Bewitching Sloth

by Gross, Michelle

  Grim jumped in front of her, Maureen came up around Isabella with the syringe along with August, but she sensed them and swatted her hand to the side and both of them went flying backward. My feet skidded across the floor as I moved in beside Grim and scooped Joy up in my arms. She gasped against the side of my neck and I was quick to create space between us the moment we were away from Isabella. I placed her on her feet. “See why you shouldn’t just jump into things?” I scolded her, and her cheeks burned red.

  Joy lifted her sword, morphing it into a green rope as she took off like a bolt of lightning toward Isabella. “We can’t use anything that will hurt her,” she screamed. I swore following her.

  Everyone was covered head to toe in black, even their faces by the time I stopped chasing Joy. Isabella’s dark magic flowed around her fingertips as she dodged every attempt made at her. No one was trying to hurt her. We just needed Maureen to get close enough to use the syringe.

  Joy stopped in front of me, materialized something in her hand, and tossed it at me before she started moving again. “There.” Since I didn’t have all the handy powers they had, she lobbed a pair of gloves at me along with something to slip over my face since my arms were covered by my jacket.

  Once I slipped them on, I glanced up. We looked like a bunch of robbers bouncing around the room from one tiny chick.

  Isabella disappeared, most likely she was using a portal chip. “Where the fuck is she gonna pop up?” August said, glancing around like the rest of us.

  There!

  “Prudence!” Maureen screamed just as Isabella tossed a ball of magic at her, burning the fabric of her clothes. She hissed and faded. Isabella turned on Maureen. Only not really. Her eyes were on Maureen, but it was Prudence who she waited for the moment she faded behind her, the witch turned around so quickly, touching the burned part of her hand. Prudence dropped to the ground. Sebastian wasn’t here to make her stop, and she wasn’t going to let go of Prudence.

  Maureen ran up to her, grabbed Isabella by her naked shoulders, and yanked her off of her sister. The strength of her throw sent Isabella several feet into the air. Her towel fell somewhere in the process. She stood back up almost mechanically, and I took in the sadness that was Isabella. That thing wasn’t her, and we couldn’t keep idling around.

  “That’s not her anymore,” I muttered what we were all thinking. “Sebastian’s not here.”

  “It’s all over her.” There was sorrow in Grim’s voice.

  “Maureen…” Joy said in a hushed tone. “She’s coming for Prudence again.”

  Maureen lifted her head up, eyes murderous as she saw Isabella going after Prudence who was thrashing on the ground in pain. “Fuck this!”

  “Wait.” Joy faded, and I knew where the hell she was going. To stop Maureen. “Sebastian would never forgive you,” Joy told her the moment she faded in front of her.

  Maureen pushed her aside. “I can live with that. We can’t let that kind of darkness run rampant, especially when another entity is after our power!”

  Maureen bent down and pulled daggers out of her boots, tossing several at once. Isabella evaded every single one of them with magic as she walked forth.

  Everyone moved in on Isabella at once. I sprinted toward Joy whose gaze was locked on Maureen. A powerful wave of magic scattered us everywhere, and once again, Isabella vanished with a portal chip while we were all picking our asses off the ground.

  Hell’s bells. We couldn’t get close to her at all.

  I jumped to my feet, only to find her next to me. Up close, the black veins crawling beneath her skin were harsher and uglier. Seeing her like this, I was overcome with grief for her and for Sebastian.

  Because he was never going to forgive us.

  “We have to do something!” Maureen yelled, but it was me she was looking at since I was closest to her.

  I brought my hand up to my shoulder slowly, making my way to the shotgun that rested in the harness on my back. “Don’t!” It was Joy yelling at me because she saw what I was doing.

  Isabella used her portal chip again, and I let out a silent, relieved breath that I wasn’t the one that had to take her down.

  “Who is she going for?” Maureen said quickly, circling around trying to look for her. “Prudence again?” Just as she said it, her eyes bounced over to her sister lying on the ground, but Isabella wasn’t there.

  “Shit!” August swore as Isabella’s magic singed his clothes to reveal burned skin for her to touch. He looked at her, barely jumping in time. “What did I say about you keeping a distance from me? Your touch doesn’t work on me like it does Sebastian.” Isabella wasn’t present to respond to his words. I didn’t know what stood in her place.

  Two chains shot out for her, one gold, one black, and I recognized them as Grim and Melanie’s scythes which could morph into whatever they wanted just like their children’s scythes could do. Both wrapped around her simultaneously, strapping her arms to her sides in the process. “Maureen. August. Hurry up and use the syringe on her,” Melanie shouted.

  Maureen didn’t waste a second. She ran ahead while August was already in front of her. “Just so you know,” Maureen muttered. “I could have done that on my own.”

  Melanie sighed at her. “Just hurry.”

  “Wait, don’t,” Joy’s voice was panicked.

  One second the chains were on Isabella, then the next second they were gone. “How…?” Grim muttered.

  Isabella’s hands shot out in two different directions. One for Maureen. One for August. Both reached their destination. She bent down on her knees to continue touching them when they fell to the ground.

  “Grim,” Melanie cried, eyes searching his. He looked just as torn as she did. Then they faded, which had Isabella reacting with her portal chip. She disappeared too.

  “It’s like she fucking anticipates what everyone’s going to do before they even do it,” I hissed.

  “Let’s try for the syringe,” Joy whispered, eyes on Maureen and August thrashing on the ground beside one another. Maureen was the one with the syringe.

  I nodded and took off running with her.

  “Where is she?” Grim faded back in.

  “I don’t know—” Joy knocked the wind out of me when she rammed into me. No, she was pushing me out of the way. Isabella appeared behind us, and Joy had reacted. I was never in trouble though; it wasn’t me she was going after. Isabella latched onto Joy’s arm as I fell to the ground. I couldn’t reach her in time when I was falling to the ground.

  I wasn’t immortal. If she grazed me, I was a dead fuck, but I had little time to think about that or Sebastian anymore. I just reacted to the situation: we couldn’t let Harvest have the power she was taking from everyone. We’d dealt with a lot of tricky situations, but this proved to be the worst one because we were trying not to hurt her.

  But when I saw the pain she was causing Joy and the others; my choice came swiftly. I yanked the gun out of my harness and aimed. I saw the tear slide down her cheek even though her eyes were void of anything, then I heard Joy’s screaming and fire consumed my veins once more, obliterating the single tear I witnessed.

  “Don’t you fucking dare!”

  It was Sebastian. Glancing over my shoulder, I saw Barron and Kitty with him.

  “Bad one,” I heard Isabella mumbled under her breath. “Don’t touch.” Her white eyes roamed toward Sebastian as she let go of Joy. “Run?” That one word sounded like a question on her lips as she tilted her head. Then it dawned on me.

  “I think she’s about to bolt!” I shouted so that Sebastian could hear me.

  “Izzie!” he yelled.

  “How did she manage to get you guys?” Kitty mumbled just as Sebastian turned on me. One second he was standing there, the next he was pulling me up by my shirt and yanking the ski-mask from my face. He punched me, I staggered. Pain shot up my face as my teeth jarred together and I cupped my jaw.

  Fuck. Something might be broken.

  “You wer
e going to shoot her!” He was in my face screaming.

  “Look around you, Sebastian, she was siphoning magic from everyone!” I yelled, holding my jaw as I did. “We still don’t know what the fuck’s going on!”

  “You knew that wasn’t her.” Sebastian was on the verge of falling apart. No, he was already there. He pulled at his blond strands and searched around frantically.

  “That doesn’t change the fact that she managed to get four of us, and who knows what Harvest is planning with that power.” Barron came up between us, scowling at his brother. “The only reason they are even alive is because we’re entities.” He pointed at me. “If she had gotten Payne, he’d be dead right now.”

  “Forget it.” I sighed, eyes searching until I found Joy still thrashing on the ground. I rushed to her and bent down. “Let’s get them out of here in case she comes back.”

  “She’ll come back,” August said through a cough. He was holding his stomach as he raised up. Whatever Isabella’s had done to him seemed to be over. “She barely took any magic from us to do anything. We’re an endless supply of power if you think about it.” He dusted off his pants. “And when she comes back, I have a feeling she won’t be alone.”

  I scooped Joy up in my arms, but Sebastian was there to take her from me.

  “I got her,” I told him.

  He ignored me. “We’re in trouble, I fucking know that,” he growled at me, his blues eyes changing to black like they often did when his emotions were heightened. “You knew Barron and Kitty were coming for me. You didn’t have to aim the fucking gun at her.”

  “We didn’t know if you were even okay,” Maureen groaned as she recovered from being siphoned. “I would have done the same if she hadn’t grabbed a hold of me.”

  “I can stop her as soon as I get my hands on her,” Sebastian rushed the words out.

  “You saw what happened,” Melanie spoke to her son. “She left as soon as you got here. She’s not going to let you anywhere close.”

  Sebastian’s skin rippled in and out, revealing the monster beneath the surface. If he was going skeletal without meaning to, he was in serious turmoil over Isabella.

  I felt a pang of guilt hit my chest. He cared about her. Too much.

  “You love her.” It wasn’t a question. I merely stated the truth.

  “It’s not her that’s running from me.” Sebastian’s jaw ticked while his turquoise essence swirled and his skeleton flickered. A second later, the static-filled shimmer stopped. Joy was still in his arms squirming in pain. “It’s Harvest. I’m going to fucking kill him.”

  “Well, Sebastian.” Grim came up to his son. “Let’s find out how you plan to get her back.”

  Twenty-Four

  Isabella

  “You did good.”

  Cold hands swept over my cheek before patting my shoulder.

  “Only I need more. You have to keep taking from them until it’s enough but don’t worry. I’ll be with you this time.”

  The darkness grew stronger. My heart weaker.

  The darkness no longer purred, its sound was more of a haunting melody. One which he reveled in.

  “If you survive what’s coming, I’ll keep you by my side.”

  I’ll never let you go.

  Huh? What was that? That voice was so different from Julius’s.

  Warmth. Then there was a purr.

  “I don’t think so.” His grip on my shoulder tightened. I felt no pain in it though. I felt nothing. It was the nothing that chased away the—what had been there? I couldn’t remember now. Oh well, nothing mattered now. “He’s bad. Don’t ever let him touch you.”

  “Bad,” I mimicked. “No touch him.”

  “We have to start again. Still six to go,” he sang.

  “Six, six, six,” I rambled. “Six to go.”

  Twenty-Five

  Sebastian

  “Have they all settled down?” Joy asked Payne the moment he stepped through the giant double doors of my parent’s castle where he had been outside tending to the dragons. We were in the ballroom now.

  He sighed, rubbing his hand down the back of his neck. “Yeah. Several are severely injured from fighting each other for so long, but they’ve settled down. Seems like Isabella isn’t the only one Harvest can put in a trance.” Payne glanced my way when he mentioned her. “They seemed to snap out of it, though, as they came into contact with one of us, so I don’t think it was meant to last long.”

  “Just long enough to be a distraction.” I felt like I could burn the worlds down with my rage for falling into such a simple trap. I let the small moment in the bathroom with her—which had been my need to help ease her mind as well as mine, only I had eased myself too much—consume me with guilt. I was never going to forgive myself for walking outside and leaving her alone in that bathroom.

  How the hell did he take her from me just like that?

  “Are you okay?” Payne looked down at the marble floor instead of at Joy.

  She nodded. “I’m fine, but you can double check if you want.”

  Just like that, he glanced up and scowled at her. “You sound perfectly fine,” he grumbled and stormed away. Leave it to Joy to seize an opportunity when she saw it.

  “Give up on that.” I didn’t have to tell her what I was talking about. She knew it was about the brooding Reaper that just ran from her flirting. “You know he’s never going to see you the way you want him to.”

  She took a deep breath. “If you don’t think I’ve tried a billion times over the last century, you’re foolish.” She tilted her head at me. “What are you going to do?”

  “I’m going to get her back,” I told her. “Then I don’t care how many centuries it takes, I’ll find a way to kill an entity. Harvest will wish he’d never crossed paths with Isabella.”

  “Sounds like a plan.” Maureen faded into the ballroom with us, catching our conversation along with Barron and August. “But this isn’t something you’re doing alone.” She looked up. “Feel that? He’s coming here. Whatever he’s wanting with our powers, he’s no longer waiting around.”

  I caught her eyes and glared. “I’ll handle Isabella so if any of you so much as—”

  “Ease up,” August muttered. “Do you think any of us wanted to hurt her knowing how caught up you are in her? We were fucking trying not to, but it was like going up against a fucking monster that read and anticipated our moves before we knew what we were doing ourselves.”

  “It was one tiny chick.” Barron looked at August unconvinced.

  “You weren’t there, Barron,” Maureen whispered, placing her hands on her hips. “We were all caught off-guard. We thought we were dealing with a simple witch with a deadly touch. What we encountered… Just what did Harvest do to her?”

  “I don’t care,” I said harshly. “All I fucking care about is getting her out of his fucking control once and for all.”

  “Well, you’re about to get what you asked for.” August materialized his scythe and looked past me. I felt what he did, and my heart thundered with burning resolve. “They’re here.”

  The rumbling of their entrance echoed through the woods. The dragons who were just settling down came back to life with their flapping wings and roars outside. Izzie and Harvest were here.

  I’m never letting go of you when I get my hands on you again.

  “I can’t wake up Kitty!” Prudence came down the stairs carrying Kitty in her arms. It threw us all into a confusion and shock. It was one thing after another.

  “What’s wrong with her?” August rushed over, and the rest of us was quick to follow.

  Prudence shook her head. “I don’t know. I went upstairs to see her and found her passed out in the halls.”

  August pressed his fingers to her neck. “She’s fine, but touch her skin…”

  I did and met his eyes. “It’s the remnants of some sort of powerful magic.”

  “But who could have…” Maureen trailed off.

  “Hand her to me.” Mom
rushed into the room and took Kitty from Prudence.

  “It’d be better if you got her out of here.” Payne strode back into the room with Dad. We were all here now. “Take her to my parents’ house.”

  “Stay with her. Ryan and Molly will be there to help if they show up for her there.” Dad said to Mom agreeing with Payne.

  Mom nodded. “I expect this to end tonight so that we can go back to our normal Reaper lives.” Dad smiled at her remark, then with a silent nod to us all, she faded with Kitty.

  “Well, you want to save your girl,” Barron said dryly. “Time to show us what you’re made of.” He tilted his head behind me. I turned around to see the storm that was Izzie hovering several feet before us.

  Twenty-Six

  Melinda Thymes

  I could feel fate’s wheels churning.

  Around and around, they moved and flowed to a mad-demon’s lust to overthrow his very creator. Little did Harvest know, everyone was a pawn to fate. Including me. Every action had a consequence. Every demon held greed for power. Not all of them had the ability to claim it like Harvest had though.

  At this point, there was no stopping the inevitable.

  Well, there was a way. But I knew Sebastian Reaper would never let that happen. That didn’t disappoint me. I expected no less from the Grim Reaper’s son. The disappointment was in the future. The choices that had to be made weren’t fair, yet they had to be done.

  Scooping up my long tan dress, I entered his domain without any trouble, which meant he was letting me come to him. Coming here was a risky move. One could never be too cautious with the man who delivered sins onto the human world like the plague. There was no safe way to approach the man that seduced countless people into sins right here in his darkened domain. He was whoever you wanted him to be, which made him hard to resist for humans. Sinners belonged to him, but I never wanted to see the look on their faces the day they discovered the Devil was real and every bad choice had a price. And he made sure that price was paid after death.

  Sins were just some of his creations. Harvest was proving to be his worst one.