Reapers - Master of Souls (Reapers Chronicles Book III)

9-Hope (1 of 2)

NP on Vincent's Playlist: Keep Me Breathing by Ashes Remain

My mind's a loaded gun; no one can hear me screaming

Another night that comes undone, you're the one that keeps me breathing

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Adrianna was down. But there were still the wraiths we should be worried about. Six of them. And they were starting to feed off Pilgrim like hyenas on a dead lion.

Vincent stood motionless, staring blankly at Adrianna's body. It looked like all the life was sucked out of him.

"Vincent!" I tried to rouse him for the nth time.

He finally blinked, setting his listless eyes on me.

"The wraiths!" I reminded him.

Wordlessly, he walked across the room. He pried one of them off Pilgrim and was about to throw it into the Door he just created. But instead, he just let it go. The wraith shrieked at him before going back to sucking Pilgrim dry. He must taste really good. The wraiths were actually ignoring us.

"Go on," I said. "Throw them in there."

With his normal hand, he pinched the bridge of his nose. He was looking more miserable by the second.

"What's the use?" he moaned. "The barrier's gone. They'd all just fly back up the abyss and then we'd just have to fight them all over again."

"Well... We can try to kill them."

"With what?!" he snapped. "Any of us try using our scythe, we'd both just turn into some kind of freaks. We're hopeless."

"So what now? We just stand here and watch your dad get killed?"

I looked into his eyes and saw something in there I didn't want to see: defeat. I turned my back on him and went to Adrianna's body. Sniffing, I began pulling the shard out of her stomach.

"What're you doing?" He placed his hand on my shoulder.

"Not letting your brothers die," I answered, glancing up at him.

He didn't stop me, but the objection was written all over his face. Even when she was dead—twice—Adrianna still came first.

Grudgingly, I slit the throat of the first creature I could get my hands on and drove the shard into another's skull. A muffled scream broke out of my throat. I couldn't hold it back anymore. I couldn't even care if I was shred to pieces. I gnashed my teeth and stabbed and hacked every wraith within my hand's reach. I managed to split open two of them. The others just dispersed and hissed at me from the ceiling.

"What are you waiting for?" I yelled at them, arms wide open.

"Aramis," Vincent called in a threatening tone. "Stop it!"

I glowered at him over my shoulder. "What? We're done for anyway. Might as well take down as many of them with me."

One after the other, they swooped on me. I readied myself. One clawed on me. Another hit the back of my head. I slashed blindly. Something grabbed my hair and dragged me backward. Grunting, I reached over my head and cut off the clump of hair it was holding.

I rolled on the floor. I felt it shudder rhythmically under my palms. "An earthquake?"

"There's no earthquake here, Aramis," he told me off. "We're not on earth."

"Well, what do you call it here?" I grumbled. "Because the ground's definitely shaking. Tht or some giant's running this way."

As I pushed myself up, Vincent threw himself in front of me. He caught a wraith about to lunge at me, rammed its head on the floor and stepped on it. The sound of a cracking skull made my scalp prickle. But I didn't think I would ever be ready for what came next.

All of a sudden, Adrianna was standing behind Vincent.

I couldn't speak or move. Trying was like running straight into a brick wall repetitively. The more I fought the more pain I was in.

She smiled with delight, touching an index finger over her lips.

The shock must have registered on my face though because Vincent quickly spun on his heels. Next second, Adrianna's hand was already impaled into his right shoulder.

Vincent clenched his teeth and tried to pull her arm out of him. But she was too strong. Slowly, she twisted her hand inside him and thrust it deeper.

Vincent let out a yelp. Blood came out of his mouth. And like me, it looked like he couldn't move a muscle.

Adrianna gave me her version of an innocent shrug. "You didn't really think you could get rid of us that easily, did you?"

Vincent started gasping.

"Oh, my," she trilled. "I just punctured a lung. Don't worry, Vincent. We still... need you alive. But the girl?"

Slowly, she pulled her hand out of Vincent and stared at the blood that was dripping from it. And with that same hand, she tweaked Vincent's hair away from his eye, leaving smudges of red on his face.

She pried my fingers off the Helcium shard and ran its tip on the side of my neck. A groan forced it way out of my pursed lips as she drew blood.

"She's just not that important to stow away for safekeeping," she said, circling me. Her eyes shot daggers at Vincent. "Don't you see? She's trying to come between us. She has got to go."

The back of her hand landed on my face so hard my neck almost twisted. When I opened my eyes, patches of light obscured my view. I tasted rust. More than myself though, I was more concerned of Vincent. He was losing a lot of blood.

"Be grateful," she whispered to my ear. "Shedding blood in the name of Babylon is a great honor."

"Babylon?"

The floor vibrated under my feet and it was getting stronger. Soon, the double doors flew open.

I squinted through the haze and saw Luci; hair billowing, eyes glowing green and all. Extremely dangerous, incredibly near.

That however, wasn't the reason why Adrianna was shaking in her boots. Or in this case, bare feet. It was because of the giant three-headed dog behind Luci.

Cerberus lowered his peripheral heads, an ominous rumble coming out of his curled lips. The middle head's ears pricked as he spotted me. Then, with his snouts crumpling, Cerberus cautiously walked in.

"Hell hound," Adrianna gasped, stepping back.

Her grip on me finally loosened. Vincent though, was another story.

"Let Vincent go." Luci's tiny voice was disconcertingly cold.

"No can do, Lucifer. We still need him." Adrianna forced a fake sneer. "You getting out of hell; now, we must say, that's new. What? God forgave you?"

Luci's face was blank. She wasn't even blinking. "No, harlot. After I am done with you, I do not think I'll yet be worthy of forgiveness."

"See?" Adrianna laughed. "That's exactly how you drag an entire legion of immortals to hell with you. Wait. You already did!"

Luci's eyes blazed with hatred.

Even with the mocking smile on her face, I could see the panic in Adrianna's eyes. "Look at you. Conniving with Reapers. Don't you have a Purification Rite to finish?"

"Dismember," Luci ordered Cerberus.

With an earsplitting howl, Cerberus bounded for Adrianna.

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つづく  

To be continued...