KILLERS CAN LOVE TOO by Mary Claire Garcia (classic books for 12 year olds txt) 📖

was a Level 999 and a natural predator! She stood up. Tanya knew there were some gardens behind the school. She smiled. It was time for her to turn things to dust again.
Camael Ashraic looked coldly at Mad Hatter’s goons. They were all terrified of him. He could feel, taste and smell their fear. He smiled. He was the king of torture of all kinds and he would use every torture imaginable just to find and kill the Mad Hatter. I would find you, bastard. You have no right to even touch a piece of Tanya’s beautiful hair. He had taken off their masks and their clothes. He had them completely shackled to the walls. He had just taped their mouths so there was still a little noise filling the dreary room.
“So let’s play a game, boys. I ask a question and you give me an answer. If you can’t answer or I think you’re just fooling with my head, I’ll make you regret you’ve crossed paths with my girl,” Cam said.
He went to his captive#1.
“Where is Mad Hatter?”
The captive did not answer. Cam shrugged his shoulders.
“So you want to play hard-to-get, huh?”
The captive looked at him confidently and Cam smiled at him.
“Suit yourself”
Cam sliced off the captive’s cuticle then pulled one of the nail off. He took off the tape. The captive screamed.
“No answer? I’ll chop off your whole hand, man”
He had twelve more captives to torture. He smiled. I’m the Red King here, Mad Hatter…
Tanya looked at the remains of the tree she had consumed. The dust was blown by the wind as quickly it had turned to one.
“Have you run out of the tablets?”
She turned around and found Raphael looking at her. She could not decipher his expression.
“I still have some of them. The tablets are fine but I still feel it’s…not enough,” said Tanya.
“Monster,” he whispered.
Her eyes widened and before she could understand what was happening, he had injected something to her left arm already where her pulse veins were. She collapsed on the floor and fought to breathe. Tanya looked up at Raphael to see him kneeling down to look at her. He was smiling…serenely at her.
“A-Are you working w-with-,” began Tanya. She found it hard to even speak.
“I’m not working with anybody, Locket,” he whispered.
No. It cannot be.
“Anthony?”
He nodded his head his angelic face still had the peaceful and contented smile on.
“Those tablets I gave you were all poison and don’t worry I made sure the tablets were only distributed to you. The tablets indeed had a small amount of life source in it but had several drugs in it to delay your hunger again and again. If you try to consume something else than the tablet, the poison will spread more to your whole body including all your vital organs. The drug I injected to you was the activator. Right now even though you’re a Level 999, your virus is almost dead killing you with it,” he explained to her.
He pulled her hair and she wanted to scream from the pain but she was too weak to even do that. Tears rolled down her cheeks despite her efforts to stop them. Anthony was Raphael. Both became a special part of her life. So her confusion was not necessary at all. Raphael had never loved her. Because of her, Anthony lived just to kill her. Her heart pained her more than the poison.
“You do not have the right to include Everstone in your name. Nor do you have the right to even say it. You deserve to turn to dust like what you’ve done to them but I did not choose that for I want you to feel pain. Die, you disgusting murderer!” Raphael mocked her.
She wanted to tell Anthony that she really did not deserve to be forgiven. She wanted to tell him that he was her first love. She wanted to tell him to go to hell and eat his fucking poisons himself. She summoned all her remaining powers from her virus. She cannot even turn the grass at her feet to dust! But she was a Level 999 so she was not going down without a fight. Well, technically she did fell down without a fight. She needed backup. Tanya remembered that Reapers sort of had a link because of the virus. All she needed was a Reaper nearby. She closed her eyes and concentrated. Was there another Reaper besides her and Cam? She opened her eyes. There were actually two Reapers besides them! She hoped that the two didn’t want her dead too.
Camael called Damien from his phone. He had successful results minutes ago. Damien picked up from the first ring.
“I’ve got Mad Hatter’s lair,” Cam said.
“I’m going with you!” shouted Damien eagerly.
“No. I just called to tell you. I’m leaving now with my best Reapers.”
“I’m a Level 997, you fuck!”
“You’re not needed. Take care of yourself and good luck with her,” said Cam gently.
“You sound like you’re saying good bye, man. If you don’t come back, I’ll really steal her from you”
“Take care of Tanya”
He hung up. A Level 999 like himself was needed in the mission. Some things were needed to turn to dust without touching them.
Damien cursed. His friend was going to the battle field without him. He sighed. He knew who Tanya really loved but and who Cam really loved too. He knew it was hopeless but Cam was never good about his feelings. He was just too scared to say what he felt from fear of being mocked. Damien needed to know where the lair was and tell Tanya. The guy might not ask for help but sometimes he himself needed it. He ran to his garage. His driver saw him and settled on the driver’s seat.
“Where should I drive, sir?”
“Headquarters”
The car rode off. He tried to imagine where Cam would put his torture room.
Mirabella and Iris ran as fast as they can. Someone was trying to kill Everstone. The link was used only for extreme cases of emergencies. They saw her collapsed on the grass with a gorgeous boy looking at her with the happiness of an innocent child.
“That’s Raphael. He’s a very popular guy and I heard he’s the president of the Abyss too,” Iris said.
Mirabella went to attack position and her younger sister did too.
“I don’t care who he is Iris. I still want to earn the right to call Everstone by her first name and our squad would not be complete without her. She eats a lot but she’s very interesting and I’m sure we’re dead if Ashraic finds out she got killed with us on the territory,” Mirabella said.
“He looks tasty, sis”
Mirabella nodded and they ran with inhuman speed and attacked him. Raphael blocked all their blows with ease. Then he attacked the two of them. The two sisters suffered a number of injuries and hard blows.
“But you’re not a Reaper!” gasped Mirabella.
“I work out”
Iris shot him on the stomach and he went down.
“But you’re still just another human”
Raphael died quickly.
“Where did you get a freaking gun?!” Mirabella screamed at her younger sister.
“That’s not important. Let’s heal Everstone,” Iris said.
They rushed to where Tanya was. They both touched her hand and concentrated on eliminating the poisons from her body. It took them very long because if they were not careful, her organs would be the ones eliminated instead. Tanya did not regain consciousness so they transferred their life sources including the life source of the garden too to her. Finally, Tanya awoke.
“You can call me Tanya,” she whispered weakly and hugged them both while she cried.


 
CHAPTER IX
It was an ambush. He expected nothing less and that was the reason why he brought a number of Reapers but he forgot something VERY important. They were Reapers so they were stronger and faster. But they can only turn things to dust by touching them. Were the Reapers faster than the bullets? He dodged a bullet fired at him. The bullet had grazed his shoulder. If he was almost killed then what about the others? He turned and saw dying Reapers everywhere. It was time for Plan B. If Plan B did not work, he surely wouldn’t be able to make Plan C since he’d be dead by then. It was a gamble he would take.
Damien could not find Cam’s torture rooms. He sighed. He felt worthless and especially helpless. Then somebody suddenly injected him. He collapsed on the floor. Before his consciousness left him, he was sure the one who injected him had the scent of a Reaper. So there was a traitor in the midst.
He woke up and cursed when he saw he was tied up. After a few seconds later, everything that restrained him was all turned to dust. He flexed his hands. Damien was in a sort of a metal room with a television and a spy cam above. The television turned on. Was he in a horror movie? It was his sisters and his parents tied up and bruised all over. Anger and concern flooded him. With his powers, he can leave the room any time. But he cannot leave his family.
“If you do not want your family to die, bring me Tanya Everstone. You only have until tomorrow night. Bring sweet Alice to my tea party, White Rabbit, and we’ll have a trade. Tanya for your family. Let’s meet at the amusement park. Stay in the horror house until closing time. I don’t care how you do it. Time is running, Damien. Time to make plans for a date and if our secret comes out they’ll be the ones to pay,” laughed a man with a jester mask.
His family screamed his name as the Mad Hatter laughed. The television turned off.
“TOUCH THE WALLS AND THE FLOORS!!!” Cam shouted.
The building crumbled around them. He had almost led them all to their deaths. Cam was sure the Mad Hatter had already left and had just left behind his goons. The building continued to crumble while he concentrated on eliminating every person who was not a Reaper. After a few minutes they had completely won. He breathed a sigh of relief. They had almost lost. What if he really had died? He could not bear the thought of never seeing Tanya again. Then he realized it. How could he have been so stupid not to realize it for so long?! He was in love with Tanya Everstone.
Damien went to Headquarters. He knew Tanya would be arriving from school soon. He sat on a red cushion near Tanya’s room. Could he really do this? Could he sacrifice Tanya for the sake of his family? He was in love with her but not really that in love to sacrifice everything for Tanya. He closed his eyes. He really was going to do it. He would never be able to make Tanya fall in love with him now.
“Is she alright now?” Iris asked.
Damien stood up and saw Mirabella carrying a sleeping Tanya going upstairs. He ran and took Tanya from the elder sister. Tanya’s body was light and unresponsive to him. She looked as though she had cried herself to sleep. Guilt and worry engulfed him. Had someone hurt her? He tried to push the though away. He was going to be the next one who’s going to hurt her even though he really didn’t want to.
“What happened to her?” Damien asked.
The siblings explained to him about the guy named Raphael while he carried Tanya to her room. He wanted to beat the shit out of the guy if he was still