Damn it, boy. Calm down!
Before she dropped her arms something else caught my eye. A scar intrigued me, making me wonder where it came from.
“Cade?”
I found her staring at me with a Mona Lisa smile. She caught me. “Yeah, food sounds great,” I said, trying to recover from embarrassment. Without waiting for her, I turned and headed in the direction of the car.
“Gah! Thanks for waiting on me,” she said as she closed the driver’s door and started the engine. She turned the rearview mirror to peer into the reflection. “Oh my. You could’ve told me I looked like this. No wonder you ran off.” She ran a finger under each eye, removing the smear of blackness. Finally satisfied, she turned the car around, and we were finally heading back to where we needed to go.
“Izzy?”
She turned to me with a smile. “Yeah?”
Asking about the scar would be obvious I was checking her out, but the way it looked was something I couldn’t ignore. “The scar on your stomach,” I pointed down, suddenly uncomfortable bringing it up. “Where did it come from?”
She shifted, looking out of her window. “It’s where the blade hit when Sophia pushed me through that portal. I thought I was going to die when I saw it. I lay out front of my grandparents’ house screaming until my grandmother came out. She pulled it out and it healed immediately, but left this scar.” She pulled her shirt up, letting me see it again. Right then I knew how she had remained hidden for so long. Each soul had a beacon of light that Reapers, Angels, and Demons could track. A Reaper’s weapon was meant to kill when it hit. When this weapon hit her, it killed that beacon, but not her. Why it didn’t kill her, I couldn’t understand. I couldn’t get it out of my head. I tried to think of anything that would make sense.
After a few hours, and stops for food and gas, the Elizabethtown signed greeted us as we pulled into the small Kentucky town. It was a cozy place with locally owned shops made of red brick. Flower pots dangled from chains and street lamps lit the sidewalks. Families walked down the sides, laughing and carrying on. I tried to picture what it was like, being a human and living that way. It made me a little sad to think I probably would never experience anything like that. “Do you remember where to go?” I asked, watching as we passed by a park.
“Yeah, I think so. This place has changed so much. I loved it here, but I didn’t think I could stay. You know, with always feeling like someone was after me. I didn’t want them to find me at my grandmother’s house. I would’ve hated myself if they did her house like they did Shiloh’s.” She made a sharp left around a circular patch of grass with three flagpoles in the middle. We turned right at the next light and followed that road for a few miles, leaving the small town behind. She cut down a secluded dirt road, curving through the thickets of large trees that towered over the car, and down into a fold between hills. An aged house came into view.
Overgrown bushes covered most of the front porch, vines wrapped around the wooden banisters, and the grass reached the top of the four-step, chipped cement staircase.
Izzy slid the car into park, turned the ignition off, and sat back, staring. “I’ve missed this place so much. Gosh, it’s so weird to see it like this.”
We opened the doors, got out, and waded through the grass. “Bet it was a nice place back then,” I said, trying to reassure her. A large tin bowl filled to the brim with water sat at the side of the house with a large tomcat graciously lapping it. An old Coke bottle dangling from the overhang of the house swayed in the light breeze.
A metal boat covered in rust rested on the shore of the lake, which stained my fingers when I flipped it over. I wiped it across my suit, while eyeing it to see if it would make the trip.
“Do you think that thing is going to hold us?” Izzy asked. A deep frown lined her face.
“I’m not sure, but our only other option is to swim. Which do you prefer?” She looked toward the tree and back at the boat. “Well?”
“The boat. I mean, we might as well take it, and if it goes down then we’ll be swimming anyway.” Her face twisted at the last part. She was less than thrilled at the thought of swimming across this water. I had to admit I was the same. There was no telling what was living beneath the surface.
I pushed the boat in, disturbing the water and sending small ripples across the stilled top. She climbed in, and I followed her after I pushed us out a few feet. Using the paddle, I slowly navigated us across.
The tree was more immaculate than the picture could ever portray. “Oh, wow,” I said, stopping to admire the twisted trunk, spiraling up to low-lying branches that dipped toward the ground as we docked. Neon green leaves, traced with black shielded the sun.
Izzy grabbed my arm once we got out. “Cade, how do we know where this key will take us?” Her voice quavered. “I’m kind of scared.” The key seemed to warm at the mention of it, making it slightly uncomfortable in my pocket.
I took her hand from my arm and laced my fingers through hers. “I can’t tell you what’s on the other side because I honestly have no idea, but whatever it is, we’ll face it together.” Heat rose over her cheeks, obviously still worried. I pulled her toward the tree, even though she resisted.
I pushed a large patch of grass to the side, revealing the base of the tree. The grass immediately surrounding it was white and brittle, scrunching with every step we took. Suddenly, I froze. My palms sweated as my anxiety reached a mountainous peak.
A dark figure slipped out from the behind the tree. Long, boney fingers were the only visible skin as he lit the cigarette hanging from the shadow surrounding his face. “It’s about time. Didn’t think I was going to see you again, Cade.” Paradan looked up at me with red-rimmed eyes. “You’ve had us on quite the manhunt.” He exhaled watching the smoke curl through the air. His gaze shifted to Izzy, starting at her feet, slowly making his way up. “Can’t say that I blame you, but you know I can’t let you go through this door.”
I stepped forward, putting Izzy safely behind me—away from his stare. “What happened to you? You couldn’t have always been this way.”
He chuckled, looking up toward the branches above his head. “You get tired of always following orders.”
“But isn’t that what you’re doing anyway? But just Fate’s orders?” From what I’d seen, Paradan was nothing more than a lap dog, doing whatever Fate wanted. I glanced around us, searching for other Reapers, but as far as I could see, he was the only one. Odd. Usually he came with backup so he didn’t have to get his hands dirty.
“Fate doesn’t give me orders. We run things together. There comes a time when you have to step up and take things into your own hands. Grim was getting soft. We knew it before all the shit that happened with you. But that just confirmed it. Of course, I guess I can’t blame him. You might have the tendency to give up once someone tells you your time is over and a new person will take your place. At least he did. I would’ve fought, and killed my successor, not put him in a cell to protect him.”
Everything clicked. The reason I was different than all the other Reapers. The weird things I’d been going through with my powers. I was the next Grim. I couldn’t do it. There was no way I could take on those responsibilities. To have so much riding on your decisions, it made my head spin.
“Uh oh. Looks like someone didn’t like what they heard. Don’t worry, Cade. You won’t be taking control. It’s already under our power. Grim is on the run, dying, while you become stronger.” He pulled a blade from under his Demoral suit, and twirled it through his fingers. “The only downside to this is I have to kill you before you get too strong and we can’t stop you.” He paced a few seconds then stopped and turned back to me. “The thing is, I don’t like you. Never have. You were always weird. Too worried about everything other than the job at hand.”
Back before my experience with Paradan, those words would have hurt, but not now. I couldn’t care less about his thoughts or opinions of me. He did have one thing wrong. I wasn’t going to die
today. Not with Izzy behind me. I had to live long enough to make sure she was going to be okay. “Sorry I couldn’t be more like you. Guess we can’t all be jackasses.” Izzy stiffened behind me.
Paradan’s nostrils flared as his mouth tightened into a straight line. His eyes bore into me, hating everything about me. “You’re a cocky little prick, I’ll give you that. But I bet I could make that smugness disappear if I got a hold of the girl behind you.”
Izzy whimpered, trembling against me.
My blood boiled. “Don’t threaten her,” I spat. My back straightened, every muscle tensing. There was no way he would lay a finger on her. He could say whatever he wanted to me, but she was different. He didn’t even need to look in her direction.
“Oh. Found your soft spot, huh?” His joker-like grin practically reached his ears. Izzy stepped forward, taking a fist full of the back of my shirt. “She’s in this too. Otherwise I wouldn’t bother with the bitch.” My teeth gritted together so hard my jaw throbbed.
“What do you mean she’s in this?”
He started laughing again, but the vicious look in his eyes never changed. “You haven’t figured things out? She’s linked to Fate. Death and Fate are bound. Since Grim was told he was going to be replaced, don’t you think Fate was told the same thing? There’s a reason why Fate marked her for death and Grim made sure you were there. You’re connected just as they were. Your precious girl back there is the next Fate.”
It felt like he’d punched all the air from my lungs. I stumbled back, struggling to catch a breath. “How can that be possible? She’s only a human.”
He made an obnoxious clicking noise with his tongue. “Not entirely. Daddy was someone from our side. Honestly, Cade, you would’ve thought Grim would’ve let you in on some of this. Too bad you didn’t find out until it was too late.”
I looked back at Izzy for denial, but her face was flushed. Her hands shook, staring back at me with as much confusion as I felt. This wasn’t right. It couldn’t be. It didn’t make sense. Why would someone from our side have a human child? The mass amount of questions, thoughts, and concerns flooded my head until the brink of a meltdown.
A small blade whizzed through the air, hitting me in the shoulder before I could move. Instant, searing pain shot through my body like icy water. I tried to move my arm, anything to fight the numbness covering it in millions of tiny pinpricks. I pulled it out, as the metallic smell of blood reached my nostrils. I barely missed his swing as I drove my knee into his chest. He coughed and spluttered, holding his injury. I lunged forward with an uppercut to his chin, sending him at least ten feet into the air. He landed with a thud. It was him or me. I had to win this.
Just as I reached him, prepared to end it, he jumped to his feet. His fists plummeted into my face faster than I could stop. My arm was yanked from behind as I was hoisted into the air. Paradan’s face twisted in anger as he sneered me. He tossed me effortlessly to the side. Hitting the ground with enough force to create a trench in the ground’s surface, something snapped in my back. I stopped just short of rolling into the lake, my face an inch from the brown water. A face caught my attention. Lifeless, with hair flowing around like cobwebs blowing in the wind, a girl floated just underneath the surface.
There was a crunching sound as he slammed his foot down, breaking my arm in two. He twisted it, before dragging me a few feet.
“This is who you thought would save you?” he spat in Izzy’s direction.
She squealed.
I reached around my back, desperately hoping to reach the scythe without him noticing.
“Don’t think so.”
I felt it leave the holder on my back, and a second later a splash. I dropped to the ground. Paradan stood over me, pulling out another blade before dropping to his knees at my midsection.
“I told you I wanted to finish what I started. This is so much more enjoyable than you can imagine.”
I rolled back, wrapping my legs around his neck, punching him with my good arm a few times as he struggled against my thighs. The blade plunged into the back of my knee, causing me to release him in one fluid movement. He sat back, gasping, desperately trying to get air. I shot forward, trying to tear the blade from his grasp. He jerked back, still holding his neck, and kicked me in the side of the head. Darkness spotted my vision as a shrill ringing pierced my eardrum.
His hand clamped around my neck, pulling me to my feet, the tips of my shoes grazing the grass.
“Don’t do this,” I cried.
He tossed the blade into the air, twirling it a few times before catching it and driving it deep into my stomach. It made a sickening sucking sound the deeper he drove it. Blood gushed out as he slowly pulled it out, pooling on the ground. I fell in a defeated heap.
“Cade!” Izzy screamed. “He’s coming. Please, Cade. We have to get out of—” Her words were replaced by a terrified scream. I blinked several times, trying to clear a misty fog that had taken over my vision. A constant pounding pulsated maliciously at my temples. I held my gapping wound, my hand filling with blood, anything to make it stop.
“Now me and the girl here are going to pay Fate a little visit. She wants to do this herself. Can’t say that I blame her. Some human trying to take over her position…what a joke. What was Messa thinking?” The name shocked me, even in my current position. Messa? He was Izzy’s father?
I rolled into a fetal position. This wasn’t the time to give up. Izzy would be gone in seconds. All he had to do was open the portal using the Demoral tattoo on his arm and take her somewhere, and that somewhere would be a place she would be surrounded by the countless Reapers that had joined them. Fate would show no mercy. I wouldn’t doubt that she would torture her in front of everyone to prove a point that no one could take powers from her. The thought of her tied to something, bleeding and screaming in pain was unbearable. I would be the one that put her there if I didn’t do something. I wasn’t the law, far from it. I wasn’t some Reaper on a power trip seeking justice for what they done. All I was and wanted to be was the Reaper who saved her and showed her there was a meaning for her life.
Peeling my eyes open, the blue of the sky broke through my watery vision. Concentrate. I wouldn’t lose her. I would win. My head cleared. The pain in my body started to dissipate. Rage boiled, licking just under my skin like flames from the pits of hell.
Yes, Cade. Embrace what you need to become. This is your fight now. Show them no mercy. Grim’s voice sounded like a haunted whisper at my ear. Muscles tensed, hardening like bricks, making me feel stronger than I’d ever felt.
Jumping to my feet, I threw my head back letting out a Roar. Paradan’s grip on Izzy’s hair loosened as he turned back in my direction with panicked eyes. My eyes darted to her tear-stained face before returning my concentration on him.
“It–it,” he stumbled over his words. “This can’t be happening. Grim isn’t dead yet.”
He dropped her, reaching for his forearm, and grazing the tattoo. Before the black circle could appear, I was at his side. I grabbed a handful of his Demoral suit, the sight of my hand catching my eye. There was no skin, only ivory bone. I looked at the reflection blazing in his wild eyes. There I stood, not the man I remembered, but a horrific image of my former self. The hollowed sockets of the darkest of dark, almost a black abyss, bones sculpted my facial features, with a row of perfectly lined teeth. With my free hand I touched my cheek. It was cold and hard. I was a monster.
“You can’t win, Cade. You know you don’t want this. I’ll let you both go now and never come after you again. I promise.”
His words were meaningless and empty, hitting me in the face like acid. How dare he lie to me. As soon as he was on the other side of this rabbit hole, he would gather forces and come for us again. There would be no escape until one of us was dead—one side left standing. Either way it went, Paradan would not be there. He would meet his end today, at my hand.
“Paradan Reaper,” I said. My voice was full of raspy emotionle
ss fatality, like someone else was speaking through me. “Your time of selfishly doing things for your own sick pleasure is over. Many have suffered under the constant ridicule and harassment you have bestowed upon them. I can feel their agony and along with it your overwhelming satisfaction in that pain. This is your end. Do you have any last words to part this world with?”
His face twisted, drawing his brows deep into the corners of his eyes. “No one has ever talked to me like that. Do you know who I am? I lived in this sad existence long before you were ever created. I’m not going to let you be the one who takes me out of it.” He jerked out of my grasp, tearing the scythe from his back holder, the blade illuminating against a ray of light from the sun. I stood, waiting for his blow. He brought the weapon down over my head and caught me in the middle of the back. I felt nothing. The agonizing red- hot pain that should have been there wasn’t. His mouth dropped while his bottom lip trembled. He ripped it out and leaned back, preparing to strike again.
I grabbed it in midair, stopping it before it could connect again. “Your attempts are pointless. Don’t you know who I am?” He didn’t respond, only stared at me in defeat. “I. Am. Death.”
Flames exploded from my boney palm, covering his weapon and his body within seconds. His screams filled the serene, country yard. He ran a few yards from where I stood, and dropped. The smell of charred flesh polluted the air until the only sounds I heard were the crackles and pops of his skin. I looked at his blackened form, disheveled and lifeless. I had no sympathy. It wasn’t in my nature anymore. In a matter of minutes, my outlook on life had changed. Life was meant to end. There was no point in being sad about it. There was no need to fight it. Everyone would die…even those closest to us who we tried so hard to protect.
Twenty
Izzy was huddled next to the base of the tree, shaking as if covered in ice. She shrieked as I took a step toward her. Stopping dead in my tracks I looked down at the long bones that made my fingers, wiggling them slightly. No wonder she was terrified of me. Look at what I had become in front of her.
Defiance Page 19
