Chained (The Reaper Saga Book 1), page 16
"Where is she?" I asked calmly, impaling her stomach with the dagger. My shadows started whining somewhere in my mind, probably wanting to be the one to hurt her.
"Let me take over." Zed sneered twisting the knife, making her groan even louder. Under the anger he was showing, I knew Zed long enough to know that it pained him to see Keisha like this, and yet he continued like it wasn't breaking his heart all over again.
She spat on his face, sweat forming on her forehead. "Go to hell."
"We returned from hell, sweetheart. Thanks to you." I chuckled, glancing at Keisha to see her gulp. She had to break sometimes. Everyone did. The adrenaline to see her hurt wasn't like anything I had felt before. It felt good.
Who am I kidding, it felt ecstatic.
"Zedkiel, you know me better than Alexei. I will never come here without a good plan. Or some backup plan. You know that...you know me!" She was still rambling and it didn't help the anger that was rising inside me.
"Your voice is sickly annoying and it's time to feed my shadows. You can put two and two together unless-" I pretended to care. "Yeah, no, they still want to feed."
She looked at me with horror in her eyes.
Technically, I could let the shadows out to play. They would love a challenge and if needed a chase, they'll do that too. So, with that, I left the control to my shadows to hide behind my mind. Right at that moment, I could feel my lips move, the shadows happily taking control. "Let's play a game, Reaper. Do tell us where our beloved is and we'll let you walk out of here. But if you don't, we start to dismember you, deal?"
She started shaking her head when the shadows ran the dagger across her arms making a cut in the process. Where I clenched my jaw at the dull ache in my body, they smiled watching the blood pouring from her cuts. Hearing a throat-clearing, I turned around to see Zed looking at me with questionable eyes. I knew he was thinking of how much control I had over the shadows if they wanted to think of finishing her off. But I was sure that they wouldn't kill her. Not until they got an answer. He must have recognized the look on my face as he relaxed, not a second later joining me.
"If we are playing a game, then tell me this, how in the hell did you break a protection spell?" Zed leaned in close, trying to intimidate her. "This entire property is under my protection, even a spirit needs an invitation. I made sure of that."
"I'm in Emeline or what? You thought I took her form? Oh, that would be foolish, even for me. If I'd do that, you would have recognized me the moment I came here. Today, when you two went to look for that little distraction I left for you, is when I took over her body and the entire time just kept entertaining you until I had my hands on this damn dagger. But now look, by hurting me you're hurting her. How does it feel, Alexei?" She coughed, making the shadows uneasy.
I couldn't physically hurt her.
Not unless I wanted to hurt Emie too...
The realization made me take a couple of steps back. Fucking hell! The shadows left immediately giving me the control back. Hell, even they knew how badly I screwed up.
"Zed, release her. It's hurting little soul!"
"You're not thinking straight! She could be lying for the devil knows what reason. You know how she is, this is what she does!" I didn't blame Zed. I couldn't even see right from left. The only thing I knew was-
I couldn't risk her life.
"Little soul must've crossed the territory at some point and that's when you attacked." I voiced out, my stomach dropping. "That's why I felt the pain when you were getting tortured."
Zed took a sharp breath. "I'll do whatever it needs to be done. Just say the word."
"Um, how about...esme lies hian zigas?"
No!
"Stop!" I cried out, desperate to intervene only to watch the last piece of her vanishing from the room with the dagger.
"W-What just happened?" Zed's shocked stutter felt like coming from underwater. I couldn't think. I couldn't believe it. After everything...it couldn't end like this. It just couldn't. The prophecy couldn't come true.
"Lex-"
"She used us." I couldn't recognize my own voice. I sounded more like them than my own. "We are losing her, aren't we?"
"No, Lex. You won't. You hear me!" He shook me out of my nightmare. "If she is yours as the prophecy said then nothing can happen to her. Trust me on this."
I wanted to trust him. I really did. Even when he didn't know the true extent of the prophecy, the real words that I saw written on those dusty pages. But even destiny knew where Keisha was involved, bad things always followed.
Always.
EMELINE
EARLIER
I'm going to kill him.
That's what I could think after the first thing in the morning, I was forced to meet the high and almighty in the border of the property because he wanted me to test more. As if he didn't make me train the whole week like I was in a troop waiting for a war. I couldn't even stop to make a coffee!
I’m so going to kill him after hearing what he needed to say.
I walked faster toward the border with the intention to hurry up and leave. Though the moment I reached there, something made me stop. There wasn't anyone patrolling the area when Zed had warned everyone to be on guard despite having a protection spell. Something had to be wrong. I could just feel it in my bones that I had to leave, like right now. The area was too empty and quiet for my own sake. I was just about to turn back when I bumped into him, forcing me to cross the territory.
"You came." He laughed pulling something from his pocket. Tilting my head, I noticed it was a small box.
"Why wouldn't I? It's the royal asshole's order." I snapped but in my heart, I was waiting for him to open the stupid box. What was wrong with me? "What is that?"
Smirking, he opened it, revealing a beautiful ring. "For you."
What?
"For me?" Despite not knowing what to do, I touched the emerald stone, impressed with his style. "Are you serious?"
"I'm dead serious. Give me your hand." Without waiting for me to say something, he pulled me closer to place the ring on my finger. Wow, it even fit like a glove. After inspecting it for a second, he tasked. "I'm just going to barf. You and him?"
"You're not him." The moment I realized that my hands raised on their own, ready to attack. "Ekelius!"
What should have been happened was this fake person lying in their own blood.
What actually happened was me crying out to find my wrist broken.
It was Lex's form but the voice was anything but. "You-You tried to kill me."
The moment he said that his form changed to someone feminine and so much familiar. Hannah's mismatched eyes stared back at me as I only opened and closed my mouth in shock. What was happening?
"How-"
The woman in front of me let out a giggle. "I did take your mentor's soul for a purpose you know? I can use her body as a vessel since mine got destroyed centuries ago."
"No." In a panic, I tried to call my energy but it wasn't working. Oh, God. I knew that Keisha would kill me in a second if I even let her know how scared I was. Having no other choice, I slowly stepped back looking around wildly to find anything that could help.
Thankfully, I noticed the shovel lying right there on the ground. Someone must have been working last night and forgot to take it to the shed. Before Keisha could wave her hands, I grabbed the nearest thing from the ground only to ram it hard on my mother's head. I could hear a loud scream followed by the slamming sound but what I didn't expect was Keisha also shoving me before dropping to the ground. Immediately, a cold feeling took over my whole body, spreading through my blood at a rapid speed, and the next thing I knew only faded white and black light welcomed me.
What's happening!
"Oh dear, that old body just went to waste." A voice called out which awfully sounded like it was mine, making me gasp. Where in the world was I?
I could see nothing, feel nothing. I could only hear faded voices but I couldn't escape the darkness. Feeling a ghostly touch, I jumped back. People. I could feel people around me, watching, trying to escape the darkness just like me. I could also feel the burning rage inside of them almost making me crawl away.
But where would I go? I couldn't see a thing and there wasn't a door.
Where is she?
Huh? I paused, trying to make sure if I was really hearing right. Then I heard it again. Was that Lex...? I could hear him. It was him! But before I could call out for him, something tore through my stomach making me stumble back in shock.
"Ah! Stop, it hurts!" I screamed, feeling a cold touch of a knife only to find blood on my skin. Please make it stop! Please! I could only scream those words over and over again. Was this what feel like to be dead? I wanted to laugh but I couldn't...I couldn't hear anything.
I couldn't...
Breathe.
DARKNESS
Emptiness.
It could be worse than loneliness. The loneliness I felt over years under a grave was so much better than what I was feeling now. After watching people die throughout the centuries, I thought I was finally done with the pain, the guilt, and the need to be forgotten.
But I was clearly wrong.
Fate just had to throw one more wrong dice at me.
Hearing a door slam, I turned back to see the new intruder. Zed's eyes were dull where sleep deprivation was writing all over his face. He threw the jacket he was wearing on the floor before his eyes met mine. I didn't need to ask if he found something useful cause his pity filled eyes said it all.
Little soul was still missing.
"Zedkiel, is she ever coming back?"
"I'm so sorry, Lex."
It had been two days and I was just so tired of hearing the same crap from him. The fact which rattled me to the core was, Zed being a clan leader, he should be the one to find her as he was a walking locator spell. But there was just no trace left of her, absolutely nothing as if she was never even born. I should've known. I should've paid attention to the fact that she was acting a little crazy that day. If only I realized sooner-
It was all my fault.
"Lex? Are you alright?"
"No, no, Zed. I'm not alright." Even my shadows were pretty much out of control due to me being angry all the time. "Our connection is dropping every second and you won't even let me out, dammit!"
"I know you want her safe and sound, Lex. I truly do. But if now I let you go after her you'll make some stupid mistake and it will cost both of your life. I just can't let you do that. And as long as her father is watching over her, she's protected!" Zed suddenly yelled out throwing the vase near him. But the instant it registered in his mind what he just said, his lips pressed into thin lines.
Now that's surprising.
"What are you hiding from me?" I asked, walking toward him.
"Lex, look I know what you are thinking-"
"Really?" I hissed along with my shadows. "Cause it felt like you were just going to hide this important fact that Jonathan Bazin is still alive! So, I'm asking you again. When did you figure that out, master?"
He paled visibly, his hazel eyes widening farther. When he realized that I wasn't just letting it go, he sighed. "It's Keisha's daughter, Lex. I had to keep track of them even if it was reckless of me to do so. I met the man in 1995, he was working in a bar and I had just got the news that Keisha perished from the land of the lost souls. Obviously it was just a rumor but I wasn't thinking clearly, getting drunk, and he found me. Asked me if it was true that she was dead. He still wouldn't reveal his identity so I tipped the coven to go after him. They got information from him, that the reason he was alive because Keisha said a word wrong. Can you believe it? Instead of killing him for good, she made him a slaugh, forcing him to wake up in human bodies’ centuries after centuries."
Fuck. "That’s why Keisha never tried killing them to save her from her own fate?”
“Oh, she tried.” He snarled, curling his fists. Even my shadows grew tense at the admission. “She was thinking of leaving them to the wild for the animals to finish them off. Jonathan stole them from her before she could.”
“Why didn't you tell this to Emie?"
"Because he didn't want her to know that. I don't know what happened or where he was hiding them for centuries but all I know that two years after I met him, he left his daughters safe somewhere else in the disguise of a woman. Of course, now I know where. You have to understand, that man is always dying and waking up, at some point, his mental health is really questionable. I don't think he could have raised them even if he wanted to. Also, you don't know the risk of summoning him. There's a reason even Keisha is scared shitless of him. If he doesn't believe our words he could end up cursing us. You know he's powerful than you. And, that is exactly why I was preparing myself to go alone cause I know you are out of control now and very well land yourself another curse."
So, he was planning on going alone? What an ass.
"Thanks for the concern, mas-oh sorry asshole!" Zed's eyes flared at the blunt disrespect but I could care less of that now. "Last time I checked she was my wife, not yours so it's me who's going. Either you like it or not."
"But-"
"No, if buts. If this is the only way we can know where she is, then I'm willing to do whatever he wants me to do. I'm not afraid of him."
I totally was. He was more powerful than Zed and I together. Hell, even Keisha, the powerful maniac Reaper was scared of him. But this was the only chance we have got.
And I was not losing it.
"Fine...I'm starting the rituals. If you really want to come, join me in a minute." He sighed heavily and I knew even if he disagreed with me, he'd support anything I would do to get little soul back. For a second, I debated before making my decision.
"No. I’ll go alone. You are not risking your life, not for me." Zed seemed like he wasn't entirely sure what I said because he abruptly stopped at the staircase.
"Come again?"
"I said, I won't risk your life. I'm already on the verge of losing someone. I don't want to make that list any longer. We're married, Zed. He can't change fate."
He opened his mouth, probably to argue more but something must have stopped him. "I know nothing I will say will stop you so I'm only saying this once. He'll want to protect his daughter at any cost. Even if it means your death."
I knew that very much. And if the prophecy was real...
"I want what best for Emie too. And that's what I'm counting on."
EMELINE
My eyes snapped open at once.
To my surprise, I was still alive. For now, something told me as I let out a sigh. The second I got the chance to see where I was, my mind recoiled. Sand. Why was there sand everywhere? Did I land on a beach or something? But I was with Lex-no!
Everything hit me like a train wreck.
The call I got in the morning, me ramming a shovel in my mother's head, the accidental touch that drowned me into the dark abyss. I remembered everything.
I was also reminded of how awfully trapped I was in my own mind.
"Hello, Emie. I know you're in shock and I'm sorry but I had to do this. I had to trap you in a land of the lost souls. Just like I was for centuries." Hearing a new voice, I whirled around to see Keisha, well what looked like me dressed in black shorts and a shirt, with a jacket around the shoulder. Even my hair was perfectly styled like I used to do.
No wonder I passed as myself so easily back there.
"Y-You trapped me where now?" I wanted to yell out. Shout. Or do something worse. But I was still shocked.
How on earth did she even manage that?
"I only trapped your soul there but you're watching me through a mirror." Keisha corrected me with a grin, much to my distaste. "But I'm still in your body. That's the only leverage I have against them."
"I know everything. Lex and Zed have told me everything you have done to them. Everything they lost because of you...even the baby." Keisha's eyes widened for a second before she turned her back on me. That look on Zed's face when he told me that he lost his child made me blurt out everything I was trying to hide.
"Why did you have to leave him? How can you-how can anyone leave him? After everything!"
"Which one?" Keisha had the grace to laugh. "Cause I'm sure I was with both of them at some point."
Disgusted, I shook my head to clear it. My mind was clouded with anger and anger could very much trigger me to do something I didn't want to. Like, finish the whole human race. I had to be calm. Even if I had to mimic Lex when I knew him as only Darkness.
"What do you want from me?" I asked with a tone as if we were discussing the weather. "Why am I here?"
"I will answer all of your questions but first tell me this, did they tell you the real reason they are helping you?" Keisha sounded so worried that if she didn't have that odd glint in her eyes, I would actually believe her. "I mean, did they tell you about the prophecy? Or how it ends?"
"No. But whatever it is, it can't be worse than you."
"Oh please." Keisha scoffed. "You have no idea what a bigger part of a plan you are."
Keisha's sick grin had me double over in laughter. As if I didn't know that. Didn't everyone want me for their own plan? The Red clan, Lex, and now my own mother.
"Tell me something I don't know." I could tell that my answer surprised Keisha. "I know they are selfish and killed more than I can ever process. Lex alone makes me want to murder him in cold blood sometimes. But you know what? Those two are more of a family than you ever could be."
Oh boy, I knew right then what real rage was. Keisha was practically fuming when a loud growl left her lips. It truly looked terrifying to see my form act like this. But did that stop me? God no! Keisha had me pissed at the righteous words like she was some holier than God himself.
"You think I don't see the concern Lex has for me? After you killed Hannah, Lex had been with me when I cried every night thinking of my dead mentor. He held me, kept me sane. And don't even let me start with Zed. That man never deserved you."
