Dead Reaper Walking (11 page)

He closed his eyes. That was not happening. He’d kill myself before he let the demon use him to kill Laney. Behind him, his hand clenched and re-opened, the fingers brushing something. A broken table leg. He opened his eyes and smiled.

"You should've stayed in hell, bitch."

The SUV had switched back to a bike and was already running when I hit the car pool at a sprint. I whispered a quick thank you as I slung my leg over. The Grimm rustled in my mind, a comforting weight that stopped me tipping into outright hysteria. Another thought blossomed, not from me, but the Grimm 2.0 update. Far from being set in its form when I’d become a Reaper, as I’d thought, the bike would be whatever I needed it to be. I just had to need it bad enough.

Right now, I needed speed, so that’s what it gave me. No quibbles. For once the Grimm and I were in perfect accord. We were on a dude-in-distress, white knight rescue, horse not required. I opened the throttle and the town became a blur.

Troy’s life line pulsed steadily in the corner of my eye, the thin silver line stretching out down the road in front of me like my own personal sat-nav.

“Stay down, Troy. For fuck’s sake, stay down,” I muttered through gritted teeth as I left the town behind.

The wind roaring in my ears, I concentrated on the road, throwing the bike into corners at high speed. Screw safety, if I took a spill it wouldn’t kill me, and no amount of pain would stop me getting to Troy.

A few buildings sped by, but I paid them no mind. The line led me off the main road and down a loose gravel track. Under me, the bike lurched, growling to get my attention. Automatically, I stood up as it altered configuration, going from sleek, speed-machine to dirt-bike as we hurtled down the road.

Sitting again, I kicked down a gear and hit the throttle, spraying dirt in my wake. The engine roared, alive, as we raced toward the house at the end of the road. Already I could feel the pressure against my skin, the tingle in my reaper-senses that indicated the presence of a demon. The bike lurched, ready and eager to pounce.

Troy’s timeline swelled, almost at the point of going active. I’d seen it before. The slight movement as someone considered a decision that would get them killed.

“Shit. Don’t do it, Troy,” I muttered and twisted the throttle savagely. “Whatever it is, don’t do it.”

Pulling onto the driveway where it widened in front of the house, I called on the Grimm. Hijacking my senses, my mind felt empowered. Knowledge piled into my brain, a layout of the house over my vision like I was in some kind of sci-fi film. I went from being in my own head, the on-rushing wind stealing all sounds and smells, to an almost three-sixty view of the house. I focused on one room at the front, next to one of the windows. The only one with two heartbeats and a black, dead spot.

My lips compressed into a thin line. That’s where my man was, so that’s where I was going. Feet down to hold the bike in place, I gunned the engine until the back tire screamed and kicked up a dust cloud. I let go, the tire bit down, and we raced toward the house. Time slowed, and dilated. Yanking the front wheel up, I roared up the steps and crashed through the front door. Wood and glass splintered in a cascade around me but then I was through and in a narrow corridor. My mind racing, I spotted the hole in the wall and aimed the bike. The engine whined, back wheel spinning as we skidded sideways through the gap and then gained traction to burst into the room.

The bike and I parted ways just through the gap. I dropped and rolled neatly. I got a split second view of Troy hitting the deck and the surprised face of what had once been an old lady. Right before the back tire hit her in the jaw.

Instantly I was on my feet, feeling for my blades. Only one met my questing hand. Shit, I must have dropped the other. The bike screamed, carrying on to pin the demon to the opposite wall. Didn’t stop the bitch though. It snarled and tossed the bike to the side as though it weighed nothing.

“Get out of here!” I yelled at Troy, getting myself between the creature and the two humans.

I was one blade down, but I didn’t care. Power raged through me, but not like I was used to. Instead of the manageable surge I used and shaped to power me through a fight, it slammed into me like a freight train at light speed. I gasped, every cell in my body tingling as it swirled through my veins.

“You foolish, child,” the demon snarled, dropping all pretense of human movement to stalk toward me. Its lips spilt on the smile, ear to ear. Not a grin. Not a figure of speech. The skin physically split and tore to reveal the jagged, sharpened teeth all the way to the back of the jaw, blood trickling down the ruined skin. “You think you can stop
me?”

“I don’t
think
, shit-for-brains,” I threw back. “I
know.”

It took a swipe at me, claws slashing through the air where I had been a mere moment before. I dropped into the shade, using it as cover, and stepped out on the other side of the demon, my arm already raised. It hissed and swung around faster than anything had a right to. I screamed something, no idea what, and brought my sickle down hard. The tip caught the top of its shoulder, tearing through cotton and flesh down to the bone.

Except bones weren’t black. And they didn’t squirm like snakes.

Not-gonna-throw-up, not-gonna-throw-up,
I chanted to myself as we danced around each other. I fucking hate snakes. I hate demons as well. So freaking demon snake bones? Fuck that shit, this bitch was going down.

She, it, was fast as all hell. Those claws got close to kissing my skin more times than I was comfortable with. I drew more and more power from the Grimm, until it felt like my veins would explode. The shade wasn’t much help. This fucker was too quick for that. No sooner had I disappeared and it was ready to swipe at me wherever I reappeared. There was no way it could see me in there, so it had to be just that damn fast.

“You’ve already lossssst.”

Now the skin was torn, its disguise was breaking down. The sibilant hiss almost obliterated the words as it circled me. Troy and the girl were huddled behind me but the demon had its eye on them all the time. Shit. How was I going to get them out? I had one blade, the bike was toast without a rider and this fucker was fast.

It hissed and slid to the side to try and get around me on my unarmed side. Spying a table leg, I hooked it with my foot and kicked it up. My hand closed around the end and I swung it like a bat. It caught the demon across the cheek. The creature whirled like a spinning top. Blood and a couple of teeth hit the wall.

“Yeah? Looks like team Liberty is doing pretty good from where I’m standing.” I spun the blade around the back of my hand, like I had a thousand times before, and slashed through the air at the demon’s face. It dodged backward, its spine crunching at the back-breaking movement. “But you were really fucking dumb kidnapping a cop, weren’t you?”

That was the thing I couldn’t work out. It had Tiffany, why take Troy as well?

“Seeeeers…need seers. Virgin blood and seers.” The demon giggled, dancing in front of me and casting lustful glances at Troy and the girl. “Everyone knows that, reaper-girl. Blood is power. Need blood. Want blood.”

The demon’s eyes glazed over as it fixated on the word, stroking a blackened, forked tongue over its lips. Great. All we needed was for it to start craving brains. It danced too close so I punched it in the face. The nose broke with a satisfying crunch, splattering blood all over its face.

“There you go. Problem fixed.”

It staggered back, and its snarl of rage echoed around the room. An odd echo, like there were two—

“On your right!” Troy’s shout alerted me and I ducked a second before claws tore the air where my head had been. I twisted and lashed out automatically, my booted foot catching the new opponent in the middle of a way-too-spongey-to-be-healthy mid-section.

“What the fuck?”

I skipped back, not bothering to conceal the surprise on my face. Twin demons. Okay, I admit it. I hadn't seen that coming.

"See, human? You can't win," it cackled, the mouths moving in unison. They separated, trying to catch me in a pincer maneuver. I did the only thing I could and backed up.

"Troy. Get the girl, out the window," I ordered, my voice deadly serious. Yay, go me. I sounded cool, calm, and collected, even though deep down I was shitting bricks.

"Can't win. Can't win." The demon on my left caroled. I swung the chair leg again when it sidled forward and knocked a few more teeth out. Behind me, someone stumbled, the soft cry of pain telling me it was Tiffany.

The one on the right still looked like an old lady, rather than a nightmare wearing an old lady. I frowned. All my senses told me we were dealing with just one demon, so how was it controlling both of them?

The Grimm nudged me so I flicked my vision to the shade. In the grayscape, I could see clearer. The first possessed sister’s body I'd been fighting was rife with corruption. To my enhanced vision it was a blackened skeleton—the soul long departed, but the second body interested me more.

Unlike the first, it was barely touched by corruption. Thin, black lines that looked like veins crisscrossed the skin. Like a cage. The streaks grew thicker and darker down one leg until they covered the foot completely. A tendril broke away from the heel and snaked toward the other body, disappearing into the black mass of corruption that was its foot.

I blinked. I'd heard of joined at the hip but this was ridiculous. They were tethered. Like demon wifi or something. Even worse, within the caged black veins was the weak glow of a soul.

Shit. She was still alive. Just. That upped the stakes. I couldn’t let it claim another soul. No way. No how.

“You really think it’s that easy, reaper?”

The one with the soul tilted its head and watched me with interest. Lifting a hand, it made a gesture and all sounds of motion behind me ceased. My heart lurched, stomach hitting the floor and eased back, turning so I could see both the demon twins and the window. Troy and Tiffany were outlined in the busted window frame, but instead of scrambling out as quickly as their legs would take them, they were motionless. Frozen in place.

“Get out of here!” I yelled, taking another swipe at Toothy and Decayed. It hissed and blocked my blow, knocking the wood out of my hand. It clattered against the wall as I ducked another blow.

But they didn’t. Instead both turned around, going to stand next to the demons.

“Troy! What the fuck are you doing?” I tried to get between them, but the vacant, glassy expressions in their eyes warned me off. I backed up as far as I could and looked from one to the other. I blinked, pulling up the grayscape. Shit. Two more tethers joined Troy and Tiffany to the first demon. These were fainter than the first. Gray instead of black. Less of a link, but a controlling one all the same.

“You seeeee?” Toothy sang, amusement in its voice. “They’re already dead, or will be soon…there’s no way you can stop that, little girl. Same as you can’t stop us opening the gate.”

The world slowed to a stop, the time between one heartbeat and the next, an eternity, as the reality of the situation spread. This was it.
I
was it. The one person who could stop this from happening. Save the day, get the guy…you name it. Me.

My gaze latched onto Troy’s battered face and the dead eyes, and fear paralyzed me, locking my muscles tight. I’m a reaper, yes, but all that means is I have a fancy family tree with something not human way back when. My throat tightened. I couldn’t do this, how could I go against two demons and save anyone? I would lose Troy. The gate would be open and the town victim to whatever came out of the third hell. People, lots of people, would die.

I’d failed as a reaper. As a person. Tears welled, blazing hot trails down my cheeks.

As the depressing thoughts burrowed into my brain, the Grimm fought back. It’s always been in the back of my mind. A separate thing, consciousness, call it what you will. It was not a part of me until I got the call to be a reaper.

Now it was in the front of my mind. The second I started to plunge into panic, it surged forward, overturning the thoughts and exposing them as the demon’s manipulation. My eyes narrowed and I shot it a glare.

“Nice try, ugly. Not gonna work. Because you forgot one thing.”

The demon blinked. “Oh?”

“Sure, you’ve got the seers. Virgin blood and human sacrifice…yadda, yadda.”

I swirled my remaining sickle and let go of my human mask. I reached for the Grimm, no longer holding it separate in my mind but grabbing it and shoving it deep within me, into a dark pit where my soul would be if I were human. The world exploded behind my eyes, all of human history surging through me. Every death was there, every death to come. All filed away. All mine. Everything.

In that heartbeat, everything made sense.

I’m not a descendant of the Grim Reaper. My bloodline is pure. Undiluted.

I
am
the Grim Reaper.

Opening my eyes, I smiled. The sickle in my flesh-less hand extended to a scythe, and when I spoke, it wasn’t a human voice that emerged.

“You need death to open the gate. And guess who controls death?”

I swung the scythe, my new robes swishing and the demon’s head fell to the floor. It rolled toward me and I stopped it with a booted foot. The second demon swayed on the spot, looking at its headless companion with surprise. Then it looked at me and its expression crumpled.

“No! No fair. You were supposed to be just a reaper!” It howled in frustration. “Just a reaper, not
Death
itself!”

In the grayscape, the broken tether flailed around like a whip, looking for a new attachment. Something to power the part of the demon hidden in the body.

“Yeah, well, thems the breaks, kid.” I shrugged and slapped the shaft of the scythe into my free hand. There was a click, rather than the fleshy sound of wood on skin. I was really glad that the mirror over the mantelpiece was broken. As awesome as being the big R was, I really didn’t want to see my reflection. “The plan failed. Give them all a wave in the third for me. I think they’ll be
stoked
to see you. Ciao!”