Than’s hand rested on my back, protectiveness flowing from him. I was glad to have him with me. I’d managed to give him the brief rundown of all that’d happened in Hell while we were cleaning up, but I was expecting there to be a lot more discussing of the events in the future.
“What are you doing here?” I asked, my tone full of a steeliness that even scared me. This man was in my house, near my Mother. And while things might be iffy with her, I still didn’t want her harmed.
Then again, he was in my house, with my Mother. Things weren’t looking good on the whole really innocent front for her. I could almost feel my heart split in two. Despite all the evidence, I’d still really hoped that she’d prove me wrong and have been in the dark about the whole thing. I should have known better really.
“Don’t you recognise your dear old Dad, Anima?” A wicked grin spread over his face, and my blood turned to ice. Shit. What? No. I couldn’t accept it.
“You’re not my Dad,” I replied, shaking my head and backing up a little, though with Than behind me, there wasn’t very far for me to go.
“Aren’t I?” His grin stretched further, and I began to sicken. No fucking way was this man my Dad. He couldn’t be, he was giving off more of a Demon aura than a Reaper one. I wondered what options it’d give me if I touched him? Would Heaven be removed like it had for all of the other Demons I’d touched? Or would it be open to him because he was really just a twisted Reaper.
“No. You don’t look like my Dad.”
He chuckled. Oh shit. That wasn’t a good sign at all. He rose to his feet, ignoring Than completely but taking a step towards me. His face was covered in a haze, and before my very eyes, it changed into something completely different. Or should I say, someone different. Stood before me was the spitting image of the Father I’d grown up with.
My mind stuttered between the two possibilities. Either my Father had always been Demon-aura man, or he’d recently been taken over by Demon-aura man. To be honest, I didn’t know which of the two options was worse.
“How?” I whispered, my voice cracking.
“I’m a demi-Demon, Anima.”
“But...”
“Yes, that means you are too. You didn’t think you were truly that special of a Reaper?”
“I didn’t know until...”
“Yes, until your little jaunt through Hell. How unfortunate. Chesca was supposed to do her job a lot better.” He sounded unimpressed, which was chilling. Surely there should be far more emotion going on than this. I didn’t like it at all.
“Than, please go check on my Mum,” I said quietly but didn’t look at him. He pressed his hand more firmly into my back, letting me know his assent without actually saying anything to distract me.
“Was that really wise, Anima?”
“Probably not. But I think I have a slight advantage right now. What happens if I touch you, Dad?” As I said the last word, I focused on my arms, making the tattoos glow gold on purpose this time. Something akin to concern flitted over his face. Good. He was worried then. “So, you’ve always been my Father?” I prompted.
“Since the day you were born.”
“Does Mum know?” My nerves were rising again. Like I knew that this was make or break time.
“No. She’s been in my thrall for the entire time.” He grinned wide, his confidence seemingly back in place. Did that mean he was some kind of incubus? They were a race of their own now, but originally, they’d been created from the ‘joining’ of a human and a Demon. Who knew why people insisted on calling it ‘joining’. Either they had fun sex that resulted in a child, or not so fun sex that ended in a child. The latter shouldn’t be romanticised, and the former shouldn’t be made so clinical. At least, not in my opinion. But my Father clearly was at least part-Reaper. He had the tattoos and the Reaping ability to prove it. Then again...
“Can you even reap yourself?” I already dreaded the answer. I already knew the answer, I just didn’t want to accept it.
“Thanks to you.”
Shit.
Not good.
“So, you can’t reap by yourself?” I asked, needing him to clarify.
“I can reap powers, not souls.” He seemed proud. Yet his words were making me feel sick. There was so much wrong with him. I wondered whether I could send him to Oblivion. I wondered whether I wanted to. Whether I liked it or not, he was still my Father. Except he’d never really shown that much affection, and he’d drained me of the powers I’d needed to fulfil my life’s purpose. Which was pretty shitty of him if you asked me. “Don’t even think about it, Anima.”
“Think about what?” I asked as sweetly as I could manage, already hating myself for it.
“You can’t reap me. Not without losing yourself too.”
“How sure are you?” Maybe not the best thing to ask, but I was curious.
“I have four times as much power as you do, sweetheart, I wouldn’t bother even trying.”
Four times as much power...but that meant...
“This isn’t the first time you’ve done this, is it?” That wasn’t even the question I wanted to ask. I really wanted to know if he’d fathered more children, or if he’d just drained them. I wasn’t sure which was worse. Elijah had said no one else had survived to have powers like mine, which made me think the latter was more likely. But that was just...wrong. I couldn’t believe anyone would do that to children.
“Working it out, sweetheart?” He chuckled, the sound going right through me. “I can see the indecision on your face. If you really want, you can try to reap me. Just be prepared to lose your life.”
Damn, my indecision had been obvious then. “I’m willing to risk it,” I said, surprising myself.
“If you’re sure.” Eurgh. He sounded so cocky. He even held out his arm to me, as if to make it easier. The bastard.
Slowly, and far less sure of myself than I should be, I reached out and grasped his wrist with my hand. His tattoos began to move, but then, so did mine. I had an awful feeling this was going to end in a tug of war. And that there was a chance that I couldn’t win. But then, if I didn’t, then Than would know to question what had happened. He’d know to do something about it. I hoped.
I focused on the man’s soul. I couldn’t refer to him as my Father anymore, not even in my head. No parent did that to their child. No parent should do that to any child. It was just wrong. On so many levels.
His soul began to flow into me and I almost pulled away with how repulsed I was. It was even worse than Chesca’s, which was really saying something. Unfortunately, he was also stronger than Chesca, and we began playing tug of war between us. For every inch of soul I managed to draw into me, he was pulling it back. I knew that all I needed to do was get his soul to the cross roads, then it’d slip down the path into Oblivion.
Interestingly, I could feel all three paths this time, though the path to Heaven was particularly faint, as if it wasn’t really an option. I guessed that meant I was doing the right thing, as icky as it felt.
I tugged again, and this time his soul slipped a little bit further down the path within me. He grunted, and tried to tug back, but I was ready for it this time and pulled his soul further in at the same time. It didn’t get any further towards Oblivion, but it didn’t retreat into him either, which I took to be a good sign.
Sweat broke out along my forehead at the effort of drawing his soul in, but I kept going. I had to keep going. If I didn’t, how many more children would he do this to? I couldn’t live with myself if I didn’t try and stop him. I tugged harder, grunting aloud, even if there was no physical effort. After several minutes of doing so, his soul began to slip towards the crossroads. Yes. It was happening. Eventually, his soul slipped down towards Oblivion, and it rushed through me in a disgusting wave of sticky darkness. Not pleasant in the slightest.
A wave of dizziness passed over me, and the world began to spin around. It wasn’t until I felt the floor hit my back that I realised I’d collapsed.
&nb
sp; “Nim!” Than’s voice called, but everything was too hazy to be able to respond. I reached out a hand, before realising I had no energy for that, and it fell to my side. I was vaguely aware of his arm wrapping around me, and him pulling me to his chest, but then, there was nothing but blackness.
Epilogue
Than’s arms wrapped around me, and I leaned back into him.
“Yes, like that. Can you feel the soul?” he asked softly.
I nodded. I could feel it swirling around inside the woman in front of me. But I could also feel how detached it was. This soul was ready to leave. I’ll admit to being worried. This was the first time I’d ever reap properly. At least, the first attempt since my tattoos had darkened. It’d been an interesting side effect of reaping the man who’d pretended to be my Father.
I’d avoided this for weeks. But the woman in front of us now had been calling to me. She needed to be reaped, she needed the peace that it would bring her soul, and it’d no longer been possible to resist the call. Naturally, I’d asked Than to come with me, and talk me through the process. I was just lucky I had him.
“Pull the soul into you,” he instructed, and I twisted my head around quickly, looking at him with surprise written all over my face. I’d told him how the other reapings had worked, and it surprised me that this worked the same way. I’d honestly been wary of that fact. What if it wasn’t different? What if it felt the same? What if I came to help it. Than leaned forward and kissed my nose. “Don’t over think it, Nim, just do.”
I nodded again, and turned back to the woman. Slowly I pulled on her soul, and felt it slip through me. This time, there was no tug of war. The soul just came, as it should I imagined, and slipped straight through the path straight to Heaven, filling me with a sense of rightness and light. Wow. That wasn’t what I expected at all.
The woman in front of us slumped over, her soul gone and her body finally at rest. It was sad, but it was also inevitable. I’d sent her soul to the place it needed to be, and the place where she could finally be at peace. That was something to be proud of, not something to loath.
I turned in Than’s arms and buried my head into his chest. He dropped a kiss onto the top of my head, and warmth flowed through me. “Are you okay?” he asked.
“More than okay,” I replied, my words muffled by his shirt.
“I love you, Nim.”
“I love you too, Than.”
The End
Thank you for reading Reaper, if you’d like more urban fantasy with a heroine like Nim, you can find Shattered Illusions here! Or you can sign up to my newsletter to keep up to date with all my releases! Alternatively, you can check out my other books here.
About Laura Greenwood
Laura is a USA Today Bestselling Paranormal Romance Author. Whether it’s witches, shifters or princesses, she writes the stories that just won’t leave her head.
While she’s not writing, Laura loves to read, bake and cook…apparently successfully!
You can find her books on her website:
http://www.authorlauragreenwood.co.uk/
Laura is also a member of the Flock Author Collective, a group of four European paranormal romance, reverse harem & LBGT authors. You can find out more about the Flock here:
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