We returned to silence, and for that I was grateful. Ryker was right. This was my choice, and I wasn’t about to let Zane take that from me.
I slowly relaxed, using the tensing and releasing of my muscles to return to that Zen-like state needed to see auras. My heart slowed, and colors began to bloom around the passersby once again.
I’d only been settled for a couple of minutes when a panicked shot of yellow caught my eye. I stiffened, straightening in my seat as two men grabbed a young woman with white-blonde hair. She kicked her feet out as they pulled her towards an alley and one of her shoes sailed up before falling to the pavement. They sank into the darkness of an alley, that flash of yellow between them.
“Stop the car!” I yelled grabbing the door handle.
The brakes squealed and my pulse pounded with righteous fury as I threw off my seatbelt and slammed open the car door before it had stopped completely.
“Clara!” Ryker snapped.
“Be careful,” Zane growled.
Before I could think better of it, I’d grabbed one of Zane’s daggers from his pectoral and leapt from the car.
Blood boiling and heart pounding in my ears, I raced after the young woman and her captors. How dare those men take her against her will? Her pale eyes and blonde hair flashed before my eyes, her face twisted in terror as one of the men clamped a hand over her mouth. It was the last thing I’d seen before they rounded the corner.
I pushed harder, my boots pounding the pavement as I slipped around the edge of the rundown bar, knife brandished at my side.
“Clara!” Ryker called behind me.
I heard the car doors slam, but I didn’t stop. As soon as I turned the corner, I saw them. They groped and pawed at the young woman, their lecherous eyes slipping down her body as one tore at her clothes.
“Hey!” I screamed. My fingers tightened around my blade as I advanced on them.
The men stiffened and turned toward me while the blonde trembled, her face streaked with tears.
“Who are you?” the man with the shaved head asked. He raised an eyebrow as his eyes scanned me from head to toe. He released the woman, taking a step closer.
I gulped as he faced me head on. He was taller than me by at least a foot and had broad, muscled shoulders. I paused a few meters away, my rational mind finally breaking through the adrenaline-fueled haze that led me to where I stood.
“A pretty girl with a knife?” The other man tilted his head, his smirk widening.
The man closest shot forward and grabbed my wrist, yanking upward. He twisted, trying to force me to release the knife, but before that strike of pain could hit, he was slammed up against the wall, my wrist freed.
Ryker growled, his fists trembling as if he held himself back. “Do not touch her,” he said between gritted teeth. The normally red-brown of his gaze glowed bright crimson as he bared his fangs at the lecher.
The second man blinked in surprise. True, it seemed Ryker had appeared from nowhere, but vampire speed didn’t account for human perception. “What the fuck?” the man snapped, shoving the blonde back as he turned on Ryker and I.
Zane appeared next, slamming a fist into the pervert’s gut. The man bent over, spluttering obscenities and coughing wildly as his knees gave out beneath him.
The blonde woman looked between us all, too startled to move. She quivered like a newborn fawn, her eyes just as wide as the sweet creatures. Carefully, I took a step closer to her, lowering the knife. “Hey,” I said softly. “It’s okay now. You’re safe.”
She looked between me and her would-be rapists subdued between Ryker and Zane. She parted her lips to speak but no sound escaped.
She’s in shock, I realized.
Smiling ruefully, I took a step back to allow her a clear escape. “You should get out of here. Go home.”
My words must have spurred her fight or flight instinct at last, because she dashed passed me without a word, her bare feet slapping the pavement until she disappeared around the bend.
“Is this who you’ve chosen?” Zane asked.
The harsh rasp of his voice pulled me back to reality. I froze, cold fear wrapping around me. Though my only thoughts had been of saving that woman before, now I remembered what we were here for. I had to kill a person tonight. If I didn’t, not even Ryker and Zane could save me.
Taking a deep breath, I forced myself to straighten and really take in the two awful men before me. I narrowed my eyes as I assessed. The one with the bald head spit obscenities and pushed Ryker off, stumbling as if he’d had too much to drink, while the other was still on his knees, recovering from Zane’s punch.
Though I hadn’t gotten a good look at their auras, I knew all I needed to. They were going to rape that woman. If they didn’t deserve to die, than who did?
“Y-Yes,” I stammered, my palms sweaty once more. I adjusted my slick grasp on the knife I’d taken, my heartbeat speeding up as I looked between the two men.
“What the hell are you on about?” the bald man asked, glaring at Ryker, and then at me.
The soft push of fur on my leg made me look down. Ky pressed against me in cat form, but his eyes were narrowed on the man who’d grabbed me. His fur stuck up, bristling like he was about to attack the man himself.
“Are you ready, Clara?” Zane asked. He looked between me, and the man with the shaved head, his expression cold. It reminded me that killing meant nothing to him.
I swallowed. Would I ever be ready? No. But did I have to do this? Yes. I raised the knife higher. All I had to do was knick him and my demoness would take over. It might not assuage my guilt, but at least it’d be over quickly.
“Yeah,” I said on a shaky breath.
Zane exchanged a look with Ryker, and the vampire traded places with him. While Ryker guarded the second man, Zane approached the bald one, a dagger suddenly in hand.
“Get away from me!” the man snapped, stepping away from Zane and right into the wall. He glanced over his shoulder, startled and then quickly raised his fists.
But there was no defending against Zane. I’d tried and failed enough times to know he was far more skilled than any human. Even if I was half-demon.
Zane shot forward, grabbing the man’s arm and twisting it behind his back. The would-be rapist yowled in pain as a snap echoed through the alley. Zane clamped a gloved hand over his mouth and nodded at me.
I stiffened. Mere seconds ago, Zane had been all cold calculation, his mask firmly in place. Now, his black eyes beckoned me towards darkness. Something inside me stirred—something wild and unfamiliar. With one flick of his wrist, the knife slid across the man’s neck, and blood bloomed in the thin cut.
I inhaled sharply, copper filling my senses. My pulse quickened and heat flared through my entire being. My mouth watered and every part of me fought against the sudden all-consuming desire to press my mouth over the wound and suck the blood from his veins. I wanted to devour him whole and feel his soul slip through my fingers. I wanted to kill him more than I’d ever wanted anything before.
“That’s it,” Zane urged, a ghost of a smirk tilting his lips. “Let her out.”
Ky skittered back as I took a step forward, and then another. I couldn’t focus on anything but the blood dripping down the man’s neck and his muffled cries. I wanted to hear him scream. I wanted him to fight against me as I consumed him.
But I had a job to do as well.
Slicing my fingers through the air, I broke through the fabric of reality and into the void where my scythe awaited my call. I dipped my hand into the cold nothingness, and out came the weapon that would seal this man’s fate to an eternity in hell.
I smirked and stepped closer. His blue eyes bugged as he took in the hunger I was sure reflected in my eyes. “You’ve been a bad, bad boy,” I whispered. I tilted his chin up with my finger before diving closer to his neck. I ran my tongue over the wound and blessed lifeblood lit my senses on fire.
I moaned as I swiped my tongue over the cut a second tim
e. My whole body trembled with desire as I grabbed his neck in hand, sinking my nails in. My teeth scraped his skin as I pushed the wound for more.
He screamed and fought beneath me, but Zane gripped harder, and held him in place, allowing me my fill. But soon the tiny wound clotted and the flow of blood grew slow. I grumbled my irritation and drew the tip of my scythe closer.
My blade hummed as if anxious to steal this man’s life. Just like that, I knew it was time, and with one quick swipe of my blade, I cut his jugular.
He spluttered as I bathed in his blood, drowning in the pleasure of it. I felt his life fading with the hum of my scythe, the same hum drumming in my chest. Slowly, Zane must have released him, and helped lower him to the ground. I came with them, kneeling over the dying man and drinking him in until the humming grew so loud I could feel it in my veins.
I gasped as a splash of cold ruptured my heat. I sat back, the white of his aura spilling out of his opened mouth. But his soul slipped across my blade and into my chest, filling me with cold, and heat and power. I tilted my head back to the sky, basking in the beautiful feeling of devouring a tainted man’s soul.
It wasn’t until the feeling faded that I found myself kneeling on top of a dead body, a wild eyed Reaper staring at me like I’d just grown a second head.
Chapter 17
My breathing slowed and my eyebrows cinched as the swirling in my head finally faded along with the bloodlust. “Zane?” I asked. He continued to stare, eyes wide and lips parted. Had I done something wrong? Was my job not complete? “What is it?”
Zane shut his mouth quickly. He looked between us all, that crazed look still in his eyes. He stepped closer, and then paused as if catching himself. “You just… you absorbed it,” he said, out of breath.
I blinked, unable to comprehend what he was saying. The fog of Demon Bitch Mode was still heavy in my mind, and it took me a minute to realize what he’d said. “I absorbed the soul?” I reiterated.
He nodded mutely. I could almost see the gears turning in his head but I had no idea what he was thinking or what any of it meant.
“What the fuck? You psycho bitch! What did you do to Ronnie?” the second would-be rapist screamed.
I looked up, catching the confused look on Ryker’s face and the horror on the man he restrained. Then, I finally looked down, and startled. I shot up, before my legs gave out and I stumbled against the chain link fence separating two alleys. The screech of metal somehow shook me back to reality as I stared at the dead body in the middle of the alley.
I’d done that. I’d just killed a man. I’d literally drank his blood and I think… I think I might have eaten his soul.
My stomach turned so suddenly I barely had the chance to shift onto my hands and knees before bile burned my throat and I retched. Ringing filled my ears, but I couldn’t throw anything up. Images of what I’d just done flashed before my eyes. I’d killed someone. On purpose. I was a murderer.
“Clara,” Ryker said softly.
My whole body shook, even as Ky’s fluffy body pressed against my arm. Tears welled behind my eyes, and I squeezed them shut. This wasn’t happening. This couldn’t be. How had my life taken such a turn? I wasn’t a killer. Or at least, I’d never wanted to be.
“She absorbed it,” Zane said, harsher this time. “She fucking absorbed a soul.”
“What does that mean, Zane?” Ryker snapped.
Zane scoffed. “We don’t absorb souls, vampire. Our scythes do, and then they’re fed back to the void.”
“Oh,” Ryker said.
“This is… this is unheard of. It’s impossible,” Zane continued. The clip of his boots on stone told me he was pacing, but I didn’t dare open my eyes.
“Then what do we do? If she didn’t feed it to the void, does that mean she didn’t collect a soul for Elizabeth?”
I stiffened, and my eyes flashed open. No. If he was right, that meant my job wasn’t done. That meant I had to kill again. I didn’t want to kill another person. I didn’t want any of this.
“Yes,” Zane said, breathless. “That’s exactly what it means.”
“Fuck,” Ryker cursed.
Slowly, I sat back, horror welling behind my breastbone. He was going to make me kill again. I knew it. This hell would never end. I’d be stuck in an endless cycle of killing to keep my family alive. I couldn’t do this.
“You can’t ask her to kill another person right now,” Ryker snapped.
“She—” Zane began, but Ryker cut him off.
“Look at her. Just look. She’s barely keeping it together after one. She can’t do it again. Not tonight.”
There was a long pause as I felt eyes boring into me, but I didn’t look up. I knew I’d see pity, and I just couldn’t take anyone else’s emotions right now. Even Ky’s comforting purr wasn’t pulling me out of the black hole that had opened up inside of me.
“You’re right,” Zane said.
Shock rippled through me, but before I had the chance to delve into it, I gentle hand rested on my shoulder. I stiffened. I could smell the leather and sharp scent of the oil he used to clean his knives. Zane’s breath brushed the hair on the crown of my head as he leaned down to pull the scythe from my grasp.
My eyes flashed open at the same time I hurriedly released the weapon. I hadn’t even realized I was still holding onto it.
“I’ll take care of this,” Zane said. He met my gaze, a tinge of warmth in his dark eyes for the first time since we’d met.
My mouth hung open, and words evaded me as he straightened before turning on the other man who’d been assaulting the blonde woman.
“Wait a fucking minute!” the man gasped, seeming to find his wits at last. He took a step back, but in a flash, Zane shot forward and sliced open his neck. The man’s hands shot up to staunch the bleeding, but before his hands got halfway up, he dropped to his knees, and then his side. His eyes rolled up as he gurgled on his own blood.
Seconds later, the sound stopped and a cold brush of air made me shiver. The white glow of his soul pushed out of his bloody mouth and slipped into the blade. It hummed softly as Zane reopened the void and dropped my scythe inside.
“There,” Zane said. “This way the princess will think she did it.” He glanced at me, and then Ryker.
The vampire stood stiffly, uncertain as he held the Reaper’s gaze. “You’re sure?”
Zane nodded.
It must have been enough for Ryker, because as soon as he got the all clear, he was crouching next to me, taking my hand and wiping his thumb under my eye to brush away the tears. “I’m so sorry, Clara,” he whispered.
I didn’t know what to say, or if there was anything to say. Ryker pulled me forward and pressed me against his hard chest. I sank against him, burying my face against his collarbone as he whispered reassurances.
“There has to be an explanation for this,” Zane said softly, almost reverent.
“Not now,” Ryker said, his chest vibrating against my ear.
“She isn’t who she says she is,” Zane continued as if he hadn’t heard Ryker. “Or there’s something else at work here.”
“Zane,” Ryker growled, squeezing me tighter.
“I need to meet her mother and see if I can learn anything about her father and who he might be. Maybe there are more like her out there.”
I stiffened, my heart skipping. He wanted to bring my mother into this mess? I pushed off of Ryker slightly, cold dread turning my nerves to steel as I narrowed my eyes at Zane. “You’re not bringing her into this.”
Zane stopped pacing and met my gaze. “Don’t be unreasonable.”
Heat licked up my throat as anger seared my skin. “She’s off limits.”
Zane glared at me through thick lashes. He wouldn’t give up. It was a mystery he needed to solve. It was something important—I knew that—but right now I couldn’t deal with it. And I certainly wasn’t allowing him anywhere near Mom. I couldn’t live with myself if something happened to her. I didn’t trust
Zane, or his intensions.
Before Zane could argue anymore, my mind raced to come up with a plan. “She’s away right now. And I don’t want her anywhere near you.”
The Reaper’s fists balled at his sides, but he didn’t say anything more. I could see the suspicion written in the lines of his face. He knew I was lying. But he also knew that my mom and I were close. I couldn’t keep him away from her forever, but I’d damned well try.
“Fine,” Zane conceded.
I relaxed. It might not be a perfect solution, but it was a band aid for a bigger problem.
“Let’s get you home,” Ryker said. He hooked his arms beneath my back and legs, and stood, pulling me up into his embrace.
I clung to his neck, my pulse pounding despite the exhaustion suddenly leadening my limbs. “Home,” I sighed. “Yeah that sounds good.”
Ryker smiled ruefully as he walked back down the alley and deposited me in the car. He waited to close the door until Ky had jumped up on my lap, and then slid into the back seat, glaring at the back of Zane’s head.
I leaned my forehead against the cold glass of the window and curled my arms around Ky, holding him close to my chest to get the full affect of his motor purr. Once I was settled, I closed my eyes and tried to push away the images of blood that flooded the darkness behind my eyelids.
I still couldn’t believe I’d just killed a person—or basically killed two. But at least Mom and my friends were safe for another day.
Chapter 18
Every time I closed my eyes I saw blood. Even my dreams had turned to nightmares where I tore people to pieces. The worst part? I enjoyed it. Every single time my demoness basked in the taste, the feel, and the love for killing.
I couldn’t take it. I wasn’t a killer.
After last night I’d spent two hours in the shower, alternating between crying and scrubbing the blood off of my skin before finally succumbing to exhaustion. Now, I didn’t want to leave my room. I’d tossed and turned all night, barely getting any sleep through the nightmares filling my head. How was I supposed to face the day like this? How was I supposed to go on like everything was still the same?
Reaper's Fire Page 15