Chapter 12 #2
Viri rarely ventured this close to the northern edge of the uppercity, and never at night, the mist far too near for comfort.
With the added wind from the storm, the danger was perilously high.
But before she could convince herself to leap back through the wayportal, she felt it—the warmth in her hand, telling her there was a reaper nearby. Or reapers.
Reeve, Sage, and Ardin.
Ignoring the threat of the mist and the violence of the storm, Viri focused on her mark, following it west, away from the mountain and along the riverside path toward Elders’ Grove.
She shuddered at the thought of entering the small woodland, where the creepy, ancient trees cast shadows that moved as if alive.
But to her relief, her mark led her away from the river just before it reached the grove, sending her along well-lit streets filled with lavish houses owned by those who preferred to live on the surface rather than beneath it, all carefully sealed during the unsafe night hours.
She barely spared the homes a glance, concentrating only on her heated mark as she left the affluent part of the uppercity behind and headed into the dark, narrow alleyways of the slums.
The wind was fiercer here, the rain coming down hard enough to make visibility difficult, coupled with the flashing lightning that distorted Viri’s vision and the repeated thunder booms that left her ears ringing.
But still, she pressed on, hurrying past crumbling, abandoned buildings, her palm becoming so hot that she knew she had to be close.
Turning a corner into an even narrower lane, Viri saw shadowy movement up ahead and swiftly ducked down behind a pile of rickety wooden crates.
She swiped water from her face and pulled her hood up to shield her eyes, but the wind kept tearing it back, leaving her to squint through the rain as she peered out to see what Reeve and his friends were doing so far from anywhere.
Only, it wasn’t Reeve she saw.
Her mark hadn’t led her astray—there were reapers in the alley, over half a dozen of them, which was more than Viri had ever seen in one place.
Reapers rarely worked together—they didn’t need to, their strength and speed making it easy for them to abduct and kill their targets without assistance.
Plus no two reapers would ever share the ellixen they stole, not when they could take it all for themselves.
Before tonight, Viri had never encountered more than one in any single location, with the combination of Reeve, Jonas, and Sage—and then Ardin—having been an anomaly.
But seeing seven together in this alley…
Viri’s stomach tightened with dread at what they might be doing.
And then she saw it—something that stole her breath and made her heart slam against her rib cage. Because the reapers weren’t the only ones in the alley.
There were also children.
Viri slapped her hand over her mouth to stifle her gasp as she did a quick head count, finding twelve in total, bound together by ropes and standing in three lines of four, their clothes and hair soaked from the rain, their little bodies shaking with fear.
The group was small enough that Viri doubted they were the kids who had been abducted in the last six months—or not all of them—but she’d still never seen anything like this in all her years of hunting.
The reapers weren’t siphoning from their captives, nor did they seem poised to do so.
If anything, it looked like they were moving the children, with three of the dark-cloaked killers holding the ropes and ruthlessly tugging them forward.
Viri suddenly recalled what Ardin had said upon arriving at Jonas’s apartment—“We’ve got a transfer”—and her blood turned cold as she realized he’d been referring to whatever she was witnessing right now.
This was what Reeve and Sage had come to help with—they were out there in the alley, moving these children to Elders-knew-where.
Bile rose in Viri’s throat as she watched a young boy slip on the wet ground and fall to his knees, accidentally pulling the three others in his line down as well.
A reaper was at their sides in seconds, hauling them up and snarling into their faces, a monster from their nightmares come to life.
Their terror was so tangible that Viri swore she could feel it from her hiding spot halfway down the alley.
She wanted to leap to their rescue, but no hunter could take on seven reapers at once, especially with the fillium-immune—and magic-wielding—Reeve among them.
No, Viri’s only option was to stay hidden and follow where they went. Once she had their location, she would return to the Hunters’ Guild, admit to the colossal mistake she’d made in freeing Reeve, and beg Meera and Darik to send out a team of hunters and Nox to bring the reapers down. Until then—
Viri’s mental planning screeched to a halt when two new figures appeared from the shadows, their blades glinting beneath the lightning.
Immediately, the four reapers not holding ropes shouted at their three companions—words Viri couldn’t hear over the rain and thunder but instinctively knew were orders to flee with the kids—and then they rushed forward to meet the two attackers.
Taking in the dark clothes of the newcomers, Viri wondered if they were city guards, but she couldn’t make out Nox uniforms through the pouring rain, just hooded black cloaks.
As with the children and the reapers, the stormy gloom made it impossible to see any identifying features, but whoever they were, they were fools if they thought they could defeat seven monsters alone.
But then another figure joined them, bringing their number to three against seven, the odds more favorable, though still sorely lacking.
The danger was high, but Viri couldn’t ignore the opportunity before her. She shoved down her trepidation and sprinted out from her hiding place, fillium in one hand, dagger in the other, her boots splashing through puddles as she raced toward the skirmish.
An earsplitting crack of thunder sounded as she neared the fighting group, the cries of the resisting children audible now, blending with the clash of steel as the newcomers fought their ellixen-heightened opponents.
Impossibly, they weren’t struggling to hold their own against the strength and speed of the reapers, but were instead meeting them strike for strike, their movements so fast they were like blurs.
The next flash of lightning gave Viri a better look at the newcomers, revealing why they weren’t struggling—and causing her to stumble to a shocked halt in the middle of the alley.
Because they were reapers, too.
And not just any reapers. With their hoods blown back by the wind, it was all too easy to recognize Reeve, Sage, and Ardin.
They weren’t abducting the children—they were fighting against the abductors.
Viri had no time to make sense of what she was seeing, not when one of the reapers who had been tugging at a line of kids released his rope and charged her way.
She acted on instinct, ducking as his fist flew at her face, then leaping backward when he slashed a dagger toward her abdomen.
She didn’t have any of Wynter’s impedidust on her, nor any other handy alchemical experiments, just her weapons and her wits—but that was enough.
Because when the reaper came at her again, instead of avoiding his attack, she rushed forward and pivoted at the last second, hissing when his dagger sliced through her cloak and grazed her forearm—a calculated sacrifice that allowed her to grab his arm and yank him off-balance.
The slick, wet ground did the rest, his slipping feet giving her an opening to slap her fillium around his wrist, instantly incapacitating him.
With a swift kick to his torso, she sent him crumpling to the side of the alley, a moan leaving him as he tried—and failed—to rise again.
Confident he was down for good as long as her golden cord was touching him, Viri whirled to meet her next opponent, frustratingly aware that she had only one fillium, and there were still six reapers left.
No—five, she amended, watching as Reeve finished one off and spun in time to meet two others, rain cascading off his sculpted form.
For a moment, she could only stare as he battled in the storm, his sword slashing in one hand and dagger slicing in the other, his midnight hair plastered to his head, his eyes flashing like the lightning overhead.
He was death incarnate, parrying and striking against his two opponents at an impossible speed, relentless in his assault.
Viri had never seen anything so beautiful, so mesmerizing… so deadly.
With effort, she tore her gaze away, remembering where she was and the threat that remained.
Sage was holding her own against a reaper, as was Ardin, but that still left one more, a woman who had been trying to single-handedly haul all twelve children away but had now abandoned them and was lunging for Viri, her dagger raised.
The woman’s speed was alarming—as was the strength of her attack when Viri stopped the blade with her own, every bone in her body jarred by the impact.
She forced the weapon back with all her might, gaining just enough space to unsheathe her second dagger and stab it forward, straight after her first. But the reaper merely twisted at the waist before slashing with her own blade again, causing Viri to jump to the side to avoid being gutted.
“Not so powerful without your shiny little cord, are you?” the reaper sneered, her eyes dark with malice. “Let’s see how long you last without it.”
And then she lunged again—or tried to. But before she could make it one step, she gasped and stumbled, looking down incredulously at the black blade piercing her chest from behind.
Reapers could heal fast, especially when they were full of ellixen, but all the stolen magic in the world couldn’t save them from a death blow.
There was nothing this woman could do against the sword spearing her heart, and the light quickly faded from her eyes as she crumpled to the ground—revealing the furious form of Reeve standing in her place, his weapon dripping blood, his thunderous gaze pinned on Viri.
“What the hell are you doing here?” he demanded over the torrential rain, stomping forward. It was only then that she realized the sounds of crashing steel had faded, with all seven reapers down for the count.
“Me?” she cried, panting hard and swiping wet hair out of her eyes. It was almost cathartic, having to shout to be heard. “What are you doing here? Why are you fighting your own kind?”
“You’re meant to be unconscious!” he returned angrily. “And I told you I’d explain everything when I got back!”
Viri’s knuckles tightened around her daggers, her anger easily as strong as his. “Because you’ve done such a great job of explaining things so far! Did you really think I’d just twiddle my thumbs with your babysitter until you returned?”
His gaze slitted. “If you’d just waited—”
“REEVE!” Sage screamed over the rain, her voice full of warning.
But his widening eyes revealed he’d already seen what she had, and he was instantly in motion, leaping toward Viri as eight new reapers appeared out of the shadows, one of whom flung an eerie red dagger with impossible speed—
Straight at Viri’s heart.