Reapers - Master of Souls (Reapers Chronicles Book III)

4 - Getting Even (1 of 2)

NP: Save Me by Remy Zero

Hector straightened and turned around to face his brother.

"Why, I thought you would be fireflies by now, Vincent," he said, scratching the back of his head with the tip of his weapon looking all innocent-like. "I was just... playing with your pretty little Aramis here. Honest. Don't be mad, baby brother."

Vincent just stood there eyeing Hector. He didn't look as pissed as whenever I mess up. In fact, I never saw him this calm in the face of danger before.

"Oh yeah?" Vincent answered. "Define 'playing'."

A grin slowly spread across Hector's face. "Does forcefully tearing her soul out of her body count?"

Tilting his head, Vincent blinked. His pale gray eyes suddenly turned into blood-red orbs. And then, he was gone.

All I could make out was Hector flying across the room, arms flailing, his scream broken as his back hit the wall. Groaning, he awkwardly wriggled his way out of the crack his body left in the concrete and fell to the floor.

He struggled to his knees, shaking his head. He pressed a hand on his mouth and coughed. Large clots of blood spilled on the floor from the spaces between his fingers.

Vincent stepped towards his brother, his face a mask of concern. "Oh, did that hurt? So sorry, bro. I was just... playing."

"W-what kind... of monster are you?" Hector gurgled.

With those crimson eyes, Vincent stared down his brother. Steam wafted from his skin. Crimson scales appeared on his trembling arms, singeing the sleeves of his blood-stained shirt. Under his feet, the floor smoldered as if everything he stepped on was somehow turned into a little piece of hell.

"Obviously, the kind that'd waste monsters like you," he said slowly through his teeth.

There was no trace of hesitation on his face as he kicked his brother on the head.

Hector rolled a good few yards towards the main consoles. Gasping, he pulled himself up. The cuts he acquired from tumbling on a floor full of shards started to heal, but not quick enough so he could fight back.

Leaning his head back, he laughed, blood oozing from the sides of his mouth. "I suppose... that's w-what we... all are, mate; monsters."

Hector reached for a large red button and pushed it. It blinked on and off rhythmically.

"What now?" Vincent taunted. "Think your little boy toys can save you now?"

The Bind mark on Vincent's arm glowed. As he did, the scales kept spreading up to his neck, setting half of his shirt on fire.

A strange-looking lance appeared in his right hand. It was made from some kind of black translucent metal that warped and twisted as if it had a life of its own. A low hissing sound filled the room, talking to me in an unfamiliar tongue and it seemed to be coming from the lance.

My head felt like it was floating in water. The whole place swayed before my eyes as Vincent spun the lance over the back of his hand just to catch it again.

Hector began to lurch from side to side, resorting to leaning on the edge of the console table to keep his stance steady. His lids looked heavy as he tried to shake the daze out of his head.

"No, Vince..." he mumbled, his breaths coming out fast and shallow through his mouth. "But my creations will."

I saw an arm shot up from the wreckage. It groped for something it could hold on and pulled itself out of the pile of broken tanks. It was one of the underdeveloped replicas of Millie. Hairless. Naked. Mindless.

My stomach did a slow roll just looking at it.

A minute hadn't passed and more of them were exhuming themselves out of the rubble. With their left hands turning into malformed Cataclysts, the clones, as though infants learning their first steps, surrounded Vincent from behind.

"Watch your back!" I shouted at him.

He pivoted, deflecting a blow with the rod of his lance before thrusting the blade into a clone's chest and then, the stump towards another's chin. Leaning his weight on his right foot, he let the lance slide from his grip, catching it just before the stump. Then he swung it like a baseball bat, hitting three on the head.

The first one got its head cracked open. The other two hit the floor with deformed faces. They were pretty quick to get up though.

"Vincent!" Alexis ran into the room, clear silvery eyes shifting left and right. "Where are y-you..."

Upon seeing Vincent, he blanked out for a couple seconds, the gap between his brows creasing. If it was for the weird naked girls or Vincent transforming into some kind of scaled creature, it was hard to tell.

"Alex!" I shouted, beating my fists on the glass door. "Some help here?!"

He finally blinked himself back to reality and spotted me.

"Hey, Amyr!" he called over his shoulder. "Found them!"

Amyr walked in, the flat of his enormous broadsword resting on his shoulder.

He knotted his brows as much as Amyr allows himself to actually care. "What up with the boss's new look?" He waved at Vincent. "Hey, Boss! You look awesome! Did you get a new haircut?"

If Vincent heard that, he didn't let on.

They both jogged over to my tank, carefully skirting Hector. Alexis went straight to the controls and began fiddling with the works.

Hector drew the pair of Spanish ticklers he was hiding beneath his sleeves.

"Whoops!" Amyr aimed his sword on the guy's throat. "I'm so not in the mood to play. One wrong move and you're sushi."

A bunny rabbit could be more threatening than his tone.

Hector froze. "Alright," he raised his hands, letting his ticklers slid back into his sleeves. "Easy there, tiger."

Hector tried to sport a smirk as he watched his clones surround Vincent. Half a dozen of them lunged at him all at once. And more were piling over him. It was hard to see him under the tangle of limbs and claws.

"Vincent!" I called.

Alexis glanced up at Vincent from the consoles, wiping the beads of sweat on his forehead. "Not good. Not good at all."

"Ditch the controls, Alex!" I yelled frantically. "Help him!"

"Just a minute! I'm almost done with the encryption!" His fingers skipped on the keys faster than my eyes could follow. "The algorithm is a little complex, but I might just be able to crack his code."

"You lost me at 'minute'."

"There." Alex pressed enter. The monitor displayed a bunch of nonsense with a bar that indicated the percentage of the data loading. "Uhm... Guys?" He rubbed the side of his neck. "This may take a minute."

"For crying out loud!" I groaned. "Amyr! Help Vincent!"

Amyr glanced at Vincent. "I kind of have my hands full here with this screwball."

That was enough distraction for Hector to draw his ticklers out of his sleeves and swipe Amyr's blade away from him. Quickly, he headed for the hole in the panels.

"He's running away!" I told Amyr.

"Yeah, I can see that!" Amyr rolled his eyes.

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