Chapter 17
“Where did you get this?” Jamie examined the vial of strange fluid Elise had handed him.
She looked over from the bloody mess of rags piling up in the bathroom sink. Layla continued to bleed out on the white tiles, crimson seeping into the grout and filling in the dusty corners of the room.
Elise pressed a clean rag to the wounds on Layla’s throat, trying to ignore the fading beat of her pulse. “Julius and Karine had it. I think it might be karma.”
Jamie’s expression twisted into a doubtful frown. “You think it might be karma? And you want to try this on Layla?”
“It’s either that, or she dies. The wounds from the Saint steel won’t heal properly, if at all,” Elise snapped. “If you want to leave while I give it to her, then fine. I’ll deal with the consequences.”
The gangster scoffed. “This is my house. I’m not going anywhere. Frankly, I’m a little peeved you brought your problems here. Now there’s a big mess—do you even know how hard it is to clean blood out of grout…?”
Elise shot him a piercing glare.
Jamie cleared his throat. “Are you certain no one followed you back?”
“No,” Elise said flatly. She watched the faint flutter of Layla’s eyelashes and cursed.
Jamie opened his mouth to speak again, but a loud banging at the front door turned him pale. He ran down the hall.
Elise turned back to the dying reaper before her.
She grabbed the vial from the counter and popped the lid, preparing to pour its contents into Layla’s mouth.
As she reached forward to part her lips, someone yanked her arm back.
Elise whirled to see Sterling and the small reaper girl from the club standing over her.
“Don’t,” Sterling said sternly. He nodded to Celie, who came forward with a small needle and syringe.
Before Elise could even ask what it was, the small reaper was plunging the needle into Layla’s chest. She stepped back, and they all waited, their breaths shallow and scared while they watched Layla.
For a long moment, she did not move. Her breathing continued to slow, and blood spread around her. Then Layla shot up suddenly. Her eyes were wide with panic, and her hands shot toward her throat, clawing at an invisible restraint.
Elise reached for her and clamped her fingers over her wrists, stopping her frantic movements. “You’re okay,” she whispered.
Sure enough, the wounds on Layla’s neck began to heal. The flesh knit itself closed, and proper color slowly returned to her cheeks. She still breathed heavily, apprehension making a home out of her traumatized body.
Elise’s cheeks heated as Layla’s eyes roamed the cuts on her throat. “Did I hurt you?”
“No,” Elise said roughly.
“What happened?” Laya asked.
Elise glanced up at Celie and Sterling, who shared a look.
Celie spoke up first. “I saw Julius leave after Layla, and I knew he wasn’t going to do anything good.
He’s always working on things, so I took his medicine just in case.
I figured he would try to hurt Layla the way he hurts other reapers he wants to make an example out of.
But when I saw the Saint girl, I knew it would be worse.
I found her brother, and he decided to help.
I’m sorry. When I was human, I always went to my brother for help,” Celie whispered.
She wrapped her arms around her middle and stepped back.
Elise’s heart softened at the mention of Sterling, who had been as much a brother to her as a friend. “What did you give her?”
“Whatever Julius uses to quell his own problems. I’m not sure where he gets it from,” Celie said.
Layla struggled to her feet. She caught a glimpse of her reflection in the mirror and quickly looked away, her lips twisting in disgust. “He was a physician before he was turned, and he used to regularly continue practicing on reapers because he found them to be the perfect specimens. His words, not mine.”
Elise followed her out into the living room, where Hendricks jumped up from his spot on the couch at the sight of her. He hissed, his tail and back fluffing in agitation. Layla bared her own fangs at him, and the cat scampered off, disappearing into Jamie’s room.
She settled down by the window and inhaled the fresh air coming from outside. “The rot is not metaphorical.”
“Excuse me?” Elise asked.
“There is something rotting underneath Harlem. The reapers Karine called from underground…they smelled dead. Like they had just emerged from their graves,” Layla said.
Nothing in Harlem ever stays dead. Karine’s words echoed in Elise’s mind. She swallowed the rise of bile in her throat. Jamie pressed a hand to his mouth and left for the kitchen, while Sterling shook his head.
“That would explain their inability to tolerate the sun. If they’ve been dead in the ground for years,” Elise muttered.
Celie’s breath caught. “There is no way… Maybe they’re just reapers who have been lost. I know some who, when they first turned, couldn’t bear the thought of drinking human blood, so they locked themselves away to keep from hurting anyone. The dead cannot walk.”
“If they were a reaper first, or God forbid, experimented on in their reaperhood, then tossed out for being an experiment gone wrong, anything is possible,” Sterling said.
“When Stephen Wayne still worked with your father, he used Saint members to help him dispose of reaper bodies that had succumbed to the experiments Dr. Harding ran. It’s possible these are the remainders that refuse to die. ”
“And Karine has somehow gotten her hands on them how? She has been in Harlem for only a couple of months. How does she already know the depths of its atrocities?” Elise asked.
Sterling shrugged. “She must have allies hidden all around.”
Elise’s eyes went wide. She returned to her map, where she had circled known blood houses and gang territories.
They all overlapped with Saint territories, the ones politicians like Stephen Wayne and the new mayor had sought to influence during the election.
“She has allies everywhere…” Elise looked at Sterling, whose face was still void of his usual confident color. “When is Arendale’s next event?”
“Tomorrow evening. He’s visiting one of the newer apartment buildings in Hamilton Heights to talk about fighting astronomical rent prices. I don’t think he has a plan, but he just wants to make himself look good. Why?” Sterling asked.
“It seems Karine’s hold on him has already begun.
She mentioned he offered her a partnership to improve human and reaper relations.
I cannot imagine that event will run smoothly.
Every time the Saints rally with any important government leaders, something goes wrong.
If Karine really wants to usurp human power over reapers, she will see this as an opportunity to strike,” Elise said.
Jamie cleared his throat from where he stood behind them all in the kitchen.
“Have you forgotten that we have no allies? If it’s true that this reaper woman is plotting the downfall of humans and she has allies in high places, we are mincemeat in the face of her attacks.
The new monster she’s rearing has already almost taken you out twice.
What will make this event any different? ”
Elise clenched her jaw as everyone turned to look at her. “Josi might be there. We have to try.”
Sterling reached a hand toward Elise as if he meant to comfort her, but it fell, and his fingers clenched by his sides.
“If it makes you feel any better, your father is losing control over his weapons supply, and his factories have been shutting down, so even if he wanted to fully arm the rest of us, he would barely be able to do so. The loss of the Saint empire on your side is really no loss at all.”
“What happened to his weapons?” Elise asked.
“Total theft and seizure of one of the Saint training centers,” Sterling said.
“By whom?”
“Criminals, Elise. Who else?”
Everyone looked at Jamie. The gangster lifted his hands and scoffed, his face turning red beneath their assuming gazes.
“I did not do a damn thing. I’ve kept to myself per her orders.
” He gestured to Layla. “That’s why it’s so cold in here.
I can hardly afford to heat this place. My son hates me for it. You’re welcome.”
Sterling choked back a laugh. He rubbed his hand over his face and cleared his throat when Elise scowled at him. “Can I trust you this time?” she wondered aloud.
The other Saint member sighed. He pulled his overcoat back, revealing empty and barren shirt lapels.
Even his gun holsters were empty. Sterling produced them from his pockets instead, wrapped in protective cloth.
“I was on my way to hand my badge and guns in to your father when Celie found me. As soon as we’re done here, I’ll go back and finish the job. ”
A smile spread across Elise’s face. “Sure. But we need that badge for tomorrow.”