Chapter 33
In the jaws of a beast, Elise lost all track of time and space.
She had fired all her tranquilizer rounds into Sena’s mouth, but the reaper had yet to slow down on her deadly rampage through Harlem.
Eventually Sena dumped her into a pile of dirt and, to Elise’s dismay, human remains.
She scrabbled against the ground, trying to find purchase to stand, and her hands slipped over various bones.
A human skull clipped against her fingers, and all Elise could do was let out a shaky breath as Sena drew closer to her in the darkness.
Whatever graveyard Sena had dropped her in, she intended it to be Elise’s final resting place.
There was no escape out here—in the middle of a makeshift cemetery with no one around—no one to hear her scream.
She faced the beast, her own expression growing sharp.
She did not wear a human face, but Elise could still see the cold rage in Sena’s expression.
The essence of the reaper’s character remained through all her vicious transformations.
Elise recognized the shaking hatred the damned creature moved with and all the spite she carried with her that had lasted centuries.
A soul did not live forever and never change.
This one had allowed itself to necrotize with time, growing cold and unforgiving.
Elise could not fault her for it. If she had been forced to endure the turmoil of her short life and all the pain that came with it for an eternity, she would have let the darkness consume her sooner rather than later.
“I know you’re angry with me. It was an undignified death that even you did not see coming.
But I would have done something else had I had more power.
For all you did to my sister, you deserve worse than hell.
” Elise swallowed past the lump in her throat.
Not from nerves but instinctual disgust at her own violent thoughts.
They were Saint words—things she had never felt comfortable spewing.
A true Saint might have found comfort in degrading their prey, but Elise had only ever mourned hers.
Forcing herself as far from her mind as possible was the only way she saw herself making it through this standoff.
“I would kill you a thousand times over if it meant my sister was safe. Whatever grave you bury me in tonight, I will be sure to haunt you from it for an eternity. I promise you that.”
The reaper bristled at her words. Such a reaction was enough for Elise to find satisfaction in the final moments she had before Sena lunged for her again, this time sinking her fangs into her throat.
The world became a blur around Elise. She went limp in the reaper’s grasp, feeling her blood leak down her chest and over her face.
Consciousness came and went, driving Elise through various forms of darkness until the reaper finally released her.
By then, she had carved out a shallow grave for the Saint.
Sena’s venom fought the existing strain in Elise’s body, rendering her stiff with feverish pain.
She remained frozen in place as the reaper covered her with dirt and extinguished every last bit of light.
The stars above winked out. In just a few horrifying moments, Elise was left in the dark, suffocating pressure and death closing in from all sides.
Elise might have been down in the dirt for an eternity. With her arms trapped by her sides and the earth crushing her chest, her breathing became shallow. She could only hope and pray that the venom was enough to overcome the substance in her system and take her out with a merciful swiftness.
A distant rumbling started nearby. Then the earth began to shake around her.
Dirt shifted on her face and her arms, and soon, there was enough alleviation of the pressure for her to move.
She reached up, clawing at the earth until she brushed something soft and cool.
A brown hand reached into the darkness and gripped her arm.
It hauled her out of the dirt with a grace only an inhuman being could muster.
Gasping, Elise broke out of the grave. She coughed up mouthfuls of dirt and wiped at her eyes while it poured over her legs. Sitting up and blinking against the cloudiness in her vision, Elise caught sight of the several beings surrounding her. Reapers, rogue and determined, stared back at her.
She didn’t have the energy to be scared or even startled. Instead, Elise coughed out a broken laugh and shook her head. “You saved me.”
Then she collapsed, falling back onto the grave.
***
“Sena meant to turn her. I think my tainted venom in Elise’s system stopped Sena’s,” Layla muttered.
She kept one hand on Elise’s throat, watching her flesh knit itself back together beneath the stream of Celie’s blood.
Per Layla’s instruction, everyone had settled in the new reaper lair after finding Elise.
In the hour since bringing her back, she had yet to wake up.
The steady beat of her pulse beneath Layla’s fingers was the only thing keeping Layla upright and hopeful about the situation.
Once done treating Elise’s wounds, Celie tucked her sleeve back over her arm.
She glanced out across the entryway, where a few gangsters had gathered around Nicoletta.
The reaper’s blood coated the cathedral steps and pooled beneath her now.
Whatever wounds Sena had left had been deep enough to require extensive healing time.
One of Nicoletta’s men called over. “Thank you, again, for letting us rest here.”
Layla nodded. “As long as you remain allied to us and not Karine.”
“We’ve seen what she does to noncooperative humans and reapers. We want no part of that.”
Layla had seen an opportunity in the tense moment after Sena’s attack.
With the Saint compound covered in Nicoletta’s blood, the gangsters had to choose between staying and risking certain death or yielding to Layla’s word.
Even close to death, these newly turned gangsters chose life.
Layla had never anticipated the new lair growing quite so crowded.
Nor could she have anticipated rogue reapers saving a Saint’s life.
But Layla had dropped to her knees when she saw them pulling Elise from the dirt in Washington Square Park.
The Saint had been buried among thousands of other bodies. It was a miracle she emerged still breathing with all the blood loss she had endured.
“Is she going to wake up?” Josi asked. She had been sitting on the stairs with Sterling and Jamie, but she moved into the free space beside Layla.
The younger Saint regarded her sister’s limp body on the velvet couch with considerable concern.
Her brows furrowed, and her lips poked out in a fearful pout.
“I felt Sena calling me. I had to go. She gets so angry when I don’t listen to her.
I think if you had not held me down, I would have been worse. ”
Layla swallowed hard. She took Josi’s hand and slipped it into Elise’s. “If she’ll wake up for anyone, it will be you.”
Josi dropped to her knees beside her sister. She bent over her, murmuring something inaudible to Elise. Tears glistened on her cheeks as she spoke, and Layla turned away to give them a moment of privacy.
A few rogue reapers caught her eye, and she shook her head after reading their questioning expressions. “I have never known rogues to care for a Saint.”
One rogue pulled his gaze from Elise to look at Layla.
“She saved our lives on the ship. It felt unwise to move on as if things have not changed between reapers and humans. Incurable debts aside, we are on the brink of something more monstrous than history itself. Rogues would rather be on the side that sees us as worthy enough to live. So we will return the favor as long as we are acknowledged.”
Layla’s lips parted in silent awe. With the way things had gone over the past few days, Layla had no idea what either of them would do once Elise woke up.
But to see such folks from different walks of life crowding in a cathedral together in the middle of the night—it felt like more than a coincidence.
A calling, perhaps, if Layla believed in those things.
“Oh, dove. Please don’t cry.” Elise’s hushed voice drew Layla back to her.
She spun around and found Elise hugging her sister back.
Her eyes were bright with tears that refused to fall.
As Layla neared, Elise’s gaze settled on her.
Elise reached for her hand and squeezed it, a soft smile gracing her lips.
Watching Elise smile even while covered in blood and on the verge of anguish felt like watching the early-morning sunlight break across the sky.
***
“I hate that you’re a part of this. I really wish you would just go hide with Sterling until all this is over,” Layla murmured.
She wiped her blood away from the freshly healed wounds in Elise’s throat.
For once, they were alone, tucked away in her room upstairs.
“Maybe it was better when my clan hated you and didn’t want you around. ”
The Saint groaned. “I wish you wouldn’t do that. It’s progress that your clan accepts me now for saving you and other reapers. We cannot discount that.”
Layla’s jaw clenched in frustration. She dropped the bloody rag into the bin by her sink and followed Elise out to her bedroom. “This is progress, but it has a cost. It’s naive to assume reapers will continue to accept Saints just because of today. Not to mention you nearly died.”
Elise whirled on her, ire creasing her brows and casting darkness across her expression.
“And that was my choice. My whole life, I have had things decided for me. Everyone has made choices on my behalf. And now you’re doing it too.
You assume I do not want you in my life and assume I am better off without you.
You keep me at a distance, and it drives me insane.
I don’t understand why you insist on being like this.
Hot and then cold. Avoiding me, but needing my approval and my confirmation. ”
“You really have to ask me this?” Layla drew closer to her, her voice hard.
“Evidently. Why are you so stubborn when it comes to me and me only? What end are you searching for?” Elise ground out.
Layla was so close now, she could feel the heat of Elise’s anger rolling off her. “One with you.”
Pain blanched Elise’s face, and for a moment, Layla regretted her words.
No amount of protection on her behalf would be worth the anguish it eventually pulled from the Saint.
“Are you trying to mock me? Trying to remind me why we can’t be together because you will live forever and I won’t? ” Her voice broke. “Layla—”
“I’m trying to tell you I fucking love you,” Layla almost shouted. Her body stilled as Elise’s eyes grew shiny with awe.
Elise blinked slowly, and then a quiet smile stretched across her lips. “You could have just said that.”
“It’s hard, Lise. You’re right. We don’t have forever—not even close. No amount of time with you would ever be enough…” Layla’s breath shuddered out of her, and when Elise touched her cheek, she covered her hand with her own.
“We don’t have to think of that yet. So let’s not.
” Elise’s thumb stroked over the silent tear that streaked Layla’s cheek.
“There are a million little forevers in every moment we have. We can make our own eternity out of this time.” She let out a little breath, and beneath it, Layla heard her mutter, “Laisse-moi mourir en premier.”
Layla squeezed her hand. “You keep saying that. What does it mean?”
Elise’s eyes crinkled and she spoke quietly. “Let me die first.”
The realization of her statement sank in like a physical blow. Layla swallowed past her pained shock, and she held Elise tighter. “No.”