Reaper's Hollow: The Complete Series

Chapter 13-2

Rider had been hopping from one subconscious to another, attempting to pinpoint the location of the Reaper. He knew there was one nearby, but hunting in NYC was never easy. So many minds in such a compact area made it tough to find anyone.

He’d just left a small boy dreaming about a day at the zoo with his parents when he got the sense a Reaper was in the same building. Jumping out of the dream, but staying in his spirit form, Rider felt with his mind. She was definitely close by, and she was no stranger.

Following his instinct, Rider propelled himself into the mind of a woman on the third floor. Her sleep was not purely natural, as the empty bottles next to the bed would confess, and once he wound his way through thick layers of black, inky tendrils of depression and alcohol induced stupor, he landed in a dream that looked very much like the room she slept in.

The woman, an African American lady who appeared to be in her mid-to-late-thirties, wearing sweats and a dirty T-shirt, stood next to her sofa, the same discarded bottles of booze precarious on the floor near her feet. A few feet in front of her, a cloaked figure stood, holding her scythe in one hand, beckoning with the other. Rider had yet to fully reveal himself to the other two occupants of the vision, so she continued to coax in her sugary sweet, vomit-inducing lilt. “Come along, Deena. You’ve nothing to fear.”

Deena, oblivious to the danger in front of her, took a step forward, though she did hesitate. “Who are you?” she asked, her voice wavering a bit as if she wasn’t sure she could trust a being dressed all in black carrying a weapon. Go figure, Rider thought. Yet, Reapers almost always met their goal with the unmarked once they were able to wind their way this far into their subconscious and set up a vision this powerful.

“I am a friend,” she replied, and then, reaching up and dropping the hood of her cloak, she revealed a beautiful face framed by long, black, feather-like hair, and green eyes that dazzled like emeralds.

“Raven,” Rider muttered to himself. He’d been looking for her for a long time. It was time to make himself known.

Deena stared in awe at the beautiful face and took another step toward that welcoming hand. Rider circled behind Raven, hoping he could take her by surprise, and materialized behind her. Deena knew he was there before the Reaper, and she froze mid-step, gasping, which caused Raven to turn around.

“You!” she said, taking a step away from him. “What are you doing here?”

“Did you miss me, darlin’?” he asked, flashing her a dazzling smile. “It’s been a while.”

Raven continued to back away, the unmarked soul forgotten. “I wasn’t doing anything unsanctioned,” she protested. “This one is due.”

“No, no, she’s not,” Rider argued, slowly approaching her. “And I think you know that.”

“I was just following orders.” Her excuses were getting more and more lame.

“As am I.”

“You won’t send me back. I won’t go back there.”

“Well, then, sweetheart, you best out run me,” Rider replied. Once the words were out, Raven wasted no time. She made a mental leap, likely hoping to either rematerialize in her own realm, where her physical body awaited her and Rider wouldn’t easily be able to follow, or into another stream of consciousness. Rider lunged for her just as she began to dissipate. If he could stay close enough to her, eventually he would catch up, and if he was lucky, he could grab ahold of her long enough to say the incantation that would send her to Hell.

Rider rematerialized atop a large building and saw Raven in the distance. She’d dropped her cloak, and as she began to run, he chased after her. She still had her scythe in her hand, though she’d collapsed it into the size of a magic wand, and now that she wore a black cat suit, instead of the bulky cloak, she was much more agile. She couldn’t outrun him, though. She had to know that. What was she trying to do?

Raven leapt from one rooftop to the next, and with each stride, Rider drew closer. As he approached the gap between the two buildings, which was at least twenty feet across, he quickened his pace and pushed off, gliding easily to the next roof, nearing his mark. As he closed to within about five feet of her, Raven looked back and smiled before disappearing again.

Leaping with her into the next stream of consciousness, Rider found himself on a beach. Waves crashed against the shore, spraying the bottoms of his jeans as he continued to run, not knowing exactly where he was headed at first. Once he glimpsed around and got his bearings, he saw Raven ahead of him, cresting a sand dune. The smell of the salt air seemed very real, and he wondered whose mind they were in. Whoever it was, they had a vivid memory of the beach or quite the imagination. No doubt they’d left the person in their wake as they sprinted past, likely unnoticed.

He had a feeling he knew what Raven was doing. In order to transition back into her human form quickly, she was trying to leap closer to wherever she had left her body. If she was far away, it would take her longer to leave the vision, and if it took her too long, Rider would be able to get ahold of her, which meant she would be captured. Wherever she was headed, it seemed out of the city. He wondered if she might also have recently relocated to Reaper’s Hollow. Was Raven working with Nat these days?

Once she reached the top of the sand dune, Raven ran across a busy road, not caring for the honking horns as she stepped right across the hoods of moving vehicles. Rider did the same, catching up to her on the other side of the road. He almost had her, once again, when she disappeared. He was close enough to follow.

They were in a dark wooded area, a fine mist surrounding them. She was off in the distance winding through the trees as if she knew exactly where she was headed. Rider had to be more careful. More than once, he stumbled over a craggy tree root and almost tumbled to the marshy ground. Raven began to put some distance between them, and in the dim light, he could hardly see her any more. Eventually, mist rolled in between them, and even though he lost sight of her, he continued to sprint in the direction where she had disappeared for several minutes.

Exasperated, he came to a stop and looked around. The air was still. “Damn it,” Rider muttered. She was gone. Either she’d leapt again or this was her destination. There was something about this location that seemed familiar to him, though he couldn’t quite put his finger on it. He spun around for a few moments, trying to remember if he had ever been here before. It looked like something out of a nightmare, and he imagined, if there was another soul nearby, if this was a dream or a vision, whoever had invented this place in their mind would probably wake up frightened shortly. At least he had scared Raven off so that everyone would wake up in the morning, including Deena. Even if he hadn’t caught the Reaper this time, she hadn’t managed to capture the soul she’d been after.

Something about these woods was both unsettling and frighteningly familiar. In a way, it reminded him of the forest that surrounded Angel Grove, though in the context of this vision, it seemed darker, more ominous. He continued to look around for a moment, trying to embed the scene in his mind so that, if he ever encountered this place again, he’d recognize it.

After a few minutes, he decided he would never forget a place like this. Disappointed that he hadn’t caught Raven, Rider decided it was time to go back. It was still the middle of the night, and at least he would be able to get a few hours of rest for his weary soul. Closing his eyes, he concentrated on reaching for his body and began to move in the direction in which he was pulled. A few moments later, he opened his eyes and found himself sitting on his bed in the room he’d occupied for the last few months, the one he’d moved into when they’d learned the missing Keeper might be nearby.

Rider looked at the clock on his nightstand. It was just past 4:00 in the morning. He ran a hand through his blond hair and let out a sigh. He hated being so close and missing his opportunity to nab a Reaper.

He stood and pulled his T-shirt over his head, dropping it to the floor before he unbuttoned his jeans and slid out of them. In his boxer briefs, he returned to the bed, worn out from a long night of hunting and frustrated at the end results. Next time, he wouldn’t toy with Raven. Next time, he’d grab her before she even had a chance to know what hit her.