The Reaper's Token

I Get Kidnapped by the One Person Violet Can't Find

I recognized the stone floors that ran in wide, red brick arches. I was at the Fort below the Golden Gate Bridge. I had come here on school field trips a few times. The wide-arched openings let in a howling chill. My wrists were strapped to a large metal pole behind me. I could hear waves crashing against the rocks and shore even though the windows were boarded up. I glanced from the rubble and the floors to the chiseled edge of the platform I was propped upon.

"Clever, isn't it? The Fort on the Presidio and its position against the Bay." A voice echoed from the shadows.

The figure leaned with his back to the wall, and his eyes were closed in thought. Then they opened. His eyes were intense. They looked bright and wet? Shiny? - Feverish! That was it! Feverish or mad. I was going to go with mad as more probable than the other.

"What was once this city's defense will lead to its final downfall." He said, walking toward me.

"Who are you?!" I demanded.

"You know me, Dominic. You've just never noticed me." He said. "Your mistake."

I tried to figure out where I had seen him before. His pale, blue, almost white eyes lingered on me as he circled around me. He had an air of confidence. He seemed like the kind of kid you wouldn't trust with a pair of safety scissors in elementary school.

He really did look familiar.

His complexion looked as if he had been... drained. It was as if he could be more dead was actually MORE dead than anyone I had ever seen.

"You're that guy who took me to the bum house," I said. "You gave me Gary's cell phone."

He smiled - and it was deeply unsettling.

"You remembered! Good job, Dominic!" He said it with faux cheerfulness, slowly as if I was a toddler he was putting up with.

"What happened to you?" I whispered. "You look like Hell!"

"Wouldn't you like to know?! Ha!" He muttered vaguely. "It's the price of progress." He braced his hand against his forehead as if fighting off a migraine.

"I am sure you enjoyed my surprise on your patrol. It did make things a little more interesting to watch. Violet is probably still trying to open that stupid box."

My suspicions were correct! Could it be that simple? Violet's words from her Latin diary came to mind for some reason. I am chasing after a ghost. It whispered to me. He is evasive and...watchful.

"Xavier," I said. I half expected him to disappear at the sound of his name. No such luck!

A knot formed in my stomach as he smiled that same eerie grin I recognized from my dreams. It was the one he gave right before he threw me into the darkness.

"Excellent," he said with satisfaction. His eyes narrowed slightly under the light.

"But, if I'm here...." I said as I turned as far as I could in all directions.

"Violet's not here... yet," Xavier said with another smile at the end of yet.

He walked off into the darkness.

"What do you mean yet?!" I called after him.

"I have something precious to her." Xavier said as he turned back to me, "and I believe she is going to want it back." The corner of his eye lingered on me like a shark.

"Me?" I asked in disbelief.

"Why else would I go to the trouble?" Xavier asked.

"But... that's crazy," I said. "I mean, she won't come. I think she probably hates me right now." I said bitterly.

"Violet has always had issues connecting with people," Xavier said.

"Do you mean before or after you pushed her off a cliff?" I growled.

Xavier let out an amused chuckle as he smiled.

"I don't think she will," I said, trying to convince myself that she wouldn't come, not for me.

"Oh, on the contrary. I am sure that's what she will do. Because that's her choice. She gets to choose," he said confidently.

"But why me?" I asked, my muscles clenched in irritation.

"Ah! There were choices. You see her family; for example, I could kill them, but it's not worth the risk of her reuniting with them. I could have Violet's mentor destroyed with one phone call. And I considered that. Now you, on the other hand, are something special. And she will want to save you... Oh, yes." Xavier savored.

My mind turned inwards... What was he saying? How was I different to her? He couldn't mean...

My neck and ears prickled slightly with heat. I pictured Violet turning to dust in the cafeteria, her asking me to stay and give her back her duct tape when I first got to Alice's apartment. And then back at the bar...

"No! She won't come after me!" I denied.

"Why, don't we let her decide?" Xavier questioned as he flipped open a black phone and started dialing.

"What are you doing?!" I asked.

"Asking her." He said, holding the phone to his ear as he gave me a smug grin.

It rang quietly for a few seconds as I waited, holding in my breath while picturing what this guy might do with no knee caps.

"Violet," Xavier answered. "I have a little something for you. Something you want."

"No hanging up! You won't want to do that. Not when it's his existence in the balance."

"I think you know who," Xavier whispered.

"I never tease." He said quietly.

"We both know there are things worse than death, darling," Xavier growled into the phone.

"Violet, no! Don't come! AHH!" I screeched as Xavier stabbed a 10-inch knife partway into my thigh.

"Dude!" I protested.

"That's enough, for now. If you ever want to see him dead again, you'll be here. You'll do everything I ask, including bringing the box to me." He snarled.

"I'm sure you remember where our last meeting took place?" He asked.

"Good girl. I'll have someone there to pick you up." Xavier said.

"And, Violet, come alone this time. It will be the last time you ever see him if you don't. Don't be late." Xavier hissed as he hung up with an audible click.

"Send the army in," Xavier ordered into the darkness as I saw something shift, and the sound of footsteps echoed after.

If Violet left L&D now, the repercussions would be insane!

"Why would she come? She knows that you'll just ship me to Limbo or the After Sleep," I said bitterly.

Xavier paused to look at me in disgust.

"No. She doesn't. But she does know that if she doesn't make an appearance, I will end you. She can't lose everything in one day, you know. It already happened to her once. I have admired your efforts to protect her, but she isn't the one who needs protection from me. I know she is ready for this."

"You see, she and I have been waiting since the beginning," he said with a deeply psychotic look like you see in mad scientists in the old black and white films.

"As for why... I think you should know. You are her everything," he hissed, pulling me to my feet. "Let's not keep her waiting, shall we?"

With that, I was snatched up by Xavier's force and teleported.