Reaper Undone (Deadside Reapers Book 5)

by Debbie Cassidy

  “I’ll check on Leanna,” Mal said.

  “What are we looking for,” Cora asked, hands on hips.

  “I don’t know. Anything out of the ordinary, I guess.” My mind was a mess of possibilities. What could this taint look like? Where could it be; who would do this to Azazel and why? “Let’s just search the whole place.”

  Keon loped off to the first floor, while Cora flipped on the lights, and we searched the ground floor.

  “She’s gone,” Mal said a moment later. “Her bed’s made, and she’s gone.”

  Fuck.

  Half an hour later, we’d come up empty. There was nothing out of the ordinary about Lumiers. Azazel’s voralex was untainted.

  I wanted to cry. If the problem wasn’t his voralex, then what was it?

  “We should check the outside, too,” Keon said.

  I could have kissed him. “Yes!”

  Hope flared to life in my chest as I followed the queen’s Blade into the night. We headed around the side of the building. It was a semi-detached structure situated on the corner of the road. We ducked behind the building, through an access alley, and into Lumiers’s unremarkable back garden. The space was fenced off, and the garden stretched far back into the darkness.

  “The taint will be on the building,” Mal said.

  Ignoring the garden, we focused on the voralex itself, scanning the walls, the windows, and the back door.

  Nothing.

  My gaze fell on the huge wheelie bins pushed up against the building by the fence.

  I yanked one away from the wall and froze.

  There, emblazoned on the brick in crimson paint, was a symbol that set alarm bells ringing in my head because I’d seen it before. I’d seen it in the warehouse when the Dread had attacked us and tried to siphon our power.

  “That’s the same symbol the Dread used on us,” Mal said, echoing my thoughts.

  “But these are new.” I pointed at the smaller symbols painted around it.

  Keon’s arm brushed mine as he leaned forward to look at them. “Siphoning runes. Ancient demon runes.” He made a low growling sound in his throat. “How is this possible? These runes belong to the original fallen.”

  “Vale,” Mal said softly.

  Of course. Peiter’s brother Vale was a descendant of Samael, and on becoming a Dread he’d accessed his ancestral memory. Samael must have known about these symbols, and now Vale did too.

  “And how do you know about these?” Cora asked Keon.

  “Lilith allows me into her personal library from time to time. I like to read.”

  “You mean snoop,” Mal said. “Lilith wouldn’t leave this stuff lying about.”

  “No, she doesn’t.” Keon shot him a flat look. “Aren’t you glad I broke the rules?”

  So, he could disobey if he wanted, or maybe Lilith’s instructions had been vague enough for him to circumvent. Interesting. “Okay, let’s figure this out.” My hand hovered over the main symbol. “This is a lock symbol. It stopped us from escaping. And these are siphons. Which means that the lock symbol is holding onto Azazel, locking onto him through his voralex, and the siphon is stealing power from him and his voralex.”

  “Which is why he’s been so tired,” Mal said. “He’s not only missing out on the juice a voralex provides, he’s also being fed on.”

  “But why?” Cora pondered. “They need all four Dominus to open the gates to the Beyond, right? Why target Azazel?”

  She was right, this didn’t quite make sense. “I don’t know, but we need to stop this from working.”

  Keon held up his hand, and claws sprouted from his fingertips. “Simple enough to do. We destroy the symbols.”

  “I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” a female voice said from behind us.

  I knew that seductive tone. “Evelyn, I wish I could say it was nice to see you again.” I faced her. “But it really isn’t.”

  Her attention was on Keon. “Touch those symbols, and Azazel will die.”

  “You’re lying,” Mal said.

  “Maybe,” she said. “Maybe not.”

  “Any rune’s ability can be disrupted by breaking it,” Keon said. “It’s a fact.”

  “You’re correct. But pull out the other bin. Go on.”

  No one moved.

  Evelyn sighed. “I don’t have all day, and my mouths are getting hungry.”

  I noticed the mouths for the first time as they melted out of the shadows and moved down the snowy garden in their signature glitchy way.

  Cora pulled out the bin, but I didn’t turn my head to look at the wall, choosing to keep my attention on the enemy.

  “There’s another symbol,” Cora said.

  Keon cursed.

  “What is it?” I wanted desperately to look, but like hell was I taking my eyes off the Dread bitch.

  “It’s a death rune,” Keon said.

  So what? “Azazel is immortal.”

  “Yes,” Evelyn agreed. “But immortal doesn’t mean impervious to harm, and this rune is…Would you like to explain it, my blue daemon friend?”

  Keon hissed at her.

  “Keon?” I needed to know what we were up against.

  “It affects celestials,” Keon said. “Specifically, purebloods, and as Lilith’s first born, Azazel is more celestial than any other second-generation demon in existence.” Keon moved closer to me. “If we disrupt the siphon runes, the death rune is activated.”

  Evelyn gave me a closed-lipped smile. “I’m glad I was on patrol tonight. I’m glad I’ll have the privilege of watching you all die.” She looked to Keon. “Even you, Lilith’s Blade. Now that will be a blow to our queen.”

  “You need them alive,” Cora blurted. “You can’t get into the Beyond without the power of their scythes.”

  Evelyn’s smile was smug. “Can’t I?”

  They had a new plan. Something related to this voralex and Azazel. They had a new plan, which meant we were dispensable.

  Evelyn raised her hands and clicked her fingers. “Suppertime, boys.”

  The mouths attacked.

  Chapter Thirty-One

  The mouths descended on us, glitch movements speeding up to pen us in and cut us off.

  Keon shoved me back, shielding me with his body. “Get her out of here,” he ordered Cora.

  Cora reached for me, but I pulled away. “Fuck that. We got this.” Power surged through me, and my scythe lit up bright, pushing back the shadows. “I’m done running.” I pointed my scythe at Evelyn. “I want her head.”

  And then the mouths were on us, and there was no time to argue. Keon cleared a path through the mouths, slicing with blades that appeared from nowhere, using his tail to spear and impale. Mal worked with his obsidian daggers, because for some reason, the scythe only worked as a weapon on other outliers for me.

  I took off a mouth’s head using the range my weapon gave me to keep them at bay. Cora shot what looked like lightning from her hands, winking in and out between the mouths.

  Their numbers were depleting under our collective assault, and I caught sight of Evelyn making a break for it.

  Like hell. “Cora! Evelyn’s getting away.”

  I eviscerated the mouth standing between me and the Dread bitch and then kicked it out of the way.

  Cora appeared in front of Evelyn to cut off her escape, but instead of trying to get away, Evelyn made a grab for Cora’s head.

  No!

  I knew what happened when a Dread did that. “Cora, watch out!”

  But it was too late, Evelyn had Cora in her grip. I broke into a sprint down the long garden as Cora fell to her knees in front of the Dread.

  “Let her go!”

  Evelyn looked up at me, her mouth stretched in an impossibly wide grin, and then the smile fell, and she released Cora with a scream of rage.

  Her body rose off the ground, legs kicking out, desperate to be free of the invisible force that had her in its grip.

  Jasper materialized behind her.

&nbs
p; The malevolent spirit glared at me accusingly, and then he tore Evelyn’s head clean off her shoulders and dropped her body. White power lasered out of her, shooting up into the air and vanishing, and then her body disintegrated into embers that floated away.

  “Cora…” I ran toward my dazed friend, but Jasper got to her first.

  He scooped her up into his arms and vanished.

  “I put her in trouble. I made her go after Evelyn. I didn’t think. I fucking didn’t think, and she could have died. If Jasper hadn’t gotten here in time.”

  “Enough.” Mal grabbed my shoulders and gave me a shake. “We need to focus, Fee. Jasper will keep Cora safe, you know he will. Despite what he is, Cora will be fine with him.”

  “You don’t know that. You don’t know how much damage that bitch did. Remember what happened to Conah when Evelyn got her hands on him, and she wasn’t even trying to kill him.”

  “I know,” Mal said. “But Cora is strong. She’s proven that time and time again.”

  “I need to make sure she’s okay.”

  “You can’t,” Mal said. “Not till Jasper brings her back, or she comes back herself.”

  I exhaled, shifting through the panic to find my center.

  “Right now, all we have control over is this.” He pointed at the symbol. “We can try to do something about this and save your soulmate’s life.”

  Azazel. “Yes. Okay. Keon, I need you to go back to the Underealm and tell Lilith what’s happened to Azazel. There has to be a way to circumvent this symbol.”

  “I’m supposed to protect you,” Keon said.

  “I don’t need you to protect me, for fucksake. I need you to save my soulmate. Save Lilith’s firstborn. Trust me, she’ll want you to do this.”

  Keon looked conflicted, but then he nodded. “Very well.” He looked at Mal. “I charge you with her protection. She dies, you die.”

  And then he launched himself into the air like a bullet and was gone. Looked like he could think for himself after all.

  I ran a hand over my face. “Okay, this is Dread stuff. They have a new agenda, and we need to find out what. We need answers about the Dread.” And there was only one person who might have those. “We need Uriel.” I locked gazes with Mal. “Fancy gate-crashing a ball?”

  Turned out gate-crashing wasn’t on the cards for us. The Masterton mansion was security central tonight. Limousines and fancy cars crawled through the wrought iron gates after being checked out by bulky magiguard.

  Who knew these enforcers moonlighted as security too?

  “We could fly in,” Mal said, scanning the sky above the impressive walls that bordered the Masterton land. “But I wouldn’t be surprised if they have invisible wards up.”

  “Then we ask to be let in.”

  I adjusted my dress, noting the tear in the skirt and sleeve with dismay. Fucking mouths. I studied Mal’s disheveled state. How could he still look sexy with blood spatter on his face and a torn shirt?

  I reached up to wipe at the blood, but mouth blood was a stubborn fucker, all inky and shit. All I succeeded in doing was smearing it about, making it look worse.

  Sod it. “We’ll have to do.”

  I walked down the line of cars waiting for entry and right up to the gates, where magiguard were checking ID and invitations.

  One of the guards straightened, looking down at me with a frown. I noted how his gaze flicked over me, taking in my clothes, my messy hair, and then over to Mal and back again.

  His mouth tightened. “Can I help you?”

  I lifted my chin. “Yes, I need to speak with Vi Masterton.”

  “If you return to your vehicle, we’ll have you checked in shortly.”

  “I don’t have a vehicle. I flew here.”

  His brows shot up, and then he nodded, as if, of course, that made perfect sense. “Do you have an invite?”

  “No, I—”

  “Then I can’t let you in. If you need to speak to a Masterton, you’ll need to make a regular appointment on a regular night.” He dismissed me and waved the limousine through.

  The line of cars inched forward.

  Okay, time to try another tack. “Look, I know you’re doing your job, but so am I. There’s some bad shit going on outside of these walls, and I’m trying to stop it from happening. I’m a Dominus.”

  His gaze flicked my way again. I had his attention.

  “I’m also a close friend of Vi, and I need her help with something urgent. Life-or-death urgent, do you understand?”

  He pressed his lips together and exhaled through his nose. “I understand. But I also understand that there’s always a life-or-death situation in our world. It’s how we live. But tonight is the Masterton ball. The world and its problems will have to wait until tomorrow.”

  “Are you fucking serious?”

  His eyes glowed blue, and the air around him crackled in warning. “Back away from the gates, or I will use force.”

  Motherfucker.

  The passenger side window to the limousine I was standing beside wound down, and a man leaned his head out. His dark hair was silver at the temples, and his eyes were a strange blue color. No, they were green. Wait…blue?

  “What seems to be the problem?” he asked the magiguard.

  “No problem, Mr. Blackwood,” the guard said. “You can go through.”

  The man, Blackwood, looked up at me. “No problem?”

  Blackwood…Why was that name familiar. Oh! “Elijah Blackwood?”

  His eyes narrowed. “I don’t believe we’ve had the pleasure.”

  “No, we haven’t, but you’ve met my friend, Cora Dawn.”

  His mouth drew in a slight pout. “Seraphina Dawn?”

  “Yes. I need to get in to speak to Vi Masterton. It is a matter of life and death that can’t wait until tomorrow.” I sliced a sharp look the magiguard’s way.

  “Get in,” Blackwood said.

  “Mr. Blackwood,” the magiguard said, “I strongly recommend—”

  “That you open those gates and let me and my guests through? Yes. What a wise recommendation.”

  The magiguard’s jaw ticked, and Blackwood sighed. “Listen, Neville, if there’s something I’ve learned in my long lifetime, it’s never to take anything for granted. Never to become complacent, especially not when it comes to life-or-death situations.”

  The guard nodded. “Yes, Mr. Blackwood.”

  “Well?” Blackwood said to me and Mal. “Hop in.”

  I didn’t need him to tell me a third time. Mal and I rounded the vehicle and climbed in.

  The interior was all plush leather and glorious heat, and my ass was thankful as I sank into the seat. Mal slid in beside me, so we were both sitting opposite Blackwood, and then the limousine was in motion.

  Blackwood was a tall guy, not bulky, but then it was always hard to tell a guy’s frame in a tailored suit. Clean-shaven, probably mid-forties, he was a handsome man.

  “How is Cora?” he asked.

  How to answer that one. “She’s…busy. And you? Have you found out anything more about the tulpas?”

  “The ones that are hunting you—the part demon, part Loup but no longer witch creature?” He plucked at an imaginary piece of lint on his trousers. “Not yet. But I’m looking into it. Finding enemies you may not even know you had.” He studied me from beneath straight dark brows. “You really aren’t a witch, are you?”

  “I never said I was.”

  “Your tulpa has all your power.”

  “She took on my witch nature, yes.”

  “And yet someone wishes to kill you…”

  There was only one person who I knew for sure wanted me dead, and she wouldn’t touch me while I was linked to her by Eve’s curse. “I don’t have any enemies.”

  “Maybe not. Maybe you’re just a pawn in a bigger game. Maybe there’s a player on the board that you haven’t even considered.”

  A shiver ran up my spine. “And you’ll find him or her?”

  “Two se
parate cases,” he muttered.

  “Excuse me?”

  “I’m working on it.” He glanced out the window. “And now we’re here. You’re welcome.”

  Mal got out first, then reached in to help me out. “Strange guy,” he said. “He gives me the creeps. Are you sure he can help us?”

  “Cora seems to think so, and I trust her judg…” I got my first proper look at the mansion. Mother of chocolate-covered marshmallows. This place was epic. “Wow.”

  “Coven power,” Mal said dryly. “They aren’t afraid to flaunt their wealth.”

  I had no clue whether it was Edwardian, Victorian, or gothic, all I knew was that it was huge, gray stone with impressive moldings and gargoyles that jutted out from beneath the eaves. This was the kind of mansion that you could get lost in. I bet it had like a hundred bathrooms.

  The limo slinked off to park up with all the other pretty limos.

  “Come on,” Mal said. “Let’s find Vi.”

  We headed up the grand staircase and into the amber lights spilling out of the entrance.

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  I had to hand it to them, the witches knew how to party pompous-style. Towers of champagne glasses, mouth-watering hors d’oeuvres spread out on silver trays, and everyone dressed in designer wear. Okay, so I had no idea if that last part was true, but the clothes looked expensive.

  The ceiling was the night sky filled with shooting stars that whizzed past swirling nebulas. Neat illusion.

  Mal and I wove through the crowd, drawing attention with our less than ball-like attire, or maybe it was the fact our clothes were ripped and our faces were spattered with inky mouth blood.

  Whatever.

  In the end, it was Vi who found us, drawn by the stage whispers and the polite commotion at our presence.

  “Excuse me, sorry.” She grabbed hold of my arm and dragged me across the room, polite smile fixed on her face the whole time. She didn’t stop until we were in a side room that looked like a study; only then did she drop the smile and throw up her hands in a what-the-hell gesture.

  “What are you doing here? How did you get in?” she demanded.

  Irrelevant questions we didn’t have time for. “Do you have the spell to summon Uriel ready.”