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

17-Fallen Angels

A manmade bay stretched out to our right. Small fishing boats were anchored to its rafters, bobbing up and down as the waves came to and fro. A small shack stood near the bay. In front of it were two carriages headed by a man on a horse.

“This island is divided into three main areas. Levi is in charge of our fishing vessels. This beach is under his supervision. That’s him right there,” Luci explained, pointing at the moving convoy. She cupped both her hands around her mouth and shouted at the top of her lungs. “HEY! LEVI!!!”

The guy just reeled his horse and waved back upon hearing her. Then he went on with his convoy.

I did a three-sixty degree turn. To the right of the beach was a clearing on the face of a hill. Wooden fences were built around it to keep grazing animals in. From here, they seemed like ants. Between the hills was a vast leveled area that looked like vegetable fields.  

At the other end of the island was a lone white domed structure with several beams poking out of the roof. It was difficult to spot among the gigantic trees that swarmed its now nonexistent courtyard.

Hesitantly, she smiled at me as she motioned to the white building in the forest. “And that’s my laboratory. What’s left of it, actually.”

“That’s Belial’s farm to the south,” she said, pertaining to the fields and the ranch. “Most of the town’s produce comes from there. All else, we try to get from the forest. That is, whenever the guardians hide to hibernate.”

“Guardians?”

Grigori made a choking sound. “Three of them, in fact. Made hunting a whole lot of trouble last summer. Killed some few good men too. Monstrous beasts with the sole task of delivering the most potent essence of Hell to the peace-loving residents of Halja, Zaebos being one of them. They hibernate during the winter but there’s not much we can get from the forest at that time.”

“Can’t you just—I don’t know, kill them?”

With a sigh, Luci turned around and headed for the stairs. She smiled at me, flitting her blond hair over her shoulder. “We have been here for quite a while now, Aramis. Don’t you think we would have done it if we could?”

My eye twitched involuntarily. I totally didn’t know how respond to that.

“E-hem,” Grigori pretentiously interrupted. “We should go.  Mr. S is expecting you. He doesn’t like it when people are late,” he told me.

Right then, I heard Luci’s footfalls against the wooden stairs as she walked out on us. She was very hard to read. I was almost sure that behind those big smiles of hers, she was hiding something other than her real name.

We went after Luci but she was too fast and I could already hear Grigori breathing heavily. I slowed down and mindlessly said, “This is such a weird place.”

“Weird place. Weird people,” he sniggered, his hands on his thighs while he panted.

“People,” I echoed, a totally random idea popping into my mind. “If this is Hell, then you’re demo—“ I caught my mouth with both hands before I could say it out loud.

“Wow,” he straightened up, blowing out a lungful of air. “I didn’t see that coming.”

“S-sorry…” I pursed my lips.

“Tell me, Little Miss, are you a Catholic?”

Tentatively, I followed him. “My mom is.”

With a gentle shake of his head he shifted his eyes on me. “And the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world—he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.”