The Collector (26 page)

Chapter Fifty-one

Hush

The bastard stops walking and stands a few feet away. He digs into his pocket and pulls out a coin, flips it into the air, and catches it. Then he holds it between his pointer and thumb.

“You like my coin?” he asks. His voice is deep, and each word he speaks is clipped, as if his biggest fear is slurring.

I drag myself up, gritting my teeth against the pain, and look closer at the coin he’s holding. I clench my fists when I see it’s
my
penny, the one my father gave me. The one I left in my mother’s house.

“How about these?” He turns his foot to the side, and I spot my red Chucks on his gnarly feet. “They’re a little big, but I made them work.” He spins around in a slow circle, holding his arms out wide. “I was going for a grand entrance. What do you think? You think I nailed it?” He places a hand on his chest. “My name is Rector, and I am here to finish your assignment.”

“You motherfucker,” I growl.

“No,” he says, holding up a finger. “Not yet, but I’ll go back for your mama later.” He smiles and lets his head fall to the side. “Just think, I could be your daddy one day.”

I charge at him, but Max grabs me and holds me back. He has trouble keeping me grounded until Charlie and Valery grab onto me, too. I brush them off and stand still. As evenly as I can, I say, “Listen to me closely, Rector. I am going to kill you. I am going to end your life.”

He flips my father’s coin again and says coolly, “Doubt it. I have so much to do, I just do not have time to die.” He stuffs my coin into his pocket. “Did you know I only died a few weeks ago?” He eyes me, searching for the answer in my face. “No, of course you did not know that. So many demons downstairs fighting to be a collector.”

I feel my eyes widen, and my breath catches. “You can’t be.”

“Oh, but I can.” Rector lifts his pant leg and exposes a gold cuff. “The seventh cuff.”

“Liar,” I snarl. “There are only six cuffs.”

He shakes his head. “I’m afraid you have been misled. Six are reserved for collectors. But the last one, the seventh, is reserved for Boss Man himself.”

My heart stops beating. A seventh cuff? It wasn’t possible. I would have known. Boss Man would have told me. I was his right hand man. He never hid things from me.

“You can understand why I feel blessed to be here,” Rector taunts. “Boss Man must be so very confident in my abilities to relinquish his ability to walk the earth. I will admit, it took some convincing. You actually helped me out, taking as long as you did to get the girl to sign the contract. Boss Man was feeling antsy, and I promised him—no, I
assured
him—that I could make you complete this assignment.”

My head spins as he spews words. I can’t comprehend that Boss Man kept the seventh cuff a secret from me. And that he had no problems telling this dickhead about it. It dawns on me that I was never Boss Man’s number one, that he was always waiting for someone else to fill the spot. What’s more, I can’t believe I didn’t sense this prick in Chicago when he was with my mother, but I guess I was too preoccupied being creeped out that Mom was dating.

Rector taps his chest. “And look here, he gave me a shot. I showed him early on that I could get close to those important to you. Like your sweet mother.” He moves his hands to mimic a woman’s curves, and I bite down to keep from screaming. “After that, he offered me a deal: bring in the assignment myself, and the promotion is mine.”

“Yeah,” Kincaid chimes in. “And Rector’s promised us more time above ground.”

The other three collectors nod and mumble under their breath, showing their support for their potential new Soul Director.

“You know, I watched you before this,” Rector says. “You were always so cocky. Such an arrogant prick. I just could not wait to take it all away from you. And,” he says, scratching his jaw, “I think I have done a fairly good job.” Rector moves toward us. “I had a good time screwing with you and Max. But let’s get this over with, shall we?”

Something snaps inside of me, and I lunge. But before I can get to Rector, Kincaid barrels toward Charlie and sticks that blasted gun under her chin. She chokes on a scream, and the sound breaks me. I want to believe he won’t hurt her, but I freeze, anyway. Then I throw my hands up to show them I’m not moving any closer. I find Charlie’s eyes as Kincaid drags her toward Rector. “Charlie, listen to me,” I say. “I love you. I love you so much. I’m not going to let them hurt you. Do you hear me?”

Tears slip down Charlie’s cheeks, but she keeps her jaw clenched, like she’s trying hard not to show fear.

I feel a sudden jab in my back and know it’s a gun. Next to me, I spot Max on the ground. He must have charged when I did and got taken down. Valery is kneeling over him, her eyes glued to the gun under Charlie’s chin.

“Please don’t hurt her,” Valery begs.

Kincaid points the gun at Valery. “Who the hell is this chick?”

“My fiancée,” Max interjects, trying to cover what she really is.

Kincaid scrunches up his nose. “You’re going to marry a mortal? That’s disgusting.” He puts the gun back on Charlie, and the collector behind me, who I’ve now realized is Anthony, slides his gun up near my head.

“Thank you, Kincaid. You’ve been quite helpful.” Rector takes Kincaid’s outstretched gun and nods for him to step away. Then Rector pulls Charlie against him and presses his lips together. He glances at me as Charlie squeezes her eyes shut. “She does look good, doesn’t she?” Rector thrusts his hips at her, and the collectors laugh.

“Stay away from her,” I growl, heat flooding my veins.

Rector leans over and whispers in Charlie’s ear. “Open your eyes, girl. Look at Dante. Look at this boy you love.”

She opens her eyes, and seeing the gun pressed against my head, her face fills with fear.

Rector motions toward Kincaid, who steps forward and hands him a roll of papers I can only imagine is the soul contract. He flips Charlie’s soul light on and grins when he sees how little is left uncovered.

He presses his nose against her cheek. “Come, child, just ask for one more thing.” He pauses, thinking. “How about that limp of yours? Don’t you want it gone?”

Tears continue to rush down Charlie’s cheeks, but there’s still fortitude in her eyes.

“Don’t do it, Charlie,” I say. “Look at me. Charlie! Look at me!”

She meets my gaze.

Rector nods toward Anthony, the collector holding the gun to my head, and he presses it harder against my temple. A clicking sound rings near my ear as he cocks the gun.

“No,” Charlie says calmly. “You will not hurt him.”

Anthony puts his finger on the trigger and pretends to squeeze, and in that moment I see Charlie’s confidence waver.

“Charlie, it won’t hurt me,” I lie. “I’m immortal. They can’t kill me.”

“He is right,” Rector says. “We cannot kill him with a bullet. But that gun will put him out for several days, and in that time, we will drag his body downstairs and lock him in eternal torture. Do you want that for him?”

Charlie’s chest rises and falls so quickly I’m afraid her heart will give out.

“I said,
do you want that
!” Rector yells into her face.

Her body shakes uncontrollably in response to his words, and I have to shut my eyes against the sight. If I grab the gun at my temple and put a bullet in my own head, would it end this? No. They’d just press her with something else until she crumbled. The only thing I can do is beg her not to give them what they’re asking for and pray they don’t hurt her.

Charlie opens her mouth.

“Don’t, baby,” I plead. “Remember where you got your injury from. Remember your parents.”

Charlie’s face pulls together in pain, like she’s remembering the loss. And I realize suddenly it was the wrong thing to say. Her eyes snap open, and she lets her head fall back.

“I can’t lose you,” she whispers.

“No,” I say, but I know it’s too late.

Charlie closes her eyes and says gently, “I wish to be beautiful.”

As soon as the words leave her mouth, a seal releases from my chest, crosses the distance between us, and attaches to her light. Then, as quietly as a sigh, a bright light breaks open around Charlie. It hovers there like a warm cocoon.

And as I cry out, Charlie’s immaculate soul slowly floats toward me and slides gracefully into my body.

Chapter Fifty-two

Let There Be Light

Rector opens his mouth in a great circle of black and laughs deeply. He yanks Charlie against him, licks the tender flesh on her neck, and throws her to the ground.

“Good girl,” he says, locking his eyes on me. “The contract is fulfilled. Your soul has been collected by Mr. Walker here, and now I just have to bring him in.”

My hands flatten over my chest. I can’t believe I have her soul, that I was still able to collect it without my cuff. It doesn’t seem right.

Rector motions for Anthony to lower the gun from my head and back away, and he does. “This should be easy enough. I am fairly certain that between the five of us, we could bring you downstairs without harm. But tracking you these last few days has been highly annoying, and I feel like blowing off steam.” Rector raises the gun in my direction and takes aim.

“No!” Charlie jumps up and throws herself in front of him. A loud crack thunders around me, and my mind screams. I see my girl crumble, and everything around me tilts. For a second, even Rector seems terrified at what just happened. But then Charlie rolls to the side, holding her arm, and I see that the bullet only grazed her.

Rector crows with laughter. “Oh, shit,” he says. “I thought I killed her. That certainly wasn’t on my to-do list, so I’m pretty effing happy she’s still breathing. Boss Man probably wouldn’t have been very pleased about
that.
”

I feel sick with relief from seeing Charlie okay and learning that no matter what happens tonight, these guys don’t have orders to kill her. At least not yet. But that doesn’t change the fact that Rector almost
did
kill her. Blinded by a mix of fury and fear, I race toward Rector, no longer caring if the collector behind me fires. I charge toward his body, and we fall to the ground. We struggle, and I manage to get on top of him. I grab his head and slam it into the ground twice until I feel the barrel of his gun jab into my stomach, prepared to fire.

Rector smiles. “Nighty night.”

A sudden voice booms through the woods. “Stop!”

Everyone stares, waiting to see where the sound originated from. Taking my chance to get away from Rector’s gun, I jump back.

“Your weapons bring shame upon even
your
kind. Put them down,” the voice commands. “Now.”

I narrow my eyes and watch as a guy steps into view. He looks to be in his early twenties and has shoulder-length blond hair. Standing tall with his shoulders held back, his dark eyes pierce into Rector.

“Kraven,” Valery yells.

The guy, Kraven, turns quickly to glance at Valery. Then his eyes return to Rector.

“Who the hell are you?” Rector asks.

Kraven glares at him. Slowly, he repeats himself. “Put. Your weapons. Down.”

He has a way of speaking that seems regal, but Rector only rolls his eyes and says, “Somebody please take this guy out.”

Kincaid runs toward Kraven, and suddenly, the entire area is blasted with white light. It radiates from Kraven’s body, and I have to shade my eyes. When the light recedes, I pull my hand away and gasp.

Surrounding Kraven’s body are two enormous white wings. They arch over his head and stretch toward the sky, and he looks like a complete badass.

I glance at Rector, whose face is momentarily frozen with panic. Then he glances around at his collectors, remembering his quest, and barks, “I said
get him
!”

The collectors, more afraid of Rector’s wrath than of Kraven, rush toward the winged guy. Kincaid is closest, so he gets there first. Kraven wraps a wing around his body and swings it back out. The movement is so fast, I feel a rush of wind on my face. Kincaid flies through the air and smacks into a tree with a
thud.
I can’t be sure, but it doesn’t appear as if Kincaid is breathing.

Rector seems outraged at what Kraven just did to his collector. “Liberator!” Rector roars. “You want a fight?”

With Rector distracted, I race toward Charlie. But I stop when Rector leaps in front of me. His face. Something is wrong with his face. It’s like his skin is stretched too tightly across his bones. I take a step back even though everything in me screams for Charlie. Rector cocks his head like a bird, and then I hear a chilling, splitting sound from behind him. He stomps his right foot into the ground over and over.

“You want to fight
me
?” he yells again, and it almost feels like the ground is shaking. Behind Rector, Charlie stumbles backward. And then I see what’s caused her to stagger.

Massive black wings stretch slowly out of Rector’s back. They aren’t like Kraven’s. They aren’t covered in feathers and glowing. Instead, his wings are like a bat’s, slick like new leather and frayed in several places. My jaw drops open as he beats his wings once, causing a gust of wind to lash across my face. Rector bends at the waist like he’s going to leap. I feel certain he’s going to slaughter my ass, but then I notice his eyes are still locked on Kraven’s.

Rector jumps, and right as he’s about to sail over me, Charlie dives onto his back.

I can’t believe what I’m seeing until I watch both Charlie and Rector slam into the ground. She knocked him off balance. My Charlie…just took down a demon with freaking wings.

This time I do make it to Charlie with seconds to spare. I pull her up as Rector forgets all about Charlie’s soul and charges toward Kraven. Rector’s remaining collectors, clearly stunned at what Rector’s capable of, continue trying to fight Kraven. Max and Valery stand beside Kraven, trying to free him of the other collectors so he can focus on battling Rector.

“Run, you idiot,” Valery screams. “Get her out of here!”

And so I do. I nod my head once in Valery’s direction, because I’m not sure I’ll ever see her or Max again, and I run. Hand in hand, Charlie and I make it almost half a mile before agony tears through me, and I crumble to the ground. Pain sears the inside of my head and twists my muscles until I scream.

Charlie’s face floods with concern. “Dante,” she says between heavy breaths, “what’s wrong?”

For a moment, I don’t understand. And so I try to get back up. But when I’m blinded by pain once again, I remember why this is happening. I remember what I removed to save Charlie. I remember that my end is near.

After a few seconds, the pain subsides. I feel impossibly exhausted, like it’s hard to breathe, let alone run. But I know I have to get her to my truck. I don’t know how long I’ll make it, but I have to get her at least that far.

Gritting my teeth, I pull myself up, and after assuring Charlie I’m fine, we take off running again. I try and head in the direction of the dirt road, moving as quickly as my failing body will allow. It feels like we’re only a few yards away from Elizabeth Taylor when I hear a whooshing sound. Spinning around, I see Rector
thud
to the ground. I can’t decide whether he chased after us, or flew after us, or whether he can even fly at all. It’s the only thought I have before he lands a blow to my gut.

“This is so much better,” he says, his face still jacked up. “Now I know none of this will get back to anyone.”

When he pulls his arm up, I figure he’s going to hit me again. But then he says, “This is for getting in my way, bitch.” His hand flies across Charlie’s face, and she hits the ground.

I’m on him before he can even bring his arm forward again. Wings and freaky face be damned, this dick is about to get what’s coming to him.

I crash into Rector like a bulldozer. He flies off his feet, and his fugly head slams against the ground. He seems rattled by the sudden attack, and that confusion gives me just enough time to climb atop him. I land a blow to his chest right over his heart. Rector pulls in a ragged breath and gasps for air. As he tries to fill his lungs, I reach over his shoulder and grab hold of his right wing. Then I tear it toward me with everything I have. The wing feels rubbery in my hand, and Rector screams in pain. With a burst of energy, he pushes himself forward using his wings as arms.

Charlie rushes toward him, but before she can do any damage, he wing-wipes her like Kraven did Kincaid. She flies for several feet and then rolls to a stop. My throat closes as I remember what Kincaid looked like after the same thing happened to him. That he looked
gone.
But then I see her struggling to stand up and realize she’s okay. Afraid Rector will hit her again, I spring to my feet and race toward him.

But before I make it there, pain rips through me, and I tumble to the ground. Squeezing my head between my hands, I cry out.

“Dante!” Charlie yells.

“Shut. Up,” Rector says. I hear a terrible sound and know he’s hurt Charlie. “You know what I hate? That I cannot harm one measly human. I mean, this girl could have ruined things for a hundred years, and I have to wait to kill her? Wait for
what
? So God can have a chance to ruin our plan?” He spits Big Guy’s name like it’s poisonous.

I try to crawl toward Charlie, but I can hardly see her anymore.
I’m dying,
I think.
I’m dying for the last time, and I don’t know what will happen to Charlie’s soul when I do.
Blackness swirls before my eyes, and I feel like I’m floating above my body. The pain blisters my skin and wrenches my stomach into a fist. It’s unimaginable pain—and it’s the last thing I’ll experience as my girlfriend gets beaten in front of me.

“What’s wrong with you?” Rector kicks me in my ribs, and I bite down against the blow. “My guys get ahold of you back there?” He laughs. “Well, I am glad you made it. You will love watching this. Just because I can’t kill her does not mean I can’t hurt her, am I right?”

Rector raises his gun like he’s going to use it to hit Charlie. Right as he’s bringing it down, I see a flash of something colorful race toward him.

Blue crashes into Rector.

Blue!

As they fight for the gun, I realize it must have been him I felt tailing me tonight.

Charlie screams Blue’s name. Then she struggles to stand and tries to take a swing at Rector. He shoves her down and hits Blue in the jaw, Blue’s face paint covering his knuckles.

“Charlie,” I choke out. “Run.”

She races to my side and tries to pull me up.

I push her away. “Run, Charlie. Now. If you love me…run!”

She looks at Rector, like she’s thinking if she runs that maybe he’ll follow her and leave Blue and me alone. She glances at me, squeezes my hand, and turns to go. She runs with a limp for a moment, but when she realizes her hip is no longer damaged, she races. My hearts lifts watching her fly forward, her legs pumping with precision.

I hear Valery calling her name, and I know if she gets to Charlie before Rector does that Charlie will have a chance at being safe.

Rector knows it, too, because he growls like a rabid animal and moves to race after her. Blue jumps on his back, dragging him down. Blue’s a twig, but right now he’s a pit bull, using every pound he has to attack. Swinging around, Rector fights against him. They brawl for several minutes, screaming and tearing at each other.

A sudden sound shatters my dying thoughts and rings through the night.

Blue’s eyes swell, and his face contracts in shock. Slowly his body slumps down. When he falls to the earth, Rector is holding a gun limply in his hand, a gun I hadn’t realized he had. His eyes meet mine, and he appears…terrified.

As much as Rector wants this promotion, as much as he wants to prove himself to Boss Man, he knows what we cannot do.

We can never—
never
—harm a human.

Boss Man clearly has plans to hurt a human—Charlie. But not now. Now is not part of his
plan
. Rector has screwed that up, and he’ll have to answer to the devil himself for what he’s done.

The look on Rector’s face says he didn’t mean for the gun to fire. But it may not matter, and he knows that. Striking Charlie was one thing; her bruises will heal. But this… Rector’s
accident
will ignite war between heaven and hell.

He drops the gun and leans down. Then he pulls me up by my shirt and presses his chest against mine. I feel something tug inside my ribs, but I’m so far gone, I’m not sure what’s happening.

Rector smiles darkly like he got what he wanted. Then he drops me to the ground and runs.

With Rector gone, I drag myself over to Blue and try to press on his wound. He gasps for air, and I wrap my other arm around his brightly painted face.

“It’s okay,” I tell him. “We’ll take you to the hospital.” Even speaking takes the life out of me, and I know that, like Blue, I’m fading fast.

Blue sputters and squeezes his eyes shut. His entire body shakes like it’s thirty below. I grip him tighter and tell him all the lies I’ve learned to tell so well. I tell him it’s not that bad, that help is on its way. I tell him whatever I can to keep the truth from tumbling out—that there’s no way he’s walking away from this.

Blue whispers something I don’t catch, and I have to ask him what he said.

His eyes still closed, he says with shallow, jerky words, “I….love…her.”

“I know you do,” I say. “
She
knows you do.”

Blue opens and closes his mouth several times like he’s trying to breathe but can’t.

“Blue,” I say, pulling closer to him. “Blue!”

His body relaxes.

I close my eyes tight and try to block out what’s just happened. Try to convince myself Blue is still here.
He’s right here
.

Somewhere in the distance, I hear the sound of a car’s engine. I pray it’s Valery behind the wheel of Elizabeth Taylor, that Charlie’s next to her and Max is in the back. I pray my friends get out, and they remember Blue, who died for them tonight. And I hope they remember me, too. Deep down, I hope I was someone worth remembering in the end.

I lie back and let the pain slam into me. Gripping the dirt with my nails, I think of Charlie. I think of her beautiful, smiling mouth. I think of the feel of her skin against mine and the sparkle of life in her bright blue eyes.

Reaching beside me, I fumble for Blue’s hand and find it. I squeeze it hard and thank the boy who’s gone from this world. I turn toward him, feeling a tear race down my check, and I tell him, “I loved her, too.”