The next second my feet were out from underneath me. My arms flayed, pistol flying out of my grip as my butt crashed to the hard ice. Pain riveted me, slicing up my tailbone and further into my back. My discomfort wasn’t the issue though. Whatever it was that yanked my feet out from underneath me hadn’t even touched me. Glancing around, I tried to stand, but the second my palm pressed onto the ground it was swiped aside. All my weight came crashing down. My chin collided with the ice, smacking my teeth together. I bit the side of my jaw. The metallic taste was bitter in my mouth.
The ice melted beneath me. I looked around again.
Joy decapitated heads but the red cloaks kept coming. So many dead. So many more still willing to kill themselves for their cause. Fear crept in my chest.
“She’s the one you didn’t get rid of?” The man’s voice was gruff. He had a black crow on his mask that was different from the plain white ones. Lifting his two fingers in the air, he signaled them all to stop moving. They listened. Was this dude one of the main honchos? With the sweep of his hand, he raised me in the air, floating toward them. Oh, Jesus! Not what I was expecting at all! He was a magic user of some sort. A wizard? I didn’t know, but what I knew was that I had to do something.
“It is,” another said. A cold flash of familiarity swept over me. I couldn’t see him behind the mask, but I just knew it was the blond vampire who kidnapped me. “But, she didn’t look this beautiful dying.”
Rage bubbled inside me. My fallen pistol found its way back to my hand. I aimed and fired. The magic user repelled my attack by throwing up a black magical shield. The spell he used absorbed my shot on impact. I shot four more times with the same outcome. The vampire reached out as my floating body came closer. I shuddered.
I kicked and thrashed in the air. Chuckles rang out. “You have no idea what you’re messing with,” I warned as I desperately blasted the pistol at them over and over to no avail. I screamed.
“You might have some Reaper abilities, but you’ve yet to fully figure them out,” the main one informed me.
Unfortunately, he was right. I was new to that world. As much as I hated it, I knew I needed more time. But, I had something I’d mastered.
Conjuring Wrath.
I beamed brilliantly, letting my calmness seep through my limbs as I faded. It worked, I faded into that strange dark place a fraction of a second. I expected that he’d know what I did having a power of his own. He was waiting when I reappeared behind him.
“You should have at least tried to attack,” the main honcho said. “A real Reaper would have flayed me like a fish with that move.”
I waited for what I conjured, anticipating the sheer calamity of his essence as he formed close by. My feet touched the ground, and I felt my weapon behind me. Blue eyes widened like saucers through the crow mask. He stumbled away from me. Just as Barron’s arm shot out for the magic user, a sword pierced through his chest coming from his exposed back. With Kitty standing behind him, the other demons staggered backward and ran since their boss was dead. Kitty’s yanked her sword out of her victim and watched him fall over. Tossing up her weapon in the air, it scattered into purple lights of her essence and started zapping all over the place. The tiny purple dots were so beautiful. A second later, I saw that the specks she created were weapons. They tore into the cloaked beings running away along with any demon the fragments fell on.
Kitty never once bothered to look around. She placed her hand on her stomach instead, and in a whiney voice, she asked me, “Hey, could you conjure up some Slim Jims? Food is the only thing I can’t materialize at will.”
I materialized what she wanted. Kitty snatched the snacks out of my hand the moment they appeared. I turned my skates back into shoes. “Thanks.” She winked. “I get kind of moody without food.” Her eyes widened as she stared behind me. “Whoa, Barron. You’re about to rage.” She took a step back, and her eyes darted to the humans, calculating the danger they might be in if Barron raged.
I’d never seen him do it myself except for when August forced him to, but they’d told me enough times of how dangerous he was when he truly raged out.
Barron’s yanked me around to face him. I took in the shimmer of his hand fading to bone on my shoulder. Not just that, his skin had a gleam to it like it was damp with sweat. Then I watched it blink away completely. A flash of bones winked at me before he solidified again.
“I thought I told Joy to take you to the coven.” His voice was different. My skin prickled at the resonating sound. Not even Wrath sounded so powerful and earsplitting when he spoke in my head.
“Barron…”
I stopped talking when I heard the cloaked enemies nearby speak, “Which one now? There are two.” I frowned. The masks looked back and forth from Joy who was fighting, Kitty who was behind me inhaling a snack, and watching Barron eerily.
I grimaced. He couldn’t be under the clutches of his curse when something terrible might be about to happen. None of these fools was any match against the Reapers but the creepy way they were hesitating over his sisters frightened me. It was like they were scheming something for Joy and Kitty.
Barron’s swirling essence burned bright red as the demons approached. He tilted his head to the side, his skull revealing itself for a second before his hair and skin came back. Joy jumped in and sliced into the demons for us.
This might be my only chance…
I bit my lip and realized I couldn’t waste any more time. I wrapped my arms around his waist, pressed myself into him, and faded.
“What the fuck, Gwendolyn?” he yelled, terrifying me, but I pressed on.
We were in Grim’s woods again. I pushed Barron into a tree. Something I hoped was understanding flickered in his eyes a moment before he tried shoving me away. I held on to him for dear life, pressing my nose into his chest as I did so.
“Stop. I’ve got to go back. I won’t be satisfied until they’re dead,” he shouted. “I can’t believe they dared try to hurt you again!”
Wrath’s bones flashed again, and I panicked. Lifting my gaze, I reached for his neck and kissed him. He stiffened against me. His lips vanished. My mouth fell against cold bones. “Barron,” I said urgently. “You watched Joy kill them. Quickly. You need me, and we’ve got to head back because they need you.”
Flesh formed across his bones once more. His brown stormy gaze landed on me then the trees. “You brought us here?”
“Yes.”
“Good. Anywhere but there.”
I agreed wholeheartedly. Something hard and cold touched my ear. Barron was still close to raging.
“I think it’s too late,” he muttered and tore my dress straight down the middle. My bare breasts sprang free as I caressed his hard cock. He was ready and willing—we both were. My joy didn’t last too long as his thick girth became skeletal. I peered up at eyeless sockets.
“Barron?” I whispered.
No reply, but the spike of his power swelled around him. Pressing my naked chest against his tux, I said, “Wrath.”
No response. Dread settled in me. It wasn’t the persona that Barron’s suppressed emotions created either. That creature was his true rage.
I yelped as the skeleton shoved me. I flew several feet away from him and landed on my tailbone. Jumping to my feet, I said, “Barron.”
The creature stalked toward me. I gathered my ripped dress around my hips and held the material against my chest. His red essence, in the form of hands, reached out for me. That should have relaxed me but it didn’t. I had no means of taking his fury away when he was in that state. Barron no longer withheld himself from me so there was no trace of a conscience in his curse either.
I remembered Wrath telling me I had nothing to fear from him. So, why was I afraid of Barron in that state?
But instead of coming for me, Barron crept past me. The flapping of wings roamed above us. I twisted around and watched as he materialized his scythe. The dragons had Barron’s attention, and by the sounds of their roaring, th
ey didn’t care much for Barron either in that state. His gaze went to the sky. Alarms rang in my head. God, no! The dragons were their friends.
It appeared I was safe with Barron, but everyone and everything else was in danger.
His essence still reached out for me despite his focus being elsewhere. Without a way to get what he needed, his curse had to work as it did before me—as a monster who killed everything in its path.
“No!” I screamed, but he didn’t turn around. Yanking my heel off, I threw it at his back.
His body whipped around, eyeless sockets peered at me.
“Come here,” I told him. When he just stood there, I yelled, “You’re not hurting them!” His essence spiked around him, hands growing larger and coming closer to me. “Come to me,” I beckoned him. “Let’s figure this out.”
Wrath stalked my way. He listened.
Oh, God! What do I do?
I needed a plan. I stared down at my mangled dress. Could I seduce Barron out through sex? It was worth a try.
I dropped the material. My nipples pebbled against the warm air. As he stopped in front of me, I saw a change in his essence.
I took a step, then another until I was standing inches away from him. I leaned into his chest. “Barron?”
No reply, of course. I bit my bottom lip and stared at Mr. Bones in his tux. This is impossible. I loved Barron, but I didn’t know how to approach sex with him like that. I needed him present with me. I didn’t want bones and a creeper smile. Most of all, I needed a dick to grab. Something to work with!
“Barron, I need you. This is strange with—”
Suddenly, my back hit the ground and Barron hovered over me. Oh, God! I closed my eyes and gasped. He was going to kill me.
Wait, a second… A real solid, heavy weight pushed against me. My eyes fluttered open. One brown eye was locked on me while the other was still an empty socket of red essence flaring in it. Barron was split between curse and man. “Spread your legs, dimples,” he whispered urgently.
Oh, well, okay then.
“If we don’t start right this second everything’s dead.” He was stating the truth. That might be our last chance. If his wrath came out completely again, then... “It’s because of this that I have an extra minute.” He grabbed one of my exposed breasts to show what he was talking about.
“Is your…” I didn’t want him to feel incompetent when he had no control over his body parts vanishing. I simply wanted to know if we had all the body parts required.
“Yes,” he hissed the word. “Let’s get a move on while I still have a cock.”
I parted my legs wide as Barron nudged between them.
He fumbled with his zipper and said, “Slide your panties aside, or I’ll fuck you through them.”
He was so dangerously close to becoming his monster at that moment. It made me tremble to see him half skeleton and half man. Regardless, I was into him. Wrath was brutally destructive, but I loved him.
I pushed my hand through the small space between us and pulled my panties out of the way. A cold bony hand slipped beneath my dress, grabbing my ass and lifting me. His mouth—well, the half that was there—slammed over one of my pebbled nipples and sucked until pain shot through it. I arched. I sensed the pressure of his mouth to my toes. Heat flooded my pussy, the arousal I didn’t think I could reach was coming to life for Barron and his coursing rage. When he slammed into me, I still held my panties against my thigh. His thrusting ignited every nerve in my body. My inner walls ached to accommodate his thick, throbbing girth. My hands slipped around his neck, and I felt bone and heated flesh. “Gotta make you come,” he murmured as he dragged his mouth away from my tender nipple. His kisses were brutal as if he was forcing his sin against me. Rotating his hips, he buried himself deeper then pulled out partially before slamming into me again and again. Sparks of pleasure slithered over me with every thrust. Oh, he was going to make me come all right.
And quickly.
I pulled at his hair and leaned into his ear. “I want your wrath.”
As Barron shuddered more flesh appeared. “Fuck!” he croaked out.
His earnest words sent me over the edge. An explosion of passion unfurled inside me. I trembled, and I screamed, like the ecstasy flew through me.
“That’s it,” Barron encouraged against my lips. His thrusts began to slow as I came down from my orgasm. No longer drowning in euphoria, I opened my eyes to see that my lover was normal. No traces of a skeleton were left. I saw the steady flow of wrath seeping into me. Okay, I would never get used to that part.
“Arms up,” Barron ordered, and I tossed them over my head. I didn’t want to blast him with the lethal amount of power rushing into me. He rubbed his knuckles down the side of my arm, over my breast, waist, and hip as he slowly pumped in and out. Shivers broke out over me. “I’m going to…now.” He shuddered again.
“Please.” I wanted to give him the same pleasure he gave me.
Satisfaction and a different type of rapture snaked through me when his release spilled into me.
Checking to see if our connection was back, I thought, “Can you hear me?” I frowned when nothing happened.
Barron kissed my nose. “Patience, dimples. The mind reading will come back between us when it wants.” Which was crazier? The fact that he knew what I was doing or how relaxed he was?
“I have no patience,” I said honestly. “I want it now.”
Another kiss to my nose before he exhaled. “We’ve got to hurry.”
We moved with haste. Instead of materializing another dress on me, Barron dressed me in a pair of jeans and a T-shirt.
My arms cramped as I held them in the air, but by the sheer amount of static that tingled my fingertips, there was no way I was dropping them. I could hear the power crackling.
“Here,” Barron said as gloves slipped over my hands. He used his power to put them on for me. Once they were on, I dropped my arms and sighed. “Take them off the second we’re there. I want to see you tear into all the remaining demons.”
I squinted. “Did I get all of your wrath?”
He chuckled. Walking up to me, he caressed my rump with his palm. “Every drop. Still, you don’t need wrath to want to kill those fuckers. They messed with you, and they’re trying to get to my sisters.”
_______
Once we faded, we returned to the same spot. There were a lot more demon bodies piled on the ground than when we left. “Good to have you back!” Kitty called out as she dropped a roundhouse kick into a demon’s chest.
“There’s just these three left,” Joy said pointing to the cloaked figures she fought with Kitty. Actually, it looked like two cats playing with mice. Kitty smacked one, kicked another, forcing them all to stumble into Joy, who would punch them. One dropped to his knees while the other two staggered back to Kitty.
Back and forth. Back and forth.
Barron took a step, and Joy grabbed his elbow. “Don’t even think about it. We need to keep one alive. For some reason, Kitty and I have been targeted.”
“They mentioned something about capturing one of the sisters,” Kitty said.
They were finished playing around because Kitty killed two instantly. Joy tied up the last one with a green rope she materialized.
“I think we’ve taken care of the entire city.” Kitty waved her hand and looked toward the sky. “The air seems cleaner.”
“You will tell us what Harvest is planning next,” Joy said to the last demon as she tightened her rope around him and yanked off his mask.
The mud-colored demon spat in her face. “I won’t tell you, no matter what.”
Kitty backhanded him, and the man slumped over, unconscious. “I’ll start descending these souls before they wreak havoc,” she said, rubbing her shoulders and sighing. With the flick of her wrist, her black cloak covered her body. I noticed that she had switched out her formal clothing for boots and pants.
Then, I saw black orbs everywhere. My Reapers sense told me it
was evil souls fluttering around angrily. Being a Reaper kind of made me feel like a psychic—I knew things about people just by staring at them. Weird.
“I’ll start on the humans.” Joy discarded her bloody dress for more comfortable clothing.
The killing had stopped—at least in the area we were in. But, I had a suspicion the night would be a long one.
“Want to help me?” Joy stared at me.
“Yeah.” I replied, stepping away from Barron.
“She’ll be fine with us,” Kitty said as she tied her hair up. “Go help the others.”
With a reluctant exhale and a peck on my cheek, Barron faded to a different part of the city.
“Joy! Kitty!” Maureen ran out from an alley dressed in dark jeans and a shirt. “I need your help. There’s an injured woman who’s close to dying.”
Why was Maureen running instead of fading? The small time I had known her she always faded everywhere—more than both Kitty and Joy in the castle.
“Where’s Mom?” Joy asked her, rushing over.
“Maureen’s asking for help?” Kitty brows arched at Maureen.
Kitty faded. In a blink, she was stepping in front of Joy. Kitty held her arm out, blocking Joy’s path.
“What are you doing?” Joy’s brows knitted together.
“The face and body are uncanny,” Kitty muttered. “But you forgot the most important part in impersonating our sister.”
Joy gazed at Maureen again, then exhaled loudly. “Her essence… I can’t believe I wasn’t paying attention.”
Studying Maureen, I immediately saw the problem. The vibrant orange was gone. Reaper siblings essences might not be wild all the time like Barron’s, but it was always present. With Maureen it was almost like something was trapped within her. I could sense a terrible iciness—or blackness—trying to rise from her skin like it was begging to break free.
If Kitty hadn’t pointed it out, none of us would have noticed. Something was off about Maureen. Anxiety moved through my veins.
Conjuring Wrath (Seven Deadly Book 3) Page 24
