Page 96 of False Idols

He means Ali. That’s why they killed her. Remorse washes over me sharp and quick. She’s dead for what happened at the party, but he’s not wrong. I did love it. I watched Beau then, now I need The Reaper to watch me. I have to get The Reaper out of the room before he goes after Beau again. If he does, Beau won’t survive it. He’s not strong enough anymore.

But I am.

I take a step away from him and towards the door. I already know what I have to do.

“So why haven’t you?” I ask him and start to walk backwards to the door. “Why haven’t you dealt with me?”

The Reaper narrows his eyes and I watch the last piece of the man I knew fall away. “Oh, but I have,” he growls.

“Really? Because I’m still fucking alive, you sack of shit! How is that dealing with me?”

Beau groans and holds a hand out to me. “Nevaeh, stop!”

“I love you,” I tell him before I turn back to The Reaper. “You think you’re big and bad? That you’re the hand of God wiping sin away from this world? I don’t fucking think so. You’re a pathetic man. A fuck up that likes hurting people.”

The Reaper stops, he looks at me. I have his attention now. “Stop your lies,” he commands.

“How am I lying?” I ask. I’m just a foot away from the door now. “The hand of God wouldn’t fail when it comes to killing a sinner like me, now would they?” Rage builds on The Reaper's face and he starts to come my way. My plan is working. “You are not divinely protected or appointed. Not until you kill me.” I take one final step back as I say that, but my next move is a sprint. I turn and run out of the room with The Reaper a few steps behind me. We pass Minnie’s body and I hear their strangled cry when they see her on the floor with blood coming from her ears.

Somewhere in the distance, Beau screams for me, but I keep going. I slam the door behind me and run straight across the hall to the master where Beau and I slept. I lock the door and almost trip as I go for the gun safe in the closet.

“4289,” I chant as I rip the door open and fall to my knees in front of the gun safe there. “4289, 4289, 4289.” I punch the numbers in with shaky fingers and the door behind me almost gives when The Reaper kicks it. The gun safe unlocks with a click and I rip the door open. Inside, there’s a tray with the gun and a box of bullets. I pull it out and the bullets fall out of the box when it hits the floor.

I take a deep breath and try not to panic. The Reaper kicks the door again and I load the gun. I’ve only ever seen guns in movies, but I still manage to snap the magazine in place. The door flies open and I scream. I squeeze the trigger but nothing happens and The Reaper does not slow. He runs right at me, the knife in his hand raised high.

“Vengeance is Mine, I will repay," says the Lord,” He howls and I know he’s right. My hands are too shaky and I almost drop it when I pull the trigger, again to nothing. “I’m going to rip your soul out! It’s mine!”

The safety, I realize. I never turned the safety off. I look down and hit the mechanism.The Reaper is only a step away. He’s so close I can feel the warmth from his body. My hands shake while I disengage the safety and I almost drop the gun. I’m not fast enough. I know I’m not. The certainty of it sinks into me and a second later The Reaper slams into me. I go flying and the gun flies out of my hand and slides across the floor. I half expect a knife to sink into me, but it doesn’t come. Instead, The Reaper grabs me by my hair and forces me to my feet.

I swing at him and miss, but The Reaper doesn’t. He punches me and I almost black out from the pain of it. My legs give out and I hit the floor when he lets me go.

“You dirty fucking slut. You’re just like your mother!” He screams at me as he starts to pace the room. “There was hope for you, Nevaeh. I thought you might be different, but in the end you proved me right. Just like all the rest.”

I moan and roll to my side. My jaw feels like it’s shattered, but I don’t have time to process it before I’m kicked hard in the side. I scream and hit the wall from the force of the blow. I think he cracked a rib. I grab at my side and scramble away from him. Adrenaline and pain mingle in equal parts and force me to move. I have to get away. I have to find that fucking gun and blow The Reaper’s head off. I force myself up from the floor and grab the perfume bottle off the dressing table beside me. The bottle shatters against the wall behind the killer in front of me and I grab another.

“Fuck you, you psycho!”

“You have been judged, Nevaeh. Your soul is found to be black and sinful.” The Reaper points his knife at me and smiles. “You have sinned. Now repent.”

I shake my head and hurl another bottle and then another. They hit him and explode into fragments. Glass flies back at me, but I don’t stop throwing everything I can at him. “You’re a murderer! How can you judge anyone when you’re killing people!”

He shakes his head, “Not people. Sinners.”

I think of my mother. She’s dead and mutilated. Strapped to a chair in the rain and murdered by the man she devoted herself to. She didn’t deserve that.

“They trusted you!” I scream. “I trusted you!”

“And now you’ll reap what you’ve sown.” He comes closer to me. Only a few feet are between us. If I don’t move now, I’ll be trapped in the corner with nowhere to go. There’ll be nothing to stop the man that killed my mom from taking me apart. I won’t let that happen. I refuse to let that happen. I scan the room for a way out and I see the gun. It fell beside the bed. The Reaper comes forward again. The bed is to his left and the next step he takes will bring him past the bed. Once he does, he’ll see the gun that’s laying just out of sight.

Time slows and I force my eyes from the gun to the monster in front of me. He’s smiling at me. That smile makes my blood run cold. He’s evil, psychotic, and everything I’ve ever feared in my life, but I’m going to stop him. The terror he’s brought down on my home ends now.

“I’m not afraid of you,” I say and his smile morphs into a snarl. He steps forward and I throw myself at him. My charge surprises him and he hesitates, taking a half step back before he recovers. The split second is enough time for me to make my move. I lower my head and slam my shoulder right into his stomach and knock him to the ground. I hear the wind get knocked out of him when he hits the floor. He coughs, but still has a hold of his knife. I don’t care though, because I see the gun.

“I trusted you!” I bring my foot down and stomp onto his throat. I feel his windpipe crush beneath my foot and I do it again. The muscle and tendon there give and there’s a strangled gasp from him as he raises his knife and tries to swing at me, but I’m too fast. It’s not just adrenaline and pain that have me in motion. It’s rage.

I’m so fucking angry. All my life I’ve done what I’ve been told, with Pastor Mike leading the way. And all this time I was nothing but a lamb being led to slaughter. I’m going to end this monster. He gasps and claws at his throat while he slashes at me, but I dart out of reach and scoop the gun up off the floor.

I can hear him behind me. He’s moving again, but I keep my eyes on the gun. I can’t fuck up again. The safety is off and I turn to fire at The Reaper, but before I can squeeze the trigger he stabs me in the thigh. I feel the muscle tear when he jerks the knife out and I howl in pain and fall to my knees. I fall against the bed with The Reaper on top of me. When he breathes, I feel it. and the weight of him has me pinned to the bed.

---