Reapers -- The First Familiar (Reapers Chronicles Book II)

16 - Lost World

Half-reflex, half-will power and with Grigori making sure I wasn’t going to fall on my face, I hobbled into the huge stilted house. Bind or no Bind, there was no way I would let him lug me again like a burlap sack.

The house was made entirely of wood, the roof being the only thing made of terracotta tiles that had been slowly crumbling with time. There were no windows as far as I could see. But some of the several sliding doors were left open to let the cool air in.

At the first sight of wooden floor, Vincent ineffectually elbowed the guy who had been holding him upright for the last ten minutes and slumped down to catch his breath.

“Why’d you tell him?” he murmured staring down so that his face was concealed by his dark hair.

“What?” I blurted out, cut short from my train of thought.

He slammed a fist against the floor. “Why’d you tell him about that?! Do you know what kind of trouble you’ve gotten yourself into?”

Steeling my face, I averted my gaze from him. “I just did what’s necessary.”

Yes. So everyone in the universe thought of me as some kind of magical device that could miraculously solve their immortal problems. If being Alessandra Clandestine’s stand-in was what it would take for us to be able to stay in Halja, so be it. I wasn’t the weak stupid girl he had rescued from a pool party anymore. I could very well take care of myself. And him. But only because he was my master.

No amount of explanation would make him see. If it was just me, I had the Helcium. I could run around under Pilgrim Reaper’s nose without him having a single clue about it. But there’s no freaking way I would let him rot in that prison back in Halo.

The door slid open and there stood Bel—the store-owner who gave me an apple just this morning. Rolling her droopy eyes in a worn-out sort of way, she inclined her chin toward the room.

The receiving area was spacious, more like a mess hall with a long dinner table. It wasn’t fancy or anything. Just an average slab of worn out wood. But I could imagine lots of people sitting there, eating and drinking and laughing together. There wasn’t anything on the walls. No portraits or pictures. The only ornament in the room was the big fish tank in a corner. As we passed by, the colorful fish scattered and hid behind the corals.

“Belial,” Levi gave the woman a nod.

“Levi,” she grunted curtly, not bothering to hide the distaste in her voice. “Come inside.”

With his stern eyes narrowing, Levi stared at the doorsill as if trying to decide if it would shoot lasers if he so much as stepped in. Instead, he just cleared his throat and said, “Sathariel requests that these… outsiders be tended to. Meanwhile, I must take my leave for… an urgent matter.”

“Suit yourself,” Bel nearly smiled.

Without further chitchat, Levi spun on his heels, his cloak flitting after him as he stormed his way out of the house. There was no denying that if it would come to eviction, he would be the number one contender who would vote us out of this island. But that would be a problem for later.

“Take the boy and the Elemental to the sickroom. I’ll look at them first,” Bel told Levi’s men. She trained her brown eyes on me, sweeping from head to toe. “As for the girl, show her to the other room.”

As Vincent was being led to the opposite hallway, he tried to put up a fight again. He never learned. It was a good thing he was much too tired to try anything fatal. For the first time in his life, the Prince of Darkness was powerless. And he knew that too. I could see it in his eyes as he glanced back at me.