Free A Reaper Made by Liz Long Page B

an eyebrow at my question.  
    “Don’t be silly,” he replied. “A soul is a soul, no matter how they perish in life.”  
    I glanced back to the dead girl; still no soul. I spun back around to find my sister now speaking with another girl. Brady paid them no mind, his eyes focused on the corpse on the sidewalk.  
    Then I saw Brady’s eyes flash. Not in a way that spelled anger, but they flashed an unnatural dark purple; he blinked and they went back to the safe hazel shade. A heartbeat to a human, but enough time for me to put it together.  
    My sister’s boyfriend was a witch.  

CHAPTER ELEVEN

    “That sleazy, evil, scheming little—” I fumed, but Tully cut me off.
    “Are you certain that her friend is a witch?”
    “I saw his eyes and they were not human. He might not be a demon, but he knows something, I’d bet my life on it.” I rolled my eyes at my own choice of phrase.  
    “Not all of us are bad news,” Tessa said, though even she didn’t sound as though she believed her own words.  
    We were back in Tessa’s apartment. I paced the floor, not bothering to worry if I wore a hole in the carpet. Tully and Tessa watched me, their faces doubtful but worried.  
    “Can witches use souls in their magic?” I asked.  
    Tessa wrinkled her nose. “We have no need of souls. It’s magic, after all. He might be harnessing them for some kind of dark magic I haven’t heard of, but that’s a pretty big guess.”  
    “He must be the one looking for souls,” I said. “He was there when that girl fell.”
    “He was on the ground with your sister, though. He couldn’t have pushed her off the building,” Tessa pointed out.
    “He could’ve already had her soul. Or magicked her from the ground without Allison realizing.”
    “Girl, don’t talk to me about magic. No way he got a soul from that distance,” Tessa said with a wave of her hand. I ducked my head in case she’d thrown magic at me in annoyance. I hadn’t meant to provoke her but since she’d been around so long, she did sort of have me on all things magical.  
    I considered it for a second. “Maybe he’s working with demons.”  
    “By your chatter, I thought maybe he was here to draw you in,” Tully said, his eyes narrowed in thought. “Perhaps he doesn’t even realize anything about you and his intentions are strictly about the souls.”
    “So why take the Reapers?” I asked. “You said people are not moving on.”  
    Tully shrugged. “They have power demons do not. Perhaps the humans stuck in this life are merely a consequence of taking the Reapers. It seems to me the true purpose is the souls. With no Reapers to collect them, they are - what is the saying? - ‘up for grabs.’”  
    “Allison could be Brady’s way into the human world, using her to appear normal and get away with murder right under everyone’s noses,” I added. “If he’s working with a demon to take or control Mades—”
    “Oh,” Tully said. I paused our conversation to look at him. His widened eyes went first to mine, then Tessa’s to make us understand. “He could be integrating himself in with humans to learn about them and possess worthy souls.”
    My right eyebrow cocked up in question. “Meaning what?”
    “He may be taking souls of value, those that aren’t supposed to die. Those who are meant to do good things. He could be harboring them for greater purpose or perhaps selling them to demons at great value.”
    The three of us looked at one another, stumped. I couldn’t recall ever seeing Tully look so human, his face wrinkled in worry and frustration. The only thought I had was that this theory meant Allison had an exceptional future ahead and that was why Brady was keeping such a close eye on her.  
    “What about that other kid with the tattoo?” Tessa asked me. “Did he emit any magic?”  
    “Even if I had felt it, that could’ve been Brady,” I pointed out.  
    “Draw the tattoo for me?” Tessa asked, getting me