Reaper: A raven paranormal romance (Crookshollow ravens Book 2) (10 page)

“
H
e’s my Bran
, and I want to help him,” Libby said. “Don’t you care that Morchard is holding this woman against her will?”

We were back in Raynard Hall. I hadn’t had any luck finding Belinda at Morchard Castle. I’d tried to get close enough to search the windows for her presence, but there were at least a hundred ravens perched around the outer fences. I didn’t have any hope of flying closer without them seeing me, and they gave off an odd, pungent scent that concerned me. That wasn’t normal. And whether they were Bran or simply raven, I had no doubt Morchard was waiting for their message of my return.

I’d just assured a worried Alex that my brother, who hadn’t shown his face at the hall all day, was not in fact dead, but probably sleeping in a tree somewhere. I hoped I was right. Now I stood in the doorway of the sitting room in Sir Thomas’s suite, while Libby and Sir Thomas argued over me. I balled my hands into fists, trying to not let my anger show. It was so nice of Libby to attempt to help me. But I was so sick of having to get other people to help me, to get permission to save the life of the woman I loved. This whole conversation was taking precious
time
we could be spending searching for Belinda. And instead of being out there, doing my part to find her, I was in here, listening to their nauseating prattling.

“Of course I care, Precious.” Sir Thomas wrapped Libby in his arms and kissed her quickly on the lips – the peck of a devoted, doting man. “But you have to understand, Bran are born to serve. We do not do them favours or befriend them. They exist to do our bidding.”

“If you’re going to be with me, Thomas, you need to learn to respect all creatures of the world, not just those you consider your equals. I’ll befriend whoever I want, Bran or otherwise, alright?”

He sighed. “Yes, dear.”

My head snapped up.
Yes dear?
I couldn’t believe I’d just heard a vampire utter those words. Libby was right, she did have some considerable influence over Sir Thomas.

Libby wasn’t finished. “And besides, what good is a servant with a broken heart? That pain will only turn to vengeance, and personally I’d rather not have my meals served by a man who believes I stood by while his love was killed.”

Sir Thomas sighed heavily, then lifted her delicate hand to his lips and kissed it. “Yes, fine. I do not much like the idea of an innocent girl being held by Morchard just so he can get revenge on me and this raven for something we did not do. You and I will help the Bran free his mate, on two conditions.”

Of course. He wouldn’t be a vampire if there weren’t some kind of catch.

“Name them.” Libby cooed.

“Condition one: you are not to put yourself into danger. I will not have my beautiful fiancée murdered by a petty crook for sticking her nose in a Bran’s business.” Sir Thomas spat the word Bran out as though it tasted awful. He glanced up at me and glowered. A surge of pain welled up from my chest. “And condition two. This quest of yours is not to interfere with our wedding plans. I have been waiting my entire life to marry a woman like you, and I will not have it delayed by—”

“I get it,” Libby grinned. “I’m excited about our wedding, too. Although I wish Rose would let me make
some
decisions. All the white and pink everywhere? Yuck.”

“Let her have her fun,” Sir Thomas kissed her forehead. “She has very little in her life, especially now you will be gone from the house. You will make your mark on my residence, and I give you complete freedom to make any design choices you wish.”

“You won’t be saying that when I put up violet, skull-covered drapes and turn the billiards room into a skating rink.”

“Will I not?” Sir Thomas had a gleam in his eye as he bent down to kiss her. I turned away, barely able to contain my rage. An evil vampire like Sir Thomas got to experience love, and yet I couldn’t even go to Belinda when she needed me most.

I cleared my throat. Libby and Sir Thomas leapt apart as though they were teenagers caught snogging behind a classroom by a teacher. “Unless you need me for anything,” I said, struggling to keep my anger out of my voice. “I’ll be leaving you alone.”

“Cole. I’d forgotten you were there,” Libby’s face fell. Seeing her look so guilty made my anger dissipate a little. “Please, stay here. We can perform the scrying spell.”

“It’s fine if you’re busy—”

“Wait here.” She bounded across the room and pushed past me, squeezing my arm with excitement. “I’ll go get the things we need and see if anyone else is around. The more people we have focusing energy, the more likely we are to see something definitive.”

She darted down the hall, leaving me alone in the room with Sir Thomas. He nodded to the chair opposite him, inviting me to sit. I wanted to refuse, but his will tugged at me, dragging me into the room.

“I assume you will not be following through on Morchard’s request,” he said.

I shook my head. “Not until Belinda is safe,” I said. “Then I’d happily attempt it, but not for Morchard. For myself.”

“I am telling you that I did not kill your father. There was a—”

“I don’t want to hear anything you have to say about my father.” I spat back. “You have made a mistake choosing me as Libby’s Bran.”

“We shall see about that.” He leaned back in the chair and shot me a cat-ate-the-canary grin. I gritted my teeth.

Libby came back carrying a large salad bowl, a black pouch, and she had Ryan and all the girls in tow. The blue-haired Bianca had returned from her tattoo store, and stood with her arms folded, tapping her boot impatiently against the rug. Alex carried a large roll of white paper under her arm. Simon followed after her, carrying a large pitcher of water. And skulking right at the back was Byron.

“Where have you been?” I demanded, relief flooding my veins at the sight of him. “I could have done with your support today.”

Byron shrugged, and flicked a smear of dust from the lapel of his leather jacket. “It’s good to see you too, little bro.”

“Alex said you hadn’t been at the house all day, and she didn’t know where you were. You could have been lying in a gutter somewhere, for all I knew.”

“I’ve been at a witchy shop with Ryan’s mother, reading through dusty tomes, trying to hunt down some way to break this stupid curse.” Byron held up his blackening finger and scowled. “As you can see, it’s been really successful.”

“Next time, tell people where you’re going before you dart off,” Alex admonished him. “Elinor and I were starting to think you’d been taken by Morchard as well.”

“And I thought I’d given up having to report my whereabouts when I went rogue?” Byron raised a defiant eyebrow.

Alex looked like she was going to say more, but I held up my hand. “Don’t bother. This is just another example of Byron’s winning personality.”

“Good. Everyone’s here,” Libby said. “We can begin. Ryan, you sit in that chair over there. Cole, you sit in the middle of the couch, and Byron, go on the end. Thomas, you stay in that chair. If the ladies could sit between the guys, this spreads the energy evenly.” She set the bowl down in the centre of the table, and gestured for Simon to fill it with the water. She dumped out the contents of the pouch on the table. Several crystals rolled out in all directions. Libby selected a piece of clear quartz suspended on a long chain, and held it up for everyone to see.

“I need everyone to focus on this stone,” Libby said. “Don’t try and move it, just push all your thoughts about Belinda into it. We should be able to see where Belinda is at this exact moment in the water. I know this seems a little kooky, but trust me, it works.”

“If it can help us save Belinda, I’m in.” said Elinor, sitting forward in her seat.

“On the count of three,” Libby held the chain above the bowl of water, and counted down. I focused on that tiny piece of quartz, pushing out my message to Belinda towards it, not sure if that was what I was supposed to do but knowing I had to believe this would work.
Belinda, I’m coming to save you. I won’t let Morchard hurt you. I love you ...

The quartz jumped in Libby’s hand. “I see something,” she leaned over the water. “The shapes are just beginning to emerge. Can you see anything, Cole?”

I peered into the bowl. A ripple formed over the surface, distorting the image of my face that stared back at me. All I could see was the light from the chandelier reflected in the surface of the water. “No.”

“I see …” Libby leaned closer. “A black-haired woman. Asian, wearing a grey jumper and jeans.”

“That’s Belinda.” I dug my nails into my knee. “Can you see where she is?”

“She’s walking in a garden, with another man. They’re holding hands. There’s a …” Libby squinted at the bowl “... catapult of some kind behind them.”

The trebuchet.
That confirmed Belinda was definitely still at the Morchard’s. But who was the man with her? Why was she holding his hand? “Can you describe the man?”

“He has short brown hair, cut in a kind of conservative, preppy style. He’s wearing a red sweater. His face is turned towards her, so I can’t see it.”

Odd. That didn’t sound like Victor Morchard. The only person in their family who had brown hair was Harry, and he was dead. Did they have someone else held prisoner there? Was this man some kind of friend or bodyguard of the Morchards? But then, why was Belinda walking with him? And smiling? And
holding his hand?

My heart ached. I thought Belinda only smiled for me.

“... they’ve stopped walking …” Libby was saying. “They look like they’re discussing something heated. Belinda looks upset. He just leaned in and, omigod, I think they’re kissing.”

“What?” My whole body flared with heat. Blood pounded in my ears.

“It’s hard to tell from this angle.” Libby said hurriedly. “I can’t tell who initiated it, but he’s cupping her face with his hand, and—”

She’s kissing someone else.
The news stung as though I’d actually been physically assaulted.

Maybe … she’d realised what I’d finally figured out. That I wasn’t any good for her. That she would have no kind of a life with a slave, even a slave of someone as lovely as Libby. I had nothing to offer her. I was an even bigger deadbeat than her last boyfriend. This guy, with his brown hair and red sweater, could be the guy she
actually
needs.

But who the fuck
was
he?

“—they’ve disappeared inside, through some French doors into a ballroom.” Libby was saying. “It’s difficult to see, because it’s so dark, but they’re going up some stairs. He just hugged her and walked off down a hall. She’s going up another staircase, and down a long corridor. There’s a room, a dusky pink room with French antiques …”

Libby set the crystal down. “It’s gone.” she said. “I can’t see anymore.”

“That’s more than enough,” Ryan said. “The ballroom, the catapult, the staircase, the French room. This is enough to give us a location, isn’t it, Cole?”

“Cole?” Alex nudged my arm.

I stared down at my hands, rage building inside of me. Who was that man walking with her around the courtyard and hugging her goodnight?
It should be me, it should be me.

“The least you could do is thank your mistress,” Sir Thomas admonished me.

“Thank you,” I mumbled.

Libby patted my shoulder. “Relax, Cole. You’re such a typical man. You see one image of your woman with another guy and you think she’s done the dirty. There could be a hundred other explanations.”

“She was kissing him.” I growled.

“Not necessarily. I could’ve misunderstood something. If this Belinda is anything like what you’ve told me, she has not forgotten you in a few days.”

“And besides,” Alex added. “We’re going to rescue her soon, and then you’ll be able to ask her yourself.”

“We are?” My heart leapt.

“We are?” Sir Thomas screeched.

Alex nodded firmly. Elinor lifted the bowl of water off the table and Alex unrolled her paper on top. It was a map of Morchard Castle, in extreme detail. Every floor, room, entrance, stairwell and cupboard had been noted.

“Woah, where did you get those?” Libby peered wide-eyed at the map.

“The gallery keeps a ton of old architectural drawings in its collection,” Alex explained. “These were done in 1912, so they might not be a hundred percent accurate. For example, they don’t show the aviary Cole was telling us about. But I think they will suffice for our needs. Cole, can you help us out with a location?”

“The trebuchet is in the walled courtyard.” I jabbed my finger at the map. “The ballroom is here, and the hallway Belinda walked through is in the east wing – it’s the guest wing. I didn’t go there very much, but I think that French room is this one here.” I pointed to a room on the third storey.

“The window in that room looks right out over the courtyard.” Alex said. “If that’s where he’s keeping her then we’d need to get into that courtyard in order to reach the window.”

“It makes sense that he’d keep her there,” I said. “This wing can be cut off from the rest of the house with a few locked doors. The only rooms on the ground floor she’d have access to were the ballroom, the servants’ quarters, and the kitchen. And, I saw those birds sitting around the wall of the courtyard. They must be acting as some kind of guard.”

“I agree,” Byron said. “They were still sitting on that wall when I did a flyby today.”

“Here’s the plan as I see it,” Alex said. “I think we’re unlikely to get anywhere by going inside the house. Victor will have the whole place guarded. He obviously thinks these birds are enough to keep us away. What we need to do is distract them or scare them off the wall, leaving the courtyard unguarded. We’ve then got to get Belinda to either come downstairs and sneak out through the ballroom, or to climb out her window and jump down.”

“That window is three storeys up!” Elinor cried. “She’ll kill herself trying to jump.”

“We bring in one of those large air mattresses they use in movies for stunt jumps,” Bianca said. “One of our clients is filming in the abandoned mill at the moment. I’ll see if I can source one from him.”

“If you guys can get the birds away from her, I’ll fly to the window and explain the plan.” I said. “I’ll make sure she knows what to do, and I’ll neutralise any guards in her room.”