Children Shouldn't Play with Dead Things (Dead Things Series Book 1) (43 page)

76

MACE

M
ace had no idea where he was. They’d chased him from the woods. He’d tried to stay downwind of the shifters but it was only a matter of time before they caught the scent of him. Without Isa there to call him friend he’d had no choice but to flee.

Every muscle hurt. It felt like the atoms in his body were attempting to rearrange themselves simultaneously. He stumbled, tripping along the old railroad tracks. He couldn’t think. He could barely keep his feet underneath him. He had no idea where to go.

He wasn’t sure how long he walked, sweat blind and shaking, before he realized he no longer felt the tracks beneath his feet. He lurched along the empty paved road in the blackness. He wiped the sweat stinging his eyes but it didn’t matter, his vision was fading in and out, this world a hazy shadow realm of looming shapes and utter silence. There were no street lights, no headlights of passing cars. It appeared the world had abandoned this place just like Ember had abandoned him.

He collapsed in the street on his back. The full moon was a blurry orb overhead. Most of the wolves would be fully shifted by now, prowling the woods and looking to hunt. Was he far enough away?

He groaned, body twisting as another wave of pain hit him. It was almost unbearable. Nothing made it better. He was sure he was in flames, skin blistering and cracking until the flesh peeled from his body. But when his hands skimmed over the battered surface there was nothing wrong just the same layers of scar tissue. It didn’t stop the pain. Nothing could stop this pain. It was the worst type of hallucination. He closed his useless eyes and prayed for a death he knew would never come.

“Oh, brother, what have you done to yourself?”

Somebody jostled his head and gently hands petted through his messy hair. It was his sister’s voice. Another sadistic fantasy from Ember’s magic but he embraced it anyway. He opened his eyes, afraid of what he might see. Who knew what horrors all that power could create? But she looked exactly the same as she had hundreds of years ago with her pale blue eyes and that waterfall of blonde hair. She was always the beautiful one.

“Asa?” he mumbled.

“It’s alright, Balthazar, I’m here.” She kissed his forehead. “I’m right here.”

He sighed, letting her attempt to comfort him. “Mace, its Mace now.”

A giggle escaped her lips, so much like when they were children. “You always were one for the dramatic. Mother would have a seizure if she knew. She named you after grandfather.”

“I-I know. Hated him. Still hate him.” He panted, staring up at her face. He just wanted to look at her for a while.

As he watched, her eyes bled silver and her blonde hair went grey. “No. W-What’s happening?”

“I took my true form, just like you.”

He shook his head, retching as his world spun violently. “No. You’re not real. T-this isn’t real. You aren’t like me.”

She smiled wistfully, “I know but does that matter?” He supposed it didn’t. He tried to answer her, to tell her he missed her, to tell her he wanted her to stay. He hadn’t seen her face in so long. Her face contorted above him. “You abandoned me. You abandoned us. Left us defenseless in that place. The truth of what happened to us is far worse than this.”

“No. I did this for you, to keep you safe. To keep you both safe.”

“Safe? Did you really think he’d honor his word? He was a soulless monster just like you; like me.”

“Please, Asa. Don’t say that.” He begged. He wasn’t even surprised when her grey hair became a mass of orange curls and Ember’s face appeared, a sneer across her face. “Look at you. What a mess you’ve made. This is what happens to liars, Mace. This is the price you pay.”

Another delusion, he told himself. She wasn’t real. They weren’t real. His sister wasn’t like him. Ember wasn’t cruel. She was kind and sweet and everything he wasn’t.

Spasms racked his body, his teeth clacking together violently. What the hell was happening to him? Ember disappeared as a white light seared his tender vision. Headlights. He prayed they ran him over. He longed for just a few moments of peace.

Tires screeched as the vehicle lurched to a halt. He couldn’t move. He just lay there as two pairs of jean clad legs swam into sight and rough hands hauled him to his feet.

“Holy shit,” a male voice said. “Just look at him.”

Another male voice said, “I told you the spell would work. She did exactly what I said she would. Poor guy didn’t stand a chance.”

A female voice, chimed in, “The spell only worked because she’s not warded. She’d never have kicked him out of the pack if she was immune to compulsion.”

“I don’t care why it worked, as long as it worked,” the original male crowed.

The second male snorted, “Yeah, yeah, you’re a genius, get him in the van.”

They sounded familiar but he couldn’t place them. He hit the floor of the van with a grunt, grimacing at the scent of the dirty blanket beneath him. It smelled like blood and motor oil, a combination his stomach couldn’t tolerate at the moment. They’d spelled Ember. That’s why she’d sent him away. It made whatever came next a little easier to take.

A low, throaty chuckle came from somewhere above him. “Hold him down,” he recognized the voice immediately.

He gathered every ounce of strength he could muster to growl, “When I get my strength back I’m going to drain your whole coven, you bitch.”

Stella laughed again as two hooded figures yanked his arms behind his back. The coven. One of their hoods fell back, revealing icy blonde hair. One of the triplets. How many of them were there in the van?

Stella’s face came into view and her cold hands yanked up his shirt. There was a loud snick and then his vision went black as razor sharp steel cut through the layers of scar tissue across his abdomen. The scent of his own blood, making him sick. “Bind him,” she barked at the two.

“Why? Look at him. He’s not going anywhere,” the girl said, giving voice to his own thoughts. He was hardly a threat.

“Do it anyway,” she snapped. “Don’t question my orders, Lola. Astrid might like you but I think you’re an idiot.”

Even in the state he was in, he couldn’t miss the look Lola threw at the back of Stella’s head before she did as she was told, binding his hands roughly with some kind of plastic pieces.

Stella didn’t notice, shoving his head roughly. “Yeah, you definitely don’t look like much now. Killing you will be a kindness after this.”

“Go to hell.”

“Ooh, burn.” She laughed. “I’m going to assume your girlfriend’s magic has thrown you a little off your game.”

Mace tried to swallow what felt like wadded sandpaper in this throat, “What are you even getting out of this?”

Stella laughed and slapped his face, “We all have our parts to play.” She looked at somebody else, “Let’s go, it’s getting late.”

As they drove he swam in and out of consciousness. Doors slammed and another opened. Hands yanked him free, catching him under the arms and dragging him along, toes of his shoes scraping for purchase along concrete until they entered a darkened building. He tried to pick his head up but lacked the strength.

As his eyes adjusted, he caught glimpses of rows of grey metal lockers. The school. Why the hell were they at the school? Blood oozed from the wound on his stomach splattering on the floor as they pulled him along.

They tossed him roughly into a wooden chair in the center of the room. He fought just to remain upright in the chair. Stella’s face appeared as she squatted in front of him. She yanked his head back, rolling it around, laughing as his eyes fought to track her. She held up what looked like a paintbrush of all things. That couldn’t be right. “This part is going to be a bit uncomfortable for you, I’m afraid but given the state of you, I don’t think it really matters much.”

He barely had time to register what she aimed to do before she jabbed the brush into the wound on his stomach. He grunted.

“Normally,” she told him conversationally, “this part of the ritual is done by the witch who will perform the spell but given the fragile state of our little necromancer I think it’s best we try to do as much for the poor dear as possible, don’t you?”

She moved to the floor, using his blood to paint a circle, frowning when his blood didn’t go as far as she’d hoped. “Hmm, this won’t do.”

She pulled the knife from her belt and went for his stomach before stopping short. “I wonder…” she started, a cruel smile spreading across her face. He looked at her in confusion, before he lurched to his feet. He only made it two steps before he came up short. Unable to move. He looked at her. “What are you doing?”

“I’m not doing anything.” She cut his hands free and handed him the knife twisting her hand in the air. He grunted as his hand turned the knife on himself. He was too weak to resist the compulsion. The knife dug far deeper this time, the blood pouring freely.

“Much better. Now be a dear and draw this for me, will you?” she shoved the drawing in his face.

“Careful, Stella, my brother has to live in that body.” Astrid cautioned from the doorway, waving in somebody carrying what looked like a body over his shoulder. “Put her over there.”

“You’ll fix it later.” Stella told her, waving off her concerns. “Now that we have the decorations under way, maybe it’s time to invite our guest of honor?”

The newcomer dropped the girl on the floor in the corner and stopped, looking hard at Mace and the blood pouring at his feet. His vision cleared. “Tate?”

Tate’s face twisted into a frown and he gave him a long look before he left.

He groaned as the witch plunged her hand into his stomach, not sure if it was blood pouring from his lips or saliva. He knew he couldn’t die but if he could, he imagined this was what it felt like. Stella waved her hand and he hit his knees. “Get to work. You have a lot to do.”

Astrid gasped, “What are you doing?”

Stella walked towards the hallway door, both hands coated in his blood, “Leaving some breadcrumbs.”

77

EMBER

E
verywhere Ember went, Kai and Rhys were two steps behind. She was restless. She couldn’t stop wandering. She knew it irritated her new bodyguards but she just didn’t care. She was tired of people staring at her, whispering about her. She just wanted to be alone. It was New Orleans all over again.

She scanned the crowd, looking for any signs of Mace. She’d texted him three times but still nothing. She wanted to apologize. She had no idea why she’d acted the way she had. She couldn’t even remember what made her so angry. She thought for sure he would have come back by now. It wasn’t like he couldn’t take care of himself but she couldn’t shake the feeling something was really wrong.

Maybe it was just this night. The full moon. A funeral that seemed more like a college frat party. Her magic rolled along beneath her skin, letting her know it was displeased. She needed Mace; her magic needed his. It itched to touch him. It wanted the coolness of his skin beneath her fingertips. It wanted the taste of him on her tongue. Somewhere deep down, in a dark place she didn’t want to acknowledge, she knew it wasn’t her magic at all. She was so screwed.

She found herself navigating through the sea of bodies, gyrating together to music booming from the speakers Wren and Mace wired earlier. It was surreal. Animals she’d only seen on the nature channel prowled the woods of her backyard. It was like she’d rolled a four in in a game of Jumanji. She’d seen wolves, panthers and even a jaguar pad silently out from the tree line. They all watched her warily, giving her a wide berth as if she was somehow the predator in their midst.

She found a seat on a log far enough away from the crowd but close enough to appease her security detail. She knew they didn’t want to be babysitting either.

They did their part to pull the focus from her. Kai was drinking, tossing back the last gulp of what she’d counted as his third beer. She wasn’t sure if he was drunk but he was drunk adjacent, giggling too much, occasionally losing his footing. Rhys would steady him, letting his hand linger on her cousin’s lower back for just a little too long.

The music changed from a loud rowdy song to one with a slow throbbing bass beat and Kai stumbled again, falling forward into Rhys’ lap and whispering something in his ear. The wolf looked startled and aggressively shook his head no. Kai only laughed.

She watched dumbfounded as her cousin climbed into the Adirondack chair Rhys currently occupied and wrapped his arms around the wolf’s neck. He moved in time with the music, hips rotating suggestively in a sloppy version of a lap dance. It was painful to watch but Rhys didn’t seem to share her opinion. As always, he watched her cousin with a single-minded intensity, glowing green eyes hungry.

The shifters watched too. Kai told her it was because they couldn’t believe somebody as high ranking in the pack as Rhys would waste their time with a reaper like him but Ember wasn’t so sure. Both her cousin and Rhys were attractive and they both seemed to draw an equal amount of attention.

In most circumstances, Kai was level headed but tonight he didn’t appear to be himself. If he saw another shifter watching the two of them for a little too long, he’d hold their stare, laying down a challenge he had no way of winning. Each time her cousin challenged another shifter, Rhys stepped in, partially shifted, accepting the challenge Kai issued.

Isa was forced to step in each time, issuing hasty apologies and hollow excuses about heightened emotions. It was a funeral after all. They had just lost one of their own. The injured party had accepted the alpha’s apologies and shaken hands but Isa was losing her patience with the two of them.

Her phone vibrated against her leg and she cursed the way her stomach flip-flopped hoping it was finally Mace. It was a text message from an unknown number.

Do not react to this message. Tristin’s life depends on it.

Ember’s brow furrowed as she tried to puzzle out what it meant. She looked around, realizing she couldn’t remember the last time she’d seen Tristin. She thought she’d escaped upstairs to her room.

Ember tried to compose her face into some semblance of normal. She could already feel her magic thrumming to life, beating against her veins. She hoped the heavy base music masked the violent pounding of her heart. Texts came in one after another.

You are cordially invited to the resurrection of Quinn Talbot.

Actually, it’s not an invitation, it’s a summons.

In fifteen minutes, there will be a distraction. You have forty five minutes from now to get to the school or we start severing body parts.

Reapers don’t have advanced healing and your cousin will have a hard time reuniting with her beloved if her ring finger is missing.

Her phone vibrated again and a picture of her cousin appeared. She lay on the ground, unconscious, blood trickling from a wound at her hairline.

If that isn’t enough incentive, we have your soul eater too but he’s not quite as photo ready as your cousin.

They had Tristin. They had Mace. She’d sent him away and now they had him. She clenched her jaw, willing her body not to show any of the panic she felt. She couldn’t do anything to mask the scent of her distress. She just had to hope that the amount of sweat and pheromones in a group of people this big would take care of that for her.

Time slowed to a crawl. One minute seemed like ten. Kai stood as a stranger approached. He was tall and lean with dark hair and yellow eyes. He seemed to know Kai, smiling and running a finger along Kai’s cheek. Ember stood as Rhys sprung to his feet, placing himself between the stranger and Kai. Kai ran a soothing hand over Rhys’ arm but the wolf was too far gone, partially shifted and advancing on the other guy who danced back on agile feet, laughing in delight.

The music was too loud to understand what they were saying but whoever this guy was, he was the distraction. Rhys lunged, taking him to the ground. There was the slick sound of bones moving under skin and a panther broke from Rhys’ hold. Kai yelled for Rhys to calm down but Rhys shifted, his wolf going for the panther’s throat. Kai yelled for Isa, standing frozen as a crowd began to form.

This was her chance.

She turned and ran for the path. Getting there on foot was her best chance. There would be no way to get into the house, grab the keys and get the car out of the driveway without being caught. She had no idea what she was walking into. She willed herself to calm down. She really couldn’t afford to lose control. Tristin and Mace were counting on her.