The Reaper Saga [Book 1-3]

LET THERE BE LIGHT

"You're Alister?" Allegra asked again with a frown.

"Yes." The child, Alister nodded. "Now why did you come here?"

Sighing, I looked away. "I am the one who needs answers. I am known as Darkness-"

"I know who you are." Alister stopped me. "I know who she is too. All I'm asking is what you are looking for. Answers? They are right in front of you."

"Well, I don't see it!"

"Darkness, be careful." Allegra warned but as if I didn't hear a single word, I kept going. Every word dripping with sorrow and exhaustion that I didn't even realize Alister reaching for me until it was too late.

Until I was standing near a grave with Alister only a few feet away.

"Where am I? Ali-" My body went rigid to see the rapid change in the child. Who once looked like a boy was now resembling Zed's beloved, Prophesy. The woman went away as soon as Zed was buried in the ground but to see her again, with a cheeky smile on her lips was enough to make me roar.

"You little bitch!"

"Do not take a single step!" Prophesy screamed, raising her hands. To my annoyance, I found myself frozen, unable to even move my lips. I stared at her instead, hatred burning through my gaze. Satisfied with her work, Prophesy started talking.

"I'm Prophesy, Estyn or Alister, doesn't matter which form you found me in. I'm still your superior, Alexei, so, you'll respect me as such. Do you know where we are?"

How could I not? The grave had a name. A name I called for centuries. Zedkiel Lytton was engraved into the tombstone like my heart was. As if she could see into my head, she smiled.

"I think you know. Then you also know when your problem started. That's the issue with you people. You have all the answers in front of you, you just don't listen." She sighed, shaking her head. "You want to say something."

I opened my mouth, trying to talk. To my relief, I could move my mouth but all it left from was thunder. "Don't use riddles, Prophesy. Say what you have to say clearly."

"I admit your curse had everything to do with Zedkiel. He was going to make you his successor. So, you being dead, nonetheless becoming something hated by the witches would have crushed him. I wanted to punish him through you. How could he not notice his own beloved? How could he love another?" 

For the first time, I wanted to pity the woman. Prophesy was too far gone to really sound sane. "He was tricked, it wasn't his fault. You know that."

"I know that now." She agreed with another hefty smile. "Which is why I'm going to say this just once. Stop denying yourself, Alexei. You know your shadows are gone, you even look different. As long as you'll weep for them, they'll haunt you. And you being a Darkness? The moment Zedkiel took his last breath, all contempt for him from me was gone. Just as the curse for you. You are free."

Free?

I didn't felt free. Instead, I felt more suffocated than ever. 

"And, Emie?" I asked, worry etched into my skin. "What do her symptoms say about her? She didn't feed in days, not even a single soul. She's withering away."

Prophesy scoffed, laughing in disbelief. "Again, you don't listen. Her soul is bound to you just as her curse is bound to her mother's sins. I'll never forgive Keisha for what she did but Emeline? I admit, she didn't deserve what happened to her. I freed her from her curse, Alexei. Think of it as a token of admiration from me. And as for Lana, the girl only thrives when she is a Reaper. It's not a curse for her but a gift."

"We were all worried for days and you couldn't have told us the reason in person? Not even a phone call?" My irritation had Prophesy tasked in amusement.

"You did come to me, did you not? I know everything, Alexei, just as I know there's a light coming into your life."

In spite of being angry, I let out a chuckle. "You and your riddles, Prophesy. You always manage to make it twisted enough to make me want to kill you. What's up with those two anyway? Sin and Keith?"

"None of your business." We shared the same understanding before her breath hitched in real pain. The first sign of some kind of sanity in her gaze. "I thought I knew what true insanity was but I was wrong. I can't live as Estyn anymore, it reminds me of him all the time. I have lived many lives but Alister is the only form I can tolerate. When I free you from this illusion, all I ask from you is to keep my secret safe."

I could do that. For Zedkiel. For her.

Hence, I nodded in agreement without wasting another moment. And when we were back in the real world, I was already in the Coven manor, staring at Emie who was being scolded by a furious Lana. Seeing the unusual scene, I couldn't help but invite myself into the conversation.

"What's happening?"

Emie looked surprised but pleasantly healthy than the last few days. She even put on some weight drastically, much to my shock. As if she wasn't sick at all, she beamed at me with a giddy smile. "Lex! I thought you were out with Allegra. To meet some-what was the name? Alister?"

"I was." Apparently, Prophesy literally sent me back to the manor. "And I have some good news. We got the answers, little soul."

Before she could even react, Lana pointed at me. "Speaking of answers, why did no one send her to a gyno or a witch! We could have known it days ago if someone did. Days! You saw how she was after the demon-No, I won't take that dreadful name. You talk to her, I'm out."

Confused, I watched Lana storm off. "Do I even want to know?"

Emie opened her mouth once and closed it immediately, her face breaking into a sweat. Just when I started to think of the worse outcome, she opened her mouth. "When you were gone. pain suddenly erupted everywhere, I thought my stomach would tear itself. 5132 called for a witch immediately who did some tests on me. Turned out...um...there was something stuck in an odd place in my womb. A fetus."

My world literally stopped.

"I'm sorry what?"

Even she looked out of breath. "It means I am still pregnant."

"How could this happen?" I wanted to be happy, I really did. But I was also there when she was in a puddle of blood, blood belonging to our child. "I-Is this a joke, little soul? Then it's not funny."

"It's not a joke!" Silent tears trailed down her cheeks which she wiped hastily. "I was with child, Lex, with triplet actually. The reason I bled heavily was because I lost the other two. Believe me, still, now, I don't know what's happening. The witch told me the child was cloaked by someone more powerful than us. That's why when Allegra looked me over, she couldn't detect the surviving one. Again, I am sick and tired all the time. All the symptoms are here!"

I couldn't just stand there anymore. Dropping down to my knees, I hesitantly reached out to touch her belly. There was another life now. My child. My light?

"A child you say?" I murmured, shock still evident in my voice. "Little soul, you've no idea what you've given me. No fucking idea."