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

27 - Bargain (part 2 of 2)

For the first time, I let myself cry out loud.

Every sob that escaped me let off a twinge of pain in my chest, both literally and figuratively. I didn’t care that I might get eaten by a giant three-headed dog, or that everybody else would hear me blubbering like an idiot. All I wanted was to cry until I ran out of breath or until I was nothing more than food particles stuck between the three-headed dog’s teeth; whichever came first.

As my consciousness leaked out of me bit by bit, I could hear the earth-shaking rumble from the creature’s throat. I could feel its warm humid breath bathing my body with shivers as it let out a soft whine.

“You did’nae mean it?” a familiar voice snarled. Gleaming red tresses fell over my face, and I thought, George. “What do you mean, you did’nae mean it!?”

The creature sniffed. Then another whine blew the hair off my face.

A pair of slender sandaled legs came into view, approaching with much caution.

“What are you doing, Elemental?” It was Levi’s demanding voice. “Keep distance from the Guardian at once! It’s extremely dangerous!”

I felt a hand press firmly on the hole over my scapula as George’s white button-up appeared before my eyes. “Aye! You ought to be deeply ashamed of yourself, Cerberus!”

The giant creature let out a sad yodeling sound in three different pitches. Then, it lied down, resting its heads over its massive front paws. The middle head—the one that looked like a cross between a Mastiff and a Rottweiler—nudged my arm with its nose.

Staring into its remaining violet eye, I finally lost myself thinking I was really bad with dogs.

***

It was dark and I felt myself floating.

“—take her to Luci’s lab!” Grigori’s voice sounded far away.

Someone fetch her master!” It was Levi this time.

“—made from earthly materials… Helcium’s nullifying Bind does not work in…”

“Then, it would be like… on earth?”

“Yes… immortal while inside… But… be punished… Eldest forbade it.”

The voices slowly faded into echoes beyond my understanding. Every noise seemed to come from another dimension that was suddenly unreachable to me. My only consolation now was the absence of feeling; the absence of pain.

I felt hollow and numb and cold.

When I opened my eyes, the first thing I saw was the spitting fire in the middle of a cave. From across me, Alessandra stood with her back on the wall, hands fisted on her sides, the shadows playing on her ashen face.

For some reason, I wasn’t surprised. I kind of knew we would meet again.

As I started to get up from the cot that used to be Adrianna’s sick bed, I noticed that the wound in my shoulder had already healed.

Gently testing my arm, I faced Alessandra. “What now? Are you going to keep me in here for good this time?”

For now, the thought of being stuck in Alessandra’s cave looked more appealing than going back to deal with the real world stuff.

I sucked at friendship. At slavery. At human and non-human relationships in general. At life. Even after death. It was all so dreadful and problematic I didn’t know how to make it better anymore.

Instead of answering, she slowly hobbled towards me with awkward uncoordinated steps as if every bone in her body was broken in many different ways. The flames were reflected on her mismatched eyes, giving her a sinister air. As I looked into them, I felt the strong need to run. But it was as if my body was turned into stone.