Reaper Mine: A Reaper Novel (9 page)

“Do you want me to take over?”

She looked at him like she was surprised he was there. “Actually I’m hungry.”

Victor smiled. “This is something I can get behind.”

They stopped at an out of the place diner and Victor watched Elle closely as they ate. Something was different about her and he couldn’t put his finger on exactly what had changed about her.

“Why the sudden urge to fight?” he asked once he had finished eating he didn’t like to let much get in the way of his food. So he had wolfed down the burger and fries but now he sat back and scrutinized her as she pushed her chicken fried steak and mashed potatoes around her plate. If she didn’t start eating it he was going to eat it for her.

Elle pushed her food around for a minute more when her eyes turned back to him they shimmered with tears. “It’s not about fighting, it’s about defending myself. I’ve hidden for centuries; I am a liability to my powerful siblings. Why do you think they are calling me to them now?”

“Because you are in danger?” Victor said pulling her plate to him and eating her mashed potatoes.

Elle gave him a sad smile. “Victor I have seen you with your siblings. If one of them was in danger what would you do, would you leave them to find their way to you?”

Victor felt the food in his stomach turn, at the sad look she gave him when his eyes snapped to her at the stupid question. “They are leaving me to find my way to them. Because I am a liability. Helena isn’t wasting time to come to me because I am not worth her time. I’m in trouble and Helena knows it, and she is leaving me to fend for myself.”

“Elle, they want you to be safe,” Victor said but after overhearing the conversation she had with her sister the other night he recognized it wasn’t true. And the words felt like the lie they were. And the look Elle gave him said she knew it.

“Of course they do,” Elle said taking her plate back she ate the rest of her dinner. “They just are not as concerned with my safety as say your brothers and sister would be for your safety.

Victor didn’t think he liked her siblings much, she looked at him. Her eyes dark with emotion. He had the strangest urge to hold her and take away her pain. “What would you do if Celeste’s life was in danger?”

Victor wanted to snarl, and barely held back the growl rumbling deep in his chest. “I would eliminate the threat.” It really wasn’t a question. “Besides, anyone threatening a Reaper/Demon hybrid who is mated to a Dark Angel is taking their life in their own hands wouldn’t you say?”

Elle softly laughed. “Yes, well there is that. But that being said, my siblings have hidden me away because I am a burden they would rather not deal with, and deal with me now only because they have no choice. I have been in seclusion for more than a millennia. Moved when there was no other choice. I left the cluster because I made them more susceptible to attack, alone I can hide. But with the group or even with one more demi-god I was like a beacon. I became a weight I caused massive losses to the demi-gods. So I was sequestered away from my siblings and the world in order save them and myself.”

“For someone who is sequestered away, you are well acclimated to the world and your surroundings,” Victor said leaning back.

“Just because I can’t interact with the world doesn’t mean I don’t have to know what is going on and how it revolves around me.” Why did he feel like everything he was saying was hurting her?

“We need to get back on the road, Elle. Don’t you want to find your sister?” He pulled himself from the table trying to shake the strange feelings from his shoulders.

He jerked when her cold hand touched him. “Victor I don’t want to be a victim anymore.”

Victor didn’t know what prompted him to do it but he grabbed her and pulled her into a hug, she fit into all the hollows of his body and he soaked her in letting his warmth soak into her. “You don’t have to be a victim, Elle,” he whispered into her ear. He didn’t let her go until she was warm and holding him back.

When he released her the scared look was gone and she didn’t look like she was going to break.

“Better?” he asked.

Elle gave him a sad smile, but her eyes weren’t so dark anymore. “Better.”

“Good, get your ass in the car.” She laughed as she moved passed him.

“Have I mentioned I don’t like you?” she asked.

“Yeah, but I’m growing on you,” Victor said walking past her with a smile on his face.

****

Elle shook herself and jogged to catch up to him.

He grumbled something under his breath and glared at her. “So much for the compassionate Reaper.”

The sun had set while they had been in the diner and Elle felt the darkness surround them as she darted a look around at the shadows ready for them to come alive at any minute. If Chaos was part of this there was nowhere she could hide. She should probably tell Victor, Chaos was looking for her, but she just didn’t know who Chaos was working for, or if he was working against her or not. She stepped close to Victor, realizing she was putting his life in danger. And it upset her, after all he had done she didn’t want to see him hurt.

“You should go back to the Infernos Reaper. I can find my way to Helena from here.”

Victor snorted and shook his head. “Did Celeste hit you in the head, or do you have a mental condition?”

Elle stopped and grabbed his arm. “There is no reason to put you in harm’s way I’m not worth it. Give me the keys and go back to the Infernos.” She held out her hand. “Trust me, my soul is so not worth any of this shit.”

His eyes narrowed, the dark depths sparkled eerily making her catch her breath… “You do have a mental condition, don’t you?” he asked crossing his arms over his broad chest.

Elle slapped him on the shoulder. “Of course I don’t have a mental condition. But there is no reason for you to do any of this.”

Victor leaned in so their noses were almost touching. “Listen very carefully, Elle. I am a Reaper, and have been for longer then you have existed. Do you understand?” she nodded her eyes nearly crossing they were so close together. So he continued. “I do absolutely nothing I do not want to. Do you understand?”

Again she nodded. “But it doesn’t make sense. I have nothing to offer you, nothing to give you in return.”

Victor sighed and Elle admitted it sounded like a combination between growl and the way a large cat purred. And Elle wasn’t sure if it turned her on or scared the hell out of her.

“It doesn’t have to make sense right now, Elle. All that matters is you used a Blood Call and I answered and where you go I go. If you insisted on seeing Helena then this is where we are going. But if you ask me it’s a dumb ass idea.” Victor did the sigh growl thing and Elle was so surprised by the answer she didn’t know what to do. He was sticking with her, and he was going with her because she needed to do this for her. And he had said he would help her learn to protect herself. Even if it meant he could be harmed, none of this made any sense but he was sticking with her. But he shouldn’t, and she couldn’t live with herself if he was hurt or killed.

Elle threw her arms around him and hugged him. Victor stood stalk still in her arms. But she held him close anyway. “Thank you,” she whispered into his ear finally.

“For what?” he snapped.

“For sticking with me,” Elle said releasing him and backing away. “But you need to walk away. Because I don’t want you to get hurt. Because I realize you could be seriously hurt or killed. This isn’t your fight, Victor. Why should your blood be spilt?”

Victor shook his head again, and walked away from her toward the SUV. “Get in the god damn car, Elle. This isn’t up for discussion.” Each word was like a chip of ice and flung over his should before he climbed behind the wheel of the SUV and slamming the door so hard she was surprised the door didn’t fall completely off its hinges.

Elle stomped over to the driver’s door and slapped the glass with her palm. “I will not be responsible for you being hurt.” She didn’t understand why the thought of him being hurt made her stomach ache. She knew what he was doing, and why and she was so grateful but she didn’t want him to get hurt.

Victor glared at her. “Get in the car Elle,” he shouted through the glass. She shook her head.

Elle glared back and crossed her arms over her chest. She was causing a scene in the parking lot of a diner in the middle of know where. Nevertheless the situation was driving her to do things she had never imagined she would ever do before.

“Don’t make me get out and force you into the car Elle,” Victor threatened.

“I’m not afraid of you.” The words tumbled out and she realized they were true.

Something flashed in the depths of his dark eyes which would have frightened someone else but Victor wouldn’t hurt her. She jumped back when the door flew open.

“You have no reason to put your life on the line for me,” she said as she danced out of his reach. “And as we both know I can’t pay you. And you already own my soul so what are you going to do?” Elle didn’t know how she did it as she ducked out of his grasp.

“I’ll come up with something. Now this is the last time I’m going to tell you to get in the damn car,” Victor growled. Reaching for her as she continued to dance out of his reach. He did his little sigh/growl, and Elle couldn’t help it she laughed as she spun on her toes mimicking a move she had seen Celeste do that morning.

“Or what?” She said laughing again. She didn’t even see him move, and she was pressed up against the back of the SUV. Elle caught her breath and starred into Victor’s dark eyes.

“You learned far more than I thought you did this morning,” Victor exhaled against her skin making her tingle and shiver, he shouldn’t make her feel these things but oh they felt so nice.

Elle smiled at him, it was a compliment and it warmed her like nothing had in years. “Thank you.”

Elle felt him press his entire body against her and everything in her went hot. She didn’t know if she should press back or throw her arms around his neck. Or cry from the pure bliss of the erotic feelings suddenly rushing through her body.

His hands roamed down her body stopping at her waist, he gave her a devastating smile that went straight to her heart. Victor stepped back and picked Elle up he threw Elle over his shoulder. Elle squeaked and grabbed handfuls of t-shirt to steady herself. “It didn’t have to be this way, Elle,” he muttered, and she was pretty sure he swore. He tossed her into the front passenger seat and glared at her. “Do I have to restrain you?”

She glared at him. “Are you talking about tying me up?”

He rose one eye brow and a smile curved the corner of his eyes. “Sweetheart I would love to tie you up, so it’s really up to you.”

She shoved him with her foot and slammed the door. Scrambling over the seat into the driver’s seat, there was a spectacular flash of fire and she was sitting in Victor’s lap.

“Is that a yes, on being tied up?”

Elle scrambled away from him. “Can’t you understand I’m trying to help save you?”

“Now see, I thought I was the one trying to help save you,” Victor said turning the key he started the car and pulled out of the parking lot and onto the highway. “Besides I’m a Reaper remember. Pretty hard to kill me, so stop worrying about saving me.”

Elle decided she was going to ignore him, he just didn’t understand. These things whatever they were, were not going to stop. And they wanted her dead or alive, Elle shivered. She didn’t do dead well.

Victor must have seen her shiver. “Stop worrying Elle, everything is going to be fine.”

Fine was relative at the moment, especially since Chaos was somehow playing with the pieces. If only she knew whose side he was on.

How did she explain she believed she was being used as bait by her brothers and sisters? And the Freaks just wanted to use her for the curse she had. Elle laid her head against the glass letting the cool feeling penetrate into her mind as she tried to figure out a way to get out of the predicament she was in, somehow she had gotten herself wedged in between a rock and a hard place and now she had gotten the Reapers involved.

A panic attack seized her and her heart rate increased, and tightness banded around her chest. Elle tried to take breathes but she didn’t seem to be able to get them deep enough. She leaned forward and put her head between her knees.

“Elle?” Victor asked.

She held up a hand. There were just too many moving pieces in this damn chess game. Why were there so many damn pieces? And she didn’t even know who the hell all the players were. Or whose side the players were on, all she knew was she was the pawn. Just her, oh wait she had a Reaper on her side she couldn’t confide in because if she did she would put him in more danger. Oh and she couldn’t confide in him because she didn’t even have the right answers.

No answers, and now clues, just Elle the cursed pawn.

Her panic attack got considerable worse.

“Elle?” Victor asked when she didn’t move after a few minutes.

She lifted her head and looked at him, tears ran down her face. “Stop the fucking car.” She reached over and grabbed the wheel forcing the car to the side of the road.

Victor swore trying to regain control of the vehicle, Elle didn’t wait as the SUV slowed before she jumped out.