Page 19 of Reaper Unhinged
“I do. I mean, I did.” She looks up at him, eyes brimming. “But I don’t want to. I stopped wanting what he offered a long time ago. I told myself it would never happen anyway, so what was the harm in continuing, and in truth, I wanted to protect the cadets I’d grown to love. I knew if he discovered that I’d gone soft, he’d send a replacement.”
He would do more than that. “He would kill you.”
“I don’t care about my life. But these cadets, these wonderful younglings with such promise…I could not let them be hurt.”
“So, you stayed,” Uriel says. “And now what?”
“Now, Mammon has Lilith, and he’s sent word to his agents. He’s mobilizing his forces. I had my orders yesterday.”
“And?” Uriel probes.
“I’m meant to take the cadets to the Underealm on the pretext of a field trip. Mammon wishes to add them to his army.” She gives me a level gaze. “Just as he wishes to add the rest of the cadets from the other academies.”
Fuck. “Jenkins, warn the other academies. Do it now.”
He rushes from the room.
“There’s more,” Luena continues. “He wanted me to set off an explosion on a timer to blow once we were clear of the place.” She shakes her head. “I haven’t set it up. I…I knew I had to come clean, but when I don’t arrive at the rendezvous point with the cadets, he’ll know I backed out, and he will send someone else to do his dirty work. Maybe more than one person.”
“Then we make sure we’re prepared,” Uriel says. “We’ll triple the wards on the academies.”
Luena exhales and nods. “Thank you. You can lock me up now.”
I grip her chin and force her to look at me. “Oh you’re not getting off so easily, demon. You’re going to tell me exactly where this rendezvous point is, and then we’re going to stage a little coup of our own.”
Chapter Eight
Fee
Cassius led me up two flights of stairs and into a plush part of the Beyond, where a bloodstained carpet led to a set of firmly closed golden doors.
A Dominion stood in front of the doors, shoulders slumped. He straightened as Cassius approached but didn’t move out of the way.
“Semil, open the doors,” Cassius demanded.
“I cannot,” Semil said. “The Righteous have sealed the chamber from within, and the lock will only disengage once all the Dread have been slaughtered.”
Cassius looked like he needed a few curses, but so far, I hadn’t heard him swear.
I’d do it for him. “Fucking hell.”
Cassius grunted in agreement. “Typical,” he muttered. “Hiding away, saving their own skins.” He walked away from the door. “How many left?”
Semil pulled out a tablet from his back pocket and studied it. “Forty on radar. Clustered in sector four, sublevel two.”
“We best get back to work then.” He pulled his sword from his belt. “Stay here,” he ordered me.
“Like hell. I’m coming with you. I can help.” And this time, my scythe appeared like a dutiful weapon to illustrate my point.
“Fine,” he said. “But try to keep up.”
* * *
Sublevel two wassmooth silver metal walls and gridded metal floors. Cassius stopped us at a set of swipe doors.
“Looks like Celestia locked down this area,” Cassius said. “She must have sensed an influx of signatures that weren’t meant to be here.”
“What about personnel?” one of the Dominions asked.
