The Reapers (The Hunted Series Book 1) Read online

  She would locate this hunter and demand to know why he was after the reapers. Why now after all this time? What was his goal? Was he the only one in on the sinister plot to disrupt the balance and destroy the veil between realms? Caspian and Silas would want to know. And she intended to find out. Nivian ignored the shiver of fear that crawled up her spine.

  First however, she had a few things to take care of before she could confront Kain. She wasn’t putting her duties off. This stuff needed to be done before she could start. Even Silas would agree that these things were crucial and must be dealt with. Wouldn’t he? At least that’s what she told herself, as she chewed her bottom lip.

  Nivian swung her legs back over the railing and leaped off. With swift steps, she crossed her apartment, grabbed a black jacket, and threw it on before heading out the door. She walked down the stairs, taking one step at a time. She would check her mail. It was the first important thing on her list that she would do today. After that, she would walk to the local laundromat and do her laundry—just like a human. She’d put it off in the past, thinking she could find someone to help her, and just never got around to it. But she wouldn’t wait any longer. After all, how difficult could it be?

  Stopping by the tiny mailboxes in the foyer of her apartment building, Nivian pulled the key from her pocket and unlocked the thin metal box. It had been a while since the last time she’d checked. It was a rare occasion when she got something. Why would she? Who would write to a reaper? She pulled open the silver door. A lone brightly-colored piece of paper leaned against the side of the box.

  She held her breath, reached in and grabbed it, then read the message out loud.

  “$5 off your next pizza order of $50 or more—AWESOME!” So engrossed in her only piece of mail she didn’t hear the footsteps that approached her.

  Kain

  Kain walked into the foyer of his new apartment building. His old place was under new management, and it was, to say the least, beginning to get unpleasant. Hot water and lights that didn’t flicker were a must. Before he moved into this new place, he wanted to give it a quick clean without his stuff being in the way.

  He stopped dead in his tracks. Her hair was a dead giveaway. No one else had such white hair. She stood in front of the wall of mailboxes, her attention locked onto the piece of paper in her hand. She swayed from side-to-side in what he could only guess was a joyful dance.

  Great… The peaceful feeling he had dropped like a rock to the pit of his stomach. What is she doing here? She was everywhere lately—or so it seemed. Everywhere he turned, she was there, watching him. He’d grown so accustomed to her presence; he was more surprised if she wasn’t hanging out. He let out a heavy sigh. He needed to confront her once and for all. This stalking had to end.

  Kain set his bag of cleaning supplies down in the corner and walked up behind her, peering over her shoulder. She was looking at a crappy pizza coupon as though she had won the lottery. The faint smell of jasmine floated up from her skin. Leaning close to her ear, he whispered, “Are you already tired of stalking me, or is stealing people’s junk mail your other hobby?”

  Nivian

  Nivian froze in shock as warm breath whispered in her ear. A hand wrapped around her arm, spinning her around to face her assailant. Nivian stared up at him in disbelief, mouth gaping. Her precious coupon slipped from her fingers and fluttered to the ground.

  “Why are you following me?” he demanded, his voice deep.

  Mere inches away, she could smell mint on his breath. Warm forest green eyes bored into hers. Nivian gaped up at her mark. The heat from his touch radiated up her arm, sending a tingle throughout her body. She was alive. She was still alive! Ripping her gaze away, she looked down at her arm, his hand wrapped around it. His touch wouldn’t kill her as it had all the others. She could do this.

  “Why are you following me?” he insisted again.

  Ice flowed through her veins, and her cheeks burned. Beads of sweat broke out on her forehead. How was this even possible?

  “I asked you a question.” Kain blinked at her expectantly, his voice taking on a softer quality this time.

  “M-me?” she sputtered, her eyes darted around the room, trying to spot anyone else he could be talking to.

  “I don’t see anyone else around, do you?” He waved an arm about to show they were obviously alone at the moment, his other hand stayed wrapped firmly around her upper arm. “Now, answer the question. Why. Are. You. Following. Me? He punctuated each word in his question.

  “I—I—” Nivian paused, and gathered herself with a deep breath. She jerked her arm out of his grasp. Standing up straight, she raised an eyebrow while poking a finger in his chest to make sure he was real and not just a figment of her imagination. “You can see me?” she asked, narrowing her eyes, her voice disbelieving. Am I going crazy or is this actually happening?

  “Yes, of course, I can see you. I have eyes. What’s wrong with you?” he sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. His expression was intense. She didn’t know how long she could hold his gaze, but she refused to show weakness in front of her mark. He might hold the title of hunter, but he was the hunted—not her.

  Kain turned and leaned against the staircase banister, looked ahead, and watched her out of the corner of his eye.

  Pull yourself together, Nivian. Don’t panic. Play it off. You are alive. Nivian snapped her mouth shut. She studied him while she contemplated her answer. Should she just tell him the truth or try to soften the blow a little? She gave a mental shrug—just stating the facts might end slightly better for both of them. It was a pretty big ‘might,’ but at least the situation would be out in the open between them. The truth could end up being fun—for her.

  “I am a reaper,” she said, smirking. Daring him to believe it.

  He opened his mouth and then closed it to clear his throat. “Excuse me?” He turned to look at her with a bemused expression on his face. His arms dropped limply to his sides.

  “I’m a reaper. Cloak, scythe—you know, that sort of thing,” she said, waving her hand dismissively.

  “Seriously? You expect me to believe you are The Grim Reaper?” Kain scoffed.

  “No,” she stifled an amused laugh, pausing just long enough for effect, “not The Grim Reaper, a reaper. As in—there is more than just one reaper.”

  “There are two of you? I thought there was just the one.” He raised an eyebrow at her, giving her a doubtful look.

  “Of course not. There are dozens of us in every city. Anywhere you’d find a human actually. The reaper job isn’t like Santa Claus; we aren’t made of ‘magic.’ We are supernatural. There is a big difference between the two.”

  His eyes widened. “Santa Clause is real?” He held up his hand, stopping himself from getting carried away. “No, wait, we will get back to that in a minute. Do you honestly expect me to believe you are a reaper?”

  “Yes,” she said matter-of-factly. Raising an eyebrow, she was starting to doubt the intelligence of this hunter.

  He looked at her, regarding her claim to be a so-called reaper. His hand absentmindedly rubbed his jaw line.

  “So,” he began slowly, “if you’re a reaper shouldn’t you be a skeleton and have worms coming out of your eye sockets or something?” he asked, scrunching up his face and sticking out his tongue.

  “How would I see you if I didn’t have eyes?”

  “I don’t know, magic?”

  She sighed and shook her head. “Much of your lore and beliefs are a bit off on a few things regarding us reapers and what we do. In fact, you have quite a bit wrong. Angels, Demons, good, bad—it’s all just a matter of perspective. A close call is a close call, but it has nothing to do with us. Death is natural. We reapers just carry out orders from those higher than us. We are the final human fate.”

  They stood there for a moment, each watching the other, until Kain spoke again.

  “So, why are you following me?”

  “You know why.” Her eyes narro
wed.

  “No, I really don’t know. Why don’t you just tell me?”

  “Don’t play stupid, hunter, we both know why we are both here.”

  “To clean our apartments? And my name isn’t Hunter; it’s Kain.” He cringed.

  Nivian couldn’t tell if he actually didn’t know or just trying to throw her off so he could attack.

  “We are here to end each other. Don’t act like you don’t know.”

  “End? As in kill?” He took a step backward.

  She nodded.

  “Sorry, I don’t know what you’re talking about. Murder is the last thing I want to be involved with. Why are you trying to kill me and why do you think I would even want to kill you? I don’t even know you,” he said, raising an eyebrow at her and wondering why she would even be under the impression he wanted to kill anyone, let alone someone he had never met before. “I promise, I mean you no harm.”

  Nivian gave him a sidelong glance. “I should go now…”

  “Wait!” He caught her hand, keeping her from going any further.

  Nivian looked back at him. “What?”

  “Are you honestly going to tell me you’re a reaper and that we both want to kill each other and then just walk away?”

  “Well, yeah. I kind of was. I thought I’d give you a chance to let it all sink into your little pea head.” Nivian pulled her hand out of his grasp. “What did you expect? A showdown at high noon, right here in the foyer?”

  “Uh, no. To be honest I am not sure what I expected.” Kain scratched the back of his head and dropped his eyes. “Look, all I know is that you’ve been following me, and you look like you belong in a cult with that black cape you always wear. I thought you were stalking me or…” He hesitated, “You might need help.”

  Kain dropped his hand and lifted his eyes to meet hers, his ears burning.

  Nivian’s eyes grew wide, the corners of her mouth twitching, “You thought I needed help?” A smile formed on her lips, unable to contain it any longer.

  “Well yeah. What was I supposed to think? You’ve been following me around with this lost look on your face for days. Now you show up at my new apartment and announce we are supposed to kill each other.”

  “That’s actually rather sweet of you,” Nivian said with her hand covering her mouth, giggles fighting their way past. This hunter was a strange one. He was nothing how she expected him to be. He wasn’t scary, threatening, or even violent.

  Kain

  “I suppose I should look somewhere else for an apartment.” He bent down to pick up the pizza coupon she had dropped and handed it to her. He found it odd she claimed to be a reaper, but something told him he didn’t need to question it. She seemed to believe it wholeheartedly, so at least in her mind it was true. Nothing in her body language or tone made him think she was lying.

  “And why is that, hunter?” she asked, still fighting fits of laughter.

  “Well, with us fighting to the death it just doesn’t seem tactical to live in the same building.”

  “Sure it does. The better to kill you,” she inwardly chuckled, “…if you live close by.”

  Kain just stood regarding her, blinking in astonishment. He hoped this wasn’t how she flirted; it was a terrible attempt if it was. Was she toying with him? This girl was definitely off her rocker.

  “Did you just make a ‘big bad wolf’ reference?”

  “It doesn’t matter,” she continued, “I can go anywhere, at any time. You won’t be hard to track down.”

  “I—”

  “Look, I have to go, but I’ll probably kill you tomorrow, okay?”

  “Um, sure?” He knit his brows together. Whatever the proper response to something like that was, he didn’t know.

  Nivian waved, throwing her hood over her head and disappeared.

  Kain blinked at the now empty spot she had occupied seconds before. Well, I guess that settles it, either I’m crazy, or she’s telling the truth. Shaking his head, he headed to the main office of the apartment building to pick up his new key.

  That had been far from a normal conversation. And the thought that she could find him at any time was more than a little unsettling. One minute he was headed to his new place, the next he was receiving death threats from the local

  At least she was somewhat entertaining and, if he was honest with himself, she was attractive—even if she did make a lot of faces at him. Why did all the pretty ones have to be so weird?

  What was he thinking? Attractive? She’d just threatened his life.

  He was going to clean his apartment and then do his laundry. All his underwear was currently dirty, except the pair he was wearing. He might not plan on actually dying anytime soon, but he wasn’t about to be unprepared.

  Nivian

  Nivian chewed her lip. She should go to Caspian about this. He didn’t seem too worried about her ability to take care of her mark the last time she talked to him about Kain. Though she supposed it didn’t matter, it wouldn’t be an issue in another day.

  For the first time since finding out her mark was a hunter, she felt confident. She’d survived her first encounter with him and now she couldn’t stop grinning. He hadn’t destroyed her when he touched her. It felt like she had a real chance of surviving this fight or duel or whatever it was reapers and hunters did. The only thing she was certain of was that he wasn’t going to go out like the average human.

  She needed to sit down and really think about how she was going to take care of the mark. Taking him out by surprise wouldn’t work. Well, it could work, but he seemed like a pretty decent human, even for a hunter. He at least deserved an attempt at defending himself. Though she wasn’t about to let him have the complete upper hand by giving him enough of a chance to beat her at this.

  This was getting to be even more complicated than she expected. She still needed a plan before she could follow through with this mark.

  “Ugh.” She rubbed her left temple. “I need a cup of coffee if I have to deal with a problem this annoying so early in the morning.”

  Still clutching her pizza coupon, Nivian headed to the closest café hoping her newest headache was busy elsewhere with his own list of things to do. She needed some space while she figured out a plan. Regardless of his amusing tendencies, she wasn’t about to take any unnecessary chances with him. There was still her to-do list to take care of before they faced each other.

  Fourteen

  Kain

  Kain sat in the back of the laundromat. A small television mounted to the wall above the windows was showing a local sports team. The captions were too small to read through the snowstorm of static of poor reception, and the rumbling of the machines drowned out whatever volume it had. He leaned his head back against the wall, waiting for his laundry. A long, high-pitched buzz sounded, letting him know his laundry had finished.

  Standing, he walked across the dirty tiled floor. He piled his clothes in a basket and wheeled the squeaky contraption over to the dryers. He walked back to the washers and quickly tossed in a new load of clothes, first searching his pockets for spare change or other things he didn't want to toss into the wash. A lesson he had learned the hard way years ago. He’d cleaned a load of his light colors and had left a pen in his pants pocket; his white shirts splotched with black ink. All of his clothes in that load were ruined. Kain pulled a card out of the back pocket. He had forgotten about it, even after the talk with his mom.

  Now is as good of a time as any to call and see what it’s about.

  He finished putting the clothes in the washer and started it. Pulling out his cell, he punched in the numbers and hit send. It rang once before someone picked up.

  “Speak,” a deep voice demanded on the other end.

  Taken aback, Kain hesitated. “Uh, yes, this is Kain Evers, I got this—” Kain started, quickly cut off by the gruff voice on the other end.

  “Tomorrow. Eight A.M. sharp. McAlister Park, wait at the top of the hill. Don’t be late,” the man on the other end spok
e with clipped words.

  Click.

  The conversation was over. The voice on the line had ended the call before Kain had had a chance to say anything more. Kain crumpled the card and tossed it into a nearby trash barrel. He still didn’t know what the card or the phone call was about. The only way he would find out now is if he went to the park in the morning.

  At least, he thought, it’s in a public place. Briefly, he wondered if he was planning on meeting up with one of the cult leaders the girl belonged to. No, she wasn’t in a cult. She was his would-be assassin. And he never did ask her what her name was. Shaking his head, he dismissed the thought.

  Nivian

  Transforming, Nivian ran her fingers through her hair. The warm auburn color emerged; flowing from root to tip, as the length shortened to the middle of her back and developed a nice loose wave. She removed her cloak and dressed in a warm, black sweater with dark blue, fitted, denim jeans. It wasn’t her favorite look, but it helped her blend in with the human world when she didn't mind humans seeing her.

  She grabbed her overstuffed bag of clothes and hoisted it over her shoulder. She’d pulled armfuls of clothes from her dresser and crammed them in until it couldn’t hold even another sock. She shoved the roll of quarters she picked up earlier in her pocket and headed out toward the laundromat closest to her apartment.

  There was no need for her to do laundry as the transformation process did it for her. It was a task a few of her marks in the past had performed, and it fascinated her. She wanted to try it before her confrontation with Kain—just in case things didn’t go as she planned.

  The bell jingled above her head as she walked into the Main Street Laundromat. Nivian looked around at the mostly empty business. A small child in the corner yelled at a toy while his mother gave a half-hearted attempt at quieting him, without looking up from her magazine. An older woman sat in the corner, eyes downcast, and a young couple sat huddled together, whispering to each other near an open doorway into the back room. No one bothered look in her direction as she stepped through the doorway. It was just as well. She was here on business, not to make friends.