Nethissis was a special creature. I still felt bad for convincing Acantha to sacrifice herself to Eirexis, but I’d done it to save Nethissis from certain death. The decision would haunt me forever, but I did find comfort in knowing that I’d given her a chance to live, to fully explore her marvelous existence.
Even now, as she helped Lumi and Kailani prepare their interplanetary spell, I fought the urge to reveal myself, wondering what her reaction would be if she saw me again—especially after the conversation she’d just had, where my name had been unexpectedly dropped. That had been a pleasant surprise. Copper scales covered the back of her neck, reddish hair flowing loosely over her bare shoulder. Her skin looked soft, glistening like silk in the moonlight. Her voice had the sweetness of honey, and I needed to get a grip, already!
“I think we’ll be ready to leave in a couple of hours, tops,” Lumi said. “We’re waiting for one last shipment of serium batteries for the shuttle, if I’m not mistaken.”
Kailani nodded, glancing at the small ship. “Dmitri!” she shouted. “How long till the batteries get here?”
Dmitri’s head popped up behind the windshield, his black hair ruffled. “An hour, maybe two!”
“Told ya.” Lumi chuckled.
“We already have batteries on board,” Nethissis replied, her brow furrowed. Even when she pouted, she was gorgeous. I worried I might’ve fallen for her. It would’ve been a tragedy, if that was the case. A Reaper and a living creature could never be together. Not only was it impossible to sway Death on the topic, but it didn’t feel right, either, no matter what my feelings for Nethissis were—though, frankly, I wasn’t sure what it was, exactly, that I felt for her; I only knew I wanted to see her again, that I could not get enough of her, and that I’d sort of traded another life for hers... But our worlds were apart, and that was to be the end of it. “What do we need more for?”
“Backup,” Lumi said. “I ordered them last night, after the GASP meeting. I’m putting our past experiences to good use, honey. Don’t worry.”
I finally found the strength to move away from this conversation, focusing on the vampires instead. I’d only seen Tristan and Esme in passing since I’d been assigned to shadow Derek and Sofia, but last night had been a good opportunity to get to know them better. They hadn’t been involved with GASP as much as their peers, but they certainly seemed to have potential.
As they stood to the side, talking to their parents, Derek, Sofia, Rose, and Ben, I noticed their body language. It told me more than their words ever would. Esme, for example, was a fierce creature. Only a few inches shorter than her brother, she knew how to appear imposing, keeping her back straight and chin up at all times, in a military fashion. Her athletic figure helped, as well.
She was the fighter of the two. Tristan was the studious type, but there was a wild side to him, as well. I could see it in his deep green eyes, and I wondered what it would take to bring out the beast in him. Given the protective look he sometimes gave his sister, I figured a threat to Esme might do the trick.
They’d called the planet they were about to visit Trexus-2, but it was better known to its people as Visio. I’d made inquiries about the place, but I hadn’t had a chance to see it for myself. No one had been able to tell me much about it, other than the fact that it had not had a war in over three million years, which was rather impressive. I’d asked the higher circle Reapers to put me in touch with others who’d been there, since I couldn’t leave Derek and Sofia’s side for too long, but I’d yet to hear from them. Understandably, I was curious, as well. Chances were Death would command me to go with them, so I was bound to learn more, soon enough.
All the vampires I’d seen so far were excited about this mission. Most of them yearned to be in the sun again. Even talking about the protein would draw smiles upon their pale faces. From a biological perspective, I could certainly see why they wanted to be able to withstand being in the daylight. The vampires were exquisite predators, held back only by their sun sensitivity.
If that weakness was to be removed, then it would benefit the entire species. I couldn’t even imagine what life would’ve been like had I not been able to enjoy the warm sunlight on my skin, and therefore I couldn’t help but sympathize with their kind.
Derek was lucky, despite his traumatic experience with Ta’Zan. If he hadn’t been abducted and experimented on, he never would’ve learned that there was a way to cure this unpleasant side of vampirism, without losing all the powers and immortality. He could now research this further and bring his dream of day-walking vampirism to everyone else.
I checked my watch, aware that I’d need to report back to Death soon. The remaining seals had rendered her unable to reach me through our telepathic connection, and I’d made a habit of relaying information back to her myself, and not through other Reapers. Allowing myself to slip away from this dimension, I watched space and matter warp themselves around me in colorful swirls, as I set my mind to Aledras, in the In-Between.
Walking between worlds, I couldn’t help but feel a little frustrated. I understood that my existence could no longer bump into that of the living—there was a balance required in the universe, overlooked by more than just Death, and there had already been one big mess with the Hermessi, not that long ago. People were still dying, and Reapers were needed to guide them into the world of the dead. That had not changed, and neither had most of our rules.
Of course, some of the tight and, frankly, unnecessary regulations had been scrapped among us agents of Death, but there was still no contact allowed with the living, under any circumstances. As much as I would’ve liked to see Nethissis, Taeral, and the rest of the crew again, to talk to them, to hang out with them… I couldn’t. My tasks kept me busy, more often than not, but I would’ve liked to have this option. I had enjoyed the little time I’d spent with these people.
The Aledrasians were still recovering from what had happened during the ritual. Thousands of them had perished, many of their souls claimed and forced by the Spirit Bender to turn into ravaged and furious specters. I would’ve wanted Death to restore them, much like she’d had me do with the five million fae. I’d asked her about it, and she’d said there was not much she could do for Aledras. Giving life back to the fae had already been quite a stretch, regardless of the way in which they’d died. She couldn’t have done the same for the Aledrasians—not without stirring the wrath of her brethren, other forces of the universe I’d not had the misfortune to meet. I didn’t include the Word here because the Word wouldn’t have given a damn. It was the others that Death had worried about… entities I hoped to never come across.
But the planet looked good. Thieron’s restoring blow had stopped its physical destruction, at least, restoring the lands and the forests, the rivers and the mountains. The Aledrasians had to rebuild some of their cities, and I’d found a sliver of comfort in knowing that they would never suffer like that again. There would be no other Hermessi ritual. Taeral’s unique hybrid nature and ability to wield Thieron had made that possible.
I reached the frozen lake within seconds of my arrival, thankful for my ability to move through space without being subject to its physical rules. Death lounged on the thick ice, looking bored and drawing stickman figures in the thin layer of snow that had settled. Chains still linked her to the bottom—part of the 999 remaining seals. Runes covered every visible part of her skin, going beneath the silken white robe, as well. All of them seals, too.
Dream, Nightmare, and Kelara looked pretty tired, their legs crossed as they sat around the ice hole into which the chains went. They’d been at the second seal for about eight months, give or take, and they had not managed to crack it yet. The irony did not escape us—it had taken the Spirit Bender mere days to trap Death, but it would take years, at this rate, to free her again.
“Seeley, darling. Give me some good news, please,” Death said, giving me a broad but cold smile as she got up and brushed the snow from her silken robe. “I’m dying of boredom here.”
Not that I could blame her. Her telepathy was under seal, as well. She relied on us Reapers to bring her up to speed, to tell her stories, to entertain her in any way possible. She’d been bound to this place, unable to do anything. It was a miracle she hadn’t gone stir crazy yet—captivity was not something that Death could easily tolerate.
“What’s going on here? Any progress?” I asked, knowing what the answer would be.
I earned myself a trio of scowls from Kelara, Dream, and Nightmare. They were positively drained. “I might’ve figured out the second seal,” Kelara replied. “But I need to be careful as I apply the spell. That’s mainly because my hands are shaking. I’m friggin’ exhausted!”
“No need to get cranky, Kelara, I was merely asking,” I said, raising my hands in a defensive gesture. Dream and Nightmare giggled at one another.
“We’ve been at this for a while.” Dream sighed. “Give the girl a break.”
“What part of ‘I was merely asking’ did you not understand?” I retorted.
Kelara cursed under her breath and pulled herself up. She took out her scythe and kneeled before Death. “Would you be so kind as to hold out your left arm, please?” Kelara asked.
Death raised her eyebrows, genuinely curious. “What are you up to?”
“I think I’m dealing with a scythe seal, this time,” she said. “It will take all the energy I’ve got left, both mine and borrowed, to put into my blade, and I’ll probably sleep for the rest of the year afterward, but it’s worth a shot.”
Death nodded slowly, stretching out her left arm. Kelara used the scythe’s sharp tip to trace around one of the black runes, whispering an ancient Reaper spell. The outline lit up white, and Death hissed from what sounded like pain.
“We’ve tried several spells, so far,” Dream said, her gaze fixed on Death and Kelara. “This is pretty much the last resort. Nightmare and I had to give her some of our energy to do it.”
“That’s why you were sitting by the water hole together, like besties?” I asked.
Kelara continued to fill the rune with light from her spell, sweat beads already glistening on her forehead. Death cringed, closing her eyes. She was uncomfortable, to put it mildly. I’d never seen her like this. So… vulnerable.
“Kelara needed some First Tenner juice for this,” Nightmare replied with a shrug.
“Why couldn’t one of you do it?” I asked.
“It’s a spell I made up myself,” Kelara gritted out, still focused on her work.
The revelation hit me in the chest like a sledgehammer. “Whoa. What?!”
“It’s a spell I made up my—”
I cut her off. “Yeah, I got that part, Kelara. How is that even possible?”
Death smiled. “She didn’t know she had it in her. You’d be surprised by how many of you have this potential, if you only gave yourselves to it.”
“I’m confused.”
“You and me both,” Dream replied. “But our momma’s kind of right. No one ever said we couldn’t make death spells of our own. And the death spells we know didn’t all come from her.”
Nightmare chuckled. “Fun fact, right?”
Suddenly, I was the one on the outside, looking in and feeling like a complete stooge. “I’m sorry, when did this become common knowledge? Because I certainly wasn’t in the loop. I thought you were the one who gave us all these spells,” I said, scowling at Death. Maybe I wouldn’t have had the same courage, had she not been trapped under the seals.
Death shook her head. “I never said that.”
“You never not said that,” Dream retorted.
“Listen, you’re Reapers. That means you’ve got threads of my power inside you. Most of your kind have very little, like, say, the lower circles. Kelara, Seeley, and others from the fourth circle and above, well… you got a bit more. Enough to work with and make your own spell. You’d need a lot of spare time for that, though, which Kelara has had, since she’s been here with me,” Death explained. “She’s had time to push herself and explore.”
