The Reaper (S E Rise's The Fade series Book 1)

by S E Rise

  “Jack.”

  “I know Brin…I’m sorry.”

  “Don’t be…” she said and I kissed her harder and longer than I probably should have.

  “Everything is going to be okay…I promise.”

  “I know.” she said, I grasped her hand and lead her back to the stone staircase. Some would say my gift to her was a cruelty. To give her sight and to only then to take it away, I would not ever believe that her return to darkness could destroy everything we had just experienced.

  Chapter Forty Four

  Lightning tore across the sky and its rumble of thunder provided me with an ill omen as we emerged from the forgotten path.

  “It’s okay, just a storm.” I let her know where we were and that the hospital was just across the street. As if planned, I felt the compulsion fall into place.

  Damn it.

  “Do you have everything you need?” I asked and she nodded, reached into her purse and withdrew the revolver.

  “I can’t bring this into the hospital with me.” she said and handed me the revolver. I would rather she kept it with her but there would be no point to it. She wouldn’t even be able to make it through the metal detector at the entrance. I accepted it and tucked it into the pocket of my jacket. I doubted it would come into play against what Marley was about to throw at me but you never knew.

  I walked her to the entrance and it had started to rain. Water washed down across the both of us. We let it soak us.

  “The rain almost lets me see you.” She said and placed a hand onto my face.

  “I can’t come in.”

  “I know.”

  “Don’t worry okay. I won’t let anything happen to you.”

  “I know.”

  She kissed me and steam escaped from around us.

  “I’ll see you in a little bit.” She said.

  “I’ll be the one looking like me.” She turned and passed through the automated doors.

  Chapter Forty Five

  The compulsion was so great that I nearly ran away from the hospital. I knew this was Marley, the game had started and he had me beaten from the start. All he had to do was keep me chasing his shadow across the city.

  She was waiting for me; the high back chair of the office had done a great job holding her body upright and the sight of her almost stopped me in my tracks. She looked like Brin. Black hair, pale skin and I had no doubt that the eyeballs he had gouged out of her head had been blue. Her tethered soul waited for me, she had died only moments ago and she was not happy about it. The angry glare she gave me would have almost been funny.

  “He told me to tell you that he is better at this than you and that you probably should have read the fine print as well. Can you cut my tether and let me get the hell out of here now? I can’t believe I died because of this stupid little game you idiots are playing…” the litany of abuse and rant continued even as I cut the tether to her soul. She was not a happy woman.

  I felt the next compulsion slam into me and it was immediately followed by the pains of hell. He had killed this one out right. This one hadn’t been staged to die. This one had been at the far north of the city; the next one was in the far south west. I would have to use the Black Traps. I hoped there had been enough time for them to recharge.

  This Brin look alike worked the night shift at a meat packing plant. She sat in one of the deep freeze coolers, steam escaped from her neck stump and her head lay in her lap. Its bright blue eyes followed me as I entered the room. The soul of the woman sat on the floor next to her body, watching as her eyes moved around in her own severed head.

  The mouth opened and Marley’s voice slid out. “Damn Jack, She is pretty damn sexy when she’s naked. Think I should give her a poke or two before I cut her pretty face off?” I tried unsuccessfully to sever the woman’s tether but as I did the pain doubled as the third woman died on the east side of town.

  “You’re getting slow Jack. Are you going to be that slow when I come for Brin?” Marley asked and I kicked the severed head off the woman’s lap. The head went flying and the woman’s soul jumped up in annoyance.

  “What the hell was that for?” her soul yelled and I, this time successfully, severed the tether to her soul. Still miffed, she shot me the bird and I was once again on the run. I sent out the exit to the Black Trap and remembered that I hadn’t yet recalled the entrance.

  “Sorry.” I offered the soul with an offhanded gesture.

  I stopped and took a deep breath. This was exactly what he wanted from me. He wanted me running around like a crazy man and making mistakes. The pain of hell ripped up my legs and through me. I was having a hard time concentrating. The pain and compulsion driving me forward like a puppet.

  I was done running. He wanted me running, so then I wasn’t going to. If he wanted to kill Brin then he already could have. He had me distracted enough. He was playing a game with me. I didn’t have a choice about whether to play or not. I did have a choice at how I played. If I could deal with this pain that is.

  I stepped through the entrance and stepped down onto the dirty tiles of a public bathroom. The smell of grease and fried food accompanied the noise beyond the bathroom door. Three stall doors awaited me and only one of them was occupied.

  I was about to kick open the door to the stall when two very drunk bar whores sauntered through the door. The pain was enormous and I wasn’t in the mood to deal with them so I continued forward and kicked open the door to the stall. This time the Brin look like had her head turned around backwards. Her soul waited patiently next to her and I waited for her to say something.

  “He told me to tell you that he is going to kill her anyway and that he is tired of waiting for you to bring your “A” Game.” She delivered the message and I reaped her soul. The women had forgotten me as quickly as they had seen me and I startled them once again coming out of the stall. I didn’t wait to hear their screams as they discovered the dead woman in the stall.

  That’s three.

  One to the north, one to the south west, one to the East…

  Shit…I saw what he was doing and there was little I could do about it.

  The last two of his dead Brin look-a-likes in his five pointed star died and their combined pain nearly blinded me.

  I threw the entrance to the Black Trap, then the exit and stepped into the woman’s dressing room of Nordstrom’s on the West side of town. This poor woman lay naked on the floor, her clothes neatly folded on the bench and her possible choices of purchase were hanging on the hook on the wall. I couldn’t see the reason for her death but that didn’t matter. The tether of her soul ran to the corner of the room behind me. I lifted the Scythe and Marley cried out to me from the dead girl’s mouth.

  “You’re going to like this one.” He said, the corpses arms shot out for dramatic effect, then brought the hands down to a line I hadn’t notice on her chest. “Make a wish Jack.” The finger’s dug into the flesh, got a good grip on each side and pulled. The Brin look-a-like’s body pulled itself completely apart. From the top of her head to the cleft of her sex simply split in two exact halves.

  The woman’s soul had closed her eyes and I didn’t wait any longer to set her free.

  That was four…She was in the West…The next one is in the South East.

  There was nothing left to do but reap the woman’s soul. I stepped from the exit of the Black Trap and onto the filthy floor of a flop house. The stench was enormous; the unwashed bodies of druggies and heroin addicts lay haphazardly strewn about. I saw her soul crying over the body she no longer lived in.

  She looked up as I approached and I heard a voice call out my name from behind me. I turned and found an tired and confused looking Jillian.

  “What the hell is going on tonight? If you’ve been as busy as I have then there are a lot of dead bodies lying around town.”

  “I have been. But that’s all about to end.” I said cryptically, severed the Brin look-a-like’s soul as the compulsion of the next and last two job
s fell into place. In my mind’s eye I saw the blue flames of sorcery come alive as I completed Marley’s five pointed star for him.

  “Do you feel that Jack? Something big is about to happen.” Jillian said and I couldn’t agree with her more. I wish I had had just a few moments to enlist her help.

  “All hell is about to break loose Jillian…and I think I’m about to set it free.” I said, threw the exit of the Black Trap and tossed the entrance just in front of me.

  Come on baby, just one more time.

  Chapter Forty Six

  Enough of the games.

  I stepped into the entrance of the Black Trap and stepped onto the gelatinous floor of the Black. The soles of my shoes slipped beneath me and I splashed into the waiting muck.

  Oh shit…not now…son of a bitch.

  The Black Traps had been weaker than I thought and in the distance I could see the exit waiting for me. from this side I could see the white corridor of the hospital shining through.

  So that’s what it looks like from this side. I had made it a habit to always close my eyes when passing through the black. I don’t think that is going to be an option this time. Something enormous walked in front of the light. Though I could see relatively well in the dark it was still nearly pitch. I pushed myself up to my feet and took a few hesitant steps. I heard the movement behind me, I stopped and focused on the slithering black ripples.

  Shit!

  I turned and ran as fast as the gelatinous surface would allow. Above, I heard the flapping of wings and barely dodged the open maw of a sucking nightmare. The webbing around its mouth had been stretched wide in preparation for me.

  I slipped and down I went. I rolled and sloshed and felt the impact across my back. The web like mouth was sinking it hooks into me. I tried to shake it loose. It’s short but strong arms clawed at my waist to help it gain purchase. The light of the exit came back into view and for a terrifying moment I thought it had moved positions. I couldn’t get the damn sucking, biting thing off my back but I could still run and I did. Something enormous waited for me near the light but I had to make it there first.

  A tortured scream of a wail filled my being and I nearly stopped in my tracks. A strong ominous voice suddenly bellowed a word and I recognized it.

  “Fuego.”

  Light suddenly exploded near the exit and it allowed me to see more clearly the nightmares that lay in wait for me. The light began to shrink and dwindle. A lone stoic figure stood holding the burning torch and I heard the things of the Black scream in pain at the light. The sucking thing on my back had found its sweet spot and I felt its teeth sink into my flesh.

  No time..just keep running.

  I drew closer and claws, hands, hooks and tendrils ripped and tore at me. I was close enough to see that I had been wrong. There were two people waiting for me. The one holding the torch leaned forward as he screamed at me and his black hood flew back from his head.

  “Hurry damn you!” The boney skeletal skull of Archibald the Reaper looked back at me. He pulled forth his Scythe and its white blaze of fire added to the light. Around his neck hung the severed hand of his true love and her tethered soul was the second person I had seen. She had one hand covering her mouth in obvious anxiety and the other waving at me to hurry forward. The creature on my back was taking its toll and I used the only weapon I had left to me. I pulled my scythe and scraped it across my back. I felt it pass through the thing’s flesh and it screamed at its touch. It didn’t kill it or sever its soul. More than likely because it didn’t have one, but it dislodged it from my back. I heard it splash into the watery muck. Why I hadn’t thought of trying to use my scythe before is beyond me. I swung and slashed as I ran. As I grew nearer to the couple, Archibald’s Ethereal Love stepped closer and then behind her husband. Her hand gently rested upon the robe of his skeletal shoulder.

  “Well met Reaper.”

  “Well met Sir and Lady.” I said. How they had known about my situation was beyond me. It seemed I had an unknown benefactor on my side.

  “Do you love her?” The Lady’s ethereal voice asked and I understood then. I understood why. Why he remains the way he does and why he will never reap her soul.

  “I do, my Lady.” I said and glanced across to the exit. It was shrinking and I wasn’t quite sure if I could still fit through it.

  “Hurry boy and do not believe everything they tell you.”

  I never do.

  I nodded my head in thanks as he raised the torch and scythe in an attempt to bat away a long tentacle. The owner bellowed in rage and I heard Archibald the Reaper laugh at the challenge.

  I dove for the Exit and felt it shrink even smaller as my head and shoulders passed through. I pushed and clambered against the shrinking opening and finally rolled on to the floor. It snapped shut and I called them both to me. The Black Traps were spent as was I. I took a moment to take in a couple breaths and listened to the conversations around me. At first they buzzed with concern at my appearance and as the Forget Me spell fell in place they pretty much left me where I lay.

  Chapter Forty Seven

  The lights flickered in the hall as the lightning’s thunder rolled across the world. The bustling staff held their collective breaths as they came one lightning strike closer to losing power. The emergency lighting would kick on but it wasn’t something they looked forward to. I felt the compulsion for the two souls I was called here to reap behind me. Behind the doors of this operating room two people were going to die; Doctor Richard Chun and my Brin. I was called here to reap the soul of the woman I love.

  Down at the end of the hall the elevator dinged and its doors began to open. Marley stepped into the corridor, he wore the same sharp black suit he had been wearing earlier. Liquid black tendrils of horror raced across the distance, piercing everyone that stood in their way. It tore through every orifice available and lifted them into the air like puppets. There were no screams or shouts of pain, only the occasional beep of a monitor. Whatever the liquid black was it took control of the dangling bodies of flesh and as one they began to move forward. The lights decided that they had seen enough and exploded. Sparks rained down as if on command and the building shook as the thunder broke the silence.

  “Hello Jack, I told you to bring your “A” Game didn’t I?” He preened and something became clear to me. The five pointed star wasn’t a Ring of Summoning; simply by the fact that he was here. You never trapped yourself in your own Summoning Ring. No, this was something different and besides that I could still move my feet.

  Before I could add my own snappy bit of banter in return, someone decided to beat me to it.

  “He did.” Marshal Wyatt Earp said as he stepped out and into the corridor. He wore silver spurs and black boots, his jeans were black and he wore a long black leather coat. He nodded to me with his black Stetson hat. Marshal Wyatt Earp was one of the fastest if not the fastest men alive and when he drew his legendary pistols he didn’t waste time in talking any further. The orange etching of enchantment blazed along the cold black steel and the two soul destroying bullets left spirals of smoke as they crossed the distance to their target. Two of the meat puppet bodies nearly exploded at the impact and before Wyatt could fire again Marley motioned with his hand and the Black Liquid Meat Puppets moved like a wave towards the marshal. He fired off two more rounds as all twenty or so of the Black Liquid Meat Puppets smashed him through the door he had exited from.

  Marley whooped aloud at his own feat and decided it was once again time for banter.

  Hey maybe I can get him to monologue himself to death.

  “Tell me Jack, wasn’t that the coolest thing you have ever seen? Not so bad now are you…You Robotic Pig Smelling Jackass?” he taunted and turned to make sure I was watching. “Come on now…You can’t tell me that wasn’t impressive.” He raised his hands as he gloated and took a few more steps forward.

  It was pretty damn impressive…

  Behind me the emergency lighting in the Operating Room k
icked on and light shown from the two square windows.

  “You want to see something really cool?”

  Not really. Marley reached up to the eye patch covering his left eye and removed it. Red ethereal fire blazed within and I stared into the mad light of Aleister Crowley’s missing eyeball.

  Guess we know where at least one of them went.

  He was closing the distance between us and I only had one trick left up my sleeve. I needed him closer. He obliged and continued further as if he had not a care in the world.

  “Can you believe it Jack? As powerful as that old bald headed fruit was he never saw it coming.” He said and I could see he was trying to be funny. He even waited with his mouth half open and head slightly tilted. When I didn’t laughed he shook his head and continued forward.

  “Oh come on Jack, ‘He Didn’t see it coming’. That was a good one…Lighten up a little and try to see the humor in all this.” he said and this time I did respond.

  “Humor? How is any of this funny?” I asked incredulously and tried not to play my only card too soon.

  “Because Jack, the irony of it is that you are your own worst enemy.” He said and stepped within the proximity I needed. He threw his hands up into the air and said his words of power. A long sinister blade formed from the Liquid Black in his left hand and something wet and fleshy grew and pulsed in his right.

  “You’re going to love this part.”

  “I’m sure I will.” I said and I reached for my Reaper’s Scythe.

  “You understand that I am going to kill them both, but here is the part you’re going to love…I am going to let you choose how each of them dies.” He raised his blade to emphasis one choice and the black beating heart he held as the other

  I need time. I need to think.

  “Why Marley? Why all of this?”

  “Really Jack?” he asked and looked at me like I should know, besides the obvious, the answer to his question. When I looked confused he began to laugh, reigned it in with a controlling breath and almost started laughing again. It was infuriating me “When all of this is over Jack, you and I are going to laugh about this…Okay maybe I will laugh about this.”