The Lost Chalice (The Relic Seekers Book 3) (17 page)

Kendall turned the picture over. Her face went still. “There’s a name on the back.” She looked up at Jake. “Maryanne.”

“The name in the journal.” Nathan gave Jake an angry glare. “Who is she?”

“I don’t know who the hell she is,” Jake said. He looked confused.

“You saw her name in a journal?” Brandi asked.

“It wasn’t written in ink, but we saw the impression.” Kendall chewed on her lip. “The Reaper must have known her.”

“You think she was working with him?” Brandi asked.

“If you say she’s dead—” Kendall stopped. “That explains it. That’s why she never spoke to me. She just seemed to appear. And why Jake didn’t see her. Why her gown and hands were dirty. She hadn’t been in a garden. She was in a
grave. She was a ghost.”

“A ghost,” Jake said, his frown getting deeper.

“I don’t care if she’s a woman or a ghost. I want to know what she was doing in his house,” Nathan said.

Brandi made a small surprised sound. “Maybe Thomas was right the first time.”

“Right about what?” Jake asked.

“That you’re the Reaper’s son.”

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

T
HAT
’
S CRAZY
,” K
ENDALL
said. “What makes you think Jake could be the Reaper’s son?”

Brandi eyed Kendall warily. “When Thomas found out that the Reaper had a child, he thought it might be Jake. The Reaper insisted that Thomas hire Jake.”

“That doesn’t mean anything,” Kendall said, feeling a knot growing in her stomach. “Jake’s good at what he does.”

Nathan stepped closer to Kendall, his eyes starting to pale. He addressed Brandi, but his watchful gaze was on Jake. “And you’re just now telling us?”

The redhead gave her lips a nervous lick. “Thomas wasn’t sure, and then later he changed his mind. After Jake rescued the girls, Thomas didn’t think it was likely that he could be the Reaper’s son. And Jake seemed to have no idea who the Reaper was.”

Kendall’s hands tightened on the photo. “Just because he recognizes the picture doesn’t mean he’s the Reaper’s son. It could be anyone. He could have been Todd for all we know,” she said, speaking of the one-time neighbor who had been working for the Reaper. “And as old as the Reaper is, his son could be ancient.”

“Just because you slept with him doesn’t mean you should be blind to the truth,” Nathan said, finally turning to look at Kendall. His dark eyes were swirling with amber, and they were filled with anger and hurt. “What else could it mean? The Reaper says he has a child and insists Jake work for him. We find a name in the Reaper’s journal and a picture of a woman with the same name as the one Jake’s seen in dreams. I knew there was another reason he was working for the Reaper. Even Jake believes it’s true. Look at him.”

Jake looked like he was going to throw up. He had sat down on the edge of the desk. Kendall shook her head. “We don’t have any idea what the truth is. We can’t jump to conclusions.”

“I need to get out of here,” Jake said.

“Don’t go.” Kendall touched his arm. “We’ll figure this out.”

She turned to Nathan. “Don’t forget what you told me when I thought I may be the Reaper’s child. You said it wouldn’t make any difference. Remember that?”

Nathan scowled. “You’re not Jake.”

“Jake’s been working for you as long as I have. No more talk about the Reaper’s son. Not until we have something to go on besides speculation.” Kendall’s gaze was hard. They couldn’t allow this to divide them. “What we do know is that the Reaper wants the chalice, and maybe me. Forget his son, whoever the hell he is. Got it? Now where’s Thomas’s bag? Let me see if I can sense anything.”

Brandi smiled at Kendall’s outburst and took the bag from Jake, handing it to Kendall. The leather was soft with use. Kendall closed her eyes and tried to sense the bag’s secrets. She heard a loud noise and opened her eyes. Everyone looked shocked.

“Did you hear that too?” she asked.

“That wasn’t you,” Nathan said.

“It came from the front.” Jake pulled his gun and hurried to the door. The room was filling with smoke. A window had been broken, and a canister lay on the floor. “It’s tear gas,” Jake said. “We’ve got to get out of here. Is there another way out of this room?”

Brandi shook her head. “No, I don’t think so.”

Jake pulled his shirt up over his mouth and nose. “Cover your faces and follow me.”

Kendall covered her face, but before she could follow Jake, Nathan scooped her up and streaked past the others. In the time it took her to blink, he was putting her down in the hallway. Jake and Brandi joined them.

Brandi’s eyes were wide above her shirt. “We can go out the back.”

“Whoever threw that canister will be waiting,” Jake said.

“But we can’t stay here,” Nathan said.

They moved into a back room farther away from the tear gas. “What’s back there?” Jake asked.

“A small yard and another row of town houses behind this one,” Brandi said.

Jake used a window and made a quick scan of the back. “Two guys with guns, one on each corner. Probably the same in the front. We can put the women in a room away from the gas, and we can take them out.”

“I don’t like splitting up,” Nathan said. “I’m sure they’re after Kendall.”

“You don’t want her to be alone with me, but I’m not working with the Reaper,” Jake said. “You’re going to have to trust me.”

Nathan’s jaw was hard. “What’s your plan?”

“We can do two things. First option, you can get her past the guys in the back. If you move like you did a minute ago, you’ll be two blocks away before they see you streak past—”

“That leaves you to fight them alone,” Kendall said to Jake.

“They want you, Kendall. We have to keep you safe. Second option is you an
d Brandi stay in here, far away from the gas. Nathan and I will disable the men outside.”

“You’re not fighting them alone,” Kendall said. “Nathan can help you. Brandi and I will stay here.”

“Go upstairs into the bathroom and close the door,” Jake said. “Don’t come out until one of us comes to get you.” He squeezed Kendall’s hand and moved to the back door.

Nathan looked at her, an eerie sight with his lower face covered and his eyes in flames. Kendall shivered. He lowered his shirt. “Don’t come out for anyone except me.” He glanced at Jake. “Please.”

Kendall knew he was shaken by the revelation that Jake could be the Reaper’s son. Rather than argue now, she nodded, and she and Brandi started up the stairs. The gas cloud was moving closer, and her eyes were stinging. She remembered the vial of water but didn’t want to use it for something as trivial as stinging eyes. And she didn’t want Brandi to see the vial.

Brandi showed her the bathroom, and they hurried inside and closed the door. Brandi threw a towel against the crack under the door. “I don’t know much about tear gas, but just in case.”

They hadn’t turned on the light, and the bathroom was dark. A window looked out over the backyard. Kendall eased the curtain aside and peeked out.

“Should you do that?” Brandi asked.

“It’s dark in here. No one can see me. There they go.” Brandi hurried over beside her and looked. Both women held their breath as Nathan moved like a dark blur across the yard. One of the men flew backward as if he’d been hit by a wrecking ball. The other man watched, his attention diverted. Jake came up from behind, hit the man across the back of the neck, and he went down like a rock.

“They’re handy in a fight,” Brandi said.

Jake turned and looked at the window as if he sensed exactly where she stood. Nathan emerged from the bushes, his eyes still burning.

“And kind of terrifying too,” Brandi added.

Both men split and went around the side of the house. “I can’t see them,” Kendall said.

“We can’t leave. They’ll kill us both.”

They sat for a few minutes that felt like it stretched to an hour. “This is driving me crazy,” Kendall said.

Brandi froze. “That sounded like Thomas.”

“I didn’t hear anything,” Kendall said.

“It sounded like Thomas’s voice. What if Jake’s right and he faked his death? He would do anything to destroy the Reaper.”

“I’ll come with you,” Kendall said, looking out the window for some sign of activity. She saw Nathan and Jake coming back. Two men were creeping up behind them holding guns, but Nathan and Jake hadn’t spotted them. Kendall threw open the window. “Behind you!” She was already throwing up her hands, not considering whether her powers would work from this distance, when Nathan and Jake whirled.

The men didn’t fly backward as had happened when she did this before. They fell to the ground, guns dropping from their unmoving hands. Paralyzed like the rogues had been. How had she done that without even fully lifting her hands?

She turned around and Brandi was gone. A feeling of unease settled along the back of Kendall’s neck. She went to the bathroom door and looked outside. “Brandi?”

“Here.” Brandi appeared at the bedroom door.

“Who was it?” It couldn’t have been Thomas, unless he was back as a ghost or really had faked his death. Neither was entirely out of the question.

“No one. Just my imagination, I guess. Probably because it’s his house.”

“We should go back to the bathroom and wait.”

“I think it’s safe now.”

“I just saw Nathan and Jake outside with two more men. I think I paralyzed them.” Kendall looked at Brandi and felt a chill. Brandi’s face seemed to shift. Kendall felt as if she were being sucked into a vacuum. Was it the gas? As she fell, she thought she heard a voice. But not Brandi’s.

“It’s OK, Kendall. Sleep now.”

Jake bent over the fallen man. “Where is the Reaper?”

“I can’t tell.”

“If you don’t, I’ll kill you.”

The man’s eyes flickered. “Prague.”

“Damn,” Nathan said.

“Where in Prague?” Jake pushed the barrel of his gun harder against the man’s forehead. But he slumped. He was going to pass out. “Where is he?” Jake asked, one last time.

“Here. He’s here.”

The bottom dropped out of Jake’s stomach. “Kendall.” He jumped up and ran toward the house. Nathan did his speed thing and got there first. He was up the steps before Jake climbed the first one.

“She’s gone,” Nathan said, eyes on fire. “They’re both gone.”

“Dammit. How did he get past us?”

They heard a car start, and both men raced outside and down the street. A black Porsche pulled away from the curb. Jake caught a glimpse of light hair. “Get the car!” He started to move toward their rental, which was parked in front of the town house, but his feet wouldn’t move. His entire body was stuck in place.

Beside him, Nathan was in full change, growling and straining like a wild beast against his invisible chains. They watched helplessly as Kendall and Brandi were taken away.

Jake cursed as the car’s taillights vanished around a curve. “This isn’t working.” They were stuck. Nathan’s eyes looked like they were on fire, and his face was red with exertion. “Stop struggling before you explode. Strength isn’t working. We have to use our heads to get out of this. The water. Damn, I can’t reach it.”

Nathan stopped moving, and his eyes started to dim. “We have to get free.”

“Don’t you have some other secret ability that can get us out of here?” Jake asked.

“You’re the one who could be the Reaper’s son. You must have inherited something from him.”

“Don’t start with that now. You’re the one with the superpowers.”

“Superpowers that I don’t know how to control or use,” Nathan said. “Raphael still hasn’t explained it.”

“I wish he was here,” Jake said, and just like that, the guardian appeared. “What the hell are you, a damned genie?”

Raphael did something with his hands and Jake and Nathan fell free. “I’m not a genie,” he said, as though insulted.

“Follow them,” Jake said. He was going to see her safe or die trying. “Do your vanishing trick. Can’t you appear in his car?”

“No. I’m not strong enough. I transported here.”

Jake reached into his pocket and pulled out his vial of water. “Here, drink this. Nathan, give him yours.”

“You might need it,” Raphael said, looking at the vials hesitantly.

“We need to get Kendall back,” Jake said. “Now.”

Raphael drank both vials.

“Well?” Nathan asked.

Raphael closed his eyes, then opened them. “It’s not working yet.”

“Dammit,” Jake said. “Then get in the vehicle.” He ran toward the car. “I’ll drive.”

“I will,” Nathan said.

“Why you?” They had to hurry. There wasn’t any time to lose.

“Do you own a race team?” Nathan asked.

“No.”

“I do. I’m driving.”

“Someone drive the car,” Raphael yelled.

Jake climbed into the backseat because he doubted Raphael would fit. “Hurry, or we’ll never catch up.” The Reaper was in a Porsche and they were in a Honda. It’d be a miracle if they caught up.

Nathan knew how to drive, Jake would give him that. And for someone who could fly without an airplane, Raphael was paranoid about riding in an automobile. He cursed and gripped the seat as Nathan darted around cars and made illegal turns.

“No sign of them,” Nathan said. “Where would he take her? Back to Prague?”

“It has to be Prague,” Jake said. “The Reaper’s man said he lived there.”

Nathan gripped the wheel as the car screeched around a turn. “He could be taking her somewhere else. He seems to get around easily.”

“He probably has as many homes and hotels as you do. They headed west,” Jake said. “They could be going to Reagan National Airport or Washington Dulles.”

“I’ll call Hank and have him check flights.”

“Find out if Marco took a flight,” Raphael said.

After a minute,
Nathan hung up. “There’s a private jet from Prague scheduled for a return flight at Reagan National.”

“I’m surprised he’s taking her there if he just wants information,” Jake said. “Unless he believes the chalice is in Prague.”

“At one time, we had many relics in Prague,” Raphael said. “What about Marco?”

“Yes, he flew to Prague earlier.”

“That fool,” Raphael said. “He’ll get killed.” But his voice was filled with worry.

“Pedal to the floor,” Jake said. “We can’t let him get her on that plane.”