by Jayce Carter
It seemed I was a girl who couldn’t hold her ambrosia.
* * * *
I groaned as the throbbing in my head made me wonder if I was actually going to die. When I cracked my eyes open, I was sure of it. The light stabbed at me like needles, and I decided dying was preferable.
“Why do you have a pair of boxers?”
I flinched at Gran’s voice, twisting to see her standing above me.
Above? I looked around to find myself on the ground beneath the large tree in the courtyard.
And sure enough, I clutched a pair of boxers I didn’t recognize in my hand. “Whose are these?”
“I figured one of your men.”
“None of them wear silk boxers.”
I pushed myself up to sitting, my stomach rolling.
Gran held her hand out and took them. “These are Lucifer’s.”
“What?” If I’d felt sick before it was nothing compared to now. “Why do I have Lucifer’s underwear?”
“That I can’t tell you.”
“How do you even know they’re his?”
She held them up and showed the interior band where Lucifer was embroidered.
“He has his own name on his underwear? Why?”
“Maybe because people like you steal them.”
I rubbed my eyes with the heels of my hands and filed that away for worry another time. “I thought ambrosia worked until I took one of those pills. I am feeling very much not drunk enough right now.”
“I put two of those pills in your mouth a few hours ago then let you sleep off the rest.”
“Why does my head hurt so much? I didn’t have a hangover last time.”
“You were drunk enough to try and climb the magic tree with Lucifer’s stolen boxers. I’m going to guess you had a lot more than you did last time.”
I frowned, then recalled before that had happened. “That man stuck his fingers in my brain!”
Gran patted her side. “Maybe I have another pill…”
I got to my feet and waved her off. “I’m not still high. Lucifer had some guy with a big red beard dig around in my mind trying to figure out what I was.”
“Good thing you were drugged then. That sounds like a lot rougher than you like your sex.”
I gave her a glare. “How long until the next competition?”
“They called for it a few minutes ago.”
I glanced around the empty courtyard. “So where is everyone?”
“Lucifer is holding the final round local-style. He set up a spot just this side of the dead zone.”
The loud, low sound that chilled me rang through the palace, telling me it had started.
Lucifer knew where I was because he seemed to know everything. He’d done this on purpose, which meant I had to get to the competition now.
I rush toward the doorway, Gran on my heels despite the fact that she looked far too old to be running that fast.
Please don’t let me be too late.
I made it to the top of a staircase that led down to the outer courtyard. The arena sat on the outer edge, between the palace and the dead zone.
All four men still stood, letting me pull in a rough breath. The short run had winded me, telling me my exercise routine was sorely lacking.
At the center, in front of the crowd, sat Lucifer in the same throne—or perhaps a replica. It seemed he rather liked the whole skull motif. At least he was consistent.
He turned toward me, a smirk on his lips that said he’d planned it all.
But what had he planned?
He looked far too pleased given that the night before, as far as I recalled, he hadn’t learned anything useful. Or maybe he’d gotten exactly what he’d wanted, and I just didn’t understand. Whatever it was, I could bet if he was happy, I wouldn’t be.
Another sound echoed through the open space, and in the center of the area where the men stood, the air shimmered with green like some sort of force field. Darkness moved beyond it, but I couldn’t tell what it was.
A large, sprawling staircase sat between the arena and me. Past that, the crowd of onlookers stood, their backs to me. Even though I didn’t have any idea how I could reach the men—or even if I did, what I could do to help—I took off down the stairs.
The shimmering brightened, then disappeared as it had before, revealing what creature Lucifer had chosen for their final fight.
Silence fell, the crowd seeming to take a simultaneous breath and step backward. Anything that forced that from a group of immortals was not a good thing.
In the center, between the men and the crowd, was a shadowed being that made my blood freeze. It was something I’d seen before, something I’d lived my whole life hearing about.
The thing Lucifer had picked for them to fight, the thing they somehow had to kill despite it being impossible, was a reaper.
Chapter Twenty-Two
The reaper didn’t move at first, floating there, clothed in black fabric. I understood the whole grim reaper myth, now. Clearly people who repeated the myth had caught a glimpse a reaper and twisted the facts.
I pushed myself faster, somehow managing to not miss a step or go tumbling down the stones despite the lack of a guardrail.
Reapers were almost indestructible. They weren’t really alive or dead, not tied to the living or the dead realms, so they couldn’t be harmed by either beings.
That meant Lucifer had placed before the men something they had no chance of actually defeating. He’d set them up to die, because once the round started, there was no forfeit.
Lucifer did nothing without cause, though. I’d learned that if nothing else, so what was he trying for?
I shoved past the tightly packed bodies of people who saw this entire thing as a spectacle, just entertainment for them.
It was so much more to me.
Any other time, I’d have been hesitant about barreling into countless hell creatures and immortals, but right then I had bigger issues at hand.
Past the gathered people sat the chairs for the VIPs, Lucifer at the center, the one to his side, my chair, empty.
When I tried to pass him, he caught my wrist to pull me to a stop. It reminded me that he was not human, as his strength seemed to make a mockery of even Kase. It was like a statue holding me back.
“You’re going to get them killed,” I snapped.
“I am doing nothing.”
“You know they can’t hurt a reaper.”
“They’ve seemed fairly capable up until this point. Perhaps they’ll surprise us all.”
I couldn’t pull my gaze from the arena, from where the men had spread out to flank the reaper.
It moved, side to side, as if examining the situation. Then again, reapers had no enemies, no reason for fear.
It floated toward the crowd, not at any sort of speed as if worried. However, when it hit the boundary where a line of rocks sat, it bounced backward.
“You trapped it in there with them?”
He nodded. “It isn’t an easy task, but it is possible.”
“I thought they were untouchable…”
“By normal means, yes. There are a few ways to restrict their movements, at least for a while.” He released my wrist. “Of course, doing so has the unfortunate side effect of agitating the reaper.”
I turned back toward the arena to find, sure enough, the reaper shifting in quicker motions, side to side, before heading toward the ravine. It bounced off a wall there, too.
My head pounded, a sharp ache as if I’d heard some horrible screeching even though it didn’t seem real, even though no one else flinched.
“That’s what it sounds like,” Lucifer said. “Most people can’t hear it, have no idea what a reaper actually sounds like, but you can, can’t you?”
I didn’t answer—I doubted he really wanted me to. Besides, I couldn’t explain it. I could hear it but I couldn’t. It was an odd sensation, where the pain told me I sensed the sound even if I couldn’t identify it.
Each
time the reaper bounced off a wall, my headache increased as if it screamed louder.
It moved toward Grant, who lifted his hands in front of him. The quick motion that normally would have thrown back anything that neared him had no effect. At the last moment, just before it struck him, Kase rushed forward, yanking him clear.
The reaper hit Kase instead, and while it was not entirely corporeal, it still interacted with him. He pulled back, as if seared by the contact.
“If the reaper had touched Grant, it would have been able to sever his soul from his body. Lucky for you all, Kase doesn’t have a soul in the same way. Not that the reaper won’t be able to kill him eventually.”
“What do you want?” I forced myself to look away from the arena, to look directly at Lucifer. “You always want something. You put them in a no-win situation for a reason, so what do you want from me?”
He curled his lips into a satisfied grin. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Don’t play game with me. Just tell me.”
“You said you would do anything for them. Well, now is the time. I don’t lie, and I am telling you that unless you do something, that reaper will kill all four of the men you claim to care so much about.”
“What am I supposed to do against that?”
He sat back and crossed one ankle over his other knee, as if the entire thing didn’t matter to him.
My head ached from that sound and from the mental gymnastics I had to perform to try and work out what I needed to do.
In the arena, Kase moved much slower than he had before—a sign that the reaper had hurt him—and the others simply dove out of the way when the reaper charged. Even as I watched, it was clear that it wasn’t so much attacking them as it was trying to escape and didn’t much care if they were in its way.
My feet moved before I could think about it, before I could figure out my plan. I just knew I had to do something. I couldn’t sit there and watch them get slaughtered in front of me.
When I reached the line of rocks, I paused. Heat came from it, like a warning. I turned to spot Lucifer, and the look on his face was pure expectation.
He’d pushed me here, to do this. Even though a fear struck me, a sense that crossing that line wasn’t a good idea, I knew damn well Lucifer wasn’t going to kill me.
He wanted me to do this, and while I didn’t know what or exactly why, it didn’t stop that I needed to. I remembered Grant’s words, when he’d told me that asking if something was possible was pointless if it was my only choice.
I drew my hands into fists and forced myself across the line of rocks.
Heat seared me, but I pushed through it. It felt like trying to walk through a waterfall of lava.
At the other side I collapsed forward, into the dirt. Even though the barrier had only been perhaps a foot wide of space, it had felt like crossing miles.
“You have nothing?” Kase asked, voice less controlled than it usually was. “What good are you?”
“Well, I’m sorry, but fighting a reaper wasn’t ever one of the things we considered,” Grant shouted back.
I shoved myself to my feet to find the men moving, all faster than I could, and the reaper following the line of the barrier, looking for an escape.
“You have got to be kidding me,” Troy snapped from farther away, and that tone said he’d seen me. It was his strictly for me annoyed voice.
Smoke surrounded me for a moment before it took form as Hunter—naked, but I was used to that—stood just in front of me. “You need to take a few steps backward, shadow-girl.” He set his hands on my shoulders to shove me backward, through the barrier.
When my back hit that line, however, a searing pain than before overcame me. It forced a scream from my lips, and even with his quick shove, the wall held like a one-way path that wouldn’t allow me out.
Hunter yanked me away from the barrier, a curse on his lips. “She’s trapped in here,” he called out.
“We will talk about this as soon as we are out of it,” Kase all but snarled in my direction, his finger pointed at me like that was scarier than what we currently faced.
Grant came over, breathing hard, then grabbed my hand. He flipped it over, and I wasn’t even startled when a sharp pain spread through my palm. I’d gotten used to Grant slicing my hand at his whim.
He did the same to himself, whispered quick words before grasping hands with me. The blood mixed, and I ignored the risk of bloodborne illnesses because, again, that was a worry for another day.
If we got one.
He released my hand, then pressed his bloodied palm against my forehead along with a sharp word in a language I didn’t recognize. “You are an idiot,” he said with no sense of affection.
“Is she protected?” Troy asked from across the arena.
“Best I can do. No idea if it’ll work against that, though. They don’t teach reaper defense in the guild.” Grant turned away, but I caught his wrist.
“Lucifer wants me here.”
“What?”
I tugged at his hand, trying to get him to pay attention to me. “I don’t know why, but he planned this. He pushed me to be here now, to come into the arena. He wants me here.”
“Lucifer is a sadist who enjoys watching people tear each other apart for fun. I think you’re giving him way too much credit.”
I released Grant’s hand, frustration eating at me. I tried to figure out what I was supposed to be doing. What was the plan?
The scream of the reaper increased again, a driving pain through my temples. I clutched my head before lifting my gaze to find the reaper still and staring at me.
It did it the way the last one had, when I’d first gotten into hell. It still ignored the others, but it saw me.
Grant set a hand out as though to push me back, to keep me behind him. The chivalrous movement was sweet but stupid. The reality was that the reaper could go through him if it wanted.
It seemed to bore its gaze into me even though I couldn’t spot any eyes because of how the hood hid its face. If it had a face… The sound increased again, as if it were trying to speak to me.
It came forward, and Grant tossed his hand up. A rush left his palm like a spark of black lightning. It arced across the space and struck the reaper, throwing it back against the barrier.
Everyone froze.
“I thought you couldn’t hurt it?” I asked.
“I wasn’t sure that would work,” he panted, looking exhausted. “I haven’t exactly faced off against a lot of reapers to test, and that took a pretty big chunk of my power.”
I opened my mouth to answer but that pain was back, driving me to my knees, forcing me to cover my ears to try and block it out. It didn’t work, though, the sound still bleeding through.
Across the space, the reaper was up again and almost vibrating. What was it waiting for?
Kase, Troy and Hunter came closer, placing themselves between the reaper and me. Seeing them—or at least their backs—created an odd feeling.
How many times had people given a damn about me? My whole childhood had been a matter of not being important, of people walking away because I was too much work, too difficult, too unimportant.
I’d spent my whole life trying to fit in, trying to find somewhere I belonged, and here were these four men, men who had their own lives, men who I hadn’t proven myself all that useful to, and they had placed themselves between the danger and me knowing damn well it would probably kill them.
They wanted me—they valued me—and even if I didn’t understand it, it brought back I’d told Lucifer. I’d do anything to keep them safe, and for the first time, it seemed I’d found people who would do the same in return.
So when the reaper did its version of ‘come at me, bro’, I acted on an impulse so deep inside me, I couldn’t place it, had never fully embraced it. It was like a whisper I’d ignored all my life, a part of me I’d refused to ever acknowledge but that had always been there.
The spark along my
back that I’d felt before, when I’d turned into some sort of ghost, spread over me. It was stronger this time, though, and instead of fighting it, I threw myself into it.
That same sensation ran over my skin, through my body, down my limbs until my hands faded away, going incorporeal.
Whereas the last time I’d rejected this, this time I gave myself over to it entirely. I threw away all the worries, all the fears, all the desires I had to be normal.
Fuck normal.
I would be whatever I had to to keep safe the men who had risked everything for me.
I moved faster than I could track, able to pass around the men, my feet never touching the ground.
The reaper stilled, staring at me, and I could see it in a way I hadn’t before, as if I could make out details that had been hidden. The fabric was clearer, and it hung forward over a shadowed face.
It spoke, and while the words were still impossible for me to make out, they no longer hurt. It came forward a few steps, but I lifted my hands.
It was then I realized my hands were shadowed and covered in darkness, like a robe. From my palms, a force went out, knocking the reaper backward.
It hissed, then barreled toward me.
Something stirred inside me, like an ancient whisper from somewhere I couldn’t identify. It spurred me on, and I reached for the same power, for what I’d used a moment before to drive it back, but unleashed all I could.
The reaper screamed, this time the sound audible to me.
Instead of being driven backward again, it seemed locked in place for a moment before it shattered, devolving into mist then into nothing.
Had I killed it?
I twisted to find all four men staring at me, eyes wide.
“Ava?” Hunter asked.
I answered, but the words didn’t leave my mouth. It was that pressure in my temples instead, just like it had been when the reaper had screamed.
“I don’t think she knows,” Kase said.
I wanted to ask what I didn’t know but again, the words wouldn’t come.
Grant lifted his hand and waved it into a circle, and a shimmering space of air appeared with a mirror in it.