Reapers - Master of Souls (Reapers Chronicles Book III)

5 - Death's Bane (1 of 3)

NP: Monster by Imagine Dragons

As we arrived at the courtyard, I immediately spotted Vincent near Roselle's statue. He was surrounded by some familiars and the twins: Cyrus and Darius.

Hatred made Vincent's body shake in ripples. The air around him shimmered. The ground burned wherever he stepped on.

The familiars started to retreat one by one. The ones left hit the ground before I could realize Vincent had already brought them down. One second, he was standing behind the twins. The next, he was gone.

I could barely keep up as he kicked one of the twins before hurling the other towards a broken pillar.

Alexis looked up at the sky as though waiting for some miraculous sign to appear. "We have to stop Vincent... while we still can."

"How do you even fight someone like that?"

Alexis considered it for a second. "You don't."

"You parry, dodge. You run away if you can." Amyr had that blank resigned look that scared me. He tightened his fingers around his broadsword. "You get hit by that thing once-don't matter if it's just a scratch-you don't get away alive. No matter what you do, the trident finds you. Vincent finds you."

Alexis breathed out, blinking his eyes rapidly as he thought about it. "So it is real; the infamous Devil's Curse."

"Very," Amyr nodded grimly.

The twins could hardly stay on their feet. They both had their scythes out: identical dual swords. They attacked Vincent together, their movements quick, fluid and in synchrony with each other. With four blades coming at Vincent all at the same time, he could only deflect some and receive the rest. With every hit, the twins' blades left black residue on his skin, mixing with his blood.

"What are we still doing here?" I told Amyr. "Let's help him!"

Shaking his head, he looked away. "Too dangerous. We get in his way, he's sure to turn against us."

I grabbed Amyr's sleeves and pulled. "But if we don't help him now, we wouldn't have anything left of him to save."

All of a sudden, the twins leaped back a few yards away from Vincent, grinning at each other as they joined their right hands on the back of which their Bind marks were imprinted.

"Bind!" they chorused.

I heard a small explosion. Next thing I knew, Vincent's arm was bleeding profusely.

Yelling in pain, Vincent started to draught towards the twins, only to be stopped by six more mini explosions. First, his chest. Two on his right shoulder. To the side of his waist. Another two on his right forearm.

With his eyes rolling to the back of his head, Vincent dropped to his knees, the blood from his wounds fizzling as they fell on the smoldering ground that surrounded him.

If it wasn't for the demon armor, we would have to pick him in pieces. Still, his injuries looked serious enough.

"What just happened?" I asked, bewildered.

Alexis' eyes became more restless, shifting from one point to another. "The twins' ability. Their scythes secrete a type of explosive substance that adheres to the enemy's flesh with every hit. It takes the two of them for it to work though."

Sweat trickled from Amyr's temple. "So we gotta separate them, right?"

"On it!" I ran like hell towards Vincent, sliding on the dirt and falling on all fours in front of him as I did.

"Aramis! Get back here!" Amyr shouted. "Ugh, crud! The boss is totally gonna kill me!"

As I tried to hold Vincent, a searing pain bit on my palms. I withdrew, trying to meet his bemused stare, but the Vincent I knew? He just wasn't there.

His open wounds weren't healing as fast as they should. His right arm protruded forward from his shoulder, limp and lopsided. The smell of burnt flesh and blood was nauseating.

"I want to help you, Vincent," I said through the lump in my throat, managing a smile. "You don't need to do this anymore. I'm here now. You saved me."

Vincent gnashed his teeth, the veins on his neck bulging as he took quick ragged breaths. He was in pain and I couldn't do anything about it.

He looked right through me, his crimson eyes like that of a wild animal. Struggling, he pushed himself up. He leaned his head sideward and held his dislocated shoulder with his good arm. Then he pushed it back, barely moving a facial muscle as his bones clicked into place.

"I have to," he finally answered, dejection apparent in his quiet voice. "As long as they're around, I'll always be scared they'll take you away from me. And I don't want to be scared anymore."

His hand moved towards my face. He hesitated and instead, touched his knuckle on my forehead before draughting past me.

The sound of blades clashing against each other filled my ears soon after.

I wanted to see what was happening behind me, but all I could do was clutch on my skirt and hide the tears that kept falling out of my eyes. The twisting feeling in my chest made it impossible to force back the sobs.

"Get Aramis," Alexis ordered Amyr. "I'll get Vlad."

As fast as he could, Alexis rushed out of the courtyard, avoiding the remaining dismembered Undead crawling on the ground.

I stood there, useless like a statue. I couldn't bring myself to watch Vincent do this to himself just because of me. It was more painful than drowning and burning alive and getting my soul torn apart and put back altogether.

If it wasn't for the cold fingers that closed around my ankle, I wouldn't have moved an inch.

Startled, I turned and found Cyrus... or Darius pulling my leg. I shook him off me and moved away.

He crawled towards me. His right eye was swollen shut and bloody. He began to reach out, letting out a moan as if to ask for help.

Vincent was near the dried-up fountain, beating the other twin to the ground.

"Hurts like hell, doesn't it, Darius?" Vincent said coolly, giving his brother a nudge in the ribs with the blunt end of his lance.

Darius let out a cry. When he tried to get up, Vincent stepped on his leg. It snapped louder than the boy's screams.

At his leisure, Vincent grabbed Darius's head and dragged him across the courtyard.

Darius struggled, kicked, clawed on Vincent's arm. But it was no use. Vincent simply kicked his already broken leg whenever he got too fidgety.

Every time the boy screamed in pain, I cringed. I was scared, terrified of what Vincent had become.

Vincent's eyes lingered on me for a fleeting moment before he hurled Darius towards the other twin brother. A jagged bone poked out of Darius's leg as he tumbled to the ground.

"So I guess, this is it," Vincent said nonchalantly. "I would say I'd hate to do this but... I really don't."

He raised his lance and was about to strike when a familiar scent permeated the air. It was the smell of week-old flowers, of freshly dug earth, of burned-out candles. The hair on my arms and nape stood up and I felt as if the air was being sucked out of me.

Vincent lowered his lance and trained his eyes towards the castle entrance. Standing there with Cairo, cloaked in black was Pilgrim Reaper.

To be continued...

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Hiyah! First of all, I want to thank everyone who posted their reviews. I really appreciate all of them! Critiques are still welcome and I would be really grateful for your honest comments.

So here's a poll. Rate the Reapers from your least to your most favorite brother. This may affect who Aramis ends up with, so... let your voice be heard :)