7. Reaper
7
Reaper
T he rumble of our Harleys surrounds me as we travel the last few miles. This is the third time we’ve been sent to the human world, but it’s also the most confusing. The only information we were given was that a woman named Kyra Thomas needs my help. Sure, Ms. Steinbeck gave us all a picture of her, and sure, she’s fucking beautiful, but that doesn’t mean I want anything to do with this mission.
Viking and Inferno pull into the parking lot, and the rest of us follow suit. We should’ve arrived hours ago, but it took Grump longer than expected to get his bearings from the transition, and we couldn’t very well put him in danger because that would’ve slowed us down more.
As I cut my engine, I take in our surroundings. It’s only four o’clock, and I expected the place to be packed. When I was alive, diners were the place to go after school to hang out with your friends and bitch about the day.
But all I see is a van in the handicapped parking space, and it’s idling.
Odd.
“Not what I was expecting,” Viking comments.
“Are we sure this is the right place?” Grump asks as he swings his leg over his seat.
“It’s the address Ms. Steinbeck gave us,” Inferno replies.
“Only way to find out is to go inside,” Acid suggests.
“Go for it,” I snap.
“This is your show, Reaper,” Pres reminds me unhelpfully. “Pretty sure it has to be you who goes first.”
“Why are you so?—”
Glass shatters, and we all whip our heads toward the front of the building. My gaze lands on the chaos beyond the broken window, and my legs carry me toward it.
“Guess we’re going in,” I hear Grump mutter as they follow me without question.
As if tethered by an invisible cable, my eyes immediately land on a woman behind the counter. I recognize her from the dossier Ms. Steinbeck gave us.
Her picture didn’t do her an ounce of justice.
Even scared and fighting off an attacker, Kyra Thomas is… stunning.
Reaching for the gun tucked into the back of my waistband, I barrel through the door. My entrance garners the attention of the three punks and both women.
“Take your hands off her,” I snarl, pointing my weapon at the masked man with his hands around Kyra’s throat.
He cocks his head. “Why would I do that?”
“Because gun beats knife,” I reply with a shrug.
“C’mon, man,” his friend pleads. “She’s not worth it.”
“But the money is.”
“All of this for a few hundred bucks?” Kyra asks, her voice trembling.
“A few hundred…” The knife-wielder laughs. “Add a few zeroes.”
Her eyes widen for a split-second before narrowing in anger. “Who hired you?” she demands.
Well, that puts a new spin on things.
He presses the blade into her flesh, and blood trickles down her slender neck. I see red and without giving it a second thought, I squeeze the trigger. Kyra screams as she drops to her knees behind the counter.
“We gotta get outta here!” one of the two men left shouts as he shoves the other women to the floor.
They take off running, and it’s all I can do not to chase after them and put bullets between their eyes too.
“Lemme guess… you want me to clean this shit up?” Grump says as he moves to stand next to me.
I open my mouth to respond but slam it shut when a large man comes barreling out of the hallway.
“What the hell happened?” he says, his face paling as he surveys the damage.
My brothers immediately aim their weapons at him, and he holds his hands up. Kyra slowly rises to her feet and darts her gaze from the newcomer to me and back again.
“Barry,” she cries and moves toward him. “He’s okay. He’s my cook,” she assures us.
“Mommy!”
I shift my eyes and my stomach plummets when I see a little girl skid to a halt behind Barry. She’s quickly followed by a boy who appears to be the same age.
Kids?
Kyra kneels and stretches her arms out, enveloping the two children in a hug. Her weeping reaches my ears, and if I had a heart, it’d crack under the weight of emotion.
After a few minutes, Kyra stands and composes herself. She smiles, although it doesn’t reach her eyes, and rests her hands on her hips.
“Mommy had quite the adventure,” she quips.
A snort escapes past my lips, and she glares at me.
“An adventure?” the boy asks. “Why didn’t you wait for us?”
Rather than answer, she focuses on Barry. “Would you mind taking Heidi and Hunter to your place? Just for a little bit while I call the police and clean this place up?”
“I already called the police,” the other woman informs, holding her cell phone up. “They’re on their way.”
Great. Just fucking great.
Kyra nods. “Thanks Jenny.”
Without missing a beat, Barry looks at the children and grins. “Looks like you’re stuck with me, kiddos.”
And like kids tend to do, they start peppering him with questions about what they can and can’t do. By the time they walk back through the hallway and out what I presume is a back door, he’s promised them ice cream for dinner and a movie.
Once they’re gone, Kyra glances at me. “I…” She swallows. “Thank you for?—”
“We’re just glad we got hungry and stopped,” Viking states. “Any clue who that is?” he asks, nodding toward the corpse.
Kyra shakes her head. “No.” Her expression doesn’t match the word.
Interesting.
She might not know who he is specifically, but she’s got at least a hunch about who sent them.
“We’ll figure it out,” I say, the words leaving my mouth before I can really think about what they mean.
“We?”
And just like that, I’ve linked myself to her come hell or highwater. I certainly didn’t want this assignment and cursed Odin numerous times for giving it to me, but I’d be lying if I didn’t admit there’s a small part of me that’s grateful he did.
Fuck Odin!