Chapter 15 #2
Her father’s lips curled into a cruel smile.
“A belief is only as strong as its experience. All reapers crave blood—especially the blood of their betrayers. But they will not forget your contributions to the cause of their eradication.” Tobias finally stopped in front of her.
This close up, with him towering over her, she felt their differences and distance even more.
“You think working closely with one reaper will be the beginning of solving the human-reaper crisis. You think your love for her—your love for each other—will be enough to end the strife.”
Elise shook her head. “No—”
“That wasn’t a question, Elise. It was a fact.
You’re sick with love, and it’s making you stupid.
” He twisted his wedding ring on his finger, his hands shaking a bit as he turned back to the desk.
“I would know. I’ve spent hundreds—thousands—of dollars trying to make things right.
Made a deal with Mayor Arendale to help track reapers and keep them in control as long as he helped me rebuild the empire.
It was not so easy at first. Clearing my name was the worst part of it all.
Then closing the mansion and halting business for a while turned out to be the only way I could stay on top of everything.
I wouldn’t be in this position if I had not been tempted by the devils that walk this earth.
The one reaper I tried to work with poisoned me, and I still feel the effects of it now.
Worse still, your sister…” His fingers worried the wedding band again.
As his eyes traveled to the glass decanter of what Elise assumed was red wine on his desk, her throat tightened.
Elise saw an opportunity at that moment. She placed her hands on the desk, leaning over so he was forced to meet her eye. “Josephine is why I’m here.”
Tobias paused. His eyes shifted as he considered his words. “What do you mean?”
Silence again. Elise chose her words carefully, not wanting to scare him into doing something destructive. “There is a new evil hunting Harlem. Neither reapers nor humans are safe. I have reason to believe it is Josi partaking in this violence. Valeriya’s venom…it’s changed her,” she muttered.
Horror darkened his eyes. He stiffened, his shoulders going tense and his hands clenching the edge of his desk so hard, his knuckles grew ashen. “My Josephine… No, Valeriya said it would be temporary.”
Elise blinked. “You knew she planned to hurt Josi?”
Tobias’s hands shook as he raised them to pull at his hair.
“It was not supposed to hurt her. It was supposed to keep her safe. I only agreed because the beast infected me with her blood first. It sounded right in the moment, and in the end, it did keep Josi alive.” He cursed under his breath and shook his head. “But at what cost?”
“I believe Josi is okay. Beyond the monstrous being she’s hiding behind.
She’s just…scared,” Elise said. “You have to tell your associates to stop the patrols in case she shows up. Tell the police too. Perhaps changing the weapons to be ones that incapacitate rather than kill while Josi is still out there—”
Her father was already shaking his head. “If she really is so dangerous, then we should be protecting the city from her and not vice versa.”
Elise’s heart dropped. She could hardly bear what she was hearing, much less the insinuation coming from her father. “No. I have a plan. We just have to find her and Dr. Gray, and we can stop her—we can fix her.”
“There is no fixing monstrosity, Elise. Once you’ve turned, you’re too far gone—”
“She’s not gone, and she’s not a monster,” Elise snapped. The moment the angry darkness returned to her father’s eyes, she regretted her tone. But Elise would never regret standing up for her sister. She held her ground as her father stared her down, his lips pulling into the most vicious scowl.
Tobias crossed his arms and spoke in a hollow voice that somehow felt scarier than a strong threat.
“You have clearly been influenced for as long as you’ve been gone.
I can accept wanting to help Harlem, but understand that our actions reflect on the empire and the powerful people in the government and beyond who have invested in us.
You cannot be reckless with this power and expect me to accept that. ”
Elise frowned. “The treatment reapers have endured for centuries, leaving them with no choice but to hurt, corrupt, and bleed people dry also reflects on us and the government. The only difference between us and them is that they have no choice when ours are endless,” she said.
Her breath left her in rough exhales, leaving her chest heaving and hot. “Will you really not help?”
Her father cast his gaze sideways. “I do not see a future where reapers and humans are ever coexisting productively or peacefully. You will always have a place here if you want to follow the way of the empire, Elise, but I cannot support this path you wish to take.”
Elise’s throat burned with unshed tears.
She nodded anyway, knowing she had done all that she could to involve her father in this fight for her sister and a better future.
Despite confronting what she had tried so hard to avoid and not be afraid of for the past few months, she had still come up against a dead end.
“Right.” Elise began to turn away and head out of the room, but his voice stopped her as she crossed the doorway.
“Elise.”
She faced him again, already wary of what would come next.
Tobias had the decanter in his hand and was already pouring some of the red liquid into his matching glass.
“I know you will go back to Layla, and I want to know why. There are so many other young women who you would match with much better. Layla…while I adored the joy she brought you as a child, those days are long behind her. I guarantee she’s keeping more secrets than you could ever guess.
Don’t be so gentle with her this time.” He took a sip of the liquid, its unnerving ruby red staining his lips upon contact.
Elise had no idea how to respond to his words.
She liked to think she had no choice but to trust Layla now, whether she wanted to or not.
There was no one else to cling to in these unprecedented times.
In a place like Harlem, where the shadows held hell with poisoned fangs, there was no time to keep secrets from a beloved.
Without another word, Elise pushed out of the study and almost stumbled into Sterling, who stood blocking the hallway.
“Elise—”
She whirled on him, ignoring his pleading tone and the way his eyes filled with hurt. “Did you know?” Elise put every ounce of strength she had into the glare she gave him.
Sterling blinked. “Excuse me?”
Elise raised her voice. “Did you know they were poisoning Josi?”
The life seemed to rush out of him at once.
Sterling paled, shaking his head, and held his hands up in defense.
“No, Elise, I never—I never wanted her to be a part of any of this. They’re monsters, and they’re not to be trusted.
I thought your father knew what he was doing.
” His throat bobbed, and Elise saw the devastation in his eyes.
Conflicting words popped into Elise’s head.
He does, but he never does the right thing.
But she couldn’t say them out loud. Because that would make them truer than she was ready to admit to herself.
Though Sterling’s words almost drove her to a state of breathlessness, the irritation never left her.
She inhaled sharply, shoving the new emotions back down.
“You have to choose. You cannot side with him and also help me. He only hurts me. Do you understand?”
Sterling stared at her, wide-eyed and perplexed. Elise couldn’t wait for his answer. She turned and left, the embers of her anger igniting more with each step.