Reaper

Hunter stared at the broken girl for a few moments, his hand still outstretched from shutting off her thoughts. It was a cowardly thing to do, to take advantage of a Reaper’s ability to render humans unconscious, but he was focused on a much more important goal than garnering a noble kill.

He stepped forward, taking in her Scent. She was full of love, hope – the feel of it was off-putting, and made him gag. But she was rich with sadness, fear. She had clearly been crying recently, he could see that by the tear streaks adorning her pale cheeks. So brittle, so small…

So human.

Taking a few more steps forward, Hunter felt the telltale swelling in his chest, warm and hungry. It had been lying dormant for a week now, stowed away after a nice feeding. But it was hungry again, and it uncurled itself from his core, stretching throughout him and filling his veins like a sleepy dragon, uncurling itself languidly in the sun. He grinned as he felt his fingertips heat up, sensing the fear in the girl upon which he could prey.

She was perfect prey.

He raised his hand towards her once more, crouching on the asphalt in front of her sleeping body. Carefully, gently, he reached out to lightly place his fingers on her temple, the pads brushing the skin softly. He began to Sense more about her, where she had been, who she was, and who she had been with. He took in wisps of other humans, milling about her thoughts like they would a crowded park, faceless in thought but distinct in memory. Each of these people flashed in her consciousness, obviously important to her.

But Hunter was suddenly repulsed when he caught sight of a face he never expected, or wanted, to see – Sawyer’s. His lips curled into a snarl as he searched the girl’s memory for traces of his second-in-command, bewildered as to how a human girl might know so much about him. He saw him many times, memories laced together by an emotion he wasn’t familiar with, of his follower in her home, perched on her bed, talking her to sleep. He felt nauseous as he saw Sawyer’s protective hand fly into another Reaper’s face, all in the name of safety for this girl. He watched as Sawyer sat in front of her, leaning in slowly, slowly…

He had seen enough.

Wrenching his hand away as if he had been burned, Hunter glared at the girl. She was the source of the rumors, then. This was the girl who had captured Sawyer’s attention for god knows what reason, stealing him away from his loyalties. She would be the reason for his pack losing ground against Isis. Sawyer’s game was slipping because of her, and soon he could be overtaken.

Hunter, suddenly overcome with his own anger, threw out his hand toward the girl’s head again, his palm meeting her forehead and his hands stretched into her hair. He felt his eyes begin to glow as he searched her for the emotion that would be the key to her undoing, and he was quick to find it. He saw the fear, curled up tightly in the corner of her mind, and reached out for it greedily. The hunger in his chest roared to life, springing on the small ball of fear.

He smiled as he began to Feed – she was delicious, and he would be satisfied with the fact that she was no longer around to distract Sawyer from his purpose.

Just as Hunter was ready to consume her, he wailed in pain.

Fire flooded into his hand, into his chest, filling his veins with hot pain. He felt needles prick his skin inside and out, ripping through him. He yanked his hand away from the girl’s face, feeling as though he had mistakenly sunk it into molten iron and was now unable to shake it off. The pain he felt was unbearable, unlike anything he had ever experienced. His limbs grew heavy as he staggered away from her, confused and in pain, like an animal that had strayed too far into human territory.

Hunter stared at his hand. It was on fire, in his mind, but on the surface it appeared completely normal.

His mind began to whirl with thoughts. This was completely new territory for him. He had never come across a human with this kind of defense mechanism in place. He was able to breech it for the sake of reading her mind, but it was determined to keep him from feeding. It was a guardian on her soul, and it was ready for a fight.

Frustrated, Hunter reached out to touch the girl again. He was met with the same reaction, and as the hot resistance flooded through his veins, he collapsed backward onto the ground with a grunt. He lay there, panting, praying for the pain to subside. He was angrier than ever, now.

This girl was just a human. There was nothing about her to indicate the massive force that lay just under her skin. He watched as she breathed out of her slightly parted lips, undisturbed, as he writhed on the ground in pain in front of her.

“Hunter.”

His name was spoken in a menacing growl from about forty feet away. He knew the voice immediately and looked up, still panting, as Sawyer emerged around the corner of the alley. He was illuminated where he stood by a street lamp, but everything else around him was darkened with shadows. It was as though he was an angel, sent to banish Hunter himself to hell.

Hunter sat up, brushing himself off. The pain was a dull echo in his limbs, but he was unwilling to show his second-in-command any weakness.

“What are you doing here?” Sawyer growled again, striding forward to meet his commander. He froze when he saw Charlotte on the ground – a crumpled, tearful heap. She looked so small, so frail, under the poor fluorescent light. It made him sick. He looked back at Hunter. “Did you hurt her?”

Hunter pulled himself up from the ground, slowly, a wounded animal. “Thank you for your concern, brother.” The word was snarled, dripping with false intimacy.

Sawyer balled his fists. “Did. You. Hurt. Her?” Each word was staccato, laced with venomous intent.

“Of course not,” Hunter snorted, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. “Does she look hurt?”

Sawyer let a growl erupt from the back of his throat. “Hunter, this isn’t a joke.”

“Joke? You want to hear a joke? I heard you’ve become infatuated with this little human.” Hunter spat at Sawyer’s feet, but the latter was unfazed. "I thought I told you not to play with your food."

Sawyer stole a glance at Charlotte’s unconscious body. He saw the way her hair fell in fiery curls from her temple, how they kissed her cheeks and neck on the way, cascading down like raining flames. He watched her pink lips move ever so slightly as she inhaled and exhaled, clearly at peace. Her eyelashes splayed out on her freckled cheeks, cheeks that were stained with tears.

He ripped his gaze away. “Hardly. She’s just a girl.” As he said them, though, he seemed to have a difficult time believing them. “She’s unimportant.”

“Unimportant?” Hunter smirked in a way that made Sawyer uncomfortable. “Well, that’s not true at all.” He crossed his arms over his chest. “You knew about her. That she can’t be fed on.” There was no question in his voice, because he could see it all over the other man’s face. He was right.

Sawyer sighed and ran his hand through his inky hair, suddenly nervous. “I’ve been keeping tabs on her for a few weeks. She hardly knows the magnitude of her ability.”

Hunter’s mouth turned down into a scowl. “She knows? What does she know?”

“Only what she saw, and what the internet told her.” Sawyer snorted. “Almost nothing.”

“Saw?” Hunter was incredulous, confused. “What did she see?”

Sawyer fiddled with the collar of his leather jacket, unsure of what to do with his hands. “She was on the subway the night of the attack,” he confessed, avoiding eye contact with his commander. “It was there that I encountered her ability. Saphira tried to feed from her, as well, but-“

“She was deterred,” Hunter finished. “Yes, I spoke to her.” He took a few steps forward, balling his fists at his sides, anger suddenly swelling up in his chest. “I would have thought it would occur to you to tell me something like this yourself.”

“I wanted to check it out first-“

“Bullshit!” Hunter launched at Sawyer, suddenly overcome with anger, and pinned him to the bricks behind him.



I began to wake up to the sound of voices talking. They were familiar – one was the man from earlier, the other, I was relieved, was Sawyer. I blinked a few times, feeling a sharp pain in my neck, as I lifted my head slowly.

I flinched in surprise as the man threw Sawyer into the wall next to me.

Startled, I crawled backwards, away from them, fear bubbling up in my chest. The man turned to me and snarled, and I backed up farther. His eyes were glowing, fiercely lit in the dim light of the alley. I scrambled for purchase on the cement, but I had little luck.

Sawyer clawed at his assailant’s hands, which were holding his shirt. “Hunter, stop, she has nothing to do with this-“

The man shoved him harder into the wall, making Sawyer groan in pain. “Of course she does! She’s tearing apart my pack!” The man then released Sawyer’s shirt and launched toward me, hands extended, teeth bared.

I curled up and waited for the hit to come, but it never did.

Sawyer threw himself at the man, tackling him to the hard ground with a thud. They struggled on the ground, wrestling, a mass of tangled limbs and bodies. Both men let out groans of pain and grunts of exertion as they fought, each attempting to pin the other down.

I watched, horrified. “Stop!” I felt myself tear up as Sawyer took hit after hit, blood smeared on his face. “You’re hurting him!”

The man eventually succeeded in pinning Sawyer down, due to his massive size. He was much larger than Sawyer and had no difficulty doing so. Once dominant, he let loose on Sawyer, throwing punches and whatever else he had in him while Sawyer could only attempt to defend himself. Blood flew from his nose and his face as he took hit after hit, eventually succumbing to his injuries. He lie still as the man’s punches slowed their feverish pace until finally, he seemed to tire himself out.

Panting, the man looked at me, his eyes wild. He stood up from where Sawyer lay, bruised ad broken, as if he wasn’t there at all.
“I’ll deal with you another time,” he spat, his red eyes rimmed with light.

With nothing else, the man took off down the way he had come. I stared at the spot where he had stood. He was nothing more than a trace of what had been, a ghost of a haunting memory.

Suddenly remembering Sawyer, I scrambled to my feet and made my way over to him. As I approached, I began to feel sick – his face was badly bruised, his nose was bleeding freely. His lip was split in two places and he had cuts on his forehead. Blood mangled with dirt and sweat glistened on his face as he breathed slowly, deliberately, pained. He looked up at me as I came closer, his emerald eyes clearly mirroring what he felt.

“Oh, my god,” I breathed, bending down to him. “Sawyer, I-“

He began to sit up suddenly, waving a hand to cut me off. “I’m fine,” he said hoarsely. He attempted to sit up more, but winced and clutched his ribcage.

It was the second time tonight I had heard those words. I set my jaw. Noah had told me too late that he was ‘fine’. I hadn’t been there to help him, and it killed me a little to know that he was hurt. I reached out to grasp Sawyer’s biceps in a vain attempt to help him up. I wouldn’t just stand by and forget about him, not like I had Noah.

Eventually, with some goading, I was able to get Sawyer to his feet. He groaned in pain as I lifted his arm and snuck underneath it, letting him lean on me like a crutch.

He looked down at me. “Charlotte-“

I shushed him. “Stop. I’m helping. Let’s go home and get you fixed up.”

It was a very long start to a very long night.