Page 92 of The Hangman's Rope

Lorelai…

“That’s very interesting, please tell me more,” I said and Reaper muttered, “Fuck,I was hoping you would do most of the talking.”

It wasn’t what he’d said but thelookon his face that sent me into an almost hysterical fit of giggling. He genuinely looked like he’d just sucked on a lemon.

Hangman’s stiff posture eased at my outburst of laughter and he slipped away to cross the room to stand in line for the bathroom. Reaper drew me to the edge of the festivities where he’d been lurking and I let him, my elbow tingling where he’d touched in a way that made me want to rub at the sensation to get it off.

He made my skin crawl a bit… that’s what it was. That’s why the sensation was such an uncomfortable one.

Reaper’s expression changed when mine did and he looked me over from behind the round lenses of his glasses.

“I thought you were dead,” he said low, quietly, so that only I could hear it. I cocked my head.

“You keep saying that like it means something that the rest of us just aren’t getting,” I said softly.

He looked surprised and then cocked his head in a mirror of my own.

“The dead don’t care,” he said. “They’re dead. Gone. Whatever you want to call it. Only the living care about what happens after you’re dead. I thought you were dead.”

“Is that your version of an apology?” I asked, not quite understanding.

“You were alive, not dead – I thought you were dead… so, yes… I suppose if that’s the right thing to do then;I apologize.”

“But you’re not sorry…” I frowned. “So how is that an apology?”

He shrugged and said, “I don’t understand it either.”

I smiled slightly then and said, “NowthatI do understand… common ground at—” my voice sputtered and died on my lips as I let my gaze drift across the room to where Hangman stood at the bottom of the stairs, but not so much specifically at him but who stood next to him – the man he was amicably talking with.

“Lorelai?” I heard vaguely, and I was peripherally aware of Reaper standing beside me, following the direction of my gaze but I was both here and wasn’t here anymore.

I closed my eyes and swayed on my feet, a steadying hand at my back as that voice, dripping with triumph and disdain, stained my senses once more as it said,“She’s not very wet. That’s okay, we’ll get you ready…”

I heard a glass shatter and my stomach lurched. Somebody was pawing at my hand, but I was suffocating. I couldn’t breathe with the paralytic in effect, and the weight of him on top of me.

I stood there, frozen, the blood rushing through my ears, the memories playing out unbidden. No matter how hard I tried, I felt like I was slipping, that the mess was spreading like this awful oil spill or miasma through my brain. No matter how hardthat I tried, I couldn’t put the growing mess away. I couldn’t stuff it back in its box. It took everything in me to hold still, to stand in place, while Reaper stepped in front of me, blocking that man from view but alsomyman along with him.

“Look at me,” he ordered sharply, and I looked up into soft green eyes that filled with something akin to worry or concern…for me?

“Take her to the kitchen,” Reaper said. I swallowed and movement to his right, my left, made me startle and jump. And just like that, I felt as though I had control over my body once more.

“Come on,” Lainey murmured soothingly. “Let’s get you cleaned up. No, no! Don’t look down! Chin up and come with me,” she said. I swallowed hard, nodded, and went with her, moving mechanically at first while Reaper slipped off into the crowd, the bodies parting like water in front of him as he made his way across the room to Hangman.

“Look this way,” Lainey ordered gently, and I tore my eyes back to in front of me and away from that section of the room before I could fully look at Calrose Pierce again.

“Shit!” I heard low and soft from in front of me as we cleared the short hall back into the kitchen.

“Dear God, what happened?” I heard, and I looked up from the floor at Torment and Corvus, confused.

“Easy, sit here,” Lainey ordered, and she sat me in a chair opposite the kitchen island.

Corvus was shaking open a clean white cloth napkin and Torment was rushing around the opposite end of the island, coming at me. I cringed, and he slowed down and put up his hands.

“Easy, it’s just me. It’s just Tor.”

“What happened?” Corvus demanded.

“I think she saw him or one of them,” Lainey said and she sounded upset.

---