Reap & Redeem (16 page)

Deacon sat down hard on the hearth, dropping his head into his hands.

The room was deadly silent.

Ruth walked over to Deacon hesitantly and came to a stop when she reached him. She took his head in her hands and pulled him to her stomach, holding him there as he wrapped his arms around her waist.

“Deacon, I didn’t know that traveling the subway while pregnant was dangerous. You didn’t tell me. I still have a lot to learn. We both do.” Ruth rubbed his back in slow circles.

His shoulders heaved once, twice, and then settled as he tried to pull himself together.

Nate walked over to them and put a hand on Ruth’s shoulder. “I have a friend who’s an OBGYN at the hospital. She’ll take a look at Ruth and make sure things are okay. I’ll drive her there now. She isn’t more than a few weeks pregnant, Deacon. If it’s meant to be, it will, no matter what the rules are. Nature finds a way.”

Nate walked into his room, nodding to Kylen on the way, and closed his door behind him. Ruth whispered to Deacon, her words too soft to be heard from Kylen and Olivia’s vantage point.

Kylen took Olivia’s hand and led her to the kitchen. “Looks like we’re eating out,” he said in an undertone.

He grabbed a box of cereal from one of the cabinets and handed it to Olivia, removing a gallon of milk from the fridge next. After taking two bowls from the cabinet and spoons from the drawer, he quietly left the house—Olivia behind him—and returned to the trailer.

* * *

“That was intense.” Olivia chased her last Cheerios around the bowl with her spoon.

“Yes.”

“Deacon didn’t seem very excited about the baby. How long have they been together?”

“Four months.”

“Oh. I guess that’s sort of sudden.”

“In our time, it’s not even a moment.” Kylen tipped his bowl to his mouth to drink his cereal milk.

“What do you mean? In your time?” Olivia leaned back in the small eating nook and looked at him quizzically.

“Ruth didn’t explain this to you?”

“Guess not. What is there to explain?

Kylen sighed. This is exactly why they didn’t mix with humans except while working. And the dead didn’t ask questions. Thank God.

“We have an exceedingly long life span unless we’re killed.”

“How long?”

“Centuries.”

“Oh.”

He could see her wheels turning as she tried to calculate how old he might be. “Two hundred and eight.”

“But you look like you’re in your late twenties, maybe early thirties.” She perched her elfin chin on her hands, studying his features in uncomfortable detail.

“We stop aging as soon as we harvest our first soul. There’s an extensive training period from birth until the first reaping, and then time basically stops for us. As long as we avoid a beheading and make sure we fuel up enough, we can live indefinitely.”

Her eyes blinked rapidly as she processed his words. “Wow,” she said.

“You’d be surprised how boring living so long can be.”

“Well, I’d be willing to give it a try.”

“Why are you smiling?”

“You need to learn to appreciate what you have. And that answer was the longest sentence you’ve ever said to me.” She smiled up at him, her tone playful.

Kylen felt something dangerously close to a smile pull at the corners of his mouth, but he narrowed his eyes at her instead.

“Let’s go slice and dice something.”

Chapter Twenty

Olivia sat in the camp chair near last night’s fire ring, enjoying the play of the morning sun on her face while Kylen gathered materials for her lesson. When she’d added
#56 learn to use a weapon
to her list, she’d figured she’d probably go target shooting or something. Frankly, learning to use a scythe hadn’t even been on her radar. Who even used a scythe as a weapon?

She certainly had an answer now. Reapers.

It occurred to her that Kylen or one of the others might need to reap her soul. It was oddly comforting to know that it would be a friend who did the deed. She wondered if they felt the same way. Did they like knowing the people whose souls they carried or did they prefer to keep it all business?

As a direct result of her family’s health problems, she’d always wondered what happened to a soul after death. She’d sought answers from a variety of religions over the years before finally settling on her own cobbled version of faith and an afterlife—one that gave her solace and peace. Over the past few months the question had become especially pertinent. What happened to a soul after it was reaped? If she could get lucky enough to have another full-sentence conversation with Kylen, she’d ask him what would happen after she passed.

A commotion at the back door caught her attention, and she rose to see what was going on. The others were leaving the house in a group.

“Hey, Olivia,” Ruth said as she headed for the Lincoln.

“Where’s Kylen?” Deacon asked, holding the back door open for Ruth.

“He’s around the front of the house,” Olivia answered, keeping her answer purposely vague. She wasn’t at all sure they’d approve of her scythe lessons.

“How are you feeling today, Olivia?” Nate asked.

“Great. Better than I have in a long time.” She smiled at him as he slid behind the wheel.

Kylen walked around the side of the house, the pumpkins from the front porch stacked in his arms. Deacon gave him a puzzled look, but didn’t ask for an explanation. Kylen didn’t offer one.

“We’re taking Ruth to Meridian for a checkup. I have no idea when we’ll be back. You got this, Kylen?”

“Yes.”

Deacon looked from Kylen to Olivia. He shut Ruth’s door and walked around to the back passenger door. “We’ll see you later tonight?”

“I guess that depends on Olivia’s business.”

“Really?” He shook his head in obvious frustration. “Keep your head.”

Olivia watched as they drove off, leaving her alone with Kylen once again.

* * *

“Planning to make a pie?” Olivia asked, amused.

“You’re going to practice on these since we don’t have any demons handy.”

Olivia frowned at him. Demons. Kylen had saved her from one. She knew that now. He was a hunter, or at least that was what Ruth had told her. She still couldn’t wrap her mind around the idea, and she had no clue how she’d recognize a demon if she saw one. Obviously, she hadn’t identified the one in the alley.

Kylen walked around the back of the garage and returned with an armful of logs. Taking meticulous care, he placed them upright around the fire pit, positioning a pumpkin on top of each of the ten perches.

Once he was satisfied with the setup, he walked to his trailer and returned with the scythe he’d shown her earlier. Kylen drew it from the scabbard and presented it to her. “Hold it. Carefully.”

Olivia took it with both hands. It was heavier than it looked. Her right hand grasped the smooth grip, just below the engravings, as her left cradled the folded blade. She held it before her like she would a lovely but poisonous snake.

“Not that carefully.” Kylen moved behind her, enclosing her scythe-hand in his. Blue sparks sizzled as skin touched skin.

He adjusted her grip on the blade, holding her tightly to his chest as he helped her find the correct balance with the weapon. “Loosen up,” he demanded.

Olivia laughed. “Maybe I would if you didn’t have me trapped in a bear hug.”

Kylen gave her a little more space, but he kept his right hand firmly wrapped over hers, helping her hold the blade with one hand. “To open the blade, flick your wrist. Hard. Like you mean it. When you hear the click, it’s locked in place, and you can swing it.”

“Show me,” Olivia said.

Kylen took the scythe from her and backed away. In one fluid motion, he flicked open the blade, brought it even with his shoulder, and then slashed the first pumpkin in half horizontally. The top half lifted slightly before falling back into place on the bottom half. Not even a seed spilled out, and a hairline cut sliced completely through the pumpkin.

Olivia clapped and laughed. “Amazing!”

Kylen rolled his eyes upward and folded the blade shut again. “Your turn.”

After taking hold of the blade, Olivia made an attempt to flick it open. The scythe flew from her grasp, hitting the ground behind her with a clatter. “Sorry! Let me try again.”

She picked up the blade and held it in her hand again. Flexing her wrist, she tried to determine the appropriate amount of force to exert. Satisfied with her calculations, she folded the weapon in against her chest. Using her elbow as a hinge, she extended the blade in a swift forward motion. Sure enough, the blade unfolded and locked into place.

Taking a step toward the next pumpkin, she swung the scythe back and then slashed through the pumpkin with such force that the scythe nearly sliced through her leg upon its exit. She spun with the momentum of the stroke.

The top half of the pumpkin glided off its bottom half in slow motion, sliding to the ground with a wet splat.

Olivia couldn’t keep the smile off her face. “Well?”

“Adequate. Again. Try not to cut your leg off this time.”

Olivia closed the blade, advanced on the next pumpkin in the ring and repeated the process, this time without the ballerina moves on the follow-through. She glanced back at Kylen for approval.

“Next,” he instructed.

She narrowed her eyes at him before snapping the blade shut and shuffling to the next pumpkin. As she lined up to take on the fifth pumpkin, Kylen stayed her hand and took the blade from her. “Let’s try something a little more difficult.”

He took the volleyball-sized pumpkin from the log and backed away from her. Holding the pumpkin in his left hand and the scythe in his right, he tossed the gourd into the air, flicked open his blade, and sliced through it midair. It split in half—its entrails leaking out as it tumbled to the ground.

Cocking his head to the side, he handed her the blade and retrieved the next pumpkin. “I’ll toss. You slice.”

Nervous that she might lop off one of his appendages, she backed away from him. He tossed the pumpkin high into the air, giving her plenty of time to open the blade and bring it slashing back through the projectile before it smashed to the ground.

“Huh,” he said, a hint of a smile turning up the corners of his mouth.

So close to a smile, yet so far from it!

She couldn’t slap the smile off her own face. She couldn’t believe she’d hit the pumpkin like that on the first go. It was very…satisfying.

“More!”

Olivia sliced and diced the next five pumpkins midair. She didn’t miss once.

“Nice,” Kylen complimented.

Olivia felt her cheeks redden as the warmth of that small compliment filled her from head to toe. She was happy she’d pleased him and impressed with herself for accomplishing such a bizarre task. “Another one bites the dust. Number 56 is history!”

Kylen frowned and gathered up the pumpkin carnage, piling it into the center of the fire pit. The remains would probably be scavenged by raccoons—or perhaps the cats she’d seen in the woods—by nightfall.

It was only a quarter to ten but her stomach growled again loudly. Kylen heard it and whipped around to look at her. “You’re hungry?”

“Guess so! I’ve been eating way more over the past couple of days than I have in months.”

“Good. I know a place. We’ll eat first, and then…” He walked over to the spigot by the back of the house and starting cleaning his scythe.

“Then you’ll help me work on my list. Right?”

He dried and buffed the blade before folding it and sliding the weapon into the concealed scabbard on his back. “Right,” he mumbled unenthusiastically.

Olivia walked toward the Honda.

“Where are you going?” Kylen asked.

“Aren’t we ready to go?”

“Yes, but we aren’t traveling that way.”

Confused, she stopped. “What do you mean?”

“Come inside, we’re going the easy way…maybe.”

She followed him into the house, and then into the living room. When he was standing on the strange markings that were burned into the floor, he reached for her hand. A jolt flashed through her as she took it and allowed him to pull her in next to him.

He wrapped his arms around her from behind, and energy crackled up her spine where their bodies touched. Leaning in, he said, “If this works, we’ll be there in a few seconds. If not, I’ll come back to get you, and we’ll take the Honda.”

“If what works?” she asked, as the room began to shimmer and spin around her. Her stomach lurched, and for a moment she thought she was going to be ill. It was like they were on a crazy amusement park ride, but everything was speeding by so fast it was a blur. Her head swam far worse than after the second glass of wine last night.

When her world stopped spinning, she found herself standing inside an elaborate stone crypt, still locked in the grip of Kylen’s arms. Her legs crumbled beneath her, and she was sure she was about to pass out when Kylen’s blue energy began to seep into her through his hands, which were clutching her back. The warm light raced through her, restoring her to her senses.

As her head swooned back, she drew in a gasping breath, making eye contact with Kylen. He pulled her to her feet again and took a step back, energy still flowing between them.

“How did you do that?” she asked, relieved by how much better she felt.

“The travel or the energy?”

“Both.”

“Let’s go eat, and I’ll tell you.”

Chapter Twenty-One

He took her hand and led her from the crypt into the most beautiful cemetery she’d ever seen. Century-old oak and maple trees created a shady canopy, and the grass was clipped low to the ground, edged to perfection around each marker. A variety of stones and markers were arranged in neat grids across the grounds. In fact, it really seemed much more like a park than a cemetery. Stone benches were scattered throughout, too, and there was even a picnic table under a gazebo in the center of the grounds.

They left the cemetery and walked in silence, Kylen leading her several blocks down the busy main street in Meridian. White-collar workers hustled across the sidewalks in their shiny shoes and crisp suits, in and out of office buildings surrounding the bustling historic town square.