Unreap My Heart (The Reaper Series) (36 page)

While Balthazar mulled over the various tortures he’d inflict on D and his liar for a right hand man when he got back to the Crossroads, Arianne stood dumbstruck, her mouth open. She stared at her sister like she didn’t recognize the other girl. She blinked several times before closing her mouth again.

“That’s better,” Carrie said as a sigh. She folded her transparent wings behind her in a flutter of golden sparks. “I hate having to hide my wings. It always feels like stuffing tissue in a bra.” She giggled, the girliest sound Balthazar wished he’d never ever heard. “When Zakariel told me we’d have visitors, I never in a gazillion years thought it would be you, Ari.”

Swiping away yet another flood of tears that twisted Balthazar’s insides, Arianne laughed. “Cool wings, sis.”

Carrie twirled around. “Aren’t they just awesome? They came when I got here.”

“So, Ben?”

“Yeah.” Carrie pursed her lips. “The second I heard the rumor, I sent Zakariel to the auction.” Her eyes widened. “Don’t tell me you were there.”

Balthazar frowned when Arianne averted her gaze in an effort to hide her blush. Did she feel ashamed of being at the mansion? He’d warned her against it, but she insisted on going in with him. She shouldn’t feel guilty about her decision.

Balthazar rolled his eyes. Why did he worry about that when they had other things they needed to do?
Focus,
he thought.

“Way too many reunions. We’ve got to jet, Arianne.” He pointed at the ring on her finger.

“What does he mean?” Carrie asked Arianne.

Arianne raised the hand with the ring, the pulse dangerously weak now. “You have to come with us, Carrie.”

“And why do I have to do that?”

“Because you need to pull out a knife from Death’s chest.” Arianne looked into her sister’s eyes. “I promised I’d help him in return for Niko’s life. If you don’t do this, Death will lose his powers and that’s going to cause a butt load of problems in the Crossroads and our world.”

Carrie’s face softened. “I’d love to help, I really would—”

“She can’t leave Haven,” Zakariel interrupted, finally getting his wits back, much to Balthazar’s irritation. Was it too much to ask for that they leave without incident?

“Bullshit,” Balthazar said in response to Zakariel. In the distance, he heard the distinctive neighing of their ride.

Zakariel leveled a pointed glare at him. “That was your plan all along, wasn’t it? To take the Redeemer away from here. I will not stand for it.”

“Not like you can do anything.” Balthazar shrugged. “I’m borrowing her for a bit. Once she’s done pulling my mother’s blade out of Death’s chest you can have her back.”

“Brianne’s Bitterness is your mom’s knife?” Arianne’s question held as much shock as her face showed.

“Who do you think Brianne is?” Balthazar spat back, never taking his eyes off Zakariel. He slowly manifested his scythe, keeping it invisible for as long as possible.

“Well, sorry for not putting that together fast enough for you.”

Balthazar loved it when Arianne got sarcastic on him. It brought out the fire in her blue eyes. Again with the not focusing. He cursed himself for easily being distracted by Arianne. He had stayed with her far too long already. She was beginning to rub off on him.

“Who’s he, Ari?” Carrie touched Arianne arm.

“Balthazar,” Arianne said. “He helped me get here.” She turned and faced her sister head on. “Carrie, you have to come with us. Please. You’re the only one who can pull the knife out.”

“No!” Zakariel answered when Carrie opened her mouth to respond.

The Heavenly Host moved toward the Redeemer when the Nightmare Steed arrived. One side of Balthazar’s lips quirked up. Just in time. Zakariel froze, watching the giant blue-black stallion with black flames for hooves, mane, and tail land on the center of the amphitheater. The magical animal pawed at the ground, bobbing its head up and down. Black flames flared out of its nostrils.

Before Zakariel could recover, Balthazar fully manifested his scythe and cut across his palm. He pushed off from where he stood, letting the blood pool in his cupped palm. Reaching the Nightmare Steed, he placed his hand under its mouth. The steed sucked up his blood and neighed. Once it accepted the bargain of transport back to the Crossroads, Balthazar sprinted toward Zakariel. The shocked Heavenly Host didn’t have time to react. Balthazar sliced up with his scythe, taking one of Zakariel’s wings with it. Then he de-manifested his scythe so he had his hands free.

As the severed wing landed with a thud on the ground and Zakariel fell to his knees, clutching at the wound, Balthazar grabbed a screaming Carrie and hauled her over the back of the steed. He climbed up after her then reached out for Arianne.

“Let’s go,” he commanded the wide-eyed girl.

Arianne looked from the bleeding Zakariel up to him. “You cut off his wing.”

“It’ll grow back.”

Carrie twisted and slapped him across the face. Balthazar’s head didn’t even twitch to the side despite the force of the blow. She wasn’t strong enough. The Redeemer saved, not hurt. The guilt in her eyes for slapping him showed her nature loud and clear. He glared at Carrie just to show her who was boss before he returned his gaze at Arianne.

“What the hell are you waiting for?” he shouted.

A fleet of angels gathered above them. If they didn’t leave now, they wouldn’t make it out of Haven. But Arianne stood frozen. He’d given her another reason to believe he played the bad guy in this scenario. If it wasn’t for his bargain to protect her, he’d leave her where she stood like an idiot staring up at him.

At the end of his patience, Balthazar leaned down and grabbed Arianne by the arm. With one heave, he pulled her behind him onto the steed. Then he grabbed the steed’s black fire mane and pulled, kicking it at its sides. He felt Arianne’s arms snake around his waist just as the Nightmare Steed took off.

With a maniacal grin on his face, Balthazar called for his scythe once again.
Time to make some room.
As the Nightmare Steed flew into the gray sky, angels and their not-so-white wings fell.

Chapter 40

DEGT

I
CY
A
IR
W
HIPPED
Arianne’s short hair all over her face. She tightened her grip around Balthazar’s waist. Not that she’d die if she fell; at least, she thought she wouldn’t die, but she sure as hell didn’t want to test the theory. She could barely keep her eyes open from their speed. She peeked down and regretted it. The landscape of the Underverse zipped by at a dizzying pace.

“Why couldn’t we use the Nightmare Steed all this time?” Arianne asked through the whipping wind. She wasn’t sure if Balthazar heard her, so it surprised Arianne when he replied. The guy had good ears. She’d give him that.

“Nightmare Steeds can only be used once. I figured now is that time.”

“You didn’t have to cut off his wing, you know,” she heard Carrie say, the wind carrying her words to her ears before completely taking them away.

“Bought us time.” Balthazar snorted. “I don’t even know why I’m defending myself. I cut off his wing because it was fun to see him suffer. There.”

“You’re lying, I can tell.”

“And how do you know that?”

Arianne had to crane her neck so she could catch their argument, clenching her teeth against the cold that had been steadily creeping into her body since her thread had been cut. Did death—the real kind—feel like this? Cold and lonely? Arianne clawed at the buckles on Balthazar, drawing comfort from their metallic hardness. Carrie’s next words distracted her from thoughts of eventually turning into a Wraith and what Balthazar would do if that happened.

“I’m the Redeemer. You can’t lie when you’re this close to me.”

Balthazar snorted again. She couldn’t connect with his thoughts anymore so she couldn’t be a hundred percent sure what he was thinking, though. Her heart ached at their connection being completely gone. A part of her missed it already.

“It’ll grow back,” Balthazar grumbled. “I’m pretty sure he’s already on his way here.”

“Kidnapping the Redeemer. You have balls. A guy with your name should have a set.”

Arianne almost laughed. Carrie always had a way of telling the truth and making it sound so funny.

“Where’d you find this guy, Ari?” Carrie twisted so she could look at Arianne around Balthazar’s bulk.

Arianne smiled at her sister, still not used to seeing her so healthy. “He got roped into helping Death pull out the dagger in his chest.”

“Mr. Charming Personality got conned into helping out?”

“It’s like you already know him.” Arianne wiggled her eyebrows and Carrie wiggled hers back. Carrie always had the knack of reading people even before actually interacting with them. She got Balthazar spot on. Well, maybe not the bad guy aspect of his personality, but Arianne decided to give her a couple more minutes.

“I should just chuck the two of you overboard,” Balthazar said through his teeth.

“You do that and you lose what little chance you’ve got at ruling the Crossroads,” Arianne bit back.

“You want Death’s job?” Carrie asked Balthazar.

“Chicks suck,” came his venomous reply.

Something about the way Carrie looked up at Balthazar disturbed Arianne. She understood why Carrie had to sit in front with Balthazar’s arms around her. He didn’t want Carrie to fall or escape. She got that loud and clear, but it didn’t mean she had to like it. Arianne shut her eyes and pushed away all thoughts of jealousy. Why would she be jealous of something as little as who got to sit in Balthazar’s arms? She loved Niko. She’d done all this for him. How could she be jealous? No matter how strong the urge to kick Carrie overboard was, Arianne had to remind herself that she loved Carrie and Carrie loved Ben. Heck, she sent Zakariel to bid for Ben at that auction. Arianne’s eyes opened then.

“How’d you know Ben was dead?” Guilt replaced Arianne’s irrational jealousy after she asked the question.

Carrie twisted around again. “I was only going on a rumor. When Zakariel came back, he confirmed it was Ben.” Her eyes watered. “How’d he…” She swallowed.

“Please not you too with the waterworks.”

“Shut up, Balthazar.” Arianne slapped him on the shoulder and he grunted.

In the silence that followed, Arianne put the right words together while Carrie waited—her expression openly expectant, which made things much harder for Arianne. She couldn’t bear to break her sister’s heart—Redeemer or not.

Finding no other way to soften the blow of the truth, Arianne dropped her gaze. “After you died—” she swallowed around the prickly lump in her throat “—Ben sacrificed himself so I could live.”

The confusion in Carrie’s face forced Arianne to summarize everything that had happened between her and Niko. She hadn’t spoken so fast in her life, spilling out as much detail as she could. When she’d finished, she could hardly breathe no matter how much air sped past them.

“Niko’s a Reaper,” were the first words out of Carrie’s lips, her eyes wide.

“Of Georgia,” Arianne added.

“A total asshole if you ask me.”

“No one’s asking you, Balthazar!” Arianne slapped him on the shoulder again.

“Keep slapping me and I’ll forget that I have to protect you.” He glared at her over his shoulder. Arianne didn’t cower at his murderous glare. He could bark all he wanted—and he really did have a bite worse than his bark—but right now, the only thing that mattered was her conversation with Carrie.

Arianne debated whether to tell Carrie what Ben had said on the raft.

“Tell me,” she said as if reading Arianne’s mind. Carrie read expressions as well as people. She didn’t need mind reading powers.

“Ben said after you died he had nothing else to live for.”

“Ben didn’t want to live without me?” Carrie’s heart showed on her face. Half hurt, half clearly touched, which equaled to a whole lot of love.

Arianne couldn’t be sure of the tone of Carrie’s question. “What happens now that he’s at Haven?”

Carrie blinked away her tears and pulled a smile on. “He’ll be safe.”

A measure of relief blunted the guilt in Arianne’s chest. Ben’s rightful place was with Carrie. Even when they were alive, seeing them together, how he hovered over her, always told Arianne what she should have known from the beginning. She’d just been too blind, or her attention had been somewhere else the whole time.

Niko.

Did she really love him? Did she do all this for the right reasons? Being with Balthazar added a grain of confusion. She shouldn’t be doubting her feelings. So what if she didn’t know enough about Niko?

“So.”

One word and Arianne’s attention returned to Carrie. Her sister’s expression changed. She became more formal, her face looking older and far wiser than her sixteen years. Arianne waited for Carrie to continue.

“You need me to pull out Brianne’s Bitterness from Death’s chest to get Niko back.”

“I crossed the Underverse to find you.”