23. The Seoul Reapers
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
The Seoul Reapers
Stuck between two walls, his disfigured hand covering his mouth, Chul tried to silence his whimpering as blood leaked from his severed arm. He barely escaped with his life.
When his fellow Reapers said they were hunting fresh meat, they never mentioned the Donovans. The infamous Donovan clan was last spotted in the United States. Their estranged cousin settled in Seoul. But he minded his business, and they left him alone.
Because frankly… he was the worst of them. Or so Chul thought.
“I can fucking smell you…”
Jax Donovan… was a monster. Exponentially more terrifying in person than the ghost stories they had been told.
Chul trembled with fear, remembering the way the blue-eyed demon tore his friend’s head from his shoulders with his bare hands.
How he broke another Reaper’s spine in half over his knee.
How he tore his arm at the elbow like paper.
He couldn’t be human. No human could rip through human flesh like that.
And with a laughing baby on his damn back!
And just like that, the fragmented laughter of an innocent child attached to the back of her murderous father echoed in the empty, blood-splattered hallway, sending a death-laced chill down Chul’s spine.
Breathing heavily through his mask, Chul bit down on his bottom lip as he stared at his bleeding arm.
A blood trail led to where he had left the other half.
She was supposed to be a random woman. A new Reaper. Naive. Dumb. Lost. Wandering from the ‘Safe States’ into Seoul’s ‘No Man’s Land’. How could they have known she was the apple of the eye of the most ruthless Reaper in The Society?
The baby laughed again, followed by ominous footsteps and the sound of metal scraping concrete. Chul tried to calculate the location of the Reaper hunting him so that he could move in the opposite direction.
But there were two sets of footsteps. Two Reapers. Who was the other?
The baby giggled again. “...sàmhach…mo bhana-phrionnsa?*…” Jax’s deep voice vibrated the air.
Chul didn’t recognize the language. It wasn’t English or Korean.
But at least he could tell which direction it was coming from.
Clutching his dagger, Chul counted down before quickly turning the corner to run in the other direction.
But he slipped on a puddle of blood, tripping over a dead body, and landed on his knees as his dagger skidded.
Chul froze as he heard footsteps behind him.
Slowly looking over his shoulder, his eyes widened at the sight of death himself.
His bloodied chest was completely bare. A tiny, brown-skinned baby girl tied to his back with the shirt he ripped from his torso.
His head cocked backward as blood dripped from his hands.
His sharp blue eyes nearly glowing in the dark hallway.
“There you are…” Jax growled in Korean so deeply he sounded animalistic.
Chul felt his stomach drop to his butt. Scrambling on his hands and knees, Chul slipped on the bloody floor as he tried to get away from the terrifying Reaper.
Jax’s footsteps grew louder, complemented by the broken laughter of his baby girl, and Chul couldn’t figure out for the life of him why slaughter amused her so much.
Finally crawling towards the door, Chul reached the handle and struggled to his feet, when a foot met his face from the other side. Chul fell back against the railing, panting in fear as he watched what looked like Jamie step forward, holding another masked Reaper by his broken neck.
Chul got two words out before his face was violently smashed into the pavement by his heavy boot. His jaw completely dislocating as his skull shattered.
“What did he call me?” Caleb asked, dropping the other corpse.
“Green-eyed devil,” Jax translated.
Caleb sighed. “I’m not my fucking broth- Goddamit…” he muttered.
“How many more are there?” Jax asked, stepping over several bodies.
“Fuck if I know,” Caleb shrugged. “Where’s Deja?”
“With Esme,” Jax said, checking his phone. “She messaged me a few moments ago.”
“Were those gunshots from her?” Caleb asked.
“Esme doesn’t use guns,” Jax said. “Must be someone else.” Spotting movement out of the corner of his eye, Jax quickly grabbed a masked Reaper stumbling out of the staircase with a machete in hand.
The Reaper barely spoke before Jax was violently smashing his head into the wall until it splattered like a crushed tomato.
“Holy fuck, Jax…” Caleb muttered. “You’re like a damn Hulk.”
Jax shrugged as the nearly headless body slid against the wall. Chloe giggled loudly, writhing against her father’s bare back. “Should I be concerned that she laughs every time you rip someone to pieces?” Caleb asked.
Jax looked over his shoulder and smiled at his daughter. “I think it’s cute.”
“Course you do,” Caleb smirked. “What’s more adorable than a baby watching her father rip bone from flesh? This is top-tier parenting.”
“We’re bonding,” Jax said as Chloe nibbled on his shoulder.
“Mmm… Is that what we’re calling this?” Caleb asked with a raised brow.
“We were gonna propose, ya know? I mean, we had this shit all planned out. Like some fuckin’ Lifetime shit.
Some real romantic-ass shit. Well, sorta.
I had the perfect idea and then you motherfuckers had to go ahead and fuck it up!
The fuck is wrong with you…” Crouched to his knees, Keith used his finger to paint blood on a reaper’s forehead.
“Keith, stop playing with your kill and put the head down,” Ian said irritably, wiping the blood from his blade onto the jacket of one of his kills.
“This big-ass forehead makes the perfect canvas,” Keith said, dipping his finger in more blood. “When she sees us, we can show her this.”
Ian looked at Keith holding the decapitated head with ‘Will you marry us?’ painted in blood on the forehead. “It’s romantic, right? I mean like… in a Reaper way,” Keith said. “Lemme fix his hair.”
“Keith,” Ian said, rubbing his temples. “Put the bloody head down. We are not proposing with a decapitated head!”
Keith sucked his teeth. “I thought it was creative.”
“She’s a Reaper, not a necrophiliac…” Ian muttered. “Put it down.”
Keith sighed as he dropped the head. “You said she’s safe, right?”
“Yes, she’s with Esme,” Ian said, cleaning his hands.
Keith snorted. “Skeletor? Speaking of a necrophiliac…”
A blade flew past Keith, slicing the side of his cheek. “First of all, you dumb little bitch. How many times do I have to tell you I didn’t know he was dead when I fucked him?! Secondly, fuck you!”
Ian glanced over his shoulder and felt all the warmth return to his body and the anxiety drain from his tense muscles the moment his eyes landed on his woman. His very naked woman.
Quickly shedding his jacket, Ian rushed up to Deja and draped it over her shoulders. Wrapping her in his arms, he affectionately kissed her forehead. “Thank Roselyn. Are you alright, sweetheart?”
Sliding her arms around his waist, Deja pressed her face into Ian’s chest and deeply exhaled. “I’m okay…”
“You’re welcome.”
Ian glanced at Esme and smiled. “...it’s good to see you, Esme.”
Esme smirked. “Heard you missed me.”
“Well, someone fucking lied,” Keith said, peeling off his shirt as he approached Deja. He wrapped his bloodstained shirt around her hips for a tight fit to cover her backside. “I thought that smell was coming from all the dead bodies, but now that you’re here, it all makes sense.”
Esme snorted. “Wash your fucking face. You were probably just smelling your upper lip, you walking STD.”
“We just got here…” Renee groaned. “Can you guys not?”
Ian sighed. “I’m afraid they’re just getting started. Congratulations on getting married, by the way.”
Renee smiled. “Thank you, Ian. And thanks for the wedding gift. I still haven’t forgiven you for trying to kill me. But I loved the jewelry.”
“Wait, you knew they were married?” Deja asked. “Why am I just finding out?”
“You’ve been… preoccupied,” Ian noted before he quickly pulled Deja out of the way just as a blade swung past her head.
Keith spun around, spotting another Reaper who was running down the spiral stairs. Grabbing the handrail, Keith flew off the railing, several floors down. The sounds of chaotic screaming and metal tearing through flesh echoed between the walls.
“We were in the middle of a conversation, bitch!” they heard Keith shout. Several moments later, he walked back up the stairs, covered in even more blood. “Fucking rude…” Keith said, dropping a severed hand to the ground.
“Jax and Caleb are on the other side,” Ian said, checking his phone.
“Can I get some real clothes first…?” Deja muttered.
“My makeshift skirt not working for you, baby girl?” Keith teased as he grabbed her ass with both bloodied hands and pulled her towards him.
Deja smirked. “It’s barely covering my ass, Keith…”
“And that’ssssss… bad?” Keith asked before Deja playfully shoved him.
“Is it the headshots she finds funny, or does the sight of blood just amuse her?” Caleb asked, ripping his blade out of someone’s chest. “Either answer is alarming.”
Jax wiped his bloody hands on his pants and looked over his shoulder at Chloe. “I’m not sure. Maybe both. You are pretty dramatic with your kills.”
“I’m dramatic?!” Caleb scoffed. “You’re the one ripping people apart with your bare hands like the goddamn terminator!” Chloe immediately burst into giggles as she slobbered on Jax’s shoulder. “Chloe, you’re not helping my case,” Caleb smirked as Jax grinned.
“She’ll sleep well tonight,” Jax said as Caleb approached them and adjusted the shirt that kept her strapped to Jax’s back.
“Little spitfire had a big day, going from playing in ball pits to having a front-row seat to a Reaper massacre,” Caleb smirked. His face slowly fell as he looked at Jax. “...do you really want this life for her?”