I really wanted those chips and cookies.
But Thomas’s screams, and the decapitated body of the nameless man, lingered in my mind and curdled in my stomach until it was all I could do to hold down the little I’d eaten that day. Just as haunting was the memory of the cold, pale fog in Jeremiah’s eyes, the black liquid seeping from his mouth. It was as if something was rotting him from the inside out.
Jeremiah’s reward for the sacrifices he’d made was supernatural strength that his mortal body could barely contain.
“A human isn’t meant to have strength like that,” Leon said. “Mortal bodies begin to break down from the effort of maintaining it, so Jeremiah won’t survive like that forever. But that doesn’t make it any less of a problem.”
“Who was the second sacrifice?” I was pacing in the house, unable to sit down, afraid that if I didn’t keep myself distracted, I’d break down entirely. I’d seen Leon kill monsters before, but never humans. Watching humans die was something else entirely, even though it was for my own protection.
I could watch horror films all day and love them. I could revel in gore when I knew it was fake. But this was real. Far too real.
“The sacrifice must have been Victoria,” Leon said. He was in the bathroom, washing the blood splatter from his hairline. It was only at my prompting that he was bothering. He didn’t really seem to notice when he was spattered with gore. “One of the Hadleigh children is destined for death. Considering Jeremiah is walking around with the God’s favor, I’d say he made quick work of his sister.” He shrugged and turned off the water. “The only thing left on his list is you. You’ll get his full attention now.” He frowned, prodding curiously at his tattooed arms. They couldn’t be seen through the ink, but I’d heard him grumbling that Jeremiah had bruised him.
I could hear sirens faintly in the distance. When I’d briefly scrolled Facebook earlier in an attempt to distract myself, it hadn’t taken long to see someone post that Food Mart was on fire.
Would they find the bodies? Would there be security footage of what happened? Maybe if the police could just see what Jeremiah had done, maybe…
No. The police couldn’t help me. It was me and Leon — and somewhere out there, Juniper and Zane were still out for vengeance against the Libiri. The bloodbath wasn’t over.
It was only just beginning.
Emerging from the bathroom, Leon snatched me up and carried me to the couch, settling me onto his lap in front of the TV. He tugged my thumb from my lip — the nail of which I’d absolutely destroyed by chewing on — and held both my hands secured in one of his.
“Look at me.” He tipped my chin up, running his thumb over my pouting lower lip. “A man like Jeremiah isn’t allowed to spend this much time on your mind. Who do you belong to?” I pouted a little more, and his hand moved from my face to my breast, teasing gently over the piercing there. “Who do you belong to, baby girl?”
“You,” I said softly, and despite the anxiety pressing down on my lungs until I couldn’t breathe, I smiled when he kissed my forehead.
“You’re mine, and I don’t let what’s mine get taken away from me. I protect what’s mine. Is that clear?” I nodded, and he settled me against his shoulder. “Jeremiah is still just flesh and blood. He may be strong, but he’s mortal. He tried to take you and already sealed his own death for that.”
A few moments passed in silence. I never wanted to leave that place, that feeling: the absolute safety and comfort of his arms around me. The knowledge that he would fight for me, that he was prepared to take on anything for me, made my heart ache.
There were words my brain wanted to say but my tongue refused to form. Words like, “I want to take your deal,” that really just meant “I want you to have my soul” because he’d already gone against the deal he’d offered. The price for his protection wasn’t paid, but here he was. Even when the danger was greatest.
I really hated planning for the future, I hated thinking of big, scary decisions, but this? This didn’t feel so scary anymore. It felt right. It felt like safety. It felt like opening a door to the greatest adventure I’d ever take.
I wanted to say it.
There was something else I wanted to say too, words that set me on fire and settled me at once, words that terrified me. Three simple words that rang true in my heart but balked before they could leave my mouth.
But I could be brave.
“Leon —”
The house creaked, and he tensed. The ground shook, the beams overhead groaning and the lights flickering. Cheesecake scrambled out of the kitchen, bolting upstairs to hide under the bed, his tail puffed up.
The shaking stopped. Only the flickering lights remained.
“Earthquake?” My voice sounded too loud in the silence that followed. Leon shook his head, staring at the light above. It flickered faster, faster, the electricity audibly crackling until —
The bulb burst, raining glass onto the floor, plunging the house into darkness. Leon got up slowly, his eyes bright in the dark. I could hear him sniffing, every exhale creating a cloud in the rapidly chilling air.
Goosebumps went up my arms. The temperature had dropped so low, so rapidly, that I was shivering. Leon’s arm was still around me, my only heat as I watched the window panes frost over.
“What the hell is happening?” I whispered. “Leon, what —”
A cry, a howl, filled the night. It carried through the forest, a scream from the darkest depths of oblivion, both too bestial and too human. It wasn’t the cry of an Eld, or the snarl of a Gollum. This sounded…bigger.
“A Reaper,” Leon murmured. “He summoned a goddamn Reaper.”
There was another cry, and I had to cover my ears as my stomach lurched at the sound. It was so unnatural, so viciously primal and alien. A sound like that shouldn’t exist on earth, it shouldn’t be heard by human ears. But there wouldn’t be a single person in Abelaum who didn’t hear it. Whatever this thing was, it wasn’t even attempting to hide.
“You need to get out of here.” Leon was handing me my keys. I hadn’t even realized he’d moved to get them. “Get the cat. Start driving. Don’t fucking stop. Not for anything. Get as far away from here as you can.”
I stared at the keys in my shaking hand. Leon was at the door, staring off into the trees. The yard’s motion light flickered on as three deer ran across the yard, followed closely by a possum with her babies clinging to her back. Squirrels scurried over the deck and away, and crows were cawing overhead.
The animals were fleeing.
I dashed upstairs, and dragged Cheesecake out from under the bed. I barely managed to get the terrified cat into his harness before I dashed back downstairs. Leon was still exactly where I’d left him, shirtless as he stood on the deck, his claws out and his back tense.
“Leon, I’m ready, let’s go.”
He turned back to me, and something on his face made my heart plummet like a stone. “Give me five minutes to make sure it’s distracted. Then start driving.”
I gulped, shaking my head. “No. No, you’re coming with me.”
“Five minutes, Raelynn. You need to do as I say.” His face was grim, the cocky determination I was so used to seeing there utterly gone. I felt sick. I was so cold.
“Then you’ll catch up with me,” I said firmly. “I’ll start driving first, and you’ll catch up with me. Right?”
He turned, walking back inside. His bare feet left steaming prints on the freezing deck. He reached into the pocket of his jeans, and pulled out a folded piece of yellowed paper.
“When you’re far away from here, try to summon me back.” He held out the paper, and when I couldn’t bring myself to take it, he forced it against my chest. I put Cheesecake down, holding onto his leash, and unfolded it.
I recognized it immediately.
“This is your mark.” My eyes were stinging. “From the grimoire. You said…you said you hadn’t found it yet…”
“If the Reaper doesn’t kill me, you can summon me again.” He grinned, but it didn’t reach those smoldering eyes. “I’ve never given anyone permission to summon me. But if you can, bring me back to you.”
I knew what this was. I didn’t want to acknowledge it, because it hurt so bad, but I knew.
If the Reaper doesn’t kill me…but he didn’t believe that. He was saying good-bye.
He was saying good-bye, and I…
I threw my arms around him, squeezing as tightly as I could. I didn’t want to let go, he couldn’t make me let go, but he wasn’t holding me back either. He was gently – so very gently – pushing me away.
“I’m sorry.” The stinging in my eyes was welling over now. He couldn’t do this. Not like this. “I’m so sorry, Leon, please, please don’t —”
“Don’t say you’re sorry.” His voice was just a whisper as he backed away, putting distance between us as if he was afraid I’d cling to him again. “No human is ready for forever, and forever is all I have. But you gave me a part of your life, when mortal lives are so short.” He laughed softly. “I suppose saving your soul could be as good as owning it, so you’d better fucking survive.” He glanced back at the trees, as a freezing wind ruffled his hair and another cry shattered the night. As the awful sound faded away, he said, “You should know that I love you, for whatever that’s worth. Stay alive. Don’t waste that mortal life.”
That was where he left me, standing there in the door with tears streaming down my face and his name in my hand.
