Reaper

Jesse groaned as Saphira tried to feed him another spoonful of that wretched soup, careful not to move his neck too far. He felt the pain jolt through his torso, a dull ache that didn’t go away, no matter how many painkillers Simon gave him.

Saphira sighed angrily. “You need to eat-“

“Not that shit,” he protested, though he couldn’t back up his statement with any gesture of protest except what he hoped was a menacing facial expression.

Saphira, resigned, put the bowl down on the nightstand and threw her hands in the air. “Fine, whatever. It’s the only food you’re gonna get here – they don’t feed humans. Humans are food.”

Jesse was suddenly very uncomfortable being in her presence. Saphira had been acting strange for about a day, ever since they had gone to visit that vampire guy. He wasn’t sure exactly what had put her off, but he was hesitant to ask, especially while she was the only source of nutrition he had. He simply shut his mouth and continued to eat, his stomach rumbling loudly.

“So, I take it everything with Charlotte didn’t go as planned?” she asked weakly, folding her hands neatly in her lap and avoiding eye contact. “I assumed you told her how you felt, considering how everyone acted before we left.”

Jesse groaned. “No, it didn’t. She just stood there and stared at me, like I was a freak. And then she just hugged me and ran off before I could stop her.” He winced at the memory, wishing that he could just forget it. But it was all he could think about, since his body had become a prison.

Saphira was happy, internally, though she was careful not to show it. In truth, Jesse intrigued her. He was the only human that she forced herself to keep alive, to abstain from Feeding. And the sex was fantastic. She was uncomfortable that she seemed to be developing a soft spot for him, but how could she not?

“I’m sorry,” she lied. “I had hoped it worked out for you.”

Jesse made an attempt to shrug, but only ended up groaning in pain. “It’s alright, I guess.” He glanced over at Saphira’s delicate face, wondering what he had done to have such a beautiful woman sitting next to him. Granted, she was inhuman and deadly, but somehow he had forgotten that, lost in her eyes. “Did you tell Sawyer?”

She did something then that she hadn’t done in a long time – she blushed. “N-no, not at all.” She was silent for a few moments, unsure of whether or not to elaborate. “Our relationship is… complicated.”

“Isn’t it always?” Jesse mumbled.

Saphira fidgeted. “Well, there’s a few things about Reapers that make relationships difficult,” she said slowly, deciding that she might as well tell him. “We- we have mates.”

Jesse’s eyebrows shot up in surprise. “What, like animals?”

“Sort of,” she said awkwardly, crossing her legs uncomfortably. “We don’t know if we’ve found them until… Until we sleep with them.” She blushed. “Sawyer and I were friends when I joined the pack. Great friends. And then one day… we became something more. I loved him. And, though he didn’t show it, I was pretty sure he loved me, too. We talked about what it would be like to be mated, to be bonded to each other forever. That person is your entire world.”

When she was silent, Jesse became curious. “And?”

She sighed. “And we weren’t. We had one night together – it was amazing, but it wasn’t binding. As much as I hated to admit it to myself, Sawyer wasn’t mine, nor I his.” To his surprise, Jesse could hear how choked up she sounded, like she was about to cry. “And the worst part was that he didn’t even look back. Didn’t care that I was disappointed – he just broke it off and never looked back. Said he didn’t see the point in wasting his time.”

Jesse sat back, absorbing the new information. From what he had seen of Sawyer, he knew that the guy was guarded. But if someone like Saphira couldn’t get him to open up, to resemble something more human, then could Charlie? Maybe this whole mating thing explained why Sawyer was so interested in her. Maybe he was still on the lookout, and for some reason thought that it might be Charlie. He knew why she liked him – he was strong, handsome, manly, just like every girl wanted.

“Can Reapers mate with humans?” Jesse blurted before he could stop himself.

Saphira blushed again. She had been hoping that he would ask that, but wasn’t sure how to respond. She wasn’t sure if he felt the same draw to her that she felt for him. She wasn’t sure that they were mates, but she felt it. She hoped. “Yes. Reapers and humans can reproduce, too – they’re called Gammas. They’re almost indistinguishable from Alphas and Omegas, but they’re much more powerful. Their powers are amplified by their human DNA.”

Jesse stared at her blankly, lost. “Oh.” That hadn’t been the answer he was hoping for.

Saphira still looked uneasy. “Look, Jesse, there’s something you should know…”

He raised an eyebrow in question. “What?”

She sighed, biting her lip in a way that drove him a little bit crazy. Charlie did the same thing. “Sawyer ran away from the compound.” His eyebrows shot up. “And he took Charlie with him.”

He wasn’t sure how to react. Most of him was too surprised to move, but there was another part of him that was extremely, extremely angry. Of course that idiot had taken her! It’s not like he ever considered what would happen to Charlie if she was brought into this screwed-up world. Look what’s happened to Jesse, and it had only been a few days since he even knew of their existence. He was suddenly worried. Had she chosen to go with him? Or did he force her?

Saphira could see the emotions flying across his face. “Jess-“

“Why didn’t anyone stop him?” he asked coldly, cursing the fact that his injury meant that he couldn’t move.

She sat up, her hands patting his good shoulder. “We tried, but Sawyer- he’s fast, he’s strong. None of us could catch him.” She ducked her head. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you sooner, but we’re looking for them-“

He shakily held up his good arm, effectively hushing her. She could see now that he was shaking with anger, anger that she Sensed deeply, but steeled herself from acting on. Her eyes flickered slightly as she clamped them shut, willing the overwhelming hunger to die down.

“Shut up,” Jesse hissed.

Saphira sat back in the chair, silenced and embarrassed.

“Look, Saph, I like you,” he said curtly, and she wasn’t entirely sure whether to believe him. “But I’ve known Charlie much longer. I need to go help her.” He attempted to lift himself off the bed in a Herculean effort, but the severe pain in his neck and arm made him stop. He fell back down on the blankets, defeated and angry.

“You’re hurting yourself,” she said, stung. “Simon and Lina are out looking for her right now. The only thing you can do to help is lay here and heal.”

Jesse cursed, knowing she was right. The pain was unbearable, and there was nothing to do but wait for the skin to close and the nerves to heal. He lay on the bed, staring blankly at the ceiling, fuming. He wanted to explode, to run in circles, to hunt Sawyer down and kill him for what he was putting Charlie through. He wanted her to see how bad he was for her.

He said some of this to Saphira, who sat in the chair next to his bed and listened, sketching quietly on her drawing pad. After a few hours, his incessant talking had died off, replaced with the endearing sound of him snoring. She looked up from her drawing of him, dazed, and finally stood up. She closed the notebook, not wanting him to find the five other drawings of him – one for each night that they had spent together – and set it softly in the drawer of the nightstand.

As she set off in the darkness to go Hunt, she couldn’t shake the feeling that she was being thrown aside in favor of Charlie, for the second time.



I sat in angry silence on the bed in another motel room, somewhere on the outskirts of Chicago. Sawyer had gone to pick up a few things and had locked me in the room, mumbling something about it being safer for me. I was really getting tired of that being an excuse.

I mean, I was furious. But there was a tiny part of me that kept telling myself that he was only doing this because he cared about my integrity. He thought he could keep me safe on his own, and the vampires were completely scaring me. In truth, he had run away because of Saphira making promises she couldn’t keep, but the fact that he had taken me with him proves that at least he was watching out for me.

As I watched the small television light up the dim room with the light of a sappy romance movie, I couldn’t help but think about the fact that I wished my life had ended up like that. Like a cheesy romantic comedy. Boy meets girl, girl hates boy, girl eventually falls for boy, they live happily ever after. No surprises, no problems, no Reapers. Just two people who wanted to be together, and could be. Sure, they’d worry about bills and taxes and jobs, but they wouldn’t have to be concerned about death.

I pouted for what seemed like an hour before Sawyer finally returned, dripping wet from the storm that had apparently started outside. I glanced out the window and caught the flash of a lightning bolt outside, followed by a large clap of thunder. I grunted a hello and pulled my knees up to my chest, willing the storm to pass quickly.

Sawyer shed his jacket and hung it up. “Here, I brought you some food, and some other things.” He tossed me a small box, something I didn’t recognize right away.

I glanced at it suspiciously. “Hair dye? You want me to dye my hair?” I said incredulously, waving the box around. “Why on earth would I do that?”

He sighed, rubbing his forehead. “Because as of right now, we are on the run, and your picture is floating around everywhere I turn. Your biggest identifier is your hair – and if someone spots you, it’s game over for us.” He turned to me, his face pleading. “You don’t have to, if you really don’t want to. But it would help.”

I felt strange by his sudden willingness to let me do what I wanted. I looked down at the smiling brunette woman on the box. He had a good point – regardless of whether or not we stayed alone or went back to the vampires, to the human world, I had been kidnapped. Since there was no way to tell the authorities that I had gone willingly with the supernatural beings, I was forced to just kind of avoid them. And it was true, according to all the reports, my most defined characteristic was my curly red hair. That was easy enough to change – most people wouldn’t think twice about a normal, brunette girl.

I sighed and pulled myself off the bed, jumping as another clap of thunder roared in the distance.

Sawyer glanced at me out of the corner of his eye, eyebrow raised. “Are you going to be alright?” he asked quietly, referring to the storm.

I nodded weakly and offered him a small smile before heading into the bathroom.

I stared at the dye kit suspiciously. I had never done anything like this to myself before, and the only experience I had with it was when Mandi had forced me to help her. I carefully unpacked the box and read the instructions, consciously aware that Sawyer was standing in the doorway, leaning against it with his arms crossed, watching me.

“What?” I asked, glancing over at him and then back at the mirror.
He shook his head. “Nothing. Just thinking.”

“That’s dangerous.”

“Is that a joke?” I was surprised when he let out a laugh. It was so nice to hear him laugh, so normal sounding and happy.

“Only sometimes,” I muttered, shaking the bottle of smelly chemicals. I scrunched up my nose as the smell of ammonia wafted up to it.

Sawyer seemed put off by it, too, his face clearly illustrating his disgust. He watched me closely as I started to spread the smelly goo into my hair, starting at the roots and covering everything from there down. I felt my heart dropping as the color started to change from my pretty copper color to the dark, auburn brown, but I knew it was for the best. Still, a part of me felt like I wouldn’t be me without my hair. I’d just be… that girl.

After about ten minutes of silence, I sat on the counter, swinging my legs, waiting for the dye to be set.

Sawyer cleared his throat. “Charlie, there’s something I need to tell you,” he said awkwardly. “I’m not sure how you’re going to feel about it.”

I got a very bad feeling about what he was going to say. I played with my fingers anxiously. “Uh, okay. What is it?”

He took a deep breath, running his hand through his recently-cut black hair. “I’ve been avoiding the subject for a while, I’ll admit.” He looked me straight in the eyes. “Reapers have mates.”

I stared at him, wide-eyed and terrified.

When I didn’t respond he continued, clearly nervous. “That’s not all I have to say, though. At one point… at one point Saphira… Saphira and I… we… We thought we were each other’s mate. She wanted desperately to believe it. We found out soon after that we weren’t, and stopped seeing each other.” He ducked his head. “I wasn’t sure how you’d respond to Saphira if you had known this. I needed you to trust her so we could save you.” He looked back up at me with that same vulnerable, pleading look.

I wasn’t sure what to feel. I felt like the wind had been ripped from my lungs, like I had been punched in the gut. Of course he’d been with Saphira. I was stupid to think he’d never thought of her like he seemed to think of me. Part of me had hoped that I was special, something he had never experienced before. He certainly was that for me. But I had lived a quiet life, free from boyfriends and crushes until he had come along and changed that. It was stupid of me to think that he had done the same.

I sat there quietly, staring at my knees. “H-how do you know who your mate is?” My voice was quiet, barely audible over the pounding rain outside.

Sawyer was silent for a few minutes, trying, I’m sure, to figure out his answer. “From what Simon has told me about Lina, it’s discovered when the couple has… has… intercourse… for the first time.” His cheeks were reddened a little – talking about intimacy wasn’t one of his talents.

“Oh.”

His words sat like a heavy weight on my chest. Sawyer had slept with Saphira. Of course, it made sense that they would – after all, they were both stunning, too beautiful to look twice at a human. It made me wonder why Sawyer even bothered with me in the first place.

“Do you have a mate yet?” I asked hesitantly, not really sure if I wanted to know the answer.

He shook his head quickly. “No. Not yet.” And he stared at me, his green eyes burning into mine with an intensity I wasn’t used to, making my stomach burst with butterflies. Oh.

I jumped when there was a soft ding from a timer. It had been set for when I needed to rinse my hair.

Sawyer nodded to it, standing up straight. “I’ll leave you to it, then.”

And with that he walked out and shut the door, leaving me to stare after him, my head a flurry of activity that wasn’t entirely to do with the chemicals seeping into my scalp.