I hated this. I hated how crazy my life continued to spiral. All because of demons like him. I felt my palm heat with energy and knew the power was itching to be let out again. I took a calm, reassuring breath and let it go. The light shot out and jumped at Vengeance’s chest. He fell to his knees screaming. The light ripped his chest open. Blood flew everywhere and when the light finally faded from his chest, he tipped his head back toward the sky and laughed. Demons were all crazy.
“How interesting.” He got back up. His smile sent a chill up my spine. I took a step back. There was a slight pounding in my head. I grabbed the side of my face. “It makes me want it even more.”
“I don’t understand any of you! You guys are already strong. Why go through all this trouble for more?”
“A human wouldn’t understand.” He rubbed his fingers over the hole in his chest before glaring at me. “You couldn’t understand my need for it, my thirst to have more. I don’t want to be only powerful. I want to be the strongest being that ever existed. Stronger than Fear, stronger than Grim.” He took a step forward. “The Devil himself. Or better yet, maybe I can surpass God.”
He was exactly like Fear. No wonder Heaven wanted me safe, this power could be dangerous in the wrong hands. “I won’t let you have it and neither will Grim.” I started backing away, keeping my eyes on him.
He shook his head at me. “I find it amusing that you stub your nose at me, but you hold Grim on a pedestal.” I didn’t think that was true. I just knew who to trust. “You do realize without Killian, he’s not even a demon, not even made of flesh? He’s an entity. All glorified and powerful, but that’s it for him. Do you honestly think protecting you or fighting me is anything to a being born without emotions?” I felt my face grow hot with anger. I knew exactly what he was, he didn’t have emotions when he came to be—but he had them now. “I can smell your doubt… tastes wonderful.” It wasn’t doubt. It was anger!
“You have feeling for him when you shouldn’t. He can’t respond to your emotions when he doesn’t have them!” he yelled, and I covered my ears. I didn’t want to fall under any of his tricks again. I looked around for Grim. Where was he? The part of me that was weak—scared was slipping out. “It’s sad to see something so vulnerable being tricked. I will take you away from here. Come with me and let me have the power. I can take it without harming you, you just have to be mine.” Something about his words felt hypnotic.
I snapped out of it. “Stop it!”
But he didn’t. “Do you think Grim is any different than me? Take a look around.” He spread his arms out wide. “This place is an illusion. One that he created in your mind.” No, he was lying. “No place is really this beautiful. Let’s have you see the truth.” He closed his eyes—arms still stretched wide—and everything blackened. It was like a mirage was falling over everything. The trees started wilting and dying—everything turning coal black. The sky was as dark as the night sky I was used to seeing only without stars. I circled around. Everything was dead. I could see for miles through the woods because, without the life of the trees, there was nothing but decay. My head was already pounding and I fell to my knees, gripping my hands together.
He was lying, I knew it. Grim wouldn’t lie to me… “Take a good look. This is what Grim’s home really looks like.” I looked toward the castle. Even from this distance, the castle was no longer the same. The beautiful gray castle was gone and replaced by a terrifying black one. It looked old, rotted, and brittle.
I closed my eyes. “You’re messing with my head. Get out!”
“Grim’s the one that plays with your mind.”
“I don’t believe what I see. He’s nothing like the rest of you.” I got up and started running. No one was around. The sky was dark and the woods were dead. All I could hear was the crunch of the twigs breaking underneath my shoes and Vengeance’s laughter.
He was suddenly in front of me. I turned around, but he was already there. I moved left; he was there to stop me. He was wanting me to feel trapped. I was trapped. I could only face him. “I will never let you have the Vessel.” Of course, it was a complete bluff. I didn’t know how to prevent anyone from taking it from me. Just because it awakened inside of me… obviously, didn’t mean nothing because there always seemed to be another way in the Underworld.
He was angry. “I don’t need your permission.”
“Your games stop here.” Grim’s voice drifted through the woods behind Vengeance. He turned to face him.
“Don’t you grow tired of doing what you’re told?”
“I think you’ve done enough talking in your lifetime.” Grim moved with a dark purpose toward him. “Funny thing, your death has been hanging around me for days... just for this moment.” His scythe was in his hand, no longer a machete. “Today’s your end.” Vengeance looked genuinely afraid this time. I didn’t know what had changed, but the huge demon was cowering at Grim’s presence.
“I will not die today!” Vengeance sounded like a desperate man.
“Don’t act like you don’t know. It’s predestined. Your death; every death. I know and see them all. The creatures of the Underworld crawl at your feet as we speak.” Vengeance looked down at his feet and I did the same. I saw nothing and I didn’t think he did either. Whatever Grim saw, we couldn’t see. “Death has come for you. There’s no escaping me, and you will know true terror in the darkest depths of the Underworld. Satan’s Flames.”
“No! No!” Vengeance staggered back, and I moved out of the way. The demon was terrified and it was at that moment that I witnessed what it meant to be Death. Grim never took a life until it was their time. That was his truth and Vengeance knew it. The air charged with power that came from Grim. He looked frightening as he stalked toward Vengeance.
“You brought this death upon yourself. Everything led up to this point, to where I take your life. The moment your greed became too much. The very moment you laid eyes on Melanie, it sealed your fate. All I had to do was wait until your death was allowed. That day is today.” Vengeance materialized a sword in his hand and attacked Grim.
Grim never held back—he didn’t have to anymore. He blocked Vengeance effortlessly and swung the scythe down over his arm. Vengeance cried out as his arm fell to the ground. I had no idea how he was even alive with all the wounds he had on his body. Grim forced him onto his knees.
He spat at Grim. “You think it will end once you kill me?” He grinned. “More demons will come for her when they learn of her existence. How can you protect her from all of the Underworld?”
“I’ll protect her,” was Grim’s answer.
“You know you can’t.”
“You know nothing.” Grim started lifting his scythe. “You shall never see another soul. You shall never seek to harm anyone ever again. Your suffering begins now in the pit of the flames.” With his words, he sliced his neck open and blood spewed out. Grim bent down on one knee and with what bit of life Vengeance had left, Grim burrowed his hand into Vengeance’s chest and ripped out his heart. The body tumbled to the side and his darkened soul seeped out of his dead corpse.
As he died, the woods went back to normal. His illusion died with him. His soul screamed at Grim. He opened a passage up with his scythe, a mass of flames swirled on the inside. I stumbled away from it—the heat of the place Vengeance was going set my skin on fire. I brought my arms over my face.
Pain… Madness… Anger…. Torment. All of them could be felt from the flames. Sadness… Agony. My heart was racing to a sickening pulse.
Vengeance’s soul screamed louder as it was sucked into the passage. The feelings left me as the passage closed, and I sucked in a deep breath. It was only when the passage was gone that I saw what I had done to my neck. I had been clawing at my neck. I still felt the sickness of the passage crawling over my skin even if the feelings weren’t felt anymore.
I never wanted to be around when Grim opened it again.
Chapter Sixteen
Grim stepped beside me, gazing
over my body. “Are you okay?” I staggered a bit, the slight pounding in my head was still there and the feeling I got from the passage—Satan’s flames, Grim had called it, I thought—left me drained.
Instead of answering him, though; I asked my own question. “Can you not take a life until it’s their time to die?”
“I cannot. It goes against my very nature—it’s a weakness.” It made sense, the Grim Reaper being unable to kill anything unless it was meant to be.
“Do demons know that?”
He sighed. “This is hardly the time, Melanie… but some do, some don’t.”
I grabbed his shoulders. “The demon with Molly… where is he?” I had to convince Grim that we had to save Ryan. Dread seeped through my bones at the thought that maybe Grim…
“You’re asking a lot of questions.” He pulled my hands away from his shoulders and held them. “He’s alive. More like, I can’t kill him.”
“You can’t kill him?” I looked to him with horror in my eyes. “Do you know that that demon is Ryan?”
“That’s…” Realization startled his voice. “It makes sense. I can’t sense Ryan at all and the demon, I sense nothing from him as well.” He looked like he was pondering something before saying, “Just what has Fear done to him? I sense no death—no life either, there’s nothing.” His voice sounded distant—confused even.
“What does that mean for Ryan?”
“I take it Vengeance is dead?” We both turned in the direction of Molly’s voice. She looked worn down. “When his dagger stopped chasing me, I figured Grim finally axed him… Good riddance, one less fool I have to worry about.” Ryan—still as the charred demon—stepped out from behind a tree and went to her side. She smiled at him. I made him that way, I thought.
When he looked over at us, he growled, exposing his teeth. His manners were always the same, animal-like. Every time he attacked, he charged at them and he was always growling. It broke my heart to know that was Ryan. “What has Fear done to him?”
She arched her eyebrows and smiled. “I already told you. This one’s special. Fear used a part of himself to create him. That makes him indestructible. Grim knows, don’t you?” Her eyes lit up with darkness. “Sorry, I eavesdropped. There’s no death to take, am I right?”
“Even for an entity, creating something… could hardly be easy—or possible,” Grim said, gripping his scythe tighter.
“You’re not listening.” She sighed, placing her hands on her hips. “The boy was already a soul that belonged to Fear. Which meant he was already something—a ghost. He took a part of himself—insert however the hell Fear does his shit—and places it inside the boy. So, it’s not that he was created from scratch. Plenty of strong demons could do what Fear did to the boy.”
She placed her hand on the charred demon’s side. “But you do know why he used the boy, right, Melanie? To remind you of what has become of someone you love… all because of you. Fear really is twisted—wanting to see you fall apart every time your friend over here tried to take your life.”
Her words were shrinking—or it was me. I was drifting away from reality. I was falling inside the hole inside my mind. The one that wanted to me to hide from everything. I blinked… blinked… The pit inside me never faded.
“Has he grown afraid now that he knows his death is coming?” Grim asked Molly. She looked confused. “It’s approaching and it’s making him desperate.” Molly almost looked surprised or startled.
Her eyes turned on the charred demon. “Come, dead boy, time to rest.” At her words, his burnt skin began to fall rapidly from his body. He fell to his knees at her feet. Naked and himself. He curled up on the ground shaking.
“Ryan!” I called his name, but it was like he couldn’t hear me. His eyes were closed and violent tremors were wracking over his body. Molly bent down and picked up his head—pressing it against her chest. She used one hand to hold his head in place and the other to pet him.
“Good boy,” she whispered to him.
“Don’t treat him like an object!” I gritted my teeth as I yelled. She seemed delighted.
Her gaze drifted back to Ryan. “Foolish boy, even now he clings to his love for you… but for you, there’s someone else in your heart.” If it was one thing all of them were good at, it was trying to make me feel shame or guilt. I looked down, but this time I didn’t feel guilt. I could never change how every part of me felt—my heart. The same way Ryan couldn’t change his.
“Let’s make a deal—”
“There will be no deals.” Grim’s voice cut through the air.
“Oh, relax, will ya? Always so temperamental when it comes to humans.” He began to pull in the darkness around him.
“The boy’s life returned in exchanged for yours,” Molly offered me.
“There is no magic or power that exist to bring back the dead,” Grim added.
“The choice is hers. You can tell Fear your answer at the festival.” She grinned. She held Ryan tight as she looked down at him. “We will see you guys soon.”
Ryan was gone… And I had let him go.
“You’re not making any more choices like that again,” Grim growled at me. He was quick, pulling me in close before scooping me up in his arms.
“What are you doing?” I mumbled softly. I didn’t mind him picking me up. I just didn’t know what he planned to do with me next.
“We need to get back to the castle and check on the dragons.” I had forgotten about Rixen. I felt my nerves swimming around in my stomach.
“Rixen,” I said quickly, worry wrinkling my forehead.
We faded into the darkness—out of time—then the light came next as a signal that we were going back into a time. We stood near the castle where several dragons were. I spotted Sky immediately. She was hunkered down and her white scales were colored with her blood. I ran to her side. She was rubbing her nose against another dragon’s head; that dragon was Rixen. “Sky!” She lifted her head, but I didn’t like what I saw in her eyes.
I stood next to them. I looked her over for injuries first. There were several gashes and wounds that I could see but none of them looked life threatening. She had gotten away from Vengeance in time… Rixen was a different story. He was barely holding on. Was he even… I couldn’t see his chest rising. I waited and waited… there was a slight rise.
But it wasn’t good enough.
Lincoln was next to him. Something about his expression left me scared. He drew out a long breath and turned to Grim with another look that made my skin crawl. I dropped to my knees and slid my hand over Rixen’s chest. “Why aren’t you healing him?”
“I have already tried… he’s too far gone. All healing has a limit. I might have been able to save him if I had gotten to him sooner, but—”
“His death is here,” Grim spoke behind me. This horrible feeling knotted in my stomach. What had I done this time? “He has no time left, death has already become him.”
I looked at the dragon’s leader. He was bigger than the others. He was a beautiful, majestic creature—mysteriously enchanting like the others. All the dragons stood close by, saddened and waiting… Why did I keep making mistakes that hurt others?
“NO, he’s gonna make it. He’s strong. You didn’t see him fight Vengeance’s control like I did.” I shook my head violently. “He won’t die after fighting so hard.”
“Melanie…” I couldn’t handle the way Grim sounded. Like there was truly no hope of saving him.
I moved my body over Rixen’s head, wrapping my arms around it. “Please do something. I can’t let someone else die because of me…” Again.
I could hear him stepping closer. He bent down and placed his hand on my shoulder. “This is not your fault. I should have told you to stay in the castle, that I was keeping your presence hidden inside. My reluctance to tell you is to blame.”
Do you want to save the dragon?
I lifted my head up. The voice inside my head was back.
You can save him… at
a cost. Little give, little take.
How could I save him? And at what cost? Could the Vessel somehow heal him? Just what kind of power was inside of me? I studied Rixen. Was he even alive? Too many seconds have gone by and I had yet to see his chest rise or fall. Sweat dampened my skin and fear kicked in. No, he couldn’t die. Lincoln touched the dragon and he dropped his head sadly.
Time’s up. Save him or let him die.
I removed my arms from Rixen’s head to scoot myself closer to him. I sat on my knees looking at him. Now, what?
Oh, God. What was I supposed to do?
Think of power! I told myself. I want to save him! Heal him!
My body heated instantly and I actually felt like I was going numb. The tingling sensation firing through my arms was different this time. Something about it felt warm, gentle. Powerful, yet… kind. The power spread into my hands. I brought my hands up, palms and fingers facing the dragon leader. The golden lines spiraled out of each of my fingertips, dancing and flowing over Rixen.
Lincoln stumbled back, surprised. Line by line, they wrapped themselves around Rixen. It was beautiful. Bright and golden. They looked to be dancing over and around him. I was mesmerized by my own doing, but my skin grew clammy. Sickness passed over me and I grew faint. I ignored the churn in my stomach.
And despite the way I was feeling, I was still in awe. The lines formed a cocoon around him. The light grew brighter and no part of him could be seen now. The light was almost blinding, but I concentrated on healing, nothing else. Something was dripping from my nose and I looked down to see blood falling onto my dress.
Grim grabbed my shoulder. “Stop, Melanie! The power is too much for your body.” I could hear his fear, but I couldn’t stop because I was more afraid of my own fear—the fear of others dying instead of me. The lines stopped flowing out of my fingertips and that was how I knew it was over. I dropped my hands, exhausted, and fell back against Grim.
I fought the need to sleep. I watched as the cocoon began to dim around Rixen. He still glowed from whatever I did. We all waited and I held my breath. Seconds ticked and I was beginning to think that it hadn’t worked. But his breath came loud and deep. His eyes fluttered opened slowly. His dark reds gazed into mine and I smiled. I managed to look over at Sky who looked full of life and love.
'Til Grim's Light (A Grim Awakening Book 2) Page 17
