Jackal's Pride (Seven Deadly Book 2), page 19
“Better just tell him the truth. He gets all skeletal and shit, attacking everyone in his path if he gets too upset.” Sebastian never knew how to make things better, only worse.
August smirked. “Let him loose.”
“Let’s not,” Fear muttered as he stepped around the ring. A lot of demons now paid attention to us.
“Don’t worry. We’ll be out of your hair soon. Just have to take care of some things,” Sebastian said in his typical goofy swagger.
It dawned on me. Barron was never here searching for me. They were all here to eliminate anyone they thought would come after me like Gavin had. I was pissed and didn’t need this from them, but I couldn’t deny the swelling in my heart. This was family.
“Where’s the rat-looking one she hangs out with?” August asked.
“I thought his appearance was more like a rabbit?” Sebastian scratched his chin.
“What’s this about?” Newt was fairly calm for someone moments from death.
“You mean to tell us you didn’t know your pal kidnapped Maureen?” August stalked closer.
Newt’s eyebrows jumped as he looked to me. “What did Gavin do?”
“Nothing,” I gritted out. “I’m fine. Everything’s fine. Newt had nothing to do with Gavin.”
“Is that so?” Sebastian stared Newt down, sniffing for guilt or fear.
“Gavin’s a buddy of ours, but I have no control over what he does,” Newt replied.
“Did,” August corrected him. “Smooth head.” He ran his hands over Newt’s bald head, earning an impatient glower from Newt himself.
“Maureen, do explain your brothers’ behaviors.” Newt was watching me intently now.
“Gavin’s dead.”
Something flickered in Newt’s eyes. “You played with him too long.”
“I never—” I refused Gavin time after time. His stupid bets were the only things I could never turn down. I wasn’t about to share that information with Newt. Out of everyone, he was around Gavin enough to know how much he bugged me. “Jackal killed him. I wished it had been me,” I muttered.
Newt scowled at Barron. “And what does this have to do with me?”
“Someone gave him something strong enough to cloak Maureen from us.” Barron grabbed his shirt and pulled him forward.
“And you think it was me?” Newt chuckled dryly. “Is that what you think, Maureen?”
“No.” I exhaled. “He said it was his brother so, let him go, Barron.” Barron didn’t let go, more like he shoved him.
“It seems like I’m missing something important here.” Fear crossed his arms and studied us. He pieced it together quickly. “I knew that one was no good.” He was referring to Gavin.
I rolled my eyes. “I can take care of myself.”
“Apparently not,” said August.
I swiveled around and gave him the stink eye. “Wanna say that again?”
“Kill him or not, either way, you guys have to leave. You picking fights with each other is one hundred years too old.”
I huffed.
“I see where Payne gets the stick up his ass,” said Sebastian. August and I stifled our laughs.
“Wanna get in the ring, pretty boy?” Fear’s neck popped as he rolled it around, watching Sebastian.
“Let’s go, old man,” Sebastian urged. Both of them grinned ear to ear—no malice between them.
“This is why I wanted to go alone,” Barron grumbled.
I placed my hands on my hips. “You shouldn’t have come here at all. Gavin’s dead. It’s over.”
“Cut ’em some slack, Maureen.” Fear patted my shoulder and smirked. “Can’t you see they’re worried about you?”
I stared at all of them. Barron and Newt furtively watched each other while Sebastian kept bobbing his head like he agreed with Fear. August stood at the edge of the group taking in everybody and everything.
I lowered my chin, trying to hide my smile. “I know, but they’re so annoying.”
“Is the verdict in or not? Am I dying or living today?” Newt finally asked.
Barron glowered. “I don’t like the glint in his eyes. We should kill him.”
I stepped closer to him. “You want to kill everything.”
“We should probably get rid of everyone while we’re at it. Maureen’s probably pissed off most of them. The next secret admirer might be somewhere lusting after her in one of these corners.” August added nonchalantly.
“You would know,” I told him, suspecting that most of the Underworld loathed my brother because of a debt or two. Honestly, I didn’t know how he managed.
“They’re letting you live,” I told Newt. “In case you were confused.” They were trying to scare the shit out of everyone. Much like I did a few nights ago in the ring. Sometimes tossing around our authority was a necessity. With everything going on, demons tended to step out of line.
“Good to know.” Newt dusted off his shirt as he walked by Barron and stopped in front of me. “I’m glad you’re okay.” His reached up and squeezed my shoulder gently before rubbing his thumb across the flesh. “Have a drink with me.” He gave off the same sensual vibe as the last time I’d seen him.
“You’re acting different,” I pointed out.
“Only a fraction of how I’ve wanted to act around you.”
His familiarity made me uncomfortable, especially with the way his gaze swept over me.
“You’ve been with Jackal.” It was more of an accusatory statement than a question.
“Since when have you been so interested in what I do? Or who I do?”
Newt frowned. “I’m not.” He glanced at my brothers then back to me. “How about we grab those drinks before your brothers change their minds?”
“It’s not like you to be so docile.” Newt followed me as I weaved my way toward the bar. My brothers stood by the cage with Fear. Their staying put only irritated me. We didn’t have much free time with saving the world, and they wanted to spend it babysitting me.
Newt sat on the stool next to me. He flagged Molly and ordered our drinks. “Maureen.”
His tone held my attention. I often found Newt wise. He had a calm, yet brilliant aura about him.
“Life is strange, yeah? How often do good people become bad individuals and vice versa? There’s a certain appeal to what we aren’t. Maybe it’s because we see what we could be in the other. We see in them what we keep under lock and key.”
What the hell is he talking about?
Lifting the glass to my lips, I paused and thought about Newt’s odd words. I had no idea where he was going with this, so I offered a vague response. “I suppose.”
“Jackal’s all wrong for you.” He sipped on his drink.
“I’m not with—” I couldn’t say the words. They tasted like lies straight from the heart. Rotten fruit. My lies reminded me of food spoiling. I always ruined things before they even began, hence the foul taste in my mouth. I couldn’t—no, I don’t want to say a lie when it came to Jackal. I wasn’t with Jackal but—why not?
“It was wrong for me to send you to him.” He set his glass down and gripped it tightly. “I’m glad you’re okay. Gavin had it coming.”
“He did,” I agreed, watching Newt with uncertainty. “Is everything okay?”
He turned his head and smiled. “Everything’s perfect.” His eyes wandered over my body again. “Well… Almost.”
Shaking my head, I focused on my drink.
“I can put Jackal back to sleep.”
My eyes widened. “You knew he’d been asleep?”
“Just a hunch,” he murmured. “I also see the spell a witch cast inside him.”
Feeling worried, I straightened on the stool. “Why are you talking about Jackal?”
Newt ignored my question. “I’m searching for the ingredients I need to lift it.”
My stomach dropped. The one hundred and thirty-seven hearts gave Jackal his emotions. “Why would you do that?”
“Don’t you want his mark gone?”
I grabbed my neck instinctively. “I… We’re at a truce. He’s helping us.”
“So, since he’s helping you, he’s no longer a threat?”
“That’s not it.” The clue in my stomach grew worse. “Why would you lift the witch’s curse?”
“So he can go back to how he’s supposed to be.” Newt turned away from me and sipped his drink.
“Newt, if Jackal went back to setting off plagues like he used to on top of everything else going on in the human world…” I couldn’t fathom it. Sickness and nature were two things we could do nothing against. Our power came in our strengths and abilities. Truthfully told, Jackal’s and Isabella’s helped extend our days. The casualties would have been far worse if not for them. If we lost Jackal, if I lost him… Oh, God, my chest hurt. It was like someone had stolen my oxygen and sucker punched me in the gut.
“I’m going to keep you alive, I promise.”
I turned my head. “What?”
Screams broke out. I heard the soft whoosh as an arrow released, heading toward me. Before I could block it, Newt raised his hand, and the arrow pierced his palm. A scowl lit up his face as he turned in the direction the arrow came from. More arrows, tipped in fire, flung through the crowd.
“Maureen,” August yelled. Barron ripped an arrow from his bloodied shoulder. Sebastian was busy searching through the frantic crowd. Fear left them and rushed toward the bar.
When I glanced back at Newt, he was gone. Standing, I ran toward my brothers, but another flaming arrow landed at my feet. Fire spread across the floor. My eyes widened as I saw the message left behind.
I gasped. “Guys.”
Their gazes snapped to the floor.
A message was seared into the wooden floor.
The age of the Reapers has come to an end.
Chapter 24
Maureen
“Where the fuck are they?” August muttered.
I tried stepping back from the flames licking at me, but there was no escaping them. My skin was hot and starting to blister. Although I should have sought safety, I couldn’t stop peering down at the message. A sense of foreboding hit me even though I knew something like this was bound to happen ever since my encounter with the bird demon. The warning in my gut told me things were going to get worse.
“There,” Barron growled, crumbling the arrow in his hand. We all turned to where he pointed his head. At least a dozen or more cloaked figures stood spaced out. All of them wore the same red cloaks, identical to our black Reaper ones, along with creepy white masks hiding their faces.
“Oh, fucking hell,” August muttered, shaking his head. “What’s with the outfits?”
“You’d do well to watch what you say, Greed.” It was a woman that spoke. “Didn’t you get the memo? Your time is over.” I couldn’t get a read on her or figure out any of their names. Cloaking themselves was a smart move on their part. We had no idea who was behind each mask.
“Do I know you?” August asked her. “Is that what this is?”
“Get over yourself, Greed. We’ve never met.” She moved through the flames, her red robe flowing around her as the fire parted for her. “But I’ve watched your father kill my mother. I never thought I’d get a chance to avenge her, but alas, things happen—opportunities become available.”
“Anyone my father has killed no doubt deserved it.” August was moodier now. No doubt tired of this charade.
“You Reapers make me sick!” She snapped, waving her hand around in anger. “You live in the Underworld, but you work for those in the sky—Heaven. Demons are sick of being good, tired of not being who we are supposed to be. We don’t deserve to die for being who we are.”
“Great,” August muttered. “They’re fucking delirious.”
“I’m guessing you want to open up a world of hurt onto the human world, right? You think they’re beneath you. Like they’re food, playthings, whatever you choose them to be.” Sebastian stepped forward, materializing his scythe. “See, that’s why we’re here. To keep demons like you in check.”
She tossed her head back and laughed. “Not for long.” She shrugged. “But you’re right. We want free reign to do what we want like in the olden times before your father was created,” she spat. “It was only a few short years but my mother’s ancestors made sure to pass down the beauty in that time—the time before the Grim Reaper when demons weren’t crucified for being what they were. We could be who we were without the fear of being killed for it.”
“Why are we listening to them? Let’s just get rid of them.” Barron materialized his own weapon. I followed suit bringing out Ben and Jerry. The red thin blades whistled as I swirled them around.
“We won’t be fighting you today,” she whispered. “Just came to introduce ourselves.”
A sickening crunch filled the charred room. Most of the demons were long gone. The fire was starting to simmer down, but the murder in Fear’s eyes was priceless as his tail ripped into one of them. There was a choking sound before he removed the barbed appendage, and the body tumbled to the floor. “Do tell me who you guys think you are to destroy my place?” He was in demonic form—black horns and a long tail, pale shiny skin lighting up the red of his eyes. His tattoos even disappeared although his body did stay the same normal height and width. It still weirded me out every time I saw him this way.
“You—” a different one hissed beneath his mask. This one sounded male.
“I’ve been itching for a good kill fest.” Fear glowered. “Lucky me.”
One of them flicked a hand, throwing Fear back with a wave of magic. “Witches and warlocks,” I guessed.
“We have a little of everything actually,” she told me. “There’s really nothing special about you, Maureen.”
And why was she on my case? Didn’t know. Didn’t care. Closing my eyes, I sought out the strings of fate tethered to each of the intruders. When I gazed upon the red cloaked hooligans, I saw the chains hanging from their chests. Stepping close, I let go of Ben, letting the blade hover by my side as I snagged the one belonging to the group’s chatter box and yanked. She fell to her knees with a gasp. “You should really stop talking.” I sighed and gave the chain another yank. Suddenly, someone stepped from the shadows and pressed its boot on the chain, preventing me from pulling her with it. It wasn’t possible for someone else to see them. “How…?”
“I know everything about you, Maureen.” My stomach recoiled. I gaped at the cloaked figure in disbelief. He turned his head and peered down at his companion. “Don’t think I didn’t see that it was you that aimed the arrow at her, Nadine.”
She stood up beside him, smoothing out the cloak. “Like your brother, your infatuation with her will get you killed.”
Grabbing one of my blades in the air, I hissed. “Newt, explain yourself.”
With careful movement, he slid back his hood and removed his mask. “What’s to explain?”
I couldn’t muster any words. In my palm, Jerry shook with fury as I never let go of her chain with my other hand.
“Gavin was my brother,” Newt admitted.
I swayed, boots stumbling as I righted myself. Get a grip, Pride!
“How? Why didn’t either of you say anything all this time?”
“He’d forsaken his roots for vampirism. It was only natural that we didn’t tell people, but it didn’t mean I didn’t give him whatever he requested.”
“He gave him the cloaking spell,” Barron said through barely controlled rage. His red essence boiled out around him.
“I did,” Newt acknowledged. “But I knew he would fail.”
“Enough,” I shouted. “I’ve heard enough.”
Eyeing the chains in the room, I let go of Jerry, leaving him to hover with Ben, and swept them up in my hand, but Newt was already ahead of me. I took in the way he studied my hands right before he jerked them out of my palm. “How can you see them?” I asked as I observed him.
It was Barron that responded. “He can’t. He’s using your movements to keep track of what you’re doing, then he’s counteracting it with his own magic to hold on to something he can’t see.”
“Bingo.” Newt whistled, pleased.
“We’ve shown ourselves like he wanted, now let’s go.” Nadine said as she gazed at Newt. Who told them to do this? I had a suspicion I already knew.
“Maureen,” Newt whispered softly. It was all wrong for him to think he had a right to say my name in such an intimate way. “The choice is yours, always. But with me, I can make sure you live even after the end.”
I gritted my teeth as my glare skimmed over him. I didn’t know which was more upsetting, his betrayal or the fact that he’d ever think I’d choose that option.
Six red cloaks keeled over in sync with one another. I knew they were dead before I even glimpsed at Barron.
“No!” Nadine cried, dropping down on her knees beside one of them.
“Don’t think he saw your hand signals, Barron,” Sebastian said with a shit-eating grin. Barron only killed six of them—playing with them.
“If he wasn’t making googly eyes at Maureen,” August mentioned with an exhale. “He might have noticed…”
“Newt!” Nadine screamed, anguish in her voice. I thought she might actually be crying beneath her mask.
“The Reapers know what’s coming for them,” came his response as his glare swept over his dead friends.
“One of them must pay right now,” she hissed. Staticky magic flared from her black gloves as she aimed at me.
Grabbing my hovering blades, I stood with my feet apart and lifted my hands. As I beckoned to her to take a shot, a hulking shadow ported in front of me. His crackling energy rolled into me. Not as intense as the sensation of him inside me, but enough to set my nerves on end.
“You’re the ones that came here with some sort of vendetta against us.” August scratched his head in wonder. “Now you cry?” Nadine’s mask landed on him.
“Your distress woke me so I came.” Jackal said in a voice still raspy from slumber. Warmth replaced the cold inside me.
Jackal glanced over his shoulder at me momentarily before he tucked me behind him. I didn’t need rescuing, but the action made something grow in my chest while pride took a back seat.
