The Reaper’s fingers squeezed tight around me, my ribs aching under the strain. It hurled me out into the night, and I managed to curl myself up before my back struck a tree. The wood splintered, and I rolled out of the way the moment I hit the dirt as the pine toppled over and crashed to the ground.
The wind howled around me, the rain coming down in a torrent. Claiming that woman’s soul had left a bitter taste in my mouth, but if the Council wanted to come for me over a breach of rules in a circumstance like this, then I’d gladly offer a fuck you to their smug faces.
It wasn’t just about me. If it meant being able to protect Juniper, if it meant being able to fight beside her, I didn’t care what rules I had to shatter. I’d use any means necessary. I would twist, destroy, and manipulate anyone and anything in my path for her.
As the Reaper lurched above me, its eerily glowing eyes blinking down at me, I smiled.
“Looking a little worse for wear,” I yelled. One of the beast’s arms hung down limply, and its bones were protruding from its wrist, its gray skin torn. It made me proud to know Leon had done it, to know the murderous bastard hadn’t gone down without making the Reaper fight for it.
Demons didn’t fucking lay down and die. If this was the end, then this Reaper would go back to Hell with the marks to prove I’d fought.
“You’re strong after all, demon,” the beast rumbled. “I look forward to a challenge I don’t have to gentle myself for.”
There was a rapid popping noise, and the Reaper flinched, turning its shrouded head in confusion back toward the house. Juniper was there in the broken window, down on one knee as she took aim again. More shots popped off, striking the Reaper in its numerous blinking eyes, and I immediately took advantage of the opening.
I launched myself up, straight for that injured arm. I got my teeth in its shoulder, ripping through taut muscle and sinew, tearing down to the bone and cracking it in my teeth. The beast roared, swiping for me with its other arm as Juniper continued to rain gunfire at it. The bullets likely felt like nothing more than a stinging annoyance, but even a tiny wasp could send a full-grown man running.
I dodged its swipe before it could hit me, and rolled under its armored legs. But its arm followed me around, striking me hard and throwing me back, tumbling me across the ground. In fury, it looked back for Juniper, but she had climbed down from the house and was sprinting toward the trees.
“Foolish human,” the monster growled. “You have no idea what you’ve done.”
I lunged for it again, but it was ready for me this time. Its claws slashed across my face, cutting open my cheek. It dazed me for a moment, and that gave the Reaper the chance to throw me down, pinning me under its hand.
I struggled, biting its fingers and tearing off chunks of flesh. But the massive creature nudged off the shroud covering its face, and opened its massive mouth. Seemingly endless rows of teeth, long and sharp as needles, came down for me. It could snap through my neck and consume my entire head in one gulp —
There was a loud pop, and one of the Reaper’s glowing eyes burst, blood spattering my face. The Reaper roared, flailing back, freeing me from its grasp. I didn’t need to see it to know what had just pierced the Reaper’s face was no ordinary bullet: it was the amulet, now lodged deep inside the beast’s head.
From the looks of it, the Reaper hadn’t been exaggerating when it had called the thing “poison.”
The Reaper kept thrashing, slamming into trees, into the side of the house, cracking limbs and sending glass flying as it screamed. Juniper ran up to my side, her eyes wide, somewhere between terror and elation.
“It worked,” she gasped. “Holy shit, it worked!”
The creature lunged, and before I could get her behind me, the Reaper snatched Juniper from the ground and lifted her into the air.
“Foolish, pathetic little human!” Its voice reverberated through the air, shaking the trees and shattering more glass with its volume. Juniper was struggling, but her arm was pinned to her side and she couldn’t get the gun up. The Reaper’s massive wings whipped down, sharp spurs on their edges slashing toward me. I dodged them and leaped up the Reaper’s side, using its armor and flesh as handholds, climbing until I was on its back and nearly to its neck. The only arm it could use was occupied with Juniper, and it gave me the opportunity to crawl around to the beast’s throat and sink in both claws and teeth.
Juniper screamed as the beast roared back, dropping her as it tried to pull me off. But I’d dug in deep, and though the charm’s magic wouldn’t be as effective against this monster as it had been against me, there was no recovering from a wound like this.
It knocked me off, and I caught myself before I hit the ground, landing in a crouch. My mouth was covered in its blood, dripping down my chin, and I watched with satisfaction as the beast stumbled back and roared furiously.
“I won’t forget your face,” the Reaper screamed. “Watch where you wander in Hell, demon. No Reaper who encounters you won’t know your name.”
The darkness intensified around it, shrouding its form as it dissolved. It gave up its physical body, bursting into fluttering ashes. It would go back to Hell, and perhaps it would indeed survive and tell all the others what I’d done. It didn’t matter. Let them hunt me. Let them hate me.
Not fifty feet away, Juniper lay limply on the ground. As I sprinted to her side, a trickle of blood leaked down from a gash on her head. I squatted beside her, quickly covering the wound with my hand.
“Juniper?” I pressed my fingers carefully along her spine before I dared touch her, checking for any breaks. She groaned softly at the touch and I pulled her up, holding her close against me.
She stirred, her eyes slowly blinking open as she groaned again. “Fuck.” She clutched her chest, squeezing her eyes shut again. “God…that — that fucking hurt —”
“What hurts?” Any injury dealt to her was one I’d deal to someone else. Someone was going to pay for this — someone would pay dearly.
She shook her head. “I think I — I’m okay — knocked the air out of me when I fell. Fucking hell.” She sat up a little more, still breathing heavily as she looked around. It looked as if a bomb had gone off around us: the lawn had been ripped up in massive chunks, trees had been blown to bits, the quiet garden with all its neatly-trimmed bushes was flattened. The house itself had nearly been split in two, water spraying from broken pipes and a distinct smell of methane in the air.
“Is it gone?” she said softly. “Did it work?”
“You’re brilliant, love,” I held her face in my hands, kissing her. Fuck, I’d never tire of that mouth. Every time her lips touched mine, it was like another band pulled tight around my heart, binding me to her. “Using the amulet like that…you brought it to its knees.”
She grinned. “Glad to know you’re not the only monster I can bring to its knees.”
I kissed her again, lingering, savoring the taste of her. It was only when I pulled away a second time that I realized I was smearing blood across her face, and yet all she could do was smile at me.
“You’ve got a little something on your mouth,” she said cheekily. I wanted nothing more than to scoop her up and get the fuck out of here. We could go find Leon, then leave this place behind and never set foot in Abelaum again — but the sound of tires crunching on the gravel driveway drew my attention.
“He’s back,” I growled. “Jeremiah is back.”
