Page 55 of Reaper
“Call your men off,” she demanded.
“Fuck you.”
“Okay, we’ll do it the hard way.”
She dragged him behind the assassins as they flooded through the door.Fighting and gunfire echoed through the forest the moment she stepped past the threshold.Scanning the area, she found a sturdy pine and bound him to the tree using her powers.He tried to struggle against the invisible hold, but was unable to move an inch.“I’ll deal with you later.”
As she turned away from the tree, two mercenaries ran into view.The smile on her face wasn’t a happy one as she assessed the situation and waited for them to make their first move.
It didn’t take long before they fired on her.
She held her hand up to block the bullets with ease, and while they were distracted by her abilities, she closed her hands together.Their heads bashed together with a sickening thud that made her flinch.She listened for a moment for their vital signs, but when she didn’t detect any, she moved on to join the main fight.
Although there were twelve immortals to fight since Liv had gone back to the basement after Kai’s harsh demand, the mercs sought Ara, as if they had orders to destroy her, and her alone.Her weeks of training had become second nature, and she dodged bullets and strikes with ease.Some of them had given up with their guns and came at her with knives, but she dispatched them easily.
By the sounds of the screaming that surrounded her, the humans had no idea what kind of fight they walked into.Instead of feeling sorry for them, she hoped that they would be dispatched soon so she could kill the one man responsible for the entire mess.
She had no idea how long they’d been fighting, but the realization that the fight had been slowing made her realize that she left the asshole bound to the tree, and she hadn’t checked on him in a while.Darting to where she remembered she left him, she found the ground empty and felt a flare of panic.
Reaper!
The same moment Reaper answered her call, she heard the distinct cock of a gun to her right.
Frozen in place, she watched as Reaper ran through the clearing, determined to find her.She opened her mouth to warn him, but the first shot rang out and pierced Reaper’s chest.Unlike other bullets that she’d seen, this one expanded the moment it entered his chest, and she watched in horror as the bullet exited with an explosion.Six more struck him with the same result, and she watched in horror as he crumpled to the ground.The man had aimed for his heart, and there would be no way to save him with that much damage.
Shutting off her mind, she allowed fury and revenge to take over.With deliberate slowness, she faced the man who had managed to kill the one person who had meant everything to her.When he came into view, she watched, without caring, as he rushed to release the clip in the gun to replace it with a fresh one.His movements were hindered by his broken wrist, and he kept cursing each time the clip missed.
“You should have left us alone.Now, I’m going to kill you, painfully and slowly.”
“Ara.”
Ignoring her friend who was supposed to be safe in the basement, she pinched her fingers together and heard the snap of his forearm as it bent backward.
The gun dropped from his hand and he fell to his knees, holding his arm to his chest.
Oblivious of the man’s screams, she started breaking bones, one by one—the tibia and the fibula in the right leg, before she moved on to the left.There was no satisfaction gleaned from watching him suffer, but she couldn’t break through the rage that had squeezed her chest in a vise.
“Stop!I want to live,” the man screamed.
“You should have left us alone,” she seethed.
“Ara!”Liv screamed.
She turned toward her friend.The sorrow in her eyes almost broke her in half.Instead of turning back toward the man, she drew an invisible circle in the air and heard the man’s neck snap.She would no longer look at the one who had killed Reaper.
The blood that surrounded Reaper became dark as it pooled around him in the dirt.She knelt beside him, and although there were gaping wounds on his chest, she pressed her hands against them, trying to stanch the blood that continued to flow through her fingers.Tears fell from her cheeks and struck his chest as the vision of him blurred.
“I love you.Until I met you, I had no idea that love existed.You held my hand, and told me that everything would be okay.You told me that you would protect me, but I failed at protecting you.I’m sorry, so sorry.This is all my fault.I love you.”
Determination swelled in her chest.She had healed him once before, when she thought him dead, and she would do it again.She wiped the tears from her eyes, and opened her palms on his chest.For a moment, nothing changed, but she sensed the faint heat in her palms before a piercing light flooded inside his chest.Although she couldn’t see the damage inside, she believed that she could save him.
Blackness edged into her vision, but she shook her head, refusing to give in until she knew that Reaper would survive.She hadn’t fought for her friend, or for her freedom, but she would do everything in her power to save the man she loved.
Closing her eyes to concentrate, the light that soaked into his body flared once, and then again.Exhaustion threatened to envelop her, but she kept her hands on his chest until the heat fell away.
With one last plea for his survival, she welcomed the blackness.
