Darkness descended on us, tearing at us. My scythe flared to life. I swung it in an arc, forcing the malignant back with the celestial light.
The malignant separated into singular entities, crimson laced with obsidian, barely holding a humanoid form as they circled us.
You can’t keep us all at bay.
The voice was a scratch at the back of my mind. It surrounded us, coming from all around us. They moved closer, tightening the perimeter.
“Like hell I can’t.” I swung again to ward them off, earning a screech for my efforts.
Our place, our rules.
Uriel’s hands lit up with silver light and then two silver swords shot out from them. He twisted his wrists so the blades cut through the air menacingly. “Leave now or I will hurt you.”
Our hunger is stronger. We are legion.
Legion, my ass. They couldn’t possess us. We could fight them off.
We wish to see, to feel. We wish to taste.
An idea formed in my head. “Do you want to go back into the fucking scythe?” I held up my glowing blade. “Because I will happily vacuum you all up.”
Please don’t test me. If I did that then I wouldn’t be able to free the pure souls. I’d be saddled with these fuckers.
You cannot hold us. You are not him. You are not one with our world.
Dammit. Malachi would have come in useful right now. I swung my scythe again as they moved in.
I caught movement beyond the horde, a shimmer in the air. “Three o’clock.”
“I see it,” Uri said. “You need to go. I’ve got this.”
“Like hell am I leaving you.”
“It’s been a long time since I had a proper battle.” I could hear the smile in his voice, and when I glanced his way, I caught the grin on his face. Anticipation of bloodshed. Anticipation of battle. “I could do with a little exercise. I’ll be fine. Go before the doorway closes.”
He was a celestial. He was a warrior. If he said he could handle it, then I trusted him. The shimmer was shrinking, ready to move, and if it vanished, we might not find it again.
It was now or never.
“Go!” Uriel ordered.
He rushed forward, swords blazing as he cleared a path for me through the malignant. The spirits screamed in anger and rage, but parted to avoid the sting of celestial light, and then I was through.
“Run!” Uriel bellowed.
I sprinted toward the shimmer, focusing solely on it, afraid that it would melt away at any moment. The spot was a disc in the air, three feet off the ground, and it was shrinking.
Shit.
Uriel’s exultant whoop rose up behind me. Damn, he was having fun. Who knew the celestial had a wicked streak.
The disc was less than a meter away now. Time to jump.
The malignant’s pained screams followed me into the Edge.
I landed on cream tiles in a corridor lined with white doors. The corridor tunneled into the distance until it was nothing but a dot. The doors were unmarked and all looked the same.
This was the Edge?
What was behind the doors?
I took a step and a beam of light shot down out of the ceiling, blocking my way. “Identification required.”
The voice was grating and mechanical, as if it hadn’t been used in a long while.
Um…shit. “Dominus Reaper Seraphina Dawn.”
“I’m sorry. You do not have access to the archives. Press the blue button to leave.”
The wall beside me pulsed, and then a blue button appeared. It flickered, going translucent and then solidifying again.
“Goodbye.” The beam of light vanished but the button remained.
I took a step forward and once again the beam of light shot down to cut me off.
“Identification required.”
Think, Fee. Think. The Righteous had created this place, so maybe they’d have access. Cassius was one of them, so…
“Identification required,” the voice said again.
“Cassius, Dominion, Righteous, Upper circle.”
There was silence.
Shit, maybe I should have put on a male voice?
“Access granted. Welcome to the archive, the home of the remnants who gave their light to save us all.”
The beam of light pulsed.
Was it going to scan me? Shit, if it scanned me it would know I wasn’t Cassius.
But instead of rushing toward me the beam shot away, down the corridor. The doors blazed in its wake and gold plaques appeared on each of them. The plaques had writing etched into them. Names and dates.
The ones at this end were from a century ago. This must be when the Beyond first started to use the purest souls for boosts. It looked like this system had been in place way before the humans started seeing ghosts and learned about the reapers. But it also told me that the Beyond had managed without burning pure souls for a long time, which meant that regular human souls were getting less effective as batteries.
I scanned the doors as I walked down the corridor. Yep, they were arranged in date order. Each room contained a core. The Beyond had created this place. A resting place for the pure souls they’d burned through. But how the hell was I going to harvest them all? Busting through each door was going to take forever.
There had to be a quicker way. “Um, hello?”
Nothing.
“Keeper? Guardian?”
Nothing.
Shit…what was the system called? Wait, it had called this place an archive. “Librarian?”
“How may I assist Cassius?”
“I need to find a specific…remnant.”
“Name of remnant.”
“Lara Dawn.”
The doors whizzed past in a blur, forcing my stomach back into my spine. I was gonna be sick.
We came to a halt and my eyes wobbled in their sockets. I squeezed them shut and exhaled to ground myself.
“Will that be all?” the librarian asked.
“One moment.” I opened my eyes to find Aunt Lara’s door to my right.
She was here. Behind that door. A remnant, whatever that meant.
“Will that be all?” the librarian repeated.
“No. Can I…Can I see her?”
“A remnant can be seen and heard but cannot see or hear you.”
I needed to know. I needed to see. I pushed open the door and stepped inside.
The room was a dark abyss of emptiness; the only light came from an orb floating in the center of the room. Thick silence pressed against my ears, and then whispers filled my head.
A voice I recognized.
Where is it? What is it? Can I go now? Will I be okay? Where am I? Where is this? What was I doing? There was something…something…A soft sob. I can’t remember. What was it? Why? Why?
Aunt Lara’s voice filled my head, the whispers growing louder until they were all I could hear. Her confusion and despair pierced me. Cassius had said the cores were safe, that they felt no pain, but he was wrong. This was emotional torment. Eternal confusion and loss.
No. This had to end.
Please show me…show me…where…something…someone…
This was the last part of her. The final essence of the only mother I’d known. She deserved peace. My chest ached with love for her. I’m sorry, Aunt Lara. I’ll make it stop.
My scythe appeared, glowing bright in the darkness. The orb pulsed.
What? Where?
I held the blade toward the orb. “It’s time to be free, Aunt Lara.”
The orb rushed toward me and then it was absorbed by my blade. I had her. I had my Aunt Lara, and now I needed the rest of these poor remnants.
I stepped back into the corridor. “Librarian, how do I free all the remnants?”
Silence greeted me. Crap, I needed the right words. Hmmmm. “Librarian. I wish to extract all remnants.”
“Do you wish to initiate extraction protocol?”
Bingo. “Yes.”
“Bio verification required
.”
Oh, fuck.
The beam appeared and rushed toward me. There was no time to run before it was over me. The light pulsed, and I squeezed my eyes closed, knowing exactly what was about to happen.
The light went red.
“Access denied. Intruder detected. Ejection protocol initiated.”
Oh, shit.
The light went blue. The same color as the exit button. No.
I burst out from beneath the beam and broke into a sprint down the corridor.
“Extermination protocol activated.”
Wait, what? Fuck, I should have allowed it to eject me.
The air fizzed and a red beam shot out of the ceiling ahead, cutting me off. I skidded to a halt and looked over my shoulder to find the blue beam almost upon me.
Fee sandwich alert.
I shoved through the nearest door to get out of the corridor, and it was only when I was swallowed by darkness that it hit me…
This door was black.
There was a voice. There were words. There was something… someone, a voice in my head, and then I was lying on red earth with a hot breeze kissing my nape. I was no longer in the Edge.
What the hell? How’d I get out?
Something was wrong—a scratching at the back of my mind.
I shook my head to clear it, and my heart sank. There was no way to extract the remnants. Not for me. Fucking Cassius. He had to have known. I pulled myself up and dusted off my clothes.
The Dominion had some explaining to do. Fuck. I needed to find Uriel and get the hell out of here.
“Back already?”
Uriel?
I turned to find the celestial standing several meters behind me with his head bowed, arms loose at his sides. He wasn’t alone. Several malignant stood at his back, their crimson and obsidian bodies heaving as if from exertion, or maybe excitement. I wasn’t too sure.
My scalp pricked in warning. “Uriel?” I took a tentative step toward him. “Are you okay?”
His shoulders heaved, and then a dry rasping sound filled the air. It took a moment to recognize the sound as laughter.
His laughter.
My stomach cramped in warning. Thighs bunching, ready to fight or flee. “Uriel, look at me.”
He raised his head slowly and locked crimson eyes with mine. “Uriel isn’t here right now.”
Oh, boy.
Chapter Three
Uri was no longer Uri. He was possessed, but how? Malignant couldn’t possess a pure celestial, which meant…
“He stays with us,” the thing inside Uri said. “He stays with us, and you leave.”
What? Why would they let me go without a fight? The penny dropped. Uriel must have struck a bargain with them.
Had he agreed not to fight the possession in exchange for them sparing me?
“Yeah, not happening. I go, he goes.”
Uriel’s body shuddered, and then the crimson retreated. “Go, Fee.” It was his voice. “I can’t hold them much longer.” He bit out the words with effort, and then his head fell forward again, and his shoulders heaved as if his body was inflating, being filled with another presence. The malevolent presence.
“No free pass for you, little reaper.” He raised his head, and the thing inside him locked gazes with me, sending a chill shooting up my spine. “No leaving without pain.”
I flicked my wrist, and my scythe materialized. “Pain. Yes. For you.”
“Hurt me, and you hurt him.”
Fuck.
I needed to think fast because the thing wearing Uri was advancing. I had to get it out of him…Oh crap. Yes. There was only one way to do that, but first, I needed to send Aunt Lara into the ether. If only I knew how.
Shit, too late.
Uri rushed me, and I evaded, jumping out of the way and spinning to kick him in the back. He went sprawling across the ground but was up in seconds and gunning for me. No weapons. I couldn’t risk hurting him.
Yet.
“Uri, fight it.”
He lunged, and I punched him in the face.
The malignant may have control of Uriel, but he hadn’t absorbed any of Uri’s fighting skills. He was clumsy with his blows, so even if there was power behind them, I was able to avoid being hit. The malignant circled us, not attacking by some unspoken command, allowing their leader to take pop after failed pop at me.
“Uri, I know you’re in there. You can take this guy.”
The malignant feinted left, so I went right, but he changed trajectory at the last minute, and before I could dodge, he had his hand around my throat. Uriel’s hand.
My scythe flared to life, recognizing the threat, the fact that this thing meant to kill me. But my friend was inside there, and I needed him to fight back. To hear me.
I willed the scythe away, eyes bugging as the malignant increased the pressure on my throat. I grabbed his thumb, prising it off my skin, and twisted.
He released me with a bellow. I kicked him in the chest, hard enough to knock him on his back, but he was up too quickly for me to take advantage. His eyes flashed crimson, and then two malignant surged toward him. They grabbed hold of his shoulders, clinging to him, and his frame expanded, muscles bulging obscenely.
Oh, shit. I backed up. How the fuck were they doing that? The thing in front of me still had Uri’s face, but the body was something out of a nightmare. He grinned widely, and then he charged at me. The split second my body was frozen to the spot cost me my lead because he was faster now, and when his arm slammed into my face, the world shattered in an explosion of stars. Hands on my shoulders squeezing me, crushing me. Fuck, fight. I kicked out, making contact with his torso hard enough to loosen his grip a fraction, but a fraction was all I needed to twist free. I hit the ground in a crouch and rolled to avoid a fist slam. He was like the fucking Hulk, smash, wallop, and I needed to bring him down. I needed to channel every ounce of power and strength inside me to do it.
He was at my back as I ran. The ground thundered and the world shook as I opened myself to my Loup and reaper power, allowing it to flood my limbs, accelerate my heartbeat, and force adrenaline through me, and then I turned and ran straight at him. There was a moment of confusion on his face. Yes, fucker, I got you. I slammed into him with every ounce of force I had.
He went down, hitting the ground with a thunk. I straddled him, pinning him down, muscles burning with the effort of restraining him.
“Uriel, fight it. Damn it. Uri!”
The malignant around me wailed as if egging their leader on. Uri bucked, veins in his neck bulging as he fought me, trying to throw me off.
“No!” I pushed back, eyes hot with anger and frustration. “I will not lose you, dammit. Fight!”
My hands began to glow where they made contact with him, and the malignant inside let out an angry cry. The two spirits attached to him let go, and Uri’s body shrank back to its regular size. The light spilling from my hands intensified, and Uri’s struggles became weaker.
Yes. “Uri, fight it.”
I wasn’t sure what was happening, but it was working. The crimson in his eyes bled away, and then it was Uriel looking up at me with ember eyes, bright with desperation.
“Can’t hold him,” he said. “Go, please.”
There was no time to argue. “How do I access the ether?”
He winced as if in pain.
“Uri, the ether, how do I access it? Can I do it here?”
“Yes. Just want it. Will it. Fee…Oh God. I’m so sorry, I don’t…understand.”
His body arched violently, and I was thrown off. The malignant rushed toward me, their mouths open hungrily, but they didn’t attack. I scrambled away, summoning my scythe and breaking into a run. I needed space to connect with the ether.
Come on. Ether, I need you. I need…I came to a stop and squeezed my eyes closed as my scythe pulsed. The energy within it was a palpable force tingling up my arm. Aunt Lara’s remnant was a swirling confusion spiraling up and into the blade, and then there
was something else—a dark expanse filled with stardust at the periphery of my consciousness. The ether.
Go.
I willed Aunt Lara.
Go now.
My heart ached as she left me, and then something crashed into me from behind. I hit the ground hard, face scraping dirt and rock. Warm liquid stung my eyes. Blood. I was bleeding. Uriel flipped me onto my back, and his hands went back to my throat.
“You’re not the reaper for this job,” the malignant said. “And this will be a message to you all.”
His eyes glowed, black veins blooming to life beneath them and clawing down his cheeks.
There was only one thing left to do. “I’m sorry,” I choked out.
And then I stabbed him in the side with my obsidian dagger.
Uriel’s grip on me tightened painfully, and then he let go, sliding off me as he tried to get away from the blade sticking out of him.
I yanked the dagger out and shoved him off me. He stayed down, clutching his side as his minions closed in.
“Stop,” he said. “She won’t risk killing him.”
His voice was strained and tight with pain as he swayed on his feet. The thing inside Uri was hurt. It had probably forgotten what that was like. But if he was going to inhabit a corporeal form, it was only fair that he got to experience all the perks.
Time to use this to my advantage. I kicked him in the face before summoning my scythe and raising it, ready to stab.
“What? What are you doing?” The malignant sounded genuinely perplexed. “You’ll kill him.” His eyes widened as it dawned that I might be serious.
“Maybe, but I suspect he’d rather be dead than play host to the likes of you.”
I swung. He screamed. His minions attacked, but they were too late. My scythe buried itself in Uriel’s thigh.
“Time to vacuum you up, fucker.”
The blade glowed and turned crimson. Uriel threw back his head in a silent scream, and then his body sagged and he slumped onto his side, unconscious. I yanked the blade out and turned to face the other malignant.
“Your leader was wrong. I can take you. I can vacuum you up and spit you out somewhere ten times worse than this place. So, tell me, what’s it gonna be?”
Reaper Unhinged (Deadside Reapers Book 6) Page 2