Reaper (24 page)

I set the phone down on the table and paced around the kitchen.

“Ok,” I said to myself. What do I do now? Should I throw cold water on his face? Isn’t that what they do in the movies? A groan came from the family room. Good, he was awake. I really didn’t want water all over my clean hardwood floors anyway. Hunter was sitting only a foot away from the man, staring intently into his eyes. The man looked terrified. Shoot, should I have gagged him? No, I needed to talk to him. I peered around the corner, hoping I had tied the ropes tight enough. This was so new to me…

“Hello?” I dumbly called. As soon as the word came out of my mouth I knew it was the wrong thing to say. I shook my head and grabbed the gun.

“Hey!” The man struggled. Crap, the blue lead rope might have loosened a bit. Hunter stole a millisecond of a glance at me.

“You better stop or I’ll sic my dog on you,” I said sternly, entering the room. I held the shotgun at my side, trying to look relaxed and threatening at the same time.

“I’m calling the police!” the man threatened. “This is illegal!”

“And so is trespassing and trying to steal my dog,” I shot back. I stopped right behind Hunter and patted his head. “And besides, what would you say? A teenage girl half your size knocked you out and tied you up?”

“You had help!” he said, looking around nervously. I could feel his fear; he was scared for his life.

“What’s your name?” I asked. When he didn’t respond I said, “Hunter, watch him.” I pulled his wallet from his back pocket. “William Baker, age thirty-three. Five foot-ten, weighing in at one hundred and ninety pounds.” No wonder he was so hard to carry. “And you live at fourteen eleven, Crestview Drive, Chesterton, Indiana.” Chesterton…it was a town north of here, I thought.

“Congrats. You found my driver’s license,” he spat, his voice cracking.

“What are you doing here, Will?” I bet he went by Will, not William. But what if he preferred Bill, or Billy? I rolled my eyes at myself. It didn’t matter. He didn’t respond.

“The return to sender spell piss you off? Well, there’s more where that came from, so you better start talking,” I threatened.

“I don’t know what you want me to say!” he cried.

“I want you to tell me why you were trying to take my dog,” I bellowed.

“I-I can’t tell you,” he said with a quiver.

“Are you desperate now that your mind games won’t work on me? You came here to get me—finally, right? I’m guessing you didn’t think I have this much magic, buddy.”

“You’re crazy!” he whimpered.

“Hah! Yes,
so
crazy. Your little game left me totally insane. I guess it won’t be my fault then if something bad happens to you!”

“Don’t hurt me! I have no idea what you’re talking about,” he pleaded.

Great, this reminded me of my heart to heart with Thomas, and I suck at hostage situations. Where was Ethan? Just as that thought left my brain, the phone rang.
About time
, I thought and raced into the kitchen. But it wasn’t Ethan, it was René.

“Hey girl, did I leave my Puma hat in the barn? The white one with the pink—”

“René!” I interrupted. “I need you to come over. There’s a problem.”

“What?”

“I kinda kidnapped someone. Well, I don’t think it’s a real kidnapping, since I found him in my yard. But he’s tied to a chair in the living room and I don’t know what to do!” I whispered quickly.

“Holy shit. Ok, uh, I’m on my way.”

The wait for René was awful. I filled her in on the little details that I knew as she drove. I left Hunter in charge of watching Will. It felt like hours passed by the time René finally burst through the door.

“Shoot, René. I don’t know what to do!” I gushed, though I had told her at least fifteen times already.

“He’s obviously evil. He was trying to take Hunter,” she guessed.

“I know, right? And—” I looked at Will, who was eyeing Hunter with terror plastered on his face. Hunter was having fun showing off his long, sharp fangs. “—maybe he was the one who cursed me. Maybe he got mad and came here to get even.”

“Sending the curse back did make it even,” René started, but shook her head. “Never mind. It doesn’t matter, really.”

We exchanged an unknowing look. “Good cop, bad cop?” I suggested.

“Yeah,” René agreed but then shook her head. “No, let’s both be bad.”

“Ok.”
 
I started for the family room.

René grabbed my arm. “We should be tough, like act mean and like we know what we’re doing.”

“Right.” I put on a ‘tough’ face.

“You look like you have cramps,” she said with a shake of her head. “Don’t try. Just be mad.”

“Ok,” I agreed. I didn’t need to
act
mad…I was. With my face set, I led the way into the family room.

 
“So, what do you want with my Guardian?” I asked Will, making sure to put plenty of edge in my voice.

“Your
what
?” William asked, looking from me to René.

René picked up the gun and ran her finger over the barrel. “Don’t act like you don’t know what we’re talking about. Obviously, you tried to dognap Hunter, and failed. You must not have known just what you were up against. Lucky Anora didn’t tell him to rip your throat out.”

William looked curiously at me, figuring out my name. It wasn’t a common name, and it often took hearing it more than once to fully get it.
 
I worked hard to keep my intimidating stare. “You have no idea who you’re messing with,” I said, feeling like I was on a cliché cop show. “What were you planning to do with him anyway?” Hunter stood and barred his teeth, echoing the seriousness of my question.

“N-nothing,” William stammered, his façade breaking.

“Sure.” I crossed my arms. Wait, doesn’t that signal a subconscious want to look tough when you’re really feeling scared? I uncrossed them. “Hunter,” I said quietly. “Can you get the dagger?” I thought of its location. Of course Hunter obeyed. William relaxed the tiniest bit when Hunter left the room. “One more time,” I said directly. “What do you want with my Guardian?”

René aimed the gun at him.
Please don’t accidentally fire it
, I prayed. “Fess up,” she demanded.

“I don’t know what a Guardian is!” he sputtered.

“Mh-hm.” I narrowed my eyes. “That’s why you were trying to kidnap him.” Hunter returned with the dagger. I kissed his muzzle. “Thanks, boy,” I whispered. I looked up to see Will’s eyes wide with disbelief.

“He did what you asked,” he said incredulously.

“Uh, duh. Guardian, remember,” I jeered.

“I don’t know what that is!” He looked more panic stricken than ever. I opened my mouth to tell him to cut the bull shit but stopped short. I motioned for René to follow me into the hall, leaving Hunter to play prison guard.

“Maybe he doesn’t know,” I spoke in a hushed voice. “I mean, he showed up with a stick and some rope. If he really knew what Hunter was—”

“—then he would have been better prepared,” René finished for me.

“Exactly.”

“So what now?”

“I still want to know why he came here,” I said.

“Me too.”

Dropping the bad cop vibe a bit, I went into the family room, this time pulling an armchair over to sit near Will. “Ok, so you don’t know about Guardians, I might believe that,” I began.

“I swear, I don’t! Just let me go, please!” he exclaimed.

I felt a pang of empathy. He tried to kidnap Hunter. There, I was the bad cop again. “So what then, you were mad I reversed your spell? You wanted to get back at me by taking my dog?”

“Yeah, you sick freak.” René circled the chair. “Were you gonna cut off his leg and send it in a pretty box too?”

“What!? No. I-I’d n-never do something l-like that!” His voice broke. Beads of sweat ran down his forehead.

“Then what is it?” I stood. “Are you after my powers? My Book of Shadows? Or this?” I flashed the dagger.

“You girls are crazy!” William yelled, his breath quickening.

“Yeah, crazy enough to sneak into someone’s fenced in backyard to kidnap their dog,” I said sarcastically. I stepped closer to him. William quivered in fear and tugged at the ropes. “I suggest you start talking before I put a truth spell on you,” I threatened, even though that wasn’t really a possibility. There is a truth spell in the BOS, but it required a potion with a grocery list of ingredients and had to be made on the full moon.

“What?” William shrieked. His eyes darted fearfully from me to René and to Hunter before saying, “I should have known. She was too good looking. She set this up, didn’t she?”

René eyed me, wondering. “Who was too good looking?”

William hesitated; I leaned in close to get a better sense of why. He was scared of this woman. Well, I’d just have to make him even more scared of me. I carefully pressed the tip of the dagger on his collar bone. “Who was too good looking?” I asked, saying each word slowly.

“T-this l-l-lady at the bar,” he stuttered. “I met her a few weeks ago.”

“And what about this lady?”

“She had the most beautiful eyes,” he said, almost spellbound. He looked at Hunter. “She gave me your address and said she’d pay me to steal your dog.”

“How much?”

“What?” He snapped his gaze to mine.

“How much did she offer to pay you?”

“A thousand. I thought it would be some show dog or something. If I’d have known…” He shook his head. “Just let me go, please.”

“What kind of twisted person agrees to steal an innocent girl’s dog?” René asked, venom in her voice.

“I didn’t know.” William shook his head and pleaded, “Please, just let me go!”

“Do you believe him?” I whispered to René, aware that William could still hear me.

“I don’t know. Can you really do a truth spell?” she whispered back.

“Yes,” I said confidently, but tried to convey to her with my eyes that it wasn’t completely true.

“You chicks are crazy!” William yelled, yanking his arms against the ropes so hard it must have hurt.

“Yeah,
we’re
crazy.” René spun to face him. “You’re such a typical scum-bag of a man, agreeing to do something just because the person asking you was
pretty
. Did she even tell why she wanted the dog?”

“N-no.” William looked truly regretful. “I told you, I thought it was an expensive show dog.”

“Where were you supposed to take him?” I asked, an idea quickly forming. William whimpered. “Answer me!” I demanded, extending the dagger again.

“Back to the bar.”

“When?”

“Tuesday.”

“And what time?” I ordered.

“Ten, at night.” He let out a small sob.

“Thanks.” I had officially run out of questions and was starting to feel a little bad for Will. He truly looked scared. René motioned for me to follow her into the kitchen.

“Are you thinking what I think you’re thinking?” she asked.

“If you’re thinking that I’m thinking to hold him hostage until Tuesday, then yes.”

René’s eyes bulged. “No, I wasn’t thinking that. It’s only Thursday. But…it’s a good plan. We can ‘give’ him Hunter. Then, when that lady comes to get him…”

“Exactly,” I exclaimed, unable to help the probably evil-villain smile that broke across my face.

My phone rang, causing both our hearts to skip a beat.

“Finally,” I said to Ethan.

“Are you ok?” he asked, worry in his voice.

“Yes, I’m perfectly fine.”

“Then what the hell was that message about?”

“
I’m
fine,” I clarified. “I have a hostage…in the family room.”

“What?”

“Uh, some guy was trying to take Hunter. I sorta accidentally knocked him out. Hunter and I dragged him into the house. We’ve already interrogated him.”

“We, meaning you and Hunter?”

“Well, I guess, but Hunter can’t talk to other people,” I pointed out. “René’s here.”

“Ok, just…just don’t do anything until I get home,” he told me.

“Ok. Love you.”

“You too.”

“Ethan’s on his way,” I informed René. “He wants us to hold off until he gets here.”

“Ok.” She nodded.

We looked at William; Hunter was circling him, obviously teasing the poor guy. He sprang quickly toward him, making William flinch and tremble in fear. René laughed.

“Should I offer him something to drink?” I asked René without taking my eyes off my hostage.

“Maybe,” she started. “Wait, no. He’s the bad guy. I don’t care if he’s thirsty.”

“But he’s human. And if he’s here until Tuesday night, I have to feed him.”

“True. Doesn’t it take a week to die of starvation?”

I looked wide eyed at René.

“I’m joking, Anora. I’ll get a glass of water.”

I went back into the family room and, perching on the arm of the couch, said, “So you must like it here. This isn’t the first time you’ve snooped around my house.” William looked at me as if I had figured out something impossible. “Hunter knows your scent,” I explained. I contemplated turning on the TV; the silence was getting almost awkward. “So, do you have a job?”