The urge to give in to Almorthanos’s will faded and I was able to open my eyes and glare at him. ‘Like Cade said, I’m nobody’s pet.’
Shock covered Almorthanos’s features, to be quickly overtaken by rage. ‘Then you are of no use to me, and will die with the rest of them.’
‘You have lost, Davila. It is time to end this.’ Cade drew his sword and advanced on Almorthanos, not sparing a glance at those who barred his way. ‘For the death of my sister and all those of Clan Godden that have died because of you, I will have justice.’
It was Almorthanos’s turn to laugh, a mocking curve to his lips. ‘Justice? There is no such thing, and you will never defeat me.’
‘Look around. Your puny forces are no match for me and mine. Order your people to surrender and I will let them live. But you and your treacherous sister will die today, by my hand.’
Almorthanos continued to smile, and at his side Malia wore a cunning look. It didn’t make sense. Cade was right, they were outnumbered. More white winged Tr’lirians appeared in the room and Almorthanos didn’t even twitch. Something was wrong.
Almorthanos’s smirk deepened. ‘You forget, Tyler was not my only pet reaper and, unlike her, the rest will not hesitate to obey me.’
Before the rumble of his words faded, wind whipped through the room, carrying with it dozens of dark reapers, their forms indistinct and yet no less menacing.
Almorthanos voice boomed. ‘I will tear your army to shreds and my reapers will feast on their souls. Once they have fed, every man, woman and child on this earth, Tr’lirian or human, will be made to bow before me.’ He gave a signal and his men drew swords. They advanced on Cade’s men and the room filled with the clash of swords and shouts.
The reapers whirled in the air above the combatants, ripping out the souls of those without wings, heedless of the penalty they would now pay. There were so many of them, I could never hope to take them out. But I prepared to do what I could to even the odds. I called on aether, like I had on Mount Pilbeam, filling myself with it until every inch of my skin felt stretched, swollen. I prepared to discharge it, to take out Almorthanos and Malia.
But they were hidden behind a wall of reapers, their dark bodyguards forming a roiling blockade. I had no idea if my blast of aether would be strong enough to penetrate the barrier and reach those hidden behind it. But I had to try.
Pain shot through my chest and I fell to my knees as my soul was wrenched from my body. Screaming, I latched on to it with both hands. When the immediate agony subsided enough for me to function I looked up to see a familiar face framed by a dark cloud.
Talaom.
The man who had killed me, and sacrificed his own life so Almorthanos could have a new body, was now a reaper.
His hands reached for me, clutching my neck, and I felt a tug as he once again tried to take my soul. I scooted backwards, evading his grasping hands even as I sought to regain my scattered energy. Aether filled me and I moved to attack, but Talaom spun in the air and vanished in a swirling cloud of reapers, making it impossible to track him.
Conscious of the cries of pain and screams of agony coming from all around me, of white feathers blowing in the swirling wind created by the reapers, I searched for Almorthanos. When I found him I readied to blast his soul to smithereens, but before I could do it he grabbed Sam, holding a knife to his throat.
I cried out and scrambled to my feet. A thin line of blood dripped down Sam’s neck, staining his shirt as I ran towards them. Malia clutched her brother’s arm.
‘You’re not to hurt him. I told you, he’s mine,’ she screeched.
Almorthanos barked out an order and one of his men jumped forward to grab hold of Malia and drag her back. She kicked out at the man holding her, but his long reach had him easily fending her off and he took no notice of the insults she hurled at him.
I ignored her, never taking my eyes off Almorthanos as I skidded to a halt in front of them.
‘I will slit the good detective’s throat, and then your family will die, along with Godden’s cursed offspring.’ He inclined his head to the left to where his men held Chris, Connor and Rhonda, swords still poised to end their lives.
The aether building inside me begged to be released, but was not enough to take out both groups at once. To save Sam I would have to sacrifice Chris and the others. Malia stopped her screeching, going still as she eyed me, waiting to see what I would do.
One life or three.
I could not, would not, let Sam die.
I sent out a blast of aether that would obliterate Almorthanos’s soul.
A swarm of dark reapers appeared in front of him, the aether slamming into them and shattering their souls into thousands of pieces. I flung up a hand to protect my eyes as the shards pelted me, readying another blast as soon as I could see again.
Almorthanos had disappeared, taking Sam with him.
In his place stood the Grim Reaper.
He raised his scythe, cloak billowing around his skeletal frame. ‘Time to die, reaper.’
He swung the scythe at my head. I ducked, throwing my body to the left. I heard the whoosh as the curved blade sliced through the air beside me. I scrambled to my feet, dredging up as much aether as I could, knowing it was useless. I’d only been able to hold him off last time because the lost souls had helped me.
I threw what I could at him. He staggered, but quickly regained his balance and came after me again. My body trembled, exhaustion swamping me as I fought to remain standing. I would not cower before him. My hand shook as I pointed at him, ready to empty myself with one last blast.
Bright light flashed between us, blinding me. When I could see again he was on his knees, staring at the shimmering pool of light emitting from the soul that floated in the air between us.
Sarah.
She shone so brightly, her aura enhanced by the light of thousands of souls. At her command they reached out to form a ring around the Grim Reaper, trapping him. She turned to me.
‘We can’t hold him for long. You need to act fast if you are to free him.’
I shook my head. ‘Free him. I don’t understand.’
‘You have to kill Jonathon Grimm, only then can the Grim Reaper be free.’
I rubbed at my temples. ‘They’re the same person. You can’t kill the Grim Reaper. And how are you here? I thought you were trapped in the Underworld forever.’
‘When you ripped out the anchor linking him to the souls he fed from you created a tear in the veil between the Underworld and this one. It allowed us to escape, but the nether is already mending it. You must kill Grimm before it closes or there’ll never be another chance to release the Grim Reaper from Almorthanos’s influence.’
His influence?
Could it be?
The Grim Reaper was a force of nature, elemental, and Chris had once told me he’d only gained sentience after prolonged contact with Almorthanos via the link between Demania and the Underworld. Was it more than that? Had thousands of years of being poisoned by Almorthanos’s will created a whole new psyche, one that had taken over the Grim Reaper, perverting his nature?
‘See what we see,’ said Sarah. A thread of light stretched out from the shimmering mass around her and touched my face, gossamer fingers stroking my eyelids closed. When I opened them I looked at the Grim Reaper.
At first he didn’t look any different, a terrifying, abnormally tall skeletal creature encased in a hooded cloak that made black look pale. Then I saw it; a seething pool of darkness in his solar plexus, oozing with menace. The longer I looked at it, the sicker I felt, just like I had when I’d been in the chasm housing the portal to Demania.
Almorthanos’s taint. Like a cancerous growth, it was eating away at the Grim Reaper. How was I supposed to free him from something like that?
I looked to Sarah for guidance and the thread of light linking me to her shifted to my chest, thickening, flooding my body with aether.
‘Are you ready?’ Sarah asked.
‘No,’ I said, but gave a quick nod.
People were dying, the lure of their souls singing to me, calling for me to release them. If I couldn’t do this, free the Grim Reaper, many more would die. I exhaled sharply and slipped out of my body, feeling the welcoming touch of the souls joined with Sarah as my wings unfurled and my astral form passed through their light and entered the circle.
The Grim Reaper, held in place by undulating ribbons of light, his nether mist kept at bay by a wall of souls, growled when he saw me. A low growl filled with such hatred my astral form shivered. But I steeled myself for what I had to do.
I pushed aside the cloak, exposing the bones of his rib cage, and placed my hands on top of the darkness. At my touch it began to churn, throwing off a nauseating stench that set me dry retching, but I didn’t let go. Instead I used the aether the souls were feeding me and poured it into the darkness, threading it through the pulsating mass.
My revulsion grew as the darkness fought the light’s invasion. It felt alive beneath my hands, malignant, aware of what I was trying to do. Images bombarded me, of Sam with his throat slit, Chris with a sword sticking out of his chest, Rhonda cradling Connor’s severed head. I whimpered as increasingly violent images played in front of my eyes, but instead of distracting me from my purpose they strengthened my resolve. Any one of those horrible images could come true if I didn’t complete my task.
The flood of pictures stopped, and I could see the darkness weakening as the light overtook it. Bit by bit, the rest of the taint was washed away, leaving a shining ball of light in the Grim Reaper’s core. I dropped my hands, and gazed under the hood overing his face, wondering if what the souls and I had done would be enough.
Light blazed in the eye sockets of his skeletal face as he stared back at me. He straightened, the ribbons of light holding him fading away as he lifted his scythe. He swiped the scythe in the air above my head and the clamour around us stilled instantly.
A rush of wind swept through the room and when I spun around I saw it was sweeping up all the dark reapers, many of them hissing as they struggled to break free. But the wind was relentless, blowing fit to outshine a hurricane as it pulled them along in its wake, twisting and churning the reapers into a funnel shape. The Grim Reaper swung his scythe once more and the funnel of reapers shot through the roof, and were swiftly followed by the souls that had lent me their strength.
Sarah floated in front of me, a beautiful smile on her face, with the Grim Reaper an impassive statue at her side.
‘You did it. I knew you could.’ She embraced me, hugging me so tight I would have been bruised if I wasn’t in astral form. I hugged her back just as tightly.
When we finally let go of each other the Grim Reaper tapped his scythe on her shoulder and her smile grew even more beautiful as the light of her soul became incandescent. She was being sent on to rebirth, no longer doomed to an eternity trapped in the Underworld. I sobbed, my tears crashing to the floor as I said goodbye to my best friend for the very last time.
Once she was gone from sight the Grim Reaper inclined his head. Then he too faded away and the world crashed back into focus.
I returned to my body and stood, tears continuing to fall as I surveyed the broken and bloodied bodies that littered the room. So many dead, dozens more injured. It was unfathomable the amount of carnage spread out before me.
In the centre of it all stood Cade and Almorthanos, swords drawn, both of them staring at me, one with an expression of awe and the other one of hatred. That all changed in an instant as Almorthanos took advantage of his opponent’s distraction to swing his sword, aiming for Cade’s wings.
Cade spun lightly, his own sword knocking Almorthanos’s aside and then continuing on to bury itself in his enemy’s shoulder.
Almorthanos dropped his sword, a look of disbelief crossing his face as he looked at the gash the sword had opened, blood seeping from the wound. He sank to his knees, hand closing over the wound, grimacing in pain.
He looked up at Cade. ‘I surrender. Spare me, and I swear to trouble you no more.’
Cade shook his head. ‘No surrender, no mercy. Not for the likes of you.’ He swung his sword once more and this time it cut into Almorthanos’s neck.
A shrill scream rent the air as Malia launched herself at Cade. He spun to face her, sword at the ready, and her scream cut off in a gurgle as she impaled herself on its point.
I had few precious seconds to comprehend what had just happened before the urge to reap their souls hit. I took several deep breaths, my entire body trembling as I stepped towards them. I averted my eyes from the ruin above Almorthanos’s shoulders, concentrating my vision on his chest as I reached out and called his soul. It hovered in the air in front of me but I did not want to touch it, not yet.
Beside me, Cade had pulled his sword free of Malia’s body and was lowering her to the floor beside her brother. Her breath came in slow gasps as her life leeched out of her. I called forth her soul and she went mercifully still as it floated over to join her brothers. Only when they were together did I send them on their way.
A collective sigh filled the room and, duty done, I turned to search those still standing for a familiar face.
My knees buckled when I saw him.
37
‘Sam.’
I shook all over, relief making me dizzy. I wanted to run to him but wasn’t sure my legs would hold me up.
He smiled and my paralysis fled. I flew across the room and skidded to a halt just in front of him. My eyes and hands coursed over his body, searching for injuries, an explanation for the dark blood that coated the front of his shirt.
‘Are you hurt?’ Oh my God, is this your blood?’ My breathing sped up as my hands dived under his shirt.
‘Hey, it’s okay.’ He took my hands in his, staring deep into my eye. ‘I’m fine. We’re all fine.’
He inclined his head to the left and I looked to where Connor was helping Rhonda to her feet. Other than a few scrapes and looking wild around the eyes, they both appeared to be uninjured.
I frowned. ‘Where’s Chris?’
‘Talking to Cade and Killian.’
I looked behind me and saw Chris deep in conversation with both men, his body tense. He looked over at me, a resigned smile lighting his face. He looked back to Cade and nodded once before striding over to join us.
Around the room, a group of Cade’s men were herding those of the enemy that had survived the clash into the middle. Many of them were injured and had to be helped by their brethren, all of them avoiding looking at their slain leader and his sister. When they were all together Cade approached them, sword still dripping with Almorthanos and Malia’s blood.
‘Hear me, Davilian scum. Relinquish your wings and remain on this plane for the rest of your mortal existence or die here and now. But for those who choose to live, if any of you takes up arms against a member of Clan Godden after this day I will hunt each and every one of you down and Davila will be no more. What say you?’
Mutters arose from the group facing him but it wasn’t really a choice. One by one they pledged to obey Cade’s commands, and those about to give up their immortality were sent to wait near Killian.
I winced to think of them having to stand still while their wings were torn from their backs.
‘I can’t watch this,’ I said, turning to Sam. ‘Can we leave?’ I wanted to spend a few moments with Sam and the others, time untainted by death and destruction, before I said goodbye. Those I loved were now safe, there was no reason to linger, and it was time for Emily’s parents to bury their daughter. I would return to the Underworld, complete my duty as reaper, and one day hopefully the Grim Reaper would grant me the release of rebirth.
Sam gave my shoulders a squeeze. ‘I’m not too keen on sticking around either.’
‘We can’t go yet,’ said Chris. ‘We need to wait a little longer.’
I exhaled slowly and shook my head. ‘I can’t do this, Chris.’
He gave
me a gentle smile. ‘It will be fine, I promise. I’ll take you to another room.’
I gave in with a sigh and soon we were all seated in a cosy lounge on the other side of the compound. Still not far enough away to silence the screams completely, but with the door closed it was dampened enough that the tight band around my chest eased.
‘Hey,’ said Sam, brown furrowed as he knelt in front of me, my hands clasped in his. ‘It’s going to be okay. It’s over. Almorthanos and his crazy sister are dead, and whatever you did to the Grim Reaper seemed to do the trick.’
‘What did you do?’ Connor asked. ‘All we could see was a big ball of light surrounding the two of you.’
I shrugged. ‘I killed Jonathan Grimm. Well, the essence of him, and that returned the Grim Reaper to his natural state.’ I explained how he’d been infected by Almorthanos’s presence, warping his purpose. ‘Now he’s back to being an impartial harbinger of death.’
Rhonda’s eyes widened. ‘So does that mean you’re off the hook? You were tricked into being a reaper. You deserve a chance at a normal life.’
I shook my head. ‘I’m still a reaper.’ I could feel it, deep inside me, a gentle urge to ease the suffering of the dying. ‘But I don’t mind. Someone has to do it. Why not me?’
‘I guess having a reaper for a girlfriend won’t be so bad.’ Sam wore a crooked smile. ‘You can give me the heads up on any homicides, right? Help me catch the bad guys.’
Here it was. Time to come clean.
‘I won’t be able to do that, Sam.’ Tears filled my eyes. ‘I won’t be here.’
‘Where are you going to be?’ His eyes narrowed and he released my hands and stood. ‘Tyler, what are planning?’
‘She plans on dying. Or so she thinks,’ said Chris, coming to stand shoulder to shoulder with Sam. ‘But I’ve got a better idea.’
Winged Reaper Page 22
