Page 68 of Reaper Unhinged
“What the fuckis happening to her?” Cora demanded. “This is bullshit. It has to be magical. Those hooded bastards have done something. They couldn’t kill her the regular way, so they’ve put some kind of mojo on her.”
It made sense. They wanted me dead for some reason, and what better way to do it than to control me in my sleep. “But how? When?”
We were clustered around the kitchen island, our go-to place when shit went down. Dean had joined us a moment or so ago, alerted by his alpha’s agitation. He poured more coffee into willing mugs, his face grim.
“When did it start?” he asked me.
“Last night….” But had it? “I sleepwalked last night, but I’ve felt off for a few days. There’s this scratching at the back of my mind. These thoughts…I think there’s been something off for a while.”
Dean looked at Cora as if trying to catch her eye, but she studiously avoided his gaze. I noted her shirt for the first time. A man’s shirt, too large for her. More Dean’s size, and I wagered if I sniffed her, she’d smell like my beta. Something had happened between them. I could feel it.
I caught her eye and arched a knowing brow, and she shook her head as if to say,not now. But anything was better than dwelling on the fact that I’d tried to kill myself. Again.
“I didn’t sense you get up,” Grayson said, looking into his mug. “If Uriel hadn’t found you…” He took a deep breath and fixed his husky eyes on Uri. “Until we fix this, I’d like you to watch over Fee while she sleeps. Will you do it?”
Uriel inclined his head. “Of course.”
Grayson looked relieved.
“It has to be the hooded figures,” Cora said again. “I need to speak to Elijah. He must have dug something up by now, and if not, then I’m going to give him a nudge.” She tapped a message into her phone and hit send. “The missing humans will have to wait.”
“Actually,” Grayson said. “I think I may have something on that.”
She looked surprised. “You do?”
“Fee and I went into our Vista to look for Hunter, and he left us a clue—a symbol etched into a rock.” He grabbed a napkin and a pen off the counter and drew the symbol of a snake eating its own tail. “I’ve seen it before on a flyer for blood donations.”
“I saw those flyers,” Cora said. “But how does that connect to the missing humans?”
“Hunter was helping some teens. The teens were seen taking one of the flyers, and then they left with Hunter, and now they’re all missing.”
“You think the people who put these flyers out are taking people?” Dean asked.
“It’s a possibility,” Grayson said.
“You’re right,” Cora said. “There is no address, just a phone number. What if the location they have to go to changes each time?” Her eyes widened as the idea took hold. “It would explain the many alarms the Magiguard have had tripped. The humans get told to go to a different location, and then they’re taken for some nefarious reason.”
“Hunter isn’t human,” Dean said.
“Maybe Hunter was in the wrong place at the wrong time,” Grayson said.
“We need to find one of those flyers,” Cora said.
“I’ll get on it,” Grayson said. “You speak to this Elijah guy.”
Bobby padded into the room, rubbing sleep from his eyes, and I had to resist the urge to ruffle his hair.
He grabbed a mug and poured coffee into it before taking the seat beside Grayson. It was amazing how relaxed he was with his alpha now.
His gaze fell on the napkin, and his brows flicked up. “Why are you drawing the ouroboros symbol?”
* * *
According to Bobby,the ouroboros symbol was related to a host of meanings related to life, death, rebirth, and an eternal cycle of renewal but most notably with alchemy.
“Isn’t that chemistry?” Dean asked.
Bobby’s eyes lit up. “It can be, but it can also be spiritual. It’s about change and transmutation, which can relate to matter or the spirit.”
