Winged Reaper

by Shelley Russell Nolan

  ‘There is no God. You know that better than most, Rallani. Or do you prefer Rhonda these days.’

  I stared at the pair of them. ‘Will one of you please tell me what the hell is going on?’

  Rhonda glared at me. ‘She’s Malia.’

  12

  I sank onto the couch, staring up at the woman who had stolen Emily’s body.

  Malia; the Tr’lirian whose actions sparked a war amongst her own kind and whose remains hung around my neck.

  She smirked at me. ‘I should probably thank you for providing me with this new body, and the knowledge of how to get into it. Without you and your little cousin, I would have remained trapped in the Underworld with Grimm.’

  ‘I don’t understand.’

  ‘Of course not, you thought you were talking to your mother. Poor Grace, begging to be freed, imploring her beloved daughter to come up with a way for her to escape Grimm’s evil clutches.’ Malia wore a cruel smile. ‘Grimm never had your mother’s soul. It was me all along.’

  I shook my head, hands gripping the cushion beneath me. ‘That’s not possible.’

  ‘Did you really think your “mother” would be able to contact you from the Underworld without Grimm’s help?’ She stalked across the lounge and glared at me, hands on her hips.

  ‘I want that necklace. It’s part of me, and I didn’t spend my last miserable years on Earth filling it with power so you could use it to defy me. Give it back.’ She reached out to grab it again, and this time the shockwave sent her reeling. She landed on her butt and scrambled to her feet, face red, hands curled into fists.

  ‘What have you done to my necklace? It responded to me, in the Underworld. I felt it. But ever since it turned white I’ve felt nothing. What did you do?’

  I stood. ‘I guess it decided it didn’t like you anymore.’ I stepped towards her, one hand on my necklace, the other reaching for Malia. ‘But it likes me and I can send you back to the Underworld anytime I want.’

  Nostrils flaring, she did not back away. ‘If you reap my soul your cousin’s body will die and there’ll be nothing for her to come back to.’

  I glared at her, wanting to reap her soul so bad. But I wouldn’t do it. Not while there was still a chance of saving Emily.

  Malia smirked when I let go of my necklace and she pointed at it. ‘I will get that back, as soon as I work out what you did to make it turn against me. But that can wait until it’s time to free my brother. First, we need to find him a new body.’ She licked her lips and faced Rhonda. ‘That’s where you come in. Well, your son actually.’

  Rhonda went pale and it was her turn to take a seat. She stared up at Malia, eyes wide. ‘No. Not Connor. Please don’t take my son.’

  I grabbed Malia’s arm and spun her around to face me. ‘Are you crazy? There’s no way I’m letting you put Almorthanos’s soul in Connor’s body. Besides, the body has to be related for it to work.’

  Malia patted my cheek. ‘Don’t worry, dear, everything will work out fine.’

  I jerked my head back, stung by her motherly tone. ‘Don’t touch me.’

  Malia ignored my anger. She looked over at Rhonda. ‘Are you going to tell her or will I?’

  She didn’t wait for Rhonda to respond. She tossed back her hair and sneered at me. ‘Your half-brother has more Tr’lirian in him than you do. Rallani is a full blooded Tr’lirian, as well as being my cousin. So Connor’s body is perfectly suitable for housing my brother’s soul.’

  I shook my head. ‘No, that’s not possible. Rhonda, tell me she’s lying. Tell me you’re not a Tr’lirian.’

  Rhonda’s nostrils flared as she got to her feet. She didn’t look at me, too busy towering over Malia. ‘We may be cousins but I have given enough to Almorthanos’s cause. You cannot have Connor.’

  ‘You will do as you are told, Rallani. You failed us once and were punished for it. We will not be so lenient if you defy us now.’

  ‘Lenient,’ Rhonda scoffed. ‘You forced me to marry a man I detested. Connor is the only good thing to come out of this marriage and I won’t lose him.’

  ‘Hold on, are you saying they made you marry my dad?’

  Rhonda gave me a sharp nod.

  Malia smirked. ‘Rallani was supposed to watch over Grace Morgan, befriend her. But your mother died before we recovered my necklace. So Rallani was ordered to keep an even closer eye on you, and the best way for her to do that was from your father’s bed.’

  My eyes sought Rhonda’s, and a dark memory fell into place. ‘Last week, after Andrew kidnapped us, you said something about Grimm.’

  Rhonda glared at me. ‘I told you I’d save Grimm the trouble of killing you if you put Connor in danger again. And here we are.’

  ‘I thought it was a bad dream.’

  ‘This is worse than a bad dream. Do you realise what you’ve done? Do you?’

  ‘I didn’t ask for any of this.’

  Malia laughed. ‘Don’t worry. Your pain will be short-lived. As soon as we have Connor, you will die and Almorthanos will be reborn.’

  13

  ‘You are not taking Connor.’ I side-stepped Rhonda and glared at Malia.

  ‘Until we get what we want, more people will die. Grimm’s Wraiths are everywhere. Every town. Every city. People will suffer the most gruesome of deaths, deaths you could prevent if you and Connor hand yourselves over to us. Two lives, in exchange for thousands.’

  ‘No, there must be another way, another body you could have. Not my Connor.’ Rhonda knelt in front of Malia, tears streaming down her face. ‘Please, Malia. I have done everything you ever asked of me. I gave up my wings and my immortality, chained myself to a man I hated. Don’t take my son.’

  ‘Ah, Rallani,’ said Malia, tapping Rhonda on the forehead, ‘if you truly had done everything I asked of you, Grace would still be alive and your precious son would not exist.’

  Rhonda scrambled to her feet, desperation in her eyes. She picked up the lamp table from beside Dad’s recliner and advanced on Malia. ‘I won’t let you kill my son.’

  I scooted in front of Malia, ‘Rhonda, no. Don’t hurt her.’

  ‘Are you crazy? She wants to kill Connor, and you. Why would you protect her?’

  ‘I’m not protecting Malia. I’m protecting Emily. That’s her body.’

  ‘Then get Malia out of it. Reap her soul. Kill her. You have to do something.’

  ‘I can’t reap Malia’s soul. Emily’s body will die if I do, and we’ll be no closer to saving Connor.’

  Rhonda lowered the table. ‘Promise me you won’t let them have Connor.’

  I nodded. ‘I swear I won’t let them have him.’ Malia and Grimm had already taken too much from me. I would save Connor, if it was the last thing I ever did.

  ‘How touching, and so very futile. There is no other way. You and your half-brother are going to die.’

  I could hear the sneer in Malia’s voice as I turned around to face her, fists clenched. ‘I may not be able to kill you, and I may not know all the things my necklace is capable of, but I’m a fast learner. You’d be surprised by what I can do with this.’ I tapped the necklace and took a step towards her. ‘I could rip your soul right out of Emily’s body and shatter it into thousands of pieces.’

  She laughed; a derisive cackle that sent chills down my spine. ‘I just heard you tell Rallani that you won’t hurt me, too scared your precious cousin’s body would be irreparably damaged.’

  ‘I can always change my mind, especially if I lose all hope of getting Emily back.’

  ‘You would not dare.’

  ‘Try me.’ I took a step towards her, making sure every ounce of hatred I bore her showed on my face. ‘You want to keep your soul intact you need to work with me.’

  Malia’s eyes narrowed. ‘What do you want?’

  I swallowed down my hope, not wanting her to see how desperate I was. ‘I want to see Emily. I need to know her soul is safe, that Grimm isn’t torturing her or using her to increase his power.’ />
  Malia’s tilted her head back, nostrils flaring. ‘Impossible. If we let you near her you’ll try to kick me out of her body and put her soul back in.’

  ‘All I have is your word she’s safe. If you don’t give me proof of life, then that means she’s gone forever and there’s no point letting her body live. You have twenty-four hours to show her to me or I’ll find you and kill you, for good this time.’ I put a hand on my necklace to emphasise the threat.

  Malia took a step back. ‘Fine. I will arrange for you to see Emily.’

  ‘While you’re doing that, you can tell Grimm his Wraiths are not to take another life.’

  She shook her head. ‘I have no control over Grimm, and nothing I say will stop him from replenishing his supply of souls. You weakened him, threatened his control of the Underworld, and he is determined never to be made a fool of again.’ She smirked at me. ‘Any deaths at the hands of his Wraiths are on your head, not mine.’

  Stomach clenching at the truth of her words, I grasped at straws. ‘Isn’t Almorthanos his master? Get your brother to order Grimm to stop killing people.’

  ‘It doesn’t work that way. You want Almorthanos to rein Grimm in, let him out of Demania. Otherwise, this negotiation is over.’ Malia looked over at Rhonda. ‘I want you to contact Talaom. He is needed to assist my re-entry to this world. It has changed greatly in the centuries I’ve been locked in the Underworld and I need to gather our forces. Almorthanos is keen to meet Cade in battle once more.’

  Rhonda snatched up the phone and punched in a series of numbers. Mouth set in a grimace, she rattled off a string of words in a language I’d never heard before. Her expression soured even further as she listened to the response.

  She hung up the phone and glared at Malia. ‘He’ll be here in five minutes. You can wait for him outside. I don’t want you in my house a second longer.’

  ‘Ah, Rallani, this anger you bear concerns me. Surely the rebirth of the Davilian Clan is worth the life of your son. Once Almorthanos has defeated Cade’s forces, we can return to Angellin and live as Gods again. You are still young enough to bear more sons, if that is your wish.’ Malia licked her lips and stroked her stomach. ‘I certainly plan on creating more daughters to ensure I have a suitable body to replace this one when it is no longer young and attractive.’

  I gasped, stunned both by her callousness and her complete faith she would be keeping Emily’s body.

  ‘No need to look so shocked, Tyler. I’m merely being practical. Without wings, I am not immortal. But now that I know how to get a new body there is no reason why I cannot live forever.’

  Malia’s smile sent shudders through my body. I stormed over to the door and wrenched it open. ‘Get out.’

  She sashayed passed me. The temptation to rip her soul out of Emily’s body was so strong I gripped the edge of the door to keep from doing so. Malia was a monster, but I couldn’t kill her and she knew it. As long as Grimm had Emily’s soul, my hands were tied.

  ‘Twenty-four hours, Malia. If anything has happened to Emily’s soul, I’ll do everything in my power to make sure your precious clan dies with you.’

  Her back stiffened, but she didn’t look back. A white sedan pulled up at the kerb and a tall, well-built man with black hair hopped out of the driver’s seat and rushed around to open the passenger door for her. I watched him, a wave of familiarity sweeping over me as he bowed his head while Malia spoke to him. She climbed inside the car and he gently closed her door before returning to the driver’s side. Seconds later, Malia gave me a wave as they drove off.

  I went back into the lounge room. Rhonda sat on the couch, staring at the blank television screen, despair etched on her face. She looked up at me and the despair was replaced by anger.

  ‘This is your fault. Connor is going to die because of you.’

  I shook my head. ‘You do not get to blame me for all of this. I screwed up, I know, but maybe if you hadn’t lied to me my entire life things would be different now. You’re the one who put Connor in danger when you didn’t tell me about Grimm and Malia and their plans for me.’

  Rhonda’s shoulders slumped. ‘You were doomed the moment your mother died. Nothing I could have said would have changed that.’

  ‘That may be, but I wouldn’t have let Grimm put this around my neck,’ I slapped my hand against the necklace, ‘and I wouldn’t have agreed to be a reaper and I wouldn’t have discovered how a soul could bring a dead body back to life. Malia wouldn’t have been able to take Emily’s body, she would never even know she existed, and Connor would be safe.’

  My entire life had been built on lies and Rhonda sat there looking at me like I was the monster. I forced myself to take a deep breath, and another, as I relaxed my hands and unclenched my jaw. I couldn’t change the past, no matter how much I wanted to. I had to work with the facts as they stood.

  After another calming breath, I took a seat opposite Rhonda. ‘Tell me everything you know about Grimm and Malia. There has to be a way to stop them, and we’re going to find it.’

  14

  Rhonda looked at me like I was crazy. ‘You want to go up against the Grim Reaper?’

  ‘I already have.’ I shrugged.

  ‘And look how well that turned out. I saw the news this morning. Wraiths are killing people all over Easton. Some crackpots are calling it the zombie apocalypse. And you heard what Malia said, Grimm can have his Wraiths killing people all over the world just like that.’ She snapped her fingers. ‘Because of you he’s focusing on Easton, but if you threaten his supply of souls he’ll be sure to branch out.’

  ‘We need to stop the Wraiths from killing more people. Is there a way we can block them from the astral plane, trap them in the Underworld?’

  Rhonda shook her head. ‘Grimm has complete control of the Underworld, and all the souls in it. As for the astral plane, there’s no way to block access to it that I know of.’

  ‘So we have to get to Grimm, if he’s the key.’ My stomach churned at the thought of facing him again, but I pushed my fear down. ‘What are his weaknesses? I know he gets his strength from souls, but cutting him off from them only weakens him, it doesn’t kill him. But there must be something, some way to stop him.’

  ‘Grimm can have all the souls he wants as far as I’m concerned. I’m only interested in saving Connor.’

  I wanted to shake her. ‘Don’t you get it? Connor will never be safe. None of us will, unless we can stop Grimm and Malia. You heard her. If Almorthanos gets out of Demania and into a new body, they’re going to restart the war with Cade. Even if they don’t take his body, do you really think Malia and Almorthanos will let you and Connor live in peace?’

  She frowned at me. ‘Fine, we need to stop Grimm’s Wraiths. But that’s easier said than done.’

  ‘That guy who picked Malia up, Talaom, is he a Tr’lirian as well?’

  ‘Yes. After your mother died he was ordered to give up his wings to help me keep an eye on you.’

  I frowned. ‘He looked familiar.’

  ‘He should do. He’s spent much of the last twenty-five years following you around.’

  A shiver swept over me at the thought of a stranger’s eyes watching me without my knowledge. Like Killian, he’d be able to slip into the astral plane at any time to avoid detection. So could Rhonda.

  My eyes widened. ‘That’s how you always knew when I’d done something wrong. You or this Talaom were watching me from the astral plane.’

  She stiffened. ‘What are you talking about?’

  ‘You’re a full-blooded Tr’lirian. I know you can still slip into the astral plane even though you don’t have wings anymore.’

  ‘Who told you?’ Rhonda’s nostrils flared.

  ‘It doesn’t matter how I know.’ I didn’t want to explain about Killian, or that Chris could see into the astral plane, not sure how far I could trust her. ‘Are there more of you, living amongst us, who won’t want to follow along with Malia’s and Almorthanos’s plans? And what abo
ut the ones who are still immortal, where are they?’

  Rhonda shrugged. ‘As far as I know, six more of our clan were persuaded to give up their wings to enable them to live in Easton. The rest of our clan stills resides in Angellin, but you’ll find no help there. They are forced to endure humiliation and deprivation under Cade’s leadership. If Almorthanos rises from Demania they will flock to the physical world to join him.’

  I shook my head, picturing hundreds of winged Tr’lirians descending on Easton and the havoc that would cause. Unlike those without wings, who were only able to access the astral plane, they would be able to travel to them all and would still be immortal. ‘We can’t let that happen.’

  ‘I don’t see how we can stop it.’ Rhonda stood. ‘But I can’t just sit around waiting for them to steal my son away from me. I have to find Connor.’

  I nodded and stood as well. Connor needed to know the danger he was in. I was just glad I wouldn’t be the one to tell him. That was his mother’s job.

  Rhonda got her handbag from the kitchen, but before we could leave, the front door opened and Dad walked in. He wore his usual frown as he stomped over to his armchair and sank into it.

  ‘Rhonda, I’m hungry, go get me something to eat.’ He didn’t even look at her, too busy glaring at me. ‘What are you doing here, girl?’

  I didn’t get a chance to reply. Rhonda planted herself in front of Dad’s chair, bag slung over her shoulder, arms crossed in front of her chest. ‘You want something to eat, go get it yourself. I’m done being your slave.’

  The shock on Dad’s face was almost comical. He opened his mouth and spluttered as he attempted to spit out words. He cleared his throat and had another go. ‘Here now, what’s all this rubbish you’re talking, woman? Is this some kind of joke?’

  He scrambled out of his chair and shook a fist at me. ‘Is this your doing, girl? Some silly prank you’ve got my wife involved in, is it? Well, it’s not funny and you can stop it right now.’