Soul Seducer (28 page)

“Harm myself?” she asked, her voice cracking.

“Yes.”

“Like, attempted suicide? An overdose?”

“Right. And it is unlikely Dimitri would coincidentally show up at that second.” He frowned, nodding slowly. “This could work. Dimitri’s stopped me many times, but there are many, many times he hasn’t.” A slow, chilling smile split his face. “Maybe Veronica can keep him occupied at just the right moment.”

Audra nodded, although she was hoping for the opposite. In order for her plan to work, everyone had to do what she needed them to, at precisely the right time. Otherwise, she was doomed to eternity with a sadistic lunatic.

“Then the people I love will be safe?”

“You have my word. They’ll be safe.” He frowned down at her. “This has to be done correctly. There’s no room for error. When you take the overdose, you can’t kill yourself. You just need to make yourself very, very ill. Close to death. Don’t rob me of my joy.”

Her blood chilled. She was actually having a conversation about how to almost commit suicide? She infused her voice with as much confidence as she could muster. “I’m a nurse. I know how many pills to take.”

A faraway look came into his eyes, and he rubbed his hands together. “Can’t wait to see Dimitri’s face when he realizes you belong to me forever. Bastard should have let me die the night he killed Louisa.”

“Let you die?”

“Yes. He pulled me from the house. Let her burn alone.”

“Wait. Dimitri saved your life? You hate him for saving your life?”

“He killed the woman I loved. All he did by saving my life is guarantee I could never be with her again.”

“I doubt that was his intention,” she said dryly.

“Intention or not, here we are. It is what it is. And now, he’ll pay for everything.”

She shuddered. If one little thing went wrong, she’d be the one paying. Paying with her eternal soul.

Chapter 22

Audra stood in her bathroom, watching the door, holding a bottle of water in her right hand, a colorful array of pills in her left. Randomly, a scene from Burt Reynolds’ movie,
The End
, popped into her head. He tried to commit suicide by swallowing a handful of pills, but when he washed them down with spoiled milk, he spit them all over the coffee table, then said, “Looks like Walt Disney threw up.”

She giggled. The giggle turned into a full-blown laugh that wouldn’t stop. Taking a deep breath, she sucked it back down. She couldn’t lose it. Couldn’t become hysterical. She had a plan to execute. Grief wound around her heart, expanding in her chest. Why hadn’t she put a plan in motion before Jaxon died? She could have saved him. Now she had to save Sadie. She couldn’t let her go the way Jaxon had.

The pills were gripped so tightly in her damp palm, she’d no doubt have to swallow them all in one moist sticky ball. As long as she convinced Gaylen she was attempting to follow his plan, that was all that mattered. Once he realized the only way to reap her was to turn human himself, he would surely do it. He had to. Then, she could kill him.

Her heart pounded, slowly and loudly. The beat reverberated through her ears as she watched the clock tick over to eight fifty-four. She’d told Cassie to have Dimitri here at nine, although she wouldn’t tell her why, or allow her to tell Dimitri that Audra had asked him to be here. She wasn’t even sure Cassie could pull it off, but Audra had impressed upon her how important it was that she succeed. She hadn’t told her that if she didn’t, Gaylen would reap her, and she’d spend all of eternity as his companion, at his mercy.

Gaylen was due to show up a few minutes after nine. Very small window, but it was a window nonetheless.

The clock ticked to eight fifty-five, and she tossed the pills into her mouth, washing them down with water.

Get here, get here, get here,
she prayed.

Heaviness stole through her limbs. Her head felt disconnected from her body. Her vision blurred, but through the haze, she heard someone say, “Audra? Audra, dear God.”

Dimitri. He was here. She tried to smile, but she was sinking to the floor. What was she supposed to do? Something to keep from dying...?

Oh yeah. She stuck her finger in her mouth, aiming for the back of her throat, but having trouble reaching her target. What was wrong with her hand? It wouldn’t obey her mind.

“Cassie, what the hell is going on here?” Dimitri’s voice again.

“I don’t know. She didn’t tell me. She just said to get you here.”

“Fuck,” Dimitri bit out. Then she felt his hands on her, lifting her, holding her. He was human? No. She hadn’t thought about that. How could she not think about that? How could he stop Gaylen from reaping her if he was human? “You need to make yourself throw up, Audra. That’s a girl.”

She jammed her finger into her throat, and Dimitri tilted her head forward, over the toilet. She vomited, all the while thoughts merging one into another. Dimitri human. Saving her life. But he wouldn’t be able to stop Gaylen. Gaylen would appear any second. He would reap her. This was all for nothing. He could still go after Sadie.

“I’m sorry,” she moaned when the spasms subsided. “I’m so sorry.”

“It’s okay, baby.” Dimitri cradled her in his arms. “I called an ambulance. Help is on the way. It’s okay.”

“No, you don’t get it,” she mumbled. “It’s not okay at all.”

“What—” Dimitri began, but something drew his attention away, then she saw Gaylen looming over his shoulder.

“Audra. Damn you,” Gaylen roared. “You promised.”

“I—I tried…” She frowned up at him. Why wasn’t he reaping her?

“Promised what?” Dimitri demanded.

She didn’t answer.

“You’re fucking with the wrong person, Audra,” Gaylen ground out. “You won’t like the results.”

The wail of sirens split the air.

“What’s going on?” Dimitri asked. “What did you do?”

“Why didn’t he reap me?” she asked in bewilderment. “You can’t stop him while you’re human.”

“No, but I can,” Cassie said.

Audra looked up at Cassie. Her vision was growing dimmer. In spite of regurgitating the pills, traces of them were still in her system. She couldn’t stay awake much longer.

“You stopped him? How could you? You’re new.”

“Doesn’t matter,” Cassie explained, but the words were getting lost in the hammering in Audra’s head. “As long as another reaper is around, he can’t take someone when it’s not time.”

Blackness shut her voice down.

~*~

Audra lifted her eyes to discover she had a pounding headache and a visitor.

Riley sat next to the hospital bed, but rather than concern, her faced was scrunched in anger. Her cheeks were pale, and stress lines were etched into the skin around her eyes and mouth.

“How could you?” she whispered hotly.

“What?”

“How could you try to leave me?” Riley shook her head. “After losing Brent like that, I need you. Sadie needs you, and you were just going to fucking check out? How could you?”

“I’m sorry. I didn’t think—”

“No, you didn’t think. You might have lost Jaxon, but there are other people who care about you. You weren’t thinking of us at all. I’m not sure I can forgive you for this. Ever.”

How could Audra tell her she’d done it for Sadie? That she hadn’t meant to die? There was only one way to convince her. The truth. Riley would either believe her and forgive her, or have her committed. Either way, she had to try.

“There’s something I should tell you, Riley. It’s going to be hard to take in, but you know I’ve never lied to you. I’m not crazy, and I’m not lying now.”

Riley frowned. “What’s this all about?”

“You remember those ghosts I mentioned to you? That day we were drinking wine at my house?” Riley nodded. “They weren’t ghosts, as it turns out.”

“What were they?” Riley’s voice held a note of skepticism and fear. Like she didn’t really want to know.

“Reapers,” Audra said. Riley’s eyes widened, and she opened her mouth, but Audra held up a hand. “Let me tell you everything. Then you can tell me how insane you think I am. For now, just listen.”

Audra ended the story by explaining that she hadn’t really tried to kill herself. That her plan was to show Gaylen she’d tried to put herself in jeopardy, but had panicked and made herself throw up, that Dimitri had unexpectedly shown up, and now the only way was for him to put her in jeopardy himself...by turning human.

Riley sat staring at her, blinking slowly, shaking her head from side to side. Audra wasn’t sure if it was because she indeed thought Audra was insane, or that she just thought she was lying. That she’d woven the story just to get out of the whole suicide thing.

“Aren’t you going to say anything?” Audra asked. “Call me a liar or a lunatic?”

“Neither.” Her voice was hushed, cold and trembling.

“Why not?”

“I believe you.”

“You do?”

Riley nodded. “Yes. I mean, I still think it was foolish, dangerous to do what you did, but I believe you about the reapers. I think I’ve seen them too.”

Audra’s heart sped up. “You’ve seen reapers? Gaylen and Dimitri?”

Riley shook her head. “No. The night of the accident. When Brent...died. I thought it was my imagination, but he was so real. I saw him there. Before I passed out.”

“Who did you see, Riley?”

Riley’s green eyes were luminous with tears. “Steve,” she whispered. “I saw Steve. He was there when Brent died.”

~*~

In the two days since Riley’s revelation, Audra hadn’t let herself think about the fact that her friend could see reapers, too. Had seen her dead former lover.

Steve had most likely reaped Riley’s husband. That was a lot to take in, but for another time. She needed to concentrate on the issue at hand…stopping Gaylen before Riley witnessed a reaper taking her child.

She was forced to take leave from work after her suicide attempt. They wanted her to get counseling before she came back. Little did they know, she needed a hell of a lot more help than a counselor could provide.

She was sitting in her living room, staring at the turned-off television, when Gaylen showed up.

“You really have no idea what you’ve done, do you?” His voice was as cold as the block of ice sitting in her chest. “I told you what would happen if you didn’t let me take you. Now, the little girl will die. You like living so much, live with that.”

She came to her feet, forcing sincerity into her tone. “No, I meant to, really. I freaked out at the last minute. Couldn’t go through with it. I’m just too chicken to do it myself. But you can do it.”

“Do what?”

“You can put me in jeopardy, then reap me.”

He lowered his brows over his golden eyes, seeming to consider her proposal for a long time before he finally said, “The only way to execute your plan is for me to turn human. As I’ve told you, I can’t do that. Dimitri will be all over me.”

“What if I convince him to turn human just before? Then he won’t be able to turn for another twenty-four hours. You’ll be safe.”

“Do you really think I’m going to fall for your tricks again? Fool me once, Audra...”

“No. No trick. You’ll know whether or not I was able to get Dimitri to turn human, right? I can’t trick you. If you don’t see that he turned human, then we don’t go through with the plan.”

“And the little girl dies,” he said matter of factly.

Audra swallowed hard. “And Sadie dies.”

Gaylen pursed his lips and nodded. “This might not be such a bad idea. I like the way you think. But then again, if I’m human, I can’t reap you until I turn.”

Right. She’d forgotten about that little detail. She intended to kill him while he was human, so she wasn’t worried about this lack of ability to reap her. That was actually a bonus.

“Although...” he said. “If I time it just right, wait until I have only a few breaths left, I can hurt you, take those last breaths, turn reaper, then take you.” His face lit with joy. “It’s a deal. But don’t screw it up this time. You won’t like how it ends.”

She tried not to cringe at the calm recital of his plan to dispose of her. “Okay. I promise.”

His mouth stretched into a satisfied leer. “So, when do we do this?”

~*~

Dimitri banged on Veronica’s door. “Let me in, Veronica. I know you’re in there. Let me in now!”

The door swung open, and Veronica stood there, wearing a flowing lavender gown. She tossed her long auburn hair over her shoulder and smiled like a satisfied cat. “Dimitri. What a lovely surprise. Please come in.”

He stormed inside and gripped her shoulders. “What did you do?”

“What are you talking about?”

“Audra’s friend, Jaxon. You killed him. I’ve been looking for you ever since. What the hell are you up to?”

“Why do you care? He was just some human.”

“He was Audra’s friend. A doctor. He was a good man.”

“Yeah, well. She was also in love with him, and now he’s out of the way. You should be thanking me.”

“You’re out of your mind.”

She looked up at him, tears filling her eyes. “You never loved me.”

“I don’t love.”

“Don’t you?”

He narrowed his eyes.

“You love her,” she said.

“I don’t love her.”

“Right,” she scoffed. “You’re so blinded by your love for her you don’t even know what’s about to happen.”

“What’s about to happen? What are you talking about?”

Her lips stretched into a pleased smirk. “You’ll know soon enough.”

He huffed a sigh and released her with a shove. She wasn’t worth his time and effort. “When you see Gaylen, tell him I’m looking for him.”

“Why don’t you tell him yourself?”

“What—”

Before he could finish the sentence, a blow landed to his right kidney. He went down on one knee, trying to catch his breath. As he was staggering to his feet, another strike smashed into his head.

Gaylen circled around, stopping in front of him. Something hard slammed against the back of his neck. He twisted his head to find the leering grin of the man he’d stabbed to death less than a week ago.

Dimitri looked up at Gaylen, panting in pain. “So, I guess you found a running buddy.”

Gaylen grinned. “We’re like-minded. It was only a matter of time before we connected.”

“A match made in hell.”

Gaylen smiled widely. “Hell is where you’ll be when I get through with your little girlfriend.”

“Fuck you,” Dimitri growled. He struggled to his feet, but just as he was regaining his strength, another shot landed, this one with more force than the others. He went to his knees once more, then turned in time to see Scott lifting a bat over his head, aiming for another blow.