inconvenient. We have…history. In fact, my being there may be reason enough for him not to talk to us.”

“Then I’ll talk to him alone.”

Mace laughed at that. There was no way in hell he was letting Cael anywhere near him alone. “Absolutely not. That’s not an option.”

Quinn frowned, “Why?”

“Have you ever met another reaper other than Kai?”

Quinn shook his head. “Kai hasn’t even met another reaper.”

“Well, Cael grew up in the in-between.”

His brow furrowed, “The in-between? You mean between worlds? Can you do that?”

“Can I? No. Once the Grove took over, those who could flee to the in-between, did. Even their power doesn’t stretch that far. But, Cael grew up surrounded by traditional reapers. He wasn’t raised to concern himself with the feelings of the living.”

“He’s not another soulless demon, is he?”

“I’m not a demon,” Mace told him, “but no, he is in possession of his soul. Now his heart? That I’m not too sure of.”

“So why would he be willing to help us at all?”

“Truthfully, I don’t know that he will. He may tell you to go to hell. Hard to say really. I’m just warning you, he won’t be as kindhearted as your reaper.”

“After the ride home, Kai isn’t feeling particularly kindhearted.”

Mace snorted, “What did the wolf do now?”

“What?”

“There is only one thing that puts your friend in a bad mood and that’s the wolf. What happened?”

Quinn flushed, “That’s personal.”

“We don’t have time for privacy, what happened?”

“Kai ran us off the road. Rhys and Kai got into a fight, somebody kissed somebody-” Quinn flushed at this information, “and now Rhys is acting like it never happened and Kai is acting like he wants to kill somebody.”

“Lovely,” Mace could work with that, a plan already forming in his mind, “this could work in our favor.”

“He’s not going to let me go anywhere with you alone,” Quinn told him.

Mace shrugged, “You’re not going alone; he’s coming with us.”

Quinn snorted, “How do you think that’s going to work?”

It was brilliant actually, he and Quinn could talk to Cael, Kai could keep Tate out of his hair for a while and, with any luck, neither would notice his dealings with Shelby. “You leave that to me. Just be ready to go when we are and no matter what I say, you make sure to be your tenacious self. He has to believe I don’t want you there.”

Quinn took a deep breath but nodded, “I’ll be ready.”

“Brilliant, I’ll see you back at the house.”

44

KAI

K
ai sat in one of the two rocking chairs on the wide front porch. He wasn’t sure how long he’d been out there. It was still daylight so it couldn’t have been more than an hour or so. He hadn’t seen anybody return from school but they usually came in through the kitchen so, really, anybody could be home. He didn’t care anyway. He just wanted to be alone.

He wanted to take his time seething, to let it really sink in how stupid he was. He’d poured his heart out to Rhys; professed his undying love like some sappy romance novel and he’d just…ugh, he’d just given him the most amazing kiss of his short freaking life. Then he walked away. He just stalked off and went back to pretending it never happened. Kai clenched his jaw until he felt the muscle pop.

He wasn’t going to cry. Well, he wasn’t going to cry again. His face burned. He’d actually cried in front of him. Luckily, he’d sailed straight past sad and was well on his way to homicidal. He didn’t need Rhys. It wasn’t like he wasn’t an attractive guy. Other guys looked at him or they would if they didn’t think it would get their eyes ripped out. Eric had looked at him. Eric had kissed him. He sighed. Eric’s kiss had been nice but it was nothing like the one he’d shared with that stupid wolf.

He’d thought about it in every conceivable way. Obviously, Rhys liked him. He teased him about being in the closet but he didn’t really think that was his issue. Rhys didn’t care about gay or straight. Shifters didn’t really think of things that way. Isa said that for wolves it was pheromones and scent signals, not XX versus XY-chromosomes. He just didn’t get it. He growled his frustration and started replaying every detail of the day all over again to see where it all went wrong.

He was just getting to the good part when Mace appeared from the woods on the east side of the house giving him a curt wave and a quizzical look. He stalked up the porch steps and leaned against the railing, “I see you survived your trip to New Orleans. Did you find what you were looking for?”

Kai opened his mouth to answer but realized he had no idea. He’d been so caught up in his drama with Rhys he didn’t stop to ask what they’d found.

“So the sour expression on your face isn’t reaper related. That must mean it’s the wolf.”

Kai’s brows shot up.

Mace chuckled, “What? I’m not blind, mate. Besides, I could smell him on you from a mile distance. He’s marked you very well.” Kai cut his eyes at the soul eater but said nothing. “It’s very, what’s the term, old school; very prehistoric-mating-ritual. I’m surprised he hasn’t left a deer carcass on your front porch. It seems he is all show and no go.”

Kai huffed, chest squeezing hard. It hurt. The only thing worse than what happened between Rhys and him was listening to somebody else reiterate how pathetic it was.

“Where are the others?” Kai asked, changing the subject.

“Donovan said he was dropping the faery at the diner. Ember decided to make peace with her uncle long enough to see if he can fix the mutt’s foot and I’m assuming the little alpha and her betrothed are at the restaurant.”

Kai nodded, but fell quiet when he realized he’d run out of small talk. For once, he wanted to be the broody silent one. He was entitled to at least one day of wallowing.

“So, what’s the plan, reaper? Are you going to sit out here until he comes home so you can glare at him while he walks by and ignores you? Or are you just pouting?”

Kai fumed, “What do you care? Don’t you have somebody to kill?”

He sighed wistfully, “I promised your alpha I would not kill anybody while I was enjoying her hospitality.”

“Wow, you must really be into my cousin if you are willing to go hungry in order to survive.”

“I don’t have to kill to eat. I’m old enough to sustain myself on scraps if need be. In fact, I was just trying to decide what I feel like eating tonight. I’m in the mood for something a little…exotic.”

He stared at Kai for so long, a sliver of fear crept up his spine. He held up his hands, “Whoa, I might be having a bad day but I’m not up for being anybody’s afternoon snack.”

Mace rolled his eyes, “Not quite what I had in mind. However, I have some associates just over the state line who occasionally allow me to feed. I think you might enjoy their company and I’m absolutely certain one of them would enjoy yours.”

Kai scoffed, growing annoyed, “Sorry, not really looking for a rebound, unless maybe you’re offering yourself as a replacement.”

There was no heat behind his words, but he leered at Mace anyway. He just wanted to see the soul eater slightly rattled. It wasn’t that he didn’t see the appeal; Mace was sexy in that evil, predatory, is he going to kiss me or kill me kind of way but Kai was done crushing on emotionally unavailable types.

His attempt to make the sluagh uncomfortable wasn’t working anyway. Mace grinned and held his arms up turning around slowly allowing Kai to look his fill. When he finished his spin, he said, “As I was saying, I think you might like taking a night off from the do-gooder crowd.”

Isa would kill him. He was already in enough trouble. He thought about the Grove. He swallowed thickly. They were already going to kill him. What did he have to lose really?

“It’s a win-win. I get to eat without breaking the rules and you,” Mace reasoned, “you get to make a few new friends with the added bonus of sending your wolf into an apoplectic seizure when he smells you.”

Kai looked at Mace for a long time, “If this place is filled with non-humans they aren’t going to go anywhere near me smelling like Rhys.”

Mace laughed, “Trust me, they aren’t really the type who respect boundaries. I promise you, they won’t care about your wolf or his claim on you.”

“How do I know you aren’t just luring me out to kill me?”

Mace looked exasperated as he said, “Why does everybody keep saying that? If I wanted to kill you I wouldn’t need to make up an excuse to do so. I’m not looking to anger the she-wolf or your cousin. Ember’s powers are too all over the place as it is.”

Kai had to give him that. Ember’s control was tenuous on a good day. He wasn’t going to sit around waiting for Rhys to come home or notice him.

He took a deep breath and shrugged, “Let’s do it.”