Savior Part 2: Son of Eden (The Savior Series) (8 page)

“What the hell are you idiots doing?” the ringleader demanded as Jason and Reaper both picked
Paper
and prepared to play again.

“We’re deciding which one of us is about to kick your asses. Just give us a second, will ya?” Jason said as he threw out
Paper
and Reaper threw out
Rock.

“Welp, looks like it’s me,” Jason smirked.

Reaper and I quickly darted away as Jason charged forward and struck their ringleader in the face three times before he could even blink.

“I’ll get the car,” Reaper said as he turned and headed toward the car while Jason easily evaded every wild punch thrown at him by the helpless group of troublemakers. The ringleader’s nose was gushing blood as he crawled away from the fight while Jason continued to incapacitate the other four troublemakers.

“You think you’re so tough?” the ringleader cried as he pulled himself to his feet just as Jason pummeled the last troublemaker to the ground. “Well, let’s see you punch this!” the ringleader growled as he reached into the back of his pants and withdrew a pistol.

“Oh crap!” Jason exclaimed as he quickly looked to Reaper hoping that he hadn’t noticed the gun but it was already too late. “It’s okay, Reaper! Just calm down!” Jason yelled, but Reaper’s hands had already started to tremble with rage as he glared over his shoulder at the gun-wielding troublemaker.

My heart thumped furiously as I watched the anger in Reaper’s eyes intensify as he slowly turned and prepared to attack. I could tell by the look in Jason’s eyes that he had the same fear as I did. The troublemaker obviously thought his gun had given him leverage but he didn’t realize that at any second now, The Reaper was about to zoom over and literally tear him in half.

Adrenaline has a drastic effect on Reaper’s judgment. In addition to making his incredibly dense muscles even more powerful, it also caused him to go into a state that Jason and I jokingly referred to as “Reaper Rage.” During those episodes, he became a hell of a lot more powerful than he already was, but he also became considerably more unstable.

“Look buddy,” Jason said calmly as he turned his attention to the ringleader. “You’re gonna wanna put that thing away ASAP, before you get yourself killed.”

“I’m calling the shots here, hotshot!” the gunman shouted at Jason as he aimed the pistol for his chest.

“Howie, get Reaper out of here!” Jason ordered as the gunman thumbed down the hammer of his pistol.

“Got it!” I said as I started toward Reaper but I froze in my tracks as the gunman suddenly trained his gun on me.

“Just where do you think you’re going, nerd?” he asked smugly as I stared in horror down the barrel of his handgun.

Over the years, Reaper and Jason had both developed a painstakingly irritating habit of giving me a hard time when it came to just about anything, but even though they would often make jokes at my expense I still knew that there was nothing in the world that they wouldn’t do for me. I also knew that they were still just as over protective of me then as they were when we were growing up together back in Lexington, Florida. The troublemaker didn’t realize it at the time, but aiming that gun at me was by far the biggest mistake he could have possibly made.

Jason sprinted forward as quickly as he could just as Reaper prepared to pounce. If I had blinked I would have missed the entire thing. In a flash, Reaper zoomed toward the gunman with his right hand cocked far behind his head. Jason hit the ground and slid forward just in time to sweep Reaper from his feet before he could punch the gunman into the stratosphere.

In a blur, Jason leapt to his feet and disarmed the troublemaker with a stiff punch to the throat. Blood spewed from the troublemaker’s mouth as Jason followed up with a two punch combination that devastated his gut and face and sent him tumbling to the ground.

“Get the keys and get him out of here!” Jason yelled to me as Reaper pulled himself to his feet and glared at us.

I was never a very fast individual but somehow, in that moment, I was able to move as quickly as I had ever moved in my entire life. Reaper’s chest heaved up and down with rage as I rushed over and stood before him, pleading with him to forget about the gunman and come with me. He could see that the gunman was defeated but I could tell by the look in his eyes that he wanted to finish him. Despite his rage, I stood my ground and it took much longer than I had hoped it would, but eventually he conceded once he realized that I wasn’t going to give up. He could have easily picked me up and flung me across the street with one hand if he had wanted to but luckily for me, even with him in full Reaper Rage, he wasn’t willing to hurt a single hair on my head.

The fire that once burned in his eyes had somewhat lessened as we made our way to his car and prepared to flee the scene.

Hopefully no one called the cops,
I thought as I hopped into the driver’s seat and started the engine. I shifted gears and pulled away as soon as Reaper took his seat on the passenger side. I knew Jason could take care of himself, but for some reason, I had a funny feeling about leaving him behind. As I glanced into the rear-view mirror, I suddenly realized why. I was almost frozen in shock as I saw Jason withdraw a small caliber handgun from a hidden holster underneath his pants leg. He stared coldly at the incapacitated troublemakers as he attached a silencer to the end of the small pistol.

I had witnessed Jason take many lives during our time together, but never had I seen him kill a civilian. Sure, that guy had pulled a gun on us, but Jason’s reflexes were so finely tuned that I doubt the guy could have hit Jason even if he had been able to get a shot off. That certainly wasn’t quite the same as staring down an assault rifle-wielding terrorist that had been trained to kill since God knows when. These guys were just a bunch of pissant wannabes, not actual terrorists. Sure, they deserved to get their asses kicked, but they didn’t deserve to die. Shooting a terrorist in the line of duty was justifiable, but shooting an incapacitated punk who wasn’t even holding his gun anymore was murder. As much as I wanted to look at it differently, I couldn’t. I had always known that Jason was hiding something from Reaper and me, but it was in that moment that I realized he was possibly hiding much more than I initially considered.

“Look out, Howie!” Reaper suddenly shouted.

I quickly pulled my eyes from the rear-view mirror and focused on the road, turning the wheel sharply to the right just in time to keep the car from drifting into oncoming traffic.

“Are you okay, Howie?” Reaper asked.

“Yes, I’m fine. Just a little shaken up,” I admitted, with the image of Jason standing over the troublemaker and shooting him in the face still looming in my mind.

“What’s on your mind?” Reaper continued.

“Nothing,” I lied.

“Howie, I know you like the back of my hand, bro. I can tell when something’s bothering you. What’s up?”

“I’m just curious about some of the things Wells told you about your past—mainly about The Righteous,” I replied. That wasn’t really what was on my mind at the time but it was something that I had been thinking about since Reaper had told me about his meeting with Wells and the Anokian priest known as The Elder.

“What part are you curious about?”

“I’m much more concerned with what he didn’t tell you,” I admitted. “I’d actually like to know the real reason why The Righteous started the war in Andromeda.”

“Wells already told me that. He said The Righteous was trying to rule the entire galaxy.”

“I know that’s what he said but I don’t buy it. That’s entirely too simple. No one simply wakes up one day and decides to take over an entire galaxy. Something tells me there’s a lot more to this story than Wells is letting on to.”

“Maybe you’re right,” Reaper said as he bit his lower lip and leaned back in his seat.

“If you want, I can take a look and see what I can find,” I said cautiously as I focused on the road in order to avoid eye contact.

“You’re talking about hacking into Wells’ files, aren’t you?” Reaper questioned. There was an awkward tone in his voice but I couldn’t tell if it meant he was interested or appalled by the idea.

“It’s just a suggestion,” I replied. Several moments passed as Reaper stared at me in silence.

“I just think you deserve to know the truth. The whole truth—not some filtered version. I think we both know that Wells only told you enough to get you to trust him—enough to hopefully stop you from asking questions,” I continued. “It’s been two years, Reaper. I think you’ve waited long enough.”

“Alright,” Reaper finally replied as he leaned back in his seat once again and stared forward. “Just make sure you don’t get caught.”

“Ha!” I scoffed. “Unless Wells has a clone of me lying around, I wouldn’t worry about that.”

“And you say
I’m
getting cocky,” Reaper joked. “Hey, by the way, when you’re doing your hacker thing can you see if you can find any references to a
Goddess of Eden?
”

“Yeah, I’ll see what I can find,” I said. “Where did you hear that, if you don’t mind me asking?” I continued as I realized how intriguing the phrase sounded.

“The Elder mentioned ‘The Goddess’ a few times the other day. I remember when he warned me about The Greater he referred to him as the ‘Son of Eden’ and he said that the blood of The Goddess runs through his veins. He didn’t really explain what the hell he meant by that, so I was hoping you would look into it for me.”

“Aright. I’ll let you know what I find,” I replied, not really sure what to make of this information. “Hey, speaking of goddesses, what’s up with the girl at the bar?”

“I don’t know,” he said, holding back a smile as he shrugged his shoulders. “We exchanged numbers but I’m not sure if I’m gonna call her.”

“Are you kidding? Why not?!” I demanded.

“I don’t know, man. I guess I’m just too busy, you know?” he said, as a somber expression washed over his face.

“It’s Monica, isn’t it?” I asked, hoping the question wouldn’t hurt him too much.

“I don’t know,” he sighed. “Maybe.”

“You really loved her, didn’t you?”

“Yeah,” he mumbled. “Still do.”

“That’s not healthy, Reap—hanging on to a memory like that is just
not
healthy,” I replied. “You made the decision to walk away from her because you wanted to make sure that she was out of harm’s way. If you think that’s the right decision, then you’ve got to let her go. You can’t keep doing this to yourself, man. Maybe that’s why you met this new girl.”

“Oh, so
now
you believe in fate?” Reaper questioned, smiling as he looked over to me.

“I don’t know,” I shrugged. “Sometimes. I just don’t think it’s a coincidence that you saved that girl and then happened to run into her like that. Who knows, maybe there’s something there.”

“I didn’t think about it that way,” he replied.

“Yeah well, it’s pretty obvious that you’re already madly in love with her so you might as well give it a shot,” I chuckled as I shifted gears and drifted into the left lane.

“M
adly in love?
Are you kidding me?” Reaper jokingly protested. “She’s pretty hot but I wouldn’t start throwing the L-word around,” he continued, smiling from ear to ear as he spoke.

“Well, you could have fooled me the way you were so transfixed that you almost didn’t notice your best friend was seconds away from getting his ass kicked,” I joked. Reaper and I laughed aloud for a few moments before the car fell into silence as I continued to drive onward. I could tell that he was still thinking about the “girl from the bar” as he sat in the passenger seat and tapped his fingers on the door. Though he would never have admitted it at the time, he was clearly smitten, and even though I always thought Monica was cool I couldn’t help but hope that Reaper would pursue this new girl. Despite his best efforts to hide it, I could still see the pain and agony that he felt for leaving Monica behind every time he looked at me. He probably didn’t realize it yet, but the few minutes that we spent talking about the mysterious scarlet that had swooped into his life were the first moments in a while that I had looked into his eyes and noticed nothing but happiness. The usual anguish that lingered in his expression was suddenly replaced by a joyful light that I hadn’t witnessed since the days that he and Monica were together.

“So, are you going to call her?” I asked as I steered the car onto the freeway’s exit ramp.

“Yeah, I’ll call her,” he admitted, still smiling and tapping his fingers on the door.

“Good deal,” I said as I nodded my head in approval. “Like I said, you’ve got to move on at some point—and if she knew how miserable you were, Monica would probably want it this way anyway,” I offered as Reaper continued to think of the girl at the bar while mulling over the idea of moving on.

“I JUST HOPE HE HASN’T MOVED ON,” I MUTTERED IN A WHINY voice as I stared into the concerned eyes of my best friend, Nina Delgado. We were both freshman at Knightsville State University at that point and she had just come over to check on me after she realized that I had missed all my classes for the second day in a row.

It had been two years since Reaper suddenly walked out of my life and though nearly twenty-seven months had passed since I had last seen him, I still missed him just as much as I did on the day that he left me. At first, I thought I understood it—I understood that he was leaving me because he wanted to make sure that I was safe from the danger that was sure to follow him after he joined the fight against the mysterious terrorist known as The Righteous. His rationale made perfect sense for the first few days that he was gone but as the days became weeks and the weeks became months, I slowly started to realize that it was possible that I would never see him again. It was then that I began to question if he had truly left me behind to protect me or if he simply wanted to get rid of me now that he had discovered his true greatness. After that there were days where I wouldn’t even eat. I’d just sit in front of my computer for hours on end searching through an endless amount of online articles looking for any sign of him that I could find; a thwarted Stranger attack, an alleged Reaper sighting—anything. I truly would have settled for any sign of him but more often than not, there was nothing. Nothing but unfounded rumors and conspiracy theories that only served to remind me of the devastating truth—The Reaper that I knew and loved was gone. It was like the government agency that he had joined had erased him completely from existence.

As I spiraled deeper into my despair most of my friends abandoned me, but Nina was the one person who remained by my side ready and willing to nurse me back to health every time I allowed myself to hit rock bottom. If it wasn’t for her I’m not sure what would have become of me. I certainly wouldn’t have even thought of applying for college, but Nina had insisted that doing so would be the first step toward taking control of my life and continuing the process of moving forward. I was skeptical at first but having her there certainly helped a lot. It wasn’t easy but I had gotten to a point where I could pull myself out of bed on a somewhat consistent basis and put on a face that seemed happy enough to adequately hide the grief-filled zombie that I felt like on the inside. Though I had made a significant amount of improvement since we began our first semester of college, there were still quite a few bad days—days where no matter how hard I tried, nothing could stop me from wondering about him. Nina knew these days all too well, and she could tell that this day was one of them as she sat at the foot of my bed in my small, one-bedroom college apartment.

Nina was a tall, dark-haired, somewhat slender girl, but she was endowed with a decent amount of curves that she never had problems showing off in relative moderation. I always thought she wore bright colors better than anyone I knew and her current outfit of choice was no exception. She had matched one of her many floral print miniskirts with a stylish pair of buckled platform sandals along with a formfitting white tank top and a sleeveless denim biker jacket. I, on the other hand, was still wearing my pajamas, my hair was a complete disaster, and I was still lying in bed with the covers pulled all the way up to my neck.

“Monica Stripling, you have got to be kidding me!” Nina groaned as she shook her head in disbelief.

“It’s not as easy as you’re making it out to be, Nina. I can’t just forget about him,” I pouted, hoping she would feel sorry for me and stop the ‘tough love’ session that she was getting ready to drill me with.

“Well, it sure seemed pretty easy for him,” she snapped.

“He hasn’t forgotten about me,” I whined, trying in vain to hide the pain caused by her remark.

“Monica, it’s been two years and you haven’t heard from him at all,” she replied as her expression softened, no doubt due to the obvious pain that her previous statement had caused.

A part of me wanted to listen to her and simply get up and move on with my life, but another part of me couldn’t help but lie there and hope that he was still out there somewhere—thinking about me as much as I was thinking about him. Nina was the only person that I had told about Reaper after he revealed his secret the night he saved me. To everyone else in our tiny hometown of Lexington, Florida, Adam Reaper was just a ghost—one of the many ill-fated students that died the night The Suspect and The Strangers attacked our high school on prom night. A part of me felt guilty for telling Nina about Reaper’s secret, but another part of me felt relieved to finally have someone to share it with.

“What am I supposed to do?” I asked softly as Nina continued to stare at me with her expression soaked with pity.

“I know it hurts to think about it but you have to forget about him. Look at everything you’ve given up for him—everything you’ve let him get away with.”

“But I love him,
Nina
! I can’t just forget that!”

“Well, you’re gonna have to try. Otherwise you’ll end up killing yourself. Just look at you, Monica! You lost nearly thirty pounds! How am I supposed to explain to Dr. Kate that I let her only child kill herself because of a boy?” Nina exclaimed.

“I’m not going to kill myself, Nina,” I said solemnly while diverting my eyes away from her gaze. I sighed and sat up and glanced at a mirror to the right of my bed and shuttered at the sight of my face. On my “good days” I was still somehow able to garner quite a bit of attention from guys whether I wanted it or not, but I certainly couldn’t understand why. The girl staring back at me in the mirror in that moment looked absolutely sick. I couldn’t see why anyone would want to spend time around someone who looked as hopelessly depressed as I did.

“Yeah, my mom would probably lose her mind if she saw me like this,” I admitted as I studied my sunken cheeks. “Did I ever tell you that for most of her life she was told that she couldn’t have kids?”

“No, I didn’t know that,” Nina answered.

“Dad always called me his little miracle,” I said as my eyes became heavy with tears. “For years they were told that they couldn’t conceive and then out of nowhere my mom, against all odds, became pregnant with me. Dad always said that finding out he was having a daughter was the happiest moment of his life. I can’t just throw that away. I owe it to him to live. I owe it to him to find a way to move forward,” I continued as I wiped the tears from my reddened eyes and looked to Nina who was still silently gazing at me from a few feet away.

“Maybe you’re right,” I finally said causing Nina to smile and breathe a sigh of relief.

“Maybe it has been too long,” I continued. “And that’s exactly why I was thinking about going after him.” I braced myself for the backlash as Nina’s smile instantly turned into a scowl.

“Oh my god,” Nina sighed as she smacked herself in the forehead and flopped back onto my bed. “My best friend has officially lost her mind.”

“I’m not crazy, Nina. I’m just worried,” I said. “With everything that’s happening I just can’t help but wonder if he’s okay. The Strangers have taken over entire cities! If they have that type of power how can I be certain that they don’t have enough power to kill him?”

“Monica, I’m not sure if you remember but—your long lost boyfriend is kind of a superhero. What kind of trouble could he possibly be in that
you
could save him from?” Nina asked sarcastically as she continued to lie on the bed and stare at the ceiling.

“I know what he’s capable of but I just have a bad feeling, you know? And it doesn’t help that I’ve started to have that dream again.”

“What dream?” Nina asked as she abruptly sat up and turned to me.

“The dream,”
I replied. “The one where Reaper dies and I’m standing at his funeral on Eden.”

“I see,” Nina responded as she studied me. “I guess that means there’s no talking you out of this, is there?”

“No,” I replied. “I’ve made up my mind.”

“Then it’s settled. I’m coming with you,” she insisted as she suddenly whipped out her smartphone and quickly typed out a text message.

“No way Nina,” I protested. “There’s no way I’m dragging you into this too.”

“Aww, that’s so cute,” Nina smiled as she continued to type on her phone.

“’What’s cute?” I wondered.

“You thought I was asking,” she said with a smile. “You’re so adorable,” she mocked as she looked up at me and flashed her bright yet devious smile at me.

“Nina, I—”

“Wait!” Nina exclaimed as her phone suddenly began to vibrate.

“What is it?!” I asked, intrigued by her sudden excitement.

“See for yourself,” Nina said proudly as she scooted backward until she was at the head of the bed, directly beside me. My heart thumped excitedly as she extended her hand and I reached from under the covers and grabbed her phone. My jaw nearly hit the floor when I saw a text message from Howie Vargas, one of Reaper’s best friends.
I’ll try to reach out to her in a couple of days,
the message read. It wasn’t from Reaper himself but I was still excited beyond belief.

“How did you get him to reply? H-How do you even have Howie’s number?” I asked, still staring at the phone in awe, wondering if Reaper was anywhere nearby when Howie sent the reply.

“Howie used to do all of my homework in exchange for my lunches back in the day so I still had his number saved to my contacts.”

“I still have his number too, but whenever I tried texting or calling him, Jason, or Reaper, I never got a response. How did you get him to agree to contact me?”

“Let’s just say I took one for the team,” Nina said with a silly grin plastered across her face.

“Wow!” I said, blushing as I scrolled up on her phone and revealed a very provocative picture that she must have sent to Howie. She wasn’t completely naked or anything, but I’m sure that that wouldn’t have been her parents’ favorite picture of her.

“You like?” Nina asked jokingly as she threw her head back and struck the same pose from the picture.

“You’re too much,” I giggled as I softly tossed her phone at her. She stopped posing just in time to catch the phone before it hit her.

“When is he going to call? What am I supposed to do?” I asked. “It’s not like he’s just going to give up Reaper’s location just because you sent him a picture.”

“You never know. He’s always had a pretty big crush on me,” Nina boasted.

“Yeah, well Reaper’s his best friend so I’m not sure if that’ll be enough,” I replied.

“You’re saying I should take it farther than PG-13?” she asked.

“No!” I replied, embarrassed that she thought I would ask that of her.

“I was joking!” she said, laughing hysterically as she pointed at my face.

“Well you looked serious,” I said, relieved that she was only kidding.

“You know I wouldn’t do anything like that… unless we were talking about Jason,” she admitted, smiling from ear to ear as she spoke.

“Okay, now you’re doing
way
too much,” I chuckled.

“I’m just saying,” she giggled. “Speaking of Jason… you know how you owe me absolutely everything in the world since I’m the one that’s about to put you back in contact with your long lost BF?” she continued.

“What do you want, Nina?” I asked, jokingly shaking my head.

“Well… I’d like you to put in a good word for me with Jason,” she smirked. “But not—I mean… you don’t have to make me sound desperate or anything. Just let him know that I’m interested. Hey! Maybe you should get Reaper to tell him! Do you think it would improve my chances if it comes from one of his
boys?
”

“Are you serious?” I asked, not sure if she was joking or not.

“Heck yeah, I’m serious! Why shouldn’t I have a superhero boyfriend too?” she grinned.

“I’ll see what I can do,” I said, trying not to giggle. “You still haven’t told me what I’m supposed to say to convince Howie to help us.”

“That’s easy. Just make him feel bad,” she replied. “I’ve already softened him up by telling him how heartbroken and miserable you were. Just keep that going and maybe pull a few tears and you should have the goods in no time.”

“You’ve got it all figured out, huh?” I asked.

“That’s what friends are for,” she smiled.

“You don’t feel bad about leading Howie on? How do you think he’ll feel if you end up with Jason after we use him to get to Reaper?” I asked.

“He’ll be fine,” Nina said dismissively.

“I hope so,” I mumbled as I stared off into space. A part of me felt bad about what we were doing, but I had no choice but to go through with it. I missed Reaper so much that it was making me sick. It had gotten to the point where I was willing to do almost anything to see him again.

“Thank you, Nina—for everything. It really means a lot to not have to go through this alone,” I said as I looked at her and smiled.

“Awww,” she cooed as she moved toward me with her arms outstretched. “You know I’ve always got your back,” she said as we embraced.

“But this is—”

“I know, I know! It’s dangerous,” Nina interrupted as she pulled her head back and looked into my eyes. “And if it gets all crazy you better hope I don’t die because I will come back and haunt the hell out of you, girl!”