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

23 - Link

Beside me, Vincent got to his knees. He looked okay to me. Although, it was safe to say that he still wasn’t over our argument. He was still pissed off, which was totally unreasonable considering that I was the one who got put down. Not him.

As far as I could tell, it was night time. The moon was round, though not really full. Just like that night I went to Halo.

The smell of something burning filled the air. Smoke rolled upwards from the hole in the road just a few feet away—the same hole that spewed us out.

Quickly, I got to my feet, leaning on an old battered slab of stone sticking out from the ground to keep from falling over. The throbbing in my head was gone but the whole place swayed as I tried to steady my feet. Rows of slabs dotted the ground. A few weather-beaten statues stood tall among the stones, casting shadows on us. Some of them were missing arms, a chunk of the nose or the whole head. Behind us was a big pile of rubble that could only be caused by an explosion of some sort.

I noticed a name engraved on the slab I was leaning on. Only then did I become aware that we were in a graveyard. And not just some graveyard, but the one in Centralia.

“It worked,” I gasped. “I can’t believe we’re here.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Vincent scoffed, looking up. “Don’t celebrate yet. We got ourselves a welcoming committee.”

My heart sank when I noticed the hovering creatures approaching us at unimaginable speeds. Before I could think of the word ‘run’, my feet were already moving. It felt like playing hopscotch, leaping from the top of one statue to another.

In no time, Vincent caught up with me. As soon as we had crossed the graveyard’s threshold, I heard the wraiths screech. More of them joined the swarm in pursuit of us. Some of them flew lower, some hovered above. Wherever I looked, there were just wraiths and more wraiths. Frankly, I had never seen that many before.

“Now what?” I turned to him.

“Let’s go to the mansion. And quick,” he answered, throwing a quick glance over his shoulder.

We rushed to the road, avoiding the cracks and the sinkholes that blocked our way and forced us to slow down a bit. The wraiths kept following us, their shrill screams disturbing the quiet of the ghost town. A few of them got too close to the sinkholes and got sucked in. But that didn’t stop the rest from chasing us. By the time we arrived to a demolished neighborhood, the wraiths were already over our heads.

Vincent led the way and bounded off the ground, landing on the roof of what was once a justice hall. I went after him, running up one of the front columns before catching onto the ledge. I swung myself backwards and let go. As I fell, I twisted in midair to land on my feet and break into a sprint.

The wraiths were dispersing in all directions now in pursuit of us. They lunged at us relentlessly.

Talons scraped at my face. I tried to evade them without any success. They came from everywhere, hitting me, trying to knock me down until all I could see ahead were the blurs of black whizzing to and fro.

“Your Cataclyst, Aramis! Summon it now!” Vincent shouted, perching on top of a flagpole.

With a flick of his wrist, red flames burst out of his hand, rapidly spreading to his arm, up to his shoulder. The flames consumed his arm in a flash. Vincent couldn’t help but wince when his skin began to blister and burn up. But instead of burnt flesh, red metallic scales covered his now massive arm. What used to be his fingers were now crooked, razor-sharp talons.

His Cataclyst was still on fire when he snatched one of the wraiths that zipped close to him. The creature started to sizzle, its body easily going up in flames. Then, Vincent hurled the burning wraith towards the swarm. The fire easily disposed dozens of wraiths, smoldering them into ashes in a matter of seconds.